| | | | | | | Presented By BRD | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker ·Jun 03, 2021 | | 👋 Good morning! Has your best friend signed up yet? Get on that: axios.com/referral. 🏀 Stat du jour: The road team has won all five games in the Mavericks-Clippers series, the third time that has ever happened in NBA history. Today's word count: 1,930 words (7 minutes). Let's sports... | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏀 The end of an empire |  | | | Photo illustration: Aïda Amer. Photo: Peyton Williams/Getty Images | | | | Mike Krzyzewski, the winningest coach in men's college hoops history and a basketball legend, will retire at the end of next season. "My family and I view today as a celebration. Our time at both West Point and Duke has been beyond amazing and we are thankful ... That, coupled with 11 unforgettable years as the United States National Team coach, has resulted in a remarkable journey." — Krzyzewski Why it matters: Coach K's departure will leave Duke with its first new head coach since 1980, when Krzyzewski arrived in Durham after five seasons coaching his alma mater, West Point. - Krzyzewski went 38-47 in his first three seasons at Duke. He then proceeded to build a basketball empire, making 12 Final Fours and winning five national titles (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010 and 2015).
- Last season marked just the second time since 1983 — and the first time since 1995 — that he failed to lead Duke to the NCAA tournament.
The big picture: Coach K is in a class with Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim, but also John Wooden and Pat Summitt — and even the likes of Vince Lombardi and Sir Alex Ferguson if we go beyond the hardwood. - He transformed the Blue Devils into a global brand and turned Duke into a place where students camp out in tents just to see a game. That's impact — the kind we all dream of having during our one shot at life.
- Coach K won five Olympic gold medals, three as a head coach, earning respect from — and building relationships with — legends like LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
- Think of all the players he coached at Duke: Laettner, Redick, Hill, Battier, Hurley, Tatum, Williamson, Amaker, Dawkins, Irving, Deng, Ingram, Brand, Boozer, Dunleavy, Singler, Duhon, Maggette.
What's next: Jon Scheyer, Duke's associate head coach and one of Krzyzewski's former players (2006–10), will succeed him. What a feeling this must be for the 33-year-old. Here they are years ago... Source: @DukeMBB (Twitter) What they're saying: - Jay Bilas, ESPN (and Duke alum): "Coach K's level of excellence over 40-plus years as a head coach at Duke, we've never seen anything like it .... This is going to be the toughest act to follow in sports history."
- Ian O'Connor, NY Post: "Krzyzewski might be held up as a saintly figure in the corrupt enterprise that is major college sports, but at his core, he is a low-income street kid from Chicago, the son of a cleaning lady ... and an elevator operator."
- Michael Baumann, The Ringer: "Hearing that Krzyzewski is stepping down from the Duke bench is akin to hearing that the Big Mac is off the McDonald's menu, or Mickey Mouse is leaving Disney."
The last word: A wonderful story from ESPN's Gene Wojciechowski: "After year 3, Duke boosters wanted K fired. In 4th season, [AD Tom] Butters gave K a new 5-year deal. K cried in Butters' office. 'Tom, you don't have to do this,' said K. Said Butters: 'Coach, on the contrary, I not only need to do it, I need to do it right now.' The rest is history." In other coaching news ... Brad Stevens is leaving the sideline to take over for Danny Ainge as the Celtics' new head of basketball operations. |     | | | | | | 2. 💵 Trading card boom: Ruth sets record |  Data: Action Network; Note: *Valued at $6m, with fractional shares to be sold via Collectable; Chart: Axios Visuals A 1914 Babe Ruth "pre-rookie" card has been valued at $6 million, making it the most expensive sports trading card of all time, Jeff writes. What's next: The privately-owned card will be partially sold on Collectable, a fractional investing platform where users can buy shares of sports memorabilia. - This card depicts a 19-year-old Ruth, then a pitcher with the minor league Baltimore Orioles before the Red Sox bought his contract on July 4, 1914. He made his MLB debut a week later.
- Collectable will offer 20,000 shares at $3 each, with the total offering equaling 1% of the card's equity. Once that IPO is complete (i.e. once all shares are sold), this will officially be the most valuable card ever.
Courtesy: Collectable The big picture: The trading card boom that exploded early in the pandemic and evolved with the influx of NFTs has only gotten bigger. - When we ran this similar story in March, seven of the 10 most expensive cards ever had been sold in the previous eight months.
- Since then, four more cards have entered the top 10, including three in the past two weeks.
Final numbers: For the first time ever, the 10 most valuable trading cards of all time are each worth over $3 million. | | | | | | | | 3. ⚽️ Copa América moves to Brazil |  Data: Our World in Data; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios Brazil has stepped in to host this month's Copa América, but the issues that caused the former hosts to drop out are roughly as bad in Brazil, Axios' Jeff Tracy and Dave Lawler write. The backdrop: The soccer tournament — originally set for last summer in Colombia and Argentina — was delayed a year by the pandemic. It's now scheduled to begin on June 13. - Colombia lost hosting privileges on May 20 amid mounting civil unrest, which stemmed from an April tax reform proposal.
- Argentina followed suit on May 31 after its record-setting COVID spike led to the suspension of its domestic soccer season.
The state of play: Brazil, which hosted and won the 2019 Copa América, swooped in to save the tournament, which is second in prestige only to the World Cup for the soccer-mad countries involved. - Yes, but: Brazil is facing its own COVID nightmare (its 465,000 deaths trail only the United States' 595,000), plus widespread protests due to President Jair Bolsonaro's dismissive approach toward the pandemic.
- In other words, Colombia's civil unrest and Argentina's COVID surge have been replaced by Brazil — which is suffering from both.
Demonstrators take part in a protest against Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic in Sao Paulo. Photo: Nelson Almeida/AFP via Getty Images By the numbers: In the past week, there have been 3.34 million new confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide. India tops the list (34.4%), followed by Brazil (12.9%), Argentina (6.9%) and Colombia (4.8%). Snapshot ... A sampling of vaccination rates and cases around the world. - South America: Brazil (11% fully vaccinated; 7,877 cases per 100,000 people); Colombia (6.5%; 6,819); Argentina (6.3%; 8,494).
- North America: U.S. (41%; 10,144); Canada (5.8%; 3,705); Mexico (9.9%; 1,897)
- Europe: U.K. (39%; 6,725); Italy (20%; 7,004); Germany (19%; 4,448)
- Asia: Japan (2.9%; 596); India (3.2%; 2,072); South Korea (4.3%; 274)
The bottom line: Japan isn't the only country set to host an international sporting event this summer with COVID still raging among a mostly unvaccinated population. | | | | | | | | A message from BRD | | The second best time to buy crypto is now | | |  | | | | Crypto is here to stay. Now it's easier than ever to get involved. BRD is one of the fastest and simplest ways to get started buying bitcoin, ethereum and several other cryptocurrencies. Get into the crypto market sooner rather than later with BRD. | | | | | | 5. 🏀 NBA playoffs: The East semis are set |  | | | Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images | | | | With Philadelphia and Atlanta advancing Wednesday night, the Eastern Conference semifinals are now set: - 76ers vs. Hawks: Sixers center Joel Embiid has a lateral meniscus tear in his right knee. He didn't play on Wednesday and is listed as day-to-day. Huge storyline to watch.
- Bucks vs. Nets: This series has everything. Three MVPs at or near the peak of their powers. Six All-Stars still in their prime, three per side. The NBA's best offense vs. a dominant defense.
Meanwhile, out West ... The top-seeded Jazz took down the Grizzlies to become the first team to advance, while the Mavericks beat the Clippers, 105-100, to take a 3-2 series lead. - Wild stat: Luka Dončić (42 points in Game 5) has 359 points through his first 11 playoff games. The only players with more are Michael Jordan, Bob McAdoo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain.
📆 Tonight ... Nuggets at Trail Blazers, 8pm ET (DEN leads 3-2); Suns at Lakers, 10:30pm (PHX leads 3-2) | | | | | | | | 6. 🏒 NHL playoffs: Avs go up 2-0, Habs win | | Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) DENVER — Philipp Grubauer outdueled fellow Vezina Trophy finalist Marc-André Fluery and Mikko Rantanen scored the OT game-winner to lead Colorado past Vegas, 3-2, and give the Avalanche a 2-0 series lead. Photo: David Lipnowski/Getty Images WINNIPEG — The Canadiens beat the Jets, 5-3, in Game 1 of their second-round series, a victory tempered by a dangerous late-game hit on Montreal center Jake Evans that left him unconscious. 📆 Tonight ... Bruins at Islanders, 7:30pm (Tied 1-1); Hurricanes at Lightning, 8pm (TB leads 2-0) | | | | | | | | Bonus: 📸 Pic du jour | | Photo: David Lipnowski/Getty Images Following the hit, Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers rushed over and shielded Evans from the scrum. - Why it matters: You rarely see a player protect their opponent like that in the heat of the moment. That's how you respect the game.
| | | | | | | | 6. 🏈 NFL pledges to halt "race-norming" practice |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | The NFL has pledged to halt its use of "race-norming" — a practice that assumes Black players have a lower baseline level of cognition — in its near-billion-dollar concussion settlement, Axios' Shawna Chen writes. Why it matters: The use of "race-norming" meant that Black players had to show a larger cognitive decline to qualify for the settlement. Catch up quick: In 2013, the NFL agreed to a $765 million settlement after facing a flood of lawsuits from retired players who alleged the league concealed what it knew about the dangers of repeated head trauma. - The $765 million cap has since been removed, and more than $856 million has been awarded to 1,263 retired players as of May 21.
- Those who claim their careers led to dementia or similar cognitive diseases are required to undergo medical testing to determine if they are eligible for compensation.
| | | | | | | | 7. ⚡️ Lightning round |  Data: PwC; Chart: Danielle Alberti/Axios 🎮 Video game boom: Video games are by far the globe's fastest-growing slice of media and entertainment, Axios' Sara Fischer writes. 🐎 Drugs, confirmed: Medina Spirit's positive drug test after the Kentucky Derby has been confirmed, setting the stage for the horse to be the second ever disqualified as the winner because of a failed drug test. ⚾️ 11-run first inning: The Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first inning of a 14-3 win over the Cardinals — their highest-scoring regular-season inning since they moved to L.A. 🏒 Sabres win lottery: Buffalo will have the No. 1 pick on July 23, followed by Seattle at No. 2 and Anaheim at No. 3. The projected top pick is Michigan defenseman Owen Power. ⛳️ Men's golf title: Pepperdine beat Oklahoma in Scottsdale, Arizona, to claim its first national championship since 1997. | | | | | | | | 8. 📆 June 3, 1888: Casey at the Bat | | Photo: Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images 133 years ago today, one of the world's greatest works of baseball fiction was introduced when the San Francisco Examiner published Ernest Thayer's 573-word poem, "Casey at the Bat." Synopsis: Mighty Casey was Mudville's most feared slugger. In the bottom of the ninth with Mudville down two, he's due up fifth. The first two batters go quietly, but the next two, Flynn and Jimmy Blake — famously weak hitters — start a surprising rally... But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all, And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball; And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred, There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third. Finally, Casey comes to bat and the crowd is giddy with excitement... The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate, He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate; And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go, And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow. Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light; And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out. It may be fiction, but that right there — momentum building only for it to end in anticlimax — is classic baseball heartbreak. 📚 Go deeper: Full poem | | | | | | | | 9. 🏀 NBA trivia | | Source: Giphy Trae Young is one of two visiting players in NBA history with three straight 30-point playoff games at Madison Square Garden. - Question: Who's the other player?
- Hint: He's pretty good.
Answer at the bottom. | | | | | | | | 10. 📚 Mystery link: Best thing I read | | One of the single best sports profiles I've read in my entire life was published on Wednesday. Just trust me on this one. Phenomenal. Dive in. | | | | | | | | A message from BRD | | The second best time to buy crypto is now | | | | | | | | Crypto is here to stay. Now it's easier than ever to get involved. BRD is one of the fastest and simplest ways to get started buying bitcoin, ethereum and several other cryptocurrencies. Get into the crypto market sooner rather than later with BRD. | | | | Talk tomorrow, Kendall "Trust me" Baker Trivia answer: Michael Jordan |  | | The tool and templates you need for more engaging team updates. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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