The NHL offseason has been in full swing for a few weeks now. @DownGoesBrown picks eight teams that have had a particularly rough start to the player empowerment era and which fan bases should be most insulted by the offseason so far. Free to read: nyti.ms/4yaNYrX

I have never heard a LOUDER crowd pop after a referee announcement in my life than THIS one in Seattle after Alex Freeman’s goal.

“Never seen anything like this in American soccer.” 🇺🇸 @RobStoneONFOX x @CarliLloyd x @clint_dempsey x @AlexiLalas

players that deserve a special invite to Thursday's parade: Malcolm Brogdon Donte Rokas Jokubaitis Thibs Mike Miller Lance Thomas Chris Duhon Jared Jeffries Wilson Chandler Pablo Prigioni Xavier McDaniel who else am I missing?

LIGHT THE BUILDING. @nyknicks ARE GOING TO THE EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Great question. Biggest reason is that analytics has taken a massive role in the development of the game. Launch angle, exit velo, bunch of bs in my opinion. These are fancy words for hitting the ball hard out in front. Just people naming things to sound smart who never played. Younger players have come up through the ranks focusing strictly on data (new school) vs results(old school) For example, I hit .300 in 2014. Bunch of doubles, and my best statistical year. If you go watch every double I had, which was 54 total, I think?, can’t remember exactly but I’d say 15-20 of those doubles were duck fart flares. Jam shots. Lucky hits basically. Or, conversely, were they lucky or were they a by product of a swing that was focused on a quality bat path with barrel length and time through the zone that facilitated a room for (timing) error swing? A path that led to my timing being off, getting jammed, and still fighting for a hit that drove in a run that contributed to winning a game. This is what great hitters do. I wasn’t one of the best but I had a couple of decent years. Great , true hitters, not “swingers”, get jammed and get those extra 15-20 knocks a year that add RBIs, OBP, hits, etc. These modern players have gotten so used to Instagram hitting coaches and mlb analytics team valuing and teaching certain things. Like homers. Trying to hit the ball in the air. Instead of low line drives with back spin. They are great and all but if you want to be a good hitter then focus on hitting line drives and the homers will come. Striking out is not okay either. Too many guys are fine with it. I hated to strike out. More than anything. Loathed. This is the main issue of the modern hitter.

Such a powerful (and rare) image from a college campus. Bravo to the Jewish students at ⁦@DukeU⁩ for expressing their love and solidarity with the people of Israel on this sorrowful anniversary. Efforts to intimidate and bully failed. #AmYisraelChai

Aerosmith retiring from touring is another stark reminder to GO SEE YOUR FAVES, especially classic rock fans. It’s fun to joke how we listen to our parents/grandparents music but seriously there will come a day when they won’t be out here on the regular. Go see them while you can

Do you know about the AHL “veteran rule?” Well, it creates a lot of challenges and moving parts for teams, as they plan their rosters. @blaizg explains the rule and how it impacts the CV @Firebirds for SOH. Really interesting stuff… READ⬇️ soundofhockey.com/2024/07/11…

1. Jay Sures, a University of California Regent — which is the governing board for the entire University of California system — has responded to a letter from the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council. The Ethnic Studies Council’s letter condemned the University of California’s statements that referred to the Hamas massacre on October 7 as “terrorism.” The letter, endorsed by 300 UC faculty members, specifically urged the UC leadership to “retract its characterization of terrorism.” This is Jay Sures’ response, presented on UC Regents letterhead. (The next tweet in the thread will contain the UC Ethnic Studies council letter to which he is responding, as well as the original UC statement that the Ethnic Studies Council objected to.)