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In modern media, as in sports, there’s a winner and loser to every story. On Monday, when the National Labor Relations Board overturned a March 2014 regional ruling allowing Northwestern football players to unionize, it marked a “clear victory for the college sports establishment” and a “tough break for the Northwestern football team.” Sorry, but an issue this complicated doesn’t fall neatly into a simple win-loss column. Northwestern football players…

The unanimous ruling by the five-member National Labor Relations Board concludes that letting Northwestern football players unionize could lead to different standards at different schools — from amounts of money players receive to the amount of time they can practice. That would, it says, create the competitive imbalances. The ruling applies to private schools, like Northwestern, which is a member of the powerful Big Ten Conference. Public…

The day before Milwaukee Brewers minor league player David Denson announced he is gay, the first openly gay professional football player walked away from his sport. Michael Sam said he worried for his mental health. The juxtaposition of these two events shows just how far pro sports has to go to accept a gay athlete. Related: Michael Sam says he’s stepping away from football citing ‘mental health’ Just 20 months…

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As opposed to how they acted the last time NASCAR used a high-drag aerodynamic package, drivers were mostly reserved with their criticisms following Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. It wasn’t necessarily what drivers said, but how they said it — and in a couple of notable instances, how they expressed their disdain for a rules package that largely failed to generate additional passing opportunities NASCAR officials intended. …

It was a heroes’ welcome you may have missed. Cheering crowds lined the streets, children on bikes wore polka dot jerseys and two sporting idols waved from the open roof of a polka dot Toyota headed straight to meet the president. Not footballers, nor runners, but cyclists. Daniel Teklehaimanot and Merhawi Kudus were returning to their home country after making history by becoming the first black Africans to compete in…

For a list of all the latest deals, check out the transfers page. Real Madrid will give goalkeeper David De Gea, 24, a £12m signing-on fee if he sees out his Manchester United contract and moves to the Bernabeu on a free transfer next summer. (Daily Mirror)  Manchester City are close to completing the £28.5m signing of Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi,…

NASCAR is amping up its commitment to original content by teaming up with Mexican helmer-thesp Eugenio Derbez on a comedy feature. A partnership between one of Mexico’s most powerful stars and one of the biggest brands in sports dovetails with the motorsports company’s overall original content strategy, which includes more Latino-themed projects. NASCAR’s cachet among Latinos has grown in recent years as drivers such as Cuban-American Aric Almirola and Mexican…

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Race winner Matt Kenseth surges to the lead on a restart during Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400.(Photo: Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports) BROOKLYN, Mich. — NASCAR’s high-drag aerodynamic package got its second race test Sunday in the Pure Michigan 400, and post-race reactions from drivers ranged from outright disapproval to muffled disappointment. Matt Kenseth won the race in dominant fashion, leading 146 of 200 laps. He rarely was challenged at the front at…

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Photo: Warrick Page/NBC NewsWire/Getty Images The Noise Report SI.com examines some of the biggest sports media stories of the week 1. ESPN named college football analyst Danny Kanell to be the new co-host with Ryen Russillo for the ESPN Radio slot from 1–4 p.m. ET. The new three-hour show, Russillo & Kanell,debuts Aug. 31 and will be televised on ESPNews starting at 1 p.m. When Kanell isn’t doing his anti-SEC,…

Matt Kenseth put on a dominant performance in the sweltering Sunday heat in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway, leading 146 of the 200 laps en route to his third victory of the season. It was a riveting performance from the veteran and one for the ages, given the ridiculous temperatures and amount of yellow caution flags. Behind Kenseth were Series leader Kevin Harvick…

(CNN)David Denson, a first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie affiliate in Helena, Montana, made baseball history this weekend by revealing that he is gay. Denson, 20, publicly disclosed the news in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article after sharing it with his family and Helena Brewers teammates. The news makes Denson the first active player affiliated with a Major League organization to come out publicly. “Talking with my teammates, they…

Not sure where it started, but it might have been at the National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1987. Ford C. Frick Award winner Jack Buck got up and waxed eloquently about his town: “I don’t want to be belligerent about it,” Buck said. “But I kind of think, Mr. (George) Steinbrenner and others, that St. Louis is not only the heartland of America, but the best baseball…

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NASCAR took the splitter from the cars of Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski during inspection before Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400, but Logano’s crew chief downplayed the incident. NASCAR spokesperson Kristi King told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio: “During the inspection process this morning, we saw a situation with the 2 and the 22 with the splitter. We saw it and it was really, really close (to compliance). Because it was so close, we work…

(CNN)David Denson, a first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie affiliate in Helena, Montana, made baseball history this weekend by revealing that he is gay. Denson publicly disclosed the news in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article after sharing it with his family and Helena Brewers teammates. “Talking with my teammates, they gave me the confidence I needed, coming out to them,” Denson told sports writer Tom Haudricourt. “They said, ‘You’re…

Not sure where it started, but it might have been at the National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1987. Ford C. Frick Award winner Jack Buck got up and waxed eloquently about his town: “I don’t want to be belligerent about it,” Buck said. “But I kind of think, Mr. (George) Steinbrenner and others, that St. Louis is not only the heartland of America, but the best baseball…