Andrew Kerth 
Argentina vs. Switzerland in Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal in Kansas City is a rematch twelve years in the making: the last time these teams met at a World Cup, it took until the 118th minute, an Ángel Di María winner from a Messi surge, and a missed Swiss header in the dying seconds to separate … Read more
Norway play England in a World Cup quarterfinal on Saturday, and here is the sentence that explains the entire buildup: Norway has never been here before. Not once, in 96 years of World Cups, has Norway reached a quarterfinal, and the nation arrives via the most Norwegian route imaginable: by beating Brazil, the one giant … Read more
While the world watches Messi, Mbappé, and Haaland trade records at the top of the Golden Boot race, Harry Kane has staged the stealthiest climb in World Cup history: 14 career goals, as of this month tied with the legendary Gerd Müller for fifth all-time, compiled in just 16 matches, and still counting, with a … Read more
Sunday’s Wimbledon final has a problem that’s also its plot: Jannik Sinner has beaten Alexander Zverev nine consecutive times. It’s the most lopsided head-to-head a No. 1 vs. No. 2 major final has ever carried, so lopsided that Zverev, asked after his semifinal which opponent he’d prefer, deadpanned: “I hope I can play a junior.” … Read more
The Seattle Seahawks just sold for $9.612 billion — the most ever paid for an NFL franchise, obliterating the Washington Commanders’ $6.05 billion record by more than 50%, and nearly 50 times what the late Paul Allen paid for the same team in 1997. The buyer: the family of tech billionaire Vinod Khosla, the Sun … Read more
Saturday’s Wimbledon women’s final is a first in the sport’s history: Karolína Muchová vs. Linda Nosková, the first all-Czech Grand Slam final ever played, and the first Wimbledon final between two players from the same nation since Venus and Serena in 2009. It guarantees a first-time major champion, extends Wimbledon’s streak of new champions to … Read more
Three World Cup finals have gone all the way to penalty kicks, and between them they contain the most famous miss in soccer history, the strangest ending any final has produced, and the greatest save sequence ever performed with a trophy on the line. With the 2026 final at MetLife nine days away, and the … Read more
Scoring in a World Cup final is the rarest currency in soccer: 22 finals, roughly one every four years, and most of the greatest players ever never managed a single goal in one. Which is what makes the top of this list so absurd — two men have scored a hat-trick in a final, fifty-six … Read more
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé have met four times as opponents, and those four matches include a World Cup knockout classic, a Champions League hat-trick at the Camp Nou, and the greatest final ever played. In between, they spent two seasons as teammates in Paris, winning titles together while the soccer world wondered how the … Read more
When the White Sox make the first pick of the MLB Draft in Philadelphia tomorrow night, they’ll be cashing a ticket they won seven months ago, on a stage in the Winter Meetings ballroom, via ping-pong balls. The MLB Draft Lottery is baseball’s newest anti-tanking weapon, just four drafts old, and it works nothing like … Read more