General
World’s 50 Most Marketable Athletes 2019
SportsPro Media
The rising WTA star, 21, becomes only the second female athlete to top the list after a breakthrough year in which she won two Grand Slam singles titles and ascended to number one in the world for the first time. Now in its tenth year, SportsPro’s list assesses athletes from across the world according to their marketing potential over the coming three-year period, taking into account criteria such as age, home market, crossover appeal, charisma and willingness to be marketed.
For Barstool Sports, Podcasts Are Now Around One-Third of Revenue
Todd Spangler, Variety
Barstool Sports isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The site trades in a style of raw humor and commentary that some find offensive. The company has a shoot-from-the-lip founder whose gags having included joking about union-busting, a move that would violate federal labor laws.
Touch Football, Sold as Safer, Now Requires a Helmet
Ken Belson, The New York Times
On a steamy afternoon in June, Jim Poynter, the coach of the 7-on-7 touch football team at Lamar High School in Arlington, Tex., escorted one of his former players around the state tournament. In a game last spring, the player, Brett Green Jr., was knocked out after his head collided with a teammate’s shoulder as they jumped to intercept a pass.
Ronda Rousey Needed 9-1-1 For Injury On Set Of ‘9-1-1’
Patrick Hipes, Deadline Hollywood
Ronda Rousey was injured on the set of Fox’s first-responder drama series 9-1-1 last week, Deadline has confirmed, nearly severing a finger while shooting a scene. Word is the Olympic judo medalist, former UFC champion and current WWE star didn’t break character, finishing the shot before going to a local hospital, where she learned she broke two fingers on her left hand.
WWE’s ‘NXT’ Heads To USA Network, Airing Opposite TNT’s All Elite Wrestling
Dade Hayes, Deadline Hollywood
A year after Fox set a deal to take over broadcasts of its longtime pro wrestling staple, SmackDown, USA Network has gotten back in the ring with the WWE and will air its NXT show on Wednesday nights. On its new network, starting September 18, NXT will air opposite TNT’s All Elite Wrestling showcase, setting up an old-school, basic-cable battle. USA also airs Monday Night Raw.
How does ESPN’s Karl Ravech make the Little League World Series so much fun?
Jacob Bogage, The Washington Post
The Little League World Series is much better in person, ESPN play-by-play commentator Karl Ravech insists, but his broadcasts are pretty great, too. Ravech, 54, has called the annual tournament for 12-year-olds since 2006 and has become its voice, mixing in irreverent, boyish joy in the booth — the telecast this year has cut away to show bad-joke contests between players and field reporter Julie Foudy and to narrate MLB players on cardboard scraps sliding down the hill beyond Howard J. Lamade Stadium — with fine-point commentary of the action on the field.
U.S. Olympic officials reprimand but don’t otherwise punish athletes who protested
Christine Brennan, USA Today
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Tuesday formally reprimanded but did not suspend or otherwise punish the two U.S. athletes who protested on the medal stand earlier this month at the Pan American Games. In letters to fencer Race Imboden and hammer thrower Gwen Berry, USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said that while she “applaud(ed)” each athlete’s “decision to be an active citizen,” calling it “admirable,” she noted that they must “abide by the policies we agree to in order to ensure the Games succeed in their purpose for many years to come.”
NFL
Draftkings bets big on first-ever in-house campaign as NFL season looms
George P. Slefo, Ad Age
The NFL is just 15 days away from entering its 100th season. For fans, that means another chance to root for their favorite team to go deep into the playoffs or win it all come Super Bowl Sunday.
Baker Mayfield Is Feeling Dangerous
Clay Skipper, GQ
Baker Mayfield slides his considerable barrel of a body into a brown leather booth at a steak house just outside Cleveland and announces that tonight he’s just not feeling himself. This is not to say that the planet’s most confident quarterback has arrived without his signature swagger—there is, after all, a diamond-studded medallion of Mayfield’s jersey number, 6, hanging from his neck.
Cowboys, LB Smith agree on extension amid Elliott holdout
Schuyler Dixon, The Associated Press
When the Dallas Cowboys announced a contract extension for Jaylon Smith, it was first a celebration of the linebacker’s journey from a career-threatening knee injury in college to one of the NFL’s richest contracts at his position. Of course, it didn’t take long for the focus to turn to holdout running back Ezekiel Elliott, or the question of deals for quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver Amari Cooper with each entering the final year of his rookie contract.
NFL And Pluto TV Team For Streaming Channel “Celebrating” Pro Football’s Past
Dade Hayes, Deadline Hollywood
The NFL and Pluto TV have reached a deal to launch the NFL Channel, a curated library offering, on the ad-supported streaming service. Because Pluto is available free for consumers, much of the programming on its 150-plus networks approximates but does not duplicate what pay-TV subscribers get via the traditional bundle.
Patrick Mahomes and Troy Polamalu debate dandruff protection for Head & Shoulders
Kyle O’Brien, The Drum
The NFL season is nearly here, and with it comes the debate over whether offense or defense wins games. Former defensive back Troy Polamalu and current quarterback Patrick Mahomes debate that – from a hair perspective – for Head & Shoulders in a new campaign.
Jimmy Garoppolo has 0.0 passer rating in return from ACL injury
Chuck Schilken, Los Angeles Times
Jimmy Garoppolo’s return from a season-ending injury isn’t going as San Francisco 49ers fans hoped. Days after having five straight passing attempts intercepted in practice, Garoppolo saw his first game action since tearing an anterior cruciate ligament nearly a year ago during Week 3 of the 2018 season.
NBA
Sources: Lakers set workouts for Noah, Howard
Adrian Wojnarowski, ESPN
In the aftermath of DeMarcus Cousins’ knee injury, the Los Angeles Lakers are bringing in two former All-Star centers — Joakim Noah and Dwight Howard — to evaluate in individual workouts in Los Angeles, league sources told ESPN on Tuesday. The workouts will also include veteran Mo Speights, league sources said.
MLB
The ‘Moneyball’ A’s Find a New Inefficiency: Other Teams’ Players
Jared Diamond, The Wall Street Journal
Early in the movie “Moneyball,” Brad Pitt’s Billy Beane sits in front of a room of befuddled old-school scouts and delivers the message that has defined the real-life Oakland Athletics for nearly two decades. “If we try to play like the Yankees in here,” Oakland’s heralded executive says, “we will lose to the Yankees out there.”
Ex-baseball players Dotel, Castillo linked to DR drug ring
The Associated Press
Authorities in the Dominican Republic have arrested former MLB pitcher Octavio Dotel and cited ex-infielder Luis Castillo for their alleged links to a drug-trafficking and money-laundering ring, officials said Tuesday. Dominican Attorney General Jean Alain Rodríguez said police are also actively pursuing the alleged leader of the ring, César Emilio Peralta, also known as “César the Abuser.”
NHL
Russ Conway, writer who brought down hockey union boss, dies
The Associated Press
Russ Conway, a hockey writer who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1992 for his stories about corruption in the NHL Players Association that helped bring down union head Alan Eagleson, has died. He was 70.
Soccer
Earlier-Than-Expected Trial Date Alters Strategy for USWNT, U.S. Soccer
Michael McCann, Sport Illustrated
There are 28 U.S. women’s national team players who would relish the thought of facing U.S. Soccer in a trial, watching their attorneys cross-examine federation officials on the witness stand. Those officials would be forced to explain why, as has been asserted, the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup champions earn significantly less than the U.S. men, who didn’t qualify for their latest World Cup let alone win it.
A Transfer Market Parable
Rory Smith, The New York Times
Paulo Dybala had no reason to think he would be leaving Juventus this summer. When the Argentine forward departed for Brazil, and the Copa América, at the end of last season, he presumed he would soon be back in Turin (and not just because of Argentina’s record at the Copa América).
After concussions ended her soccer career, a former star is helping girls avoid a similar fate
Roman Stubbs, The Washington Post
It was a short drive she had made countless times, from her home in Maryland’s Frederick County to a secluded soccer field 30 minutes away, yet Brittni Souder still needed a GPS to guide her black Honda Pilot there early one morning in July. A 15-year-old female soccer player met her there, eager for another private lesson from the 27-year-old Souder in a sport that had already taken so much from both of them.
Racing
‘Preparation Trumps Youth’: 70-Year-Old Man Wins Longest Multi-Horse Race
Emily S. Rueb, The New York Times
Bob Long, 70, just became the oldest person to finish what Guinness World Records calls the longest multi-horse race in the world. He also came in first.
Golf and Tennis
A 12-year-old(!) is making her LPGA debut this week, and everyone is raving about her swing
Alex Myers, Golf Digest
We’ll spare you with the “What were you doing at 12?” comparisons, because you definitely were not doing what Michelle Liu is doing this week. The precocious pre-teen will be making her LPGA debut at the CP (Canadian) Women’s Open.
College Sports
Betting in the age of Big Data: College football and the gambling revolution
Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic
Imagine your star quarterback is hanging out in his on-campus apartment, one Power 5 athletic director posits. A kid down the hall comes over and with an idea for placing a $10,000 prop bet on whether or not the first offensive play of the next game is a pass, a decision that the quarterback ultimately controls.
Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes is title sponsor of the renamed Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Jessica Wohl, Ad Age
A cereal mascot as a bowl-game name? We should have seen this one coming. Eager to remind football fans to buy and eat more cereal, Kellogg Co. says Frosted Flakes is the new title sponsor of the Sun Bowl, or what’s now to be known as the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Rivalry renewed? Florida, Miami add to once-heated series
Mark Long, The Associated Press
Even though his father played at Miami and his older brother at Florida, Marco Wilson has little knowledge of the once-heated rivalry involving the two Sunshine State teams. The Florida Flop?
Esports
Activision Blizzard Sells Two More Franchise Slots For Call Of Duty League
Adam Stern, The Esports Observer
Activision Blizzard Esports Leagues today has announced that it has sold two more franchise slots for the forthcoming Call of Duty esports league to Misfits Gaming and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE). Activision is doubling down on the city-based, franchised model for esports by launching the CoD league next year amid also running the second-year Overwatch League (OWL).
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
An 18-game season is a non-starter for NFL players, but these ideas might not be
Jerry Brewer, The Washington Post
Given the NFL’s uninspiring propensity to daydream about adding games — and danger — to its high-risk sport, you must wonder how those recurring negotiations last more than 30 seconds. They can’t be much more constructive than saying “How was your day?” to a preschooler.
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