Sonny Giuliano Articles - Page 39

The San Francisco 49ers are closing in on clinching the #1 seed in the NFC, in large part due to the fact that Brock Purdy has quickly and surprisingly matured from “Mr. Irrelevant” to “MVP candidate” in just eighteen months time, a remarkable come-up for a kid who was once a three-star recruit coming out […]

It’s interesting that this is the point we’re at. Week 17 of the 2023 regular season, and it’s the Baltimore Ravens who have the best record in the NFL and the second-best odds to win Super Bowl LVIII. It’s not so much that it’s a surprise that the Ravens, as presently configured, are in this spot. […]

It’s always a disappointment when an otherwise entertaining and high-stakes game ends and the discussion centers around the officiating, but that’s the unfortunate position we find ourselves in the morning after a game between NFC contenders. The Dallas Cowboys barely hung on against the recently-crowned NFC North champion Detroit Lions, keeping their hopes alive for […]

The Detroit Pistons had not won an NBA game in a very, very, very long time entering play Saturday against the Toronto Raptors. So long, in fact, that the Pistons — who were supposed to be on the rise this season — were just one loss away from breaking the one NBA record that no team […]

Apologies if this headline is misleading. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how much the average sports fan remembers from the notable Cinderella runs of the past, but as an alumni of Florida Gulf Coast University, the Eagles win over the 7th-ranked Florida Atlantic Owls certainly evoked memories of a time 11 years ago when […]

Kyren Williams’ first two years as a professional football player have been injury-plagued to say the least. One sprained ankle here, a broken foot there, another sprained ankle just for good measure, two stints on the IR, and bam, Williams is suddenly just two weeks away from finishing his second NFL season. But one health […]

On the 39th birthday of arguably the greatest basketball player to ever live, it’s worth taking a long look at the long career of LeBron James. At this point, you’ve probably got his accolades memorized, but what the heck, why not list them for old time’s sake? -Four-time NBA Champion, four-time NBA Finals MVP, four-time […]

The Texas Longhorns are College Football Playoff bound and closer to the National Title than they have been in over a decade, and a big reason for their 2023 success is quarterback Quinn Ewers, who has taken the time to take care of his body, change his approach to the game, and emerge as one […]

It doesn’t necessarily take a great basketball player to know a great basketball player, but if you have arguably the best basketball player alive singing your praises, you’re clearly doing something right. That’s the position that Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finds himself in after OKC went into Ball Arena and thoroughly outclassed the defending […]

It’s well-documented that Cleveland sports fans are a tortured bunch. Yes, the monkey was removed from their collective back when the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 3-1 deficit to win the 2016 NBA Championship, but there’s still a large segment of folks from Northeast Ohio who are still anxiously waiting for the day to come when […]

All of the early-season concerns regarding the viability of the new-look Milwaukee Bucks seem to be in the past. After a slow 5-4 start to the season that included ugly, double-digit losses to Atlanta, Toronto and Orlando, the Bucks have since gone 19-4 and solidly established themselves as an inner circle title contender. In fact, […]

As gambling continues to become legalized in more and more states, it’s no longer considered taboo to discuss what kind of wagers you’re making. It used to be that a network like ESPN wouldn’t even mention anything related to gambling… now there are programs, columns, and analysts on the payroll who deal exclusively with the […]

The Kansas City Chiefs seem to be in the midst of a full-blown free fall. Everyone has their own theory as to why the Chiefs have lost six of their last nine games after starting the season 6-1, and even though I have my own suspicions as to why the Chiefs are struggling, but the fact […]

All is not well in the Mile High City. After a disastrous start to the season, the Denver Broncos actually managed to climb out of a deep hole and position themselves to potentially make a surprising postseason appearance, but all of that went out the window on Christmas Eve when the Broncos took an L […]

I believe it was the wise philosopher Robert “Rocky” Balboa who once said: “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. Nobody is gonna hit […]

Apparently Anthony Edwards didn’t get the memo that Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic would be out of action against his Minnesota Timberwolves because it was clear that Ant was looking to send a message on Thursday night. And that message goes something like this… I’m the best damn player in the world.  Coming off a 23-point […]

Geno Smith has been a member of the Seattle Seahawks for five seasons now, and the starter for two of them. But in that half-decade in the Emerald City, Smith has firmly established himself as a Pete Carroll favorite, and Smith feels the same way about his veteran coach. My biggest regret about writing this piece […]

There’s something special about the way the Indiana Pacers play basketball, and it comes across in the numbers. The Pacers are currently 2nd in the league in pace, 1st in points per game, 1st in field goal percentage, and their 122.1 offensive rating is not only 1st in the league, but the highest in the […]

It hasn’t been long since Purdue edge rusher Nic Scourton entered the college football transfer portal, but he’s already quickly established himself as one of the portal’s top prizes. According to On3.com, the 19-year-old Scourton is the tenth-ranked player in the transfer portal and his expected suitors are all high-profile Power 5 programs that would be […]

The Florida State football team is 13-0 and champions of the ACC, one of the “Power 5” conferences that supposedly exists within the NCAA on a plane higher than that of the rest of the college football world. It used to be that the notion of an undefeated Power 5 conference champion missing out on […]

Two years ago, the National Football League lost a once-in-a-generation icon… John Madden was someone whose oversized impact on the game of football cannot possibly be properly explained away in just a few hundred words like I’ll be attempting to do here, but that won’t prevent me from trying. Fortunately, I got a little bit […]

So let’s just start with this… I’ve purchased food from Chipotle three times since the beginning of November, and I’ve spent the last couple of weeks worried that I’ve been overdoing it. But then today I read a story about Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges’ affinity for the fast-casual Mexican Grill, and now I feel […]

Heading into a week 17 matchup versus the Miami Dolphins that could clinch the Baltimore Ravens the #1 seed and home-field advantage in the AFC, Lamar Jackson took a little bit of time during his media availability this week to dish on Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who Lamar shared he cast a Heisman Trophy vote […]

We’re just a few days away from the Rose Bowl Game, which this year doubles as a College Football Playoff semifinal between Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan Wolverines and Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, but before the two teams took the field in Pasadena, they went on a class field trip together to Disneyland. If for lord […]

Before becoming the Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback in 2022 and putting together a campaign that was both exceptional and surprising enough to be named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, Geno Smith had spent the three years prior as Russell Wilson’s backup. Now, in the wake of Russell Wilson’s surprising benching for Jarrett Stidham […]

Who doesn’t love some slightly mean-spirited banter between professional athletes and the normal folks who cover them for a living!? Today on The Herd, Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd delivered a message to the fans of the Miami Dolphins who were claiming that Cowherd and other members of the sports media needed to put a little […]

In what could be Justin Fields’ final game at Soldier Field, the Bears’ polarizing third-year quarterback may be without a couple of his top targets this Sunday when Chicago hosts the Atlanta Falcons. Not only is Darnell Mooney on the injury report as he remains in concussion protocol, he’s joined by tight end Cole Kmet, […]

With Caleb Williams likely departing for the NFL Draft, and Kyle McCord on his way to Syracuse, the USC Trojans and Ohio State Buckeyes are both in search of their 2024 starting quarterback, and each team has their sights set on one of the biggest remaining prizes in the NCAA’s transfer portal. Will Howard, a multi-year starter at […]

Today on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, former NFL return specialist and Kansas City Chiefs fan-favorite Dante Hall stopped by to discuss the question that everyone seems to be asking… what the heck is wrong with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs? Now, everyone has their own theories on what the problem might be. Some of those […]

If I could take a time machine back to when I was eight years old to tell eight-year-old Sonny that I would someday be writing a story about a meeting between the Indiana Pacers point guard and world heavyweight champion pro wrestler, I can’t even tell you how excited that little fella would’ve been. And […]

In a disappointing, yet somewhat predictable turn of events, it sounds like Tommy DeVito-mania in New York has finally come to an end. After DeVito was benched in the 3rd quarter for Tyrod Taylor in the New York Giants loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Christmas Day, it felt like the run may be ending. […]

In four games back since his 25-game suspension to begin the season ended, Ja Morant has practically single-handedly turned the Memphis Grizzlies season around. In his absence, the Grizzlies were 6-19, rudderless and hopeless. Now, the Grizzlies are in the midst of a four-game winning streak, up to 10-19 for the season, and suddenly full […]

When the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets played in primetime in Week 1, the game between AFC East rivals pulled in a whopping 22.6 million viewers, which at the time was the most-watched Monday Night Football broadcast since the marquee game moved from ABC to ESPN in 2006, according to Jonathan Alfano of Sports Illustrated. […]

Antonio Pierce’s impact on the Las Vegas Raiders can easily be quantified by looking at his win-loss record as the Raiders interim head coach. Under Pierce, the Raiders are 4-3 and still mathematically alive for a playoff berth. In the season and a half prior, under former head coach Josh McDaniels, the Raiders were 9-16. […]

There’s really no hard limit on what you can ask Santa Claus for leading up to Christmas. Lord knows I’ve had no shortage of out-there requests on my Christmas list over the years (I’ll get to one in a minute). But this one, well, this feels new. Now granted, we’re in a new era of […]

First of all, I’d like to start by tossing a well-deserved congratulations in the direction of the Detroit Lions, who clinched their first division title since 1991. If it weren’t for Dan Campbell’s feisty Lions squad winning the NFC North, we probably wouldn’t have been treated to yet another gem of a quote from former […]

Prior to this season, in the last four years, Joe Flacco had started seventeen games for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, the equivalent of a full season’s worth of games. In those games, Flacco threw for 4,075 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, perfectly fine numbers, but if the eye test told you […]

Back in 2017, the Miami Heat selected Bam Adebayo with the 14th pick in the NBA Draft, and in the moment, it felt like a steal. Now we didn’t know at the time that Josh Jackson, Jonathan Isaac, Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr., Zach Collins and Luke Kennard would ALL go on to be considered […]

For weeks now, the common narrative we’ve heard regarding the San Francisco 49ers has gone something like this… this is a team without a peer in the National Football League. It’s a squad that boasted not one, but two legitimate MVP candidates, and with convincing wins over Philadelphia (42-19) and Dallas (42-10) already on their […]