Terps smash Syracuse, return to the men's lacrosse national title game
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Maryland men's lacrosse team produced another mostly stout defensive performance in the NCAA tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon. Throw in some scoring fireworks, and the result was a 14-8 triumph over No. 6 seed Syracuse at Gillette Stadium that sent the second-seeded Terrapins back to the national title game.
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New York Times
29 minutes ago
- New York Times
NASCAR Michigan takeaways: Denny Hamlin's late-career strength, Ty Gibbs' frustration and more
BROOKLYN, Mich. — When 44-year-old Denny Hamlin recently went 11 months without winning a NASCAR Cup Series race, his most sought-after career goal seemed to be slipping away. No, we're not talking about a Cup championship — even though Hamlin is the best NASCAR driver never to win one. Hamlin would absolutely love a title, of course, but championships have a different meaning to some drivers these days with the playoff elimination system. Advertisement What Hamlin wants the most? To finish his career among the top 10 on NASCAR's all-time Cup Series wins list. And reeling off three more victories in less than two and a half months, including Sunday at Michigan International Speedway, suddenly makes that goal a bit more realistic. Hamlin now has 57 career wins, which is three away from tying Kevin Harvick for 10th on the all-time list. And the burst of momentum has left him speaking a bit differently about it. At first, Hamlin repeatedly said the goal was that 60-win mark. Then he said actually he'd like to win 61 so he could be in sole possession of 10th. But listen to him now after Sunday's win. 'At least while I'm alive, I want to be in the top 10 for the most wins,' he said. OK, but that's going to take even more than 61, Hamlin figures. 'I've got to count on possibly (Joey) Logano, more than likely (Kyle) Larson overtaking us in wins,' he said. 'You've got to budget for at least a couple of these guys who started so much younger than I did to beat us on the win total.' After Harvick, Kyle Busch is ninth with 63 career wins. Can Hamlin finish with more than Busch, who is still trying to add more himself? That seems like a big ask for someone who might only race for another couple seasons. After all, Hamlin recently passed 700 starts and said he won't be around for 800 (there are 36 races per year). 'I'm going to hate it when I'm not at the level I'm at now,' Hamlin said. 'I certainly will retire very, very quickly after that. I'm not going to hang around and do it just to do it. This is how I want to spend my last season — still winning.' We've seen other drivers suddenly stop winning in their mid-40s with virtually no warning, and Hamlin is already in rare territory: Only 10 of the 20 drivers who have made more than 700 career starts have won after their 700th race (a list which now includes Hamlin) and only six have even won multiple races. Advertisement Hamlin likes his chances of getting a few more, but he's also realistic: These races are hard to win, and Sunday could have been it. 'You have another birthday (and) you keep wondering how long are you going to be able to keep doing this at this level?' said Hamlin, who turns 45 in November. 'Listen, 57 (wins) might be it. None of us in this room know. I'm at least going to enjoy it as if it's my last, then I'll go to work on Monday, just like I always have.' Denny gets it done at @MISpeedway! — NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 8, 2025 As Hamlin celebrated in victory lane, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs was parked just behind the winner's circle backdrop — and in a much less cheerful mode. In fact, Gibbs was outright pissed. He wasn't having any of the consolation talk from his team or family, was uninterested in the moral victory of finishing third and brushed off a rear-end smack from his grandfather, Hall of Fame football coach Joe Gibbs. Gibbs, expected to contend for a playoff spot this year and win his first career race, has had a frustrating season. Michigan was only his second top-five finish, and he felt he was close enough to compete for the victory — especially since his teammate Hamlin was on a similar fuel strategy. 'I would rather go win,' the driver said. 'I don't come here to run third and run half-throttle on the straightaway, but it's what they thought we needed to do.' Gibbs was continuously instructed to save more gas, even when he was tracking down race leaders Hamlin and William Byron with four laps to go; the team urged him to back off just when it looked like he could have made a pass. 'He doesn't know how much we saved or if we were going to run out,' crew chief Tyler Allen said. 'So he's frustrated because he could see it and he was fast enough to go take it. Unfortunately, we weren't going to make it on fuel, and that wouldn't have done any good to our team and our points situation.' Advertisement But Gibbs disagreed, saying he saved enough fuel to go harder and ended the race without having to flip his reserve fuel switch (indicating there was perhaps another lap or so remaining). 'I was told to save more, and it's just frustrating for me,' Gibbs said. 'I would have loved to be more aggressive there.' Carson Hocevar was again a hot topic at Michigan after he led a career-high 32 laps before getting a flat tire while leading the race. But one thing that didn't happen, at least for now: On-track payback from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. After it seemed destined for Stenhouse to retaliate against Hocevar for their Nashville incident, the two spoke last week by phone — as did their crew chiefs and Spire Motorsports owner Jeff Dickerson with Stenhouse. The bottom line: Given their positions on the playoff bubble, it would be silly to continue the war. 'They all feel really bad about it and they can't give us back our points that we lost,' Stenhouse said Saturday. 'But if we get in a pissing match and I crash him this weekend and then we go back and forth, that does none of us good.' Still, Stenhouse said, Hocevar is on thin ice — not just with him, but the garage. After their Nashville incident, Stenhouse said, he received numerous texts from other competitors and team members who urged the veteran to either wreck Hocevar on purpose or fight Hocevar like Stenhouse did with Kyle Busch at last year's All-Star Race. 'It was a lot,' Stenhouse said of the volume of texts. 'It was kind of shocking. So I just told him that.' Hocevar reminded Stenhouse they've had no issues previously — and they actually communicate on occasion when Hocevar asks Stenhouse about his sprint car team. Stenhouse agreed they haven't had a problem before, but there's no third chance coming. Advertisement 'If it becomes a routine or it happens again…' Stenhouse said. 'As fast as your cars have been, you don't want to keep making people mad.' One group who doesn't seem mad? The fans at Michigan. Hocevar got one of the loudest cheers in driver introductions when walking out in front of his home crowd. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports were dealt a blow last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals' Fourth Circuit overturned a preliminary injunction that allowed the teams to race as charter teams in 2025. Barring any further appeals, the teams could be reduced to running as 'open' cars as soon as next month. But 23XI co-owner Hamlin said the teams remain 'very confident' in their lawsuit overall, drawing a sharp distinction between the case and the preliminary injunction decision. 'That's just such a small part of the entire litigation,' Hamlin said of the appeals court's decision. 'So I'm not deterred at all that we're in good shape.' What could change for the teams in the near future? Aside from taking a significant dip in money earned from each race, Hamlin said there won't be much difference. 'Same as what we said in December: We're committed to run this season open if we have to,' Hamlin said. 'We're going to race and fulfill all of our commitments no matter what. Our team is going to be here for the long haul, and we're confident of that.' As for the 23XI drivers, whose contracts allow them to become free agents if the organization does not provide them with charter cars, they were tight-lipped. 'I'm going to keep doing my part to try and show up as prepared as possible and continue winning races,' Tyler Reddick said. '… I've got to stay focused on what I can control. And that's my preparation.' Bubba Wallace cited Marshawn Lynch's 'I'm just here so I don't get fined' and said, 'you're not going to get an answer you want to hear from us.' Advertisement 'Come on, now,' Wallace said when another reporter tried to broach the topic. 'Let's talk about Michigan, dawg. You ain't getting no comment.' But whether they want to talk about it or not, losing charters could be a massive hit long term. The ripple effect if 23XI and Front Row don't get those charters back during the legal process would last for years and threaten the organizations' existences. Before finishing fourth on Sunday to record back-to-back top-six finishes, Wallace had some fun on X when NASCAR released the list of its inaugural in-season tournament competitors last week — in alphabetical order, meaning his name was last. 'Bubbles last like he always is,' Wallace captioned the tournament list in a quote-tweet. 'Bubbles' is just one of the derogatory nicknames used by Wallace's detractors, but he hasn't let go of his trolling nature on social media. After all, he pointed out, even his X header image is a troll post: A cartoon depiction of NASCAR's Mount Rushmore — showing Petty, Earnhardt, Johnson and … Wallace. Wallace said he sticks his shoe in ant hills in real life, and this is no different. 'It's the boomers who are actually pissed off,' he said. 'They're probably just punching air because I beat them to their own comments. So yeah, that brings me joy.' Chase Briscoe became the first driver in more than two years to win three consecutive pole positions (Kyle Larson in spring 2024), starting first at the Coke 600, Nashville and now Michigan. But Briscoe, who is yet to win this season, is too close to the playoff bubble for comfort after another disappointing result on Sunday (23rd). He said he's taken note of the mentality carried by his beloved Indiana Pacers — who stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder with a Game 1 comeback in the NBA Finals before getting blown out on Sunday night in Game 2. Advertisement 'It's the 'never give up' part,' he said. 'We've seen that even throughout my career. There was a time we were four laps down in one race and got back on the lead lap. It's definitely been fun to see a basketball team have that same mentality of never giving up. 'A lot of teams (give up) if they're down nine points with two minutes left, but the Pacers have continued to come back from huge deficits even when the other team thinks the game is already over. There's definitely something to that.' (Top photo of Denny Hamlin celebrating Sunday's win: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
New York Times
39 minutes ago
- New York Times
Are the Cardinals this season's plot twist? Plus: Boston rookie brought the spice
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. Are the Cardinals this year's plot twist? Plus: Ken dives into the Roman Anthony conundrum in Boston, where the Red Sox just took two of three from the Yankees. And if you're looking for an underdog, I found him: He's in Detroit. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup! I think the MLB season is more or less a theater show. It's never quite the same, but every year, some familiar roles are recast. Here's who's playing whom this year: There are the stars of the show (Tigers, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Cubs, Padres), the What Happened ensemble (Orioles, Rangers, Red Sox, Diamondbacks and the Braves), the 'Hmmm, as I suspected: bad' chorus (Rockies, White Sox, Pirates, et al.), and then, there's everyone's favorite character: the Plot Twist. Advertisement By nature, plot twists are hard to identify less than halfway through the show. Remember last year, when the Pirates started the season 9-2? Had a winning record on Aug. 4? They almost had me. (In the end, it was the Tigers and Royals.) But this year … man, I'm starting to think it might be the Cardinals. After taking two of three from the Dodgers over the weekend, they're four games back in the NL Central, at 36-29 — the same record as the AL West-leading Houston Astros. So, are they for real? Hard to say. Going into last night's 7-3 loss to the Dodgers, they had scored 298 runs — seventh-best in the league. But everything else has been pretty aggressively average: Defensively, they were tied for 14th with 11 Defensive Runs saved, and their pitchers had allowed 266 runs allowed (also 14th). That rotation could get a boost soon, though, if they can find space for 24-year-old prospect Michael McGreevy, who showed some encouraging signs in his spot start against the Dodgers. As for the rest? We'll just have to keep watching, I guess. That's what makes the play so good. More Cardinals: Before Sunday's finale, the St. Louis played video of Matt Adams' home run off Clayton Kershaw in Game 4 of the 2014 NLDS. Kershaw said he thought it was 'bush league.' (He also picked up his first win of the year.) A few additional points to the column I wrote Sunday about the need for the Boston Red Sox to bring top prospect Roman Anthony to the majors: Did the Red Sox reward Campbell for agreeing to a potentially below-market contract? Did they effectively punish Anthony and infielder Marcelo Mayer for declining to do the same? No one can say for sure, particularly when the Sox were high on Campbell all spring and had more of a need at second base for him than in the outfield for Anthony or left side of the infield for Mayer. Still, player representatives often grow suspicious when teams make decisions clouded by financial implications. And Campbell wouldn't be the first whose debut appeared tied to his willingness to sign a pre-arbitration deal. NCAA athletes have gained control of their name, image and likeness rights and earning power. How is it that major-league teams still effectively control players for the first six years of their careers, and under a system that remains subject to manipulation, no less? The answer, of course, lies in the rules outlined in the sport's collective bargaining agreement. While players are free to market themselves the same way NCAA athletes do, they cannot bounce from club to club in search of better situations. The 2022 CBA struck a blow against service-time manipulation, awarding additional picks in the amateur draft to teams that keep rookies on their rosters long enough for the players to gain a full year of service. But service-time manipulation, while explicitly prohibited by the CBA, is difficult to prove. Forms of it still exist and always will, as long as baseball uses a tiered economic system based on a player's service. Could it be, though, that they want to ensure he does not finish first or second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, thus depriving him of gaining a full year of service and keeping him in Boston for an extra season? That also seems doubtful. Even if the possibility of Anthony winning Rookie of the Year was part of the initial equation for the Red Sox, it shouldn't have been. As stated in the column, the Sox are a big-market team. They need not fret over service-time considerations. They could always sign Anthony to an extension. At this point, it's probably too late for Anthony to win Rookie of the Year, anyway. Paul Skenes captured the NL award last season after debuting on May 11. Anthony would be getting started nearly a month later, and Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson is the clear front-runner for the award. Again, here's the column. Speaking of those Boston Red Sox … The vitriol isn't what it once was, but they butted heads with their division rivals over the weekend, and we did get at least one good quote: Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins, 25, said if the Yankees were the last team to offer him a contract, he'd retire. Whoa. Way to make it interesting again, kid. Advertisement The Yankees took the first game by getting revenge on the guy who threw the last pitch of the World Series. Walker Buehler only lasted two innings Friday night, allowing seven runs (five earned) as the Yankees cruised to a 9-6 win. Saturday, the Sox struck back, winning 10-7 to overcome Garrett Crochet's worst outing this year. Then last night, Aaron Judge's 22nd and 23rd home runs went to waste — it was Carlos Rodón's turn to have his first dud. Boston scored five runs in the sixth inning and five different Red Sox homered en route to an 11-7 Boston win. Oh, and the winning pitcher? Dobbins! He backed it up! The 32-35 Red Sox are still 6 1/2 games behind the Yankees, with the Rays and Blue Jays between them. It's not great in Boston, but the 39-25 Yankees missed an opportunity to make it much worse. A really cool moment happened Friday. With the Tigers clinging to a one-run lead over the Cubs in the eighth inning, manager A.J. Hinch decided to pinch hit for right fielder Kerry Carpenter. The new hitter? Jahmai Jones, whose big-league experience consisted of 69 games for four teams — the Angels, Orioles, Brewers and Yankees — since his 2020 debut. On the first pitch he saw from Génesis Cabrera, Jones swung hard and sent a hanging breaking ball soaring over the left-field wall. In Detroit, which is significant. See, Jahmai's dad Andre played for the Detroit Lions in 1992. So did Jahmai's brother T.J., from 2015-2018. But Andre didn't get to see either of them carry on his Motor City tradition. He died in 2011 of a brain aneurysm at just 42 years old. Cody Stavenhagen has the full story here. It's enough to make you root for the 27-year-old Jones, even if this is the first you're hearing about him. Oh by the way, Jones pinch-hit in the eighth inning again Saturday and singled. His pre-Tigers batting average? .198. As a Tiger, though — he's batting 1.000 so far. If you're the sort of baseball fan who needs an underdog to root for, Jones is my nomination. Trending up: the Blue Jays (8-2 in their last 10 games). Mitch Bannon explains what is going so right lately. Trending down: the Phillies (1-9 in their last 10, swept by the Pirates over the weekend). Bryce Harper (wrist) is on the IL, and Matt Gelb explains what (else) is going so wrong lately. It's official: Corbin Burnes is having Tommy John surgery. Ken says the implications go well beyond just the 2025 Diamondbacks. Juan Soto reached base six times yesterday. His OBP is up to .384, 15th in the majors. The (second) Craig Kimbrel era in Atlanta is over. After one day. Pete Alonso's new game-planning routine has been at the center of his big year, says WIll Sammon. Looking for the key to the Cubs' success? Don't overlook Kyle Tucker's 'aura,' but a resurgent Matt Shaw hasn't hurt, either. (Check back after the deadline to see if 'pitching' is added to this list.) 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
UPI
40 minutes ago
- UPI
NCAA pact to pay current, former athletes to transform college sports
Basketball great Caitlin Clark, now a professional, still could reap a great deal of money from the University of Iowa as a result of the settlement to which the National Collegiate Athletic Association agreed on Friday. File Photo by Corey Sipkin/UPI | License Photo The business of college sports was upended after a federal judge approved a settlement between the National Collegiate Athletic Conference and former college athletes Friday. After a lengthy litigation process, the NCAA has agreed to provide $2.8 billion in back pay to former and current college athletes, while allowing schools to directly pay athletes for the first time. Joshua Lens, whose scholarship centers on the intersection of sports, business and the law, tells the story of this settlement and explains its significance within the rapidly changing world of college sports. What will change for players and schools with this settlement? The terms of the settlement included the following changes: The NCAA and conferences will distribute approximately $2.8 billion in media rights revenue back pay to thousands of athletes who competed since 2016. Universities will have the ability to enter name, image and likeness, or NIL, agreements with student-athletes. So, schools can now, for example, pay them to appear in ads for the school or for public appearances. Each university that opts into the settlement can disburse up to $20.5 million to student-athletes in the 2025-26 academic year, a number that will likely rise in future academic years. Athletes' NIL agreements with certain individuals and entities will be subject to an evaluation that will determine whether the NIL compensation exceeds an acceptable range based on a perceived fair market value, which could result in the athlete having to restructure or forgo the deal. The NCAA's maximum sport program scholarship limits will be replaced with maximum team roster size limits for universities that choose to be part of the settlement. Why did the NCAA agree to settle with, rather than fight, the plaintiffs? In 2020, roughly 14,000 current and former college athletes filed a class action lawsuit, House vs. NCAA, seeking damages for past restrictions on their ability to earn money. For decades, college athletics' primary governing body, the NCAA, permitted universities whose athletics programs compete in Division I to provide their athletes with scholarships that would help cover their educational expenses, such as tuition, room and board, fees and books. By focusing only on educational expenses, the NCAA was able to reinforce the notion that collegiate athletes are amateurs who may not receive pay for participating in athletics, despite making money for their schools. A year later, in 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in a separate case, Alston vs. NCAA, that the NCAA violated antitrust laws by limiting the amount of education-related benefits, such as laptops, books and musical instruments, that universities could provide to their athletes. The ruling challenged the NCAA's amateurism model, while opening the door for future lawsuits tied to athlete compensation. It also burnished the plaintiffs' case in House vs. NCAA, compelling college athletics' governing body to take part in settlement talks. What were some of the key changes that took place in college sports after the Supreme Court's decision in Alston vs. NCAA? Following Alston, the NCAA permitted universities to dole out several thousand dollars in what's called "education benefits pay" to student-athletes. This could include cash bonuses for maintaining a certain grade-point average or simply satisfying NCAA academic eligibility requirements. But contrary to popular belief, the Supreme Court's Alston decision didn't let college athletes be paid via NIL deals. The NCAA continued to maintain that this would violate its principles of amateurism. However, many states, beginning with California, introduced or passed laws that required universities within their borders to allow their athletes to accept NIL compensation. With over a dozen states looking to pass similar laws, the NCAA folded on June 30, 2021, changing its policy so athletes could accept NIL compensation for the first time. Will colleges and universities be able to weather all of these financial commitments? The settlement will result in a windfall for certain current and former collegiate athletes, with some expected to receive several hundred thousands of dollars. Universities and their athletics departments, on the other hand, will have to reallocate resources or cut spending. Some will cut back on travel expenses for some sports, others have paused facility renovations, while other athletic departments may resort to cutting sports whose revenue does not exceed their expenses. As Texas A&M University athletic director Trev Alberts has explained, however, that college sports does not have a revenue problem -- it has a spending problem. Even in the well-resourced Southeastern Conference, for example, many universities' athletics expenses exceed its revenue. Do you see any future conflicts on the horizon? Many observers hope the settlement brings stability to the industry. But there's always a chance that the settlement will be appealed. More potential challenges could involve Title IX, the federal gender equity statute that prohibits discrimination based on sex in schools. What if, for example, a university subject to the statute distributes the vast majority of revenue to male athletes? Such a scenario could violate Title IX. On the other hand, a university that more equitably distributes revenue among male and female athletes could face legal backlash from football athletes who argue that they should be entitled to more revenue, since their games earn the big bucks. And as I pointed out in a recent law review article, an athlete or university may challenge the new enforcement process that will attempt to limit athletes' NIL compensation within an acceptable range that is based on a fair market valuation. The NCAA and the conferences named in the lawsuit have hired the accountancy firm Deloitte to determine whether athletes' compensation from NIL deals fall within an acceptable range based on a fair market valuation, looking to other collegiate and professional athletes to set a benchmark range. If athletes and universities have struck deals that are too generous, both could be penalized, according to the terms of the settlement. Finally, the settlement does not address -- let alone solve -- issues facing international student-athletes who want to earn money via NIL. Most international student-athletes' visas, and the laws regulating them, heavily limit their ability to accept compensation for work, including NIL pay. Some lawmakers have tried to address this issue in the past, but it hasn't been a priority for the NCAA, as it has lobbied Congress for a federal NIL law. Joshua Lens is an associate professor of Instruction of sport & recreation management at the University of Iowa. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views and opinions in this commentary are solely those of the author.
