Sports

The Washington Post reports: Croatia finally found a deficit it couldn’t overcome. On the 20th anniversary of its only other World Cup win, France snagged a second title. One game after Belgium complained about the French playing “anti-football” by packing it in on defense, the Les Bleus poured in four goals, tied for second-most in a World Cup final, led …

The Washington Post reports: Croatia advanced to its first World Cup final by joining Argentina (1990) as the only teams to win a semifinal match they trailed at halftime. Croatia fell behind on Kieran Trippier’s free kick in the fifth minute, but leveled the score on Ivan Perisic’s leaping, left-footed volley in the 68th minute. Mario Mandzukic scored the game-winner …

Via press release from the NFL Players Association: Our union filed its non-injury grievance today on behalf of all players challenging the NFL’s recently imposed anthem policy. The union’s claim is that this new policy, imposed by the NFL’s governing body without consultation with the NFLPA, is inconsistent with the collective bargaining agreement and infringes on player rights. In advance …

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports: Minnesota United midfielder Collin Martin publicly came out as gay in a social media statement Friday morning, making him the only out athlete currently playing in one of the five major men’s U.S. sports leagues. Martin, 23, is the first male athlete from any of those major leagues to say he is gay since 2014, when …

The Guardian reports: Mexicans jumping in jubilation on Sunday shook the ground hard enough to set off earthquake detectors after their team scored a surprise victory over World Cup defending champions Germany. The Institute of Geological and Atmospheric Investigations said highly sensitive earthquake sensors registered tremors at two sites in Mexico City, seven seconds after the game’s 35th minute, when …

The New York Times reports: A combined bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada won the hosting rights for soccer’s 2026 World Cup on Wednesday, bringing the tournament to North America for the first time since the 1994 event on a pledge of record crowds, record revenues and, perhaps crucially, a record $11 billion in profits for FIFA, world …

The Hill reports: The NFL and the MLB will participate in New York City’s LGBT Pride March for the first time ever later this month. The two leagues will make their debut in the parade alongside representatives from the NHL, NBA, WNBA, MLS and National Women’s Hockey League, according to OutSports.com. Former NFL player Ryan O’Callaghan, who publicly came out …

Axios reports: A new Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday found that the majority of U.S. voters — 58% — don’t find kneeling by NFL players during the national anthem unpatriotic. The majority of Republicans (70%) find the protest unpatriotic, opposed to 23% who don’t. When it comes to athletes’ right to protest, 82% of Democrats say they do have …

Sky News reports: Gay couples seen kissing in public by Russian Cossacks during the World Cup will be reported to police. The tournament begins in 11 cities across the country next week. Rostov-on-Don, a southern city, will reportedly have 300 Cossack vigilantes on patrol to help the police keep the streets safe, including 100 on horseback. The city will host …

The New York Daily News reports: Yankee fans gave Rudy Giuliani the Giancarlo Stanton treatment. The former New York City mayor was at The Stadium to celebrate his 74th birthday on Memorial Day, with the PA announcer sharing the news with the crowd and wishing him a happy birthday. The fans, however, greeted him with hearty boos. Giuliani, of course, …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump has granted a posthumous pardon for boxing’s first black heavyweight champion more than 100 years after the late Jack Johnson was convicted by all-white jury of accompanying a white woman across state lines Trump had said he was considering a pardon in April, when he announced on Twitter that the actor Sylvester Stallone, a …

From the editorial board of the New York Times: The owners of the National Football League have concluded, with President Trump, that true patriotism is not about bravely standing up for democratic principle but about standing up, period. Rather than show a little backbone themselves and support the right of athletes to protest peacefully, the league capitulated to a president …

Newsday reports: Despite the NFL’s approval of a revised policy that requires players on the field to stand during the national anthem, Jets chairman Christopher Johnson told Newsday on Wednesday that his players are free to take a knee or perform some other protest without fear of repercussion from the team. “I do not like imposing any club-specific rules,” Johnson …

The Washington Post reports: NFL owners approved a new national anthem policy Wednesday that gives individual teams the authority to set their own anthem-related rules and permits players to remain in the locker room during the playing of the anthem, according to a person familiar with the deliberations. The new policy eliminates the current requirement from the league’s game operations …

Sports Illustrated reports: On Tuesday, NFL owners put three hours aside for a privileged session to speak—amongst themselves and family members—about the most sensitive of topics. One was how the league will handle players kneeling during the national anthem going forward. An idea being floated in the room goes like this: It would be up to the home team on …

ESPN reports: Texans defensive end J.J. Watt will pay for the funerals of those killed in the shooting at Santa Fe High School, the team confirmed. Ten people were killed Friday morning and 10 more were wounded when a 17-year-old carrying a shotgun and revolver opened fire at the high school about 30 miles from downtown Houston. Watt has been …

NBC News reports: The U.S. Supreme Court acted Monday to bust Nevada’s monopoly on legal sports betting, allowing more states to get in on the action and reap the tax benefits. The court struck down a federal law that required states to ban gambling on the outcome of sporting events. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was highly unusual: …

The Hill reports: Olympic figure skater Adam Rippon skipped the Team USA visit to the White House on Friday, following through on a vow he made earlier this year. Rippon said in January that he did not think he would be “welcome” at the Trump White House because he is gay. Rippon said that in lieu of the visit, he …

The New Zealand Herald reports: The All Blacks and the Black Ferns have made a very public statement on where they stand on diversity and inclusiveness as they launched their “diversity is strength” campaign. Pairing up with AIG, the two teams released a two-minute video outlining their values. The next “battle” and “enemy” was devious and truly formidable, the video …

He’s just your average Joe Sixpack, folks! The Hill reports: Mitt Romney (R) was spotted courtside at Monday night’s Utah Jazz playoff game taunting Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook. Romney, who is running for Senate in Utah, was shown on camera calling out to Westbrook after the Oklahoma City star picked up his fourth foul of the game late …