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The US upsets Germany, makes the Women's World Cup final

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us germany women's world cup

In their best performance of the tournament, the US beat No. 1-ranked Germany 2-0 to make the Women's World Cup final.

The US had been underwhelming relative to expectations going into the game. After getting outplayed for long stretches against Australia in the opening game of the tournament, the US drew Sweden, narrowly beat second-tier teams in Nigeria and Colombia, and squeaked by China 1-0 in the quarterfinal.

But behind a new formation that gave the US more numbers in the midfield (and sent Abby Wambach to the bench), the Americans legitimately outplayed Germany in the semifinal. The US had numerous chances in the first half but couldn't convert. Germany got a hold of the game early in the second half. In the 60th minute Celia Sasic had a chance to put Germany up 1-0 from the penalty spot, but she pulled it wide.

us germany women's world cup 

Less than 10 minutes later, the US got a penalty of its own in controversial fashion. Alex Morgan appeared to be taken down by a Germany defender outside the box, but it was called a PK.

She was certainly outside the box:

alex morgan PK 

Charli Lloyd, who was criticized heavily early in the tournament, took the PK to make it 1-0 USA.


Kelley O'Hara made it 2-0 12 minutes later, and the US was going to the final:

The US hasn't allowed a goal in five games. They'll play the winner of England and Japan.

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Lionel Messi leaves 2 defenders on the ground, sets up Argentina goal with masterful run

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lionel messi defenders

In a move that was reminiscent of the famous Champions League semifinal run that left Bayern Munich's Jerome Boateng on the ground, Lionel Messi embarrassed two Paraguay defenders in a 6-1 win at the Copa America.

His team up 3-1 in the second half, Messi won the ball near midfield and beat one Paraguay defender. With another Paraguay defender on his hip and a third defender coming toward him, Messi juked to his left; the defenders ran into each other, and Argentina had a wide-open goal.

Ridiculous:

messi defenders crash 

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What the abandoned venues from the 2004 Athens Olympics look like now

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2004 athens olympics venues 8

The 2004 Athens Olympics went nearly $15 billion over its initial $1.6 billion budget, according to economist and professor Andrew Zimbalist, who wrote a book on the true cost of hosting large sporting events.

The majority of the cost overruns fell on the Greek government, which built all the expensive, highly specific buildings you need to host the Olympics — a village, a media center, an Olympic stadium, a canoe/kayak slalom center, etc.

When the athletes went home at the end of August 2004, organizers learned a cruel lesson — Athens has absolutely no use for a canoe/kayak slalom center.

Amid an economic crisis that has seen other parts of the city diminished, many of these 2004 stadiums have long since become white elephants. As these photos from 2014 show, the Olympic Village is empty, and the venues for softball, beach volleyball, and kayaking are all overrun with weeds.

With Greece unable to pay its debts and the IOC now struggling to find countries willing to host the Olympics, 2004 might be viewed as one of the last Olympics of an era when democratic nations saw the games as a worthwhile investment.

The beach-volleyball center, where weeds are growing through the sand.



Seven thousand people watched Misty May and Kerri Walsh win gold here in 2004.



The practice courts outside the stadium are also overgrown.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider








The Mets have to pay a player who retired in 2001 $1.2 million today — here's why it's actually a smart deal

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Bobby Bonilla

Bobby Bonilla is 52 years old and hasn't played major league baseball since 2001. But the Mets will pay Bonilla $1.2 million today in the latest installment of what many consider one of the worst deals in sports history.

Following the 1999 season, the Mets wanted to buy out the final year of Bonilla's contract. But instead of paying him the $5.9 million he was owed, the two sides agreed to a deferred compensation deal with the Mets paying Bonilla 25 annual payments of $1.2 million starting on July 1, 2011.

On the surface the deal looks laughable for the Mets as the payments will total $29.8 million. However, it is not nearly that simple and the deal was actually a good one for the Mets.

If Bonilla had accepted the $5.9 million in 2000 and invested the entire amount at 8% interest, the original investment would have grown to $104.1 million by 2035* (blue line in chart below). If, instead, Bonilla took his annual payment and invested it with an 8% annual return, he would have $95.2 million by 2035 (orange line in chart below).

In other words, Bonilla lost nearly $10 million in potential earnings by taking the payments instead of the lump sum.

But more importantly for the Mets, if they invested the $5.9 million at 8% interest in 2000, that money would have grown to more than $14 million before they had to make a single payment to Bonilla. That money would continue to draw interest even while they are making payments.

By 2035, the Mets would still have $8.9 million left over (red line in chart below).

Of course, this assumes that both sides would have invested the money wisely and, considering the Mets' history, that is certainly questionable. But the deal itself was smart, and if the money was invested wisely, the Mets would have actually profited from Bonilla's generosity and the contract wasn't so dumb after all.

Bobby Bonilla Contract

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Anthony Davis just signed the biggest contract in NBA history, and it's a sign of things to come

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anthony davis

The New Orleans Pelicans struck a deal with Anthony Davis as soon as the NBA's free-agency period began at midnight on Wednesday.

With Davis eligible to become a free agent next summer, New Orleans locked him up with a five-year, $145 million extension that starts in the 2016-2017 season.

The $145 million is the largest contract number in NBA history, and Davis' $29 million yearly average would be the highest in the NBA right now.

As Grantland's Zach Lowe mentions, Davis' max starts in 2016-2017 and is based on the projected 2016-2017 salary cap of $89 million. Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski notes that Davis qualifies for a max contract exception in which he can get 30% of the salary cap (usually reserved for players with seven to nine years of service) instead of the usual 25% if he starts in next year's All-Star Game or makes an All-NBA team, which is highly likely. Thus, despite being in only his fifth year when the extension starts, Davis will be paid more than most of his peers.

Davis' reign at the top of the NBA could be temporary, however, because the NBA's rising salary cap will create bigger, wilder contracts than ever seen in the league.

In one year, Davis could be topped by other top free agents with more NBA experience. Players who have been in the NBA for 10 or more years can earn 35% of the cap, so within one year, the top free agents could see deals similar to or bigger than Davis'.

LeBron James will keep signing one-year deals until the Cavs have his Bird Rights and can offer him a max contract with 7.5% raises. As Business Insider's Tony Manfred noted, by 2017 LeBron could sign a five-year, $204 million deal.

LaMarcus Aldridge has similar motivation to sign a short deal this summer. Next year will be his 10th season, so by 2016, if Aldridge wants to hit free agency again, he could sign a four-year, $145 million contract with another team.

The summer of 2017 could be even crazier, when the salary cap is expected to be $108 million. A player with 10 years of service eligible for 35% of the cap would have a starting salary of $38 million!

Such is life in the NBA's the new cap environment, where max contracts nearing or topping $150 million could become a regular sighting.

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22 of the most awkward sports-sponsorship publicity photos from the past decade

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Manchester United Vodafone

Sports-sponsorship announcements tend to be banal affairs.

There's usually a boring news conference in which nobody says anything of interest. And then there's the photo shoot in which the team's manager and the sponsor's CEO exchange a polite handshake. Everybody goes home, and it's mostly all forgotten about by the next day.

But some sponsorship photo shoots are too awkward — some painfully bad — to just pass us by. They need to be shared. And shared again years later. We've collated some of the best examples from the past decade or so.

All our Christmases came at once in October 2000 when Vodafone announced its sponsorship deal with Manchester United.



Ole Gunnar Solskjær (far right) isn't posing for the publicity shot. He's ringing his agent to demand a contract review.



"I was once the most respected footballer in Norway."



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The US made a key tactical adjustment before beating Germany in their best game of the World Cup

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Jill Ellis

Facing top-ranked Germany with a chance to reach the World Cup final, US women's national team coach Jill Ellis decided to ditch her favored 4-4-2 formation — the one the US has used for every single game this tournament — for a 4-2-3-1. The result? A 2-0 victory over the No. 1 team in the world.

Midfielder Megan Rapinoe spoke to ESPN's Jeff Carlisle after the match, and prasied her coach's decision.

"I think it just helped us dominate the midfield more, and in the modern game, I think that that's really important," Rapinoe said. "It did free us up on the outside, but it was also able to stem their attack, and then we could start [our attack] from there. We did a good job picking passes off and getting into channels and winning balls."

 

Surprisingly midfielder Morgan Brian told SI's Grant Wahl that the team has actually rarely practiced working in a 4-2-3-1 before the knockout stages. That didn't seem to be a problem though.

"It just seemed like a natural fit," Ellis told Carlisle after the match.

The US defense held Germany scoreless, while the attack — which has been described as "stagnant" for most of the tournament — flowed more freely with Alex Morgan as the lone striker and midfielder Carli Lloyd, who's been heavily criticized for much of the World Cup, playing in an attacking midfield role. Lloyd had her best game of the tournament so far, scoring the US's first goal on a penalty kick and setting up Kelly O'Hara's second goal with a beautiful pass across the face of the German goal 15 minutes later.

"I've just been training my butt off the last 12 years," Lloyd told Carlisle. "These are the moments I live for. This is kind of when I roll up my sleeves up and say to myself, 'I need to step up.' I think with Jill and the coaching staff giving me the freedom to express myself out on the field, I just need to deliver in any way possible."

While Lloyd was tasked with helping create more opportunities in the attack, the 22-year-old Brian acted as a holding midfielder, responsible for seeing the field and delivering passes up top, while also making key defensive stops when needed. Brian impressed when she started for the suspended Lauren Holiday against China in the quarterfinals, and it earned her a spot in the starting XI against Germany.

"I told her a year ago she would be starting in the World Cup," Rapinoe told Yahoo Sports' Eric Adelson. "Defensively, she has controlled the center of the field. She's owned it."

The formation switch may have payed dividends in the US's semifinal win, but Ellis told New York Times' Andrew Das she remains steadfast in her belief that its the players that make a system, not the other way around.

"It’s not about the system," Ellis said. "It’s about the players on the field. They played their hearts out tonight."

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The rest of the NBA should be terrified by what the Spurs are doing this summer

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tim duncan gregg popovich

The San Antonio Spurs have had 16 straight 50-win seasons and 18-straight playoff appearances.

Nobody in the NBA world thinks they're starved for success, but after getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round this season, the Spurs are going all-in this summer.

Despite a glut of their own players hitting the free-agent market, the Spurs have found a way to both keep their core intact and create cap space to add the most coveted free agent of the summer.

Since free agency began at midnight on July 1, the Spurs have agreed to a max contract extension with Kawhi Leonard, re-signed Danny Green on a discount deal of four years, $45 million, and traded center Tiago Splitter and his $16.7 million in remaining salary to the Atlanta Hawks. As a result, the Spurs retain their most important wing players and now have cap space to sign LaMarcus Aldridge.

It appears the Lakers — another top competitor to land Aldridge — didn't do as well in their pitch:

Additionally, the Spurs are expected to convince free agents Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili to come back on discounted contracts one more time before retirement.

The Spurs have never been a premier free-agency destination, but because of their Hall-of-Fame core of Duncan, Ginobili, and Tony Parker, they've only ever had to fill in the gaps with quality surrounding players.

With their big three aging and the Western Conference becoming increasingly competitive, the Spurs now have a shot at forming a new core with Aldridge (a perennial All-Star and one of the top power forwards in the NBA) and Leonard (a 23-year-old wing who's already won Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year). Around them, they would have Duncan, Ginobili, Parker, and valuable role players like Green and Boris Diaw.

At the very least, the Spurs will now return a core that's won an NBA championship, with the possibility of adding one of the 20 best players in league. The Spurs will never go away.

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John McCain blames the sun after almost catching a foul ball

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Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) poked fun at himself after he missed the opportunity to catch a foul ball Tuesday night. 

According to Sports Illustrated, the former presidential candidate attended the Arizona Diamondbacks game against the Los Angeles Dodgers when a foul ball came his way in the seventh inning.

Things didn't go his way:

McCain, whose arm movements are limited, nevertheless made light of himself over the botched catch. In a Wednesday tweet, he blamed the sun in his eyes:

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One of the fastest players in baseball scores inside-the-park home run in 14 seconds

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dee gordon home runDee Gordon showed why he's one of the fastest players in baseball with a blisteringly fast inside-the-park home run Tuesday night.

The Miami Marlins second baseman hit a shot to deep right center that would be a double or triple for most players, but instead scored a three-run inside-the-parker.

After the game, Larry Granillo of Tater Trot Tracker recorded the home run at 13.95 seconds, the fastest home run in the majors since 2010 (when he began tracking them).

Here's a look at the home run. Gordon was helped by sloppy outfield defense by the Giants.

 

The MLB recorded Gordon's run at 14.3 seconds. Either way, it's blistering fast, and the best part is Gordon made it look effortless:

Dee Gordon home run

20.6 miles per hour!

It was Gordon's first home run of the season, and ultimately the play that won the Marlins the game. 

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Kevin Love is re-signing with the Cavs for $110 million

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kevin love

Kevin Love is re-signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a long-term contract.

After months of speculation that he would leave Cleveland or at least sign a short-term contract which would allow him to be a free agent when the salary cap explodes in 2016, Love will return to Cleveland on a five-year, $110 million deal, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports.

He announced the decision in a blog post for The Players' Tribune, a website where athletes write the posts:

Yeah, of course I’ve heard the free agency rumors. But at the end of the day, and after meeting with my teammates (it turns out pools are great meeting places) and with the front office, it was clear Cleveland was the place for me. We’re all on the same page and we’re all in. We have unfinished business and now it’s time to get back to work.

The pool party he's referring to happened on Sunday:

The NBA world was split on whether Love would return to Cleveland. Although Cleveland can offer more years and money than any other team, Love not only had one of his worst seasons in Cleveland, he has an awkward relationship with LeBron James, and watched them come within two wins of the championship while he sat out with an injured shoulder.

However, coming off a shoulder injury, Love also gets long-term security with the Cavs should his performance be affected by his shoulder. He's been fairly injury-prone throughout his career, and this was his first opportunity at a true max. contract. If he gambled on himself with a shorter deal and played poorly, it'd probably affect his earning power.

Cleveland gives Love his best shot to win, too. The Cavs made the Finals despite a hobbled roster, and Love may not have a better chance at a championship than with Cleveland. LeBron James reportedly wasn't going to make a recruiting pitch to Love because he thinks the opportunity to win with Cleveland spoke loudly enough.

Re-signing Love is just one a long list of moves for Cleveland this offseason. They're reportedly negotiating an $80 million deal for Tristan Thompson, and Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith, and Matthew Dellavedova are all free agents.

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A Tour de France cyclist burns 6,071 calories a day — here's how many Chipotle burritos that is

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On July 4 cyclists from around the world will begin the 102nd Tour de France, the prestigious three-week stage race — or "grand tour" — that happens to be the world's largest annual sporting event. All told, that's 2,087 miles of pedaling for this year's race.

Each day participants ride, on average, about 110 miles and burn some 6,071 calories, according to Inside Science, a science news site run by the American Institute of Physics.

To give you a better idea of just how many calories that is, we've teamed up with the folks at Inside Science, which originally calculated how many jelly donuts you'd have to eat to generate enough energy to keep up with a Tour de France cyclist on race day. Turns out it's 32!

Here are some more popular foods, and how many of each you'd have to eat to compete. Of course this is not what Tour de France cyclists actually eat while competing!

BI Graphics Tour de France Calorie Count Graphic

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DON'T MISS: Take this quiz to figure out what you should be eating on a daily basis

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Why the Raiders and Chargers have a big lead over the Rams in the NFL's race to get a team back to Los Angeles

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Philip Rivers

The NFL's return to the Los Angeles appears to be inevitable at this point but it is still not clear which teams will make the leap or when it will happen. However, based on what we know so far, it looks like the Raiders and the Chargers have a strong advantage over the Rams.

At this point, there are three teams jockeying for position to move to L.A.

Stan Kroenke, the owner of the St. Louis Rams, has proposed a $1.86 billion, 80,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof on land in Inglewood. At the same time, the Chargers and Raiders have a joint-proposal for a $1.7 billion open-air stadium in the L.A. suburb of Carson.

Publically, at least, Kroenke and the Rams have appeared to be the most aggressive in their hopes of moving as a proposed $985 million riverfront stadium in St. Louis has not stalled the team's efforts to move. Meanwhile, the Chargers and Raiders both seem to be open to staying in their respective cities if new stadiums can be built even if there is little hope of either happening in the near future.

But there are several factors working against the Rams' hope of a move.

1. The NFL wants two teams in L.A., not just one.

All signs point towards the NFL wanting two teams in Los Angeles. At the recent owners' meetings, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft explained why two teams makes more sense than one (via the Washington Post).

“I really believe within the next year we’ll have two teams in this market,” said Kraft. “I really think to support the financial commitment of doing the kind of stadium that’s necessary in L.A., you need the resources of two teams.”

Kraft conceded one team was possible, but nobody thinks three teams is a viable option. But if three teams apply for relocation, the NFL will have to say “no” to somebody, something Sam Farmer of the L.A. Times says would be the NFL's “nightmare scenario.

From Farmer:

Q: What's a nightmare scenario for the NFL?

A: It would be a major headache if all three teams apply for relocation, even though we appear to be headed that direction now. There aren't going to be three teams moving to L.A., so if three teams were to apply, at least one of them would be sent back to a market it tried to leave. That's not good. It would be much better for the NFL to have a predetermined outcome, as opposed to a wide-open horse race. The coming months will be about orchestrating the outcome so each of the three teams comes away with something positive — a tricky proposition.

2. The Raiders and Chargers have an advantage when it comes time for the owners to vote.

Relocating to Los Angeles would require the support of three-fourths of the owners (24 of 32). This is where the partnership between the Raiders and Chargers comes in handy.

While there are two proposals on the board and potentially three different votes, one for each team, the decision could come down to the vote on the Rams' relocation.

While the Rams would need 23 other owners to support their move (in addition to their own YES vote) the Raiders and Chargers would only need seven other owners to vote against the Rams' relocation (in addition to their own NO votes). 

If the Raiders and Chargers can get the support to reject the Rams' move, the rest of the owners will be left with just one proposal and risk of continuing to have no teams in the nation's second-biggest television market.

Stan Kroenke

3. It will be easier for the other owners to say "no" to the Rams.

If three teams do apply for relocation, the owners will have to reject one of the proposals, and at this point the Rams will be the obvious odd-man out.

If the ultimate goal is get teams in Los Angeles and get new stadiums for all three teams, the easiest way to do that is moving the Chargers and Raiders, who have little hope of getting new stadiums in their current cities, and keeping the Rams in St. Louis where there is a new stadium proposal.

The NFL also wants a team in St. Louis. In a recent interview with ESPN.com, Kraft said the NFL has "an obligation" to have a team in St. Louis if the city comes up with a good plan.

At the same time, the Chargers would be the most difficult team to reject because of their proximity to L.A. If the decision comes down to having two teams in southern California or three, the NFL would almost certainly prefer to avoid a result where the Chargers situation would just get worse with direct competition from two other teams.

4. The wacky three-teams-moving scenario may be the Rams' best hope.

There is one scenario that may be the Rams' best hope for landing in L.A., but it is one that requires all three teams to move. Slightly different versions have been floated by NFL insiders, but it ultimately comes down to this:

  • The Rams would build the Inglewood stadium and move to Los Angeles.
  • The Chargers would become the second tenant in the Rams' stadium.
  • The Raiders would move to St. Louis and play in the the new riverfront stadium.

This is the one scenario that could appease all three teams, but only if the Raiders are so desperate for a new stadium that they would be willing to go all the way to St. Louis to make it happen. It also fills the “obligation” Kraft referenced by keeping a team in St. Louis, even if it is not the Rams.

There is still time and plenty of maneuvering to be done. But with the clock ticking the Raiders and the Chargers would seem to be the front-runners.

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The Lakers' presentation to LaMarcus Aldridge — the most coveted free agent in the NBA — sounds like a disaster

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kobe bryant

The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly out of the running for free agent big man LaMarcus Aldridge.

The Lakers had a meeting with Aldridge early in the NBA's free agency period, and though initial reports said it went "really well," information about the meeting that leaked out Wednesday afternoon makes it sound like a disaster.

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday that the Lakers initially had a 50-50 shot at Aldridge, but their pitch ultimately fell flat because Aldridge wasn't sold on how the team would get back into championship contention:

Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the same thing:

The Lakers, who tend to be averse to advanced analytics, apparently didn't wow Aldridge:

Worsening the matter, Kobe Bryant, who has a reputation for dissuading free agents from joining the Lakers, apparently didn't help sell Aldridge on the team:

This is basically 36-year-old Bryant, coming off a knee injury, torn Achilles, and shoulder surgery in the last three years, telling one of the best scoring big men in the NBA that he can operate in limited space and play second-fiddle to Bryant. The Lakers don't win their most recent two titles without Gasol, but at the time, Bryant was still a dominant player and could justify slotting Gasol behind him. Six years later, Bryant can no longer make that claim, and him shoehorning Aldridge into a second-hand role probably wasn't appealing to Aldridge.

The Lakers had built positive momentum going into free agency, considered potential landing spots for Aldridge and Jimmy Butler. Aldridge has now moved on and Butler re-signed in Chicago.

That the Lakers' appeal off the court — Los Angeles can offer good weather, celebrities, and marketing opportunities — was a bigger selling point than what they can offer on the court is a bad sign for the Lakers. With several of the NBA's biggest free agents already signed on day one of free agency, it seems the Lakers will have to begin settling for some of the lesser names on the market.

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England's horrific last-minute own goal gives Japan a spot in Women's World Cup final

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World Cup Semifinal

England lost to Japan in the World Cup semifinal in the worst way possible.

In the final minute of injury time, Japan attempted a cross into the box. England's defender Laura Bassett did a great job getting to the pass that appeared to be heading towards an open attacker. Unfortunately for England, Bassett wasn't able to clear the ball completely as it deflected off the crossbar and went into the goal for an own goal.

Watching the play live it was unclear if the ball crossed the line. However, replays showed that it was a clear goal for Japan and a 2-1 lead.

World Cup GIF

As you can imagine, Bassett was inconsolable after the match.

Women's World Cup

Japan will now play the United States in the final.

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England coach gives fantastic interview about the player who scored the brutal own goal that knocked them out of the World Cup

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England National Team coach Mark Sampson

England lost to Japan in the Women's World Cup semifinal in the most heartbreaking way possible, giving up an own goal in the final minute and losing 2-1.

The goal was incredibly unlucky for England. If Laura Bassett doesn't deflect the ball, the Japan attacker is almost certainly going to have a 1-on-1 with the goalie at point-blank range, and if the deflection is one inch higher or one foot to the right, the ball caroms in a different direction and doesn't go in the goal.

Of course, none of that was going to make Bassett feel better after the game. She was in tears and inconsolable on the field, and understandably so. 

But once the shock wears off, Bassett can lean on the comments of her coach, Mark Sampson, who delivered some moving remarks in support of both Bassett and the rest of the team during the post-match press conference:

"What a tough one to take. Listen, I can't speak about the game. All I can speak about is how incredibly proud I am of my group, the players, the staff ... this is an England team that has just given their all. As people, they sacrificed so much this tournament and they gave everything, absolutely everything. We're a team who will go home knowing that we could not have done any more, given any more ounce of blood, sweat, or tears, smiles, whatever it was, we could not have given any more. We gave our all ... the way Laura Bassett played today and in this tournament. She has epitomized all the values English football fans want to see in that white jersey when you've got three lions [the national team logo] on your chest. Pride, passion, never say die, and play for the team. OK, she's hurting now. Tomorrow morning she'll wake up, she'll have 22 teammates, group of staff, give her a hug, tell her how proud we are of her, and we'll all do the same for the whole group ... You can see the regard in which the team hold Laura and all their teammates in their reaction. Of course, every single member of my group is devastated. When that ball went over the line we were devastated. But our first point of call is look out for your own. Laura is one of us. She's one of our team. We get around her. We console her. We're going to cry. And we tell her how proud we are of her. Because without her we wouldn't be in the semifinal."

Sampson, who appeared to be fighting back tears of his own during the press conference, is just 32 years old, but he speaks with a level of class like a veteran manager who has been through this before.

Prior to the tournament, England was given just a 3% chance to win the World Cup, eighth among the 24 teams. So making it to within 30 minutes of penalty kicks with a shot at making the final was a grand success and will undoubtedly do much to help grow the sport of women's soccer in England. 

You can see all of Sampson's comments over at FIFA's YouTube page.

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The Sixers got 3 players and a 1st-round pick for nothing in one of the most lopsided NBA trades ever

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nick stauskas

While the Philadelphia 76ers and GM Sam Hinkie continue to struggle in their search for a superstar in the draft, the team's radical rebuilding plan paid off in a big way in a trade with the Sacramento Kings.

The Kings wanted to clear cap space to make a run at free-agency targets Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis, and Wes Matthews. The Sixers, who have more cap room than anyone in the NBA because they refuse to sign free agents, were more than happy to take on salary from the Kings.

But to facilitate this salary dump, the Sixers made the Kings throw in a boatload of assets. Here's the full trade (via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo):

Sixers get:

  • Nik Stauskas (the eighth-overall pick in the 2014 draft)
  • Carl Landry
  • Jason Thompson
  • A future top-10-protected first-round pick (per Grantland's Zach Lowe)
  • The right to swap two future first-round picks

Kings get:

  • The rights to overseas-based Lithuanian prospect Arturas Gudaitis and Serbian prospect Luka Mitrovic (per ESPN's Pablo Torre)
  • A future second-round pick

The Kings cleared $13 million off their salary cap by getting rid of Landry and Thompson, but it cost them their 2014 first-round pick and a bunch of future assets. The Kings now have around $27 million in cap room, but even if they can sign two of Rondo, Matthews, and Ellis, are they really a serious contender in the West?

Less than 12 hours later, the NBA world is calling this a catastrophe for the Kings.

SB Nation NBA writer and Kings fan Tom Ziller summed up the feeling of Kings fans:

ESPN's Kevin Pelton graded the trade for both teams, giving the Kings a firm "F."

It's hard to overstate how little the Sixers gave up here. Gudaitis and Mitrovic were second-round picks in 2015, but they're both playing in Europe, and it's not a guarantee that they will ever play a game in the NBA, much less contribute in the next few years. The future second-round pick is equally expendable since the Sixers have 11 extra second-round picks in the bank from various trades over the past two years. The $13 million in Landry/Thompson salary doesn't matter at all because the Sixers were never going to spend that money anyway. In fact, over the past few years the Sixers have flirted with the salary floor (the minimum amount of money an NBA team has to spend on player salaries).

The Sixers gave up nothing! And they got Stauskas, who played poorly in an awful situation last season but was still a top-10 pick 13 months ago, and draft picks out of it. Hinkie lives.

sam hinkie

In some ways this Sixers strategy hasn't gone as planned. The team tanked for two straight years, didn't get a top-two pick either time, and now has a mishmash of assets rather than a cohesive basketball team. But this trade is an unequivocal success.

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GoPro is about to forever change how we watch the Tour de France

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Tour de France GoPros close ups of riders

The world's most grueling high-speed endurance contest, the Tour de France, is about to get much more interesting for viewers after organizers announced Wednesday that on every stage at least eight bikes will be equipped with onboard cameras.

GoPro struck the deal with Tour organizer ASO and Velon, a group of 11 cycling teams "working together to grow and evolve through a growth in fan excitement and technology."

While most of the bike-cam footage will be edited and published after the stages, organizers said they'll be testing live images from the bikes on stage two during the neutral start.

"By mounting cameras to the fastest cyclists in the world as they take on the 21-stage race, GoPro will be capturing immersive, never-before-seen content, bringing cycling fans inside the peloton," GoPro said.

The race starts in the Netherlands on July 4 and finishes in Paris on July 26.

Here's how the bike cams should give us a new perspective on one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

SEE ALSO: Cycling officials keep checking riders' bikes because they think there may be motors in them

DON'T MISS: I just tested out the 'world's most advanced fitness device' for cycling — here's what it was like

A team mechanic installs a GoPro camera under a rider's saddle.



And then installs a second GoPro on the front of the bike, under the handlebar.



While onboard cameras have been tested in races in the past, this year's Tour riders will be on camera in greater and more consistent numbers.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider








The Cavaliers are making a $230 million bet that last year's team is good enough to win it all

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lebron james

The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the summer with a laundry list of their players hitting free agency.

In the first 24 hours of the NBA's free agency period, the Cavs re-signed their biggest free agents, piling up a giant payroll in the process.

Kevin Love re-signed to a five-year, $110 million deal, Iman Shumpert agreed to a four-year, $40 million deal, and Tristan Thompson will reportedly agree to a five-year, $80 million deal.

Those three players combine for $230 million, and the Cavs still have to factor in LeBron James' likely one-year max deal, plus potential contracts for J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova.

The Cavs payroll will get even larger as the summer goes on. LeBron's 2015-16 salary will come in around $22 million. Add this to the $14.4 million Kyrie Irving will make next season as part of a five-year, $90 million extension and Anderson Varejao's $9.7 million salary, and the Cavs are creeping steadily to a historically high payroll.

If we take the average yearly values of Love, Thompson, and Shumpert's deals – $22 million, $16 million, and $10 million, respectively – and apply them to the Cavs' payroll next season, they're already looking at $91.6 million in payroll. Add in James' $22 million salary, and, say, the $8 million per year Smith is reportedly looking for, and it jumps to $121 million. However, $10 million should be subtracted, because the Cavs are desperately trying to unload Brendan Haywood's $10 million salary before the summer is over.

Still, even at $111 million, the 2015-16 Cavs would be almost $30 million higher in payroll than the 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets, who led the NBA with an $85 million payroll. As Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal notes, the Cavs could be the first team to rack up a $200 million bill, including luxury tax payments, in NBA history. The 2013-14 Nets paid a record $197 million in payroll and taxes.

However, this is the bet the Cavs are making on their roster – one forced upon them by LeBron James. James' one-year deals are both a way to make more money and keep pressure on the Cavs to stay committed to building a winner.

After coming within two wins of the NBA championship, the Cavs believe that had they had a fully healthy squad – Varejao missed most of the season, Love missed the final three rounds of the playoffs, Irving missed Finals Games 2-6, and Shumpert played through a hurt shoulder – they would have won.

The Eastern Conference is once again shaping up to be the weaker of the two conferences, and if the Cavs return a full team with one year of experience already under its belt, they could have an easy path back to the Finals. They just will pay mightily for it.

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Adidas says it made a huge mistake about golf

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adidas golf

Adidas is determined to make golf cool again.

The sportswear brand has hired a new creative agency to market golf as a sport instead of a pastime, according to AdWeek.

"We are shifting to be more aligned with the Adidas brand and the idea that golf is a sport, and golfers are athletes," Melissa Ziegler, global brand marketing director for Adidas Golf, told AdWeek. The brand has previously marketed golf as a pastime.

The new strategy, which capitalizes on more Americans participating in exercise, will likely manifest itself in print and online advertisements. 

Both the golf industry and Adidas are in trouble. 

Retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods have blamed declining sales on the weak golf industry. 

"Bringing in and retaining players below the age of 45 is more difficult than at any time in living memory," The Economist wrote last year. "Millennials in America expect, if not instant gratification, at least near-term rewards. Golf’s pay-offs can feel elusive."

April golf rounds

Experts told The Economist that young people are playing video games instead of hitting the golf course. 

Adidas has seen market share erode to Nike and is in the process of a massive turnaround plan that includes redesigning sneakers and apparel. 

Competitor Under Armour is profiting from a partnership with 19-year-old Masters champion Jordan Spieth. 

Jordan Spieth

Like Adidas, Under Armour is treating golf as a sport.

This strategy helped the company attract Spieth, who has become a major celebrity in the sports world.

Under Armour's approach appealed to Spieth because "he saw himself as an athlete. He's good in almost every sport he tries," reported ESPN's Darren Rovell 

SEE ALSO: The top 50 brands for millennials

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