General
XFL plans two games a week on network TV, two more on major cable
Michael David Smith, Profootballtalk.com
The XFL wants to make this clear: We’re not the AAF. After the Alliance of American Football went bankrupt, the XFL, which will launch next year, is explaining that it has a far more viable business plan in place than the AAF ever had.
Players demand say in women’s hockey future after CWHL folds
John Wawrow, The Associated Press
Hilary Knight put aside the jet lag and fresh memories of helping the United States win its latest world hockey championship to begin looking ahead to next season. Yes, the star forward intends on playing professionally in October. The only question Knight can’t answer is where.
NFL
There’s a New Type of Quarterback Controversy in the NFL Draft
Andrew Beaton, The Wall Street Journal
Jon Gruden’s wishlist for the upcoming NFL draft began modestly. The Raiders coach said he may want a tight end. He went on to add they could also use a running back, a left guard, a linebacker and, for some reason, three defensive ends.
Carolina Panthers Revealed Their Season Schedule by Creating an Amazing Ode to Video Games
David Griner, Adweek
If you’re not a big fan of the Carolina Panthers, you probably haven’t been overly interested in the NFL team’s 2019-20 schedule. But if you’re a complete dork, that’s all about to change.
Cardinals being coy about who will go at No. 1 overall
John Marshall, The Associated Press
The Arizona Cardinals used the 10th overall pick of the 2018 draft on Josh Rosen, hoping the former UCLA star would be their quarterback of the future. Rosen had some ups and downs during his first season, as many rookies do, but did nothing to dissuade the Cardinals from believing he could be their guy for years to come.
NFL sought police records in child abuse investigation involving Tyreek Hill
Kaitlyn Schers and Brooke Pryor, The Kansas City Star
The NFL in March sought records from police about complaints of child abuse involving Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill and his son, according to a letter a league representative sent to the Overland Park Police Department. The letter, dated March 12, came three days before The Star reported that Hill was under investigation for an alleged battery.
NFLPA president: Voluntary means voluntary
Mike Florio, Profootballtalk.com
Jaguars executive V.P. of football operations Tom Coughlin say that all players should be present for voluntary offseason workouts. The president of the NFL Players Association says that voluntary doesn’t mean what Coughlin apparently thinks it means.
NBA
Knicks Fans Dream of Durant and Irving. Will Dolan Be the Nightmare?
David Waldstein and Kelly Whiteside, The New York Times
Another wretched Knicks season has ended, but from its ashes a justifiable optimism is taking root. The Knicks have the money to add two star players this summer, and there is a growing buzz in the N.B.A. that they could acquire Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors and Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics, who can be free agents.
Michelin restaurants and fabulous wines: Inside the secret team dinners that have built the Spurs’ dynasty
Baxter Holmes, ESPN
“POP WANTS TO talk to you.” The server is speaking to a man named Jeremy Threat — and from the tone in his voice, something is clearly amiss.
Leaning Into His Role as the Villain, Ben Simmons Leads 76ers’ Rout of Nets
Kelly Whiteside, The New York Times
Ben Simmons played the role of villain with gleeful ease. Every time the Philadelphia guard touched the ball in Thursday’s Game 3 in Brooklyn, hearty boos followed, with each jeer seemingly energizing him.
Dwight Howard exercises player option, will return to Wizards for the 2019-20 season
Candace Buckner, The Washington Post
Although Dwight Howard appeared in only nine games during an injury-ravaged first season with the Washington Wizards, he has decided to return to the franchise next season. According to a person close to Howard, the center exercised a $5.6 million player option for the second year of his two-year contract.
The Raptors’ boom-or-bust NBA title pursuit hinges on one big bet
Ben Golliver, The Washington Post
The inherent risk of the Toronto Raptors’ daring vision took just one playoff game to manifest — at the worst possible time, no less. With 10 seconds left in Game 1 and the score tied, Orlando Magic guard D.J. Augustin surveyed from the top of the key.
MLB
Yankees drop Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America’ after questions of possible racism arise
Des Bieler, The Washington Post
The New York Yankees reportedly confirmed Thursday that they were no longer playing a Kate Smith version of “God Bless America” during the seventh inning of home games, after the team learned of a Depression-era song she’d recorded that raised questions of possible racism. Two songs cited by the New York Daily News, which broke the story, included “That’s Why Darkies Were Born,” a 1931 hit for Smith, and “Pickaninny Heaven.”
Who killed the Nationals? New murder mystery reveals the origin of the team’s curse.
Scott Allen, The Washington Post
With the Washington Nationals protecting a one-run lead over the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the 2017 National League Division Series, Manager Dusty Baker summoned his ace, Max Scherzer, from the bullpen for a rare relief appearance. No one could have predicted what would transpire over the next three outs at Nationals Park — a sequence of outcomes never witnessed in nearly 3 million half-innings of recorded history — but baseball fan David Bledsoe already had an idea how the game would end.
Khris Davis, A’s agree to deal adding $33.75M for ’20, ’21
Janie McCauley, The Associated Press
At spring training, Khris Davis expressed his desire to stay with the Oakland Athletics on a long-term contract for the next several seasons. He wants to build something special in the East Bay, while keeping up his remarkable home run pace.
NHL
What now? Penguins face crucial offseason after flameout
Will Graves, The Associated Press
Jim Rutherford’s question was rhetorical. The answer — whenever the Pittsburgh Penguins general manager arrives at — will determine how the franchise emerges from the rubble of a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the New York Islanders.
Red Wings to name Steve Yzerman general manager
Ansar Khan, MLive.com
The Detroit Red Wings will introduce Steve Yzerman as their new general manager this afternoon, a source confirmed to MLive. Ken Holland, the club’s GM since 1997, will remain as the team’s senior vice president.
Soccer
‘Enough is enough’: Footballers boycott social media in protest at racist abuse
Nick Friend, CNN
That is the strapline being championed on Friday by professional footballers in England and Wales as they stage a 24-hour boycott of social media platforms, in protest against the lack of action being taken in response to racism. Multiple players have been subjected to abuse this season both from the stands during matches, as well as through messages on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
MLS will seek compensation for affiliated academy players who sign outside the league
Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times
Major League Soccer announced Thursday that its clubs will now assert training compensation claims for any player developed in a league-affiliated academy who signs his first professional contract with a non-MLS team outside the U.S. and Canada. MLS clubs will also seek FIFA-administered solidarity payments when players developed in MLS club academies are transferred for a fee between clubs that are members of different international federations.
U.S. Men’s Soccer Players Oppose Play on Temporary Grass
Rachel Bachmann, The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Men’s National Team players association criticized the U.S. Soccer Federation’s plan to hold an upcoming game on a sod field laid atop artificial turf, saying the setup puts players at increased risk of injury. On Thursday morning, the soccer federation announced the Men’s National Team would play Venezuela on June 9 at Cincinnati’s Nippert Stadium in its last friendly before the Concacaf Gold Cup starts June 15. The venue has an artificial surface.
Racing
Major horse racing tracks agree to phase out use of race-day Lasix
John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times
In an unprecedented step of cooperation, the three major groups that control horse racing and most of the major independent tracks announced an initiative that would eliminate the use of race-day Lasix for 2-year-olds and a year later extend to all horses in stakes races, including the three Triple Crown races. The Stronach Group, Churchill Downs Inc. and New York Racing Assn. Inc, which are normally at odds with one another over revenue from their advance deposit wagering companies, came together along with other tracks including Del Mar and Los Alamitos thoroughbreds to toughen Lasix standards.
Golf and Tennis
Tiger Woods Can’t Keep Golf Out of the Bunker
Lauren Silva Laughlin, The Wall Street Journal
Golf great Tiger Woods’s fifth Masters championship was met with hopes his stardom would revive the sport, as is often the case with epic athletic comebacks. For the nearly 600-year-old pastime, though, its attempts to lure the younger crowd will continue to suffer from challenges that even the greatest of athletes can’t help overcome.
Michael Jordan calls Tiger Woods’s return ‘the greatest comeback I’ve ever seen’
Cindy Boren, The Washington Post
As millions of people watched Tiger Woods cap a comeback for the ages with a Masters win, two men looked on and probably smiled with a little flicker of recognition, an acknowledgment of the kind of greatness that only they and few others know. Michael Jordan was watching from afar, Michael Phelps from the front row of the gallery at Augusta National, and both were amazed by what they saw.
College Sports
NCAA gymnastics changed its postseason, hoping for its own March Madness moments
Emily Giambalvo, The Washington Post
Every spring, not long after the NCAA gymnastics season finishes, head coaches gather for a weekend of recruiting at Junior Olympic nationals, a meet that features many of the nation’s top gymnasts. Before their focus shifts to recruiting, coaches spend long days discussing ways to improve their sport.
College golfer in hijab out to blaze trail for Muslim girls
Eric Olson, The Associated Press
Noor Ahmed outwardly lives her Muslim faith, and even growing up in a state as diverse as California she says she encountered hostility on the street, in school and on the golf course. One of the top junior golfers in Northern California coming out of high school, Ahmed was a starter in her first year at Nebraska and the No. 2 player most of this spring.
Esports
European Esports Federation to Form With 12 National Members
Graham Ashton, The Esports Observer
Following several meetings in Lausanne, Paris, and most recently, Berlin, 12 national esports federations have agreed to form a European Esports Federation later this year. “The Berlin Declaration,” a document supported by the founding federations, states that the planned European non-profit will be independent of any third-party or private entity.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
This Is Not a Column About the Mueller Report
Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal
This column will be popular, not because it’s good—let’s be honest, gang, this column is never really that good—but because Tiger Woods is popular. Really popular.
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