Column | The Pirates are sinking, abandon ship?
By Griffin Floyd, Staff Writer
September 6, 2020
To be an awful team is one thing, but to be an awful team with the worst series of injuries in the major leagues is another. The four starting pitchers remaining from the 2019 team have barely played.
Column | College athletes should take ownership of the business they sustain
By Stephen Thompson, Assistant Sports Editor
August 31, 2020
The risks the COVID-19 pandemic poses have exacerbated the unfair power disparity that exists in college sports. From waivers meant to free individual schools of liability should a player die or suffer long-term health defects after contracting COVID-19 on campus to allegedly lying about safety precautions, college football is doing all it can to push through to a 2020 season.
Take 5: Yankees, Sixers seek redemption; Phillies, Rockets aim higher
August 31, 2020
The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and Major League Baseball’s contenders are entering the home stretch as they jockey for postseason position, meaning our staff has plenty of material for the latest edition of Take 5.
Pitt sports venues, ranked
By Griffin Floyd, Staff Writer
July 21, 2020
Pitt hosts 19 varsity sports teams, with eight different home fields between them. When you’re on campus for the first time, it can be overwhelming to decide where to go or what teams to see, so here are the definitive rankings for which facility to see first.
Language should bolster Black athletes in sports
By Stephen Thompson, Sports Editor
July 7, 2020
A 15-1 record, more than 4,500 total yards and 45 touchdowns, each one capped with a spirited end zone dance and football gifted to a child in the stands. But inevitably, Newton became the target of people who just don't like all the darn “showboating” and celebrations.
Baseball’s greed is killing it from within
By Joe Mellio, Staff Writer
June 24, 2020
While both sides can be blamed for their lack of good-faith negotiation and compromise, the recent dispute exposes a disturbing trend that poses a real threat to America’s pastime — the insatiable greed of MLB owners.
White athletes cannot just stick to sports
By Stephen Thompson, Sports Editor
June 2, 2020
But the killing of George Floyd last week forced Lawrence — and other quarterbacks who fit his mold — to take a bolder push into uncomfortable conversations about race relations, a topic that has been put to task in Lawrence’s sport for more than a century.
Point-Counterpoint | The case for NCAA modernization
By Ben Bobeck, Senior Staff Writer
May 19, 2020
News flash — College basketball isn’t going anywhere. Even before a pandemic-induced shutdown and subsequent cancellation of the annual championship tournament, questions about the sport’s future bubbled below the surface as both federal authorities and NCAA leadership conducted investigations into top programs and coaches. These questions boiled over when three top recruits were lured away from the traditional road to the NBA by lucrative offers to spend a year of professional development with a startup team in the G League, the NBA’s minor league, before becoming eligible for the draft next year.
Point-Counterpoint | The case for the G League
By Camryn Simons, Staff Writer
May 19, 2020
Top high school basketball players, like five-star prospects Jalen Green, Isaiah Todd and Daishen Nix, shocked basketball fans this commitment season by foregoing the traditional college route to play in the NBA’s G League. It’s a smart move, especially for players with serious dreams of lengthy NBA careers.
Sports editor Trent Leonard revisits predictive hits and misses
By Trent Leonard, Sports Editor
April 20, 2020
Sports editor Trent Leonard revisits some of his past takes that we can now look back on with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight.