The ESPN Daily: A disaster for the Dodgers, NFL contenders gone wrong, and inside the Jaguars ‘ax-cident’
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Sweet victory … It has been 21 years, 13 coaches, a new arena, and a long stretch of mediocrity since the Washington Mystics debuted in 1998. But all of that seems insignificant now, as the Mystics finally captured an elusive WNBA title Thursday night. They couldn’t have done it without the elite play and leadership of their star Elena Delle Donne, who revealed after Game 5 that she played with not one but three herniated disks in her back en route to hoisting the trophy. Read More
A disaster for the Dodgers … They entered this postseason as National League favorites to make the World Series, a juggernaut-in-the-making riding a 106-win regular season. They’re exiting it after an NLDS that saw the wild-card Nationals prevail in a heartstopping Game 5. How did things go so wrong so quickly for what might have been the NL’s best team? Jeff Passan puts the blame squarely on manager Dave Roberts. Read More
The rise of “Horns Down” … Oklahoma visits Texas this weekend in the latest chapter of the Red River Rivalry, and you can expect the “Horns Down” sign to come into play, especially if Oklahoma has the advantage. While the sig has existed in some form or another for 60 years, it’s only over the past 12 months or so that it has taken on a life of its own. We’re bringing back this deep dive into the rise of the symbol to get you up to speed. Read More
An emotional return … Efe Obada was a victim of human trafficking from the Netherlands to London when he was only 10 years old before being abandoned on the streets with his older sister. At the time, he knew nothing of American football … but it would end up saving him. As the Carolina Panthers defensive end returns to London this weekend, he shared his incredible story. Read More
NFL contenders gone wrong … So much can happen in five games in the NFL. For these six teams, what happened was this: they went from preseason contenders for the playoffs to teetering on the brink of irrelevance. Bill Barnwell examines these playoff fallers to find out exactly what went wrong — from simple injuries to failures to properly self-scout. Read More
Inside the ‘ax-cident’ … In 2003, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio brought an ax and a tree stump into the team’s locker room to inspire the players to “keep chopping wood.” You might know the rest of the story: Somehow, the ax ended up in punter Chris Hanson’s right leg. What you might not know is that the infamous ax is still at the stadium. We recall one of the weirdest injury stories in NFL history and find out why the darn thing is still kicking around. Read More
Trash talk, LeBron tweets, and the battle for DBU … Both LSU and Florida have produced their share of top-flight defensive back talent, but really, only one can be the true “DBU.” The full history of the dispute is something to behold, and encompasses people from across the sports world. We try to determine which school has the better claim to the title — with a cameo appearance from Ohio State. Read More
Miles To Go: Les Miles and Kansas Football Six weeks into the Jayhawks’ season, they rank last in the Big 12 in points per game. See what Les Miles decided to change in our latest episode of “Miles To Go.” Watch
“… whenever they stop talking just about me, they start talking about the organization and talking about how they made the worst decision and how it could be the worst trade in NBA history. That all motivates me, for sure.”
— Trae Young, on how he uses negativity to motivate himself Read more
On this date in 1992, Deion Sanders played an NFL game for the Atlanta Falcons, flew to Pittsburgh, and suited up for the Atlanta Braves in an MLB playoff game in hopes of becoming the first professional athlete to play both sports in the same day. Unfortunately, the Braves did not put him in the lineup, but still: pretty cool.
MLB playoffs (All weekend, Fox/FS1/TBS): We’re down to four teams as the AL and NL championship series begin. Will the Yankees add to their past postseason glory? Are the upstart Nationals for real? You’ll have to watch to find out.
Portugal vs. Luxembourg (Friday, 2:35 p.m. ET, ESPN+); Czech Republic vs. England (2:35 p.m. ET, ESPN+): Two Euro 2020 qualifiers for you here. On the one hand, you could watch Ronaldo strut his stuff; on the other, the Czech Republic taking on England could be a really excellent match. Or, you could have both games open on different screens. That’s what we’d do.
No. 20 Virginia vs. Miami (Friday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN): The Hurricanes are 2-3, but all of their losses have been extremely close, including an early-season matchup where they played tough against current No. 7 Florida. The Cavaliers will have their hands full when they roll into Miami.
League of Legends Worlds Groups (Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. ET, ESPN+): Get ready to see the finest teams in League of Legends compete in the early rounds of the World Championship. Need to see when your favorite team is playing? We’ve got you covered: Read more
College Gameday (Saturday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN): Gameday travels to Baton Rouge for the LSU-Florida matchup. For a first look at the top stories and marquee matchups, make sure to tune in to our Countdown to GameDay (Saturday, 8:30 a.m. ET, ESPN App/YouTube/Twitter/Facebook). After the crew makes its picks, stay on the ESPN family of networks for a full day of college football, including South Carolina at No. 3 Georgia at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.
No. 7 Florida at No. 5 LSU (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN): Huge matchup of ranked teams here. Florida has one of the stingiest defenses in the country, but LSU’s offense is ridiculously difficult to shut down. It’s the matchup with the biggest College Football Playoff implications this week. Read more