tea Page 14 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Don’t let the door hit you on the ass, Ronda Rousey
It all started so well, which is generally how things go for Ronda Rousey. ...
World Cup Day 18: And then, sometimes, you just win
If the previous day’s lesson, at least for the USWNT, was that soccer sometimes just decides you’re going to lose because that’s what it wants, then the current European champions England showed that sometimes you just win, even when all logic dictates that you shouldn’t. Who knows what’s left on th...
The backlash to USWNT's loss is predictably sexist
Imagine, if you will, an American team. One that is known the world over as not only being the best, but the best by a wide margin. One that is so good, so exhilarating in their play that they’ve inspired kids (and adults!) the world over to take up the sport. A team so good that they’ve been the ob...
Don’t sleep on the men’s team that America is sending to the FIBA World Cup
Since NBA players have been permitted to play in international competition, the United States has never sent over a unit like the one they are sending to Asia later this month for the FIBA World Cup. Not a single player on this roster has made an All-NBA team — a first since American pros were allow...
The USWNT is extraordinary — don't pretend otherwise
Neither the US Women’s National soccer team’s past glory in Megan Rapinoe, nor its future in young phenom Sophia Smith, could defeat Sweden in the present. Both players skipped penalty kicks high over the goal after a 0-0 tie in regulation, clear misses of the target altogether, in a 1-0 loss that w...
The USWNT exits the World Cup on the cruelest margin
The symbolism of the final moment can’t be shoved off. The USWNT’s Alyssa Naeher can’t do much more to keep the final penalty out. But sometimes…the bear eats you....
Has the rest of the world finally caught up to the U.S. Women's soccer team?
For those used to the United States women’s national team dominating the globe, this edition of the Women’s World Cup has come as a shock. Those who don’t tune in every four years expected turbulence, but the level of bumps and lumps the Americans have taken in Australia and New Zealand has already ...
Conference realignment, NIL deals, and the end of loyalty in college sports
The recently prophesied collapse of college athletics is being attributed to the transfer portal, and name, image, and likeness deals. The chaos caused by player movement and an unregulated free market has caught the eye of politicians, quick to offer assistance with a handout for universities that ...
World Cup Diary Day 13: The Dutch and English show the USWNT what good soccer looks like
Running simultaneously with the United States’ infuriating performance against Portugal was just as disappointing of a game for the Vietnamese. The only difference? The United States are the two-time-defending World Cup champions and little was expected of Vietnam on the global stage. The Netherland...
Former USWNT star Carli Lloyd is never hesitant to remind everyone she was the star
The bane of sports analysis, especially when it comes to soccer in a nation that has become too mature in its fandom of the sport to accept this kind of drivel, is to default to claiming something unquantifiable as the reason a team won and a team lost. “Wanted it more” is a phrase you hear all too ...
Pat McAfee certainly knows the douchebag playbook
When you hand a bloated gas bag a Brink’s truck to work for your company, it can’t be much of a surprise when he acts like a bloated gas bag. People tend to keep doing whatever made them rich. Pat McAfee at least figured out that much, and ESPN is almost certainly getting what it paid for, whatever ...
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...
OK, now imagine if the Mets had signed Carlos Correa
It feels like just yesterday that the New York Mets had orchestrated a coup, signing Carlos Correa, and putting the other 29 clubs on notice that there’s a new titan of spending in the Northeastern Corridor. Then Correa failed his physical, the deal went belly up, the season started, and the Mets re...
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 ...
World Cup Day 9: England wins and loses at the same time
Doing the bare minimum to win seems to be England’s way in this World Cup. The Three Lionesses have a pair of 1-0 wins in the tournament, including the win over Denmark early Friday morning. Already without Leah Williamson, Beth Mead, and Fran Kirby for the global showcase, Keira Walsh was taken off...
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...
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:...
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...