Sports

Seven weeks after firing Darvin Ham, the Los Angeles Lakers landed on their next head coach on Thursday: JJ Redick, the 15-year NBA veteran turned podcaster and broadcaster, league sources with direct knowledge of the situation tell The Athletic. Redick is signing a four-year deal worth in the neighborhood of $8 million per season with…

If there’s an overriding lesson from the last four years of Paige Bueckers’ college basketball career, it’s this, she explains: “You never know what each day will bring. You never know what life is gonna throw at you.” There was a time when Bueckers didn’t necessary think that way, when she assumed her plans would…

Follow live coverage of England vs Denmark, Spain vs Italy and Slovenia vs Serbia at Euro 2024 today Efficiency. Reliability. Functionality. That’s what many people most associate with Germany, but so far at the 2024 European Championship, none of those cliches have been proven true. Tournament organisers have struggled with crowd control outside stadiums. Fans…

One of my favorite assignments as a sports media writer came in 2013 when I rode the C train in New York City with Charles Barkley. The TNT NBA analyst had never ridden on the New York subway before, and some smart Turner Sports PR person came up with the idea to have Barkley take…

“I’ve worked with Alexi for 10 years,” says Stu Holden, Fox Sports analyst and former United States men’s national team midfielder. “He’s one of the first people that I am asked about. They say: ‘What’s that guy like off-camera?’.” It is a thought many may share while watching Alexi Lalas, the formerly goatee-bearded U.S. central…

INDIANAPOLIS — Athletes often speak in generalities as a defense mechanism. Rather than go in-depth on a potentially controversial topic, or even address the issue at all, they provide non-answers, using cliches and pre-programmed talking points to stay at a safe distance. A part of me would like to believe that that’s what Caitlin Clark did…

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will represent Spain as a tennis doubles pairing at the Paris Olympics, which begins on July 26. David Ferrer, the former world No 3 and current national selector for Spain, announced at a Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET) press conference on Wednesday that Spain’s men’s team will include Nadal, the…

Sitting down for a routine pre-match interview with the in-house media team at Barnsley a few years back, Callum Styles decided there was something he was going to drop into conversation. It was, in the football reporter’s lexicon, a come-and-get-me plea. But this one, in October 2020, was different. Rather than fluttering his eyelashes at…

There was a point towards the end of last year when there was a genuine feeling that Daniel Ricciardo was lining up to take Sergio Pérez’s Formula One seat at Red Bull for 2025. Ricciardo made clear upon his mid-season return to the grid with AlphaTauri (now RB) that getting back in the Red Bull,…

The best Latin American starting pitcher in baseball signed out of Venezuela for just $25,000. He never ranked as a Top 100 prospect, he’s never made an All-Star team, and like many of his peers, turned to pitching as a matter of pure practicality. “The thing is, there are too many position players in Latin…

Jaylon Johnson finally emerged with a contract extension from the Chicago Bears in March. The Bears asked him to come to Halas Hall to announce the $76 million deal with $47.8 million guaranteed, the second-highest amount ever given to a defensive back. Johnson was willing, but only if the team commissioned a private jet to…

Follow live coverage of the 2024 French Open women’s final today Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have been the future of men’s tennis for a little while already. Their first meeting, at the Paris Masters in October 2021, gave a glimpse into the highlight-reel tennis the pair produce when sharing a court. The following year,…

Follow live coverage of England vs Iceland in the final Euro 2024 warm-up match today Gareth Southgate has been mocked for his Loro Piana sweater in his recent shoot for GQ magazine, but there has been nothing beige about his squad selections this summer. First, he made headlines by leaving out Jordan Henderson and Marcus…

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Fans in the outfield turned their gaze toward left field as Oklahoma’s Kelly Maxwell jogged out of the bullpen. The Sooners were four outs away from a national championship, and Maxwell’s entrance was met with enthusiasm and a collective deep breath. The Sooners already felt in control of their fate, but…

Follow live coverage of the 2024 French Open today The news that Novak Djokovic has withdrawn from the French Open with a torn meniscus was one of those moments at Roland Garros where the gasps were audible. It wasn’t a huge shock given Djokovic said he was unsure if he would play his quarterfinal after…

BOSTON — Before his new team had even seen the court, Kristaps Porziņģis was already competing. At media day, players are shuttled through a circuit of interviews, news conferences and photoshoots. It’s a complicated operation that’s held up if one of the many moving parts stalls. When the new guy, Porziņģis, came across a Ping-Pong…

A love story. Florentino Perez called it a love story. Speaking to reporters on his way out of Wembley Stadium after Saturday’s Champions League final, the Real Madrid president sounded like a man in thrall to the mystique, the allure and the romance of a relationship that has spanned seven decades and so many special…

There were streakers, kissers and wannabe prize fighters. There were arrests, threats and flying chairs. There were bruises, there was blood and there was beer. So, so much beer. There was plenty of blame to pass around: the fans, the umpires, the team officials, the managers, local broadcasters and radio hosts. Oh, and according to…

Let’s start with the brass band. That’s what caught Ben Shelton off guard when he walked onto court Sunday to face Hugo Gaston of France. The venue was Court 14: a sunken stage that can very quickly become a suffocating cauldron of noise and mayhem when the opponent is a native son. “This is the…

Growing up playing high school football in the early 2000s, the dream of seeing someone who looked like me playing at the highest level of a sport I loved was one I gave up on early in my youth. For many, representation at the pinnacle of something you obsessed over can be taken for granted….

After the NBA Draft withdrawal deadline passed on Wednesday night, we finally have a clearer picture of what rosters will look like when the season starts in November. This transfer portal season has been as crazy as ever, and a lot has changed since we last did this exercise on championship night. It’s possible that…

On May 20 in Atlanta, in the evening game of a doubleheader, Fernando Tatis, Jr. sped 84 feet across the outfield grass in Atlanta and crashed into the Truist Park fence to take away a hit from good friend Ronald Acuña, Jr. The impact knocked him to the ground, leaving significant scrapes. “That’s the love…

Nobody is quite sure about when the largest grandstand in Europe earned the name it is now famous for, though it is certain it happened more recently than most people think. The Yellow Wall at Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion was described by German author and writer Uli Hesse in 2018 as the thing that Bayern Munich,…

LANCASTER, Pa. — Standing on the fringe of Lancaster Country Club’s 9th green, moments after stroking her final putt of the day, Nelly Korda opened her purple scorecard holder, looked down, and sighed so deeply that the expansion of her ribcage was visible from steps away. Her shoulders lifted. Then they sank. A big, fat…

EUGENE, Ore. — With about 700 meters to go in the Bowerman Mile, Josh Kerr, Great Britain’s star middle-distance runner, flipped the script in one of track’s most riveting rivalries. Because a message needed to be sent. Because Kerr had heard enough from Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the superstar from Norway, declaring he had no equal. Because…

He was the tallest player. Even at the age of 16, Jimmy Aggrey stood well over six feet. The big lads went at the back. Line up and smile for the camera, please. Chelsea liked him. They thought he had a good chance of making it. For such a tall kid, Aggrey had quick, skilful…

Follow live coverage of the second day of the French Open 2024 today, including Zverev vs Nadal This article is part of the launch of extended tennis coverage on The Athletic, which will go beyond the baseline to bring you the biggest stories on and off the court. To follow the tennis vertical, click here….

As the NBA closes in on a new media rights deal, much of the attention has been on what it means for the league and its teams. But there’s also another beneficiary of the set of deals that will reportedly pay the league an average of $6.9 billion over 11 years: the players. Those new…

Standing at second base, Adam Rosales knew. So did the fans watching on TV and the ticket holders in the left-field bleachers. They knew what crew chief umpire Angel Hernandez should have known. This was May 8, 2013, the game in which Hernandez became baseball’s most notorious umpire. He’d made many notable calls before this,…

This article is part of the launch of extended tennis coverage on The Athletic, which will go beyond the baseline to bring you the biggest stories on and off the court. To follow the tennis vertical, click here. Getting ‘bagelled’ in tennis is a humiliation. To not win a single game suggests a mismatch, that…

I’m not one for letting good players walk out the door. I know from experience that talent is too hard to replace, even with the best-hatched plan, without taking a step backward. So I understand that, at least sometimes, proven teams need to overpay slightly for the sake of continuity. But recent contracts for NFL…

Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, had pointed criticism for NASCAR after the sanctioning body issued a record fine earlier this week against Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for his role in a fight following last Sunday’s All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro. Elliott was aware Stenhouse had been fined for throwing a punch at Kyle Busch, but…

It was perplexing last summer when ESPN fired NBA Finals game analysts Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. It was part of the network’s layoffs that Disney seemingly goes through every couple of years, sort of like an NFL team pruning the books to provide room for future million-dollar spends. The Van Gundy salary dump…

Big 12 presidents and chancellors voted to approve proposals of what is expected to be a multi-billion dollar settlement in the House v. NCAA class-action lawsuit Tuesday, a source briefed on the decision confirmed to The Athletic. Their approval is another step toward a resolution in the landmark case likely to reshape the college sports business model. The…

When he was a cocksure 25-year-old, on the fast track to officiating big-time college basketball, Scott Foster was summoned for a sit-down with his dad. They met at a bar, and his father, Dickie, brought along a family friend with experience in high-level sports. They were concerned about Foster, who was mulling a daring career…

What a momentous end to the season for Liverpool. An emotion-fuelled goodbye to Jurgen Klopp, two senior players also saying farewell and the dawn of a new era with Monday’s announcement that Arne Slot has penned a three-year contract to be the head coach. This is the inside story of that final week, featuring laughter,…

This article is part of the launch of extended tennis coverage on The Athletic, which will go beyond the baseline to bring you the biggest stories on and off the court. To follow the tennis vertical, click here. Last month at the Madrid Open, Coco Gauff was warming up on the least desirable practice courts…

The symmetry was almost perfect. In the history of the NHL’s foray into the world of replay review, there are two moments that stand out as crucial landmarks, the key signposts that pointed us toward where we wound up. The most recent came in 2013, when Colorado center Matt Duchene scored a goal despite being…

Midway through a chat with her men’s counterpart at Chelsea, Emma Hayes awkwardly had to explain to Mauricio Pochettino that someone more important was ringing her. It was Sir Alex Ferguson, who had heard about her decision to leave Chelsea and become the new U.S. women’s national team manager. Pochettino understood his place in the…

We’re nearly halfway between the conclusion of the NFL’s 2023 season and the dawn of its next season. And now finally, teams and their fan bases can appropriately prepare for the upcoming slate. While teams have known their opponents for quite some time, now they can handle the logistical preparations for the 2024 season. Not…

After a generational college run at Iowa, Caitlin Clark started her professional career this week in Indiana, where the median college graduate earns $52,267 annually, according to the U.S. Census American Consumer Survey. But Clark isn’t your average young professional. She’s one of the biggest stars in the country with major name recognition and commercial…

After almost nine years in charge and seven major trophies, Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool. He has been one of the most transformative managers in the club’s history and in English football’s modern era. To mark his departure, The Athletic is bringing you the Real Jurgen Klopp, a series of pieces building the definitive portrait of…

Sixty years ago, baseball commissioner Ford Frick received a telegram from a Wisconsin congressman. Rep. Henry Reuss was worried the Milwaukee Braves would defect to Atlanta for the promise of a richer television contract, and proposed a fix: if all the Major League Baseball teams would share their television money, then the Braves might stay….

The mayor of Louisville identified the pedestrian hit and killed by a shuttle bus outside the PGA Championship on Friday as a local man named John Mills. “This morning, our city experienced a tragic accident that took the life of John Mills, a Louisvillian who will be greatly missed by his family and our community….

And so, on May 14, 2024, modern Premier League football reached its logical next step: Tottenham Hotspur fans rooting against their team when facing Manchester City because they’d rather lose than have rivals Arsenal win the title. First of all, this is in no way a criticism of the fans who chose to do that….

On Monday night, Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren knocked down two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks. They were huge makes, bringing the Thunder closer to evening the series. The Mavericks had no timeouts left. They had to rush up the court to get themselves back in…

After starting the second round with three straight losses, the Carolina Hurricanes have officially made it a series with thrilling back-to-back wins in Games 4 and 5.  That’s more akin to what many expected from this series before it started — a close, hard-fought battle between the two titans of the Metropolitan Division. While it…

Who’s pitching tonight? For 100 years, that wasn’t just a casual question. It was the question that defined baseball. The answer always had a chance to give you goosebumps. Maybe it was Tom Seaver versus Steve Carlton. Maybe it was Sandy Koufax versus Bob Gibson. Maybe it was Pedro Martinez versus Randy Johnson. They weren’t…

Weeks before Opening Day this season, Major League Baseball sent a memo to all 30 clubs highlighting a rise in catcher’s interference. The instances of catchers being struck by the bats of opposing hitters were rising rapidly. Catcher’s interference was called 94 times in 2023, nearly 20 more times than in 2022. What was causing…

“I wanted to be a little bit different from anyone else,” Ben Shelton said recently in Madrid. He was actually talking about his decision last year to sign a major deal with the small-but-growing Swiss shoe and apparel manufacturer On, rather than pursuing a certain American behemoth with a famous swoosh. (More on that in…

It doesn’t take long in conversation with Tom Cartledge, the Nottingham Forest chairman, to realise that the dispute threatening the future of the City Ground has accelerated the possibilities of a stadium move. “The club continue to be frustrated,” Cartledge tells The Athletic in relation to Forest’s standoff with Nottingham City Council, which owns the land…

Drive north out of London for a couple of hours, head east just past the city of Leicester, bump along some of England’s finest country roads as they wind between gloriously green fields, and you eventually reach the small village of Ashby Folville, population: 174. At the centre of it sits The Carington Arms: “Probably…

If there were any lingering doubts about the 2024 clique in the elite of women’s tennis, Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have erased them in the past three weeks. It’s a couple of days since Swiatek and Sabalenka produced one of the sport’s great matches on Saturday evening, in the final of the…

WINNIPEG – Three hours before puck drop, Greg Burnett awaited the fate of his beloved Winnipeg Jets, on the brink of elimination. The 56-year-old retired high school teacher stood in a fenced-off courtyard, just beyond a statue of the late Jets legend Dale Hawerchuk, between the glittering reflection of newly developed office towers on what…

The doorbell rings, and it feels as if the sun has broken through the clouds. The dogs rush to the front door. There’s Blue, the yapping chihuahua, and Marshmallow, the Shiba Inu with a limp. And here comes Misty McMichael with a big smile and a big hug. A visitor has arrived, and Steve McMichael…

The napkin upon which Lionel Messi’s first Barcelona agreement was informally written has gone on sale at auction. Bonhams — a privately owned, London-based international auction house — are running the auction until May 17, with a starting price of £220,000 ($274.55k), on behalf of Argentine player agent Horacio Gaggioli. The agreement was reached on…

BOSTON — The call came last summer. It was from the new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brad Treliving, and he had a message for Mitch Marner. “He made it pretty clear that he wanted to keep our core together,” Marner told The Athletic last fall. “He trusted our core.” What now for…

They certainly didn’t pull any punches. In a live show on Netflix that lasted over three hours, a roast of Tom Brady didn’t spare any jokes at the expense of the seven-time Super Bowl winner. Everything from his divorce from Gisele Bündchen, Spygate, Deflategate and Brady’s relationship with Alex Guerrero were on the table. “Before…

The Athletic has live coverage of the 2024 Kentucky Derby, the 150th anniversary. LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Larry Demeritte bends over and unwinds the wrap circling West Saratoga’s right rear leg. He does the same to the left and then scoots under the horse’s belly to help Donte Lowery, his assistant, with the animal’s front wraps….

Premier League clubs this week opted to push on with plans for a hard spending limit — a de facto salary cap tied to the income of the lowest earning side in the top flight. OK, we hear you say, but what on earth does it all really mean? Who better to answer your questions…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Gene Smith and Ryan Day met after the season, the athletic director made it clear he was going “all in” on football. Ohio State heavily investing in football is hardly new, but after three consecutive losses to Michigan, Smith wanted to take it up a notch before retiring this summer. Smith…

His team were drawing 1-1 at the time. It was late in the game, under the floodlights, when they missed a chance to take the lead. And that was the moment, Tony, a Sheffield United fan, lost his temper and shouted something at Matt Turner, the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper, that he would never be able…

Imagine having done the same thing for something like 30 years, being better at it than just about anyone who has ever lived, and then one day, it’s all completely new.  And so it is for Rafael Nadal in this through-the-looking-glass spring. For years, no place felt more like home than a red clay court….

PHOENIX — Fresh off, arguably, the most important performance of his young career, Anthony Edwards sat in front of the world with a white tank top and an all-black Atlanta Braves fitted cap that sat loose, hovering just above his crisp hairline — making him look more like an extra in Outkast’s “Player’s Ball” video…

ROSEVILLE, Calif. – There is only a smattering of baseball memorabilia on display in Steve Sax’s home office, a show of restraint considering he was a five-time All-Star. His Rookie of the Year trophy is nowhere to be found. There is no Silver Slugger Award on a shelf. Neither World Series ring resides on a…

The Atlanta Falcons made a surprising selection taking former Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Among those shocked by the selection was their current projected starting quarterback, Kirk Cousins. The Falcons called Cousins when they were on the clock to let him know they were taking…

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid walked off the podium and into the array of hallways of the Wells Fargo Center late Thursday evening wearing dark black sunglasses across his face. He had worn them for most of the night after the Philadelphia 76ers preserved their season with a grueling Game 3 win over the New York…

Concerns have been raised with the United States government, including an official meeting in the White House, over fears supporters may be deterred from the 2026 men’s World Cup owing to excessive wait times to process visa applications to visit the country. The tournament begins in 777 days and it will be at least another…

One of the closest, most enthralling Premier League title races in many years is careering towards a climax. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City played out crucial games on consecutive nights this week — and The Athletic went to all three to survey and convey the emotions of three very different clubs and fanbases. An Arsenal…

ST. PAUL, Minn. — For years, Luke Kunin watched as his girlfriend, then fiancée, then wife, Sophia, supported his career. She was a shoulder to lean on when things got tough in Minnesota. Moved to Nashville when he was traded there. Was a constant during the toughest season of his pro career — last year…

Some debates deserve a stage of their own. So while our (anonymous) NBA player poll was released Monday, with a record 142 players weighing in on some of the most interesting questions surrounding their league, we decided to dive even deeper into the age-old GOAT discussion because there’s a fascinating voting trend that simply must…

The heights they are reaching have become comical, two golfers taking over their respective sports with such dominance that — at least for this moment — it’s difficult to imagine anyone beating them. Nelly Korda just won her fifth straight start, ending with a major, the Chevron Championship. Scottie Scheffler just won four of five…

For Bernie Williams, grabbing a bat was easy. He would pull out the same trusty 34 1/2-inch, 33-ounce Rawlings model for all occasions during his New York Yankees career, whether that was in spring training or the playoffs, whether he was facing a flamethrower or a knuckleballer. Music, however, is different. “Choosing a guitar is…

Dan Capuano’s funeral at St. Rita of Cascia High School on Chicago’s Southwest Side was standing-room only. Hundreds of firefighters from Chicago and around the country attended. Members of the St. Jude Knights youth hockey club were there, too, wearing their jerseys. Capuano’s sons, Andrew and Nick, played for the Knights, a Northern Illinois Hockey…

“It sounds stupid, but it was as if the stadium went quiet at that exact moment,” recalls former Manchester United defender David May. “All you could hear was the snap of his leg — as if two shin pads had collided — then the scream.” He is thinking back to April 8, 1996, the day Coventry…

Finally! It’s here. I’m thrilled to share this year’s draft guide with everyone. I don’t remember who first referred to it as “The Beast,” but I use that moniker as motivation to make sure this annual primer lives up to the nickname — and I don’t think I’ve let you down this year. Every NFL…

This is an updated version of an article first published on March 8. It is two and a half years since Mark Clattenburg had his autobiography, Whistle Blower, to plug. No prisoners were taken in the book’s content or the promotional work ahead of its release. Graham Poll, Martin Atkinson and David Elleray were all…

The playoffs are almost here, and while we’re still waiting on a couple of matchups, we know the 16 teams. If you root for one of them, you’re not reading this because you’re curled up in a little ball, twitching and sweating and trying not to puke. Playoffs, baby! That leaves the rest of you,…

Follow The Athletic’s Olympics coverage here. In 100 days, Paris will host the most famous sporting jamboree on the planet: the summer Olympic Games. There will be action across 32 sports watched by millions of visitors, as well as an unprecedented opening ceremony set to take place on the River Seine, which runs through the…

The latest dent in the NCAA’s bedrock principle of amateurism came from an unlikely place: Monaco. Track and field gold medalists will become the first athletes to earn international prize money at the Olympics, the sport’s international governing body said Wednesday. Each gold medalist will receive $50,000 for individual wins. World Athletics, which governs track…

John Calipari sat in his hotel room in Phoenix on Friday when a close friend, John H. Tyson, reached out to discuss an important decision. People with knowledge of the conversation say Tyson, the billionaire chairman of Tyson Foods and a longtime major donor at the University of Arkansas, wanted to pick the Kentucky basketball…

Caitlin Clark’s college career ended Sunday with a loss to South Carolina in the national championship. But the Iowa star’s popularity won’t be going away. “I know what’s next is soon,” she said. Eight days, to be exact. That’s when Clark will be in New York for the WNBA Draft, where she’s expected to be…

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When Adisa Isaac was in third grade, he asked a lot of questions, as third graders do. There was one that needed thoughtful explanation: “Why are my brothers and my sister different?” His mother, Lisa Wiltshire-Isaac, expected this day would come. Of her four children, Adisa was the only one who…

MIAMI — It was exactly what he wanted. To be nervous. To back himself into a corner and force himself out. It was why Joaquin Niemann was there in the first place, flying across the world for two weeks in Australia. The Chilean golfer has always been one of the most talented players on any…

The Premier League remains a European outlier this season. Everywhere you look around the continent, title races have become virtual processions. Paris Saint-Germain are 10 points clear in France’s Ligue 1, Bayer Leverkusen are 16 ahead and one win away from winning the German Bundesliga title, while PSV Eindhoven have a nine-point cushion at the…

An important thing to remember about Andre Villas-Boas is that he had ridiculously good hair. You don’t spend a record-shattering €15 million (£12.9; $16.3m) fee to sign a rookie manager away from Porto unless you’re pretty sure you know what you’re getting, and one thing Chelsea knew for certain, back in the heady days of…

Matt Blake texted Cleveland Guardians pitcher Shane Bieber a conciliatory message over the weekend. As a member of the Cleveland player-development system in the 2010s, Blake aided Bieber’s rise from college walk-on to unanimous American League Cy Young Award winner in 2020. For a time, Bieber represented the modern model for the manufacturing of a…

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The first time Zach Edey touched the ball Saturday afternoon, DJ Burns Jr. clenched his teeth and held his ground. There was just one issue when it came to Edey versus Burns: seven inches. Burns was too small for Edey, who could turn and shoot over Burns without issue. Edey scored 20…

The Athletic has live coverage of Iowa vs. South Carolina in the women’s national championship game. Another Iowa women’s basketball game, another new record for the sport when it comes to viewership. Iowa’s 71-69 win over UConn on Friday night in Cleveland set a new record for the most-watched women’s college basketball game in history….

On July 16, 2022, more than 37,000 fans crammed into Nationals Park on a muggy midsummer afternoon. Washington already had 62 losses by that point — still days before the All-Star break — and there was little hope that a second-half surge was coming. Fans were there to see their homegrown prodigy, Juan Soto, and…

AUSTIN, Texas — There was a moment on a recent random Wednesday, as the world champion sprinter and Olympic medalist Gabrielle Thomas juggled emails about a meeting she had to run at a volunteer health clinic and readied for a voiceover for a commercial with a blue-chip sponsor and figured out the logistics of an…

Susie Wolff’s quiet confidence is evident the moment you meet her. She’s ambitious and bold, not afraid to fight for something she believes in. And when her character came into question when the FIA launched an inquiry into allegations of conflict of interest last year, Wolff pushed back, filing a criminal complaint last month in…

NBA players have always gotten an earful from fans, whether at home or on the road. It comes with the job. But this season, it’s getting darker. The recent surge in legalized gambling in every pro league, and throughout college athletics, has impacted American sports in ways thought unimaginable just a few years ago. But…

NFL free agency continues, but with the major signings and trades complete, it’s time to check in with executives around the league for thoughts on all 32 teams’ moves to this point. There is so much to discuss, from Kirk Cousins’ Minnesota exit to the New York Jets’ desperation, the Green Bay Packers’ big additions…

In the story Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara initially told to ESPN, the two men logged into Ohtani’s bank account together on eight or nine occasions in 2023 and wired increments of $500,000 to Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker under federal investigation. In the story Ohtani told the public days after Mizuhara recanted his initial…

OAKLAND — The quarterback wasn’t there. No mention of his name across two hours. Maybe there was no need. The mere prospect of a pairing had already served its purpose — driving news cycles, stirring speculation, drumming up intrigue around a longshot bid for the White House by an outsider intent on defying political norms….

A U.S. District judge in Florida sentenced a convicted sex offender to 220 years in federal prison for producing, receiving and possessing child sex abuse material, and for hacking the jumbotron in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium after the team did not renew his contract upon learning that he was a registered sex offender. U.S. District…

More than 40 members of Ukraine’s national-team party were spread around the centre circle of Wroclaw’s Tarczynski Arena. Players, coaches and backroom staff locked their gaze on the 30,000 spectators sporting blue and yellow as they revved up their version of the Viking thunderclap. Iceland, the architects of that celebration during the 2016 European Championship,…

This is the first article in a six-part series looking at some of European football’s most innovative up-and-coming managers. Thiago Motta knows a thing or two about success. When your CV includes two La Liga titles, one Serie A title, five Ligue 1 titles and two Champions League winners medals, you tend to command instant…

He appeared in the dock at Manchester Crown Court like a familiar-looking stranger, a vivid memory from a distant past. Jamie Cassidy had once been one of the most promising young footballers at Liverpool, England’s most successful club, a player deemed good enough to train with his national team ahead of the 1996 European Championship….

Welcome back to Bracket Breakers! We know you’ve missed us, and we can’t wait to overwhelm you with our unique take on NCAA tournament upsets, powered by our proprietary statistical model, Slingshot. Hopefully, you’ve been following our work for years. But if you’re new to Bracket Breakers, here’s the most recent explanation of who we…

PHOENIX — Flags only fly forever if you raise them. At Dodgertown, the ancestral home of the Los Angeles Dodgers in Vero Beach, Fla., a mural celebrating six World Series winners greeted visitors. No such signage exists at Camelback Ranch. The team has won the National League West 11 times since shifting its spring training…

Feb. 2, 2023 began like any other morning for Amit Patel. He was sitting in his cubicle on the ground floor of EverBank Stadium, home to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Patel, a manager in the team’s financial department, was closing out the last cycle of expenses, as he did at the beginning of each month. When…

Nottingham Forest have been handed a four-point deduction following a breach of the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules (PSRs). Forest were referred to an independent commission in January after the club reported losses that exceeded the allowed amount over the three-year reporting cycle ending in the 2022-23 season. Under the guidelines, they could have…

They entered the NFL with great fanfare and lofty expectations of one day ranking among the best collections of talent the NFL had seen at their position. But just three years later, the 2021 quarterback draft class instead largely looks like one great big bust. While NFL teams continue their assessments of another highly touted…

It happens every time that guy Carlos Alcaraz takes the court. One outrageously zany point where he does something that people who have been watching tennis for decades will swear on the life of their favorite doubles partner that they have never seen before.  And they are probably right because even as he muddled (for…

TEMPE, Ariz. — Every morning for the past six years, no matter how early Angels players and staff got to Tempe Diablo Stadium, they saw a throng of Japanese media standing on the Tempe Butte mountain overlooking the team’s spring training complex. This wasn’t a recreational sunrise hike. Every camera was zoomed in, waiting for…

Editor’s note: The University of Michigan announced Friday afternoon that Juwan Howard will not return as head basketball coach next season.  Crisler Center was mostly empty the night of March 4, 2021, but Michigan basketball brought the place to life. A win over rival Michigan State secured a conference title in a season shaped by…

NEW YORK — She stopped working at the sushi restaurant, laid two mattress pads in the back of her Jeep and drove away from Florida with her new girlfriend, bound for a small town in the Cascade Mountains that looks like Christmas. She brought a basketball only out of habit. Abbey Hsu had to see…

Qwan’tez Stiggers sat alone in a dark hotel room, a thousand miles from anything familiar. He drew the curtains tight to block out the world so he could focus on the avalanche in his head. It was spring 2023, and two weeks earlier, he’d left his fiancee and family in Atlanta and flown to Canada…

As Jonah Heim squeezed the final strike of the 2023 postseason and Josh Sborz spiked his mitt on the mound to celebrate the Texas Rangers’ first World Series title, a thought crossed my mind: How will this change the franchise rankings? See, the Wild-Card Era (1995 to present) franchise rankings are not a creation of…

The rivalry between SEC foes LSU and South Carolina reached new heights when an altercation broke out during the conference championship game Sunday. Multiple players were ejected, and Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso has been suspended for the first game of the NCAA Tournament, the SEC confirmed to The Athletic on Monday. Wondering what happened between…

The game was already won when the puck slid to Cody Hodgson for the tap-in. The Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League, the Nashville Predators’ top minor league affiliate, had a comfortable 3-0 lead over the Chicago Wolves. On a historic win streak — they were en route to their 18th consecutive victory —…

The best striker in the Premier League versus the best defender in the Premier League in a one-on-one showdown with millions of people watching across the world? Liverpool vs Manchester City had far bigger things at stake on Sunday (it finished 1-1 for those of you who live on Mars) but those few seconds when…

In an open letter published Monday, the NAACP urged Black college athletes to “reconsider any potential decision” to attend a public university in Florida following last week’s news that the University of Florida is eliminating its Diversity and Inclusion office. The Gainesville university’s decision came in response to a law signed last year by Florida…

This is an updated version of an article first published in June 2020. Perhaps the best place to start is the story Harry Redknapp tells when he is asked about Michael Edwards and the remarkable chain of events that first took a frustrated IT teacher from Peterborough to a position of power and influence at…

Thirty years later, Christian Laettner isn’t sure he knew it was coming. In 1994, he was in the NBA, his second season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Maybe someone had informed his agent but he doesn’t think so. The former Duke star just one day remembers seeing the commercial on ESPN. Chris Farley, then at the…

Rob McElhenney takes the duty of care he has as Wrexham’s co-owner seriously. When Phil Parkinson was still coming to terms with what remains the nadir of the club’s return to the EFL after a 15-year non-League exile, the co-owner reached out to his manager just moments after September’s 5-0 thrashing at Stockport County via…

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The poet has been upstairs in his office, tapping at the keyboard on various projects. Most of his mornings begin this way … so much work to do. Some days he tends to his blog, and on other days he tidies up his memoir that is nearing publication. Or he may put…

Stay informed on all the biggest stories in Formula One. Sign up here to receive the Prime Tire newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday. Fractures within Red Bull Racing appear to have grown after Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, warned the team was “in danger of being torn apart” if Christian Horner remained in charge amid…

Draft season kicks into high gear this week at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis as teams will put prospects under a microscope during private interviews, news conferences and workouts at Lucas Oil Stadium. Quarterbacks always dominate conversations at the combine, and this year will be no different with USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake…

Not all losses are created equal — and no defeat in football is worse than a banter one. “In extra time, it’s been Klopp’s kids against the blue billion-pound bottle jobs,” said Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville, succinctly and indisputably establishing the dominant narrative of a surreal Carabao Cup final almost as soon as Virgil…

For all his mishegas and misdirection, Chicago White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is right on one thing: It’s either now or later. Either he’s asking the city and state for more than a billion bucks of public money for a new stadium right now or someone else is going to be asking for it down…

Jordan Chiles is smiling, the beam nearly as bright as the green sweatshirt she’s wearing and the Olympic ring flex of a necklace dangling at the base of her neck. This is not necessarily a departure. Effervescence tends to be Chiles’ default position. Except there are smiles, the ones presented to the public as either…

As the February sunshine beams down on all of baseball, and the standings say that everyone is undefeated, it’s easy to melt into a zen state of spring training nirvana. But there’s one question in our annual spring survey that jolts us back to life. That’s the part where we ask our voters — a…

“I think if it’s a national stadium and is a catalyst for the regeneration of that part of southern Manchester… there has to be a conversation with the government.” While much of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s round of media interviews on Wednesday, after his acquisition of 27.7 per cent of Manchester United was finally confirmed, may…

The name’s Powers. Chad Powers. And he’s coming (back) to a screen near you. Hulu ordered Eli Manning’s character “Chad Powers” to be made into its own comedy series, according to a company press release. Manning created and transformed into Powers for an episode of his docuseries “Eli’s Places” after Manning’s curiosity about the college…

Dani Alves, who was this morning sentenced to four and a half years in prison in Spain after being found guilty of sexual assault, was, until very recently, one of global football’s golden boys. An exuberant, technical right-back, he was a major part of the Barcelona team that set new standards in the European game…

MINNEAPOLIS — A few times each month, Alan Page visits Justice Page Middle School, one of two schools named in his honor. As the first African American to become a Minnesota Supreme Court justice and the first African American elected to a statewide office, Page goes to inspire students. In their upturned faces and wide…

On Tuesday evening, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS completed their purchase of a minority stake in Manchester United, as the British billionaire acquired a 27.7 per cent stake in the Premier League club in a deal worth over $1.3bn. On Wednesday, Ratcliffe spoke to the written media for the first time about his decision to…

“Everything Robert won at Bayern Munich, the goals he scored, it was all with the aim of ending up where he is now: playing for Barcelona.” Robert Lewandowski’s career has been full of targets, but two summers ago he fulfilled what is fair to describe as his ultimate ambition. The quote above comes from a…

SAN FRANCISCO — Nearly a year ago on the dot, Mike Dunleavy, the Golden State Warriors’ future general manager, and Kent Lacob, an ascending front office personnel voice, hopped in a car and made the quick 50 mile trip south to Santa Clara’s campus. They were primarily there to see Maxwell Lewis, the possible lottery…

NFL free agency is fast approaching, offering the first window for teams to improve this offseason, provided they sign the right players. These are my rankings and scouting reports of the top 150 free agents available, shaped by a ton of film work and perspective from many years leading NFL personnel departments. This might not…

Last season, it was a Brazilian midfielder at Liverpool. This season, it’s been his international team-mate at Manchester United. “I think Casemiro’s legs have gone,” Jamie Carragher told the Covering Liverpool podcast in October. “I noticed it last season at Anfield and I didn’t like what I saw. It took me back to watching Fabinho…

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Warde Manuel is a patient man. Patient to a fault, some would say. The job of an athletic director, as Manuel sees it, is to avoid knee-jerk reactions. Sports fans are fickle. They want what they want, and they want it now. When public pressure is at its highest, Manuel believes…

LOS ANGELES — It was all going to be so perfect. It had stars. It had records. It had one of the most beautiful stages in all of sports in prime time. It was supposed to be the PGA Tour’s big day. Two weeks ago up in Pebble Beach, Wyndham Clark shot a third-round 60…

STORRS, Conn. — It is 1 p.m. on a dismal January afternoon and, aside from a few managers, Gampel Pavilion is empty. The Connecticut players have finished reviewing film but have yet to shuffle in from the practice facility across the street. Dan Hurley stands a few steps behind halfcourt. He’s wearing gray sweats, a…

Ice ages haven’t lasted as long as this. Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid… it has been a thing for about a decade at least. The Athletic was not even in existence when the pair began courting each other. Twitter was still fun (and called Twitter), Taylor Swift hadn’t heard of American football and the closest…

The physical altercation that left Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea captain Son Heung-min with a dislocated finger had been a good few weeks in the making. The South Korea camp for the Asian Cup played in Qatar over the past month or so had been far from harmonious, with splits everywhere you looked. Manager Jurgen…

In the video, Tom Brady sits with his legs crossed and looks into the camera. He’s trying to express just how bad things had gotten between him and Bill Belichick in the late 2010s, toward the end of their 20-year run together with the New England Patriots. By now, everyone knows how that time ended…

National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side Bay FC have signed Zambia forward Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for a world-record fee.  A source with knowledge of negotiations, who is granted anonymity to protect relationships, confirmed to The Athletic that the fee for the 23-year-old is €735,000 ($785,000). She has signed a contract until 2027 with…

It was inside the Toronto Maple Leafs dressing room that Ike Werner first allowed himself to believe he was going to survive. After having his throat cut accidentally by a skate blade during a Sunday afternoon rec league game at the NHL team’s practice facility earlier this month, a terrifying experience turned surreal when the…

The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled a statue to honor Kobe Bryant outside of Crypto.com Arena in a ceremony Thursday. The bronze statue is 19 feet high and 4,000 pounds. Bryant is the seventh Lakers legend commemorated with a statue in Star Plaza, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, announcer Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and…

The Chiefs beat the 49ers in overtime to win Super Bowl LVIII.  Is it too early to start looking ahead to Super Bowl LVIX held in New Orleans? Never. The San Francisco 49ers are Super Bowl favorites at +500 on BetMGM, despite losing to the Kansas City Chiefs (+700 to repeat) in Super Bowl 58….

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It’s impossible to pinpoint the exact moment when it was determined in Iowa that any shot that left Caitlin Clark’s hands was not just a reasonable shot, but also a good shot. Because there are green lights, and then there are green lights. And Clark has matter-of-factly operated in the latter…

Did you know Manchester United have agreements in place to sign superstars Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior? Or that Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the man investing millions into the club, sensationally plans to bring Mason Greenwood back into the fold? No? Well, that is because these stories are, in fact, complete nonsense. But that has not…

LAS VEGAS — One day, the brilliant TV executives are all going to unite and put their programming under one roof. It will solve all your sports viewing problems. They will call it cable. This new ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery venture is not it. At least not yet. There is still significance to three…

LANDSBRO, Sweden – There are no signs for Landsbro on the long road from Stockholm. This village in southern Sweden is so remote, so small, I was told, I would pass it if I didn’t keep my head up. Not a single stop sign. Not a single red light. Small like that. I was told…

The NFL’s rules on gambling have generated widespread criticism and questions leading up to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, as the league aims to balance its sportsbook partnerships and policies preventing players from betting on games. Gambling was a major topic of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s annual Super Bowl news conference Monday, when he…

LIV Golf was given an opportunity on Sunday. The PGA Tour’s final round was pushed off due to some truly gnarly weather conditions at Pebble Beach, giving LIV’s first event of the 2024 season the full stage. And it was Jon Rahm’s first event as a LIV golfer, with Rahm in contention for the win…

What do Mohamed Salah, Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Lionel Messi have in common? Their contracts are all expiring in 2025. While the summer transfer window looks set to be headlined by Kylian Mbappe and the saga of his potential switch from Paris Saint-Germain to Real Madrid, the world’s biggest clubs will be…

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s 9:40 a.m. in the southeast parking lot at The Pit, and a man in black-and-white face paint circles on a dirt bike. This is Snake. He arrives early for New Mexico men’s basketball games, hypes up friendly faces and sportively harasses the visiting team when it arrives. Everyone knows Snake. He’s…

Mandatory neck guards are coming to youth hockey in the United States. Already required in Canada and many other countries, USA Hockey, which governs the sport at the amateur level in the U.S., has long held its line at “recommending” laceration protection — namely neck guards, but also cut-resistant socks, sleeves and undergarments. The decision…

After yet another disappointing, early-season loss, Jalen Brunson stood at his locker, ready to speak with the media in Milwaukee. As the point guard turned around, straight-faced as usual following the Knicks’ fourth defeat in six games, he donned a homemade T-shirt, all black and with white lettering on it, that appeared as if it…

Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Nikita Kucherov: Who’s the NHL’s best player? It’s gotta be McDavid, right? Not so fast, a surprising number of NHL players say. “McDavid’s going to get all the votes, I’m sure,” one player told The Athletic. “But I think MacKinnon’s better right now.” The three may well end up in…

SAN FRANCISCO — Joel Embiid didn’t speak. Not with his words, anyway. The Philadelphia 76ers big man who had been ridiculed for three days after his latest disappearance, and whose MVP defense is in such early peril because of the league’s 65-game rule that is putting so much pressure on his sensitive situation, didn’t have…

OTTAWA — Nearly 6,000 miles away from her hometown in Hokkaido, Japan, Akane Shiga was being asked about the weather. Mike Hirshfeld, general manager of Ottawa’s PWHL team, was sitting with Shiga and coach Carla MacLeod in the team office at TD Place Arena, speaking to the 22-year-old forward and Japanese national team member through…

It was around noon last Thursday when Bob Lutz walked outside of his work and headed home before the start of his daily radio show. He looked across 17th Street in Wichita, Kan., from the offices of League 42, the nonprofit baseball league he founded in 2013. On a rainy, overcast day, he gazed over…

A senior coroner probing the death of former NHL and Nottingham Panthers player Adam Johnson has suspended her investigation as police enquiries continue. Johnson, 29, died after being cut in the neck by a skate during a Challenge Cup match against the Sheffield Steelers on October 28, with the Nottingham Panthers labelling it as a…

SAN FRANCISCO — The frustration seethed in Stephen Curry. Until it boiled to the surface. Until he let out a roar. Until he ripped his jersey from the collar to the 30. He’d scored 46 points on 35 shots, getting the benefit of just three free throws in his 43 minutes. He hit the game-tying…

If Mike Macdonald’s ascent to one of the NFL’s hottest coordinators and a legitimate head-coaching candidate feels meteoric, that’s probably because he has never embraced the art of self-promotion. The 36-year-old second-year Baltimore Ravens defensive boss has consented to side media interviews in recent weeks largely because he wants to tout the chemistry and cohesion…

LOS ANGELES — JuJu Watkins’ hands didn’t feel quite right. They were tingling in a way that seemed unnatural, and when she looked down at them, though they were physically there (all 10 fingers — check; perfectly manicured nails — check) they didn’t feel like her hands. Not the hands that made her the No….

The rumour mill is still. The gossip columns are sparse. The Sky Sports News totaliser sits dormant. Fabrizio Romano seems to be tweeting more about deals that aren’t happening than ones that are. The Athletic has given David Ornstein the month off (just kidding: we would never let him have any time off). This has…

However you perceive Gary Sheffield — icon or problem child, steroid user or public-opinion victim — one image almost certainly springs to mind. It’s that waggling bat, the pulsating motion that for 22 seasons radiated so much swagger. Through eight teams, nine All-Star nods, steroid allegations and a list of other microcontroversies too long to…

For his first few frenetic months as the San Francisco 49ers’ general manager in 2017, John Lynch left his family behind in San Diego. His temporary home at the Santa Clara Marriott became a brainstorming center for reversing the fortunes of a moribund franchise. The 49ers, coming off a 2-14 season, had perhaps the NFL’s…

It happened again. Of course it did. Two tennis players, starting near midnight, battling nearly to sunrise in front of a scattering of fans, with a squad of kids in their early teenage years scurrying after balls at nearly four in the morning.  Last year it was Andy Murray duelling with Thanasi Kokkinakis until the…

“The spirit of the 1993 team will always be there for Zambia.” Kalusha Bwalya, Zambia’s former football captain, is reflecting on the day that changed his life forever. On April 27, 1993, a military aircraft taking 18 of his team-mates and their coach to a World Cup qualifier against Senegal crashed shortly after refuelling in…

In the backyard of Draymond Green’s $10 million home in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, where white columns and a marble patio overlook the greenest of grass, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr chatted with the heartbeat of his team. Hours earlier, the Warriors had landed in Los Angeles to a whirlwind of drama….

Christian Pulisic is perched on a bar stool in the old clubhouse overlooking the first-team training pitch at Milanello, AC Milan’s training ground. He makes a hand gesture, one he didn’t need the past six months living in Italy to learn. Pulisic is talking about himself as one of the “older guys” on the USMNT…

Nikita Nesterenko had awakened from an afternoon nap on Monday when he received a cellphone notification. Nesterenko, a former Boston College forward now playing for the American Hockey League’s San Diego Gulls, saw the name of former college teammate Cutter Gauthier pop up in a post sent out by the Anaheim Ducks. “Originally, I felt…

The only place a reverse happens in the NFL is on the field. The league rarely moves backward when it comes to increasing its media rights coffers. If you were to place a wager on whether Saturday’s first-ever exclusive, live-streamed NFL playoff game is going to be repeated in the future, you’d be wise to…

“We see potential spies and enemies everywhere,” says David. “It can be at border control or it can be in a cafe. The other day, a guy was looking at me strangely, so I left without finishing my breakfast, and jumped in a taxi — asking the driver to take me to the wrong address.”…

From the moment he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Cutter Gauthier has been pilloried in some circles, with social media-fueled attacks on his character after the Philadelphia Flyers effectively said good riddance to their former prize prospect. Gauthier answered questions Wednesday about the stunning deal, which saw the Flyers trade the 19-year-old…

It was late September when Naomi Osaka, the four-time Grand Slam champion and transcendent star of her sport, finally got on the phone with her former coach to talk about her next comeback.  Wim Fissette is a cerebral Belgian who thinks long and hard before taking on a player, even one with a resume like…

By now, nearly two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there is a familiar rhythm to Elina Svitolina’s days. The missile attacks from Russia generally happen overnight, so in the morning, just after she opens her eyes, she grabs her phone to see where the bombs have fallen. There is a call to her…

By Christopher Kamrani, Bruce Feldman, Kennington Smith III and Chris Vannini The man chosen to succeed the greatest college football coach in the history of the sport is from rural South Dakota, who certainly some Crimson Tide fanatics have never heard of. At least until the last 72 hours. Kalen DeBoer, known within the industry…

The top under-20 men’s players from Czechia, Finland, Sweden and the United States will vie for a spot in the gold medal game during the semifinals of the 2024 World Junior Championship on Thursday. The best women in that age group won’t have the chance. They never have. Since 1977 the IIHF has sanctioned a men’s…

Where does a former NFL coach with a Super Bowl title to his name go on holiday for the new year? Wrexham, of course. Paul McCord and his family swapped Florida for north Wales to take in the League Two match against Barrow after becoming passionate fans of the club through the documentary Welcome to…

When Wayne Rooney was told his time as Birmingham City manager was up after just 15 games, he was shocked. Having signed a three-and-a-half-year contract, the former England striker was under the impression he had joined a long-term project. Rooney had enjoyed an open dialogue with the club hierarchy — including chief executive Garry Cook…

LOS ANGELES — Terry Bradshaw spills a cup of coffee, but Curt Menefee doesn’t flinch. Menefee leans toward a tray not visible on television for some tissue to help clean up as Bradshaw continues to make a point about the Cincinnati Bengals. Howie Long helps with the cleanup, and Bradshaw keeps talking. Jimmy Johnson listens intently….

Confetti rained down around Bill Belichick and Tom Brady as the two hugged near midfield, Super Bowl champs together for the sixth time. It was Feb. 3, 2019. Belichick patted Brady’s shoulder pads twice. Robert Kraft, the longtime owner of the Patriots, embraced the quarterback. He told Brady he was the best ever. They all…

Editor’s note: This article is part of our “Origin Stories” series, focusing on the backstories of athletes and topics around the Summer Olympics. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — After the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Regan Smith returned to her home state of Minnesota feeling broken. She hadn’t enjoyed her first year at Stanford, her dream school. At…

TORONTO — The line began at the gates of Mattamy Athletic Centre and stretched a full city block. Women’s hockey fans, after decades of waiting for a best-on-best league, were happy to wait a little longer for the doors to open for the first-ever Professional Women’s Hockey League game. The line was dotted with reminders…

The cheers rang long and loud around Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium as fans celebrated Hugo Guillamon’s late equaliser against Barcelona in their final home match before La Liga’s Christmas break. Four kilometres away, on the other side of Valencia’s old city centre, all was quiet around the site of the Nou Mestalla — where the club’s…

Follow live coverage of Liverpool vs Newcastle in the Premier League today This season’s winter transfer window is now open, meaning clubs can officially start the scramble to add reinforcements or offload players deemed surplus to requirements. Premier League sides can do business until 11pm GMT on Thursday, February 1 — and, following discussions with…

The Athletic has live coverage of Texas vs. Washington in the College Football Playoff at the Sugar Bowl. He has come further than any star player in college football the last two years — 3,064 miles and from two wins to the College Football Playoff — but on a dreary Monday in Seattle in April,…

It was one of those rare days when nothing comes off for Cristiano Ronaldo and he cannot conceal his rising frustration. An offside flag denied him a goal and a VAR intervention denied him a penalty before he sent a wild shot and two headers off target in the closing stages of a crucial game….

When Giants rookie running back Eric Gray took his first NFL road trip in August for joint practices and a preseason game in Detroit, he expected to have a roommate in the team hotel — like he had in college. “We stayed there for a week, and you had 90 guys on the squad then,”…

Tennis is doing what it does every 10-15 years or so — having a reckoning with its endless schedule, its nonsensical governing structure, and a competitive format that even devout fans struggle to understand. The sport is played across the world, with countries on every continent except Antarctica producing top players. No major sport integrates…

In the days after Oct. 7, in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people, Yarden Garzon struggled to eat and sleep. The outbreak of war in Israel and the Gaza Strip was all-consuming to her, as she watched the news from Bloomington, Ind., where she’s a sophomore guard. Yarden, who was born and raised in…

Peter Storrie can remember visiting the London studio of Herzog & de Meuron, the renowned Swiss architects, and being shown a striking vision of Portsmouth’s future. “It was something else,” he tells The Athletic. “They put it up on the screen for us and it certainly had the wow factor.” This was 2007 and the…

Every year at this time, we marvel at the many creative ways baseball players find to make an appearance on the ever-popular Strange But True Injuries of the Year leaderboard. So we’d like to thank this year’s baseball population for … cooking breakfast … playing the piano … and doing their best to get in…

Scoring touchdowns during each offensive possession is the unspoken goal for every NFL team. For decades, celebrations have been the norm in accompanying touchdowns. It goes back all the way to the 1960s with Homer Jones and his touchdown spike. Touchdown celebrations have become a choreographed production for some teams. Think back to the 1980s…

The Detroit Pistons will knock on the door of historic ineptitude Tuesday night. Losers of 26 straight games, the Pistons are one loss away from having their name etched in record books as the sole owners of the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history. Detroit will take its last swing at preventing infamy as…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year … except for one thing: It’s no longer baseball season! But that’s where we come in. It’s our not-so-solemn duty to get you through these long, chilly, baseball-free months by helping you relive the best of the Strange But True baseball season of 2023. Don’t tell us…

It’s one of the best-known stories about the First World War: the Christmas truce of 1914, when soldiers from both sides spontaneously laid down their guns and, for a few hours at least, acted as if they weren’t trying to wipe each other out in a cruelly pointless war. Part of the story was the…

The Baltimore Ravens scored their most impressive victory of the season Monday night, defeating the San Francisco 49ers 33-19. Along with making them look like worthy Super Bowl contenders, the victory puts them in a fantastic position in the AFC. At 12-3, they’re a game ahead of Miami and have a chance to clinch the…

A tighter, 18-second pitch clock with runners on base … a new, wider runner’s lane between home and first base … one fewer mound visit. All those rule changes are coming to Major League Baseball in 2024, as part of a series of tweaks and changes announced by MLB on Thursday. The Athletic initially reported…

Todd Monken has been predictable enough for the Baltimore Ravens coaches and players to know what was coming next. So after John Harbaugh handed his new offensive coordinator a game ball following a 38-6 victory over the Detroit Lions in Week 7, the Ravens’ longtime head coach stepped aside and gave Monken the floor. Monken…

The scrapbook is meticulously preserved, a series of newspaper clippings saved and collated by a proud father. It charts almost every step on Wayne Harrison’s journey towards the big time, from first kicking a ball for Woodsmoor Colts and goalscoring exploits for Stockport Boys and Greater Manchester Boys, to making his professional debut for Oldham…