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From Bill Plaschke: He was adored.
He was unstoppable.
He’s getting cut?
For eight seasons the sound of “Coooop” filled the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium, fans embracing the humble greatness of Cooper Kupp as he ascended from anonymity to become the new Rams’ first real homegrown star.
On the Rams’ final drive of Super Bowl LVI against the Cincinnati Bengals, he had four catches, ran for a first down on fourth and one, and hauled in the winning touchdown pass.
In that championship 2021 season he achieved the so-called receiving triple crown while becoming only the second receiver in history to be named offensive player of the year and Super Bowl most valuable player in the same season.
And on Wednesday, Kupp was fired.
The Rams’ beloved star was released simply because the Rams no longer thought he was worth it.
Cooper Kupp era ends: Rams release veteran wide receiver
Jimmy Garoppolo on why he’s staying with Rams rather than pursuing another QB job
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CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: Mike Williams is running a comeback route.
A year after he was released by the Chargers, the team announced Wednesday it agreed to terms with the wide receiver. Williams will return on a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, according to Fox Sports.
A first-round pick in 2017, Williams caught 309 passes for 4,806 yards in seven seasons with the Chargers. But the Chargers released him last year to save $20 million in their effort to become salary-cap compliant. He signed with the New York Jets, but the pairing with Aaron Rodgers never blossomed and he was traded midseason to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Chargers add cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, bring back two key linebackers
CLIPPERS
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored a season-high 30 points and Ivica Zubac added 26 points and 14 rebounds, helping the Clippers beat the Miami Heat 119-104 on Wednesday night.
James Harden had 24 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds for the Clippers, who won for the fourth time in five games and pulled within 1½ games of idle Golden State for the No. 6 — and last guaranteed — playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Tyler Herro scored 31 points and Andrew Wiggins added 22 for the Heat, who fell 2½ games behind Atlanta in the race for the No. 7 spot and most advantageous play-in position in the Eastern Conference.
USC BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: They’d withstood one wave after another, their season hanging in the balance with seemingly every possession. Nothing had come simply for USC through this frustrating first campaign under Eric Musselman, and here was one last stand, stretching fittingly into one overtime, then another.
So many chances had been squandered by that point in the Trojans’ Big Ten tournament opener. A 15-point, first-half lead was lost. A dynamic defensive effort had disappeared. What hope had been fortified in the first half Wednesday had faded by the second. By overtime, USC was left holding on for dear life.
But as precious seconds ticked away in the second overtime ticked away, Wesley Yates let a three-pointer fly. As it swished, he pounded his chest, knowing he’d guaranteed the Trojans at least one more day at the end of an otherwise frustrating season with a 97-89 win over Rutgers.
With the victory, USC will move on to face Purdue on Thursday night, with a chance to once again keep its season afloat.
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Ben Bolch: Mick Cronin knows what it’s like to lose by winning a conference tournament that plays its championship game on Selection Sunday.
It happened his last two seasons at Cincinnati.
“We played the last game and we found out where we were going for the NCAA tournament while we were cutting down nets or sitting in the locker room eating a cold pizza,” Cronin said in October. “Then you’ve got to fly home, then you’ve got to fly back to wherever you’re being sent. It’s not ideal, I can tell you that.”
In 2018, Cronin’s Bearcats played five days after winning the American Athletic Conference tournament title. They reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, losing to Nevada.
The next year it was the same quick turnaround, and the Bearcats lost to Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
As Cronin’s UCLA Bruins prepare to open the Big Ten tournament in a quarterfinal game Friday afternoon at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, they must balance the desire for success with the realization that this isn’t the tournament that really matters.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: Twenty-eight days later, the Dodgers have packed up and left Camelback Ranch to embark on their World Series championship defense.
Their first stop: Japan, with the team flying out Wednesday ahead of its season-opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs next week at the Tokyo Dome.
Because of that schedule quirk, the Dodgers’ spring schedule was abbreviated again. But even in just four weeks, much emerged about the state of the team.
As the club prepares to begin the season, here are five takeaways on how things went in camp.
DUCKS
Dylan Guenther broke a tie on a power play at 7:03 of the third period, and the Utah Hockey Club beat the Ducks 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Guenther beat goalie Ville Husso with a one-timer from the left side off a feed from defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Guenther has a career-high 24 goals this season.
Jack McBain and Alexander Kerfoot also scored to help Utah move within two points of the second wild card in the Western Conference. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves.
GALAXY
The Galaxy made history last season, winning a record sixth MLS Cup, going unbeaten in 21 matches at Dignity Health Sports Park and becoming the first team to have four players reach double digits in both goals and assists.
Less than a month into this season the team made history of a different sort by becoming the first reigning MLS champion to lose its first four games. Which brings us to Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup game with Herediano.
The Galaxy’s dominant 4-1 win won’t count in the MLS standings, but it certainly counts everywhere else. And by reversing a one-goal loss to Herediano last week in Costa Rica, Wednesday’s result gave the Galaxy a 4-2 aggregate-goal victory in the two-leg CONCACAF round-of-16 playoff, lifting the team into the quarterfinals of the confederation’s most prestigious club competition for the first time in a decade.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1894 — J.L. Johnstone of England invents the starting gate for horse racing.
1920 — NYU wins the national amateur basketball championship in Atlanta. The Violets beat Rutgers 49-24 in the final of the AAU tournament.
1961 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johansson in the sixth round to retain the world heavyweight title in Miami Beach.
1982 — Elaine Zayak of the United States wins the world figure skating championship.
1983 — Randy Smith’s consecutive game streak ends at 906 games, the longest in NBA history. Smith played for Buffalo, San Diego (twice), Cleveland and New York during the streak.
1997 — The America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sports and yachting’s most coveted prize, is all but destroyed by a Maori protester who struck it repeatedly with a sledgehammer in Auckland, New Zealand.
1998 — Bryce Drew hits a leaning three-pointer as time expires to give Valparaiso a shocking 70-69 upset of Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.
2001 — Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi picks up his 1,000th career point during 5-2 win over St. Louis. He’s the 60th player in NHL history to reach the mark.
2007 — Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back. On Feb. 20, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, a 1,000 mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon.
2007 — Dallas’ Mike Modano becomes the 39th player in NHL history and second born in the United States to reach 500 goals, scoring with 10:24 left in the third period of a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia.
2008 — Bode Miller clinches the men’s overall World Cup ski title. Miller earns his second title in four years with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined, along with Didier Cuche’s announcement that he would not enter the season-ending slalom in Bormio, Italy.
2011 — The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee releases its 68-team draw, which included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference in the nation. The tournament adds three more at-large teams that will open the tournament in what the NCAA is calling the “First Four.”
2012 — BYU pulls off the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history on a wild opening night. Noah Hartsock scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars rally from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round. It marks the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game. It’s the second incredible turnaround of the night in Dayton. With President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron watching, Western Kentucky comes back from a 16-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58.
2018 — Russell Westbrook picks up the 100th triple-double of his career and the Oklahoma City Thunder uses a 16-0 run late in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks for a 119-107 victory. Westbrook scores 32 points, dishes out 12 assists and grabs 12 rebounds to become the third-fastest player to reach the milestone.
2020 — Elite football in Britain, including England’s Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League plus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is suspended until at least 3 April because of COVID-19 pandemic.
2022 — After a 40-day retirement, quarterback Tom Brady announces he will play at least one more season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
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