Sports
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Rockets Forward Danuel House Jr. Under Investigation for Sneaking Female COVID-19 Testing Official Into Hotel Room
I’ve never spent a day of my life in the NBA bubble, but I have spent a notable portion of my time on Earth as a member of the United States Air Force. And immediately following Hell—more commonly known as basic training—I was shipped off to tech school in Biloxi, Miss., which is essentially the…
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With New Ruling Against Semenya Caster, Track and Field Upholds Restrictive Gender Norms Rooted in Racism
South African middle-distance runner Caster Semenya experienced another setback in her years-long struggle to compete on her terms—which is to say, to simply run without having to conform to restrictive, arbitrary and racist perceptions of what a woman’s body ought to be like. On Tuesday, a Switzerland’s Federal Supreme Court dismissed her appeal of a…
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Big Protest Energy: Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans In Talks to Kick Off NFL Season With Exactly What You Expect
This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it—and not because we’re one day closer to punting Trump’s lying ass out of office, but because the 2020 NFL football season begins tonight. That’s your cue to throw confetti and squeal like a Backstreet Boys fan. In honor…
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Families of Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin Thank Naomi Osaka for Centering Their Loved Ones at U.S. Open
As with many prominent athletes this year, tennis star Naomi Osaka has felt compelled to use her platform to spread social justice messages. After sitting out a semifinal match tournament last month in support of the Milwaukee Bucks’ wildcat strike, Osaka chose to draw attention to the victims of police brutality and vigilante violence by…
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Unable to Return From Spinal Contusion, Ryan Shazier Calls It a Career: 'I’ve Given My Life to the Game'
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. As a first-round pick out of Ohio State, Ryan Shazier demonstrated tremendous promise that translated into immediate success as a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. But during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals on December 4, 2017, the two-time Pro Bowler suffered a gruesome spinal…
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It's Not You, It's Me: Big Changes Could Be In Store for the Milwaukee Bucks—Including Antetokounmpo's Departure
With an ugly Eastern Conference Finals defeat at the hands of the Toronto Raptors still looming in the background, Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst had plenty of work to do prior to the NBA’s 2019-20 season. Restricted by limited cap space and the myriad of challenges that befall small-market franchises, the 36-year-old pulled off…
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DeAndre Hopkins Is Rich AF
I didn’t wake up today thinking, “You know what I want for breakfast? A 2-year contract extension worth $54.5 million”—because I was hungry as shit and french toast sounded far more enticing at the time. But Arizona Cardinals wideout DeAndre Hopkins did, and according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the three-time All-Pro just…
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New Study Breaks Down How Affluent White Students, Coaches Profit From the Exploitation of Black NCAA Athletes
The NCAA is big business for everybody but Black players—but you knew that already because like millions of other accomplished individuals, you read The Root. But what you probably didn’t know is how extensively the NCAA’s ban on profit-sharing with student-athletes—enacted by a 1957 court ruling that denied the widow of college athlete Ray Dennison…
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Report: It Turns Out White Guilt Drove NFL to Entertain Colin Kaepernick's Return, Create 'Fake' Interest
In the immediate aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minnesota police officers, white America experienced a reckoning of sorts. Record labels apologized for historically exploiting Black artists, cities painted murals in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement, racists got outed, institutions distanced themselves from their oppressive origins—basically, white folks…
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OK, So Maybe the Washington Football Team Is a Bigger Mess Than We Realized
OK, we all knew Dan Snyder was a terrible boss, but holy shit. As the team formerly known as the Washington Racial Slurs continues to endure the worst off-season ever, the team now faces even more accusations of sexual harassment following 15 former employees accusing the team of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse in July.…