The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Ben Cohen notes the opening of free agency on Saturday has "become one of the most anticipated NBA events of the year," as the offseason "now gets as much attention as the NBA season itself." Twitter data showed there were "about 652,000 tweets per day related to the NBA" during the '16 regular season, but that number "increased to 800,000 per day between July 1 and July 10." The volume of tweets during free agency is "roughly equal to the volume of tweets in the playoffs until the Finals" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/30).
HOT UNDER THE SWEATER: TSN.ca's Rick Westhead noted after "months of rumblings that a group of player agents are upset" with the NHLPA’s leadership, the dispute "described by a union source as a 'witch hunt' spilled into the open on Tuesday during the union’s annual meeting." Sources said that in front of the 30 players in attendance in downtown Toronto, NHLPA Special Assistant to the Exec Dir Mathieu Schneider and union lawyer Bruce Meyer "condemned player agents Anton Thun, Ritch Winter and Kurt Overhardt." Thun, Winter and Overhardt were "accused of misleading clients when they said the NHLPA has stonewalled requests for information about union finances" (TSN.ca, 6/28).
COME FLY WITH ME: USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale notes MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and Rawlings insist baseballs "haven’t changed this year," but "something awfully strange is going on." Red Sox P David Price said other pitchers "have all talked about it." Nightengale notes no one is "publicly accusing" MLB of "secretly juicing the baseballs." But many players "believe the balls used this season have changed from a year ago." Marlins P Brad Ziegler: "It feels like every park is Colorado" (USA TODAY, 6/30).
