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The Cavs gave a role player $30 million at the start of the season, and it's going to be a problem in free agency

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anderson varejao

The Cleveland Cavaliers face a challenging summer when much of their core will become free agents or have the chance to become free agents.

Keeping their core together will be expensive, and it becomes more problematic when factoring in the three-year, $30 million extension the Cavaliers gave center Anderson Varejao at the start of the season.

Though only the first two years and $20 million are guaranteed, the Cavs will have to pay $10 million per season for a player who's only averaged 34 games per season over the last five years.

Varejao was the Cavs' lone reliable big man at the beginning of the season, but got hurt and missed the rest of the year. When he's healthy, he's effective, but the extension remains somewhat puzzling. According to Akron Beacon Journal's Jason Lloyd, the extension was partially done to please LeBron James, who is close with Varejao.

Nonetheless, in a huge offseason, Varejao is eating up precious cap space.

The Cavs have a ton of work to do this offseason. LeBron James, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith can all become free agents, and Tristan Thompson, Iman Shumpert, and Matthew Dellavedova will become restricted free agents.

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, James, Love, and Smith are all expected to opt out of their deals and become free agents. LeBron will obviously receive a max contract, Love will likely get one (and the Cavs may have no choice but to give him a full max so they didn't trade Andrew Wiggins for a one-year rental on Love), and Smith must think he can earn more than the $6 million option he has this season.

The Cavs' restricted free agents are all valuable to their team, too. Tristan Thompson already turned down $52 million, and LeBron James has lobbied for his return. Iman Shumpert is a valuable "3 and D" wing player, and Dellavedova became an important contributor in the playoffs.

As Windhorst notes, LeBron is basically in control of the Cavs' future. Cleveland wants James' input on how to build the team going forward, and given that the Cavs swept through the Eastern Conference with an incomplete team, it stands to reason that James would want the same cast back together next season. Windhorst reports that Cavs owner Dan Gilbert is willing to spend to be competitive, but the NBA's "luxury tax" penalties are harsh, and even big market teams have avoided committing big to their teams.

By bringing back all of these players on new, larger contracts (plus Kyrie Irving's five-year, $90 million extension kicking in) the Cavs' payroll will swell to potentially historic proportions. In 2013, the Brooklyn Nets set a new record with their $193 million bill in salaries and taxes, and the Cavs could approach that next season if they retain all of these players.

The Varejao extension then becomes a thorn in the Cavs' side. At $9.6 million next season, Varejao could only be the Cavs' fourth-highest player — behind LeBron, Love, Irving, and Thompson — possibly fifth, depending on what Shumpert may get. With the emergence of Timofey Mozgov, that's a lot of money to spend on a backup center.

When the Cavs' front office has to make tough decisions on how much to pay players like Smith, Shumpert, and Dellavedova, they may look at the money Varejao is making as bothersome, particularly because he's rarely a healthy contributor. However, given his friendship with James and his relatively low trade value, there's no easy way out of paying him.

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Combine tractor derby is disturbingly competitive and yet absolutely awesome

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Combine tractors are going head to head at the annual combine tractor derby in Lind, Washington. Farmers decorate and arm their tractors in preparation for the event. The derby draws up to 4,000-5,000 people each year and has been a summer staple in the community since 1988. 

Produced by Emma Fierberg. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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Lionel Messi is the most valuable player in the world and it's not even close

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Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi of Barcelona FC in Spain's La Liga is the most valuable soccer player in the world, according to the latest valuations released by Football-Observatory.com.

Messi was determined to have a transfer value of $287.6-315.5 million (€255.3-280.9 million). That's more than a $100 million greater than any other player in the world.

While fans will argue about whether Messi or Ronaldo is the best player in the world, the one huge advantage Messi has over Ronaldo in terms of value is age. Messi (27) is three years younger than his Real Madrid rival. Ronaldo is one of just seven of the top 100 players who has already celebrated his 30th birthday, and he fell to No. 3 on this year's list behind Chelsea's Eden Hazard.

In addition to age, the player values are determined based on a formula that considers a player's performance, position, contract status, and experience, as well as his current team's performance and competition level, while factoring recent trends in spending in the transfer market.

Here are the 20 most valuable:

  1. Lionel Messi (Barcelona) — $287.8-316.6 million
  2. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)  — $152.7-167.9 million
  3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)  — $127.7-140.6 million
  4. Neymar (Barcelona) — $101.0-111.0 million
  5. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) — $88.2-97.0 million
  6. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) — $83.1-91.3 million
  7. Paul Pogba (Juventus) — $79.3-87.2 million
  8. Diego Costa (Chelsea) — $78.8-86.7 million
  9. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal)  — $76.4-84.1 million
  10. James Rodríguez (Real Madrid)  — $70.5-77.6 million
  11. Luis Suárez (Barcelona)  — $67.6-74.4 million
  12. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid)  — $66.5-73.2 million
  13. Cesc Fàbregas (Chelsea)  — $66.2-72.7 million
  14. Isco Alarcón (Real Madrid)  — $64.5-70.9 million
  15. Harry Kane (Tottenham)  — $60.3-66.4 million
  16. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)  — $57.8-63.6 million
  17. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool)  — $56.8-62.6 million
  18. Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)  — $56.7-62.4 million
  19. Oscar dos Santos (Chelsea)  — $53.6-59.0 million
  20. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)  — $50.3-55.4 million

See the full list at Football-Observatory.com

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Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer loses perfect game with 2 outs in the 9th in the worst way possible

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6 20 2015 5 51 03 PM

Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was one strike away from becoming the 24th pitcher in Major League history to throw a perfect game. Instead he had to settle for a no-hitter thanks to a controversial hit batter.

With two outs in the ninth inning and two strikes on the batter, Scherzer hit Jose Tabata with a pitch ending the bid for a perfect game (via MASN).

 

However, replays clearly showed that Tabata leaned into the pitch which should have negated the hit batter.

Max Scherzer GIF

It is a ploy often used by batters and rarely called by the umpires. However, to do so in this situation, with the game no longer in doubt and a pitcher working on a perfect game, would be considered taboo by most in the game.

Scherzer did settle down and get the next batter out to preserve the no-hitter. However, it's hard not to think about what might have been if Tabata had not dropped his elbow into the path of the pitch.

6 20 2015 5 24 34 PM

Here is video of the final pitch.

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Nationals' Max Scherzer gives interview covered in chocolate sauce after throwing a no-hitter

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Max Scherzer pitched a no-hitter Saturday, losing his perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning when he hit a batter in the Washington Nationals' 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Scherzer dominated in retiring the first 26 batters and was one strike from throwing the 22nd perfect game in major league history since 1900.

Pinch-hitter Jose Tabata fouled off a pair of 2-2 pitches before Scherzer clipped him on the elbow with a breaking ball. Scherzer immediately grimaced as Tabata took his base. Scherzer then retired Josh Harrison on a deep fly to left.

Scherzer struck out 10 Pirates. In his previous start, he took a perfect game bid into the seventh at Milwaukee and finished with a one-hitter and 16 strikeouts.

max scherzer

Scherzer lost the perfect game bid in the bottom of the 9th when he hit Jose Tabata.

After the game, Nationals players celebrated Scherzer's no-hit game by showering him with chocolate syrup. It begins.

 And here's the full chocolate syrup shower:

 max scherzer

And Scherzer's chocolate covered interview:

 

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Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's diet contains an absurdly large amount of cod

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Dwayne Johnson The Rock

Dwayne Johnson's new HBO series "Ballers" begins Sunday night. Johnson plays a former pro football player who becomes a financial advisor for current athletes.

This sparks us to ask once again, how on earth does he maintain that muscular physique?

Well, we found out. In an interview with "Muscle and Fitness" magazine, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson explained in detail what he eats every day. 

In a fitness plan that consists of seven full meals and two and a half hours of exercise, Johnson admits to eating cod in four of those seven meals, adding up to a staggering two and change pounds of the fish each day. Every day. All year. 

Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight did the math— Johnson eats about 821 pounds of cod a year (here's the full meal plan).

Mallory Ortberg of "The Toast" documented her reaction to reading Johnson's meal plan in real time.

Ortberg writes,

MEAL 2: 8 oz cod/12 oz sweet potato/1 cup veggies: DWAYNE THE ROCK JOHNSON YOU JUST HAD A WHOLE THING OF COD A MINUTE AGO HOW MANY CODS HAVE YOU GOT STUFFED UP IN YOUR FRIDGE MY MAN?? I MEAN.

Because that much cod a year is ridiculous to even imagine consuming (as is working out for two and a half hours a day, seven days a week) we plugged in Johnson's cod intake to a mercury calculator to see if 800 pounds of cod per calendar year was in the unsafe zone for mercury consumption.

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For fun, we guessed Johnson weighs about 260, and, according to his meal plan, consumes four medium-sized servings of Alaskan cod a day. The calculator determines safe mercury levels by weekly intake, so that's 28 servings a week.

Alas, the calculator does not allow you to plug in a number that exceeds 10 servings a week! But even when we plugged in 10 servings, the NRDC calculator concluded what we kind of already assumed: at 10 servings of cod a week, Johnson is above the safe level of mercury intake (and he's consuming more than twice that amount.)

To quote Ortberg: "I got nothing left to say at you, my man, I gotta lay down on the floor for a real quick minute, please continue doing you until you can no longer do it."

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Here’s why The Rock’s new HBO show 'Ballers' can legally use NFL logos without the league’s consent

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Warning: Spoiler Ahead

Earlier this month, NBC’s ProFootballTalk revealed that the NFL team uniforms featured in Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s upcoming HBO show “Ballers” are used without the consent of the league.

HBO’s reply to the story, and Business Insider, was that "HBO is always mindful of other intellectual property owners, but in this context there is no legal requirement to obtain their consent.”

It turns out that is 100% true, according to a prominent entertainment lawyer.

After speaking to entertainment lawyer Michael C. Donaldson, who has over 30 years of experience in copyright and entertainment issues, BI learned that as long as the use of the NFL trademark and team logos are used as it was intended to be used, and do not disparage or tarnish it, there is no need to ask for permission.

“[The NFL] brow beat a lot of people into paying fees that don’t have to be paid,” Donaldson told BI. “They extract those fees from filmmakers who are either nervous or not completely aware of their rights under the law.”

Donaldson gives this example in how to understand trademark law:

“It’s alright to say, ‘This Coca-Cola takes awful.’ You can say, ‘I hate Coca-Cola.’ What you can’t say is something that misrepresents it, such as you drink a Coke and you drop dead and someone says, ‘That happens all the time.’”

What causes the confusion, according to Donaldson, is what goes on at the networks. Because they air NFL games they have broadcast rights. You may notice the disclaimer during games that say in part, “…any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is prohibited.”

“So people think, ‘Oh, the networks pay for the use of logos, obviously I have to,” Donaldson said.

That is completely different from trademark rights.

In the opening scene of "Ballers" we see Johnson’s character, Spencer Strassmore, having flashbacks from his days on the gridiron as a Miami Dolphin. He’s wearing a Dolphin’s uniform with its logo in plain view. He’s chasing down a Buffalo Bill quarterback, his helmet logo also clearly visible.

ballers logo finalDonaldson said what the show is depicting is completely legal.

According to Donaldson’s partner at his practice, Chris Perez, the show can go even further and the NFL could still not have a case.

“One thing that we can say for sure about players in the NFL in the last few years is that fights happen on the field every so often and then they get broken up by referees or coaches," said Perez. “Players have engaged in domestic violence and then convicted of that, and NFL players have committed murder. So you can create a show that uses NFL logos and create a fiction situation where all of those things happen.”

Later in that episode, the show does depict a player in a negative light. Star receiver for the Green Bay Packers, Ricky Jarret (John David Washington), gets into an altercation with another man at a night club and beats him to the ground in front of everyone.

ballers12Though the NFL won’t like that scene, Perez says the show is within its right to have a scene like that.

“Where you can get into trouble,” Perez said, “is portraying how the NFL reacts to it. The response has to be consistent to how the NFL would react in real life.”

According to Donaldson, if there were a scene where someone playing the NFL commissioner held a press conference saying that the NFL wants their players to get into fights at bars, the show would “get into big trouble.”

Jarret's actions in the episode do not go unpunished. Following the altercation he is cut from the team (with the Packers logo in full view, we see the GM say “cut him.”).

The NFL had “no comment” for this story.

“Ballers” premieres on HBO on Sunday, June 21.

SEE ALSO: Twitter wanted to broadcast the first streaming-only NFL game, but lost to Yahoo's $20 million bid

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Watch the fun trailer one more time for The Rock's new HBO show

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Sunday is the night Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson fans have been waiting for. "Ballers" begins.

This is the new scripted comedy that's executive-produced by Mark Wahlberg and his fellow "Entourage" colleague Stephen Levinson.

The Rock plays an ex-football player who now works as a high-profile agent. And it looks like it's going to be a blast.

The show premieres on June 21.

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Dustin Johnson thinks the US Open's bumpy greens affected the putt that cost him the tournament, and he might have a point

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Dustin Johnson

Dustin Johnson missed a critical putt on the final hole of the US Open that would have forced an 18-hole playoff. In his post-round news conference, he suggested that the much-maligned greens of the Chambers Bay golf course contributed to the miss.

Many people, including golfers, were openly critical of the Chambers Bay golf course used for the US Open, especially the greens, which were large, fast, covered in mounds, and at times completely unpredictable even on the most perfect putts.

After the tournament, Johnson was asked about the greens and his final putt and explained that he thought the ball bounced and kicked left, causing the ball to miss the hole.

"They do bounce and when they are fast and bumpy, it's tough to get it in the hole," Johnson told the media (via ASAP sports). "Whatever the putt did on the last hole, I don't know. I might have pulled it a little bit. But still to me it looked like it bounced left. It's tough. It's very difficult."

Watching the shot live, it was not obvious that the ball bounced and the announcers never noticed anything strange.

Did you see it?

It is difficult to notice because of Johnson's shadow. Unfortunately, Fox never showed another angle of the putt and only showed the replay once, at regular speed. But watch the ball as it travels between the two shadows created by Johnson's legs.

Dustin Johnson GIF

 

The easiest way to see it is to look at the ball and and the shadow it's creating. The ball appears to have separated from the shadow when it passes between the leg shadows, suggesting it bounced off the turf.

Dustin Johnson

It appears that the ball is still bouncing after it passes the shadow of the second leg.

Dustin Johnson GIF

Of course, we are starting to reach some conspiracy theory level analysis and Zaprudian-like frame-by-frame breakdowns, but it does appear that the ball hit something and started bouncing.

We still don't know if Johnson would have made the putt without the bounce and even if he did, it would have only forced a playoff. But Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee was a guest on "The Dan Patrick Show" and seemed to think the bounces could have been a huge factor in the miss.

"Nobody can say for sure [Johnson] didn't do all that was asked of him on that four-footer and hit three pieces of poa annua because it certainly bounced plenty," Chamblee told Patrick.

And let's face it, bounces do happen on even the best of greens. But considering the criticism of the greens this week, the presence of two different types of grass — the course's fescue and the native poa annua — being blamed for the bumpy greens, and Johnson's tragic history at major championships, this seems like a legitimate talking point.

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Jordan Spieth's caddie worked at the US Open course for $100 a bag when he was a 6th-grade teacher — this week he made $180,000

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All week long Michael Greller insisted that he had no inside information on Chambers Bay, despite working there in the summer of 2007, caddying for Justin Thomas there at the US Amateur in 2010, and getting married there in 2013.

But after Jordan Spieth won the US Open at Chambers Bay, he admitted that Greller played a key role.

"That was the best week he ever caddied." he said.

Eight years ago Greller was a sixth-grade teacher at Narrows View Intermediate School. During the summer he signed up to be a caddie at the newly opened Chambers Bay, which is a seven-minute drive from the school. According to Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, he made between $60 and $100 per round. Greller mostly caddied for "out-of-town businessmen, retired doctors or construction-company managers" at the public-access course, the News Tribune reports. After winning the US Open, he said he couldn't take much from his time as a caddie in 2007 because the guys he caddied for could never break 90.

From Greller (via ASAP Sports):

But, you know, ultimately as far as my local knowledge, it really wasn't worth anything, I didn't think, because Jordan's Jordan. He's one of the best players in the world, and I was just trying to stay out of his way. I've worked hard the last couple of weeks, but I haven't been out here in five years. The course has changed. The guys that I've caddied for usually can't break 90, or it's myself playing and I can't break 80. I throw out any — I'm sure he's being nice, but it comes down to Jordan just being one of the best players in the world.

Greller parlayed that summer job into a few gigs caddying for amateur players, including the 2010 US Amateur at Chambers Bay. In 2013, he quit his teaching job to work full-time for Spieth, a teenager who was just turning pro at the time.

michael greller jordan spieth caddie

According to Golf Digest's "undercover pro," caddies are traditionally paid in a 5/7/10 bonus structure — 5% of the prize money for making the cut, 7% for finishing in the top-10, and 10% for winning the tournament. If Greller's compensation structure is anywhere along those lines, his decision to work for Spieth is paying off big time. Spieth took home $1.8 million at the US Open alone, which would traditionally yield a $180,000 caddie bonus. Spieth is No. 1 on the PGA Tour money list this year with $6 million in prize money, and no one else is particularly close.

michael greller

Spieth raves about Greller. He said that he really helped him this week because, unlike at the Masters, he wasn't playing perfectly:

"What a special place for Michael. He was married here. He shares arguably one of the best moments of his life here. I was able to add to that history that he has at Chambers Bay. That was probably the best work Michael has ever done this week to get me through. At Augusta I was on and making everything and striking the ball fantastic. He was the one that got me through this week when I wanted to get down when things weren't going well."

With Spieth just beginning what many expect to be a long reign of dominance, the 37-year-old Greller has one of the best jobs in sports.

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Ian Poulter goes ballistic on US Open greens, says players would have gone home in protest if it was a regular tournament

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British golfer Ian Poulter said he would remain quiet and not share his opinion on the conditions of the greens at Chambers Bay until after he recorded his final putt at the US Open. On Sunday night, Poulter, who finished 11 over par, finally did so, posting a 328-word rant on his Instagram account.

He called the greens at Chambers Bay "most disgraceful surface" he has ever seen at a major, and posted this photo of a weedy-looking putting surface.

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Poulter believes the conditions of the greens were so poor that if not for the event being a major, many golfers would have refused to play:

"If this was a regular PGA tour event lots of players would have withdrawn and gone home on Wednesday, but players won't do that for a major. They were simply the worst most disgraceful surface I have ever seen on any tour in all the years I have played. The US Open deserves better than that. And the extra money that they have earn't this year from @FoxSports, they could easily have relayed the greens so we could have had perfect surfaces. Simply not good enough and deeply disappointing for a tournament of this magnitude."

Poulter called the USGA liars for saying before the tournament that the course was in "superb" condition.

"Mike Davis the head of the @USGA unfortunately hasn't spoke the truth about the conditions of the greens," Poulter wrote. "It is disgraceful that the @USGA hasn't apologized about the greens they simply have said 'we are thrilled the course condition this week.' ...I don't like it when people lie on camera to try and save face."

Poulter went on to apologize to the fans who attended the event, but weren't able to see due to high slopes, stands, and "unusually restrictive fan access":

"And to all you fans that paid good money to try and watch us play golf but couldn't see anything on most holes because it wasn't possible to stand on huge slopes or see around stands, I apologize and I'm sorry you wasted your money traveling to be disappointed."

Poulter isn't alone in his belief. Billy Horschel, who finished three under par, has been one of the most vocal golfers throughout the US Open in criticizing the poor conditions at Chambers Bay.

"I think a lot of the players, and I'm one of them, have lost some respect for the USGA and this championship this year for the greens,'' Horschel said at his press conference. "Mike Davis can push back as much as he wants, but when you have a majority of the players commenting publicly — and some of them aren't because they don't want to get the pushback from it — then there's an issue. I don't know if he's just trying to sugarcoat it so it doesn't look bad. I heard someone say the TV is making the greens look worse than they are. That's a complete lie."

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Colombia is talking all sorts of trash on the US before their Women's World Cup elimination game

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The US-Colombia game is the biggest mismatch of the Women's World Cup Round of 16. The US is the favorite to win the whole tournament. Colombia, on the other hand, is ranked 28th in the world and has never made it this far in a World Cup. Nate Silver's model gives Colombia a 5% chance to advance on Monday night.

In the face of these odds, Colombia is coming in hot with the trash talk. 

"They belittle us. They think we're a team they're going to walk all over and it will be an easy game for them," midfielder Lady Andrade told USA Today, "We're going to beat them since they like to talk so much."

Andrade added that the US plays a "physical" style and constantly kicks opponents, whereas Colombia is "nice to watch."

Andrade's teammate Yoreli Rincon got in some shots too. She said, "They are clearly taller than us, more athletic, but they don’t have the heart we Colombians have."

It's unclear what exactly these players are referring to when they say the US has belittled them, but it seems like it has something to do with a match at the 2012 Olympics. The US won 3-0, but the match was overshadowed by Colombia player Lady Andrade sucker-punching Abby Wambach in the eye off the ball.

abbey wambach punched

The ref missed the incident. After the game Wambach said Andrade should be kicked out of the tournament:

"Quit frankly it was dangerous. In all honesty, a really terrible play. Unsportsmanlike behavior absolutely. I hope FIFA and the Olympic Committee will look at the film and say that this is not the type of player that we want in the Olympics."

Andrade was suspended for two games. In that same interview, Wambach threw some shade at Colombia's style of play:

"They wanted to tactically get inside our heads and play physical. It was their game plan, and I thought that they did a really great job at that. I think slowing the game down, going down, conceding injuries, whatever, sucker-punching when they can just to try to get whatever they could out of this game. They did well but we did better scoring three goals."

Before Monday's Round of 16 game, Andrade told USA Today about the incident, “I hit her, what else I can say? If you look back at the video you’ll see she hit me too, but we’re Colombia so they don’t want to review the whole episode."

Rincon said the incident was a part of the game and she's not happy with how the US talked about her team after it:

"They defeated us 3-0. However, they said all sorts of things because one of their players unfortunately got smacked. But that happens in many matches. It always happens — a foul, a player is awarded a card. But what's happened following that episode because of something that happened three years ago, they've said things that have not been taken by us in the best way." 

yoreli rincon

The US has responded with a heavy dose of incredulity. 

"I don’t know what to say about the Colombians," US left back Meghan Klingenberg told the Washington Post. "I wish them well in the match and we’re going to do our best to beat them and they’re going to do their best to beat us."

Colombia already has a win over France in this tournament. The US made it out of the so-called Group of Death undefeated, but has yet to put together a complete performance over 90 minutes.

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Under Armour hit the jackpot on its Jordan Spieth bet

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Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth wasn't the only big winner on Sunday at the US Open. With the win, Under Armour's deal with Spieth is suddenly looking like one of the best endorsement deals in sports.

Under Armour originally signed Spieth to an endorsement deal in 2013. But just months before he won the Masters, UA ripped up that deal and gave the 21-year-old a new 10-year contract that was a huge gamble for a player who had one career victory at the time.

The deal has made Under Armour a direct threat to Nike, who picked Rory McIlroy to replace Tiger Woods as the face of their golf wing.

In 2013, Nike signed McIlroy to a 10-year deal reportedly worth a Tiger Woodsian $250 million, hoping that McIlroy would be the next Tiger Woods. While McIlroy has been big for Nike, it is actually Spieth who looks like the next Tiger.

By winning the US Open, Spieth became just the sixth golfer ever to win the Masters and US Open in the same year and joins Woods as the only two golfers to accomplish the feat in the last 44 years.

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While we don't know exactly how much Under Armour is paying Spieth — golf deals are often heavily incentive-based— it sounds like UA went all in on the 21-year-old and it is paying off.

Here is how Golf Digest described the deal:

"The deal, which industry insiders say has 'Tiger-like numbers,' includes an eight-figure guarantee annually, bonus benchmarks (for things like winning a major), stock options and, in the future, a signature line of clothing."

On top of that, Spieth is just 21 years old and UA has him locked up until 2025.

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee was a guest on "The Dan Patrick Show" and was asked if Under Armour would trade their deal with Spieth for McIlroy. After a small chuckle, Chamblee said they wouldn't, but also acknowledged that both Under Armour and Nike are likely happy with their own deals, noting that both golfers never make mistakes with the media, have combined to win the last four majors, and might be "Arnold Palmer-type players" (i.e. charismatic winners).

While the what-have-you-done-for-us-lately factor favors Spieth over McIlroy, it does appear that Spieth is not only one of the most marketable athletes in the world right now, he is also one of the most marketable celebrities, regardless of profession.

Consider these outlandish popularity metrics from Celebrity DBI via Golf Digest:

  • 35% of consumers knew who Spieth was before the US Open, up from just 19% before the Masters.
  • In "overall appeal/likability" Spieth rose from No. 1,500 to No. 129 out of 3,600 celebrities.
  • In terms of consumers aspiring to be like certain celebrities, Spieth is No. 1 among athletes and jumped from No. 333 to No. 4 overall, trailing only Tom Hanks, Bill Gates, and Kate Middleton.
  • In terms of "endorsement value" Spieth is No. 5 overall and No. 2 in sports, trailing only Michael Jordan.

And that was before winning the US Open.

All of that will be worth at least $25 million per year in endorsements according to Golf Digest who spoke with agents and marketing experts.

Under Armour still has a long ways to go before they are even in the same neighborhood as Nike, but hitting home runs with athletes like Spieth and Stephen Curry has made UA a legit threat to the king of the sports retail world.

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Report: New evidence shows Pete Rose bet on baseball games as a player

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Pete Rose

In a report set to air on Monday, ESPN says they have obtained evidence that Pete Rose bet on Major League Baseball games while he was still a player, something Rose has steadfastly denied.

It could have a huge impact on Rose's hopes for reinstatement.

"Outside the Lines" has obtained copies of a notebook from a Rose associate that strongly suggest Rose did wager on games as a player. The documents were originally seized by the U.S. Postal Investigators working on a separate case.

According to ESPN, the documents appear to show that Rose bet "thousands of dollars during the 1986 season including in games in which he played."

Here is a screengrab from ESPN of those pages.

Pete Rose ESPN screengrab

The notebooks were seized from the home of Michael Bertolini, a known associate of Rose, who allegedly placed the bets with "mob-connected bookmakers," according to ESPN.

Rose, who was banned for life from Major League Baseball, admitted in his 2004 book "My Prison Without Bars" that he wagered on games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds starting in 1987. However, Rose has always denied betting on games prior to 1987 while he was still a player or a player-manager.

The 1989 Dowd Report, which led to Rose's lifetime ban from baseball, included testimony that Rose bet on games while the Reds' player-manager from 1984 through 1986. However, that investigation was never able to produce evidence that Rose bet on baseball games during that period.

As recently as April, during an interview on ESPN Radio, Rose was asked if he gambled as a player.

"No," Rose told Michael Kay. "[I] never gambled when I was a player. That's a fact."

In an interview for "Outside the Lines," John Dowd called the documents, "the final piece of the puzzle, this is it, this does it, this closes the door [on Rose]."

According to Tim Kurkjian of ESPN, Major League Baseball was not aware of the documents' existence until shown by ESPN on Monday. MLB declined to comment.

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WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The historic 1996 Chicago Bulls championship team


Lewis Hamilton's F1 championship lead is slipping away as teammate Rosberg comes on strong

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Formula One Nico RosbergHere's everything you need to know about the wonderful world of motorsports this week.

Nico Rosberg bested teammate Lewis Hamilton to win the Austrian Grand Prix.

Mercedes-AMG driver Nico Rosberg passed polesitter and teammate Lewis Hamilton heading into the first corner of the race and never looked back.

The is the Rosberg's third win in four races and the 11th Grand Prix victory of his career.

The German's win in Austria cuts Hamilton's championship lead down to just 10 points. Hamilton's lead over Rosberg had once had ballooned to as much as 27 points after the Bahrain Grand Prix in April. However, Rosberg recent success does not mean Hamilton is performing poorly. In fact, Hamilton has finished either first or second in seven of the first 8 races of the 2015 season and hasn't finished worse than third all year. Rather, this is an indication of an increased level of competition from Rosberg.

Williams Grand Prix also had a great weekend with drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finishing in third and fifth respectively. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in fourth in place, while teammate Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish.

Formula One's next stop is the 2015 British Grand Prix on July 5. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. fiance

Dale Earnhardt Jr. got engaged!

Nascar superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. proposed to long-time girlfriend Amy Reimann while on vacation in Germany last week, Fox Sports reported. According to a video posted by Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports, the 40-year old proposed to Reimann at an old Lutheran Church once attended by the driver's ancestors. 

"I'm very excited for both of them," Dale Jr.'s Mother Brenda Jackson said in the video. "I'm happy. I know Dale  is real excited, and him and Amy love each other very much."

Earnhardt Jr. — son of the late seven-time Nascar Sprint Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. — is the driver of the number 88 Chevrolet SS for Hendrick Motorsports. The Kannapolis, North Carolina native currently sits fourth in the Sprint Cup drivers standings. 

More on Formula One:

Here's the full race results from the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.

Austrian Grand Prix result 2015

SEE ALSO: Patrick Dempsey gets emotional after a good finish at legendary French car race

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Chart shows just how dominant Jordan Spieth has been at this year's majors

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Jordan Spieth needed a Dustin Johnson missed putt on hole No. 72 to win the US Open, his second major championship of the year. But that doesn't accurately reflect how dominant Spieth has been when it matters most.

Through eight rounds at this year's majors, only 32 players have made the cut at both the Masters and the US Open and of those, only 12 players have shot a total score under par.

Spieth leads the way at 23-under and nobody else is even close.

Jordan Spieth Chart

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Rob Gronkowski hasn't spent a penny of the $16.3 million in NFL salary he has made in his career

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Rob Gronkowski

Rob Gronkowski has made a little more than $16.3 million in five seasons playing for the New England Patriots and has saved all of it.

Peter King of theMMQB.com posted some excerpts from Gronkowski's upcoming autobiography, "It's Good to be Gronk." Among those excerpts was this tidbit on Gronk's thriftiness:

"To this day, I still haven’t touched one dime of my signing bonus or NFL contract money. I live off my marketing money and haven’t blown it on any big-money expensive cars, expensive jewelry or tattoos and still wear my favorite pair of jeans from high school."

By star athlete standards, Gronkowski did not make much money when he first entered the NFL as a second-round pick. His first contract included a $1.8 million signing bonus and his salaries during his first two seasons were $320,000 and $450,000, respectively, according to Spotrac.com.

However, that changed after his second season in the league when he signed a six-year, $54.0 million contract with an $8.0 million signing bonus, and yet it sounds like Gronk is still living like an underpaid rookie.

Gronk's endorsement deals have included BodyArmor SuperDrink and Dunkin' Donuts.

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The Lakers are the key to the NBA Draft

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Kobe Bryant

With all signs pointing the Karl-Anthony Towns going No. 1 to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers hold the keys to the NBA Draft.

Right now it looks like there's a consensus top tier of four players: Towns, Duke center Jahlil Okafor, Ohio State guard D'Angelo Russell, and Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis. Of the nine NBA Draft experts we surveyed on July 19, everybody has Towns, Okafor, and Russell in the top four, and six of nine had all four guys going top-four.

What no one can really agree on, though, is what exact order these guys will fall once Towns is off the board at No. 1. With the No. 2 pick, the Lakers won't just be deciding on a key piece of their own future, they'll have huge sway over who lands with the Philadelphia 76ers (No. 3 pick) and New York Knicks (No. 4 pick).

Assuming Towns goes No. 1, you could make a case that there are plausible scenarios where the Lakers, Sixers, and Knicks each have a shot at any one of Okafor, Russell, or Porzingis.

If the Lakers draft Jahlil Okafor at No. 2...

duke basketball okafor

This is the most likely scenario, according to ESPN's Chad Ford:

In a scenario where Towns goes No. 1 and Okafor goes No. 2, the Sixers will have a choice between Russell and Porzingis. Since the Sixers already have two big men in need of minutes (Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel), have another big man stashed in Europe until 2016 (Dario Saric), and traded their starting point guard (Michael Carter-Williams), Russell is the obvious best fit. Some scouts think he'll end up being the best player in the draft, and he'll satisfy a clear need for Philly. In addition, drafting Russell would be a sign that GM Sam Hinkie is starting to see the light at the end of the tanking tunnel. The Sixers have thrown away two seasons already, they have to start putting together a coherent basketball team at some point, right? What message does it send if Hinkie drafts another raw big man in Porzingis when Russell is still on the board? Even the most diehard Hinkie believers might not stand for that.

Assuming the Sixers pick Russell at No. 3, the Knicks would have a choice to make. They could take Porzingis — who's considered something of a boom-or-bust pick— or go with a perimeter player like Mudiay or Justise Winslow. 

If the Lakers draft D'Angelo Russell at No. 2...

d'angelo russell

Intrigue!

The Lakers have a wide-open depth chart right now. There's no real reason to believe they'd rather take a big man than a guard. This is going to be a straight-up "best player available pick," and there are some who think Russell is the best non-Towns prospect in the draft.

If they go a little bit outside the box and take Russell, then the Sixers are in a really tricky spot at No. 3. As we said above, they're set on raw big men. So what do they do if the two best players available at No. 3 are Okafor and Porzingis? Do they take Mudiay or Winslow just so they can start to field a competitive team? Or do they double-down in hoarding assets? Hinkie has shown that he'll make decisions based purely on value, even if it means he has a horribly unbalanced roster. If there's one GM who'd pick Okafor when he already has two first-round centers on the roster, it's Hinkie. 

There's also the wrinkle that Embiid, who missed all of his rookie season with a broken foot, aggravated that foot injury last week. If the Sixers believe that these injury issues are chronic and Embiid won't be healthy until 2016 at the very earliest, you can justify drafting Okafor.

If the Sixers draft a perimeter player, the Knicks have suddenly lucked into Jahlil Okafor — the guy many Knicks fans wanted all year.

But the Sixers could also just take Okafor at No. 3, which would leave the Knicks in the same Porzingis/Mudiay/Winslow situation as above.

If the Lakers draft Kristaps Porzingis at No. 2...

kristaps porzingis

This is probably what the Sixers and Knicks are hoping for.

There is a ton of Porzingis hype going on right now. It'd still be a shock if the Lakers took him No. 2, but it's at least within the realm of possibility given what NBA scouts have been saying about him in recent weeks. 

If that happens, the rest of the top-four plays out nicely for everyone involved. The Sixers get their guard in Russell at No. 3, and then the Knicks get Okafor at No. 4. If the Sixers go full Sixers and take Okafor, the Knicks grab Russell at No. 4 and go home happy.

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Three men in viral video of One World Trade BASE jump were just convicted of multiple crimes

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base jumpersThree men who parachuted from the top of One World Trade Center were just convicted of criminal charges.

On Monday, a Manhattan jury found them James Brady, 33, Andrew Rossig, 34, and Marko Markovich, 28 guilty of reckless endangerment, reckless endangerment of property and unauthorized climbing, jumping and suspending oneself from a structure.

According to prosecutors, last September, the men sneaked through a gap in the construction fence at the then-unfinished One World Trade building.

They then jumped from a height of nearly a quarter of a mile in a vivid demonstration of BASE jumping, an extreme sport that can involve jumping from a building, antenna or cliff.

The jump took them over several Manhattan blocks. 

1WT Jump

Their leap from the top of the 104-story building was partly caught on security video that showed at least two figures in black suits and helmets floating down beneath open parachutes and landing on the streets of lower Manhattan, one of their defense attorneys said.

The plunge was also captured in videos shot with cameras strapped to the jumpers' helmets and posted on YouTube, one of which has been viewed more than 3.5 million times.

1WT2

Defense attorneys during the trial had fought successfully to have the burglary charge dropped, arguing it did not apply to someone who jumped from the outside of a building.

1WT3

The building was still under construction when the jumpers pulled off their stunt early on Sept. 30, 2013.

The skyscraper stands on the location where more than 2,700 people perished when hijacked planes slammed into the twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

One World Trade Center opened to its first tenants in November last year.

Watch the video below:

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