NEW YORK — The New York Liberty had Game 1 in the palm of their hands. Up 15 points with 5:20 to play on their home court, facing a Minnesota Lynx team that had just gone to five games against the Connecticut Sun and didn’t even have a chance to practice before the WNBA Finals,…

I was at a family wedding last Saturday, waiting in line at the bar when I noticed another guest checking his betting app. When I asked how he was doing, he grumbled about Alabama, well, screwing up, his parlay. Week 6’s seemingly lackluster slate instead demonstrated why there are no bad weekends of college football,…

For more than 20 years, Rafael Nadal leaned into his reputation for authenticity. Roger Federer was the tennis politician, an artless beacon of neutrality. Novak Djokovic was fated to manage the difficult task of fitting into a sport that the Nadal-Federer rivalry had come to define, by trying on a series of identities. He has…

KANSAS CITY — It was just an allusion, still too early in October to bookmark the clip for history. But it’s a familiar and comforting visual that has preceded champagne before: with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a New York Yankees center fielder in a gray uniform glides to his right to…

By now, you’ve seen it. A player makes a big catch or run for a first down or a touchdown. He jumps up, extends an arm, sticks out his index finger and raises his thumb to create an imaginary gun. Generally, the “shots” are fired downfield in the direction of no one in particular. But…

A couple of years ago, Hannah Deacon took a call from a football agent. Deacon, who had no background in football, was surprised. What she did have, however, was a deep knowledge of cannabidiol (CBD), a legalised chemical extracted from cannabis — and this is what the agent wanted to talk to her about. Some…

Tom Brady, a surefire future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and arguably the greatest player in NFL history, could be on the precipice of NFL ownership. Brady and businessman Tom Wagner, the co-founder of Knighthead Capital Management, came to an agreement with Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis to buy into the franchise last…

NEW YORK — Every October legend needs a legendary October moment. For Francisco Lindor, this was that moment. It’s amazing to try to comprehend what one swing of the bat can do — the stories it can write, the memories it can make, the reputations it can seal. But we saw all of that happen…

Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will retire from professional tennis after the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain this November. “The reality is that it has been some difficult years, these last two especially. I don’t think I have been able to play without limitations,” the 38-year-old said in a video released Thursday, October…

Jack Nicholson was synonymous with the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers. He sat courtside at their games at the Great Western Forum. He participated in promotional photos. Occasionally, he invited them to parties at his house in Beverly Hills. One summer night, Nicholson tended bar. The Lakers had just defeated the Detroit Pistons in an exhausting…