f Page 972 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Panicked <i>First Take</i> Host Initiates Commercial Break As Stephen A. Smith Brings Up Israel-Palestine Conflict
At the tail end of First Take’s extended discussion today about the ongoing debacle between the NBA and China, Stephen A. Smith had one final take he wanted to get off. He began auspiciously, if not with his trademark eloquence: “I would remind you that, throughout this world, one of the things that...

The Athletic Outrages White Men Everywhere By Censoring Their Opinions On China
The Athletic didn’t publish any articles about Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s since-deleted Friday tweet in support of pro-democracy Hong Kong protestors, or about the subsequent manic attempts at damage control by the Rockets owner and the NBA, until a couple days after the controversy began. It ...

The Richard Sherman-Baker Mayfield Handshake Controversy Has Deepened And Dumbened
It is time now to enter the depths of Handshakeghazi....

Internal Memo: ESPN Forbids Discussion Of Chinese Politics When Discussing Daryl Morey's Tweet About Chinese Politics
If you paid attention to ESPN channels yesterday, you saw the network repeatedly attempt to grapple with the story of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey creating an international incident after tweeting and then deleting his support for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong. You heard talki...

Germany Rose And Fell With Bastian Schweinsteiger
Bastian Schweinsteiger was three different players. The German superstar, who announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday, is leaving behind one of the most peculiar careers in recent soccer memory. From a wide player breaking into Germany’s 2006 World Cup side, to one of the best and most idios...

Gonzaga Coach Mark Few On Paying Players: What About Mexico, And Also, Uh, The Homeless?
Stadium’s Jeff Goodman spoke with Gonzaga coach Mark Few yesterday about California’s recently passed Fair Pay to Play Act and the broader movement to see college athletes compensated for their labor. Few expressed some wishy-washy support for players being able to make some money, but only after bi...

Andy Murray Is Back To Beefing
Andy Murray’s happy return to tennis wouldn’t have been complete without some trademark stink-faced kvetching—mostly at himself, but occasionally at his opponent when the situation warrants. Few opponents deserve a good kvetch in the face like Fabio Fognini, Murray’s matchup in the second round of t...

Sam Darnold Spleen Update: Spleen Ready For Hot NFL Action
Today brings us what will hopefully be the final update about the state of Jets quarterback Sam Darnold’s spleen, which was thrust into a precarious position by the mononucleosis virus that has kept him out of action since Week 2. We are pleased to pass along the following announcement: Spleen stron...

Adam Silver Issues Statement Meant To Appease Everybody; China Doesn't Buy It
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has released a second public statement regarding the controversy over Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, and the Chinese government’s punitive response to the tweet....

The 49ers Had A Great Time Humiliating Baker Mayfield
This has been said many times before, but the Cleveland Browns asked for this. All the hype and shit-talking that followed them throughout the preseason set them up precisely for the kind of embarrassing loss they had last night. Not only did the 49ers beat them 31-3, they took every opportunity to ...

Are The 49ers For Real?
As five weeks is usually more than sufficient time to establish the true pecking order in the National Football League, it is now clear that Super Bowl LIV (as opposed to Super Bowl LUV) will feature the New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers....

How Is The Twins' Playoff Losing Streak Even Possible?
The last time the Minnesota Twins won a playoff game, Shannon Stewart knocked in Michael Cuddyer for the go-ahead run, Jacque Jones homered, and Johan Santana threw seven scoreless innings as the Twins beat the Yankees in Game 1 of the 2004 ALDS. The next night, Hideki Matsui singled off J.C. Romero...

Maybe The 49ers Are Good <i>And </i>The Browns Are Bad
The Cleveland Browns’ dewy preseason vainglory wouldn’t be especially bothersome had it not (a) convinced people that sucking for a long time is shrewd and reasonable; and (b) compelled whoever’s in charge to slot the Browns in four primetime games this season. Monday night, the joke was on them. Th...

Yankees Complete Sweep Of Twins, Barf Barf Barf
The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Twins Monday night, with a 5–1 win in Minnesota to end their American League divisional series. These games were not close. The Yankees scored 23 runs in the series, to the Twins’ seven. Every other divisional series is still active, with both National...

Grunting Max Scherzer Gave The Nationals Everything He Had, And Just What They Needed
Davey Martinez and the Washington Nationals didn’t resort to another bullpen appearance from a starting pitcher Monday night, thank God. That’s a gimmick that was bound to fail the more it’s used, either spectacularly and all at once, or cumulatively, or both. It already blew up in their faces Sunda...

Yadier Molina Flipped His Bat To The Moon After Game-Winning Sacrifice Fly
The St. Louis Cardinals evened up their NLDS series against the Atlanta Braves Monday night, on a 10th-inning sacrifice fly to left field to score Kolten Wong. It was Molina’s second big feat of batsmanship of the game, and he was super-duper pumped to have driven in the winning run. So pumped, in f...

Hello, do you work for an NBA team, ESPN, or any other organization connected to the league? We’d love to see any memos or communiques sent from the league office about the Daryl Morey-China situation. You can send us anything you want at [email protected] or contact us securely using SecureDrop....

Let Me Explain This Hilarious Cycling Scandal To You
Let us now chronicle the rise and sort-of fall of British YouTuber and now-former national e-cycling champion Cameron Jeffers. Unfortunately, the nouns in this story do not become that much easier to understand as we proceed, but please bear with me....

Stephen A. Smith Pauses Between Bootlicks To Tell Daryl Morey To Grow Up
Ahead of his radio program this afternoon, Stephen A. Smith clearly thought long and hard about Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors, the ensuing controversy and Morey’s subsequent backtracking, and the large-scale implications of all of the above on relationships between China and U....

The Chinese Government Is Gamergating Daryl Morey
In summary: On Friday night, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted a fairly bland slogan-like expression of support—“Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”—for ongoing protests against the mainland Chinese government’s encroachment on the autonomy of Hong Kong. Because the Rockets a...