Players such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays helped shape baseball, and America. So why has the number of black players halved since the 1980s?In 1954, a young black man from Alabama, Willie Mays, took New York and then America by storm. A centerfielder for the New York Giants, he won the 1954 National League MVP and led his team to victory in the World Series, making a catch along the way that became arguably the most famous play in baseball history. But Mays was more than the game’s best player: he became became America’s most popular athlete, especially in the African American community. That popularity was famously captured as he played stick ball with kids on the streets of...
With the impending end of the Cleveland dynasty in the East, the NBA must look into doing away with the current system altogetherOver the past few years LeBron James has been firmly in control of the Eastern Conference: his teams have made the NBA finals every year since 2011. But we could soon see the end of that streak. The Cleveland Cavaliers are currently in turmoil – their second-best player, Kyrie Irving wants out and insiders have speculated that James may opt-out of his contract at the end of next season should the team fail to rebuild.If James and Irving do leave, it would leave a huge vacuum in the already diluted Eastern Conference, one that might not get filled...
Players such as Didier Drogba and Eden Hazard are part owners of teams in the States. But it’s not top-flight MLS that attracts themFor years, the foreign soccer star was a fleeting sight on American soil: they came, they partied, they played a few games and then ... they left. Now though, they’re not just passing through on an offseason Las Vegas binge or seeing out their careers in MLS. A new wave of stars are putting down roots by investing in America’s professional game. But it’s not the top league – MLS – that they’re interested in. They’re throwing themselves into second-tier competitions such as the North American Soccer League and United Soccer League. They’re either joining fledgling, ambitious...
Inspired by the Irish star’s upcoming super-fight, Jon Jones says he wants to fight 40-year-old Brock Lesnar. But the chase for money could hurt MMAJon Jones sat and waited from afar for the past two and a half years while UFC’s big-money era started without him. That’s why, mere minutes after his perfect finish of Daniel Cormier on Saturday, Jones moved on from the best performance of his career to the prospect of something — and someone — larger.“Brock Lesnar, if you want to know what it feels like to get your ass kicked by a guy who weighs 40lbs less than you, meet me in the Octagon,” Jones howled, in a statement directed at the pro wrestling star and...
Tim Howard is still the first-choice keeper, Darlington Nagbe shone in midfield and Jozy Altidore remains the team’s focal point ahead of next year’s World CupTo the USA got what they needed out of the Gold Cup. If there was ever any doubt that Bruce Arena was playing to lift the trophy, the call-up of some of his biggest players after the group stage demonstrated absolutely that Arena knew what was at stake here. Arena had entered the US job damned with faint praise as the safest pair of hands to help the US fight its way out of World Cup qualifying trouble, but over the course of what’s now 14 unbeaten games he has carved out something like a...