Category: Sport

The fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is later this month. Not that anyone in the bludgeoned nation needs to be reminded.

The death toll has climbed into the tens of thousands. Many more have been displaced. Land has been taken, cities destroyed. Food shortages and power outages plague the country, a situation worsened by an unforgiving winter.

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So when FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested to Sky News earlier this month that Russia’s ban from international soccer — a penalty for its military aggressions — has “not achieved anything” and should be revisited, Ukrainians were appalled.

“It will be better for him to come and to see what’s going on here,” Serhiy Palkin, chief executive of Shakhtar Donetsk, one of the country’s most successful soccer clubs, told Yahoo Sports this week. “People say to take football out of politics. It’s not correct, because it’s part of our life. Football is a game where thousands, millions, billions of people are watching and are interested. Politics and football are all together. … He’s supporting Russia and destroying Ukraine. It looks like he is ignoring Ukraine. For me, I don’t understand. I don’t understand this kind of statement.”

Although Infantino’s suggestion did not gain much traction at the annual gathering of European soccer officials in Brussels on Thursday, it did seem to nudge the door open to a limited return in the near future, in particular at the youth level. Russia’s larger aim is reinstatement for the European Championship and World Cup.

“UEFA’s position is clear and has not changed but we are looking into everything, every day,” UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin told reporters in Brussels. “Let’s see what the future brings.”

Infantino, who forged a close relationship with Vladimir Putin when Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, said the ban has “just created more frustration and hatred.”

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Ukrainian officials won’t hear of it.

“Gianni Infantino’s words sound irresponsible — not to say infantile,” Matvii Bidnyi, Ukraine’s minister of youth and sports, wrote on social media.

“I don’t understand at all what [Infantino] is thinking,” Palkin said in the Yahoo interview. “We have four years of war. … It’s unbelievably difficult to survive in these circumstances. … Infantino is always saying we are one football family, but he never pays attention to Ukrainian football. He just does everything to destroy our football, not protect our football, not help our football.”

Russia has been a sports pariah since the 2022 invasion, when UEFA and FIFA joined the International Olympic Committee in suspending the country’s participation in official competitions. Aside from youth and senior national teams, clubs were forbidden from competing in European tournaments.

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Ukrainian resistance returned to the sports forefront this week at the Winter Olympics in Italy, when skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified for wearing a helmet showing photos of Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed in the war. The IOC said the helmet violates rules forbidding political messages in competition.

Ukrainian freestyle skier Kateryna Kotsar was barred from using a helmet with the inscription “Be Brave Like Ukrainians.”

Heraskevych wrote on his Instagram page that “this is the price of dignity.”

Palkin concurred, saying, “The Olympic Games is one space where you can pay attention to the situation, where you can send messages saying what’s going on in real life.”

Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine’s greatest goal scorer and current Ukrainian Football Association president, met with Infantino in Brussels.

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“We sat down. He listened,” Shevchenko told the Daily Mirror.

Ukrainian soccer has felt the bruising effects of war. Because of the dangers at home, the national team played 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Poland, while several clubs, including Shakhtar, have had to relocate to safer cities indefinitely.

Shakhtar actually fled its home in eastern Ukraine in 2014, when Russian separatists claimed the Donbas region and annexed Crimea. These days, the team is based in Lviv, 750 miles west of Donetsk. Players live in a hotel. Home matches are played in a shared stadium. The number of spectators is determined by the capacity of nearby bomb shelters, typically 2,500.

Top-flight clubs from Kharkiv and Luhansk have relocated to Zhytomyr and Kyiv, respectively. Others from various divisions have ceased or suspended operations.

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“The biggest problem is at night because the Russians try to bomb our cities at night,” Palkin said. “Sometimes, our team doesn’t sleep all night and then the next day we have to play an official game. I mean, what kind of football can we show when we don’t sleep?”

Because Ukrainian airspace is closed, Shakhtar’s travel for European competitions requires a 110-mile bus ride to the closest major airport in Poland. Border backups can result in 12 hours sitting on the bus. “Home” matches are played in Krakow, Poland.

Retaining players, not to mention recruiting players from abroad, is a challenge.

“Everyone understands the dangerous situation we have,” Palkin said. “I spent a lot of time talking to agents and parents trying to convince them to come. Sometimes I get a refusal, sometimes they agree. We can’t compete [for players] like we did before war.”

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Rated the ninth-best club circuit in Europe as recently as 2020-21, Ukraine has dropped to No. 25. Consequently, the winner no longer receives an automatic berth in the formal stage of the Champions League, Europe’s top competition.

Shakhtar has persevered, winning the domestic league in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Since Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Shakhtar and Dynamo Kyiv have claimed all but one first-division trophy.

At this season’s winter break, Shakhtar sits in second place, tied on points with LNZ Cherkasy but behind in the head-to-head tiebreaker. In Europe, Shakhtar has advanced to the Round of 16 in the third-tier Conference League.

The roster features 13 Ukrainians and a dozen Brazilians — because Brazil exports more talent than any other country, even to war zones. The coaching staff is largely Turkish, headed by Arda Turan, a former Atlético Madrid and Barcelona midfielder.

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“Every day living in this kind of situation, the emotions are very difficult,” Palkin said. “If you tell us at the beginning of the war that it will continue for years, nobody will believe that it will be so long and so hard.”

Infantino’s comments about Russian reinstatement made it even harder.

“We have optimism because we hear about negotiations and hope for positive results, but the current situation is becoming worse,” Palkin said, “because they’re trying to destroy us.”

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Steve Jones and Nekias Duncan give you the latest news and updates surrounding the 2026 All-Star Weekend. They dive into their predictions for Team USA vs. World, who will come out victorious in the skills competitions and what to expect with the new format.

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Next, they dive into the news of the NBA fining the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers hefty amounts for tanking. Does the league have a tanking problem? What are possible solutions?

Plus, Angel Reese is back in Unrivaled! They give their takeaways, recap the 1v1 tournament and preview the latest matchups.

All that and more!

1:03 Rising Stars showcase preview
9:29 3-point contest preview
14:35 Shooting Stars competition preview
18:07 Dunk contest preview
22:14 New format expectations
27:26 All-Star replacements
32:16 Lineup predictions
35:26 Key players to watch
38:25 Team USA vs. World predictions
39:02 Jazz & Pacers fined
47:40 Unrivaled takeaways & thoughts

🖥️ Watch this full episode on the Yahoo Sports NBA YouTube channel

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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Two minutes before NBA commissioner Adam Silver was scheduled to address the media in an upstairs room at Intuit Dome, his deputy, Mark Tatum, cheerfully shook hands with reporters before taking his seat in the front row.

That the league’s second-in-command was eagerly anticipating Silver’s words, much like the other occupants in the room, was poignant. Given the most prominent talking points that have dominated league discourse lately — the tanking epidemic, sports betting issues and alleged cap circumvention — have become so prevalent, the build-up to Silver’s news conference was seismic.

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However, following the duration of Silver’s availability — he spoke for around 30 minutes — there were far more questions as a result of his answers (or lack thereof).

The first question posed to the commissioner, and the most detailed response Silver gave, was about the issue of tanking. This makes sense, given how quickly the league office acted in response to recent misbehavior from the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers. Both organizations were fined; $500,000 to the Jazz and $100,000 to the Pacers for actions detrimental to the core values of the NBA. Utah’s modus operandi was far more egregious than Indiana’s — sitting its two best players for entire fourth quarters in separate close games is worse than holding someone out under the guise of rest, but neither should be tolerated.

“Are we seeing behavior that is worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory?” Silver asked Saturday. “Yes, it is my view. Which was what led to those fines, and not just those fines but to my statement that we’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior, and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice.”

Now, the real problem with tanking, at least from the vantage point of one writer, is it’s the lone arena where 29 other teams can’t share in the winnings. At least not initially. (Lottery picks don’t always pan out, and sometimes the late firsts and early seconds become the mainstays.) But don’t worry, there’s no proposal of a quick fix to what’s going on, although I’m sure you’ve read or heard a plethora of ideas this week alone. All I’m suggesting is Silver had to do something. For what it’s worth, he honestly didn’t even want to dignify the mere word of “tanking,” but it’s reached a point of no return.

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There’s an answer that lies somewhere in the middle of the ongoing epidemic; not completely punishing teams for losing, but not rewarding the seemingly cunning ones that try to game the system. Sometimes, you’re the Sacramento Kings, which goes hand in hand with parity and purgatory. How much better are the Chicago Bulls set up for their future than, say, the Brooklyn Nets? The Clippers and Hornets are both 26-29 heading into the All-Star break — would you consider them to be on equal footing?

“Part of the problem is if you step back,” Silver said, “the fundamental theory behind a draft is to help your worst-performing teams restock and be able to compete, and by the way, yes, we want parity, but parity of opportunity. … My sense is, talking to GMs and coaches around the league, that there’s probably even more parity than is reflected in our records. That goes to the incentive issue. It’s not clear to me, for example, that the 30th performing team is that much measurably worse than the 22nd performing team, particularly if you have incentive to perform poorly to get a better draft pick. It’s a bit of a conundrum.”

So where does it end? The Jazz aren’t going to suddenly turn over a new leaf and be competitive the rest of the way. Half a million isn’t enough to deter or prevent future behavior — Utah has clearly shown it’s fine with throwing away money. Vince Williams Jr., who arrived at the deadline, played seven minutes in a 135-119 loss to Portland this week — he’s owed $2.3 million. (The Jazz are only on the hook for a prorated amount, but you get the point.) How do you also govern the other teams that could potentially fall under the same umbrella? Silver needs to move quickly before tanking takes on a life of its own, especially considering the talent of incoming players in a few months.

On the topic of expansion, Silver essentially confirmed, then tried to reverse his words about the possibilities of Las Vegas and Seattle being the NBA’s next destinations.

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“My sense is at the March Board of Governors meetings, we’ll be having further discussions around an expansion process,” Silver said. “We won’t be voting at the March meeting, but we will likely come out of those meetings ready, prepared to take a next step in terms of potentially talking to interested parties. No, it doesn’t have to be a two-team expansion. Frankly, it doesn’t have to be any number of teams.”

Hmm, sure? There are a number of hoops to jump through before arriving at City X and/or Y as expansion teams, but kicking the can down the road by saying you’ll make a decision on making a decision in a few months is not as clear as one may think.

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In the case of Kawhi Leonard, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and alleged cap circumvention, Silver conceded judiciary control to the Wachtell Lipton firm, the NBA’s go-to litigation arm. Ballmer and the Clippers are alleged to have orchestrated a $28 million endorsement deal — an absurd amount of money, enough to seriously threaten the integrity of the league. Maybe it’s not as outlandish as former referee Tim Donaghy’s scandal (Wachtell Lipton took around a year to finalize its investigation in that matter, according to The Athletic), but the league doesn’t need this to drag on for nearly the same length of time. The backlash, not only from fans and media, but the other 29 owners could be seismic.

“I’m not involved day-to-day in the investigation,” Silver said. “I think, as I’ve said before, it’s enormously complex. You have a company in bankruptcy. You have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have been needed to be interviewed. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is to do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that’s where things now stand.”

All-Star Weekend, in its purest form, is supposed to be a celebration of the good parts of the NBA — the inclusivity, the opportunity and the excellence. An uplifting view of the state of the league. Instead, we’re reminded of the economic and moral perils of basketball at the highest level, and head into the break with a slew of unsolved problems.

Collin Morikawa’s dry spell is over.

Morikawa survived a packed leaderboard, and a late push from Scottie Scheffler, to claim the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Sunday afternoon. It marked his first win since the 2023 season.

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Morikawa posted a 5-under 67 in the final round to get to 22-under on the week. That gave him a one-shot win over the field in the first signature event of the PGA Tour season. As a result, Morikawa is taking home a $3.6 million check.

Morikawa had to birdie the final hole to pick up his win, thanks to late charges from Min Woo Lee and Scottie Scheffler, who rallied from eight shots back to get into contention. Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, made three eagles on the day to get to T4.

Morikawa has now won seven times in his career, though it was his first since the Zozo Championship nearly 850 days ago. He was incredibly emotional after the win, too, and revealed on CBS that he and his wife, Katherine, are now expecting their first child.

Here’s how much Morikawa and the rest of the field this week at Pebble Beach.

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2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Payouts

1. Collin Morikawa — $3.6 million
T2. Min Woo Lee, Sepp Straka — $1.76 million
T4. Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood — $877,500
T6. Sam Burns, Akshay Bhatia — $715,000
T8. Ryo Hisatsune, Shane Lowry, Nico Echavarria, Jake Knapp, Jacob Bridgeman, Hideki Matsuyama — $515,000
T14. Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Hoge — $342,750
18. Tony Finau —$292,000
T19. Rickie Fowler, Brian Harman, Xander Schauffele, Alex Smalley, Russell Henley — $235,000
T24. Jason Day, Nick Taylor, Ryan Fox, Harris English — $162,000
T29. Keegan Bradley, Max McGreevy, Alex Noren, Jordan Spieth, Maverick McNealy — $125,200
T34. Sami Valimaki, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith — $104,000
T37. Justin Rose, Bud Cauley, J.T. Poston, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Åberg, Max Greyserman, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin — $78,375
T45. Ryan Gerard, J.J. Spaun, Si Woo Kim — $57,000
T48. Pierceson Coody, Kurt Kitayama, Billy Horschel, Andrew Novak $49,250
T52. Patrick Rodgers, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell — $45,000
T55. Cameron Young, Sam Stevens, Denny McCarthy — $42,000
T58. Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark — $39,750
T60. Sahith Theegala, Aldrich Potgieter, Garrick Higgo, Steven Fisk — $38,250
T64. Emiliano Grillo, Marco Penge, Lucas Glover — $36,500
T67. Rico Hoey, Stephan Jaeger, Matt McCarty — $35,083
T70. Kevin Yu, Corey Conners — $34,375
72. Michael Kim — $34,000
T73. Aaron Rai, Matti Schmid — $33,625
T75. Joe Highsmith, Daniel Berger — $33,125
77. Adam Schenk — $32,750
T78. Brian Campbell, Michael Thorbjornsen, Jhonattan Vegas — $32,250

Scottie Scheffler’s run came just a bit too early on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach.

With Scheffler watching from the clubhouse, it was instead Collin Morikawa who made it out to claim the first signature event of the PGA Tour season and end his years-long dry spell.

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Morikawa fended off a huge group late on Sunday afternoon at Pebble Beach Golf Links to claim the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He posted a 5-under 67 in his final round to get to 22-under on the week, which gave him a one-shot win over the field. The win is Morikawa’s seventh of his Tour career, and his first since 2023.

Though he had a two-shot lead late, Morikawa had to birdie the 18th to claim his win. After a short drive on the par-5, Morikawa landed his second shot just short on the rough after a nearly 20-minute delay in the fairway while Jacob Bridgeman struggled ahead of him to close out his round.

Morikawa then easily secured a two-putt birdie, despite his ball sitting right on the edge of the thick rough, to finish out his win.

That left Morikawa understandably emotional on the green as his wife, Katherine Zhu, came out to celebrate with him.

“We’re actually expecting later this year, in a few months, and we just started telling people this week,” Morikawa revealed on CBS, wiping away tears. “We said, ‘What a better way, the best way to announce it to the world if I was able to come out and win?’

“There’s so much to life, there’s so much to enjoy. I’m hard on myself … I’m just so thankful for the people around me.”

Morikawa survives late at Pebble Beach

Morikawa only got into contention thanks to a wild moving day, where he put up 11 birdies to jump into a three-way tie for second. He still entered the final round two shots back of Akshay Bhatia.

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Morikawa hung around early on a windy, rainy Sunday, too. He made the turn at 2-under on the day, and then joined the pack at 20-under after a birdie at the 11th. But it was a 30-footer at the par-4 15th that finally sent Morikawa into the solo lead for the first time.

Morikawa followed that up with an 8-foot birdie putt at the 16th, which suddenly gave him a two-shot lead over the field. But that immediately disappeared, after Min Woo Lee birdied above him and then Morikawa bogeyed the 17th when his tee shot on the par 3 landed in the thick rough well left of the green.

But that set up Morikawa’s two-putt birdie and his eventual win on the final hole.

“[A win here] was never in the dreams, honestly. Pebble Beach was a course that you just wanted to come and play, and you wanted to come and play against the pros and play against the best in the world,” he said on CBS. “62 yesterday, a great field, a great leaderboard looking at the entire day. Just to be able to pull off those last two shots … it feels great.

“I’m slowly trying to smile now, because the tears I think are going away.”

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Even though it was too early, Scheffler was once again in contention. The top-ranked golfer in the world made a massive run earlier in the day after he started eight shots back.

Scheffler posted a 9-under 63, which gave him his 19th straight top-10 finish on Tour, and his 18th round of 63 or better on Tour over the past five seasons — which is five more than anyone else has produced over that timespan. Scheffler joined the leaders at 20-under when he hit the clubhouse, too, thanks to an absolutely ridiculous approach into the par-5 18th as the wind was picking up. That gave him his third eagle of the day. He is now the first golfer in the past four decades to make that many in a single round in this event.

Had it not been for a trio of bogeys, two of which came on the back side, Scheffler may have run away with the event completely. But his bogeys and early start left plenty of time for the rest of the field to overtake him. Lee birdied the 18th, too, to get to 21-under — which eliminated Scheffler from contention and made things more complicated for Morikawa briefly. That gave Lee his second-place finish, his best outing on Tour since his inaugural win last season.

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Scheffler finished in a tie for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood, a shot back from Lee. Sepp Straka joined Lee in second after he eagled the final hole.

Morikawa’s win was the first of his career since he claimed the Zozo Championship in 2023. That came after his British Open win in 2021, which was his second major title. Morikawa missed only three cuts last season and had a pair of runner-up finishes, and the 29-year-old entered this week at No. 19 in the Official World Golf Rankings, but that seventh win continued to elude him.

But now, after nearly 850 days, Morikawa has finally won again.

“Shoot, we’re at Pebble Beach,” Morikawa said, looking out at the Pacific Ocean briefly. “So I’m going to enjoy this one.”

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Kevin O’Connor gives his seven biggest takeaways from a star-studded NBA All-Star Weekend. Was the new format a success? Is expansion back on the board? Kevin gives his thoughts.

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Next, Ben Golliver joins the show to break down the tanking crisis and which teams are most guilty of tanking the most.

Plus, Cedric Coward joins to share his lessons from his rookie season, his progression as a player and the toughest players to defend.

0:28 Seven biggest takeaways from All-Star Weekend
15:41 Ben Golliver joins the show
45:23 Cedric Coward joins the show

🖥️ Watch this full episode on the Yahoo Sports NBA YouTube channel

Check out all episodes of The Kevin O’Connor Show and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

In December 2014, a few months after he enrolled at a small liberal arts college in the Rocky Mountains, Cam Smith decided to give the sport of ski mountaineering a try.

He purchased some cheap gear, drove to a nearby ski resort with his older sister and ventured into the cold after the chairlifts closed that evening.

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To Smith, the idea of hustling up a snow-covered mountain on skis and then racing back down sounded challenging but doable. The accomplished former high school middle-distance runner assumed that he was sufficiently fit. Plus, he was comfortable on skis from frequent family trips to Midwest ski areas when he was a kid.

Smith’s overconfidence quickly faded on his way up the mountain as his legs grew weary and he struggled to maintain a rhythm in two feet of soft, fresh snow. Then, when he finally reached the top and was ready to ski downhill, he labored endlessly trying to peel off the climbing skins that had provided him traction on the ascent.

It only got worse for Smith a few weeks later when he entered his first ski mountaineering race but did not come close to finishing.

“On the first descent, I probably crashed two or three times, my skins got all wet and I lost some gear,” Smith told Yahoo Sports with a sheepish chuckle. “And then I got to the bottom and I couldn’t start the next climb because my skins wouldn’t stick to my skis anymore.”

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That was how Smith’s skimo career started at 18. He has come a long way since then. The 29-year-old native of Rockford, Illinois, is one of two skimo athletes who will represent the U.S. this week in Italy when the sport makes its Winter Olympics debut.

The sport’s first Olympic medals will go to the winners of the fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat men’s and women’s sprint races scheduled for Thursday in the ski resort town of Bormio. Athletes will battle shoulder-to-shoulder across three phases: climbing uphill with skins attached to the bottom of their skis, boot-packing up steps and charging downhill around race gates to the finish line.

Eighteen men and women will compete in three qualifying heats on Thursday. Twelve men and women will advance to the semifinals later the same day. The top six men and women will strap into their gear a third time to vie for medals in the finals.

Smith and teammate Anna Gibson, 26, will compete two days later in the longer-distance mixed relay, a four-lap, roughly 30-minute race around a course expected to contain two ascents, two descents and a boot-packing section. Teammates alternate laps, with the duo that finishes four laps the fastest claiming gold.

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“I think people are really going to like seeing it in the Olympics because it combines a lot of sports that have a rich history in the Olympics,” Smith said. “People enjoy watching the aerobic suffering in a cross-country race and the speed of a downhill race. We’re sort of melding those two, plus you essentially have F-1-style pit stops with the transitions in between.”

Born out of necessity

Ski mountaineering originated not as an organized sport but as a means of survival. For thousands of years, people have worn skis due to the practical need to traverse mountainous or hilly terrain during the snowy winter months.

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During the first and second World Wars, specialized military units prepared for Alpine warfare by training soldiers in winter survival, skiing and combat. Military training exercises and competitions laid the foundation for the first structured civilian ski mountaineering races.

Athletes from Alps countries like France, Italy and Switzerland have historically dominated the sport of ski mountaineering. Spain has recently emerged as a serious challenger with several potential medal contenders.

While skimo has gained popularity outside of Europe, fewer athletes in North America or Asia grew up participating in the sport. They often transition to skimo as adults from other sports that require speed, strength or endurance, from downhill skiing, to cross-country skiing, to distance running, to cycling — even speed skating.

Among those to make such a switch is Gibson, a native of Jackson, Wyoming, whose athletic background makes her seem as though she was engineered in a lab for skimo. In elementary school, she took up downhill ski racing. By high school, she realized her body was better suited to endurance sports and won a combined 17 Wyoming state titles in track, cross-country and nordic skiing.

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Skiing remained a passion of Gibson’s even as she focused on middle-distance running at the University of Washington and on professional trail running after college. She would often ski for fun during the winter months or hammer up a snow-covered hill in lightweight boots or skis as part of her offseason training regimen.

Gibson was familiar enough with skimo to consider it part of her future, but, as recently as nine months ago, she says she “did not think that would be in 2025.” Then Smith approached her in June after they both competed at the Broken Arrow Skyrace, a challenging, multi-day trail running event in California.

“If the answer is no, just tell me and I’ll never bother you about this again, but you should race skimo,” Gibson remembers Smith telling her.

At that time, the U.S. was trailing Canada in a tight two-team battle to qualify for the Olympics as North America’s highest-ranked mixed relay team. USA Skimo had launched a last-gasp search for newcomers who could help defeat the Canadians and overtake them in the standings at the final Olympic qualifying event in December.

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Smith told Gibson that she could be the difference between the U.S. qualifying for the Olympics or missing it, the difference between him achieving a decade-long dream or squandering what could be his lone opportunity. He predicted that she could learn the sport in a matter of months given her unique combination of fitness, skiing prowess and mental determination.

“I basically left that conversation thinking there was a slim chance I would decide to do this, but maaaybe,” Gibson told Yahoo Sports. “Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I talked to a couple people in my life, my coach, my family, a couple close friends and everyone was like, ‘Why would you not do that? You have to!’ They could just tell how excited I was about it just by talking to me.”

Proof that Smith was correct about Gibson arrived soon after that. She outperformed the skimo veterans who had previously teamed with Smith at a selection race designed to determine the U.S.’s best duo for the mixed relay. Then she and Smith smashed all reasonable expectations in their first World Cup race together.

On December 6, at Solitude Mountain Resort in Utah, Gibson and Smith needed only to finish higher than their Canadian rivals to claim North America’s Olympic quota spot. The Americans accomplished more than that, demolishing a world-class field. Their time of 32 minutes, 17.6 seconds was nearly a minute ahead of second-place Italy.

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“It’s the realization of a childhood dream,” Smith said. “We trained all spring, summer and fall knowing that 30 minutes on December 6 was going to determine everything. Either we perform well and we achieve the dream of qualifying or we don’t and we’ll go home. I think that really motivated our team.”

Before that World Cup race, just making these Olympics counted as a success for USA Skimo. Once Smith and Gibson outclassed top teams from Italy, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere, it raised expectations.

Could Smith and Gibson actually challenge for a medal? They’re not ruling anything out.

“People were having to explain to me that we’re now in the picture in terms of competing for a medal,” Gibson said. “As I adjusted to the news that we were going to the Olympics, I’ve just been getting more and more excited about that possibility.”

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Real Madrid are staring down a potentially humiliating Champions League exit — can they steady the ship against Benfica in the Round of 32? The boys break down what’s gone wrong, whether Madrid’s aura still carries weight in Europe, and give their official predictions for all Round of 32 matchups.

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Then we’re joined by the legendary Glenn Crooks, who gives incredible insight into how Emma Hayes developed into the elite manager she is today. Crooks also reflects on his own journey in soccer, shares thoughts on NYCFC’s upcoming season, discusses Pascal Jansen’s evolution as a coach, and weighs in on what the club’s new stadium means for the future of football in New York City.

To close it out, we react to Carlo Ancelotti being spotted at Carnival — is that a bad look for Brazil’s head coach given the national team’s current form? Plus, we discuss Tottenham’s new manager, Raheem Sterling’s move to Feyenoord, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s first La Liga loss, and Antoine Semenyo’s absolutely unhinged pizza opinion. Another packed episode full of insight, debate, and chaos.

Timestamps:

(7:30) – Real Madrid in Champions League trouble?

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(13:00) – Every Round of 32 UCL prediction

(25:00) – Glenn Crooks joins The Cooligans

(1:02:00) – Carlo Ancelotti spotted at Carnival

(1:06:30) – Reacting to other world soccer news

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl 60 champions, but it’s never too early to look ahead to the odds for next year’s big game. The Seahawks are the favorites (+800 at BetMGM) to repeat, followed closely by the Los Angeles Rams at +900. Those NFC West rivals are the only two teams with single-digit odds to win Super Bowl LXI.

The Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills have the next-best odds at 12-1, followed by a triumvirate of yearly contenders in the Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles at 14-1.

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The Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets and Miami Dolphins are tied for the longest odds at 250-1. No team with preseason odds worse than 40-1 had won the Super Bowl since the 2001 New England Patriots (60-1) … until the Seahawks won Super Bowl 60 with 60-1 preseason odds, according to Sports Odds History’s database.

Here are the Super Bowl odds for every NFL team at BetMGM:

Super Bowl LXI odds

Seattle Seahawks: +800

Los Angeles Rams: +900

Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens: 12-1

Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers: 14-1

Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots: 15-1

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San Francisco 49ers: 17-1

Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans: 20-1

Chicago Bears: 25-1

Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys: 30-1

Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 40-1

Washington Commanders, Minnesota Vikings: 50-1

New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons: 66-1

Pittsburgh Steelers: 80-1

Carolina Panthers, Tennessee Titans: 100-1

Las Vegas Raiders, New Orleans Saints, Cleveland Browns: 150-1

New York Jets, Arizona Cardinals, Miami Dolphins: 250-1

Nate Tice & Matt Harmon deep dive on the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL to determine who will be starting for them Week 1. The duo start with their reactions to the latest coordinator hires around the NFL, including the Seattle Seahawks finding their Klint Kubiak replacement in new OC Brian Fleury.

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Next, Nate & Matt play quarterback matchmaker for the 8 most QB-needy teams in the NFL. The two hosts start with deep dives on the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins (would Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill be interesting names in the free agent market?), Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns.

Later, Nate & Matt find quarterback matches for the Indianapolis Colts (franchise tag Daniel Jones?), Minnesota Vikings (will JJ McCarthy get another shot?), Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons.

(4:50) – Latest coordinator hire reactions

(16:40) – QB matchmaker: Jets

(29:20) – QB matchmaker: Dolphins

(40:10) – QB matchmaker: Steelers

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(46:20) – QB matchmaker: Browns

(57:30) – QB matchmaker: Colts

(1:05:40) – QB matchmaker: Vikings

(1:17:40) – QB matchmaker: Cardinals

(1:22:50) – QB matchmaker: Falcons

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube