Today in Sports! 🇬🇧🕵 BRITISH SPYGATE 🕵️🇬🇧

A sad day in the NBA

Tuesday was a devastating day for NBA fans, as the league lost two players just a few hours apart.

Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke died at just 29 years old, the first active NBA player to die since 2016. He spent his seven-year career playing in Memphis. His obituary noted his charity work in the Memphis community. His death is being investigated as a possible drug overdose.

Thirteen-year NBA center Jason Collins died at 47 years old after a months-long fight with Stage 4 brain cancer. In 2013, Collins became the first openly gay active men’s pro athlete in a major American sport. He remains the only NBA player to ever come out during his playing career.

Collins wrote articles about his decision to come out and about his cancer diagnosis; both are vulnerable, brilliant pieces of writing. Collins said his years as an openly gay man were the happiest of his life. Sadly, he didn’t get as many as he deserved. But as he struggled with cancer, he wrote about how he hoped that his decision to come out might help others find the confidence to come out and live their best lives; and that even if his cancer treatments didn’t extend his own life, they might help scientists learn more about his rare, deadly disease. An incredible mindset from an incredible man.

🌈🌈 LET’S GO BOWS! 🌈🌈

Hawai’i won the NCAA men’s volleyball championship, packing Pauley Pavilion with rainbows despite their opponents, UC-Irvine, being about 2,500 miles closer to the venue. (I think there are a large number of Hawaiians in LA … but still!) The ‘Bows have a bit of a dynasty on the islands, now up to three national championships in six years. Every NCAA championship in Hawai’i history is in volleyball — four for the Rainbow Warriors, three for the Rainbow Wahine, although the women haven’t won since the 1980s.

🔥🔥 A Fire Rises 🔥🔥

The reborn Portland Fire won their first WNBA game in a shocker: a buzzer-beating putback by Sarah Ashlee Barker over the New York Liberty, one of the supposed best teams in the league. The sold-out Moda Center went nuts. (The WNBA’s other expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, also won their first game, but instead of winning on a buzzer-beater, they simply won by 13 points, which is less exciting I guess but still cool.)

💔💔 Hearts Breaker? 💔💔

Brutal update to our story about the Scottish Premiership last week: Hearts were essentially moments away from winning the title when officials gave Celtic a 99th-minute penalty. Hearts will win the league with a win or draw on Saturday, but now Celtic has a chance to win its fifth consecutive championship with a win.

BTW, I have been informed that I should have mentioned the #1 association Americans have with Heart: the plotline on Succession when Roman Roy buys the team for his father Logan without realizing he’s actually a lifelong fan of their Edinburgh rival, Hibs. (Sorry … I’ve never seen Succession. I know, I know, it’s good, everybody loves it, but how do you expect me to follow every sport on earth and watch prestige TV!)

⚽️📈 Another soccer update 📈⚽️

OK following up on another entry from a previous edition of Sports! the Newsletter: Remember that wild match to decide who got to win the fifth division in English soccer, when Rochdale FC appeared to score a goal to win promotion, and the ensuing pitch-storming by their fans bought their opponent enough time to regroup and score? The story has a happy-and-yet-equally-crazy ending: Rochdale fought their way to the final of the promotion playoff, scored a game-tying goal in the 97th minute, and won in penalties.

🍑🔚 BUTT-ENDING 🍑🔚

I learned a new hockey penalty during the Wild-Avalanche playoff series; Colorado’s Josh Manson received a four-minute double minor for ATTEMPTED BUTT-ENDING. Apparently, this is the official term for when a player jabs an opponent with the handle of their stick, which I guess the league has officially decided is the stick’s butt. It was only the fourth time butt-ending has been called in the 21st century.

⚾️🔍 It is high, it is far, it is … lost? ⚾️🔍

Vanderbilt was robbed in a critical game against Missouri after a probable home run got lost in the fog. Trailing 7-6 with two men on base, a Vandy hitter crushed the ball into the right-field gap … but nobody saw where it went. I think it probably went over the fence, and advanced ball-tracking data agrees, but even if it didn’t, nobody could find the ball. I feel like the players should be allowed to keep running until the defense finds the ball! That’s your problem, figure it out! Instead, the umps declared it a ground-rule double and called the game due to the fog. When the teams came back the next day, Missouri won in extra innings. Vandy is currently right on the NCAA Tournament bubble and really could’ve used the W.

⛳️🏌️‍♀️ PGA Championship 🏌️‍♀️⛳️

Thursday through Sunday at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (ESPN and CBS, final round on CBS)

We all know the four golf majors: the pretty one, the British one, the American one, and … uhhh … the other one! The likes of Rory McIlroy and defending champ Scottie Scheffler will be in contention yet again. But I’ve got my eye on Xander Schauffele, one of the PGA tour’s best scramblers, which might be key at Aronimink, where McIlroy said “strategy off the tee is nonexistent.”

We’re posting this after the actual start of the PGA Championship, but we’re not alone in lateness. Garrick Higgo was given a two-stroke penalty for missing his 7:18 a.m. tee time Thursday morning. Not something you see a lot in major tournaments!

⛹️‍♂️⛹️‍♂️ NBA Playoffs Update ⛹️‍♂️⛹️‍♂️

No upcoming Knicks games, BECAUSE THEY SWEPT THE SIXERS AND GOT AN ENTIRE WEEK OFF!

🚙 Pistons – ⚔️ Cavaliers (CLE leads 3-2) – Cleveland has won three in a row with Donovan Mitchell and James Harden alternating big games. The plan is coming together the way Kobi Altman envisioned when he flipped Darius Garland for Harden at the deadline. I said before the series that the Jarrett Allen-Jalen Duren matchup could decide the series, and while Allen hasn’t been a world-beater, Duren has been atrocious to the point of being benched for the entire fourth quarter and overtime of Game 5 in favor of “BBall” Paul Reed, who was lowkey Detroit’s best player down the stretch. (Game 6: Friday, 7 p.m. ET; Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, TBD)

🤠 Spurs – 🌲 Timberwolves (SAS leads 3-2) – San Antonio looks dominant in games when Victor Wembanyama does not get ejected for elbowing a dude in the neck. San Antonio put up 68(!!) points in the paint in its Game 5 win with Wemby and Co., simply outsizing and outrunning the Timberwolves’ paint protectors. On the other end, the Wolves can’t score enough to keep up. Would they match up better with San Antonio if they still had Karl-Anthony Towns? (Game 6: Friday, 9:30 p.m. ET; Game 7 (if necessary): Sunday, TBD)

🏒🥅NHL Playoffs Update 🥅🏒

Two series left here as well. After Carolina swept Philadelphia, the Avalanche took down the Wild in five to move on to the conference finals.

🤺 Sabres – 🇨🇦 Canadiens (Series tied 2-2) – If you watch any playoff hockey, make it this series. Zach Benson’s third-period wrister gave Buffalo the win in Game 4. Can either team beat Carolina in the next round? Who cares? I’m having a great time right now! (Game 5: Thursday, 7 p.m. ET; Game 6: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET)

🎰 Golden Knights – 🦆 Ducks (VGK leads 3-2) – The Ducks both scored a power play goal and got a good Lukáš Dostál performance in net — the two keys I wrote about on Monday — aaaaand they still lost a pivotal Game 5 in a 2-2 series. (Game 6: Thursday, 9:30 p.m. ET; Game 7 (if necessary): Saturday, 5 p.m. ET)

🏒🥅 PWHL Finals 🥅🏒

We’ve got an all-Canada finals between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire! The Victoire should be the heavy favorite here; they dominated the regular season with the most wins and best goal differential, and have Team Canada’s captain and goalie in Marie-Philip Poulin and Ann-Renée Desbiens. (I do love that they emphasized Québécois-ness in their roster construction.) But when given the choice, they did specifically choose not to play the 4th-seeded Charge in their first round series, and Ottawa easily dispatched its first-round opponent in four games.

🏒🥅IIHF Men’s World Championship 🥅🏒

A lot of hockey in here! What a time for puckheads!

Team USA is the reigning champion after winning this tournament last year for the first time since since 1933 (and they won gold at the Olympics, in case you forgot!) But the roster is quite a bit different, since the NHL playoffs are ongoing and only eliminated players are available. The only 2026 Olympian on the roster is Matthew Tkachuk, but they should still be among the tournament favorites. Sidney Crosby surprisingly announced he’s playing this one. Remember, he’s 38 years old, he suffered an injury in Milan, and the Penguins were playing playoff hockey just a few days ago. You’ve gotta figure he’s motivated by that overtime loss in the gold medal game to Team USA.

🐴🌻👒Preakness Stakes 👒🌻🐴

Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, in Baltimore (NBC)

Kentucky Derby champ Golden Tempo won’t be running this one, so throw out the Triple Crown chances for this year. In fact, only three horses from the Derby are running, and third-place finisher Ocelli has the best odds among them. Golden Tempo’s jockey, Jose Ortiz, will be riding the wonderfully named Chip Honcho. Iron Honor has the best odds, but I do not like the vibes of that name at all.

🎾🏆 NCAA tennis championships 🏆🎾

Thursday through Sunday, Athens, Georgia (NCAA.com)

Eight teams left for both the men and the women, and we’ve got clear favorites on both sides. For the men, Wake Forest is the top seed and defending champion; for the women, Georgia is the top seed and defending champion (and playing at home!)

🥎🥎NCAA Softball regionals 🥎🥎

Friday-Sunday (ESPN family of networks)

64 teams enter, 16 teams leave. I’m rooting for basically any mid-major to get out of the first weekend. Last year, the only one to make it through was Liberty, which, you know, not exactly a Cinderella story. I’m wondering if maybe Belmont, whose ace pitcher Maya Johnson has a 0.66 ERA and dominant wins over Georgia and Mississippi State, can take down #1 Alabama. Keep an eye on ESPN’s 7Innings Live whiparound coverage to see if anything fun shakes loose.

🏉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇫🇷 Women’s Six Nations: England vs. France 🏉🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇫🇷

Sunday, 11:45 a.m. ET, in Bordeaux, France (Peacock)

For the fourth-straight year, the championship of this round robin rugby competition comes down to undefeated England vs. undefeated France in the final week. England has won the last three meetings, as part of a seven-year Six Nations winning streak for the Red Roses. However, France is getting closer: the score was 43-42 England last year, and this time they’re playing in France.

Click here to read article