6:45 AM ET THE UNMISTAKABLE WAIL of electric guitar prompted Nick Nurse to bound to his feet. The grand finale he’d been waiting on was finally here, and the Toronto Raptors coach waved his arms to the heavens, gleefully swaying to the beat with the rest of the packed house at the Tropicana in Las
8:00 AM ET LOS ANGELES — If the Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of baseball’s best record, don’t win this year’s World Series, the focus — fair or not — will probably shift back to July 31, 2019, the day the team’s front office failed to secure the high-end reliever it so desperately needed and coveted.
12:01 PM ET Greg WyshynskiESPN The Ottawa Senators are circumventing the salary cap. OK, that’s a bit of hyperbole, which I believe is legally allowed when opining about hockey in early August. It’s more accurate to say that the Ottawa Senators are circumventing “the spirit” of the salary cap. They currently have a projected cap
6:34 AM BST Rugby World Cup-winning coach Bob Dwyer says it’s not too late for Wallabies selectors to be experimenting but the threat posed by outside centre Tevita Kuridrani is in danger of being wasted. After starting their Rugby Championship campaign with an away loss to South Africa and a home win over Argentina, Australia
6:02 AM ET World No. 2 Naomi Osaka has said that she has not had fun playing tennis since she won the Australian Open in January. Osaka lost in straight sets 7-6, 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in July, becoming the first No. 2 seed to lose in
Brian McBride explains how playing Liga MX teams mid-season in the Leagues Cup will either help or hurt the four MLS teams involved. MEXICO CITY — Queretaro coach Victor Manuel Vucetich believes signing Guillermo Ochoa to replace the outgoing Agustin Marchesin would be a step down in quality for Club America. A possible return for
Shaka Hislop and Stewart Robson disagree on whether a Romelu Lukaku-Paulo Dybala swap would be good business for Manchester United and Juventus. Arsenal are closing in on Lille winger Nicolas Pepe, but Shaka Hislop wonders if the Gunners could make better use of €80 million elsewhere. Transfer deadline day is one of the highlights of
Arsenal have pulled off one of the coups of the summer so far in signing Nicolas Pepe from Lille. The French-Ivorian winger, 24, was the best player not named Kylian Mbappe in Ligue 1 last season and was coveted by pretty much every top European club this summer. Lille reached agreements with PSG, Napoli, Inter
4:02 AM ET Andrew McGlashanDeputy editor, ESPNcricinfo Close Deputy Editor Andrew arrived at ESPNcricinfo via Manchester and Cape Town, after finding the assistant editor at a weak moment as he watched England’s batting collapse in the Newlands Test. Andrew began his cricket writing as a freelance covering Lancashire during 2004 when they were relegated in
Steve Nicol explains why Diego Simeone would have to alter his coaching philosophy if Atletico Madrid sign James Rodriguez. Steve Nicol and Stewart Robson explain why they’re convinced Atletico Madrid are set up to have more success than rivals Real Madrid this campaign. The FC crew examine Real Madrid’s current issues as Zinedine Zidane’s side