Am I trying to move PK Subban? No... Is my job to make this team better? Yes. | | | | | Trading in his Canadian maple syrup for Tennessee whiskey. (Lisa Gansky) | | | | |  | “Am I trying to move PK Subban? No... Is my job to make this team better? Yes.”
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| | rantnrave:// 'Tis the season for locking in your best players or, um, giving them the chance to be somebody else's best players. Apparently motivated by the specter of a no-movement clause set to kick in on FRIDAY, which would have forced them to live with their (warning: heavily coded word ahead) complicated superstar PK SUBBAN for six more years, the CANADIENS shipped him to the PREDATORS for non-complicated, and older, and arguably on the decline, superstar SHEA WEBER. "Possibly the worst trade in the history of their franchise," wrote SPORTSNET's ANDREW BERKSHIRE in one of the more measured, polite responses to WEDNESDAY's shocking move. Besides his electrifying skills on skates, SUBBAN was heavily involved in the MONTREAL community, and while you probably can't base your front-office decisions on that, you might want to ask yourself, if your coach and your superstar aren't getting along, why exactly that is and who is the one you should be saying adieu to... The SUBBAN/WEBER trade slightly overshadowed the other blockbuster trade in which the U.S. team appeared to have the CANADIAN team for lunch. Sample headline: "OILERS Trade TAYLOR HALL to DEVILS, Make Large Mistake"... Meanwhile in lock-your-guys-in news, the LIGHTNING avoided a potential KEVIN DURANT situation by giving STEVEN STAMKOS an eight-year, $68 million deal... Which is less than half what the COLTS gave ANDREW LUCK on WEDNESDAY to assure he would remain a COLT for life. My favorite reaction to the largest deal in NFL history came from BLEACHER REPORT's MIKE FREEMAN, who said a PRO BOWL defensive player told him, "Nobody is worth that. God isn't worth that." Freeman's response: "God doesn't play quarterback"... Over in the NBA, WOJ and his VERTICAL crew go deep on the abundance of options facing KEVIN DURANT, who has a very busy weekend ahead... Everyone's favorite 772nd-ranked tennis player, MARCUS WILLIS, has a suddenly open weekend after finally falling to one ROGER FEDERER. WILLIS wore a FEDERER shirt for the match, which may have been the single best fashion move in WIMBLEDON history... This WIMBLEDON fashion move was slightly less successful... There will be no SPORTSREDEF newsletter on FRIDAY or MONDAY. We're taking an extra long weekend in observance of U.S. INDEPENDENCE DAY, and we'll be using the time to meet with the WARRIORS, SPURS, THUNDER, CELTICS, HEAT and CLIPPERS. Have a great weekend and see you TUESDAY. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | The Telegraph |
| After the week that is, what relief to be absorbed into the fastidious sartorial guidelines of South-west London's finest purveyors of sporting dignity. Or not, as the case may be... | | |
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 | Bleacher Report |
| A Pro Bowl defensive player told me, "Nobody is worth that. God isn't worth that." God doesn't play quarterback. | | |
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 | The Undefeated |
| How high-priced travel ball is excluding poor blacks from the MLB. | | |
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 | SB*Nation |
| And Oilers and Canadiens fans should be upset. | | |
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 | Adequate Man |
| The splashiest piece of sportswriting in my lifetime might be David Foster Wallace's 2006 profile of Roger Federer, printed in the "New York Times's" short-lived "Play" magazine. A wrinkled copy of it lived under my old Xbox console for years, so that I knew exactly where to revisit it. | | |
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 | Campus Rush |
| For nearly four years, NCAA Case No. 189693 trudged on without much notice outside of the state of Mississippi and college football circles. The NCAA's investigation into the University of Mississippi's athletic department includes allegations of academic fraud, illicit booster involvement and significant extra benefits in its football program. | | |
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 | Outside Online |
| At 18, determined to carve out a life as a "tough girl," Blair Braverman moved to Norway to learn dogsledding at an Arctic folk school, chasing fear and finding home in the great white North. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| They’re not cheaters. Instead, theyhone the sharpest (legal) edge they can. | | |
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 | USA Today |
| From the beginning of negotiations with Nike and Adidas for a shoe and apparel deal, Ben Simmons sought a lucrative contract beyond the norm for an NBA rookie, even for the player who was the No. 1 overall pick by Philadelphia in Thursday's draft. | | |
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 | WSJ |
| Revisiting a fearsome team whose iconic coaches despised each other. | | |
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| The New York Times |
| The Jackals series is the conclusion of a 19-game swing by the Cubans against the six Can-Am League teams -- three in Canada, where the tour was conceived, and three in northern New Jersey and Rockland County, N.Y. | | |
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 | Forbes |
| The president of the Bill Simmons Media Group, Eric Weinberger, talks about Simmons' plan to own the sports media landscape without enjoying the benefit of ESPN's publicity machine. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| The Barcelona forward is one of the greatest to have have played the game. But his international career highlighted the fraught marriage between football and country. | | |
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 | Eephus |
| The problem with some people is that they always know a better way. I know this, because I am one of those people. I'm not big on rules. I never have been. I don't like being told what to do, or the assumption that someone knows better than me. | | |
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 | ESPN.com |
| With the salary cap going through the roof and most teams having money to burn, the NBA's silly season -- which starts Friday -- will not disappoint. | | |
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| Outside Online |
| Jacques Cousteau’s grandson, who stars in an upcoming “Shark Week” special, talks about ocean exploration in the 21st century, carrying on his grandfather’s legacy, and what we can learn from nuclear sharks | | |
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 | New York Magazine |
| The biggest benefit might be that it teaches people to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. | | |
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 | New York Post |
| Noah Syndergaard finally conceded Wednesday (Jun 29) he had lied earlier in the week about not having a bone spur in his elbow. The Mets ace said it was just to avoid the injury being construed as an excuse for lackluster outings and downplayed the notion of having discomfort when throwing. | | |
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 | Vice Sports |
| If you happened to be in the neighborhood of the Yankee Stadium media room this Monday morning, you could have witnessed one of the rarest sights in nature: Yankees president Randy Levine announcing a policy that might actually benefit Yankees fans. | | |
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 | The Players' Tribune |
| Undrafted fam, First of all, welcome to the club. I wish I could say it was a more exclusive one. Every year, I'll usually tweet you guys some words of encouragement, but this year I wanted to do a little more than that. | | |
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 | via YouTube |
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| © Copyright 2016, The REDEF Group |
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