Nate Tice & Matt Harmon join forces from Indianapolis as they preview what to watch at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. The duo kick things off with some of the buzziest news items from around Indy, including the Atlanta Falcons franchise tagging Kyle Pitts, some uncertainty from the Philadelphia Eagles around AJ Brown’s future with the team and the New York Jets planning to use a tag on RB Breece Hall.
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Next, Nate & Matt dive into their top prospects to watch this week at the NFL Combine. Matt shouts out LB Sonny Styles topping an insane linebacker class and WR KC Concepcion, while Nate talks about the entire Ohio State defense and Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love.
Later, the two hosts cover a few of the most underrated prospects to watch this week, including WR Omar Cooper, TE Kenyon Sadiq, RB Jonah Coleman and more, plus a few spare news items from Indianapolis (could a Trent Williams release be looming?)
(2:10) – Top Combine storylines and news
(24:00) – Top prospects to watch
(40:20) – Underrated prospects to watch
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(55:00) – Odds and ends from Indianapolis
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza & Ohio State LB Arvell Reese are expected to draw eyes at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (Jamie Squire, Getty Images; James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Jamie Squire, Getty Images; James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
These days, any drama with the U.K.’s Sheridan Smith raises expectations, especially if her role is written by Tony Schumacher, creator of “The Responder.”
Winner of a BAFTA TV Award for “Mrs Biggs” (2013) and TV Choice Award for “Cilla” (2015), Smith was also the star of last year’s “I Fought the Law.” “No one does this kind of drama better than Sheridan Smith. Ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances are what she does, and few do it better,” said The Guardian in a review.
Smith is also a master of mixed emotion reaction, such as resolution and vulnerability. She’s likely to show both in “The Cage,” which reteams Schumacher with Fremantle and unites him with Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s high-flying and creator-friendly Element Pictures, a Fremantle company.
Commissioned by Director of BBC drama Lindsay Salt for BBCiPlayer and BBC One with global sales handled by Fremantle, “The Cage” is shaping up as one the big unveils at Fremantle’s Feb. 27 showcase at the London TV Screenings.
Chosen by Variety as one of the Screenings’ Hot Picks, it also now has new first look images, shared in exclusivity with Variety.
Smith stars opposite Michael Socha (“The Gallows Pole,” “Showtrial”) another striking actor discovered and cast like “Adolescence” star Stephen Graham in “This is England” by Shane Meadows.
In “The Cage,” Smith and Socha play Leanne and Matty, a single mum and compulsive gambler who skim cash from the safe of their Liverpool Casino, soon with the mob and police closing down
Expect a taut crime drama – “high-stakes and high-energy,” says Fremantle – which will stand out from the pack by its nuanced performances, a story of “two unforgettable characters” as Fremantle puts it, and its heart, through it mix of crime thriller and family drama: Leanne, a single mother, turns to her amateur heists to avoid losing her family flat, Mattie to get some money to his daughter as child maintenance, despite his chronic gambling. “One final heist becomes their last chance for escape – because in ‘The Cage,’ everyone’s gambling,” the series’ synopsis ends.
Majority owned by Fremantle from 2022, Element Pictures is behind Yorgos Lanthimos’ four-time Oscar winner “Poor Things,” as well as multiple Lenny Abrahamson titles such as “Room,” a best actress Academy Award winner for Brie Larson and his major TV hit “Normal People.”
“The Cage” is directed by Al Mackay (“Kidnapped,” “Without Sin”) and shot in and around Liverpool and Merseyside in the U.K.
Hilary Martin serves as executive producer for Fremantle, with Aird, Guiney and Lowe for Element Pictures, alongside Schumacher and Smith. Lucy Richer is the executive producer for the BBC, with Clare Shepherd as producer.
In the build-up to Fremantle’s Friday showcase, Aird, Element Pictures head of TV, and Fremantle’s Rebecca Dundon, SVP, head of scripted content, talked to Variety about what marks “The Cage” apart in an age where buyers are looking for crime dramas more than any other program type but want series that bring something fresh to the table.
When “The Cage” was announced, you are quoted, Chris, as saying “Tony writes characters from the heart that break your heart.” Is that connected to what you add: That “The Cage” is “a crime show” but also “a show about family”?
Chris Aird: That’s exactly what Tony does. This show is hopefully an exciting crime story with the stakes of crime stories. People are breaking the law and cutting across other people’s interests. What marks Tony’s writing out, however, is that you really feel why these people are forced into doing what they do and their very real problems in their lives. Leanne is very worried that she’s going to lose the [family] flat; Mattie is a terrible addict and forever in hock to his moneylender.
Rebecca Dundon: Tony and Element have created amazing flawed underdog characters that are instantly likeable and charismatic. “The Cage” is a crime heist thriller with great characters who aren’t evil people, just trying to survive and make a better life. In the world today, people are often looking for their own escape, to get themselves out of these situations and you really are instantly with them. But this is all wrapped up in a propulsive, twisty-turny surprising show that really throws the crime genre on its head by giving you characters that you want to win, despite being on the other side of the law.
And this is what drew you to the story?
Dundon: Definitely. From an international perspective, it’s so important that you have characters that surprise and stories that feel fresh in genres that work. Crime is going to continue be a bedrock for many platforms, many buyers. It’s what most people enjoy. But we never want to offer something that someone’s seen before. Tony’s writing and this show will surprise audiences and bring new audiences to the crime genre, because it’s got heart, levity and high stakes.
You have two of the finest performers in British TV. How was the casting process?
Dundon: They’re magnetic. That’s the best word for them. They pull and push against one another throughout the series and draw the audience in. What the team have done so well with casting here is that they’ve really made sure that the chemistry between those protagonists is paramount. You have to be able to have that banter between them, the ability to champion one another as well when they feel like they’ve lost everything.
Liverpool has a large presence in the series but I wonder if this isn’t only as a setting but in terms of actors having a confidence in the authenticity of their performance, of hitting the right beats because Tony, from Liverpool, would tell them if they didn’t. Could you comment?
Aird: That’s interesting and I think you’re right. Everyone who is involved in this show, from Tony downwards, were really invested in making a show partly about Liverpool and about that kind of slightly intangible thing, but you know it when you feel it. Both Sheridan and Michael also really keyed into it. It is about humanity. It’s about vulnerability. It’s about also warmth and humor in the face of adversity. It’s all these things. Interestingly, neither Sheridan nor Michael are actually from Liverpool, but Sheridan does a very, very good Scouse accent. They’re both from the north of England. And they both said they tap into that.
As actors, they are very good at small physical details….
Aird: Yes, what’s great about this show is we can keep it feeling real and authentic, because actually we don’t need huge, high concept things to happen because it is about that character response to the real. How would you really cope with being up against one of the city’s most dangerous gangsters? How would that actually feel? Rather than a pat kind of genre way of approaching it, you really understand the hot water that they get themselves into because they both feel so real.
Dundon: Touching on authenticity, Liverpool is authentic, real but with a really exciting colour palette that feels unusual and that we haven’t seen on screen. It just opens the whole world up, which we feel is going to make a real difference internationally, because it’s Liverpool like we haven’t seen before. Director Al Mackay has done an incredible job in creating that intimacy of performance, but with this beautiful kind of backdrop.
Aird: Al and Árni Filippusson, our DP, made a decision really early on that they wanted to light up this world and use a kind of directional light. And we shot this in Spring last year and it literally didn’t rain for four months: The whole show is suffused in bright, warm sunlight.
More people are talking about the value of authenticity than they used to. I wonder if that’s a reaction to the large amount of non-authenticity in the world….
Aird: That’s really interesting. I’d say that we’re crying out for human connection not mediated by little boxes on screens. And I think that a show like ‘The Cage’ is all about human connection. It’s about the people you work with, the people you live with, your family. I would hope that this is the kind of show that people might watch together as well. I think we are crying out for that at the moment: that authenticity of character as well as a cracking good story too.
How does the show fit into your production strategies?
Dundon: With regards to Fremantle’s distribution arm, we’re always looking for strong crime series, commercial dramas that are going to cut through, make noise, surprise us but be in a familiar genre that people enjoy, that they want to sit down with their partners, that can speak to a number of different platforms and buyers, whether that’s the public broadcasters whom we absolutely adore or the streamers. “The Cage” is that in spades.
Working with great, great creatives is also part of both your strategies…
Dundon: For us, it’s absolutely a bonus for us that it’s an Element show and have Tony come back after the success of “The Responder,” a huge international hit for us. Buyers are actively following what he’s going to do next because they love his tone of voice, and the fact that he’s bringing it to life in a surprising way and in a very different way to what we’ve seen him do before is a real honor for us.
Aird: You’re absolutely right. “The Cage” fits into Element’s strategy which is to support the very best creative voices in the business, whether they’re filmmakers or screenwriters. We’re always trying to do that. On the film side, we work with the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos and Lenny Abrahamson and Joanna Hogg. Now on the TV side as well, we’re hoping to expand on that.
Chris Aird, Element Pictures, Rebecca Dundon, Fremantle
The Dallas Cowboys have offered Brandon Aubrey a contract that would make him the NFL’s highest-paid kicker, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
That offer is apparently not enough. Per Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News, the Cowboys are offering Aubrey a multiyear deal valued at close to $7.5 million per season. Per Watkins, Aubrey is seeking closer to $10 million per year, a contract that would dramatically reset the market for kickers in the NFL.
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Kansas City’s Harrison Butker is the highest-paid kicker in football with a four-year, $25.6 million contract ($6.4 million per year).
Is Aubrey worth it?
Aubrey has leverage like no other kicker in the NFL. He’s a one-of-a-kind weapon who through his first two seasons was virtually automatic from 50-plus yards. He hit all 10 of his 50-plus-yard field-goal attempts during his 2023 rookie season with a long of 60.
He went 14 of 17 from 50-plus in 2024, including a 65-yard kick that at the time was the second-longest field goal in NFL history. His six career field goals of 60 yards or more are the most in NFL history.
Brandon Aubrey is reportedly seeking to dramatically reset the market for kickers in the NFL.
(Cooper Neill via Getty Images)
He fell off a bit in 2025, going 11 of 17 from 50-plus yards. But that’s still a remarkable success rate, and Aubrey has been named All-Pro in each of his three NFL seasons.
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Aubrey has reached the end of a three-year, $2.7 million contract that was his first in the NFL. And now’s the time for him to leverage his talents for a significant payday.
Cowboys: Aubrey negotiations a ‘journey’
Per Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones, Aubrey and the Cowboys have been engaged in negotiations since prior to the start of last season. In a media scrum Monday at the NFL combine, he called the negotiations a “journey.”
“We’ve been in talks with Aubrey since before the season started,” Jones told reporters. “That’s been a journey. We haven’t been able to get to a point where we can all agree, so it hasn’t gotten done, but we’d love to get him done.”
Jones previously told the Morning News that the Cowboys intend to tender Aubrey if they don’t reach an agreement on an extension. Aubrey is a restricted free agent, and the Cowboys have the option of placing a first- or second-round tender on him.
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Absent an extension, the Cowboys are expected to place a second-round tender on Aubrey valued at roughly $5.8 million, ESPN reports. Competing teams would have the option of exceeding that tender number, and the Cowboys would have the right to match it on a one-year deal. If Aubrey were to leave to another team in that scenario, the team that signs him would owe the Cowboys a second-round pick.
Aubrey hasn’t discussed negotiations in public. But it sounds like he and the Cowboys have some significant work to do to find common ground.
Soon-to-be privately-owned game publisher and developer Electronic Arts saw the most PC/console game downloads of the year of any game publisher with over 200 million units sold, according to Sensor Tower’s 2026 State of Gaming Report, released on Wednesday.
Sensor Tower reported that Microsoft was second among publishers with the top downloads, followed by Take-Two Entertainment, Ubisoft and then Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The dominance of “Battlefield 6” in a year full of shooter titans like “Call of Duty” and “Fortnite,” as well as other launches like “Delta Force” and “Marvel Rivals,” was especially noticeable. However, despite this dominance, shooter downloads did not increase, a figure which suggests new titles aren’t necessarily expanding the category as much as they are capturing incumbents. The data shows that retaining, engaging and monetizing existing players will be “more critical than ever.”
On console alone, “Fortnite” still reigns supreme with the largest player base, with “Counter-Strike 2” coming close behind (though it’s only available on Steam). Slightly more than 20 million of “Fortnite’s” average monthly active users are on PlayStation, while around 15 million are on Xbox.
Other key findings from the report include PC gaming’s record year of units sold, premium game the second and third best-selling PC/Console games of 2025, “R.E.P.O.” and “PEAK,” beat AAA games with huge audiences, revenue and number of games released; though YouTube lost ground on PC/Console, it gained on mobile, suggesting friend group experiences are on the rise.
The definitive video game industry report across mobile, PC and console, the State of Gaming report breaks down the biggest takeaways in the industry, offering stakeholders a data-packed roadmap to an evolving industry.
Last week, Ava Max decided to break her silence on what’s been happening behind the scenes over the past few months. After days of teasing what appeared to be the start of a new era on social media, she posted an open letter to her fans — “Avatars,” as they’re called — revealing that she’d been working on new music and, as some had suspected, that she’d left Atlantic Records, her label home of nearly a decade.
“In retrospect, I’m better off now because it taught me to stand up for what I believe in and not be afraid to speak up about what’s important to me,” she wrote. “I had to change a few things around and do what’s best for the music I want to make.”
Today, Max is speaking candidly as she looks back on the year that led her to this moment of newfound confidence. “I know what I want, and I think honestly it’s a good feeling to know what you want,” she tells Variety in the lobby of her new apartment building in Los Angeles, just two days before the arrival of her new single “Kill It Queen.” “And that is a beautiful place to be in. When you wake up, it makes you excited about life. Indecision was what was stressing me out before. Being stuck, you know?”
Max is lighting the fuse on the next phase of her career with a new team that she refers to as her “wolf pack.” On Wednesday, she released “Kill It Queen,” the first offering from her upcoming fourth album, due later this year. She partnered with ArtistPG, reuniting her with former Atlantic executive Mike Caren who fostered her early success with the imprint, and retained a new publicity team.
All of this, she says, is a welcome sea change: “They’re calling me all day and night. I’m just like, wow, they’re more excited maybe than me. How is that possible?”
“Kill It Queen” is a self-empowerment anthem in a classic Max mold, a forceful pop tune that leans even harder into the towering sound of past singles. She taps into her artistic roots — her mother sang opera back in Albania — and embraces her falsetto, something she honed with Eric Vetro, the gold standard of vocal coaches (clients include Ariana Grande and John Legend). The track is produced by Arthur Besna and Sam Martin, collaborators who have been working with Max on her next single and album.
She’s aware of the recurring online discourse that she should try something other than the explosive sound of her past singles. It only made her play into it more. “Something struck a chord. I’m like no. I love pop music. I love making pop records. Why would I leave that just because I wasn’t supported last year and I had a team that didn’t see me?” she says. “That’s why I restructured everything. I left my record label. I love all those people but they weren’t the right fit because someone who doesn’t see the beauty in pop music is not the right person for me to work with.”
Max is touching on one of the most challenging periods of her career. When she released her third studio album, “Don’t Click Play,” last August, she felt immobilized. The pop singer, whose hit singles “Sweet But Psycho” and “Kings & Queens” have more than three billion Spotify streams between them, had been trying different managers on a trial basis, but none of them were sticking. At the end of 2023, she split with Cirkut, her longtime producer and boyfriend, who started dating her co-writer Madison Love, and was left with a lingering sense of distrust. Ultimately, she felt isolated from Atlantic, the engine behind her success since she signed in 2016.
Max noticed a shift in her standing with Atlantic not long after her debut album “Heaven & Hell” was released in 2020. She recalls, for instance, that they wanted her to adjust her sound and get rid of her signature “Max Cut” hairstyle. “It was an energy shift,” she says. “It was almost like, ‘OK, we’re leaving her on her own.’ That’s how it felt. And I just knew something had to change, but I couldn’t change right away.” (Max pauses while discussing this chapter in her life to air out her black tee: “I’m like dripping sweat.”)
“Don’t Click Play,” she says, was entirely her vision. She did it all without her A&R, who “wasn’t answering my calls.” It arrived with a question mark — was the album actually dropping when she said it would? — and after it ultimately did release on time, it was followed by the postponement and subsequent cancellation of her second headlining tour. The stress of it all took a physical toll. She developed headaches and vertigo, and knew something had to change. She met with Atlantic and they mutually decided to part ways. “At the end of the day, we respected each other,” she says, describing it as a “grown-up breakup.” “We kind of came to the agreement, like we’re better off without each other.”
The next day, she called Caren to get the ball rolling on her next era. “He signed me in the beginning when no one cared about me. He taught me a lot at the time and he brought me in and I got so excited because I was working in the studio every single day and we were creating the sound,” she says. “He tells me the truth. And I like people who are honest and upfront. That’s important to me.”
Max is stepping into 2026 with a concept. She has the visual identity of the project mapped out — think Galliano and Westwood, more high fashion but “circus freak” with a theatrical bent. She’s working on new music and securing features. And while there’s no concrete timeline that she’s ready to share, she’s conceptualizing a new tour that she promises will follow.
Performing, says Max, will always be the priority. She didn’t always have dreams of becoming a pop star — she just wanted to connect with people as an entertainer. “I want to be out there. I want to see the fans. I want to perform,” she says. “I want to do everything 10 times better than I’ve ever had… I also want to feel reborn in this era. Dig this girl up. Find her again, and go bigger and better.”
Kevin O’Connor sits down with former Denver Nuggets GM Calvin Booth for an unfiltered look inside team building, executive strategy and the realities of finding success in the NBA. How did he manage the team during their championship run?
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Booth also shares candid reflections on his relationship with former head coach Michael Malone, insights on sustaining a championship window and his philosophy behind drafting players and developing talent.
(1:11) Keys to building a championship team
(10:06) Bruce Brown’s development
(11:30) Jokic’s growth in Denver
(16:30) Nuggets post-championship
(31:33) Friction between Booth & Malone
(40:43) What would Booth do differently looking back?
(49:42) Is Denver on the path to a dynasty?
(52:18) College basketball landscape & impact on Draft
(1:03:53) Overrated traits & underrated players
Nikola Jokic #15 of the Denver Nuggets looks on against the Golden State Warriors in the second half of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on February 22, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
When Ohio State linebacker Arvell Reese showed up to his NFL scouting combine media availability on Wednesday morning, the nameplate at his podium said his first name was “Vell.”
That surprised him.
“No, no, no. You can stick with Arvell,” Reese said at the podium, via Chat Sports.
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What’s clear is that all NFL fans who don’t know Reese’s name will soon, and probably by the end of the week.
In an NFL Draft that only has one quarterback expected to go in the first few picks, Reese might end up as the second overall pick off the board after Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Reese’s athleticism, versatility and production is going to appeal to teams in the top five. Reese said Wednesday that he has already met with the Jets, who have the second pick of the draft. Interviews at the combine do not tip off that a player will go to a certain team, but it also shouldn’t be a surprise that teams selecting in the first few picks of the draft want to get to know Reese better. He’s one of the most intriguing talents in the draft.
Arvell Reese said he prefers to be outside linebacker or an edge defender in the NFL. (Photo by Zach Bolinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Reese played all over Ohio State’s front seven last season, and the Buckeyes’ defense led FBS by allowing only 9.3 points per game. Reese would play off-ball linebacker but also line up on the edge in pass-rushing situations. That’s similar to Micah Parsons’ role at Penn State. Reese has said he has been asked where he wants to play.
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“I’ll tell them outside linebacker, or edge,” Reese said.
That makes sense, because edge rushers have a lot more value in the NFL. Reese said he was on the edge about 60% of the time last season, and he has room to grow as a full-time edge player. He had only 6.5 sacks last season, mostly because he wasn’t rushing all the time.
“I haven’t even scratched the surface of what really I can do pass rushing,” Reese said.
This week could be big for Reese. He talked about needing to get better at many parts of his game, but the athleticism is pretty easy to see on tape. Reese said he’s doing all the drills at the combine, including all edge drills and all linebacker drills, and while he doesn’t have a goal for his 40-yard dash time, “I just want to make sure I run fast.”
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He should do well during the drills and if he does, he will be in the mix to be a top-three pick with other edge defenders like Miami’s Rueben Bain Jr. and Texas Tech’s David Bailey. While Reese’s versatility at Ohio State says a lot about him as a football player, there will be some projection for teams at the top of the draft because he wasn’t full time at any one position. But the raw ability should make for an easy transition, and a high spot in the draft.
“I think I have a lot to get better at, at outside linebacker and edge, as far as pass rushing and coverage, but I think I can adapt to it quick, for sure,” Reese said.
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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Griffin’s viral blasts: Super prospect Konnor Griffin, 19, fueled the hype machine on Tuesday by hitting two titanic blasts out of “Fenway South” during the Pirates’ spring training win over the Red Sox. Get to know the name, folks. Scouts are calling him the best hitting prospect in at least a decade.
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🏒 Near-record viewership: 20.7 million viewers tuned in for Team USA’s gold-medal victory over Canada on Sunday, making it the second-most watched hockey game ever on NBC. Only 2010’s gold-medal game drew a larger audience (27.6 million).
⚽️ Survive and advance: Bodø/Glimt (over Inter Milan), Atlético Madrid (over Club Brugge), Newcastle United (over Qarabag) and Bayer Leverkusen (over Olympiacos) advanced to the Champions League Round of 16 after winning their playoffs.
🇺🇸 Another medal for Helly: Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his outstanding play in the gold-medal game from President Trump, who welcomed the men’s hockey team to the Capitol for Tuesday’s State of the Union.
🏈 “America’s Game” on the move? The Army-Navy game, played annually in mid-December, may move up a couple weeks so that it would count towards the conference title race and potential CFP inclusion. It would also give the playoff more scheduling wiggle room as it prepares for expansion.
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🏒 Back in action: NHL resumes play
(Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
The 2025-26 NHL regular season resumes tonight after a 19-day break for the Winter Olympics. Eight games are scheduled for the return, marking the start of a critical push toward the March 6 trade deadline.
Eastern Conference: Parity, or “competitive balance,” as commissioner Gary Bettman calls it, is alive and well this season. That’s especially true in the East, where 15 of 16 teams have a points percentage over .500. Get it together, Rangers! You’re ruining the whole vibe.
(Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
Western Conference: The West is home to the Stanley Cup favorites (Avalanche) and three of the top four Hart Trophy contenders in Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon (-225 at BetMGM), San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini (+325) and Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (+850). The only other serious contender is Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (+550).
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⚾️ Mount Rushmore of homers
Maz heads toward home plate after his historic blast. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)
In the wake of Pirates legend Bill Mazeroski’s recent passing, we felt it prudent to honor his iconic World Series walk-off with its rightful place on the Mount Rushmore of MLB home runs.
The top four: Maz’s World Series clincher sits alongside three other homers that, in our humble opinion, represent the most iconic in the game’s 150-year history.
Bill Mazeroski (1960): World Series, Game 7 … The first walk-off homer to win the Fall Classic, and still the only one to come in Game 7, gave the Pirates their first championship in 35 years. The light-hitting second baseman went on to make the Hall of Fame for his glove, but will always be remembered for his blast against Yankees reliever Ralph Terry.
Bobby Thomson (1951): The Shot Heard ‘Round the World … Thomson’s Giants trailed the crosstown Dodgers by 13 games on Aug. 11 before finishing the season on a 37-7 run to tie them on the last day, forcing a best-of-three playoff for a spot in the World Series. Thomson’s walk-off, three-run shot against Ralph Branca in Game 3 triggered an all-time great call from Russ Hodges: “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!”
Joe Carter (1993): Touch ’em all, Joe! … The only other World Series-clinching walk-off home run came in Game 6, where Carter turned a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 victory over the Phillies for Toronto’s second straight title. A quick shoutout to this Blue Jays lineup, which featured three future Hall of Famers in Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar.
Hank Aaron (1974): No. 715 … Babe Ruth’s record of 714 home runs stood for nearly four decades before Hammerin’ Hank hit No. 715. Naturally, Vin Scully was on the call:
“What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.”
An illustration of Ruth “calling his shot.” (Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images)
*The Babe’s legendary “called shot” in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series would have probably made it on Mount Rushmore if not for the mystery surrounding its true nature. Accounts differ as to whether the Yankees slugger was calling his shot or simply pointing at the Cubs dugout to remind his opponents, who had been jawing him all game, that he still had one strike left. As they say, “print the legend.”
💯 Big numbers
(Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
⛸️ 5.4 million new followers
Figure skating gold medalist Alysa Liu has gained an astonishing 5.4 million Instagram followers since the start of the Milan Cortina Olympics, going from 211k before the Games to 5.6M as of this morning.
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The Olympics bump: Liu isn’t the only American hero to see a spike in IG followers. Jack Hughes jumped from 681k entering Sunday’s hockey finale to over 1M after his golden-goal heroics. That makes the Devils star just the third active NHL player to eclipse that mark, joining Alexander Ovechkin (1.7M) and Connor McDavid (1.4M).
⚾️ -105
Team USA has won just one of the first five World Baseball Classics, but their stacked roster has positioned them as the odds-on favorite to win the upcoming 20-team tournament (-105 at BetMGM), which begins next week.
Top contenders: Defending champion Japan (+350) and 2013 champion Dominican Republic (+425) are viewed as Team USA’s strongest competition. The only other countries with better than 50-to-1 odds are Venezuela (+900), Puerto Rico (+2000) and Mexico (+2000).
(Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images)
⚽️ 16 Americans
Atlético Madrid midfielder Johnny Cardoso’s beautiful strike in Tuesday’s win over Club Brugge made him the 16th American to score a goal in the Champions League.
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The full list: Christian Pulisic is the leader (12 goals), followed by Weston McKennie (10), Ricardo Pepi (6), Folarin Balogun (5), Malik Tillman (5), DaMarcus Beasley (4), Jordan Siebatcheu (2), Tim Weah (2) Fabian Johnson (2), Jermaine Jones (2) and one each for Tyler Adams, Sergiño Dest, Maurice Edu, Jovan Kirovski, Sacha Kljestan and Cardoso.
🏀 655 appearances
UConn’s Geno Auriemma made his 655th appearance in the AP Top 25 this week, breaking a tie with Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer for the most by a head coach in the history of the women’s poll.
Huskies on fire: The defending champion Huskies (29-0), who’ve been ranked No. 1 all season, have won 45 consecutive games dating back to last February. That’s the seventh-longest streak in D-I women’s basketball history — and four of the six winning streaks with longer durations also belong to UConn.
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📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Feb. 25
The Nuggets beat the Celtics in their first meeting last month. (Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
🏀 NBA on ESPN
Tonight’s heavyweight doubleheader begins in Detroit, where the Pistons are hosting the Thunder in a battle of first-place teams (7:30pm ET). Then it’s off to Denver for a game between the second-place Celtics and fourth-place Nuggets (10pm).
Title contenders: OKC (+135 at BetMGM), Denver (+550), Boston (+1200) and Detroit (+1200) are four of the five betting favorites to win the NBA championship.
🏒 NHL on TNT
The NHL’s first post-Olympics doubleheader is a doozy, with the first-place Lightning hosting the Maple Leafs (7:30pm) and the first-place Golden Knights visiting the Kings (10pm).
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Team USA on display: Four gold-medal winning Americans are set to take the ice tonight, including Team USA captain Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs). The others: Jack Eichel (Golden Knights), Noah Hanifin (Golden Knights) and Jake Guentzel (Lightning).
⚽️ Champions League
The knockout playoffs conclude today with four second-leg matches featuring an array of European giants, including the reigning champions (Paris Saint-Germain) and the winningest club in tournament history (Real Madrid). The winners advance to the Round of 16.
Full slate: Atalanta (0-2) vs. Dortmund (12:45pm, Paramount+); Real Madrid (1-0) vs. Benfica (3pm, Paramount+); PSG (3-2) vs. Monaco (3pm, Paramount+); Juventus (2-5) vs. Galatasaray (3pm, CBSSN).
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More to watch:
🏀 NCAAM: No. 15 St. John’s at No. 6 UConn (7pm, NBCSN) … The Johnnies (22-5) are 15-1 in the Big East for the first time since the 1984-1985 season, when they made their most recent Final Four appearance.
🏀 NCAAW: No. 8 Michigan at No. 13 Ohio State (8pm, Peacock) … Sophomores Jaloni Cambridge (Ohio State) and Olivia Olson (Michigan) are both on the Wooden Award late midseason top 20.
⛳️ LPGA: HSBC Women’s World Championships (9:30pm, Golf) … Nine of the world’s top 10 players headline the field at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club.
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events happening in your city. Get tickets now!
⚾️ MLB trivia
(Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
Norway is one of eight countries with territory located within the Arctic Circle.
Question: Can you name the other seven?
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
(Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
I’ve viewed thousands of photographs from the Milan Cortina Olympics. There are more iconic shots… More memorable moments… But this right here is my favorite photo.
Australia’s Abbey Willcox (aerials) looks like she’s handplanting on the mountain!
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Spotify is rolling out a new feature that’s meant to make transitions in between tracks even smoother. If you’ll recall, the streaming service released the ability to create customized transitions within playlists in August last year. It gave people a way to create uninterrupted progressions and eliminate awkward silences between songs. Now, Premium users will be able to make sure the songs in their playlists flow seamlessly even further by reordering tracks based on their keys and BPM or beats per minute.
The new feature can rearrange playlists with one tap. All paying users have to do is tap Mix on one of their playlists and then tap the Edit button. From there, they can scroll down to find the Smart Reorder option. Tapping Smart Reorder will automatically rearrange songs according to their keys and BPM without users having to do anything else. They just have to click Save so that the change to their playlist takes effect.
Spotify says users have streamed over 220 hours of their mixed playlists since it introduced custom transitions last year. It also listed some of the most popular ones on the platform, including The Weeknd’s Wake Me Up transitioning into After Hours and Flo Rida’s Low into Rihann’s S&M.
Amazon is offering a new way for Alexa+ users to customize the AI assistant’s communication style. The company has introduced three personalities for Alexa+, so the assistant can adopt an attitude that is Brief, Chill or Sweet.
The Brief style will be exactly that: no small talk and no extra conversation. Chill is easygoing and seems to be inspired by caricatures of the surfer/stoner type, while the Sweet mode is almost aggressively perky and chipper. In the audio sample provided, when a user asks “Alexa, how’s it going?” the Chill voice responds, “Life’s treating me well – all systems are Zen and the digital universe is spinning in harmony.” In contrast, the Sweet one replies, “Absolutely fantastic! I’m radiating pure joy and ready to make your day incredibly amazing!”
Amazon explained that the three personality styles are based on five metrics: expressiveness, emotional openness, formality, directness and humor. The company may release additional options with different combinations of those sliding scale traits in the future.
For now, users can swap the assistant’s vibe from the Alexa app or with the spoken command, “Alexa, change your personality style.” Both approaches can also be used to swap back to the classic Alexa voice. All three personalities are available now for all Alexa+ customers.
