nit Page 36 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Women's World Cup 2023: The USWNT isn't a championship squad

Portugal’s headed home looking happy. The flight back to Lisbon should be filled with post-elimination joy and realizations of long-term progress knowing how they held the former undisputed world champions in check. And that’s all you need to know about how the United States women’s national team pe...

The new brass in Washington use 'Redskins' instead of 'Commanders' — nothing has changed in D.C.

The Washington Ni**ers would cause a riot. The Washington K*kes would lead to lawsuits. The Washington Sp*cs would be deemed repulsive. And the Washington H*nkies would have a certain group of white people ready to storm something else in the Nation’s Capital. But for the new owners in D.C., using “...

World Cup Day 10: Sweden want you to know it’s not messing around

To open this year’s World Cup, Sweden hoped for a straightforward contest against, on paper, the easiest team to beat in Group G in South Africa. It didn’t go that way, with the Swedish escaping that contest Wellington by the skin of its teeth with a win. Sweden needed a 90th-minute Amanda Ilestedt ...

So this is what it feels like to be a howling soccer fan at the World Cup?

There’s a unique frustration to watching Team USA men’s basketball in the Olympics after the world caught up. Yes, America has a better collection of raw talent, and when motivated, and conducted like an actual team, they can come away with gold. However, it’s always a slog at some point, with savvy...

World Cup Day 8: The Aussies step in it

This tournament started with how every organizer wishes it would, with both hosts getting wins to up the energy and buzz around the whole thing. World Cups and big tournaments are just better when the hosts are relevant and getting the home fans excited. But now both Australia and New Zealand are up...

Choosing Orlando for the Pro Bowl exemplifies the NFL’s wishy-washy stance on racial, social issues

There’s nothing more infuriating than a fake ally. And no one is a better model of that than the NFL....

The USWNT gets out of medium security jail

The pregame chatter mostly centered around Netherlands manager Andries Jonker’s quotes in the Matchday -1 press conference. It certainly had USWNT followers getting a little tight in the seat. In full:...

Lionel Messi’s quick start for Inter Miami has MLS’ detractors quiet

The shouts about Major League Soccer at large from other parts of the sports world get repetitive. Stating it’s a retirement league was always a jaded view. Perhaps it was the league with the most publicity that was willing to take big names past their prime. And while a lack of promotion and relega...

Elon Musk, anti-vaxxers bouncing back into action after Bronny James’ cardiac arrest [Update]

The reaction to Bronny James’ proves how loopy the sports wing of anti-vaxxers is. Bronny James’ cardiac arrest animated the worst example of disconfirmation bias plaguing. Anytime they’ve witnessed a cardiac incident since 2021, a segment of society rears their head to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bac...

World Cup Day 3: A demolition to start the United States’ three-peat campaign didn’t happen

The last time the United States women’s national team opened a World Cup, it scored 13 goals against Thailand. That pile-on isn’t typical and wasn’t a drubbing for the sake of sticking it to Yul Brynner. There was no downside to putting up the unanswered baker’s dozen for the sake of goal difference...

World Cup Group H Preview: Why can’t there be more like Morocco?

The women’s World Cup should be, and still is in a lot of ways, a celebration of how far the game has come from where it was even just four years ago. The attention is more, the players, and teams are better, the quality of play keeps rising, the anticipation grows, as does the appreciation when it ...

Once again in MLB, it’s better to be worse

MLB owners have been dead set on rewarding their own mediocrity, because the larger economy and society as a whole has basically been set up to reward shitfucks like them for barely being able to remain upright, and intaking oxygen. The expansion of the playoffs was meant to get more money from TV c...

Women’s World Cup Group G preview: Italy and Argentina, you're in the middle of the ride

There’s a clear top and bottom in Group G. Sweden is No. 3 in the world and has every bit of skill needed to win the whole tournament. It’ll be a minor miracle if South Africa picks up a point before a return flight to Johannesburg. The most important game of Group G will be contested by the two tea...

Women’s World Cup preview: The Americans will run into trouble in Group E

The most deceiving thing about the United States women’s national team’s chances of a three-peat isn’t that it has a major target on its back and therefore is part of the game plan to knock out from every other nation in Australia and New Zealand. That was true for the 2019 showcase in France. How’d...

World Cup Group D Preview: Can England complete the set?

The question in all sports has been that once you break through and win, does winning again become easier? Is the mental block gone? Or does the pressure simply build even more, as triumphs go from hoped for to expected? This is only one of the few things that England will be wrestling with at the W...

The Gold Cup was never about lifting another trophy for the US

The reinforcements won’t be coming from this group. Outside of goalkeeper Matt Turner — whose status as the unquestioned No. 1 goalkeeper for the United States men’s national team didn’t change after five games in this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup — what player from this American squad that only defeate...

Women’s World Cup preview: Can the Japanese bookend the American’s dominance from Group C?

This should be pretty straightforward. It’s a matter of whether Spain or Japan advances from Group C as the winners, and who heads to the knockout stage as runners-up. That leaves Costa Rica and Zambia leaving Oceania early, but does anything exactly go to plan on the world stage? Group C has as cle...

Is pulling Victor Wembanyama from NBA Summer League the right move? | Agree to Disagree

The USMNT looked terrible against Canada, and it doesn’t matter

It took until the 88th minute for the United States men’s national team’s C-squad to score a goal on home soil in a major-tournament quarterfinal and 15 seconds after play resumed for the offense to take place that gave Canada a golden opportunity to take it away. An uninspired first half, saved by ...

Assessment after 2 summer league games: Victor Wembanyama is scary

Victor Wembayama’s rookie summer league didn’t have quite the immediate impact of Zion Williamson’s. There was no steal in which he wrestled the ball from the clutches of NBA starter and went Daryl Dawkins on the rim, nor an earthquake that stopped the game. What Wembayama was able to accomplish thr...