Football Has Always Been a Battleground in the Culture War
The NFL has become increasingly central to how America perceives itself, which means that sport and politics can never be divorced.
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Kevin C. Cox The LSU Championship Game Further Exposed the NCAA’s Hypocrisy
With the recent victory, the association has shown signs that it cannot defend its amateurism model for much longer.
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Orlando Ramirez / USA Today Sports The Astros’ Cheating Scandal Rewrites a Decade of Baseball History
Houston’s dominance once looked like the sport’s biggest success story. Now their whole legacy is in doubt.
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Troy Taormina / USA Today The Case Against Stripping the Astros of Their World Series Title
The MLB has handed harsh penalties to Houston for sign stealing, but revoking the team’s ill-gained 2017 championship is implausible.
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Rich Barnes / USA Today Sports The Two Players Who Are Breaking the ‘No-Fun League’
As the 2019 season enters its final stretch, an entertaining MVP race showcases a less restrictive brand of football.
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Gerald Herbert / AP Carmelo Anthony’s Melancholy NBA Return
After a season away, the future Hall of Famer comes back to a league that no longer has much use for him.
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Troy Taormina / USA TODAY Sports The Washington Nationals’ Against-All-Odds Championship
In a bizarre World Series in which the home team never won, the underdogs upset the juggernaut Houston Astros for the franchise’s first title.
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Jeff Chiu / AP Unpredictability Returns to the NBA
For the first time in years, nobody really knows what to expect.
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Brad Mills / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters The Washington Nationals’ Persistence Paid Off
Breaking a pattern of first-round heartbreak, the decade’s most downtrodden playoff team finds itself in the World Series.
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Jeff Curry / USA Today Sports / Reuters Joe Maddon Was Doomed by His Own Success
The Chicago Cubs say goodbye to the manager who led them to their first World Series victory in 108 years.
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Geoff Burke / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters The Year of the Home Run Reaches October
After a record-setting regular season, the MLB playoffs figure to host offensive fireworks and long-ball fatigue.
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Mitch Stringer / USA TODAY Sports Lamar Jackson and the NFL’s Quarterback Double Standard
As the league looks to the future, the way many analysts talk about black players such as the Baltimore Ravens passer still belongs to an ugly past.
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Charles Krupa / AP Rafael Nadal Takes Another Step Toward Tennis History
After a grueling and dramatic final against tournament antihero Daniil Medvedev, the Spaniard inched closer to the men’s grand-slam record.
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Charles Krupa / AP Bianca Andreescu’s Remarkable U.S. Open Win
The 19-year-old Canadian’s victory over Serena Williams marks one of the most meteoric rises by a young tennis player in recent years.
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Grigor Dimitrov Takes His Shot
Long heralded as a future No. 1, the world No. 78 is within striking distance of his first Grand Slam final.
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Ken Blaze / USA TODAY Sports / Reuters How the Cleveland Browns Are Bucking NFL Convention
In trying to reverse a generation’s worth of losing, the team is loading up on stars and embracing the hype.
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Geoff Burke / USA Today Sports / Reuters The Thrilling Unpredictability of Women’s Tennis
This year’s U.S. Open has no shortage of female players who could win the title, which has made for an exciting tournament—with one caveat.
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Matthew Emmons / USA Today Sports / Reuters Why Is Trevor Lawrence Playing College Football?
The Clemson quarterback and Heisman favorite, seen by many as NFL-ready, is all but forced by the mechanisms of amateur sports to play for free.
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Thomas J. Russo / USA TODAY Sports / ... What Andrew Luck’s Retirement Says About the NFL
The Colts quarterback is leaving the game at age 29—a move that reaffirms the danger of the sport and the willingness of some players to walk away from it.
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Geoff Burke / USA Today Sports / Reuters A Tale of Two Tennis G.O.A.T.s
Considered the greatest of all time by many, Serena Williams and Roger Federer will seek to solidify their legacies with another grand-slam title.
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Jean Catuffe / Getty What the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Needs More Than Equal Pay
The argument that the female champions can draw big crowds only during World Cup years doesn’t consider the lacking investment from their governing body.
