The Cooligans welcome former MLS head coach and analyst Giovanni Savarese for a deep dive into the 2026 MLS season. Gio shares his predictions, breakout teams to watch, and how the league continues to evolve ahead of a massive 2026 on home soil. The conversation also turns to the USMNT, as the guys assess expectations, pressure, and what success should realistically look like at the 2026 World Cup.
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Christian and Alexis then tackle the troubling racist incident involving Vinícius Júnior during Real Madrid’s clash with Benfica. They unpack how these situations are currently handled, question whether the responsibility to stop a match unfairly falls on the player experiencing abuse, and debate what meaningful structural changes could better protect players moving forward.
Finally, it’s a jam-packed Champions League recap. Folarin Balogun shines in a statement performance against Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus suffer a shocking defeat to Galatasaray, and Bodø/Glimt pull off a stunning win over Inter Milan. The boys react to all the drama, surprises, and what these results mean going forward.
Timestamps:
(6:30) – 2026 MLS preview and predictions
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(30:00) – Gio Savarese’s USMNT World Cup outlook
(39:00) – Vinicius Junior deals with racism again: time for a rule change?
(59:00) – Folarin Balogun shines in Champions League loss to PSG
(1:04:30) – Serie A teams suffer shocking Champions League losses
LIVIGNO, Italy — For about three seconds before an aerials athlete leaves the start gate, you hear something unusual for the Olympic Games.
Complete silence.
No music, no cheering, not even any chatter in the crowd.
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And then, as the skier starts down the ramp, gathering momentum for a 50-foot vertical launch, it pierces through the void and hits you straight in the eardrums.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
As ubiquitous as the drone coverage of the Milan Cortina Games was for people watching at home, rest assured they were a prominent part of the experience for those of us watching live as well. There were even times where you saw these little flying machines come out of nowhere and thought, “Jeez, aren’t they getting a little too close to the athletes?”
Fortunately, the Olympics have come and gone without any drone-related incidents.
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But as we look back and assess the Milan Cortina Games for what we’ll remember, there are three major themes likely to endure.
And one clear winner.
1. A watershed moment
In many ways, the revolutionary way drones were used at these Olympics to follow athletes through their runs, jumps and tricks — giving viewers an entirely new perspective on what it’s like to ski down a hill at 80 miles per hour or bobsled through hairpin turns — could open the door for significant changes in the way sports are shown on television going forward.
“It was amazing,” Steve Milton, CBS Sports’ lead director for golf and college football broadcasts, told Yahoo Sports in a phone interview this week from Los Angeles, where he was getting ready for the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational. “I thought it was a real watershed moment for the technology. The angles, the vistas, inside, outside, following an athlete — it’s nothing we’ve been used to, and I see it getting bolder.”
Israel’s Barnabas Szollos the men’s downhill alpine skiing event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio (Valtellina) on February 7, 2026. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)
(FABRICE COFFRINI via Getty Images)
Milton has been a pioneer in this space, pushing for more drone usage over the last several years. CBS has employed more and more of them to provide unique views in football and particularly in golf, a sport custom-made for aerial shots. They’re a big part of why CBS’ golf coverage has improved significantly in the past couple years with a far more modern, sleek presentation and the ability to show shots in ways viewers haven’t seen before.
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“We’re always trying to push the envelope,” Milton said. “For the most part, golf is better covered from the air because you can see the perspective of the player, what’s left for the second shot, what’s in the way, how far away, and even as a spectator you don’t get that perspective. We’ve had blimps for 40 years, but there’s not a lot of movement in the blimp and it’s a two-dimensional look straight down whereas a drone racing around gives you a nice 3D perspective of what the players [face].”
It says something that even for a big drone proponent, their deployment at the Olympics broke new ground. And don’t be surprised if some of the techniques used here — shots that truly make the viewer feel like they’re part of the action — get imported to American sports television.
And the reason is simple: As long as drone cameras have been around, one of the biggest obstacles to expanded usage has been what leagues will allow. That’s obviously evolved a bit over time as the drones have gotten smaller, more reliable and quieter, alleviating concerns about them interfering with a competition. And there are certainly some limiting logistical issues like local ordinances that require waivers to fly drones or the location of a nearby airport.
But every sport from the NFL to NASCAR wants their product to be presented in the most appealing way possible, and there’s no doubt they’ve taken notice, too. That could be where these Olympics will leave a lasting legacy: Now that the standard has been set for a new level of viewing experience, it’s hard to go backward.
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“Any successful use of them will make fans ask for them in more places,” Fox Sports vice president of media relations Erik Arneson said. “I think more and more leagues are open to exploring it. A few years ago, a drone crashed on a ski course and that made people hesitate a bit, but they’ve shown to be [reliable]. These aren’t hobbyists flying them. The pilots are pros so I think it’ll gradually get into some areas where it isn’t yet.”
Of course, some of the ways the drones were used in the Olympic Games are unique to these sports. And sometimes, the footage is so good it can give you motion sickness if you look at it too long. But if there’s anything from these Olympics that’s going to resonate for years to come, it’s likely to be its impact on sports television.
“We had some learning curves in the beginning, but now it’s in the fabric,” Milton said. “You kind of look different without the drones.”
2. A new model for the Winter Games
Outside of perhaps war or putting someone in outer space, there may be no greater human logistical challenge than organizing an Olympics. From housing and feeding athletes to apportioning hotel rooms to the massive transportation network required to get fans, volunteers and media members where they need to go, it is always hard to pull off and rarely goes without some snags over the course of two-plus weeks.
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Because of those challenges and how much it taxes the infrastructure of a host city, it appears the IOC is committed to changing the model of the Winter Olympics to look more like Milan Cortina in the future.
Which means an Olympics that is divided into disparate clusters without much connection to one another.
In Northern Italy, there were really four different Olympics going on at once. To get from a speedskating event in Milan to, say, a snowboarding event in Livigno, was going to require a four-hour-plus drive or an even longer series of trains and buses. A drive between Livigno and the Cortina cluster — where they held curling, women’s alpine skiing, sliding, cross-country and ski jumping — would be five or six hours through the Alps depending on conditions. And even to get between Livigno — host of the extreme sports — and Bormio —men’s Alpine and ski mountaineering — was a 90-minute crawl through a couple mountain passes despite being just 22 miles apart.
There’s never been an Olympics that scattered and disconnected.
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But this is more or less what it’s going to look like going forward. In 2030, the so-called “French Alps” Olympics look to be just as spread out if not moreso with a footprint of clusters across the lower third of France all the way down to Nice. Though the accessibility of Park City will make the return of the Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City more compact in 2034, the likely winner for the 2038 bid is a proposal by Switzerland to spread things out across the whole country.
Why?
The answer is cost and sustainability. It is difficult and expensive to build infrastructure for an event as big as the Olympics in small mountain towns and ski resorts. It’s why the IOC struggled to get traditional winter countries in Europe to even bid for awhile because asking citizens to absorb the cost was a huge political loser for those governments. (The 2022 Games was decided between Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, because everybody else dropped out.)
So, in essence, the IOC has calculated — and rightly so — that the only way you’ll get Olympics in Europe anymore is to lessen the burden on the locals by putting a few events here and a few events there. It makes sense — even if athletes and fans lose some connection to the feeling of being at a traditional Olympics. After all, for most of the world, it’s just one big TV show.
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“We want to maximize our Olympic experience as much as possible, which means getting to all of these different events and watching teams win as many medals as we can,” said U.S. aerials skier Kaila Kuhn. “I think most of us would agree we wish we could go see more events like skating or cross-country. But we’re with a lot of our buddies here, with a lot of our fellow freestyle skiers and we were super stoked to be here.”
Despite the inconveniences, the long bus rides and the inability to hop around easily from curling to hockey to halfpipe, the model worked. And it’s here to stay.
“We have had and I’ve had the opportunity to go to all venues and [Olympic] Villages across these Games and the athletes are extremely happy, and they’re happy because the experiences that the [Milan Cortina] team and my team delivered to them have been the same,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry said. “It’s part of the evaluation process after the Games where we look at it and say what worked and what didn’t work. These Games have been truly successful in a new way of doing things and a sustainable way of doing things in a way I think many people thought couldn’t be done well. It’s been done extremely well and surprised everyone’s expectations.”
3. Domestic disputes
Thanks to our way-too-online and overheated social media culture, I’m afraid we are never going to have another Olympics without Americans being at each other’s throats.
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While consuming the Olympics through the social media lens wasn’t great in 2024, it’s never been more toxic than during the two weeks of these Games, where every comment from an American athlete — even some that were pretty milquetoast — was put through the wringer until it became pellet food to satiate people’s hunger for outrage.
Here’s the reality: Every single athlete wearing the Team USA uniform was proud and honored to be here representing their country. But we also live in a country of 340 million people, and that pride in the American flag does not manifest itself the exact same way for everybody. We are a big, complicated place, and we disagree on a lot.
That’s OK.
In the immortal words of Kevin Durant after Team USA’s semifinal game in Paris two years ago: “A lot of bulls*** happens in our country. But a lot of great things happen, too.”
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Here’s another reality: For better or worse, what happens in America is a big deal in the rest of the world. And in tense times domestically like these, it’s going to be an inevitable topic at worldwide sporting events. American athletes are always going to be asked about it — more often by the international press than the American media.
If they don’t want to speak up, fine. If they do, that’s fine, too — regardless of what their opinion is. Again, we’re a big country — too big to be represented by one kind of person, one kind of thought, one kind of patriotism.
But the entire Hunter Hess experience, and those (including politicians) saying he should be sent home or didn’t deserve to wear the uniform, smacked of the kind of thought police state we should not want the Olympics to devolve into.
At the same time, expecting Team USA athletes to ignore the complexities of whatever is going on at the moment and perform a brand of paint-by-numbers patriotism that caters to either side of the political divide is unfair. It does nobody any good. It’s exhausting. And if we get to a point where a citizen of what’s supposed to be the freest and most individualistic country on Earth is afraid to be authentic lest they find their lives ruined by a social media mob, even for a few weeks, God help us.
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In the past, I have advocated for the U.S. government to fund its Olympic effort through at least some public dollars like other countries do to alleviate the financial strain on college sports. This Olympics has changed my mind because it is now easy to see what it could lead to: Politicians using their leverage to impose ideological purity tests in order to represent Team USA.
No thanks.
There should be only one goal here: Winning medals. That’s why the U.S. has always been so good at the Olympics. We compete hard, we award spots on merit and we let the chips fall where they may.
If we can’t root for Olympians we disagree with, if we descend into insults and threats because an athlete has a different worldview or expresses their patriotism differently than the way you would, it will only deepen our culture of tearing each other apart.
And if that’s the case, what’s the point of the Olympics at all?
Team USA added one more goal medal after entering the final day of the 2026 Winter Olympics with its most ever in the Winter Games, but Norway ran away with the total medal count and most gold medals.
Here’s the full list of American gold at the conclusion of the Games, in chronological order:
In total medals, the Team USA finishes 33. That leaves it one short of the record for total American medals in a single Winter Olympics, accomplished at Salt Lake City in 2002.
With one more medal in hand, the U.S. extended its lead over Italy for second place in the gold race behind Norway, which is having the best performance in the history of the Winter Olympics. USA’s total medal count of 33 also stands as second in the Games. Norway’s 18 gold medals and 41 total medals led the count in both races.
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Here’s the final medal count after Sunday’s final day of competition:
MILAN — In a world where pro athletes are coached to be as deliberately dull as possible in their public statements, the Olympics are a refreshing throwback to an era when athletes spoke their minds, damn the consequences. NFL and NBA players will spiral out cliches like “keeping the main thing the main thing” and “going 1-0 every week,” as easy as breathing … and then a Norwegian Olympic biathlete will just go right on camera and confess to cheating on his girlfriend. Just a bit of a different energy there.
Here are a few of the hundreds of classic quotes from this year’s Winter Olympics:
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“I know what my chances were before the crash, and I know my chances aren’t the same as it stands today, but I know there’s still a chance and as long as there’s a chance, I will try.”
— Lindsey Vonn, three days before the start of the Olympics, on skiing with a torn ACL suffered the prior weekend
Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych takes part in the skeleton men’s training session at Cortina Sliding Centre. (Tiziana FABI / AFP via Getty Images)
(TIZIANA FABI via Getty Images)
“I still believe that we didn’t violate any rules. From the beginning, I truly believed that it’s just the wrong interpretation by some IOC representatives.”
“I think that in some ways he understood that but was very committed to his beliefs, which I can respect. But sadly it doesn’t change the rules. And the rules were that for certain spaces — the field of play, the ceremonies, the Olympic Village — should be spaces where athletes are safe from both sides and where there is no messaging of any kind.”
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— IOC President Kirsty Coventry, on Heraskevych’s protest
“Six months ago, I met the love of my life, the most beautiful, kindest person in the world. And three months ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life and cheated on her, and I told her about it a week ago.”
“There’s something so unique and beautiful about skating … it’s the best sport. But don’t tell the other sports.”
— Madison Chock, Team USA ice dancer
“I don’t want to be in life without my dad, and today was maybe the first time I could actually accept this.”
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— Team USA skier and gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin, immediately after winning her first Olympic medal since 2018, on her father, who passed away in 2020,
“Every day training is exhausting because everyone’s so good. I’m getting my ass handed to me every day.”
— AJ Hurt, Team USA slalom/giant slalom skier
“F*** off.”
— Canadian curler Marc Kennedy to Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson after accusations that Canada cheated during their curling match.
“I really want to enjoy this with my family and friends. It’s my last Games and my final season, and you always just want to hug your mum after the finish, no matter how it goes.”
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— Team USA cross-country skier Jessie Diggins
“It’s a fight between the slope and you. Who is stronger?”
— Italian downhill skier Dominik Paris
Ilia Malinin reacts aftrer finishing his free skate, where he fell from the top of the leaderboard to completely off the podium. (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller’s son, River Walter Schwaller, reaches for curling stones after Switzerland won the curling men’s round robin bronze medal game. (Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images)
(STEFANO RELLANDINI via Getty Images)
“For us this was just enjoying family time. We didn’t realize that the cameras were there and that it would go viral. Things happened, and I guess he’s the ‘curling baby’ now.”
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— Swiss curler Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann after son River caught social media’s eye after a match
“Norway taught me how to be an athlete, how to brave the cold. Brazil taught me how to be myself.”
“After those five seconds of running, you’re some combination of an F1 driver, a boxer and a Buddhist monk trying to stay calm while everything is processing at 140 kilometers an hour.”
— Israeli skeleton athlete Jared Firestone on the challenges of his sport
“We have a tendency to want to film it all, but put the phone down and really absorb it in, emotionally. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
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— Team USA freestyle skier Nick Goepper on the Olympic experience
“I’m looking at my team and maybe someone needs to be dismissed because I’m not aware of that.”
— IOC President Kirsty Coventry, in a press conference, when asked about a report that the head of Russia’s 2014 anti-doping agency was in fact involved in that country’s widespread doping scheme
“He had his arm around my mom. Like, get out of here. This is wild. I think Coach Mom was helping Snoop out, telling him all about curling.”
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— Team USA curler Korey Dropkin on Snoop Dogg hanging with his mother
“He sent me a very long and well-written email [wishing me good luck]. His text messages are better than my high school and college papers.”
— Team USA freestyle skier Birk Irving on his grandfather, novelist John Irving.
“I don’t know how it is to be in third place here, because I’m normally either out or first.”
— Italian skier Dominik Paris after winning bronze in men’s downhill
“This was now my seventh summer owning and operating a window-cleaning business in Steamboat [Colorado]. It’s the perfect place for it. There’s tons of rich people that don’t want to clean their windows.”
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— Team USA’s Cody Winters on how he funded his snowboarding
“I should tattoo the whole track and then put a red cross over it. I’ll put it on my back or something. Me and Milano Cortina, we just don’t speak the same language, and we don’t like each other.”
— Polish luge athlete Mateusz Sochowicz
“The Olympics is a beast stronger than me, I just don’t have it.”
— Italian snowboarder Roland Fischnaller, who has appeared in seven Winter Games without medaling
“If you’re going through hell, you keep walking, because you don’t want to just sit around in hell. And sometimes when you keep going, maybe you’ll make it back to the top.”
“At the third turn I thought, ‘Oh s**t, what am I doing? Come on, Emma’.”
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— German alpine skier Emma Aicher on her thoughts to herself during a downhill race where she would go on to win silver.
“Push hard, drive fast, see what happens at the bottom. It’s pretty basic.”
— Team USA bobsledder Kaillie Armbruster Humphries on her strategy.
“What I yearn for most is a worthy opponent … then I have a reason to be better every day. There’s no better feeling than being a better person today than you were yesterday.”
— American-born, Chinese-competing Eileen Gu after winning silver in women’s freeski slopestyle
“I have so much anxiety but thankfully, I have matcha.”
— Team USA snowboarder Chloe Kim
“Honestly, it bores me. I try to concentrate on skiing or something else just to avoid getting lost in the woods.”
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— Italian biathlete Michela Carrara on focus during competition
“If I’m competing in the Salt Lake Games, it might be a medical miracle.”
— Team USA bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor on her Olympic future.
“Just to throw one rock would be the greatest. It would be the greatest moment in my life. My kids know it and my wife knows it, so they’re not going to be mad at me for saying it wasn’t my wedding day.”
— Team USA curler Richard Ruohonen on making his Olympic debut at 54, becoming the oldest American Winter Olympian ever. (He would indeed make an appearance.)
Maxim Naumov with a picture of his parents as he awaits his score after performing his routine during the figure skating men’s singles. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Getty Images)
(Tim Clayton via Getty Images)
“I wanted them to sit in the kiss and cry with me and experience the moment, look up at the scores. They deserve to be sat right next to me, like they always have been.”
“Sometimes you just need a reminder. You’re so focused on where you want to go that you forget how far you’ve already come.”
— Canadian skier Riley Seger on falling short in the men’s super G
“[I was] dying. I had pain everywhere in my body. My stomach was hurting so much, and my legs too. It was difficult to ski because it was getting icy. And also my vision was getting darker and more narrow. It was hell.”
— French biathlete and silver medallist Lou Jeanmonnot, describing her final lap of the 15km individual
“For 10 months everybody was asking, ‘Are you racing in Milano Cortina?’ I didn’t know. I was not able to walk and didn’t know if I was going to ski ever again.”
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— Italy’s Federica Brignone, who overcame catastrophic injury to win gold in the women’s super G.
“The Olympics are huge and I was nervous. I can usually sleep before a game and I could not sleep. We are good at what we do, but we feel like kids at this tournament.”
— Team Canada’s Nathan MacKinnon
“I think his honest opinion is to pick Johannes on the first leg, Johannes on the second leg, Johannes on the third leg and Johannes on the fourth leg.”
— Norway cross-country skier Einar Hedegart on teammate (and six-time gold-medal winner) Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo’s fantasy Norway’s men’s 4 x 7.5km relay team
“It was the hardest 45 minutes. I ate my fingers, I think.”
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— Polish speed skater Vladimir Semirunniy on the long wait to see how his time in the men’s 10000m would stand up; he won silver
“The emotion I’m feeling right now is an internal sun inside of me that is shining so bright and towards so many people. It is the very light that brought me the power to be the fastest in the world today and to become an Olympic champion.”
— Brazilian giant slalom gold medallist Lucas Pinheiro Braathen after winning the country’s first-ever Olympic Winter Games medal
“You have to get to this mental state where you’re basically a racehorse. You need to have horse blinders on and be calm because you’re trying to do the most ballistic, violent running anyone’s ever done, and, yet, it’s very technical.”
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— Canadian bobsledder Mike Evelyn on how to push start a bobsled
“Probably the pub.”
— Great Britain’s Matt Weston on plans after winning mixed team skeleton gold
“If you get intimidated, you shouldn’t be playing pro hockey.”
— Czechia’s Radko Gudas on playing Canada in men’s ice hockey
“Having a medal at the Olympic Games is completely different from not having one.”
— Japanese speed skater Ayano Sato after a bronze medal in the women’s team pursuit
“I told myself I did not want to buy one, I wanted to earn one.”
— Chinese speed skater Zhongyan Ning on obtaining sold-out stuffed Milano-Cortina mascot; he got one by winning bronze in the men’s team pursuit
“I had to show up today and believe I could do it, look at [Johannes Hoesflot] Klaebo’s butt and lock in and follow that to the finish line.”
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— Team USA cross-country skier Gus Schumacher on how he won silver in the men’s team sprint free event
“I became famous with a dog that came across the finish line and everyone wants to interview me now. It is the first time I have given any interviews.”
— Greek cross-country skier Konstantina Charalampidou after meeting a dog named Nazgul at the finish line during team sprint qualifying.
A dog wanders on the ski trail during the women’s team cross country free sprint qualification event. (Photo by Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP via Getty Images)
(ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT via Getty Images)
[No comment.]
— Nazgul the Dog
“We are really proud of what we did, because we knew that, on paper, we would be able to reach the medal, but then on snow it’s not exactly like on paper.”
— Italian cross-country skier Federico Pellegrino after winning bronze in team sprint
“That’s what we’re going to remember when we get old. It’s not necessarily the physical gold medal, but it’s the gold medal of memories. And we had thousands and thousands of them these past weeks and months.”
— Norwegian biathlete Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen
“I tried. I dreamt. I jumped.”
— Lindsey Vonn, in an Instagram posting following her catastrophic downhill injury
Team USA center Jack Hughes scored the team’s overtime goal, exchanging his knocked-out tooth for a gold medal. Team USA goalie Connor Hellebuyck saved 41 of the 42 shots he faced.
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Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn, Apolo Ohno and Mikaela Shiffrin expressed their support for Team USA’s hockey team on social media.
Super Bowl champions Tom Brady, Jason Kelce and Kurt Warner, and current NFL players George Kittle and J.J. McCarthy were also watching the game.
Phoenix Suns Devin Booker got up early to tune in as welll, while Indiana Pacers Tyreese Haliburton shouted out Hellebuyck’s performance.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Since joining the Southeastern Conference, the Texas Longhorns have taken the league by storm.
In two years, they’ve won all four team titles in swimming and diving.
Texas was the biggest change to the league in 2025, and although it once again swept the championships, the SEC looked different in 2026.
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The meet was defined by a lack of COVID-19 fifth-years, new roster limits, top-end speed and a new event schedule.
Here are the main takeaways from this year’s SEC swimming and diving championships:
Texas cements itself as the kings and queens of the SEC
A year ago Texas took over the SEC in the pool and on the boards. In 2026, the Longhorns pulled off another sweep, winning both the men’s and women’s title.
The scariest part: The squad from Austin still had room to improve.
The Texas men left no doubt, holding down first place from the start. The women’s meet was close through three days of competition, but the Longhorns’ elite depth proved to be too much for the rest of the conference.
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The Texas men are the blueblood in collegiate swimming. With 16 national championships to their name, the Longhorns have been title contenders for the past four decades. They have also won 28 consecutive Big 12 titles, which is every single year of the league’s existence until they left for the SEC. It’s no surprise they have taken over the conference.
Hubert Kos’ SEC performance encapsulated the dominance of the Texas men. The 2024 Olympic 200-meter backstroke gold medalist won two of his three events. His most impressive feat is that he swam two championship finals on Saturday night and won gold in the 200-yard IM and silver in the 200-yd backstroke, with only about 45 minutes of rest between the two swims.
To put it simply, Texas has the talent of a pro roster. Whether it’s young stars or veteran leadership the Texas men have it.
On the women’s side the Longhorns were fueled by the pure depth of the roster.
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Campbell Stoll and Angie Coe both won two of their three events. Stoll swept the 100-yd and 200-yd butterfly while Coe swept the 200-yd and 400-yd IM’s.
The Longhorns freshman and sophomore classes reinforced the team’s strengths and were a major factor in their seven wins this week.
“Great competition, a lot of fun…this environment brings out the best in our team,” Texas women’s head coach Carol Capitani said after the meet.
Texas will now set its sights on the NCAAs in March where the women look to compete for another top-three finish and the men look to repeat as national champions.
Florida’s Josh Liendo chases history in the 100-yd butterfly
He’s a 19-time All-American, two-time Olympian, and, as of this week, an 18-time SEC champion.
Liendo stole the show at this year’s SEC championships. After winning his fourth straight 100-yd butterfly and first 50-yd freestyle title this week, Liendo has cemented himself as one of the most successful swimmers in SEC history.
He swam the 100-yd butterfly in 43.06 seconds, the second fastest of all time behind Caeleb Dressel. That morning he swam the fastest preliminary time in history in 43.26 seconds.
Liendo has broken SEC records, posted the fastest splits in history, and led relays to multiple NCAA championships in NCAA record fashion. However, he has never broken an individual NCAA record.
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Still eluding Liendo is what many considered an untouchable record. Dressel holds the national record in the 100-yd butterfly at 42.80 seconds. Achieving that mark would move Liendo into the top tier of all-time collegiate swimmers.
Liendo ended his SEC career on a low note, falling to LSU’s Jere Hribar in the 100-freestyle final, spoiling his perfect week. Hribar’s win was the breakout swim of the meet, stealing the gold, posting the fastest time in the country this year and breaking Liendo’s SEC meet record.
Regardless, all eyes will be on Liendo come March. The senior will be the focal point of the NCAA championships, and he has a chance to become one of the most recognizable names in collegiate swimming history.
Tennessee women find success a year ahead of schedule
As the final race came to a close, Texas wasn’t the only team celebrating its week in Knoxville.
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The Tennessee Lady Volunteers left their home pool with smiles on their faces and momentum on their side. The Lady Vols have only two seniors on the roster, and were able to jump up to second in the team standings after a third-place finish in 2025.
Camille Spink dominated the sprints, sweeping the 50-yd, 100-yd and 200-yd freestyle for the second year in a row. She won the 50-yd freestyle in SEC meet record fashion, becoming the sixth woman to ever break 21 seconds, stopping the clock at 20.87.
Spink is now the fourth-fastest performer of all time in the 50-yd free and fifth fastest in the 100-yd freestyle.
“Nobody does it like a Tennessee Vol,” Spink said in her postrace interview after winning her third straight SEC 50-yd freestyle title.
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Tennessee won three of the five relays and set two SEC conference records in the process in the 200-yd and 400-yd medley relays. Japanese Olympian Mizuki Hirai, junior world record holder in the 100-meter butterfly, was the catalyst Tennessee needed for championship season.
Tennessee has the No. 1 signing class arriving next fall and the Lady Vol sophomore class stacked up 12 medals this week, including two individual golds. With only two seniors graduating in 2026, the Lady Vols are set up for success in the near future.
A new era of SEC swimming and diving has arrived
SEC records were falling throughout the week, but one of the biggest takeaways from the week was the way the depth of the conference fluctuated in 2026.
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The meet saw success by a new wave of freshmen and sophomores, noted by Capitani in her postmeet interview on ESPN. The field was young and extremely talented, but also inexperienced.
There was no lack of speed from the top-end talent in Knoxville, but the overall conference depth took a hit in 2026.
In the men’s 400-yd IM, it took a time of 3:52.26 to get a second swim in the finals session. In 2025, swimmers had to be 3:47.63 to be in the top 24. That’s a 4.63-second difference year-over-year.
The men’s 50-yd freestyle field was impressive, which saw nine men break the 19-second barrier. However, the majority of events saw that times for 24th place were slower than a year ago.
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That raises the question: Why? There are a number of factors. In the past year, men’s rosters in the SEC were limited to 22 and teams were forced to cut a significant chunk of their rosters. This means smaller training groups, less margin for error and less depth on a team-by-team basis.
Additionally, the SEC reordered the event lineup for the meet in 2026, changing the flow of a typical swimming and diving championship meet event order.
The final factor could be the turnover in athletes. Last year was the final time COVID-19 fifth-year swimmers dominated finals, as the majority of the class that were freshman in 2022 aged out of college athletics.
Overall, there are a lot of moving parts in non-revenue sports, and the SEC experimented in many different ways in 2026.
MILAN — They gathered on the ice, two dozen of the best hockey players the United States has ever produced, all of them with wide smiles on their faces and gold medals around their necks having just beaten Canada 2-1 in an overtime thriller. They carried the American flag with them, but they carried something else, too: a Team USA jersey emblazoned with the No. 13 on the back, the name of Johnny Gaudreau embroidered along the shoulders.
And then Matthew Tkachuk and Zach Werenski went to the stands and hoisted up Gaudreau’s two oldest children, Noa and Johnny Jr., and brought them out onto the ice. In that perfect moment, all of American hockey smiled through tears.
“To have Johnny and Noa out there,” Dylan Larkin said afterward, “it just felt right.”
Team USA pose for a team photo with Johnny Gaudreau’s children after beating Canada in the gold-medal game. (Andrea Branca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
(Eurasia Sport Images via Getty Images)
Johnny Gaudreau was one of the best hockey players of his generation, a prolific scorer, seven-time All-Star and member of the NHL’s Quarter Century Team. On the night of Aug. 29, 2024, he and his brother Matthew were riding bikes near Oldmans Township, N.J. It had been a good day; they were in town for their sister Katie’s wedding the next day. But around 8:00 p.m., the two were struck by a car making an illegal pass. The brothers were pronounced dead at the scene, and the driver was charged with vehicular homicide.
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Gaudreau’s death devastated the hockey world, including so many members of Team USA. “We miss him on the ice dearly,” Brady Tkachuk said. “He would have been on this team.”
Throughout its international competitions over the past two years, Team USA has brought along a Gaudreau jersey as motivation, inspiration and comfort. The No. 13 jersey hung in American locker rooms during the 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2025 IIHF World Championships, a testament to Gaudreau’s love of international hockey.
Just prior to the start of the Olympics, Gaudreau’s family released a statement noting just how much he would have loved to be a part of these Games.
“In that final summer, John was training harder than ever, with his dad, pushing himself to be in the best shape of his life,” the family wrote in a statement. “He was determined to earn his spot on that Olympic roster. While it breaks our hearts that John won’t be there to live out that dream, we know he will be so very present with Team USA and all of his close friends competing throughout these games.”
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Larkin laughed that maybe the Gaudreau brothers were here in some way after all, helping Team USA on a spiritual level. “Somehow,” he said, “they put a spell around our net where the puck didn’t go in.”
Members of the Gaudreau family, including Johnny’s widow Meredith, parents Guy and Jane, and 10-month-old son Carter, have attended the last two United States hockey games. Cameras captured them in the crowd Sunday in tearful celebration.
“He’s touched everybody on the ice, everybody in Team USA’s lives,” Brady Tkachuk said. “We just wanted to show the Gaudreau family our support. He was so near and dear to a lot of us.”
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“We miss him and we love him and we love his family,” Larkin said. “We can’t wait to celebrate with them.”
Add in there: “He’s had a big impact on a lot of guys in our room. A lot of guys grew up with him, played with him, spent a lot of time with him,” said Team USA captain Auston Matthews said, adding that the jersey was “just a subtle reminder that him and his brother, they’re with us in spirit.”
Nothing will replace Johnny and Matt Goudreau in the lives of all who loved them. But thanks to Team USA, his children will have a treasured memory honoring their father. And thanks to the gold medal win, his memory will live on as long as there’s American hockey.
The countdown to Super Bowl LX continues, as the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots prepare for the big game, with kickoff set for Sunday, February 8, at 6:30 p.m. ET from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
The teams unveiled their Super Bowl uniforms on Thursday. While the Patriots will technically be the “home” team, they’ll be wearing white jerseys, just as they have in their past four Super Bowl appearances. New England will pair those road jerseys with white pants, a combination it hasn’t lost with this season. Seattle, meanwhile, is going all-navy.
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Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is listed as questionable in the team’s initial injury report for the Super Bowl on February 8. Maye did not participate in Friday’s practice because of an illness, one day after he was limited on Thursday with a right shoulder injury. Head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters that he’s not worried about Maye’s throwing shoulder.
“I’m feeling good,” Maye repeated at the time. “Going to get some extra rest. I really don’t think it was from the game, but just the build-up from throwing — this is, what, including training camp, 30 weeks straight of throwing, four days a week. It can add up. I got some extra rest, and I’m feeling good and ready to go for the Super Bowl.”
Meanwhile, the head-coaching searches for the Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals are still going, with those teams now able to pursue additional interviews with candidates from the staffs of the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams, now that they’ve been eliminated from postseason contention. The Bills promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach, while the Browns hired Todd Monken, previously the OC for the Baltimore Ravens.
Follow along with Yahoo Sports for the latest NFL news, injury updates and more leading up to Super Bowl 60.
Live coverage is over24 updates
Criss Partee
A 4.3-magnitude earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area at 7:01 a.m. on Monday. The quake was centered in San Ramon, California, which is in the East Bay and roughly 40 miles northeast of Santa Clara and Levi’s Stadium, where Super Bowl LX will be played on Sunday.
Criss Partee
On the ground as the New England Patriots arrive in the Bay Area for Super Bowl LX. The Patriots will be attempting to win the franchise’s seventh Lombardi trophy, which will break the current tie with Pittsburgh for the most in the NFL.
This matchup is also a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, which New England won, 28-24.
Criss Partee
The Seattle Seahawks have taken head coach Mike MacDonald’s words and turned them into a t-shirt that players were wearing on their way to Santa Clara, California, for Super Bowl LX.
During the victory celebration on the field after winning the NFC championship, MacDonald’s response to being an afterthought was “we did not care,” and now the team is running with it.
Coming into the 2025 campaign and for much of it, most had overlooked the Seahawks in favor of the Rams and 49ers in the NFC West. Seattle proved everyone wrong and defeated both the Rams and the Niners in the postseason to advance to the Super Bowl. The Seahawks are on a nine-game winning streak entering the Super Bowl and have beaten the Rams and 49ers twice each during this run.
Tarohn Finley
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is listed as questionable in the team’s initial injury report for the Super Bowl on February 8. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said Maye would’ve practiced today if he weren’t sick.
The missed practice comes one day after Maye was limited on Thursday because of a right shoulder injury.
“We’ve had a lot of guys over the last month, six weeks here, with illness,” Vrabel told reporters. “So, again, just trying to do what’s best for the player and the team. I’m trying to take care of guys — don’t spread anything.”
In his four seasons as GM, the Vikings made the playoffs twice, including last season when Sam Darnold led them to 14 wins. Believing in J.J. McCarthy, who was back after tearing his meniscus as a rookie, Minnesota let Darnold walk in free agency.
Darnold signed with the Seattle Seahawks and has them in the Super Bowl.
Longtime Vikings executive Rob Brzezinski will lead the team’s football operations through the 2026 NFL Draft.
All eyes are on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye — specifically his throwing shoulder.
He’s been listed as “limited” on New England’s past two injury reports. On Friday, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the second-year signal-caller wasn’t present for the portion of practice open to the media.
That snippet of practice is just stretching and field-goal work, per Reiss.
Ian Casselberry
The Atlanta Falcons added to their revamped front office, hiring Ian Cunningham as their new general manager on Thursday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reports.
Cunningham, 40, previously interviewed for the Falcons’ president of football position. With his experience in college scouting and player personnel, his responsibilities alongside Matt Ryan, who was hired in that president role, and new head coach Kevin Stefanski, seem apparent.
For the past three years, Cunningham has been the Chicago Bears’ assistant general manager under Ryan Poles. His front office NFL career began in 2008 with the Baltimore Ravens, working as a personnel assistant before advancing to area scout during his eight years.
Mike Vrabel told reporters on Thursday that Williams’ treatment is going well, and that Williams will travel with the team to the Super Bowl, according to The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed.
Linebackers coach Zak Kuhr has called defensive plays in Williams’ absence.
Yahoo Sports Staff
Chris Cwik
The Las Vegas Raiders are inching closer to making a decision on their next head coach. The team will reportedly interview Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak over the weekend, with one candidate believing Kubiak is the favorite to land the job, per ESPN.
Kubiak, 38, has interviewed with at least two NFL teams this offseason.
Kubiak is considered a strong head-coaching candidate after leading the Seahawks to a third-place finish in points scored in 2025. He’s also served as an offensive coordinator with the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints before joining the Seahawks in 2025.
If Kubiak is hired by the Raiders, he would likely get the chance to work with Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Until that happens, Kubiak will focus on preparing the Seahawks to take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIX.
Chris Cwik
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen is still battling a foot issue following the team’s divisional round loss to the Denver Broncos.
Allen appeared at a team press conference Thursday, in which the Bills announced former offensive coordinator Joe Brady as its next head coach. Allen was spotted using crutches and wearing a walking boot on his foot.
At the team’s end-of-season presser in January, team president of football operations Brandon Beane mentioned that Allen could need surgery on his foot during the offseason. While it was initially unclear whether Allen underwent that surgery already, Beane hinted that was the case Thursday, mentioning Allen “had his foot fixed.”
Beane expressed optimism Allen would be ready by the start of OTAs, so it doesn’t appear the injury is a serious concern for now.
Ben Fawkes
The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook released its annual Super Bowl prop packet on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. PT, lighting up the odds screen with hundreds of ways to wager on the big game. Some of the sharpest prop bettors in the country line up for the chance to bet $2,000 a pop on a prop before moving to the back of the line and doing it all over again.
Yahoo Sports checked in with Casey Degnon, SuperBook risk manager, and he gave six prop bets that received some sharp action on opening night:
RB TreVeyon Henderon under 4.5 receiving yards (-110)
Total number of Seahawks with a rushing attempt: Over 4.5 (-110)
Will there be a 2-pt conversion attempt? No (-140)
RB Rhamondre Stevenson over 2.5 receptions (-140)
WR Jake Bob under 0.5 receiving yards (-140)
Distance of first field goal made over 36.5 yards (-110)
It’s early, but the betting public continues to wager on the Seahawks to cover in Super Bowl LX. In the biggest event of the year, bettors are pulling for the Seahawks while the book hopes for a low-scoring affair with minimal touchdowns,” Christian Cipollini, a BetMGM trading manager, said in a release. “While there’s still some time before the game, it looks like the game and futures market will be rewarding to bettors if the Seahawks cover the game and win outright.”
The Seattle Seahawks did not practice on Wednesday, but the NFL requires a practice/injury report starting today for the Super Bowl next week.
This is the projected report if they had practiced on Wednesday.
Linebacker Ernest Jones IV (chest) and tackle Amari Kight (knee) were the only two DNP’s for Wednesday.
Andy Backstrom
The New England Patriots didn’t have practice Wednesday, however, quarterback Drake Maye would have been limited with a “right shoulder” issue, according to the team’s projected injury report.
Maye hasn’t missed a game this season, his second in the NFL. There was speculation after the Patriots’ AFC title game victory that he suffered an injury during the conference championship, but Maye explained on Boston’s WEEI that his shoulder problem was really “just the buildup of throwing” over the course of the season, as reported by The Associated Press.
During that radio appearance, Maye maintained that he’ll be ready to go for the Super Bowl.
“I think it’s too early to say. Right now, feeling good and looking forward to getting out there and prepping for the Seahawks and prepping to get ready to go.”
Maye is believed to have hurt his right shoulder during the AFC title game on Sunday in Denver during a scramble play in the third quarter. A similar question was downplayed by head coach Mike Vrabel concerning Maye’s status.
Criss Partee
The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game on Sunday to advance to Super Bowl LX. In that game, quarterback Drake Maye looked to have hurt his right shoulder in the third quarter on a scramble play where a Broncos defender fell on top of him.
Usually, when teams have a middle-of-the-road quarterback, they hold on no matter the cost despite knowing deep down that they can’t go to a Super Bowl with him. Those making decisions generally don’t have enough time to make a quarterback change and survive it if it doesn’t hit big right away. So they play it safe.
The Seattle Seahawks have made two bold moves at quarterback in the past few years. And they’re going to the Super Bowl because of it.
Legendary commentator Derek Rae joins Christian and Alexis for a wide-ranging conversation on soccer, culture, and storytelling. From his upbringing in Scotland to his deep connection with German football, Derek explains how his love for languages and history shaped his broadcasting career—and why getting players’ names right is about far more than phonetics. He shares a powerful story about the real impact correct pronunciation can have on players and their families.
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Derek also takes listeners behind the scenes of how he became the voice of EA FC, revealing what the audition process was like, how the opportunity came together, and what it means to be recognized worldwide through a video game. Along the way, he reflects on the evolution of soccer media, iconic broadcasting moments, and the responsibility that comes with being a trusted voice of the sport.
Finally, the conversation dives into the global game itself. Derek breaks down the cultural differences between MLS and European leagues, explains why Germany has become such fertile ground for American players, and offers thoughtful insight into the unique identity of soccer fandom in the United States. It’s a smart, funny, and deeply human conversation with one of the most respected voices in the game.
Timestamps:
(2:00) – Why pronouncing player names correctly is important to Derek Rae
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(10:45) – Derek Rae’s soccer origin story
(15:00) – How Europeans currently perceive MLS
(23:45) – Is Germany the best place for Americans to develop?
(35:00) – Is 2026 the year where the US becomes a real soccer country?
In a jam-packed Kevin O’Connor show, KOC analyzes the first trade of the deadline week and what it means for Keon Ellis, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sacramento Kings. Then, he discusses updates in the Ja Morant trade market: is there a new interest in him coming out of Chicago?
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Next, Kyle Neubeck joins to talk Sixers: what’s up with the Paul George suspension? Is Joel Embiid back? Is a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo without giving up VJ Edgecombe a possibility?
Later, KOC chats All-Star reserves before being joined by Kirk Henderson. They look back at the Luka Doncic to Los Angeles trade one year later, marvel at Cooper Flagg’s 2-game tear and ask the question: will Anthony Davis be traded this season?
Corey Tulaba then joins the pod for this week’s Draft Class to chat AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson, the future of Richie Saunders and the biggest college games to watch for this weekend.
(0:25) Cavs trade for Ellis & Schroder (6:31) Bulls interested in Ja Morant? (8:22) Kyle Neubeck talks 76ers (27:27) All-Star reserves announced (30:48) Kirk Henderson talks Mavericks (46:01) Hornets win 6 straight games (1:00:00) Draft Class with Corey Tulaba
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – JANUARY 02: Keon Ellis #23 of the Sacramento Kings dribbles the ball during the first half against the Phoenix Suns at Mortgage Matchup Center on January 02, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Kings 129-102. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
