Juan Soto does what he said he was going to do: Two and a half years after turning down $440 million from the Nationals, with whom he won a World Series, and six weeks after declaring "I'll be open to this and every single team" within minutes of finishing the World Series with the Yankees, Juan Soto did exactly what he'd promised, and agreed to the largest contract in baseball history: $765 million for 15 years with the New York Mets.

posted by werty to baseball at 08:05 AM - 6 comments

Domingo German pitches a perfect game: It's only the fourth perfect game in New York Yankees history; German improbably joins David Cone, David Wells and Don Larsen in immortality. It's the first perfect game in MLB since 2012.

posted by werty to baseball at 12:18 AM - 1 comment

Roger Federer is retiring: Fresh off Serena Williams's departure from tennis, her peer on the men's tour is retiring. Federer leaves with 20 majors--now good for second on the all-time list--and a legacy as a beloved and graceful star, both on and off the court.

posted by werty to tennis at 11:15 AM - 6 comments

MLB settles minor-league class action lawsuit: Major League Baseball has agreed to a settlement over unpaid wages with its minor-league players.

posted by werty to baseball at 10:15 PM - 1 comment

Brooklyn Nets land James Harden: In a trade that's huge in both impact and scale—four teams! Seven draft picks!--the Nets have acquired James Harden from the Houston Rockets. Also on the move are Victor Oladipo (to Houston from Indianapolis) and Jarrett Alen (to Cleveland from Brooklyn) and several other players.

posted by werty to basketball at 05:13 PM - 3 comments

Texas Rangers' bankruptcy affects players most of all: The top six unsecured creditors in the Texas Rangers' bankruptcy filing are players, including Alex Rodriguez, current Rangers 3B Michael Young and, um, Mickey Tettleton.

posted by werty to baseball at 10:57 AM - 7 comments

Don Koharski off to quieter pastures.: The longtime hockey referee's 32 solid seasons are overshadowed by the doughnut incident with Jim Schoenfeld in 1988.

posted by werty to hockey at 01:45 PM - 0 comments

Bill Walton flies coach: "The seat that I absolutely must have in order to be comfortable: The right-side, aisle seat. No bulkhead."

posted by werty to basketball at 09:05 AM - 13 comments

Despite constant innovation, golf scores remain unchanged.: Interesting expose in the NY Times about golfers--pro and amateur--whose relentless pursuit of distance and technology hasn't cumulatively lowered handicaps.

Choice pull quote: "'They watch golf on TV and then they all want to hit it far, like Tiger Woods,' said Dr. Bob Rotella, golf's best-known psychologist and a best-selling author. 'Well, good luck. They should be going to their teacher and saying, "I want to hit it like Fred Funk." Physically, they are much more like him. That would make a lot more sense.' Mr. Funk is a 5-foot-8, 48-year-old PGA Tour pro who ranks first in driving accuracy and 186th in driving distance. He is also seventh on the PGA money list this season with more than $1.9 million in earnings."

posted by werty to golf at 01:14 PM - 6 comments

"If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK?": The basic answers to this one are fairly obvious (legality, medical intent, theoretical limits to what can be achieved, etc.) but an interesting essay on Slate highlights a big question for the future. Will we reach a point where even genetic modification is a normal occurrence, and sports stars are formulated rather than trained?

posted by werty to culture at 08:30 AM - 40 comments

Jose Canseco, Hero: A fascinating op-ed piece by Michael Chabon, who finds much more to appreciate than one would superficially expect.

posted by werty to baseball at 08:41 AM - 13 comments

The few, the proud: Number of black starters dwindles in majors.: A Miami Herald article notes that MLB this season will have half as many African-American starting pitchers as Antonio Alfonseca has fingers on one hand. Cause for concern? What is the cause?

posted by werty to baseball at 12:32 PM - 6 comments

Fix the NHL with a modified tiering system?: Terry Frei suggests a clever and soft-handed solution for NHL's problems with location distribution: preserve divisions and regional matchups, but include a three-tier "seeding" based on the previous season's results, which gives rationale to road trips and brings an element of NFL- and European-soccer-style parity to pro hockey. It'll never happen, but I like it.

posted by werty to hockey at 01:09 PM - 4 comments

One less cause the PC folks can champion.: "The Seminole Tribe of Florida has once again told Florida State University it is welcome to use 'Seminoles' as a nickname of its athletic teams. ... Members of the tribe don't think it's a problem and are proud of the relationship."

posted by werty to culture at 12:58 PM - 3 comments

Toronto Blue Jays tell fans to boo Matsui.: I have two (obvious) problems with this--one, is this the way any major-league team should treat its peers, especially a newcomer from another continent? And two, is this the message the Jays want to give their fans, that there is really no other reason to go to the Skydome?

posted by werty to baseball at 10:31 AM - 9 comments

It's funny because it's true.: Or does it just feel that way? (Disclaimer: I am a fan, not a pained enemy.)

posted by werty to baseball at 08:32 AM - 3 comments

Moving to a new stadium dents team performance.: A statistician studied results of professional baseball, basketball and ice hockey games in the US between 1987 and 2000. He found that teams that moved stadiums lost on average 24% of their home advantage.

posted by werty to general at 03:00 PM - 2 comments

Colts player speaks out against teammates, coach.: "Peyton Manning must show more emotion, coach Tony Dungy is too nice and many players on the NFL team lack passion." The player? Kicker Mike Vanderjagt!

posted by werty to football at 12:31 PM - 9 comments

Easing the pain of losing:: Newsday reports seven Mets are suspected of smoking marijuana, and not just in private: they have been spotted toking in the parking lot, and one player had a stash delivered to Shea Stadium. Culprits include reliever Mark Corey, who had a seizure earlier this season after smoking pot with teammate Tony Tarasco, and other unnamed players. The article also states Ecstasy is popular in the Mets' minor league system.

posted by werty to baseball at 09:12 AM - 6 comments