Remember when you were a child and you had those dreams of going to college for sports? You were certain you were playing for Coach K or Coach Wooden (depending on your age) or Nick Saban or whoever the best college program was in your sports field. The fact of the matter is that all those times in the backyard turned out to just be dreams for most of the people. Not every kid is going to college for athletics for various reasons; ability, financial restrictions, or anything else. Fortunately for me I got to live that experience of being... Continue reading

Austin Darrow | CNBNewsnet PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 18, 2018)(CNBNewsnet)--Go to Amazon right now and buy the underdog masks if you’re going to the game this Sunday. This Eagles team is a home underdog again. As if Vegas didn’t learn their lesson from last week by favoring Atlanta in the City of Brotherly Love, they’re favoring Case Keenum here as well. The Eagles and Vikings square off as the most unpredictable teams in an NFC Conference Championship game Sunday at 6:40. That’s right, even I couldn’t fathom these two teams playing each other this late in January. Yet here they are,... Continue reading

By Austin Darrow l CNB SPORTS For every fan that is sitting back watching the MLB postseason without their team in it, I am right there with you. Some people may have seen what the Minnesota Twins did and think that their team has that same chance. Let’s not get your hopes up too high. Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, every team besides the Nationals in the NL East, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, and San Diego Padres, your time will come but maybe not as fast as the Twins. Giants fans, you might be able to see the playoffs... Continue reading

Austin Darrow The 2017 NFL Draft will now be the main focal point for the NFL season, now that the top college athletes have found their homes. Now let’s see the teams who drafted well and set themselves up for the future vs the teams who just have no idea what they’re doing. Arizona Cardinals Grade: B+ They landed LB Haason Reddick in the first round from Temple and S Budda Baker from Washington in the second round. Both those selections will bolster up that defense that already has Tyrann Mathieu. They did a good job adding depth to their... Continue reading

Austin Darrow | CNBNewsnet The debate is over for the NBA MVP. Realistically it should be LeBron James, but that’s a different story, and the media and NBA have already made their minds up about the two candidates being James Harden of the Rockets and Russell Westbrook of the Thunder. Now Harden and Westbrook faced each other in the first round of the playoffs, and Harden did it with ease. You know why? Not because he is more talented, but because he includes the other four players on the court. Westbrook couldn’t define the word team if he had a... Continue reading

Austin Darrow I listened to The Herd today and Colin Cowherd came up with an interesting idea on spicing up the NBA draft. His idea was to allow these college players choose where they want to go play, as opposed to getting picked by the team. It’s interesting, it’s like a free agency for college athletes. Lonzo Ball said he wants to play for the Lakers, because his family is closer and he wants them to be able to see him play. Going number one isn’t a big deal to him. Number one overall is a great feat, but the... Continue reading

Austin Darrow Tony Romo has announced his retirement and immediately signs with CBS as TV analyst. From what I’ve read, he isn’t coming back. Romo realized that Dallas doesn’t need him anymore and they have Dak Prescott as their guy for the years to come. For the people thinking he’s coming back, don’t get your hopes up. Just look at his track record, he doesn’t have a back, nor does he have a throwing shoulder. I get it, people think he had two, maybe three years left in his career. But if you look at what happened today, he retired... Continue reading

LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers in action against the Washington Wizards at the Verizon Center on April 2, 2009, in Washington, DC. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) COMMENTARY: Austin Darrow There is a resting problem in the NBA, but LeBron James is an exception in the NBA. He can take days off because he is getting ready for the playoffs. Listen, LeBron is resting up for another Finals victory. There will be times, where a child isn’t going to get to see their favorite player play. LeBron isn’t going to play every single game, he is going to give Cleveland... Continue reading

Austin Darrow The World Baseball Classic is here to stay, and the product will continue to grow after a shocking USA victory. Let’s face it, no one saw Team USA in the semifinals, and yet they’re now champions. We didn’t really need them to win the WBC, to prove that players and fans are starting to care a little more, but it only added to the sweetness. Let’s take a look back at how much the players perspectives have changed on this tournament. The 2006 team: Roger Clemens, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Chipper Jones, Mark Texeira, Chase Utley are just... Continue reading

Austin Darrow The World Baseball Classic will conclude tonight and for the first time ever, Team USA is in the finals. How many people care? Not many. The WBC is a sporting event that is magical for baseball fans, but to the rest of the sports world, the country is just half in. Meaning if the U.S. wins it, than everyone will be happy and chant USA for a day. If they lose, oh well, didn’t expect them to go this far. The biggest problem is MLB owners not wanting most players to participate. Part of the problem is the... Continue reading

Primary Logo''' 1996–present (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Austin Darrow | CNBNewsnet The Philadelphia Eagles have been the noisemakers of this offseason so far. They made a huge move to get Alshon Jeffery and Torrey Smith. Chance Warmack is a solid placeholder on that struggling offensive line and Nick Foles returns. The Eagles weren’t supposed to be this active in free agency. I expected them to get Jeffery at least and then do the rest on the draft board. The Eagles WR’s for opening day are Jeffery, Smith, Jordan Matthews, Dorial Green-Beckham and Nelson Agholor. I expect Beckham to be moved to... Continue reading

Austin Darrow The NFL Scouting Combine kicked off today and this is where NFL teams main priority should be, not the free agent market. Teams who are looking at the QB position should be eyeing up one player and one player only; Deshaun Watson. Not DeShone Kizer or Mitch Trubisky. Watson is the best QB out of the trio being discussed for the first round. I’d put them as Watson, Trubisky and Kizer in that order. Kizer, Notre Dame, threw for 58 percent this season. 58 percent is not getting the job done in the NFL. The window to throw... Continue reading

Austin Darrow Big stars are hitting the NFL free agency market and jaws are dropping. There’s a good chance that if you’re a fan of a team who is in dire need of that player, than you’re probably screaming for them to sign him and blow all the money they have on one player. This is mainly about the Steelers locking up Antonio Brown and giving him $18.5 million per year. That’s a million dollars a week. The New England Patriots just won the Super Bowl and their entire WR core costs less than Brown’s yearly salary. As a matter... Continue reading

Austin Darrow I read an article earlier about the MLB thinking of implementing another idea into the league. They’re getting Rawlings to make tackier baseballs. This would be huge for pitchers because they would no longer have to doctor up a baseball, to get a good grip. I’m a pitcher myself, and those baseballs fresh out the box are usually slippery. I hate new baseballs and on all the teams I’ve played for, we would rub mud on the balls. I imagine every team does this to their box of game balls before the game. The MLB rubs mud on... Continue reading

Austin Darrow NBA trade deadline frenzy is over until the offseason. Nerlens Noel was the only meaningful name to be traded, meanwhile, the Celtics had their opportunity to give the Cavs a run for their money and passed it up. Brian Colangelo is slowly killing Hinkie’s process. Jahlil Okafor was supposed to be traded away and Embiid and Noel were going to be the dominant frontcourt for Philly. Embiid and Noel worked well together on the floor compared to Embiid and Okafor. Noel will start right away for the Mavs. The Sixers got a first round pick that’s protected to... Continue reading

Austin Darrow Several teams have reported to Spring Training which means baseball is here and April is right around the corner. Baseball fans are eyeing up a season to top last years. Even though the MLB is trying to implement tons of rules, the games will still be fun to watch. Here’s my early frontrunners for the 2017 season. NL East New York Mets (90-72) Washington Nationals (88-74) Philadelphia Phillies (78-84) Miami Marlins (77-85) Atlanta Braves (69-93) NL Central Chicago Cubs (100-62) Louis Cardinals (89-73) Pittsburgh Pirates (79-85) Cincinnati Reds (74-88) Milwaukee Brewers (71-91) NL West San Francisco Giants (90-72)... Continue reading

Austin Darrow I’ve wanted to argue this for a while now, and the Terrell Owens snub of the Pro Football Hall of Fame has triggered me into this. The NFL and MLB Hall of Fame’s voting system are flawed. The NFL HoF voting committee consists of media members and two Hall of Famers. The MLB HoF committee consists of all media members. Do you see the issue here? The only eligible Hall of Fame voters is the two NFL Hall of Famers in the voting process. The other voters may have played the sport in high school, but now they... Continue reading

Austin Darrow | CNBNewsnet The Pats-Falcons was a ridiculous end to a Super Bowl. In the last 12 months we witnessed a buzzer-beater in the NCAA championship, two 3-1 leads blown and a college football game goes down to the final second. Cavs win in the final minute of Game 7 Cubs-Indians go 10 innings in Game 7 Nova hits a game-winner Clemson beats Bama with 1 second Let’s get some things straight, the game was terrible. The first three-quarters were a typical NFL playoff game. It was a blowout. The Patriots looked defeated in the first three-quarters. They were... Continue reading

Austin Darrow Cue Michael Scott screaming “this is happening,” because LeBron James has finally spoken out against the criticism he’s faced. You can tell he’s finally fed up with the criticism he has taken throughout his career, unfortunately for Charles Barkley, he was the one who sparked this. Barkley came out and said James isn’t a competitor, because he wanted more players on his team. Here’s what Barkley isn’t understanding; James isn’t asking for the top players, he just wants someone better than Kay Felder. James is 33 and leads the league in minutes played. He shouldn’t be doing that... Continue reading

Austin Darrow College basketball is anything but normal, yet there’s one team who’s been shocking the nation and not in a good way. The Duke Blue Devils started as a preseason ranked No. 1 in the nation. They had a solid group of guys who could take Coach K to another national title (Grayson Allen, Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Luke Kennard). After going 12-1 before conference play, the Blue Devils are now 3-4 in the ACC. Where did it go wrong? The excuses can’t go on any further (suspensions, Coach K’s absence, and injuries). It’s time to admit the... Continue reading

Austin Darrow Name me a team who had a “Big 3” and had a solid bench. I guarantee you can’t. LeBron James has come out and called out the management for not having bodies on the bench, and he is allowed to since he practically runs the team. I’m not saying he’s lying, because the Cavs bench is disastrous. Now I am a big LeBron fan, but let’s be honest here, he can’t be complaining about his teams needs when they have no money. The Cavs have the highest payroll in the league and have zero dollars of cap room.... Continue reading

Tom Brady takes the snap during Super Bowl XXXIX. Brady threw for 219 yards to give the Patriots their third Super Bowl victory in four years. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Related: Austin Darrow Austin Darrow Conference Championship weekend is here and two teams will advance to the final Sunday of the NFL season. The high-powered offense in Atlanta will go up against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Tom Brady looks to go to his seventh Super Bowl as he prepares to face off against the “Killer B’s”. With that, here are my “expert” opinions for this weekend’s games. Sunday, January 22nd,... Continue reading

Austin Darrow The MLB Hall of Fame inductees have been announced and Tim Raines, Jeff Bagwell and Ivan Rodriguez made it. Unless you’re Jose Canseco, who questioned Bagwell entering the Hall of Fame via Twitter, you’d probably agree these three are deserving of their inductions. How Pudge Rodriguez only received 76% and Vladimir Guerrero didn’t get inducted is mind blowing. I truly believed Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds would get in. Bagwell was suspected of steroid use during his playing days. Steroids have nothing to do with the HoF voting anymore. The problem with the voting is the people who... Continue reading

Austin Darrow PROCESSING… Trust the Process. Three words that have become a life quote to Philadelphians. First introduced by Sam Hinkie, former GM of the Sixers, and now being played out by rookie Joel Embiid. No one was really sure how Embiid would do this season after missing two years due to injuries. He’s the NBA Rookie of the Year as of right now. Once the Sixers get their No. 1 overall pick Ben Simmons on the court with Embiid, good god, Philadelphia will erupt. As it stands right now, the Sixers will most likely land another top five pick... Continue reading

Austin Darrow | CNBNewsnet Le’Veon Bell came out and said that he’s changing the game of football like Steph courtesy Golden State Warriors Curry is with basketball. He is right about Curry, but wrong on himself. Take a seat Bell, you’re not revolutionizing the game in any way. Bell is a very good running back and I’m not here to discredit him in any way. I am here to say how crazy he is for thinking he’s revolutionizing football. He is one of the most patient runners in the game, yes, but not the first. There have been players with... Continue reading