Jalen Hurts is preparing to make his first NFL start this weekend, and the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback had a risky wardrobe selection during one of his video conferences with reporters leading up to the game.
On Thursday, Hurts answered questions from the media while rocking a Houston Astros hat. Hurts was born in Houston, so you can understand why he supports the team. However, some took it to mean he doesn’t quite understand how rabid fans are in Philly just yet.
“I thought about that one as I arrived to the facility,” Hurts admitted. “I got my Phillies stuff now. I got my Phillies jacket, my Sixers jacket, my hats. I’m a little diverse. I can’t forget where I come from, though.”
Hurts explained that he threw up the “H-Town” hand gesture last Sunday after he threw his first career touchdown pass (video here), which was a nod to his hometown.
Expecting players to drop their allegiance to all of their “own” teams just because they play in a certain city has always been kind of silly. That’s just how it is, though, especially in major markets. We have seen NFL players anger fans for similar reasons in the past.
Of course, Hurts can wear whichever hat he wants if he helps the Eagles turn things around and win the NFC East.
Colin Cowherd started some rumors about himself to tease an upcoming announcement.
On Wednesday morning, the host of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” tweeted that his life was about “to get more interesting.”
A day later, OutKick’s Bobby Burack reported that Cowherd is seemingly preparing for a move back to Las Vegas. Burack says Cowherd is shopping for a home and studio space in Sin City.
Cowherd responded with a tweet teasing an announcement the following week.
Cowherd worked for KVBC in Las Vegas early in his sports media career, which is why Vegas would be a return home. Burack also reported that Cowherd’s move to Vegas was related to opportunities in the sports gambling opportunities. That part of the report led to rumors that Cowherd might be working with Barstool Sports in some capacity.
Cowherd’s show airs on both FS1 and FOX Sports Radio/iHeartRadio. He has expressed support for Barstool in the past. In April, Cowherd shared that he bought “a ton” of stock in Penn National Gaming after the stock dropped about 66 percent from its previous 2020 high during the early stages of the pandemic. Penn National Gaming purchased a significant ownership stake Barstool Sports in January at a $450 million valuation.
Cowherd also tweeted on Wednesday to congratulate Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini on the company’s acquisition by Penn earlier in the year.
Cowherd’s investment in Penn has increased nearly six-fold since his April purchase. Penn’s stock has exploded to over $75 as of Thursday’s market close and resulted in an $11 billion market cap. With its large market cap, Barstool has been able to make some large investments, such as signing Deion Sanders.
Would Cowherd be partnering with Barstool in some way?
In 2018, Cowherd re-signed with FS1 and iHeartRadio for four years, meaning he is still likely under contract with them. However, he does have some ownership rights to his show, and he has been able to branch into other areas, such as investing in a restaurant under his name. It’s unclear whether his contract with FOX Sports and iHeartRadio would allow for some partnership with Barstool.
Barstool has entered the space of branded sports books located at Penn National Gaming casino sites. Penn National leases/manages the Tropicana property in Las Vegas and the M Resort in Henderson, Nev., which is south of Las Vegas.
If he’s not working with Barstool, Cowherd could also be moving to Las Vegas as part of gambling initiative related to FOX or possibly his personal brand. Cowherd has created “The Herd Podcasting Network” and could be thinking about a self-branded sportsbook, similar to his restaurants in Southern California. Another possibility is that he could be doing this as a push for FOX Bet, a legal online platform pushed by FOX Sports.
Beyond the sports gambling industry opportunities, another benefit to Cowherd moving to Las Vegas would be the tax breaks. Nevada does not have a state income tax. California’s income tax for those making more than $1 million a year like Cowherd is 13.3 percent. California’s lawmakers have also discussed increasing taxes on the super rich, which could be driving away wealthy job creators like Cowherd.
Geoff Collins gave Pat Narduzzi a weak handshake after Georgia Tech’s 34-20 home loss to Pitt on Thursday night.
Collins’ Yellow Jackets trailed 16-7 at the half and the Panthers only increased their lead thereafter. Collins seemed to be upset about some calls that didn’t go Georgia Tech’s way and then stiffed Narduzzi on the postgame handshake.
So what happened? Narduzzi says he complimented Collins on Georgia Tech’s team. Collins apparently dismissed the compliment and walked off.
Maybe Collins found the compliment insincere and poorly timed considering the outcome. He probably was ticked off about the bad loss and didn’t want Narduzzi’s pity comment.
Pitt finishes the regular season 6-5 and 5-5 in conference, while Georgia Tech finishes 3-7 and 3-6 in conference.
Cam Newton had a poor game in the New England Patriots’ 24-3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night, but it doesn’t sound like the team is making any quarterback changes.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked after the game if he would be switching quarterbacks. Belichick praised the question and gave a definitive answer.
“Great question, really glad you asked that. Cam’s our quarterback,” Belichick said.
It sounds pretty certainly like Belichick is sticking with Cam despite sitting the quarterback down in the fourth quarter. Belichick has been saying the same thing all season, so maybe he figures that backing Newton will help the quarterback’s confidence. Belichick might also believe that the team needs to win with Newton, because Jarrett Stidham is not an improvement.
Newton went 9/16 for 119 yards and an interception that was returned for a touchdown. He rushed seven times for 16 yards. Stidham went 5/7 for 27 yards. This was the second straight game in which Stidham made an appearance for the Pats, though last time was thanks to much better circumstances.
The Chicago Cubs may be less certain about trading Kris Bryant this offseason.
Bryant made $18.6 million last season and should earn more next year, which is his last year under team control. The Cubs have been open to trade talks involving Bryant and even had some interest from an NL East squad. But maybe they will keep him, at least to start the season.
NBC Sports Chicago’s Gordon Wittenmyer communicated with new Cubs president Jed Hoyer, who said he “absolutely” could see a scenario in which Bryant remains with the team.
“I don’t think it should be treated as a fait accompli that [a trade is] going to happen,” Hoyer said via Wittenmyer.
It sounds an awful lot like there isn’t a strong market for Bryant and that the Cubs may plan to keep him to start the season. That way the Cubs can hope for Bryant to build up trade value with a hot start that either brings the Cubs into contention, or leads to a trade with a nice return.
Bryant hit just .206 in 34 games in 2020. He was the 2016 NL MVP.
Photo: Flickr/Arturo Pardavila III via CC-BY 2.0
Paul George on Thursday signed a massive contract extension with the Los Angeles Clippers, and the team sent him a present to celebrate.
George was already under contract to make $35.4 million in the upcoming season. The extension gives him four more years at $190 million.
To celebrate, the Clippers sent George some nice wine. PG13 shared photos on his Instagram Story Thursday of the wine, which comes from Napa Valley winery Caymus Vineyards.
George appeared to appreciate the gift and thanked Steve Ballmer and Lawrence Frank.
George is hoping that signing his contract extension will help convince Kawhi Leonard to remain with the team.
Clippers fans, show everyone who runs Los Angeles with this great “We Run LA” shirt. It makes a perfect gift for you or a friend – you can buy it here:
Joel Embiid is making a concerted effort to trust the conditioning process.
The Philadelphia 76ers star told reporters Thursday that he really focused on his conditioning this offseason, per Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice. Embiid also said that he had his own chef, massage therapist, and several personal aides to help him get right.
Sixers coach Doc Rivers spoke glowingly about Embiid’s physical shape early in camp, saying that the All-Star big man was taking very few breaks.
The seven-foot Embiid, who is listed at 280 pounds, averaged 23.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game last season. The Sixers were swept in the first round of the playoffs but did not have Ben Simmons for that series due to injury.
Embiid, who was previously rumored to have a terrible diet, had worked on his conditioning in past offseasons by cutting down on sweet treats. This offseason though, he appears to be taking a more holistic approach to getting in better shape.
Mike Krzyzewski is packing it in on the non-conference schedule this season.
Duke is 2-2 this season and has wins over Coppin State and Bellarmine, but has lost to Michigan State and Illinois. Following the loss to Illinois on Tuesday, Coach K questioned playing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, Alabama coach Nate Oats said he felt Krzyzewski’s comments were made because Duke has lost two games.
Later on Thursday, Duke announced they would not be playing any more non-conference games this season. Coach K explained why in a video posted on social media.
Duke had games against Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern that will not be played.
Duke suffered its largest home non-conference loss during the 15-point defeat to Illinois. Coach K just wasn’t having that.
Photo: Mike Strasser, West Point Public Affairs via CC-BY 2.0
Kevin Love won’t be competing in the Dunk Contest any time soon, but apparently he can still hold his own above the rim from time to time.
Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Isaac Okoro spoke Thursday about what has surprised him in training camp so far and joked about Love’s athleticism.
“I didn’t think Kevin Love still had bounce,” said Okoro, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor. “He’s still getting up, still dunking right now. He surprised me with a couple dunks that he had. Caught a put-back dunk one time. That surprised me for sure.”
Love is now 32 but still had healthy averages of 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game in 2019-20. According to Basketball Reference, the five-time All-Star has actually dunked 225 times in his NBA career (with three of them coming last season).
Granted, Love is usually the one getting dunked on instead of the other way around. But Okoro is learning early on that appearances can be deceiving.
Evan Turner has yet to report to the Boston Celtics for his new assistant coach duties, which led to a funny comment from Jayson Tatum.
Turner, 32, was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 draft. He played 19 games with Atlanta last season before the team traded him to Minnesota in February. He did not play in any games for Minnesota.
Realizing he was running out of playing options, Turner accepted a coaching role with the Celtics, for whom he will help with player development.
Despite not reporting to the Celtics, Turner posted a photo on Instagram Thursday night. That led Tatum to laugh and ask when Turner was “coming to practice.”
Turner really has some questions to answer. If he should be with the team for workouts, they shouldn’t be chasing him down like he’s this guy.
