That hasn’t been a popular result in the U.S., and Chock and Bates acknowledged the controversy on Thursday while speaking with USA Today. While they didn’t go as far as some of their fans, they did acknowledge this episode hasn’t been the best look for figure skating:
“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” Chock said on Thursday.
“It’s hard to retain fans when it’s difficult to understand what is happening on the ice. I think there needs to be a lot more clarity for the skaters, for the coaches and for the audience, in order to just have a solid fan base moving forward. People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”
At issue is a scoring system in which the majority of the judges favored the Americans, but gave the French the win.
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When reviewing the individual judges’ scores in the free dance, the French judge sticks out with their compatriots’ second highest score and the lowest score Chock and Bates received, with a delta of nearly eight points. By comparison, the American judge favored Chock and Bates by about four points.
“We haven’t actually seen it, we’ve just heard about it, but it means a lot that people are voicing their opinions on our behalf,” Bates said. “I think the way that we skated and the way we’ve approached chasing these goals hopefully has resonated with people at home, and even in our response I think hopefully that too can reflect the Olympic spirit.”
“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations. The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”
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Together, Chock and Bates have won the last three ice dance world titles and hold a pair of Olympic gold medals as part of the U.S.’ wins in the team event in 2022 and 2026. They have been skating together since 2011 and married in 2024.
They declined to tell USA Today if they would go for a fourth straight world title in March, but said they “have plans to remain on the ice” for now.
LIVIGNO, Italy — If you could snap your fingers and remove officiating mistakes in every sport, would we have the same Super Bowl winners, NCAA champions and Olympic gold medalists that show up in the history books?
It’s an impossible question to answer. But it’s one former Olympic skier and football player Jeremy Bloom wishes we didn’t have to ask.
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“Teams and individuals lose well-deserved winning moments because of human error,” Bloom told Yahoo Sports. “Being an athlete, understanding how hard it is to climb that mountain, I think everybody — literally everybody — should be united on a front of ‘we can’t make mistakes.’ These moments are too big. That’s the problem I think all of us that care about these athletes and these sports should be trying to solve.”
Owl AI, the company Bloom founded, might be part of the answer.
It involves ice dance, where a French judge’s scorecard showed a larger gap between a French team and American team than other judges in one of the components. The Americans, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, settled for second while the French team won gold.
“Any time the public is confused by results, it does a disservice to our sport,” Chock told USA Today on Thursday. “… I think there needs to be a lot more clarity for the skaters, for the coaches and for the audience, in order to just have a solid fan base moving forward. People need to understand what they’re cheering for and be able to feel confident in the sport that they’re supporting.”
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Though there’s been no formal accusation of wrongdoing, the controversy has echoes of a scandal from the 2002 Games involving a French judge who allegedly agreed to boost the Russian team in pairs figure skating in exchange for judging help with a French team in a different event.
At the beginning of these Olympics, there were also questions surrounding the score given to Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming, a former gold medalist, who did not perfectly execute his trick in Big Air but was scored high enough to knock American Ollie Martin off the podium.
In many ways, these controversies are inherent to judged sports like figure skating, snowboarding and freestyle skiing. Subjectivity and unconscious biases come into play. The pressure on judges to deliver scores quickly can lead to mistakes.
What if the answer to all that is artificial intelligence? Bloom, who has raised $11 million in seed funding for Owl AI, is on a mission to figure out what’s possible. And as the CEO of the X Games, Bloom is already putting the product to work on a limited scale with bigger plans for the future.
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“What we’ve found today is, it’s an incredible judge,” Bloom said. “It’s showing — it’s got to be proven — but it’s showing objectivity. I think we’re just continuing to throw everything at the technology to see where it’s good and where it’s not.”
It’s unclear, ultimately, how important AI will be — and how important humans want it to be — in officiating sports.
Professional tennis has already replaced line judges at most tournaments with a form of AI that instantly calls shots in or out. Some fans and players like the objective nature of the system; others don’t trust the technology to be 100-percent accurate and believe a layer of drama has been lost with players no longer having the ability to challenge calls they feel were incorrect.
The next level of possibility is more complex — and controversial. Imagine a world where you’re watching an NFL game and a computer immediately flashes a graphic on your television screen whether a pass interference penalty should be called. Or perhaps an NBA game where there’s no need for a coach’s challenge on a controversial block-charge call because AI instantly gives us the final word.
There have been growing questions about the juding in the ice dance competition that awarded the gold to Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France (right) over Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
(Tim Clayton via Getty Images)
Would it be a fairer system for the athletes? Probably. Would it be as enjoyable to watch without the controversy and human element? That’s in the eye of the beholder.
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But the impact of AI isn’t going away, and in many ways Olympic sports are an ideal canvas for experimentation — even if some competitors have reservations about what it could mean down the road.
“Our sport, and judged sports in particular, there’s a level of artistry that I don’t think an AI could really judge — or at least that anybody would feel good about,” said Nick Goepper, a freestyle skier with medals from the last three Olympics. “There’s some intangible factors you have to put into play like, ‘Has this ever happened before? How does a new trick affect the sport and culture as a whole?’ There are some of those audibles that a human judge can throw when you really understand the larger scope of things and connect to the sport on an emotional level.”
At their most fundamental level, though, sports like snowboarding and freestyle skiing face a judging conundrum. Each year, competitors continue to advance and push boundaries, executing harder tricks with more mid-air rotations and subtle stylistic elements that can be difficult to pick up. A winning routine at one Olympics is likely to be considered passé by the next.
In a sport like big air, where competitors jump off a ramp and get scored from 0 to 100 on one trick, judges are expected to identify and score a variety of elements including amplitude, rotations, inversions, grabs and landing. And even though they have instant replay available, asking judges to deliver scores quickly on these complex tricks — usually within about 90 seconds to two minutes — is in some ways unfair to them, not to mention the competitors.
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“It’s tough because a lot of the judges have never performed the tricks we have done,” freestyle skier Alex Ferreira said. “The level is so high they’ve really had to lock in and pay more attention. In a perfect world there would be more time. In the moment, the weight and the pressure is so heavy to get the score out that it can probably lead to some mistakes. But for the most part they’re doing the best they can. I would hate to be a judge.”
A properly trained AI could, theoretically, both identify all the technical elements of a trick and give some context to degree of difficulty without bias or giving benefit of the doubt to more famous competitors. Whatever unquantifiable judging advantage Shaun White might have had in the Olympic halfpipe simply by virtue of being Shaun White goes away when AI is making the call.
So far, Bloom has been blown away by the results.
“Our judges have been part of this process,” he said. “We had to teach it what good style looks like. That was a fun challenge, and it turns out good style is just good economy of motion in the air. Is the rider on axis or do they throw up a hand because they missed the take off and they need to get back on axis? What is a good landing and what is a great landing? What is a good grab and what is a great grab?”
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For now, AI replacing a judging panel seems like a bridge too far. But under Bloom’s leadership, X Games has been integrating it into the experience since last year.
At last month’s X Games Aspen, Owl AI was used not only to project scores as soon as riders completed their runs [the AI scores were not factored into the outcome this time], a human voice predicted winners based on the AI’s evaluation of practice runs and translated commentary into various languages for YouTube viewers around the world.
Also, for the first time, judges were given the AI breakdown of what occurred during a trick to help them with their scores.
Jeremy Bloom has gone from the Olympics to the NFL to entrepreneur trying to eliminate human error in sport officiating. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Fast Company)
(Eugene Gologursky via Getty Images)
“Providing real time superpowers to human judges is part of the strategy,” Bloom said. “Was that a tail grab or a mute grab? How many rotations was it? What was the amplitude — 12 or 13 feet. I think in a perfect world today, it sits amongst the humans for sure, not replaces humans.”
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As these sports keep progressing, often faster than the evolution of the judging, it could become a necessary tool. But some athletes fear that a critical element of what makes their sports compelling will be lost if AI is allowed in the door. After all, AI is only as good as what it’s taught, which might stifle artistic expression if athletes are trained to perform for what the AI values and not a more malleable, emotional human experience.
“What is correct technique? There’s not necessarily one correct way,” figure skater Amber Glenn said. “It is an artistic sport. There’s always going to be an opinion.”
Here’s another issue: In many of these high-leverage competitions like the Olympics, competitors will debut something completely new that the sport has never seen before. That’s what won freestyle skier Alex Hall the gold medal four years ago in slopestyle when he executed a “double cork 1080 bring back,” which became known as the pretzel because it required him to stop his rotation mid-air and almost defy physics by pulling back the opposite direction.
In other words, while the raw number of rotations is often the separator in these events, Hall impressed the judges with creativity. He’s dubious about AI being able to account for that.
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“It’s so niche and there’s an element of execution style that’s so subjective,” Hall said. “I’m not doubting it. I think it could work at some point. But I kind of like the human nature of it, and it’s slightly imperfect in a way. I know it’s not great for a competition but anyone who’s in freestyle skiing gets that and is OK with the chance of it not being perfect.”
There’s no way to predict where all this leads. Could we see a future Olympics where AI is utilized either as a tool to help judges or to provide some component of scoring? It’s far too soon to say.
But there’s no doubt it has potential to disrupt longstanding officiating and judging practices across an array of sports as the technology is refined and gradually implemented into events like the X Games.
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“It’ll never solve pass interference because that’s a subjective call, but if this technology can call it the same whether it’s the fourth quarter or the first quarter, whether it’s a superstar or someone you’ve never heard of and create a level of consistency around that call, that’s the goal and objective,” Bloom said. “Whether it’s a $5 billion or a $100 million [company] matters a lot less than us trying to figure out how we can make sports more fair so that nobody is sitting on the sidelines when they should be hoisting the trophy. It’s not an easy mission at all, but it’s an important mission.”
Quad God Ilia Malinin is entering the men’s free skate competition at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in first place after the men’s short program, though there are just a few points separating him from his closest competitors, Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and France’s Adam Siao Him Fa. The final results and medals will be decided Friday, and you can watch the whole thing live. The men’s free skate will start at 12:45 p.m. with live coverage on Peacock and USA. At 3 p.m., coverage will continue on Peacock and NBC.
For a complete schedule of every figure skating event at this year’s games, a rundown of who is on Team USA, and how to watch, keep scrolling. And if you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.
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How to watch the men’s free skate at the 2026 Olympics
Where can I stream the men’s free skate final at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
Peacock will stream the entire men’s free skate, a medal competition, on Friday, Feb. 13, starting at 12:45 p.m. ET. You can also watch the warmups before the competition; they will air on Peacock starting at 10:45 a.m. ET.
What is the daily schedule for the men’s free skate program?
Where to watch the men’s figure skating free skate on TV:
Olympic Figure Skating coverage for the men’s free skate will be split between NBC and USA, which you can stream on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more. You can start watching on USA from 12:45 p.m. until 3 p.m. when coverage will switch to NBC. There will also be a re-air at 2 a.m. on USA.
How to watch Olympic Figure Skating without cable:
Who is on the Team USA Figure Skating team?
These are the sixteen skaters on Team USA’s figure skating team:
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Amber Glenn (Women’s Singles)
Isabeau Levito (Women’s Singles)
Alysa Liu (Women’s Singles)
Ilia Malinin (Men’s Singles)
Maxim Naumov (Men’s Singles)
Andrew Torgashev (Men’s Singles)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates (Ice Dance)
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko (Ice Dance)
DirecTV’s Entertainment tier gets you access to loads of channels where you can tune in to college and pro sports, the Winter Olympics, and more. Channels include ESPN, TNT, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, CBS Sports Network, and, depending on where you live, local affiliates for ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Whichever package you choose, you’ll get unlimited Cloud DVR storage and access to ESPN+’s new streaming tier, ESPN Unlimited.
DirecTV’s Entertainment tier package is $49.99 for your first month. But you can also try all this out for free for 5 days. If you’re interested in trying out a live-TV streaming service for football season but aren’t ready to commit, we recommend starting with DirecTV.
The sliding sport of skeleton, where a single rider lies face-down while speeding down the icy track, is one of the shorter events at the 2026 Winter Games, with the competition lasting just a few days. After racing their first two heats on Feb. 12, the men’s 3rd and 4th heats will take place on Friday, Feb. 13.
You can catch all of Team USA’s skeleton races live on Peacock, and below is the complete schedule of all Team USA’s skeleton events at this year’s games, along with a rundown of who is competing. While every race will stream on Peacock, some will also be broadcast on NBC and USA. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule and toggle your search to “TV Only.”) Here’s a rundown of how to watch every skeleton event at the 2026 Winter Games.
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And if you want to learn even more about this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about Milan Cortina 2026.
How to watch the men’s skeleton finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics
Where can I stream skeleton at the 2026 Winter Olympics?
You can stream the final two heats of the men’s skeleton competition live on Peacock. Heat 3 will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET, and the final heat will be at 3:05 p.m. ET.
Where to watch the men’s skeleton final on TV
Men’s skeleton final coverage will air later in the day, at 5:30 p.m. on USA, which you can stream on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more. NBC will only air select coverage live; for specific times, make sure to check the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule and toggle your search to “TV Only.”
How to watch Olympic skeleton free without cable:
Who is on the Team USA skeleton team?
These are the athletes on Team USA’s skeleton team:
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Dan Barefoot, 35, Johnstown, Pa.
Kelly Curtis, 37, Princeton, N.J.
Austin Florian, 31, Southington, Conn.
Mystique Ro, 31, Nokesville, Va.
2026 Team USA Skeleton TV schedule
All times Eastern
All events will stream on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com. NBC will only be airing select coverage live. For specific times on NBC, make sure to check the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule and toggle your search to “TV Only.”
Johannes Høsflot Klæbo tied a Winter Olympic record on Friday by winning his eighth career gold medal. The Norwegian cross-country skier was victorious in the men’s 10km freestyle race, finishing 4.9 seconds ahead of Mathis Desloges to earn his third gold medal at the Milan Cortina Games.
The 29-year-old Klæbo already claimed gold in the 20km skiathlon and the individual sprint. His first three career gold medals came in the individual sprint, 4x10km relay and the team sprint at the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang. He added to his total with two more golds in Beijing in 2022 in the individual and team sprints, while also taking home silver in the 4x10km relay and bronze in the 15km classical.
Klæbo’s achievement puts him in a tie with fellow Norwegians Bjørn Dæhlie, Marit Bjørgen and Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He could separate himself from that group before he leaves Italy as he is scheduled to also compete in the 4×7.5km relay, men’s team sprint and 50km mass start.
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Before he tied Olympic history, Klæbo had already made a name for himself among those who may not closely follow cross-country skiing. Video of his uphill sprint on the way to his second gold medal of these Olympics went viral as his sub-six-minute mile pace amazed social media, garnering over 15 million views on X.
“I like to go to every race thinking that it’s a race for the win,” said American Ben Ogden, who took home silver behind Klæbo in the individual sprint. “But these days, a lot of the time it’s a race for second.”
U.S. speed skater Eric Heiden holds the record with five gold medals won in a single Winter Olympics. Klæbo will have a chance to make more history over the final week of the Milan Games.
Chase Elliott and Joey Logano won the two Daytona Duel races ahead of the Daytona 500.
Logano won the first Duel while Elliott got the checkered flag in the second race. Casey Mears got into the Daytona 500 on the final lap after Corey LaJoie and Chandler Smith were each caught in late passes.
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With 39 of the 45 drivers attempting the race locked in via charters (36 drivers), qualifying speed Wednesday night in pole qualifying (Justin Allgaier and Corey Heim) and a NASCAR-issued provisional for well-known drivers (Jimmie Johnson), Mears was racing against LaJoie and Smith for one of the two remaining spots.
Smith was involved in a crash with five laps to go that effectively ended his chances at a win. Mears, meanwhile, caused the first caution of the race when he spun into Noah Gragson when they were pitting under green.
LaJoie was in an incredibly advantageous spot on the final lap, but he got pushed by Daniel Suarez and as he got pinched up to his Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, LaJoie lost control.
Mears floored it from the back of the pack and even ran into Suarez. But he crossed the finish line comfortably ahead of Smith as LaJoie’s car was crashed out of the race in the infield inside Turns 3 and 4.
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LaJoie was the second car on the inside line at the time of the crash.
The second race was far less eventful. Elliott will start fourth in the Daytona 500 while Logano will start third. Anthony Alfredo made it into Sunday’s race ahead of BJ McLeod and JJ Yeley in Duel No. 2, however, Alfredo was disqualified after the race when his car failed technical inspection. McLeod will make the race in his place.
Here’s the full starting lineup for the race. The first race decided the odd-numbered starting spots while race No. 2 decided the even-numbered spots.
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🚨 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.
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🏀 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.
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🎓 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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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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)
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.
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🏁 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.
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.
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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. Get tickets now!
💯 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.
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.
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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.
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🏁 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.
📸 Photo finish
Norwegian ski jumper Einar Luraas Oftebro flies through the air. (Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
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Wondering how you’re going to fill the fantasy sports void until football is back? Are your fantasy hoops and hockey teams leaving much to be desired? Well, one option you might be overlooking is joining a fantasy baseball league.
TL;DR benefits of joining a fantasy baseball league
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Now that you’re ready to play
While baseball can seem daunting — mainly because of its 162-game schedule over six-plus months compared to just 17 weeks for football — there are ways to replicate what brings you joy from the gridiron onto the baseball field.
We’ve rounded up some tips to lighten the load if you’re considering joining a baseball league for the first time or coming back after taking last season off.
You’ll get fantasy action every day — not just Sunday
For those who love fantasy football, that same passion from Sundays can come on a daily basis — all because of baseball’s calendar. Feel the rush of Shohei Ohtani digging in against Bryan Woo because either (or both) are on your fantasy team. Enjoy the show when Juan Soto shuffles into the batter’s box against Zack Wheeler. No matter the outcome, get instantaneous updates on your Yahoo Fantasy app, showing where you are in the standings or your head-to-head matchup.
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No need to wait a week to get those competitive juices flowing. Just pick it up again with the next day’s games.
There are several baseball formats to consider, but to keep things simple, Head-to-Head Points leagues — the Yahoo Fantasy Baseball default setting for all newly created leagues — are the most like football. Head-to-Head Points is available in both Private and Public Leagues, making it easy to quickly join a league and get a similar experience to football!
What’s especially fun about these leagues is that fantasy managers get the same weekly outcome of a win or a loss. While you’re managing your lineup throughout the week, the result could come down to a home run in the final game on Sunday night, a streaming starting pitcher who strikes out 10 hitters and gets the win or even a reliever who picks up a save to tip the matchup.
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It’s easy to get in the game, too. You just need to make a few decisions and you’re off and running.
Next, do you have a group that’s ready to play? If not, that’s no problem. There are free public leagues as well as public prize leagues — in the latter, you pay an entry fee and play for cash prizes awarded at the end of the season. In either case, you never have to worry about finding people to play or a day and time that works for the whole group to draft. You get to pick what works for you.
You can also Draft Now With Friends! Ever had a few friends who wanted to play but not enough to fill a fantasy baseball league? You can instantly invite up to seven people to join you in a free public league. All you have to do is enter a free public draft room and tap the “Add Friends Pre-Draft” button to invite people to join your draft! (This feature is currently only for public leagues.)
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There are also Live Draft Lobbies, where on-demand drafts are available every day, and you can join a league and make picks the instant all spots are taken.
Now, if you do want to have some skin in the game against your friends, family or acquaintances, we suggest creating or joining a Private Prize league and inviting whoever you want.
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Then, you just get ready for draft day, where you can even make all your picks from your phone. Some leagues draft immediately, while others wait for a later date. Your call.
Fantasy Baseball Draft Rankings
Ways to streamline fantasy baseball
Customize your settings in private leagues
One of the benefits of a private league is that there are many options to customize the roster and scoring settings to your desires. Commissioners have the ability to set limited positional requirements or fewer bench spaces, which means you won’t have to sweat as many roster decisions day-to-day or week-to-week. It will also make the waiver wire more fun and active since there will be more available options.
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If your leaguemates really like offense, you could consider hitter-only (that means no pitchers) leagues. If you do want to keep pitchers in the game, you could opt to limit the number of active spots, or set it up for all pitchers without starter or reliever designations. It’s your league’s call.
If trading isn’t your thing — and you want to limit those conflicts — leagues can skip them altogether.
If daily management feels like a lot, you have the option of going to weekly lineups to mirror football and make the roster decisions a lighter lift. You can also consider limiting the number of weekly moves each manager can make, so there’s less pressure to grind on the waiver wire every day.
There is also the option of ending a private league’s season earlier. Head-to-Head leagues can start a four-team playoff that ends the season as early as Aug. 2 (the end of Week 18 of the season). So, those fantasy football players who don’t want crossover between sports can be accommodated.
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New features make it more fun and easier than ever to play
There are new features for 2026 designed to help fans optimize their lineups, commissioners manage their leagues and the entire Yahoo Fantasy baseball community stay better connected.
A new team screen calendar view gives fans a single weekly scan of their team, enabling them to see which day of the week their pitchers are scheduled to start. Launching early this season, this feature will help fans more easily spot gaps in their lineups and plan for the week ahead.
An updated draft settings tool enables league commissioners to manage draft times and formats, as well as set draft orders, directly from the Yahoo Fantasy app.
Fantasy Feed — which launched for the football season — will be available for the baseball campaign. Fantasy Feeds enable fans to follow, react to and talk with other fans about every big play from the games that matter most to their fantasy season.
Yahoo Fantasy baseball just got more fun and easier than ever to play for the 2026 MLB season with several new features!
Want to lessen the load of having to meticulously set your fantasy baseball lineup, day in and day out? With the tap of a button on desktop or from the Yahoo Fantasy app, the free Start Active Players feature will set your lineup for you, filling it with healthy players who have a game on that specific day/week and benching those who are off and/or injured.
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If you’re ready to take your game to the next level, you can get something even better …
Yahoo Fantasy+ premium features help you win from draft day to the playoffs. Subscribers win their leagues 81%‡ more often and will also now have access to a trio of popular features that were available for football season, including:
Instant Mock Draft: Practice your draft in seconds. Test different strategies, positions and roster constructions as many times as you want, anytime, instantly.
Draft Kits: A personalized cheat sheet with rankings, tiers and projections tailored specifically to your league. Additionally, player insights surface real-time expert analysis directly in those cheat sheets. Exclusively in the Yahoo Fantasy app.
Assistant GM: A virtual assistant that starts your best players and alerts you if you need to make a move before the action starts.
Alright, we’re at the NBA All-Star break and it’s time to talk about the players who’ve been coming through for fantasy basketball teams this year. Not the guys you thought would be good — the guys who are good.
I’m putting together my Fantasy All-Star team based purely on production through Feb. 11, with the starting five coming from some of the best few rounds and the reserves being a compilation of value picks who have delivered through 17 weeks.
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The Starting Five
G: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC – SGA went top-three in basically every draft and he’s somehow exceeded even those expectations. He appears most often on the top-500 Public League teams (29%) — a clear indication he’s one of the most profitable fantasy assets yet again. Averaging 30 a game has become routine and he’s still getting 6.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 2.1 stocks while shooting 55% from the field. Beast.
G: Tyrese Maxey, PHI – Maxey has carried the Sixers for much of the season by putting up career numbers in points, assists, stocks, rebounds and FT%. He’s been a top-six option in High Score and a top-three asset in 9-cat and points leagues. Maxey is right behind SGA in appearing on the best teams in fantasy basketball at 26.6%.
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F: Victor Wembanyama, SAS – Wemby hasn’t put up the video game numbers at the same rate as last season, but the production is still elite. At just 22, he’s the only player in the league averaging at least 24 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks per game. He’s a fantasy cheat code who is only bested by less than a handful of players.
F: Jalen Johnson, ATL – One of the early steals of draft season. Johnson’s ADP was around pick No. 25 in the preseason, yet he’s performing as a top-15 player in 9-cat formats and a top-five player in High Score and points leagues. Trading away Trae Young was great for his fantasy value, as Johnson’s point-forward skillset was subsequently unleashed. With 10 triple-doubles on the year, fantasy managers can expect many more in the second half of the season.
C: Nikola Jokić, DEN – Yes, the Joker missed 16 games, but he’s still far and away the best player in fantasy. He’s averaging 69 fantasy points per game in High Score and is averaging a triple-double for the second year in a row. And it’s not just those key counting stats — he’s uber-efficient and still racking up steals. It’s hard to imagine a world where Jokić is not worthy of a consensus No. 1 pick.
G: Nickeil Alexander-Walker, ATL – NAW’s glow up has been crazy. With an ADP outside of 120, he’s been one of the Most Improved Players in the league. He actually went undrafted in 67% of drafts, and he ranks in the top 75 in High Score and points leagues while being top 50 in 9-cat. Like Johnson, he’s also benefiting from Young getting traded to Washington.
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G: Keyonte George, UTA – George was going around pick No. 113 overall in drafts. He’s now putting up 23.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.1 steals per night. Unfortunately, George is dealing with an ankle injury and a very public tank job. However, I’m holding off moving him, as I think he’ll be less rested than some of his other veteran teammates.
F: Kon Knueppel, CHA – The rookie went fourth overall in the real draft but went undrafted in 81% of Yahoo fantasy leagues. Congratulations if you landed Knueppel, because he has league winner written all over him. Now he’s averaging 18.9 points on 48/43/90 shooting splits. He’s also putting in work as a rebounder and playmaker. He’s already hit 183 3s and is on pace to break the rookie record by a mile. Charlotte’s fun again, which is wild to say and Knueppel’s a huge reason why. It’ll be a tight Rookie of the Year race between him and former Duke teammate, Mavericks G/F Cooper Flagg.
F: Kawhi Leonard, LAC – Kawhi was going super late relative to his current value because nobody trusts his knees anymore. Fair! But aspiration drama aside, Leonard’s been available, playing in 41 games so far. Leonard is on a heater, absolutely torching opponents for 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals per game. The Clippers could manage his minutes now that they had a fire sale at the deadline, but still, it feels like now is a good time to sell high on Kawhi.
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C: Alperen Şengün, HOU – Şengün was a bit of a settle pick here; I was between him and Jalen Duren and Şengün’s numbers are just better. He has some warts for 9-cat, but the raw production, along with his commitment to playing better defense, is paying off for fantasy managers in High Score and points leagues.
Honorable mentions: Deni Avdija, Trey Murphy III and Michael Porter Jr.
Who else do you think is worth adding to the Fantasy All-Star team for the 2025-26 season?
