When you’re right in science, you’re right. It seems that the N.F.L. and the N.H.L. are doing exactly what the tobacco industry did. But the only people who think the science is wrong are the people who are going to be hurt by it. | | | | | In 1992, Charles Oakley towered above his opponents at Madison Square Garden. (Focus On Sport/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “When you’re right in science, you’re right. It seems that the N.F.L. and the N.H.L. are doing exactly what the tobacco industry did. But the only people who think the science is wrong are the people who are going to be hurt by it.”
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| | rantnrave:// What does it take for a league to grow? Nowadays, transactions seem to be the most interesting part of sports. Think of all the TV time, articles and tweets spent on trade rumors, free agency, and player movement. It can feel like the regular season is just the warm-up act for the offseason. Most leagues have adapted. The NFL DRAFT and free agency are marquee events with nonstop buildup. When KEVIN DURANT or LEBRON JAMES signs a new deal, it eclipses everything. MLB's trade deadline is endless clickbait. If a league wants to expand its footprint, it should leverage that. The WNBA doesn't seem to be. HOWARD MEGDAL makes a good point: If CANDACE PARKER, a two-time league MVP, signs, why would the WNBA shroud it in secrecy? If fans care, why deprive them of information?... If we focus on every criticism of PRESIDENT TRUMP from GREGG POPOVICH and STEVE KERR, we should also highlight KENT BAZEMORE. The ATLANTA HAWKS guard, like STEPH CURRY, has a contract with UNDER ARMOUR. But unlike Curry, he agrees with the company's CEO calling Trump an "asset." While the NBA grows as a liberal force that disagrees with Trump, it's notable Bazemore broke with the norm. Ballerina MISTY COPELAND, however, didn't. Neither did THE ROCK... A NEW YORK POST sportswriter was fired for tweeting that Trump's inauguration was equivalent to 9/11 and PEARL HARBOR. Now, he's suing... A pitcher quit baseball to sell fancy cars... The NBA and NBA2K are starting an eSports league. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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 | Sports Illustrated |
| He’s an Instagram phenomenon who fascinates college coaches-but he’s not quite a sure thing. Meet Nico Mannion, a 15-year-old (sorta-maybe) basketball prodigy. | | |
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 | Atlas Obscura |
| Kiiking turns Estonia's cultural obsession with swings into an X-Games contender. | | |
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 | For The Win |
| So far, 2017 has not been good to Kevin Plank. | | |
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 | B/R Mag |
| They burned his jerseys and called him a traitor. But as Kevin Durant returns to OKC, he's still got a friend in 11-year-old superfan Charlie. | | |
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 | The Players' Tribune |
| When I was 10, I started learning about fractions in school. I also became the youngest person ever to climb a v13. | | |
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 | WSJ |
| Houston Rockets star James Harden is ordinary by many physical metrics, but his deceleration is superhuman--and that explains how he dominates the NBA. | | |
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 | SB*Nation |
| She’s a trailblazer for a reason. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| Anelka’s arrival as a consultant at the Dutch club Roda has sparked controversy at a time when players in Spain and Germany have left clubs because of perceived political beliefs. | | |
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 | ESPN.com |
| Retirement from playing is suiting ubiquitous future Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne just fine, as Scott Burnside found out while hanging around Selanne Steak Tavern with its owner one day. | | |
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 | MMQB |
| We spent Super Bowl Sunday with the head of the biggest sports book in Vegas—where lots of people lost money because there was no safety, Gostkowski’s extra-point miss was big, and the Patriots’ comeback turned everything upside-down. | | |
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 | CSN Bay Area |
| Who knows? Maybe Steve Kerr can brighten Wednesday’s tilt against the Bulls with a luchador mask and a barbed wire steel cage match with Fred Hoiberg. | | |
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 | Yahoo! Sports |
| For more than a decade, Major League Baseball has been the quiet leader among all sports leagues in digital video technology thanks to its Advanced Media (MLBAM, often nicknamed “BAM”) unit, which it launched back in 2000. This past summer, BAM Tech became much less of a secret when MLB spun it off. | | |
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 | Mercury News |
| To understand the emotional storm Durant is walking into on Saturday night - back in Oklahoma City facing Thunder fans for the first time - you must understand the state’s history and where he fits… | | |
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 | GQ |
| While the NFL has tried to stay out of politics, the NBA is leaning in hard. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| The league’s onerous demand in a class-action suit on head injuries seems to show little regard for medical privacy and accepted scientific facts. | | |
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 | Vice Sports |
| Fans love to speculate on whether new player will succeed or fail, but on-field success might have more to do with a player's off-field transition than with adjusting to a new style of play. | | |
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 | Outside Online |
| Utah's recent federal bills have caused an uproar among outdoor industries. This week, Patagonia announced its withdrawal from the upcoming Outdoor Retailer show, a twice-yearly event in Salt Lake City. | | |
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| Sports Illustrated |
| The insecure teenager in the school photo transformed himself just a few years later into the hardest-throwing starter in the majors, and his long locks and ripped physique have made him even more popular in New York. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| Throughout his life, Jabari Parker strove for perfection: as a player, as a son, as a student, as a Mormon. Now, after releasing the weight of those expectations in his third NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks’ outspoken rising star is finding both his game and his voice — and realizing that the two are deeply intertwined. | | |
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 | Jacobin |
| The South Korea Olympics will kick off one year today. Will they face the same popular resistance as Rio? | | |
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 | YouTube |
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