Mike Pendleton

Spurs' Victor Wembanyama has officially grown again and is almost the tallest player in NBA history He continues to tower above the competition.

by my calculations Wemby will be 9 foot, 9 inches by the time he retires

Some personal news: today is my final day at The Athletic, ending a 6+ year tenure on its staff.

Immensely fortunate to have covered this sport alongside some of the finest writers and editors in the industry. Will keep you posted as I figure out what’s next for my work!

Jeff. You’ve done amazing work over those 6 years. The quality of your reporting and deep knowledge and care of what your reporting about will be so missed and has few peers. Hope the next chapter is an even better one.

An image of a Giants player back flipping with the text He’s genuinely an idiot. GUNNER OLSZEWSKI on Cam Skattebo

All-time social media graphic from ESPN

I’ve now watched this ~800 times

Leo Fernandes and Seba Guenzatti both on that list too

Surge in colonoscopies after the King misses time following prep day

we are so close to this

Old LeBron going for relatable vibes in his late career with us geriatrics

I made this joke in a group chat earlier and I wish it had been fully appreciated

Hopefully Nashville SC get to defend their US Open Cup title next year and MLS isn't allowed to continue withdrawing its teams from the country's domestic cup competition.

This is (part of) how you make the Open Cup a big deal. By treating it...like a big deal. Lots of respect to Nashville SC for this.

Yeah, that would be sensible.

I'm just not sure how much he even "invests" here. Some of these are essentially gifted AFAIK or given to them for a nominal fee for way less than valuation.

Caleb Williams will do zero to move Legacy's relevance in or outside of Boston. Tom Brady on the other hand, David Ortiz, Jayson Tatum? Sure.

Yeah, totally. If you’re engaged, or put some real bank behind it, it can be a thing. But those are definitely the minority.

I think it’s just a dumb thing sports teams are doing these days because they see other sports teams doing it, but don’t put in the real work to make it work.

It’s almost the equivalent of dropping a graphic that says:

“CALEB WILLIAMS. BOUGHT 5 SHARES OF APPLE STOCK.”

Hahaha. Exactly.

(Although in his case he’s such a sicko that there’s a non-zero chance.)

Don’t get me wrong, it’s harmless, but it’s also meaningless, too. At one point you could say it’s some symbol of “supporting women’s sports”, but unless he’s at Legacy games with some relevant frequency waving a scarf, I think it’s probably best as a sport that we move past these things.

There was a point, maybe 5-8 years ago, where celebrity “investors” were cool and seemed meaningful, but I think we’ve jumped the shark on that. If someone is super local and highly-involved/engaged or is putting REAL money, then I’m all-in. Otherwise these are novelties that are pretty much a yawn.

How are you feeling about all of it? Same as it was?

Has it broken ground at all?

Wonder if these guys will have to fulfill the office building component (I’d assume so as that’s what effectively got them $1 rent.)

Man, back in the day A10 hoops was fun as hell

The Women’s Champions League coverage on Paramount+ is nice. Pregame, half-time, post-game. All in the big studio. Nicely done.

I just wouldn’t bother with this guy. I blocked him. He’s just a reply guy troll.

That’s Seattle. And it will impact Boston as well. There’s 14 other teams. Obviously they’re solving the training facility thing if they’re going to continue playing during the knockouts. And if they offered up their own training facilities are part of the bid, well, they own that.

That isn’t even the case you made. You made a case about traffic. I’m tired of you. You’re consistently NWSL’s greatest defender as a “reply guy” from an anonymous account. Half the time talking entirely out of your ass.

And guess what? The WC doesn’t play in those venues every day! They don’t even play there every other day!

You named One (1) team where that is an issue.

It will be a 16 team league next year. 2 are in WC venues. 6 of those 16 are in WC cities. I can assure you that other events will be concurrently happening in those cities. MLB isn’t pausing for the WC.

Like, I totally understand MLS taking it off. Or NWSL taking off a WWC (domestic or otherwise due to the quantity of players).
But I can’t wrap my head around this.

But yeah, in a coordinated effort this could be a major boon. So many great facilities and great players. It should be a showpiece.