We got an all-time All-Star first, plus the NFL's brewing labor fight

New York Times

3 days ago

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Good morning! Hit three homers today.
We entered this week with all-star game stock, across the board, at an all-time low. The NBA All-Star Game is a glorified layup line, the NFL Pro Bowl is a meaningless mess and the NHL All-Star Game didn't exist this year. MLB was met with skepticism as the All-Star break began this week.
Instead, MLB enters the second half on a high no one saw coming. The Home Run Derby was great. The All-Star Game? Even better — and it featured something we'd never seen before. Quickly:
Kyle Schwarber, one of the sport's most fearsome batters, went 3-for-3 and won the game (and MVP) for the NL. It was so, so fun to watch live, which is more than we can say about any all-star game recent memory. Good job, baseball.
The only 'loser' last night? Poor Paul Skenes (4-8 with a 2.01 ERA), who pitched a flawless first inning and was in line for a win when it was 6-0, then saw it go poof like he has all season. Sorry, pal.
Let's move on to more serious issues:
The NFL, as a business, is as sure of a thing as we have in America. The country's most popular sports league is also the world's most profitable. Nothing appears to be threatening that status anytime soon.
And yet, burbling under the surface of that success is tension around labor relations, all over guaranteed money, and a seemingly organized effort to minimize it. It's a very complex (and ongoing) controversy — we have a full explainer podcast linked below — but I think it's easiest to digest chronologically:
The past: The current brouhaha began with Deshaun Watson, and more importantly, the Browns. His fully guaranteed $230 million contract incensed NFL owners, which is somewhat understandable as the deal looks like the worst in league history. Ownership very clearly sought to minimize guaranteed money from there. See: Lamar Jackson, Russell Wilson, Justin Herbert and Kyler Murray.
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The now: Last month, 'Pablo Torre Finds Out' unearthed documents detailing how unified NFL owners were on this front. Though no collusion was technically found, the reveal left many within the league — most notably the players, who knew nothing about it — miffed. Having NFL owners text each other congratulations over less guaranteed money in a deal certainly feels collude-y!
Percolating: As our own Jacob Robinson detailed in Scoop City earlier this week, you can see signs of this issue around the league. Notably, 30 of 32 second-round picks from this year's draft are unsigned because of guaranteed money disputes.
It's an entire mess that feels far from over. I strongly urge you to catch the latest episode of 'The Athletic Football Show,' where Torre joined Robert Mays to go through all his findings. Watch that here:
Let's keep moving:
Clark leaves with groin injury
Fever guard Caitlin Clark exited last night's 85-77 win over the Sun with less than a minute left in the game after sustaining a groin injury, Indiana coach Stephanie White said. Clark will be evaluated again this morning, but it's bad news for the WNBA's brightest young star, who already missed four games this season due to a groin strain in her other leg (and five more with a quad injury). See more here.
Smart doubts Saban comeback
A perfect college football offseason storyline: Georgia coach Kirby Smart said yesterday he does not believe former Alabama coach Nick Saban will return to the sidelines, disputing a report from former Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy, who downplayed his own reporting later in the day. Lovely. Of course, Ole Miss coach/noted pot-stirrer Lane Kiffin said he does think the 73-year-old Saban will coach again, whether in college or the NFL. Fantastic theater.
Lamine Yamal and … dwarfs?
Newly minted soccer superstar Lamine Yamal is facing a potential investigation over the presence of dwarfs at his 18th birthday party, a sentence I can't quite believe is real. Multiple human rights officials in Spain are incensed over the party, yet one short-statured worker hired for the party told Spanish media the entire row has threatened his group's business opportunities going forward. Read the entire saga here.
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📺 Soccer: Norway vs. Italy
3 p.m. ET on Fox
It's a slim week on the sports schedule, but the Women's Euros are here to save us. We're in the knockout rounds, and the winner of this one is through to the semifinals. The Norwegians are clear favorites.
📺 WNBA: Fever at Liberty
7:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
This is a great matchup on the surface, but I'm curious to see how Indiana handles another stiff test, potentially without Caitlin Clark. Worth a look. Sadly, we won't see any sideline hats.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Scottie Scheffler is no robot, despite what you may think. His deep thoughts yesterday in Ireland, where he's preparing for the Open Championship, took the golf world by surprise. Brendan Quinn contextualized it perfectly. What a golfer.
A very cool story from Jayna Bardahl: If you want to notice the NFL's female coaching surge, just look in the weight room.
The NBA's board of governors met yesterday in Las Vegas. Top of mind: expansion.
Yes, sigh, there is tremendous urgency around LSU's opener at Clemson. Brian Kelly knows it. So do I, because I am nervous two months out.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Bruce Feldman's story about the young reporter whose life was changed by Colorado coach Deion Sanders.
Most-read on the website yesterday: Rustin Dodd's great story on why Amanda Anisimova's emotional post-match interview after her blowout Wimbledon loss was actually a masterclass in handling failure.