The demise of World No. 1 Nelly Korda at the U.S. Women's Open was the second-most surprising thing to happen in the sport this year (just slightly behind Scottie Scheffler's arrest outside of Valhalla Country Club).
On her third hole of the tournament at Lancaster Country Club on Thursday, Korda carded a seven-over 10 on the par 3 12th en route to shooting a 10-over 80.
Korda, who tied an LPGA record with five consecutive wins earlier this season and has won six times on tour in 2024, won't be playing the weekend after carding a 70 on Friday to miss the cut by two shots. Korda's absence from contention in the U.S. Open is unexpected to say the least, with her missed cut even more shocking considering her dominant play all year long. Korda captured the first major of the year in April—the Chevron Championship—by two shots and entered the week at the U.S. Women's Open as the odds-on favorite to capture her seventh win of the season and second major of 2024.
Instead, Korda will be heading home, looking to regroup after one disastrous hole buried any hopes of contention this weekend.
Near the end of Friday's second round, American Andrea Lee and Thailand's Wichanee Meechai lead the U.S. Women's Open by two shots.
The strangest fight of 2024 will not be taking place as previously scheduled.
Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and YouTube star-turned-boxer Jake Paul have agreed to postpoine their July 20 fight while Tyson deals with an ulcer flare-up, they announced Friday afternoon. The fight had been scheduled to take place at AT&T Stadium
“I want to thank my fans around the world for their support and understanding during this time. Unfortunately, due to my ulcer flare-up, I have been advised by my doctor to lighten my training for a few weeks to rest and recover,” Tyson said in a statement.
It has been nearly 19 years since Tyson, 57, last participated in a professional fight, which was a loss to Kevin McBride. He did fight an exhibition match against fellow former champion Roy Jones Jr. in 2020 that ended in a split draw.
Paul, 27, is 9–1 as a professional boxer since making his pro debut in 2020.
Three years after winning an Olympic gold medal, wrestler Gable Steveson is trying his hand at another sport.
Steveson has agreed to a three-year contract with the Buffalo Bills, the team announced Friday. The Bills will give Steveson, who has no American football experience, a try at defensive tackle.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Steveson had never worn cleats before working out for Buffalo.
The 6'1", 265-pound Steveson won gold in the freestyle 125-kilogram weight class at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, besting Georgia's Geno Petriashvili in the final. Before that, he won two national championships at Minnesota.
After his Olympic triumph, Steveson switched to professional wrestling and spent three years with the WWE. The company released him on May 3.
As Schefter pointed out, only one man—Hall of Fame wide receiver and sprinter Bob Hayes—has won both a Super Bowl and an Olympic gold medal.
The Bills are scheduled to open their season on Sept. 8 against the Arizona Cardinals.
The University of Virginia has agreed to pay a $9 million settlement related to an on-campus shooting that left three football players killed and two other students wounded on Nov. 13, 2022, the school announced Friday.
The settlement—negotiated out of court and approved by a judge—will be paid to the families of the late Virginia wide receiver Devin Chandler, wide receiver Lavel Davis Jr., and linebacker D'Sean Perry.
"We will forever remember the impact that Devin, Lavel, and D’Sean had on our community, and we are grateful for the moments they spent in our presence uplifting UVA through their time in the classroom and on the football field,” the university said in a statement attributed to university president Jim Ryan and rector Robert Hardie.
Former Cavaliers running back Mike Hollins, who returned to the field in 2023 after being wounded in the shooting, will also receive money from the settlement.
The shooting, which Christopher Darnell Jones Jr. has been accused of perpetrating and been charged with three counts of second degree murder, led to the cancellation of the remainder of Virginia's '22 football season.
After dispatching the Dallas Mavericks 105-100 on Tuesday in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals, the Minnesota Timberwolves did something unusual. The team made none of its star players available afterward for Inside the NBA, TNT's venerable postgame show.
According to a Friday report from Shams Charania and Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, there was a reason for that. It had to do with Golden State Warriors forward-turned-TV provocateur Draymond Green.
"(The Timberwolves had) such strong chemistry that it decided as a group that no player would appear on TNT’s Inside the NBA postgame show after their victory in Game 4 in Dallas, team sources told The Athletic," Charania and Krawczynski wrote. "The decision was a sign of support for (center Rudy) Gobert and (forward Karl-Anthony) Towns, who were the subject of derisive and seemingly personal criticism from panelist and Golden State forward Draymond Green."
Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves chose not to participate in "Inside The NBA" interviews, standing in solidarity with Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert against criticism from Draymond Green, per @TheAthletic
As they look to move forward from the worst season in franchise history, the Detroit Pistons appear set to let a key executive go.
The Pistons are expected to part ways with general manager Troy Weaver, according to a Friday afternoon report from Shams Charania and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Weaver, 56, has served in that role since June 2020.
The move follows Detroit's reported hiring of New Orleans Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon as their president of basketball operations.
During Weaver's four-season tenure, the Pistons never won more than 28% of their games. The team's last playoff berth came in 2019, and it hasn't won a playoff series since reaching the Eastern Conference finals in 2008.
Breaking: As Trajan Langdon’s tenure as Detroit Pistons President begins, the franchise and general manager Troy Weaver are planning to part ways, sources tell me and @JLEdwardsIII. pic.twitter.com/N0OSaE3cZH
James Cameron's Titanic came out in theaters on December 19, 1997. It made billions of dollars at the box office. It was released on VHS in September 1998 and DVD in August 1999. For nearly three decades it's been one of the most enduring pieces of popular culture, based on one of the most famous events in history. For 26 years it's been referenced, parodied, celebrated and rewatched. It's hard to believe there's a way to talk about this movie that hasn't already been covered.
And yet Joe Buck may have done it.
On Friday afternoon Buck was watching Titanic, as most people are wont to do. Near the end of the film, while Buck sat in a chair next to his neatly made bed, the former longtime voice of the World Series and current voice of ESPN's Monday Night Football, posted a video to his X / Twitter account pointing out a continuity error.
It turns out Buck really doesn't like how James Cameron sunk that boat and he could no longer keep it inside. So he made a video explaining his issues with the way this famous scene was shot. He did this while recording his television from across the room. Buck is completely off camera. Except for his feet.
Here’s an opportunity twitter - sorry, X - to tell me again that I’m stupid. Please, I’m begging you pic.twitter.com/z1iMP7Ck9J
"This shot doesn't make any sense," Buck says. "It's going in and now it's flat? Now you see the back of the ship. Going... There's no continuity there. This thing is going in nose down. The Titanic piece that is written there—hould be up in the air. Going in. This way. Instead all of a sudden it goes this way? What? It's always bothered me. One more time. It's going in vertically. K? The back of the ship's in the air. So if you're going to have the writing of the Titanic—it can't be that way! Now it's flat into the water? Now watch, it's going to be flat again... with the back. No! That would have been pointed up the other way. It would have been pointed away. Terrible."
We are not here to litigate the movie Titanic, which made $2.2 billion dollars in theaters on a budget of $200 million and was the highest grossing movie of all-time until Cameron released Avatar more than a decade later.
What we are here to litigate is the gratuitous shots of Joe Buck's feet in this video. Do you know how distracting something has to be to take people's eyes of Kate and Leo here? His toes have more screen time than Bill Paxton. If you were ever looking for an argument against vertical video, this is it.
Football season can't come soon enough. We need Buck and his bare feet grinding game tape, not crushing plot holes.
After playing a full NBA season split between two different teams, many players would have an inclination to rest.
That does not seem to be the case for Brooklyn Nets guard Dennis Schröder.
On Wednesday, Schröder debuted as a professional soccer player for FC Germania Bleckenstedt in the sixth tier of the German football pyramid. He played 62 minutes against SC Göttingen before being substituted off in a 5-1 loss.
Schröder, who helped lead Germany to its first-ever men's FIBA World Cup title in September, is preparing to represent his country in basketball in the Olympics in Paris. The Germans are grouped with France, Japan, and the to-be-determined winner of a six-team qualifying tournament in Latvia.
World Champion Dennis Schröder participated in an official 6th division game in Germany today.
Brooklyn Nets point guard started the game between FC Germania Bleckenstedt and SC Göttingen (1-5), before leaving the pitch on the 62nd minute.@DS17_FG played as a left winger. pic.twitter.com/r8dmLUjCts
FC Germania Bleckenstedt is a member of the Landesliga Braunschweig, a league centered around the German state of Lower Saxony. Schröder was born in Braunschweig, the state's second-largest city, and he spent his early career with Braunschweig-based teams.
But one of the lasting images from Thursday night's game involved a heated moment between Doncic and a Timberwolves fan. During the third quarter, Doncic could be seen yelling NSFW words with such intensity at the fan who was seated near the baseline that Snoop Dogg, who was also sitting courtside, was left stunned.
Of course, everyone wanted to know what was said to Doncic to prompt the Mavericks star to make such an intense reply. But Doncic, during his postgame press conference declined to share what the Timberwolves fan said, saying, somewhat strangely, that he if he told anyone what was said to him, he "could sue" the Timberwolves fan.
Mavericks’ Luka Doncic on what the Game 5 Target Center heckler said: “I can’t tell you. If I tell you, I could sue him. But, you know, that gets me going. Everybody knows that.” pic.twitter.com/sq7h58DYhf
“I can’t tell you," Doncic said. "If I tell you, I could sue him. But, you know, that gets me going. Everybody knows that.”
Whether Doncic was kidding or not, whether what the Timberwolves fan said was bad enough to warrant taking legal action, the Mavericks star did acknowledge that such trash talk "gets me going."
Let that be a warning to fans of the Boston Celtics, who the Mavericks will play in the NBA Finals, starting Thursday, June 6: Don't act like this Timberwolves fan did towards Doncic because it probably won't end well for your team.
The Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics will face off in the 2024 NBA Finals. While many of the Celtics were on the team that went to the 2022 NBA Finals, some are making their Finals debut. The Mavericks, on the other hand are mostly made of Finals novices—with the very obvious exception of Kyrie Irving who hit one of the greatest shots in NBA Finals history against the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
Here are all the players making their NBA Finals debut this year.
Luka Dončić
It took him a few years, but he finally got here with the help of a ragtag bunch of castoffs that only a home PA announcer could love.
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Hardaway came to Dallas with Kristaps Porzingis and refused to leave. Tim Hardaway's son has now been in the NBA for over a decade and has been a valuable contributor off the bench for many of them. He's only played 13 minutes a night in 10 postseason games this year, but he'll be ready if they need him.
Jaden Hardy
Hardy has averaged just 4.2 points per game in his first postesason, but he's appeared in 14 of the Mavericks 17 playoff games and shot 40% from three. For a 21-year old taken in the second round of the draft who is only in his second season, that's a pretty good contribution.
Dwight Powell
Powell was drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats in June 2014. He was traded to Cleveland two weeks later and then traded to Boston in August. In December he was part of the trade that sent Rajon Rondo to Dallas. While Rondo was gone before the team was eliminated from the playoffs, Powell has been there ever since.
Josh Green
Green was Dallas's first round selection in 2020. He's become a regular contributor and has played in all 17 playoff games, averaging 17 minutes a game for the Mavericks this year.
Dereck Lively II
Lively slipped to the 12th pick in the 2023 draft where he was taken by the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was almost immediately flipped to Dallas, where he contributed whenever healthy. He's come off the bench throughout the playoffs to give the Mavericks an average of eight points, seven rebounds and a block every night.
Dante Exum
Exum was the fifth pick in the 2014 draft and spent his first five seasons in Utah before being traded to Cleveland. Then, he went and played in Spain for two years before returning to the NBA with Dallas. He's given them brief minutes off the bench in the postseason and provided one of the most exciting moments of the entire season.
Maxi Kleber
Kleber was undrafted and signed by the Mavericks in 2017. He's been a decent 3-point shooter and played 20+ minutes a game for the last six seasons. He suffered a shoulder injury in the first round, but returned for Game 5 against the Timberwolves.
A.J. Lawson
Lawson has spent time with the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves before signing with Dallas in 2022. He appeared in 42 games for the Mavericks this season.
Olivier-Maxence Prosper
Prosper was drafted by the Kings and immediately traded to the Mavericks for cash. He bounced between the Mavericks and Texas Legends as a rookie, averaging three points and two rebounds in 40 NBA games. He has played one minute in the playoffs.
PJ Washington
After many wasted years in Charlotte, he was traded to the Mavericks on February 8th. This was his first trip to the postseason and he and Daniel Gafford celebrated their ascension on Thursday night.
Daniel Gafford
Gafford spent time in Chicago and Washington before Dallas rescued him the same day they picked up Washington. They have both started every game for Dallas during the postseason.
Kristaps Porziņģis
What a journey. Drafted fourth overall by the New York Knicks in 2015, Porziņģis was considered a unicorn. After suffering an ACL injury, he was traded—along with Tim Hardaway Jr.—to the Dallas Mavericks where people thought he could be the perfect second banana to a young Luka Dončić. After two first round exits in Dallas he was traded to the Washington Wizards. Then, he was traded again to the Celtics ahead of this season and played really well, but injuries have again limited him in the postseason. He should make his Finals debut.
Oshae Brissett
Brissett made his postseason debut with the Celtics after starting his career with Toronto and Indiana. Despite the lack of experience, he managed to make headlines by tweeting and deleting a message to Miami Heat fans early in the postseason. He has appeared in two of the Celtics last three games.
Svi Mykhailiuk
The Ukranian was taken by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round of the 2018 draft using a pick that the Denver Nuggets originally traded in 2013. He spent time in Detroit, Oklahoma City Thunder, Toronto, New York and Charlotte before signing with Boston in the offseason. His one basket during the playoffs was a 3-pointer.
Neemias Queta
The 7-foot Portugese center was taken by the Kings in 2021 and signed with Boston during the 2023 offseason. He's been on the floor twice for Boston during the postseason.
Xavier Tillman Sr.
The Grand Rapids native was drafted by the Sacramento Kings out of Michigan State before he was traded to Memphis. He played 30 minutes a game during the Grizzlies first round loss to the Lakers last year. He was traded to Boston at the trade deadline and is playing a bit during this Celtics run so he should see the court in the Finals.
Jaden Springer
Springer was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers late in the first round of the 2021 draft. The Celtics acquired him at the trade deadline.
Jordan Walsh
Walsh was drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft by the Sacramento Kings and traded to Boston in exchange for Colby Jones. Walsh has appeared in nine regular season games and two postseason games so far.
