Let’s start football season with some takes, plus the strangest walk-off win – The New York Times

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The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.
Good morning! That home run ball isn’t worth it today.
By tomorrow, every NFL team will have at least its rookies report for training camp. You will see grainy photos and inconclusive videos across your social media feeds. Minuscule parts of those posts, mere seconds of footage, will be pored over by every diehard fan, with ripe overreactions to follow. 
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It means, in essence, that football season is officially here. 
We talked briefly about specific storylines yesterday, but before the true football deluge, I want to build a ground floor of knowledge — a base level of takes. We’re going to start with what the experts predict … and what you think. 
I’m basing this off our first Power Rankings of the season, just published this morning. Here’s the top 10: 
1. Eagles
2. Ravens
3. Bills
4. Chiefs
5. Packers
6. Commanders
7. Lions
8. Texans
9. Rams
10. Vikings
We’re going to do a Pulse Poll further down this section, before I give some Pulse Takes. So start thinking about this: Who’s the most overrated of this group? 
Now let’s look at our next five:
11. Chargers
12. Bengals
13. Steelers
14. Broncos
15. 49ers
This, to me, is where it gets really spicy. Any prognosticator will have trouble with projecting this mushy, talented middle of the league. Each of those teams has a chance to win multiple playoff games. All of them have ample opportunity to crumble, too. The question with this group: Who’s the most underrated? 
Make your voice heard below (with our new polling tool, too!). We’ll run the results tomorrow. Cannot wait to see how this ends up: 

You can see how the rest of the teams ended up in the full Power Rankings, too. The Saints will finish the year better than No. 27 (I hope). 
Let’s move on:
Big 12 says no to Memphis’ promise of riches
The University of Memphis, current member of the newly minted American Athletic Conference, recently pitched itself to the Big 12 with a unique offer: We’ll bring $200 million in sponsorship revenue to the conference and take zero money from the media rights deal for at least five years. It’s largely unprecedented and, yet, as The Athletic reported yesterday, the Big 12 does not seem interested. More on those layers here.
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Paul’s return to L.A.
Chris Paul signed a one-year deal to return to the Clippers, a source told The Athletic’s Law Murray, which is just a fun storyline. Paul is 40 and entering his 21st NBA season, but he remains a valuable player on and off the court. He also happens to be one of the best players in franchise history after a six-year stint that included five All-Star selections and six straight playoff berths. Read more in the full story, including background on his relationship with James Harden.
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Walk-offs are one of the best parts of baseball. The term itself is dramatic enough, and the action within is usually pure excitement. Except for what happened last night in Philadelphia:

That is a catcher’s interference by Red Sox catcher Carlos Narváez, which came in the 10th inning of a 2-2 game with a runner on third. By rule, the runner is awarded home. Game over. 
Most boring walk-off ever? Maybe. Still fun, but give me the All-Star mini home run derby over this any day. 
Almost done:
📺 Soccer: England vs. Italy
3 p.m. ET on Fox
The last few matches of the Women’s Euros have been stellar. England is here after a white-knuckling shootout win over Sweden. Italy is in the semifinals for the first time since 1997 after a 2-1 thriller against Norway. The good news for England: Captain Leah Williamson will be available for today’s match. 
📺 MLB: Red Sox at Phillies
6:45 p.m. ET on TBS
Boston has done a nice job of climbing back into playoff contention (see standings) in both the division and the wild card, but the AL is good enough that the margin of error is minuscule. The Phillies remain one of the NL’s best teams. This is a good game. Will we see another walk-off catcher’s interference? 
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📺 WNBA: Dream at Aces
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
The Fever play the Liberty in the early game tonight (8 p.m. ET on ESPN), but with Caitlin Clark out, this is a better matchup. Atlanta (13-9) has been a pleasant surprise all season long, and Las Vegas (11-11) has oppositely been a .500 disappointment. Both could use a good start to the second half of the season. 
Get tickets to games like these here.
The MLB trade deadline is less than 10 days away. Jim Bowden detailed the status of all 30 teams right now. 
The MLB Players Association believes commissioner Rob Manfred is using a group of clout-heavy former stars to undermine the union and help install a salary cap. Evan Drellich has an extremely interesting scoop. 
Why do so many English soccer players go bankrupt? The answer is more complicated than you think. 
We mentioned the Stud Budz, stars of WNBA All-Star weekend, yesterday. Who are they, though? Hannah Vanbiber has answers. 
Also a winner at WNBA All-Star: Sydney Colson, the league’s funniest player. 
I always find good insights in John Hollinger’s columns, and his full notebook from Las Vegas is no different. Worth a read for any NBA fan this morning. 
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on President Trump threatening to hold up a stadium deal over the Commanders’ name. 
Most-read on the website yesterday: Jim’s story from above ☝️.
(Top photo: Lauren Leigh Bacho / Getty Images)
Chris Branch is a senior writer for The Athletic’s daily newsletter. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Phillies for The News-Journal and worked as a content strategist for various industries. He graduated from LSU, where he worked for The Daily Reveille. Follow Chris on Twitter @cbranch89

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