Don’t knock me off the pedestal that you wanted me to get onto. | | | | Andrew McCutchen gets big air.
(Justin Berl/Getty Images/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Don’t knock me off the pedestal that you wanted me to get onto.”
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| | rantnrave:// Game 6 of the STANLEY CUP FINALS was thrilling and PITTSBURGH was ultimately unstoppable. Crown them. The third period was an adrenaline-fueled panic between two desperate teams, heightened by DOC EMRICK's booming soundtrack. A hockey team fighting for its season is like a drowning man fighting for air. The PREDATORS couldn't avoid elimination, though. There's nothing wrong with losing to the PENGUINS. No shame in losing to SIDNEY CROSBY. He's got three Stanley Cups. And went back-to-back, like MARIO LEMIEUX 25 years before him. NASHVILLE was a nice story this year; Crosby and the Penguins are an NHL life force... Which commissioner gets booed louder by his own league's fans: GARY BETTMAN or ROGER GOODELL?... TOM BRADY, Crosby, and LEBRON JAMES (for now) are reigning champions. The cream rises to the top... RAFAEL NADAL conquers PARIS again. He is to the FRENCH OPEN what USAIN BOLT is to the 100-meter dash. His mastery on clay is unrivaled -- 10-time champ at ROLAND GARROS. He won there at 19 and now at 31. Time ages around him at the French Open. Will a tennis player ever be as dominant again as NADAL is on this surface?... JELENA OSTAPENKO, however, shocked the world. Just 20, unseeded, and the 47th-ranked player in the world, she won the French final in three sets. Ostapenko's victory was wonderful and refreshing. A reminder that we can still be surprised by out-of-nowhere climbers who reach the pinnacle when we're not expecting it.... The mind of an elite athlete is amazing. His or her recall is spectacular. Maybe that's the trait that connects them all. Ask high-level athletes to remember key plays in their careers. It's fascinating how well they can. LeBron can run back his entire Game 4 self-alley-oop. AARON RODGERS has a photographic memory. PEYTON MANNING might as well. RICHARD SHERMAN is in the same category. The ability to retrieve plays out of their memory banks is spectacular. It's a blow to the idea of the athlete as a dumb jock... The BALTIMORE SUN story of a local chess-playing kid is either a heartwarming tale that got caught up in the excitement or a piece that failed its readers by masking the truth. DEADSPIN examines the story of a chess champion who isn't really a chess champion. Does it matter? Would it still have been a good story without the exaggeration? If the facts don't fit the narrative, find a new narrative, but don't toy around with the facts... CHRISTIAN PULISIC would have put the hype into overdrive if his last-minute shot against MEXICO had gone in. Instead, he's remains just a star-in-the-making. MICHAEL BRADLEY's goal, however -- wow. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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 | Toronto Star |
| Sidney Crosby also goes back to back with Conn Smythe honours. Nashville's Game 6 heartbreak compounded by blown call that erased potential game-changing goal. | | |
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 | ESPN |
| For decades, mathematicians and statheads alike denied the existence of the "hot hand." But what if they were wrong? Evidence suggests players can get NBA Jam-level hot. Just ask Klay Thompson. | | |
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 | Yahoo Sports |
| CTE awareness is a great thing. But the presumption of CTE is creating emotional problems of its own. And some of the responsibility of that shadow lies with the forces that helped us become aware of CTE in the first place. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| Remembering Sam Smith’s scandalous, detail-laced chronicle of Michael Jordan in the early 1990s, 25 years later. | | |
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 | Outside Online |
| A 10,000-square-foot facility not far from the Hells Angels’ Ventura, California, headquarters-a former food canning operation, the address of which I am not to reveal-houses the Patagonia Archives, a project recently launched by the clothing company to chronicle its storied past. | | |
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 | Major League Baseball |
| What the 2002 Draft is most remembered for is the way the Billy Beane's Oakland A's, with a tight budget and seven first-round picks, applied their algorithms to what had been an entirely scout-oriented endeavor and used every single one of their first 17 picks on college players. What's more, they had a bestselling author in the room, documenting it all for the book -- "Moneyball" -- that would change the industry. | | |
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 | The Next Level |
| In this edition of The Next Level eSports Guest Podcast, we speak with Bora "Yellowstar" Kim, former League of Legends player for Fnatic and Team SoloMid, who now manages eSports for top French soccer - sorry I'm a Yank - team Paris Saint-Germain. | | |
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 | Beyond the Box Score |
| When looking back on his 24-season career after retiring, the endless feats make the case for Ryan as the GOAT. | | |
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 | The Undefeated |
| A diverse group of influencers assist the Golden State forward in his day-to-day life. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Who is ‘The Freeze?’ Meet the former college track star racing Braves fans between innings. | | |
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 | WSJ |
| Columnist Jason Gay arrives in Paris for the finale at Roland Garros-and is impressed, but a little underdressed. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Kutztown University, which has teams in Division II, has found that certain club sports can bring unexpected benefits like national recognition. | | |
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 | Deadspin |
| The biggest chess story of the year is uplifting--and bogus. | | |
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 | MLB Trade Rumors |
| Stark is accustomed to calling around in search of information or guidance. This time, the table was turned; he was the one answering the questions during his first extended interview since his departure from ESPN. | | |
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 | Remains of the Day |
| Football players seem even more like gladiators when they play in short sleeves in a winter storm, and baseball players who don't wear batting gloves feel like throwbacks to a more rough and tumble era. What category of admiration should we reserve, then, for someone who ascends a sheer rock | | |
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 | WBUR |
| A teenage boy and his best friend set out to meet their famous neighbor -- and thus began a life-long friendship with late NBA coach and executive Flip Saunders. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| The U.S. played Mexico in soccer for the first time in 1934, winning 4-2 in a World Cup qualifier. It would be 46 years and 25 games before the U.S. would win again. | | |
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 | Sports Illustrated |
| Juan Carlos Osorio is often criticized for his methods, but inside Mexico's locker room there's a togetherness, respect and level of preparation that wasn't always seen before. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| WWE has partnered with amusement park design company Forrec for a potential WWE-themed attraction. | | |
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 | SB Nation |
| Bob Stoops botched multiple cases involving violence against women involving players at the University of Oklahoma, and set an awful example by doing so for the university and the sport as a whole. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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