Tuesday cannon fodder: cheating concussion LoL banter

England

Raheem Sterling, Pep Guardiola say they’re staying at City
Talk is cheap. I’ll believe it when I see it. Those two both want to be in the Champions League.

Richard Keogh steps away from pundit deal
There’s a lot to unpack here including drunk driving after a team function and a player-against-team-lawsuit. Probably better just to click through. It will leave you scratching your head and saying, “wait, what’s going on here” too.

Frank Lampard isn’t happy with his team after 2-0 loss to Manchester United
He wants to see more fight from his side. You absolutely hate to see it, don’t you?

Harry Maguire didn’t intend to “hurt or kick” Michy Batshuayi
The United defender probably should have been sent off for cleating the Chelsea striker in the groin. It was bad.

Solskjaer, Mino Railoa spar in the media
Paul Pogba isn’t happy at United. Or he is. Or he’s a prisoner. Or he isn’t. Ho hum.

Other Football

Barcalona to trigger Martin Braithwaite’s release clause
It’s significant and incredibly crappy because Leganes, his team that is fighting relegation, can neither stop the sale nor can they sign a replacement. The rich get richer.

Inter Miami sign Rodolfo Pizarro
The Mexico midfielder will be David Beckham’s club’s second DP. Reports have the transfer fee at $12M.

Other Sports

Apparently today is a heavy basketball day, which is strange, because I don’t really care about the NBA until the playoffs roll around.

NBCSN will have an all-women NHL broadcast team
Kate Scott, AJ Mleczko, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kathryn Tappen, and Jennifer Botterill will broadcast the St. Louis Blues-Chicago Blackhawks game on International Women’s Day on March 8. Awesome! I’ll definitely be tuning in.

Rob Manfred talks about the Astros’ cheating scandal
Baseball’s commissioner gave the players immunity so that they would talk to investigators. Did he make the right call?

Jordan Reed still in concussion protocol
The Washington Redskins tight end suffered his most recent concussion about six months ago. He’s had several in his career. Personally, I hope he retires to preserve his brain.

Roger Angell looks back on a long career as a sportswriter
The hall of famer and longtime baseball writer at New Yorker has a lot of stories to tell.

NBA to lose “hundreds of millions” over the Rockets’ China incident
As a reminder, Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey spoke out in support of the protesters in Hong Kong. China stopped cooperating with the Rockets, stopped broadcasting the preseason games being played in China, and threatened “retribution” for not ensuring Morey was fired.

NBA Power Rankings
Because who doesn’t love a good power rankings. I want to see Lebron win another title, if only to add fuel to the Lebron vs. Jordan debate.

Matt McGloin, XFL quarterback, had a bad day at the office
And the increased sideline access granted to reporters captured it all. Is being able to interview players immediately after they get benched a good thing?

esports (yes, that’s how you’re supposed to write it)

Faker signs new contract, will become part-owner of his team
The greatest League of Legends player of all time signed a new contract with T1 that guarantees he will move upstairs when he retires from playing. It’s good to be the best at something — he’s Jordan, Gretzky, Tiger levels of good.