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A lot has been written and said about Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored six goals in eight games in his return to Manchester United, being just a passenger lately. Critics have hit out at how much less running he’s doing, in comparison to the rest of his teammates, game to game.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, himself taking a lot of heat right now, came to his defense.
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It goes without saying that the matches against Liverpool are the most “circle the date” of the entire calendar for Manchester United fans. The first of the two fixtures arrives with United in turmoil, as they often have been since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.
There have been numerous calls for the sacking of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and talk that he has lost the dressing room. Team Captain Bruno Fernandes says that’s simply not true.
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Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins is now 118-132 overall and 49-98 in conference since he took over for Bill Carmody in 2013-14. Yes, Northwestern improved last season, but not all that substantially. If they do improve again this upcoming season, as some believe they will, the jump will need to be much more significant.
When Collins signed his contract extension in 2017, fresh off the program’s first and only NCAA Tournament appearance, he then became among the 15 highest paid coaches in college hoops. Since then they went 15-17 (6-12) in 2017-18, 13-19 (4-16) in 2018-19, 8-22 (3-17) in 2019-20 and 9-15 (6-13) last season.
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There is going to come a point, maybe we’re even there already, when Illinois Fighting Illini basketball, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, is going to feel like Chicago Cubs baseball 1909-2015. Or the White Sox 1918-2004. Or the Red Sox 1919-2003.
For whatever reason, it’s the 2nd round that seems to be where Illinois basketball is snake-bitten. They have lost in this exact round nine of the last 19 times, including the last three. They have not advanced past this round since the famed Champaign Campaign of 2004-05.
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NIL is a brand new ballgame to be sure, and we’re all still figuring out the rules and regulations right now, but Olivia Dunne is the college athlete who is winning it. The LSU class of ’24 gymnast is poised to become the first Name, Image and Likeness generated millionaire.
That’s right, Livvy Dunne, a decorated gymnast who has competed alongside Olympian level talents like Simone Biles, Jade Carey, and Suni Lee, should hit that very lucrative mark first, and not somebody from one of the two revenue sports (football, men’s basketball).
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The Loyola Ramblers scored one of the college basketball season’s biggest upsets, when they knocked the #1 seed Illinois Fighting Illini out of the NCAA Tournament in the second round. For the Illini, it continues a long frustrating “tradition” of failing to advance to a March Madness round that has a nickname (Sweet 16, Elite 8 etc.), as they haven’t reached one since 2005.
For Loyola, it showed what a mid-major can do to a bigger power conference team when you have an astute coach with a great game plan, and players who can execute it.
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Welcome to our second 2022 NFL mock draft! For our last 2021 NFL mock go here. Team needs were sometimes, but mostly not taken into account here. The order is taken from Tankathon. Also, here is the link to a list of 70 of the worst NFL Draft cliches, buzzwords and other pointless word salad.
Far as we know, we’re the only mom and pop shop, small business style site on the whole world wide web that does a mock draft for all four major American sports. Here are the links to the latest mocks for the NBA, MLB and NHL.
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College athletes are being granted more rights these days and that is an absolutely wonderful thing. Guys can transfer and be eligible right away now. And the custom of not transferring within the same conference? That’s also gone the way of the Triceratops.
Indiana Hoosiers forward Miller Kopp is a classic example of this trend. The 6-7 Jr (remember, everyone was granted another year of eligibility, on account of the pandemic, so it’ll be the same class as ’20-’21 for everybody) played three seasons at Northwestern, and his side visits NU Feb. 8, for their lone regular season meeting.
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Nuno Espirito Santo’s side travels to the Netherlands hoping to keep their perfect October run going. The London club is looking for their fourth win on the bounce in all competitions as they look to banish a run of terrible performances that threatened to derail their season last month.
Against Vitesse, Tottenham will look to take control of Group G to ensure their place in the knockout phases of the inaugural UEFA Conference League. Will we see another Harry Kane hattrick?
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Tottenham Hotspur will hope to keep the momentum going as they travel to Holland to take on Vitesse in the not-so-glamorous, third-tier UEFA competition – the Europa Conference League.
Spirits are high in the ‘Spurs camp as they have won 3 out of 3 matches in October since their chastening defeat at the hands of fellow North London strugglers Arsenal. Add to that Harry Kane scored his first Premier League goal at the weekend, and generally looked more like the Harry Kane of seasons past and Tottenham fans could be forgiven for thinking their season is turning a corner.
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Christian Pulisic is Chelsea’s only injury absentee tomorrow night, as the Champions League holders continue their title defense with Group H match against Swedish side Malmo.
Pulisic was recovering from an ankle injury he suffered in a World Cup qualifier versus Honduras, but Blues boss Thomas Tuchel revealed today that the American has suffered an injury setback. He’s only featured for Chelsea twice this season, both in mid-August.
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