7:14 AM ET “This was definitely not how this was supposed to go down.” The greatest American racer of his generation is on the phone. Jimmie Johnson is driving home from the racetrack and he is 100 percent correct. This is not how this was supposed to go down. Not this week. Not this year.
SPORT INFORMERS
7:12 AM GMT There is no hiding from the obvious: The Wallabies have played truly terrible rugby for the past 120 minutes. As a result, they have turned a promising first-up showing in Wellington and solid opening half in Auckland into an ugly 2-0-1 record that means the Bledisloe Cup has been filled with Steinlager,
Manchester United lost in the group stage of this season’s UEFA Champions League for the first time as they were humbled in a 2-1 loss to Istanbul Basaksehir on Wednesday night. A bizarre lapse of judgement on the halfway line allowed Demba Ba a breakaway to open the scoring before Edin Visca made it two,
6:45 AM ET You’d forgive the San Francisco 49ers for thinking 2020 just wasn’t meant to be their year. After losing to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in February, the 4-4 Niners have dealt with a catastrophic flurry of injuries that have served to compromise their chances of competing in the NFC this season.
Former British champion Ian Stannard has been forced to retire because of rheumatoid arthritis. The Ineos Grenadiers rider was one of the first riders to join the team as Team Sky in 2010 and his biggest wins came in the one-day Omloop Het Nieuwsblad races in 2014 and 2015. Stannard also helped Chris Froome and
Shakib Al Hasan hopes pay back the support of his fans© AFP A “blessing in disguise” he calls it but Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan says he is also prepared to be doubted by his teammates when, in a few days’ time, he returns to cricket after serving a one-year ban for failing to report
12:45 AM GMT Reece Hodge will play his first Test for Australia at flyhalf against New Zealand in Brisbane this weekend after coach Dave Rennie made six changes to his starting side for the fourth Bledisloe Test. With James O’Connor still struggling with a knee injury that ruled him out of last weekend’s record 43-5
7:15 AM ET The first eight weeks of the 2020 season have featured, in many ways, the best streak of cumulative quarterback play in NFL history. It has been easy to miss amid daily updates of coronavirus pandemic protocols and super-early coaching changes, but the league’s aggregate Total QBR of 65.6 is nearly 10% higher
9:05 PM ET On opening night of the MAC football season, Kelly/Shorts Stadium in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, lost power, causing Central Michigan and Ohio to take an early halftime on Wednesday night. The game, airing on ESPN, had 1 minute, 17 seconds left in the second quarter with Ohio facing third-and-6 on Central Michigan’s 10-yard
4:24 PM ET Rob DawsonCorrespondent Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has brushed off suggestions he could be sacked following the humiliating Champions League defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir. United lost 2-1 in Turkey on Wednesday to increase the pressure on Solskjaer’s position. – Ratings: Fernandes, Matic both 4/10 in shock defeat– Stream ESPN FC Daily
10:03 PM ET UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya spent all week talking up his City Kickboxing teammate Carlos Ulberg, ahead of Ulberg’s appearance on Dana White Contender Series. Turns out, the champ wasn’t lying about his buddy’s potential. Ulberg (3-0) joined Adesanya amongst the UFC ranks on Wednesday, as he earned a UFC contract by
3:01 PM ET The UFC is close to finalizing a welterweight bout between Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson and Geoff Neal on Dec. 19, according to multiple sources. Once signed, the 170-pound bout will be added to the UFC’s final event of 2020, a UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. Another high-profile welterweight matchup between Leon Edwards
4:20 PM ET The NBA’s Board of Governors and Players Association are holding separate meetings on Thursday expected to culminate with an agreement on starting the 2020-2021 season on Dec. 22 and playing a reduced 72-game schedule, sources tell ESPN. The NBPA is planning to take a formal vote of the team player representatives on
9:13 PM ET LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are reeling from the shooting death of Ericka Weems, the 37-year-old older sister of Cavs director of scouting Brandon Weems. James took to Twitter on Wednesday to make a plea for any information connected to the shooting. Weems was discovered Monday afternoon in the bedroom of
4:05 PM ET Associated Press PARIS — Rafael Nadal became only the fourth man to reach 1,000 match wins when he beat fellow Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday. The 20-time Grand Slam champion joined Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,242) and Ivan
5:28 PM ET A fight between WBC heavyweight titleholder and lineal champion Tyson Fury and Agit Kabayel is being finalized for Dec. 5 in London, The Athletic reported Wednesday. Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) had said recently that he wanted to fight on Dec. 5, but he didn’t have an opponent. “I’d just like to announce
2:44 PM ET Free-agent right-hander Trevor Bauer has rejected the Cincinnati Reds‘ $18.9 million qualifying offer for the 2021 season, agent Rachel Luba announced on Twitter. Luba, however, said Bauer remains open to discussing a return to Cincinnati and “all other interested teams thru Free Agency.” “Why wait for the QO to expire to state
6:43 PM ET Rikki Soumpholphakdy Former featherweight world titlist Shakur Stevenson has publicly offered to face Oscar Valdez at junior lightweight on Dec. 12 after Valdez’s original opponent, Miguel Berchelt, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. Stevenson (14-0, 8 KOs) told ESPN he has informed his managers to inquire about the possibility of fighting Valdez