Month: October 2022

Join RJ Young and special guests for a Live Tailgate Party of Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” game between No. 4 Michigan and Iowa.

The Warriors forward is coming off two major knee surgeries in the last three years.

Klay Thompson is entering training camp fully healthy for the first time in a long time, and he was careful to make sure that was the case all summer.

The Warriors forward didn’t play in the team’s game in Japan vs. the Wizards. In fact, he hasn’t played much since the team won the NBA Finals in June.

“I didn’t play a lot this summer,” he said. “It was hard, especially what I went through the last summer I was healthy, popping my achilles, it was really hard for me to get out there.”

Thompson mentioned that it’s tough to really express the issue that he faced all summer regarding playing basketball, but he is confident that he will get over it at some point.

“It’s hard to explain, it’s like a mental block in a way,” he said. “I’m going to face it one day but this season was so taxing coming back, it was hard.”

From 2019–20, Thompson dealt with two major knee injuries. First, he had to recover from the torn ACL he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. Then, while he was almost fully recovered in the summer of 2020, Thompson tore his Achilles during a pickup game before the season began. It’s that second injury that has been so hard for him to get over.

• Get your seats to Golden State Warriors games with SI Tickets

While Thompson is disappointed he didn’t play in the Warriors exhibition overseas, he understands that the team wants him fully healthy for the year. And, through all of his doubts over the summer, he had just as much excitement for the upcoming season.

“I feel great, I’m excited for the season,” he said, “It’s hard to put into words how excited I am.”

More NBA Coverage:

• LeBron James, Kevin Love and Draymond Green To Buy Pickleball Team
• Blake Griffin Signs One-Year Deal With Celtics, per Report
• Five Takeaways From NBA Training Camp
• Inside The Warriors: Best Highlights From Warriors vs. Wizards Japan Game

For more Golden State Warriors coverage, go to Inside The Warriors. 

An impressive derby triumph over Tottenham is the latest notch in the belt for Mikel Arteta’s first-place side.

The question running through the start of this season for Arsenal was whether its lofty position was actually down to significant improvement or whether it had been flattered by the fixture list. A 3–1 win over Tottenham in Saturday’s North London Derby perhaps provided something approaching an answer—as well as ensuring Arsenal will end the weekend top of the table, no matter what happens in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

Last season, Arsenal won just three of 10 games against the rest of the Big Six. Its first game against a top side this season, away at Manchester United, provided ammunition for both sides of the debate. It played well in long patches, but still lost. There were few questions about ability, but major concerns about application. But in Saturday’s derby, under pressure, Arsenal found a resilience to go along with its pleasing attacking patterns.

If there is a question now, it is about Tottenham, with its unbeaten record gone. Yes, it is a far stronger opponent than the demoralized unit Arsenal beat in the same fixture last season, but Antonio Conte could really do with his side playing cohesively; getting results when playing poorly is only really of value if there is good form at the end of it.

The first half played out almost as a pastiche of pre-game expectations. Arsenal was vibrant and inventive. Its extra man in midfield allowed it to dominate the ball, and both Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus caused chaos with runs behind Emerson Royal. Martinelli hit the post early on, and had it not been for some hurried balls into the box, Arsenal could have been commandingly ahead within the first quarter-hour. As it was, the opening goal didn’t come until the 20th minute, with Thomas Partey capitalizing on being gifted far too much space outside the box to sweep in his first of the season after a patient passing move.

But Arsenal, for all the fight it has shown in certain games this season, is not a side yet that can quite be trusted—as was apparent at United. And Tottenham is a side adept at making the most of the occasional counter. The first time Son Heung-min got a run at the defense, there was panic. His pass to Richarlison was overhit, but the Brazilian kept the ball alive and, after a cross toward Harry Kane had been half-cleared, he was felled by a needless lunge from Gabriel Magalhães. Kane clipped the penalty past his England teammate Aaron Ramsdale to become the Premier League’s leading goalscorer in London derbies.

Arsenal’s biggest hurdle, it has seemed for a number of seasons, is itself. It has not dealt well with adversity, which is why its record against the best sides is so poor. With little capacity to fight, a small differential in quality can lead to a big differential of outcome. Past Arsenals might have wilted upon Kane’s equalizer, but this side has shown hints this season that it is developing a backbone.

The second half began well for Arteta’s side, in part because of a Tottenham error, but the mistake came because of the pressure Arsenal exerted. It was Bukayo Saka who started it, cutting in from the right and hitting a low shot that Hugo Lloris parried. Rather than pushing the ball out of danger, though, he deflected it into the middle of the goalmouth, where it cannoned off Cristian Romero. Lloris perhaps should have dealt better with the rebound, but the ball slipped through his grasp and Gabriel Jesus pounced for his fifth goal of the season. Arsenal has won all four of the Premier League matches in which he has scored.

It was what followed, though, that was truly impressive. Arsenal controlled the game, was rather better at holding possession than it had been in the first half, and took a decisive grasp of the match when Royal was sent off for an ugly stamp on Martinelli after 62 minutes. Royal is a player who has divided opinion for some time but his supporters are dwindling by the day. He has always been a clumsy player, defined more by energy and effort than by subtlety, but he was badly exposed defensively by Martinelli, his foul seemingly born of frustration.

The third goal came five minutes later, Granit Xhaka, so improved this season in a more advanced position, capitalizing from another Martinelli surge. At that, the game was done, something Conte seemed to accept with a series of defensive substitutions apparently aimed at damage limitation and keeping players fresh for Tuesday’s Champions League match at Eintracht Frankfurt.

The 3–1 scoreline may have been the same as last season, but for Arsenal this felt a whole lot more impressive. Arteta might actually be restoring his side to the elite.

More Soccer Coverage:

• Ten Hag Backs Maguire to Find His Form at Man United
• Wilson: England’s Struggles Heap Pressure on Southgate Before World Cup
• England Relegated in UEFA Nations League With Last-Place Finish

When former Lions offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby the injury to the Dolphins’ quarterback, it brought back memories of his own health issues and alleged mistreatment by the team.

As fans sat in silence at Paycor Stadium when Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa laid on the ground after hitting his head during a tackle made by Bengals nose tackle Josh Tupou, it brought back a memory for Lions offensive lineman Tyrell Crosby.

In August 2021, Detroit waived Crosby, a former fifth-round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, after he played in 38 games for the Lions.

But with the addition of Penei Sewell in last year’s NFL draft and Taylor Decker under contract, Crosby’s future was in jeopardy. The 27-year-old had suffered a hamstring injury during training camp that affected his play during Detroit’s preseason action ahead of the 2021 season.

On Thursday night, after seeing Tagovailoa stretchered off the field with head and neck injuries—just four days after seeing him leave the game against the Bills before returning after he cleared the league’s concussion protocol—Crosby reflected on his own experience with NFL medical staff.

According to Crosby, before he played in his final preseason game against the Colts, he and his agent knew something was wrong with his back. When he asked Detroit’s medical team to look at his back, he said he was turned away each time. “Even when they did the follow up mri on my hamstring I asked three different people … if I could have my low back checked out while I was in the [sic] MRI machine. Shockingly enough, they never did,” Crosby tweeted.

“I had damn near a whole medical staff look me in my eyes and tell me nothing was wrong with my spine,” Crosby continued. “Then management tell me [sic] I’m faking my back pain. Even after a SPINE SPECIALIST informed them my spine was severely damaged.”

Crosby added that after he took an epidural shot in 2021, he suffered from headaches and often felt horrible. He said that would inform the Lions interim trainer of those issues but nothing happened from the exchanges between the two. 

“He would essentially just tell me he hopes it gets better. … And from there reached out to someone from the hospital and had to schedule a blood patch because through Web MD I realized I was having spinal fluid leak from my epidural shot,” Crosby tweeted.

A few days later, after many attempts to communicate his pains, Crosby added that the trainer called him acting “baffled” that he was in “such torturous misery and acted like it was my fault for not communicating it to him even [sic] though everyday I told him I had a bad headache.”

Crosby later tweeted that he made “these comments as someone who is physically and mentally dealing with the realization my health will never be the same again at only 27 and the negligence of a professional medical staff and the selfishness of a teams management played an instrumental role in that.”

He added a link to an All Lions story about the team firing head athletic trainer Dave Granito last August, saying, “Teams will happily do just enough to say they tried and cover themselves legally. Rather than actually take care of the player. Then if the medical staff does try to put the players health first, they will just fire them. I.E. Dave Granito.”

Crosby had spinal fusion surgery last December, and has been advised by some doctors to give up football entirely, as he works through a year-long rehab. As of July, when he spoke to the Detroit Free-Press about his injuries and the end of his Lions tenure, he had not been able to lift weights in a year. He recounted general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell saying he was “bad for the team” because of sitting out 2021 OTAs, and said that Holmes later “sarcastically thanked” him for “playing through an injury that I thought I had,” when the team waived him.

“In all honesty, it made me just put in reflective of like why the team has been the way it’s been,” he said. “They truly just don’t care about the players, and it’s so disheartening to say that because those first three years, I truly loved every moment of it. And just have been so, for me, incredibly grateful for that opportunity.”

The NFLPA launched an investigation into Miami’s handling of Tagovailoa’s concussion check on Sunday after he returned to the game against Buffalo. Following Thursday’s injuries, NFL players association executive director DeMaurice Smith told reporters that the players union plans to “pursue every legal option” as it continues its investigation into how the injury to Tagovailoa was handled over the last week.

More NFL Coverage:

• New Jersey Representative Demands Answers About Tagovailoa
• Why It’s Important to Ask the Right Questions Surrounding Tua
• Smith: NFLPA Will ‘Pursue Every Legal Option’ in Tua Tagovailoa Situation
• Ravens’ Harbaugh ‘Couldn’t Believe’ Tagovailoa’s Injury Situation

Some college football fans may find themselves in a tough spot when this weekend’s games get underway.

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Some college football fans may have a tougher time than others when they try to turn on the Week 5 slate of games this weekend. 

Dish Network pulled all of Disney’s 20 television channels off of their satellite television service and Sling TV after the two companies failed to renew their carriage deal on Friday. The contract between the two companies expired at midnight PT on Sept. 30, prompting Dish to make the significant move just before a Saturday filled with college football.

According to Dish, Disney asked for a $1 billion increase in fees and declined Dish’s offer for a contract extension. Dish also claimed that Disney is demanding that ESPN and ESPN2 be included in Dish TV packages that currently exclude sports channels, in addition to requiring users to have and pay for local channels.

“Disney has exploited its market position to increase fees without regard for the public viewing experience,” Brian Neylon, EVP and group president of Dish TV, said in a statement. “Clearly, Disney insists on prioritizing greed above American viewers, especially sports fans and families with children who watch their content.”

Disney responded, saying that Dish rejected its “fair, market-based” offer for continuing to carry the networks.

“After months of negotiating in good faith, Dish has declined to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us for continued distribution of our networks,” Disney said in a statement, per Variety. “As a result, their Dish and Sling TV subscribers have lost access to our unrivaled portfolio of live sports and news plus kids, family and general entertainment programming from the ABC-owned television stations, the ESPN networks, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX networks, the National Geographic channels and BabyTV.”

The statement continued: “The rates and terms we are seeking reflect the marketplace and have been the foundation for numerous successful deals with pay-TV providers of all types and sizes across the country. We’re committed to reaching a fair resolution, and we urge Dish to work with us in order to minimize the disruption to their customers.”

The full list of Disney-owned networks affected by the blackout are: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Disney XD, Freeform, FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, ACC Network, SEC Network, Longhorn Network and Baby TV.

ABC-owned locals that have been removed from Dish and Sling TV are: Chicago (WLS), Fresno, Calif. (KFSN), Houston (KTRK), Los Angeles (KABC), New York (WABC), Philadelphia (WPVI), Raleigh, N.C. (WTVD) and San Francisco (KGO).

More College Football Coverage:

• Textile Bowl Back in Death Valley: Top Week 5 College Football Matchups
• Report: UCF vs. SMU to Be Played Wednesday Due to Hurricane
• Week 5 College Football Lines, Odds and Bets

The Mariners no longer own the longest streak without a playoff appearance among the four major sports leagues.

Colin Cowherd gives his betting picks for Week 4 of the NFL season, featuring the Jaguars, Jets and Patriots.

There are countless reasons to be excited for the 2022 World Cup, so Doug McIntyre narrowed them down to 50.

Join RJ Young and special guests for a live watch party of Saturday’s “Big Noon Kickoff” game between No. 4 Michigan and Iowa.