sports + biz + culture + life

Get REDEF delivered to your inbox

rantnrave:// The usual roaring hype that accompanies Dallas Cowboys draft picks followed Ezekiel Elliott into the NFL last year, but there was more to it than the usual America's Team™ pomp. The former Ohio State star's ex-girlfriend accused him of multiple incidents of domestic violence in July 2016, and Elliott spent his rookie season playing, brilliantly, under that dark cloud. On Friday -- after the city of Columbus declined to prosecute Elliott, after other public incidents that contributed to what the NFL called "a pattern of poor judgment," after Elliott was named Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Pro Football Writers Association, and 13 months after the NFL opened its investigation -- that cloud burst. The league suspended Elliott for the first six games of the 2017 season. As with everything related to the NFL and discipline, the decision left a noisy and complicated wake. There are subtle intimations of a power struggle between Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, and there is the residual authoritarian squick of the NFL's high-handed and opaque prosecutorial process and its strange twist on due process. But given the NFL's endemic cluelessness and conflict when it comes to domestic violence, this may be as close to Getting It Right as we get. At the very least, the league listened to, and believed, a woman. ... On Saturday, after Bryce Harper skidded over a wet first-base bag and went down hard, it looked like the Washington Nationals would get some very bad news. On Sunday, they got the best bad news possible -- their star has a serious bone bruise in his knee, but no ligament damage; he could play again this season. Given that Washington already lost leadoff man Adam Eaton to a similar injury this year, they have to be wondering whether MLB could create better, safer bases. ... The weekend's "Unite the Right" hate rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, started ugly -- like, torchlit sieg heil-ing ugly -- and got worse; it ended in tragedy. Our games exist within this broader world, and can be a counterpoint to or a reflection of that world's great and small cruelties. Some athletes spoke out over the weekend, but Marshawn Lynch has always been more about that action, boss. When the Oakland Raiders running back took a seat during the national anthem before Saturday's preseason game, the act spoke for itself. Lynch told coach Jack Del Rio that he has staged similar protests throughout his career, but didn't speak to the press. If the ongoing Colin Kaepernick blackball is any indication, there is surely more bad faith and overstated controversy to come. When Lynch decides to speak on it, it will surely be worth a listen.

Some residents are praying for the project to fail, losing sleep, participating in protests, consulting lawyers.

Nathan Fenno | Los Angeles Times

What most fans dismiss as quirky plays, missed calls and statistical anomalies, Brian Tuohy sees as evidence of the NFL's corruption. "We see bizarre [referee] calls and bizarre plays and think, It's just one of those things," he says. "Well, I don't think it's just one of those things."

John McDermott | MEL Magazine

Colombia's victims of war find refuge in sport.

Eduardo Leal | VQR

The Washington Mystics and Indiana Fever passed the time in a leak delay by holding a dance-off at midcourt.

Robby Kalland | UPROXX

Murray led the Florida Panthers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final and was named coach of the year in 1984.

Richard Goldstein | The New York Times

"It's not enough to be smart. You have to be curious."

Get REDEF delivered to your inbox