MLS fans told stop taking Lionel Messi ‘for granted’ as they ‘will never see the likes again’

data-mm-id=”_x414k8hlr”>Your power rankings for Week 16 of the NFL season. 32. Cincinnati Bengals (1-13)New England Patriots v Cincinnati Bengals / Michael Hickey/Getty ImagesEveryone in Cincinnati, from fans to front office personnel, are just counting down the days until Joe Burrow gets up on that stage at this point. 31. Washington Redskins (3-11)Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Redskins / Will Newton/Getty ImagesTerry McLaurin is a certified stud. Otherwise there's not a lot to like, although I'm of the opinion Dwayne Haskins should get some more time to develop. We'll see what the offseason brings in terms of front office changes. 30. Miami Dolphins (3-11)Miami Dolphins v New York Giants / Elsa/Getty ImagesIf the Dolphins can avoid winning any more games, they&#039…

data-mm-id=”_5tlqj0gna”>One by one, America's cities and states are deploying executive action to shut down bars and dine-in service for restaurants to limit the spread of coronavirus. If it can happen in our nation's three biggest cities — New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago — it's a solid bet that by the end of the week there will be scant territories in which you can enjoy a watering hole or a nice communal meal.The service industry is going to be far from alone as far as suffering businesses are concerned when the collateral damage of this is all said and done. But it's a safe bet that if there is not a large bailout from the government at the state and/or federal level, many of our favorite bars and restaurants will perish. And the impact would not end there. …

data-mm-id=”_75184ckf9″>Wisconsin fans have been itching to sloppily give a first-impression rose to any quarterback who shows any signs of being more than a glorified game-manager since Russell Wilson, so the debut of Graham Mertz felt like love at first sight. All the freshman did was complete all but one of his 21 passes for 248 yards and five touchdowns as the Badgers destroyed Lovie Smith and Illinois, 45-7. Going gaga, in this particular case, is probably quite warranted. A dynamic playmaker under center has been missing for too long and Mertz is the highest-rated quarterback to matriculate over in Madison in a while. With an extremely favorable schedule, it's looking like another year where Wisconsin only has to hold serve to reach the Big Ten championship game. Plenty of s…

data-mm-id=”_6a2fyuyfr”>Peyton Manning's one adventure into free agency was a doozy. The Athletic published an oral history of the saga today, and it's filled with great nuggets of information, including that Jim Harbaugh is a big fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Real salt of the earth guy between that and the khakis. What really stood out in the piece was the NFL's cloak-and-dagger attitude and the insanity that is the media following superstars around. Manning landed in Miami right after his exit press conference with the Indianapolis Colts and asked a poor airport bus driver to help him avoid the hordes of reporters and the helicopter that followed him around. When Manning visited Denver, then-head coach John Fox made all of his assistants stick around the b…

data-mm-id=”_tvxzpvcnx”>The NFL season is upon us, and so is fantasy football, baby. This year will be unlike any other and we all might be forced to get real active on the waiver wire real soon as players go down with injuries due to lack of conditioning after the shortened training camp period or test positive for COVID-19. Hopefully no one does and we are faced with a regular ol' fantasy football season, but 2020 has often proven to have other plans. Regardless, we're back for your weekly fantasy football waiver wire pickup column. Here are the five best options after Week 1's slate of rising stars and tumbling disappointments. (All stats via ESPN PPR leagues) Nyheim Hines / Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesNyheim Hines, Indianapolis Colts (Available in 65 Percent of ESPN Le…

data-mm-id=”_zubvblfeq”>There's nothing particularly revelatory in a story about Mike Tirico being skilled at a broadcasting job. In fact, it's the definition of a dog-bites-man situation. But it is funny to picture a road-weary Mike Greenberg scrambling to get to a remote set in Cleveland because his emergency fill-in was doing so well that he feared the brass would simply replace him. The year was 2015 and the Cavaliers were in the NBA Finals. Mike & Mike was to take place at Progressive Field because corporate synergy rules everything. Except Greenberg's flight was canceled and he had to fly out early in the morning. Tirico, already on-site for ESPN Radio, magnanimously agreed for the 6 a.m. call time and performed more than capably. Which caused a bit of a proble…

data-mm-id=”_6p0vwo1ja”>The Packers confounded everyone and drove Aaron Rodgers into the tender arms of tequila when they moved up to select quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Love didn't look great in training camp and Rodgers wound up winning the 2020 NFL MVP, so yeah, that pick was bad. Today the Packers ensured their second pick in the 2020 draft would also remain a backup (barring injury) for the foreseeable future when they signed running back Aaron Jones to a four-year, $48 million deal. With the rest of their 2020 draft class coming off uninspiring rookie seasons, it's fair to wonder if the Packers' entire 2020 class will wind up being a dud. The Packers' nine draft picks in 2020 started a combined seven games last season and t…

data-mm-id=”_6a9872hmc”>NBA All-Star Weekend has come and gone which means we only have a couple more days to discuss how bad everything is and suggest ridiculous fixes. In the wake of a good dunk contest thanks to Mac McClung and Trey Murphy III, a popular narrative is to suggest that McClung "saved" the dunk contest, but we cannot forget those who ruined it in the first place. If you asked Stephen A. Smith, that's LeBron James. Stephen A. went on a five-minute rant for Brian Windhorst on First Take this morning. "[LeBron] has ruined the slam dunk contest."—@stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/n8bDMM4XCP— First Take (@FirstTake) February 20, 2023If you don't want to watch the whole thing, here's the gist of it. McClung was great and white men can jump,…

data-mm-id=”_s4xcamfw1″>NFL news is broken by the same small group of reporters 99 percent of the time. But one percent of the time the news comes from somewhere weird and unexpected. One of those instances went a bit under the radar last year when a random Reddit user by the name of u/josh_rosen posted to the NFL subreddit that Christian McCaffrey was on the verge of being traded to the San Francisco 49ers ahead of last year's trade deadline. While the actual text of the post has been deleted the post itself is still up and is dated October 20, 2022. Adam Schefter tweeted the deal was done on October 21. Of course, this does not mean there is a secret 49ers insider lurking on Reddit. Anybody can throw something at the wall and claim credit if it sticks. But it is interesting that…

data-mm-id=”_5irvtwyy8″>Major League Baseball's winter meetings are underway in Scottsdale and that means we're likely to see some offseason movement. We'll also be getting interesting quotes from front office people and New York Yankees vice president an general manager Brian Cashman was first up on Tuesday. While talking to the assembled press, Cashman boasted that, despite what some have said, the Yankees aren't an "analytically-driven" organization. Video below:Brian Cashman pushes back on the notion that the Yankees are an "analytically-driven" organization: pic.twitter.com/ngbcPuB4XD— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) November 7, 2023Kind of a weird flex.I'm not sure if downplaying your team's use of analytics is the smart mo…