We’re back hoops fans with another Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club drop for Week 17. Yahoo Fantasy Basketball Slab Packs are a brand-new weekly drop featuring real, graded trading cards of the hottest fantasy performers in the NBA.
If you’re new to Arena Club, here’s the lowdown. Arena Club is the premier online marketplace for sports cards, giving collectors a way to rip packs virtually, buy and sell graded cards and track their entire collection — all in one place. Whether you’re in it for the hobby, the thrill or the chase, Arena Club brings the excitement directly to your screen.
Each week, Arena Club curates real, graded NBA cards and builds two types of Yahoo Fantasy Slab Packs:
Every pack contains a graded card of an active NBA player — but the real treasure is the weekly Chase Cards, featuring some of the top fantasy names in fantasy basketball. These limited-edition hits can reach values up to 20x the cost of the pack.
Weekly NBA Slab Packs go live every Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET and remain available through Friday at 1 p.m. ET (or until they’re gone). It’s the ultimate mid-week boost for fantasy hoopers and collectors alike.
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To top it off, use promo code YAHOO at checkout for 20% off your first slab pack or card purchase on ArenaClub.com or the Arena Club app.
This Week’s Featured Players
Rip a slab pack today for a chance to pull one of the week’s biggest fantasy basketball stars:
Kawhi Leonard, Clippers
Kawhi went for 60+ fantasy points in High Score in back-to-back games, dropping 31 points against the Kings and 41 points against the Timberwolves last week.
LeBron James, Lakers
King James has posted at least 41 fantasy points in six straight games, plus a double-double in three straight before sitting on Tuesday night.
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Nikola Jokić, Nuggets
Joker was back to his old tricks last week with an 85-point fantasy performance thanks to 22 points, 17 assists and 14 rebounds against the Bulls.
Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves
Edwards has at least 50 fantasy points in six of his past eight games and has scored at least 30 real-life points in five of his past six as the T-Wolves make a push toward the playoffs.
Bennedict Mathurin, Clippers
Mathurin was traded to the Clippers in the Ivica Zubac deal from the Pacers prior to the deadline. He tallied 33 fantasy points in his L.A. debut on Tuesday with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in 26 minutes.
Weekly Drops. Real Cards. Real Value. Real Thrill.
With new cards releasing every week based on real fantasy performance, the Yahoo Fantasy x Arena Club partnership delivers a constantly refreshing lineup of NBA stars — and the chase cards you’ll be talking about all season.
Don’t miss this week’s release.
Rip your slab pack, hit a chase card, and upgrade your collection today!
With the fresh fantasy baseball season approaching, it’s time to get you some tiered rankings from my Shuffle Up series. Use these for salary cap drafts, straight drafts, keeper decisions or merely a view of how the position ebbs and flows. Monday, we opened with the catcher position. Today’s assignment is first base.
The numbers are unscientific in nature and meant to reflect where talent clusters and drops off. Assume a 5×5 scoring system, as usual.
Additional positions will follow regularly for the next two weeks. I have removed all catcher-eligible players from the first base shuffle, since those players will be used at catcher for 99% of fantasy teams.
More Tiered Rankings
The Big Tickets
$33 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Guerrero’s production has bounced all over the place through his quirky career, but I have no problem paying up for a three-year average of .293/.374/.485. And this is a guy who comes to play every night, missing just 18 games in the past six seasons. Maybe Guerrero will never become the superstar he was tabbed as a prospect — or the superstar he’s paid to be — but there’s something to be said for a bankable floor.
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Kurtz has something to learn about left-handed pitching (.197/.261/.423), but the Athletics will let him play every day and figure it out. His pop was better at the cushy home park, but his average and OBP played on the road, too. Kurtz can probably trim the heavy strikeout rate, given his discerning eye (he rarely swings out of the zone) and lofty walk rate. Sophomore bets generally make you a little nervous, but Kurtz belongs in the second round.
Harper is going to be a plus offensive player until he retires, but staying on the field has become an issue — he’s averaged 129 games over the past five seasons. He’s picked up double-digit steals in four of the last five years, more proof that the SB column is usually about will over skill. Harper is worth considering in the third round but probably fits better in the fourth.
Legitimate Building Blocks
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Occam’s Razor applies to the Devers case — he traded Fenway Park’s cozy dimensions for the roominess of Oracle Park, and the slash tells the story. Devers had a .296/.420/.556 line in his 39 games at Fenway, and a .234/.351/.474 downer in the 48 San Francisco games. To be fair, that OBP and slugging with the Giants still make Devers a plus hitter, but it turns him from a second-round fantasy asset to a fourth-round consideration. I’ll probably sit this one out.
It’s no fun to play fantasy baseball like an actuary, but it’s generally a wise idea. Freeman’s bags are gone, his bat speed is in a scary decline and he’s 36. Be realistic. I’d like to trend younger with my roster construction.
The will-over-skill steals theme especially apples to Naylor, who somehow swiped 30 bags in 32 attempts despite a sprint score in the bottom 3%. A ridiculous 19 of those steals came after the move to Seattle, in just 54 games. The Mariners play in a big ballpark and want to run aggressively, so I can sign off on Naylor keeping maybe half of those 30 overall bags. Focus the bid price more on his bat, with a three-year slash of .280/.341/.468.
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Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down
Burleson figured out lefties in 2025 and no longer has any worry about being platooned. His contact skills are excellent and he still might grow into a 25-30 homer guy. He’s one of the quiet values I want you to focus on at the table.
The Brewers have become what the Rays used to be, the small-market club that seems to be smarter than everyone else. Thus, when Vaughn joined the Crew last year and immediately stepped up his play, it felt like another Milwaukee steal. I like that betting on Vaughn is betting on pedigree — he was the third overall pick in the 2019 draft. He’ll probably start the year slotted fifth in this lineup, behind a host of OBP machines. Circle this value, too.
Some Plausible Upside
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Caglianone made plenty of contact as a rookie; it just wasn’t emphatic contact — his hard-hit profile is depressing to look at. But don’t take his slash line at face value, as the secondary data suggests his batting average was 80 points unlucky and his slugging should have been 136 points higher. The development curve is different for everyone. While we have to accept that Caglianone might not even make the Royals out of camp, there’s still plenty of profit potential here, too.
You need to be in a deeper league to value Clement, whose main value is the safety of his job and the consistent batting average. You’re looking at 8-12 homers and 8-12 steals here, and the Toronto lineup is deep enough to keep Clement in the bottom third. I’ll admit a soft spot for Clement because he’s a throwback, a contact-heavy approach at the plate and a versatile profile in the field. Yahoo managers can use Clement at all four infield spots.
The 2026 NFL Draft is the marquee event of the offseason, and the first big step in the evaluation process is right around the corner.
The 2026 NFL scouting combine will take place Feb. 22-March 2 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The first day (player arrivals) and last day (OL bench press) don’t involve much, so we’ll stick to the big stuff in between.
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2026 NFL combine participants
Here is the full list of participants. The big names include Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, Miami edge Rueben Bain Jr., Ohio State WR Carnell Tate, Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love and more.
How to watch 2026 NFL combine
Combine coverage, including all on-field workouts and 40-yard dashes, will be broadcast on NFL Network. You can also stream on the NFL+ app.
2026 NFL combine schedule of events
Monday, Feb. 23
Coach and general manager media availabilities
Tuesday, Feb. 24
Coach and general manager media availabilities
Wednesday, Feb. 25
Coach and general manager media availabilities
Defensive line, linebacker and kicker media interviews
Thursday, Feb. 26
DL, LB and K measurements and on-field workouts, including 40-yard dashes
Defensive back and tight end media interviews
Friday, Feb. 27
DB and TE measurements and on-field workouts, including 40-yard dashes
DL, LB and K bench presses
Quarterback, running back and wide receiver media interviews
Saturday, Feb. 28
QB, RB and WR measurements and on-field workouts, including 40-yard dashes
Sunday, March 1
OL measurements and on-field workouts, including 40-yard dashes
The National League West is a division of extremes. On one end, we have the back-to-back champion Dodgers, with their payroll that rivals some divisions’ combined spending. On the other hand, we have the Rockies, MLB’s worst team in 2025 and an organization infamous for being way behind the rest of the league. Somewhere in between are the Padres, Giants and Diamondbacks, all dealing with spending constraints while trying to contend in a competitive National League.
How did these five teams do in terms of improving their rosters this winter? Let’s grade ‘em.
Significant outgoing free agents: SP Clayton Kershaw (retired), SP Andrew Heaney (retired), LF Michael Conforto, RP Michael Kopech, RP Kirby Yates
Major moves:
Signed OF Kyle Tucker to a 4-year deal
Signed RP Edwin Diaz to a 3-year deal
Re-signed 2B Miguel Rojas to a 1-year deal
Re-signed RP Evan Phillips to a 1-year deal
Extended 3B Max Muncy on a 2-year deal
Re-signed INF Enrique Hernandez to a 1-year deal
Offseason grade: A+
After the Dodgers became the first team in a quarter-century to win back-to-back World Series titles, the baseball world waited to see what Los Angeles had in store this offseason. Like any team, the Dodgers came into the winter with some roster holes. But with an already loaded lineup, stacked rotation and overwhelming payroll, the idea of more significant additions seemed far-fetched. No matter. Early in the winter, the Dodgers shocked the industry by landing arguably the best closer in baseball, Edwin Díaz, on a three-year, $69 million deal. Díaz gives L.A. something it hasn’t had even in its recent run of dominance: a shutdown closer.
The Dodgers have a superstar-studded roster and have made themselves as close to infallible as any team in recent history. They go into 2026 as the overwhelming favorites to win another title.
Will the Dodgers three-peat in 2026? Will the Rockies rebound from being the worst team in the sport?
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
San Diego Padres
Significant outgoing free agents: RP Robert Suarez, 1B Luis Arraez, 1B Ryan O’Hearn, SP Nestor Cortes, SP Dylan Cease
Major moves:
Re-signed SP Michael King on a 3-year deal
Signed LF Miguel Andujar on a 1-year deal
Signed OF Nick Castellanos on a 1-year deal
Signed SP Griffin Canning on a 1-year deal
Offseason grade: C
The Padres, like the Dodgers, have an extremely top-heavy roster when it comes to their talent. And with the combination of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatís Jr. and Jackson Merrill, San Diego has the foundational pieces in the lineup. That’s something many teams around baseball would covet.
Losing Dylan Cease to the Toronto Blue Jays was huge, as it increases San Diego’s need for starting pitching — which they didn’t address prior to the start of spring training. But the Padres were able to re-sign Michael King, who when healthy is one of the better pitchers in the National League. And they were able to add outfielder Miguel Andujar, giving them another solid bat behind Tatis, Machado and Merrill.
It has been an interesting offseason in the Bay, as the Giants have tried to find their way out of the doldrums of mediocrity (321-327 the past four seasons). Given that this is one of the teams in baseball with the resources to make a huge splash, there was reason to believe president of baseball operations Buster Posey would make the most of this offseason. But that’s not exactly what happened.
The two biggest moves of the Giants’ offseason have come in the past few weeks. The team brought in Harrison Bader to play center fielder, allowing Jung-Hoo Lee to shift to right. The Giants then signed Luis Arraez to a one-year deal to play second base, giving them a table-setter atop the lineup. They also signed right-handers Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser, who should provide quality innings and rotation depth.
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In totality, none of these are bad moves, and all are likely to help the Giants be a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025. But in a division with as much high-end talent as the Dodgers and Padres have, you have to wonder if it’ll be enough.
But with so much energy focused on Marte, the D-backs hardly made any significant improvements to the rest of their roster. The biggest splash was probably their trade to acquire eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, though given Arenado’s decline the past few seasons, it was largely a salary dump for the Cardinals. The D-backs’ other two major moves this winter were bringing back right-hander Merrill Kelly after trading him at last summer’s deadline and signing 39-year-old DH/1B Carlos Santana.
Significant outgoing free agents: 2B Thairo Estrada, SS Orlando Arcia, SP German Marquez
Major moves:
Signed UTL Willi Castro to a 2-year deal
Signed SP José Quintana to a 1-year deal
Signed SP Michael Lorenzen to a 1-year deal
Signed SP Tomoyuki Sugano to a 1-year deal
Acquired 2B Edouard Julien and RP Pierson Ohl from the Twins in exchange for SP Jace Kaminska and cash
Offseason grade: D
An “incomplete” might be a better grade to give the Rockies, considering they didn’t do much to improve their major-league roster or farm system. They did sign utility man Willi Castro to a one-year deal and just this week brought in Tomoyuki Sugano and José Quintana to be innings-eaters, but that’s about it. Not exactly needle-moving acquisitions, but … it’s something, right?
Perhaps the Rockies‘ biggest move of the offseason was bringing in longtime baseball (and football) executive Paul DePodesta to be the team‘s new president of baseball operations. That marks the organization’s first major front-office shakeup since the team’s inception in 1993, as Colorado finally brought in someone from outside the organization. That in and of itself is a huge win for the Rockies, but only time will tell if it works.
ESPN has been revamping so many aspects of its streaming service that it can honestly be pretty hard to keep up with all the changes. Last year, they debuted ESPN Unlimited as a standalone streaming subscription that unified all of their broadcast channels and ESPN+ under one umbrella, and as of today (Feb. 10), they’re now the home of MLB.TV too. Starting today, fans can buy an MLB.TV subscription directly through ESPN, a partnership that will bring thousands of out-of-market live games each season to the ESPN App and ESPN.com, though the catch is that you’ll still have to pay for MLB.TV as an add-on.
While this partnership with ESPN will help streamline subscriptions (and even provide a discount) for existing ESPN subscribers, the signup process has proved to be a bit convoluted and hard to understand for non-ESPN subscribers.
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To help avoid confusion, here’s a breakdown of what’s happening with MLB.TV and ESPN, what to do if you’re an existing MLB.TV subscriber, and how to sign up through ESPN before the 2026 MLB season begins.
What can I watch with MLB.TV?
MLB.TV subscribers have the opportunity to watch every out-of-market game throughout the season or watch games on demand, and stream MLB Network 24/7.
How will ESPN’s partnership affect existing MLB.TV subscribers?
If you’re currently a subscriber to MLB.TV, your subscription will be renewed directly through your MLB.TV account for the 2026 season (this may change in the future). You can continue to access the streaming content in the MLB App, or if you have the ESPN App, you can link your MLB.TV subscription to it and watch there.
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Will Existing ESPN Unlimited subscribers get MLB.TV free?
Unfortunately, this new partnership between ESPN and MLB.TV does not mean that MLB.TV is now a free part of the ESPN App, it will be available as an add-on feature. ESPN+ subscribers will have the opportunity to purchase an MLB.TV subscription at a discount, though: in 2026, the full season will cost $134.99 instead of $149.99 and subscribers can stream games either through the MLB App or the ESPN App.
add-on or Disney Bundle plan, the service provides access to thousands of sports events for $11.99/month or $119.99/year.
Starting this February, new customers can subscribe to MLB.TV directly through ESPN platforms – you do not need to additionally purchase an ESPN Unlimited subscription, though you will receive ESPN Unlimited free for one month, and you’ll need to log in to sign up for MLB.TV. Should you choose not to continue your ESPN Unlimited subscription beyond the free trial, it will not impact your MLB.TV subscriptions.
How can new customers sign up for MLB.TV without an existing ESPN Unlimited subscription?
Brand new MLB.TV customers will now have to subscribe to MLB.TV directly through ESPN Unlimited. While you DO need to sign up for a free monthlong ESPN Unlimited subscription to start, in order to then sign up for MLB.TV, you can cancel the ESPN subscription at any point in the trial, and that will not impact or cancel your MLB.TV subscription, though you will lose access to ESPN immediately. Once you’ve signed up for MLB.TV, you will have the option of streaming MLB.TV through either the MLB or ESPN App.
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Can I sign up for MLB.TV if I get ESPN Unlimited for free through another provider?
A lot of streaming services and cable providers, including DirecTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV and Spectrum, offer free subscriptions to ESPN Unlimited. (You can see a complete list of places to get ESPN for free here.) If you receive ESPN Unlimited through a separate provider, click here for instructions on how to access MLB.TV, too.
So I really have to sign up for ESPN Unlimited even if I don’t want it, just to sign up for MLB.TV?
Yes, you really do have to go through a double paywall to get MLB.TV now. And if you don’t want ESPN Unlimited, we suggest canceling the ESPN subscription immediately after subscribing to MLB.TV, because hell hath no fury like a person who gets accidentally charged after forgetting to cancel their free streaming trial.
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Does this ESPN partnership affect MLB.TV mid-season discounts?
MLB.TV will still offer a discounted mid-season rate as they have in years past, though you’ll still have to sign up for it by first signing up for an ESPN Unlimited 30-day trial.
Before heading to the Seattle Seahawks’ championship ceremony and parade on Wednesday morning, outspoken linebacker Ernest Jones IV joined “Up & Adams” and had a message for all the doubters.
Host Kay Adams noticed Jones’ shirt during the interview and asked what he was wearing when he tilted his camera to give a full frontal view of Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold flipping the bird. Jones and a couple of other Seahawks wore the shirts to the ceremony with Darnold’s blessing as a statement to all who doubted the QB and the Seahawks all season.
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Jones doubled down on his message on stage during the ceremony.
“If you got anything to say about my QB, if you got anything to say about my defense, if you got anything to say about our O-line, and you got anything to say about the city of Seattle … I got two words for you … F**k you!”
Few outside the Seahawks believed in Darnold to this point. Even after leading the Minnesota Vikings to 14 wins in 2024, Minnesota opted to let Darnold enter free agency. That’s when the Seahawks swooped in to sign him, and the rest is history. Not only was Darnold an underdog, but this Seahawks team was an underdog all season.
Seattle capped a 10-game winning streak to end the season, defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, 29-13. Even as Seattle was in the midst of finishing the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, capturing the NFC’s No. 1 seed and home-field advantage in the NFL playoffs, the Seahawks remained overlooked by many.
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It wasn’t until Seattle beat San Francisco with a dominant defensive performance in Week 18 to lock up home-field advantage that the Seahawks began to open the eyes of pundits and fans on the national scene. For Darnold, this Super Bowl is vindication, a middle finger in the face of everyone who’d written his NFL career off as a bust.
MILAN — When American speedskating phenom Jordan Stolz and his family went out to eat while in the Netherlands for a World Cup event a few months ago, they didn’t have the luxury of choosing a restaurant for the type of food it served.
Their main priority was finding a secluded spot in a quiet part of town where Stolz could enjoy a meal in peace without getting recognized.
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Almost immediately after the Stolz family sat down, a group of men walked by their table and did a double take.
“Are you Jordan?” one of them asked.
Stolz tried to say no, but smirks and giggles from his family members gave him away. Before long, more restaurant-goers approached the table to say hello to Stolz or to ask him to pose for a picture. He barely had time to shovel food into his mouth between interruptions.
“It’s crazy over there,” said Dirk Stolz, Jordan’s father. “Anywhere we go, everybody knows him.”
Since rocketing onto the global speedskating scene three years ago, Stolz has become the rare athlete more famous internationally than in his home country. The 21-year-old is a superstar in speedskating hotspots like the Netherlands, Norway and Germany, but he remains almost completely unknown across America and even in his home state of Wisconsin.
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Stolz took a big step toward changing that Wednesday night in Milan when he shined in the first of his four races on the Olympic stage. The kid who learned to skate on his family’s backyard pond in Kewaskum, Wisconsin, outraced a world-class field in the men’s 1,000 meters to win his first Olympic gold medal.
Stolz clocked a winning time of 1:06.28, breaking a 24-year-old Olympic record set at altitude before he was even born. Jenning de Boo of the Netherlands thrilled the roaring orange-clad pro-Dutch crowd by taking second, just half a second behind Stolz.
Going head-to-head in the second-to-last pairing of the night brought out the best in both Stolz and de Boo. Stolz trailed the Dutchman by four tenths of a second at the 600-meter mark of the race, but the American was able to display his superior speed endurance, find another gear and surge past de Boo late in the final lap.
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“I was hoping to be pretty even with him at the 600 and then get him in the last lap, but he was ahead,” Stolz said. “So I was a little worried that he could possibly win. I threw two arms down and attacked as hard as I could. I was able to reel him in on that last corner.”
De Boo entered the race knowing he needed to be well ahead of Stolz at the 600-meter mark to have any shot of holding him off. When he heard the hissing sound of Stolz’s blades hitting the ice around the 800-meter mark, de Boo knew that his lead was not going to hold up.
“I had high hopes, but his last lap was just incredible,” de Boo said.
Stolz had to wait an extra 15 minutes for confirmation that he had won because Joep Wennemars of the Netherlands was granted a reskate. Wennemars was on his way to a potential podium finish before he collided with China’s Lian Ziwen from behind on the lane crossover during the final lap of his race. Furious at the obstruction, Wennemars lodged a protest but his re-skate resulted in a slower time and he settled for a fifth-place finish.
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“It’s hard to win a medal after you already skated 1,000 meters,” Stolz said. “I felt pretty bad for him.”
It’s always reckless to guarantee gold medals in a pressure-packed setting like the Olympics, but it would have been a massive surprise to see any other skater besides Stolz win the men’s 1,000. He’s not just the world-record holder in this event. He last lost a World Cup race at this distance in November 2023.
While Stolz is also a clear favorite to win gold in the men’s 1,500 on Feb. 19, his other two races pose a stiffer challenge. The high-intensity, fast-paced 500 features several sprinters who have beaten Stolz on the World Cup circuit this season. And the chaotic mass-start event brings an element of randomness with the whole field racing shoulder-to-shoulder.
Asked about the possibility of winning four gold medals, Stolz admitted that would be “crazy” and “super historical” but also acknowledged how difficult it would be.
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“It’s hard enough to get one gold medal,” he said. “One is huge for me.”
If Stolz can pile up medals over the next 10 days, it could be life-changing for him and huge for the notoriety of his sport in the U.S. Already, Stolz has landed endorsement deals with the likes of Hershey’s and Honda and gained the backing of NBC. He starred alongside Glen Powell in a hilarious commercial promoting NBC airing the Winter Games.
For Stolz, his first Olympic gold medal is a major milestone on a journey that began with watching the charismatic Apolo Anton Ohno at the 2010 Vancouver Games. He has chased Olympic glory ever since, snapping at the heels of America’s fastest speedskaters by age l6 and then coming for the rest of the world a year or two later.
Jane Stolz recalls a ticket scanner initially denying her entry the first time her son competed at the World Championships three years ago. No matter how many times she tried, her digital ticket wouldn’t scan properly.
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Then Jordan won his first global title in the 500. And the 1,000. And the 1,500.
“By the end of the week, I didn’t have to worry about showing tickets anymore,” Jane said with a laugh. “They all knew who we were.”
The more races Stolz has won and records he has broken, the more well known he becomes. He seldom finishes a meal in the speedskating-obsessed Netherlands without interruptions. He rarely makes it to his gate at the airport in Amsterdam without fulfilling a request for a picture or autograph.
Stolz’s parents receive so much airtime when he races that they’ve become famous-adjacent among speedskating fans. Jane remembers two elderly women approaching her at an overseas coffee shop when she was jet-lagged and exhausted. At first, Jane thought they needed help. Then they asked her, “Are you Jordan’s mom?”
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Dirk and Jane know a Wisconsin couple that emigrated from the Netherlands and still watches Dutch TV regularly.
“They tell us they see us and Jordan on the evening news all the time,” Jane said.
The contrast is striking compared to Stolz’s anonymity in his home country, especially among those not old enough to remember Eric Heiden’s five gold medals at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980. The average Wisconsinite that Jane encounters isn’t guaranteed to know what speedskating is, let alone about the exploits of her son.
“I’m like, you know, speed skating, where they go around in the oval?” Jane said. “They’re like, huh? I’m like, you know, Eric Heiden? They still have no clue.”
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Now is Stolz’s two weeks in the Olympic limelight back home, his best chance to elevate his own stature and that of his sport.
Somewhere in America, there’s a kid with a backyard pond watching Olympic speed skating. And maybe he dreams of being the next Jordan Stolz.
MILAN — Danny Casper didn’t understand why his body was failing him.
A mysterious illness had stripped the 22-year-old of the ability to perform even the most basic tasks. Almost overnight, he went from skippering one of America’s top-ranked curling teams to struggling to climb out of bed or walk downstairs without assistance.
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At first, Casper brushed it off when his neck and back ached near the end of a February 2024 mixed doubles tournament. He attributed the soreness to his clumsy technique sweeping to try to influence the path of the curling stone. As skipper and primary tactician for his men’s team, Casper typically left sweeping duty to his teammates. In mixed doubles, that was not an option.
The discomfort became all Casper could think about soon after he returned to his home in the Minneapolis suburbs. Sharp pain shot down his arms and legs. His hands and feet endlessly tingled as if he had slept on them funny. He relied on his roommates for meals and laundry. He barely had enough feeling in his fingers to crudely pound out text messages on his phone.
When Casper first underwent a battery of diagnostic tests, medical experts came away as perplexed as he was. One doctor suggested to Casper that he might be suffering from Vitamin B deficiency. Casper shot him a withering look, later telling friends, “I’m no doctor and I’m sure Vitamin B is important, but I think this is worse than that.”
As weeks passed without a diagnosis or viable treatment plan, Casper’s mental state darkened. He no longer worried about recovering in time for the upcoming curling season. In his most hopeless moments, as he stared at the ceiling above his bed, his thoughts would drift to “the worst possible stuff.”
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“I would try to watch shows and stuff to pass the time, but it was pretty terrible,” Casper told Yahoo Sports. “For awhile, it was like, forget curling. What about getting to tomorrow?”
Well, tomorrow has come and it’s landed Casper in Cortina, Italy, where on Wednesday Casper led Team USA to victory over Czechia in their opening match of these Olympic Games.
Though Casper arrives not 100 percent, his goal is still the same: gold.
Danny Casper, center, Ben Richardson, right, and Aidan Oldenburg, in action during the men’s curling round robin session against Czechia. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Curling or soccer?
For Casper, of all people, to utter the words “forget curling,” is a window into how much he was suffering. This was a kid from the New York suburbs who moved halfway across the country at 18 to pursue his dream of curling in the Olympics.
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Casper first became familiar with the sport by attending his parents’ curling matches at the Ardsley Curling Club along the east bank of the Hudson River. When Casper turned 11, his dad signed him up to start curling at the club.
In an unlikely but fortuitous coincidence, Casper grew up in the same small New York town as an older teen whose dad was a former national champion curler. Andrew Stopera had a decorated junior career, leading his team to three straight national junior championships from 2017-19. Throwing stones with Stopera and trying in vain to stay competitive fueled Casper in those early days.
When Casper was finishing his sophomore year in high school, the multi-sport athlete realized he needed to pick a path. Did he want to pursue soccer in hopes of securing a scholarship offer from a top-tier college? Or did he want to focus on curling and see how far he could go if he made it his priority?
Watching John Shuster’s American quartet win Olympic gold in 2018 helped nudge Casper toward curling. So did some timely praise from Stopera’s father, who told Casper he was “pretty good at this” and might be able to compete at the national and international level one day.
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“What did I know then?” Casper said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that sounds fun.’ Soccer was my main focus at the time, but it was like, OK, maybe play soccer in college and then what? Curling was pretty interesting and unique and in theory something I could do a little longer. That’s kind of what drew me to it.”
Rather than staying in the New York area after high school, Casper moved to the curling hub of Minneapolis in 2019 and continued his studies at the University of Minnesota. It was there that he linked up with former world junior silver medalists Luc Violette and Ben Richardson, as well as fellow up-and-comer Chase Sinnett.
That quartet took silver at the 2023 World University Games and finished second behind Shuster’s powerhouse team at the 2023 National Championships. Team Casper’s winning ways appeared poised to continue even after Sinnett departed after the 2023-24 season and Aidan Oldenburg replaced him.
Then Casper fell ill without warning.
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The body that had served him for 22 years began to malfunction and nobody could figure out why.
American rapper Snoop Dogg (left) with USA’s Danny Casper at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium, Italy. (Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)
(Andrew Milligan – PA Images via Getty Images)
Finding an answer
In June 2024, four months after Casper began experiencing unexplained symptoms, the United States Olympic and Paralympic committee flew him to Florida to undergo additional testing. Only then did Casper at last receive the explanation that he had been seeking.
Doctors diagnosed Casper with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks its nerves. There’s no cure for GBS, doctors told Casper, but with treatment and physical therapy, he could expect to fully recover in as little as eight months to a year.
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“Once they told me this should be something that should go away, something that we can test out different medicines with, that was a big relief,” Casper said. “That made me more optimistic for everything curling-wise and life-wise.”
While Casper desperately wanted to rejoin his team for the start of the 2024-25 curling season, he didn’t yet feel up to sliding a 44-pound granite stone down a narrow sheet of ice. He sat out the first two months of the season and played only when his health allowed it thereafter, forcing his teammates to cycle through a series of short-term replacement skippers.
Casper has returned to lead his team this season, grateful to have the opportunity to compete against the top teams in the world again and eager to prove that he and his teammates belong among them. They validated their status as America’s top-ranked men’s team entering Olympic Trials by scraping their way to the final and dethroning Shuster’s decorated, experienced squad in a tense best-of-three showdown.
There was still one more hurdle left for Team Casper to represent the U.S. at the Milan Cortina Games, but Casper and his teammates cleared it with ease. They claimed one of two remaining Olympic berths with a dominant showing at a last-chance global qualification tournament in early December.
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The fairytale story would be a healthy Casper triumphantly skippering the U.S. to a gold medal, but in reality, his road to recovery hasn’t been as smooth or as speedy as doctors hoped. Even now, two years removed from his first symptoms, there are still telltale warning signs that he still doesn’t have the same strength or dexterity in his hands that he once did.
On bad days, he might show up to the ice with his shoe laces untied because he was unable to tie a tight knot. Or he might ask his teammates for help opening a bottle of water or flipping over his rock to clean it.
“For him to be able to go out there and play like he’s playing with this condition, it’s incredible,” said Rich Ruohonen, who frequently filled in for Casper last season and now serves as the team’s alternate. “He’s healthier now than he has been, but he still has a lot of problems, a lot of pain. Most people would probably give up. He doesn’t let anything affect him.”
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Casper’s condition didn’t allow him to throw as often as he’d have liked leading up to the Olympics. He compares himself to NFL veterans who practice in a limited fashion a couple times a week to save their legs or their bodies for game day.
And yet even at less than 100%, Casper’s goals for these Olympics are no different than any other tournament he has ever entered. The guy who was confined to his bed less than two years ago expects to be standing atop the medal podium in Italy.
“I always struggle wrapping my head around people who say their goal is to make the playoffs or to get bronze,” Casper said. “No, the goal is always to win. I don’t know why it ever would be anything else.”
Though LA28 organizing committee chairman Casey Wasserman has been linked to Jeffrey Epstein in a series of emails that were released late last month, leaders of the organizing committee said Wednesday that Wasserman should continue to serve as the committee chair.
This development comes as Wasserman’s talent agency has lost several high-profile clients, including former soccer star Abby Wambach.
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After a review of his past conduct and Wasserman’s “strong leadership,” the LA28 committee said, he should remain in charge of the LA28 organizing committee.
“We found Mr. Wasserman’s relationship with Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented,” the board’s executive committee said in a statement on Wednesday, via The Los Angeles Times.
“Twenty-three years ago, before Mr. Wasserman or the public knew of Epstein and Maxwell’s deplorable crimes, Mr. Wasserman and his then-wife flew on a humanitarian mission to Africa on Epstein’s plane at the invitation of the Clinton Foundation. This was his single interaction with Epstein. Shortly after, he traded the publicly-known emails with Maxwell.
“The Executive Committee of the Board has determined that based on these facts, as well as the strong leadership he has exhibited over the past ten years, Mr. Wasserman should continue to lead LA28 and deliver a safe and successful Games.”
Casey Wasserman will continue to serve as the chair of the LA28 organizing committee despite new emails that linked him to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
(Andreas Rentz via Getty Images)
What are Casey Wasserman’s connections to Epstein, Maxwell?
Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and longtime associate of Epstein, told Wasserman in an email thread that she had thought of him at “inappropriate moments.”
“I think of you all the time … So what do I have to do to see you in a tight leather outfit?” Wasserman wrote back. “I am in NY tonight, you’re not, what am I to do?”
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Their correspondence continued, and Wasserman was married at the time. He and his wife divorced in 2021 after two decades together.
The high-powered Hollywood agent and businessman emphasized in a statement earlier this month that he “never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein,” and that he was “terribly sorry for having any association with either of them.”
“I deeply regret my correspondence with Ghislaine Maxwell which took place over two decades ago, long before her horrific crimes came to light,” Wasserman said.
Los Angeles will host the Olympics in 2028, which marks the city’s first Games since 1984.
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Former USWNT star Abby Wambach leaves Wasserman’s agency
Several major stars have left Wasserman’s agency since the emails were released. Longtime U.S. women’s national team star Abby Wambach joined that group on Wednesday.
Wambach retired from the sport in 2015, and is not actually represented by Wasserman himself. Her agent, however, is part of his agency. The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who is USWNT’s all-time leading scorer, also called on Wasserman to step down.
“I know what I know, and I am following my gut and my values,” she wrote, in part. “I will not participate in any business arrangement under his leadership … Casey should resign. He should leave, so more people like me don’t have to.”
Wambach is just the latest to leave Wasserman’s agency. Most notably, Grammy award winner Chappel Roan announced this week that she was leaving, too.
Lindsey Vonn provided another update on her health on Wednesday, this time with a picture. The U.S. alpine skier announced on Instagram that she had a third surgery on her fractured left leg and posted an image of herself from a hospital bed. She had a bulky brace on her leg and gave a thumbs-up with her right hand.
“I had my 3rd surgery today and it was successful,” Vonn wrote. “Success today has a completely different meaning than it did a few days ago. I’m making progress and while it is slow, I know I’ll be ok.”
(Instagram/lindseyvonn)
Vonn injured her leg in a crash 13 seconds into her run at the alpine downhill competition at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday. The injury required Vonn to be airlifted off the mountain and is expected to be career-ending for the 41-year-old.
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Vonn wrote in a previous update that she’d sustained a complex fracture of her tibia. Per Yale Medicine, a complex fracture is “when the bone breaks into bits and pieces, when the soft tissue surrounding the bone is severely damaged, or when the patient has other illnesses or injuries that complicate treatment and healing.”
The brace around her leg demonstrates just how significant the damage was. It’s not clear if her surgery Wednesday was her last to repair the injury. Vonn previously wrote that the injury “will require multiple surgeries to fix properly.” She also wrote that she has “no regrets” despite the devastating injury.
Vonn’s right arm got caught in a gate at the top of her run, sending her flying through the air at a high rate of speed and crashing into the ground.
She previously wrote that her ACL tear had nothing to do with her crash.
“I was simply 5 inches too tight on my line when my right arm hooked inside of the gate, twisting me and resulted in my crash,” Vonn wrote. “My ACL and past injuries had nothing to do with my crash whatsoever.”
In her update on Wednesday, Vonn thanked her supporters and medical staff and sent a note of congratulations to her alpine skiing teammate and all of the Team USA athletes competing at Milan Cortina.
“Thankful for all of the incredible medical staff, friends, family, who have been by my side and the beautiful outpouring of love and support from people around the world. Also, huge congrats to my teammates and all of the Team USA athletes who are out there inspiring me and giving me something to cheer for.”
