GeneralBy Alex Putterman on

You know what sports needs more of? Takedowns.

Sometimes we get players jawing at each other or exchanging slightly mean tweets, and every once in a while Matt Barnes will drive a few hours to pummel Derek Fisher or something, but rarely do we get to witness one guy just going after another with all he’s got.

What Kenyon Martin did to George Karl on Thursday, which we’ll fully explain in a minute, was vicious. So vicious, in fact, that we hereby honor K-Mart with the best diss track of all-time.

Welcome to The Cheat Sheet.

The Eagles keep the Giants from clinching a playoff berth

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 22: Quarterback Eli Manning #10 of the New York Giants looks to throw a pass against defensive tackle Fletcher Cox #91 of the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field on December 22, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 22: Quarterback Eli Manning #10 of the New York Giants looks to throw a pass against defensive tackle Fletcher Cox #91 of the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter of the game at Lincoln Financial Field on December 22, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Eli Manning giveth, and Eli Manning taketh away.

The Eagles beat the Giants 24-19 victory on Thursday to improve to 6-9 and drop New York to 10-5. The Giants could have clinched an NFC Wild Card berth with a win but will have to keep the champagne on ice for now.

Thing is, looking at the statistics, you’d swear the Giants blew out the Eagles. New York gained 470 yards, compared to 286 for Philadelphia, and picked up 24 first downs to 15 for Philly. The Giants also ran way more plays, dominated time of possession and converted on a high percentage of third downs.

So what went wrong for Ben McAdoo and company? Elisha Nelson Manning, that’s what.

Manning completed 60 percent of his passes and threw for 353 yards… which isn’t that impressive given that he threw 63 times… and is even less impressive when you learn he tossed three interceptions, including one run back for a touchdown by Philadelphia cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, who had two picks on the game.

Carson Wentz was not very good Thursday. Ryan Mathews was also not very good. Nelson Agholor led the team in receiving with 47 yards on two catches. The Eagles defense allowed almost 500 yards. And yet Philadelphia won. Go figure.

Two features have defined Thursday Night Football this year: garish uniforms and sloppy football, but But Thursday’s matchup between the Eagles and Giants didn’t really offer either. Instead, the game gave us a good-old Eli Manning interception-fest.

Kenyon Martin puts George Karl in his place

SALT LAKE CITY - APRIL 30: Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets speaks to teammate Carmelo Anthony #15 during their loss to the Utah Jazz in Game Six of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs at EnergySolutions Arena on April 30, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – APRIL 30: Kenyon Martin #4 of the Denver Nuggets speaks to teammate Carmelo Anthony #15 during their loss to the Utah Jazz in Game Six of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs at EnergySolutions Arena on April 30, 2010 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Here’s where we explain how Kenyon Martin became a hero Thursday.

It started in the morning, when the New York Post reported that former coach George Karl’s upcoming new book, “Furious George,” includes biting criticisms of players such as Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and Martin. The Post printed a few of these criticisms, and while all of them felt unnecessary and over-the-top, there was one passage in particular that was profoundly uncalled for.

“Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man,” Karl wrote.

This kind of amateur psychologist bullshit is unproductive, uninformed and plain offensive.

And Martin flat-out wasn’t having it. Hours after the excerpts from Karl’s book became public, the former All-Star forward absolutely ripped into his ex-coach on Twitter. Here’s the entire string of beautiful tweets.

Karl deserved every single word of that. Props to K-Mart for refusing to let some pompous former coach talk bad about him.

Edwin Encarnacion joins the Indians, who are now loaded

Minnesota Twins v Toronto Blue Jays

The last big Major-League free agent came off the board Thursday, as Edwin Encarnacion reached a three-year $60 million deal with the Cleveland Indians, with a $20 million option for a fourth year and a $5 million buy-out.

Encarnacion wound up with less money and fewer years than he was reportedly seeking at the beginning of the offseason, but that’s not a total surprise in a market saturated with over-30 power-hitters. It seems that Encarnacion would have gone home with a fatter contract if he had just accepted the Blue Jays’ $80 million offer a month ago.

But instead, the big first baseman is headed to a Cleveland team that appears totally stacked. The Indians reached the absolute brink of a World Series title last season and are now upgrading Mike Napoli (2.1 WAR over the past two seasons, per Baseball-Reference) to Encarnacion (8.4 WAR in the same span). With Michael Brantley returning to the lineup and the starting rotation hopefully healthy once again, plus a dominant bullpen, Cleveland doesn’t have many holes.

Not only must Indians fans be thrilled about their new 30-homer-a-year slugger, they’ve got to be happy that the team’s ownership, notoriously frugal, was willing to spend for a big-time free agent who fit the roster perfectly. It would have been a shame if penny-pinching had stood in the way of roster-building for a team that was 22nd in baseball in payroll last season.

Now, the Indians join the Red Sox as co-favorites in the American League. Both teams look on paper to be even better than they were a year ago, when they won 94 and 93 games, respectively. Is it April yet?

Quick hits

– Carmelo Anthony combatted Karl’s barbs with humor, joking that his book would be called “Stay Melo,” and “not furious.”

– J.R. Smith kind of split the difference between Martin’s anger and Anthony’s calmness with a pointed tweet.

– Coach K’s attempts to defend serial-tripper Grayson Allen are getting kind of weird.

– A spring football league is popping up for free agents seeking a shot at making the NFL. Initial reports that the NFL was funding this new league were erroneous.

– The NFL is implementing an informal “Rooney Rule” for coordinators. Minorities can’t get hired as head coaches if they don’t get coordinator jobs first.

– Terrelle Pryor might be the most hated man in the NFL. Even his former teammates are now taking shots at him.

– Thursday was a bit of a slow night in the NBA, with five mostly uninteresting games, but Steph Curry did manage to catch his falling mouth-guard and record an assist on a single play.

One save and one assist for Steph 😬

A video posted by Bleacher Report (@bleacherreport) on


– Sigh, another incidence of alleged sexual assault involving a college football player, this one at Michigan.

– Elsewhere in that state, Michigan State reportedly failed to act on sexual abuse by the school’s former athletic doctor.

– Remember when Barry Switzer claimed to have met with Donald Trump? He was just messing with us.

– Here’s a vitally important question: How much would Kevin McCallister’s traps from “Home Alone” actually hurt?

– Tiger Woods might win the award for weirdest tweet of the year:

One last moment of procrastination

This is what Kenyon Martin did to George Karl, only without the office camaraderie and good-natured laughter.

About Alex Putterman

Alex is a writer and editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. He has written for The Atlantic, VICE Sports, MLB.com, SI.com and more. He is a proud alum of Northwestern University and The Daily Northwestern. You can find him on Twitter @AlexPutterman.

View all posts by Alex Putterman