NBA

D’Angelo Russell is in a heap of trouble within the Lakers organization and throughout the sports world. Russell broke the golden rule of having your teammates back and is now vilified throughout the League. In case you missed it, Russell taped a private conversation he was having with teammate Nick Young in which he asked Young about being with other women. Young is engaged to rapper Iggy Azalea. Recording a private conversation is bad enough but he also posted Young’s confessions online via snapchat. According to Russell, he was just joking around and intended to take the video down immediately but didn’t understand that it had gone viral. Russell was the 2nd overall pick in last year’s NBA draft but is now being shunned by his teammates. According to reports, the players won’t even sit with him at meals. The fans are upset too and booed him all night during the Lakers’ overtime win against the Miami Heat Wednesday night. This story is not going away anytime soon so we’ll have to see how it plays out for the Team going forward.

In other NBA news, the Golden State Warriors continued their quest for greatness with an overtime win over a tough Utah Jazz. The Warriors are now 68-7 and getting closer to their goal of 73 wins in a season. Warriors 103, Jazz 96.

NBA

With the playoffs twenty days away, the Cleveland Cavaliers gave superstar LeBron James the night offTuesday. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out too well for the Cavs, who managed to blow a twenty point lead over the Houston Rockets. Cleveland has now lost three of their last six games. They’re hoping to get some momentum going into the playoffs, starting with their next game, a visit from the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday. Houston 106, Cleveland 100.

The Golden State Warriors are still chipping away at their history-making season. After Tuesday’s win over the Washington Wizards, the Warriors are 67-7 for the season, and closer to the 72-10 all time record they hope to break. Steph Curry had 26 points, including six 3-pointers. That puts him at 356 3-pointers on the season, just one of the insane number of records Curry and the Warriors are shattering this year. When the dust settles on the NBA regular season, it will be interesting to see just how far the bar has been raised by Curry and company. Next up for Golden State is Wednesday’s visit to Utah to face off with the Jazz.

MLB

It looks like New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey might miss opening day. The player is done for the preseason due to an undisclosed medical issue, and he looks poised to miss Opening Day this Sunday. Mets officials have assured fans there’s nothing wrong with the pitcher’s arm. “His arm is fine! His arm is fine! O.K.? His arm is fine,” Mets Manager Terry Collins was quoted saying. “I think we need to wait for more medical information before we decide it’s of concern, or great concern, or no concern,” the team’s general manager said.

UFC

While Mixed Martial Arts fighting is now legal in all 50 states, drag racing is still illegal pretty much everywhere. UFC star Jon Jones was recently cited for drag racing with an illegally modified car in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. Of the five total citations issued, speeding wasn’t one of them. That’s because, according to Jones and his attorney, the fighter wasn’t speeding at all. “He wasn’t speeding, he was not driving recklessly. All Jon did was rev his engine to acknowledge a fan,” his attorney said in a statement. The key to this mystery may lie in a small detail Jones admitted to reporters. “I regrettably said words to the police officer out of frustration, for which I apologize for, but I do feel this was excessive.” Jones clearly forgot the old adage, don’t bite the hand that issues citations. It should be noted this isn’t his first trouble on the road. Jones was cited in February for driving without a license, registration, or proof of insurance, and he’s currently still under supervised probation for an incident last April when he caused a car accident that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm, then fled the scene. It is essential to get insurance as the cost of driving without insurance is a lot more.

NCAA

And your Final 4 are…

It’s been a surprising month for college basketball, with many teams considered favorites falling out of the race, one by one, and many “second-tier” teams making it farther than anyone anticipated. Over the weekend, Syracuse took on Virginia and upset the number one seed team in a 68-62 victory. Syracuse was a 10-seed team. It’s the lowest seeded team to reach the semifinals in the last five years. Villanova surprised many by holding off number one seed Kansas, fighting their way into the Final Four with a 64-59 win. Oklahoma and North Carolina round out the four teams who will be competing next week in Houston.

NBA

It took long enough, but Los Angeles Clipper forward Blake Griffin is medically cleared to play after 41 games on the bench recovering from a quad injury and a broken hand. Griffin has now started serving his 4-game suspension, brought on by the altercation in late January, when he punched a member of the Clippers’ staff, breaking his hand. Griffin will be back on the court April 3rd when the Clippers take on the Washington Wizards.

MLB

The Chicago Cubs look poised to have one of their best seasons in a century, but not everyone is buying into the buzz. Sunday’s preseason game against the Seattle Mariners got off to a rocky start after a swarm of bees surrounded center fielder Jason Heyward early in the third inning. Heyward climbed the center field fence trying to escape the bees, who eventually moved into the crowd and also swarmed the Cubs’ bullpen. Heyward was stung at least ten times, but thankfully did not suffer an allergic reaction. The Mariners won 12-9.

NFL

In some big trade news, former Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III (RGIII) signed with the Cleveland Browns. RGIII was a rising star coming out of Baylor and in his first season with the Washington Redskins. Towards the end of his rookie season with the team, he hurt his knee and his reign at the top started to unravel. Last season with the Redskins continued to be a disappointment but now that he has a fresh start with the Browns, we’ll see if he can turn things around. He said in a written statement,  “I’m excited about the opportunity to join the Dawg Pound and help build something here in Cleveland,”

NCAA

The NCAA March Madness tournament continues with the Sweet 16. Thursday and Friday winners will advance to the Elite 8. Here are the winners from Thursday’s game:

• Kansas beat (5) Maryland, 79-63
• Oregon beat (4) Duke, 82-68
• Villanova beats(3) Miami, 92-69
• Oklahoma beat (3) Texas A&M, 77-63

NBA

Steph Curry had two weak games back-to-back. The first was an understandably understated performance against the very good San Antonio Spurs. But the second was an unexpected poor showing in the Golden State Warriors’ win over the mediocre Minnesota Timberwolves. Between the two games, Curry was 10 for 35 on shots, 3 for 21 on deep balls. It was enough to alarm the general public that maybe the greatest player on the court was falling apart.

Turns out, he’s just fine. On Wednesday, the Warriors dominated the Los Angeles Clippers, and Curry was tearing it up. He scored 33 points, making 12 of 23 shots, including 4 of 10 from beyond the arc. The game was the Warriors 51st straight home win. The team is openly chasing the Chicago Bulls ’95/’96 record. They need to win 10 of their remaining 12 games to break the record. Golden State 114, Los Angeles 98.

MLB

Alex Rodriguez isn’t necessarily done. Despite talks that the New York Yankees player would retire in 2017—spurred mainly by Rodriguez’s own comments that he wouldn’t play anymore after his contract was up—the infielder is now backtracking. “[W]e’ll see what happens,” he told ESPN. The 40-year old has played Major League Baseball for 21 years and is still going strong, hitting 33 home runs in the 2015 season. He has two seasons left on his contract. Baseball starts April 3rd.

NFL

Just a week after a senior NFL health official made history by formally acknowledging a link between football and CTE, a form of long-term brain injury, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones called the idea “absurd.” Jones elaborated, “We don’t have that knowledge… there’s no way in the world to say you have a relationship relative to anything here… There’s no research. There’s no data.” Many scientists in the field would disagree with Jones on this one.

MMA

Over the last decade or so, the UFC has been gaining in popularity. The UFC, Ultimate Fighting Championship, promotes mixed-martial arts, MMA, a combination of wrestling, boxing, and everything in between. It’s a brutal, sometimes thrilling, sometimes scary sport that has been getting bigger and bigger, especially with breakout stars like Ronda Rousey transcending diehard fans and becoming full-blown celebrities. But until yesterday, MMA wasn’t legal in every state. For nineteen years, MMA has been outlawed in New York. The main concern about the sport is the possibility of brain injuries. Unlike football, UFC fighters don’t wear helmets, and it can get pretty nasty inside the ring. The New York State Assembly held a vote Tuesday, after a three-hour debate,  and voted in favor of overturning the ban. The UFC plans to host an event at Madison Square Garden as soon as possible.

NBA

The Cleveland Cavaliers have clinched the Central Division for the second year in a row with a win over the Denver Nuggets. In the game, LeBron James scored his 41st career triple-double. A triple double is when a player scores a double digit number in three of five statistical categories. For James, it was 33 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. It was Cleveland’s first game since Saturday’s painful 21-point loss to James’ former team, the Miami Heat. Cleveland 124, Denver 91

The San Antonio Spurs were riding high following Saturday’s victory over the Golden State Warriors. But the afterglow wasn’t enough to pull off a victory over the Charlotte Hornets. Despite a strong start for San Antonio, the team blew a 23 point lead. The Hornets’ brought the defense and were able to stop the Spurs from tying the score up in the final seconds. In the last 72 games, the Spurs have never lost a game when they had a lead of at least 15 points. That streak came to an end last night. If that’s not bad enough, it was the team’s biggest blown lead in almost twenty years. Charlotte 91, San Antonio 88.

NFL

The New York Jets and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick still haven’t been able to come to an agreement for re-signing. Last year, Fitzpatrick, freshly traded from the Houston Texans, set a franchise record for the Jets with 31 touchdown passes. The Jets have long struggled to find a lasting franchise quarterback. And they’re tired of it. The owner of the New York Jets made headlines yesterday with a very clear, unambiguous message to the still-unsigned Fitzpatrick. “Come back to the Jets,” he said. It’s nice to be wanted, but it’s even better to be paid. Fitzpatrick reportedly wants double the $7 million a year New York is offering him.

NFL

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman always lets his voice be heard loud and clear. Don’t expect that to stop any time soon. When asked about NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s comments back in February suggesting that any player who got two personal fouls be ejected from a game, Sherman didn’t hold back. “I think it’s foolish. But it sounds like something somebody who’s never played the game would say, something that they would suggest, because he doesn’t understand. He’s just a face. He’s just a suit. He’s never stepped foot on the field and understood how you can get a personal foul.” He had similar feelings on the NFL’s murky definition of what a catch is.

TENNIS

Indian Wells tournament director Raymond Moore had some disturbing things to say about women’s tennis recently. “If I was a lady player, I’d go down every night on my knees and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born, because they have carried this sport. They really have.” Serena Williams, who lost in the women’s final to Victoria Azarenka, didn’t appreciate the comments. “I don’t think any women should be down on their knees thanking anybody like that.” Williams eluded to all the people who only watch Tennis for female stars such as herself and her sister. Then she brought up last year’s U.S. Open. “I’m sorry, did Roger play in that final? Or Rafa, or any man, play in that final that was sold out before the men’s final? I think not.”

MLB

The Milwaukee Brewers may have lost one of their potential players. Outfielder Rymer Liriano left Sunday’s game on a stretcher after he was hit in the face by a pitch from Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt West. The ball hit him just under the eye. Coaches and staff rushed over to help and carted him off the field after about ten minutes. Teammates say the player’s nose was still gushing blood when he got back to the training room. Liriano remains hospitalized.

NCAA

The NCAA Championship tournament has finally begun with some exciting upsets. Yale, in the tournament for the first time since 1962) defeated the 5th seeded Baylor. When a reporter asked Baylor’s Taurean Prince why Yale got so many more rebounds in the game, Prince’s response went viral. He said, “You go up and grab the ball off the rim when it comes off, and then you grab it with two hands, and you come down with it, and that’s considered a rebound. So they got more of those than we did.”

BASEBALL

Earlier this week,  Chicago White Sox’s Adam LaRoche retired from the game because he wanted to spend more time with his family. As it turns out, the real reason is because the White Sox President, Ken Williams, asked LaRoche to limit the time his 14 year old son spent in the clubhouse. Many teammates refer to LaRoche’s son as their 26th man. According to Williams he only asked that LaRoche’s son Drake cut back his time with the Team. He said, “We all think his kid is a great young man. I just felt it should not be every day, that’s all. You tell me, where in this country can you bring your child to work every day?”