Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers. | | | | The Maori All Blacks prepare to face the British & Irish Lions.
(Hannah Peters/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers.”
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| | rantnrave:// If it's true that everybody and everything has a price, then how much would it be for a pro sports league to change its structure? Not incremental changes like the number of games played or even the length of a game, but how the league operates. How its championship is awarded. Its very essence. We already know college sports conferences have a price. A search for bigger dollars led to conference realignment. College presidents, ADs and conference commissioners were willing to sell away some of the attractions of their sports -- tradition, rivalries, continuity, familiarity -- for higher revenue, larger TV deals and, so they say, longer term stability. The BCS gave way to the playoff. What would it take for the MLS to adopt relegation and promotion? Apparently, $4 billion over 10 years isn't enough. The league rejected an offer to sell its media rights for that sum under the condition it change to the European model. Let's ignore the technicality that it may have violated an exclusive negotiating window. Those are details. The MLS will have this same option in a few years when that window closes. But it says it's opposed to pro/rel. How much would it cost to change its mind? Variations of a midseason tournament to determine NBA playoff spots have been floating around for a while -- BILL SIMMONS gets credit for the Entertaining As Hell Tournament in my book. Even NBA commissioner ADAM SILVER has floated it. All we're waiting for is the league to name its price... Why has the mythical DREAM TEAM scrimmage never aired? The tape exists. JACK MCCALLUM has a copy. But it's never made it online or on TV. The Dream Team documentary only showed some moments and mixed in footage of other scrimmages. Is the NBA waiting for a special date? Or does it think we don't care? It's time we see The Greatest Game Nobody Ever Saw... Where else in this country do black lives matter more to white people than a football field in the South?... Is a video game meant to be completed as quickly as possible or savored over time? What's more rewarding: beating the final level or running up every character to their max potential? In only the opening scene. One person's "pathetic waste of man hours" is another's "moral goodness"... The SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS stopped believin'. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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 | The Guardian |
| Once renowned, now forgotten, Major Rowland Bowen was an anarchistic self-amputee who ruffled establishment feathers and re-wrote cricket history. | | |
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 | Outside Online |
| The iconic brand has long been the conscience of the outdoor industry, forsaking hefty profits to do the right thing. Now the company is going to war against the Trump administration over protections for public land in a bid to become a serious political player-which happens to be very good for sales. | | |
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 | Yahoo Sports |
| Many top QBs are woefully unprepared when they get to the NFL because of a disconnect between what works in college football vs. what works in the pros. One camp aims to solve that. | | |
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 | B/R Mag |
| He was the original big baller, with a personality and hoops game larger than his 450-pound frame. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| An Emmy-winning TV series. An Oscar-winning film. 13 million people tuning in to his parole hearing. We as a country are addicted to O.J. Simpson. The question is why. | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| The company charges subscribers $40 annually for local news in a handful of cities, forgoing advertising. | | |
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 | SB Nation |
| Blood doping scandals aren't the only reason Americans haven't been back on the Tour de France podium. | | |
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 | DigBoston |
| From ignoramus radio talkers to bigoted fans and a checkered past, Boston baseball has a race problem. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| It was supposed to be a celebration of how far Pokémon GO had come in its first year, but instead Chicago's Pokemon GO Fest was a horrifying flashback to the issues that plagued the game at launch. | | |
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 | Sports Illustrated |
| As he reaches a milestone birthday, Tom Brady is establishing himself as lead sensei of ageless wonders--across all sports--who have much in common with the Patriots’ quarterback. | | |
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 | Deadspin |
| Bobby Warshaw is a former professional soccer player and current ... well, he’s trying to figure that out. After finishing at Stanford University, he played in MLS, Europe, and the USL. This piece is adapted from his new book, "When the Dream Became Reality: The journey of a professional soccer player, and the push for meaning, purpose, and contentment." | | |
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 | New York Magazine |
| When you have nothing to sell, sell the racism, sell the hate. | | |
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 | FiveThirtyEight |
| Irving’s unique scoring ability is not a good fit on the contenders that could trade for him - mainly because they don’t already have LeBron James. | | |
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 | The Nation |
| The current calamity in Rio was predictable. Every prospective Olympic city, especially Los Angeles, should be warned. | | |
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 | Quartz |
| The sneaker is old enough to have been worn by the parents of many of the teens buying the shoe up in droves today. | | |
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 | Vox |
| As Simpson is granted parole, America sees him -- and itself -- differently, thanks to FX’s "The People v. O.J. Simpson" and ESPN’s "O.J.: Made in America." | | |
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 | The National Pastime Museum |
| Summer 2017 marks the 50th Anniversary of Leonard Koppett’s groundbreaking book, “The Thinking Man’s Guide to Baseball.” In this essay Dave Kaplan describes Koppett’s influence on baseball from the press box and how his writing introduced analysis to the game both on and off the field. | | |
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 | AL.com |
| SEC commissioner Greg Sankey wants to talk about race in America. Let's do it. | | |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Arcane endurance challenges are an increasingly popular feature of the Web. What draws people to them? | | |
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| Bloomberg |
| Nike, Under Armour and Lululemon jostle for position as they take the fight to Victoria's Secret. | | |
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