ESPN Daily

This week, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, will compete in the NCAA championships. It’s the culmination of a season that has included records and conference championships, as well as backlash and outcry from those who believe she should not be allowed to compete on the women’s team. The NCAA had considered making changes to its policies around trans athletes ahe...

Every year, when the calendar turns to March, it’s time for just one thing in the world of sports: college basketball….a lot of it. And for Chris “The Bear” Fallica, March is a time when numbers reign supreme. From seeds to statistics, to of course, betting odds…Fallica is a college basketball savant. He joins the show to share his path from research producer to sports betting analyst, where he is...

Tom Brady has done it to us AGAIN. It’s been mere weeks since he supposedly hung up his cleats, but now he’s ready to lace them back up and play another season in Tompa Bay. We called up our resident Brady expert Seth Wickersham to tell us why we probably should’ve seen this coming…what we might expect from Brady and his Bucs this season…and whether Cristiano Ronaldo had anything to do with it. Le...

WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner was arrested by Russian police at an airport near Moscow last month. Griner is being held on charges that she was transporting hashish oil, a marijuana concentrate, which is illegal in Russia. The details of Griner’s arrest were not public until early March. That sparked outcry over the lack of attention around Griner’s case, but also concern that publicity could furt...

Alexander Ovechkin tied Jamomir Jagr this week for the third most goals in NHL history. But just as Ovi is climbing the ladder of hockey immortality, he is facing scrutiny like never before following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ovechkin, like the 40 other Russian players in the NHL, have avoided directly condemning the war, which has invited public backlash. But it’s an almost impossible situati...

All eyes will be on Philadelphia tonight when James Harden and the Sixers take on Harden’s former team, the visiting Brooklyn Nets…who may or may not have simply been a cog in a long-play by Harden and Daryl Morey to get to Philly all along. Oh, and Ben Simmons will be there too, though he won’t be playing due to an injury. Zach Lowe tells us all about this possible conspiracy and catches us up on...

Aaron Rodgers is staying in Green Bay, and Russell Wilson is heading to Denver to the Broncos! While the details of the Rodgers deal are still being ironed out, Russell Wilson will call the Mile High City his new home, and he enters an AFC West that’s loaded with star QBs like Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert. Bill Barnwell unpacks the latest in these blockbuster NFL moves and explains how they’...

The thrill of March Madness has long been the allure of upsets – the single-elimination Cinderella runs and David v. Goliath battles. ESPN’s Myron Medcalf is about to cover his 12th straight NCAA tournament, and he shares why this year’s potential for dramatic upsets is high. We break down this season’s unprecedented parity, and which teams and divisions deserve more eyes as the tournament begins....

It’s a special live episode of ESPN Daily! This weekend in Boston, some of the brightest minds from across the sports world gathered for the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. One of the panels, led by our own Pablo Torre, focused on the growing concern that many of the major sports' regular seasons feel like they don’t matter as much as they used to, with players and media focused sole...

Love him or hate him, the mark that Mike Krzyzewski has left on men’s college basketball is indelible. Nobody has won more Division I men’s college basketball games than Coach K; he has won five national titles, made 12 Final Fours, and turned Duke University into one of the most iconic institutions in American life. And now, as Coach K prepares to say goodbye to the program he built at Duke, Wrig...

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Tuesday that the first two series of the regular season, over 90 games in total, would be canceled. Negotiations between MLB and its Players Association have dragged on since the lockout began in December, and the current tensions have been brewing for years. MLB Insider Jeff Passan called it one of the darkest days in baseball. He tells us why the players ar...

The entire world has watched in shock and horror this past week as the Russian Army invaded Ukraine. At the center of it stands one man, whose thinking and motivation everyone is seeking to better understand: Russian president Vladimir Putin. But as it turns out, there may be no better way into the mind of Putin than through his deep, deliberate impact on the world of sports. Investigative reporte...

The NFL combine: an annual spectacle that is part job interview, part gym class, and part reality TV show. It is also a critical moment in deciding the future of a new class of NFL draft prospects. An exceptionally good or bad performance in the combine will make a prospect’s draft stock rise or fall, meaning millions in potential salary is on the table. But just how useful is the combine in actua...

For six years the Dallas Cowboys had a secret. One of their top executives was accused of spying on several cheerleaders in a locker room: and the team wrote a big check to make it all go away. Don Van Natta investigates this story for ESPN and shares the other bombshell accusation that was made, what it reveals about Jerry Jones’ team, and what happens next for the women at the center of this inc...

While NBA players and their style of play have changed drastically in the league’s 75 years of existence, the rules that govern the game have mostly stayed the same. The popularity of the All-Star Game’s “Elam Ending” shows that changing many of basketball's long-standing rules could improve the game for fans, players and the league. ESPN’s Kirk Goldsberry dives deep into which rules should get sc...

Brad Marchand contains multitudes. Sure, the Boston Bruins winger could be called the most hated man in hockey, back on the ice tonight after serving his latest suspension - his second of the season. But Marchand is also one of the top scorers in the NHL, integral to the Bruins’ offense. He’s known for cheap shots, punching opposing players, licking faces, and was once given the nickname “Little B...

We’ve all turned to Wikipedia, the massive volunteer-run database, for more answers than we’d care to admit. And we’re so often reminded that anyone - anyone - can edit Wikipedia entries whenever they want. So when massive sporting events like the Olympics happen, and sports become a shared cultural touchstone, you can bet that Wiki-vandals will pounce. They edit Wikipedia entries and turn them in...

“Play Like a Champion Today.” It’s one of the most iconic phrases in sports, and it’s long been synonymous with Notre Dame. Over the years, legendary Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz has told the story of the team’s famous sign, and the traditional pregame slap that’s performed as they take the field. Holtz put up the sign, yes. But where did he get the idea? Another powerhouse college program disp...

The Badwater ultramarathon is known as the world’s most impossible run. From grueling mountain climbs to scorching, 100+ degree temperatures in the middle of Death Valley, it’s a 135 mile race that only a select group of individuals have ever finished. Enter Kelaine Conochan, who pushed her mind, body, and soul to its limit, in pursuit of completing the race in July of 2021. She wrote about her Ba...

With a 3-pointer and a bow at Madison Square Garden’s center court, the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young added to his growing legend in last year’s playoffs. To understand that moment, and the 23-year-old NBA All Star that authored it, ESPN’s Dotun Akintoye traced Young’s roots back to tiny Pampa, Texas and a love for basketball passed down through generations. Akintoye explains the mental makeup and lea...

When Angels’ pitcher Tyler Skaggs was found dead in his hotel room in July of 2019, it sent shock waves across baseball. There was an outpouring of grief and sorrow for the loss of a promising young player, teammate, and husband at just 27 years old. But the shock of Skaggs’ death was only compounded when Eric Kay, who had been the Angels’ own director of communications, was arrested and accused o...

This season, University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas took to the pool for first time as a transgender woman, on the women’s team. Thomas’ gender transition was several years in the making, and she adhered to guidelines from her sport’s governing bodies as she returned to competition. But when Thomas started winning and breaking records this season, her story made news well beyond the swimmin...

It was the blockbuster trade NBA fans had been waiting for: James Harden for Ben Simmons. It was a seismic swap that finally came together in the closing moments ahead of the trade deadline, with Sixers president Daryl Morey shouting “Stay on the f---ing phone!” to Nets GM Sean Marks. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne takes us inside all of the conversations that led to James Harden becoming a 76er, and sha...

The Los Angeles Rams have won Super Bowl LVI! Bill Barnwell tells us what it took for LA to bring home the Lombardi Trophy. The Rams went all-in on the NFL’s biggest season in history, and after injuries to key players and struggling to establish the run, it was none other than Aaron Donald, Matthew Stafford, and Cooper Kupp who put the team on their back. How did they beat the Bengals? And what d...

The NFL season ends this Sunday in Inglewood, when the Los Angeles Rams host the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. Pablo met up (in person!) with our resident QB Alex Smith to get his perspective on how these teams match up, and how the view is different one year removed from his own time on the field. We dig into the qualities of Rams underrated QB Matthew Stafford, and what it’s like to line...