The NBA’s New Normal Isn’t Working Out
The Ringer · 5 minAs the postseason limps toward the finish line, one thing is clear: Try as they might, the NBA’s players can’t handle the cruel grind of another season like this.
Sports
Curated by our editorsStories to fuel your mind
Baseball’s Most Disrespectful Home Runs
FiveThirtyEight · 9 minWhich home runs violated baseball’s unwritten rules the most?
One Man’s Amazing Journey to the Center of the Bowling Ball
WIRED · 25 minMo Pinel spent a career reshaping the ball’s inner core to harness the power of physics. He revolutionized the sport—and spared no critics along the way.
Gymnastics Doesn’t Know What to Do With Simone Biles’s Dominance
The Atlantic · 5 minHer greatness is a form of resistance.
King of Cards
Bloomberg · 15 minKen Goldin—Market Maker, Evangelist, Therapist—Is Cashing In on Priceless Pieces of Cardboard.
Popular with Pocket readersStories from across the web
Kylian Mbappé the hero for new football fans who value players above clubs
The Guardian · 5 minThere was a moment at the Stade de France on Wednesday when the world just seemed to stop and watch – and gawp and purr and jab its elbow into the ribs of the gawping, purring person next to it. The score was 0-0 in the Coupe de France final. Monaco forced a corner on the right.
Soccer fans destroyed the Super League
Vox · 12 minWhy soccer fans thought the European Super League super sucked.
How the 'K' became the most destructive letter in Major League Baseball
ESPN · 23 minEditor's note: From rising strikeout totals and unwritten rules debates to connecting with a new generation of fans and a looming labor battle, baseball is at a crossroads.
Coach K Built a Basketball Empire
The Ringer · 5 minMike Krzyzewski is stepping down after more than four decades as the head coach of Duke. Love it or hate it, his program was one of the most successful organizations in sports history.
The Transformation of a Soccer Club, and the Ways We Value Women’s Sports
The New Yorker · 21 minNearly three years ago, in New Jersey, late in a National Women’s Soccer League game between Sky Blue F.C. and the Chicago Red Stars, the Red Stars’ striker Sam Kerr flew past the defense, gathered the ball, and unleashed a shot into the low left corner of the goal—her third score of the day.
How the Super League Fell Apart
The New York Times · 18 minFrantic phone calls, secret meetings and high-stakes threats: The inside story of how a billion-dollar European soccer superleague was born, and then collapsed, in less than a week.
Inside the mysterious world of missing sports memorabilia
ESPN · 8 minWe've all misplaced something -- car keys, wallets, a W-2 from last year. But what about misplacing something worth millions that has incredible historical significance? Well, welcome to one of the stranger corners of the booming sports memorabilia market.
Aaron Rodgers, Julio Jones, and the Limitations of an NFL Trade Demand
The Ringer · 9 minThe Packers quarterback and Falcons wide receiver have provided some fun fodder with their offseason exploits, but they’re unlikely to force their teams to grant their wishes Late spring into early summer is a sleepy period on the NFL calendar. Not much is happening.
Chasing Kobe Bryant
shondaland.com · 7 minOne writer reflects on the time he got to play a game of basketball with one of the best players of all time.
MMQB: Get to Know Nick Sirianni … and His Ways of Getting to Know the Eagles
Sports Illustrated · 37 minThe first-time head coach, from a family of educators, is leaning on his background to make a first impression. And rock-paper-scissors isn't the only game he's playing. Plus, union president J.C.
How Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks are feasting on the Heat
ESPN · 2 minOn Jan. 18 against the Brooklyn Nets, Giannis Antetokounmpo set 36 ball screens. His previous high in any game from the past two seasons had been 21. The Milwaukee Bucks lost, 125-123, but their offense was spectacular. It seemed like a potential turning point in their deployment of Antetokounmpo.
Brad Stevens Becomes the President … of Celtics Basketball Operations
The Ringer · 5 minThe Celtics coach is leaving the sideline to take over for Danny Ainge. Can the first-time executive help fix Boston in ways he couldn’t with X’s and O’s? There have been rumblings for months that Danny Ainge would leave the Celtics.
Chris Bosh’s Favorite Basketball Writers? Kobe Bryant Makes the List.
The New York Times · 6 minWhat books are on your night stand? What’s the last great book you read?
Inside the end of Stan Van Gundy with the Pelicans and an ongoing battle to keep Zion Williamson happy
The Athletic · 1 minParting ways with Stan Van Gundy after just one season is not the biggest problem facing the New Orleans Pelicans.
Lowe's 10 things: Julius Randle and the smashmouth Knicks, bully ball by Jayson Tatum and wild-shot taunts
ESPN · 2 minLet's roll with this week's 10 things, including Julius Randle's All-NBA rise, bully ball from Jayson Tatum and a tribute to "heads-up!" taunts on wild misses. The New York Knicks' methodical climb to league average in scoring efficiency has been one of the major slow-burn stories of the season.
The Historic No-hitter Pace Is Bad for Fans. But It May Be Just What MLB Needs.
The Ringer · 11 minAfter no-nos on two straight nights, MLB is on pace to shatter its season-long record. Could that be enough for baseball to finally try to fix its offensive woes?
Clive Tyldesley: ‘Football commentary is all I ever wanted to do’
The Guardian · 9 min“The first thing you’ve got to get your head around as a broadcaster,” Clive Tyldesley says, “is that it’s not actually about you. It’s about the event. I think the greatest quality a commentator can possess in order to connect with a large number of people is warmth.
Big Data Model Takes Local London Team to Soccer’s Richest Game
Bloomberg · 4 minA sporting strategy engineered on the west coast of America has given a small community club in the west of London a fresh shot at the richest game in world soccer.Brentford Football Club will challenge Swansea City AFC on Saturday in a playoff final that grants the victor passage to the U.K.
The greatest college baseball game ever: 'The heartache is what made it more memorable'
ESPN · 13 minAn afternoon in mid-May and we are waiting on a game to start. It was 40 years ago today, May 21, 1981, when those opening words were conjured up by Roger Angell, the greatest baseball writer who has ever lived.
How the 2020 NFL Draft Kicked Off Sports TV’s Great De-Glossing
The Ringer · 6 minLast year, Roger Goodell’s basement was the unexpected home for some riveting TV. It also inadvertently opened the door for a kinder, gentler, and definitely cheaper era of sports studio shows. When Trey Wingo hosted last year’s NFL draft, he wasn’t wearing any makeup.