In 1950, Earl Lloyd, Chuck Cooper, and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) as the league’s first Black athletes. Cooper was the first to be drafted, Clifton was the first to sign an NBA contract, and Lloyd became the first Black player to enter an NBA game[Read More…]
Behind the Bench
The NFL’s 2026 season is set to kick off with a record-low three Black head coaches
On Feb. 8, the National Football League (NFL)’s 2026 hiring cycle concluded. The 2025 season left 10 head coaching positions vacant, and no Black head coaches were hired to fill them for the upcoming season. The hiring cycle resulted in one minority hire, Tennessee Titans’ head coach Robert Saleh, who[Read More…]
Conflicting feelings of fandom
Never Google the owner of your favourite sports team. It almost never yields results that make you feel good about spending your money on tickets and merchandise, and often leaves you feeling put off altogether. Five National Football League (NFL) owners have been named in the latest Jeffrey Epstein file[Read More…]
Taking the NHL by storm: The habits behind 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini’s breakout
Before Macklin Celebrini became one of the National Hockey League (NHL)’s most electric young phenoms, he was a kid running up a hill. Not a metaphorical hill—an actual one. At the end of workouts in their North Vancouver neighbourhood, Celebrini and his brother Aiden would finish with a routine: Sprint[Read More…]
Sports are political: Standing up for Azeez Al-Shaair
On Jan. 12, the Houston Texans dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers en route to a 30-6 victory in the Wild Card playoff game. After the game, Pro Bowl linebacker and defensive captain Azeez Al-Shaair appeared on ESPN for an interview with the words “Stop The Genocide” written in white letters across[Read More…]
Parity rules the postseason as the NFL Playoffs open the door to a new champion in Super Bowl LX
Disclaimer: This piece was written before the Divisional Round games which took place Jan. 17 and Jan. 18. As the National Football League (NFL) Playoffs move into the Divisional Round, one thing is increasingly clear: This postseason is defined less by dominance and more by high-pressure execution. With both teams[Read More…]
NHL players are back at the Olympics after a 12-year ban
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games are just under a month away. Featuring approximately 2,900 athletes across 116 events, the Winter Games is one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Despite its importance and popularity, the National Hockey League (NHL) has denied its players the opportunity to[Read More…]
Change at the top for Manchester United and Chelsea
The Premier League was rocked this week by two major sackings of high-profile managers, with both the Manchester United Football Club and the Chelsea Football Club choosing to part ways with their head coaches following disappointing seasons. Ruben Amorim was relieved of his duties at Manchester United after just over[Read More…]
Inclusion done wrong: The backlash against Sky Sports’ Halo account
Sky Sports’ short-lived TikTok account, Halo, which was marketed as “Sky Sports’ lil sis,” lasted mere days before the company quietly pulled the plug due to intense backlash. Originally designed to “create a space alongside Sky’s existing social channels for new, young, female fans,” the initiative instead sparked immediate criticism.[Read More…]
The fights that made hockey: Revisiting the NHL’s most legendary brawls
In the final seconds of a tight National Hockey League (NHL) game between the Detroit Red Wings and the New York Rangers, Detroit’s Mason Appleton shot the puck near centre ice a half-second after the game’s final buzzer blared. Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick instigated a fight in retaliation; within moments,[Read More…]