Author: Shekari Philemon

The family of Aldon Smith has arranged for his brain to be examined by medical experts in Boston as part of a broader investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, seeking to determine whether chronic traumatic encephalopathy contributed to the passing of the former NFL defensive lineman, who died Saturday at the age of 36. Smith died just hours after delivering pizzas to a homeless charity, an act of generosity that made the news of his passing all the more jarring. No official cause of death has been announced. His family has retained legal counsel to assist in the investigation…

Lewis Hamilton’s first victory with Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday was built on a three-stop strategy executed with precision, but the driver himself pointed to something less technical as a key factor in his resurgence. The relationship he has developed with race engineer Carlo Santi, whom Hamilton compared favorably to the partnership that helped deliver six of his seven world championships at Mercedes, appears to be one of the more important developments of his 2026 season. Hamilton’s debut year at Ferrari in 2025 was marked in part by a difficult dynamic with his then-race engineer, with strained…

Serena and Venus Williams will compete together at Wimbledon for the first time in years after tournament organizers awarded the sisters a doubles wild card, setting up one of the most anticipated storylines at the All England Club when play begins on June 29. The announcement came on Tuesday and follows Serena’s recent return to competitive tennis after nearly four years away from the sport. Venus, who has continued to compete sporadically, turns 46 this week. Together they bring a combined age of 90 and a combined record at Wimbledon that remains unmatched in the modern era of the game.…

Emma Raducanu came closer to a title on home soil than the scoreline suggests, saving four championship points across the second set and a tiebreak before ultimately falling to Donna Vekic at the HSBC Championships at Queen’s Club in London. The final score of 6-0, 7-6 tells only part of the story. Raducanu was outplayed comprehensively in the opening set but refused to surrender the match in the second, fighting back from the brink repeatedly before the Croatian, who entered the tournament as a lucky loser, closed it out in a tiebreak. It was the first grass-court final of Raducanu’s…

The New York Jets have secured one of their most reliable young offensive linemen, agreeing to a four-year, $62 million contract extension with right guard Joe Tippmann that keeps him under contract through the 2030 season and removes him from what would have been a competitive free agent market next year. Tippmann, 25, was entering the final year of his rookie deal and was widely viewed as one of the more attractive interior offensive linemen available in the upcoming offseason class. The Jets moved to prevent that scenario by locking him in at $15.5 million per year on average, a…

Top NBA draft prospect Darryn Peterson has met with the Washington Wizards and declined to grant visits to any other team ahead of next week’s draft, a move that has drawn significant attention from rival franchises holding lottery picks and sent a clear signal about where he believes his future lies. The Wizards own the first overall selection in a draft that begins June 23. Peterson’s decision to limit his pre-draft access exclusively to Washington stands in contrast to the more conventional approach of touring multiple teams, and league observers have noted the choice as meaningful even if it does…

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is not dismissing Lewis Hamilton’s championship prospects, and after Sunday’s result in Barcelona, he has good reason to take them seriously. The man who guided Hamilton to six of his seven world titles said plainly this week that he knows what the seven-time champion is capable of when he gains momentum, and described the prospect of facing him in a title fight as something he would rather avoid. Hamilton’s victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix was the first of the 2026 season for any driver not in a Mercedes. It moved him to within 41…

Lewis Hamilton won his first race with Ferrari at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on Sunday, a result that carried an emotional weight far greater than a single victory would normally suggest. In the days that followed, the seven-time world champion revealed how close he came to losing himself entirely during his first year at the Italian team, and how it was his fans, more than anything else, who kept him from stepping away. Hamilton’s debut season at Ferrari in 2025 was by almost any measure a failure relative to the standards he had set across a career that produced more…

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles made his position on Baker Mayfield unmistakably clear Thursday, stating without hesitation that he wants the quarterback as his long-term starter, even as contract negotiations between Mayfield and the organization remain at an early impasse. Bowles’s comments came in direct response to remarks Mayfield made last week in which the quarterback described the two sides as nowhere near aligned on a new deal heading into what is the final year of his current three-year, $100 million contract. The disconnect, at least publicly, appears real. The coach’s commitment to the player, however, appears equally…

The Seattle Seahawks held a private ring ceremony Thursday night for players, coaches, and football staff, unveiling championship rings that rank among the most elaborately engineered pieces of jewelry in Super Bowl history. Designed and produced by Jason of Beverly Hills, the rings were three months in the making and incorporate a level of mechanical complexity that required an entirely separate engineering process before a single stone was set. The same jeweler has created championship rings for three of the previous five Super Bowl champions, giving the design house a well-established presence in the upper tier of sports jewelry. What…