Carson Wentz is beginning a new chapter of his career with the Indianapolis Colts, and he will apparently be doing it with a new jersey number.
Wentz wore No. 11 with the Philadelphia Eagles and in college at North Dakota State. That number is currently worn by Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., who is entering his second season with the team. In a recent interview with TMZ, Pittman said he did not want to give up No. 11 for Wentz and the quarterback was very understanding.
“I spoke with him, and he was just seeing how locked in I was to No. 11 and I told him I was locked in,” Pittman said. “He was like, ‘That’s cool, bro, because I’m probably gonna switch anyway,’ so it went really well.”
Pittman had nothing but positive things to say about Wentz. He praised the QB for not trying to pressure him to give up the number.
“He didn’t try to press me or anything like that. He asked me very respectfully, and I just appreciated him for that,” Pittman added. “Lots of guys with his status would come in and demand it and stuff like that. I just think he’s a really great dude, and I get to keep 11, so it was a win for me.”
Wentz is coming off a horrible season, and many people have given up on him. He may like the idea of a fresh start with a new number. He also hasn’t really accomplished enough in his career to justify demanding No. 11 with a new team, though it’s somewhat surprising that Pittman isn’t willing to negotiate.
Houston Texans executives have said on multiple occasions now that Deshaun Watson is not going to be traded. Some have chalked that up to media speak, but the team continues to deliver the same message to rivals.
The Texans won’t even listen to offers for Watson, according to Peter King of NBC Sports. At least two teams have made actual offers for Watson, and those offers were not declined. That’s because the Texans gave them zero feedback and have not even bothered to respond in any capacity.
One line of thought is that the Texans are driving up the price for Watson as much as possible by insisting he is untouchable. That could show teams that they need to literally make an offer Houston can’t refuse if they want to land the star quarterback. However, King was told by a source that new Texans general manager Nick Caserio is “categorically opposed to trading Watson, period.”
Texans owner Cal McNair said recently that there is “a lot of misinformation” circulating about the Watson situation. He says he is confident Watson will remain with the team for a very long time.
Assuming Watson is committed to never playing for the Texans again, he may eventually have to hold out. That could cost him a lot of money, but we have seen from his social media activity that he wants nothing to do with the team. Perhaps he is willing to take things that far.
Carson Wentz has quickly gone from one of the most promising young quarterbacks in football to a reclamation project, and it sounds like he did himself few favors with the Philadelphia Eagles last season.
In his latest piece for NBC Sports on Monday, Peter King listed several takeaways from conversations he had with people who were familiar with Wentz’s situation in 2020. One of the takeaways is that the former second overall pick did not respond to coaching and “(tuned) out much of what he was being taught.” Wentz reportedly did not trust Doug Pederson and the Eagles’ coaching staff. The same was true of Wentz’s feelings toward the front office after they drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round last year.
King also noted that Wentz “saw ghosts” and rushed many of his throws because he lost trust in his offensive line.
This is not the first time we have heard that Wentz was upset about the Eagles drafting Hurts. You can understand why, as no young quarterback wants to feel the team is looking to potentially replace him. However, Wentz had an opportunity to respond to that by working even harder and trying to prove he is a franchise cornerstone. Instead, he went the opposite route.
Wentz wanted to go to the Indianapolis Colts because of his relationship with head coach Frank Reich. Time will tell if the two get along better than Wentz did with his former coaches.
Artemi Panarin has given the New York Rangers a much-needed boost since he returned from a lower body injury last week, but the star forward will now have to leave the team amid much different circumstances.
In a news article that was published in Panarin’s home country of Russia on Monday, KHL coach and former NHL player Andrei Nazarov alleges that Panarin beat up an 18-year-old girl at a bar in Riga, Latvia, back in 2011. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that Panarin is taking a leave of absence from the Rangers in the aftermath of the story.
While it is unclear if there is any truth to the allegations, the belief if that the news story was published for political reasons. Panarin has been critical of Russian president Vladimir Putin in the past. Nazarov is a known Putin supporter who once called for the arrest of foreign players who speak negatively about Russia.
Last month, Panarin showed support on social media for those opposing Putin. Brooks says there was fear of retribution.
Retribution was feared after Panarin's Instagram post on 1/21 in support of opposition leader Alexi Navalny with caption "Freedom for Navalny." Panarin, who has family in Russia, has been outspoken against Putin.
The allegations against Panarin are serious, which is likely why he is stepping away from the Rangers for an undisclosed amount of time.
John Tortorella once had to offer a graphic description for why Panarin was absent from the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Panarin’s absence from the Rangers will not be related to injury or illness. The NHL may conduct its own investigation of the Russian media story.
Cam Newton got into it with a high school football player at a 7-on-7 event in South Carolina over the weekend, and the youngster who appeared to instigate the verbal spat has since apologized.
Newton was sponsoring a team at the Myrtle Beach event when Jseth Owens, a junior from Perkiomen Valley High School in Pennsylvania, began heckling him for the rough season Newton had with the New England Patriots. Newton responded by repeatedly telling Owens he’s rich and asking to speak with his father. You can see the video here.
On Sunday night, Owens issued an apology on Twitter (via TMZ):
Owens seemed to indicate he only meant to talk a little trash to Newton. He said he “let my competitive side get the best of me” and that he “never meant to humiliate & let anyone down.”
Newton also addressed the incident. He shared a video on Instagram that showed him trying to have a serious conversation with Owens after the two got into it. The conversation ended with Newton chatting with someone who looked like a coach from the high schooler’s tournament team.
Tom Brady made it clear over the weekend that he is already bored now that football season has ended, and IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi has offered one way to help the seven-time Super Bowl champion pass the time.
Brady sent a tweet on Sunday sarcastically asking his nearly 2 million Twitter followers what he is supposed to do with himself for the next five months. Rossi, who is apparently a huge fan of No. 12, called Brady’s attention to the IndyCar race that will be held in St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 25. Rossi even offered to let Brady stay with him.
Brady has fans all across the realm of sports, and many of them are fellow professionals. We saw a great example of that when Red Sox slugger JD Martinez showed up to spring training on Sunday in this hilarious Brady T-shirt.
If Brady is free at the end of April, he now has at least one offer on the table.
Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have done it! Treat yourself or a friend with this great Tampa Fiesta shirt. You can buy it here.
The Minnesota Timberwolves made a big head coaching move on Sunday night, and Damian Lillard is disappointed with it.
The Timberwolves announced the firing of Ryan Saunders amid a 7-24 campaign, which is the worst record in the league. But then reports said they planned to hire Raptors assistant Chris Finch in his place.
The move is odd, as most of the time when a coach is fired, they are replaced by an interim coach already on the staff. In this case, Minnesota talked with someone outside the organization, who will be taking over midseason. It’s a highly unusual situation.
Lillard was upset that David Vanterpool wasn’t hired instead, considering he’s an assistant already on the staff.
How the hell do you not hire David Vanterpool and he’s right there on the bench… and has been in front office SUCCESSFULLY and on the front of a bench of a winning team SUCCESSFULLY (7 years) … and also has played a major role in the development of a dominant backcourt smdh!
Vanterpool, 47, was an assistant with Lillard’s Blazers from 2012-2017, which explains why Dame is stumping for him.
I don’t know him to have nothin against him. Congrats to him… but I’m sorry Vanterpool is a coach that I know for sure is needed in these locker rooms. I speak the real …not favorites… respectfully https://t.co/vtvsYfK1d2
Seattle Mariners president and CEO Kevin Mather issued a statement of apology on Sunday night after a video featuring his comments to a local rotary club went viral earlier in the day.
Mather visited with the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club on Feb. 5, though the video wasn’t uploaded to YouTube until Friday. Contents of the video started to spread online Sunday.
In the video, Mather gave inside information to the club members on the Mariners’ financial situation, contract talks with various players, and short and long-term plans for many of the team’s prospects.
Mather talked like he was just having a beer with some friends at a bar. He ended up getting one of the team’s player’s name wrong; saying a prospect wouldn’t be called up this year and that the prospect’s English wasn’t great; divulging plans about Kyle Seager; and saying that he didn’t like paying a salary for one of the team’s former pitcher’s translators.
All of that culminated in Mather’s statement of apology.
Mather tried to say that his comments didn’t represent the team’s views and strategies, which is hard to believe since he’s the CEO. He also said he spent a lot of time trying to smooth out things out and apologize to those he upset with his comments.
Mather just got too candid in his meeting and got burned when his comments went public. It remains to be seen whether he keeps his position with the team.
Barry Bonds once received the ultimate sign of respect as a hitter.
Bonds is arguably the greatest hitter of all time and had an OPS of at least .999 in every season from 1992-2007. That means Bonds on average collected at least one base for every plate appearance. So when he came up to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and his team down two in a 1998 game, Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter decided to issue him a free pass. Yes, Showalter decided giving a guaranteed run to the Giants was better than letting Bonds try to tie the game or win it.
During an interview with Dominic Smith, Bonds shared that he was “shocked” at the Diamondbacks’ actions.
“I was shocked at first! Probably if I go back in the film and look at it, I looked in the dugout and was like ‘what the heck is going on here?’ First time, never seen it happen before. I was feeling really good at the time, feeling pretty locked in at the time,” Bonds told Smith.
Showalter’s decision paid off. Though the Bonds walk made it 8-7, Brett Mayne lined out next to end the game.
10 years later, history repeated as then-Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon intentionally walked Josh Hamilton with the bases loaded in the 9th inning of a game. Tampa Bay won that game too.
"I was shocked at first!"@BarryBonds was just as shocked as the rest of us when he was intentionally walked with the bases loaded
The Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday announced a big head coach change.
The Timberwolves fired Ryan Saunders as head coach and plan to replace him with Chris Finch.
“We would like to thank Ryan for his time and commitment to the Timberwolves organization and wish him the best in the future,” Timberwolves president Gersson Rosas said in a statement. “These are difficult decisions to make, however this change is in the best interest of the organization’s short and long-term goals.”
The team said in its news release that they would have more news on the head coach situation.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says the Timberwolves and Finch are expected to have a multiyear deal finalized on Monday. Finch is in his first season as an assistant on the Toronto Raptors’ staff. Finch and Rosas worked together in Houston.
Minnesota lost 103-99 to the Knicks on Sunday night, dropping them to a league-worst 7-24. Saunders took over for Tom Thibodeau in 2019 but the team’s record had steadily decreased since then. Now they are making a change.
