Both the Miami Heat and LeBron James have reached critical mass. James is far and away the best player in basketball right now. Forget head and shoulders, he’s waist-high above everyone else. And the Heat? They’re blowing through teams like it’s nobody’s business, winning 17 straight games and losing exactly once in the month of February. So why was ESPN putting the Blackhawks point streak in the same sentence?

The World Baseball Classic is a terrific idea, a competitive tournament, and a fine showcase of baseball’s global reach. Sadly, there are three key factors holding it back which Jesse Goldberg-Strassler explains. Does the good outweigh the bad on the international level? The answer might surprise you.

Everybody in the world loves Brandon Roy, except perhaps his own body. The former Portland Trailblazers star is among the most recent NBA greats to have their promising careers cut short by injury. With Roy’s current comeback in Minnesota in question, might Roy’s playing days be officially behind him?

While the upcoming NFL draft is full of prospects whose potential draft position feels all over the place thanks to off-the-field issues, including infamously-catfished Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o and infamously-undisciplined Georgia linebacker Alec Ogletree, there’s one player in particular who sparks notably different opinions of him based solely on his on-field performance. That would be West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith.

Last year it was the Ottawa Senators coming back from the dead and making a surprise trip to the playoffs. This year, it’s the Montreal Canadiens who are making a surprise comeback, sitting atop the Eastern Conference in a full worst-to-first transformation. Matt Horner explores the major reasons why.

Nobody seems to know what to make of Manti Te’o. He had a historically great season as the leader of a Notre Dame defense that led the Irish back to national prominence and he finished as the runner-up for the Heisman trophy, becoming the closest thing to a purely defensive player the award in history… but then the National Championship Game and offseason happened.

I’ll admit I live a life of fantasy. I’ve been doing so for some time now. Although that fact is no secret to my family and friends, what started as a ‘hobby’ has become not only a time consuming passion, but also a painstaking pursuit of glory and salvation bordering on religious fanaticism. It’s been […]

Toronto’s Nazem Kadri has finally found his niche in the NHL and Chicago is being led by the new-and-improved Patrick Kane, but Edmonton Oilers center Sam Gagner may have made the biggest strides as a player this season. Has the 23-year-old veteran finally turned the corner and developed into one of the game’s elite?

There was no clear consensus No. 1 pick for the 2006 NBA Draft. There was no highly touted prospect that rival teams were clamouring over. Yes, Adam Morrison led Gonzaga to a memorable run in March Madness that year, and also led the nation in scoring. Scouts and execs throughout the league wondered aloud whether his lack of athleticism and all-around game would hamper his success once he was drafted. Ditto for J.J. Redick. And then there’s Andrea Bargnani.

When the 2012 NFL season started on September 9, 2012, you could be excused if you hadn’t drafted Adrian Peterson for your fantasy football team. After undergoing an ACL reconstruction only eight months earlier, many doubted that Peterson would be ready for the start of the season, and if he was, they certainly weren’t expecting the type of season that followed.