⚾️ Axios Sports: No-hitter in Anaheim

Plus: Everton on the brink | Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Open in app View in browser     Axios Sports By Jeff Tracy · May 11, 2022 👋 Good morning! Thanks for letting me guide you through the sports world these last few days. Kendall will be back in action tomorrow. 🚨 ICYMI: Tom Brady reportedly signed a record-breaking 10-year, $375M contract to be Fox Sports' lead NFL analyst whenever he retires. We'll go deeper on this tomorrow. Today's word count: 1,822 words (7 minutes). Let's sports...     1 big thing: ⚾️ No-hitter for the rook Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images   Angels rookie Reid Detmers entered last night's game with a 5.32 ERA. He exited it having thrown the second no-hitter of the season in a 12-0 shellacking of the Rays. Pitching line: 9 IP, 2 K, 1 BB, 108 pitches (68 strikes) Why it matters: At 22, he's the youngest pitcher in franchise history to throw a no-hitter, and the youngest in MLB since Aníbal Sánchez in 2006 with the Marlins. By the numbers: This was the 12th no-hitter in Angels history, and the 25th by a rookie in MLB history. Wild stat No. 1: Detmers' 6.33 career ERA is the third-highest entering a no-hitter since ER became official in 1913. Wild stat No. 2: He's just the fifth pitcher in the Divisional Era (1969) to throw a no-hitter with 2 Ks or fewer. The big picture: Detmers, the Angels' first-round pick in 2020, had thrown just 42 career innings entering Tuesday, and never more than six in any game. What a night for the rook. 🎥 Watch: Final out (Twitter) Elsewhere in MLB: Justin Verlander nearly threw a no-no himself, coming just five outs shy of tossing the fourth of his career. Reminder: He's 39 and just coming back from Tommy John surgery. His ERA is 1.55. George Springer hit his 47th career leadoff HR, tying Curtis Granderson for the fifth-most ever. Aaron Judge hit his first career walk-off HR, a three-run shot to beat Toronto, 6-5. Plus, one inning before Detmers completed his no-no, Anthony Rendon hit a HR lefty off a position player.     2. 🎓 NIL may be too big to fail Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   The NCAA D-I Board of Directors on Monday updated its NIL guidelines for the first time since NIL launched last July, specifically targeting recruiting violations by booster-led entities called "collectives." Why it matters: The original guidelines haven't been enforced as is, and the landscape surrounding NIL has evolved so rapidly in the past 10 months that the NCAA's latest move may be too little, too late. What they're saying: "Whether it's possible to unring the bell, it remains to be seen," Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told SI. "Seems to me we would have been infinitely better off had we gone ahead and implemented the guardrails [from the start]." Catch up quick: Not long after athletes signed the first wave of NIL deals last summer, groups of boosters began pooling their money and formed companies — called collectives — to facilitate NIL deals for athletes at the schools they support. The problem? It appears many of those deals were NIL in name only, and were instead meant to induce recruits into signing with the boosters' school. That practice has always been a recruiting violation when carried out by individual boosters; Monday's new guidelines merely expanded the definition of booster to include collectives. State of play: The NCAA said its crackdown will be retroactive, meaning it may investigate particularly egregious violations from the past 10 months, but that its primary focus is on the future. Yes, but: That's easier said than done, as industry consensus seems to be that pretty much any enforcement will trigger legal challenges that would be incredibly difficult for the NCAA to win. For starters, many collectives track their deals through platforms like Opendorse, with built-in compliance checks. Plus, boosters are by definition deep-pocketed, and are also protected by various state laws, per SI. Then there's the legal precedent from last year that paved the way for these changes, when the U.S. Supreme Court's unanimous decision for Shawne Alston said restrictions by the NCAA on student-athlete compensation would violate antitrust law. The big picture: The NCAA's biggest fear with NIL was the likelihood of people exploiting loopholes that turned it into "pay for play," and that may be exactly what's happened. The question now is whether the NCAA's rededication to enforcement will be enough to turn the tide.     3. ⚽️ Everton on the brink Data: Premier League; Table: Kavya Beheraj/Axios Everton face Watford today on the road, desperately needing to come away with a win as they're just one point out of relegation with four games to play. Why it matters: They haven't been relegated since 1951, and they've been in the top flight of English football since 1954, longer than any club except Arsenal. In fact, there are only six teams who've never been relegated from the Premier League since its debut in 1992: Arsenal: Last relegation in 1913; in top flight since 1919 Everton: 1951; 1954 Liverpool: 1954; 1962 Manchester United: 1974; 1975 Tottenham: 1977; 1978 Chelsea: 1988; 1989 Between the lines: Everton are only on the brink rather than firmly in the bottom three thanks to a late-season surge, going 3-1-1 in their last five to move up to 16th place, one point ahead of both Burnley and Leeds with a game in hand. Yes, but: After today's game against an already-relegated Watford, their final three matches present a much bigger challenge, facing Brentford (12th place) and Crystal Palace (10th) at home before finishing the season at Arsenal (4th). The big picture: Everton was one of 12 founding members of the English Football League in 1888, and they've spent a record 118 seasons in the top flight. All but one of those 12 clubs still exist: Active: Everton, Aston Villa, Burnley and Wolverhampton (Premier League); Blackburn, Derby, Preston, Stoke City and West Brom (Championship, 2nd tier); Bolton (League One, 3rd tier); Notts County (National League, 5th tier) Defunct: Accrington (dissolved in 1896) Go deeper: Everton fans drive their relegation recovery (ESPN)     A message from Axios Advertise in Axios Sports     Are you a marketer looking to reach decision makers who care about sports? Consider advertising with us: Reach hundreds of thousands of people daily. Achieve your KPIs around business development, awareness, and product sales. Over 60% of our audience earns six figures per year and makes business purchasing decisions. Let's Chat     4. ⚡️ Lightning round Photo: Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images   🏀 Pair of blowouts: The Heat and Suns took a 3-2 series lead over the 76ers and Mavericks, respectively, winning by 65 points combined. 💔 RIP: NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier, an 8x All-Star who scored nearly 20,000 points in his 14-year career with the Pistons and Bucks, died Tuesday after a short illness. He was 73. ⚽️ Haaland to City: 21-year-old Norwegian superstar Erling Haaland is signing with Manchester City, who'll pay Borussia Dortmund $63 million for his release and then plan to sign him to a five-year mega-deal. 🏒 Calling all teenagers: For the fourth straight year, the NHL will accept applications for NHL Power Players, a youth advisory (ages 13–17) to help advise the league improve its product. Apply here.     5. 💵 LeBron tops highest-paid athletes list Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images   LeBron James' Lakers may have had a rough season on the court, but James himself did just fine off it, earning $126.9 million in the past year through salary and endorsements. Driving the news: That's the most of any athlete in that time frame, per Sportico, which just released its annual list of the 100 highest-paid athletes in the world. By the numbers: The top 100 earned a combined $4.5 billion, up 6% compared to the previous year thanks largely to MLB playing a full season in 2021, as well as salaries climbing in both basketball and football. 86 of 100 athletes came from just four sports: NBA (36), NFL (25), soccer (13) and MLB (12). Top 10: 🏀 James: $126.9M ⚽️ Lionel Messi: $122M ⚽️ Cristiano Ronaldo: $115M ⚽️ Neymar: $103M 🥊 Canelo Álvarez: $89M 🏀 Steph Curry: $86.2M 🏀 Kevin Durant: $85.9M 🎾 Roger Federer: $85.7M 🏀 James Harden: $76M ⛳️ Tiger Woods: $73.5M Full report (no subscription needed, for now).     6. 🏊🏼 The pool-sharing boom Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   As summer heat emerges across the country, an industry that provides the luxury of a private dip without the hassle of pool ownership is on the rise. State of play: Nascent pool-sharing companies are betting that the market for opening up private homes to leisure activities extends beyond the pandemic, and they're making a big push in Texas this summer, Axios Austin's Asher Price writes. "We see tremendous opportunity, given the high rate of middle class pool ownership [and] the heat there," Asher Weinberger, co-founder of one such company, Swimply, told Axios. Swimply was just getting off the ground when the pandemic hit. Now, it's gunning for a $1 billion valuation. How it works: It's like Airbnb for pools, with swimming pool owners renting out their backyard spaces for chunks of time. Hosts aren't required to provide restroom access, but many do. The backdrop: Demand for pool-sharing exploded during the pandemic, giving guests an outdoor escape and hosts — some of whom were struggling financially — a supplemental income. What they're saying: "It brings me so much happiness when I see other people enjoy [my pool]," Swimply host Jacqueline Mancilla, who's rented her pool to families, single mothers in need of a break and even bachelorette parties, told Axios. What's next: Pools are just the start. Weinberger said the company wants to set up ways people can share their tennis courts, music studios, woodworking shops and gourmet kitchens. "Every passion needs a space," he said.     7. 🏒 Stat du jour: NHL playoff history Bruins vs. Hurricanes, Game 5. Photo: Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images   Tuesday night was just the second date in NHL history with four Game 5's in best-of-seven series that were all tied 2-2. Fun fact: The first time it happened (April 11, 1991) featured one of the same matchups as last night: Bruins vs. Hurricanes (then Whalers). Scoreboard: The Hurricanes (up 3-2) beat the Bruins, 5-1 ... The Maple Leafs (up 3-2) beat the Lightning, 4-3 ... The Blues (up 3-2) beat the Wild, 5-2 ... The Kings (up 3-2) beat the Oilers, 5-4, in OT. Plus ... The draft lottery was last night, and the Canadiens secured the No. 1 pick. The Devils, Coyotes, Kraken and Flyers rounded out the top five.     8. 📺 Watchlist: Coppa Italia final Logos: Wikimedia Commons   Juventus and Inter face off today in the final of the Coppa Italia, the country's flagship domestic cup (3pm ET, CBSSN). Why it matters: They're the first- and third-winningest clubs in the tournament's history, respectively, and due to a lucrative new media deal, this year's prize will be the biggest ever, per Forbes. By the numbers: Including the money they've each already secured for reaching the final, the winner will pocket $11.1 million and the runner-up will receive $5.3 million. More to watch: 🏀 NBA playoffs: Bucks (2-2) at Celtics (7pm, TNT); Warriors (up 3-1) at Grizzlies (9:30pm, TNT) 🏒 NHL playoffs: Penguins (up 3-1) at Rangers (7pm, ESPN); Capitals (2-2) at Panthers (7:30pm, ESPN2); Stars (2-2) at Flames (9:30pm, ESPN) ⚾️ MLB: Rays at Angels (7pm, FS1) ... Shane McClanahan (2-2, 3.06 ERA) vs. Shohei Ohtani (3-2, 3.08) ⚽️ Premier League: Watford vs. Everton (2:45pm, Peacock); Wolves vs. Manchester City (3:15pm, USA) 🏀 WNBA: Liberty at Sky (8pm, CBSSN)     9. ⚾️ No-hitter trivia Source: Giphy There have been just two postseason no-hitters in MLB history. Question: Who threw them? Hint: One NL, one AL Answer at the bottom.     10. 🎙 The announcer you need to hear to believe Source: Giphy This may look like an ordinary home run, but that's only because you're not listening to the call by Joey Zanaboni, the announcer for the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals. The best part is that it's completely in character, as Zanaboni has a habit of making even the most animated play-by-play man sound tame by comparison. What they're saying: "I know that some people think Joey is controversial when it comes to how baseball is supposed to be called," FredNats GM Nick Hall told WashPost. "But I think baseball needs more Joey Zanabonis across the board."     A message from Axios Advertise in Axios Sports     Are you a marketer looking to reach decision makers who care about sports? Consider advertising with us: Reach hundreds of thousands of people daily. Achieve your KPIs around business development, awareness, and product sales. Over 60% of our audience earns six figures per year and makes business purchasing decisions. Let's Chat   Talk tomorrow, Jeff "Never give up" Tracy Trivia answer: Don Larsen (NYY, 1956; PG); Roy Halladay (PHI, 2010) 🙏 Thanks for reading. Follow us on Twitter: @kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy. Tell your friends to sign up. 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