Pour yourself a cup of ambition
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
We’re working 9 to 5 with tissues today.
RIP country music legend Dolly Parton — a humanitarian, Tennessee Vols superfan, and the greatest woman to ever wear the Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform. Channeling Dolly’s signature grace and grit as we discuss the latest sports news.
WNBA
🏀 Pour yourself a cup of ambition
The GIST: Atlanta Dream superstar Angel Reese cleaned up the glass on Monday, once again turning rebounding into a personal side hustle. And that’s not the only hot news from this league — here’s the rest of the best from the WNBA.
🪽 Dallas Wings punch playoff ticket, eliminate Portland Fire: Last night’s 96–78 Dallas win over Portland sent the Wings to their first postseason since 2023 and extinguished the Fire’s playoff hopes in one fell swoop. Now sporting the most franchise wins since the team’s relocation to Dallas in 2016, the Wings officially round out the eight-team playoff field.
- And while the teams are set, postseason positioning is very much up for grabs. A mere four games separate the No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries from the No. 8 Wings, meaning there’s plenty to play for over the next month.
👀 DeWanna Bonner is on the move: The already-eliminated Phoenix Mercury agreed to a buyout with the two-time champ on Monday, allowing Bonner to seek her third career title in what could be her final season. It’s late in the game to make a move, but teams always come calling when you’re a six-time All-Star.
- The Las Vegas Aces felt like a landing spot for the 39-year-old after news of NaLyssa Smith’s injury, but they just don’t have the cap space. Our best guess? The Dream, who need a defense-first wing, or the NY Liberty, who are without Satou Sabally indefinitely. Stay tuned.
🎾 Serena Williams, Carlos Alcaraz win opening mixed doubles match at US Open, drop quarter-final (QF)
The time to snag one of those $100 Mayor Mamdani US Open tickets is now was yesterday, with the mixed doubles matches full of star power. Team Novak Djokovic/Aryna Sabalenka fell in the first round, while Alcaraz/Williams won their first match before losing to Flavio Cobolli/Belinda Bencic in the QFs.
- Cobolli/Bencic will next face married duo Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils (who’s playing in his final US Open) in today’s 7 p.m. ET semi.
🏈 Three NFL WTFs making headlines as season start looms
Head trauma has always been a hot-button topic in football. Now, a recent study suggests at least one in four NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 (a total of 878 men) suffered from CTE. According to research out of Harvard, that’s actually a conservative estimate: The maximum possible prevalence is a horrifying 97%. Alarming is an understatement.
- And that’s not the only flag-worthy news: The Cleveland Browns announced quarterback Deshaun Watson, who faced 27 sexual misconduct allegations, will start the season as QB1, while San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was arrested on Monday for allegedly engaging in prostitution.
🎓🏐 Top NCAA volleyball programs competing for $1M prize pool tomorrow
Move over, Dallas Cowboys — four of the best collegiate volleyball schools will take over Dallas’ AT&T Stadium tomorrow for the first-ever Spikes Under the Lights showcase. Five-time national champs Nebraska, Florida, Penn State, and SMU will all compete for a $1M prize pool, the largest ever awarded in women’s college sports. Bump, bump, bump it up.
😬 Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) board member raises financial concerns, alleges misuse of company funds
Less than a month after its historic launch, the WPBL is once again making the wrong kind of headlines. WPBL investor Mina Kim filed a records request due to “mounting red flags” over potential conflicts of interest and financial discrepancies, though the league has denied Kim’s allegations. The season marches on, but so do the concerns.
Together With Toyota
🌅 There’s still time to check adventures off your summer bucket list. The 2026 Toyota RAV4 is designed to take you to every swimming hole, flea market, and berry farm in comfort and style. Summer’s not over yet.
⚾ Little League World Series: Great Lakes vs. Southeast — Tonight at 7 p.m. ET — ESPN
- Southeast’s Kinley Rasmus continues to dominate, recording her 14th strikeout of the tourney on Monday to tie trailblazer Mo’Ne Davis for most by a girl. And she’s doing it with the bat too: Rasmus notched her record fifth hit in yesterday’s 4–2 win.
- History is in the making as the quest for this weekend’s championship game continues.
⚾ MLB: LA Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves — Tonight and tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. ET — MLB.TV
- This battle of National League powerhouses continues, capped off by tomorrow’s series finale between two of the best pitchers in the game: LA’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Atlanta’s Chris Sale. So seated.
⛳ PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoffs: TOUR Championship — Tomorrow through Sunday — ESPN/Golf Channel
- The final weekend of the PGA Tour postseason is here, with the slate wiped clean as 30 golfers compete to win the FedEx Cup and its $10M first-place prize. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler remains the heavy favorite (so long as that daycare bug is out of his system), but keep an eye on defending champ and No. 7 Tommy Fleetwood.
⚽ NWSL: Angel City FC vs. North Carolina Courage — Tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET — CBS Sports
- Courage midfielder Ashley Sanchez is the player to watch, sitting atop the Golden Boot race after scoring her 12th and 13th goals of the season in North Carolina’s 2–1 Saturday win against the Boston Legacy. ACFC, on the other hand, can’t catch a break — their last win was in mid-July.
Happy National Dog Day! From Bark at the Park to sports-predicting pups, it’s always time to celebrate our furry friends. We want to know, do you have a pet? (It might be dog day, but we’re talking cats, reptiles, etc., too.)
Today’s email was brought to you by Alessandra Puccio, Lisa Minutillo, and Lauren Tuiskula. Fact-checking by Elisha Gunaratnam. Ops by Elisha Gunaratnam and Briana Ekanem. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.
