Sports

7:00 AM ET Aesthetics matter in hockey. The player with the wooliest thicket of playoff beard competes with the might of King Leonidas of Sparta. The team that gets the spiffy state-of-the-art arena stands just a bit taller in its skates. I think the New York Islanders are a playoff team this season not because

6:02 AM BST Thirty-eight-year-old prop Greg Holmes has seen a few different incarnations of the Wallabies in his time. The Queenslander made his Test debut way back in 2005, in the final year of Eddie Jones’ reign, and has since played under both John Connolly and Michael Cheika within the national setup. And he will

7:00 AM ET ESPN.com staff It’s being billed as The Return and as Week 4 of the NFL season approaches, it’s the game everyone has been talking about: Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady heads back to Foxborough, Massachusetts, to face his former team, the New England Patriots (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC). Brady won an

8:00 AM ET Media days kick off Monday, officially ushering in the start of training camps around the NBA. The dust has finally settled from free agency, and September training camp kickoffs will mark the first normal schedule in two years. The biggest news surrounding training camp comes out of Philadelphia, where Ben Simmons has

3:46 PM ET SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Delayed a year due to the pandemic, the much-awaited Ryder Cup delivered, even if the final-day drama was missing. Plenty of passion and pageantry, a slew of impressive shots and putts, the usual nitpicky irritation between both sides and — in the end — a joyous winning team and

2:35 PM ET Miami coach Manny Diaz defended his program and the school administration Monday, after pointed criticism that there was not a strong enough commitment to football from the university. Kirk Herbstreit questioned that commitment on College GameDay on Saturday, in comments that went viral and made their way to Diaz. Herbstreit questioned whether

10:42 PM ET Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Turns out 21 was Denny Hamlin‘s lucky number in Vegas. After finally getting his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on his 21st try, Hamlin is on an undeniable hot streak he just might ride all the way to his long-sought first NASCAR Cup Series

3:30 PM ET Associated Press BOSTON — Even without Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic on the roster, Team Europe clinched its fourth consecutive Laver Cup victory by going up 14-1 against Team World on Sunday. Tokyo Olympics singles gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany and Andrey Rublev of Russia gave Team Europe an

6:01 PM ET CHICAGO — The St. Louis Cardinals set a franchise record with their 15th consecutive victory, a come-from-behind 8-5 win over the Chicago Cubs Saturday. The 15 wins in a row are tied for the fourth longest streak in MLB history. Another victory against the Cubs on Sunday will tie St. Louis with

11:21 PM ET A woman and child died after falling from the third level of Petco Park shortly before Saturday’s Padres game, San Diego police said The 40-year-old woman and 2-year-old boy were pronounced dead at 4:11 p.m. PST, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Their names were not released by police. The fall happened

11:41 AM ET Plenty has changed since the United States men’s national team’s Big Board was last visited in April. Injuries, loss of form and the emergence of new talent has seen considerable movement in the projected 23-player World Cup roster. That can cut both ways as well, with players such as Matt Miazga and

7:00 AM ET Everyone has their favorite harbingers that a new NHL season is upon us. Fresh ice. Awkward player photos. Unsigned restricted free agents threatening to sit out of meaningless games. Optimism in Toronto. Mine? The preseason penalty crackdown. Every year, the NHL’s hockey operations department, egged on by disgruntled and aggrieved general managers,

2:33 AM BST ESPN staff World Rugby has reinforced its commitment to improving player welfare with the introduction of guidelines for the amount of contact and set-piece training undertaken each week. In conjunction with International Rugby Players [IRP], World Rugby has created guidelines that will seek to reduce the amount of injuries “while maintaining or

12:53 AM ET Associated Press BENSALEM, Pa. — Medina Spirit, the Kentucky Derby winner who failed a postrace drug test, won’t run in Saturday’s $1 million Pennsylvania Derby. Embattled Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday he is going to keep the colt in California and run in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes against

9:00 AM BST England boss Eddie Jones has named eight uncapped players in a 45-player squad for the next training camp, but there is no place in the mix for Saracens quartet Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola, Jamie George or the injured Elliot Daly. The large squad will meet for a two-day training camp next week

4:14 PM BST Sara Cox is set to make history as the first woman to referee a Gallagher Premiership game, at Twickenham on Saturday. In 2016, Cox became the first referee who is female in the Rugby Football Union, and in 2020 became the first to work as an assistant referee in English rugby’s top

7:51 AM ET Nick Diaz was 20 years old and facing the biggest challenge of his young MMA career. At UFC 47, on a stormy April night in Las Vegas in 2004, Diaz took on power-punching Robbie Lawler in just his second appearance inside the Octagon. Lawler, who was 22, had already fought five times

5:31 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Anthony Joshua has been concentrating on overcoming Oleksandr Usyk’s southpaw stance in preparation for Saturday’s world heavyweight title defence. The WBA, IBF and WBO

11:42 PM ET Associated Press BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Larson denied Kevin Harvick his first win of the season with a masterful pass at Bristol Motor Speedway that was overshadowed Saturday night by a post-race skirmish between Harvick and reigning Cup champion Chase Elliott. Tempers were so hot that Harvick, his losing streak now at

7:30 AM ET Mike Reiss Close ESPN Staff Writer Covered Patriots since 1997 Joined ESPN in 2009 Rich Cimini Close ESPN Staff Writer Longtime Jets beat writer for New York Daily News Syracuse University graduate FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New England Patriots–New York Jets rivalry enters a new phase Sunday. Let’s call it the