| | | | | | | Presented By SiriusXM | | | | Axios Sports | | By Jeff Tracy · Aug 22, 2022 | | 👋 Welcome back! It's great to be back in the saddle after last week's pause. Quick heads up: I'll be keeping things slightly leaner for the next two weeks, generally including eight or nine items instead of our standard 10. Enjoy those two minutes you'll be getting back every morning. You deserve it. Today's word count: 1,541 words (6 minutes). Let's sports... | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏈 Watson gets 11-game suspension |  | | | Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios. Photos: Nick Cammett, Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | | | | Deshaun Watson's punishment is finally in the books: an 11-game suspension, a $5 million fine and mandatory behavioral counseling. Why it matters: The suspension is the NFL's longest ever for sexual misconduct, and the fine is the largest for a player in league history. - Yes, but: It's still hard not to view the outcome as a win for Watson and the Browns, and yet another stain on a league that's become accustomed to accumulating them.
The big picture: The NFL and NFLPA on Thursday settled on the aforementioned punishment in the midst of the league's appeal of Watson's initial six-game ban. - But the NFL had been seeking a one-year suspension for Watson, whose behavior an independent arbiter deemed "egregious" and "predatory."
- Rather than complete the appeal, the league cut a deal for a player who maintains his innocence in the face of dozens of women accusing him of sexual misconduct during massage appointments.
What they're saying: "I never assaulted or disrespected anyone," Watson said on Thursday. "Just because settlements and things like that happen, doesn't mean that person is guilty." - "People deserve second chances," said Browns owner Jimmy Haslam. "Is he never supposed to play again? Does he get no chance to rehabilitate himself? And that's what we're going to do."
- Then Haslam said the quiet part out loud: "And you can say, 'Well, that's because he's a star quarterback.' Well, of course."
The other side: Lauren Baxley is the only woman among the 24 who filed civil suits that has yet to settle with Watson. On Friday, she penned an essay for The Daily Beast explaining why: "Watson still refuses to admit that he harassed and committed indecent assault against me. Any settlement offer he has made has been a dismissal of his evil actions, and I know that unless there is an authoritative intervention, he will continue his destructive behavior." Between the lines: In addition to the fine, Watson will forfeit just $690,000 of his fully-guaranteed, $230 million contract. That's because his first-year salary was just $1.035 million — standard NFL practice, even if it once looked like a sneaky way for the Browns to protect his wallet. Looking ahead: Watson is eligible to return in Week 13. Cleveland's opponent that day? Watson's former team, the Texans. Go deeper: Watson's remarks undercut the NFL's message (NYT) |     | | | | | | 2. ⛳️ Cantlay's unprecedented repeat |  | | | Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images | | | | Patrick Cantlay (-14) squeaked out a one-shot victory over Scott Stallings at the BMW Championship Sunday in Wilmington, Delaware, putting him one step closer to the ultimate goal of repeating as tour champion. Why it matters: Cantlay, 30, won last year's BMW Championship, too. He's the first golfer to successfully defend any FedEx Cup title since the playoff debuted in 2007. - If he also defends his Tour Championship victory, he'll (again) win the PGA Tour's most lucrative prize: $18 million.
Recap: Cantlay entered Sunday with a one-stroke lead. After briefly stumbling with bogeys on holes 8 and 10, he finished strong with three birdies on the back nine, including his luckiest shot of the weekend: - Tied for the lead on the par-four 17th, his drive bounced inches before a bunker, hopped clear over the sand and found the fairway. He'd go up and down from there for the decisive birdie.
What's next: The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the Tour Championship, which begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. - Cantlay enters as the No. 2 seed behind Scottie Scheffler. The rest of the top 10: Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Sepp Straka and Sungjae Im.
- Stallings (No. 12) was one of four golfers to jump into the top 30 with their performance in Wilmington, joined by K.H. Lee (No. 26), Adam Scott (No. 29) and Aaron Wise (No. 30).
- Of note: Seeding matters because it dictates your starting score. No. 1 begins at -10, No. 2 at -8, continuing with scores descending through the final five qualifiers, who all begin at even par.
Go deeper: Highlights, player grades from the BMW (CBS Sports) | | | | | | | | 3. ⚡️ Lightning round |  | | | The Aces hit a WNBA-record 23 three-pointers in Saturday's win. Chelsea Gray (L) and Kelsey Plum. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images | | | | 🏀 WNBA playoffs: The No. 1 Aces and No. 4 Storm each completed first-round sweeps this weekend over the No. 8 Mercury and No. 5 Mystics. The remaining best-of-three series — No. 2 Sky vs. No. 7 Liberty and No. 3 Sun vs. No. 6 Wings — are both tied 1-1. 🍿 "The Redeem Team": Netflix is releasing a LeBron James- and Dwyane Wade-produced documentary this October on the 2008 U.S. men's Olympic basketball team, which won gold four years after a disappointing bronze in Athens. 🏈 TNF theme: Prime Video's newly-composed theme music for its exclusive "Thursday Night Football" deal is here. Whaddya think? 🏀 Star-studded hoops: LeBron James and Jayson Tatum were among the 10 NBA players at Jamal Crawford's CrawsOver Pro-Am on Saturday in Seattle. Fans were pretty excited. ⚽️ One perfect team: Arsenal (3-0-0) are the only Premier League team who are unbeaten and untied three weeks into the season. ⚾️ 39 straight: After Patrick Corbin took the loss on Sunday, Nationals starters have now gone 39 straight games without getting a win — the longest streak in MLB since at least 1901. | | | | | | | | A message from SiriusXM | | Stream today and get 3 months free | | |  | | | | With SiriusXM, stream expertly curated ad-free music on your devices with channels dedicated to your favorite decades, hits, styles and genres. The deets: Get access to more than 425 channels on the SXM app, plus podcasts, sports talk, Howard Stern and more. See offer details. | | | | | | 4. 🏀 Stat du jour: It's good to be the king |  | | | Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images | | | | LeBron James is already a billionaire, but that doesn't mean he's done setting financial benchmarks. Driving the news: James inked a two-year, $97.1 million extension with the Lakers last week, which will keep him in L.A. through the 2024-25 season. Why it matters: The contract brings his total guaranteed career salary to $529 million, passing Kevin Durant as the highest-paid player in NBA history. He's also the first North American athlete to surpass $500 million in guaranteed earnings. By the numbers: James and Durant lead the list of eight NBA players who've exceeded $400 million in guaranteed salary: - James: $529 million (has already earned $387.4 million)
- Durant: $498.7 million ($306.2 million)
- Steph Curry: $470.1 million ($254.7 million)
- Damian Lillard: $449.9 million ($191.2 million)
- Bradley Beal: $428.9 million ($177.9 million)
- Chris Paul: $419.9 million ($330.7 million)
- Nikola Jokić: $419.4 million ($116.9 million)
- Karl-Anthony Towns: $406.5 million ($112.4 million)
Go deeper: LeBron's extension quells some concerns, raises others (The Ringer) | | | | | | | | 5. 🇺🇸 Photos across America | Adley Rutschman and a bunch of Little Leaguers having the time of their life. Photo: Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — The Orioles beat the Red Sox in Sunday night's fifth annual Little League Classic, an event that caps off an incredible day of Little and Big Leaguers hanging out as equals. Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images SALT LAKE CITY — Leon Edwards stunned reigning champion Kamaru Usman in Saturday's UFC welterweight title bout, landing a vicious crosshead kick in the final minute for the knockout victory. - The big picture: Edwards is the first-ever Jamaican born UFC champ.
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Cowboys return specialist KaVontae Turpin, the reigning USFL MVP who went undrafted out of TCU in 2019, returned both a kick and a punt for touchdowns Saturday against the Chargers. Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images MASON, Ohio — Caroline Garcia defeated Petra Kvitová on Sunday, 6-2, 6-4, to win the Western & Southern Open for her WTA Tour-leading 27th victory since June. - By the numbers: The Frenchwoman's scintillating summer has improved her ranking from No. 75 to No. 17.
| | | | | | | | 6. 🌎 Photos around the world | | Photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images LONDON — Tottenham striker Harry Kane scored his 185th goal for the Spurs, passing Manchester City's Sergio Agüero for the most for a single club in Premier League history. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk again defeated Anthony Joshua in their rematch, winning by split decision to retain his three heavyweight titles. Photo: Andy Devlin/Getty Images EDMONTON, Canada — Canada beat Finland on Saturday, 3-2 in overtime, to win its record-extending 19th world junior hockey title. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/AFL Photos/via Getty Images LAUNCESTON, Australia — Here we have the pure elegance of the Australian Football League. | | | | | | | | 7. 📺 Watchlist: Reds vs. Red Devils |  | | | Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images | | | | Manchester United host Liverpool today at Old Trafford in a matchup of two storied clubs seeking a much-needed victory (3pm ET, Peacock). - Where it stands: United (0-0-2) are in danger of losing their first three matches for the first time since 1986, while Liverpool (0-2-0) have failed to win either of their first two for the first time since 2012.
- Head-to-head: The Red Devils' poor start is about to get worse if last season is any indication, when they lost 9-0 on aggregate in two games to Liverpool.
More to watch: | | | | | | | | 8. 🌎 Geography trivia | | Source: Giphy The Little League World Series, which is halfway over, began with a record 20 teams: 10 each in the U.S. and international brackets. - Question: How many capitals can you name among the 10 international countries represented?
- Hint: Three end in "City"
- Countries: Taiwan, Australia, Canada, Curaçao, Italy, Japan, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico*
Answer at the bottom. *Competes as an independent country. | | | | | | | | 9. 🎥 Top plays: Weekend edition | | Source: Giphy - 🏒 Mason McTavish!
- 🎾 Carlos Alcaraz, how?!
- ⚽️ Unreal scissor kick
- 🎾 Medvedev!
- ⚾️ Albert Almora, twice
- 🏈 KaVontae Turpin, twice
- ⚽️ Real-life goalie wars
- ⚾️ Musgrove bare-hands it
- ⛳️ Cantlay spins it in
- ⚾️ Oswaldo channeling Jeter
Watch all 10. | | | | | | | | A message from SiriusXM | | Get 3 months free | | |  | | | | Stream more than 425 channels on your devices for free on the SXM App, including expertly curated ad-free music, live NFL games, personalized stations and more. Next steps: Sign up now to get three months free. Cancel anytime. See offer details. | | | | Talk tomorrow, Jeff "Hate when this happens" Tracy Trivia answer: Taipei City, Taiwan; Canberra, Australia; Ottawa, Canada; Willemstad, Curaçao; Rome, Italy; Tokyo, Japan; Managua, Nicaragua; Mexico City, Mexico; Panama City, Panama; San Juan, Puerto Rico 🙏 Thanks for reading. Follow us on Twitter: @kendallbaker and @jeffreytracy. And of course, 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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