Weekend Hot Reads....

The N.Y. TIMES writes under the header, "How The 'Shalane Flanagan Effect' Works." Flanagan became the first American woman to win the TCS N.Y. Marathon in 40 years, but her "bigger accomplishment lies in nurturing and promoting the rising talent around her, a rare quality in the cutthroat world of elite sports." Every one of her training partners -- 11 women in total -- has "made it to the Olympics while training with her, an extraordinary feat." 

SI.com goes with, "Shohei Otani's Arrival In America Won't Come With A Fair Contract." Any foreign player under the age of 25 is subject to MLB signing restrictions, and Otani -- who turned 23 in July -- is thus "limited in how much he can sign for by how much teams have available" in their international bonus pool.

Elsewhere:

• Kevin Plank's Sagamore Farm "hitting its stride" with new leadership.
• A close look at the viability of each MLS expansion candidate.
• How Nick Francona's complaint "hurt MLB image of military support."
• College hoops is now "ripe with stench of corruption."
• Did San Diegans get it right rejecting subsidy for Chargers, NFL?