The Atlanta Dream had no intention of letting a matinee become their curtain call.
Facing elimination at a lunchtime tipoff, the Dream overwhelmed the Golden State Valkyries 80-69 on Thursday afternoon to force a decisive seventh game in the WNBA finals, rediscovering their offensive touch just as their title hopes were threatening to slip away.
Chicago are chasing first Super Bowl title since 1985
The Chicago Bears have acquired All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons in a blockbuster trade with the Tennessee Titans, a person familiar with the deal told the Associated Press on Thursday.
The Bears sent their first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, along with a fourth-rounder in next year’s draft, to the Titans for Simmons and a fifth-round selection in 2028.
Milwaukee’s first World Series championship is a rebuke to baseball’s oligarch class, whose insistence that small-market teams cannot compete has been laid bare as fiction
For the entirety of the 2026 baseball season, the overlords of the game have stood on the single position that what has now happened could not happen, and the result was a year that has been treated like an appetizer for the main course of the offseason: the shutting down of the game until the players, after 40 years of resistance, finally agree to a salary cap. The insistence that the game had been predetermined undermined the Milwaukee Brewers, who spent 149 days this season atop the standings.
Baseball dismissed Milwaukee’s 22-0 demolition of Seattle on 18 August, the 20-0 waxing of Cincinnati a month later, and the comprehensive dusting of their division – their fourth consecutive National League Central title and fifth in six years – by 14 games. Baseball’s owners, at their persuasive best, would have their paying customers believe that the Brewers’ franchise-record 103 regular-season wins also were an illusion, or worse, the dreaded outlier, even though Milwaukee have won 770 games since 2018, the fourth-most in all of baseball. Even when Milwaukee exhaled and made the Dodgers look old in a stirring four-game sweep, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported the owners’ position remained unchanged.
Gone are the eight criteria to be a High Impact Player so clubs can spend their money on whomever they want – and the solution makes sense
When Washington plays Chicago this Sunday in DC, “Rowdy Audi” will probably be full. It will also be full when the post-season starts, should they lock up their top-four position with a positive result on Decision Day. Equipped with an accessible stadium in a big city, a proud fanbase and a formidable roster rife with players qualifying for the High Impact Player (HIP) rule’s initial criteria (including Trinity Rodman, who gave the rule its moniker), the Spirit hold sway in the attendance charts.
But starting next season, everyone on the Spirit will qualify for the “Rodman Rule”. So will every player in NWSL. Announced Friday, NWSL settled a grievance with the league’s Players Association, who argued that the initial criteria violated federal labor law.
Quarterbacks in 2026 have a series of dazzling weapons at their disposal. We rank the best of the receivers in the NFL at the moment
NB: We have restricted the list below to players in their prime years, so excellent, older receivers such as Mike Evans and Davante Adams have been left out.
From Ms Rachel to Roc Nation, the internet embraced a Florida toddler. Police records reviewed by the Guardian complicate the story – and raise troubling questions
There is real tragedy in this week’s story of the three-year-old Florida boy whose parents claimed he was so good at soccer that police were called to do what opposing defenders couldn’t. But it doesn’t lie where the outrage cycle wants you to think. It’s broader, implicates more people, and to me, is far more depressing.
You may have seen the video by now. Here was a toddler with fabulous soccer talent, running end-to-end and scoring goal after goal against opponents who have seemingly just found their feet. The cameraman, later identified as the child’s father, loudly and proudly cheers his son on. Way to go, kid.
Brewers win first championship with 4-1 win in Game 5
Misiorowski hurls five and two-thirds scoreless innings
Contreras named World Series MVP after batting .381
The Milwaukee Brewers captured their first World Series crown on Wednesday night, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 to complete a four-games-to-one victory and end more than half a century of waiting for baseball’s biggest prize.
Rookie shortstop Cooper Pratt drove in two runs and Jacob Misiorowski pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings as Milwaukee put the finishing touches on a charmed season that began in spring training with championship ambitions and ended with the first title in the franchise’s 58th year.
Research looked at prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2,362 players who died in 2008-2023
A new study published on Wednesday estimates that about 75% of former NFL players who died over a 15-year period had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The research, published in Jama Network Open and conducted by a Boston-based team, examined the estimated prevalence of the degenerative brain disease among NFL players who died from 2008 through 2023. Researchers found that the estimated rate of CTE among these players was substantially higher than the rates observed in brain samples collected from the general population.
Research looked at prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in 2,362 players who died in 2008-2023
A new study published on Wednesday estimates that about 75% of former NFL players who died over a 15-year period had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
The research, published in Jama Network Open and conducted by a Boston-based team, examined the estimated prevalence of the degenerative brain disease among NFL players who died from 2008 through 2023. Researchers found that the estimated rate of CTE among these players was substantially higher than the rates observed in brain samples collected from the general population.
Butker has missed five of 16 FG attempts this season
The Kansas City Chiefs have signed the former Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker to their practice squad after Harrison Butker’s poor start to the season.
Tucker was widely considered one of the best kickers in NFL history until the Ravens released him in May 2025. The Ravens said his departure was a “football decision” after a slump in form, but the move came months after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behavior by massage therapists. Tucker denied the allegations and never faced criminal charges but he served a 10-game NFL ban for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
When Stiggers’ father died, he dropped out of college to help his mother and 12 siblings. He thought his football dream had ended but made it in the end
Qwan’tez Stiggers had only been in college for a few days when his world fell apart. Seven months after the car crash that put him in a coma, Stiggers’ father died. Stiggers quit college and returned home to support his mother, Kwanna, and 12 siblings. It was a huge blow to the 18-year-old. His partner, Cheyenne, was also processing a tragedy after her teenage sister had been killed by a stray bullet. Over the last six years, Cheyenne and Qwan’tez have helped each other off the bottom of an emotional well.
Working as a delivery driver and washing trucks while his old teammates progressed in their football careers could have driven him off the rails. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I was envious but I wanted better for myself,” says Stiggers. “I had a child, was living with my wife – my girlfriend at the time – and got those late-night delivery jobs to pay the bills.
Crucial Game 6 will take place on Thursday afternoon
Game moved to larger State Farm Arena in Atlanta
Hawks’ NBA game on same day could not be moved
The Atlanta Dream say their concerns about finding a suitable home venue for the WNBA finals went unheeded as they prepare to play the Golden State Valkyries in a crucial Game 6 on Thursday.
The Dream’s normal home, Gateway Center Arena, has a capacity of about 3,500 people. To accommodate the increased interest in the team during the finals, the Dream have played their two home games so far at the Atlanta Hawks’ State Farm Arena, which can seat more than 17,000 fans.
The rapper lends the NFL a veneer of credibility but is unlikely to push back on the establishment figures who run the league
On Monday the NFL named Jay-Z as the headliner for this season’s Super Bowl half-time show. His company, Roc Nation, produces the show under a 2019 deal reportedly worth $5m a year, and the agreement was extended for another five years in 2024. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said his one request when the partnership began was that Jay-Z “take the stage himself one day“.
Goodell’s wish makes total sense: Jay-Z is the perfect choice for the half-time show, and that’s not a compliment. The NFL wants a shill who can still pass for a rebel, and nobody in American music plays that part better than Jay-Z.
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