SportsZone Chicago

The Houston Rockets resolved their James Harden problem. The Rockets on Wednesday traded Harden to the Brooklyn Nets in a four-team deal also involving the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers, two people familiar with the deal told USA TODAY Sports. Rodions Kurucs, Dante Exum and multiple first-round picks are headed to Houston in the Harden deal. The Pacers will send Victor Oladipo to Houston for Caris LeVert, and the Cavaliers will acquire Jarrett Allen and Taurean Prince.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2021/01/13/james-harden-brooklyn-nets-trade/4150249001

George Paton landed in Denver and he's staying there. Paton, the longtime Vikings assistant general manager, has agreed to terms on a six-year deal to become the Broncos general manager, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport and NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reported. The Broncos later confirmed the hire. For 14 years, Paton was with the Minnesota organization. The vice president and player
personnel/assistant general manager worked alongside Vikings GM Rick Spielman and now will take over as general manager under John Elway.
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https://www.nfl.com/news/george-paton-agrees-to-six-year-deal-as-new-broncos-general-manage

DC Chuck Pagano Retires: After plenty of waiting on January 12th after news broke that the Chicago Bears were going to make some big decisions, the first big news came out. Bears' defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano is retiring from coaching. This will now be the third time in four seasons that the Bears will be hiring a defensive coordinator. Pagano came in in 2019 after Vic Fangio left to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Click below to read more:
https://beargoggleson.com/2021/01/12/chicago-bears-defensive-coordinator-chuck-pagano-retires/

Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy Expected To Return In 2021: For the last two days, Chicago Bears fans have been pacing back and forth, wondering what the team will do with general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy heading into the offseason. It appears the answer is about to be revealed. Multiple reports coming out of Halas Hall indicate both Pace and Nagy will not be fired and are expected to return to the Bears for the 2021 NFL season. The news was first reported as a rumor by The Chicago Tribune's Brad Biggs and later confirmed by Dan Wiederer, also of the Tribune. Click below to read more:
https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2021/01/12/chicago-bears-ryan-pace-matt-nagy-expected-to-return-2021

The Boston Bruins will retire Willie O'Ree's No. 22 and raise it into the rafters this season, honoring him for being the NHL's first Black player. The Bruins will celebrate O'Ree in a ceremony on Feb. 18 before a game against the New Jersey Devils. O'Ree, who debuted for the Bruins 63 years ago, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame under the builder category in 2018, an honor that was viewed as long overdue.
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https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/30698417/boston-bruins-honor-nhl-first-black-player-willie-ore

The Chicago Blackhawks are embarking on a rebuild, and they want their young coach to be a part of it. The team announced Tuesday that Jeremy Colliton has received a two-year extension that runs through the 2022-23 season. Colliton is starting his third season with the Blackhawks after replacing legend Joel Quenneville. Chicago made the playoffs last season under the expanded format due to the pandemic and upset the Oilers in the preliminary round. They lost to Vegas in the first round.
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https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/30698327/chicago-blackhawks-coach-jeremy-colliton-receives-extensio

No. 1 Alabama has returned to the top of the college football mountain, rolling to the 18th national title in program history with a dominant 52-24 win over No. 3 Ohio State in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship. Undefeated at 13-0 and unchallenged through much of the season, the Crimson Tide put themselves in a special light even among the program's six national championship-winning teams to play for Nick Saban.
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https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/alabama-vs-ohio-state-game-2021-tide-roll-to-18th-national-championship-behind-record-offensive-explosion/live

The Eagles fired coach Doug Pederson on Monday, ending a partnership that delivered the first and only Super Bowl title in the city's history. Pederson was expected to remain as coach despite a 4-11-1 finish this season, but multiple meetings with owner Jeffrey Lurie over the past week left his boss unconvinced that Pederson had a sound vision for how to address the myriad issues facing the team, sources said, from navigating the Carson Wentz situation to fixing an offense that finished 26th in scoring (20.9 PPG) and 28th in passing yards (207.9 YPG) in 2020.
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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30693391/philadelphia-eagles-change-course-fire-head-coach-doug-pederson-source-say

Despite a tumultuous and deadly week in Washington, President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to award New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick the nation's highest civilian honor. Belichick, a White House official told Politico on Sunday, will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday.
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https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/president-donald-trump-medal-of-freedom-new-england-patriots-bill-belichick-washington-riots-attacks-capitol-joe-biden-002028472.htm

The New Orleans Saints are headed to the divisional round of the playoffs. The Saints toppled the Chicago Bears on Sunday, 21-9, in their Super Wild-Card Weekend game. It was a defensive struggle for much of the afternoon, but Drew Brees found Michael Thomas and Latavius Murray for touchdown passes, while Alvin Kamara found the end zone on the ground in the fourth quarter.
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https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/saints-vs-bears-score-live-updates-tv-channel-streaming-info-stats-for-wild-card-weekend-playoff-game/live

Kawhi Leonard shelved the protective mask he's been wearing and fueled a 3rd quarter rally to give the LA Clippers a 130-127 win over the Chicago Bulls Sunday afternoon at Staples Center. The game turned out to be a scoring duel between Leonard, who paced the Clippers with 35 points, and the Bulls' Zach LaVine, who led all scorers with 45 points but missed the tying basket in the final minute.
Click below to read more:
https://www.clipsnation.com/2021/1/10/22223726/la-clippers-vs-chicago-bulls-recap-final-score-kawhi-leonard-zach-lavin