Legendary golfer Phil Mickelson withdrew from the PGA Championship, keeping himself on hiatus from professional golf, tournament organizers announced on Friday.
Why it matters: Mickelson stepped away from golf after he made comments about Saudi Arabia and human rights abuses that he said he thought were off the record.
The Delaware State women's lacrosse team recently saw a traffic stop in Georgia turn into a search for drugs. Now, the HBCU is demanding answers.
Why it matters: The school believes this was a case of racial profiling and is pursuing legal recourse as the incident — which was caught on video — gains national attention.
Naomi Osaka is famous for a lot of reasons around the tennis court. And the 24-year-old star is now leaving sports agency powerhouse IMG to start her own representation company, Evolve, according to Sportico.
Why it matters: Osaka, born in Japan, is just the latest sports star to leave a traditional sports agency, as more top athletes seek to take control of their growing wealth and branch off into business interests away from the playing surface.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek says the company is inching toward a reality in which all of ESPN is available direct-to-consumer (think: streamable like Netflix, no cable bundle required).
Why it matters: ESPN, like its competitors, is faced with the delicate task of building for the future (streaming) without cannibalizing the present (cable). Chapek's comments indicate how close the future is to becoming the present — and the present to becoming the past.
Brett Favre was sued this week by the Mississippi Department of Human Services for his alleged role in a yearslong welfare scheme.
Why it matters: $77 million worth of funding intended to help Mississippi's poorest residents was misspent in what an auditor has called the state's largest public corruption case in 20 years.
