General
ESPN Boss Says It’s ‘All Hands On Deck’ To Find Younger Audience
Ad Age
ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro says the sports network is “all hands on deck” to attract more women and younger viewers, a crusade that includes a new streaming service launched last year. The Walt Disney Co.-owned cable giant introduced its ESPN+ online service a year ago, and it has drawn over 2 million subscribers who pay $5 a month.
Kenny Smith Wasn’t a Star. TNT’s ‘Inside the N.B.A.’ Made Him One.
Sopan Deb, The New York Times
Kenny Smith hasn’t shown up to an “Inside the N.B.A.” production meeting in almost 20 years. “What’s going to happen in a basketball game that I haven’t seen, heard, been part of, or know someone that’s been part of it?” Smith said, as he walked through the hallways of the Scotiabank Arena before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Heavyweight King Anthony Joshua Is Ready to Conquer America
Jim Chairusmi, The Wall Street Journal
Anthony Joshua, the 6-foot-6 reigning heavyweight king, is such a sensation in his native England that he has fought in front of 80,000-plus fans at London’s Wembley Stadium. But as his U.S. debut looms next month, it’s clear he still has a few things to learn about conquering America.
Can the W.N.B.A. Be a Model for Women’s Hockey?
Seth Berkman, The New York Times
Top stars of women’s hockey are refusing to play in the National Women’s Hockey League, the only such league in North America, a stance that serves as a not-so-subtle message to the N.H.L.: It’s time to throw your weight behind our sport.
NFL
Jerry not expecting NFL to discipline Elliott
Todd Archer, ESPN
Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones doesn’t believe the NFL will take any action against Ezekiel Elliott for his role in an incident involving security guards at a Las Vegas music festival last weekend. “I think that the main thing is that I don’t see anything that needs supporting,” Jones said Thursday.
A Hail Mary exemption from replay review could make for strange late-game scenarios
Mike Florio, Profootballtalk.com
With the NFL initially going too far to fix the problem created by Rams-Saints and now trying to carve up the blanket inclusion of all forms of pass interference within the scope of replay review, the league apparently will try to ensure that Hail Mary plays aren’t subject to the frame-by-frame search for technical instances of premature contact with a potential receiver. That strategy is destined to create unusual late-game scenarios.
NBA
Kevin Durant won’t return in time for Game 1 of NBA Finals
Janie McCauley, The Associated Press
Kevin Durant won’t be ready to play in time for Game 1 of the NBA Finals on May 30. The two-time reigning finals MVP has yet to return to on-court work while recovering from a strained right calf.
Leonard scores 35, Raptors beat Bucks 105-99 for 3-2 lead
Andrew Seligman, The Associated Press
Kawhi Leonard arrived in Toronto thinking he could pick up another championship to go with the one he already has. One more victory and he’ll play for another ring. And dominant performances like he put up Thursday night are a big reason why.
Knicks Say Kristaps Porzingis Demanded To Be Traded Or He’d Go Back To Europe
Barry Petchesky, Deadspin
The most detailed tick-tock of the Jan. 31 trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis from the Knicks to the Mavericks revealed that it wasn’t nearly as sudden as it seemed, that Porzingis had expressed his disgruntlement with New York and that the Knicks front office had already tentatively discussed potential trade packages prior to the start of the season. But one question remained: Why did the trade finally happen when it did?
Branded or not, Raptors teammates sport their own signature gear
Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times
Kyle Lowry just wanted something he could put on his shoes, something that made them feel like they were his. He didn’t know that he’d inspire a movement that’s inescapable during the Eastern Conference finals.
MLB
The All-Star Closer Who Is Trying to Save Bookstores
Jared Diamond, The Wall Street Journal
Washington Nationals closer Sean Doolittle found himself mired in an unusual predicament for a professional baseball player during spring training: He needed more books to satisfy his enormous appetite for reading—and he couldn’t find a local bookstore near the team’s facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., as good as the shops near his winter home in Chicago.
A Novel Idea in the Majors: Using Batting Practice to Get Better
Joe Lemire, The New York Times
While meeting with the Houston Astros’ instructional league players in September 2013, the roving hitting instructor Jeff Albert asked the young prospects a series of questions. Do you swing and miss in the game? Yes, they said.
Can This Man Keep the A’s in Oakland?
Kurt Streeter, The New York Times
“Dave! Dave! Dave!” the women shouted, eyes wide with surprise. They were high in the stands at the Coliseum when they came upon Dave Kaval, president of the Oakland Athletics, who was mountaineering up, step by step, from field level to the nosebleeds.
NHL
The NHL is bringing its Facebook Live show ‘Stanley Cup Live’ to Twitter
Tim Peterson, Digiday
A year after the National Hockey League debuted a pre-game show on Facebook for the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, the league is bringing back “Stanley Cup Live” for this year’s championship round — adding Twitter to the distribution mix. Starting on May 27, the NHL will live stream “Stanley Cup Live” on both Facebook and Twitter before each game of the Stanley Cup Final.
NHL’s head-on battle with an epidemic
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
Wearing a black shirt with “Fight for your happiness” on the front and “Sick not weak” on the back, Daniel Carcillo eats an apple as his wife makes a cappuccino nearby and their oldest daughter scampers around the kitchen. This is the family he always wanted, just not the life he expected.
Soccer
The Best Player in Women’s Soccer Is Skipping the World Cup
Joshua Robinson, The Wall Street Journal
The soccer world knew long before last weekend that Ada Hegerberg is the best women’s player on the planet right now. But with three goals in the first half-hour of the Champions League final, she reminded everyone anyway.
Inter Miami CF brings in Elevate Sports to help ticket sales for inaugural MLS season
Bob Williams, SportBusiness Group
Inter Miami CF, David Beckham’s Major League Soccer expansion team, has hired Elevate Sports Ventures to help its premium, season and individual ticket sales strategy. The sports and entertainment consulting firm – a joint venture of the San Francisco 49ers, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, Ticketmaster, Live Nation and the Oakview Group – will serve as the team’s premium sales agency.
Soccer’s $215 Million Playoff Is Biggest Prize in Team Sports
Eben Novy-Williams, Bloomberg
The biggest financial prize in sports gets awarded next week, and it won’t be going to the NBA champs. Two English soccer teams are battling for at least $215 million.
PSG president under investigation for alleged bribery
Murad Ahmed and David Keohane, Financial Times
Nasser al-Khelaifi, the Qatari president of French football club Paris Saint-Germain, is under formal investigation in France for alleged bribery related to Doha’s bid to host the athletics world championship, his lawyers confirmed on Thursday. The move represents a broadening of a French investigation into alleged corruption at the International Association of Athletics Federation, the body that runs global track and field events.
Racing
Indy 500 Champion Only Gets Recognized for ‘Dancing With Stars’
Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams, Bloomberg
Helio Castroneves has won the Indianapolis 500 three times, making him one of the most accomplished auto racers in history. And yet his fame stems more from dancing than driving.
For the first time in 47 years, Darrell Waltrip doesn’t know what’s next
Ryan McGee, ESPN
Darrell Waltrip is holding court. He’s got his foot up on a very expensive coffee table in former boss Rick Hendrick’s very fancy office.
Future of horse racing in California discussed at tension-filled meeting
John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times
The agenda of the May meeting of the California Horse Racing Board was generally filled with routine procedural matters, leaving center stage to the heightened, and at times, hyperbolic rhetoric over what should be the future of horse racing in California. The public comment part of Thursday’s meeting lasted almost 1 hour, 15 minutes with 21 people allowed up to three minutes each to speak their mind.
Golf and Tennis
Roger Federer on Success, Staying Power and 20 Years at the French Open
Christopher Clarey, The New York Times
Roger Federer had just finished his soup and was dubious. “Come on!” he said. “Nobody else left?”
Hockey hotbed now produces tennis players, too
Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press
It’s typically Canadian that Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreescu are each children of immigrants. What’s not typical is that they have simultaneously broken into the world’s elite ranks of tennis players — and will all be worth watching when the French Open begins Sunday.
College Sports
NCAA president Mark Emmert had net pay of $2.9 million in 2017 calendar year
Steve Berkowitz, USA Today
NCAA president Mark Emmert was credited with nearly $3.9 million in total compensation during the 2017 calendar year, according to the association’s new federal tax return. The amount includes a deferred payment of just over $1.4 million, but $1 million of that already had been reported on prior years’ returns.
Kellen Winslow II trial: ‘Apparently we have a pervert living in the neighborhood’
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports
In trying to make sense out of a non-sensible encounter that had just occurred in his own front yard, the husband of Jane Doe No. 3 offered up a reasonable summation of the situation. “Apparently,” he said, “we have a pervert living in the neighborhood.”
Esports
Super League Gaming CEO Ann Hand’s Global Journey from Gas Stations to Esports
Andrew Hayward, The Esports Observer
Ann Hand had no idea what she was getting into when she took her first job out of college in 1990 with oil company Mobil. “Because it was early ’90s, there was no way I could Google what a marketing rep did,” she said in an interview with The Esports Observer.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
How Rex Chapman Started the ? Video Series
Ben Collins, SLAM
Rex Chapman’s third and inexplicably most popular phase of public life began on January 10, when he saw a surfer receive a perfect dropkick from a flying dolphin. “I saw this video of a school of dolphins swimming into the shore. There was this surfer going in the other direction. This dolphin came up and hit him square in the chest,” says Chapman. “Right away, I said to myself: ‘That’s a fuckin’ charge.’”
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