| | | | | | | Presented By SiriusXM | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker · Jul 22, 2022 | | 🎉 Happy Friday! You made it. Today's word count: 1,644 words (6 minutes). Let's sports... | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏀 The end of an era |  | | | Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird after winning their fifth gold medals in Tokyo last summer. Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images | | | | Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird will share a basketball court for what is likely the final time tonight when Taurasi's Mercury host Bird's Storm (10pm ET, NBA). Why it matters: Two of the greatest women's basketball players to ever live — friends who've been linked for more than two decades — may never compete against each other again. It's a historic night. By the numbers: This is the 46th time they'll play each other in the regular season, tying the WNBA record for most meetings. Tonight is Taurasi's 500th game, joining Bird as the only members of that club. - Bird, 41, leads the rivalry 25-20 and is the league's all-time leader in assists. She's retiring at the end of the season.
- Taurasi, 40, is the league's all-time leading scorer. She's a free agent at the end of the season and hasn't decided on retirement yet.
The big picture: The two hoops legends also won five Olympic gold medals together, the only basketball players to ever accomplish that feat. What they're saying: "I'm starting to feel closure," said Taurasi, who first met Bird during her recruiting trip to UConn. - "It's a bit sad … but you know it's gonna be a moment where all those memories kind of go in your head and take you back."
- "It'll be an end of an era on the court but it'll be the beginning of an era off the court," she added. "And we're excited for that, too."
|     | | | | | | 2. ⚾️ Sandy Alcántara: A modern workhorse |  | | | Photo: Todd Kirkland/Getty Images | | | | Sandy Alcántara is having the type of season that used to be the norm but has all but disappeared in modern baseball, Axios' Jeff Tracy writes. By the numbers: The Marlins' 26-year-old ace and NL Cy Young favorite, has gone at least eight innings nine times this year, five more than anyone else. - Naturally, he leads MLB with 138.1 innings pitched, putting him on pace for about 240, which would be the most since 2014.
- He's dominating, too: His 1.76 ERA leads the NL, his 0.90 WHIP ranks second and his 5.3 WAR leads all players.
The big picture: Pitchers simply don't do this anymore. In 1979, they went at least eight innings 1,336 times. Last year? Just 112. A few factors are driving this evolution: - Analytics show that starters are far less effective their third time through the order, so managers tend to play the percentages and hand it to their bullpen.
- Speaking of bullpens, have you seen relievers these days? No use keeping those weapons holstered while taxing the arms of starters.
Between the lines: So how is Alcántara, whose fastball averages 97.8 mph, bucking the trend? The answer starts with a wipeout changeup he honed to perfection in the offseason. - Rather than nibble around the edges of the plate in tight spots, he's throwing that changeup down the middle and daring batters to swing, resulting in more groundouts and deeper outings, per FiveThirtyEight.
- He's also in the right situation, playing for a fringe playoff team that hasn't made a non-pandemic postseason since 2003 and is far better when he starts (12-7) than when he doesn't (31-42).
The bottom line: Alcántara is a man out of time, curbing decades of evolution to compose a season for the ages. His next start comes Sunday in Pittsburgh. | | | | | | | | 3. 📉 The decline of All-Star Games |  Data: Sports Media Watch; Chart: Baidi Wang and Simran Parwani/Axios Fewer and fewer people are tuning in to watch All-Star Games across the Big Four sports leagues, Jeff writes. Driving the news: MLB's Midsummer Classic drew a record-low 7.51 million viewers on Tuesday. And yet, that's still the largest audience among Big Four All-Star Games, all of which have seen their audiences dwindle over the past two decades. - 🏒 NHL All-Star Game: Down 57.1% since 2002
- 🏀 NBA All-Star Game: Down 48.9% since 2002
- ⚾️ MLB All-Star Game: Down 48.7% since 2002
- 🏈 NFL Pro Bowl: Down 4.2% since 2002 (but down ~50% from the early 2010s peak).
Between the lines: Viewership for those leagues' championship series is also declining (outside of the Super Bowl), but the drop-off is less pronounced than it is for the All-Star Games. NBA Finals viewership, for example, is down 21% in that time. The bottom line: With more viewing options, sports fans appear to be deprioritizing relatively meaningless — albeit fun and star-studded — exhibition games. | | | | | | | | A message from SiriusXM | | Stream SiriusXM now and get 3 months for free | | |  | | | | With SiriusXM Streaming, get access to three months of expertly curated ad-free music, Pandora artist stations, live sports, celebrity hosts, Howard Stern and more. More info: Listen on your phone, at home and more with the SXM App. See Offer Details. | | | | | | 4. ⚡️ Lightning round | | Source: Giphy 🏈 Murray's millions: The Cardinals are giving QB Kyler Murray a five-year, $230.5 million deal ($46.1 million per year), with $160 million guaranteed. Only Aaron Rodgers ($50.2 million) makes more annually. ❤️ Bo steps up: Bo Jackson helped pay for the funerals of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the Uvalde school shooting, revealing himself as one of the previously anonymous donors who covered costs. ⚾️ Awesome gesture: Mets reliever Edwin Díaz, a second-time All-Star, forfeited his inning on Tuesday so that first-time All-Star David Bednar could pitch. The Athletic has the story. ⛳️ Chuck and LIV: Charles Barkley is considering joining LIV Golf as a broadcaster, NY Post's Andrew Marchand reports. He'll play in the pro-am portion of next week's event at Trump National in Bedminster, N.J. ⚽️ Six teams remain: Germany beat Australia, 2-0, to join England in the Women's Euro semifinals. Two more semifinalists will be determined this weekend (Sweden vs. Belgium, France vs. Netherlands). | | | | | | | | 5. 💵 Kirby Smart gets paid |  | | | Photo: Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images | | | | Georgia's Kirby Smart has agreed to a new 10-year, $112.5 million deal that makes him the highest-paid coach in college football, ESPN reports. The backdrop: Smart's historic deal — which has an average annual value of $11.25 million — comes on the heels of his peers signing their own enormous contracts. - Last winter: Michigan State gave Mel Tucker a 10-year, $95 million extension in November. The next month, LSU lured Brian Kelly with the same deal and USC lured Lincoln Riley with even more money.
- Last summer: Alabama's Nick Saban signed an extension that will pay him an average of $10.6 million through 2028, and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher signed one that will pay him $90 million over 10 years.
The bottom line: On Tuesday, Smart said he doesn't think college football players should make $10,000 a month. He will now make over $930,000 a month. | | | | | | | | 6. 🍿 New doc: "Facing Nolan" |  | | | Photo: Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images | | | | Derek Jeter not doing it for you? You've got another option. Now available: "Facing Nolan," a documentary about Hall of Fame flamethrower Nolan Ryan, arrived on streaming services this week ($19.99 on Apple TV, Prime Video, etc). Between the lines: Ryan initially didn't want to make the film ("I'm not real comfortable talking about what happened in my career"), but his family convinced him to do it. - The result is essentially "a video memoir to his wife and their three children and seven grandchildren disguised as a baseball documentary," writes NYT's Scott Miller.
- Among those interviewed: Pete Rose, George Brett, Rod Carew, Dave Winfield and Roger Clemens, who describe the sizzling sound of Ryan's fastball as being like "bacon in a frying pan."
Wild stat ... Ryan holds the MLB record for strikeouts (5,714) and no-hitters (seven), yet never won a Cy Young (six top five-finishes). | | | | | | | | 7. 🌎 The world in photos | | Photo: Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images EUGENE, Ore. — Shericka Jackson won the women's 200m in 21.45 seconds, the second-fastest time ever. Fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce won silver and Britain's Dina Asher-Smith took bronze. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images HENDERSON, Nev. — Davante Adams and the Raiders opened training camp on Wednesday, two weeks ahead of their appearance in the Hall of Fame Game (vs. Jaguars on Aug. 4). Jonas peddling into a sea of fans. Photo: Tim de Waele/Getty Images HAUTACAM, France — Jonas Vingegaard all but clinched the Tour de France on Thursday, winning Stage 18 by over a minute to put him 3 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of two-time defending champ Tadej Pogačar. | | | | | | | | 8. 📺 Watchlist: The final three days |  | | | Sydney McLaughlin. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images | | | | The World Athletics Championships end on Sunday, and there are still 20 gold medals up for grabs. So far, only the U.S. (seven), Ethiopia (three), Jamaica (two) and China (two) have multiple golds. - Friday: American Sydney McLaughlin's attempt to yet again break her own 400m hurdles world record headlines tonight's slate (10:50pm ET, USA)
- Saturday: Neeraj Chopra, the 2020 Olympic javelin gold medalist, is aiming to become India's first-ever world champion in any track and field event (9:35pm, NBC).
- Sunday: American Athing Mu will try to break the 800m world record (1:53.28) set in 1983, the longest-standing individual world record in athletics (9:35pm, NBC).
More to watch: - 🚲 Tour de France: Stages 19-21 (Fri-Sun, NBC/USA) … Ends Sunday.
- ⚾️ MLB: Cubs at Phillies (Fri. 7pm, Apple TV+; Sun. 12pm, Peacock); Guardians at White Sox (Fri. 8pm, Apple TV+); Astros at Mariners (Sat. 4pm, FS1); Padres at Mets (Sun. 7pm, ESPN)
- ⛳️ LPGA: Evian Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf/CNBC)
- ⛳️ PGA: 3M Open (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN+/CBS)
- 🏀 WNBA: Eight games (Fri-Sun, CBSSN/NBA/Prime)
- 🏁 F1: French Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, ESPN)
- 🏁 NASCAR: Pocono Raceway (Sun. 3pm, USA)
- ⚽️ MLS: 13 games (Sat-Sun, ESPN+); Galaxy vs. Atlanta (Sun. 9:30pm, FS1)
- ⚽️ Women's Euro: Sweden vs. Belgium (Fri. 3pm, ESPN2); France vs. Netherlands (Sat. 3pm, ESPN2) … Semifinals begin Tuesday.
- ⚽️ Women's AFCON Final: Morocco vs. South Africa (Sat. 4pm, beIN)
- 🎾 Tennis: Hamburg European Open (Fri-Sun, Tennis)
- 🏒 3ICE: Week 6 (Sat. 3pm, CBSSN)
- 🏀 BIG3: Week 6 (Sat-Sun, YouTube/CBS)
| | | | | | | | 9. 🚲 Tour de France trivia |  | | | Photo: Luc Claessen/Getty Images | | | | French cyclists have won the Tour de France 36 times, more than any other country. - Question: Which country is second?
- Hint: Shares a border with France.
Answer at the bottom. | | | | | | | | 10. 🥇 1 big building: Hayward Field Tower |  | | | Photo: Chinasports/VCG via Getty Images | | | | The Tower at Hayward Field stands 10 stories and 188 feet tall, overlooking the cathedral of American track and field — and looming over this month's World Athletics Championships. "This tower ... is almost unfathomable. It gleams on sunny afternoons. At night, it can be lit up, like the Empire State Building. It alternately resembles the world's largest ice cream cone, the world's tallest and shiniest vase or (more on this later) the world's largest joint." — Greg Bishop, SI Go deeper: The beautiful mystique of the Hayward Field Tower (SI) | | | | | | | | A message from SiriusXM | | Stream SiriusXM now and get 3 months for free | | |  | | | | With SiriusXM Streaming, get access to three months of expertly curated ad-free music, Pandora artist stations, live sports, celebrity hosts, Howard Stern and more. More info: Listen on your phone, at home and more with the SXM App. See Offer Details. | | | | Enjoy the weekend, Kendall "Drinks on Kyler" Baker Trivia answer: Belgium (18 victories) 🙏 Thanks for reading. Follow us on Twitter: @kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy. Tell your friends to sign up. |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 300 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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