General
DAZN will provide boxing news and highlights on Snapchat
Jon Fingas, Engadget
DAZN’s boxing coverage is now headed to an unusual place: Snapchat. The sports network is teaming up with Snapchat to launch DAZN Fight Week and DAZN Fight Night shows on Discover that deliver boxing news and highlights in a cut-down form.
Viacom, CBS Set to Merge in Early December
Brian Steinberg, Variety
CBS and Viacom now plan to merge as soon as early December, the two media companies said Monday, setting in motion the last steps to yet another consolidation in the traditional media sector. The two companies, which will be known as ViacomCBS once the deal is complete, said the pact had secured the approval of National Amusements Inc., the movie-exhibition chain controlled by the Redstone family that holds the majority of voting stock in both concerns.
Microsoft Says Russians Hacked Antidoping Agency Computers
Nicole Perlroth and Tariq Panja, The New York Times
Russian state hackers attacked the computer networks of at least 16 national and international sports and antidoping organizations, Microsoft said Monday. The attacks are the latest in a series of brazen Russian cyberattacks on foreign politicians, sporting officials and antidoping regulators.
Nate Diaz blasts USADA but says he’ll fight Jorge Masvidal
Marc Raimondi, ESPN
Nate Diaz is cleared and will fight Jorge Masvidal on Saturday despite an atypical finding on a drug test. But the controversial UFC welterweight star is now calling into question the validity of the tests administered by USADA, the UFC’s anti-doping partner.
A Smoke-Filled Room, and One Last Champion
Andrew Keh, The New York Times
The smoke machine seemed redundant. This was the Cigar Smoking World Championship.
NFL
Patriots’ Bill Belichick, 67, leaving door open to coach into 70s
Mike Reiss, ESPN
After previously saying that he didn’t plan to coach into his 70s, Bill Belichick is leaving the door open to do so. “When I said it, maybe I didn’t know what 70 felt like,” the New England Patriots coach said Monday during his weekly appearance on sports radio WEEI.
Chargers officially announce firing of offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt
Patrik Walker, CBS Sports
The Los Angeles Chargers are in the middle of a challenging season that seemingly gets worse by the day, and they’re ready to start making changes because of it. Despite having ended their three-game slide by defeating the Chicago Bears on the road in Week 8, it was by just one point and mostly due to a missed field goal that could’ve sent them to a 2-6 record on the year.
AP source: Jets trade Leonard Williams to Giants for 2 picks
Dennis Waszak Jr., The Associated Press
The Big Cat is joining Big Blue. The New York Jets traded defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Giants on Monday for a third-round draft pick next year and a fifth-rounder in 2021, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal.
A Lineman Became a Doctor, but Dementia Made Him Retire. He’s Only 42.
Michael Powell, The New York Times
T.J. Abraham is a block of a man with a tree-trunk neck and a lantern jaw. He played football at a top Catholic high school outside Pittsburgh and then traveled downtown to Duquesne University, where he played another three years.
NBA
Morey speaks (about hoops): Rockets GM declining to talk China, but dives deep on the Russell Westbrook trade
Sam Amick, The Athletic
If you took a quick peek at Daryl Morey’s Twitter timeline these past few days, you’d never know the Houston Rockets general manager was stuck in the eye of a geopolitical storm just a few weeks ago. There was a series of three tweets on Thursday promoting the start of this Rockets regular season, followed by more hoops-themed tweets on Friday and even a baseball tweet sent on Sunday.
LeBron James Evacuates His Family From Fire in Western Los Angeles
Niraj Chokshi, The New York Times
LeBron James said Monday that he was one of the tens of thousands of people who were forced to flee their homes in Northern and Southern California in the face of wildfires that have cut power to millions and sent the state into crisis. “Had to emergency evacuate my house and I’ve been driving around with my family trying to get rooms,” the N.B.A. star, who lives in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, wrote on Twitter.
MLB
With each pitch at Series, call gets louder for robot umps
Ben Walker, The Associated Press
From the box seats to the far reaches of the bleachers, all 40,000 umpires in the stands at Nationals Park were sure they could tell: Gerrit Cole’s fastball to Victor Robles missed the strike zone. By at least an inch, clearly.
No, the Nationals Are Not Cursed by an Early Plan to Celebrate
James Wagner, The New York Times
It was a routine dress rehearsal, not an inflammatory prediction. A stage was set up in the Nationals Park last week so that Major League Baseball could practice for a trophy presentation as the World Series shifted from Houston with Washington holding a two-games-to-none lead.
As Max Scherzer wait continues, Nationals prepare for Game 6 as if it’s Game 7
Jesse Dougherty, The Washington Post
The details were grim when Max Scherzer first discussed his latest injury Sunday afternoon. The pitcher couldn’t move his right arm because of neck spasms and nerve irritation in the trapezius muscle in his upper back.
Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom: The goal is ‘sustained long-term success’
Julian McWilliams, The Boston Globe
A glimpse into the Red Sox’ future could be found Monday afternoon at Fenway Park. The Sox’ fell short of a playoff berth just a year after winning the World Series.
Pirates fire GM Neal Huntington, shake front office again
Will Graves, The Associated Press
Neal Huntington, Frank Coonelly and Clint Hurdle sparked a baseball renaissance in Pittsburgh. The general manager, team president and charismatic manager helped a moribund franchise emerge from two decades of losing to briefly become a contender.
Yankees Part Ways With Larry Rothschild
James Wagner, The New York Times
After a 103-win season, the Yankees dismissed their longtime pitching coach, Larry Rothschild. The team announced the move on Monday, simply saying that Rothschild was not returning for the 2020 season. He had a year remaining on his contract.
2 women who flashed breasts at World Series banned by MLB
The Associated Press
The two women who flashed their breasts from behind the backstop during Game 5 of the World Series have been banned from major league ballparks. Major League Baseball sent the women a letter shortly after their escapade Sunday night.
Baseball’s Postseason Is Wild. But It Has Become Weirdly Predictable.
Jared Diamond, The Wall Street Journal
Collin McHugh remembers a moment back in spring training when the Houston Astros scanned the clubhouse, sized up the ridiculous amount of talent sitting in the room and arrived at a conclusion. “We were really confident that we were the best team in baseball,” said McHugh, an Astros pitcher.
NHL
Why do the Leafs struggle more than the average NHL team in the second half of back-to-back games?
Dom Luszczyszyn, The Athletic
The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a rougher start than expected. After their first 13 games, the team is 6-5-2, a pedestrian 88-point pace that has the fan base even more tense than usual.
Soccer
Andonovski aware of expectations as new US women’s coach
Vin A. Cherwoo, The Associated Press
Vlatko Andonovski is well aware of the expectations he faces as the new coach of the U.S women’s national team. His predecessor, Jill Ellis, led the team to consecutive World Cup titles — an accomplishment her successor can only hope to equal.
Fosun tests IPO appetite with Wolves stake sale
Tom Hancock, Financial Times
Chinese conglomerate says sale of holding aims to gauge wider interest for sports listing.
Racing
McKinzie is early favorite in Breeders’ Cup Classic
Beth Harris, The Associated Press
McKinzie, with a new jockey replacing Hall of Famer Mike Smith, is the 3-1 favorite for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic this weekend at troubled Santa Anita. The track is hosting the world championships for a record 10th time Friday and Saturday.
Golf and Tennis
Gary McCord speaks out—loudly—about being dropped from CBS golf team: ‘Bottom line, they fired me’
Dave Shedloski, Golf Digest
When golf broadcasting iconoclast Gary McCord signed his last contract with CBS Sports two years ago, he says that Sean McManus, president of the network’s sports division, told him he could stay as long as he wanted. “He said to me, ‘You’ve been here so long, when you want to go, you tell me.’ I don’t recall telling him that,” McCord said with notable wryness after news broke last week that his two-year option with the network was not picked up, ending his career of 30-plus years at CBS.
College Sports
A National Title Is Hard. Is an SEC Title Harder?
Billy Witz, The New York Times
There was a palpable feeling of anxiety hanging over Tiger Stadium when Louisiana State quarterback Joe Burrow danced away from pressure in the shadow of his own end zone and took off toward the first-down marker on the first play of the second quarter. As Derrick Brown, Auburn’s ferocious defensive tackle, was eating up two, and even three, blockers on almost every play, his teammates were making a meal of L.S.U.’s heretofore pretty passing game, and the visitors took an early 3-point lead.
For college basketball, a season begins on the brink
Eddie Pells, The Associated Press
For coaches and other leaders in college basketball, the approach of the upcoming season has been nothing like business as usual. Not in Indianapolis, where lawyers at the NCAA are busy trying to circumvent a newly passed law that threatens the foundation of an enterprise built on a simple commandment: thou shall not pay players.
Esports
Natus Vincere shutter Fortnite team due to lack of esports support
Reuters
After less than a year of operation, Natus Vincere will no longer field its two-person Fortnite team due to profitability concerns, according to team manager Mykhailo “M1ke” Palamar. Na’Vi started their Fortnite team in January, but now their players, Levi “LnueF” Edelijn and Quenten “Quenten” van der Zijpp, are free to pursue other options.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
The Great, Useless Tom Brady Freakout of 2019
Jason Gay, The Wall Street Journal
Next year, Tom Brady will be a Bear. Or a Raider. Or a Cowboy. Or a Jet. Why not?
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