Members phkrause Posted February 6 Author Members Posted February 6 🥌 1 for the road: The science behind curling Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios Like shuffleboard or bowling, curling involves throwing an object toward a target for points. But there's one big difference: Players can influence shots after they're thrown. 🧹 That's where sweeping comes in, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes. The direction a curling "rock" is turned as it's thrown determines its curl direction, while sweeping ahead of it extends its distance. Sweepers consider timing, angles, speed and pressure as they sweep, while teammates yell "straight" and "curl" to guide their moves. 🇺🇸 Olympic curling started today. Team USA's first match is tomorrow against Norway. Go deeper ... See the schedule. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 6 Author Members Posted February 6 👋 Good morning! Happy NBA trade deadline day. Prepare yourself for chaos. In today's edition: College hoops' top brass, AD to the Wizards, KP to the Warriors, the Olympics are underway, investing in women's sports, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🏀 NBA trades: The Mavericks traded Anthony Davis to the Wizards in an eight-player blockbuster. Plus: The Warriors sent Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield to the Hawks for Kristaps Porziņģis, the Thunder acquired Jared McCain from the 76ers in exchange for picks, and the Bulls sent Coby White and Mike Conley Jr. to the Hornets. ⚾️ Tigers sign Valdez: Framber Valdez is heading to Detroit on a three-year, $115 million deal, giving the Tigers a durable lefty and two-time All-Star who compiled a 3.36 ERA across eight seasons with the Astros. The $38.3 million average annual value sets a record for left-handed pitchers. 🏒 Panarin to the Kings: The Rangers dealt Artemi Panarin to the Kings on Wednesday ahead of the NHL's Olympic roster freeze. The four-time All-Star then agreed to a two-year, $22 million extension with Los Angeles. 📰 Farewell to an institution: The Washington Post eliminated its sports department on Wednesday as part of a widespread purge that saw one-third of the paper's staff laid off. 🏒 Top prospect facing charges: Penn State forward Gavin McKenna, the projected No. 1 pick in June's NHL Draft, has been charged with felony aggravated assault and other counts following an alleged altercation in downtown State College. 🏀 THE BIG BOYS THIS IS WHAT DOMINANCE LOOKS LIKE (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) The top brass in men's college basketball has been remarkably dominant so far this season. How dominant, you ask? Well, consider this: Three years ago, the AP Top 10 had a combined 36 losses in the first February poll. Two years ago? 40 losses. Last year? 34 losses. This year? Just 18 losses. And nine of those losses came against each other! (As fate would have it, two top-10 teams lost last night, which was just phenomenal timing for this story. Ugh. But the point still very much stands.) Top 10: Arizona (22-0) Michigan (20-1) UConn (22-1) Duke (21-1) Illinois (20-3) Gonzaga (22-2) Iowa State (20-2) Houston (20-2) Nebraska (20-2) Michigan State (19-4) Wild stat: This past Tuesday marked the third time this season that at least four D-I teams with a 19-1 record or better were in action on the same day. Prior to this season, that had happened three times this century. The big picture: There are multiple factors at play here, and we'll dive deeper into the sport's current landscape at a later date. For now, all I'll say is this: Clear your calendars in late March and early April. You're not going to want to miss this year's tournament. 💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS An all-time great photo from their March 2024 matchup. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images) 🏀 88th meeting This Saturday's game between No. 4 Duke and No. 14 North Carolina will be the 88th meeting in which both teams are ranked. That's 47 more than any other matchup (Syracuse vs. Georgetown). Head-to-head: The Tobacco Road rivals have split those first 87 matches almost exactly, with the Tar Heels holding the slightest of edges in wins (44-43) and points per game (77.9-77.4). 🏈 60 Super Bowls Just four people on Earth have attended all 59 Super Bowls to date, and all four are set to extend that streak to 60 this weekend. Who are they? Three are fans — Tom Henschel, 84, Gregory Eaton, 86 and Don Crisman, 89, of the "Never Miss a Super Bowl Club" — and one is photographer John Biever, 74, who's shot every Super Bowl. Kucherov (R) celebrates after scoring a goal during the Stadium Series. (Mike Carlson/Getty Images) 🏒 1.80 ppg Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov has been on an absolute heater since the calendar flipped to 2026, scoring 39 points (11 G, 28 A) in just 15 games to push his season total to 90 in 50 games. If he keeps up that pace, he'd be just the 12th player in NHL history to eclipse 1.80 points per game in a season. Who would he join? Wayne Gretzky (11x), Mario Lemieux (6x), Phil Esposito (2x), Connor McDavid (2x), Jaromir Jagr, Mike Bossy, Steve Yzerman, Bernie Nicholls, Adam Oates, Bill Cowley and Jari Kurri. ⚾️ 31 runs The Dominican Republic's Leones del Escogido won a 16-15 slugfest over Panama's Federales de Chiriquí on Wednesday in the Caribbean Series, breaking the tournament record for most runs scored in a single game. Where it stands: The defending champion Leones are 3-0 entering the final day of round-robin play, after which the top four teams (out of five) will advance to tomorrow's semifinals. As it stands, the Federales are the odd man out behind two teams from Mexico (Charros de Jalisco, Tomateros de Culiacán) and one from Puerto Rico (Cangrejeros de Santurce). 📈 RISING TIDE VANDY AD: THIS IS THE MOMENT TO INVEST IN WOMEN'S SPORTS Vanderbilt AD Candice Storey Lee applauds during a recent women's basketball game. (George Walker IV/AP Photo) This is a guest post from Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee, published on National Women and Girls in Sports Day. From Candice Storey Lee: Long before women were formally recognized, funded or celebrated by their institutions, they were already competing — playing, organizing and building teams with little more than determination and belief. The absence of institutional support never erased their talent or ambition. It only delayed acknowledgment of what was already true. That history matters because it reminds us of a persistent pattern: opportunity often exists before institutions are willing to name it, fund it or lead it. And progress depends on leaders who are willing to close that gap — not with symbolic gestures, but with sustained investment. Today, on National Women and Girls in Sports Day, we are at one of those moments. Women's sports are experiencing unprecedented visibility, competitive excellence and fan engagement. Yet the infrastructure that supports them — scholarships, facilities, staffing and long-term resources — too often lags the reality on the field and court. If we believe in excellence, we must be willing to invest accordingly. Candice Storey Lee hugs Commodores basketball star Mikayla Blakes. (Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images) A recent report by McKinsey found that between 2022 and 2024, revenue from women's sports grew 4.5 times faster than men's. And yet, even with that growth, revenues generated by women's sports represent less than 2 percent of the total U.S. sports market. "The next frontier of growth for women's sports," the report concluded, "will be closing this monetization gap and realizing women's sports' full potential as a high-revenue market." But supporting girls and women in their athletic endeavors goes well beyond the idea of increasing revenues — and it aligns with what we know sports can do for any young person. It's also about developing leaders who will help build a better society. Whether a girl or young woman plays competitively in high school or college, goes on to the Olympics or simply plays at the recreational level for the pure enjoyment of the game, sports can teach us so much. It's no surprise that studies consistently show that more than 90 percent of women in C-suite positions have a background in playing sports. Studies also show that 85 percent of women who played sports attribute their career success to the skills learned through athletic participation. Count me among them. 🌎 SNAPSHOTS THE WORLD IN PHOTOS Canada's Brett Gallant sweeps the stone during Wednesday's match. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) 🇮🇹 Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy — The Milan Cortina Olympics kicked off on Wednesday, with Canada, Great Britain, Sweden and Switzerland all winning their openers in mixed doubles curling. And while you were sleeping, Team USA won its opener, too. Working out the kinks: The pre-Opening Ceremony event felt a bit like a dress rehearsal when the power went out just five minutes into the competition, causing a brief delay. Here's hoping similar issues don't befall the hockey arena, which remains under construction. Freshman Joel Foxwell, who scored a game-high 27 points, is swarmed by teammates after the win. (Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) 🇺🇸 Portland, Oregon — Portland stunned No. 6 Gonzaga, 87-80, on Wednesday to snap the Bulldogs' 15-game winning streak and notch one of the biggest upsets of the season. The Pilots, 21.5-point underdogs, had never beaten a top-10 team in the 73-year history of their program. Historic night: Unranked Minnesota also upset No. 10 Michigan State, 76-73, marking the first time in 36 years that two teams with losing records beat top-10 ranked opponents on the same day. Omar Marmoush celebrates his first goal. (Marc Atkins/Getty Images) 🏴 Manchester, England — Manchester City beat Newcastle United, 5-1 on aggregate, to advance to their first EFL Cup final since winning four straight titles from 2018-21. What's next: City will face Arsenal in the final on March 22 at London's Wembley Stadium in a clash of the top two teams in the Premier League standings. Marc Leishman plays a shot on the eighth hole. (Francois Nel/Getty Images) 🇸🇦 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — The fifth LIV Golf season opened at Riyadh Golf Club, where all 72 holes (up from 54 in previous seasons) will be played under the lights. Meanwhile, in Arizona: The PGA Tour's Phoenix Open held its Pro-Am on Wednesday, and Travis Kelce came a few feet from acing the par-3 16th in front of a raucous stadium crowd. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, FEB. 5 Team USA poses for a picture on Wednesday. (USA Hockey) 🏒 Women's Olympic Hockey The 10-team tournament begins today, headlined by two-time gold medalist USA vs. Czechia (10:40am ET, USA) and five-time gold medalist Canada vs. Finland (3:10pm, Peacock). More Olympics: The USA's mixed doubles curling team takes the ice against Switzerland (8:30am, USA) and Norway (re-airing at 5pm, CNBC), while qualifiers get underway for men's snowboard big air (1:30pm, USA). ⛳️ Phoenix Open The loudest weekend in golf has arrived (9:20am, ESPN+; 3:30pm, Golf), as TPC Scottsdale and its famed "Party Hole" host a field of 123 golfers, led by two-time champion Scottie Scheffler. Betting favorite: Calling Scottie the favorite does a disservice to the word. He's +240 to win at BetMGM. The next-best odds? Xander Schauffele, at +2000! In the Phoenix area? Use Gametime to grab tickets for today's opening round at TPC Scottsdale for as little as $88. More to watch: 🏀 NCAAW: No. 17 Duke at No. 6 Louisville (7pm, ESPN); No. 5 LSU at No. 4 Texas (9pm, ESPN) … The Tigers handed the Longhorns their first loss of the season last month. 🏀 NBA: Bulls at Raptors (7:30pm, Prime); Warriors at Suns (10pm, Prime) … All four teams are in playoff (or play-in) position entering deadline day. ⛳️ LIV Golf: Riyadh (10am, FS1) … Thomas Detry and Peter Uihlein (-7) lead after Round 1. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. 🏈 DYNAMIC DUOS SUPER BOWL TRIVIA Sam Darnold and Mike Macdonald on the sidelines. (Harry How/Getty Images) The Seahawks are one of two franchises this century to send three different QB-head coach combinations to the Super Bowl, with Sam Darnold & Mike Macdonald joining Russell Wilson & Pete Carroll (2014-15) and Matt Hasselbeck & Mike Holmgren (2006). Question: Can you name the other franchise, and their three QB-HC combos? Hint: Two Nicks. Answer at the bottom. 🏀 DEAL OR NO DEAL? DEADLINE DAY (Giphy) The NBA trade deadline is today at 3pm ET, and plenty of high-profile names could still be moved. Trivia answer: Eagles (Donovan McNabb & Andy Reid, Nick Foles & Doug Pederson, Jalen Hurts & Nick Sirianni) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 6 Author Members Posted February 6 🏈 1 food thing: Super Bowl's outrageous eats From left: The Gilroy garlic steak frites, Dungeness crab "potachos," super-hot Chinatown dawg and Silicon Valley grande nachos. Photos: Nadia Lopez/Axios Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara will be serving a menu that reads like a love letter to the Bay Area this Super Bowl Sunday, Axios San Francisco's Nadia Lopez writes. 🦀 Fans can expect classic concession fare with regional twists — from Gilroy steak frites ($35), an homage to the self-proclaimed "Garlic Capital of the World," and Dungeness crab "potachos" ($40), potato chips topped with heaps of crab and white cheddar cream. The $180 head-turner in question. Photo: Nadia Lopez/Axios 🍔 Other notables include the super-hot Chinatown-style "dawg" and an over-the-top $180 LX Burger. If the size alone doesn't give you pause, the protruding bone — big enough to wield like a weapon — probably will. From left: The "Pier 39" paloma, "Chinatown fortune cookie" martini, "Karl the Fog" spritz and "halftime show" margarita. Photos: Nadia Lopez/Axios 🍹 Best sips: Nine original cocktails — $17–$20 each — riff on classics inspired by local landmarks, the matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, and Bad Bunny's halftime show. 🍉 A spicy watermelon margarita is influenced by Bad Bunny's Latino roots, and a "Pier 39" paloma and "Golden Gate" mule made with whiskey, ginger beer and passionfruit honor San Francisco. 🥠 The decadent "Chinatown fortune cookie martini" is a riff on the espresso martini. ps:There's going to be a lot of sick people for sure!! Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 7 Author Members Posted February 7 🤑 1 for the road: Soaring ticket prices Data: Gametime. (2015 ticket prices are adjusted for inflation.) Chart: Axios Visuals Sports ticket prices skyrocketed over the last decade across the country's hottest leagues, Axios' Travis Meier reports from new Gametime data. 🏈 Average NFL ticket prices on the ticketing platform nearly tripled from 2015 to 2025, after adjusting for inflation. College football prices are up 119%, MLB is up 111%, and the NBA is up 70%. Go deeper. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 7 Author Members Posted February 7 🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! The Olympics have officially arrived, the Super Bowl is just around the corner and we're all blessed with the gift of being alive to witness it. Hell yeah. Developing story: The first controversy of the Winter Olympics involves ski jumpers allegedly injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid to fly farther. Well, okay then! The World Anti-Doping Agency has vowed to investigate. In today's edition: Big year of sports ahead, Stafford wins MVP, Skubal's big day, Olympics watchlist, Super Bowl pregame reading, photo finish, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🏀 Deadline day: While the final day was a bit of snoozefest (including Giannis Antetokounmpo staying put), we did see a plethora of moves leading up to Thursday's NBA trade deadline. How'd your team do? ⚾️ Skubal's big day: Two-time defending AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal won his arbitration hearing against the Tigers on Thursday and was awarded an arbitration-record $32 million contract for 2026 before he becomes a free agent at season's end. 🏈 NFL international: The 49ers and Rams will play in the first NFL game in Australia (Melbourne) next season, while the Cowboys will head to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) for their first international game in 12 years. ⚽️ Minnesota lands big name: Global superstar James Rodríguez, captain of the Colombian National Team, is nearing an agreement to join MLS' Minnesota United. ⚾️ Padres for sale? The Padres are moving closer to the franchise going up for sale, with opening bids expected to be submitted by the end of February, per The Athletic. One of the people interested in bidding? Warriors owner Joe Lacob. 📆 BUCKLE UP 2026: A SPORTS YEAR LIKE NO OTHER (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) The 2026 sports calendar is bursting at the seams all year, but nothing quite compares to what we're about to experience these next couple months. Get ready for the best stretch of sports… ever? 66 days of ecstasy: The madness begins this weekend with NBC's overlapping coverage of the Olympics and the Super Bowl, kicking off a 66-day fever dream that features well over a dozen major sporting events passing the torch between one another without coming up for air. 🥇 Feb. 6-22: Milan Cortina Olympics 🏈 Feb. 8: Super Bowl LX 🏀 Feb. 15: NBA All-Star Game 🏁 Feb. 15: Daytona 500 ⚽️ Feb. 21: MLS Season Opener 🎾 March 1-15: Indian Wells ⚾️ March 5-17: World Baseball Classic 🥇 March 6-15: Paralympics 🏎️ March 7: F1 Season Opener ⛳️ March 12-15: The Players 🏀 March 19-22: March Madness Opening Weekend ⚾️ March 25-26: MLB Opening Day 🏀 April 3-6: Final Four ⚽️ April 7-8: Champions League Quarterfinals ⛳️ April 9-12: The Masters Plus: We've also got the Six Nations Rugby Championship (Feb. 5-March 14), the T20 Cricket World Cup (Feb. 7-March 18), the World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 20-22), the Women's Champions League quarterfinals (March 23-25) and more over the next couple months. Looking ahead: The rest of the year has all the usual suspects, including the NBA and NHL playoffs, tennis and golf majors, and of course football in the fall. But are we forgetting something? Oh, that's right — the United States is co-hosting the biggest World Cup in history this summer. The 2026 World Cup, the first on U.S. soil since 1994, joins the Olympics and World Baseball Classic as major non-annual events that make this year in sports particularly special. In fact, it's the first time since 2006's inaugural World Baseball Classic that all three of those events are being held in the same year. The result is a jam-packed slate — week after week, month after month — full of the annual offerings we all know and love, mixed in with marquee events that only come around so often. I mean, think about this: On the second weekend of June, the USMNT's World Cup opener coincides with the Stanley Cup Final, the NBA Finals, the College World Series and a UFC Fight Night on the White House Lawn. The very next weekend, you'll potentially be watching the USMNT's second World Cup match, Game 7 of the NBA Finals and the second round of the U.S. Open… all on the same day. Bottom line: The sports calendar typically follows a reliable rhythm of peaks and valleys, giving fans time to catch their breath. Not this year. 2026 is all about nonstop momentum, and the fun starts today with the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony (2pm ET, NBC). 🏈 ANNUAL AWARDS NFL HONORS: STAFFORD WINS MVP (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) Rams QB Matthew Stafford won his first NFL MVP Award on Thursday night at the annual NFL Honors show, beating out Patriots QB Drake Maye in one of the closest races ever. The final tally: Stafford had 366 points and 24 first-place votes. Maye was right behind with 361 points and 23 first-place votes. Others receiving first-place votes: Josh Allen (2) and Justin Herbert* (1). It's the closest MVP vote since 2003, when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners of the award. Stafford joins Y.A. Tittle (1963) and Rich Gannon (2002) as the oldest first-time MVPs, all at age 37. Coming back for more: Stafford committed to return for his 18th season amid retirement speculation. "I'll see you guys next year," he said. "Hopefully I'm not at this event and we're preparing for another game at SoFi," which will host next year's Super Bowl. More NFL Honors: Awards: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks (OPOY); Myles Garrett, Browns (DPOY); Mike Vrabel, Patriots (Coach); Christian McCaffrey, 49ers (Comeback Player); Tetairoa McMillan, Panthers (OROY); Carson Schwesinger, Browns (DROY); Joe Thuney, Bears (Protector) Hall of Fame: Drew Brees (QB), Larry Fitzgerald (WR), Luke Kuechly (LB), Adam Vinatieri (K) and Roger Craig (RB) were announced as the five-man 2026 Hall of Fame Class. As previously reported, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft didn't make the cut this year. Man of the Year: The night concluded with Commanders LB Bobby Wagner being named the Walton Payton Man of the Year for philanthropy and community impact. He gave a wonderful speech honoring his late mother, Phenia. *A voter explains himself: "I was the Justin Herbert vote," Sam Monson posted on X. "The guy had the worst offensive line in the NFL all season and despite that he was working miracles in almost every single game. Stafford's OL became 2/5ths as bad as Herbert's for 5 minutes and he became a turnover howitzer. He embodied 'value.'" 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST: OLYMPICS EDITION Italian ballet dancer Nicoletta Manni holds the Olympic flame on Thursday in front of Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) 🇮🇹 Opening Ceremony After getting a taste of the Winter Games over the past two days, the Milan Cortina Olympics begin in earnest today with the Opening Ceremony. If you can't catch it live (2pm ET, NBC), it will also air in primetime (8pm, NBC). Details: The primary venue is San Siro, home of Inter and AC Milan, but the Parade of Nations will also take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Predazzo and Livigno to represent the geographical breadth of these Games. Mary Carillo, Terry Gannon and snowboarding legend Shaun White will host, while Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli are among the musical performers. 🎿 Downhill Skiing The eyes of the world will be on Lindsey Vonn as she takes the starting gate for Sunday's downhill medal event in Cortina (5:30am, USA) and tries skiing on a freshly torn ACL. The three-time Olympic medalist — including downhill gold in 2010 — posted a video of herself doing an intense workout on Thursday. "I'm not giving up," she wrote. Meanwhile, for the men: Tomorrow's downhill event (5:30am, USA) represents the first medal event of these Games. Prepare for chaos at the notoriously difficult Stelvio track in Bormio, which has already seen multiple crashes during training runs. ⛸️ Figure Skating, Team Event The Team Event kicks off the figure skating program at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, where the eight segments of the competition — short program (men's, women's and pairs), free skate (men's, women's and pairs), rhythm dance and free dance — will run all weekend before medals are awarded on Sunday (1:30pm, USA) based on cumulative points. Who to watch: Team USA are the reigning gold medalists, though the only returning members of that team are married couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates (ice dance). Newcomers include Ilia Malinin, 21, the only skater to ever land a quadruple axel in competition, and Alysa Liu, 20, winner of last year's world championship. More medal events: In addition to what's listed above, there are 10 more medal events this weekend as part of a record 116 total coming in these Olympics. 🎿 Cross-Country Skiing: Women's Skiathlon (Sat. 7am, NBC); Men's Skiathlon (Sun. 6:45am, USA) … Athletes race 10km using the classic technique and 10km in freestyle. ⛸️ Speed Skating: Women's 3000m (Sat. 10am, NBC); Men's 5000m (Sun. 10am, Peacock) … 7.5 laps around the 400-meter oval for the women, 12.5 laps for the men. 🏂 Snowboarding: Men's Big Air Final (Sat. 1:30pm, USA); Men's and Women's Parallel Giant Slalom Finals (Sun. 7am, USA) … The former is about maximizing hang time to pull off tricks, while the latter is a head-to-head race. 🎯 Biathlon: Mixed 4x6km Relay (Sun. 8am, Peacock) … Each athlete (two men and two women per team) completes three laps around the 2km track. 🛷 Luge: Men's Singles Final (Sun. 12:30pm, USA) … Racers reach speeds up to 90 mph while riding on their backs. ⛷️ Ski Jumping: Women's Normal Hill (Sat. 11:45am, Peacock) … Athletes fly roughly 105 meters on this smaller hill compared to 140 meters on the larger hill. Plus: Mixed Doubles Curling and Women's Hockey continue their preliminaries, with the U.S. women's hockey team scheduled to face Finland on Saturday (10:40am, USA), as long as the Finnish team has recovered from its norovirus outbreak by then. 🏈 THE BIG GAME SUPER BOWL: PREGAME READING (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports) Nate Tice: Super Bowl prop bets that could also play a huge role in crowning a champion The Super Bowl encourages coaching staffs to empty the clip with staple concepts, gadget plays and tendency breakers. Through my film and data study, I wanted to share some of my favorite wagers and how the game plans of the Patriots and Seahawks can lead to a potential payday. Or at least some personal entertainment. (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports) Jori Epstein: To understand Sam Darnold's rise, first understand his fall Darnold is set to become the third QB in NFL history to start a Super Bowl after playing for five-plus teams in his NFL career, and the second to start in a season opener for four-plus teams then later start in a Super Bowl. By Wednesday, Seahawks players and coaches were preaching about his resilience in their sleep, understanding the disbelief surrounding one of the unlikeliest NFL paths in recent years. (Hayden Hodge/Yahoo Sports) Frank Schwab: How did the Patriots rebuild so fast? Bill Belichick did many great things for the New England Patriots. But when they parted ways, he left the roster in shambles. That's a big reason why they went 4-13 in 2023 (Belichick's last season) and also in 2024 (Jerod Mayo's first). Then they hired Mike Vrabel and showed everyone that you can turn a bad roster into an AFC champion with one aggressive offseason. (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports) Charles Robinson: Did Bad Bunny's 'ICE out' Grammy message tease his halftime show? The NFL will find out when we do From the moment of Bad Bunny's appointment, Roger Goodell and the league's owners were stepping into a dispute with a segment of their own fan base. It would instantly be a political lightning rod in a country that has a mountain full of them. The reality is that the NFL doesn't really know for sure what is going to happen on Sunday. Nor do we as an audience. 🇺🇸 TEAM USA OLYMPICS TRIVIA (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images) Question: Team USA has medaled in every Winter Olympics sport except for one. Which of the following is that sport? (A) Luge (B) Biathlon (C) Nordic Combined (D) Curling Answer at the bottom. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH (Al Bello/Getty Images) Sliding into the weekend like… Trivia answer: Biathlon Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 9 Author Members Posted February 9 🏈 Concussionwatch Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios Athletic trainers in video playback booths will spot concussions and other injuries during tonight's game, Axios San Francisco's Shawna Chen reports from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, home of Super Bowl LX. The infamous "blue tent" comes into play when a blow to the head or neck results in injury behavior, such as shaking the head repeatedly, stumbling or looking dazed. Affected players are herded into the tent for evaluation by a team doctor and independent neurotrauma consultant. If they can't agree, they tend to err on the side of caution and consider players concussed. ⛑️ If you see a player going into the tent with someone wearing a red hat, that's a concussion evaluation "100% of the time," says NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills. Hackers eye Super Bowl. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 9 Author Members Posted February 9 1 Super thing: 60 big games Don Crisman (left) holds a Super Bowl LX football presented to him and his friends Gregory Eaton (center) and Tom Henschel by Wilson Sporting Goods at the Hard Rock Cafe in San Francisco on Friday. Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP Three octogenarians are the only fans left in the exclusive "never missed a Super Bowl" club: Don Crisman of Maine, Gregory Eaton of Michigan and Tom Henschel of Florida are in Santa Clara, Calif., for the big game's 60th kickoff. But two are grappling with the fact that advancing years and decreasing mobility mean this is probably the last time, AP reports. "This will definitely be the final one," said Crisman, a Patriots fan since the franchise started in 1959 as the Boston Patriots. "We made it to 60." Keep reading. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 9 Author Members Posted February 9 Seahawks Soar The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl LX last night, beating the New England Patriots 29-13 in a smothering defensive performance. The victory marks the second championship in franchise history and avenges a title game loss to the Patriots in 2015. The title caps a yearslong redemption arc for quarterback Sam Darnold, once considered a potential draft bust. Taken third overall in 2018 by the New York Jets, he spent time in Carolina, San Francisco, and Minnesota before joining the Seahawks this season. Darnold threw for 202 yards and one touchdown, while kicker Jason Myers set a Super Bowl record with five field goals. Running back Kenneth Walker III picked up MVP honors after notching more than 160 total yards. Darnold had significant help on the other side of the ball, with the regular season’s top-ranked scoring defense holding New England to 331 yards, while sacking Patriots quarterback Drake Maye six times and forcing three turnovers. See celebration photos here. Skipped the on-the-field action? Watch the best (and worst) commercials. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 10 Author Members Posted February 10 🏈 Silicon Valley Super Bowl Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold celebrates last night in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo: Matt Slocum/AP The Seattle Seahawks and their "Dark Side" defense — the best in the NFL — swamped the New England Patriots, 29-13, in Super Bowl LX (60) at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. Defense and special teams dominated the game, which didn't see a touchdown until the fourth quarter. The Seahawks' Kenneth Walker became the first running back to win Super Bowl MVP in 28 years. 🗞️ The front page of The Boston Globe: "FROM MAGIC TO MISERY ... STUFFED AND STIFLED: A surprise season ended with a thud as Seattle's elite defense flattened the Patriots ... an old-fashioned Super Bowl beatdown." Even the weather forecast is headlined: "A bitter end." ESPN game recap ... Highlights ... Best defensive plays. Photo: Charlie Riedel/AP Bad Bunny crowd-surfs during the halftime show, performed almost entirely in Spanish. The 13-minute show featured Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin and a real wedding. (YouTube) Via Truth Social Photo: Turning Point USA Kid Rock headlined Turning Point USA's rival "All American Halftime Show," which drew as many as 6.1 million concurrent YouTube viewers. Image: Dunkin' 📺 Nostalgic ads amid AI: Dunkin' ran an ad spoofing 1997's "Good Will Hunting," featuring Ben Affleck, Tom Brady and a host of '90s sitcom stars, including Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Jason Alexander and Alfonso Ribeiro. Watch "Good Will Dunkin'." Pokémon, which debuted in 1996, ran a spot celebrating its 30th anniversary. Watch it here. Ranking the ads: 1 (Squarespace) through 59 (Hims & Hers). NYT gift link. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 10 Author Members Posted February 10 Super Bowl Celebrations are underway in Seattle, Washington, after the Seahawks secured a 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX. It's the second Super Bowl title for Seattle, which last won 12 years ago. Sunday's game was dominated by the Seahawks' outstanding defense, giving New England quarterback Drake Maye barely any time to breathe in the pocket. At halftime, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny delivered an energetic performance featuring his biggest hits, powerful imagery and theatrical nods to songs and symbols from throughout his Spanish-language catalog. Several huge stars, including Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin, made appearances. Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks on winning the Superbowl!! Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 10 Author Members Posted February 10 👋 Good morning! And just like that, the sun has set on the 106th NFL season. The countdown to September 10th has officially begun. Looking ahead: The Super Bowl and Valentine's Day fall on the same day next year (Feb. 14). Should be an interesting stress test for America's relationships. In today's edition: Seahawks reign supreme, Gotterup wins Phoenix Open, Vonn crashes, Team USA figure skating takes gold, Olympics Watchlist, Baker's Dozen, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES ⛳️ Gotterup wins again: Rising star Chris Gotterup beat Hideki Matsuyama in a playoff to win the Phoenix Open, capturing his second victory of the year after also taking last month's season-opening Sony Open. The 26-year-old, who began last year ranked 191st, is up to No. 5. 🏀 Top teams fall: No. 14 UNC stormed back to beat No. 4 Duke, 71-68, at the buzzer to hand the Blue Devils just their second loss; No. 22 St. John's upset No. 3 UConn, 81-72, to end the Huskies' 18-game win streak; No. 10 Michigan State beat No. 5 Illinois, 85-82 (OT), behind a huge game from sophomore Jeremy Fears Jr. (26 pts, 15 ast). 🏈 Canton makes change: In light of the Bill Belichick controversy, the Pro Football Hall of Fame vote will return to being an in-person discussion among the 50-member committee. Since the pandemic, voting has been virtual. 🏀 Who ya got? Damian Lillard (ruptured Achilles) isn't expected to play this season, but the Trail Blazers star will still compete in the All-Star 3-Point Contest alongside Devin Booker (Suns), Kon Knueppel (Hornets), Tyrese Maxey (76ers), Donovan Mitchell (Cavaliers), Jamal Murray (Nuggets), Bobby Portis Jr. (Bucks) and Norman Powell (Heat). 🏈 NDSU to MWC: FCS powerhouse North Dakota State will shell out $17 million to join the Mountain West Conference as a football-only member starting this coming season. The Bison have won 10 of the past 15 FCS national championships. The NBA's biggest stars take the floor in Los Angeles for a first‑ever USA vs. World NBA All‑Star event. Watch live this Sunday at 5pm ET on NBC, or stream on Peacock. 🏆 SUPER BOWL LX SEAHAWKS REIGN SUPREME (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) The Seahawks put the clamps on the Patriots in Super Bowl LX, holding them scoreless for three quarters en route to a 29-13 victory and the franchise's second championship. New team, same formula: The Seahawks won this Super Bowl the same way they won their first: with a suffocating defense. Back in 2014, it was the "Legion of Boom" stifling Peyton Manning and the Broncos. 12 years later, it was the "Dark Side" shutting down Drake Maye and the Pats. Two years ago, Seattle bucked the "offensive guru" trend and hired the defensive-minded Mike Macdonald to lead their team. Little did they know he'd lead them all the way to the mountaintop, while vanquishing two such gurus (Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan) along the way. Maye couldn't get anything going against the league's No. 1 defense, ending the night with three turnovers and six sacks while facing near-constant pressure. The MVP runner-up was also battling an injured throwing shoulder that required a pain-killing injection before kickoff. Recipe for success: The Seahawks are the first Super Bowl champions to go the entire postseason without committing a single turnover. That elite ball security helped them cruise most of the way, winning their three playoff games by an average margin of 18.3 points and trailing for a grand total of 1 minute, 35 seconds. Kenneth Walker III celebrates with Sam Darnold. (Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images) Player of the Game: Kenneth Walker III (27 carries, 135 yards; 2 receptions, 26 yards) became the first running back to win Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis in 1998. The award held special meaning for the Tennessee native, who shared with reporters that this was the first game his father ever attended, due to a fear of crowds: "My dad, he comes up to Seattle all the time to watch the games, but never goes to [them] because he don't like crowds. So this was his first NFL game, and we won a Super Bowl … It means a lot to me, and I know he's proud of me for real." More standouts: Devon Witherspoon (Seahawks): Walker deserved his MVP, but you could also make a strong case for Witherspoon. The defensive back made plays all over the field, including a sack and three QB hits on well-timed blitzes. Get to know the name, if you don't already. Jason Myers (Seahawks): Seattle's longtime kicker made five field goals (Super Bowl record), had 17 points (Super Bowl record) and finished the season with 206 total points (NFL record), breaking LaDainian Tomlinson's previous mark of 198. Michael Dickson (Seahawks): 7 punts, 335 yards (47.9 average). Three were downed inside the 6-yard line. Two were returned… for four total yards. He's the highest-paid punter in football ($4.05 million per year) and he showed why on Sunday. Christian Gonzalez (Patriots): New England's Pro-Bowl cornerback was spectacular in defeat, breaking up every pass that came his way… in jaw-dropping fashion. His final line: 22 coverage snaps, 2 targets, 2 forced incompletions. What are the odds? The Seahawks are one of the unlikeliest championship teams ever when judging by preseason title odds (60-1). In fact, the only U.S. pro sports teams to overcome longer preseason odds and win a championship were the 1999 St. Louis Rams (150-1), the 1991 Minnesota Twins (80-1) and the 2003 Florida Marlins (75-1). Yes, but: This was no Cinderella story. While the Seahawks didn't garner much preseason hype, they quickly emerged as a juggernaut and were considered legitimate contenders for much of the year. In the end, Seattle won 17 of their 20 games and lost three by a combined nine points, putting them in elite company among some of the best NFL teams ever assembled. More Super Bowl 60: Darnold officially sheds the bust label Kubiak confirms he's taking Raiders job Five interesting prop bets that cashed 📸 THROUGH THE LENS SUPER BOWL SNAPSHOTS (Ishika Samant/Getty Images) Pregame: Picture perfect weather and a thrilling jet flyover — timed up beautifully to the end of Charlie Puth's rendition of the National Anthem — set the stage for Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium. Other performances: Green Day got things started with a medley of their hits, Brandi Carlile sang "America the Beautiful" and Coco Jones performed "Lift Every Voice and Sing." (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images) Halftime: Bad Bunny's celebrity-filled performance featured an elaborate set that transformed the field into his native Puerto Rico. In addition to cameos from the likes of Pedro Pascal and Ronald Acuña Jr., as well as a real wedding that took place live on stage, Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin both joined for guest singing appearances. A message of unity: The Grammy winner's final number concluded with him holding a football that read, "Together, we are America," while the scoreboard behind him read, "The only thing more powerful than hate is love." (Jason Redmond/AFP via Getty Images) Postgame: Thousands of Seattleites poured out of their respective bars and watch parties, and swiftly migrated to Pioneer Square to celebrate late into the evening. There will be a parade on Wednesday, but why wait to party? Live on the scene: "Bad Bunny beats filled the air with jubilation … With fireworks going off and car horns blaring, a dance party formed outside the Polymarket Portal, where fans in Seattle and Boston could see each other live." (Seattle Times) 🎿 MILAN CORTINA 2026 VONN BREAKS LEG IN HARROWING CRASH The moment just before Vonn's crash. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo) Lindsey Vonn's remarkable attempt to compete in the Olympics on a torn ACL ended in devastation on Sunday when she crashed just 13 seconds into her run, losing control after her pole clipped a gate. Heartbreaking scene: The event, later won by American Breezy Johnson, was halted for more than 20 minutes as Vonn, screaming in pain, was airlifted off the mountain. She underwent surgery for a fractured left leg (the same leg that was missing an ACL) and is reportedly in stable condition. From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken: It was devastating to watch, even more brutal to hear. For a nation that had become enraptured in Lindsey Vonn's comeback story, the helpless cries of pain as she lay on her back and as the mountain fell silent will be hard to erase from memory. Downhill skiing is often breathtaking. It is sometimes gruesome. And for the second time in nine days, the image of an American sports heroine being strapped to a board and lifted into a helicopter churned the stomach. But that's skiing down a mountain at 80 miles per hour. That's the risk Vonn signed up for when she decided to compete in an Olympics nine days after an ACL tear during a different competition in Switzerland. That's what happens sometimes when you go for it. And that's exactly what Vonn did. Like clockwork, there will undoubtedly be detractors who say Vonn shouldn't have tried something so dangerous, so audacious. But Vonn, 41, has lived her entire life audaciously. She also knows more about what can happen on a ski slope, for better and worse, than the rest of us put together. She understood what could happen. She deserved the chance. And now, only she can answer whether the consequences for her body were worth it. It's not our business. 🥇 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS: OLYMPICS EDITION (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) ⛸️ 50 years Ilia Malinin pulled off the first legal Olympic figure skating backflip in 50 years on Saturday — then landed another on Sunday — to help the Americans defend their gold medal in the Team Event with a narrow victory over Japan. Welcome back(flip): Backflips were banned from the Olympics for safety reasons after American skater Terry Kubicka became the first to pull one off in the 1976 Games. France's Surya Bonaly landed one illegally at Nagano 1998, receiving a deduction, before the ban was finally lifted in 2024. 📺 21.4 million viewers Friday's Opening Ceremony averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a 34% jump from the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which were the least-watched Winter Games in history. ICYMI: Some of the most memorable moments included musical performances from Mariah Carey and Andre Boceilli, a parade of colorful espresso makers in a nod to Italy's place in coffee culture, and "White Lotus" actress Sabrina Impacciatore's musical number depicting 100 years of Olympic history. (Amber Matsumoto/Yahoo Sports) 🥇 13 completed events Norway is the early leader with three gold medals (men's skiathlon, men's 5000m speed skating, women's normal hill ski jump) out of the 13 events that were completed through Sunday, while host nation Italy has an Olympics-leading nine total medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 6 bronze). History in sight: Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (skiathlon) won his sixth gold medal, putting him just two shy of matching the record. With five events left, he could leave Italy as the winningest Winter Olympian ever. Some people are just built different. 💰 $23 million Eileen Gu, an American-born freestyle skier who competes for China, was the fourth highest-paid female athlete of 2025 with $23 million in earnings. According to Sportico, all but $20,000 of that came from endorsements. The social media age: While sponsorships have always been crucial to the earning potential of Olympic athletes, financial success no longer hinges on whose image lands on the Wheaties box. Now most of the action happens on social media, where Gu and her 2 million Instagram followers are near the top of the "influencer" food chain. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, FEB. 9 Chock and Bates celebrate after their dominant performance in the Team Event on Friday. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images) ⛸️ Figure Skating, Rhythm Dance Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, skating partners since 2011 and married since 2024, kick off their Ice Dance competition today with the Rhythm Dance (1:20pm ET, USA). The duo already helped power Team USA to gold in the Team Event over the weekend. How it works: Rhythm Dance features performances of no more than 2 minutes, 50 seconds, set to this season's theme of "music, dance styles, and feeling of the 1990s." The second segment, Free Dance, is longer and has fewer restrictions. 🥌 Curling, Mixed Doubles Semifinals The final four take the ice this afternoon in Cortina (12pm, USA), where Team USA will face Italy in one semifinal and Great Britain will face Sweden in the other. Meet Team USA: Cory Thiesse (Duluth, Minnesota) and Korey Dropkin (Boston), former college classmates and curling partners since 2022, will contend for a medal after advancing to the semifinals for the first time in team history. 🏒 Women's Hockey, Prelims Team USA continues its quest for a third gold medal in today's match against Switzerland (2:40pm, USA) after dominating their first two games against Czechia and Finland by a combined score of 10-1. Collision course: Canada, the only other nation to win Olympic gold (five times), faces Czechia this afternoon (3:10pm, Peacock) before taking on the U.S. tomorrow in a potential preview of the gold-medal match. 🥇 Medal Events Austrian snowboarder Anna Gasser has won both Olympic gold medals in Women's Big Air since the event debuted in 2018. Can she make it 3-for-3 in her final Winter Games? 🎿 Skiing: Men's Team Combined, Slalom (8am, USA) ⛸️ Speed Skating: Women's 1000m (11:30am, USA) ⛷️ Ski Jumping: Men's Normal Hill (12pm, Peacock) 🏂 Snowboard: Women's Big Air (1:30pm, Peacock) Daily schedule. Koa Peat and Arizona are still perfect on the season. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: No. 1 Arizona at No. 11 Kansas (9pm, ESPN) … The top-ranked Wildcats (23-0) are off to the best start in Big 12 history. 🏀 NBA: Thunder at Lakers (10pm, Peacock) … OKC is 0-2 since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain) hit the injury report. 🏀 NCAAW: No. 16 Kentucky at No. 4 Texas (7:30pm, SEC); No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 7 Vanderbilt (9pm, ESPN2) … Four of the SEC's nine ranked teams. 🏒 NCAA Hockey: Boston University vs. Boston College (7:30pm, NHL) … The 73rd Beanpot Championship. ⛳️ TGL: The Bay vs. Los Angeles (7pm, ESPN2) … Luke Clanton, Neil Shipley and Min Woo Lee vs. Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏆 21ST CENTURY SUPER BOWL TRIVIA (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) The Seahawks are one of nine NFL franchises to win multiple Super Bowls since the turn of the century (2000-present). Question: Can you name the other eight? Hint: Four AFC, four NFC. 🍿 BAKER'S DOZEN TOP PLAYS OF THE WEEKEND 🏈 Seahawks to the house 🏀 Luke out below! 🏀 Trimble wins it! 🏀 Miracle at the buzzer! ⚽️ Liverpool's wonder strike 🏈 Denied by Gonzalez ⛳️ Gotterup for the win 🏀 Castle times it perfectly 🏀 Anthony Edwards! 🏀 Backwards alley-oop 🥌 Triple takeout ⛳️ Scottie from a mile away 🏀 Insane Wemby sequence Watch all 13. Trivia answer: Patriots (6x) Chiefs (3x), Buccaneers, Eagles, Giants, Rams, Ravens, Steelers (2x) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 10 Author Members Posted February 10 📺 1 for the road: 63 days of sports ecstasy Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios The Super Bowl and Winter Olympics are just the start of an incredible few months for sports fans. A few highlights ahead, via Yahoo Sports' Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy: 🏀 Feb. 15: NBA All-Star Game 🏁 Feb. 15: Daytona 500 ⚾️️ March 5–17: World Baseball Classic 🏎️ March 6–8: F1 Season Opener 🏀 March 19–22: March Madness Opening Weekend ⚾️️ March 25–26: MLB Opening Day 🏀 April 4 & 6: Final Four ⛳️️ April 9–12: The Masters Go deeper. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 11 Author Members Posted February 11 👋 Good morning! Welcome to Day 4 of the Winter Olympics. In today's edition: Italy's winter wonderland, down goes Arizona, benches clear in Charlotte, Big Numbers, spotlight on the "Quad God," and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🎿 Vonn speaks: In her first public statement since Sunday's devastating crash, Lindsey Vonn said she has "no regrets" about racing on her torn ACL, which "had nothing to do with my crash." Regardless, her father hopes she never races again. 🏀 Perfect no more: No. 9 Kansas handed top-ranked Arizona its first loss of the season, rallying in the second half for an 82-78 victory at home that marked the Jayhawks' first win over a No. 1 team since 2003. With that, No. 23 Miami (Ohio) is now the last undefeated men's team in the nation. 🏈 Pearce arrested: Falcons rookie James Pearce Jr. was arrested Saturday on domestic violence-related charges following a dispute with WNBA player Rickea Jackson. Pearce fled the scene before crashing his car at the end of a police chase. 🏀 Benches clear in Charlotte: Four players and Charlotte's head coach were ejected in the second half of the Pistons' win over the Hornets after a heated exchange following a shooting foul led to an all-out brawl. ⚾️ MLB moves: DH Marcell Ozuna is heading to the Pirates on a one-year, $12 million deal; the Red Sox acquired 3B Caleb Durbin in a trade with the Brewers; the Marlins signed veteran RHP Chris Paddack to a one-year, $4 million deal. 🇮🇹 MILAN CORTINA 2026 WINTER GAMES: THE VIBES ARE BACK The Olympic rings surrounded by fireworks are displayed during the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) Interest in the Winter Olympics has declined precipitously after three straight editions in locales cursed by authoritarian regimes, COVID, a lack of real snow, and more. Flipping the script: Milan Cortina 2026 offers a return to normalcy; a much-needed respite from the cynicism. And if the response to Paris 2024 was any indication, we could be in for the most enjoyable Winter Games in quite some time. From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken: On one hand, the Olympics are compelling no matter where you put them. For the athletes, who are mostly globetrotting anyway for big competitions, a gold medal won in Milan is no different than a gold medal won in Beijing. And for most of the world it's all just a TV show anyway. Who cares where you put the hockey rink? But if you rewind to the summer of 2024, Paris was different. From the racy, bizarre and very French take on the Opening Ceremony to iconic Paris landmarks being used as the backdrop for competition venues, something clicked in the zeitgeist. After several cycles of audience decline for its Olympic broadcasts, NBC rebounded with a whopping 30.6 million viewers per day across its platforms — an 80 percent increase over Tokyo three years earlier. It felt like the Olympics as a big, galvanizing cultural force were truly back. Can Italy deliver the same irresistible experience? The 2024 Paris Olympics saw a major viewership bump after 2021's COVID-induced decline. Will Milan Cortina experience something similar? (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports) Don't discount the possibility, albeit with one big caveat: The Winter Games are not the Summer Games. There are fewer sports, fewer athletes, fewer countries involved and most importantly fewer mainstream superstars. But relative to the last three Winter Games held in Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing, these Olympics are going to visually present like a storybook Alpine adventure in a way that you simply could not pull off at a Russian Black Sea resort or on the Korean peninsula or in a smog-filled megalopolis where it almost never snows. Another difference: NHL players are back for the first time since 2014. With all due respect to the minor-leaguers who stepped in and put on a good show in PyeongChang and Beijing, the Winter Olympics were significantly diminished by not having the elite of the elite competing in one of its marquee events. Fresh pow. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) Milan is also going to be different because of what we don't have to talk about. We are not in a host country rife with human rights abuses like China. We are not in a host country getting ready to invade a neighbor. And, perhaps of utmost relevance from an audience perspective, we are not in the middle of an Olympics defined by COVID infections and empty stands. Of course, these Games are not taking place at a perfect moment for the world either. Russia will not be recognized as the war in Ukraine rages on. Tensions in the Middle East are simmering. And if the recent Australian Open is any indication, American athletes should expect to be asked about ICE raids and Venezuela and other actions by the Trump Administration generating international headlines. There will never be an Olympics without political tension. But all in all, it has been since Vancouver 16 years ago that a Winter Games was hosted by a Western country, in a true winter wonderland, without being served on a platter of cynicism. Instead, this one comes on a big plate of pasta. Eat up. 💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) 🏈 1 of 9 Drake Maye is one of nine QBs to start in a Super Bowl as an NFL sophomore, joining Dan Marino, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy and Colin Kaepernick. The long road back: "That group is an interesting mashup, showcasing that while some QBs are destined for more Super Bowl opportunities (Brady, Warner, Roethlisberger and Wilson), others either never again stepped on the biggest stage (Marino and Kaepernick) or are still trying to find their way back (Burrow and Purdy)," writes Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson. 🏀 183 triple-doubles Nikola Jokić (183) has moved past Oscar Robertson (181) for second on the NBA's all-time triple-doubles list. He now trails only former teammate Russell Westbrook (207), who has added four to his tally so far this season with the Kings. Rounding out the top 10: Magic Johnson is fourth on the list (138), followed by LeBron James (122), Jason Kidd (107), Luke Donćić (88), James Harden (82), Wilt Chamberlain (78) and Domantas Sabonis (68). (Ed Zurga/Getty Images) 🏀 61 straight home wins Kansas loves Mondays. With their victory over top-ranked Arizona, the Jayhawks have now won 61 consecutive home games played on Mondays over a 25-year span. Their last home loss on a Monday? That came all the way back on Feb. 5, 2001, when the Drew Gooden-led Jayhawks fell 79-77 to Jamaal Tinsley and Iowa State. 📺 $65 per month YouTube TV is introducing lower-priced bundles to allow subscribers to better tailor their plans to their interests. The Sports Plan will begin rolling out this week at $65 per month, which is $18 cheaper than the main YouTube TV plan. What you get: The Sports Plan includes "all the major broadcast networks," including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, as well as TBS, TNT, FS1, USA, NBCSN, CBSSN, NBA TV, NFL Network, all of the ESPN networks. Premium channels like NFL RedZone will continue to be sold as add-ons. (Rich Gagnon/Getty Images) 🏒 10 years Boston College are Beanpot champions for the first time in a decade after dominating Boston University, 6-2, in Monday's championship game, which was also the 300th meeting between the rival programs. The Battle of Comm Ave: BU still leads the all-time series, but it's incredibly close. 141 wins for the Terriers, 138 wins for the Eagles, 21 games ended in a tie. ✈️ 13 hours Roughly 13 hours after departing California where he called Super Bowl LX, Mike Tirico stepped into Studio A at the International Broadcast Center in Milan, Italy, on Monday night to host "Primetime in Milan." The man behind the mic: "For an only child, raised by a single mom in Queens, growing up dreaming of being the next Marv Albert, Tirico is a sportscaster's sportscaster, with a rare dual ability to lead a studio and call play-by-play at the highest level. Headlining a portfolio of sports' biggest events now puts him on the path to be considered among the all-time greats in sports TV." (Andrew Marchand, The Athletic) 🇺🇸 TEAM USA SPOTLIGHT: ILIA MALININ (Amber Matsumoto/Yahoo Sports) After helping Team USA defend its championship in the team event over the weekend, young figure skating sensation Ilia Malinin begins his quest today to win individual Olympic gold as the men's singles program gets underway in Milan. Age: 21 Hometown: Fairfax, Virginia Fun fact: His parents were also Olympic figure skaters, competing for Uzbekistan in the 1998 and 2002 Games. College: George Mason University The Quad God: The two-time defending world champion, undefeated in his last 15 competitions, dominates figure skating to an astonishing degree thanks to his singular ability to pull off the hardest move in the sport: a quadruple axel. In 2022, at age 17, the teenager who'd already nicknamed himself the "Quad God" became the first skater ever to land a quad axel in competition. And while he's repeated the move more than a dozen times since, he remains the only skater who's ever landed one. Similar to Simone Biles, Malinin is difficult to beat not only due to his immense skill but because the base values of his routines are so high. A few minor errors won't sink him like they would someone else. What they're saying: "It's not a shoo-in. Ilia still has to skate well to win. His competitors are good," 1988 Olympic champion Brian Boitano told AP. "But yeah, as far as the advantage of being the favorite, it's him and — well, you know, he's far ahead." Good read: The impossible jump, for all but one (New York Times) More athletes in action: 🏒 Hilary Knight: The captain of the women's hockey team, competing in her fifth and final Winter Games, has scored an American record-tying 14 career Olympic goals. With another goal in today's game against Canada, the Idaho native will stand alone atop the leaderboard. 🛷 Ashley Farquharson: The Utah native sits in fifth entering today's final two luge runs. If she can make up the 0.113-second deficit separating her from the podium, she'll become just the second American woman ever to medal in the event (Erin Hamlin, 2014). We'll be spotlighting America's best athletes throughout the Games. Follow Team USA's progress on their homepage, and for in-depth Olympics coverage, go to ours. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 4 (Yahoo Sports) 20 of 116 events completed. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, FEB. 10 An American and Canadian player fight for the puck during 2022's gold-medal match. (Meng Yongmin/Xinhua via Getty Images) 🏒 Women's Hockey, Canada vs. USA The world's top two teams square off in their group stage finale (2:10pm ET, USA) before likely meeting again in next week's gold-medal game. Head-to-head: Canada leads the all-time series, 106-86-2, and has a 5-2 edge in Olympic golds. But the Americans are riding a six-game winning streak against them that includes last year's World Championship final and a sweep in their annual Rivalry Series. 🎿 Alpine Skiing, Women's Team Combined Childhood friends and USA teammates Mikaela Shiffrin and Breezy Johnson go for gold in the Olympic debut of this event that, ahem, combines two disciplines. Downhill began while you were sleeping, and slalom gets underway soon (8am, USA). Heavy favorites: Johnson already won downhill gold on Sunday, Shiffrin is the most decorated slalom skier of all-time (by a mile) and the duo took the title last year in the event's World Championship debut. 🥌 Curling, Mixed Doubles Finals Team USA upset Italy to reach the championship (12pm, USA), where Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin will face Sweden as they seek America's third curling medal ever — and first since 2018. Third-place matchup: Italy and Great Britain will meet in the bronze-medal match earlier in the day (8am, Peacock). ⛸️ Figure Skating, Men's Short Program American sensation Ilia Malinin headlines the men's singles, which kicks off today with the short program (12:15pm, USA). The top 24 skaters will advance to Friday's free skate, and the combined scores will determine the medalists. 🥇 Medal events 🎿 Cross-Country Skiing: Sprint Classic Finals (6:10am, USA) 🎿 Freeskiing: Men's Slopestyle Final (6:30am, USA) 🎯 Biathlon: Men's 20km Individual (7:30am, Peacock) ⛸️ Short Track Speed Skating: Mixed Team Relay Finals (11:30am, USA) ⛷️ Ski Jumping: Mixed Team Normal Hill (11:30am, Peacock) 🛷 Luge: Women's Singles Final (12:30pm, Peacock) Wemby and the Spurs are rolling. (Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NBA: Clippers at Rockets (8pm, NBA); Spurs at Lakers (10:30pm, NBA) … San Antonio (36-16) has won four straight to climb within four games of the league-leading Thunder. 🏀 NCAAM: No. 13 Purdue at No. 7 Nebraska (7pm, FS1) … Boilermakers All-American Braden Smith ranks second nationally with 8.7 assists per game. ⚽️ Premier League: West Ham vs. Manchester United (3:15pm, Peacock) … The Red Devils are 4-0-0 under interim manager Michael Carrick. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🌎 GLOBAL GAMES OLYMPICS TRIVIA Team USA flagbearer Erin Jackson walks in the athlete parade with her teammates. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images) The United States has the largest delegation (232 athletes) at the Milan Cortina Games. Question: Which country has the second-largest delegation (211 athletes)? Hint: Host nation Italy is third (195) and Germany is fourth (189), so you can rule them both out. Answer at the bottom. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH Athletes compete in the Mixed Relay at Anterselva Biathlon Arena. (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images) Biathlon (cross-country skiing + rifle shooting) is one of those sports that sounds fake until you watch it for five minutes and go, "Oh wow, this rules." Trivia answer: Canada Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 12 Author Members Posted February 12 📺 Charted: 2nd-biggest Super Bowl Data: Nielsen. Chart: Axios Visuals NBC's Super Bowl LX broadcast drew 124.9 million viewers — a 2.2% drop from last year's matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, Axios' Kerry Flynn and Sara Fischer write from new Nielsen data. 🧮 By the numbers: The game was the second-most-watched Super Bowl and TV event in U.S. history, behind last year's game. It is also the most-watched show in NBCUniversal's 100-year history. NBCU said the halftime performance averaged 128.2 million viewers in the U.S. from 8:15–8:30 p.m. ET. That's down from 133.5 million for Kendrick Lamar's performance last year. Explore the data ... Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 12 Author Members Posted February 12 👋 Good morning! Happy Hump Day. In today's edition: Day 4 recap, Tigers sign Verlander, 10 college hoops contenders, NFL power rankings, the Hornets might be for real, Fantasy Baseball is back, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🇺🇸 Team USA's historic day: For the first time ever at the Winter Olympics, Team USA won five medals in five different sports on the same day, capturing three silvers (curling, freeskiing, cross-country skiing) and two bronzes (luge, alpine skiing). 🏈 SB ratings down slightly: This year's Super Bowl averaged 124.9 million viewers, which was down from last year's record number (127.7 million). But it did set a new high for peak viewership, with 137.8 million tuning in during the second quarter. ⚾️ Verlander comes home: Justin Verlander is returning to the Tigers on a one-year, $13 million deal, coming back for his 21st season to the team that drafted him all the way back in 2004. 🏀 All-Star replacements: Raptors forward Brandon Ingram (for Stephen Curry) and Rockets center Alperen Şengün (for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) have been named as injury replacements for this weekend's All-Star Game in Los Angeles. ⛳️ Woods to FSU: Rising high school senior Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, has committed to play golf at Florida State. The 17-year-old from The Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Florida, is the ninth-ranked golfer in the Class of 2027. 🇺🇸 TEAM USA SNAPSHOTS: YESTERDAY IN MILAN (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images) Tesero — Ben Ogden captured a historic silver in Tuesday's sprint classic, becoming the first American man in 50 years to win an Olympic medal in cross country skiing. Bill Koch, a 1976 silver medalist, was the only other one to do so. And in a bit of kismet, Ogden grew up in the Bill Koch Youth Ski League and has skied with Koch, a fellow Vermonter. As for the winner? That would be Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who's won two golds at these Games and seven in his career, just one shy of the record. With four events left, the 29-year-old is almost certain to leave Milan as the winningest Winter Olympian ever. (Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images) Cortina d'Ampezzo — Mikaela Shiffrin's Olympic struggles continued at the team combined, where she and Breezy Johnson finished one spot off the podium after an uncharacteristically poor slalom in which she placed 15th (of the 18 finishers). Americans Jackie Wiles and Paula Moltzan took bronze behind duos from Austria and Germany. Olympic yips? It's hard to comprehend what we're witnessing with Shiffrin, who remains an all-time great in her prime but just can't seem to perform at the Olympics. She went 0-for-6 in Beijing and is now 0-for-1 in Milan, despite dominating the World Cup circuit in between. Shiffrin has two events left in Milan (slalom, giant slalom) to end her Olympic drought. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Milan — The U.S. wasn't supposed to dominate Canada the way they did their other opponents, but they put the hammer down anyway in a 5-0 rout to clinch the No. 1 seed in the knockouts. Next up? Italy in the quarterfinals. O no, Canada: The five-time gold medalists (in just seven tournaments) entered this game with a 37-3 record in the Olympics and had never been shutout. The Americans are just on another level at the moment… and have now won seven straight games against their rivals to the north. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images) Cortina d'Ampezzo — Ashley Farquharson rallied to claim bronze in singles luge, joining Erin Hamlin in 2014 as the only American women to medal in a sport that continues to be dominated by one country: Germany. Second to none: No country has won a higher percentage of the Winter Olympics medals in any one sport than Germany has in luge, with 89 of 163 all-time (55%). They're even more dominant in women's singles, having won 36 of 51 medals (71%) and 13 of 17 golds, including this year's. More highlights: Defending slopestyle gold medalist Alex Hall was dethroned but still took silver; curling duo Korey Dropkin and Cory Thiesse lost a heartbreaker to Sweden to take silver; Ilia Malinin landed another backflip in the short program and will enter Friday's free skate final in first place. We'll be spotlighting America's best athletes throughout the Games. Follow Team USA's progress on their homepage, and for in-depth Olympics coverage, go to ours. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 5 (Yahoo Sports) 28 of 116 events completed. 🏀 STAT DU JOUR BIG NUMBER: 10 TEAMS Michigan is the only team with a top five offense and defense. (Jaime Crawford/Getty Images) Since 2002, all but one* NCAA men's basketball champion ranked among the top 25 teams nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency, per KenPom. This year's list: With just under five weeks until Selection Sunday, only 10 teams currently fit that criteria: No. 1 Arizona No. 2 Michigan No. 3 Houston No. 4 Duke No. 5 Iowa State No. 12 Gonzaga No. 13 Purdue No. 14 Florida No. 19 Vanderbilt Unranked Iowa Notably absent: Miami (Ohio), the nation's only remaining undefeated team, is nowhere near joining that group, with the 63rd-ranked offense and 146th-ranked defense. *Odd man out: 2014 UConn was the only team to buck the trend. They finished the season with the 10th-best defense but just the 39th-best offense. 🏈 1-32 NFL POWER RANKINGS: OFFSEASON (Taylar Sievert/Yahoo Sports) The Super Bowl champion Seahawks sit atop our way-too-early 2026 power rankings as the offseason gets underway. Looking ahead: Is Seattle on the brink of a dynasty? They have a strong roster with a fantastic coach, not many pending free agents, and the fifth-most projected cap space in the league. But they also just lost their offensive coordinator, and it's never easy to climb back up the mountain. 📚 GO DEEPER GOOD READS LaMelo Ball and Kon Knueppel high five after a recent Hornets victory. (Kent Smith/NBAE via Getty Images) 🏀 Kelly Iko: Why the surging Hornets could be here to stay The Hornets, who were a bleak 11-22 at the beginning of 2026, have turned the page rather quickly, winning 14 of 21 games since then. But it's what they've been able to accomplish in the past couple weeks that is truly remarkable. Since Jan. 22, Charlotte is second in the league in point differential, scoring 121 points per 100 possessions, and is allowing just 108.8 points per 100 possessions — giving them the league's No. 2 unit at both ends of the floor. Banks, 19, celebrates after scoring a goal for FC Augsburg. (Harry Langer/picture alliance via Getty Images) Steven Goff: Meet Noahkai Banks, the teenage Bundesliga starter making his case for Mauricio Pochettino's World Cup roster With the World Cup just four months away, much of coach Mauricio Pochettino's U.S. roster has fallen into place. There is, however, an intriguing candidate without any senior international matches on his portfolio — a Hawaiian-born, German American teenager standing 6-foot-4 and starting at center back in the Bundesliga. Chuck Wepner is draped on the ropes after Andre the Giant picked him up and tossed him in their forgotten match at Shea Stadium. (Bettmann Archive via Getty Images) 🥊 Sean Wheelock: The night Andre the Giant fought the real-life Rocky Balboa: Was it real or was it all show? An investigation In a new Uncrowned series, combat sports television commentator, historian, officials trainer and regulator Sean Wheelock takes an in-depth and analytical look at infamous matches from MMA, boxing, pro wrestling, bare-knuckle, and the long and confused history of mixed-match fighting to determine whether controversial bouts were Shoots (legitimate competition) or Works (predetermined results). 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11 (Henk Jan Dijks/Marcel ter Bals/DeFodi Images via Getty Images) ⛸️ Speed Skating, Men's 1000m American phenom Jordan Stolz, the world record holder in the 1000m, headlines the field for today's speed skating final (12:30pm ET, NBC) as the 21-year-old Wisconsin native begins his quest for Olympic history. 4-for-4? This is the first of four events Stolz will compete in, and he's favored in all of them. If he leaves Milan with four golds, he'd be second only to fellow American speed skater Eric Heiden, who won a record five golds at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. 🏒 Men's Hockey The first Olympic hockey tournament since 2014 to feature NHL players gets underway today, with Slovakia vs. Finland in the opener (10:40am, USA) and Italy vs. Sweden later in the day (3:10pm, Peacock). NHL representation: 147 NHL players are in Milan, including at least one from all 32 teams. The U.S., Canada and Sweden all have full 25-man rosters of NHL players and Finland is right behind them with 24. The rest: Czechia (11), Switzerland (10), Germany (7), Slovakia (7), Latvia (6), Denmark (6), France (1) and Italy (0). ⛸️ Figure Skating, Free Dance The ice dance champions will be crowned today in Milan (1:15pm, USA), where three-time defending world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates go for their second gold of these Games after helping the U.S. win the team event on Sunday. Where it stands: Chock and Bates finished Monday's rhythm dance segment in second place, just 0.46 points behind France's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. They'll need to make up that gap in today's longer free dance routine. 🎯 Biathlon, Women's 15km Individual Did you know: Biathlon is the only Winter Olympics sport in which the U.S. has never won a medal? Four American women will try to change that today (8:15am, Peacock), led by Michigan Tech grad Deedra Irwin, who finished seventh in Beijing. How it works: Racers take five laps around a 3km cross-country skiing track, stopping four times to shoot targets with a rifle. The shooting sections, which alternate between standing and prone, each include five targets. Every missed target incurs a one-minute penalty. 🥇 Medal events ⛷️ Nordic Combined: Men's Normal Hill (7:45am, Peacock) 🎿 Freeskiing: Women's Moguls Final (8:15am, USA) 🛷 Luge: Men's and Women's Doubles (11am, USA) Kiki Rice drives to the basket during Sunday's win over Michigan. (Jaime Crawford/Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NCAAW: No. 2 UCLA at No. 13 Michigan State (8pm, Peacock) … The Bruins' 17-game winning streak is the third-longest in the nation behind UConn (41) and NDSU (20). 🏀 NBA: Knicks at 76ers (7:30pm, ESPN); Spurs at Warriors (10pm, ESPN) … Elite scorers Tyrese Maxey (28.8 ppg) and Jalen Brunson (27.4 ppg) go head-to-head in Philly. ⚽️ EPL: Manchester City vs. Fulham (2:30pm, Peacock) … City (15-5-5) are six points behind league-leading Arsenal (17-5-3) with one-third of the season left to play. 🏀 Unrivaled: 1-on-1 Tournament (7pm, truTV) … Kelsey Mitchell, Paige Bueckers, Allisha Gray and Breanna Stewart are the top seeds in the 32-player mid-season event. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. ⚾ MOTOR CITY MLB TRIVIA Verlander in 2014. (Rob Carr/Getty Images) Justin Verlander is returning to the Tigers, where he was famously part of a 2014 pitching staff that had five past or future Cy Young winners. Question: Who were the other four? Hint: Their first initials are M, D, R, R. Answer at the bottom. ⚾️ GET IN THE GAME YAHOO FANTASY: PLAY BALL (Yahoo Sports) Yahoo Fantasy Baseball is back, and playing is easier and more fun than ever. Get your crew together and launch a league today. New features: Upgraded Commissioner Tools: Everything you need to manage your draft and your league is now all in the app, all in one place. Easier Roster Management: With the new pitcher calendar, you can view which games your pitchers are starting weekly to make smarter lineup decisions. Social-First Community: With Fantasy Feed, you can join the conversation, follow live plays and connect with millions of fans. Trivia answer: Max Scherzer, David Price, Rick Porcello, Robbie Ray Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 13 Author Members Posted February 13 👋 Good morning! Welcome to Day 6 of the Winter Games. We're roughly one-third of the way to the finish line. This just in: A Ukrainian skeleton pilot has been banned from competing at the Olympics for insisting upon wearing a helmet featuring images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his home country. In today's edition: USA hockey spotlight, hamate bone woes, Why We Love Sports, Layers of the Games, the season of the Red Hawks, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Olympic highlights: Team USA won five more medals on Wednesday, including golds for 21-year-old Jordan Stolz in 1000m speed skating and 20-year-old Elizabeth Lemley in moguls. The others were all silver, for married figure skaters Madison Chock and Evan Bates (ice dance), alpine skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle (super G), and freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf (moguls). 🏀 Hall of Fame finalists: First-time nominees Blake Griffin, Candace Parker, Mike D'Antoni and Kelvin Sampson headline the candidates for The Naismith Hall of Fame's Class of 2026. Doc Rivers and Amar'e Stoudemire are among the bigger names getting a second look for induction. ⚾️ Hamate bone woes: Diamondbacks RF Corbin Carroll, Mets SS Francisco Lindor and Orioles 2B Jackson Holliday have all broken their hamate bone and will need surgery. The hand injury is common among baseball players because the knob of their bats rest up against the bony protrusion. 🏈 Bowl game consolidation: The Detroit-based GameAbove Sports Bowl has been canceled, joining the Bahamas Bowl and LA Bowl as the third bowl game to be axed in the last 12 months as college football's postseason skews increasingly away from tradition and towards the playoff. 🏀 Clark headlines Team USA: Two years after being a controversial snub from the U.S. Olympic team, Caitlin Clark will finally make her senior national team debut after being named to the World Cup qualifying roster alongside Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and other WNBA stars. 🇺🇸 TEAM USA SPOTLIGHT: MEN'S HOCKEY TEAM (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports) The first best-on-best Olympic hockey tournament since 2014 is officially underway, and Team USA takes the ice today with a squad full of NHL stars looking to deliver the Americans' first gold medal since 1980's "Miracle on Ice." Meet the team: The 25-man roster comprises eight defenders, nine wingers, five centers and three goalies, with 18 NHL teams and 12 states represented. There are also two sets of siblings (Hughes and Tkachuk), which is pretty awesome. Well done, parents. Defenders: Brock Faber, Wild (hometown: Maple Grove, MN); Quinn Hughes, Wild (Canton, MI); Jackson LaCombe, Ducks (Eden Prairie, MN); Charlie McAvoy, Bruins (Long Beach, NY); Jaccob Slavin, Hurricanes (Erie, CO); Zach Werenski, Blue Jackets (Grosse Pointe Woods, MI); Noah Hanifin, Golden Knights (Norwood, MA); Jake Sanderson, Senators (Whitefish, MT) Wingers: Brady Tkachuk, Senators (St. Louis); Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers (St. Louis); Matt Boldy, Wild (Millis, MA); Dylan Larkin, Red Wings (Waterford, MI); Clayton Keller, Mammoth (St. Louis); Jake Guentzel, Lightning (Woodbury, MN); Tage Thompson, Sabres (Orange, CT); J.T. Miller, Rangers (East Palestine, OH); Kyle Connor, Jets (Shelby Township, MI) Centers: Jack Eichel, Golden Knights (North Chelmsford, MA); Auston Matthews, Maple Leafs (Scottsdale, AZ); Jack Hughes, Devils (Canton, MI); Vincent Trocheck, Rangers (Pittsburgh); Brock Nelson, Avalanche (Warroad, MN) Goalies: Connor Hellebuyck, Jets (Commerce, MI); Jake Oettinger, Stars (Lakeville, MN); Jeremy Swayman, Bruins (Anchorage, AK) Collision course? 21 of those 25 players also represented the U.S. at last year's 4 Nations Face-Off, where the Americans made the title game before falling to Canada in overtime. They'll bring that chemistry with them to Milan, where the odds suggest we could be headed for a title game rematch: Canada (+100 to win at BetMGM) and the U.S. (+190) are heavily favored over the field. Tournament format: 12 teams have been split into three groups. They'll each play a round-robin, with the three group winners and the fourth-best team advancing directly to the quarterfinals. The remaining eight teams then face each other for one more qualifier to complete the final eight. The field: Group A (Canada, Czechia, Switzerland, France); Group B (Slovakia, Italy, Sweden, Finland); Group C (USA, Germany, Latvia, Denmark) Team USA's schedule: The Americans play Latvia today (3:10pm ET, USA), Denmark on Saturday and Germany on Sunday. The quarterfinals are next Wednesday, the semifinals next Friday and the gold-medal match is on Feb. 22, the final day of the Games. We'll be spotlighting America's best athletes throughout the Games. Follow Team USA's progress on their homepage, and for in-depth Olympics coverage, go to ours. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 6 (Yahoo Sports) 37 of 116 events completed. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, FEB. 12 Kim during Wednesday's qualifier. (Oliver Weiken/Picture Alliance via Getty Images) 🏂 Snowboard Halfpipe, Women's Final Eight years ago, Chloe Kim burst on the scene as a teenage phenom; today at Livigno Snow Park (1:30pm ET, NBC), she'll try to become the first snowboarder in Olympic history to win three straight gold medals. And judging by Wednesday's qualifier, which she dominated despite having torn her labrum last month, the other 11 finalists will have their hands full trying to dethrone her. What she's saying: "I knew I could do it," said Kim, referencing her shoulder injury. "I've been doing this for 22 years. Muscle memory is a thing. I might be better at snowboarding than I am at walking." Friendly reminder, re: "doing this for 22 years" — she's only 25! 🏒 Men's Hockey Team USA's group stage opener against Latvia (3:10pm, USA) is one of four games today. The others: Switzerland vs. France (6:10am, Peacock), Czechia vs. Canada (10:40am, USA) and Germany vs. Denmark (3:10pm, Peacock). The favorites: Canada won three of the first five Olympic tournaments featuring NHL players (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), including each of the last two. Today we'll get our first look at their squad led by former Hart Trophy winners Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, as well as teen phenom Macklin Celebrini. 🏂 Snowboard Cross, Men's Final Nick Baumgartner, 44, is already the oldest snowboarding medalist in Olympics history after winning mixed team cross in Beijing. Now, back for his fifth Winter Games, he's out to prove age is just a number when he straps on his board for today's final (7:45am, Peacock). How it works: Unlike most snowboarding events, cross is a race in which competitors speed through a course filled with curves and jumps. The 32-man final is elimination style, with the top two finishers in each four-man race advancing until just four remain for the championship run. ⛸️ Short Track Speed Skating, Women's 500m Final Connecticut native Kristen Santos-Griswold is back for another shot at gold four years after the podium was stolen from her in Beijing. She's already advanced to the quarterfinals (2:15pm, USA), with the title race coming a little over an hour later. Flashback: Four years ago in her Olympics debut, Santos-Griswold was in position to win a medal with less than a lap to go in the 1000m final. But when Italy's Arianna Fontana attempted an aggressive pass, the two skaters became entangled and spun out on the ice, and she ended up finishing fourth. "The hardest part about this sport," she said recently, "is that kind of concept of, you can be the best, you can be the fastest, and things just don't work out for you." 🥇 Medal events 🎿 Freestyle Skiing: Men's Moguls, Final (6:15am, Peacock) 🎿 Cross-Country Skiing: Women's 10km Freestyle (7am, Peacock) ⛸️ Speed Skating: Women's 5000m (10:30am, Peacock) 🛷 Luge: Team Relay Final (12:30pm, Peacock) ⛸️ Short Track Speed Skating: Men's 1000m Final (2:15pm, USA) Pebble Beach, you're gorgeous. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) More to watch: ⛳️ PGA: Pebble Beach Pro-Am (11:45am, ESPN+; 3pm, Golf) … Defending champion Rory McIlroy makes his season debut against the likes of Scottie Scheffler and red-hot Chris Gotterup in the first signature event of the year. 🏀 NBA: Bucks at Thunder (7:30pm, Prime); Mavericks at Lakers (10pm, Prime) … Final day of games before the All-Star break. 🏀 NCAAW: No. 17 TCU at No. 12 Baylor (7pm, ESPN); No. 4 Texas at No. 5 Vanderbilt (7:30pm, SEC+) … Commodores guard Mikayla Blakes leads the nation in scoring (25.9 ppg). 🏁 NASCAR: Duels at Daytona (7pm, FS1) … Two 60-lap, 150-mile qualifying races will set the grid positions for this weekend's Daytona 500. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. ❤️ BIG BLUE WHY WE LOVE SPORTS Josh and Michael Strahan at Giants training camp in 1994. (Josh Hyman) Josh Hyman (Forest Hills, New York): In the 1990s, my formative teenage years, I grew up a New York Giants fan, which is to say the next decade was about to be rough. I first became a fan during the legendary years of #89 Mark Bavaro catching passes all over the field and running defenders over, or carrying them on his back to the end zone. Free agency was a newer thing in the early 90s, so when Bavaro left to go play with the Browns and then eventually the Eagles, I was confused and heartbroken. How could he? The Eagles? (Did Saquon call him for advice?) By 1993, I understood how it all worked and was still a huge Giants fan. Then my father took me to a game that season where the Giants beat the Eagles soundly, 21-10. Bavaro played in that game but it seemed that nobody in the building remembered him. Not even boos. Just a ghost of Super Bowls past. After the game, I spotted Bavaro in the parking lot. Nobody was swarming him. Nobody even recognized him. It was so strange but here he was, strutting right toward me. Rambo in the flesh! Mark Bavaro runs the ball against the Redskins during a regular season game in 1986. (Focus on Sport/Getty Images) Short, stout, baby-faced, 16-year-old me ran over and asked him for an autograph to which he looked me up and down wearing Giants blue, smiled and obliged. This was before the days of cell phones and selfies, just game programs and Bic Pens. I gave him my game program and he turned to a page in the book that had a picture of him wearing Eagles green and #86. But when he signed my book, he signed it "Mark Bavaro, #89" It was epic. It was like his heart never left the Meadowlands. He knew and I knew that he was always going to be a New York Football GIANT, no matter how the business of the NFL or free agency worked. Then he gave me a high-five and walked off to his car without anyone else saying a word to him. That day, Mark Bavaro got another moment to be a New York Giant as his legendary #89, and I got my favorite autograph story ever. ✍️ Submit your story: Do you have a fondest sports memory? Or an example of sports having a profound impact on your life? If you'd like to share, email me at kendall.baker@yahooinc.com. We’ll keep sharing your stories until they run out! 📸 THROUGH THE LENS LAYERS OF THE GAMES (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Through the combination of multiple images from a fixed camera, Getty Images' "Layers of the Games" series shows the quickfire drama that unfolds in a single game or a day of competition during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Above: Women's Freestyle Slopestyle (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Above: Women's Parallel Giant Slalom (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Above: Men's Freestyle Slopestyle (Pauline Ballet/Getty Images) Above: Ice Dance, Rhythm Dance 🏆 EMERALD CITY SEATTLE TRIVIA (Steph Chambers/Getty Images) The Seahawks held their Super Bowl parade on Wednesday to celebrate the city's fourth "Big Four" championship (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), with the first coming all the way back in 1917 when they won the Stanley Cup. Question: What was the name of that 1917 championship team? (A) Seattle Pilots (B) Seattle Rainiers (C) Seattle Metropolitans (D) Seattle Rangers Answer at the bottom. 🏀 COLLEGE HOOPS THE SEASON OF THE RED HAWKS Montclair State is the No. 1 team in Division III. (Elian Saldivar/The Montclarion) The only undefeated team in Division I men's basketball? The Miami (Ohio) RedHawks, who are 24-0 and ranked No. 23. The only undefeated team in D-III men's basketball? The Montclair State (NJ) Red Hawks, who are 23-0 and ranked No. 1 for the first time ever. Trivia answer: (C) Seattle Metropolitans Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 15 Author Members Posted February 15 🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. Programming note: We'll be off Monday for Presidents' Day. See you back here Tuesday. In today's edition: The NCAA's eligibility crisis, Olympics Day 7, NBA All-Star Weekend, Daytona 500, Pistons on top, Photo Finish, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Olympics highlights: Chloe Kim settled for silver in the halfpipe behind South Korean teenager Gaon Choi; the U.S. men's hockey team crushed Latvia, 5-1, in their group stage opener; cross-country legend Jessie Diggins, nursing bruised ribs, took bronze in the 10km freestyle for her fourth career medal in her final Games. 🏀 Fined for tanking: The NBA fined the Jazz ($500,000) and Pacers ($100,000) for "overt" tanking behavior that "prioritizes draft position over winning," as both have held players out of (or removed players from) games without good reason. 📺 Olympics viewership way up: The first five days of the Winter Games averaged 26.5 million viewers across NBC's platforms, a 93% increase over a comparable point in the Beijing Olympics four years ago. ⚾️ Pitch-stealing crackdown: MLB owners have voted to enforce a rule that prevents first- and third-base coaches from leaving their boxes until after a pitch is thrown. The goal: curb the practice of those coaches seeing, and then relaying to hitters, what pitch is coming next. 🏀 LeBron makes history: LeBron James had 28 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the Lakers' win over the Mavericks, becoming the oldest player in NBA history to record a triple-double (41 years, 44 days). Karl Malone previously held the record at 40 years, 127 days. 🎓 BROKEN SYSTEM THE NCAA'S ELIGIBILITY CRISIS (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) Trinidad Chambliss' push for an extra year of eligibility has paid off. After being denied twice by the NCAA, the Ole Miss QB was granted an injunction in Mississippi state court on Thursday that allows him to play for the Rebels in 2026. From Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger: For years now, I've searched for a simple way to explain the current state of college athletics to those unfamiliar. How do you best help people understand the instability of a structure and system so profitable and popular? "Everything seems to be going well. What's all the hubbub about?" they'll say. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps the cries of chaos from stakeholders are only necessary growing pains for an entity evolving from amateur to professional. Perhaps that's OK. But on Thursday afternoon, for a few fleeting moments, a realtime snapshot existed that, more than anything, highlights the absurd state of the industry. Within a county courthouse, situated in the tiniest of towns in the most rural of areas in north Mississippi, a 23-year-old's collegiate eligibility — his Heisman Trophy hopes, his team's championship aspirations, his more than $5 million in promised compensation — hinged on a decision from a 70-plus-year-old chancery court judge who just so happens to hold a law degree from the school, Ole Miss, that stands to benefit most from his ruling. This is less than ideal. Set aside your feelings on the decision from Judge Robert Q. Whitwell to grant Trinidad Chambliss an extra year of eligibility. Remove the names and school logos. Put away your inherent bias and partiality. Look at the whole. Is it healthy for college sports to have the eligibility of athletes determined within courtrooms across America? In fact, as Whitwell, his Southern accent thick enough to peel paint, completed the 90-minute reading of his order and subsequent decision, the judge grew emotional, unable to keep within the joyous feelings of being the man who permitted Chambliss another year of collegiate eligibility, another chance to chase dreams, to earn millions. It was a scene ripped from the pages of a novel from famed Mississippi-reared author John Grisham. The NCAA's corporate headquarters in Indianapolis. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Zoom out: Since Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia successfully sued the NCAA in December of 2024, Chambliss is the 11th player to receive an injunction for extended eligibility in 55 lawsuits filed. Seven of those 11 successful injunctions have come in state court from a local judge — a new way that attorneys have found to reach a decision that most benefits their clients, moving away from filing federally. About a dozen cases are still pending, including one coming Friday, when Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar and attorneys plan to argue for an eighth year of eligibility before, yes, a Tennessee judge. In its statement in reaction to the Chambliss news, the NCAA says the decision illustrates the "impossible situation" created from differing court decisions in lawsuits supported by its member schools attacking the very rules that they created. These "conflicting court decisions," the statement read, make "partnering with Congress essential to provide stability" — another plea to lawmakers to adopt federal legislation to govern the industry. At the very least, all of this has provided something personally useful: I've found a simple way to explain the current state of college athletics to those unfamiliar. A courthouse. Congress. And an infinity of billable hours. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 7 (Yahoo Sports) 45 of 116 events completed. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST What does Ilia Malinin have in store for his finale skate of the 2026 Olympics? (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) 🥇 Olympics The second weekend of the Milan Cortina Games is upon us, with 29 medal events from now through Monday night of this long holiday weekend. Here's a brief look at some of Team USA's biggest storylines: Ilia goes for gold: Ilia Malinin still hasn't pulled off his patented quadruple axel, but he has landed three backflips and enters today's free skate (12:45pm ET, USA) in first place after a dominant performance in the short program. Shiffrin seeks redemption: Mikaela Shiffrin's pursuit of her first Olympic medal since 2018 continues with Sunday's giant slalom (4am, USA; 7:30am, NBC). Hockey continues: The U.S. women face Italy today in the quarterfinals (3:10pm, USA) ahead of Monday's semifinals, while the men play Denmark (Sat. 3:10pm, USA) and Germany (Sun. 3:10pm, USA) in the group stage. Plus: 17-year-old Alessandro Barbieri goes for gold in the snowboard halfpipe final (Fri. 1:30pm, NBC); speed skating phenom Jordan Stolz continues his pursuit of four golds in the 500m final (Sat. 11am, NBC); five-time Olympians Kaillie Humphries and Elana Meyers Taylor compete in the monobob (Sun-Mon, Peacock) four years after taking gold and silver in Beijing. Good read: Has the U.S. finally found the heir to Shaun White in Alessandro Barbieri? (Dan Wolken, Yahoo Sports) Shaun White didn't just build a business empire on the back of Olympic medals, he practically built the entire sport of halfpipe into a worldwide phenomenon. But when he retired from competitive snowboarding four years ago, there was one thing he hadn't built: a bench of American stars ready to take his place. We're about to find out if that's on the verge of changing. 🏀 NBA All-Star Weekend The 75th NBA All-Star Game is this weekend at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The action begins with tonight's Celebrity Game (7pm, ESPN) and Rising Stars (9pm, Peacock), continues with All-Star Saturday (5pm, NBC) and ends with Sunday's new-look main event (5pm, NBC). USA vs. World: All-Stars have been split into three teams: two made up of American players and one made up of international players. Those teams will play a three-game round-robin, with the top two advancing to the championship. Each game is 12 minutes. USA Stars: Scottie Barnes (TOR), Devin Booker (PHX), Cade Cunningham (DET), Jalen Duren (DET), Anthony Edwards (MIN), Chet Holmgren (OKC), Jalen Johnson (ATL), Tyrese Maxey (PHI) USA Stripes: LeBron James (LAL), Kevin Durant (HOU), Kawhi Leonard (LAC), Jaylen Brown (BOS), Jalen Brunson (NYK), Donovan Mitchell (CLE), Brandon Ingram* (TOR), De'Aaron Fox* (SAS) Team World: Nikola Jokić (DEN), Luka Dončić (LAL), Victor Wembanyama (SAS), Karl-Anthony Towns (NYK), Jamal Murray (DEN), Pascal Siakam (IND), Alperen Şengün* (HOU), Deni Avdija (POR), Norman Powell (MIA) *Injury replacements: Ingram replaced Steph Curry (knee); Fox replaced Giannis Antetokounmpo (calf); Şengün replaced Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal) Good read: Breaking down the weekend's big questions (Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports) Will basketball fans come away from the festivities waxing poetic about the avalanche of talent from all over the world currently on display in the NBA game? Or, will a weekend that seemingly remains tilted toward content creation, influencers and marketing partnerships leave fans wondering whether something that's seemed broken for years might not actually be able to reset and heal? 🏁 Daytona 500 The NASCAR season begins on Sunday in central Florida (2:30pm, Fox), where 41 drivers will compete for a record $31 million purse at Daytona International Speedway. Busch seeks first win: Kyle Busch's quest for his maiden Daytona 500 victory (0-for-20) will start from the pole position after he earned the top spot. Byron chases history: William Byron, one of five drivers to win back-to-back Daytona 500s, will try to become the first to make it three straight. Weather forecast: The last two editions of the Daytona 500 were delayed by rain. The same thing could happen again this year with rain (and possible thunderstorms) expected on Sunday. Good read: There's never been another Dale Earnhardt, and there never will be (Jay Busbee, Yahoo Sports) 25 years after his sudden, shocking death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt remains as vital to NASCAR as ever. No other driver has ever come close to matching The Intimidator's impact. And given the way that NASCAR, and American culture, have trended in the years since his death, it's likely no one ever will. More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: No. 20 Clemson at No. 4 Duke (Sat. 12pm, ESPN); No. 9 Kansas at No. 5 Iowa State (Sat. 1pm, ABC); No. 25 Kentucky at No. 14 Florida (Sat. 3pm, ABC); No. 16 Texas Tech at No. 1 Arizona (Sat. 6:30pm, ESPN) 🏀 NCAAW: No. 3 South Carolina at No. 6 LSU (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC); No. 21 UNC at No. 11 Duke (Sun. 1pm, ABC); No. 13 Michigan State at No. 7 Michigan (Sun. 4pm, FS1) … Three of eight ranked matchups. ⛳️ PGA: Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS) … Ryo Hisatsune (-10) leads after Round 1, with Sam Burns (-9) and Keegan Bradley (-9) just behind. ⚾️ NCAA Baseball: Opening Weekend (Fri-Sun, ESPN+) … No. 2 LSU, the reigning national champs, lead a stacked SEC that features 11 teams in the top 25. 🏉 Six Nations: Week 2 of 5 (Sat-Sun, Peacock) … The annual rugby tournament featuring England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy and France. 🥍 NCAA Lacrosse: No. 1 Maryland at No. 2 Syracuse (Fri. 6pm, ACC) … The Terrapins (1-0) have won eight straight against the Orange (2-0). Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) 🏀 40-13 The Eastern Conference-leading Pistons enter the NBA All-Star break with the best record in the league (40-13, .755), just ahead of the Western-Conference leading Thunder (42-13, .750). As a reminder: Two years ago, the Pistons were 8-46 entering the All-Star break and finished 14-68, which was not only the worst record in the NBA that season but one of the worst in league history. Quite the turnaround in Detroit. 🥌 54 years old 54-year-old curler Rich Ruohonen finally got his Olympic shot on Thursday when he became the oldest American ever to compete in the Winter Games — and one of just three to do so over the age of 50. The others: At age 52, Joseph Savage was part of the duo that finished seventh in the pairs figure skating competition at the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics. 16 years later, Mac MacCarthy, then 51, competed in skeleton at the 1948 Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Darryn Peterson (L) and AJ Dybantsa chase down a loose ball. (Ed Zurga/Getty Images) 🏀 7 freshmen Seven freshmen are among the 20 players named to the men's Wooden Award late midseason watchlist. Cameron Boozer (Duke) is the perceived favorite, and he's joined by AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Caleb Wilson (UNC), Kingston Flemings (Houston), Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas) and Keaton Wagler (Illinois). The rest of the list: four sophomores, three juniors, four seniors and two grad students. Meanwhile, for the women: Aaliyah Chavez (Oklahoma) is the lone freshman in the Top 20, which features five sophomores, six juniors, five seniors and three grad students. 🏈 9th year Montana linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu will return for the 2026 season after being granted a ninth year of eligibility (!!!) by the NCAA. The California native, who turns 26 next month, is entering his second season at Montana after seven years at USC, where he suffered multiple season-ending injuries. Consider this: Tuliaupupu was in the same recruiting class as Micah Parsons, who just completed his fifth NFL season. 🏁 DAYTONA 500 NASCAR TRIVIA (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) The NASCAR season opens this weekend with the 68th running of the Daytona 500. Question: The Daytona 500 is also known as ______. (A) "The Stock Car World Series" (B) "The Great American Race" (C) "The Pinnacle of Motorsports" (D) "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" Answer at the bottom. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH Norwegian ski jumper Einar Luraas Oftebro flies through the air. (Alex Pantling/Getty Images) Soaring into the weekend like… Trivia answer: (B) "The Great American Race" Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 17 Author Members Posted February 17 👋 Good morning! Welcome back. In today's edition: Figure skating trio, CP3 retires, Anthony Kim's comeback story, NBA All-Star Game, MLB offseason grades, 32 years ago today, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Olympics headlines: Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (cross-country) won his record ninth Winter Olympics gold medal; Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (giant slalom) became the first South American to win a Winter Olympics medal; Ilia Malinin missed the podium after a stunning collapse in the free skate; Canada's men's and women's curling teams were accused of cheating. 💔 Tragedy in Rhode Island: Three people, including the suspect, were killed in a shooting on Monday at a high school hockey game in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Three others are in critical condition. 🏀 CP3 abruptly retires: Chris Paul announced his retirement on Friday, officially ending his 21-season career as one of the NBA's greatest point guards. He always intended for this to be his final season — and decided to cut it short after the Clippers traded him at the deadline. 📺 NBA ASG viewership: The NBA's new All-Star Game format averaged 8.8 million viewers on Sunday. That's an 87% jump from last year and makes it the most-watched All-Star Game since 2011. 🏀 Wolverines are No. 1: Michigan moved up to No. 1 in this week's men's AP poll ahead of games against No. 7 Purdue (tonight) and No. 3 Duke (Saturday). Houston came in at No. 2 before promptly losing to No. 6 Iowa State on Monday night. ⛸️ FIGURE SKATING MEET AMERICA'S 'BLADE ANGELS' L-R: Liu, Glenn and Levito. (Yahoo Sports) When Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito — a trio known as the Blade Angels — take the ice today for the short program, they'll begin their quest to do something no American woman has done since 2006: win an individual figure skating medal. What they're saying: "I don't think I have seen a team this good in decades," said Tara Lipinski, the 1998 gold medalist-turned-NBC commentator. "There's a part of me that could see a possible U.S. sweep happening." Let's meet the Blade Angels… Alysa Liu The young Bay Area native is already competing in her second Olympics, though her path back to the Games was hardly linear. She stepped away from skating for two full years between Beijing and Milan Cortina. Age: 20 Hometown: Richmond, CA World Ranking: No. 5 Rise, burnout and return: Liu became the youngest U.S. champion ever (13) in 2019, won again in 2020, came in seventh at the 2022 Olympics and took bronze at the 2022 worlds. But two weeks later, at 16, she retired so she could "move on with her life." Two years after that, Liu rediscovered her love of skating, and now she's the reigning world champion. Amber Glenn The group's elder stateswoman has come a long way — and been through a lot — since learning how to skate at a suburban Dallas mall over 20 years ago. Age: 26 Hometown: Plano, TX World ranking: No. 3 Long journey to Milan: Glenn suffered a mental-health crisis in 2015, necessitating an eight-month break from skating. Then she began opening up, came out as pansexual in 2019 and her career flourished… only for a positive COVID test in early 2022 to derail her chances for the Beijing Olympics. Now, she's the three-time reigning U.S. champion. Isabeau Levito While Liu and Glenn helped Team USA win gold in the team event, Levito will be competing for the first time today. "I call her that skater in the snow globe," said Lipinski. "She is that quintessential ballerina that was put on ice." Age: 18 Hometown: Mount Holly, NJ World ranking: No. 4 Homecoming: Levito's mother is from Milan, where much of her extended family remains. In a nod to her heritage, she'll be skating to music by Italian actress Sophia Loren in today's short program, and to music from the Oscar-winning film "Cinema Paradiso" in Thursday's free skate. Sasha Cohen poses with her silver medal at Turin 2006. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images) 20 years later… The five Olympics between 1992 and 2006 represented a golden age for American figure skaters, who won eight of the 15 medals in this event thanks to icons like Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan and Lipinski. Two decades later, back in the same country where Sasha Cohen became the most recent American woman to medal, the Blade Angels will try to end that drought. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 11 (Yahoo Sports) 🇺🇸 SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA Team Stars, led by All-Star MVP Anthony Edwards, celebrate their win. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) Inglewood, California — Sunday's new-look NBA All-Star Game did what no other format in recent memory was able to do: It got players to actually try. "I like this format," said All-Star MVP Anthony Edwards. "I think it was really good." Saturday recap: Heat forward Keshad Johnson won the Dunk Contest and Damian Lillard, still recovering from a torn Achilles, won the 3-Point Contest to join Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only three-time winners. MJ and Reddick celebrate their victory. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) Daytona Beach, Florida — Tyler Reddick won Sunday's Daytona 500 thanks to a late pass in the crash-filled final lap — the only lap he led all day. It was the first victory at the Great American Race for Michael Jordan's 23XI Racing, and an early birthday present for MJ, who turns 63 today. What he's saying: "I'm ecstatic, I don't even know what to say," said Jordan. "It feels like I won a championship, but until I get a ring I won't even know." Morikawa wipes away tears after sinking his winning putt. (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) Pebble Beach, California — Collin Morikawa (-22) birdied the final hole on Sunday to win the Pebble Beach Pro-Am by a stroke and earn his first PGA Tour victory since 2023. He used his post-win interview to announce that he and his wife are expecting their first child later this year. Scottie stays hot: Scottie Scheffler (-20) shot a final-round 63 to earn his eighth consecutive top-four finish, tied with Tiger Woods for the longest such streak in golf's modern era (since 1986). Have a day, Tyce. (Baylor Athletics) Waco, Texas — Baylor first baseman Tyce Armstrong did the unthinkable on Friday, hitting three grand slams in the Bears' season-opening win. He's the second D-I player to accomplish that feat, joining Louisville's Jim LaFountain (1976). Speaking of offensive outbursts: Virginia scored 56 runs (!!) in Saturday's doubleheader sweep over Wagner, winning 25-10 and 31-8. Add in their 13-7 win on Friday and it was a 69-run opening weekend for the Cavaliers. ⛳️ COMEBACK STORY ANTHONY KIM: BACK ON TOP That right there is a cathartic fist pump. (Michael Errey/AFP via Getty Images) 14 years after disappearing from the sport of golf, former prodigy Anthony Kim claimed victory at LIV Adelaide, delivering a comeback story we can all get behind. From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee: Put aside, just for a moment, the LIV-PGA Tour's subtext of perpetual scuffling. Try not to think about the posturing and skepticism that accompanies virtually every LIV story. Focus, just for a second, on the simple facts: Anthony Kim won a golf tournament. Against Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. In 2026. Kim, one of sports' true prodigal sons, claimed LIV's Adelaide event in Australia on Sunday, riding a final-round, nine-birdie 63, turning a five-shot deficit into a three-shot victory. If nothing else — if Kim's story goes no further than this right here — it's a pretty incredible comeback for a guy who briefly ruled the golf world, then literally disappeared for more than a decade. And it's an impressive story of facing down the demons of addiction and injury. For LIV, this is undoubtedly the most significant victory in the tour's history. This story will break wide in a way that, say, Rippers GC's latest team victory at Adelaide won't. The presence of Rahm and DeChambeau legitimizes the win, and LIV's challenge now is transforming this burst of fans' attention into longer-term connections. For Kim, the takeaway is much more simple. Yes, he'll rise up to around 200th in the world rankings, but that's not the real story here. Kim picked himself up from life's floor, got his life back together, and returned to the top of the leaderboard. Right now, that's more than enough. ⚾️ REPORT CARDS MLB OFFSEASON GRADES (Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports) When pitchers and catchers began reporting to Florida and Arizona last week, it marked the official start of spring training and the unofficial end of the MLB offseason. (Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports) Dive in: How'd your team do? 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, FEB. 17 Mac Forehand put up an epic run in qualifiers. (David Ramos/Getty Images) 🎿 Freestyle Skiing, Men's Big Air Final Vermont native Mac Forehand, who finished first in qualifying, seeks his first Olympic medal today (1:30pm ET, NBC) at Livigno Snow Park. How it works: All 12 finalists get three jumps to put up the best single trick they can, with their top two scores combining for their total. ⛸️ Speed Skating, Team Pursuit Finals Team USA has reached the semifinals in both men's and women's team pursuit (8:30am, USA), with the finals following immediately after. How it works: Two teams start on opposite sides of the 400m track, with teammates drafting off each other. The winner is either the team that crosses the finish line first (six laps for women, eight for men) or closes the half-lap gap and "catches" their opponent, which rarely happens. ⛸️ Figure Skating, Women's Short Program Women's singles kicks off today in Milan (12:30pm, USA), where Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito will take the ice for Team USA. The women's program concludes on Thursday with the free skate. 🥇 Medal events 🏂 Snowboard: Women's Slopestyle Final (7am, USA) ⛷️ Nordic Combined: Men's Large Hill (7:45am, Peacock) 🎯 Biathlon: Men's 4x7.5km Relay (8:30am, Peacock) 🛷 Bobsled: Two-Man Final Run (3pm, Peacock) Michigan's firing on all cylinders. (Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: No. 1 Michigan at No. 7 Purdue (6:30pm, Peacock) … The top-ranked Wolverines (24-1) have won 10 straight games. 🏀 NCAAW: No. 21 Tennessee at No. 17 Ole Miss (7pm, ESPNU) … The Rebels are ranked 15th in the selection committee's first Top 16 reveal. ⚽️ Champions League: Galatasaray vs. Juventus (12:45pm, Paramount+); Monaco vs. PSG (3pm, Paramount+); Benfica vs. Real Madrid (3pm, Paramount+); Dortmund vs. Atalanta (3pm, CBSSN) … First-leg playoff matches to qualify for the Round of 16. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🇺🇸 TEAM USA OLYMPICS TRIVIA (Julian Finney/Getty Images) U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor won gold in Monday's monobob final, giving her six career medals at the Winter Olympics. Question: Who is the only American with more Winter Olympics medals? Hint: He won a combined eight medals at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Games. Answer at the bottom. 📆 FLASHBACK 32 YEARS AGO TODAY... Robinson circa 1994. (Doug Collier/AFP via Getty Images) On Feb. 17, 1994, Spurs legend David Robinson recorded the NBA's fourth-ever quadruple-double.* There hasn't been another one since. Nate Thurmond in 1974: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocks Alvin Robertson in 1986: 20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 steals Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990: 18 points, 16 rebounds, 11 blocks, and 10 assists David Robinson in 1994: 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, and 10 blocks Who's next? There are several reasons for the NBA's quadruple-double drought — and one giant reason it may soon come to an end: Victor Wembanyama. *Of note: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain recorded multiple quadruple-doubles (and maybe even a quintuple-double) in their day, but since blocks and steals weren't official NBA statistics until 1972, they are considered unofficial. Trivia answer: Apolo Anton Ohno (speed skating) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 18 Author Members Posted February 18 👋 Good morning! Happy Hump Day. Here's a new one: UCLA head coach Mick Cronin ejected his own player after he committed a technical foul late in last night's blowout loss to Michigan State. In today's edition: Pro curling league coming soon, MLBPA director Tony Clark resigns, the age of realignment, Why We Love Sports, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Olympics headlines: The "Blade Angels" had mixed results in the short program; Mac Forehand won silver in an incredible freeski big air final; Lindsey Vonn returned home after multiple surgeries; the Americans took silver in team pursuit behind Italy, which hit Steph Curry's signature "night, night" celebration as they crossed the finish line. ⚾️ Clark resigns: MLBPA leader Tony Clark has resigned from his position after an internal investigation revealed an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who worked for the union beginning in 2023. This comes just months before the current CBA is set to expire. ⛳️ Tiger hints at potential return: Tiger Woods is still recovering from a torn Achilles, but he had a simple one word answer when asked if this April's Masters was off the table for him: "No." 🏀 WNBPA submits new proposal: The WNBA players union submitted a new counterproposal to the league amid CBA negotiations, reducing both the revenue share and salary cap figures from their last proposal. The league still called it "unrealistic." 🏈 Heisman odds: Notre Dame QB CJ Carr opens as the 2026 Heisman Trophy favorite (+700 at BetMGM), just ahead of Texas QB Arch Manning (+800). Oregon QB Dante Moore (+1100), Ohio State QB Julian Sayin (+1200) and Indiana QB Josh Hoover (+1200) round out the top five. 🥌 COMING SOON WANT MORE CURLING? A PRO LEAGUE IS SET TO LAUNCH Team USA's Korey Dropkin, who won a silver medal in Milan, is among those who will compete in The Rock League. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee: It happens every Winter Olympics, the curling renaissance. For two-plus weeks in February, Americans south of Canadian border states remember that curling exists. Riding a wave of patriotic fever and a strong belief that they too could be Olympic-level curlers, Americans fall in love with the sport … right up until the torch goes out. This year, curling aficionados are planning to keep the love going. Shortly after the Olympics wrap up in late February, the Rock League will launch. A collection of 60 of the world's greatest curlers, complete with team names, the Rock League hopes to harness the expected momentum from Milan Cortina. The new league might just revolutionize and professionalize curling as a sport. At the very least, it'll be a fun watch with a couple beers close at hand. Win-win either way, right? "The sport finally needs a platform to professionalize," says Nic Sulsky, CEO of The Curling Group, which owns The Rock League. "The players need an opportunity to make a little bit more money. There needs to be a proper business strategy." Meet the teams: There will be six teams of 10 curlers (five men, five women), including multiple former Olympians. Each team will have its own logo and will mix together players from a wide range of nationalities. Maple United Shield Curling Club Frontier Curling Club Northern United Alpine Curling Club Typhoon Curling Club Coming soon: The Rock League will begin in April with a one-week "preview season" in Toronto. Then, beginning next January, it will kick off its touring with a four-week season that includes stops in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New York and Ontario. The last word: "It's going to be a massive undertaking," says John Shuster, the gold medal-winning skip of Team USA's landmark 2018 squad who will play for Frontier Curling Club. "But every single player I've talked to is really excited to see where this is going to go." 🥇 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS: OLYMPICS EDITION Team USA celebrates after their semifinal victory. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images) 🏒 331 minutes, 23 seconds The U.S. women's hockey team has gone 331 minutes, 23 seconds and counting since last allowing a goal, shattering both the men's (245 minutes) and women's records (199 minutes, 35 seconds) for the longest shutout streak in Olympic hockey history. They haven't allowed a goal since the second period of their tournament-opening win over Czechia. Poised for gold: The Americans will be heavy favorites in tomorrow's gold-medal match against Canada. They already beat the Canadians, 5-0, during these Games and have won seven straight games against them, one shy of the rivalry's all-time record. 🇳🇴 93.1% How popular is cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo in his native Norway? Well, coverage of his record-breaking ninth gold medal on Sunday earned a 93.1 share, which means 93.1% of people watching TV in Norway at that time were watching him. For reference, the last few Super Bowls have had an ~80 share in the U.S. Chasing 15: Klæbo won yet another gold Wednesday morning, his record 10th, while his 12 total medals are tied for fifth all-time behind Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen (15), Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen (14), Dutch speed skater Ireen Wüst (13) and Italian speed skater Arianna Fontana (13). The 29-year-old still has one event remaining in Italy. L-R: Domen, Nika, Cene and Peter as children. (Courtesy: Prevc family) 🇸🇮 4 siblings Slovenian brother and sister Domen and Nika Prevc — who combined to win five ski jumping medals in Milan, including mixed team gold together — made history alongside older brothers Cene and Peter. The Prevcs are now the first family ever to produce four Winter Olympic medal-winning siblings. Medal haul: All in, the Prevc family has collected 10 Winter Olympic medals dating back to 2014. Nika (20) won gold, silver and bronze in Milan. Domen (26) won two golds in Milan. Cene (29) won silver in Beijing. Peter (33) won gold and silver in Beijing, plus silver and bronze in Sochi. 🥇 $37,500 That's how much money American athletes earn for each gold medal they win at the Milan Cortina Olympics, which ranks just 15th among the 25 countries who responded to USA Today's inquiry. Americans also get $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze. Most and least: Singapore, competing in its third Winter Games and still seeking its first medal, will award $788,907 for gold, the most of any country. Hong Kong ($767,747), Italy ($213,418), Poland ($211,268) and Slovenia ($162,672) round out the top five, while Sweden, Norway and Great Britain are the only respondents who don't pay athletes anything for winning medals. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 12 (Yahoo Sports) 83 of 116 events completed. 🏈 MUSICAL CHAIRS THE AGE OF REALIGNMENT (Found Image Holdings/Corbis via Getty Images) With Sacramento State moving from FCS to FBS and joining the MAC as a football-only member, the state of California will now have FBS schools in five different conferences. Three years ago, that number was two. ACC: Cal, Stanford Big Ten: UCLA, USC MAC: Sacramento State Mountain West: San José State Pac-12: Fresno State, San Diego State Consider this: This upcoming school year, California's FBS football programs will play conference opponents in 31 (!!!) different states, up from 10 three years ago. That includes seven teams in Ohio, five in Michigan, four in North Carolina, three in Texas, three in Indiana, three in Illinois, two in Massachusetts, two in Pennsylvania, two in Florida, one in Wyoming and one in North Dakota. Again, this is California we're talking about here! Absolute madness. ❤️ ROAD TRIP WHY WE LOVE SPORTS Yankee Stadium in 2003. (Jerry Driendl/Getty Images) Keith Caulfield (Point Blank, Texas): In 2003, with interleague play still a novelty, my beloved Astros (NL at the time) were set to make their first swing through the AL East. My teenage son Cody and I circled two stops immediately: Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park. We flew to Boston and planned on a short easy drive to New York. Being from Texas, the built-in arrogance of living in the biggest state in the Union made me think it was a hop, skip and a jump to get to NYC. (We don't believe all that hype about Alaska down here; it's an optical illusion.) The situation in New York was very illuminating to us foreigners. The day before, the Astros had no-hit the Yankees using six pitchers, and the city was buzzing with commentary. Since it had been the lowly Astros that no-hit the Yanks, the town gave no credit to them. Instead, everybody in authority on the Yankees needed to be fired, right now. Keith at Yankee Stadium that day. (Keith Caulfield) We arrived at Yankee Stadium in full Astros gear. As we crossed the street towards the ballpark, a yellow cab slowed to a near-stop in front of us. A big guy with a huge cigar leaned out of the window holding the sports section up with its headline about the no-hitter the day before. His friendly greeting? "Not today, Mutha F**ers!" Cody, who had certainly heard all that before but couldn't admit it, turned beet red. I looked over at him and said, "Cody, welcome to New York City." The cabbie had been right — it was not the MFers day. The Astros lost. But we still had an unforgettable experience at "The House That Ruth Built," and even sang "New York, New York" with Sinatra after the game. Back in Boston, Fenway delivered exactly what you hope for — history, characters and knowledgeable fans eager to talk about both. We learned all about the ballpark, Ted Williams and the other immortals. And we got to see Jeff Bagwell launch one over the Green Monster! All in all, a great way to experience America: through the eyes of your kid and the lens of baseball. Keith (R) and Cody (L) with Cody's son, Asher. (Keith Caulfield) ✍️ Submit your story: Do you have a fondest sports memory? Or an example of sports having a profound impact on your life? If you'd like to share, email me at kendall.baker@yahooinc.com. We'll keep sharing your stories until they run out! 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18 Team USA faces Sweden in today’s quarterfinal. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images) 🏒 Men's Hockey, Quarterfinals The last eight take the ice in Milan. Slovakia vs. Germany is already underway (6:10am ET, Peacock), followed by Canada vs. Czechia (10:40am, USA) and Finland vs. Switzerland (12:10pm, USA). Then the Americans take on Sweden in today's finale (3:10pm, USA). Group stage recap: The U.S. and Canada both went 3-0, with Canada earning the top seed on the strength of a +17 goal differential (USA was at +11). Canada's Connor McDavid leads all players with nine points (2 goals, 7 assists), while his teenage teammate Macklin Celebrini and Germany's Tim Stützle are tied for the most goals, with four each. ⛷️ Women's Slalom Today is Mikaela Shiffrin's last shot for an Olympic medal in Milan, with her second and final slalom run coming up shortly (7:30am, USA). Where it stands: Shiffrin finally delivered the ski we've been waiting for, with her first run from earlier this morning placing her in first by nearly a full second over the field. That means she'll ski last for this upcoming second run, with the two times added together to determine the winner. 🥇 Medal events 🏂 Snowboard: Women's Slopestyle Final (8:30am, Peacock) 🎯 Biathlon: Women's 4x6km Relay (8:45am, Peacock) ⛸️ Short Track: Men's 500m Finals (2:15pm, USA); Women's 3000m Relay Final (3pm, USA) Can AJ Dybantsa and the Cougars hand Arizona their third straight loss? (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: No. 20 Arkansas at No. 25 Alabama (7pm, ESPN); No. 23 BYU at No. 4 Arizona (9pm, ESPN) … The Wildcats have lost two straight after winning their first 23 games. ⚽️ Champions League: Qarabag vs. Newcastle (12:45pm, Paramount+); Olympiacos vs. Leverkusen (3pm, Paramount+); Bodø/Glimt vs. Inter Milan (3pm, Paramount+); Club Brugge vs. Atlético Madrid (3pm, CBSSN) … First-leg playoff matches to qualify for the Round of 16. ⚽️ Women's Champions League: Real Madrid (up 3-2) vs. Paris FC (12:45pm, Paramount+); Arsenal (up 4-0) vs. OH Leuven (3pm, Paramount+) … Second-leg playoff matches to qualify for the quarterfinals. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏀 STANDINGS NBA TRIVIA (Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images) The NBA season resumes tomorrow after a week-long pause for the All-Star break. Question: Which of the following teams is NOT currently in playoff or play-in position? (A) Bulls (B) Trail Blazers (C) Clippers (D) Hornets Answer at the bottom. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Livigno, Italy — An athlete competes in the Men's Snowboard Slopestyle Qualification on day nine of the Winter Games. Behind the lens: "Infrared" is a series of pictures taken at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics with mirrorless cameras that have been modified to capture the electromagnetic spectrum beyond what's visible to the human eye. Trivia answer: (A) Bulls Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 19 Author Members Posted February 19 👋 Good morning! Only four days left in these Winter Olympics. Then it's four more years 'til the next one. In today's edition: Ski mountaineering explained, Seahawks for sale, USA and Canada hockey win in OT, NBA season resumes, San Francisco globetrotters, Dog of the Day, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🏈 Seahawks for sale: The Seahawks have begun "a formal sale process" less than two weeks after winning Super Bowl LX, a move consistent with former owner Paul Allen's directive following his death in 2018. The franchise, valued at nearly $7 billion, should set a new NFL record for sale price. 💍 Team USA stars engaged: Women's hockey captain Hilary Knight and two-time bronze medalist speed skater Brittany Bowe got engaged in Milan, eight years after they met during the Pyeongchang Olympics. 🏀 Last night in college hoops: Labaron Philon Jr. (35 pts) and No. 25 Alabama beat Darius Acuff Jr. (49 pts) and No. 21 Arkansas, 117-115, in a 2OT thriller; No. 5 UConn stumbled at home in a bad loss to Creighton; No. 4 Arizona held off AJ Dybantsa (33 pts) and No. 23 BYU. ⚾️ MLBPA names interim chief: The MLB players union elected Bruce Meyer as its interim executive director one day after Tony Clark's surprise resignation. Meyer, the deputy executive director since 2022, said the change in leadership won't affect the upcoming CBA negotiations. 🏀 Toppin out for season: Texas Tech junior JT Toppin, a POY candidate averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds, will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL. A massive blow for the 13th-ranked Red Raiders. 🎿 SKIMO SKI MOUNTAINEERING MAKES OLYMPIC DEBUT Athletes climb up a mountain during a 2018 skimo race in France. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP via Getty Images) For the first time since skeleton in 2002, there's a new sport at the Winter Olympics. Ski mountaineering, or "skimo," debuts today. How it works: Imagine what you'd do on a ski trip if chairlifts had never been invented. That's basically what skimo is: 36 athletes (18 men and 18 women in their own events) sprint up a mountain and then ski back down in a hectic and exhausting three-minute race. The 750-meter course in Bormio starts with a vertical climb — while wearing your skis — that's roughly as steep as San Francisco's iconic Lombard Street. To do this, athletes strap "skins" to the bottom of their skis, which grip the snow and prevent them from sliding down. Phase two is a 50-meter climb up a snowy staircase with the skis strapped to your back, followed by another brief skis-on climb to reach the top. But what goes up must come down, so athletes strip off their skins at the top before skiing down to the bottom. What they're saying: "I think people are really going to like seeing it in the Olympics because it combines a lot of sports that have a rich [Olympic] history," Cam Smith, one of two Americans competing, told Yahoo Sports. "People enjoy watching the aerobic suffering in a cross-country race and the speed of a downhill race. We're sort of melding those two, plus you essentially have F1-style pit stops with the transitions in between." Switzerland won the first and only "Military Patrol" gold at the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix. (IOC) Skimo's military history: Ski mountaineering traces its origins back thousands of years in Europe, but the practice really took off in World War I, when soldiers in Northern Italy trekked through the Dolomites on skis. Indeed, it's no coincidence the sport is making its Olympic debut in that very region. Such operations eventually gave rise to competitive ski mountaineering, and the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympics even included "Military Patrol" — a sport that had previously included elements of skimo, and which eventually led to the development of the biathlon. The sport's military history wasn't left in the past, either: Infantry units across Europe still use it, and those military personnel can be found competing in the Alps' thriving skimo circuit. The current landscape: "In Europe, almost all of the skimo teams are funded by their government's military," Sarah Cookler, head of sport for USA Skimo at the 2026 Winter Games, told Smithsonian Magazine. "Many wear a military badge on their jackets. Their athletes are sponsored, and their faces are on billboards. This is how they make a living year-round. We're far from that [in the U.S.], but since the inclusion in the Olympics, there's been a lot more visibility and hype around the sport." Who's on Team USA? Smith, mentioned above, is an 11-time national champion after discovering the sport in 2014. Then there's Anna Gibson, 26, who only took up skimo last year after growing up as a skier and cross-country runner. Her first race came just two months ago at a World Cup event in Utah, where she and Smith won to qualify for the Olympics. ⚡️ Live updates: The heats finished while you were sleeping, and the semifinals are underway now. Gibson finished fifth in her semifinal, which wasn't enough to advance to the six-woman final (but she'll race again in Saturday's mixed relay). Smith's semifinal is at 7:25am ET on Peacock, and the finals begin at 7:55am. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS OLYMPICS: YESTERDAY IN PHOTOS Quinn Hughes played the hero on Wednesday in Milan. (Hassan Ammar/AP Photo) Men's Ice Hockey: Quinn Hughes scored the overtime game-winner to lift Team USA past Sweden, 2-1, and into the semifinals. Next up: Slovakia, which cruised to a 6-2 victory over Germany. More OT finishes: Canada also needed overtime to outlast Czechia, 4-3, thanks to Nick Suzuki’s deflected goal. Their semifinal opponent will be Finland, which came back to beat Switzerland… also in overtime. Mission accomplished. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images) Alpine Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin finally snapped her Olympic drought with one of the most dominant performances you'll ever see, winning gold in the slalom by 1.50 seconds — roughly the same as the winning margins in the last seven Olympic slaloms combined (1.51 seconds). The backdrop: "In an Olympics where pressure is becoming a key subtext, Shiffrin met the moment, and made it hers," writes Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee. "She rewrote her legacy at full speed, high in the mountains of Cortina." The man, the myth, the legend. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) Cross-Country Skiing: Johannes Høsflot Klæbo helped Norway claim victory in the Men's Team Sprint. In doing so, he joined Michael Phelps as the only Olympians to have 10 or more gold medals in their career. More gold in store? If Klæbo wins Saturday's 50-kilometer mass start, he'll join three swimmers (Phelps, Mark Spitz, Kristin Otto) and gymnast Vitaly Scherbo as the only athletes to win six or more gold medals in a single Olympic Games. Australia's Danielle Scott competes during Women's Aerials Qualification. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) Freestyle Skiing: **Wicked soundtrack intensifies** It's time to tryyyyy defying gravityyyyyy. 🥇🥈🥉 MEDAL TABLE: DAY 13 (Yahoo Sports) 89 of 116 events completed. 🏀 BACK IN ACTION WHERE IT STANDS: NBA SEASON RESUMES (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports) Since Michael Jordan retired in 1999, the NBA's Western Conference has been decidedly better than the Eastern Conference. West is Best: Western Conference teams have won 18 of the past 27 championships. In that same span, the East has had a winning record against the West just four times* and has produced more All-NBA selections than the West just once (last year). How's it looking this season? Western Conference teams are 145-142 against the East so far. While that still puts the East on pace for a losing record, its 49.5% win rate would mark a clear improvement over last season (44.9%) and the season before (42.3%). Good reads: Storylines: Title contenders, awards races and more Power rankings: Where all 30 teams stand Post-trade deadline: 5 players to watch in new situations *The outliers: The East finished with a winning record against the West in 1998-99 (shortened season), 2008-09, 2021-22 and 2022-23. 🏈 GLOBETROTTERS FREQUENT FLYERS: 49ERS SET TO BREAK TRAVEL RECORD (Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) The NFL's growing international footprint will be particularly taxing this fall for the 49ers, who are set to break the league record for miles traveled in a single season. Frequent flyers: The Niners, already scheduled to play in the NFL's inaugural Australia game, will also be the "home" team for December's game in Mexico City, the league announced Wednesday. Add those two journeys to their seven domestic road games and they'll cross 54 time zones and cover 38,105 miles round trip — over 1,000 miles more than the previous record (2025 Chargers). 49ers at Rams (Melbourne, Australia): 15,738 miles 49ers at Giants (New York): 5,111 miles 49ers at Falcons (Atlanta): 4,258 miles 49ers vs. TBD (Mexico City): 3,854 miles 49ers at Chiefs (Kansas City): 2,958 miles 49ers at Cowboys (Dallas): 2,934 miles 49ers at Seahawks (Seattle): 1,412 miles 49ers at Cardinals (Phoenix): 1,224 miles 49ers at Chargers (Los Angeles): 616 miles The new normal: This kind of travel schedule will become a lot more common as the NFL continues to expand its global slate. The league plans to eventually reach 16 international games per season (roughly one per week), and they're already more than halfway there. There are a record nine scheduled for next season, up from seven last year and five in 2024. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: THURSDAY, FEB. 19 The U.S. beat Canada, 5-0, in last week's group stage finale. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images) 🏒 Women's Hockey, Championship These are the eighth Winter Games to feature women's hockey, and for the seventh time the gold-medal game (1:10pm ET, USA) will showcase the sport's premier rivalry: USA vs. Canada. The tables are turning: Canada has won five gold medals to the USA's two, but they've lost seven straight games to the Americans, who have racked up a 6-0 record and 31-1 scoring differential so far in Milan. ⛸️ Figure Skating, Women's Free Skate The figure skating program ends today in Milan (1pm, NBC), where the top 24 women from Tuesday's short program — including all three of America's "Blade Angels" — take the ice for the free skate. Where it stands: American Alysa Liu is in third place, surrounded by Japan's dominant trio of skaters in first, second and fourth. Fellow Blade Angels Isabeau Levito (8th place) and Amber Glenn (13th) will need to perform flawlessly for a chance to get on the podium. ⛸️ Speed Skating, Men's 1500m 21-year-old phenom Jordan Stolz, who grew up skating on a frozen pond in Wisconsin, goes for his third gold medal of these Olympics in today's 1500m final (10:30am, USA). Historic performance: Stolz has already joined fellow American Eric Heiden (Lake Placid 1980) as the only men to win both the 500m and 1000m in the same Winter Games, setting an Olympic record in both. After today's race, he'll skate one more time in Saturday's mass start. 🥇 Medal events 🎿 Freestyle Skiing: Men's Aerials Final (8am, Peacock) ⛷️ Nordic Combined: Men's Team Large Hill, 2x7.5km Relay (8am, Peacock) The Pistons have crushed the Knicks in each of their first two matchups this season. (Brian Sevald/NBAE via Getty Images) More to watch: 🏀 NBA: Pistons at Knicks (7:30pm, Prime); Celtics at Warriors (10pm, Prime) … The top three teams in the East take the floor in the NBA's first night back from the All-Star break. 🏀 NCAAW: No. 11 Oklahoma at No. 24 Georgia (6:30pm, SEC); No. 3 South Carolina at No. 25 Alabama (8:30pm, SEC); No. 7 LSU at No. 17 Ole Miss (9pm, ESPN) … Three ranked matchups in one night, all in the SEC. ⛳️ PGA: Genesis Invitational (10:15am, ESPN+; 4pm, Golf) … The star-studded event returns to Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles after it was relocated last year due to the wildfires. ⚽️ Women's Champions League: Juventus (tied 2-2) vs. Wolfsburg (12:45pm, CBSSN); Manchester United (up 3-0) vs. Atlético Madrid (3pm, CBSSN) … Second-leg playoff matches to qualify for the quarterfinals. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏈 FOR SALE NFL TRIVIA (Perry Knotts/Getty Images) Three NFL franchises have been sold in the last decade (2016-present). The Seahawks will be the fourth. Question: Can you name those three franchises? Answer at the bottom. 🐺 GOOD BOY DOG OF THE DAY (NBC) Nazgul, a 2-year-old wolfdog, wandered onto the cross-country course during Wednesday's qualifying and joined the race… even triggering a photo when he crossed the finish line (below). Our four-legged friend is local to the area, and was returned unharmed to his owners. (NBC) What they're saying: "I was like, 'Am I hallucinating?" said Tena Hadzic, a Croatian skier who encountered Nazgul as she came down the homestretch. Trivia answer: Commanders (2023), Broncos (2022), Panthers (2018) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 21 Author Members Posted February 21 🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. In today's edition: The happiest Olympian alive, Keller's golden goal, Final Four preview, MLS season kickoff, spring training begins, "Back to the Future," and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🥇 TEAM USA GOLDEN GIRLS (Henry Hodge/Yahoo Sports) Alysa Liu, bursting with joy, executed a virtually flawless free skate on Thursday to take women's figure skating gold, making her the first American to medal since 2006, and the first to win since 2002. From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee: There are no record books to measure such things, but it's entirely possible that no Olympian has ever smiled as much as Liu did on Thursday night. She smiled when she stepped onto the ice, she smiled when she spotted Glenn, she smiled through her lutzes and loops and salchows, she smiled when she pointed her left finger to the sky to close out her routine. And she smiled — and giggled a triumphant laugh — when she skated right up to the rinkside camera and bellowed, "That's what I'm f***ing talking about!" That is the entire joy of the Alysa Liu experience — giddiness, confidence, joy, serenity — and gold-medal-winning talent. At an Olympics where so many others have crumbled under the pressure, she literally laughed in pressure's face. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) Meanwhile, in women's ice hockey: Team USA captured gold with a 2-1 comeback victory over Canada, tying the game on captain Hilary Knight's goal with two minutes left in regulation before winning on Megan Keller's golden goal in overtime. "There was no way we were losing this game. That's all. Simple as that," said Knight. "This is the best team I've been a part of," added Keller. "Every single player is top tier, best in the world." Back on top: This is the third gold medal for the Americans (1998, 2018, 2026), who went 7-0 in Milan with a ridiculous +31 goal differential and have won eight straight games against their northern neighbors. (Yahoo Sports) Medal count: Team USA has won nine gold medals at these Olympics, one shy of its high-water mark of 10 set at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. And women have played an outsized role in this year's success, winning six of the nine golds and helping win a seventh: Alysa Liu (figure skating) Mikaela Shiffrin (slalom) Breezy Johnson (downhill) Elizabeth Lemley (moguls) Elana Meyers Taylor (monobob) Team USA (women’s ice hockey) Team USA (team figure skating) In fact, the only American man to win an individual gold medal at these Olympics so far is long track speed skater Jordan Stolz, who has two (500m and 1000m). 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST The Americans are two wins away from their first gold medal since 1980. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) 🥇 Olympics, Days 14-16 The Winter Games come to a close on Sunday, with 20 medal events left across Northern Italy. Here are the main events to watch this weekend: 🏒 Final Four: The men's hockey semifinals are today, with Canada and Finland meeting first (10:40am ET, Peacock), followed by USA vs. Slovakia (3:10pm, NBC). The bronze-medal match is tomorrow (2:40pm, USA), followed by Sunday's championship (8:10am, NBC). 🥌 History on the line: The American women are in the curling semifinals after Thursday's clutch victory, putting them one win away from their first medal ever. They face Switzerland today (8am, Peacock) for a spot in either the bronze-medal match (Sat. 8am, Peacock) or gold-medal match (Sun. 5am, Peacock). 🥇 Legends take the stage: Italian short track speed skater Arianna Fontana seeks her fourth medal in Milan and record-tying 15th of her career in today's 1500m finals (2:15pm, USA). Then Norway's Johannes Høsflot Klæbo goes for his sixth gold of these Games (in six events) in tomorrow's cross-country 50km mass start (5am, Peacock). 🔥 The grand finale: The Milan Cortina Games officially end with Sunday's Closing Ceremony (2:30pm, NBC) at the 2,000-year-old Verona Arena, a historic amphitheater that predates even the Colosseum. 🏀 College Basketball How's this for a doubleheader? The top four men's teams in the nation face off on Saturday in a potential Final Four preview. First up is No. 4 Arizona at No. 2 Houston (3pm, ABC), followed by No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 3 Duke in D.C. (6:30pm, ESPN). Meanwhile, for the women: There are five ranked matchups on Sunday, headlined by No. 6 Michigan at No. 13 Iowa (12pm, Fox) and No. 17 Ole Miss at No. 3 South Carolina (12pm, ESPN). ⚽️ MLS Kickoff The league's 31st season begins this weekend, with all 30 teams taking the field. The headliner: Son Heung-min and LAFC host Lionel Messi and reigning champion Inter Miami (Sat. 9:30pm, Apple) at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. New way to watch: Starting this season, all MLS games will be available to Apple TV subscribers at no additional cost. You previously needed a Season Pass subscription to watch every game. ⚾️ Spring Training We are back. Spring training games start today, with 37 total over the weekend across Florida's Grapefruit League and Arizona's Cactus League. Today's opener: Yankees vs. Orioles (1pm, MLB). World Series favorites: The Dodgers (+225 at BetMGM) are the preseason title favorites, followed by the Yankees (+1000), Mariners (+1300), Blue Jays (+1300), Mets (+1400), Braves (+1600), Red Sox (+1600) and Phillies (+1600). More to watch: 🏀 NBA: Mavericks at Timberwolves (Fri. 7:30pm, ESPN); Clippers at Lakers (Fri. 10pm, ESPN); Rockets at Knicks (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC); Cavaliers at Thunder (Sun. 1pm, ABC) ⛳️ PGA: Genesis Invitational (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf/CBS) … Aaron Rai (-6) leads after an incomplete Round 1, which was suspended due to rain. ⚽️ Premier League: Manchester City vs. Newcastle United (Sat. 3pm, Peacock); Tottenham vs. Arsenal (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … Second-place City trails first-place Arsenal by just five points, with a game in hand. 🏁 NASCAR: Atlanta's EchoPark Speedway (Sun. 3pm, Fox) … With 28-degree banking at the turns, this is one of the steepest tracks in the Cup Series. 🏉 Six Nations: Week 3 of 5 (Sat-Sun, Peacock) … Only France remains undefeated through two weeks. Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏀 DOUBLEHEADER MARCH MADNESS COMES EARLY (Yahoo Sports) Saturday brings a true college hoops unicorn: the AP poll's top four teams all facing each other on the same day. It's just the third time this has ever happened during the regular season — and only the fifth occurrence overall, NCAA Tournament included. The other four instances… 2025 Final Four: (2) Houston def. (1) Duke; (3) Florida def. (4) Auburn Nov. 5, 2019: (2) Kentucky def. (1) Michigan State; (4) Duke def. (3) Kansas 2008 Final Four: (4) Kansas def. (1) UNC; (2) Memphis def. (3) UCLA Dec. 5, 1992: (3) Kansas def. (2) Indiana; (4) Duke def. (1) Michigan* Flashback: Like tomorrow, the first instance also featured top-ranked Michigan facing Duke. "If you'd like to transport back to '92, that game was massive," notes CBS Sports' Matt Norlander. "Intentionally scheduled as a championship rematch from the previous season's natty. The game aired on Raycom (!!) and was sponsored by Pizza Hut." 📸 CORTINA '56 SNAPSHOTS: BACK TO THE FUTURE (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) "Back to the Future" is a series of images captured using vintage Graflex cameras, paying tribute to the type of camera that would have been used 70 years ago when Cortina previously hosted the games in 1956. In a modern twist, these cameras have been adapted to record images on smartphones, enabling live transmission of the content captured. Livigno — An athlete practices during ski cross training at Livigno Air Park. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images) Cortina d'Ampezzo — A two-man bobsled whizzes past as a security guard watches on at Cortina Sliding Centre. (Pauline Ballet/Getty Images) Milan — The crowd at Milano Ice Skating Arena looks on during the Free Dance. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images) Bormio — A general view of the Men's Team Combined Downhill at Stelvio Alpine Skiing Centre. ⚽️ RUN IT BACK MLS TRIVIA (Rich Storry/Getty Images) Inter Miami begins its title defense this weekend, as they try to become the first back-to-back MLS champions since 2011-12. Question: Which team won those two consecutive titles? Hint: Western Conference. Answer at the bottom. 📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat. 🥇 Watch: The golden goal Trivia answer: LA Galaxy Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 23 Author Members Posted February 23 Team USA and Canada to compete for Olympic men's hockey gold tomorrow. The puck is set to drop at 8:10 am ET tomorrow, marking the US men's hockey team's first gold medal game since 2010. Canada beat the US in that game to win its eighth of nine gold medals in men's hockey. The US beat Slovakia 6-2 yesterday to reach tomorrow's game, while Canada beat Finland 3-2. Slovakia and Finland will face off today at 2:40 pm ET for the bronze medal. Separately, Norway broke its own record for the most gold medals won in a single Winter Games when biathlete Johannes Dale-Skjevdal earned the nation's 17th gold in the men's 15-kilometer mass start race. As of this writing, Norway has 37 total medals. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 24 Author Members Posted February 24 🎶 1 fun thing: Taylor Swift's vinyl effect Data: Luminate. Chart: Axios Visuals Vinyl sales rose last year for the 19th straight year. Taylor Swift helped — a lot, Axios' Sami Sparber writes. Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" — the biggest album release in music history — sold 1.6 million vinyl copies in the U.S. last year, representing over 3% of all units sold, according to Luminate, an industry data firm. 🎸 The next top titles weren't even close to Swift's tally: Sabrina Carpenter's "Man's Best Friend" (292,000 units) and Kendrick Lamar's "GNX" (279,000 units). What's old is new: Millennials drove the biggest increase in vinyl purchases over the past year. Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 26 Author Members Posted February 26 👋 Good morning! The 25th Winter Olympics have come to a close. Thanks for following along with us. In today's edition: USA tops Canada, final medal tally, MLS kicks off, spring training begins, Duke tops Michigan, James Milner makes history, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 💔 Gone too soon: Vikings wide receiver Rondale Moore was found dead on Saturday with a gunshot wound suspected to be self-inflicted. The former Purdue standout was 25 years old. ⛳️ Bridgeman breaks through: Jacob Bridgeman avoided a Sunday collapse and held off a surging Rory McIlroy to secure a one-shot victory at the Genesis Invitational, his first win on the PGA Tour. 🏈 Cignetti signs extension: Curt Cignetti signed a new contract with Indiana that will pay him $13 million per season through 2033. The only other college football coaches earning that much annually? LSU's Lane Kiffin and Georgia's Kirby Smart. 🏀 Lakers honor Riley: The Lakers unveiled a bronze statue of Pat Riley outside their arena on Sunday. It fittingly stands between statues of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, with whom Riley won four championships as head coach of the "Showtime" Lakers. 🏁 Back-to-back: After going winless in 2025, Tyler Reddick has opened 2026 with two straight victories, adding Sunday's double overtime thriller to last week's Daytona 500. He's the first driver since 2009 to win the first two races of the NASCAR Cup Series season. 🥇 GOLDEN GOAL USA 2, CANADA 1 (OT) Jack Hughes, American hero. (Elsa/Getty Images) 46 years to the day after a bunch of unheralded amateurs stunned the heavily favored Soviet Union en route to winning Olympic gold, the U.S. men's hockey team engineered another epic victory. ICYMI: Team USA toppled longtime nemesis Canada, 2-1 (OT), on Sunday to win their first Olympic gold in men's hockey since the famed 1980 "Miracle on Ice." Devils star Jack Hughes scored the decisive goal, ripping a shot past Jordan Binnington less than three minutes into 3-on-3 overtime. "I love the USA. I love my teammates. It's unbelievable," said Hughes postgame, his mouth bloody and two of his front teeth missing after taking a stick to the face earlier in Sunday's game. "It's just a ballsy, gutsy win. That's American hockey right there. That's a great Canadian team, but we're USA. We're so proud to be American. Tonight was all for the country." Player of the game: While Hughes was the hero, Connor Hellebuyck was the star. The three-time Vezina Trophy winner (best NHL goaltender) stopped 41 of 42 shots, none bigger than his stick save on Devon Toews at the doorstep. Talk about an epic photo… (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) Honoring Johnny Hockey: If not for a horrible tragedy that cost him and his brother their lives, Johnny Gaudreau would have been part of this U.S. team. His former teammates and friends made sure to honor him in their moment of glory, skating around the rink with his jersey and bringing out his kids for the team photo. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) The last word, from NBC's Mike Tirico: "What you saw today was the build of a generation, inspired perhaps by that team that lost in 2010 in Vancouver to the Sidney Crosby golden goal in overtime. Or the team where T.J. Oshie had all those shootout goals in 2014. That's when these guys were doing what you're doing — watching on TV." "So for all the young people out there — not just hockey but all the Olympics you've watched — those dreams are formed now. Go chase them and go get them, because our country loves sports and it brings us together unlike anything else. And if you didn't know that, if you haven't been watching the last two weeks, you saw it in Team USA Hockey." 🥇 MILAN CORTINA 2026 FINAL MEDAL TALLY (Yahoo Sports) Two weeks and 116 medal events later, the 2026 Winter Olympics have concluded. Medal leaders: 🇳🇴 Norway: The Norwegians dominated the medal table to extend their lead as the all-time winningest nation in Winter Olympics history. Their 18 gold and 41 total medals are both the most ever, breaking their own records of 16 gold and 39 total medals from 2022. 🇺🇸 USA: The Americans won 12 gold medals, exceeding their previous high of 10 set in 2002 in Salt Lake City. Team USA also finished solo second in both gold medals and total medals for the first time since 1952. 🇳🇱 Netherlands: No nation over-indexes in a single sport quite like the Dutch, whose 20 medals at Milan Cortina came entirely from long (13) and short track speed skating (7). 🇮🇹 Italy: The Italians won by far their most gold (10) and total medals (30) at a single Winter Games, continuing a trend that sees countries perform better when they host the Olympics. The full list: 29 different countries — plus one Russian athlete competing under a neutral flag — won at least one medal. That includes Georgia and Brazil, who took home their first-ever Winter Olympic medals. 🇺🇸 SNAPSHOTS PHOTOS ACROSS AMERICA Lionel Messi and Son Heung-Min hug ahead of their season-opener. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) Los Angeles — Inter Miami's title defense got off to a rocky start in Saturday's 3-0 loss to LAFC, which came in front of 75,673 fans at LA Memorial Coliseum. That's the largest opening weekend crowd in MLS history and the second-largest ever. Meanwhile, in Orlando: NY Red Bulls beat Orlando City, 2-1, with a starting lineup that included Julian Hall (17), Matthew Dos Santos (17) and Adri Mehmeti (16), marking the first time in MLS history that a team started three players under 18 in a regular-season match. (Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) Fort Myers, Florida — Spring training has officially arrived. All 30 MLB teams were in action over the weekend, giving baseball fans the opportunity to get caught up with ... well, everyone. As a reminder: Many of MLB's best players will be departing camp in the coming days to compete in the World Baseball Classic, which begins next Wednesday, March 4. (Ethan Hyman/News Observer) Washington, D.C. — No. 3 Duke took down top-ranked Michigan, 68-63, on Saturday behind another huge game from freshman Cameron Boozer (18 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists). Look for the Blue Devils to take over the No. 1 spot in this week's AP poll. More from Saturday: No. 4 Arizona beat No. 2 Houston, Cincinnati stunned No. 8 Kansas, UCLA upset No. 10 Illinois and No. 23 BYU took down No. 6 Iowa State. (Lon Horwedel/AP Photo) Detroit — Claressa Shields adjusted to an early onslaught from familiar rival Franchon Crews-Dezurn in their rematch Sunday to retain her undisputed heavyweight titles and stay undefeated (18-0, 3 KOs). Meanwhile, in Las Vegas: Ryan Garcia (25-2, 20 KOs) made a statement on Saturday night, dethroning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios with a one-sided unanimous decision. 💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Luke Hales/Getty Images) ⚽️ 654th appearance Brighton midfielder James Milner made his 654th career Premier League appearance in Saturday's win over Brentford, breaking Gareth Barry's record for the most in league history. The 40-year-old, who debuted in 2002, has played for six different clubs: Liverpool (230 caps), Manchester City (147), Aston Villa (100), Newcastle (94), Leeds (48) and Brighton (35). Wild stat: 876 other players have made at least 100 Premier League appearances since Milner's debut, and entering Saturday he'd played either with or against 875 of them. The only one who'd been missing? Brentford's Nathan Collins, who came on as a sub in Saturday's game. 🏀 16 straight losses The outlook isn't brilliant in Sacramento, where the Kings have lost a franchise-worst 16 straight games while losing three players to season-ending injuries (Domantas Sabonis, Zach Lavine and De'Andre Hunter). Tanking rankings: Sacramento's futility comes amid a league-wide tanking epidemic, with over one-third of teams either trying to lose or simply not good enough to win. Where do the NBA-worst Kings (12-46) land in our tanking power rankings? (Mohamed Farag/Getty Images) 🎾 14 countries Carlos Alcaraz dispatched Arthur Fils in just 50 minutes on Saturday in Doha to win the Qatar Open, giving the world No. 1 an ATP Tour victory in his 14th different country. At the age of 22. Three weeks after he completed the career Grand Slam. Trophy case: Alcaraz has now won 26 tour-level titles since 2021, with six coming in the U.S., four in the UK, four in Spain, two in France and one each in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, Italy, Japan, Monaco, the Netherlands and Qatar. 🌹 45th season UCLA won't be leaving the Rose Bowl after all, with the school announcing on Saturday that it will play at least the 2026 season in the iconic Pasadena stadium it has called home for the last 44 years. Backdrop: UCLA has been exploring a move to SoFi Stadium despite their Rose Bowl lease running through 2043. This prompted the city and stadium to sue the school for "irreparable harm," and a court date is set for Friday. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: MONDAY, FEB. 23 Cade Cunningham is powering the Pistons to their best season in decades. (David Jensen/Getty Images) 🏀 Spurs at Pistons Two of the NBA's best teams meet tonight in Detroit (7pm ET, Peacock), where the first-place Pistons (42-13), who've won five straight games, host the second-place Spurs (40-16), who've won eight straight games. MVP watch: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (-140 at BetMGM) and Nikola Jokić (+310) are still the favorites, but Pistons star Cade Cunningham (+500) isn't far behind. Victor Wembanyama (+2500) is a distant fourth, but you can't count him out the way he and the Spurs are playing. 🏀 NCAA Basketball No. 16 North Carolina hosts No. 21 Louisville in the first game of tonight's doubleheader (7pm, ESPN), followed by No. 8 Kansas hosting No. 2 Houston in the nightcap (9pm, ESPN). Load management? Freshman Darryn Peterson has been sensational for Kansas, but he's also missed — or exited early from — more than half of their games, leading some to question whether the potential No. 1 pick is protecting himself for the NBA Draft. "He hasn't finished games," said head coach Bill Self. "There is a way to change the narrative: Play. Finish." More to watch: ⚽️ EPL: Everton vs. Manchester United (3pm, USA) … United, riding a nine-game unbeaten streak in league play, will climb into the top four with a win or draw. 🏀 Unrivaled: Lunar Owls vs. Vinyl (7:30pm, TNT); Mist vs. Breeze (8:45pm, TNT) … Here are the standings entering the penultimate night of the regular season. ⛳️ TGL: Atlanta vs. Boston (5pm, ESPN); Atlanta vs. Los Angeles (9pm, ESPN2) … Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Tommy Fleetwood, and more are in action tonight. Got plan tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏀 SHOWTIME NBA TRIVIA (Luiza Moraes/Getty Images) Pat Riley, whose bronze statue now sits outside the Lakers' arena, is the fifth-winningest head coach in NBA history (1,210 wins). Question: Who are the only four head coaches with more wins? Hint: Six combined NBA championships (five from one guy). Answer at the bottom. 🇮🇹 GRAZIE, ITALIA THAT'S A WRAP The Olympic rings are displayed during the Closing Ceremony. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) The curtains have closed on an Olympics chock-full of storylines, winners and losers, and memorable quotes. Next up: 🇺🇸 2028: Los Angeles 🇫🇷 2030: French Alps 🇦🇺 2032: Brisbane 🇺🇸 2034: Salt Lake City Trivia answer: Gregg Popovich (1,390 wins); Don Nelson (1,335); Lenny Wilkens (1,332); Jerry Sloan (1,221) Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
Members phkrause Posted February 27 Author Members Posted February 27 👋 Good morning! Hello from northern New Jersey, where there's so much snow I briefly considered attaching skis to this newsletter. In today's edition: The new Winter Olympics model, Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch, the forgotten game, NFL combine week, flashback to '92, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports... 🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🥇 Olympics ratings way up: The Milan Cortina Olympics drew a daily average of 23.5 million viewers across NBC platforms, making it the most-watched Winter Games since Sochi 2014. It also represents a 96% increase over Beijing 2022, which averaged only 12 million. 🥊 Mayweather-Pacquiao 2: More than 11 years after their first showdown, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao will meet again this September in Las Vegas. Netflix will stream the fight, which will be the first boxing match ever held at the Sphere. 🏀 WNBA revenue sharing: For the first time in league history, the WNBA generated enough revenue in 2025 to trigger revenue sharing with players. As a result, $8 million will be divvied up and paid out to players who were active last season. 🎿 Vonn's close call: Lindsey Vonn, who is finally out of the hospital following her crash at the Olympics, revealed that she could have lost her leg after the trauma caused compartment syndrome. "Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg," said Vonn. "He saved me.” 🏀 Blue Devils on top: Duke climbed to No. 1 in the latest AP men's poll, making this their record-extending 148th week as the nation's top-ranked team. Meanwhile, the women's poll remained largely unchanged, with UConn still a unanimous No. 1. 🥇 WINTER GAMES A NEW MODEL: THE OLYMPICS, UNBUNDLED The Olympic Rings on display in Cortina d'Ampezzo. (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images) Outside of perhaps war or putting someone into outer space, there may be no greater human logistical challenge than organizing an Olympics. Because of that immense strain on host cities, the IOC appears committed to a Milan Cortina model for future Winter Games: disparate clusters instead of one centralized hub. From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken: In Northern Italy, there were really four different Olympics going on at once. To get from a speedskating event in Milan to, say, a snowboarding event in Livigno, was going to require a four-hour-plus drive or an even longer series of trains and buses. A drive between Livigno and the Cortina cluster would be five or six hours through the Alps depending on conditions. And even to get between Livigno and Bormio was a 90-minute crawl through a couple mountain passes despite being just 22 miles apart. There's never been an Olympics that scattered and disconnected. But this is more or less what it's going to look like going forward. In 2030, the so-called "French Alps" Olympics look to be just as spread out if not moreso with a footprint of clusters across the lower third of France all the way down to Nice. Fans arrive at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena prior to the Women’s Ice Hockey gold medal match between the U.S. and Canada. (Maja Hitij/Getty Images) Though the accessibility of Park City will make the return of the Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City more compact in 2034, the likely winner for the 2038 bid is a proposal by Switzerland to spread things out across the whole country. Why? The answer is cost and sustainability. It's difficult and expensive to build infrastructure for an event as big as the Olympics in small mountain towns and ski resorts. It's why the IOC struggled to get traditional winter countries in Europe to even bid for a while because asking citizens to absorb the cost was a huge political loser for those governments. (The 2022 Games was decided between Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, because everybody else dropped out.) So, in essence, the IOC has calculated — and rightly so — that the only way you'll get Olympics in Europe anymore is to lessen the burden on the locals by putting a few events here and a few events there. It makes sense, even if athletes and fans lose some connection to the feeling of being at a traditional Olympics. After all, for most of the world, it's just one big TV show. 🏈 OFFSEASON BUZZ NFL COMBINE: VETS STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT (Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports) The NFL combine is this week in Indianapolis, where most of the buzz is about veteran players (trade rumors, free agency, etc) rather than incoming rookies. From Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson: Maybe it's the quarterback chaos or the landslide of head coaching changes. Maybe it's because many of the NFL's personnel departments already seem satisfied that the No. 1 overall pick in the draft is in the barn. Whatever the driving force, it's thrusting the usual sideshow of the NFL scouting combine — trade rumors, free-agency buzz and clandestine GM meetings — into the middle of the main stage. And with that, the college players who are taking their next big step toward draft positioning have become a subplot. Prominent storylines include: Potential veteran trades, including Maxx Crosby (Raiders), A.J. Brown (Eagles), Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins), Kyler Murray (Cardinals) and others. The future of Aaron Rodgers. Will he retire? Return to the Steelers? Sign with the Vikings? Lamar Jackson's contract. The Ravens are hoping to get an extension done with their star QB, whose $74.5 million cap number needs to be addressed. What they're saying: "It's going to be a wild offseason and it starts [this week]," one prominent NFL agent told Yahoo Sports. "There's so much more than usual with different veteran stuff … All the quarterback things to figure out … the young players that could be traded with the staff changes … there's going to be a lot going on." More NFL Combine: Key players to watch Details, schedule 📆 ON THIS DAY THE FORGOTTEN GAME (Steve Powell/Allsport/Getty Images) 46 years ago today, the U.S. men's hockey team beat Finland, 4-2, to clinch gold at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The backdrop: Two days earlier, the U.S. famously upset the Soviet Union, but that didn't guarantee a medal. Due to the format used at the time, a loss to Finland could have resulted in the Americans finishing fourth behind the Finns, Swedes and Soviets. Can you imagine? The Finland game has been largely forgotten, but if the Americans hadn't rallied from a late 2-1 deficit that evening, the "Miracle on Ice" wouldn't be a miracle at all — just an unlikely victory that became a footnote in history. No storybook legacy. No lore. No iconic team. And definitely no Disney movie. P.S. … Speaking of that 1980 "Miracle" team, one of the last players cut from the roster was a defenseman named Jack Hughes — the same name of the player who clinched USA gold on Sunday. There's even a scene in the Disney movie that shows "Jack Hughes" getting crossed out. 📚 GO DEEPER GOOD READS (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images) From our growing list of Yahoo Sports Network partners. 🥊 Alan Dawson: Is 'Money May' broke? The sad reason Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2 may be happening (Uncrowned) If even a fraction of the financial allegations swirling around him prove true, the fighter formerly known as "Pretty Boy Floyd" risks drifting toward the uncomfortable boxing tradition as an all-time great earner who mastered the business inside the ring, only to be drawn back by the economics outside of it. (Elsa/Getty Images) 🏀 Sabreena Merchant: Rocky Top is no longer a prestige destination (The Athletic) What the Volunteers have learned is that without Pat Summitt, the only thing special about this program is its history. They are no longer a national powerhouse. They're not even the best team in their state. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) ⛳️ Jamie Kennedy: The 38 minutes that changed Jacob Bridgeman's career (Golf Digest) In every player's career, there are moments that become defining. It could be a putt to make a cut or keep your PGA Tour card. Or it could be a decision to go for a shot in the hunt. For Jacob Bridgeman, it happened on Saturday afternoon at Riviera Country Club. And it, effectively, won him the tournament. 📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, FEB. 24 The Knicks won a thriller over the Cavs on Christmas Day. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) 🏀 NBA on Peacock The Cavaliers host the Knicks in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (7:30pm ET), where New York will go for the season sweep against their Eastern Conference foe. Then it's Timberwolves at Trail Blazers in a Western Conference nightcap (10pm). Beasts of the East: The Knicks (37-21) and Cavs (36-22) have both won 12 of their last 15 games as they try to keep pace with the first-place Pistons (42-14) and second-place Celtics (37-19), who've been equally hot over the past month. ⚽️ Champions League The knockout playoffs resume today, with four second-leg matches to advance to the Round of 16. Full slate: Atlético Madrid (3-3) vs. Club Brugge (12:45pm, Paramount+); Bayer Leverkusen (up 2-0) vs. Olympiacos (3pm, Paramount+); Inter Milan (down 3-1) vs. Bodø/Glimt (3pm, Paramount+); Newcastle United (up 6-1) vs. Qarabag (3pm, CBSSN) More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: NC State at No. 11 Virginia (7pm, ACC); UCF at No. 19 BYU (11pm, ESPN2) … BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa leads the nation in scoring (24.9 ppg). ⛳️ TGL: New York vs. The Bay (5pm, ESPN); Boston vs. New York (9pm, ESPN) … Atlanta played two matches last night. Now it's New York's turn. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. 🏈 LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON FOOTBALL TRIVIA Rivers during his college days. (Cy Cyr/WireImage via Getty Images) Philip Rivers' son, Gunner Rivers, has committed to play QB for his dad's alma mater. Question: Name the school. Answer at the bottom. 🇫🇷 THROWBACK TUESDAY FLASHBACK: ALBERTVILLE '92 The Albertville '92 Opening Ceremony. (David Madison/Getty Images) The next Winter Olympics will be in the French Alps, marking the first Games in France since Albertville hosted in 1992. And honestly, that feels like a perfect excuse to revisit an era when the vibes and the fashion were off the charts. (Nathan Bilow/Allsport/Getty Images) Here we have downtown Val-d'Isère, one of the nearby resorts that hosted men's alpine skiing and clearly had no shortage of neon signs. C'est magnifique. (Dimitri Iundt/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images) France's Edgar Grospiron, the chair of the 2030 organizing committee, celebrates after winning gold in moguls. Love the sweater, my guy. (Rick Stewart/Allsport/Getty Images) Speaking of impeccable style, American biathlete Joan Smith looks like she was born to wear the red, white and blue. Members of Team USA carry an American flag during the Closing Ceremony. (John Gaps/AP Photo) The countdown to the next Winter Olympics is on, with the Opening Ceremony coming on Feb. 1, 2030 — the earliest start date since Innsbruck 1964. Trivia answer: NC State Quote phkrause When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Proverbs 29;2
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