The $1.3m 20-year-old soccer player, plus more Open coverage

3 days ago

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Good morning! Listen to the radio today.
Let's begin quickly this morning once again, as golfers across the ocean are on the course as we speak. You can catch the latest on our Open Championship Round 2 live blog.
But yesterday's opener had plenty of interesting tidbits:
The definite winner this weekend in Ireland? Open Radio, which has listeners from everywhere from on-course fans to Hawaii. Tune in!
It is ironic how big of a deal Olivia Smith has been this week. The 20-year-old Canadian national player officially signed with Arsenal yesterday after the Women's Super League club forked over a $1.34 million transfer fee to Liverpool. It's the largest women's transfer fee in history.
But if you know Smith, as Megan Feringa (who owned coverage of the story this week) detailed Wednesday with Art de Roché, privacy is desperately important to Smith and her circle. Now she has a global record to her name.
Smith is a marvel. Three touchpoints:
There are plenty more interesting nuggets in Megan and Art's inside story of how Smith got to Arsenal, which was quite a clandestine operation.
Let's keep moving:
Dame Time returns to PT
Damian Lillard is heading back to Portland on a three-year, $45 million deal, a source confirmed to The Athletic. It's a heartwarming yet strange homecoming for Lillard, who left in a trade to Milwaukee two years ago at the height of his career. He returns to the team he led for 11 years, older and injured after two disastrous seasons with the Bucks. It could still be a storybook ending to Lillard's career.
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Clark to miss ASG
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark will not play in tomorrow's WNBA All-Star Game, she announced yesterday, a blow for the much-hyped event happening in Indianapolis. Clark suffered a groin injury in the final seconds of Indiana's win over Connecticut on Tuesday. Her absence will cast a shadow over the festivities, as Ben Pickman wrote.
T.J. Watt is very rich
The Steelers and star rusher T.J. Watt agreed to a three-year, $123 million extension yesterday, our Dianna Russini reports, making Watt the NFL's highest-paid non-quarterback. The contract has been an issue all offseason, as Watt skipped voluntary OTAs and mandatory minicamp due to the situation. He's worth the money.
More news
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📺 Golf: The Open Championship
Right now on Peacock/USA
The major once again got underway as you were still sleeping, and this morning all eyes will be on the cut line. No morning plans? Now you have some.
📺 Soccer: Spain vs. Switzerland
3 p.m. ET on Fox
Another day, another Women's Euros quarterfinal. The Spanish are heavy favorites in this one, but that hasn't stopped underdogs from winning already in this round.
📺 WNBA: 3-point contest and Skills Challenge
8 p.m. ET on ESPN
Clark might not be here, but it will still be fun. It's a good time to remember there's plenty of star power in this league.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Ken Rosenthal's notebooks are always a must-read, but particularly so around MLB trade deadline time. He emptied the latest intel here on everyone from the Dodgers to the Orioles. It's almost time.
An alarming development from our collectibles desk: As Fanatics aided in an FBI investigation into a potential sports memorabilia counterfeiter, the man took his own life this week. Read that here.
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Should MLB's automated ball-strike system have a buffer zone? I'd support it. It's an interesting conversation about the emerging technology.
Richard Deitsch glimpsed into the future and wondered when, not if, the World Series lands on a streaming platform.
I thought this was helpful: Stewart Mandel wrote about the ongoing fight to stamp out pay-for-play in college athletics and detailed why lawsuits will fly as it happens.
Vic Tafur made predictions for all 32 NFL teams based on their projected win totals and even handed out some best bets for us. See the full set.
I missed this gem from earlier in the week, when Penguins star Sidney Crosby helped the Blue Jackets land their new equipment manager. What a reference.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on Shaq threatening to punch Robert Griffin III. Juicy.
Most-read on the website yesterday: For the third straight day, Rustin Dodd's story on Amanda Anisimova and her masterclass in handling failure at Wimbledon.