by Mike Wise | Jul 2, 2026 | Opinion, Sports
In the end, just three things remain certain for all of us: death, taxes…and LeBron James curb-stomping another American city’s heart and forcing his fans into debt with the purchase of yet another team’s jersey.
Yes, the GOAT of the NBA, LeBron James, has worn at least 54 different primary regular-season jerseys throughout his career across three franchises: the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers. But he’s also the GOAT of crushing the heart of a city’s NBA fans. Just as LeBron told the Cleveland Cavaliers he would “take my talents to South Beach” in a wrenching and televised gut-punch of a breakup in 2010, told the Miami Heat he was leaving them in 2015 to go back to Cleveland and then told the Cavaliers he was leaving them again in 2018, the King of Pain has now called it quits with the Lakers and will pursue free agency at 41 years and more than 180 days old.
LeBron James has worn 54 different primary regular-season jerseys throughout his career across three franchises.
Lakers ownership, team legends and his LeBron’s teammates congenially thanked LeBron and described how lucky they were to be in a committed relationship with him for eight years — four years longer than the heartsick Miami Heat. The ugliness of past jiltings was absent — some Cleveland fans torched his jersey when he first left the Cavs — but he’s leaving many a young fan clutching a purple-and-gold No. 23 jersey autographed by LeBron, feeling abandoned and disillusioned. And wondering how much their gullible parents will be willing to pay for LeBron’s authentic, NBA-licensed jersey when he signs with his next team.
Signing LeBron at
by Michael Fox | Jun 30, 2026 | Article, Fascism, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Sports, Trump
The 2026 World Cup has captured the world’s attention.
The highs and lows. The surprises. The United States’ defeat of Paraguay 4-1 in their first game. Cabo Verde’s tie with Spain. Ecuador’s defeat of Germany. Fans cried in the stadium and around the world from joy and disbelief.
Here in Brazil, it is an obsession. Around-the-clock coverage. Watch parties on huge screens in cities across the country. People glued to their TVs.
But the 2026 games in the United States, Mexico, and Canada have also been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s administration—specifically, his anti-immigration crackdown and authoritarian backslide.
Fans, players, and even world-class referees have been barred from entering the United States for the World Cup. Players have been detained, questioned, and had their luggage searched by dogs. Videos have gone viral of African players facing extended searches and security checks. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s most avid supporter was forced to return home after he failed to obtain a visa.
US officials forced Iran’s team to stay in Mexico, even though their games were played in the United States. Their logistics people were blocked from entering the US at all because they couldn’t get visas.
“This is a disaster World Cup,” Mehdi Taremi, the Iran National Team captain, said in a press conference. “We can’t stay in the country and have to travel every time we play without any recovery. Now we can’t stay in Seattle and have to return to Tijuana. This is not fair.”
The captain of Iran’s National Team, Mehdi Taremi, calls out FIFA and the U.S.:“This is a disaster World Cup. We can’t stay in the country and have to travel
by Jason Page | Jun 28, 2026 | Opinion, Sports
Odds are that Serena Williams won’t win Wimbledon.
But then, Williams has beaten the odds — and most of her competitors — for the better part of three decades, which is why millions will be watching her return to competitive singles at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club this week.
At 44, Williams hasn’t played a competitive singles match in nearly four years. The tournament announced last weekend that the 23-time Grand Slam singles winner would take a wild-card entry into the singles competition. Serena and her sister, Venus, had already received wild-card entries into the women’s doubles tournament, which they have won six times, most recently in 2016.
Williams’ timing is likely an indictment of the current crop of women’s tennis stars.
Speculation about her return to singles action abounded after Williams announced that she would play doubles in grass tournaments that lead up to Wimbledon. The question was less if than when — whether she would wait until the hardcourt U.S. Open, which she has won six times, or resume her career on the grass at Wimbledon, where she has won seven singles titles.
To those wondering why, or why now, Williams offered an intriguing comment during a press conference earlier this month: “I don’t need to win,” she said. “I’ve won more than most people have in their whole lives. I don’t have anything to lose. Everything is just a gain.”
Is this next chapter of her legendary career really about her children, ages 8 and 2, seeing her play, or is one of the game’s greatest competitors driven to take one last stab at tying or surpassing
by Zahara Hill | Jun 16, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, Sports
President Donald Trump celebrating his 80th birthday with UFC fights on the White House lawn was classless enough. Then Josh Hokit was given a microphone. After the UFC fighter won his cage match at Trump’s flamboyant celebration Sunday night, Hokit, who spoke mostly in disturbingly trite rhymes after his win, managed to further degrade the event. At the conclusion of his post-fight interview with announcer, podcaster and manosphere extraordinaire Joe Rogan, the athlete declared,“Michelle Obama is a man. Am I right, America?”
Many in the crowd of thousands of UFC fans ate it up, and expecting anything less would require an exceptional level of delusion. Misogynoir and transphobia have been lobbed against Obama at least since 2008, when America elected her husband, Barack Obama, president.
Misogynoir and transphobia have been lobbed against Obama at least since 2008, when America elected her husband, Barack Obama, president.
Misogynoir was coined by academic Moya Bailey in 2008 to describe the intertwining of racism and misogyny targeting Black women. As pervasive as misogynoir is, it took 15 years for Merriam-Webster to add the word to its dictionary. But even as I write this piece, each time I type misogynoir, spell-check suggests I have made a typo.
While it’s tempting to categorize Hokit’s remark as a random remark that came completely out of left field, the athlete was actually on brand. ESPN reported, “In his postfight interview at UFC 324 in January, Hokit called WNBA star Brittney Griner ‘a man.’” He’s a poster child for misogynoir.
Trump’s entire political persona is crafted in the mold of a strongman, an archetype that couldn’t exist without a heavy dose of toxic masculinity. And when he was elected to the
by Haris Tarin | Jun 14, 2026 | Opinion, Politics, Sports
FIFA referee Omar Artan flew into Miami on Saturday for the assignment of his career: He was about to become the first Somali to referee in a World Cup. But Artan never made it out of the airport. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reportedly interrogated him for 11 hours then held him in a cell before putting him on a flight back to Istanbul, from where he had caught his connecting flight to the U.S. By Monday, FIFA had dropped Artan from the tournament.
I spent nearly a decade at the Department of Homeland Security working in counterterrorism and civil rights, and I can say with confidence that Artan being denied entry for so-called vetting concerns and being sent away had nothing to do with national security and everything to do with his being born in Somalia. The government is dressing up its religious and ethnic discrimination in seemingly innocuous bureaucratic clothing.
We don’t have to shut out whole countries to keep our country safe.
The U.S. already operates the world’s most exacting traveler-vetting system — officials look at fingerprints, facial scans, multiple watchlists and conduct checks via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. That system is applied every time someone tries to enter the U.S., and it makes crude nationality bans unnecessary. We don’t have to shut out whole countries to keep our country safe. We have the tools to single out threats and let everyone else through.
But during this second Trump administration, the government is restricting visits from nationals of 39 countries. Four World Cup teams — Haiti, Iran, Senegal and Ivory Coast — are on that list, and the administration has only given the tournament a narrow carve-out. Players
by Jill Thomson | Jun 10, 2026 | Apartheid, FIFA, Gianni Infantino, illegal settlements, Israel, Op-Ed, Palestine, settlements, Sports, west bank
If you take this long to investigate something, there is a good chance you are hiding something. FIFA and UEFA, it turns out, have been hiding several things. Ten, to be precise. That is the number of illegal Israeli settlement clubs now operating in the occupied West Bank, at least seven of them playing on land that should fall under the jurisdiction of the Palestine Football Association…
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