It’s a crisp, sunny morning in late March, 40 days until the Kentucky Derby. I’m in a small midtown Manhattan studio, in a showroom filled to the brim with towers of handmade hats. One of the projects on this week’s docket: A hat requiring 150 handmade silk roses, one for each year of the Kentucky … Read more
As Astros fan Saul Malek read the criminal complaint alleging interpreter Ippei Mizuhara stole more than $16 million from Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani to pay his gambling debts, Malek was less stunned by the enormity of Mizuhara’s sports betting habit than by how familiar his behavior felt. Malek, 26, is a recovering gambling addict. The rush … Read more
NBA players have always gotten an earful from fans, whether at home or on the road. It comes with the job. But this season, it’s getting darker. The recent surge in legalized gambling in every pro league, and throughout college athletics, has impacted American sports in ways thought unimaginable just a few years ago. But … Read more
Caitlin Clark, #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes, celebrates after beating the Lousiana State University Tigers 94-87 in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at MVP Arena in Albany, New York, on April 1, 2024. Andy Lyons | Getty Images The superstar women’s college basketball matchups Monday night attracted more than just … Read more
In the story Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter Ippei Mizuhara initially told to ESPN, the two men logged into Ohtani’s bank account together on eight or nine occasions in 2023 and wired increments of $500,000 to Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker under federal investigation. In the story Ohtani told the public days after Mizuhara recanted his initial … Read more
MLB began a formal investigation Friday of gambling allegations surrounding Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime interpreter of Shohei Ohtani, who was fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers this week amid conflicting stories about money paid for gambling debts. Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office said in a statement that the league had begun its formal process through its … Read more
SEOUL — For years, it was nearly impossible to see Shohei Ohtani anywhere without his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, just a few steps away. On Thursday, following Mizuhara’s abrupt firing over his involvement with illegal gambling, it was almost impossible to see Ohtani at all. Ohtani didn’t enter the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse during the … Read more
Disney‘s ESPN is at a crossroads. For more than 40 years, the world’s largest all-sports network has grown annual revenue by increasing cable subscription fees. ESPN first charged pay-TV distributors less than $1 per month per subscriber in the 1980s. In 2023, ESPN’s monthly carriage fee was $9.42 per subscriber, according to data from S&P … Read more
(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.) Since Florida repeated as national champs in 2007, no defending champion has advanced past the Sweet 16. That ends this year. Connecticut is … Read more
After five months of regular-season and conference tournament action, we have finally reached the best stretch of the year. It’s March Madness, and it’s setting up to be yet another eventful NCAA Tournament. At 32-0, South Carolina seems like the easy pick to make it to the championship game, but we thought that last year, … Read more
