Category: Sports

Oscar Wilde once famously wrote that “to concede one goal direct from a corner is a misfortune, to concede two in eight days looks like carelessness.” The thoughts of Oscar, noted corner-kick scholar, may have been rushing through the heads of anyone associated with Manchester United recently after they allowed not one but two ‘olimpicos’…

Read More “Pace, swerve, angle – the art of the ‘olimpico’, football’s (usually) rare phenomenon” »

We are now exactly 10 weeks away from the NHL’s March 7 trade deadline. That leaves enough runway for the needs of buyers and sellers to shift before the biggest decisions are made — or for buyers and sellers to switch places. But in a season where there’s already been plenty of trade action, it’s…

Read More “NHL trade matchmaker: Predicting where top targets go by the deadline, part 2” »

Ashton Jeanty was into basketball more than football as a kid. So before he grew up to be a 5-foot-9 battering ram in cleats, his favorite athlete was LeBron James. Jeanty, who bounced around the globe as the son of a Naval officer, spent a chunk of his childhood in Florida when James was on…

Read More “Ashton Jeanty didn’t win the Heisman, but he’s still chasing history at Boise State” »

Happy holidays, and prepare for the greatest gift: tennis returns tomorrow, December 27. In the spirit of looking back on the previous season and remembering all the moments big and small that defined it, here is a compendium of tennis stories of all kinds from The Athletic’s tennis writers, Matt Futterman and Charlie Eccleshare, with…

Read More “The tennis stories of 2024, from doping bans and Grand Slam titles to a bee invasion” »

A sharp, anxious intake of breath, followed by a round of applause that carries a mixture of quiet admiration and, more than anything, relief. On other occasions, it ends with supporters shaking their heads and asking why. We are talking about the crowd reaction to — and I’m borrowing this description from a colleague who…

Read More “Introducing the most dangerous pass in football” »

Sports stars, celebrities, and even cryptocurrency all have rookie cards… but does Santa Claus? It’s a question you may ask yourself after consuming a little too much nutmeg. And since the season of giving is officially here, I want to spread some holiday cheer by highlighting Christmas-themed trading cards, which is a bigger niche than…

Read More “A guide to Christmas-themed trading cards: From Santa Claus to Clark Griswold” »

ATLANTA — Michael Penix Jr. looked like an NFL veteran in his first professional start but not as much as he sounded like one when he took the podium after the game. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was at a local Costco shopping Tuesday night when head coach Raheem Morris informed him he would be making…

Read More “‘Nearly flawless’ Michael Penix Jr. helps re-energize Falcons’ playoff push” »

HARTFORD, Conn. — As USC’s bench emptied onto the XL Center floor, with the No. 7 Trojans having defeated the No. 4 UConn Huskies 72-70, JuJu Watkins’ hands shot to the sky. Basking in her 25-point performance that lifted USC past UConn for the first time in school history, Watkins turned to the small section…

Read More “Why USC’s win over UConn is so significant: ‘This is what basketball excellence was’” »

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Matt Murray looked up to the scoreboard above him, counted down the seconds as they disappeared and finally pumped his fist. It had been 638 days since Murray last felt the feeling washing over him. Bilateral hip surgery forced the Toronto Maple Leafs goalie out of the entire 2023-24 season, the final…

Read More “‘A long road. A big mountain to climb’: Inside Matt Murray’s emotional journey back to the NHL” »

By Zack Rosenblatt, Dianna Russini and Michael Silver Woody Johnson decided to do his own research. The New York Jets’ owner was at his house in Palm Beach, Fla., last February, discussing potential offseason acquisitions with team decision-makers as they watched game tape. Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, a former Denver Broncos first-round pick, flashed on…

Read More “Woody Johnson’s Jets: ‘Madden’ ratings, a lost season and ‘the most dysfunctional place imaginable’” »