Month: October 2024

One quick glance at the top of the 2025 Super Bowl odds board and you’ll see the teams you expect to be there. I’m talking about Kansas City, San Francisco, and Buffalo. 

Where it gets interesting, is in the middle of the pack where teams like Cincinnati, Miami, and Dallas have all seen their odds lengthen after a combined 2-7 start. 

So which teams have seen their odds shorten? Join me as I run down the latest NFL odds below. 

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Everything that makes Shohei Ohtani the star he has become was on display in his Los Angeles Dodgers spring training debut when he struck out, grounded into a double play and then rebounded to hit a towering opposite-field home run to left field. It was just a tune-up game that did not even attract a capacity crowd, and getting credit for digging out from a self-made hole is a dubious distinction. But the result was more evidence of what has become clear: Ohtani is as talented as they come and able to change his fortunes at a moment's notice. The Dodgers were so convinced that type of resolve could alter their own fortunes that they signed Ohtani to a massively deferred $700 million contract even though he was coming off elbow surgery and would not be able to provide the pitching…

ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET … OH

It’s been a far from perfect start to the season for the Queen’s Celtic. Points dropped at Kilmarnock. Coronavirus quarantine breaches. A sense that Pope’s Newc O’Rangers are finally approaching a level of basic competence and could sustain a title challenge until the end of September, or whenever Leeds make off with Ryan Kent. Ah well, at least they tried. And now another hammer blow, with yet another Big Cup fiasco that in one fell swoop makes the European record of Brendan Rodgers look a little better in comparison. Yep, that bad.

And so we can add Ferencvaros to the ever-expanding list of Big Cup qualification embarrassments: Cluj, AEK, Malmö,…

The crowd went crazy, a yelling, jumping, flag-waving, fist-pumping swirl of red-white-and-blue delight. And why not? Kansas City had just won the 2026 World Cup.

The host city selection process for the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada unfurled much like a World Cup itself: a few no-hopers, some underdogs who went deeper than expected, a couple of surprising flops and predictable triumphs for the favorites.

Canadian, US and Mexican host cities named for 2026 World CupRead more

Fans at the KC Live! watch party for Thursday’s announcement of the winners celebrated what had until recently seemed an improbable victory. When Fifa evaluated the Kansas City bid in 2018 it scored some of the lowest marks for accommo…

Liverpool are the subject of that familiar football mantra that you should buy from a position of strength, with the Premier League leaders being linked with a move for Teun Koopmeiners. The Dutch midfield man with a name that should please retro gamers has been racking up the points with Atalanta this season, his box-to-box bursts helping him contribute eight goals and four assists for the Serie A outfit. A fee of €45m has been mooted according to reports in Italy and, not surprisingly, others are keeping a beady eye on him too, especially teams in black and white stripes: Juventus and Newcastle.

It doesn’t stop there for the Reds with Jürgen Klopp keen to fill both his starting XI and bench full of attackers who can smash the ball int…

Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson was disappointed last year when she wasn't named the most valuable player in the WNBA. At the ESPY Awards Thursday in Los Angeles, however, she won another big prize, announced as Best Athlete, Women's Sports. Wilson bested Caitlin Clark, nominated for her achievements at Iowa, golfer Nelly Korda and U.S. Open winner Coco Gauff. Wilson wasn't in attendance but sent a video message. "I could not miss an opportunity just to say thank you to all my fans out there," Wilson said. "I wouldn't be the player I am today without you guys' support. It does not go unnoticed. It's great to think that a young girl that didn't even want to play basketball … won an ESPY, which is truly, truly special to my heart.&…

In a season that many say shouldn’t have been played because of the clear dangers of a pandemic, college football pushed through, hell or high water, to its version of a Final Four. As the games kick off, let’s take a look at some of the most embarrassing and most unforgettable moments in CFP history. Let’s begin with most embarrassing: Florida State forgets how to play football, 2015 source: Getty Images Jameis Winston and his defending champ Florida State teammates came into the first ever CFP semifinal in 2015 riding a 29-game undefeated streak … and got summarily smacked down in Pasadena by Oregon. The Ducks made the Seminoles look like their feet were stuck in quicksand for the majority of the game. It didn’t end well for the team from Tallahassee as Oregon would roll 59…

The Rays and Dodgers are of the same cloth. Though the more accurate way to convey this series through Spider-men is to have your original, Stan Lee Spider-man of the 60s pointing at Tom Holland’s tricked out Spidey with Stark Industries upgrades and systems. Both Los Angeles and Tampa Bay are essentially Andrew Friedman creations. The Dodgers are run by Friedman and he came from Tampa, where he designed the self-aware development system the Rays have used to construct this team. The Rays are a product of expert drafting and even more expert scouting of other team’s systems, robust development through finding undervalued players and maximizing what those other teams couldn’t harvest. The Dodgers are all of that, but just with all the money in the world. And having that look allows…