Axios Sports: $324 million

Plus: Federer's squash shot. | Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Babbel   Axios Sports By Kendall Baker ·Jul 07, 2021 👋 Good morning! The Lightning have a chance to clinch the Stanley Cup in Tampa tonight (8pm ET). 🏒 Stat du jour: Since 1980, every Stanley Cup Final has featured at least one of Jaromir Jagr's teammates. Today's word count: 1,809 words (7 minutes). Let's sports...     1 big thing: 🏀 CP3 leads Suns to Game 1 win Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images   After waiting 16 years, Chris Paul wasted no time making his mark on the NBA Finals, scoring 32 points (12-19 FG) and adding nine assists to lead the Suns past the Bucks, 118-105, in Game 1. By the numbers: The Suns made 25 consecutive free throws to start the game, an NBA Finals record. Their only miss came with 25 seconds left (shoutout Jae Crowder). Paul has 73 points in his last two games, tied for the most over a two-game span in his career. He's arguably never been better than he is right now, at age 36. Deandre Ayton joined Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players with 20+ points, 15+ rebounds and 80+ FG% in a Finals game in the shot clock era. Not bad company! Devin Booker added 27 points, including 12 in the all-important first quarter. If these three remain in sync, Phoenix is nearly unstoppable. The other side: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 20 points and 17 rebounds in his return and Khris Middleton added 29 points for the Bucks, who dropped Game 1 for the third straight series. Behind the scenes ... ESPN's Malika Andrews took over sideline reporting duties from Rachel Nichols amid controversy related to comments Nichols made last year about colleague Maria Taylor.     2. ⚾️ Gerrit Cole's new reality Data: FanGraphs; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios Gerrit Cole signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees in 2019 — the largest ever by average annual value, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. Why it matters: If the first month of MLB's sticky-stuff crackdown is any indication, Cole and the Yanks may be in for a bumpy marriage — and that mammoth contract could end up being historically bad. By the numbers: On June 3, the day of Cole's 12th start of the season, word got out that MLB would soon begin enforcing its rule against foreign substances. Since then, he's been a completely different pitcher. His ERA and WHIP through his first 11 starts were a sterling 1.78 and 0.83, respectively. In six starts since, they're 5.24 and 1.22. He's striking out 20% fewer batters per nine innings and walking more than twice as many, while his WAR (wins above replacement player) has actually gone down. Wild stat: Cole has allowed as many home runs in his last three starts (five) as he did in his first 11. The backdrop: In 2015, baseball changed forever with the dawning of the Statcast era. Teams suddenly had troves of new data at their fingertips, including the importance of spin rate on pitchers' efficacy. Sticky stuff was originally intended as a gripping agent. But when pitch tracking data showed that more grip meant more spin, strikeouts and success, teams began weaponizing it. No team was more aggressive than the Astros, who acquired Cole from the Pirates in 2018 and helped turn him into a superstar. The smoking gun: Cole's fastball spin rate his last year in Pittsburgh, when he had a career-worst 4.26 ERA, was well under league average. By 2019, when he struck out more batters than anyone since Randy Johnson, it was the fourth-highest among all starting pitchers. The state of play: Cole isn't the only pitcher struggling to adjust to baseball's new reality. Teammate Aroldis Chapman's ERA before June 3 was 0.41. Since then? 18.9. Veteran Garrett Richards, playing his first season in Boston, says the crackdown "has changed pretty much everything for me ... I feel like I need to be a different pitcher." What's next: Cole's next start comes Friday against, who else, the Astros. If he records double-digit strikeouts or allows fewer than two earned runs, it'll be the first time he's done so since May. Go deeper: How baseball's war on sticky stuff is already changing the game (WashPost)     3. 🏈 Biggest NIL deal yet: $540K for "The U" Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Dan Lambert, the owner of a Florida-based chain of MMA training academies, is offering all 90 Miami football players monthly payments of $500 to promote his gyms on social media. Why it matters: The offer — which could add up to as much as $540,000 this year — is the largest reported sum for a college sports endorsement deal since the NIL era began last week. "I want to help the kids. I want to reward them for what they do, and I want a better product on the field, too," Lambert, a longtime Miami football fan, told ESPN. "There are improper ways of fans supporting their players, and now there is a legal way to do it," Lambert said. "And if there is a legal way, and you can dot the I's and cross the T's, I'm going to do it." Of note: Lambert has made previous donations to Miami's athletic department, but his company, American Top Team, has not, which makes this legal under Florida's NIL law.     A message from Babbel Here's a skill you can show off this summer     Travel, friends, adventures – it's happening. Get ready with Babbel and start having conversations in a new language – such as Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese – in as little as 3 weeks. Get 60% off during their 4th of July sale. Sign up today.     4. 🎾 What to watch: Fed's squash shot Photo: Andy Cheung/Getty Images   Watch Roger Federer — or any tennis match, for that matter — and you're bound to see one of the Swiss star's most underrated gifts to the modern game: the squash shot, Jeff writes. "It's a great-looking shot and effective most of the time, because it's a hard, good slice and it stays low," ESPN analyst Mary Joe Fernández told NYT. "It's definitely one I didn't have and one I don't think my generation had. But it's a way to sustain the point, and more often than not, it works." Source: Giphy How it works: Most groundstrokes use topspin, but the rapid-fire nature of tennis sometimes necessitates improvisation to keep the point alive. This lunging, forehand slash is generally considered a last resort — helping players reach balls that get behind them. But the lower bounce its spin produces can catch opponents off guard, turning defense into instant offense. The backdrop: Forehand slices used to be common, but as the continental grip and wooden rackets gave way to the western grip and carbon-fiber frames, they fell out of vogue. Enter Federer, who popularized the shot, leaning on his days as a youth squash player to add another weapon to his devastating arsenal. 📆 Coming up: Federer plays Hubert Hurkacz in the Wimbledon quarterfinals this morning (11am ET).     5. 💵 Goodell, Silver, Manfred all in Idaho Private jets arriving in Sun Valley, Idaho. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images   This week, the small resort town of Sun Valley, Idaho, will host a higher concentration of billionaires and business titans than perhaps anywhere else on Earth. Why it matters: The annual gathering, which often serves as a vehicle for high-profile deal-making and is hosted by investment firm Allen & Co., will be a barometer for how power brokers are approaching industries drastically changed by the pandemic, Axios' Sara Fischer writes. Who's there: A few names of people attending, according to a list obtained by Axios: Sports and gaming: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Red Sox owner John Henry, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, MLB commissioner Bob Manfred, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Activision Blizzard's Brian Kelly and CEO Bobby Kotick Journalists: CBS News host Gayle King, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin, CNN anchor Erin Burnett Media and telecom: Mike Bloomberg, IAC's Barry Diller and Joey Levin, Axel Springer SE's Mathias Döpfner, NBCUniversal's Jeff Shell, Comcast's Brian Roberts, Hearst's Steve Swartz, News Corp's Robert Thomson, Verizon's Hans Vestberg, Discovery's David Zaslav Tech and ecommerce: Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Andy Jassy, Apple's Tim Cook, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Marne Levine and Dave Wehner, Shopify's Tobi Lütke, Stripe's Patrick Collison, Snap's Michael Lynton and CEO Evan Spiegel, AirBnB's Brian Chesky, Walmart's Doug McMillon and Greg Penner Entertainment: Disney's Bob Iger and Bob Chapek, Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer, Netflix's Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, WarnerMedia's Jason Kilar, National Amusements' Shari Redstone Investing: Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, WndrCo's Jeffrey Katzenberg, Greylock Partners' Reid Hoffman, Andreesen Horowitz's Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz, Sequoia Capital's Doug Leone, SoFi's Anthony Noto, Bain Capital's Steve Pagliuca     6. 🌍 The world in photos Photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images LONDON — Italy beat Spain on penalties, securing its spot in the Euro finals and extending its unbeaten streak to 33 matches (27-0-6), the longest such streak in team history. 📆 Today: England vs. Denmark (3pm ET) Photo: Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images BRASILIA, Brazil — One semifinal penalty shootout not enough? Make it two. Argentina escaped Colombia to set up a dream final that will see former Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Neymar go head-to-head. Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images LONDON — The women's final four is set at Wimbledon. Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka (above) will face the Czech Republic's Karolína Plíšková, and Australia's Ashleigh Barty will face Germany's Angelique Kerber.     7. ⚡️ Lightning round Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images for The Match   ⛳ Rodgers beats Brady: Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in the fourth edition of "The Match," held at The Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana. 🥇 Springsteen in: Jessica Springsteen, daughter of Bruce Springsteen, was named to the U.S. equestrian team and will make her Olympics debut in Tokyo. 🥇 Richardson out: Sha'Carri Richardson will not compete in Tokyo after U.S. officials declined to select her for the relay, saying all athletes "must adhere to the current anti-doping code." 🥎 Softball > baseball: The Women's College World Series averaged more viewers (1.2 million) than the College World Series (775,000). 🍿 Osaka doc: A new three-part docuseries on Naomi Osaka is coming to Netflix on July 16. Looks awesome. Trailer.     8. 📆 July 7, 1948: Indians sign Satchel Photo: Bettmann Archives/Getty Images 73 years ago today, after a quick tryout, the Indians signed Negro Leagues legend Leroy "Satchel" Paige at the age of 42. Why it matters: When he debuted two days later, Paige became the oldest rookie in MLB history, the first Black pitcher in the AL and the seventh Black major leaguer ever. The backdrop: In 1927, a 20-year-old Paige debuted for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League, quickly establishing himself as a superstar. During his time in the NNL, he honed a unique repertoire of pitches, including his signature "hesitation pitch," devised to mess with batters' timing. Johnny Cueto, anyone? In the year prior to Paige's MLB arrival, Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier and the Indians had made Larry Doby — Paige's new teammate — the AL's first Black player. The aftermath: Paige went 6-1 that summer with three complete games and a 2.48 ERA to help lead Cleveland to its second, and still most recent, World Series. He'd spend five more seasons in MLB, including one final outing in 1965 at age 59. Naturally, he pitched three scoreless innings. In 1971, he became the first Negro Leaguer elected to the Hall of Fame. 🎥 Watch: Satchel Paige mini-doc (YouTube)     9. ⚾️ MLB trivia Only one pitcher has won a Cy Young Award, league MVP and Gold Glove Award in the same season. Question: Can you name him? Hint: 1968. Answer at the bottom.     10. ⚽️ Poll: World Cup every two years? Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   FIFA is considering making the men's and women's World Cups biennial events, which would mean a World Cup would be held every summer. Click to vote: Should the World Cup be held every two years? Or every four years like it is now? Every two years Every four years Thanks for voting. We'll share the results tomorrow.     A message from Babbel Here's a skill you can show off this summer     Travel, friends, adventures – it's happening. Get ready with Babbel and start having conversations in a new language – such as Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese – in as little as 3 weeks. Get 60% off during their 4th of July sale. Sign up today.   Talk tomorrow, Kendall "I love penalty kicks" Baker Trivia answer: Bob Gibson 🙏 Thanks for reading. Don't forget to refer friends (axios.com/referral) and follow us on Twitter: @thekendallbaker and @jeffreytracy. Like this email style and format? Learn more about Axios HQ. It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. 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