ESPN Daily

Another NFL punishment has been doled out just a day after QB Deshaun Watson’s suspension: the Miami Dolphins were stripped of two draft picks, their owner Stephen Ross was suspended until October, and fined $1.5 million. The discipline came as a result of the league investigators finding tampering violations of “unprecedented scope and severity.” The allegations first surfaced from former head co...

In the history of sports punishment, there is no case quite like the one of Deshaun Watson. The Browns had acquired the star quarterback from the Texans back in March, amid dozens of civil lawsuits, filed by dozens of women who accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. And even though Watson wouldn’t face criminal charges, the question was never if Watson would be suspended by the league this...

Generation Jalen is officially upon us. At the NBA Draft in June, three different Jalens were selected. Four more were picked in the NFL Draft in April. And then there’s Jalen Brunson, who just signed a $100M contract with the Knicks. Jalen Hurts, who’s at camp right now, is the starting quarterback for the Eagles. Jalen Ramsey, who just won a Super Bowl with the Rams. And Jaylen Brown, who is in...

No organization in sports takes their history more seriously than the New York Yankees. And it’s no wonder why. They’ve won 27 championships. Legendary names like Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, Rivera, all are enshrined in their Monument Park in Yankee Stadium. But there’s one Yankees legend the organization hopes to forget: Dandy, their short-lived, and almost entirely forgotten, mascot. Jeremy Schaap tel...

It’s a story so crazy it seems destined for a Hollywood treatment. Several weeks ago, reports of a mysterious fake cricket league run out of a rural town in India captured worldwide attention. The fake league reportedly broadcast their matches on the internet, and purported to be legitimate matches from the Indian Premier League, the most lucrative cricket league in the world. To anyone with a pas...

The LIV Golf Tour makes its latest stop this week at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey, bringing all the drama that this Saudi Arabian-funded venture has fostered since its inception. However, this week’s tournament not only adds the controversial brand of our former President, but it’s all being held at the doorstep of New York City’s hallowed Ground Zero, inciting even larger protests from...

At 23 years old, Juan Soto is the type of generational talent that hasn’t been available this early in his career since maybe Babe Ruth. But the Washington Nationals are seeking to do just that after Soto turned down a 15-year, $440 million contract extension a few weeks ago. Several teams are interested, but only a few can even afford to give up players and prospects necessary to make it all work...

NFL training camps are open and the storm clouds of drama are swirling. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens have yet to work out a deal to extend his contract, making him the last big name left with his future up in the air, after Kyler Murray agreed to a massive extension with the Cardinals just last week. All eyes are on the quarterback competition in Carolina, between Baker Mayfield, who’s gearing up...

There are many ways to describe ESPN baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian: Brilliant. Hilarious. Competitive. And above all, passionate. Passionate about the game of baseball. But as of tomorrow, there’s another way to describe Tim Kurkjian: Hall of Famer. This weekend, as baseball inducts a new class into the Hall of Fame, Kurkjian will receive the Career Excellence Award from the Baseball Writers Assoc...

The NBA’s offseason started off in an absolute frenzy, with Rudy Gobert being shipped from Utah to Minnesota and several other superstars such as Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Donovan Mitchell have been brought up in perpetual trade rumors. And then there’s the ongoing soap opera between the Lakers and Russell Westbrook. Since then however, the market has gone quiet…almost too quiet. So we asked...

When people hear the name Rodman, they quickly think of NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. But there’s another Rodman making headlines: 20-year-old Trinity has exploded onto the scene of women’s soccer, quickly becoming one of the faces of the NWSL. She’s also nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete at tonight’s ESPY Awards. ESPN reporter Charlotte Gibson tells the story of how Trinity rose out of h...

NFL fans woke up on the morning of November 2, 2021 to the news that Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Henry Ruggs III had been involved in a fatal car crash that took the life of a 23-year-old woman named Tina Tintor. The news of Ruggs’ involvement rocked the NFL, and left many unanswered questions: questions not just from the family of Tina Tintor, but also how Ruggs, who lost his best friend in a...

Ask any fan what they’d want to change about Major League Baseball and you’d hear mostly the same answers: The games take too long. The pace of play is too slow. Too many strikeouts leading to less action on the field… Enter the Savannah Bananas, a team that is thrilling fans by turning baseball into part-circus, part-professional wrestling with a dash of Harlem Globetrotters mixed in. Since arriv...

NBA veteran Aron Baynes arrived at the Tokyo Olympics as one of Team Australia's most trusted big men. But during a group stage game against Italy, Baynes mysteriously fell in the bathroom during a break. When he was discovered by team staff, he had lost the ability to walk and had to be carried out on a stretcher. No one knew what was wrong. Brian Windhorst tells the story of Baynes’ medical myst...

The college football universe is in flux. Entire schools, entire conferences and even entire rivalries have apparently entered their own version of the transfer portal. With the latest news that USC and UCLA, once the marquee universities of the Pac-12, are headed to the Big Ten, everyone else is panicking and wondering what’s next. So to help decipher all this chaos, Spencer Hall gives us a tour...

The story of Barry Bremen, a.k.a. “The Great Imposter” was already sufficiently ridiculous. Bremen was an average, suburban dad, husband, and insurance salesman who’d risen to national fame by sneaking into major sporting events. But in 2019, nearly a decade after Barry Bremen’s death, his family received a mysterious letter that changed everything. The Barry Bremen legacy was bigger and more prof...

It’s a story so wild we couldn’t fit it into one podcast. If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember Barry Bremen. In the late 70’s, Barry was best known for dressing up as pro athletes and sneaking into televised sporting events…beginning with the 1979 NBA All-Star Game, where he shot layups on the court with stars like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Moses Malone. And while his “Great Imposter” p...

We might never have seen anyone quite like Chet Holmgren in the NBA. This year’s second overall pick in the NBA Draft is over 7 feet tall, but he’s only 190 pounds. With a 7’ 6” wingspan, Holmgren can dribble up the floor and take step-back threes like a guard. There is so much hype around Holmgren…but there are also just as many questions. Will he be the prodigy that showed up and dominated in hi...

WNBA star Brittney Griner has been held in Russia on drug charges since February. Since then, her family, teammates and fans have implored President Biden to do everything in his power to bring Griner home. But yesterday, Griner pleaded guilty in a Russian courtroom, raising questions about Griner’s case, and her status as “wrongfully detained.” TJ Quinn explains why Griner chose to plead guilty…a...

If you were on social media at all last weekend, you’ve seen the clip of Brian Windhorst on “First Take” – palms in the air, looking to the heavens like he’s the subject of a Renaissance painting and questioning what exactly the Utah Jazz were planning following the trade of Royce O’Neale. Hours later, Jazz All Star Rudy Gobert was traded to Minnesota, and Windhorst instantly became Twitter’s NBA...

The starting pitcher has long been baseball’s marquee attraction, the guy who fans come out to see…but the job description has begun to change in recent years. Complete games are almost nonexistent, and the average outing for a starter has shrunk to barely scratching five innings. The numbers say pitching fewer innings is smart strategically…but is it good for the game and for fans? Jeff Passan ex...

The pullup has humbled all of us – from our middle school gym classes to any attempt to get into shape. Doing one, for many, is considered a victory, but then there’s Anthony Robles. The NCAA wrestling champion, who was born with one leg, brings his unbreakable will to take on not just the pullup bar, but one of Guinness’s most-hallowed records. So today, Ryan Hockensmith brings us to Arizona and...

Today on the 4th of July, we revisit a special episode. It’s been 75 years since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, becoming the first Black player to take the field in Major League Baseball in 1947. Jackie was a specific player chosen at a specific time, when baseball was highly aligned with Black popular culture. But what happened between baseball and Black America in the decad...

It’s the dream of every sports fan: the star player on your favorite team goes down with an injury. The coach is desperate, and someone needs to step up. Somehow you, the average sports fan, get picked out of the stands to hit with the bases loaded, or step in at quarterback, or take the game winning shot. Obviously, that never happens in real life, or in sports, really…except for extremely rare o...

The New York Mets and their fans have been sports punchline fodder for decades. Case in point: Bobby Bonilla Day. Every July 1, this player who’s been retired for many years gets paid more than a million dollars. And it’s seen as the epitome of Mets dysfunction. But Mets fans are a resilient (if occasionally delusional?) bunch, and keep coming back for heartbreak. Author Devin Gordon refers to the...