Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington is the definition of a baseball lifer. The 71 year old has been a scrappy utility player, a pennant winning manager, and a coach with a knack for unlocking his players full potential. But there have also been downs in Washington’s career: a failed drug test, an extramarital affair, and a decade of thinking he would never manage again. Through it all Washington has done what he’s best at. Teaching the game.  Today, senior ESPN journalist Howard...

No one was surprised to learn that Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert experienced the same darkness retreat that Jets QB Aaron Rodgers made famous, or maybe infamous. And no one was surprised that the reaction was just as polarizing for Gobert, as it was for Rodgers. But what is it about the Timberwolves center that makes the Frenchman so dislikable to his peers? What exactly is it about his specific je ne sais quoi that has the man who’s won three Defensive Player of the Years awards, and a...

10 years ago this week, TMZ published bombshell recordings of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s private conversation with his mistress, V. Stiviano. Sterling’s racist and sexist dialogue captured the world’s attention, and less than a week later, new commissioner Adam Silver had banned him from the NBA for life, forcing a sale of the Clippers. Today ESPN senior NBA writer, Ramona Shelburne, who covered the story and hosted the 30 for 30 podcast, The Sterling Affairs: Takes us back...

As the playoffs are about to start, all eyes are on the NBA. Instead of the focus being on the court, the attention is all on former Raptor’s reserve Jontay Porter. Porter was caught manipulating his time and performance on the court that tilted multiple prop bets in a specific direction and, shockingly, resulted in one bettor taking home a $1 million payday. It was later found that Porter had also placed bets himself, breaking the leagues sports betting bylaws.  So today, Brian Windhorst...

Since the 2023 CFB season came to a close, USC’s Caleb Williams has been penciled in as the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The team holding that pick is the Chicago Bears, who are well known for their inability to draft and develop quarterbacks to their potential.  A couple of times throughout history, top prospects have used their leverage to force their ways out of unfavorable landing spots. The stories of John Elway, Bo Jackson, and most recently Eli Manning all...

So ESPN MLB expert Jeff Passan updates us on: the latest happenings in the Shohei Ohtani sports betting case, discusses how now isn’t the time for the league and the player’s association to go to battle over who is responsible for the slew of elbow injuries costing pitchers their season, and explains how players approach trying to be on the field for a full 162 games. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Technically, the NHL regular season does not finish until Thursday, with a few teams still fighting for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. But the true contenders to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup have already become pretty clear. So with the playoffs officially starting this weekend, we find ourselves filled with pressing questions. Is Canada finally poised to end its three decade title drought? Can Connor McDavid get over the hump? Are the New York Rangers for real? Our NHL expert...

When a six-foot tall, 265-pound bronze statue of Jackie Robinson went missing from McAdams Park in Wichita, Kansas, it felt like a hate crime. An ugly echo of America’s unjust past and a crime leveled not just at the man who broke Major League’s color barrier in 1947 but also at an urban community within the city. But as Bob Lutz, the founder of League 42, a youth organization geared towards exposing the city’s black and brown youth to baseball and more, learned, Jackie Robinson was more of...

When the starter’s gun goes off on Monday for the 128th Boston Marathon, sadly Kelvin Kiptum will not be among the runners. The Kenyan running superstar lost his life earlier this year and that tragedy has been compounded by what appeared to be limitless potential. In a brief three year marathon career, Kiptum had built a Hall of Fame resume that seemed to push the boundaries of what a human can accomplish. So today, ultramarathoner Kelaine Conochan joins us to explain just how much the...

John Calipari’s tenure at Kentucky included a national championship and four Final Fours. At most other programs, that kind of resume would have guaranteed him a job for life. But things are different in Lexington, as the Wildcats’ five year streak of no Sweet 16 appearances made Calipari’s recent decision to jump to Arkansas shocking but not surprising. So today, SportsCenter anchor and lifelong Kentucky fan Michael Eaves gives us the view inside the Big Blue fanbase and explains why...

On the eve of the Masters, it’s no secret that the world of men’s professional golf is currently in chaos. And there is nobody more in tune with anything and everything going on in that universe than Michael Collins, America’s Caddy. So as this year’s Masters gets ready to tee off down in Augusta, Collins delivers everything from the latest on the PGA/LIV cold war, who to watch on the course and why Tiger Woods isn’t ready to walk away just yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

This past Sunday, 18.7 million sets of eyes were on the women's NCAA Basketball National Championship game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the South Carolina Gamecocks.  But beyond the meteoric rise in the game’s popularity, there was another underlying story unfolding on the sidelines. That was the coaches, rocking all types of exciting fashion, from bold prints, to designer pieces worth thousands of dollars. The ladies leading these teams are setting a trend for how a coach can look.  So...

The finale of the men’s NCAA tournament is tonight, and features a matchup of the best two teams in the nation, UConn and Purdue, and the best big men in the country, Purdue’s Zach Edey and UConn’s Donovan Clingan. ESPN basketball writer and host Myron Medcalf breaks down the battle between the two behemoths, and explains how each side can come out on top. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We spent much of the men’s college basketball season lamenting the lack of buzz and star power on the court. But few sporting events are as good at building stars and storylines as the NCAA tournament. And despite fewer upsets and no true buzzer-beaters, the 2024 edition has still delivered.  It all comes to a head in Saturday’s Final Four as DJ Burns and NC State face Zach Edey and Purdue, followed by Mark Sears and Alabama taking on Donovan Clingan and Connecticut.   So today, our Myron...

If you need any more evidence of the explosive growth of women’s basketball, look no further than Monday night, when Iowa’s elite eight victory over LSU drew 12.3 million viewers. It’s not just the most ever for a women’s college game, it also eclipsed average viewers for last year’s World Series and NBA Finals. So as the Final Four gets ready to tip off in Cleveland Friday night, our expert Alexa Philippou reads between the now-officially measured lines to tell us everything we need to...

As expected, Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team are off to a strong start in the 2024 Formula 1 season. But despite Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez finishing first and second in two of the season’s first three races, the focus has been on things happening off the track. Team principle Christian Horner has had a complaint of sexual harassment, coercion, and abusive behavior lodged against him by a female employee of the team, leading to questions about whether Verstappen’s future...

Ippei Mizuhara was more than a friend and interpreter for Shohei Ohtani. He was the man that held the door shut between Ohtani and the outside world. With Mizuhara gone in the wake of this massive sports betting scandal, Ohtani is now a man alone. Tim Keown spent time watching the Dodgers’ newest star up close and personal recently, and he explains to us how Ohtani’s newfound isolation might actually be the key to him opening up to the Dodgers, and maybe eventually the rest of us all. Learn...

He may have been the biggest such star to become entangled in a gambling drama, but Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani was not the first. Days after the scandal surrounding the global baseball star’s interpreter came to light, a different set of suspicious bets emerged. Last Monday, news broke of an investigation into Toronto Raptors reserve center Jontay Porter. As more and more states have legalized sports betting, we’ve seen more and more athletes, many of them lesser known players, drawing...

The women’s NCAA Tournament is back in action tonight with a slate of Sweet 16 games that could set the stage for an unforgettable weekend. Will Iowa and LSU renew their championship rivalry? Can UConn make a triumphant return to the Final Four? And can anyone even come close to stopping the South Carolina juggernaut?  ESPN women’s basketball expert Alexa Philippou joins us from Portland, to answer our questions, tell us what she’s seen so far in the tournament and predict what’s to...

March Madness returns tonight with the Sweet 16, and the storylines are just getting good. Following a pair of stunning losses by blue bloods Kentucky and Kansas, and a return to form by Gonzaga, we’re asking ourselves if UConn can be villainous enough to capture the first two-peat since the 2007 Florida Gators? Whether Zach Edey can get Purdue over the top? And if NC State can be the Cinderella story to sweep through this tournament? ESPN host and college basketball writer Myron Medcalf...

Even as the Shohei Ohtani sports betting scandal dominates the headlines, there are other off-the-field stories bouncing around Major League Baseball.  Just last week, for example, following an offseason that saw free agent spending decline by nearly a billion dollars, there was a battle for control within the MLB Players Association. So today, ESPN MLB writer Jeff Passan details a story full of palace intrigue, conniving characters, and breaks down a battle for the future of the MLBPA more...

For any star, the path to greatness is paved with pitfalls most of us will never encounter. The burden of being the best person on the court. The challenges of trusting teammates who’s physical gifts and talents are so far removed from your own. The responsibility of setting the tone for everyone around you. That is the road Iowa’s Caitlin Clark walks.   So today, in the wake of the Hawkeyes’ second Sweet 16 birth in as many years, our Wright Thompson brings us closer to Clark’s inner circle...

The escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas has been the biggest story in the world for months. And it’s been devastating for Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 30,000 people have been killed. But through it all, the Palestine national football team has continued to compete, as it seeks a World Cup bid for the first time ever.  So with their fourth of six qualifying matches scheduled for Tuesday, ESPN investigative reporter T.J. Quinn tells us what he’s learned about the team, and how...

This isn’t the kind of attention that Major League Baseball was looking for to open the season.  Almost as soon as the league got to celebrate Shohei Ohtani leading his new Dodgers teammates to victory in South Korea, news broke that Ohtani’s name was being dragged into a sports betting scandal involving his longtime friend and interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. ESPN investigative journalist Tisha Thompson takes us through her reporting to tell us what happened, and how baseball's biggest unicorn...