I'm all about making the game safer. But as a defensive player...I'm not a big fan of it... If I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field. | | | | The art of the penalty kick.
(Daniele Badolato/Juventus FC/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I'm all about making the game safer. But as a defensive player...I'm not a big fan of it... If I had a perfect place to die, I would die on the field.”
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| | rantnrave:// LAVAR BALL has walked a fine line since he jumped into the mainstream a year ago. To some, he's a loudmouth and a nuisance. To me, he's sports' answer to the KARDASHIANS. He's also willing to stand up to the NCAA's racket and upend the shoe game. He knows the rules of fame and brand-building in 2017: If you've got talent, crush it; if you don't, keep talking to keep the spotlight. Ball kept talking. He may have finally gone too far. He had a female referee kicked out of a game during his son's AAU game this weekend because she dared to give him a technical foul. It started a whole round of mishigas that left him looking like a bully and earning accusations of misogyny. There was uproar at ADIDAS for enabling him. ESPN analyst JAY BILAS says he's done with him. Bilas won't be the last. Ball is a carnival barker. His currency is attention. Should we be outraged by him or are we feeding into his plan? The charitable view of Ball is that he's a traveling roadshow and we're his marks. He's a stage dad profiting off your clicks and eyeballs. Shouldn't there be consequences for his behavior? He told that referee to "stay in her lane" -- the second time he's said that to a woman when she confronted him. Is he part of the summer basketball circuit's wild west or trying to push people around because of his newfound stature? How you perceive Ball may depend on how much you're willing to let him get away with. If that sounds like circular logic, it is. If you like Ball, he'll continue to get the benefit of the doubt. He's no different than a politician or a wrestling heel. He'll keep performing until the crowd isn't behind him anymore... The team on pace for 114 wins acquired ALL-STAR pitcher YU DARVISH minutes before Monday's trade deadline. Will it lead to a WORLD SERIES? Who knows. Baseball can be random in the postseason, so hold off on the WARRIORS comparisons. But the Dodgers know the only way to protect against October's ruthlessness is to stack the deck with talent. The YANKEES, meanwhile, got SONNY GRAY. He'll have a larger immediate impact than Darvish. The Yankees need him to get into the postseason. Darvish is a hood ornament until it starts... The LOST & FOUND PROJECT is cool serendipity. DOUG WALKER found 30,000 film negatives at a flea market 10 years ago, including photos documenting CALIFORNIA's surf and beach community in the 1970s. The photos are vivid, inviting you into surfing's mystical culture. If the stories in the book are as good then it's a hell of a read. | | | - Mike Vorkunov, curator |
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 | The New Yorker |
| Armenia is chess’s perennial overachiever, and Levon Aronian, its greatest player, is a swashbuckling throwback. | | |
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 | SB Nation |
| 180,000 refugees live in Kakuma, and almost all of them have been touched by soccer. | | |
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 | espnW |
| A week after Penn State football parted ways with former kicker Joey Julius, who publicly struggled with binge eating in 2016, he shares his story of body-image issues, depression and attempted suicide in the hopes of helping others. | | |
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 | Sports Business Daily |
| From pouring rights and ads in stadiums to licensed craft brews, college sports are no longer off-limits for big-spending beer brands. | | |
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 | Yahoo Sports |
| Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, in part because the International Olympic Committee, one of globe’s greatest con artists, couldn’t guarantee that any other city on earth would be willing to do it. | | |
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 | attentionecono.me |
| This offseason shows: star players are becoming increasingly powerful. And the modern attention economy explains why. | | |
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 | Engadget |
| We go deep in AT&T Park to find out how Intel broadcasts a live baseball game in virtual reality. | | |
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 | The Washington Post |
| Now we just need to crowdsource the 53-man roster and nightly lineup construction. | | |
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 | MEL Magazine |
| One major race just did away with ‘podium girls,’ the traditional eye candy on the platform. Will others follow suit? | | |
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 | Bloomberg |
| FC Barcelona President Josep Bartomeu discusses how the club is trying to gain traction in the U.S., buoyed by stars like Lionel Messi and Neymar. Prior to that, Major League Soccer Deputy Commissioner Mark Abbott talks about expansion, revenue growth and team valuations as the league heads toward its Aug. 2 All-Star game in Chicago, where MLS’s best will face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid. | | |
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 | ESPN |
| At first, LaVar Ball was a guilty pleasure. Like the Kardashians, he was famous for being famous. It felt harmless. We were wrong. Twice now he has told a woman to "stay in her lane." The truth is he's a misogynist not worthy of our time. | | |
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 | Esquire |
| Hannah Grant has been a Tour de France chef for six years. Here are her rules for fueling up like a performance athlete. | | |
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 | Daily Mail Online |
| They promised to be the cleanest Olympic Games -- but are, in fact, contenders to be the dirtiest. It was hailed the greatest track and field programme in history -- yet an investigation by The Mail on Sunday (Jul 30) can now reveal that almost one in seven of the finalists had been sanctioned for doping offences. | | |
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 | The Undefeated |
| Defensive tackle says he and other black teammates had trouble renting homes when they relocated from San Diego. | | |
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 | Deadspin |
| It was always going to be a losing proposition. I came here for Hall of Fame induction weekend with one question: Where are the Bud Selig fans? | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The League Two newcomers, backed by a multimillionaire and with Jilly Cooper a boardroom regular, hail from a town of 6,000 and are proud to be different. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| You don’t need to be a former player - or a particular gender - to analyze baseball. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| Would you take corporate logos placed on the field of play in MLB broadcasts in exchange for shorter commercial breaks? The league is experimenting with it as part of pace of play. | | |
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 | FiveThirtyEight |
| A lot of players are on the move at the end of July, but teams are making more swaps the rest of the year too. | | |
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 | Fortune Magazine |
| Let’s get back those 37 cents. | | |
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 | YouTube |
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