Case Keefer
Assistant Sports Editor
Story Archive
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Sports
Raiders flashed potential against both Super Bowl teams this year
Friday, Feb. 9, 2024 Nothing should give Raiders' fans more confidence than the way their team performed against the two sides facing off for the Lombardi Trophy at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Allegiant Stadium ...
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Features
What to watch as Las Vegas stages its first ever Super Bowl
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024 Las Vegas as a host city is a big talking point this year, but the second championship matchup between the Chiefs and 49ers in the last five seasons presents several of its own wrinkles.
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Features
Predicting the magic moments that will go down in history at Super Bowl 58
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024 Think defensive tackle William “The Refrigerator” Perry’s rushing touchdown for the Bears in 1985.
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Features
Prop up the stars: Betting on all the biggest Super Bowl names
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024 Here are 10 of the biggest offensive names in the game, and a bet involving each of them spanning several different markets and sports books.
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Sports
Luke Getsy officially named Raiders’ new offensive coordinator
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024 Having already introduced their fourth coach and fourth general manager since moving to Las Vegas four years ago, the Raiders have now announced their fourth offensive coordinator. Former Bears offensive coordinator ...
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Sports
From laughs to tears: Why Super Bowl Opening Night might be worth your time
Monday, Feb. 5, 2024 Las Vegas gets a chance to put its own stamp on the annual theatre of absurdity tonight at Allegiant Stadium. Doors open at 3 p.m. with the Kansas City Chiefs scheduled for ...
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Sports
Chiefs could complete one of the best runs in NFL history with Super Bowl win
Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024 The Chiefs barely had time to brush off the confetti as they exited the field as Super Bowl champions following a win against the Eagles a year ago in Glendale, Ariz., before ...
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Sports
Chiefs, 49ers headed to Las Vegas for Super Bowl 58
Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024 A Super Bowl 54 rematch is set for Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas. For the second time in four years, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers have won their ...
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Gaming
Conference championship sweats: 7 wagers to add to NFL betting card
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024 There might be only two games on Sunday for conference championship weekend but I’m still going to stick to the Sunday Sweats format ...
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Gaming
Vegas pick'em: NFL conference championship winners against the spread
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 Baltimore vs. San Francisco would be the best-case scenario for Las Vegas’ debut as Super Bowl host on Sunday Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium for the 58th iteration of the game. ...
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Sports
Vegas Thrill ready for inaugural pro volleyball season
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 The sound of spiked volleyballs constantly reverberates through the gym with only the occasional harsh noise surfacing to momentarily drown them out. Skin sometimes squeaks on the rubber floor when players dive to keep balls alive. Applause and encouragement ...
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Sports
Raiders’ priority turns to offense with coach, general manager now in place
Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 Las Vegas must hope Telesco’s offensive evaluation skills are as sharp as advertised because that’s what it needs most this offseason. ...
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Sports
Raiders hire Tom Telesco as new general manager
Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024 The consensus going into the offseason was that the Raiders would likely retain interim general manager Champ Kelly while the fate of interim coach Antonio Pierce was ...
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Gaming
Divisional-round sweats: Seven wagers to add to your NFL betting card
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024 Line movement has been sparse in NFL markets this week, except for the latest chapter in the rivalry between the Chiefs and Bills under Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, respectively. ...
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Sports
Raiders make it official: Antonio Pierce staying on as head coach
Friday, Jan. 19, 2024 The Raiders’ players are getting their way. The team is retaining interim coach Antonio Pierce and elevating him to the full-time role for next season, according to an ESPN report. ..
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Sports
Vegas pick'em: NFL divisional-round winners against the spread
Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 The two most outstanding individual performances of wild-card weekend belonged to pair of postseason debutants in Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Houston’s C.J. Stroud. ...
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Gaming
Wild-card weekend sweats: Seven wagers to add to your betting card
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 I’m giving myself a chance for some high payouts on wild-card weekend as only two of the bets in the traditional seven categories below aren’t plus-money sides. ...
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Gaming
Vegas pick'em: NFL wild-card weekend winners against the spread
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 By the odds, the most likely Super Bowl MVP suiting up this weekend as part of the opening week of the NFL playoffs is Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who’s listed at 6-to-1. ...
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Sports
Raiders have an emergent star at RB going into uncertain offseason
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024 One of Zamir White’s favorite things about playing college football at the University of Georgia was the way the home crowd would chant his nickname, “Zeus,” every time ...
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Sports
Analysis: Antonio Pierce has earned right to keep Raiders' coaching job
Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 Antonio Pierce has established a postgame ritual he’s followed in each of his four home victories since taking over as Raiders’ interim coach midway through the season. He wastes little time sprinting to Allegiant Stadium’s Southwest tunnel at the end of games, acknowledging the fans for a second before getting in place to “dap up” all his players as ...
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Gaming
College football by the odds: Vegas pick and preview of UM versus UW
Monday, Jan. 8, 2024 Rome Odunze was already a hero on local football fields from his time at Bishop Gorman High where he emerged as one of the best high-school football players ...
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Sports
Live coverage: Raiders finish season strong with 27-14 win over Broncos
Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024 Aidan O'Connell threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns, as the Raiders put a positive end to their season with a 27-14 win over the Denver Broncos at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday.
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Gaming
Sunday Sweats: Seven bets to add to your NFL Week 18 card
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 Here’s to 2024 going every bit as well as 2023, starting with a tricky but attractive Week 18 slate. ...
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Sports
Analysis: Raiders’ fatal flaw doesn’t fall on Antonio Pierce’s shoulders
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 The 45-year-old Pierce has more reason than most of the coaches that have come before him to lament the situation he was thrust into and cite it as the first example of what’s held him back but he's refused to do so. ...
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Sports
24 for '24: Making our annual predictions for the sports calendar ahead of Las Vegas in the new year
Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 It’s no stretch to suggest that 2023 was the greatest sports year in the history of Las Vegas, and 2024 could wind up even better—or at least more action-packed.Here’s how it could happen, with our annual predictions covering a wide variety of local teams and the biggest events slated to come through.
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Sports
Antonio Pierce, Maxx Crosby united in bringing the best out of each other
Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 The relationship between Crosby and Pierce could define the Raiders for the rest of the decade depending on what happens over the next month. ...
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Gaming
Vegas pick'em: NFL Week 18 winners against the spread
Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024 There might be a few more puzzle pieces when it comes to betting the NFL's Week 18 schedule, but it’s not all that different from the rest of the year. ...
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Sports
Failure to launch: Raiders' playoff hopes collapse in loss at Colts
Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023 The loss eliminated Las Vegas from playoff contention. The Raiders face the Broncos at Allegiant Stadium next Sunday in both AFC West teams’ regular-season finales.
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Sports
It's déjà vu for the Raiders in Indy as they cling to playoff hopes
Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023 The Las Vegas Raiders are hoping history repeats in the racing capital of the world. The last time they were in the situation they find ...
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Gaming
Sunday Sweats: Seven bets to add to your NFL Week 17 card
Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023 Avoiding prolonged losing streaks is a big reason why this has been the most profitable year in the history of the weekend betting column. ...
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Sports
College football by the odds: Bowl Pick'em against the spread Part 4
Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023 The craziness of the betting market throughout bowl season so far is counterbalanced by the stability of the pair of College Football Playoff semifinal games. ..
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Sports
Raiders know more offense is needed to keep win streak, playoff hopes alive
Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 Touch the ball; touch the end zone. That’s one of the rules Raiders interim coach Antonio Pierce has stressed the most in practice since he took over the position midseason. He wants his team to always finish the play and get used to finishing with a score. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a kickoff, punt, interception, fumble recovery — that guy is ...
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Sports
Can’t let Koonce loose: Raiders have found their Maxx Crosby sidekick
Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023 Maxx Crosby took exception to a midseason suggestion that he wasn’t getting enough help from his teammates on the defensive line, particularly with the pass rush. The All-Pro had 5.5 sacks through the first six weeks before any other defensive end on the roster had one, but Crosby said that wasn’t telling. A more telling sign to ...
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Sports
Vegas pick'em: NFL Week 17 winners against the spread
Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023 NFL underdogs used the holiday stand-alone televised spots to make their long-awaited stand against the type of favorites that had dominated the season to this point. Favorites have still won more than 67% of games this season outright, but ...
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Gaming
College football by the odds: Bowl pick'em against the spread Part 3
Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023 If you thought the first half of bowl season was messy over the last 10 days, just wait until the unofficial second half starts today. ...
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Sports
Northwestern grinds out another upset to cap season full of them at Las Vegas Bowl
Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023 Bryce Kirtz’s score with 6:19 remaining proved enough for the Wildcats in what was a competitive but sometimes challenging-to-watch Las Vegas Bowl.
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Sports
Sunday Sweats: Seven bets to add to your NFL Week 16 card
Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023 The league has held Christmas Day games in the past — even staging the same three-contest schedule last year — and used Christmas Eve as a normal gameday when it fell on Sundays but the combination of the two makes this year more of a total holiday takeover. ...
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Sports
Christmas Miracle? Raiders ‘foaming at the mouth’ to snap Chiefs' losing streak
Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 The opportunity to snap a six-game rivalry losing streak comes at 10 a.m. Monday in Kansas City when the Raiders kick off the NFL’s three-game slate on Christmas Day against the Chiefs. ...
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Sports
College football by the odds: Bowl pick'em against the spread Part 2
Friday, Dec. 22, 2023 The Pac-12 is dissolving — at least in its current state. The Las Vegas Bowl is in no danger of following suit, especially now that it’s become one of the premier games of the early postseason, but it will look a lot different without the Pac-12 ...
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Sports
Birth of a burner: Raiders’ Tre Tucker taking rapid steps in NFL development
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 The Raiders have one of the better receiving corps in the league, but have been missing a consistent deep threat this season. ...
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Sports
Five reasons to care about UNLV’s climb into the Guaranteed Rate Bowl against Kansas
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 The Guaranteed Rate Bowl between UNLV and Kansas, which kicks off at 6 p.m. December 26 at Chase Field in Phoenix, feels like a throwback, especially on the Scarlet and Gray’s side.
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Sports
Vegas pick'em: NFL Week 16 winners against the spread
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 The NFL couldn’t have asked for a better setup when it decided to schedule a full day’s worth of Christmas Day games for the second straight year. ...
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Sports
Leon Edwards makes a fool out of Colby Covington at UFC 296
Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023 All the threats, insults and ridicule UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington threw in the direction of champion Leon Edwards turned out to be in vain. ...
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Gaming
Sunday Sweats: Seven bets to add to your NFL Week 15 card
Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023 The New York Jets and Chicago Bears were both heroes in last week’s Sunday Sweats. Now they turn to villains. ...
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Sports
From zero to 63: Raiders refuse to quit on season, show resolve in historic romp
Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 Maxx Crosby turned his head looking to spring a block for teammate John Jenkins, who had just scooped a fumble and was heading towards the end zone, but found a surprising sight. Nothing. No one on the ...
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Sports
College football by the odds: Bowl pick'em against the spread Part 1
Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 Analyzing the transfer-portal and opt-outs and quantifying their impacts is arguably the most important part of bowl handicapping. It requires a lot different approach than 13 years ago ...
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Sports
The antagonist: Colby Covington’s obnoxious persona delivers him to another massive fight at UFC 296
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 Leon Edwards was trying to soak in the brightest moment of his career having just defended his UFC welterweight championship for the first time in front of his home country at the O2 Arena in London. The man sitting in ...
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Sports
Vegas pick'em: NFL Week 15 winners against the spread
Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 Four teams are seen as virtual 50/50 propositions to make the postseason by the odds — the Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers ...
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Sports
The silver (and black) lining: Raiders’ pass rush finally formidable
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023 If there’s any reason for enthusiasm regarding the Raiders (5-8) as they head into a Thursday Night Football matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers (5-8) at Allegiant, it centers on their pass rush. ...
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Sports
Pointless and pitiful: Raiders bottom out again in defeat to Vikings
Monday, Dec. 11, 2023 Most Las Vegas Raiders’ fans had bailed before the final seconds ticked off the clock in the team’s 3-0 home loss to the Minnesota Vikings Sunday afternoon. ...