9 Page 69 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Citing Growing COVID Cases, Rafa Opts Out of US Open
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has decided to skip the U.S. Open. Nadal broke the news via Twitter, where he outlined his concerns about the spread of COVID-19....

The Mourning After: Last Night's Most Troubling News This Morning
While the Mets were pulling their weekly Mets’ing with Yoenis Cespedes and his decision to opt-out/Irish goodbye the season, the rest of the league continues to try and treat the Coronavirus much like an annoying co-worker with the hopes that if you wait until lunch to walk by their desk, everything...

Unity Movement's Kassidy Woods Cut from WSU to Avoid 'Mixed Messages'
John Woods Jr. has been in his son’s shoes....

Pac-12 Players Demand Safety and Equality - So WSU Sent Them Home
UPDATE: According to Spokesman Review’s Theo Lawson, multiple Washington State players who shared the #WeAreUnited hashtag in response to today’s Players’ Tribune article have been released for the season....

Rob Manfred is in Over His Head, And He Knows it
If baseball is a symbol or microcosm of our nation at large, as baseball writers like to constantly tell us while finishing their Weetabix, then it scans that both of those entities are lacking leadership at this moment. Rob Manfred has no clue what to do, because his only directive — making sure th...

Why Didn’t the Phillies Get a Vote Sunday?
The main problem of MLB’s “strategy,” such as it was, for playing this season was that it depended on baseball people. It depended on sports people. And in the world of sports people, the binary has always been, “Playing = good, not playing = bad.” Which is how MLB got into this mess....

Are You Watching, NFL?
It’s a day we all suspected, if not outright knew, would come....
![Despite Marlins Outbreak, Commissioner Rob Manfred Has No Plans to Stop Season [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/wyxkriuykr10rkfwdahj.jpg)

Everything in 2020 Sucks, So Yankees Get Trump to Throw Out First Pitch in Empty Stadium...Yep
Welcome to the 2020 Major League Baseball season. Everything here is shit....

As Much as I Miss Baseball, This Fanless, Pandemic Opener Leaves Me With an Empty Feeling
In 1943, with their roster torn asunder by players called into military service for World War II, the Philadelphia Eagles moved to Pittsburgh for the year, merged with the Steelers, and became known as the Steagles....

Trash Talkin' Tuesday: Roger Goodell What are You Thinking?
Today, I’m trashing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell....

What if the NFL Had Taken COVID Seriously From the Start?
Sunday saw NFL players, in a coordinated approach, posting tweets with the hashtag #WeWantToPlay, calling for the league to listen to experts when it comes to opening up training camps as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country....

Jrue and Lauren Holiday Pledge $5.3M to Help Black Communities
Pelicans star guard Jrue Holiday and his wife, former U.S. women’s soccer standout Lauren Holiday, announced on Wednesday that they will be donating the remainder of his NBA salary for the season to multiple charities and Black-owned businesses across the country....

If Sports Want To Return, Then Leagues Should Copy The TBT’s Formula For Success
Sports are a product of a functioning society....

NHL Training Camps are Going About as You'd Expect
Across the continent today, NHL training camps are opening before the league’s restart on August 1 in Edmonton and Toronto. And considering the time and places we live, it’s going about as you’d expect. ...

Rockets' Russell Westbrook is Latest to Test Positive for COVID-19
Add Russell Westbrook to the list of NBA stars diagnosed with COVID-19....

Soccer Doesn't Have a Coronavirus Problem, the MLS Does
Professional sports have been back for months....

What Exactly Is MLS’ Endgame?
The lie that every league in the U.S. has sold, and not very well, is that it can return to action safely, even if in spaces where COVID-19 is raging. Even the leagues that are returning only in Florida, where they set records daily on new cases and the state government’s response is like trying to ...

Here are the MLB Players Opting Out of the 2020 Season
With Opening Day just weeks away, the number of players deciding to sit out the 2020 MLB season due to mounting coronavirus concerns. Here’s a running account of the players who have decided to opt out....

The NHL Has A Different Idea, Except It’s The Same Idea
What we’ve learned so far about sports attempting to come back in the U.S. amongst a pandemic (and the balloon-handed handling of it) is that no model has proven safe. The “bubble” model didn’t protect MLS from having their Orlando bubble contaminated to the point that Dallas FC is being isolated th...