The Daily Outkick: Tuesday, October 8, 2019

The “Woke” NBA’s Response To China Is Pathetic (Outkick) The NBA is now apologizing for democracy.

Chinese State Broadcaster Drops Two NBA Games After Hong Kong Tweet (Wall Street Journal) China Central Television is also reconsidering other cooperation.

Colliding With China, The N.B.A. Retreats With A Bruised Spine (New York Times) For the N.B.A., which has been on woke roll these past few years, it was a head-on collision with not-so-woke global politics and finances. And Commissioner Adam Silver and his marketing team crumpled into a fetal position.

Ellen DeGeneres Stands Up To Twitter Mob, Defends Appearing With 'Friend' George W. Bush (Fox News) "Here's the thing: I'm friends with George Bush. In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs that I have," DeGeneres continued.

Odell Beckham And Baker Mayfield Aren’t Clicking As He’s Held To 2 Catches Again In Loss To 49ers (Cleveland.com) Beckham's 23 receptions are tied for 39th in the NFL and the 335 yards are 29th. He’s not used to being down in that neighborhood when he’s healthy.

China's Vise Grip On Corporate America (Axios) Leveraging foreign access to its 1.5 billion consumers is one of China’s most potent weapons against the U.S.

The Starting 11: How Real Is The Christian McCaffrey MVP Buzz? (The Ringer) He’s tallied at least 179 yards from scrimmage in four games already, and his 866-yard total is the second most in NFL history through a team’s first five games. The only person with more is Jim freaking Brown, who had 988 in 1963.

Is The Supreme Court Heading For A Conservative Revolution? (538) The Supreme Court went back in session yesterday, and it is already facing a docket full of high-profile cases, including several in which the justices have been asked to reexamine and potentially overrule past decisions.

Astros-Rays Takes Dramatic Turn As Justin Verlander Insists On Starting Game 4 (SI) Never in his 15-year career has Verlander pitched on short rest following a normal start. Here's why it's the right call to give him the ball, and why the possible clincher is appointment viewing.

Sanders Heart Attack Casts Cloud Over His Candidacy (Politico) If his heart attack does rattle Sanders' supporters, several Democratic operatives said it's likely to benefit his friend and fellow progressive Warren.

Yankees Shut Down Twins Again To Sweep ALDS Series (Star Tribune) Twins' playoff futility will carry into another year with latest quick ouster.

Alibaba Shopping Sites Appear To Have De-listed Houston Rockets Products In China (CNBC) Searches for “Houston Rockets” and “Rockets” in Chinese on Alibaba-owned Taobao and Tmall and another site JD.com, yielded no results.

NFL Week 5 Ratings: CBS Singleheader Rises, Sunday Night Football Drops Week To Week But Stays Even With Last Year, Fox Posts A Rise (Awful Announcing) CBS is now off to its best NFL start since 2016.