ESPN Daily

Baseball is steeped in time-honored traditions and a code of unwritten rules. But players in today’s game are starting to break those rules: flipping their bats, admiring their home runs, and, say, hitting a Grand Slam when up 10-3 in the 8th inning. Ok, that last one was just Fernando Tatis Jr. ESPN’s Joon Lee explains how baseball’s youngest generation is challenging the establishment and inject...

You might know about Freddie Freeman, the baseball player...the gold glover and four time All-Star...who battled back from covid to win NL MVP last year. But the Freddie Freeman you don’t know is even more remarkable. Buster Olney joins the show to take us inside Full Circle: The Freddie Freeman Story: airing this Sunday on E:60, and presents an exclusive and emotional portrait of one of the game’...

MLB moved the All-Star Game out of Georgia, after the state passed a law hampering voting access. As MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred takes heat from many directions, baseball’s move has cast a different kind of spotlight on the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. It’s teeing off as scheduled, and that’s not surprising to ESPN senior writer and baseball historian Howard Bryant...

When the Jets traded Sam Darnold to the Panthers on Monday, they essentially announced to the world that they will be selecting a quarterback with the 2nd pick in the upcoming NFL draft. And at the top of this year’s draft…they’re not alone. The 2021 QB Draft class is one of the deepest in memory, and the top 5 QB prospects could all potentially be picked in the top 10. Some, like Clemson’s Trevor...

The Baylor Bears are your NCAA champions, for the first time in the program’s history. After decimating Houston in the Final Four, Baylor put on an offensive showcase powered by impressive scoring runs, and ended Gonzaga’s quest for a perfect season. Jalen Suggs and the Zags’ offense were unable to get anything going against the stalwart Baylor defense. Myron Medcalf joins us from Indianapolis to...

Gonzaga and Baylor tip off tonight in the NCAA Championship after a thrilling pair of Final Four games. Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs hit a wild game-winning buzzer-beater in overtime on Saturday vs. UCLA that sent Sports Twitter into overdrive, as Gonzaga furthered its quest for a perfect season. Also on Saturday, Baylor blew out Houston with Jared Butler landing 17 points, and five players recording dou...

This weekend, the men’s and women’s NCAA Final Four games tip off in Indianapolis and San Antonio, respectively. On the men’s side, Gonzaga will look to fend off surprising UCLA, who just upset #1 Michigan, while Baylor and Houston face off in a rare Lone Star State showdown. Myron Medcalf is on the ground in Indianapolis and shares his insights on each Final Four matchup. For the women, powerhous...

Baseball’s Opening Day is finally here! After a shortened 2020 season, MLB is back with a 162 game schedule and plenty of exciting storylines. With fans back in the stands, will the Houston Astros finally receive the reckoning many thought they’d get following their cheating scandal? Will Francisco Lindor live up to the hype and take the Mets to the postseason? Can the upstart Padres match up with...

When the winningest team in high school football hired the most controversial coach in high school football, heads turned all over the state of Georgia. What ensued was a 15-month saga of small-town, big time football that ended up dividing an entire town. Mark Schlabach brings us a story of funny money, a secret recording, and the unraveling of a powerhouse high school football program in Valdost...

The New York Mets and their fans have been sports punchline fodder for decades. But Mets fans are a resilient (if occasionally delusional?) bunch, enduring heartbreak after heartbreak in the long history of the organization. Author Devin Gordon refers to the team as the “Best Worst Team in Sports” in his new book, “So Many Ways To Lose,” and he joins the show to discuss his research into the highs...

Nationals superstar Juan Soto has won a World Series, made a highlight reel’s worth of big hits, and holds a batting title. All that at 22 years old. A fan favorite in Washington, Soto is known for his swagger and disregard for baseball’s traditional decorum, as well as his megawatt smile. Jeff Passan recently talked with Soto for ESPN’s Cover Story, and he joins the show to explain how Soto’s swi...

The men’s Sweet 16 begins this weekend, full of unlikely contenders and March stalwarts. Oral Roberts is the Cinderella of the tournament so far, but Loyola Chicago has the power of 101-year-old nun Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt on their side. Gonzaga’s on the brink of a perfect season, but they’ll likely have to get through another #1 seed like Baylor. Myron Medcalf joins us from Indianapolis to pr...

Texans QB Deshaun Watson has been named in over a dozen civil lawsuits filed by a number of Houston area women over the last several days, alleging varying degrees of sexual misconduct and assault. ESPN investigative reporter John Barr takes us through the timeline and details of the cases, and where the legal action could go from here. Then, Texans reporter Sarah Barshop brings us up to speed on...

In the time since we reached out to basketball pro Jeremy Lin about the mass shooting in Atlanta where eight people died - six of them women of Asian descent - ten more people have died in a Colorado shooting. Jeremy Lin joins us to share experiences with Pablo as first generation Asian Americans. Lin details his evolution on speaking out against stereotypes, understanding systemic injustice, and...

In his second NBA season, at just 20 years old, Zion Williamson is putting up numbers that land him alongside legends like Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal. Maybe you caught him in the All-Star Game, but if you haven’t been watching Pelicans games, you’re missing the evolution of a unique basketball talent. ESPN’s Andrew Lopez shares Zion’s accomplishments, and what it’ll take to get him to MVP...

This year’s March Madness hasn’t come without its share of controversy. Michigan’s Isaiah Livers and others have tweeted and donned shirts with the phrase #NotNCAAProperty. And women’s players cried foul online over a paltry weight room and other disparities with the men’s team. It was just the latest example of social media’s power for college athletes, and that includes growing followings across...

Gonzaga freshman Jalen Suggs and UConn freshman Paige Bueckers are the faces of the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. But the two stars go way back: they grew up in neighboring Minnesota cities, and first met when they both were in elementary school. As their basketball careers took off, Suggs and Bueckers stayed in touch and have relied on each other for support, and have remained fr...

We’re still many weeks away from the 2021 NFL Draft, and free agency is in full swing. Bill Belichick and the Patriots have been aggressive in acquiring new pieces, while his ex-QB Tom Brady and the Bucs have been focused on bringing back the roster that won the Super Bowl. Louis Riddick breaks down the latest moves as only he can, shares insights from behind the scenes, and tells us what comes ne...

Serena Williams. Tom Brady. Roger Federer. What really goes into making a G.O.A.T.? And extending that greatness for decades? Reporter, best-selling author, and current host of the podcast How To!, David Epstein is one of sports’ top mythbusters. His books The Sports Gene and Range delve into athletes’ lives, minds and habits to find the building blocks of success. Epstein applies his findings to...

Are all NBA superstars destined to leave smaller market teams for Brooklyn, L.A. or Miami? Across the league, high-performing players are gravitating to coastal teams and bigger markets. The trend’s been building for years, increasingly splitting the league into teams that “have” or “have not.” Kirk Goldsberry plots the map and salary data, why this trend is bad for the NBA, and what strategies co...

The NCAA Tournament is set! It’s been anything but a normal college basketball season, and March Madness will continue the trend. Gonzaga could become the first team since 1976 to go undefeated and win a national championship, with Baylor, Illinois and Michigan also at the top. Georgetown, led by legendary Hoya Patrick Ewing, is back in the Big Dance. Duke is not in the tournament for the first ti...

The Dallas Cowboys have finally signed Dak Prescott to a four-year, $160 million deal, just five months after his season ending injury. For years, the Cowboys' front office had refused to give in to Dak’s contract demands...until now. ESPN's NFL analyst Mina Kimes breaks down one of the biggest deals in quarterback history and looks at how a shrinking salary cap is impacting NFL rosters. Then, Tot...

One year ago today, on March 11, 2020, the NBA...and the entire world...suddenly stopped. That night, there was one athlete who found his way to the spotlight, and inadvertently became the face of the COVID pandemic as we knew it then: Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert. Lisa Salters joins the show to share Gobert’s personal perspective on that night, and Gobert opens up about what it was like to be bra...

In basketball there is no greater symbol of the 3-point shot than Golden State’s Steph Curry, who’s spawned a thousand imitators with his prowess. But for every 3-point attempted, is a more dynamic dunk lost? That’s what’s got the NBA on notice. Because, as with any trend, the 3-point obsession may be going too far. ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz explores a new sentiment around the NBA: that the 3-point sh...

It’s March, and the 2021 Madness is almost here. Excited beyond belief after a cancelled 2020 tournament, ESPN’s Myron Medcalf is your guide. What’s happened with the bluebloods, as Duke, Kentucky, and Michigan State fight to make it to the Big Dance? Which standout stars might lead their teams to glory? Will 24-0 Gonzaga hold onto its dominance? How have the starts and stops of this pandemic seas...