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Welcome to this week’s NFL Powerless Rankings. It’s time to wrap up the season for the league’s most powerless. So, let’s check out the worst teams to close out the regular season in Week 18.

That’s all folks. The sad moment of the year when Scott Hanson signs off and the final RedZone touchdown montage plays. You’re momentarily hypnotized by the best catches, throws, and runs of the day, and then one moment the Miami Dolphins are in a dogpile in the end zone, and the next Nicki Minaj’s Chun-Li is playing…Read more...

It may not be possible to feel sorry for someone who got to rake in tens of millions of dollars to live in Barcelona (with a brief sojourn to Munich) and not have to do much. And certainly Liverpool supporters won’t have any sympathy for Philippe Coutinho given the way he exited Anfield for the Nou Camp in 2018.Read more...

The Boston Celtics have one of the richest legacies in North American sports, but as of late, they have not been able to get over that hump to capture another NBA championship. In recent years, their two young stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have led them to multiple Eastern Conference Finals appearances.…Read more...

It is cute, if not delicious, that Tuukka Rask’s imminent return to the Boston Bruins is being greeted as something of the cavalry arriving. Because Bruins fans (and media) have never hesitated to throw whatever available cutlery was around at Tuke Nuke ‘Em every spring because he wasn’t Tim Thomas, when the Bruins…Read more...

Unfortunately, the last week of the year has arrived. On a brighter note, the column has produced nine straight over/under victories, so technically, we’re actually seeking a sweep of the second half of the season in totals. Soak it in as we enter the historic first-ever “Week 18.”

Generally, when there’s talk about interest in hiring you as a coordinator before you’re even fired as a head coach, it’s a sign that you’re seen as a good football mind. It might even be a sign that the team you’re about to be fired from ought to rethink things. Clearly you’re in demand, and maybe you can still be…Read more...

Remember that show Pitch that aired on Fox in 2016? That show revolved around the question: “What if there was a female pitcher in Major League Baseball?” The show was canceled after one season despite tremendous reviews from critics and audiences alike with the detractors calling the show “cliché”. Essentially, some…Read more...

Todd Graham answers the question that absolutely no one was asking.

Across all sports, the Coach of the Year Award has a misleading title. It’s not about who the best coach is; it’s about which team stunned the most people, or which team overcame the most adversity while staying near the top of the league. That’s what voters are really looking for. By that criteria, there are a lot of…Read more...

The Jacksonville Jaguars were a joke long before this season. They’ve made the playoffs seven times in their 27-year history, and four of those were in the first five seasons of their existence. This season will be Jaguars’ fifth in the last six years in which they’ve finished last in the AFC South, which itself is…Read more...

Let’s just begin by talking about Novak Djokovic’s skills. He is very, very good at hitting fuzzy, yellow, bouncy tennis balls. He can hit them very hard, and yet he can also hit them very softly. He makes people clap with delight with how he hits tennis balls. He wins very large trophies. Hitting fuzzy, yellow,…Read more...

Well, well, well, if it isn’t the consequences of Kyrie Irving’s own actions.Read more...

“Shut the fuck up.”Read more...

2021 marked the first NFL season with each team playing 17 games in the regular season. Many people were quick to state their displeasure with the expansion, claiming that adding a 17th game hurts the sport and is merely a cash grab only meant to benefit the owners and put the players at greater risk. Valid points,…Read more...

Brandon Brown is the most famous race car driver in America, an incredible thing for a 28-year-old in the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series who has won exactly one race since moving up from the NASCAR truck series, where he was winless with only one top-10 finish in 22 races over four seasons.Read more...

Being a Major League catcher is tough. Not only do you have to squat in an uncomfortable position for over an hour everyday for six months while wearing big, heavy pads (the tools of ignorance) in the middle of summer, but you also need to be knowledgeable of your pitching staff and opponents so as to call the best…Read more...

Dana White and the UFC are still printing money. Following a successful 2021 with spectators returning to the arenas for events, the price of the brick is going up. Purchasing a UFC pay-per-view event will now cost $74.99, per Newsday’s Mark LaMonica. This new price increase will be the third since MMA behemoth signed…Read more...

I was never as down on The Athletic as some. I suppose I appreciated their aim, or stated aim, of creating an online sports section, as I was one of the few of my generation, or the ones to come after, to still grow up on sports sections. I was raised on Bob Verdi and Bernie Lincicome (pre-crank) in the Chicago…Read more...

The Dallas Cowboys are closing out another season on shaky ground, even though they’ve already locked up the NFC East title.

Georgia football is currently preparing for its first national championship game since 2017. Georgia men’s basketball, led by head coach Tom Crean, on the other hand, is at the bottom of the SEC standings with a 5-9 record overall. Their last five games consisted of a loss to George Mason, a single-digit victory over…Read more...

Advanced analytics are a touchy subject in the baseball world. Some people love how the game has been broken down into a series of numbers that let even casual fans understand the game better. Others don’t share the same sentiment.

The transfer portal is college football’s most controversial, unpredictable, and ever-changing tool. After a 2021 rule change that eliminated the requirement for transferring athletes to sit out a year before being eligible to play again, this postseason portal activity is exploding.

Feel free to speculate on exactly why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers waited until Thursday afternoon to make this decision, but it is now final, they have released Antonio Brown.

If a newcomer to the wrestling world wanted an exhibition on why AEW makes so much noise for such a new company in the industry, this past week would be it. It has showcased everything the company does well, as well as exemplified the problems it has, and more importantly how it addresses those problems. You really…Read more...

Kyrie Irving is back with the Nets but that doesn’t mean a fairy tale ending to the season is guaranteed

They said they wanted their political agendas and sports to be separate. They never practice what they preach.

If Jordan McNair’s friends or family ever got into a fight with anybody responsible for giving D.J. Durkin a job in football since 2018, it would be understandable.

Yesterday, we spent some time talking about a principled stand that AP voter Hub Arkush took on voting for Aaron Rodgers for MVP. You may not agree with the principles, and they were probably on the self-righteous side (it’s been a habit of Hub’s for years), but at least they were his. And you could understand, even…Read more...

One more win for the Tennessee Titans. All they need is to win one more game and they can clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC. With an 11-5 record, a low mark for a team in first place but that speaks to a lack of a clear best team in the AFC, a home victory against the 4-12 Houston Texans — who have won two of…Read more...

Tuf Borland, Mac McCain, Luther Kirk, Paul Quessenberry, and Pooka Williams all joined an elite group this year. Not many people can say that they have played in an NFL game, but these five men all did exactly that this season.

I’ve gone on record stating that Joe Burrow might be one of the best leaders in the NFL. However, after seeing the stunt he is pulling ahead of his team’s final game of the season with the AFC’s top seed on the line, I have to alter my statement.Read more...

Taylor Heinicke’s fairy tale story might be coming to an end upon the close of this NFL season. It was a nice story last year in the playoffs when he gave Tom Brady and Tampa Bay a run for their money. But after an entire season of watching Heinicke under center for Washington, it’s clear that he is not the long-term…Read more...

Today is one of those days in which the NFL has made a good decision. It doesn’t happen often. The decision to add an extra game to the schedule in a sport that can cause brain damage, during a world-wide pandemic, might be a short term financial win, but it’s making the product worse and is ethically problematic.…Read more...

If Mike Tomlin were white, he’d be on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches and it wouldn’t be debatable.

If ever there was an organization that embodied “one step forward, slip in your own vomit and fall back,” it’s U.S. Soccer as it can’t ever seem to keep everything flowing smoothly at the same time.

The Australian Open might have given the controversial OK to unvaccinated tennis star Novak Djokovic, but the Victorian State Government in Australia has not proved quite as accommodating.Read more...

You had a feeling when it was announced hours before Sunday’s Day 1 PPV premium live event that Roman Reigns had tested positive for COVID, and that Brock Lesnar was going to be moved to the Raw title match, what would happen. That feeling only grew when then-champion Big E delivered his backstage promo, and if you…Read more...

Jim Harbaugh’s tenure at Michigan is done.

You might not have realized that the NFL MVP debate might get annoying in the same fashion as the Baseball Hall of Fame ones do. I know, just when you thought you could find an escape.

There are a bunch of caveats I could throw at Cale Makar’s goal in OT against the ’Hawks to give the Avs a 4-3 win. I’ve never been a fan of 3-on-3 overtime, as it’s a forced gimmick. It’s an artificial stage meant to generate highlights like this without the usual context. Makar wouldn’t have had this kind of space…Read more...

Imagine you’re taking part in an annual contest at your workplace to determine the finalists for a coveted prize. Everybody wants this prize. People have cheated, backstabbed, and played dirty in the past in order to win this prize. It’s that great. As the time period for determining who the finalists will be closes…Read more...

The Dallas Mavericks aren’t wasting any more time. They will honor the GOAT of their franchise on Wednesday when they hang Dirk Nowitzki’s No. 41 jersey in the rafters of the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

What a three-game stretch for the fifth-leading scorer in the NBA, DeMar DeRozan. Mr. Anti-analytics has been letting his mid-range shot fly all season, propelling him to a scoring average of 26.9 points per game. With 28 points and six assists on Monday DeRozan was the Chicago Bulls’ leader in points and assists as…Read more...

Yet again, the major sports set out to prove that the rules don’t apply to the moneymakers — even when the rules are in the interest of public health and ending an ongoing pandemic. Twenty-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic will be allowed to play in the Australian Open after receiving a medical exemption from the…Read more...

More than half of the NFL remains in playoff contention heading into the final week of the season. That includes teams like the Packers, who have clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason, and it includes teams like the Raiders and Chargers, who play each other but can both get into the playoffs if they…Read more...

It took some years but the Washington Football Team is finally going to have a name that is neither a racial slur nor the name a middle schooler would choose in create-a-franchise mode, if forced by parents to play Madden instead of Grand Theft Auto. Washington announced today that on Feb. 2 its new name and logo will…Read more...

Russell Westbrook had another stinker Sunday against the Timberwolves, although the Lakers won, 108-103. Westbrook nearly had a double-double with points and turnovers in this game. Russ scored 20 but had nine turnovers in the process with only five assists. After the game, Westbrook clapped back at the notion of the…Read more...

There was a time in my life when nothing was as exciting as the start of the NFL season, the Bears season, here in Chicagoland.