*By Christian Smith*
It's been barely a week since the eyes of the sports world were focused on the the FIFA World Cup. Now rugby gets to step into the spotlight ー and very likely attract the most attention it has ever seen in the U.S.
The Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 began Friday at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It's the largest rugby event ever in the U.S. with 64 teams competing in the men's and women's tournaments.
Hosting the tournament on American soil gives USA Rugby one of its best ever opportunities to grow the sport's presence and popularity in the U.S. USA Rugby Commercial Director Mark Griffin says the sport has already made major inroads into mainstream American sports culture since he arrived from his native England.
"I've been here 19 years, and I've seen major growth, probably a doubling, I think, in terms of the number of people involved in the game over that period of time," said in an interview on Cheddar.
Rugby sevens is a version of the game featuring [smaller teams and shorter matches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_sevens). In sevens matches, seven players play seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves.
To grow the game's presence in the country, Griffin says USA Rugby is working to boost the resources available for the national teams as well as get the game into the educational system from youth programs to college. "The college infrastructure in America is absolutely incredible and second to none," he told Cheddar.
USA Rugby's efforts are already paying off. Both the American men's and women's teams come into the tournament near the top of the pack. The women are ranked fifth in the world, and the men are ranked sixth.
While rugby's popularity will likely never reach the level of football in America, Griffin says it doesn't matter.
"We don't need to be the NFL ー we don't need to be any of the big major sports," he said. "There's enough people here that love what rugby stands for that we can carve out our own little niche."
Competition will continue through Sunday. The American women already notched a big 38-7 win over China. The American men are playing Friday night.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/how-usa-rugby-is-growing-the-sport-stateside)
Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Beyond the Spotlight,' a biography series about the intriguing people who capture our attention, fill our social feeds, and shape pop culture.
"Anything Is Possible," a documentary about NBA superstar Kevin Garnett recounting his career from being drafted out of high school to a championship with the Boston Celtics, is set to premiere on Showtime. Executive producer Marc Levin and co-directors Daniel Levin and Eric Newman joined Cheddar to provide some background on the project and discuss Garnett's legacy. With KG considered a pioneer for modern NBA draftees straight out of high school (the fifth pick in 1995), the filmmakers also discussed the possibility of the league reversing course on its current rule that requires a player to be at least 19-years-old and a year removed from high school to play.
Professional sports is facing a reckoning right now over several stories painting an ugly picture of a toxic work environment, encompassing multiple teams in multiple leagues and dealing with different issues.
This week, the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks ousted their general manager and senior director of hockey operations after an investigation confirmed former player Kyle Beach's claims that the team's former video coach Brad Aldrich sexual assaulted him back in 2010, with upper management ignoring his claims until after the team won the Stanley Cup that season. Last night, Joel Quenneville, now the coach of the Florida Panthers but Chicago's coach that season, stepped down from his post.
This comes just a few weeks after the NFL was rocked by leaked emails showing now-former Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden using racist, sexist and homophobic language. He resigned soon after the emails came to light. We can't forget, though, that those emails come from a much broader investigation of the toxic work environment in the offices of the Washington Football Team. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week the league wouldn't publicly release anything from its investigation of the team, but lawyers for many of the women interviewed in the case say they want a public report.
And last January, just one month after hiring him, the New York Mets had to fire then-General manager Jared Porter, who admitted to sending explicit, unsolicited texts and images to a female reporter in 2016 when he worked for the Chicago Cubs. ESPN had been in possession of the texts since 2017, but the woman in question asked the network not to run the story out of fear her career would be harmed. She only reached back out to ESPN after she left the field of journalism altogether. Porter has been banned from the sport through next season.
If you believe in the phrase "where there's smoke, there's fire," professional sports is a five-alarm blaze.
Julie DiCaro, senior writer and editor at Deadspin, joins None of the Above to discuss.
Jill and Carlo discuss the scenes of joy at American airports as borders reopen, another tool in the Covid toolbox, the latest in the Astroworld crowd crush tragedy and more.
Gaming technology studio Mythical Games recently raised $150 million in a round led by Andreesen Horowitz, bringing Mythical's valuation to above unicorn status at $1.2 billion. Mythical Games' mission is to create a new generation of gaming with play-to-earn games that allow players to play to win actual cryptocurrency. Now the company is taking it to another level with NFT technology, allowing players to play with characters they can truly own. Mythical Games CEO John Linden joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Evan Vandenberg, the founder and CEO of Dibbs, a sports card trading platform, joined Cheddar to break down how his company allows sports fans to buy and sell fractions of sports cards. The physical trading cards are typically held in a vault while fans are provided with a digital representation of that card that they can go on to sell or even buy more fractions of the item. Vanderberg also talked about the company's $13 million Series A funding round and investments from major sports figures like the NBA's Chris Paul and NFL's DeAndre Hopkins.
A Freitag pod with Carlo and Baker, talking about the upcoming federal vax-or-test deadline, the most shocking upset of this week's elections, an incredible story of selflessness and Love, Hate, Ate.
