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?
President Donald Trump pardoned five former NFL players for various criminal convictions, including drug trafficking and perjury.
The players who received clemency were Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Joe Klecko, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon. White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson announced the decisions on social media.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” Johnson wrote in her post. “So is our nation.”
“Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances,” she added. “Mercy changes lives.”
Johnson held up the pardon document for Newton in an accompanying photo, saying that Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones personally gave the news to the two-time All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler.
Newton, who won three Super Bowl championships with the Cowboys during his 14 NFL seasons, pleaded guilty in 2001 to a federal drug trafficking charge after officers found 175 pounds of marijuana and $10,000 after searching his vehicle during a traffic stop. He was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison.
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Lewis played for the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns, winning a Super Bowl and earning All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors during his nine-year career. He was named NFL offensive player of the year in 2003 after rushing for 2,066 yards. In 2004, Lewis pleaded guilty to a conspiring to possess charge for using a cellphone to set up a drug deal. He was sentenced to four months in prison.
Klecko was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023 for his 12-year NFL career, 11 of those seasons played with the New York Jets. He pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 for lying to a federal grand jury that was investigating insurance fraud charges. Klecko served three months in federal prison.
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Henry played for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos in seven NFL seasons and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2002. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in 2009. Henry was alleged to be the “money guy” in a cocaine trafficking ring from Colorado to Montana. He was eventually sentenced to three years in federal prison, but was released from custody after two.
Cannon was the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 1960 out of LSU and was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He was selected by the Los Angeles Rams, but he played for the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders in the AFL before ending his 11-year pro career with the Kansas City Chiefs. Cannon admitted to counterfeiting in 1983 after several bad real estate investments left him in debt. He served 2 1/2 years in prison. Cannon died in 2018 at 80 years old.
HOUSTON — New Clippers guard Darius Garland stood a few feet away from the bench in street clothes attempting to blend in with the group, while coaches urged the players to keep pace with a Rockets team that was struggling out of the gates. A few minutes later, Garland shuffled over behind the stanchion, watching his team play while being interviewed by a sideline reporter. On both occasions, both during the first-quarter timeout and after, Garland’s focus was on everything happening in front of him.
The 26-year-old isn’t an imposing figure by any means; he is soft-spoken and mild-mannered by nature. But his presence could be felt. Garland represents a number of things for the new-look Clippers — the departures of James Harden and Ivica Zubac, the dismantling of one of the NBA’s hottest teams and a paradigm shift for the franchise.
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“It’s not easy,” veteran Nic Batum told Yahoo Sports after the team’s 102-95 loss to the Rockets on Tuesday. “Especially when you trade away big pieces. But the thing we got back is pretty huge as well. You still gotta do your job, but it’s going to be an adjustment for sure.”
Tuesday evening’s setting painted a quiet picture against the backdrop of a rather noisy trade deadline and season overall. The coming weeks and months — with the Clippers still under league investigation for possible cap circumvention related to Kawhi Leonard — could prove pivotal for the future course of the franchise. And over the next few days, the entire basketball world will convene at Intuit Dome for All-Star Weekend, once again thrusting this franchise into the national spotlight.
But at least for now, in the eye of the storm, basketball is their focus.
“We love to hoop,” Leonard said with a rare smile after a 19-point fourth quarter in a 105-102 win over the Rockets on Wednesday on the second night of a back-to-back in Houston. “Guys kept their heads in the game and they wanted to compete and that’s what we did. … Every win is important for us whoever we’re playing, because of the seed we’re in right now. We’ve got to move up in the rankings, try to get out of the play-in. That’s our season for us.”
Leonard’s heroics (he finished the game with 27 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals) pushed the Clippers to an impressive 3-1 record since the Feb. 5 trade deadline — a period that was supposed to mark a pivot away from previous outside expectations. Back-to-backs against the same opponent on the road are a rarity in the NBA schedule, but they allow for a team to reinforce their immediate goals. For Lue, a championship-winning coach with over 15 years of experience, roster turnover isn’t a foreign concept, and his objectives won’t change because of who is or isn’t taking the floor.
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“Just gotta get a feel for what the new guys do,” Lue said. “How they play, try to let them be themselves in the confines of what we do offensively and defensively. … Our expectations are still to win and win at a high level. Come out and compete every single night and play hard. No matter who’s on the floor.”
In terms of the new-look personnel — inserting Brook Lopez and Derrick Jones Jr. (and Kris Dunn, until Garland returns) — Los Angeles’ identity is being carved out on the defensive end. The Clippers sit fourth in defensive efficiency since the deadline, allowing just 107.3 points per 100 possessions. Extremely small sample size, yes, but there’s no reason to suggest a major dropoff at that end of the floor as the Dunn-Jones-Leonard-John Collins-Lopez group adds more games under its belt. It’s everything you could ask for in a lockdown lineup; Dunn as a physical point of attack defender; Jones and Collins as athletic passing lane disruptors; Lopez as the backline and Leonard as the end-all, be-all versatile irritant. They’re causing havoc at all levels, generating turnovers on nearly 20% of opponent possessions. The Clippers forced 39 Rockets turnovers in 48 hours. They’re pesky, annoying and in your face.
“We’re able to blitz and cause chaos,” Lue said. “Shoot the gap for steals, turn them over and get out in transition. Being physical and into bodies, protecting the paint and understanding the game plan. When we turn teams over, we’re a different team.”
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There’s a lot to be desired offensively, though. Nothing is ever guaranteed from one season to another in this league, but in the blink of an eye, the Clippers went from an emerging offensive juggernaut to this, with all due respect. A healthy Garland should help with more juice in pick-and-rolls and optimal shot creation for teammates. Bennedict Mathurin, who was part of the trade that sent Zubac to Indiana, also gives the Clippers another shot-creator, in addition to being a solid point-of-attack defender.
But the lone constant, Kawhi, is still pretty damn good. Leonard is having a renaissance campaign, the fifth-most impactful player per 100 possessions, according to the LEBRON metric, behind Nikola Jokić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Cade Cunningham — MVP candidates. Leonard is quietly posting an absurd 28/6/4 statline on the cusp of a 50-40-90 year. According to Stathead, Leonard is the only player in the NBA with those averages on that efficiency — not to mention a .619 true shooting percentage. There were reports circulating that teams made calls about his availability after the departures of Harden and Zubac but were quickly shut down. Even at 34, he’s shown to be a bona fide go-to scorer, lockdown defender and closer.
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Who knows what the Clippers’ immediate future looks like with a Leonard-Garland pairing. The decision to move on from Harden isn’t without risk, even if Los Angeles obtained a younger player who hasn’t reached his prime yet. Will this move prove to be a domino effect in attracting more talent? Again, we’re still talking about the team that sent a future Hall of Famer home in the middle of a road trip and hasn’t received a verdict on alleged financial wrongdoings.
There’s a lot going on in Clipperland right now, which makes the upcoming All-Star Weekend that much more interesting.
MILAN — This time last year, the most decorated alpine skier in history was trying to force herself to ski again. Mikaela Shiffrin was attempting to return to the slalom and giant slalom races, and found herself unable to do what she’d been doing all her life.
“I could barely even finish a run,” she recalled recently, “not because of crashing, but because when I told my body to go, it just wouldn’t.”
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Just a few months before, in November 2024, she was on her second run in Killington, Vermont, and on the cusp of capturing her 100th World Cup victory. No other alpine skier, male or female, has more than 86, and here was Shiffrin, about to break into triple digits.
But she clipped a gate midway through her run, setting off a crash that sent her pinwheeling into the slope’s netting. She doubled over in agony, unable to ward off the pain radiating through her abdomen.
“It’s honestly kind of difficult to explain what the pain felt like,” she later wrote in The Players Tribune. “But the closest I can get would probably be, it was like … not only was there a knife stabbing me, but the knife was actually still inside of me.”
She was extricated from the slope by sled, and later examinations revealed she had suffered significant abdominal injury, nearly puncturing her colon. But while her body healed, her mind continued to struggle. The diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder from the crash reverberated for months afterward as she attempted to manage the panic and fear that accompanied her return to the slopes.
Mikaela Shiffrin crashes in the giant slalom during the a Women’s World Cup event in Killington, Vermont, last November. (Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images)
(JOSEPH PREZIOSO via Getty Images)
“Everybody needs to understand with these struggles that they don’t work linearly,” Shiffrin recently said. “They don’t work in the way you think they’re going to, or expect they’re going to. … Time helps. Exposure helps. It doesn’t work to just back away from your fears, but it works to take them on in bite-sized pieces.”
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Killington isn’t the only slope that holds ghosts for Shiffrin. There’s also the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre, host of the alpine events for Beijing’s 2022 Olympics. Shiffrin went into the 2022 Games a two-time gold medalist, victorious both at Sochi (slalom) and Pyeongchang (giant slalom). But at Beijing, she failed to even finish in three of her six events, her best individual finish a ninth in Super G.
“I don’t want Beijing to be the reason that I’m scared of the Olympics. And for the past few years, it has been a little bit,” Shiffrin told Olympics.com last fall. “When Cortina comes along, we’ll just take it day by day, take it as it comes.”
She arrived at the Milan Cortina Games with as much momentum as she’s had in years. She finally managed that 100th World Cup victory in February, and since then she’s added seven more, including a victory in slalom in the Czech Republic just days before the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony. That combined success, that validation of her belief in herself, has given her a new, more optimistic mindset heading into the Games.
Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates after winning the slalom in Sestriere, Italy — her 100th World Cup victory — on February 23, 2025. (Matteo Bottanelli/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“Especially after the past two seasons, with battling a couple different pretty serious injuries, I’ve had two fairly incomplete seasons,” Shiffrin said recently. “So, to be at this point right now … heading into the Olympics, but also from the perspective of just having a really successful World Cup season, I’m really excited about that.”
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But then came the team combined ski on Feb. 10 where Shiffrin not only lost the lead Breezy Johnson staked her in the downhill but finished 15th overall in her slalom run — nearly a second behind first place. A mediocre ski from Shiffrin would have notched her and Johnson gold. Instead they dropped all the way off the podium to fourth place.
How will she rebound from the rocky start?
She has a few days, as the giant slalom is Sunday. And she also has the lessons of four years ago to fall back on.
“The one thing you can expect from the Olympics is that things are just not really going to go according to your plan,” Shiffrin said. “So you’ve got to roll with the punches and have a really good open mind.”
New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs pleaded not guilty to assault charges during an arraignment in Dedham District Court in Massachusetts on Friday.
Diggs, 32, is accused of felony strangulation or suffocation, in addition to a lesser assault and battery charge. He is alleged to have assaulted a private chef over a pay dispute at his home on Dec. 2.
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The 11-year NFL veteran was released on personal recognizance and will be due back in court April 1 for a pre-trial hearing.
Outside the courthouse, Diggs’ attorney, Mitchell Schuster, said his client was “completely innocent.”
“He is completely innocent of these false allegations,” Schuster said, via the Providence Journal. He added that full facts being revealed will “paint a very different picture.”
According to court documents filed in December, the alleged victim began working as a live-in chef for Diggs in July 2025. In November, Diggs allegedly told the chef she would not have to work during the week of Nov. 7-14 and that he needed her to vacate her room because he was having guests at his home. However, the chef believed she was still to be paid for that week because she did not request that time off.
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Diggs and the chef had been exchanging texts over the pay dispute when he allegedly entered her room on Dec. 2, became angry and then “smacked her across the face,” according to the police report. He is also alleged to have “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck.” Told that he still needed to pay her and had to sign off on the payments, Diggs said those were “lies” and he walked out of the room, the report said.
One week later, the chef returned to Diggs’ home to retrieve her belongings and was allegedly told to address the payment issue with his assistant. The assistant said Diggs asked the chef to sign a non-disclosure agreement before being paid. She refused to do so, according to the report.
The chef made a statement to police six days later, but said she did not want to press charges against Diggs, nor did she want to file a restraining order. The following week, after receiving messages from someone believed to be Diggs’ girlfriend saying involving the police wasn’t necessary, the chef decided to move forward with charges, according to the police report.
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Diggs was then charged with one felony count of strangulation or suffocation and one misdemeanor count of assault and battery, according to court documents.
The four-time Pro Bowler was originally scheduled to face arraignment on Jan. 23, but a judge granted a request by Diggs’ lawyers to postpone proceedings until February due to the receiver’s professional obligations.
In his first season with the Patriots, Diggs registered 85 receptions for 1,013 yards and 4 touchdowns, helping the team reach the Super Bowl. During his 11-year career, he has also played for the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans.
MILAN — Every four years, we casual Americans become instant experts in a whole array of winter Olympic sports. We decide we know curling strategy, we debate skiers’ lines down precipitous slopes, we instantly judge snowboarders on moves that would leave us in traction. And man, do we have thoughts on figure skating judges.
Here’s the thing, though: While the Olympians and aficionados can safely ignore pretty much all of our two weeks’ worth of blather, the opinions on figure skating judging stick.
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Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates skated the routine of their lives on Wednesday night in figure skating’s ice dance event … only to watch in horror and heartbreak as judges controversially deemed the routine of France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron a more worthy one. Chock and Bates ended up with a silver medal — a titanic achievement, of course, but a “bittersweet” one, in Chock’s words, when you think you ought to have won gold.
On CBS News, Chock called for “transparent judging” to help viewers understand what’s happening. “I think it’s also important for the skaters, that the judges be vetted and reviewed to make sure that they are also putting out their best performance,” she added, “because there’s a lot on the line for the skaters when they’re out there giving it their all, and we deserve to have the judges also giving us their all and for it to be a fair and even playing field.”
The figure skating establishment appears to be shrugging this off as just one of them skating deals, yet another in a long line of what-are-you-gonna-do judging frustrations. It’s not as egregious as the Salt Lake City skating scandal of 2002, when a French judge conceded that she’d been pressured to favor a Russian pairs duo that eventually won gold … right?
“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 International Skating Union said in a statement. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”
Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France react as they wait for the scores during the free dance competition of figure skating ice dance at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. (Chen Yichen/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images)
But the fire continues to smolder outside of figure skating’s traditional territory, and the casual fans who are getting a close look at this are asking, rightfully: Just what the heck is going on with the judging in figure skating?
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Granted, Americans come into this with no small anti-judge bias. Judging as a means of determining a victor just doesn’t sit well with most American viewers, whether it’s gymnastics, figure skating or the Westminster Dog Show.
At the risk of going full Daytona 500, in America, we don’t care much for ties, and we don’t dig on judged sports. If a tie is like kissing your sister, a judgment loss is like kissing a dog, and not even your dog. We like to settle our sporting events on the court, on the field, on the ice … and we don’t like our sports left in the hands of a faceless cabal passing irrevocable judgment.
(Yes, we have instant replay. But we don’t decide the entire Super Bowl on it.)
The issue with judging, of course, is that it’s done by judges — flawed, biased, persuadable, even manipulable human judges. The ISU has attempted a range of fixes in the wake of the 2002 scandal, from eliminating the highly imperfect and inconsistent “6.0” system to making judges’ names public to increase transparency. The ISU Judging System drills down to an element-by-element level, eliminating outliers and averaging scores,
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For the most part, the changes work, but if critics want ammunition, well … it’s there if you look at the numbers. Fournier Beaudry and Cizeron finished with 225.82 to Chock and Bates’ 224.39, a difference of 1.43 points. However, in the free dance program, the French duo totaled 135.64, while the Americans finished with 134.67. Again, extremely close, extremely debatable. But keep digging.
In scores documented by SkatingScores on Twitter, five of nine judges scored the USA duo higher than the French one in free dance. Eight of nine judges gave Chock and Bates at least 130.97 points. The lowest score for the Americans? A 129.74 … from the French judge. Hmmm.
Now, consider the French scores. All extremely strong, yes, but the strongest score? A stunning 137.45, again from the French judge. HMMMM.
Put another way: France’s Jézabel Dabois ranked the United States 7.71 points worse than the French duo. This isn’t quite an Indiana-over-Oregon-level differential, but it’s still pretty substantial. Add to that the fact that Spain actually ranked the United States’ routine third, behind France and bronze-medal winner Canada, and you can see why many U.S. fans are saying certain judges are full of merde.
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For another perspective, though, check out this data visualization by Sportico’s Lev Akabas:
The immediate point is that the French judge absolutely jobbed the Americans, yes. This sure looks like sandbagging to bring down the Americans’ overall score and help the French team to the gold. Statistically speaking, even if many of the French judge’s individual element scores were thrown out — and they were — there’s still the potential for an artificial manipulation of the final score. And when you’re talking tenths and hundredths of a point, every score matters.
But the larger point of this graph is equally relevant — bias is rampant across national borders. So much so that SkatingScores’ “Bias-O-Meter” shows that virtually every judge showed bias toward the skaters from their home countries. (Aside: The fact that a “Bias-O-Meter” even exists, and is statistically valid, shows exactly how gnarled the judging situation is in figure skating.)
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What’s the answer? Perhaps AI can handle this, assuming it doesn’t hallucinate a third skater on the ice. Perhaps a more rigid form of judge recusal — kicking out judges when a skater from their home nation is on the ice, for instance, would be a solid start. Or, hell, just go to a worldwide voting system on the phone. No way that could be manipulated, right?
The maddening aspect of all of this is that it’s welling up just as skating is enjoying a resurgence in the United States. Between the two-time gold medal-winning team, the Quad God and the Big Three, America’s Olympic figure skating looks as good as it has in decades. This isn’t the time for the sport to get mired in familiar, avoidable controversies.
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Viewers deserve better. Chock and Bates deserved better. And figure skating as a sport deserves better. That’s not a judgment, that’s straight fact.
