abr Page 32 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Thank goodness the WNBA learned from last year’s all-star mistake
The WNBA decided to put minimal effort into one of its most prestigious individual honors this season. During last season’s All-Star Game, the league was embarrassed by the MVP trophy that winner — Kelsey Plum — could have dangled and referred to as “her little teacup.” Jewell Loyd was named MVP of ...

NCAA treating violations with the leniency of a Boulder beat cop on 4/20
The University of Tennessee was hit with an $8 million fine, among other penalties, on Friday for “hundreds” of NCAA violations. Former coach Jeremy Pruitt and his staff committed north of 200 infractions, and while pretty much all of them weren’t a huge deal individually, when you rattle them off i...

NBA 2K’s decision to put Sabrina Ionescu on the cover was based on race — not merit
Being a superstar is the lone requirement for receiving superstar treatment — like being on the cover of a video game. Well, that’s unless the league you play in has always been Black, and your whiteness has been hijacked as a marketing tool — providing you with superstar treatment when you aren’t a...

The Braves and the White Sox were supposed to both have bright futures
Now that the MLB has reached the midsummer classic portion of its schedule, it gives me time to reflect. This period of deep thought has taken me back to a time when the Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves had the two best farm systems in MLB....

Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier’s spinoff league offers a platform for WNBA stars
Every offseason, women’s basketball’s finest head abroad to take part in leagues that run concurrently with the NBA schedule. Unfortunately, that often creates a problem for the WNBA teams that have them under contract between May and the completion of their respective seasons in early fall. That’s ...

Arsenal are loading up
Little ammunition joke for ya there. Anyway, if the accusation, and thought was that Stan Kroenke regularly cheaped out when it came to strengthening Arsenal, this week might change all that. While Kroenke has had no problem finding success in the salary-capped worlds of the NFL, NBA, and NHL, with ...

The United States men’s national team’s Gold Cup squad lacks stars, serves better long-term purpose
It’s clear by interim United States men’s national team head coach B.J. Callaghan’s 23-man roster for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup that winning the tournament isn’t the only priority. How else do you explain giving players like Christian Pulisic a pass? It’s not a break as he barely played at Che...

If the WNBA was treated like a white league, decisions about Brittney Griner’s safety and chartered flights wouldn’t have to be made
Brittney Griner is back in the news — but she didn’t have to be. Over the last few days, conversations about women’s basketball dominated the sports world after Griner was harassed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport by a Blaze Media YouTube personality — a white man. What came next was a ren...

WNBA, NSWL TV rights are more valuable than ever as leagues seek new deals
Hours before the WNBA’s New York Liberty were set to take the court against the Connecticut Sky at 2 p.m. on Sunday, the crowd near the players’ entrance was already entrenched. Parents and their kids, couples, and groups of friends, many decked out in shirts and shoes with that distinctive Statue s...

Believe in fun, believe in the Diamondbacks
There was always hope that a young, funky team would finally not just get the best of the Dodgers, but signal the end of the now decade long run of the Dodgers running roughshod over the NL West. Yes, the Giants got them once, in a season where the Dodgers still won 106 games. And we know what happe...

What’s next for Arsenal?
When you’ve spent 248 days on top of the Premier League (somewhat aided by the World Cup break, of course), getting not just passed but utterly dusted in the last month or so of the season can feel pretty deflating. That’s where Arsenal find themselves, and certainly conceding the title by getting o...
![Congrats, Baltimore, enjoy your oft-injured OF [Update]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/edd39d97137423207b52b7358521a8e6.jpg)
Congrats, Baltimore, enjoy your oft-injured OF [Update]
The New York Yankees swung a trade with the rival Red Sox for outfielder Greg Allen, and needed to make a corresponding roster move. The Bronx Bombers could have optioned Oswaldo Cabrera, or cut ties with Jake Bauers, or Willie Calhoun. Instead, Aaron Hicks’ disastrous eight-year tenure with the tea...

The 2023 WNBA season's juiciest stories to follow
Superteams, and new-look squads. Scandal-riven defending champs. A former political prisoner returns. Rule changes, a pressing need for league expansion, and more. The 2023 WNBA season is here, and these are some of the most riveting storylines to follow all season long....

This cast of the Lake Show is as triggering as it is good
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to cope with America’s ongoing nightmare. No, not COVID, though I did just go to a wedding and got the “Hey, heads up, it was a super spreader” text today. That said, I’d let an infected cough in my mouth right now if it meant a Los Angeles Lakers playoff exit a...

This time for sure!
When I was growing up, it was understood that the Chicago Cubs would never have a third baseman. Or center fielder as well, but the third base gap was the more hallowed one because it followed Ron Santo. There was no universally beloved centerfielder whose legacy the team could never tread upon and ...

Gabriel ThreeYaksAndADog will miss all of next season, and the Colorado Avalanche era may already be over
In the salary-capped NHL, you get one, or two shots with one roster, and then you basically have to reshuffle everything around your core stars, and hope that new hand still produces a flush. It’s a constant game of draw poker. ...

The Gang Enters The Soccer Tournament
This is a fever dream for soccer, or a fever nightmare depending on what team you root for. The Soccer Tournament, or TST for short, was announced this week as a 32-team showcase taking place in early June in North Carolina. Based on The Basketball Tournament, it’s a winner-take-all, 7-on-7, $1 mill...

It’s up to you New York — Yankees to get healthy
It hurts to watch the New York Yankees right now. And if you play for the Bronx Bombers, chances are, you’re also hurt. (If you’re healthy, don some bubble wrap or some shit so you don’t end up breaking or pulling something.) The Yanks — decimated by injuries — are 17-15 and sitting in last place in...

It’s never too early to laugh at the last-place Cardinals
Frustratingly, it doesn’t happen all that often, so when it does you kind of have to eschew the normal protocols of being guarded due to sample-size, and randomness in baseball. When the St. Louis Cardinals are in last place, you simply shoot that fucker right into the vein and kiss the sky. In our ...

Playoff hockey is stupid anyway
The NHL Playoffs gets its jollies from defying logic or explanation, and reveling in its unpredictability. That doesn’t mean it’s always a free-for-all, as hockey and its fans would have you believe. But it delves into the chaos and silliness more often than its brethren, that’s for sure....