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🚨 Subtitles
🏈 Top QBs commit to: Five-star QBs Julian Lewis and Bryce Underwood decommitted Thursday, with Lewis headed to Colorado. (originally USC) and Underwood going to Michigan (LSU).
⚾️ Robo-umps coming soon? MLB will test a robo-umpire challenge system during spring training, which could lead to the introduction of the regular season by 2026.
🏒 Ovi outside of 4-6 weeks: Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 15 goals, will miss 4 to 6 weeks with a fractured fibula, halting his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky (27 goals for the all-time record).
🏈 Again, Kraft denied: Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who has pushed hard to be enshrined in Canton in recent years, has been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
⚽️ MLS Listing Transfer: FC Cincinnati has acquired forward Kévin Denkey from Cercle Brugge (Belgium) for a fee of $16.2 million, making it the largest transfer in MLS history.
🏈 New Hoosiers
no. 5 Indiana visits no. 2 Ohio State on saturday there was a matchup no one saw coming — if a matchup, how could you describe it, between college football’s all-time greatest loser and its all-time winner.
From Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports:
“Hoosiers” — the story of a small high school that wins the state basketball tournament — is the greatest underdog story ever told in Indiana.
Even though little Hickory High was an unlikely champion, it wasn’t completely improbable. After all, sweet-shooting Jimmy Chitwood was the equivalent of a 5-star talent. He just happened to grow up on a nearby farm. Not even the mighty South Bend Central could answer him.
Indiana’s current football team — filled with discount coaches and castoffs that almost no major program wants — has no one as heralded as Chitwood. But the new Hoosiers never stopped believing they were good enough, never stopped working to prove it, and now they have the opportunity to throw their best shot at the mighty Buckeyes.
Hollywood endings are hard to come by in real life – so who knows what will happen in Columbus, let alone beyond. Ohio State is almost a two-touchdown favorite for some reason. But the fact that IU is even here… is a testament to everything that is great about sports.
Recruiting rankings and preseason perception don’t move the scoreboard. Struggle and work and self-determination can still win. After all, the field at Ohio Stadium is 100 yards long. They find the exact same measurement in Bloomington.
Further reading: Curt Cignetti, forever a basketball school, awakens the ‘sleeping giant’ of the Indiana football program (Ross Dellenger, Yahoo Sports)
⚾️ Judge Ohtani unanimously named MVP
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were unanimously named MVPs on Wednesday, a fitting end to their impressive 2024 campaigns.
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Judge, who led MLB with 58 HR, 144 RBI and 1.159 OPS, beat out Royals SS Bobby Witt Jr. and teammate Juan Soto for his second MVP. He joins Mickey Mantle as the only Yankees to win the award unanimously.
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Ohtani, whose 54 HR, 130 RBI and 1.036 OPS trailed just one judge, beat out Mets SS Francisco Lindor and D-Backs 2B Ketel Marte for the third MVP in four years. He joins Frank Robinson as the only players to win the award in both the AL and NL.
Multiple MVP: Judge is the 34th player to win multiple MVPs and Ohtani is the 12th to win at least three, joining Barry Bonds (7x) and three-time winners Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra , Roy Campanella, Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio and Jimmie Foxx.
The big picture: Watching even one player the caliber of Judge and Ohtani is a treat, but seeing two play on this high level at the same time is downright historic: they are just the fourth duo to win two MVPs in the same three-year span.
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Judge and Ohtani (2022-24)
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Bonds and Rodriguez (2003-05)
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Bonds and Frank Thomas (1992-94)
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Berra and Campanella (1953-55)
Zoom out: Their dominance goes far beyond the past three seasons. As of 2018 (Ohtani’s rookie year and Judge’s second full season), both rank in the top five in MLB in HR, OPS and WAR. And Ohtani also has the 11th-best ERA among starters during that time.
📸 Photo gallery
Cleveland — We played our first snow game of the season and it did not disappoint as the Browns upset the Steelers 24-19 thanks to a game winning drive in the final minutes.
Washington, DC — President Biden hosted the Celtics at the White House to celebrate their 18th championship. Fun fact: Biden’s Secret Service codename is Celtic. “Indeed. Because I’m Irish,” he said. “From this old Irish Celtic, to all you Celts, congratulations.”
Las Vegas — The Sin City circuit is ready for the second edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Toronto — It would be a crime for the Raptors to lose on such a great court. They won the victory.
🏀 The NBA is improving its All-Star Game
NBA All-Star Game, long in need of change amid declining ratings and non-competes, he is finally turning things around.
Coming soon: The NBA is reportedly changing the format of this year’s All-Star Game in San Francisco, making it a four-team tournament that is expected to be more like quick pickup games.
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The 24 All-Stars will be divided into three teams of eight, and the winner of the Rising Stars game (comprising the top rookies, sophomores and G Leaguers) will be the fourth team.
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The semi-final will be up to 40 points and the final will be up to 25.
Bottom line: Last year’s All-Star Game, which had the highest score in history (211-186) and featured an absurd 168 three-point attempts, was widely panned. ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith called it an “absolute travesty” and suggested the NBA get rid of the game altogether. Hopefully all it needed was a refresh.
📆 22.11.2014: Perine runs wild
10 years ago today Oklahoma true freshman Samaje Perine rushed for 427 yards against Kansas in a blizzard, breaking the FBS record of 408 yards set a week earlier by Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon.
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duvet: 34 car, 427 yds (12.6 avg.), 5 TD
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Gordon: 25 car, 408 yds (16.3 avg.), 4 TD
400-yard club: The only other player to eclipse 400 yards in an FBS game? TCU’s LaDainian Tomlinson in 1999 (406 yards) and Buffalo’s Jaret Patterson in 2020 (409 yards).
Look who it is! That’s Sooners walk-on Baker Mayfield celebrating next to Perine. He was unable to play this season due to transfer rules, but became a starter in 2015.
📺 Watchlist: NWSL Championship
A year after missing the playoffs, The Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit will meet for the NWSL Championship on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, CBS) in Kansas City.
Historic venue: The game will be held at CPKC Stadium, home of the KC Current, which opened this spring as the first venue ever built specifically for a women’s professional sports team.
More to watch:
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🏈 CFB Saturday: no. 5 Indiana at Ohio State No. 2 (12 p.m., Fox); no. 14 BYU at no. 21 in the state of Arizona (3:30 p.m., ESPN); 19th Army at No. 6 Notre Dame (7 p.m., NBC) … 13th week.
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🏈 NFL Sunday: Lions at Colts (1 p.m., Fox); 49ers at Packers (4:25 p.m. Fox); Cardinals at Seahawks (4:25 p.m. Fox); Eagles in rams (8:20 p.m., NBC)… 12th week.
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🏁 Formula 1: Las Vegas Grand Prix (1 a.m. Sunday, ESPN) … Max Verstappen can secure his fourth championship in the penultimate race of the season.
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⚽️ MLS Playoffs: Conference semifinals (Sat-Sun, Apple/FS1) … Four winner-take-all games in New York, Orlando and Los Angeles, which hosts two.
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⛳️ LPGA: Tour Championship (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf) … South Korean Narin An (-8) leads after the first round.
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🏀 NBA: Warriors at the Pelicans (Friday 7:30 p.m., ESPN); Mavericks at Nuggets (Friday 10 p.m., ESPN) … NBA Cup competitions.
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🏀 NCAAW: no. 6 Notre Dame at no. 3 U.S.C (Sat. 4 p.m., NBC); no. 1 South Carolina* at no. 5 UCLA (Sunday 4 p.m., FS1)
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🏀 NCAAM: No. 11 Tennessee vs. no. 13 Baylor (Friday 9:30 p.m., CBSSN); no. 12 Duke at no. 17 in Arizona (Friday 10:30 p.m., ESPN2)
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⚽️ Premier League: Manchester City vs Tottenham (Sat. 12:30 p.m., NBC) … City have lost four games in a row.
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🎾 Davis Cup: Holland vs Germany (Friday 11:00 a.m., tennis); Australia vs Italy (Sat 7:00, tennis) … The winners will meet in Sunday’s final.
*Cruise control: The Gamecocks have won a program-record 43 consecutive games dating back to their 2023 Final Four loss to Iowa.
🏀 NBA quizzes
76ers guard Jared McCain is the new favorite to win Rookie of the Year, which would give Duke a record five ROY winners.
question: Can you name four other Blue Devils who have won Rookie of the Year?
Tip: 1995, 2000, 2012, 2022
Answer at the bottom.
🎨 Drawing for every game
Lakers fans or not, this is amazing: Jack Perkins (@purehoop) draws an original piece for all 82 games this season, win or lose. Here is everyone’s thread so far.
Quiz Answer: Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Kyrie Irving, Paolo Banchero
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