Jordan Spieth’s fall to No5 in the world after an all-conquering 2015 reflects a year of toil but at 23 he has plenty of time to return to the topGolfers tend to look upon world rankings as a consequence of success rather than a key incentive. Still, some figures leap out; Luke Donald a lowly 77th, Hideki Matsuyama at a career high of No6 and, suddenly, Jordan Spieth shuffled down to No5.How did this happen to Spieth? Only 12 months ago he had claimed two of the year’s four majors and taken possession of the FedEx Cup. Even Jason Day’s US PGA Championship victory was insufficient to shift Spieth v McIlroy as the rivalry of choice. Perhaps commentators were a...
Disputes over pay mean that the NWSL is struggling to keep hold of top international talentOn the field, the US women’s soccer team has followed up a thrilling NWSL final with a couple of smashing debuts in friendlies against Switzerland. Off the field, the sport is bogged down in the courts and at the negotiating table.The talent pipeline is still intact, a fact US coach Jill Ellis celebrated by calling in a staggering 11 uncapped players for camp. Lynn Williams, fresh from winning the NWSL Golden Boot and posting clutch performances to lift Western New York to the league title, scored just 49 seconds into her debut on 19 October. That was a new record for the fastest debut goal...
The most popular league in the US is suffering this season but even the darkest clouds have silver liningsThere’s no getting around it now. The major storyline of the 2016 NFL season at the midway point is this: the NFL is bad. Even one of the league’s paid PR flacks tacitly acknowledged the negative feeling around the product by tweeting out a passive-aggressive “narrative” hashtag after Week 8 happened to deliver a handful of entertaining games. What a day of #NFL games w/ 3 going OT. #narrative Related: Mediocrity on turf: the NFL is stumbling, but will it recover? Dildo launch from @hub_nation pic.twitter.com/nfL4tI9UVG Continue reading...
It’s never good for interest in a league when it seems like everyone is talking about officiating, and the NFL is struggling with the subject once againThe perfect illustration of the NFL wallowing in their own ratings decline could be seen as the Oakland Raiders set the league record for penalties on Sunday and still won. In what should have been the most exciting battle of the early-afternoon – a wild montage of huge catches, flying tackles and drama that trickled through nearly five quarters of football – America was treated to a endless blizzard of yellow flags.The Raiders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30-24 when Seth Roberts caught a Derek Carr pass, slipped through two tackles and raced to...
Television ratings are down in America’s most popular league. And poor play, cable cutters and player protests have all been blamedAs the owner of the New Jersey Generals in the short-lived United States Football League, Donald Trump took on the NFL and lost. More than 30 years later, the mogul may have extracted an accidental revenge on the world’s most lucrative sports league via his presidential election campaign.Through week four, the NFL’s television ratings were down by 11%. In an internal memo dated 6 October and obtained by several media outlets, two league executives floated an explanation. Related: The NFL needs help when even its marquee games stink Related: Roger Goodell on NFL TV ratings slump: 'We don't think we've...