First responders reportedly found the unnamed victim on Tuesday afternoon and determined she was dead after attempting life-saving measures. Preliminary findings led to detectives ruling the death a result of homicide, with Lee taken into custody at the scene.
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In addition to murder, Lee, 31, faces a charge of tampering with evidence. Additional charges could be added pending the outcome of the investigation.
Per jail records, Lee is currently being held without bond and has a court date scheduled for next Wednesday.
Lee was a second-team All-American linebacker and won the 2015 College Football Playoff with Ohio State, earning defensive MVP honors in the Sugar Bowl semifinal win over No. 1 Alabama. He was selected 20th overall by the New York Jets in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Over the course of three seasons, Lee started 36 games for the Jets and appeared in 40 total, accruing 241 total tackles, 17 tackles for loss, four sacks and three interceptions. However, he was suspended four games in 2018 due to a substance abuse violation and struggled enough that the Jets declined his fifth-year option.
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The Jets eventually traded Lee to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019. He appeared in 16 games but started only two, and was inactive for Kansas City’s Super Bowl LIV victory. He was suspended for four games again the following offseason and he never found significant playing time after that.
Lee’s last appearance in an NFL game was with the Buffalo Bills in the 2020 season. He joined the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021, but was released in training camp.
Just like the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles defenses, peer pressure has proven effective against Tom Brady in Super Bowl week.
The New England Patriots legend reversed course from his stated neutrality in Super Bowl LX, posting an encouraging message aimed at Patriots owner Robert Kraft urging him to win a seventh ring.
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“You know I got your back RKK [fist emoji] Get that 7th ring so we can match,” Brady posted on his Instagram story.
He explained it as caring more about the people involved than the actual teams:
“I think there’s always different chapters in your life. And you have different chapters and moments that you go through where you are affiliated with a certain team. Michigan, and then I was with the Patriots for 20 years. I was with Tampa for three amazing years. I’ve been in broadcasting, now I’m an owner of the Raiders. So, those memories that I have are forever ingrained in me and I’m indebted to all the people who worked so hard to help make our team successful.
“And now in a different phase of my life, I really root for people and the people I care about. The people who I know the work that goes in to what they are trying to accomplish. I really want to sit back as a fan and enjoy the game, enjoy the moment. And I always think, may the best team win. It’s not going to be who I’m cheering for or who I think is going to win, it’s going to be decided by the people out there on the field.”
As much as Brady tried to explain the nuances of his stance, it didn’t square with some of his most famous teammates.
As for current Patriots, linebacker Robert Spillane said the idea “makes me sick.”
So Brady mildly backtracked, though you could argue his message to Kraft very much falls in the category of rooting for people he cares about that he originally explained. It apparently remains to be seen if he will be forgiven.
A Patriots win on Sunday would give the franchise its record seventh Super Bowl title, and would even the score with Brady after his final title with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While he is more formally associated with the Las Vegas Raiders, owning a minority stake in the franchise, he had his statue unveiled in Foxboro last August.
The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.
The U.S. women’s hockey, mixed doubles curling and ice dance teams will look to continue their dominant early showing, while eyes will be on Lindsey Vonn to see if she does another training run before Sunday’s Olympic women’s downhill competition.
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Here are the top five things to watch Saturday at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:
1. Medals
Medals will begin to be handed out Saturday morning. The first medal events are men’s downhill skiing and the women’s 20 km skiathlon. There will also be medals awarded for women’s 3000m speed skating, men’s big air snowboarding and women’s normal hill ski jumping.
2. Lindsey Vonn training run?
After participating in Friday’s training run, Lindsey Vonn’s coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, said he was not sure if Vonn would participate in Saturday’s training run, but she is on the list of starters. This will be her second chance after the cancelation of the first training on Thursday.
The 41-year-old is a four-time overall World Cup champion and won gold in the downhill event at the 2010 Olympics. Vonn made a return after retiring from skiing in 2019.
3. U.S. women’s hockey set to face illness-stricken Finland
The U.S. women’s hockey team meets Finland in its second game of the 2026 Olympics. The U.S. opened the Olympics with a 5-1 win over Czechia. Finland has yet to play after their opening game against Canada was postponed until Thursday after a norovirus outbreak.
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Norovirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control, is a “very contagious” illness that is the leading cause of vomiting and diarrhea in the United States. Most people with norovirus illness recover in 72 hours or less, the CDC says, but they can still spread the virus for several more days afterward.
The Finnish team is reportedly optimistic about playing after most of the team took part in practice. The Americans, meanwhile, have taken precautions to protect themselves from catching the virus.
USA’s Korey Dropkin (left) and Cory Thiesse in action during the Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin match against Canada at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Italy. Picture date: Friday February 6, 2026. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
(Andrew Milligan – PA Images via Getty Images)
4. Can U.S. mixed doubles curling team stay undefeated?
On Saturday, it will be a challenge to stay undefeated as they take on 5-0 Great Britain and 0-4 South Korea in round-robin play.
5. Free dance, men’s short program in team figure skating
Team USA will enter the day with the lead in the team competition after strong performances Friday from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the rhythm dance and reigning world champion Alysa Liu in the women’s short program. Team Japan sits just two points behind the U.S. in second place after Kaori Sakamoto’s strong short program.
Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026
All times ET.
Alpine Skiing
Downhill
5:30 a.m.: Men’s final (USA Network)🏅
Cross-Country Skiing
20 kilometer skiathlon
7 a.m.: Women’s final (NBC)🏅
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Curling
Mixed doubles round-robin
4:05 a.m.: Great Britain vs. Canada (USA Network), Switzerland vs. Sweden
8:35 a.m.: Estonia vs. Norway, Czechia vs. South Korea, Sweden vs. Italy, Great Britain vs. USA (USA Network at 9:30 a.m.)
1:05 p.m.: South Korea vs. USA, Canada vs. Estonia, Czechia vs. Switzerland, Norway vs. Italy
Figure Skating
Team competition
1:45 p.m.: Men’s short program (NBC)
Freestyle Skiing
Slopestyle
4:30 a.m.: Women’s qualifying (USA Network; NBC picks up coverage at 5:30 a.m.)
8 a.m.: Men’s qualifying (NBC)
Hockey
Women’s pool play
6:10 a.m: Germany vs. Japan
8:40 a.m.: Sweden vs. Italy
10:40 a.m.: USA vs. Finland (USA Network)
3:10 p.m.: Switzerland vs. Canada (USA Network)
Luge
Men’s singles
11 a.m.: Runs 1, 2 (Run 2 airs live on NBC beginning at 12:45 p.m.)
Ski Jumping
Normal hill
11:45 a.m.: Women’s final (airs on USA Network at 8 p.m.)🏅
Snowboarding
Big air
1:30 p.m.: Men’s final (USA Network) 🏅
Speed Skating
3000 meters
10 a.m.: Women’s final (NBC coverage begins at 10:05 a.m.) 🏅
LIVIGNO, Italy — Getting from the center of the Winter Games in Milan to this ski resort just a few miles from the Swiss border can be a thrill ride on its own, requiring hairpin turns through steep mountain passes befitting the Olympic events that will take place here when you finally arrive.
But the interesting thing about what’s happening in Livigno over the next two weeks is that most of the athletes here — the ones who will fly through the air on snowboards and skis performing mind-bending tricks — did not grow up dreaming about being Olympians at all.
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“The X games was the pinnacle,” said Nick Goepper, a 31-year-old freestyle skier. “It was the sort of the Olympics of our time. And there in the beginning, the Olympics was almost like an asterisk.”
Like everyone in his generation, Goepper was raised on the X Games, a creation of the late 1990s that brought winter sports counterculture to the mainstream when it hit ESPN in 2002. The Olympics? Those were for the proper skiers, but the X Games had the energy, the crowds, the danger.
And when the IOC tried to cash in on that phenomenon, adding a small handful of snowboard and freeski events to the Winter Olympics in hopes of appealing to a younger audience, many participants were hesitant to embrace it.
Much like their counterparts in skateboarding, which has undergone its own reckoning as an Olympic sport, the larger X Games community viewed it as too corporate, too competitive, too far from the pure artistry that drew kids like Goepper or Alex Hall to the sport in the first place.
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“Freeski experienced a little of that at the start,” Hall said. “Personally, I didn’t grow up watching the Olympics.
“In the end, the Olympics is amazing and it’s cool to have it, but freeskiing is so much more than the Olympics or the competition venue. There’s so many aspects to it that bring me a ton of joy, so [the Olympics is] an important category of freesking, but it isn’t everything.”
Alex Hall poses with his gold medal after winning the men’s slopestyle at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
(Al Bello via Getty Images)
Even as the reigning Olympic gold medalist in slopestyle, which debuted in 2014, Hall feels so comfortable saying that both because it’s true and because it reflects an interesting moment for the sports the IOC has imported from the X Games.
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They have now become such an important part of the Winter Olympics that they can stand on their own up here in Livigno, with 17 gold medals being awarded in freestyle skiing and 13 in snowboarding. Particularly for an American audience, these events have arguably surpassed the traditional Alpine ski events in terms of eyeballs and interest.
Yet at the same time, where the Olympics fits is part of an ongoing cultural shift. Everyone acknowledges that it’s good for these sports to be part of the Olympics because of the new fans and participants it attracts with each passing four-year cycle.
“You look at China coming in now, 12 years ago I don’t know if there were that many Chinese snowboarders,” said Red Gerard, who won the second-ever slopestyle gold in 2018 when he was a mere 17 years old. “I think it’s just given a lot of snowboarders a different avenue.”
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But is a gold medal the pinnacle of snowboarding or freestyle skiing? It’s still up for debate, in part because those who made it here understand they are not competing against all the best in their sport. It’s simply a numbers game: With limited spots available for Americans and Canadians, who have had such a historical head start and are generally dominant on their tour, potential medal winners are sitting at home.
“In some ways the field is more mellow because the U.S. team is so good,” Hall said. “It’s a little weird sometimes because you don’t feel like you have everyone at the event that should be there.”
Red Gerard took gold in the men’s snowboard slopestyle at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. (Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
(Dan Istitene via Getty Images)
At the same time, how important is the competitive aspect of their sport to begin with? In many ways, winning has long been secondary to pushing boundaries, entertaining fans and impressing each other with new tricks. For them, it’s not just sports, it’s art. How can you maintain that identity when you come to an Olympics and everyone acts like winning a gold medal is supposed to change your life?
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“Our sports are very lifestyle based,” Goepper said. “We’ve got a really deep culture built around them, and I would say respect and kudos from our peers is really valued by a lot of our community. I think that’s super important to maintain that value for the future of our sport. That’s what separates us from some of the other sports that are purely focused on higher, faster, stronger” — three tenants of the Olympic motto.
Still, even Goepper acknowledges as he prepares for his fourth Olympics that the gravity of this event, and only having one opportunity every four years, has altered the competitive legacy of snowboarders and freeskiers. The 14-year and 15-year olds who could contend at the next Winter Games are taking their cues from athletes whose attitudes are changing.
“For me, growing up, X Games has always been top of top,” 21-year old Troy Podmilsak said. “I feel like the last few years it’s kind of switched to being the Olympics now being our biggest and best event.”
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What does that mean for snowboarding and freestyle skiing as they entrench themselves even more as core parts of the Olympic movement? It’s just the next evolution in a cross-generational balancing act for athletes who want to stay true to their roots while taking advantage of a worldwide platform even the X Games can’t offer.
“Freeskiing is not an Olympic sport,” said Hunter Hess, who will make his debut at the Games this year. “It’s just a sport that gets to compete in the Olympics.”
MILAN — Lindsey Vonn has built her career out of being fearless, out of pushing the limits between glory and physical ruin, out of taking risks that others would not.
So there was no way the 41-year-old American was going to play it safe Saturday on the eve of the most anticipated race of her life.
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Eight days after tearing an ACL in a cruelly timed crash in Switzerland, Vonn used her second and final training run before Sunday’s downhill to test drive what her injured left knee could do. She charged out of the start and skied defiantly down the mountain in a session that was not mandatory and that she could have skipped if she feared aggravating her injury.
Vonn pumped her fist and appeared satisfied with her run despite a slight bobble on the final portion of the course. She clocked a time of 1:38.28, third best of the day and more than two seconds faster than her training run from Friday. American Breezy Johnson posted Saturday’s fastest training run.
Only 21 of the 40-plus skiers were able to complete their training runs before thick fog and snow created visibility issues along the course. Organizers canceled the rest of Saturday’s training runs after a delay of nearly two hours.
“She was very calm when she came down,” Vonn’s coach Aksel Lund Svindal said. “She talked about skiing and was calm and didn’t talk about the knee at all. And then I didn’t want to ask either, because I figured that’s a good sign.
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“How I’ve learned to know her is when she’s calm it means she feels like she has it under control.
“She knows she’ll have to push harder tomorrow, because the rest of the girls will, and it’s the Olympic downhill. You’re not going to get away with a medal here unless you push hard.”
Expect Vonn to hurl herself down the mountain even more aggressively on Sunday with a global audience watching and more than just an Olympic medal at stake. She wouldn’t just solidify herself as one of the greatest female ski racers if she somehow wins gold on a shredded knee. She’d shove her way onto the list of America’s most legendary Olympians, shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Michael Phelps, Jesse Owens, Simone Biles and the 1980 U.S. Hockey team.
Vonn was already poised to be one of the faces of the Milan Cortina Winter Games even before she was airlifted off a mountain in Switzerland eight days ago. NBC has relentlessly promoted the four-time overall World Cup champion and 2010 Olympic downhill gold medalist throughout her extraordinary comeback after nearly six years away from ski racing.
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When Vonn initially retired in 2019, she said the physical toll of an array of injuries had become too much to bear. She had her right knee partially replaced in April 2024, hoping only to be able to live a normal, pain-free life again.
Lindsey Vonn takes part in a training for the women’s downhill event. (François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images)
(FRANCOIS-XAVIER MARIT via Getty Images)
Vonn felt so much better with her repaired right knee that she made a stunning announcement in November 2024 that she was un-retiring. She has been dominant in downhill races this World Cup season and finished on the podium in two of her first three super-G races, raising hopes she can contend for medals in both disciplines in Cortina.
Had she not crashed during the final World Cup downhill before the Olympics, Vonn would have been a favorite to win the gold medal on Sunday. Now she’s trying to make a comeback within a comeback, trying to compete for a medal on a good knee made of titanium and a bad knee missing its main stabilizing ligament.
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“This is not, obviously, what I had hoped for,” Vonn said Tuesday. “I’ve been working really hard to come into these Games in a much different position. 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.”
The training runs were critical steps for Vonn to test what her knee felt like coming into and out of the sharpest turns on the challenging Olympic downhill course in Cortina.
On Friday, in her first training run, Vonn test-drove her injured left knee and proved that a return to competition is realistic. She cruised down the mountain, crossing the finish line 11th fastest out of 47 skiers and impressing her coach with both her resilience and her conservative approach.
“She was smart, she didn’t go all in,” her coach, Aksel Lund Svindal, told reporters. “She made a mistake on the bottom, but the rest looked like good skiing. No big risk. To me, it looked symmetrical. I didn’t see any differences [between her] right and left [side]. That’s what we were looking for today.”
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The prudent decision for Vonn might have been to stay off her knee on Saturday. Naturally, that’s not the decision she made.
“On our way to work!” she posted to social media about 90 minutes before the training runs began. “Course looks good today, snow is a lot more firm. Should run quite a bit faster. Because of that, I’ve decided to start in the training run today. See you out there”
For days, Vonn has insisted that she believes she’s capable of the unthinkable on Sunday, that she won’t allow even one of the most feared injuries in sports to stop her in her quest for the perfect ending to her storied career. If she does it, she’ll become an enduring symbol of resilience for years to come.
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A gold medal, at 41, after tearing an ACL just over a week ago?
“I’m not letting this slip through my fingers,” Vonn said earlier this week. “I’m going to do it, end of story.”
Eileen Gu qualified for the Olympic slopestyle final with a strong second showing following a fall in her first qualifying run on Saturday.
Gu earned a score of 75.30 in her second run to place her within the top 12 skiers to advance to Monday’s final.
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The 22-year-old Gu, who was born in San Francisco but represents China, was a silver medalist in the event in 2022 in Beijing. She also won two golds in big air and halfpipe four years ago and will take part in all three events in Milan. She lost out on triple gold after finishing 0.33 points behind Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud in the slopestyle final.
Since Beijing, Gu has taken part in just four World Cup slopestyle events and made the podium in three of them. Gremaud is the reigning world champion and has finished in first or second place in eight of nine World Cup events she has competed in since November 2023.
Gremaud also qualified for the final after posting a Saturday best score of 79.15 in her second run.
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American Avery Krumme, 17, finished with a score of 64.93 and will also move on, while Grace Henderson (49.78) and Marin Hamill (47.91) failed to advance.
Biathlon competition combines cross-country skiing with rifle target shooting, and at this year’s Winter Games, the Biathlon competition will be comprised of 11 events. Men and women will each compete in five events along with one mixed relay event. Events consist of athletes racing multiple laps around a track and stopping to shoot from different positions and distances during the competition. The number of loops and stops at the shooting range vary depending on each event, with individual races serving as longer endurance events, sprints, which emphasize fast skiing and shooting, pursuits, which feature the fastest competitors from the sprints, relay races, and a mass start race with only the top 30 competitors who have made it to the end of the competition. Biathlon events begin on Feb. 8 and run through Feb. 21 at the 2026 Winter Games.
Here’s a complete schedule of all Team USA Biathlon events at this year’s games, along with a rundown of who is competing. While every event will stream on Peacock, you can also find most on USA and NBC too. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”).
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If you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan-Cortina Games.
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Where to watch Biathlon on TV:
Team USA men’s and women’s biathlon coverage will be split between NBC and USA. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”). You can stream these channels on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more.
For $17 monthly you can upgrade to an ad-free subscription which includes live access to your local NBC affiliate (not just during designated sports and events) and the ability to download select titles to watch offline.
Who is on the Team USA Biathlon team?
These are the athletes on Team USA’s biathlon team:
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will make changes to its voting process in light of controversy over Bill Belichick not being elected to the 2026 class in his first year of eligibility.
Hall of Fame president Jim Porter told the Associated Press that the vote will go back to an in-person meeting and discussion among the 50-member committee. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the conversation and voting process was held virtually.
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Additionally, the vote will occur closer to the announcement of the inductees at the NFL Honors event, held the Thursday prior to the Super Bowl. That scheduling change, likely for Super Bowl week in the host city, is intended to decrease the possibility of discussion and results leaking to the public, as happened when reports of Belichick falling short of the 40 votes necessary for election circulated among media.
Porter also said the Hall would consider releasing vote totals and individual ballots to the public in future balloting, much like the Baseball Hall of Fame and Baseball Writers Association of America do. However, that won’t be done for the 2026 class.
One part of the voting process that will be reviewed is a rule that groups coaches and contributors with older players who have been on the ballot for multiple years. Voters felt they had to choose between longtime candidates who were running out of eligibility, such as running back Roger Craig (who was elected) and quarterback Ken Anderson (who was not), rather than vote for Belichick. That was viewed as a primary reason why the six-time Super Bowl winner was not elected.
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Voters who might have violated rules by discussing the voting debate publicly and the process by which candidates were elected or left off the ballot could be replaced on the committee, according to Porter.
“I’m not here to tell them who the most deserving is,” Porter told the AP’s Josh Dubow. “If the Hall was to tell who the most deserving is, we wouldn’t need them to vote. We understand that. We just want the rules followed.”
Five players were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s 2026 class, as announced at Thursday’s NFL Honors ceremony. Quarterback Drew Brees, receiver Larry Fitzgerald, linebacker Luke Kuechly, kicker Adam Vinatieri and Craig will be formally inducted into the Canton, Ohio, institution on Aug. 8.
BORMIO, Italy — The Stelvio slope here is renowned, or perhaps condemned, as the most demanding downhill course on Alpine skiing’s World Cup circuit.
It is not just visually spectacular, it carries a reputation for being dark and dangerous with steep drops and sometimes icy corners. It is known by some as the “Ribbon of Death.”
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But because of the technical skill it requires, the Stelvio is also a place where the best of the best have been crowned. In the two World Championships that have been held here, Switzerland’s Pirmin Zurbriggen and American Bode Miller — two of the most successful ski racers ever — emerged as winners.
Now there’s another name to add to the list: Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen took Olympic gold on Saturday — the first at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games — completing the course in 1:51.61. Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni (1:51.81) took the silver medal, while countryman Dominik Paris (1:52.11) won bronze.
Kyle Negomir was the top American, finishing 10th.
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Bryce Bennett placed 13th in his third and final Olympic Games.
American Ryan Cochran-Siegel, who came to the Winter Games in some of the best form of his career, finished 18th after posting the fastest training time in Wednesday’s run.
The other American entrant, Sam Morse, finished 19th.
Miller remains the last American man to medal in this event, winning Bronze in 2010.
The 41-year-old skiing great is at the 2026 Winter Olympics seeking her first gold medal since Vancouver 2010. Her appearance at the Milan Cortina Games was in question just a week ago following a fall during a World Cup downhill race in Switzerland.
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Despite tearing her ACL, Vonn is going ahead and will participate in Sunday’s women’s downhill, an event she won in 2010.
No matter the result, Vonn’s perseverance to finish her comeback with one last Olympic appearance is remarkable. She was already a legend of the sport. This elevates her even higher than that.
Vonn’s stick-to-it-iveness puts her among athletes in history who have shown their toughness while battling through injury and/or adversity. Here are a few sports greats who displayed their guts through difficult times.
Willis Reed, Game 7 of 1970 NBA Finals
After tearing a muscle in his right thigh as the New York Knicks took a 3-2 series lead in Game 5, Willis Reed sat out the Los Angeles Lakers win in Game 6. Heading into the decisive game of the series, there were questions about his availability for Game 7. The 1970 MVP, All-Star Game MVP, All-NBA First Teamer and NBA All-Defensive First Teamer would hobble out of the locker room during warmups to a rousing ovation at Madison Square Garden.
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Despite scoring just four points and grabbing three rebounds, Reed’s presence helped inspire the Knicks to win the franchise’s first championship. “I didn’t want to have to look at myself in the mirror 20 years later and say I wished I had tried to play,” Reed said.
Jack Youngblood, Super Bowl XIV
The 1979 Los Angeles Rams met the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC divisional round one year after the Cowboys shut them out in the NFC championship game. During a first half that saw LA take a 14-5 lead, defensive end Jack Youngblood suffered an injury that he did not realize the seriousness of until the team doctor informed him. It was a broken leg.
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After a quick tape job, he was back out there for the remainder of the game, which saw Youngblood sack a retiring Roger Staubach late and the Rams advance with a 21-19 win. Youngblood would play with the bad leg for the rest of the postseason, which saw LA reach Super Bowl XIV — a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The end of the season didn’t mean rest for Youngblood.
He would also travel to Hawaii to play in the Pro Bowl. “Everybody asked me when we got to Hawaii, ‘What the heck are you doing here? You’ve got a broken tibia,” Youngblood later told CBS Sports. “I said, ‘Shut up, I’m not going to miss this party.’”
Kirk Gibson, 1988 World Series
No one believed what they had just witnessed, including Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck. Kirk Gibson had only one at-bat for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics, and he made it count.
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With LA down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, manager Tommy Lasorda called up Gibson as a pinch hitter for Dave Anderson. Gibson, suffering from a right knee ligament sprain and a strained left hamstring suffered in the NLCS, worked a full count. The eighth pitch of the at-bat saw a backdoor slider from Dennis Eckersley get deposited over the right-field wall to give the Dodgers a Game 1 victory.
The Dodgers would win three out of the next four games to win the World Series. Gibson would not play again that postseason.
Kerri Strug, one of the American “Magnificent Seven” at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. (AP Foto/Susan Ragan, archivo)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Kerri Strug, 1996 Olympics
One of the “Magnificent Seven,” Kerri Strug was the final U.S. gymnast to take part in the vault as the Russian team was eyeing a comeback and gold medal. He first attempt ended with an injured ankle and she limped to the runway for her second attempt, knowing that a score of 9.762 would earn gold. Her landing wasn’t perfect, but good enough for a score that gave the U.S. the victory. As the team gathered for the medal ceremony, Coach Béla Károlyi carried Strug to the podium so she could be with her teammates.
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Strug ultimately suffered a lateral sprain and damage to her tendon and was unable to take part in the individual all-around competition.
Emmitt Smith, 1994 Week 18
A first-round bye and home-field advantage was on the line in Week 17 of the 1993 NFL season. Nothing was going to take Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith out of their game against the New York Giants, not even a separated shoulder. The future Hall of Famer suffered the injury late in the first half, but returned in the third quarter during the 16-13 overtime win.
Smith had 17 touches after hurting his shoulder and had a hand in nine of Dallas’ 11 plays on the game-winning drive, picking up 41 yards. The running back finished with 168 yards on 32 carries, as well as 10 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown.
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Weeks later, the Cowboys would win their second straight Super Bowl over the Buffalo Bills.
Michael Jordan, 1997 NBA Finals
Call it “The Flu Game” or the “Bad Pizza Game,” but whatever was sapping the energy of Michael Jordan during Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals wasn’t enough to slow down “His Airness.” Jordan scored 38 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished out five assists, and recorded three steals as the Bulls would win their fifth title in seven seasons.
“That was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Jordan said afterward.
Byron Leftwich, Nov. 2002
The Marshall Thundering Herd fell to the Akron Zips 34-20 in late season MAC action, but the lasting memory of that game is Byron Leftwich playing through a broken leg and getting an assist downfield from his teammates.
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After an Akron linebacker fell on his left leg, Leftwich injured the same shin he had surgery on months earlier. After being evaluated on the sideline, he limped back to action minutes later against the protests of the coaching staff and his mother. Leftwich would eventually leave the field and the stadium to get X-rays at a local hospital via a rental van. He returned in the third quarter and went 14-for-24 for 208 yards and one interception following his comeback. Several times in the fourth quarter, the quarterback was carried downfield by linemen Steve Sciullo and Steve Perretta.
Terrell Owens, Super Bowl XXXIX
Seven weeks before Terrell Owens and the Philadelphia Eagles met the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, the wide receiver suffered a broken leg and torn ligament in his right ankle. His surgeon wouldn’t clear him to return to play. The recovery didn’t matter as TO played all but 10 of Philadelphia’s 72 snaps in the Super Bowl and made nine receptions for 122 yards in a losing effort.
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“Nobody in this room knew I was going to play this game,” Owens said. “Nobody knew but me. Dr. [Mark] Myerson, I give him all the respect in the world. You guys believed what he said that I couldn’t play. A lot of people in the world didn’t believe I could play. It goes to show you. The power of prayer and the power of faith will take you all the way. Nothing is impossible if you got God on your side.”
Philip Rivers, 2007 AFC championship game
Philip Rivers wasn’t supposed to play, but a torn ACL and meniscus in his right knee wasn’t going to keep him from leading the San Diego Chargers against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the 2008 AFC championship game.
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Rivers wasn’t his best, going 19-for-37 for 211, no touchdowns and two interceptions in the Chargers loss, but it showed he was one of the league’s toughest players. It’s no surprise that he is fourth on the NFL’s Ironman streak after playing 255 consecutive games and returned this past season at age 44 to help the Indianapolis Colts down the stretch after retiring in 2020.
Tiger Woods during the 108th US Open Championship playoff round at Torrey Pines South Golf Course in San Diego, CA. (Photo by Chris WIlliams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tiger Woods, 2008 U.S. Open
Tiger Woods played with stress fractures in his tibia and a torn ACL during the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. Even with the pain showing on his face with each shot, he took the 54-hole lead ahead of Lee Westwood and Rocco Mediate heading into Sunday.
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In each of Woods’ 13 major titles at the time, he had entered the final round with the lead. The 2008 U.S. Open would be no different, but it would be a battle. He shot a 73, opening the door for Mediate to force a Monday, 18-hole playoff. It was a back-and-forth Monday, with Woods going up three strokes after 10 holes and Mediate taking a one-stroke lead through 17 holes. Woods would birdie 18 to force sudden-death, which he would win on the par-4 7th hole.
“It was just constant,” Woods said later about the pain. “The treatment was constant throughout the night. I slept on the massage table, I had my knee drained, iced, elevated, worked on, just trying to get as much inflammation out as I could. Then, I would somehow start activating it in the morning, and that was the hardest part because it was so wobbly. Once I finally got going, it was OK.”
Patrice Bergeron, 2011 Stanley Cup Final
The quest to win a Stanley Cup is a four-round grind that follows a difficult 82-game regular season. It took a lot for the Boston Bruins to win the title in 2011. They needed three seven-game series victories, including one over the Vancouver Canucks in the final round. And what follows after teams see their seasons end in the playoffs is the laundry list of injuries players played through.
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Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron played all seven games of that year’s Stanley Cup Finals, even as he picked up injuries in three of the final four games. Torn rib cartilage in Game 4; a broken rib in Game 5; and finally, a separated shoulder and punctured left lung in Game 6, which caused a collapse and a three-day hospital stay.
“In my mind, for sure, I wanted to play,” Bergeron said. “I was hoping for the pain to go down, but that wasn’t the case. After Game 5, I was in a lot of pain. The next day I was just trying to find a way [to] manage the pain, I guess, but it was definitely there. On the day of Game 6, we met with the doctors, and they were telling me the only way I could play was to have a nerve block, the pain would be too high, so I did that in order to play.”
