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☆ Given Plenty of Space, Lionel Messi Is Putting on a Show
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Victor Mather | More About Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When it was announced that Lionel Messi was coming to Major League Soccer, there was excitement, of course. Would he treat his stay in the league as a retirement tour or even a vacation? Messi had two more goals on Wednesday night, bringing his total to five in his three games for his new team, Inter Miami. Still saddled with the worst record in the league, Inter is playing with panache, and Messi, at times, looks unstoppable. Messi’s arrival after two years at Paris St.-Germain coincided with the start of the Leagues Cup, a newly expanded tournament for teams from M.L.S.

Persons: Lionel Messi, Messi, Germain Organizations: Major League Soccer, Inter Miami, Inter, Paris St, Leagues, M.L.S, Mexico’s Liga MX Locations: Paris

☆ Cricket Dispute Has Australia Leading and England Crying Foul
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It just wasn’t cricket. Even as salaries soar and stakes mount, professional cricket has clung to the notion that it is a game for gentlemen and ladies, with players held to a higher standard of sportsmanship. Ball-doctoring and betting scandals have taken some of the shine off the traditions of the game, but the sense that fair play is the highest goal still hangs on, especially at Lord’s, the London venue that is the traditional home of cricket. But an incident on Sunday in the Ashes series between England and Australia led to a fierce dispute among partisans of both teams, a comment from a prime minister and even some ugly scenes in the hallowed grounds of Lord’s. England trailed the five-match series, 1-0, and the second match was coming down to the wire in its fifth and final day.

Organizations: England Locations: Lord’s, London, England, Australia

PinnedThe PGA Tour and LIV Golf, the insurgent league bankrolled by billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday that they had agreed to a merger, ending a bitter and costly fight for supremacy of men’s professional golf that had divided top players, everyday fans and corporate sponsors. Now, by merging with the PGA Tour, it has gained a foothold that guarantees it outsize influence in the game’s future. The PIF also will have right of first refusal on new investments in the merged tour, according to the statement announcing the merger. “Going forward, PIF will have the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour.” The PGA Tour will appoint a majority of the board, the statement said, and hold a majority voting interest in the combined entity. In a memorandum to PGA Tour players on Tuesday, Monahan said the wealth fund would have a minority position in the new for-profit company that will control men’s golf.

Persons: LIV Golf, bankrolling LIV, “, PIF, LIV, Jay Monahan, we’ve, LIV . Monahan, Yasir al, Monahan, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, LIV signees, Graeme McDowell, “ It’s, ” Organizations: PGA, Premier League soccer, Public Investment Fund, PGA Tour, ”, Public Investment, U.S Locations: Saudi, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Lewis Hamilton drove aggressively and overtook rivals, sometimes with apparent ease. George Russell gained several places by zipping up the pit lane at the start and held off a late challenge from Sergio Perez. It was a great day for Mercedes. Once again, Max Verstappen of Red Bull raced away from the Formula One field in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday, winning the pole, and then on race day never holding any position but first. With five wins in seven races (and two seconds), he is on his way to his third straight Formula One title, barring a major shock.

Persons: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Organizations: Mercedes, Formula, Prix, Sunday Locations: Spanish, Barcelona

☆ North America Got the 2026 World Cup. Which City Will Get the Final?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At most other World Cups, there is an obvious choice for the final game. Moscow, Rio de Janeiro and Paris were always going to be chosen when their countries hosted the tournament. But there are several attractive candidates for the 2026 final, to be played July 19. The only previous time the United States hosted the World Cup, in 1994, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., got the final. This time, SoFi Stadium is the Los Angeles-area site on the list of stadiums for 2026.

☆ What to Know About the N.B.A. Draft Lottery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fans of the N.B.A. draft lottery may seem an odd spectacle, but it can affect the future of franchises for years to come. When and where is the lottery, and how can I watch? The lottery is Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern in Chicago. The 14 teams that did not make the playoffs are eligible; that includes the four teams that made the play-in games but failed to advance to the playoffs proper.

☆ A Tennis Match That’s Also a College Program’s Farewell
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

This is where a college tennis team has the greatest moment in its history. For the first time, the men’s team from St. Francis of Brooklyn was playing in the N.C.A.A. But after the first-round match was over on Friday, and St. Francis had fallen, 4-0, to Columbia, the program was no more. St. Francis is dropping all of its sports at the end of the school year for budgetary reasons. Chad Davis played at St. Francis and has been the men’s tennis coach for 19 years.

☆ Serena Williams Wanted Another Baby. At the Met Gala, She Said She’s Pregnant.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Serena Williams has resisted saying publicly that she has retired from tennis and the finality that would bring, but now she has another reason to stay away from competition in the near future. Amid the costume-themed glitz of the Met Gala on Monday night Williams announced, both on the red carpet and on social media, that she was pregnant with her second child. She attended the event with her husband, Alexis Ohanian, a co-founder of Reddit, and said in a post on Instagram that she “was so excited when Anna Wintour invited the 3 of us to the Met Gala.”On the red carpet before the event, Ohanian put his hand on his wife’s stomach in a gesture indicating a pregnancy. Williams also posted a series of portraits that included an image of her cradling her stomach with both hands.

☆ Putting the Brutality of a Prize Fight on the Met Opera Stage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Many in the crowd of 7,500 were begging” the referee to intervene, The Times reported. The referee, Ruby Goldstein, was later exonerated by the State Athletic Commission. The opera’s second act deals with the fallout from the fatal punches, and Griffith’s later life, including a brutal beating he received outside a gay bar. (The conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin emerges in the pit for the second act in a boxer’s hooded robe.) Helping to make it look accurate was Michael Bentt, a former professional world champion who served as the opera’s boxing consultant.

☆ Jets, Giants Focus on Defense in Round 1 of the N.F.L. Draft
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The New York area’s football teams, at least moderately successful last year, did not get to pick in the glamorous top few spots in the first round of the N.F.L. Away from the spotlight, they both selected defensive players who look like they can help already solid cores. Anything the Jets did on draft day was going to be overshadowed by the blockbuster trade for the future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers earlier in the week. That acquisition prompted many prognosticators to assume the Jets would take an offensive lineman to protect their new asset. 15 (two slots lower than originally assigned because of a pick swap in the Rodgers deal), the Jets went for Will McDonald IV, an edge-rushing defensive end from Iowa State.

☆ Knicks vs. Heat: Brawls, Nail-Biters and a Clinging Coach
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Riley, who had led the Knicks for three seasons, had become the coach of the Heat, and there was bad blood over the move. The Heat eventually had to send the Knicks a first-round pick after they were found to have tampered with Riley while he was still under contract. It started when Charles Oakley of the Knicks bumped Alonzo Mourning of the Heat and was ejected. Five Knicks were suspended — Ward, Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, John Starks and Larry Johnson — and only one Heat player, Brown. Because so many Knicks had been suspended, the penalties were staggered: Three Knicks were to miss Game 6 and two Game 7.

☆ Dallas Mavericks Fined $750,000 for ‘Desire to Lose’ a Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Dallas Mavericks were fined $750,000 by the N.B.A. on Friday for playing a weakened lineup in a game in an effort to miss the postseason and hang on to a first-round draft pick. The Mavericks sat out five of their best players for their second-to-last game of the season, against the Chicago Bulls on April 7. The remaining Mavericks lost the game, 115-112, and were eliminated from a chance to qualify for a play-in game. “It’s not so much waving the white flag,” Coach Jason Kidd told reporters after the game.

☆ The Most Unpredictable Horse Race in the World
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Because horses have so few opportunities to race over the larger fences, many of the horses in the field will have tried them perhaps only once before, or never. A horse who has been successful in ordinary steeplechases may turn out to be unable to deal with the higher fences. Unless entrants have raced in the National before, they will be trying such a long distance for the first time. In most horse races, it is not uncommon for many of the horses to have raced one another several times in recent months, giving a good sense of which ones are better than the others. Most of them race just a few times a season.

☆ What Is Offside in Soccer?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Victor Mather | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The actor Ryan Reynolds — who, remember, owns a soccer team — admits he doesn’t understand it but has sought cover by saying, “in fairness, nobody understands the offside rule.”But now you will understand it. In this case, the attacking player is onside when the ball is passed, and so is not offside, even though the player then moves offside before receiving the ball. An Offside Teammate Even if a player doesn’t get the ball, that player can be offside. An Acceptable Position In this case, the attacking player uninvolved in the action is far enough away to be considered what is called passively offside. If a player receives the ball directly from a corner kick, that player cannot be offside.

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