Free Republic

<p>ESPN’s Body Issue has celebrated the nude and semi-nude bodies of athletes - from football players to yachtsmen - every year since 2009. And this year, in its 10th annual issue, it made history by featuring a same-sex couple on the cover for the first time.</p>

An ESPN writer called NBA Hall of Famer Kevin McHale, a “poor white man from a forgotten Deep South town,” after the Celtics legend was spotted at a Trump rally in Minnesota Wednesday night. The rally, held in Duluth, Minnesota, drew a large crowd. Among those in the crowd, was NBA champion Kevin McHale, whose wife is a supporter of the president’s. Pictures of McHale soon began appearing on social media:

It was a powerful TV moment that could have helped a new morning TV show put a stake in the ground. After Reuben Foster of the 49ers was charged with multiple felonies for allegedly beating up his girlfriend, Michelle Beadle of ESPN's new "Get Up" criticized GM John Lynch's position that the team should let the justice system play out before making a decision on the second-year linebacker. Instead, the 49ers should "do the right thing" and proactively dump Foster, said Beadle last month.

Keith Olbermann is coming back to ESPN's airwaves. The outspoken sports and politics commentator has been granted an "expanded role" with the Disney-owned sports broadcasting giant, a Friday report from New York Post claims. "Since we started this, my sixth separate tenure with ESPN, in January, I’ve found the variety of assignments to be the most fun and energizing of all my stints,” he said in a statement on his new gig. “Adding stuff, like being a rookie 59-year-old play-by-play guy, plus the Rip Van Winkle of SportsCenter, only adds to the smorgasbord. Can’t wait, and at my age, I...

A question occurred Monday around the time Juan Cruz was pitching to Nelson Cruz, which was a half-inning after Alexi Ogando got the Rangers out of a seventh-inning jam and one inning before Neftali Feliz came in to close out the Rays. The question was this: Do young American baseball players understand what they're up against? Every year, hundreds of American college and high school players sign contracts and head out to go to work in the minor leagues. They show up and find the world doesn't look quite the same. Amateur baseball in this country -- especially college baseball...