Today's Today

On February 24, 1964, Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston for the heavyweight championship.

I listened to it on the radio with my dad, who couldn't believe Liston lost.

My old man didn't like Ali because he was "always runnin' his mouth", and would insist "the fix was in". 

But then we got a chance to see the film of the Ali vs Cleveland Williams fight a few years later.

I could see the change in his attitude as he turned to me and said, "A heavyweight shouldn't be able to move like that - I guess it ain't braggin' if you can do it".

Weird Lonely Insecure Men

Colin Cowherd on MAGA rubes losing their whole shit over Taylor Swift being on screen for maybe 30 seconds of a ball game that runs about 10,800 seconds.

Today's Sign Of The Apocalypse

Just lemme say I'm sick to fucking death of this Shock Jock Culture, where it doesn't matter what your content is, as long you present it by screaming at the top of your lungs with a red-faced hysteria fit for a WWE promo.

This shit makes me less confident in a clear bright future for humankind.

ESPN knew Pat McAfee would bend the rules. Then he blew them up.

Before they hired Pat McAfee, ESPN executives made a decision: They couldn’t change the YouTube star.

The tank-top-wearing former punter would by definition need to be handled differently than anyone who had ever worked for the sports media giant. It was crucial, executives all the way up to Chairman Jimmy Pitaro thought, that McAfee help ESPN reestablish its cachet with younger sports fans.

The stunners. The cheers. The home runs, hat tricks and gameday magic. Don’t miss out with The Sports Moment, a newsletter for the biggest sports news.
So ESPN made concessions. They licensed McAfee’s show, which gave them less oversight of content; they allowed profanity; they blessed McAfee’s tank tops. Executives also discussed how they would deal with the fallout when McAfee inevitably said something that drew public scrutiny, including insulting a business partner like the NBA or NFL.

Some inside ESPN hoped to duplicate the sort of diplomatic immunity seemingly enjoyed by Charles Barkley, the face of TNT’s NBA coverage. McAfee, they thought, could eventually be like Barkley: loud and opinionated, but also granted a get-out-of-jail-free card to say things others couldn’t.

The network knew there would be some growing pains — a few news cycles that would test those limits. The past two weeks, though, went beyond anything the network troubleshooted.

One of his paid guests, star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, made inferences about Jimmy Kimmel’s connection to the serial abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Rodgers returned to the show and said he had not called Kimmel a pedophile but didn’t apologize — before launching into a 20-minute rant about vaccine efficacy. McAfee, meanwhile, called a longtime senior executive a “rat” on ESPN’s airwaves.

In between, there were cryptic tweets from McAfee with clips from “Scarface” and a seven-minute monologue by Kimmel — whose late-night ABC show, like ESPN, is part of the Disney family — in which he called Rodgers “too arrogant to know how ignorant he is.”

ESPN’s and Disney’s top executives were silent through it all, but on Wednesday, McAfee announced Rodgers would not return to his show this season, and McAfee later issued a long missive on social media. (Rodgers then made a brief football-focused appearance Thursday.)

“I certainly don’t love that I’ve found myself in political wars and public beefs because of something that a guest has said on our show or something that my dumb a-- has said,” McAfee wrote. “I think what I’ve come to realize is that it’s gonna come with the territory of this venture. We are much more aware of that now.”

The week-long episode was among the most fractious in the network’s history and has left plenty inside ESPN’s Bristol, Conn., campus thinking both about McAfee’s future, the network’s, and whether his ascension — and defiance — signals a new era for the TV behemoth. This story is based on interviews with nearly a dozen people in and around ESPN, including current and former employees and executives, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing professional repercussions. ESPN declined to comment.

McAfee sits at the intersection of two fundamental questions for ESPN. The first is as old as the network: whether its power lies in its platform or the talent. The second is whether it is possible for ESPN to be both a TV network and a cutting-edge digital and streaming platform.

In one of his segments last week, McAfee lambasted an old guard at ESPN that he said is out to get his show, calling them “old hags.” He named a particular executive, Norby Williamson, publicly accusing him of “sabotaging” the show by playing a role in a story in the New York Post about his flagging linear TV ratings.

ESPN has a history of suspending talent who have spoken out against colleagues or the company, from Tony Kornheiser to Keith Olbermann to Bill Simmons. Williamson, a polarizing figure at ESPN, has never been shy about his belief that talent is subservient to the ESPN brand, and he famously clashed with stars Stuart Scott and Jemele Hill. Last week, former ESPN host Dan Le Batard suggested Williamson had played a role in his exit from ESPN, too.

ESPN president James Pitaro knew partnering with McAfee carried risks. But this would have been difficult to game plan for. (Celeste Sloman/For The Washington Post)
Several years ago, Williamson told The Washington Post: “The perception became that you could just roll a talent out there and it doesn’t matter what he or she is saying — that the content didn’t matter. I just never believed that.”

The current media landscape is more fractured, but the biggest stars at ESPN — most notably Stephen A. Smith — have been given higher and higher salaries, more latitude to pursue outside projects and to talk about whatever they want. Smith reportedly earns $12 million a year; McAfee reportedly is at $15 million with four and a half years left on the deal that began in the fall.

McAfee has gotten away with testing the limits, at least for now, because Pitaro and ESPN made an enormous bet on him. An ESPN executive with a digital background, Mike Foss, told The Post last week that the future of ESPN will be driven by people like McAfee. “As you turn to direct-to-consumer...it’s a personality-driven industry way more than a brand-driven industry,” he said.

Indeed, with cord-cutting eating into the company’s cable subscribers — and ending the decades-long gravy train that came with them — ESPN has spent the past several years orchestrating a pivot to its direct-to-consumer streaming platform, planned for next year. TV is still where profits are, while a leaner digital future awaits. McAfee, whose greatest success has been as a YouTuber, is a piece of that strategy. He, like ESPN, is trying to succeed on the internet and TV, where audiences and successful content don’t look the same and it’s difficult to master both mediums.

Consider Williamson and Foss.

“Let’s not overthink ‘SportsCenter.’ The goal is to get more people to watch today than watched yesterday,” Williamson once told his staff, as quoted in that Post story from 2018.

Foss, meanwhile, told The Post last week that the whole conception of success for a studio show is going to change because of streaming: “Mitigating churn is going to be the key,” he said. “People coming to ESPN-Plus for a live event and then keeping that subscription because of the other things available to them, like Stephen A. [Smith], [Mike] Greenberg and McAfee.”

McAfee will likely offer some glimpse into ESPN’s evolution, whether he remains at the network or not, and his colleagues will be watching closely. Some staffers this week wondered if the company’s muted response stemmed from a fear of the culture wars — not wanting to get called “too woke” by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Others wondered how ESPN might ever discipline a talent again like it once did Simmons and Olbermann. Others wondered why McAfee couldn’t just appear on YouTube and ESPN-Plus. Still others, more sympathetic to McAfee, thought Rodgers had taken advantage of the segments.

(One executive said they would have tried for an opt-out in McAfee’s contract, given his history and the length. ESPN declined to comment on whether there is any such clause in McAfee’s deal.)

Olbermann, the former “SportsCenter” anchor who now hosts the “Countdown” podcast, wondered if McAfee cared at all about ESPN.

“I do not begrudge Pat McAfee his success, and I don’t dare to criticize his style that got him here,” Olbermann said. "But I don’t think he gives a damn about ESPN as an institution or what it has to maintain to be as successful as it is now, much less stave off the deterioration of cable. If that wasn’t obvious beforehand, it was obvious this week.”

But plenty of people around the industry also agreed that if it’s an ignominious moment for ESPN, it’s also dangerous for McAfee. He has worked for a number of media outlets in his brief career, some with their own contentious exits, and even if ESPN is less than it once was there is still no other platform that offers the same visibility and money.

“The network always outlasts the talent,” Olbermann said.

My Donkeys

The key to Courtland Sutton having a good day seems to be:

Just throw it where he can't catch it, and watch him catch it.

Add it to the highlight reel 🤯

📺: CBS | @SuttonCourtland
pic.twitter.com/t9Bnasz8zX

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 10, 2023

And just like that, Denver's a game over .500 - 1 game out of first place in the AFC West - and hotly pursuing a chance to lose in the first round of the playoffs.

Today's Champion

Sha'Carri Richardson got stiffed really bad four years ago when they kicked her off the US Olympic team for testing positive for marijuana.

It would appear she's just about all the way back.

See ya in Paris next year, kid - tear 'em up.

Oh My Achin' Head

A high school buddy I played ball with died of dementia a few years ago. He was our quarterback, and we looked after him pretty good, so he didn't take a lot of punishment on offense. But he played safety too, and while I don't remember him getting slammed all that much, there's always that shitty little voice in the back of my mind telling me, "You're next, Mr Headbutt."

In case you didn't notice -

at a certain point, there's no escape

Collective Force of Head Hits, Not Just the Number of Them, Increases Odds of C.T.E.

The largest study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to date found that the cumulative force of head hits absorbed by players in their careers is the best predictor of future brain disease.

When Jeffrey Vlk played running back in high school in the 1990s and then safety in college, he took and delivered countless tackles during full-contact football practices. Hitting was a mainstay, as were injuries, including concussions.

When he became a coach at Buffalo Grove High School outside Chicago in 2005, Vlk did what he had been taught: He had his players hit and tackle in practices to “toughen them up.”

By the time he became head coach in 2016, though, he saw that many of his players were so banged up from a week of hitting in practice that they missed games or were more susceptible to being injured in those games.

So, starting in 2019, Vlk eliminated full-contact practices. Players wore shoulder pads once a week, on Wednesday, which he called contact day. That’s when they hit tackle bags and crash pads, and wrapped up teammates but did not throw them to the ground. Vlk said no starting player had been injured at his practices in four years.

“Those types of injuries can stay with you for a long time,” he said, “and knowing that I’m keeping the kids safe, not just in our program, but beyond the program, is reason enough to go this route.”

Vlk’s approach to limiting the number of hits players take has been spreading slowly in the football world, where much of the effort has focused on avoiding and treating concussions, which often have observable symptoms and are tracked by sports leagues.

But researchers have for years posited that the more hits to the head a player receives — even subconcussive ones, which are usually not tracked — the more likely he is to develop cognitive and neurological problems later in life.

A new study published on Tuesday in the scientific journal Nature Communications added a critical wrinkle: A football player’s chances of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., are related to the number of head impacts absorbed, but also to the cumulative impact of all those hits.

Collective Force of Head Hits Increases Odds of CTE, Study Says - The New York Times
The study, the largest to look at the causes of C.T.E. to date, used data published in 34 studies that tracked the number and magnitude of head hits measured by football helmet sensors. Using the data, which went back 20 years, the scientists estimated the number and force of head hits absorbed by 631 former football players who donated their brains to studies overseen by researchers at Boston University.

The paper tried to address one of the most persistent challenges for brain trauma researchers: identifying what aspects of head hits contribute most to C.T.E. They looked at the number of hits to the head, the number of years playing football, the force of those hits and other factors.

The best predictor of brain disease later in life, the study found, was the cumulative force of the head hits absorbed by the players over the course of their careers, not the number of diagnosed concussions.

“We’re now getting a better understanding of what causes C.T.E. pathology, but we’re also getting a better understanding of what’s not causing C.T.E. pathology,” said Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the study. “And in this case, it’s the largest study of C.T.E. pathology ever, and concussions were basically noise.”

Of the 631 brains examined, 451 players, or 71 percent, were found to have C.T.E., while 180 did not. The players who were estimated to have absorbed the greatest cumulative force had the worst forms of C.T.E., which has been associated with symptoms including memory loss, impulsive behavior, depression and suicidal thoughts.

Eric Nauman, a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati who was not involved in the study, said the results strengthened the idea that an accumulation of subconcussive hits, rather than concussions, was the driving force behind long-term cognitive decline.

The latest data “seems to support the idea that, yes, all these hits matter, they all add up,” Dr. Nauman said. “If you accumulate damage faster than the body can repair it, now you’ve got a problem.”

He said the analysis pointed the way toward obvious changes that could make football safer, like the elimination of hitting in practices and the development of helmets that absorb more impact, especially to the back of the head.

Dr. Nauman noted that the new study included brains of players with and without the disease, sparing it from the common concern that the researchers looked only at the most damaged brains.

It also found links between the estimated number and types of hits players sustained during their careers and their health many years later, a factor Dr. Nauman said would make it more difficult for detractors to argue that players had possibly suffered unknown injuries in the decades after they stopped playing football that caused later cognitive problems.

Dr. Nauman said the new research was still bound by limitations. The study counted all of the head impacts detected by helmet sensors, except for those caused by jostling or incidental motion. But previous research has suggested that the most important hits appeared to be those above a certain threshold, a distinction the study was not able to make.

Because the N.F.L. has not published its helmet sensor data, the study used college sensor data as a proxy for professional players.

Helmets have improved in recent years, and it is likely that players whose careers predate the improvements absorbed more of the impact from any given hit. But football players in decades past were on average smaller and slower than those playing today, making any given hit less forceful, Dr. Nauman said.

“That certainly is a caveat, but it’s not something that would make me think the basic conclusions are wrong,” he said.

Joseph J. Crisco, a professor at Brown University who helped devise a sensor used in Riddell helmets, said the study tried to overcome a basic challenge — that researchers had not tracked how many hits the brain donors had accumulated during their careers.

Rather, the study used helmet sensor data from a more recent set of players to estimate the number and force of head impacts for the older players, based on what positions they played, at what levels of the sport and for how long.

While studies using players’ actual lifetime head impacts were needed, he said, the findings suggest that “the players that are getting hit the hardest and most often are more likely to have C.T.E. down the road.”

Steve Rowson, who studies helmet impacts and concussion risk at Virginia Tech, said the study’s emphasis on the force and number of hits that players sustain fits with how scientists understand brain injuries.

The odds of developing C.T.E. increase exponentially with more force to the head
This table shows the increased risk of developing C.T.E. for each additional year played compared with someone who played only two years of youth football. Players who absorb more head hits, like linemen who play for many years, are at higher risk for the disease.

Researchers have managed to pinpoint some factors that explain different players’ exposure to head impacts, he said. For example, he said, linemen are most often hit on the fronts of their helmets, while quarterbacks are more likely to suffer severe impacts to the backs of theirs.

But, Dr. Rowson said, it would be a mistake for people to think that they could now use the findings to predict anyone’s chances of long-term cognitive problems.

“What I don’t think we can do right now is look at an individual and really get a good idea of their head impact exposure relative to another,” he said, “because there’s this huge difference person to person that we can’t quite account for.”

The study notes that future research should examine different thresholds for counting hits, an advancement that Dr. Rowson said was important. Some head impacts, he said, are mild enough that the brain can probably tolerate them. But at exactly what point the impacts become damaging is not clear, he said.

“Not all impacts are created equal,” he said. “Trying to figure out which impacts are the most important, I think, could really help this kind of analysis.”

My Noogies

Funny how I can go 46 years not really paying all that much attention to them, but then, when they sweep the Lakers to win the Western Conference, heading for the championship series - suddenly it's "my Noogies".

Sportsball is pretty weird in general (as am I), but the phenomenon of selective superficial fandom is worthy of a study or two.

Nuggets sweep Lakers, will make first NBA Finals appearance

LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James tried everything he could, including scoring the most points in a playoff half in his storied career, yet it wasn't enough to stop Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets from reaching their first-ever NBA Finals.

In a scintillating playoff duel with James, Jokic turned in yet another triple-double Monday night to help the Nuggets complete their first playoff sweep in franchise history with a 113-111 win over the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 at Crypto.com Arena.

Jokic -- who was named the Magic Johnson Western Conference finals MVP -- fended off an incredible throwback performance from James, who scored 31 points in the first half before finishing with 40 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.

James, 38, became the oldest player in NBA history to score 40 points in a playoff game, but his final drive to the basket to force overtime was denied when Jamal Murray got a hand on the basketball before James was able to get a shot off that was blocked by Aaron Gordon with 1.4 seconds left.

Murray celebrated with a scream and was mobbed by the Denver bench when time expired as James could only watch. For the Nuggets, the NBA Finals has been a long time coming. It has taken Denver 46 seasons to reach this point, the most seasons before a Finals appearance in NBA history. Denver had 93 playoff wins entering Monday night, the most all time without a Finals berth.

The Nuggets, though, are focused on getting four more wins. Considering how Murray and Jokic are playing as perhaps the most formidable duo in the league, an NBA championship feels closer than ever.

"We want to go all the way and stay locked in," Murray said of himself and Jokic. "I think our chemistry is at an all-time high, the way we play, the way we read the game without even speaking. We talk that language on the court.

"It's just beautiful basketball, honestly. It's so fun to play with this team and with him and with the coaching staff that has groomed us into the team that we are. We've got four more wins to go."

Jokic collected his NBA playoff-record eighth triple-double of the postseason with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists in 45 minutes. Five of his points came in the final 2:50 on perhaps the two biggest baskets of the game.

Jokic averaged a triple-double in the second round to eliminate Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns. And he averaged a triple-double to sweep James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers.

"I think he's showing other people nationally that he's real," Denver coach Michael Malone said. "Like what he's doing is real. The [two] MVPs are real. The triple-doubles are real. The silly narratives [against him for MVP] this year are just silly and somewhat ignorant. I think Nikola has gone through three rounds now where he's averaging a triple-double in the playoffs.

"Have you seen any stat padding out there? I'm serious, enough of the silliness. The guy is a great player; give him his damn respect. Stop chopping him down at the knees. He's a great player, and give him the respect he deserves."

After taking a 3-0 lead in the series Saturday night, Jokic said he wasn't scared but was "worried" about trying to close the Lakers out with James on the other side. Jokic said the Lakers superstar is capable of doing "everything." It was as if Jokic was foretelling what was to come.

James, who played all but four seconds at the end of the first half, was determined to avoid being swept for the first time in a playoff series before the NBA Finals. He has been swept twice in his career, both times in the Finals by the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, respectively.

As if that wasn't enough motivation, James' pregame warm-up took place early -- when the Western Conference finals trophy presentation rehearsal was being conducted.

Once the game started, James made 7 of his first 9 shots, including one that was supposed to be a pass that dropped in from behind the 3-point arc. He had 21 points at the end of the first quarter, tied for the most in a first quarter when facing elimination by any player over the past 25 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

He sank all four of his 3-point attempts and had 31 points by halftime, the most in a playoff half in his career.

"That first half was vintage LeBron James," Malone said. "Having coached him for five years in Cleveland, he understood what time it was with their team, firmly back against the wall. In that first half he showed why he's one of the all-time great players, literally put his team on his back and just went at us."

"Have you seen any stat padding out there? I'm serious, enough of the silliness. The guy is a great player; give him his damn respect. Stop chopping him down at the knees. He's a great player, and give him the respect he deserves."

The Lakers certainly treated this game like there was no tomorrow. They elected to bring D'Angelo Russell off the bench for the first time in the playoffs. The rest of the starting lineup each had eight or more points by halftime to help the Lakers take a 73-58 lead into the intermission.

But the Lakers' lead would be gone by the 4:39 mark of the third, when Jokic hit Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a layup with a foul, giving Jokic his 10th assist of the game and his sixth triple-double in his past eight games.

The Nuggets went on a 34-14 run to take a five-point lead into the fourth quarter.

With both teams playing a tightly contested fourth quarter, Jokic picked up his fourth and fifth personal on the offensive end with 5:19 remaining. But the Nuggets kept him in the game.

After James scored to reach 40 points, Jokic answered with a fadeaway 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer with 2:50 to play.

With the game tied at 111, Jokic snapped the tie with a driving layup with 51 seconds remaining. On the ensuing possession, James missed a fadeaway 3, but Murray could not seal the game as he missed a shot inside the paint.

With 4.0 seconds left, the Lakers called timeout, but the Nuggets' defense denied James' drive, setting off their Western Conference championship celebration.

Jokic was asked afterward how winning the Western Conference finals MVP compares to his two regular-season MVP trophies. He brought up this year's MVP and said Philadelphia's Joel Embiid is deserving no matter what people might think now with how Jokic has dominated this postseason.

"To be honest, I don't think about MVPs anymore," Jokic said. "I think people are just mean and saying that Embiid shouldn't have won it. I think he should have won it. I think he was playing, if you watch it, extremely, extremely tough basketball through the whole season. ... He was really amazing in 82 games or however many games he played."

But Jokic is the MVP big man who is now heading to his first NBA Finals.

"You're just happy that you won a game," Jokic said of his emotions. "You beat a really, really good team. Every game, but the first game was so close. Anyone could have won it, and we just find a way to win the game.

"Especially we were down 15, and to come back and win the game, it was just probably happiness."

The Return

Vice President Harris joined Brittney Griner (top)

 and several members of the Phoenix Mercury

in the locker room before the game

(Mario Tama/Getty Images)

To be sure, I don't care all that much about a basketball game, or a basketball league, or a basketball player.

But there's something more important about the Brittney Griner thing than simply one shitty thing that one shitty government did to one individual American. That's not trivial, but it's not all that unusual either.

The thing is that the US government went out of its way, stepped up big, and helped a woman of color who was being fucked over for no better reason than "We've got the power - we do whatever we want - so fuck you."

My government did good things for a woman of color. That's not something that lands on the front page very often here in USAmerica Inc.

Brittney Griner’s improbable WNBA return was accompanied by a sense of triumph

LOS ANGELES — Brittney Griner crouched slightly at the half-court line, leaped and extended a long arm over her lean 6-foot-9 frame to easily bat the ball backward to her teammate. It was one of several movements — the tip-off to start the game — that Griner has performed hundreds of times over the past decade as the dominant center for the Phoenix Mercury.

But doing it again, and this soon — in a fired-up arena with the vice president in attendance — would have been nearly impossible to picture less than a year ago, when Griner was shackled in a Russian court, being sentenced to nine years in prison.

By the scoreboard alone, Griner’s return Friday to professional basketball, as Phoenix took on the Los Angeles Sparks to open the 2023 WNBA season, was a rout. The Sparks claimed a 94-71 victory, and Griner had 18 points, six rebounds and four blocks in 25 minutes. But her return cemented one of the most unlikely comeback stories in sports history — and one of the most unusual.

Griner, a top star in her league, faced a dark future in a penal colony as a pawn in international relations after customs officials in Russia, where she played for a professional team during the WNBA offseason, found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. She ultimately spent 294 days in Russian custody before being returned to the United States in December in a controversial prisoner swap for convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Friday’s season opener was her first WNBA game since Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Oct. 17, 2021.

Following the game, Griner, 32, said that her incarceration caused her to “appreciate everything a little bit more” — which included a warm welcome in an opposing team’s arena and a surprise visit to the locker room by Vice President Harris. But the sentimentality had its limits.

“Not good enough,” Griner said to sum up the game. “We didn’t get the dub.”

The night at times felt like a celebration accompanied by a basketball game. Before tip-off, Griner’s every movement was followed by a gaggle of video and still photographers. Fans waved cutout photos of her face, and the announcer led the arena in a chant of, “Welcome home BG!” Griner motioned to her heart as she received a standing ovation. The vice president walked on the court and waved, and several celebrities, including former Lakers all-star Pau Gasol, Hall of Famer Magic Johnson and tennis champion Billie Jean King, sat courtside.

Griner stood with her teammates during the national anthem, a departure from her stance pre-incarceration, when she refused to take the court during the anthem. Her protest, which started amid national uproar over police brutality and racism in 2020, attracted conservative ire when she then required rescue from the American government. Griner explained after the game that the anthem “just means a little bit more to me now,” saying of her incarceration: “I was literally in a cage and could not stand the way I wanted to.”

Griner said that she still supports her teammates who choose not to stand for the anthem, adding that making such decisions for yourself “actually makes you more American."

Mercury Coach Vanessa Nygaard echoed that sentiment before the game, calling Friday a “day of joy" that made her proud of her country. “We brought home this woman, this Black gay woman, from a Russian jail,” Nygaard said. "And America did that because they valued her. ... It makes me very proud to be an American. And even though there are people for who that doesn’t make them proud, for me, I see [Griner], and I see hope.”

Griner was stopped at a Moscow-area airport on Feb. 17, 2022 — a week before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — but her detention was not reported in the press for weeks afterward. For most of 2022, the American public — and Griner’s family and teammates — only received sporadic glimpses of her plight via images of her in chains or behind jail cell bars. An eight-time all-star who helped lead the Mercury to a championship in 2014, Griner sometimes seemed forgotten — which Nygaard tried to combat last year by starting every news conference with a new tally of how many days she had been incarcerated in Russia.

Nygaard said that Griner’s freedom was a result of the persistence of those within the league. “When one of their sisters was in this predicament, this terrible situation, they used their voice and they amplified it,” Nygaard said. “I think it was the voices of the WNBA and the fans of the WNBA that finally got the Biden administration until they said, ‘You know what, let’s make this happen.’ ”

In December, President Biden authorized the swap of Griner for Bout, a Russian national serving a 25-year sentence in American prison for arms trafficking. In remarks announcing Griner’s return, Biden said that Griner “didn’t ask for special treatment,” and that her only request was that his administration not “forget about me and the other American detainees.” Griner has since attempted to put a focus on those detainees still in Russia by posting messages to her social media encouraging “everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home.”

Griner’s saga has shed light on the compensation of the world’s best female basketball players, whose relatively paltry pay — WNBA salaries top out at just over $200,000 — has forced even the greatest of them to moonlight overseas, as Griner was when she was detained. And even with all of the pomp for Friday’s game, which was broadcast on ESPN and attracted national sports reporters, the empty upper decks of the Crypto.com Arena did not escape the attention of players and the Mercury coach. “Honestly, c’mon L.A. — we didn’t sell out the arena for B.G.?” Nygaard said. “It was great, it was loud, but how was it not a sellout?”

Griner expressed hope that the media focus on her will bring new fans to the WNBA. “Hopefully everybody tuning in to see me now will see somebody else,” she said.

Griner scored 11 of her points in the first half but appeared to tire in the second half, and after the game discussed improving her stamina to the point in which she could play 40 minutes if necessary. These are the sorts of problems — basketball problems — that, Griner acknowledged after the game, she sometimes thought she would never experience again.

“Me personally, I look at it as the worst case scenario so I don’t get hopes up,” Griner said of her perspective while incarcerated. She then added with a wink: “I’ll elaborate on that a little bit more, just make sure you get a copy of the book.”

The Madness

Ranking the women's March Madness Final Four teams

Iowa hasn't been to the Final Four since 1993. LSU is back for the first time in 15 years. Virginia Tech has never been. This was the first Elite Eight since 1985 that did not include UConn, Tennessee or Stanford. New blood has been the mark of the 2023 women's NCAA tournament, and now so much of it is heading to Dallas. Parity in women's basketball is real.

And then there is South Carolina. Monday's win over Maryland marked the Gamecocks' school-record 36th victory of the season. They have now won 42 in a row. The Final Four has seemed like a foregone conclusion for a year since they hoisted the 2022 trophy. If South Carolina completes its perfect run in Dallas, the Gamecocks will be the 10th team to finish the season undefeated. UConn in 2016 was the last undefeated team and the most recent back-to-back champion.

The next step for the Gamecocks is a matchup nearly every observer of the women's game has craved all season, and now Iowa-South Carolina arrives on the biggest stage. It's the game's toughest defense vs. the most prolific offense, and although they won't match up directly, having Aliyah Boston and Caitlin Clark on the floor together will feel electric.

The entire Final Four is full of stars. LSU's Angel Reese has put up stat lines all season that at times seem incomprehensible. Elizabeth Kitley is a two-time ACC Player of the Year. Point guard Georgia Amoore has become a star in this NCAA tournament.

Still, despite all the Final Four newcomers, nothing will be bigger than South Carolina's pursuit of a repeat and perfection.

The Gamecocks are, of course, the No. 1 team in our ranking of all the Final Four teams.

- more -

And then there were four.

Don't lie and say you predicted this. This Elite Eight made history with the absence of all No. 1 seeds. Alabama, Kansas, Houston and Purdue all looked like potential champs two weeks ago when they all earned top seeds on Selection Sunday. They didn't even get a chance to play for a shot at the Final Four.

But that chaos has produced a multitude of storylines. Florida Atlantic didn't have an NCAA tournament win prior to its Final Four run. And while they're never mentioned among the blue bloods, the UConn Huskies will pursue their fifth national championship since 1999 -- more than Duke and North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas. Miami has a chance to win its first national championship after winning the ACC regular-season title. And San Diego State could cut down the nets for the first time in school history.

But how do these teams stack up against one another? We're here to tell you.

- more -

Today's Obit

Except for a very few momentary flashes, I sucked at Track & Field. I hated running 65 years ago, I hate it now, and there's no reason for me to think I'll change my attitude in the earthly time I have left.

I hate it.

But I went out for Track every year because that was the off-season price you paid if you wanted to make the football team the next fall.

Along with millions of people in 1968, I watched with a bemused passing interest as Dick Fosbury provided some welcome counter programming to the John Carlos -Tommy Smith protests. Not that I was against their demonstrations, it's just that we've always liked believing in the pleasant fantasy of politics not intruding on athletics. (fat fuckin' chance of that)

An awful lot was changing in 1968, and it didn't feel like much of it was changing for the better. But the Summer Games that year kinda reminded us of something important:

When shitty things happen, it can push our thinking into a place where it's easier for more shitty things to happen. But when we change our thinking for the better, then better things can happen.

Anyway, The Foz did something very few people ever get to lay claim to, and I got to see him do it on TV - live from Mexico City.

Dick Fosbury Mar 6, 1947 - Mar 12, 2023 

More Sportsball

First:

Then: 

USMNT's Gregg Berhalter talks World Cup prep, says team 'can beat anyone' in Qatar
play

DOHA, Qatar -- Eight years ago, Jurgen Klinsmann famously said it was impossible for his U.S. men's national team to win the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He said it to me in an extended interview for The New York Times Magazine a few months before the tournament, then doubled down on it in a news conference in Sao Paulo just before the USMNT's opener. Klinsmann felt it was important to be blunt, but many American fans -- and some of Klinsmann's own players -- were troubled by what felt like a defeatist attitude.

On Saturday, in an exclusive interview with ESPN two days before his U.S. team open the World Cup, head coach Gregg Berhalter considered the same question. He paused, just a for a moment, then smiled.

"What I do believe," he said, "is that on our best day we can beat anyone in the world. Anyone."

That's the mentality Berhalter has ingrained in his young team, pushing them to embrace the idea that the only way they'll make history is if they believe they can. To help advance that way of thinking, Berhalter recently organized a team meeting in which Eric Thomas, a popular motivational speaker with a remarkable personal story of rising up from homelessness, talked with the players about the incredible power of belief.

And while Berhalter, a well-known sneakerhead, said he hasn't yet picked which shoes he'll wear to the USMNT's first match against Wales, he didn't hesitate when asked how many pairs he'd brought with him to Qatar: seven, one for each possible game through to the final.

"Look, it is a great honor to play in the World Cup, but we don't want to just be participants," Berhalter said. "We want to perform."

To be clear: Berhalter isn't predicting the U.S. will be champions. He's simply focusing on the notion that success rarely comes without conviction. That was something Berhalter learned first as an international player and now works to instill as a manager.

After all, this is -- by some distance -- the biggest stage Berhalter has been on as a coach. He took over four years ago, charged with restoring the U.S. to respectability after the disastrous failure of the 2018 qualifying cycle. At a minimum, he has done that, overseeing a generational overhaul of the U.S. team that included the recruitment of star-level dual nationals like Yunus Musah and Timothy Weah, and the elevation of talented prodigies like Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna, Weston McKennie, Tyler Adams and Brenden Aaronson.

Berhalter, though, wants more. His preparation for these next three games has ramped up in intensity over the past week, as he and his coaching staff have pushed each other to try and consider every potential scenario they might encounter during one of the group stage matches.

If that sounds exhaustive, that's because it is; Berhalter is known for his bent toward data and analytics, and he is determined to prepare for any direction a game might go.

What will the U.S. do if they're up a goal? Down a goal? Down two? Up a man? Down a man? How will they handle it if one of their players gets injured? What if the opposing star goes down early? Berhalter wants to have a plan for all of them. The scenario that most concerns him? The one he hasn't thought of ahead of time.

"We have the time now, we've had the time for the last couple months," he said. "When you're on the field and the sideline and the crowd is loud and there's pressure moments -- if you're not prepared, I think it hurts decision-making."

Berhalter knows there will be challenges. There are missing first-choice players out because of injury. There are extreme temperatures and very late kickoff times and three Group B opponents (England, Wales, Iran) with significant pedigree and experience. There are no pushovers, no matches in which the U.S. are significant favorites.

But there is also determination. There will be thousands of U.S. fans supporting the team in Qatar. There will be millions more watching and hoping back in the United States. There will be that youthful mix of precociousness and pluck which can, yes, sometimes lead to naive performances but can also transform into magic.

Berhalter's job is to lead. To inspire. To put his players in a position where they might find their best selves when it matters most. The journey begins Monday. And unlike his predecessor, Berhalter doesn't yet know where it will end.

"We think the first step is getting out of the group," he said. "And the second step is, in the knockout games, playing our best possible game and seeing how far we can go."

Today In Sportsball

Fun With Numbers:

UVa comes in at #5, moving up 11 slots after beating #5 Baylor by 7, and then #19 Illinois by 9, in the span of 3 days.

Fuckin'-Ay bubba.

Go Hoos!!

Today In Sportsball

The FIFA World Cup kicks off in Qatar on November 20. The biggest sporting event in the world has a dark side: Qatar won the tournament by buying a large number of votes and the construction of the stadiums has killed 6,500 people, according to research by The Guardian.

Every day, coffins arrive at Kathmandu airport with deceased workers who sought refuge in one of the Gulf states. Journalist Danny Ghosen investigates why Nepalese people knowingly choose to work abroad under terrible conditions and why they also went into debt for that job. With all the consequences for the next of kin. Yet new workers report to the airport every day in search of a better life.

 vpro documentaries

People are dying for a chance to work a decent job.

Today's Sportsball

This is absolutely newsworthy. The only thing that rankles a little is that they always have to mention the contract, and steroids.

Everything comes with a fucking asterisk.

I get it - there's always the element of transaction, and there are caveats that apply. I just wish we could let the guy do what he does - marvel at it - and forget about all the other shit for one short minute.

Aaron Judge. Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images

Yankees Aaron Judge ties single-season AL record with 61st home run

Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge hit his 61st home run on the season on Wednesday night, tying the longtime American League record set by Roger Maris in 1961.

The big picture:

• Judge continues an electric season, batting .314 with 173 hits and 130 RBI to go with his home run total.
• Behind Judge, the Yankees clinched the AL East on Tuesday against the Blue Jays.

By the numbers:

• Only five other players — Maris, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Babe Ruth — have hit 60 or more home runs in a single season.
• But McGwire has admitted to steroid use while Bonds and Sosa have denied allegations that they used performance-enhancing drugs.

Between the lines:

• Judge's monster season comes before he enters free agency.
• The four-time All-Star turned down the Yankees' seven-year, $213.5 million extension offer and wouldn't negotiate during the season, preferring to focus on the "job on the field," ESPN reports.
• The Yankees have said they intend to keep Judge in New York.

Today's GIF

Please don't make me calculate the odds on this one.

Dawn Staley For President

Dawn Staley has won just about everything there is to win on a basketball court.

I remember Staley from her playing days at UVa as a fiery point guard who ran the team on the floor like she was out for a Sunday drive - or operating a backhoe - or making tiny little sutures with a surgeon's laparoscope - or whatever it took at the moment to solve the puzzle in front of her and engineer something out of almost nothing if she had to.

She was all piss-n-vinegar, but with a brain that worked overtime, and what she couldn't get herself or her teammates to do, she did anyway. She's always struck me as one of those competitors who never lose - they just run out of time before they can beat your ass.

She took another big step last night up into some even more rarified air.

WaPo: (pay wall)

Dawn of an era: Staley and South Carolina now set the standard

MINNEAPOLIS — Twelve seconds remained when Geno Auriemma started walking toward Dawn Staley. The uncertainty was over, and so was Connecticut’s unblemished record on national championship night. For the first time, on the final evening of a women’s college basketball season, Auriemma ambled over to an opposing coach, humbled and congratulatory.

Auriemma, who has led Connecticut to 11 titles, had stood still with his arms crossed for several minutes. He was so stiff you couldn’t even tell he was breathing. He wasn’t stunned; it was more like resigned. For the first time, he stared out onto a championship court, saw a dominant team in unfamiliar colors and could only bow to South Carolina’s greatness.

As Auriemma embraced Staley, the clock hit zero and the confetti flurries began, signifying that the baddest women’s team in the sport this season had usurped the great Connecticut dynasty with a 64-49 victory Sunday night before 18,304 at Target Center.

“They were the best team all year,” Auriemma said, repeating what he told Staley as they hugged. “When you’re dealing with that all year long, it’s not the easiest thing in the world. They did a magnificent job managing all that and the expectations that go with that.”

Said Staley: “We weren’t going to be denied.”

It’s premature to consider this a torch-passing event. However, South Carolina yanked something away from Connecticut on this night. The Huskies, who endured a snakebit season full of injuries, retreated like they haven’t since they became a supernova program. They didn’t take the lead the entire game. They were tied for only the first 22 seconds. The Gamecocks scored first, and for the next 39:38, they pounded the most acclaimed team in the sport. They led 22-8 after the first quarter, and Connecticut was playing catch-up the rest of the way. While the Huskies made a few runs and capitalized several South Carolina scoring droughts, it never felt as if the Huskies had a chance.

“They were just too good for us,” Auriemma said.

South Carolina point guard Destanni Henderson danced around the court and scored a game-high 26 points. Aliyah Boston, the national player of the year and the tournament’s most outstanding player, had 11 points and 16 rebounds. Paige Bueckers, who had 14, was the only U-Conn. player who scored in double figures. The Gamecocks had almost as many offensive boards (21) as the Huskies had total rebounds. As a result, they scored 22 second-chance points while limiting Connecticut to five. At times, it looked unfair.

It feels like a seminal moment in the sport’s hierarchy. Since the end of Pat Summitt’s run at Tennessee, Connecticut has dominated without a peer that could truly trade punches with the Huskies over a long period of time. In truth, even Tennessee strained to keep pace, and it’s astounding because Summitt won five of her eight national titles after Connecticut began its championship hoarding in 1995. In the past 27 years, plenty of other elite teams have emerged and been able to smuggle some moments. But the Huskies have kept most of them from enjoying long reigns. Their dynasty, overpowering and unfathomable, grates on others’ greatness.

For all the past talk about Connecticut’s dominance being bad for the game, the Huskies actually have elevated the sport because the standard for winning a championship is higher than it has ever been. At the same time, like any wicked good ruler, they have kept other great programs from maximizing their excellence.

Connecticut didn’t just enter Sunday night perfect in 11 championship games. They were unbeaten despite facing some of the best of the best. Summitt would have been the first college basketball coach since John Wooden to win double-digit titles, but the Lady Volunteers lost four times to Connecticut in championship games. Notre Dame Coach Muffet McGraw, another bitter rival of Auriemma, won two titles in her Hall of Fame career but lost in the final game twice to Connecticut. The Huskies turned back Stanford and Tara VanDerveer, owner of three championship rings, once. Louisville Coach Jeff Walz has built a top-five program, but he’s still looking to cut down the nets partly because the Huskies have defeated the Cardinals two times on the last night of the season.

“Unfortunately for us, both of those U-Conn. teams would probably be ranked in the top five of all women’s basketball teams ever,” Walz said. “We just had a sucky year to have to play them.”

There are several elite teams, and access to that level is less exclusive than it used to be as parity builds in the sport. But there is one superpower, and worthy challengers have had to face that reality again and again.

Except for South Carolina.

Before the title game, Staley responded to questions referencing the Huskies’ 11-0 title-game record by joking, “We’re 1-0, so we’re 100 percent, too.”

Make it 2-0, with both triumphs coming in the past five years. That makes the Gamecocks (35-2) the most successful team in the game over that span. In tearing apart Connecticut, they completed a season in which they went wire to wire as the nation’s No. 1 team.

“Our team had the fight of champions all season long,” Staley said. “All season long.”

She called the victory “divinely ordered.” South Carolina never backed down from the pressure of being expected to win. Staley looked at Connecticut and saw possibility, not a team to be feared. And for now, even if it lasts a short time, Staley’s program is the new standard in women’s college basketball.

“I think a lot of what we’re able to do and get is off the backs of their success,” Staley said in appreciation of Connecticut. “I think the people up at U-Conn. treat their women’s basketball team as a sport. They’re forced to because of all the winning and all the success, but you could take a page out of their book.

“If you invest in it, you could end up having similar success. Actually, not even similar success. Just you could actually scratch the surface and have some success.”

The surface has been scratched. Now, with two titles in five years and two No. 1 recruiting classes on this roster, South Carolina has a chance to go higher. Asked about the goal for next season, Boston was simple and direct: “Same as this year.” After watching the Gamecocks on Sunday night, one thing about them is even clearer: They won’t be afraid of greatness. They’re chasing greater. They’re grating on the Connecticut dynasty now.

I Get It

He wanted to make the announcement himself, and not let some little prick like Adam Schefter get the scoop. but when he says, in effect, "No, I'm not retiring" over the week end, and then Tuesday comes around and he says, "I'm retiring" - it just points up the perfect ending to Tom Brady's perfectly prima donna career. What a great footballing asshole that guy is.

Reuters:

Brady announces retirement from NFL after record-setting career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, widely considered the greatest player in NFL history, announced his retirement on Tuesday after a career during which he won a record seven Super Bowl championships.

The 44-year-old Brady spent 20 seasons with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowl titles, before relocating to Tampa Bay and leading the Bucs to a championship last season.

"I have always believed the sport of football is an 'all-in' proposition - if a 100% competitive commitment isn't there, you won't succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game," Brady wrote on Twitter.

"There is a physical, mental, and emotional challenge EVERY single day that has allowed me to maximize my highest potential. And I have tried my very best these past 22 years. There are no shortcuts to success on the field or in life.

"This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention."

No hat tip to the hundreds of guys who fought and bled - and were likely crippled in some way - so he could do what he did. No thought for coaching. None for trainers or staff (or ballboys, ahem), or even for the fans who paid him the millions that line his fucking pockets.

Just Brady - always and only Brady.

DT

A sad day in Donkey Town today.

DenPo: (paywall)

Former Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas dies at age 33

Pro Bowl receiver and Super Bowl champion Demaryius Thomas, who played nine seasons for the Broncos, died Thursday, according to police in Roswell, Ga.

The police said Thomas was found deceased in his home. Preliminary information is that his death stems from a medical issue and investigators have no reason to believe foul play was involved.

Thomas, who played for the Broncos from 2010-18, and whose on-field performance was matched only by his popularity among teammates, coaches and fans, was 33 years old.

Jeff Clayton, the athletic director at West Laurens High School in Dexter, Ga., where Thomas attended, said in an email to The Denver Post: “To say we are heartbroken is an understatement.”

The US Sun:

Thomas was found deceased in his home on the evening of Thursday December 9, 2021, the Roswell (Georgia) Police confirmed in a statement to NFL Media.

In a statement on Twitter, the Broncos said: "We are devastated and completely heartbroken.

"Demaryius' humility, warmth, kindness and infectious smile will always be remembered by those who knew him and loved him."

He would have turned 34 on Christmas Day.

Bye Bye Job

Unfortunately, we're holding random fools on the street, and NFL coaches, to a higher standard than we are Republican politicians.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the email, Gruden wrote to Allen:

“Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of Michellin tires.”

WaPo: (pay wall)

Jon Gruden resigned Monday as coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, stepping aside amid a burgeoning controversy over racist, homophobic and misogynistic language that he used in emails over a span of approximately seven years before he agreed to return to the NFL in 2018 as the Raiders’ coach.

Gruden met Monday with Raiders owner Mark Davis and later told staff members that he was resigning, according to a person close to the situation.

“I have resigned as Head Coach of the Las Vegas Raiders,” Gruden said in a statement. “I love the Raiders and do not want to be a distraction. Thank you to all the players, coaches, staff, and fans of Raider Nation. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt anyone.”

The NFL said Friday that it condemned a 2011 email by Gruden, who worked for ESPN at the time, that used racist language to denigrate DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the NFL Players Association. Gruden apologized for the language that he used but said he is not a racist.

The league sent the Raiders additional emails in which Gruden used homophobic and misogynistic language to describe people and events within the league and other public figures, according to a person familiar with the case. The content of those emails was first reported by the New York Times.

The additional emails sent to the Raiders spanned from 2011 to roughly 2017, according to a person with knowledge of the case. The emails were sent from Gruden to Bruce Allen, the former president of the organization now known as the Washington Football Team, and other associates that included Jim McVay, an executive involved with the Outback Bowl, and several business leaders.

Brewer: Jon Gruden is done — in Las Vegas, in football and anywhere decency matters

Gruden used a homophobic slur to describe NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. He derided Goodell’s player-safety efforts and used vulgar and misogynistic language to describe the commissioner and others. He also used homophobic language in contending that Goodell should not have influenced the Rams, then based in St. Louis, to select Michael Sam in the draft. The Rams chose Sam, who was seeking to become the league’s first openly gay player, in 2014.

Davis said in a statement Monday night that he had accepted Gruden’s resignation. The Raiders named Rich Bisaccia, their assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, their interim head coach. Gruden was in the fourth season of a 10-year contract worth an estimated $100 million.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance, the diversity group that works closely with the NFL, had called Sunday for the league or the Raiders to act.

“The insensitive remarks made by Jon Gruden about DeMaurice Smith are indicative of the racism that exist[s] on many levels of professional sports,” Rod Graves, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “Furthermore, it reveals that the journey for African Americans and other minorities in sports, is riddled with irrepressible mindsets at the highest level. It is our hope that the league and team ownership will address this matter with a remedy commensurate with these painful words. This is yet another inflection point in a society fraught with cynical social blinders, absent of respect for the intellectual capacity and leadership of minorities. When will it end?”

Speaking to reporters following the Raiders’ 20-9 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday in Las Vegas, Gruden was asked what he expected to happen.

“I’m not going to answer all these questions today,” he said. “I think I’ve addressed it already. I can’t remember a lot of the things that transpired 10 or 12 years ago. But I stand here in front of everybody apologizing. I know I don’t have an ounce of racism in me. I’m a guy that takes pride in leading people together, and I’ll continue to do that for the rest of my life. And again, I apologize to De Smith and anybody out there that I have offended.”

Gruden said Sunday that the language that he used in his 2011 email was not reflective of his views on race.

“All I can say is I’m not a racist,” he said. “I can’t tell you how sick I am. I apologize again to De Smith. But I feel good about who I am and what I’ve done my entire life. I apologize for the insensitive remarks. I had no racial intentions with those remarks at all. ... I’m not like that at all. But I apologize. I don’t want to keep addressing it.”

"I'm not a racist"? "I'm not like that"?

Oh yes you are, Jon. Non-racist people don't say shit like that. You don't get to say that shit and then pretend what you said doesn't prove that you are, in fact, a racist.

Like it not - know it or not -  you're a racist, Jon - just like the rest of us.

I'm willing to give Gruden a little credit for not saying "if". ie: "I apologize if my remarks offended anyone."

That tells me he knows he majorly fucked up, but there's still a big problem in that he then denies the racism that's hard-wired in members of the dominant (white) culture. And he doesn't give me any indication that, like the rest of us, he's got some work to do.

Because leaders lead. They model the behavior they think we should emulate. If Gruden wants to be seen as the leader he holds himself up to be, then he acknowledges his faults a lot more fully than he has, and he tells us what he plans on doing so this shit doesn't happen again.