Steph Curry hosted the ESPYs for the first time, and he did not hold back with one joke.
On Wednesday, Curry became just the ninth athlete ever to host the ESPYs. If LeBron James has any say in the matter, it could be the two-time MVP’s first and only time.
Curry went viral for a joke he made at James’ expense during Curry’s opening monologue.
“I’m the second NBA player to host this award show,” Curry said. “LeBron James, he hosted this award show back in 2007 after losing in the NBA Finals. So yes, you guessed it, this feels better.”
James hosted the show in 2007, shortly after the Cleveland Cavaliers were swept in the NBA Finals by the San Antonio Spurs. Curry, on the other hand, is fresh off of his fourth title in eight years with the Golden State Warriors. The two have faced off four times in the Finals, with Curry and the Warriors besting James and the Cavaliers in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
The Warriors have not being afraid to take shots at their opponents since their Finals win in June. Draymond Green trolled the Boston Celtics with a T-shirt the day after the Warriors won the NBA Finals. Prior to the ESPYs, Curry took a shot at Celtics forward Grant Williams over Williams’ recent comments saying that the Warriors were not the better team in the Finals.
Johnson played college ball at Colorado from 1990-1993 during the height of the Buffs’ reign under Bill McCartney. He had 15 career touchdown catches for the Buffs and back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in his final two years.
Johnson then was drafted No. 17 overall by Pittsburgh in 1994. In five seasons with the Steelers, Johnson had 247 catches for 3,400 yards and 15 touchdowns. He played two seasons for the Eagles and closed out his career playing with the Patriots in 2001 and the Bills in 2002.
Johnson made the Super Bowl with the Steelers in 1995, though they lost to the Cowboys. He won the Super Bowl with the Pats in the 2001 season.
Johnson had worked as an assistant coach at Heritage High School in North Carolina along with some other former Steelers.
Former #Steelers WR Charles Johnson died Tuesday. A first-round pick out of Colorado, he was an assistant coach under former Steelers CB Dewayne Washington at Heritage High School in North Carolina. Former Steelers RB Willie Parker and WR Tory Holt were also assistants. RIP
Jan 13, 2020; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Tim Tebow before the College Football Playoff national championship game between the Clemson Tigers and the LSU Tigers at Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Ole Miss has had some good quarterbacks throughout their 100-plus year history, including Archie Manning and Eli Manning. But Tim Tebow believes that another quarterback is the best to ever play the position for the school.
Tebow appeared on ESPN’s “SEC Now” during Wednesday’s portion of the SEC’s annual media days, along with analysts Greg McElroy and Takeo Spikes. The panel was discussing what SEC team had the most talent to replace, and Tebow mentioned Ole Miss. In his answer, the former Heisman Trophy winner had a surprising statement about who he thinks is the program’s greatest quarterback ever.
“I’m really interested to see what Ole Miss looks like,” Tebow said via Erik Hall of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. “It’s such a successful season last year, but you’re losing (offensive coordinator) Jeff Lebby. I think that’s a huge loss. And then, you’re also trying to replace probably the best quarterback in school history — and you’re doing it with two very different guys.”
Tebow was referring to Matt Corral, who played at Ole Miss from 2018-2022 and was selected by the Carolina Panthers with the 94th pick in the 2022 draft.
While Corral had a productive four years with the Rebels, Eli Manning is statistically the greatest passer in Ole Miss history in a few major categories. Eli, who played for Ole Miss from 2000-2003, leads all Ole Miss quarterbacks in passing yards (10,119) and touchdowns (81). Bo Wallace, who played for the Rebels from 2012-2014, comes in just behind Manning with 62 touchdown passes and 9,534 passing yards. Corral has the third-most touchdown passes (57) and passing yards (8,287).
However, Corral did have a higher completion percentage (67.3 percent) than Manning, as well as more rushing touchdowns (18 to Manning’s five) and just 23 interceptions to 35 for Manning. Both Corral and Eli peaked with 10-3 seasons in their final years in school.
Archie doesn’t have the same stats since he played in a different era. But his teams went 22-10-1 from 1968-1970, which is more than respectable.
Apr 9, 2022; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Khamzat Chimaev (blue gloves) after a fight against Gilbert Burns (red gloves) during UFC 273 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports
Nate Diaz will fight in what could be his final UFC bout on September 10 against Khamzat Chimaev, and Chimaev is apparently looking forward to sending Diaz’s UFC career to the grave.
Diaz, one of the more popular fighters in the sport, will fight the unbeaten Chimaev in Las Vegas in a five-round headline welterweight matchup at UFC 279.
In a comment to ESPN on Tuesday, Chimaev said that he was going to handle Diaz’s UFC funeral.
Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) provided this comment about the fight to ESPN. Translated from Swedish by his representative Majdi Shammas.
"I am going to handle Nate Diaz's funeral with the UFC."
Chimaev tweeted a photo on Wednesday that seemed to further indicate his plans to end Diaz’s UFC career on a bad note.
The photo depicts a funeral scene, with Chimaev presiding over the service and standing in front of a casket. Five mournful onlookers stood behind Chimaev, while a headstone at the foot of the casket had “Nate Diaz” written on it. Beneath Diaz’s name, the length of his career, 2004-2022, was included, as was the UFC logo.
Chimaev, the third-ranked welterweight in the sport, is a huge early favorite to win the fight.
Diaz (21-13) has not won a fight since beating former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in 2019. The 37-year-old has not fought since he lost to Leon Edwards via unanimous decision in June 2021. Chimaev, 28, has 11 victories, his latest coming via unanimous decision against Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 in April.
May 20, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers addresses the media in a press conference after naming Steve Kerr (not pictured) as the new head coach for the Warriors at the Warriors Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Several years after he first rose to prominence, one NBA player is getting his shot with the defending champions.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Wednesday that guard Mac McClung has agreed to a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors. The deal is for a standard, non-guaranteed contract, not an Exhibit 10 deal. That is notable because it gives McClung a chance to make the Warriors roster out of training camp, Charania adds.
McClung, 23, entered the basketball consciousness back in high school when he became a viral star for his high-flying dunk mixtapes. Some of McClung’s highlight videos have garnered several million views online.
The 6-foot-2 McClung would go on to play college basketball at Georgetown before transferring to Texas Tech. He went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft but worked his way up from the G League. McClung eventually made brief cameos for both the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers last season.
Playing in Summer League for the Warriors this year, McClung averaged 13.4 points and 4.8 assists per game. With Gary Payton II now in Portland, McClung may have a solid opportunity to crack Golden State’s final roster. That said, the Warriors did also bring in another guard (a former amateur star himself) earlier in the offseason.
Sep 11, 2021; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets majority owner Steve Cohen and his wife Alexandra Cohen at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets own the second-best record in the National League this season, but they may still be looking to further upgrade their attributes.
Mets writer Michael Mayer reported on Wednesday that the Mets have had trade conversations with the Pittsburgh Pirates about first baseman Daniel Vogelbach. The 29-year-old Vogelbach, an All-Star in 2019, is making just $1 million this season and is under club control through 2024.
Vogelbach has primarily been a designated hitter for the Pirates in 2022 thanks to the universal DH rule. He is batting .228 with 12 home runs and 34 RBIs in 75 total games, doing most of his damage against righty pitching.
The NL East-leading Mets have admittedly gotten little production from the DH spot this season. Their main designated hitter has been JD Davis, who is having an underwhelming year. Other than Vogelbach, the Mets have also been linked to this other notable (but much older) DH option.
Jun 13, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) gestures after defeating the Boston Celtics in game five of the 2022 NBA Finals at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Golden State Warriors are still paying at least some attention to what the Boston Celtics have to say about the NBA Finals.
Celtics reserve forward Grant Williams asserted in an appearance on Duncan Robinson’s “The Long Shot” podcast that the Warriors had not been the better team in their NBA Finals win over Boston last month. Williams instead said the Warriors had been the “more disciplined” team. Williams credited Golden State’s discipline and past Finals experience for helping the Dubs win.
Here's Grant's full response reflecting on Finals. Notes Warriors were screaming after stealing Game 4. And compares it to Boston vs. Miami in Bubble ECF. pic.twitter.com/yC8gYAgv1g
“I still would say confidently — confidently — to this day they weren’t the better team,” Williams said. “I would say they were the more disciplined team. I would say that without a doubt.”
The comment quickly made its way back to Stephen Curry, who was prepping to host Wednesday’s ESPYs ceremony.
Curry posted a video of himself getting a trim with the caption “A very disciplined cut.”
The Warriors are known for using what rivals say as motivation. Some have even suggested that they are a bit too fixated on it sometimes.
Whether that’s true or not, there was no way the team was going to collectively let Williams’ statement pass without a response. There’s a decent chance it will not be the last response to that statement, too.
Jun 6, 2022; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka speaks before introducing head coach Darvin Ham at UCLA Health Training Center Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
In past years, the Lakers have rostered everybody from Dennis Rodman and Ron Artest to (more recently) Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson. Now the team could be making another addition to that list.
Sean Deveney of Heavy.com spoke this week with an anonymous Western Conference executive, who said that the Lakers could potentially trade for new Utah Jazz swingman Malik Beasley.
“Malik Beasley is the guy [the Lakers] should be looking at if they can get him from Utah,” the executive was quoted as saying. “They asked about him when he was in Minnesota. Now they can try to get him in a situation where Utah does not want him. The Jazz want picks, so the Lakers would have to give up one of their picks. But he is in their range.”
Beasley, 25, was just acquired by the Jazz this offseason as part of the Rudy Gobert blockbuster with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is a high-scoring role player who has averaged 14.5 points per game on 38.4 percent three-point shooting over the last two seasons (mostly off the bench). Beasley is owed $15.5 million next year (with a $16.5 million club option in 2023-24).
The risk with Beasley though is that he is a fairly controversial player. He was suspended for 12 games two seasons ago for an offseason arrest (which Beasley would later serve time in jail for). Beasley as a Laker might also be extremely awkward since Beasley previously was romantically linked with this mother of a current Lakers player.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney after the 14-8 win over Georgia Tech in Clemson, S.C., September 18, 2021. Credit: Ken Ruinard / staff via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei endured a disappointing first season as starter in 2021, and he became a firm target of fan criticisms. Some critics still have yet to be won over, but coach Dabo Swinney is not listening to them.
Swinney had a strong response Wednesday when asked about Clemson fans being critical of Uiagalelei. The coach pointed out that he did not need to hear from people who, in his mind, thought Uiagalelei was superior to Trevor Lawrence when Uiagalelei was a freshman.
Clemson's Dabo Swinney asked about criticism of D.J. Uiagalelei from Clemson fans: "They had a lot of great opinions about him his freshman year: 'let's sit Trevor (Lawrence) & play D.J.' I don't need anyone on a message board to tell me who D.J. is. I know who D.J. is"
To be fair, a lot of the criticism of Uiagalelei was warranted in 2021. Swinney knew it then, too, as he at one point benched the quarterback who had been touted as a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate.
Clemson’s hope is that with a full year as starter under his belt and an offseason to prepare, Uiagalelei will be much better in 2022. If that is not the case, these Swinney dismissals will not age well.
The Philadelphia 76ers are doing what Phil Jackson used to do for the L.A. Lakers in holding training camps in Hawaii … only the complete opposite.
76ers head coach Doc Rivers told Marc J. Spears of ESPN that the team will be heading to Charleston, S.C. for training camp this year. Rivers notes that the location was chosen so that the 76ers can both prepare for the coming season without distraction as well as learn the local history.
Charleston is the largest city in South Carolina and is home to multiple key sites from the Civil War. But with a population of just over 150,000, it is a far cry from the major cities that NBA teams are used to visiting, even Philadelphia itself, which has a population of nearly 1.6 million.
The 76ers need to get their heads in the game ahead of a season where the expectations will be astronomical. On top of it being the first full season of Joel Embiid and James Harden together, the 76ers just brought in players such as PJ Tucker and De’Anthony Melton to add to their rotation with the likes of Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris. Hopefully though, all the players on their roster arrive to camp on schedule this time around.
