The Mourning After Page 7 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Julie Ertz, the USWNT’s most irreplaceable player, retires
I’m a sucker for a midfielder. Especially one like Julie Ertz. It’s not that I played there or anything. It’s just something about a player who sees all the angles on both sides of the ball before being anywhere near it that gets me, I think. Xabi Alonso is my favorite Liverpool player of all time. ...

What a race we could've had in the AL West, and Nebraska goes loopy for volleyball
As someone who likes to spend a fair amount of time complaining about crusty baseball men and crusty baseball thought, I also spend a fair amount of time dabbling in both. As a crank, one can’t help but look at the AL West and wonder what might have been. ...

The Angels wave the white flag, and Gregg Berhalter doesn’t know how a phone works
It obviously hasn’t worked out for the Anaheim Angels. While their determination to try and make themselves worthy of Shohei Ohtani’s long-term commitment, or at this point even a short-term one after the season, was admirable and certainly unique to MLB these days, their immediate nosedive after ac...

Luis Rubiales can't tarnish Spain's World Cup victory
It’s been a disgusting turtle race, as we all knew where this would end and just had to watch a lumbering body make its way there painfully slowly and stupidly (please do not email me with corrections about how smart turtles are). After attempting everything from outright denial to victim-blaming to...

There is a reason Lionel Messi is tearing apart MLS
It might be hard for most to believe, but Lionel Messi played in his first MLS game Saturday night. I know, I know, you’ve been seeing the highlights and stats before now, but his first steps into the North American game have come in the Leagues Cup, a tournament invented by MLS and Liga MX this yea...

Newcomers at USC, Notre Dame could impact College Football Playoff
Notre Dame and USC both debuted Saturday, and with it, a couple roster additions who could alter the playoff picture this season. Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman had as many touchdowns as incompletions (four) for the Irish during a 42-3 romp over Navy in Ireland. Trojan true freshman Zachariah Bran...

Trey Lance isn’t going to shake the Dallas Cowboys out of complacency
Just when you think the Dallas Cowboys have found their rhythm — Mike McCarthy, Dak Prescott, 10-7, first-round playoff exit — Jerry Jones finds a way to disrupt it. Seemingly unsatisfied by his Sam Williams comments not getting the proper attention, the Dallas owner made sure he was in the news cyc...

No one was more themselves than Bray Wyatt
It’s been a rough week for wrestling and its fans. One day after the institution of Terry Funk was lost, perhaps the most creative and certainly one of the most unique minds passed, Bray Wyatt, at the unfair age of 36. ...

Elly De La Cruz and Shohei Ohtani are the same fans we are
Most baseball players, and really most pro athletes, will tell you that they stopped being fans long ago. It is a job now, and any star on another team becomes an obstacle eventually. They’ll tell you they respect other guys in the league, and that’s probably true, but they don’t see them as anythin...

Jerry Reinsdorf emerged from his crypt long enough to fire White Sox GM, VP
Not to turn this morning wake-up companion into Chicago White Sox Daily, but it’s a slow time of year. We’ll get through this together, I promise. ...

Baseball owners prove the richest tend to be the dumbest, and the Christian Pulisic train is rollin’ again
The more you watch rich people these days, the more you wonder how it’s possible they got all that money in the first place, or how they’ve kept it, or how they haven’t just walked through one of their windows chasing a bird. And then the sobering realization that we’ve built a society specifically ...

Spanish FA President Luis Rubiales is a creep
Update Aug. 24: According to multiple reports, Luis Rubiales plans to resign....

Mark Cuban lost out on billions in Uber money, and thank god football is almost here
In today’s edition of “Billionaires, they’re just like us,” Mark Cuban admitted to rejecting a chance to get in early on Uber and turn $250,000 into $2.3 billion. According to an appearance on a podcast nobody cares about, the Dallas Mavericks owner said he was approached with an offer that reflecte...

The bubble is bursting on NBA draft picks
A rather innocuous roster move by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday could foretell the future for teams loaded with future draft picks. The Thunder waived TyTy Washington Jr., the 29th pick of the 2022 NBA Draft who played his first season with the Houston Rockets. Both the Rockets and Thunder hav...

The voice of Buffalo Rick Jeanneret dies at 81
It’s mostly baseball announcers who become synonymous with a team and a city. They’re on the radio or TV every day for six months, so they can become more a part of a fan’s life than a good portion of the family. Whether that will happen again, with so many broadcasters now so polished, clean, rehea...

Northwestern football coach David Braun seems to think it’s a real challenge to not haze
At some point in the near future, football coaches are going to have to be relabeled into their own scientific category. It’s a real question if they’ve been human, or homo sapien, for a long time. Northwestern’s David Braun is only just the latest to prove it. ...

The continuing adventures of Angel Hernandez, Leo Messi is doing that thing again, and charter flights in women’s sports rears its ugly head
If you haven’t been following the touring artist exhibition that is Angel Hernandez attempting to call balls and strikes, or simply trying to disprove the utility of rules and conventions in society at all, in various Major League parks this summer, you’re missing one of the truly great examples of ...

Juan Soto provides the perfect metaphor for the Padres season, and Neymar ends up where he was always meant to be
The San Diego Padres are running out of time. They seemed to know it, as Juan Soto blew up at them last week after another dispiriting loss. It’s clear that something is amiss below the surface for San Diego, and Soto was doing his best to try and get everyone focused on what really matters, closing...

The Yankees are getting awfully close to toast after Sunday’s collapse in Miami
It’s been a while since New York had a lost summer, baseball-wise. Every New York summer is hot and smells like anarchy, but usually one of the Mets or Yankees can make all that sweating and noise worth it for their supporters. The Mets gave up their responsibility long ago, while the Yankees have b...

The Sixers don’t have time for another prolonged James Harden trade saga
The staring contest is underway between James Harden and Daryl Morey as the Philadelphia 76ers announced they have ended talks to trade the former MVP. Unhappy with his role and contract offer, Harden requested a trade earlier this offseason, but his desired destination, the LA Clippers, couldn’t co...