Justin's Sports Corner

Tyler Monroe at MMFA:

Fox News has filled its summer programming with extensive coverage of the WNBA, airing at least 206 segments on the league and its players largely aimed at stoking culture war tensions related to race, trans athletes, and more.

Since June 25, Fox News has devoted at least 13 hours and 34 minutes of programming to the WNBA, much of which criticized the league over issues pertaining to race and trans inclusion in women’s sports. The deluge of coverage started as assertions that WNBA star Caitlin Clark had been targeted for being white, but it has devolved into an argument over trans inclusion in the WNBA, a league which currently has no trans players. The network has dedicated more than 8 hours of coverage in the past month to the issue of trans athletes in the WNBA, airing segments on Sophie Cunningham, her comments about trans inclusion, and the fallout.

On June 25, a hard foul by Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas against Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark set off what has become a monthslong firestorm of coverage of the WNBA by Fox News. The foul — and subsequent comments by Clark's teammate Sophie Cunningham about trans women in women's sports — brought extensive focus to the WNBA across Fox News. Much of this coverage followed a familiar Fox playbook, fanning the flames of racial tension, and centering debate around hypothetical trans athletes in the WNBA and in women's sports as a whole.

[...]

Fox’s culture war WNBA fixation  

In August, a hard foul by Chicago Sky guard DiJonai Carrington on Cunningham gave Fox the opportunity to weave together two of the network’s narratives: A league embroiled in a racial culture war and a star under attack for speaking out against trans athletes. Speaking about the foul against Cunningham and Carrington’s later social media post, Fox personality Tyrus called Carrington “a hateful person” and a “liar,” claiming, “She took an opportunity to take a shot on someone based on the color of their skin and her belief system, which I thought in America we were against. And it just so happens she did it against a white person. And for some reason in this country, it has become fashionable to be racist against white people and get a pass.” Fox News, which in the past has attacked women's basketball and the WNBA, has dedicated a large part of their summer programming to embedding coverage of the league with battle-tested right-wing culture war topics. Saturating the airwaves with coverage of trans athletes is familiar terrain for Fox; notably, they also centered the topic in the lead up to the 2024 election. Fox’s quick shift from focusing on Caitlin Clark and alleged race issues to instead obsessing over Sophie Cunningham and the hypothetical inclusion of trans athletes in the WNBA shows the network’s eagerness to stir up culture war issues as President Donald Trump flails in polls pertaining to the actual news of the day, such as the Iran war and the economy.

Etan Thomas at The Guardian:

White privilege. An accusation that triggers multitudes of white people in America as if you had insulted their mother. Mention racism, and people may debate you. Mention discrimination, and people may even listen. But say the words “white privilege”, and suddenly defenses go up, outrage erupts, and people start explaining why privilege couldn’t possibly have anything to do with what everyone just witnessed with their own eyes. Which brings us to DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham. In Saturday’s WNBA game between Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, Carrington was ejected after being assessed a Flagrant 2 for making contact with Cunningham’s head and neck area while attempting to defend her in transition. Carrington, who is Black, maintained she was making a play on the ball and didn’t intentionally hit Cunningham, who is white. Even Cunningham’s coach at the Fever, Stephanie White, said she did not believe Carrington intentionally went out to hurt Cunningham.

Carrington acknowledged she should have been penalized for the foul. But after her ejection, she went on social media and posted those two words many white people seem to fear so much: “WHITE PRIVILEGE”. Predictably, Carrington’s words became as controversial as the foul itself. But instead of dismissing Carrington’s accusation, we should ask why she posted the words that she did – she has said they had nothing to do with the officiating decision itself. What happens when Cunningham, a white woman, is the aggressor, and what happens when she is the “victim”? We’ve already seen the first scenario. In June 2025, Cunningham committed a Flagrant 2 foul against Connecticut Sun guard Jacy Sheldon. Cunningham wrapped Sheldon up as she drove toward the basket, sent her to the floor, and ignited an altercation. Cunningham was correctly ejected and fined by the WNBA.

If we are going to discuss racial double standards, we shouldn’t manipulate facts. Cunningham was ejected in 2025, just as Carrington was ejected in 2026. The referees treated both players the same – as Carrington herself appeared to suggest. Instead, the white privilege is found in what happened next. As my co-host on The Collision podcast, Chuck Modi, pointed out after Cunningham’s 2025 foul, a significant portion of the public didn’t transform her into a dangerous menace threatening the integrity of women’s basketball. Instead, she was lauded as an enforcer. She was the teammate willing to protect Caitlin Clark, a player whom many on the right see as a delicate white flower who needs protecting at all costs. Cunningham also became immensely marketable. Her TikTok following exploded from 300,000 to over one million, and she was flooded with lucrative marketing opportunities.

Ring partnered with Cunningham in an advertisement that explicitly played off her image as the Fever’s “protector”. The campaign converted the symbolism of her retaliatory foul into a branding opportunity: Cunningham protects her teammates; Ring protects her home. Think about that. A white player is ejected, and emerges with exponentially more followers, an “enforcer” identity, and lucrative endorsements. Now imagine if Carrington had been flooded with endorsement deals built around being an “enforcer” after her foul on Cunningham. Would America think that was cute? Would television personalities laugh and celebrate her toughness? Or would she be described with words like “dangerous”, “dirty” and “thug”? That question isn’t hypothetical, either. Look at what happened when Carrington fouled Cunningham.

Carrington’s foul was immediately framed by commentators as something larger than basketball. Cunningham was portrayed not simply as the recipient of a Flagrant 2, but as another white WNBA player being victimized by an increasingly dangerous culture within the league. We’ve heard similar rhetoric surrounding Clark for years: opponents aren’t merely fouling her; they are targeting her, jealous of her, and trying to hurt her. The racial subtext matters because the villains in this narrative are disproportionately Black women, while the white players like Clark and Cunningham are portrayed as in need of protection.

Then the Carrington-Cunningham incident went somewhere very strange: Florida’s attorney general, James Uthmeier, got involved. Uthmeier said he would be willing to charge players with assault and battery if they committed hard fouls in Florida. This is, of course, ridiculous, and Uthmeier – no doubt grandstanding for a certain demographic of conservative voters – knows it. Quite apart from the fact that Florida doesn’t have an WNBA team, we are talking about professional basketball. Hard fouls have existed since Dr James Naismith hung a peach basket on a wall. Players have been clotheslined, elbowed, shoved, and involved in fights. Flagrant fouls exist precisely because sports already have mechanisms to distinguish basketball contact from excessive contact. Yet suddenly, we are discussing criminal prosecution.

Would we be having that conversation if Cunningham had fouled Carrington? We don’t have to guess. When Cunningham committed her retaliatory Flagrant 2 against Jacy Sheldon, where was Uthmeier? Where were the threats of assault charges, the politicians warning the WNBA, or the television segments asking if Black women were safe from prowling white women? That’s what privilege looks like. When Cunningham fouls an opponent, she’s an enforcer. When Carrington does the same, she’s a danger.

Great column from Etan Thomas in The Guardian on how Sophie Cunningham benefitted from white privilege.

Mathew Rodriguez at Them:

The WNBA has commented on the growing number of outsiders trying to use the league’s gender eligibility policies to stir up controversy. Following news that two former NBA players, Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom, plan to register for the WNBA draft by simply saying they identify as women, the league has spoken out against these shameless and transphobic stunts. “There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others,” a league spokesperson told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The statement came after a meeting in which an anti-hate task force composed of team presidents and general managers met to discuss several topics, including transgender athletes.

The WNBA’s policy currently states that “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” with no language explicitly referencing gender identity or sex assigned at birth. Last Friday, Freedom declared that he would be exploiting this vagueness in the WNBA language in order to declare himself a draft candidate. “If simply declaring who you are is all that’s required, then I meet every single requirement necessary to compete in the WNBA,” Freedom wrote on X on August 7. “Based on the current guidelines, I can and am officially declaring my eligibility for the upcoming WNBA draft in April 2027.”

[...]

Shortly after Freedom’s declaration, former NBA player Royce White, who is also running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota, declared that he would seek to play in the WNBA, with even more vitriolic language. “I’m transgender. I’m a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purpose of basketball, professional basketball, so I’ll be declaring for the WNBA draft in 2027 as well,“ White told Fox News. “I think the WNBA could come out and make a definitive statement about guys with a pair of balls playing in the Women’s Association,” he continued.

[...] As the Associated Press noted, there has never been a trans woman on a WNBA roster and there is no legitimate trans athlete currently trying to declare for the 2027 draft. Of course, such an ecosystem for any potential trans athletes is by design. One of the talent pools for the leagues’ draft is the NCAA, which does not currently allow trans women athletes to play following pressure from a February 2025 Trump administration executive order while many states in general do not allow trans women athletes to play basketball with their cis peers in school.

Lisa Needham at Daily Kos:

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham must be so proud. Her bigoted antics are getting her the attention she so dearly craves, attention she would never get as a basketball player, because she is extremely mid. But she seems happy to try to drag the WNBA down with her. Thanks to Cunningham, many of the worst conservatives are fixated on the league. First up is the laughable Riley Gaines, clearly the person Cunningham one day aspires to be—a grifty little presence on Fox News and at anti-trans White House executive order signings. In 2022, Gaines swam for the University of Kentucky and experienced the sheer horror of tying for fifth place with Lia Thomas, a trans woman swimming for the University of Pennsylvania. Penn, in a “settlement” with the Trump administration, agreed to block trans women from playing women’s sports and revoke all of Thomas’ records. 

Now, Gaines is helping Cunningham poison the WNBA as well. On Saturday, the Chicago Sky’s DiJonai Carrington, who is Black, fouled Cunningham hard while going for a block, hitting her in the face. Carrington was assessed a flagrant foul and thrown out of the game, which she described on Threads as an act of “white privilege,” and she’s honestly not wrong.  But Gaines decided she had something important to say, and if you were wondering if she would make this racist as shit, she did: “I would actually say that this is Black privilege, to be totally honest with you, because her posting this white racist comment right after assaulting Sophie Cunningham on the court is actually black privilege because she knows the WNBA won’t do a single thing of significance about it.” Carrington was literally ejected from the game. Not sure what it is that Gaines thinks should happen in addition to that, but let’s face it: The unsubtle message here is that Black players should somehow be banned from touching precious Sophie. 

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is even threatening to charge WNBA players with assault if they were to, say, hurt precious Sophie. The notion that a foul is somehow an assault is laughable, but Uthmeier’s attack is serious and a threat to the league.  If Cunningham cared about the WNBA, she’d make a statement defending it and disavowing the gross anti-trans rallies that now accompany her everywhere. She’d also stop having Gaines pop onto the court for meet-and-greets with Cunningham’s bigoted fans. Instead, Cunningham is keeping mum even as washed-up former NBA stars like failed Senate candidate Royce White and the laughable Enes Kanter Freedom supposedly declare for the WNBA draft. Neither White nor Mr. Freedom are trans, of course. They’re just gross conservative men who want to screw with the WNBA and have bought a stupid conspiracy theory that the WNBA is somehow a haven for giant men hell-bent on harming precious tiny ladies like Sophie Cunningham, who happens to stand 6’1”.

Mathew Rodriguez at Them:

After two male basketball players publicly declared that they will identify as women only to qualify for the WNBA draft, the women’s professional sports league will soon hold meetings to clarify its language about gender eligibility. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert sent a note to teams on Friday, August 7, saying that officials would soon meet to clarify eligibility for trans players. “I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women's basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert said in the memo, which was obtained by ESPN. “I wanted to reach out to share how we are approaching these conversations at the league office and to thank those of you who have responded to questions from the media with thoughtfulness and professionalism.” A task force of team presidents and general managers, which was already set to meet this week, will now add the question of eligibility by gender to their agenda.

Currently, the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement does not have any language regarding trans players and states, “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA,” per The Athletic. Engelbert’s announcement came after two former professional basketballers, Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White, declared that they plan to declare for the WNBA draft. Neither Freedom nor White has previously made any statements about being trans and have both expressly stated that they are doing this to exploit vague language in the WNBA’s policy. [...] The Women’s National Basketball Players’ Association, the players’ union for the WNBA, released a statement shortly after Freedom’s stunt went viral. “We embrace justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Those are the values that unite this Union and allow it to protect women’s sports while creating transformational change,” the statement reads. “Hate, abuse, and demonization of any person or group of people, including transgender people, only fuel fear, division, and harm. We will continue to have hard conversations,” the post continued. “But we will not be used as political pawns.” Just hours after Freedom’s declaration, former NBA player Royce White also said that he would declare for the WNBA draft, saying that he identifies as a woman only when it comes to playing basketball.

Thanks to Royce White and Enes Kanter Freedom’s embarrassing stunt to declare for the 2027 WNBA Draft with the intent to mock trans sports inclusion (and the trans community at large), the league plans to meet to determine whether trans women are permitted to play in the league.

Both White and Kanter Freedom formerly played in the NBA, and have become right-wing pundits in recent years.

There has never been a trans player to play in the WNBA in its 30-year history.

See Also:

Quispe López at Them:

Conservatives have identified their latest target for transphobic vitriol amid their ongoing attacks on transgender participation in women’s sports: beloved Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu’s teenage sibling. The anti-trans news site Reduxx identified and allegedly outed Liu’s 16-year-old sister, who we will not name here, as transgender in an article titled, “Olympic Figure Skater’s Brother Quietly Racking Up Wins In Girls’ Sports,” per LGBTQ Nation. (The headline notably misgenders Liu’s sibling.)

The Reduxx article claims that Liu competes on several women’s sports teams at her high school, proceeding to misgender her and share a name for her that had not yet reached broader public knowledge. Despite claiming to be a “pro-woman, pro-child” website, Reduxx went on to share more sensitive information about a minor, including the name of her high school, her ostensible sports records (including locations she previously played), and even photos of her, while blurring other presumed children in the frame. Though the Olympian’s sister appears to have public social media profiles, it is worth noting that there is a difference between a trans teen being out to her local community and a conservative outlet broadcasting her name, image, and location to the entire internet. The article also goes on to cite Marshi Smith, co-founder of anti-trans organization Independent Council on Women’s Sports, who tells Reduxx, “The Liu family represents two opposing forces: the pinnacle of excellence in female sports and, at the same time, a profound threat to the integrity of those sports.” Though gold medalist Alysa Liu has not directly addressed the report, she has frequently supported LGBTQ+ rights in the past, skating alongside openly queer members of Team U.S.A. like Amber Glenn (who says she received “scary” threats for advocating for queer and trans rights).

Alysa Liu’s trans teen sister Jaylin was outed by anti-trans extremist doxxing site Reduxx.

See Also:

Jess Piper at The View From Rural Missouri:

The funny thing about the Heritage Foundation is that they have always been upfront about their plans. They write hundreds of pages of plans for the dystopian future they envision, and they don’t hide the plans. They publish them online for the world to see…remember Project 2025?

Analyses by the Center for Progressive Reform, an organization tracking the progress of Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation indicate that about 53 percent of the domestic administrative policy recommendations outlined in Project 2025 have been initiated or completed. The Project is a far-right governing blueprint, and the Heritage Foundation has never been shy about its agenda. Project 2025 told us what they wanted to do to government, and a new report published by the Heritage Foundation tells us what they think about women. We are not partners in public life, but people to be managed and separated and minimized. I happened across a sentence in the new Heritage report entitled, “Title IX’s Failed Experiment: Why Accommodating Sex Differences Beats Engineered Parity.” The Report was released by the Heritage Foundation on July 8, 2026. That sentence shook me. I couldn’t believe I read it in a report from an organization that is actively working inside the Trump regime. Trump appointed several contributors and authors tied to Project 2025 and the Foundation, such as Russell Vought (Office of Management and Budget), Tom Homan (border policy), and Brendan Carr (FCC). The Heritage Foundation is now fully embedded in the Trump regime.

I went on to read the entire report on Title IX, and I could barely contain my anger and outrage. The plan is to end, or severely limit, women’s competitive sports and return to sex-segregated opportunities for men and women in schools across the country. To assert that women never needed sports in the first place. To prove that Title IX has become a tool of “feminist social engineering.” To demonstrate that women don’t need competitive sports and that “clubs, intramurals, and exercise classes…” would suffice. To instead encourage “activities that emphasize rhythm, coordination, community, and graceful exertion.” To prove that women don’t need to compete at elite levels, but rather benefit from activities that build, “health, good habits, vigor, grace, confidence, and beauty.” The report outlines that the goal for women’s sports should be, “…virtue and health grounded in reality and freedom, not the imposition of a male-oriented competitive ideal.”

[...]

So, I did a little digging into the man who wrote the report: Scott Yenor, PhD. He is the acting Chair of the American Citizenship Initiative and a Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. The page dedicated to him on the Heritage Foundation’s site has praise for his work, saying: “Yenor is a student of the hostile forces of feminism and liberals that rip the family apart or prevent families from forming.”

[...]

The “weaponization” Yenor is referring to is the inclusion of women and girls in school sports. Sounds like the old and tired DEI arguments from the Right. Giving equal opportunity to women and people of color is somehow diminishing the opportunities of others. We can clearly see where anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion have landed us since they have been dismantled by the Trump regime. Our country is not better without DEI — we could argue that it is worse. The irony in all of this is not lost on me. The Heritage Foundation has consistently fought to “save” girls’ sports and has taken a stand against trans athletes in sports. They argue that “male genetics and physiology provide inherent competitive and safety advantages that undermine fairness for female athletes under Title IX” all the while the true intention was to dismantle women’s sports.

The “men in women’s sports” rhetoric was just anti-trans rhetoric. The anti-trans sports fight was always a vehicle for a broader rollback of women’s sports protections. The Heritage Foundation was never committed to an effort to save or better women’s sports. They used their anti-woman, anti-trans, anti-inclusion talking points to try to attain their true goal: the elimination of competitive sports for women. To keep women segregated from men starting in school sports.

Right-wing extremist "parental rights" group Moms For Liberty's Illinois chapter will hold rally in support for Sophie Cunningham in Chicago

J.D. Wolf at MeidasTouch:

Moms for Liberty’s Illinois chapter is encouraging supporters to attend a pregame rally in Chicago on Saturday in support of WNBA player Sophie Cunningham ahead of her game at the United Center. A graphic shared by the organization invites fans to gather at 1 p.m. on Madison Street near Lot C to “cheer for Sophie and celebrate women’s sports,” while featuring the slogan, “With love is truth.” The rally comes after Cunningham has become a popular figure in MAGA circles for standing against transgender athletes in women’s sports. Moms for Liberty, a conservative parental-rights organization that has aligned itself with Republican education priorities and has been praised by President Donald Trump, has made opposition to transgender inclusion in girls’ and women’s sports one of its signature issues.

Paige Skinner at HuffPost:

WNBA star Caitlin Clark responded to recent anti-trans comments from her teammate Sophie Cunningham, saying leagues should work with athletes “to find solutions” regarding trans girls and women in sports. “I think it’s for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions,” the Indiana Fever guard told reporters on Sunday after the team’s loss to the Minnesota Lynx. Clark said the topic of trans girls and women in sports isn’t something she and her teammates discuss in the locker room. “Our focus is on basketball,” Clark said. “That’s what we talk about and how we can get wins, and obviously, we didn’t do that tonight. So we need to find an area to improve in that way.”

When Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark was asked a question on trans athletes in the wake of her teammate Sophie Cunningham’s anti-trans sports comments, she answered that the leagues and governing bodies should be the ones that have the authority to settle the trans athletes eligibility question.

That answer, predictably, infuriated anti-trans and right-wing ideologues such as Matt Walsh, Riley Gaines, and Clay Travis.

See Also:

Ari's Threads (Ari Drennen): Caitlin Clark Declined to Attack Trans Athletes. Matt Walsh Called Her “the Biggest Coward in the History of Sports.”

Mathew Rodriguez at Them:

The so-called “MAGA Barbie” of the WNBA and the Fifth-Place Avenger have made contact. WNBA player Sophie Cunningham, a guard for the Indiana Fever, was seen hanging out and posing for photos with NCAA swimmer and anti-trans crusader Riley Gaines at a Sunday away game between the Fever and the Minnesota Lynx. Gaines, who has made a career out of right-wing advocacy after disappointing finishes in her college career, tweeted a photo of the pair together, with Cunningham sticking her tongue out. Gaines was wearing a T-shirt for XX-XY, an apparel brand that opposes trans inclusion in sports.

Other social media accounts posted photos of the pair posing together courtside, with Cunningham holding up a sign that said “Sophie, Thank you — A Girl Mom,” though it is unclear who gave the player the fan-made sign.

The sign that Cunningham held likely references the same comments which would have endeared her to Gaines. In July, while speaking to ESPN for a profile, Cunningham apologized for re-upping an anti-trans tweet about swimmer Lia Thomas, against whom Gaines competed, and denied “hating trans” while also reaffirming her stance opposing trans participation in sports.

Jonathan Sigal at MLS:

NEW YORK – Larry Berg has been named Major League Soccer’s next Commissioner following a vote on Monday at the league’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan. Berg, who has served as Co-Managing Owner of LAFC and Co-Chair of Major League Soccer's Sporting and Competition Committee, was selected via a comprehensive succession planning process led by the MLS Board of Governors, with Commissioner Don Garber supporting the transition process and Korn Ferry, CAA and The Miles Group serving as advisors throughout the search.  Berg will be officially introduced on Tuesday, Aug. 4 at MLS’s new office and assume the role of Commissioner on Jan. 1, 2027. Garber will continue to serve as Commissioner through the end of 2026 before becoming Chairman in 2027, ensuring a seamless leadership transition as MLS enters one of the most transformative periods in its history and builds on momentum from the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In the coming years, MLS will launch its new competition calendar for the 2027-28 season, continue evolving its roster model, open several new soccer-specific stadiums, engage in future media rights discussions, and finalize a new collective bargaining agreement. "I'm honored to lead Major League Soccer into its next era," said Berg. "Thanks to the vision and commitment of so many people, Major League Soccer has achieved tremendous success, but I believe our greatest opportunities are still ahead.

[...] During Garber's 27 years as Commissioner, MLS has grown from 10 to 30 clubs, attracted a new generation of world-class owners, overseen the development of 26 soccer stadiums, and helped transform the United States and Canada into prominent soccer nations.

AP, via Los Angeles Times:

MINNEAPOLIS — A crowd of critics and supporters of Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham’s stance on transgender participation in women’s sports gathered around and inside Target Center on Sunday as the Fever faced the Lynx in Minnesota. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wore a light blue shirt under her jacket that said “Trans kids belong” as she directed her team — the top team in the WNBA — to a 108-100 win over the Fever. There were fans in the stands wearing T-shirts that read, “Trans kids belong in sports.” It’s the third straight Fever game that drew a rally after Cunningham recently voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports in an ESPN article published last week. Before the contest, Cunningham and Reeve held a conversation at midcourt. Reeve didn’t want to share the exact nature of their talk. [...]

Cunningham was booed by the crowd on her first touch of the game and throughout. Outside the arena, dozens of fans gathered near the entrance. A person using a loud speaker repeatedly said, “Protect trans women.” There were signs held up that read, “Love is truth” and “Thank you Sophie.” Asked how she and the team are navigating the outside conversations, Caitlin Clark said after the game, “I think we’re excellent.

Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve keeping it real, unlike Riley Gaines wannabe Sophie Cunningham.

Daniel Villarreal (he/him) at LGBTQ Nation:

Eric Conn, an antisemitic far-right Christian nationalist pastor at Refuge Church in Utah, knows what causes “transgenderism,” and it’s the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). In a July 29 post published on X, Conn wrote, “Women’s sports are a key propaganda & discipleship tool of the Longhouse™.” The longhouse is a pejorative metaphor used by right-wingers to describe modern Western bureaucratic society as an over-feminized, safety-obsessed collective that suppresses individual male ambition, hierarchy, and open conflict. “WNBA is a hot bed of androgyny and homosexuality that inevitably leads to transgenderism,” he added. His claim is overstated to say the least, since the WNBA has only had one known out nonbinary and trans player, Los Angeles Sparks guard Layshia Clarendon, who retired in 2024; and even they were assigned a female sex at birth.

Sonja Chen at MLB.com:

LOS ANGELES -- The price tag was high. But for the back-to-back champion Dodgers, no cost is too steep with a three-peat bid in play. The Dodgers are in agreement on a deal to acquire two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal from the Tigers in a blockbuster ahead of Monday's Trade Deadline, sources told MLB.com on Saturday night. The teams have yet to confirm the deal. In return for Skubal, who will be a free agent after this season, the Dodgers are sending a trio of prospects to Detroit. Two of them are ranked on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list: outfielder Zyhir Hope (No. 25) and right-hander River Ryan (No. 68). Right-hander Brady Smith, who was L.A.'s No. 17 prospect before the trade, rounds out the package. "I’m excited to be a Dodger," Skubal said to reporters after the Tigers' game against the A's in West Sacramento, Calif. "I’m excited to get down there and meet all those guys and chase three championships in a row. It’s hard to do, so I’m excited to be a part of that." Skubal is the first reigning Cy Young Award winner to be traded in-season since Justin Verlander in 2023, and the sixth overall.

Nick Ames at The Guardian:

Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell chunks of the World Cup to private investors has sensationally collapsed, with the Fifa president admitting the project “has created divisions of a nature that are no longer in the interest of the objective”, amid widespread anger globally. The plan had caused ructions within football around the world, leading Uefa to threaten a boycott of future Fifa tournaments if it was not shelved. Other confederations had also come out in opposition while one of Infantino’s senior advisors, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned on Friday in protest at the scheme. The Fifa chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, had also aimed a scathing rebuke at Infantino’s “serious lack of respect” in seeking to force it through with minimal consultation.

It has led Infantino to back down amid speculation the venture capital firm Thrive Capital, which was leading the proposed investor group, had also expressed doubts after a week that threatened to tear the sport apart. Infantino’s previously secure presidency has come under severe pressure and it remains to be seen whether his climbdown will be enough to save his position.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” Infantino said in a statement. “Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed. Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”

The proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), unveiled earlier this week, had been intended to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling a significant stake in the commercial rights of the men’s and women’s World Cups, and the Club World Cup, to investors. It promised an increase in distribution to “over $10bn” (£7.5bn) being spread back among Fifa’s 211 member associations. A deadline of 19 September had been set for member associations to sign up to the scheme, which offered an optional $20m (£14.8m) to those participating.