With Cal’s bowl hopes dwindling and the offense struggling to put up points, 245-pound inside linebacker Evan Weaver suddenly turned into a wide receiver and saved the day. With less than 30 seconds to go in the third quarter, he made a leaping interception at the Washington 37-yard line, then dodged a host of would-be tacklers. Forced
This week, it wasn’t the good, the bad and the ugly. It was more like, the ugly, the uglier and the ugliest — with just enough good thrown in to make everyone tune in again next week. Here’s how things break down for the Bears in their 42-24 loss to the Ducks. The Good(ish) Despite
With both the A’s and the Giants in contention for the playoffs and with the All-Star break coming up, Saturday night’s game felt more like it belonged in October than in July. The Giants batted for their starting pitcher, Jeff Samardzija, in the bottom of the fourth inning to take advantage of a runner on
Madison Bumgarner came into Friday night’s game with a 3.01 career ERA, three World Series rings, a World Series MVP, a $12 million salary, an endorsement deal with Ford and Cy Young votes, all with the San Francisco Giants. Meanwhile, A’s starter Edwin Jackson has played for 13 teams, with a 4.65 career ERA, and
In his first three starts this year, Oakland Athletics pitcher Frankie Montas allowed just three runs total. In his fourth start, against the Houston Astros on Thursday, he’d given up that many runs by the third inning. It was a rough outing for a pitcher who had astounded in his first few starts, compiling a
OAKLAND — After Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Kansas City Royals, Oakland Athletics starter Paul Blackburn said that he was dealing with all kinds of nerves. When do the nerves leave? “When I’m done,” Blackburn said. After missing the first two months of the season due to injury due to a forearm strain, Blackburn came off the
The first 20 minutes of Game 1 between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals were scoreless. But just 12 seconds into the second period, Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins the lead. And just 52 seconds later, he doubled it. In a series that had been billed as “Crosby vs. Ovechkin — Round 10,000,” this game lived up
The Pittsburgh Penguins couldn’t even make it onto the ice for the puck drop in Game 1 before the injury bug that has hurt the team all season struck once again. With about eight minutes left to go in warmups, expected starting goaltender Matt Murray left the ice with what appeared to be lower body injury and
Today was going to be the day. It was going to be the day the Pittsburgh Steelers finally beat the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game to get a spot in the Super Bowl. It was going to be the day Ben Roethlisberger finally proved himself against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. It
I appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” to talk about a piece I wrote on domestic violence in the NFL.
I’ve been a football fan for as long as I can remember. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I was spewing QBR and DVOA ratings in the crib. And, until recently, I’ve never questioned my loyalty to football or wondered why I spend so much of my time praying at its altar on Sunday
On Thursday, the long-awaited conversation between James Harrison and the NFL regarding PED allegations made in an Al Jazeera America report finally happened. The meeting lasted about 45 minutes, at the Steelers’ training facility. Harrison — and Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, also named in the report — have claimed the allegations
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