data-mm-id=”_spli3t1hj”>LeBron James was asked last week about the possibility of playing games without fans. LeBron answered definitively that he would not play in an empty arena. A short time later it came out that the NBA and was advising its teams to prepare for just such a situation. On Tuesday, LeBron was asked again about playing without fans and has since changed his tune. LeBron says he wasn’t aware that the discussion about playing games without fans was happening behind closed doors when he made his comments Friday. He’s revised his position, saying while he would be “disappointed” to play without fans, he and teammates will listen to experts. pic.twitter.com/VEOvNH3Jyk— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) March 10, 2020This is good and bad. It's good that LeBron understands the severity of the situation at hand and the possibility that there could be games played in empty arenas. Besides, he'd still be playing for the same people, they'd just be watching on television.The bad news is that this means somebody probably got in his ear and explained that this is a very real possibility. The Indian Wells Masters, a major tennis tournament in California, was just canceled at the last minute. The Ivy League canceled their conference tournament. Experts are encouraging leagues to play games in empty stadiums if not outright cancel them. Italy is in a nationwide lockdown. LeBron's somber about-face could be sign of things to come. The way that our sports leagues react to this is going to be the way that many Americans are going to have to face this issue. Other, less easily convinced people might soon be asked to face the reality of this pandemic, through sports or something much closer to home. Hopefully, this is all an overreaction. If it isn't, then empty arenas are going to be the least of our worries.
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data-mm-id=”_b5yibjj6i”>The San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts gave us the second blockbuster trade of the day when the news broke that the Niners would send All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to Indy for the 13th pick in April's draft. San Francisco clearly made a choice after signing Arik Armstead to an extension earlier in the day, and the Colts felt Buckner's production and potential were high enough to not only give up a first-rounder, but also sign him to a massive extension. The Niners, who were a quarter away from winning the Super Bowl only one (very long) month ago, now have a pair of first-round picks to fix their biggest issue — a lack of star power at wide receiver. San Francisco got very little out of its wide receiver group last year. Obviously …
data-mm-id=”_2xo0m6bo8″>The well of evergreen sports topics has been dipped into countless times without live sports. While it will eventually go dry, that day has yet to come. Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless drew from that well once more today on Undisputed and tackled the subject of who the clutchest quarterback in the NFL is right now. Sharpe believes the reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes deserves that title because, while Tom Brady has a long and fruitful history of clutch performances, the NFL is a "What have you done for me recently" league. Brady's resume exceeds Mahomes', but last year went firmly in the latter's favor in the clutch regard, so Mahomes gets to claim that title for the 2020 season. "We can't properly critique Brady because…
data-mm-id=”_qqo5v89nx”>In this fast-paced world where meal prep has become such of a nuisance that dozens of companies thrive by selling pre-prepared food that makes cooking easier, there remain a few among us who still savor a more deliberate approach to cooking. We are not Michelin chefs or trained experts. We are merely people who understand the satisfaction that comes with a well-crafted meal cooked from scratch. That satisfaction ends in the finished product, yes, but the real pleasure comes from the process of preparing the meal. From buying the produce to chopping to seasoning to adjusting the seasoning to plating, each element matters. Which brings us to this barbaric way of peeling an onion. You've been peeling an onion wrong this whole time…?: 1sarahrose pic.twitter.c…
data-mm-id=”_88wv9kmh5″>Aaron Rodgers, a very good quarterback, was once again very good on Sunday. He managed to outduel the mighty Kirk Cousins and put up a large prime number on the scoreboard. Not long after, Liam McKeone, a youngster who works for my company, suggested that the future Hall of Famer may have been fueled by the Packers' selection of Jordan Love and how the decision to piss off the franchise quarterback was a brilliant one. Sources say he was slightly joking. But he may not admit that after noted football-knower Trent Dilfer suggested on the Ryen Russillo Podcast that this may have been Green Bay's strategy all along. Knowing how important it is to high-profile podcasters and their guests to be quoted accurately and in proper context, here are the quotes an…
data-mm-id=”_ahrozgngi”>America is finally getting a closer look at the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2020 World Series, and what baseball fans are witnessing looks like nothing like the game they're used to. Tampa Bay does things differently and it often isn't pretty, but damn if it isn't effective. The Rays played to their script Wednesday night and turned in a winning performance. The unconventional American League champions topped the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 in Game 2 of the World Series and proved they can go toe-to-toe with their juggernaut of an opponent. The Rays won by playing their way, which includes an unconventional style of handling pitchers, fielders and an offense without any big names. Regardless of how crazy it may seem from the outside, the formula has bee…
data-mm-id=”_4oq5q0acw”>The Washington Football Team now has a new quarterback in the form of journeyman and cult hero Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, also known as Fitzmagic or Fitztragic depending on the day, has spent the last few seasons enjoying the sun in South Beach with the Dolphins. The weather might be a bit (okay, a lot) worse in the DMV, but I'm sure the $10 million he'll be receiving to make the move makes that particular aspect easier to deal with. Fitzpatrick will also have the chance to start for a team that won its division last season. That, admittedly, is less impressive when the division in question was the NFC East and the Football Team won only six football games in that effort. Nevertheless! They gave the eventual champion Buccaneers all they could handl…
data-mm-id=”_ck2z9u72a”>No one is quite sure what's going on with Ohio State basketball this season but there's no beating around the bush, the Buckeyes flat-out stink. They lost at home to Penn State Thursday night and fell to 11-17 on the season and 3-14 in the Big Ten. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Buckeyes finished the game with one of the more embarrassing sequences we've seen in college basketball this season. After Penn State's Jalen Pickett made two free throws to extend the Nittany Lions' lead to 75-71 with 28 seconds remaining, Ohio State brought the ball up the floor looking for a bucket. Sean McNeil took it on the right wing, dribbled to the middle of the floor and fired a 3-pointer with roughly 21 seconds to go. He missed badly off the fr…
data-mm-id=”_d4tbi5pj7″>The New York Jets' season simply cannot begin soon enough because the coverage is a straight-up challenge, bordering on the absurd and it's going to be great to see how all of these lofty expectations and bold predictions hold up. This morning Get Up called our attention to Aaron Rodgers' Instagram stories, which yesterday featured a post about loving his wide receivers who wear No. 17. He tagged Davante Adams. He tagged Garrett Wilson. And if you hover your clicker over Rodgers' butt — if that's something you're into — you will discover he also tagged his former left tackle David Bakhtiari.It could be a rear end joke or it could mean something. Harry Douglas believes it's the latter. "He is not going to send…
data-mm-id=”_ky3qsxff4″>New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh is a big fan of defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, and hates that some are judging him by his sack numbers. When discussing Williams' value, Saleh claimed we live in a society where sack production is used to measure how good a defensive player is and that those numbers shouldn't actually matter. He's right. Here's what Saleh had to say:Coach Saleh on looking past just sack numbers with DT Quinnen Williams' 2023 season. pic.twitter.com/aS49oAAXSN— New York Jets (@nyjets) November 8, 2023Williams currently has 0.5 sacks this season, but Pro Football Focus gives him a grade of 90.0 for the campaign. The 25-year-old is arguably one of the NFL's five best players, which is why the Jets gave him a …
data-mm-id=”_l3vpzb787″>The Dallas Cowboys are currently getting hammered by the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs. The Packers raced to a 27-0 lead before giving up a touchdown on the final play of the first half. But, here's the thing, it shouldn't have counted. Officials missed an obvious false start on the Cowboys that should have wiped it off the board. Packers coach Matt LaFleur spotted it and was furious. The Cowboys faced second-and-goal from Green Bay's one-yard line with six seconds left in the half. Before Dak Prescott snapped the ball, left guard Tyler Smith jumped. It wasn't called. Prescott was able to complete a short pass to tight end Jake Ferguson for the touchdown. Here's the play:The Cowboys score with no time left …