IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE
Shortly before former Uefa secretary general Hans Bangerter commissioned the current incarnation of Big Cup, its designer Jürg Stadelman and his father went to his office and covered the floor with drawings of different trophies. “He made comments like ‘The Bulgarians would like the bottom of that’,” Stadelman would later recall. “‘The Spaniards would like this but the Italians would prefer that and the Germans would go for this.’ We put the design together like a jigsaw puzzle.” It remains unclear whether or not Stadelman specified that Bangerter insisted on making the mouth of the trophy wide enough so that one day, decades in the future, Lucas Hernandez might hit upo…
The tributes after the death of the former Northern Ireland manager Billy Bingham inevitably evoked glorious memories: two World Cups, Gerry Armstrong’s goal in Valencia, beating West Germany home and away as the country went so close to qualifying for Euro 84. Even that Josimar goal was a special moment.
Sandwiched between Spain 82 and Mexico 86 is another triumph that is still cherished by Northern Ireland fans. Winning the British Home Championship in 1984 was an achievement in its own right – it was only the third time they had won the competition outright – but that season’s trophy was particularly significant.
When it was announced in August 1983 that England would be leaving the tournament that had st…
It’s not officially official just yet, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the NHL and NHLPA have a tentative deal for a 56-game regular-season schedule with a Jan. 13 start. So, one way or another, the 2021 hockey season is a go. Questions still to be answered are exactly what the realigned divisions for the shortened season will look like, whether a division with all the Canadian teams will be allowed to actually play in Canada, and, rather importantly, how in the bloody hell they plan to actually get through this. Last week in college hockey, eight of the 47 games in Division I had to be postponed, and that total is lower than it might otherwise have been because the NCHC was able to put together a quasi-bubble in Omaha. The NFL has struggled all fall, and its teams …
The Scottish Open serves as the final tune-up before the last major of 2024, and six of the top 10 players in the world have made their way to North Berwick this week along with top players from the DP World Tour. The event also serves as the return of Rory McIlroy, who tees it up for the first time since his Sunday meltdown at last month's U.S. Open. The Scottish Open begins Thursday, and our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week. SCOTTISH OPEN Location: North Berwick, Scotland, July 11-14 Course: The Renaissance Club (Par 70, 7,237 Yards) Purse: $9M (Winner: $1.62M) Defending Champion: Rory McIlroy FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler HOW TO FOLLOW TV: Thursday-Friday: 10:30-11 a.m. (Golf Channel – world f…
Listen, whenever the hell it actually started, this seems like a great moment to look ahead, “pre-view” what is to come this season, and address some of the key questions. Who are the teams? Are they the same teams as before? Why wouldn’t they be the same teams as before? Is that really a key question going into the 2019-20 season? Can we just get on with this? The answer to all of the above, and more, is: You can go to hell.Below you’ll find the NBA teams, in alphabetical order, along with important information about each of them, such as whether they are any good or not. Please print this blog out and carry it with you in preparation for any sudden basketball conversations that might break out. Onward, to the teams! Atlanta Hawks credits: Brynn Anderson | source: [object Object]…
Many years could have been the year of Juan Martin del Potro. So many of them weren’t. This, in part, explains why rooting for this 6-foot-6 lunk remains such an appealing proposition to so many: none of the buttery mundanity of rooting for Federer, none of the monotony of hyping up a Nadal or Djokovic who’ve already enjoyed their soul-crushing runs of dominance with double-digit major haul. It is instead rooting for someone whose gifts explode off the television screen but who remains, in some sense, unproven. Much of that Delpo appeal is that faint air of melancholy, the whiff of what-if. What if his wrists hadn’t failed him? But they did. Now his every gesture reads as impossibly soulful. The hugs (of linespeople, of injured opponents), even the protests (of his own errors, o…
Time to pull back the curtain a bit and reveal our 101 most popular posts of the year. We have our own ideas about which posts best represent what the site is all about, but this list is all about what you, the readers, flocked to. Manti Te'o's Dead Girlfriend, The Most Heartbreaking And Inspirational Story Of The College Football Season, Is A Hoax Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, the stories said, played this season under a terrible burden. A Mormon linebacker who led his Catholic school's football program back to glory, Te'o was whipsawed between personal tragedies along the way. In the span of six hours in September, as Sports Illustrated told it, Te'o learned first of the death of his grandmother, Annette Santiago, and then of the death of his girlfriend…
Oh, sure. The original story was about her qualms with the McCain camp's decision a month before the election not to campaign actively in Michigan. But now that Seth Davis has called everyone's attention to it again, let's all completely reconsider its thrust. …
Remember the lullaby afternoons of September, when we all figured we'd see a Heisman winner who merited the award? Maybe a Geno Smith, slinging the ball all over the yard, or even a Matt Barkley, who despite being named after Big Bird's dog had the right pedigree and weaponry (Robert Woods and Marquise Lee catching his passes). Maybe it would be a pure quantity guy like Montee Ball, whose junior year at Wisconsin saw him tie the FBS record for touchdowns in a season (Barry Sanders; 39) and lead the nation in rushing yards (1,923) and still place just fourth in the Heisman voting. This award is usually a son of a bitch to win. But here's what happened. Barkley started in four USC losses, throwing a pair of interceptions in each. Wisconsin lost five games, only one of whi…
data-mm-id=”_j47bo9viy”>One of the most storied names in Carolina Panthers history is taking issue with how the tenure of another may end. Former Carolina running back DeAngelo Williams appeared on ESPN's First Take on Monday to discuss whether Newton has lost his starting job to fellow Carolina quarterback to Kyle Allen, who has filled in admirably while Newton has been sidelined with a foot injury. Williams not only believed Newton should still be the Panthers' man under center, but he called out Carolina's staff for its treatment of the former Heisman Trophy winner. DeAngelo Williams is mad at the Panthers' coaching staff for their treatment of Cam Newton. pic.twitter.com/TfjsNOso64— First Take (@FirstTake) November 4, 2019"I'm mad at (Carolina offens…