
Justin Verlander's Contract Is a Time Bomb
Justin Verlander is a hot name at the MLB trade deadline but his contract is a mess.
2023-08-01 07:49

2023 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Canceled Because of Lightning, Pouring Rain
VIDEO: Hard rain, lightning cancel hot dog contest.
2023-07-05 01:21

NFL rumors: 3 teams that need to trade for Chase Young before it's too late
Entering a contract year with the Washington Commanders, Chase Young could be on the move.As strange as this sounds, Chase Young could be potentially on his way out of the nation's capital.The former No. 2 overall pick of the now Washington Commanders flourished in his rookie year out o...
2023-06-10 23:19

Manchester United captaincy is a heavy burden but Bruno Fernandes is the only choice
There are times when managing Manchester United does not seem the only impossible job at Old Trafford. The captaincy comes with an armband, a status and a guarantee of criticism, some of it from the club’s most iconic skipper. Even when Bruno Fernandes took an unselfish approach, a player sometimes accused of shooting too much deciding another needed a goal more and allowing Marcus Rashford to end his drought from the penalty spot at Everton on Sunday, a gesture did not bring universal acclaim. “Absolute bloody rubbish,” said Roy Keane, the uncompromising pragmatist who took the view that goals should not be gifted. Paul Ince has suggested Fernandes should be stripped of the captaincy. Gary Neville has been outspoken about the Portuguese in both last season’s 7-0 thrashing at Anfield and last month’s 3-0 Manchester derby defeat, seeing his complaints to referees as whingeing and has accused him of trying to hurt John Stones. Meanwhile, Harry Maguire, who tended to be savaged by Keane, who appeared affronted by the idea the centre-back was his successor, is now enjoying a personal renaissance now back in the ranks after Erik ten Hag demoted him in the summer. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claimed that, during his reign as manager, a couple of players turned down the United captaincy. When elevated by Ten Hag, Fernandes accepted it. When asked about Rashford’s spot kick at Goodison Park, the Dutchman took a very different stance from Keane. “I want to emphasise it’s great leadership: to understand your teammate needs a goal and you have confidence in each other to give the penalty away,” the United manager said. Meanwhile, Fernandes himself shrugged off the latest furore. “Obviously you don’t like to be criticised, everyone is the same, but at the same time I have to do what I think is the best for my team,” he said. “Probably I am not always right but in my head at the moment is the right choice, so I do it.” There is a sense, too, that he has to be the right choice for the job. The United captaincy in recent years has often resided with the aged and the injured, the out of form and the out of the team. Fernandes is an automatic choice who appears immune to injuries. Ten Hag spent some of last season claiming United had plenty of leaders. But one of them, David de Gea, is gone; another, Raphael Varane, has lost his place in the side, even though a third, Lisandro Martinez, is injured. A fourth, Casemiro, is sidelined but also apparently in decline. Rashford is quieter and has been out of sorts. It leaves Fernandes, but if he can look captain by default, he believes he has widespread backing inside Old Trafford. “Now there is the captaincy, there is going to be always something,” he said. “The team, the staff, everyone who works with me day by day, I think they are pretty happy with me. The way I am is the same since I arrived at the club. It has not changed since being captain. I don’t think it has to change. I am really open with everyone so no one until now has had a problem with me.” Keane does. But Fernandes’ initial experience of United, as he made a stunning start, was largely of praise. “It is quite normal when you play for Manchester United you are going to get criticised, even if you do well or bad, if you do the wrong or the right thing,” Fernandes rationalised. “I just have to deal with that. It is normal since I arrived at the club. In the beginning was everything perfect, because when you arrive in the first game if you do something different than anyone else is doing, is going be all flowers. “But after that I understand the tough part is always coming, because when the result is not coming, when the performances are not what everyone expects to be, because the expectations are always higher and higher. I know since I arrived at the club my numbers made myself a target so not keeping the same numbers on goals and assists is sometimes a problem for me in the criticism.” Those numbers peaked at 28 goals and 17 assists in 2020-21; it is the outstanding season any United player has had since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Perhaps it was unsustainable; so far in the current campaign, Fernandes has a more modest four of each, but three of his goals have been winners. If he was appointed to lead by example, a night when United could exit the Champions League, a game against Galatasaray when they are without Rashford, Casemiro and Martinez, among others, is the sort of fixture that calls for inspirational captaincy. But, as Fernandes recognised, the days when it was all flowers for him are long gone. Read More Bruno Fernandes excited for ‘amazing’ atmosphere at Galatasaray What is VAR, how does it work and what are the biggest problems? Roy Keane derides ‘absolute rubbish’ from Erik ten Hag after Man United win Bruno Fernandes talks up Alejandro Garnacho after stunning goal at Everton What Alejandro Garnacho needs to achieve Man Utd greatness Alejandro Garnacho has the potential to do some amazing things – Erik ten Hag
2023-11-29 00:22

Malaysian duo win marathon 211-shot rally at Masters
Thinaah Muralitharan threw her racket in the air and Pearly Tan got down on all fours to catch her breath after the women's doubles duo survived a 211-shot rally at the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament on Thursday.
2023-05-26 18:18

Bankrupt Arizona Youth Sports Park Says Former Manager Misspent Funds
A management firm overseeing the development of a 320-acre youth sports complex in Arizona ended up overspending and
2023-07-26 01:56

Man Utd miss yet another crucial turning point to lurch to new crisis levels
For all that Erik ten Hag discussed refereeing decisions in public, he struck a different tone in the privacy of the Parken dressing room. “It will turn,” he told his Manchester United players. “One moment in the season it will turn in our favour." The assertiveness was at least striking, but it's hard to know whether that still has the same effect. If only his team were so sure of themselves. This is why it’s difficult to have much faith in what the Manchester United manager said in the aftermath of another farcical defeat, this time 4-3 to Copenhagen. Ten Hag argued that so many individual moments and decisions are going against his team but, even if that’s true, it doesn’t feel like that is the main factor in these miserable results. It is more how vulnerable United repeatedly look after those moments go against them. They are a team that plays under a huge weight - of history, of form, of expectation. It clearly feeds into a huge anxiety. They become a team that plays with fear. The problem with Ten Hag’s “one moment” is that it’s become evident that moment can be so quickly undone by what follows. It could even be argued that's repeatedly what's happened. They've arguably already had a series of such moments, from Rasmus Hojlund's goal against Galatasaray to Andre Onana's penalty save against Copenhagen and Bruno Fernandes' penalty strike in Parken. They were all squandered. Worse than squandered. Such reprieves were just followed by collapses that were all the more exquisite in their haplessness. That’s how United can somehow come up with new calamities that are different to the last. It is genuinely remarkable for a club this wealthy and this distinguished. There’s always some new farce around the corner. That plays into what is almost the most alarming prospect right now. In situations like this, the tendency is usually to survey the fixture list and see where you might pick up points. For United, though, any notionally forgiving game just raises the prospect for more punishment; more criticism. This match at Parken was the ninth defeat in 17, after all. It was also a case in point. Copenhagen are a well-run and smart club that are clearly overperforming but the vast gap in resources means it should still be the sort of game that allows United to settle, while setting them on the way to second place in the group. Worse, that was actually exactly what it was, in two separate spells. United were 2-0 up and cruising and then 3-2 up and comfortable. How it went from those situations to raucous Copenhagen celebrations… United’s capacity for calamity is now a direct inverse of their old ability to win out of nothing. It’s not quite a sense of inevitability in the same way but it is that constant possibility something can go badly wrong. Copenhagen, as their manager Jacob Neestrup virtually admitted, could smell it. They felt the opportunity. And, again, Ten Hag can fairly point to so many decisions going against him like that Marcus Rashford red card; like the offside in front of Andre Onana. It’s just that, rather than competently see out the game in the way a side as expensively assembled as United should, there was that knowledge that this was about to get interesting. Rather than any kind of control, chaos once more engulfed United. There are other reasons for this than just basic psychology. Ten Hag doesn’t have the team playing as he wants. There have been personnel issues, especially with injuries. But, even there, what of a relatively expensive signing like Raphael Varane? How could a player as accomplished as that produce a performance as bad as this? That late attempt at a pass said so much, while setting the tone for what followed. This game perhaps laid bare that Ten Hag simply wasn't picking him because he just wasn’t at the level. Instead, the Leicester City central defensive partnership from 2019 were chosen to start this crucial Champions League match. That isn’t intended as a slight on either Jonny Evans or Harry Maguire, it’s more just the starkness of what it states about United’s team building. All of this has already been discussed repeatedly over the past few weeks and there’s only so many times you can say the same things without being desensitised, but that’s also the entire point. Even amid all that, United find new ways to astound. As much as players have individual responsibility in all of this, you could forgive each and every one of them thinking what they have got involved with. Likewise Ten Hag, but then he was specifically chosen to turn all of this around; to be transformative. His team right now only seem to be transforming the semblance of competence into yet another collapse. So, a fixture as forgiving as Luton Town at home this weekend isn’t so much a chance to set things back on track but an afternoon fraught with risk. Likewise this Copenhagen match. Likewise a game the entire season could hinge on at Galatasaray. United’s consistent confusion has at least brought a form of clarity there. They know they need to avoid defeat to Galatasary to stay in the Champions League, and prevent a third group stage elimination in six campaigns in the competition. That is just more historical weight to go with that from this fixture in Istanbul. “Welcome to hell” was the infamous banner at that Champions League elimination 30 years ago. United are currently in a strange purgatory. Read More Erik ten Hag rages at ‘three tough decisions’ in Manchester United defeat Manchester United’s latest farce points to an early Champions League exit Copenhagen vs Man Utd LIVE: Champions League result and reaction Manchester United must pass Copenhagen test to stop their Champions League rot Manchester United receive devastating Casemiro injury update Eddie Howe makes no apologies for Newcastle’s no-nonsense approach to winning
2023-11-09 16:48

NFL rumors: Patriots cryptic move, Deshaun Watson replacement, Broncos blowing it up?
With the NFL trade deadline just days away, rumors have yet to crystalize on any sort of substantial trade.
2023-10-27 03:23

Czech Republic beats defending champion Switzerland in group stage of BJK Cup Finals in Spain
The Czech Republic beat defending champion Switzerland on the first day of the group stage at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals on Tuesday
2023-11-08 05:59

BREAKING: Premier League 2023/24 fixtures released
The Premier League have confirmed the fixtures and dates for the upcoming 2023/24 season. Man City kick off the campaign at Burnley on opening night, while Chelsea face Liverpool in the other standout game from the opening weekend.
2023-06-15 16:23

Roundup: Margot Robbie's Massive 'Barbie' Payday; Donald Trump Indicted In Georgia; Jets Sign Dalvin Cook
Margot Robbie is getting a massive payday for "Barbie," Donald Trump indicted in Georgia, the Jets signed Dalvin Cook and more in the Roundup.
2023-08-15 19:28

One of the few competitions in Seahawks camp has Evan Brown leading race to become starting center
Evan Brown hasn’t been handed anything during his time in the NFL
2023-08-09 01:48
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