Month: August 2025

Whether it’s a dog saving a soccer goal, an athlete’s impromptu dance-off or a sports team’s mascot’s hilarious antics, viral sports moments capture the world’s imagination and build bridges that span language, time zones and sport. They turn athletes into legends and create global communities of team loyalty. They also serve as the perfect vehicle for teams to reach new fans and generate conversation about their brand.

While most athletes train their entire lives for one moment on the big stage, not everyone is lucky enough to become an instant sporting hero. Sometimes, the smallest actions are more than enough to make the biggest splash in the sport world, as was the case with a casual swimmer who shocked the Olympics and had spectators scratching their heads in 2024.

There are a few key factors that go into making a viral sports moment:

The Ubiquity Factor: Did this moment make everyone talk about it for weeks? Did it become part of a sports lexicon, like Dell Curry’s genetics or MJ’s crying face?

The Holy Shit! Factor: Did it make you say “Holy shit!” out loud? Did it make you want to do something similar to what happened? If so, then it’s a great moment.

Whether they helped bring down Jose Mourinho, marched against their club’s owners or pushed back against plans to commercialise their sport, fans have a long history of using their passion as a tool for social change. Their protest stories are a reminder that fan activism is more than just a fad.

Black folks turned their fandom into a weapon during the Civil Rights Movement by boycotting professional sports franchises that segregated stadium seating and rallying behind players in support of civil rights causes. They also fought back against racist referees and wrote letters to editors of white newspapers in an effort to draw attention to the issue.

The protests against Liverpool’s previous American owners Hicks and Gillett grew out of a hardcore of astute supporters with a strong tradition of civic and political activism. The article explores how this activism was a tool for renegotiating the club’s governance and power imbalances.

In a world where media coverage of protests often depicts underrepresented groups negatively, this paper provides advice on how journalists can avoid such traps. By focusing on the voices of participants and aiming for a mix of sources, this paper illustrates how journalists can produce meaningful, ethical coverage that celebrates fan protest as a form of community self-determination. It demonstrates that a news story on a football-related protest can be as effective as a longer article about the same subject, and suggests the use of a series of “rules for reporting protests” including:

With the Olympics taking place in Tokyo this month, it’s time to raise a glass to the world’s women athletes who defy stereotypes and are inspiring role models. However, gender equality in sports remains a challenge. In order to make progress, the sports industry must ensure that there are equal opportunities for both men and women, invest in the development of women’s sport, provide equal funding, promote equitable governance models and reduce the prevalence of sexual harassment.

Despite the success of the #MeToo and #SeAcabo movements in raising awareness of discrimination against female athletes, social movement action alone is insufficient (95). A key step towards addressing this issue must be establishing effective anti-discrimination policies that can be enforced in sports organisations. These should be easy to use, secure and anonymous to encourage whistleblowers to come forward.

This article analyses the current state of GE in European sports using data from Special Eurobarometer 525 (2022). Fuzzy-hybrid TOPSIS is used to generate a synthetic indicator on Europeans’ attitudes towards GE in sport, while latent profile analysis and multinomial logistic regression are applied to identify its main determinants. The results highlight significant geographical, social and political differences in Europe’s stance on GE in sport. The Nordic countries, led by Sweden, are most supportive of GE in sport, while Eastern and Central European countries tend to resist progressive values and view feminism as an affront to their national identities. The results also show that sports participation is a strong predictor of support for GE in sport, indicating that increased engagement with sporting environments can increase people’s awareness of and sensitivity to GE in sport (102).

Athlete endorsements can be a powerful marketing tool for brands, increasing sales and shaping cultural trends. However, to be effective, athlete endorsements require authentic athlete-brand alignment, engaging multi-channel storytelling, and data-driven personalization. In this article, we explore the essential elements to ensure that your athlete endorsement campaigns deliver measurable results.

Values Alignment

The best athlete-brand partnerships connect the core values of both parties. For example, an athlete with a reputation for discipline and philanthropy can align perfectly with a brand that promotes similar virtues. This authenticity bolsters the audience’s trust in both athletes and brands. In addition, promoting products or services that the athlete actually uses in their training and competitions adds further credibility to the partnership. For example, Serena Williams’s long-term Nike partnership and her commitment to gender equality and excellence resonate with the audience and strengthen the authenticity of her sponsorship.

Leverage Digital Platforms

Athletes’ media platforms provide direct access to a large and engaged audience, amplifying the impact of their endorsements. Athletes can engage with fans in real time and share behind-the-scenes content to establish a more personal connection with the audience. This makes their content feel less like advertising and more like a personal recommendation.

Athletes can also leverage their influence to participate in charitable events and campaigns to increase their visibility with the public. These initiatives create emotional connections with the audience and can help to build a positive brand image in the event of a PR crisis. Tracking metrics like social media interaction rates, sales lift, and engagement levels can help to measure the effectiveness of athlete-led marketing.

The World Series is baseball’s biggest event, pitting the best teams in Major League Baseball against each other to determine a champion. It was first played in 1905, and has been held annually since except for 1994 (players’ strike). Originally called the World Championship Series, it is now known as simply the World Series. The game features a best-of-seven series with home-field advantage going to the team that has won the most regular season games in their respective division.

Freddie Freeman’s grand slam in Game 1 ushered in a new era of Los Angeles Dodgers dominance, but the club’s most recent title was not without its share of controversy and dramatic moments.

One of the most controversial came in Game 7 as a result of a call that will forever go down as “the phantom out.” Carlton Fisk hit a ball into left field hugging the foul line. It looked like a simple foul but, after the batter leaned over and waved his arms to indicate fair territory, the umpire determined the ball did indeed land fair.

It was the deciding factor in the series, and it will always be remembered as a controversial call that changed history. The Yankees went on to win the series in six games.

The World Athletics Championship is the biggest track and field event of the year. Organised by World Athletics – formerly known as the International Association of Athletic Federations – the best athletes from around the globe convene every two years in a bid to earn a spot on the podium and have their name engraved on the gold medal.

The championships were launched in 1983, following the IAAF’s decision to separate it from the Olympic Games and host it as a biennial event. Since then, it has grown in stature, with the top athletes aiming to be crowned the world champion in their respective disciplines.

For many athletes, a victory at the World Championships is a career highlight. Athletes are able to display their full range of skills at the event, which tests both endurance and agility. Sprints – from the blink-and-you-miss-it 100m to the lung-busting 400m – showcase athletes’ pure speed and explosive power. Middle and long distances – such as the 800m and 10,000m – test an athlete’s ability to maintain a strong pace over several laps of the stadium. Jumps – including the high jump, long jump and triple jump – demonstrate an athlete’s amazing ability to fly through the air.

FloTrack offers exclusive coverage of all the action at the World Athletics Championship, with all events streamed live on our app and website for members. A FloTrack subscription also gives you access to the prestigious USATF Championship Series, which showcases Team USA, the world’s #1 track and field team.

The World Test Championship, introduced in 2021 to elevate the status of the oldest format of the game, is proving to be a success. The final at Lord’s, which replaces the Rose Bowl and the Oval following Covid protocols, is sold out as a sign of support for the event, and its inaugural 2021 winner New Zealand has been lauded in Wisden for a “long-overdue global triumph”.

However, the structure of the WTC needs to be overhauled to ensure it fulfils its intended purpose. The current system, which aims to rank teams on a table that accounts for wins (12 points), draws (six points) and loss of over-rate penalties (0 points) over series of at least four tests, is too confusing. Moreover, countries are not required to play each other or a certain number of Tests in their two-year qualifying cycle, as they would be in a sports league.

To solve this, cricket’s custodians, the ICC, must take a long-term view of the problem. One suggestion is to create a league, staged over the first three years after the next World Cup, in which the top ten teams compete for qualification by playing each other, home and away, in series that last at least three Tests. This approach will incentivise countries to schedule more tests, while guaranteeing fixtures against the best sides and offering ICC support to financially weaker boards. It will also create a more competitive event, with the best team in the league earning automatic entry to the next World Cup.

The NFL draft 2025 featured plenty of big-play talent, especially in the first two rounds. There was also an intriguing mix of prospects who have the potential to fill in at key positions on defense and offense.

The Rams redeemed themselves in Round 2 after a disastrous Day 1, starting with TE Jared Richardson, who has ideal 6-foot-5, 235-pound size and a rocket arm. Then they added a rangy edge rusher in Josiah Stewart, who could add a dynamic element to Byron Young and Jared Verse. They also bolstered their interior with Emery Jones Jr and Carson Vinson, who both have the potential to develop into starters.

There was a good amount of value in the later rounds as well, with Shedeur Sanders landing in Round 3 for the Saints, who haven’t had a reliable running back in years, and Jalen Milroe joining the Seahawks to complement Sam Darnold’s mobility. Rounds 5 through 7 also saw a few solid fliers, including a talented left tackle in Brandon Parker and a speedy cornerback in Bilhal Kone.

The Patriots may have been disappointed that James Pearce didn’t work out, but they still managed to find a promising prospect in Parker, who offers the kind of pass-rushing nuance New England hasn’t seen at the position for a while. He can align on the edge or in the slot, and he shows excellent ball skills and coverage ability. He’s an instant-impact prospect who will help to shore up a secondary that was 29th in points allowed last year.

The Champions League stands in the pantheon of world soccer like a colossus, an epic story of feats and triumphs that has been both witness to and protagonist of the inexorable rise of European football. This season, however, the tournament will see its first major format change in 21 years.

From the 2024-25 season, Europe’s premier club competition will expand to 36 teams and replace the group stage with a new ‘league phase’ where each team plays eight matches against different opponents (four home and four away). The top two from each group qualify for the last 16, which will see the field whittled down over a series of two-legged knockout rounds until there are only two teams remaining in the final.

Domestic champions and runner-ups from the top European leagues automatically qualify for this phase, while stronger leagues (such as England, Spain and Germany) get up to four additional slots in the main draw that will be determined by their UEFA coefficient, which is calculated over five years.

The resulting 32 teams are then split into groups of four, where they play each other in a double round-robin. The winners and runners-up of each group then progress to a two-legged knockout round, where the winner becomes the champion of Europe. Ties are broken by head-to-head points, home goals, away goals and a goal difference advantage. In addition, if the teams are level on aggregate after extra time, away goals count as a tie-breaker.

From celebrities repping their favorite athletes to musicians collaborating with them, sports and showbiz have never been more connected. Post Sports+ has the scoop on the celebrity collaborations and moments that keep sports at the forefront of pop culture.

Charlotte and Madeline start the show with a few admin orders of business and some quick informercials before diving into today’s hot topics. They’ve got the latest on WNBA star Suni Lee and NBA player OG Anunoby making their relationship official, a former WWE superstar and her Coldplay cheating drama, surfing star Billy Kemper sharing his gruesome injury and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn discussing her career and her recent groin injury.

The rumor mill is in full swing after the Cleveland Browns announced they had traded wide receiver Jordan Taylor to the New York Jets for a first round pick. The move has sent fans into a frenzy and left many asking, why did the Browns do this?

Jordon believes Bill Belichick is the NFL’s version of Tree Paine, a member of Taylor Swift’s PR team.

‘Dirty Laundry’ actor Charlie Puth is bringing his music to the big screen with a movie adaptation of the hit song “Booty Swing.”

As consumers of celebrity gossip, it’s important to balance entertainment with responsible engagement. By fostering a critical mindset and prioritizing more substantial issues, individuals can navigate the world of celebrity gossip blogs in a way that aligns with their personal values and promotes healthier societal discourse.