Month: August 2017

Bengals’ Vontaze Burfict questions suspension over ‘legal hit’

Vontaze Burfict doesn’t see a problem with the way he takes down his opponents.

Following news of his five-game suspension for his illegal hit in Cincinnati’s second preseason game on Aug. 19, the Bengals linebacker is questioning the ban with the belief that the hit was in fact legal.

Meanwhile, undrafted rookie Cooper Rush has looked impressive thus far, going 17 of 20 for 196 yards and a touchdown.

Following the game, coach Jason Garrett and owner Jerry Jones were both supportive of Moore, although Jones also praised Rush.

“I’m just glad to see Rush taking advantage of his opportunities out there,” Jones said, via the Star-Telegram. “Wouldn’t want to get ahead of ourselves in any way here. And the other thing is that we still have a lot of confidence in 17 (Moore), his ability to be able to get in there when we would call on him with the personnel around him and get the ball in the right places.

Most GMs consider Kaepernick a descending player whose best years were 2012 and 2013, when he led the 49ers to the Super Bowl and then back to the NFC title game. The perception among many is he went downhill when Jim Harbaugh left after the 2014 season; that his mobility might be declining while his passing ability remains suspect.

Roger Goodell either believes teams don’t feel Colin Kaepernick can help their teams get better, or he thinks the former 49ers quarterback hasn’t earned a shot at another job in the NFL.seahawks_006

Jeff Green signs 1-year deal with Cavaliers, per report

The Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.3 million to free agent froward Jeff Green, according to USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt.
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Green, a 30-year-old journeyman forward, played for the Magic last season, where he averaged nine points per game on sub-.400 shooting from the field and sub-.300 shooting from downtown.

He was selected No. 5 overall in the 2007 NBA Draft, but never emerged as the star many pegged him to become given his physical gifts as a combo forward. Green spent his heyday in Boston, where he posted a career-high 17.6 points before being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2014-15 season.

Green joins a Cavaliers team that dominated the Eastern Conference playoffs before being wiped out by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. He projects to serve in a reserve role behind a starting core of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love.

Defensively, he soars into the paint for blocks, bodies up despite his wiry frame, and crashes for every 50/50 ball, a la Gerald Wallace. On offense, Jackson can do it all. He can take his man off the dribble for fading mid-range jumpers and blow by defenders to finish at the rim. The knock on him was his perimeter shooting, but he shot decently from deep at Kansas and at least flashed the ability to knock down the open three-point shot in Vegas.

Game Mens Jacksonville Jaguars Jersey He’s a gamer. He’s aggressive, said Suns’ Summer League coach Marlon Garrett. Obviously, we know what he can do on the defensive end and he’s going to continue to tap into what he can do on the offensive end just because he’s so versatile. He can play one through four, really. We’re using him at the forward position, so his game is just going to continue to expand as his confidence in his shot gets better.

A still serviceable pick-and-roll big man who can also supply veteran leadership.

We know this team is two years away from being three years away. We wanted a good mix of youth, depth, and experience to fill up the roster. We have a lot of scoring throughout the lineup without being a complete black hole on defense. We picked a lot of scorers because, well—we wanted to provide the people of Seattle an exciting product. This team is going to score north of 110 points a night (hopefully) and give up more than that on at least fifty of those nights.

This is going to be a bad team. Our projections showed that on the high side we could expect maybe 30 wins at most, with 19 being the low point. Most often than not in our simulation this was a 27 win team. Thanks to NBA 2K17 for the simulation.

Chandler is a 10 and 10 guy and a rim protector. He will also help groom Monroe.
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We’re building a team of shooters in the vein of the Golden State Warriors. Anderson is our stretch-four. He scored 13.6 points per game on a .550 eFG% last season. With him and Crawford coming off the bench, our perimeter game is going to be on point.

Limited Youth Ahkello Witherspoon Jersey Expansion is coming to the NBA. It may take another decade, but the league adding another team or two is inevitable, Adam Silver said recently. There’s too much money in the game, and too much success overall, for the current 30-team alignment to remain unaltered.

Inspired by Silver’s comments, the SB Nation NBA network held a mock expansion draft. Our 30 team blogs selected eight players to protect from the draft, and then two teams were selected from that mix: the return of the Seattle Supersonics, and another team in Virginia Beach. You can see everything from our exercise here.

How would Kyrie Irving explain the eclipse if he really believes the Earth is flat?

Kyrie Irving is the NBA’s resident flat Earth truther. We discovered this back in March on the Road Trippin’ Pod with Richard Jefferson. He later doubled down on his claims.

Russell Westbrook loved that mustache so much that he even dressed as Steven Adams for Halloween to wear a mustache to give it the proper recognition. And this was just early on in the mustache’s journey. It has brought us so much joy for years.
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And I haven’t even mentioned Lil’ Stache Bro, the tiny Thunder fan who styled their hair and wore fake tattoo sleeves for a playoff game in 2016. Without Adams looking at a mirror one morning in the summer of 2014 and thinking I don’t think I’m shaving today, we’d have none of this.

But it’s not like Steven Adams didn’t warn us before. Back in 2014, he said the mustache was only for the media day photo. Back then it resembled Burt Reynolds’ but then it transformed into what a strongman in the early 1900s would wear. During that metamorphosis, we all thought it would last forever. Unfortunately, all good ‘staches must come to an end eventually.

Still, there’s the likelihood that Adams will rock the mustache this upcoming season. He still has time to grow it, and the Thunder need everyone on the roster — the mustache included — to be at their best to have a good run at the postseason.
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Thomas Davis gets the extension he was looking for from the Panthers

Thomas Davis made it clear that he wanted to remain with the Panthers for the rest of his career, and he’ll definitely be in Carolina through the 2018 season. Davis has signed a contract extension with Carolina, the team announced Tuesday.

The deal is for two years and $6.75 million with $2 million in guarantees, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

“Carolina is my home, and it will always be,” Davis said via the team’s Twitter account.

A couple more questions that were adjacent the incident, one about whether Jack Del Rio lets players be themselves, and whether it would matter to Lynch if he saw fans in the stands wearing his jersey who chose to sit for the anthem. He chose to answer both questions as if they were about running plays on the field.

He had some other interesting things to say outside of that. It was one of those rare occasions where Lynch was more than happy to talk about most things, so in that, it was actually a pretty good interview for him.

Philadelphia drafted Matthews in the second round for the 2014 NFL draft, and he’s been a decent receiver for the Eagles ever since. He’s hauled in 225 passes for 2,673 yards and 19 touchdowns in three season but may have been phased out of the Philadelphia offense soon.

Philadelphia signed receiver Alshon Jeffery in the offseason, so it already has a No. 1 receiver to help quarterback Carson Wentz progress. With Nelson Agholor impressing in training camp, Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich didn’t deny that Matthews could see reduced playing time to the former first-round pick.

Now Matthews has a chance for a one-year audition with the Bills before he becomes a free agent in 2018. With the team focused on the future, he and Gaines will have to prove they’re long-term pieces to stick around for a while.

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PETA upset at use of actual penguins at Penguins’ Stadium Series game

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During last week’s Stadium Series game between the Penguins and Flyers, there were actual penguins on the ice as part of the pregame festivities.

Overall, the penguins were cute as they waddled around on the slippery ice, but one part wasn’t so cute. During the celebration, fireworks went off around the penguins, who were visibly startled.

PETA became aware, and sent a letter to the Penguins. Here’s part of the letter from a PETA representative, as posted on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

It’s a play that certainly will warrant a look from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, even though Penguins star Evgeni Malkin escaped discipline for a similar hit to the head of Jets forward Blake Wheeler on Thursday.

The league later announced Trouba would have a hearing on Monday.

Stone, 24, missed most of the preseason while recovering from a concussion. He netted a team-leading goal No. 22 on the season earlier in the game. His 47 points in 56 games are second on the team to star defenseman Erik Karlsson.

The Seantors also lost wingers Mike Hoffman and Tommy Wingels to injury during the game, hours after the team announced Bobby Ryan would be out indefinitely with a hand injury.

Zane Beadles Authentic Jersey Coupled with Stone’s injury, Ottawa’s depth is tenuous as it sits just two points behind Montreal for first place in the Atlantic Division.

Without the inclusion of NHL players, though, USA Hockey said it would turn to minor league players, those in the college ranks, and some from overseas. Granato has experience working with players at each of those levels.

Kershaw has appeared in more postseason games on short rest than games on regular rest.

Beltre’s third act, though, surpassed all expectations. He was 30 and inspiring columns about how he would be a mistake for his new team. He was known as a player with one great year and a bunch of middling ones, even if that wasn’t accounting for his defense. Now he’s 38, a member of the 3,000-hit club, and a clear first-ballot Hall of Famer.

It happened quickly. It happened so quickly. The best part is, though, that it’s still going and doesn’t have to stop for years. If Beltre could Julio Franco the heck out of the rest of his career, his Hall of Fame chances would be impervious. And our lives would be immeasurably better.

It was a good thing the Dodgers didn’t succumb to whatever temptations they had to face in previous deadlines, but the urgency has been beating under the floorboards, like The Tell-Tale Heart. It would be dandy if they won 120 games with the help of Alex Wood and Rich Hill, but that wasn’t going to be a guarantee of postseason success. One rough start for Wood in the NLDS and one gnarly blister for Hill, and the Dodgers were likely to be swimming in liquid regret, all over again. They would have to start Kershaw on short rest again, which is basically baseball’s version of Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes, spread out over a multiyear postseason history.
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Elite Womens Mitchell Marner Jersey The Dodgers’ entire plan was predicated around Kershaw being worked extra-hard in the postseason, and it kept failing. It was an unfair burden for Kershaw.

Not only did the Dodgers get Darvish to be the clear, unambiguous No. 2, they still have their other pitchers. They get to stack the rotation with Kershaw, Darvish, Wood, and Hill and not worry about short rest. They can load the bullpen up with one or two of Brandon McCarthy, Kenta Maeda, and Hyun-jin Ryu, mix and matching.

Every completed MLB trade at the 2017 deadline

The non-waiver trade deadline is July 31, and even if every whispered potential deal won’t come to pass, you still need to be able to keep up with said whispers just in case they do. That’s where we come in, as we’ll keep track of not just the completed trades, but any rumors out there worth paying attention to.
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Womens Cameron Artis-Payne Jersey Los Angeles has the best team ERA in the majors by a considerable margin at a sparkling 3.12 and ranks fourth-best on offense, averaging 5.15 runs per game.

The team is particularly dangerous when Kershaw starts. The Dodgers are 13-0 in his last 13 starts, including a 6-0 record on the road, per the OddsShark MLB Database.

Stanton is the No. 1 seed in this tournament and will square off against New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (+1400 to win the Home Run Derby) in the first round.

While Sanchez has had a strong season by a catcher’s standpoint with 13 home runs on the year, it is another Yankee who Stanton will need to watch out for in his quest to repeat as Home Run Derby champion. Aaron Judge (+175) has absolutely crushed the ball in his rookie season, batting .329 with 30 home runs and 66 RBI.

At 6’7, 282 pounds, Judge is an absolute beast who has the power to make home runs look as effortless as Stanton does. Judge will face Miami’s Justin Bour (+1400) in the first round of this event.

Another rookie who has impressed with his power stroke this season is Los Angeles’s Cody Bellinger. The young Dodger could be the best value on the 2017 Home Run Derby odds board at +900, smashing 25 home runs and 58 RBI so far this season in just 257 at bats.

Jason Witten condemns domestic violence, still supports Ezekiel Elliott

Jason Witten is at a crossroad.

The Cowboys tight end holds a firm stance against domestic violence after his family experienced it during his childhood, but he is still supportive of teammate Ezekiel Elliott.

“Look, there’s no place for a man to put his hand on a woman, and most of you guys know that it’s a situation that’s affected my family as a kid, and I put a lot of work and attention and have a platform to step out and speak on stopping domestic violence,” Witten said after Saturday’s 13-10 preseason loss to the Rams, via ESPN.

“Having said that, Zeke is continuing to work through it, and he’s talked about that. The game and all that stuff, that’s not what you deal with. He’s our teammate, and we’ll continue to work through it with him and have this opportunity to grow from it, and I think that’s what his focus is now.”

The Cowboys’ star running back was suspended the first six games of the upcoming season on Friday for violating the league’s personal conduct policy following a year-long investigation into his behavior off the field.

Portland will still likely pay luxury tax penalties unless it can clear more cap space, but this is a step in the right direction for a franchise that clearly regretted matching the Nets’ offer sheet last season. What remains to be seen is whether this deal is only for cap relief or if it is designed to set the table for another move.

The Trail Blazers have been linked to Carmelo Anthony, but he seems intent on heading to Houston. In the event of an Anthony trade, Portland could potentially serve as the third team if the move would further help the cap. That’s a long way off at this point, though. It’s more likely the Trail Blazers saw trading Crabbe as an opportunity to right a wrong, and they didn’t pass it up.

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Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks continues to defy doubters, despite velocity dip

Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks has always had doubters.

From back in college at Dartmouth University to the draft or in the minor-leagues, Hendricks’ lack of a high-velocity fastball has forced talent evaluators to consistently overlook the positive aspects of his repertoire. Hendricks never appeared on any of the top-100 prospect lists and many thought of him as a back-of-the-rotation kind of guy, and nothing more.

He has consistently proved the doubters wrong. Hendricks’ focus on the mound is utilizing his below-average velocity in conjunction with the excellent movement on his pitches, specifically his elite changeup. The ivy league educated 27-year-old stays ahead of the opposition by outsmarting them, studying his opponent in detail.

Adam LaRoche Womens Jersey In Cincinnati, Jose Martinez hit his first career grand slam to key a nine-run fourth inning that powered the Cardinals to a 13-4 victory over the Reds.

The Orioles pounded five home runs and had 17 hits in a 12-3 victory over the Tigers.

The Angels racked up 10 runs at home against the Athletics only to watch the A’s score five runs in the eighth to win an 11-10 slugfest.

The Mariners and Royals combined for six home runs, two from Nelson Cruz, in an 8-7 Seattle win. (The Royals got even with a 9-1 win in the second game of the doubleheader.)

Reggie Wayne Womens Jersey Matt Wieters hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in the Nationals’ 9-4 win over the Cubs.

After not standing for the national anthem, and considering the events that passed in Charlottesville, Virginia, Seahawks DE Michael Bennett is utilizing his platform to speak on social injustice: I want to see people have the equality they deserve.