Month: August 2024

OAKLAND, Calif. — Another uncompetitive at-bat. Another hopeless comeback chance. Another loss added to a season full of them. Nick Senzel’s hapless 0-2 cut during a three-pitch strikeout brought the official end to a 5-1 White Sox defeat. It was also the moment that sealed an American League record-tying 21st consecutive loss. For a team […]

Before she could fully dry off and savor becoming the first American female swimmer to earn nine Olympic gold medals, Katie Ledecky was asked to turn her attention to 2028 and whether she would seek to compete in a fifth consecutive Games. Ledecky will be 31 then, an age that’s considered advanced by most swimming […]

LILLE, France — David Blatt chose to stand. The international coaching legend — who has relied on a wheelchair and crutches since a multiple sclerosis diagnosis six years ago took away his ability to walk — saw me approaching his hotel cafe from a distance and started to make his move. His right hand went […]

By Grant Brisbee, Andy McCullough and Stephen J. Nesbitt Every week,​ we​ ask a selected group of our baseball​ writers​ — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results. If you had trouble following the blizzard of transactions at the trade deadline last week, you were not […]

As Arne Slot settles into his role as Liverpool’s head coach, there is an exciting array of fresh ideas from his new backroom staff. The novel training methods of assistant coaches, Sipke Hulshoff and John Heitinga. The vibrant voice of lead physical performance coach, Ruben Peeters. The creative coaching drills of head of goalkeeper coaching, […]

PARIS — Manila Esposito, the bronze medalist on the balance beam, stared like a deer in the headlights in a packed post-meet press conference. As she started to speak, her voice barely audible, Simone Biles reached over and adjusted Esposito’s microphone, nodding at the Italian gymnast that she was good to go. Later, after the […]

LYON, France — The U.S. women’s national team has been weathering the wear and tear of the Olympics, but ahead of a semifinal match against Germany on Tuesday, everyone was in training. “It’s a great sign,” head coach Emma Hayes said ahead of team training in Lyon, but she did not provide more details about […]

PARIS — Gymnastics saved the drama for the last day. Simone Biles failed to earn a gold medal, but her teammate Jordan Chiles earned a bronze after a judges inquiry into her difficulty score. A fall on beam knocked Biles out of medal contention entirely and two step-outs on her floor exercises demoted Biles to […]

COSTA MESA, Calif. — The Las Vegas Raiders players showed up for the first day of the offseason program this spring and could not believe what they were seeing in the film room. Their assistant coaches stretching … and then grinding through the same conditioning test the players go through. “The players laughed a lot,” […]

Are the Golden State Warriors inching closer to a blockbuster trade for Lauri Markkanen while most of the NBA is either on vacation or fixated on Team USA’s trip through the Olympics? I don’t know. Nobody really knows. Maybe. Sometimes this transaction seems very unlikely. Sometimes it seems more likely than most other potential results. […]