Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim revealed Tuesday that, even though the USA snowboarding star tore the labrum in her shoulder during a halfpipe training run in Switzerland last week, she’ll be “good to go” for this year’s Winter Olympics.
The Opening Ceremony for the Milano Cortina Games is Feb. 6, but the women’s Olympic halfpipe competition doesn’t begin until Feb. 11.
“The good news is that I just tore my labrum, and I guess there are two different ways to do it, and the way I did it is less severe than the others, so I’m really happy about that.”
She explained Tuesday that she had an MRI on Friday.
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Kim noted that she’s “devastated” that she has to sit out the Laax Open, which she described as one of her favorite events. She’s also expected to miss the X Games the subsequent weekend.
“Obviously, I’m really disappointed that I can’t snowboard until right before the Olympics, which is going to be hard,” she said. “I haven’t gotten nearly the amount of reps that I would’ve liked, but that’s OK.
“It’s funny, I’ve been doing this for so long, and every season I am met with a different set of challenges, so I guess this is going to be the one this year.”
This year, Kim is one of several women trying to become the first snowboarder to take gold in three straight Olympics.
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This time, she’ll be wearing a shoulder brace, but she’s just happy she’ll be ready to go for the event.
“I’m so grateful that I will be good to go for the Olympics,” she said.
The Chicago Bears’ comeback win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFL wild-card round averaged 31.61 million viewers on Prime Video, the streamer announced Tuesday. That makes it the most streamed game in NFL history by a wide margin.
Saturday's game is also reportedly a 43% increase over last year's equivalent game on Prime, another rivalry game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. That game set a previous record with 22.07 million average viewers.
It was a breakthrough moment for the Bears. This year's team had showed immense promise under first-time head coach Ben Johnson, but beating the Packers in that fashion — even a version of Green Bay missing star pass-rusher Micah Parsons — was the kind of night Chicago hadn't had in years.
The Bears' win sets them up for a clash with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the divisional round. That game will be on NBC (and Peacock, of course).
Only a handful of coaches have stuck with a single team for longer. One of them, Chuck Noll, worked for the Steelers, and between him, Tomlin and Bill Cowher, Pittsburgh has had only three head coaches since 1969. The Las Vegas Raiders are about to hire their third head coach since 2024.
On Jan. 27, 2007, the Steelers promoted the 34-year-old Tomlin from defensive coordinator to head coach after the retirement of Cowher. To get a sense of how long ago that is, here’s what else was transpiring around that date:
Peyton Manning had yet to win a Super Bowl.
Lane Kiffin was announced as the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders four days earlier. He is now on his sixth different job since then.
The New England Patriots had recently wrapped up a 16-0 regular season. You probably know what happened the next month.
The top picks of that year’s NFL Draft: JaMarcus Russell, Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas. Two of them worked out.
Barry Bonds had yet to become MLB’s all-time home run leader.
Stephen Curry was a freshman at Davidson.
Tim Tebow was a freshman at Florida.
Mike Tomlin was Steelers head coach for nearly two decades. (Photo by Jason Cohn /Icon SMI/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
(Icon Sports Wire via Getty Images)
Novak Djokovic was more than a year away from his first Grand Slam title.
Usain Bolt was months from his first world championship medals.
FC Barcelona were the reigning Champions League winners — and had a rising star named Lionel Messi.
Lamine Yamal, future FC Barcelona star, was born that year.
Apple announced the iPhone the same month.
Barack Obama announced his first presidential campaign a month later.
Netflix, long known for DVD rentals through the mail, launched a video streaming service that month.
The Nintendo Wii had been launched two months ago.
Martin Scorsese was on the verge of his first Academy Award for “The Departed.”
Suzanne Collins, a freelance writer on the children’s show “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” was working on the manuscript that would become “The Hunger Games.”
He decided to step down. The Steelers didn’t fire him.
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That distinction is important.
Tomlin, 53, has two years remaining on his contract, meaning that, since he resigned, the Steelers will retain his coaching rights. If Tomlin wants to coach for another NFL team before the end of the 2027 season — he reportedly does not plan to coach anywhere in 2026 — Pittsburgh has the right to seek compensation for him.
Although Tomlin reportedly has a no-trade clause in his contract, the expectation is that he’d give the Steelers permission to send him to a team of his choice.
At the end of January that year, the Saints dealt the rights to hire Payton and their 2024 third-round pick for the Broncos’ 2023 first-round pick and 2024 second-round pick.
After the 2021 season came to an end in New Orleans, Payton stepped down from coaching the Saints. That marked the conclusion of his 16-season run with a franchise he helped revitalize. Under Payton, the Saints marched to the tune of nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl victory.
He was 58 when he pressed pause on his coaching career. He was under contract through the 2024 season. So when the Broncos looked his way after Nathaniel Hackett’s abysmal 4-11 stint, they had to get creative, especially because they were down draft picks due to the Russell Wilson trade.
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Payton is now in his third season with the Broncos, who are the AFC’s top seed in the playoffs. It seems like the year away from coaching did him well. He spent that time as an analyst for Fox Sports.
There have been six other head coaches dealt across the league since 1997.
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1997: Bill Parcells traded from New England Patriots to New York Jets for a 1999 first-round pick, 1998 second-round pick and third- and fourth-round picks in the 1997 draft as well as a $300,000 donation to the Patriots’ charitable foundation
1999: Mike Holmgren traded from Green Bay Packers to Seattle Seahawks for a 1999 second-round pick
2000: Bill Belichick, along with a 2001 fifth-round pick and a 2002 seventh-round pick, traded from Jets to Patriots for a 2000 first-round pick, 2001 fourth-round pick and 2001 seventh-round pick
2002: Jon Gruden traded from Oakland Raiders to Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two first-round picks (one in 2002 and one in 2003), two second-round picks (one in 2002 and 2004) and $8 million
2006: Herm Edwards traded from Jets to Kansas City Chiefs for 2006 fourth-round pick
2019: Bruce Arians, plus a 2019 seventh-round pick, traded from Arizona Cardinals to Buccaneers for 2019 sixth-round pick
These trades have fared well for the teams acquiring a new head coach. Gruden and Arians led the Bucs to Super Bowl wins. Belichick, of course, was an architect of a two-decade Patriots dynasty that featured Tom Brady and resulted in six Lombardi trophies. Holmgren’s Seahawks made a Super Bowl appearance, too.
Ty Simpson said he turned down some massive NIL offers from other schools to transfer instead of declare for the 2026 NFL Draft.
The former Alabama quarterback declared for the draft a week after the Crimson Tide were eliminated from the College Football Playoff. He told On3 in a story published Tuesday night that Ole Miss, LSU, Miami and Tennessee were among the schools who inquired about a potential transfer over the weekend. And Miami was apparently prepared to offer significantly more money than even LSU and Tennessee.
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But Simpson stuck with his decision to head to the NFL.
Simpson said the offers were pouring into his agent. Miami and Tennessee both said they would pay him $4 million. Ole Miss also jumped in around the $4 million mark, and Tennessee said it could possibly go as high as $5 million. Eventually, Miami ran the tab up to $6.5 million.
“Miami was kind of like, ‘All right, we’re moving on,’ and then they lost out on Sam Leavitt and came back with that big number,” Simpson said. “And then Ole Miss called again and said they could match it.”
To put those offers to Simpson into context, the biggest known NIL deal a transfer QB has signed this offseason is Brendan Sorsby’s $5 million deal with Texas Tech.
Simpson said he ultimately didn’t want to be a guy who stayed in college because he received a huge NIL payment to change teams.
“ [Coach Kalen DeBoer and offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb] have been so good to me,” Simpson said. “I’m sure they were wondering what was going on because they wanted a decision from me last Thursday so they could start building their roster for next year. I was honest and told them what I’d been offered, but that I just couldn’t do it because of everything I stood for and what Alabama had meant to me and the legacy that I built there. Everybody would just remember me as the guy who took all this money and went to Miami or Tennessee for his last year. But I was a captain. I put my hand and footprints in the cement at Denny Chimes.
“I would have lost everything that I built at Alabama.”
A year ago, Miami’s NIL deal with QB Carson Beck was worth a reported $4 million and the biggest of the transfer cycle. That’s worked out pretty well. Even as Beck was recovering from elbow surgery this offseason, he’s helped lead the Hurricanes to the national championship game against Indiana on Monday night.
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Simpson started just one season at Alabama after backing up Jalen Milroe and Bryce Young. The fourth-year junior was 305-of-473 for 3,567 yards and 28 TDs and 5 interceptions in 2025. He could end up being a first-round pick in the upcoming draft, especially if Oregon’s Dante Moore decides to return to school for another season.
LSU, meanwhile, signed Leavitt, a former Arizona State QB, via the transfer portal on Monday. However, the other three schools are still currently facing uncertain quarterback situations for 2026.
Ole Miss is hoping for a sixth season of eligibility for starter Trinidad Chambliss as Week 1 starter Austin Simmons has already transferred to Missouri. The NCAA has denied Chambliss’ waiver efforts for an extra season, and Chambliss is pursuing legal action. Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar is also looking for a waiver for a seventh year of college football after he spent time at a junior college, but his waiver effort also seems unlikely to succeed. Beck is out of eligibility after the national title game.
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None of the three teams have added a starting-caliber QB in the transfer portal. And, barring a surprise addition to the portal before it closes on Jan. 16 or successful efforts against the NCAA, all three could enter the 2026 season with significant questions at quarterback.
Who will be the fourth-ever Pittsburgh Steelers head coach? Yahoo Sports’ Andrew Siciliano, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab break down the impact of Mike Tomlin stepping down as head coach of the Steelers, along with the fate of Aaron Rodgers. Could the 42-year-old QB retire? The crew also discusses the Philadelphia Eagles and Los Angeles Chargers firing their offensive coordinators. Plus, should eliminated Wild Card teams panic ahead of the offseason?
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(0:00) – Mike Tomlin steps down
(23:57) – Is this it for Aaron Rodgers?
(38:05) – OCs Kevin Patullo & Greg Roman fired
(47:43) – Should these eliminated playoff teams be panicking?
(1:03:30) – One More Thing
Where will Mike Tomlin go next after stepping down as the head coach of the Steelers? (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Following a 24-1 start for OKC, the Spurs had exposed the Thunder as vulnerable. They beat the Thunder on Christmas for a third time in a span of two weeks to drop Oklahoma City to 26-5 with its fourth loss in six games.
Thunder take control with defense, dominant third quarter
Victor Wembanyama attempted to set the tone with two dunks over personal rival Chet Holmgren in the game’s opening minutes. The Thunder responded to take a 32-26 lead the Spurs cut to 55-52 at halftime.
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But the Thunder opened the floodgates with a 40-24 edge in the third quarter that they extended to a 102-80 lead in the fourth. With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander resting in the fourth, the Spurs cut into the lead, But they never challenged again as the Thunder issued their best reminder since their slump started that they’re the reigning champs for a reason.
Oklahoma City won playing its style of basketball — with swarming defense that flustered San Antonio shooters and limited the Spurs to a 40% shooting night from the field. The Thunder challenged shots and passes en route to 11 blocks and 7 steals as their defense repeatedly led to easy buckets near the basket on the other end.
The result was a 52% shooting night for the Thunder as they improved to 34-7 on the season — not bad for a team with the sky supposedly falling around it. And it’s now good enough for a 6.5-game lead over the second-place Spurs in the West.
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SGA: ‘Tonight wasn’t our Super Bowl’
In a postgame interview, Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged the Spurs previously flustered their signature defense and had “gotten the better of us,” but downplayed the importance of Tuesday’s win.
“Tonight wasn’t our Super Bowl,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It wasn’t anything else but another game in an 82-game season. We’ve got to find ways to get better. We could have done things better tonight and will continue to do so and learn from them.”
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder effort with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a team-high 4 blocks. It was the type of effort that will help in his quest for a second straight league MVP award. Jalen Williams added 20 points on a 9-of 15 effort from the field as he continues to round into his former All-Star form after a wrist injury sidelined him for the start of the season.
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Holmgren struggled on offense in his matchup against Wembanyama as he attempted just four field goals in an 8-point effort. But he contributed elsewhere with 10 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Wembanyama was back in the starting lineup for a second straight night after coming off the bench in his return from knee and calf injuries. He made an apparent concerted effort to attack Holmgren on offense early in the game.
But the Thunder held him in relative check as Wembanyama tallied 17 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block. Stephon Castle led the Spurs with 20 points and 8 assists, but he also contributed 5 of San Antonio’s 11 turnovers on the night.
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The Spurs and Thunder have one game remaining on the schedule in San Antonio on Feb. 4. And if the NBA is lucky, they’ll play at least four more games in the postseason.
No. 2 Iowa State took its first loss of the season against Kansas on Tuesday, by enough points that it could very well count for two.
The unranked Jayhawks bulldozed the Cyclones 84-63 at The Phog, in the kind of way that an uninformed observer would just assume they were the second-best team in the country. Tre White led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting with 10 rebounds (6 offensive) and 3 assists, while star freshman Darryn Peterson had 16 points.
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Melvin Council Jr. also had 15 points and 7 rebounds, along with the early wake-up call.
Kansas was up double digits midway through the fourth quarter and up 21 at halftime. Iowa State made a push early in the second half, but the deficit never slipped below double digits.
“I thought the intensity was great. I hoped we showed some toughness,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Other than that seven minutes to start the second half, we played great the whole time. We shared it, were aggressive, and our defense was above what it has been.”
The Cyclones were cold across the floor on offense as well as mistake-prone, with leading scorer and All-America candidate Joshua Jefferson posting only 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting with 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers. Meanwhile, Kansas shot 50.8% from the field and 50% from 3-point range, with only nine turnovers.
It had been a rough go lately for Kansas, falling out of the AP Top 25 this week after losses to unranked UCF and West Virginia in its past three games. Had they lost Tuesday, it would have been their first 1-3 start in conference play since the 1987-88 season.
Instead, Tuesday was a reminder they still have the talent to be dangerous.
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🚨 Headlines
🏈 Tomlin steps down: Mike Tomlin is stepping down in Pittburgh after 19 years, 13 playoff appearances and one Super Bowl title with the Steelers. There are now nine NFL teams changing coaches this offseason, one shy of the record.
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🏀Best in the West: The Thunder crushed the Spurs, 119-98, to extend their lead atop the West and take revenge for San Antonio’s three straight wins over them in December.
⚾️ Arenado to Arizona: The Cardinals have traded eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado to the Diamondbacks after five years in St. Louis. The 34-year-old third baseman, whose bat has declined precipitously in the last three years, has two years and $42 million left on his contract.
⛳️ Thanks, but no thanks? LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith appeared to distance themselves from the possibility of leaving to follow Brooks Koepka back to the PGA Tour. “I’m contracted through 2026,” DeChambeau said, “so I’m excited about this year.”
🏈 NFL streaming record: The Bears’ comeback win over the Packers in the Wild Card Round averaged 31.61 million viewers on Prime Video, making it the most-streamed NFL game ever.
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🏈 Ready for Indiana vs. Miami? Well, hurry up and wait
(Giphy)
College football loses all its momentum in the wait for a championship game. Something must change.
So, how about those College Football Playoff semifinals last week, huh? A thrilling Miami win, a dominant Indiana performance! Can’t wait to see those two unlikely-but-deserving programs square off in … wait, another week from now?
Yes, like a defensive lineman that recovered a fumble in his own red zone, the college football season started with unstoppable momentum and now, with the end in sight, is collapsing in a chaotic heap of its own making.
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In addition to final exams and holidays, college football also must navigate around the behemoths that are Tradition and NFL Football. Tradition is why college football must rotate its entire schedule around the bowls and New Year’s Day, and the NFL is why college football has to surrender the Saturdays it’s stacked up throughout the entire fall.
The result of all these competing forces is the dog’s breakfast of a schedule that the College Football Playoff has become. By the time this is all over, CFP games will have been played on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
(Giphy)
Indiana will have played exactly two football games between the Big Ten championship on Dec. 6 and the national championship 45 days later on Jan. 19. Two full weeks of NFL playoffs will air between the semifinals and the national championship.
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This isn’t sustainable, and that doesn’t even factor in the madness that is the transfer portal opening and closing in the middle of all this, along with all its attendant coach movement.
No matter what, the college football powers that be have to get the sport finished up earlier than late January. Every bit of momentum from a magical, ridiculous season will have bled away by then. The season has to end earlier, ideally before the NFL playoffs start, but absolutely no longer than wild card weekend.
Problem is, the NFL’s not going to give up the Monday night playoff game it’s held since 2021; college football missed the window on that one. But maybe a Tuesday night championship after the first wild card weekend would be better than waiting another six days…?
No matter which way the sport goes in the future, it’s still nearly a week to go until the 2026 national championship kicks off. Might as well spend that time kicking around ideas for the future.
My Dad LOVES baseball. In 1950 when he was 18 years old, he hitchhiked from his home in southwestern Wisconsin to Chicago to see the 1950 All-Star Game at Comiskey Park — the first one that went extra innings!
Over the years, he passed that love down to his children, including me. He took us to Cubs games in the 60’s and eventually to Cubs and Brewers games in the 70’s. I stuck with the Cubs as my favorite team and there were a ton of lean years and a few “almosts” for the Cubbies during that stretch, but I never gave up hope that someday they would win a World Series.
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In 2003, the Cubs made it to the NLCS against the Florida Marlins and I was at Game 6 when they blew a 3-0 lead in the eighth inning (don’t blame Steve Bartman), losing 8-3 and mandating a nerve-wracking Game 7.
I was distraught after the game but woke up the next morning, excited and nervous about going that night. However, that morning my sister called me and told me that Dad had just suffered a cardiac arrest. He was in surgery and it was unclear if he was going to make it.
Dad lived three hours away in Madison, Wisconsin, so I told my sister that I was heading up immediately. But she said there was nothing I could do at the hospital. And knowing I had tickets to Game 7 she said that I should go and that, knowing Dad, he would be disappointed if I didn’t.
(Tom Wolf)
So I went to Game 7 and watched the Cubs lose 9-6. The fans were shocked. Angry. Devastated. I was at peace. I learned before the game that my Dad had survived his quintuple bypass surgery and that it looked like he was going to make it. When I drove to Madison to see him I said “next time you want to teach me a lesson about how baseball isn’t the most important thing in the world, be more subtle.” He said “deal!”
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13 years later, the Cubs did make it to the World Series and I took my 85-year-old Dad to the first home World Series game at Wrigley Field in 71 years. This time he didn’t have to hitchhike to get there!
The Cubs lost but we celebrated the occasion knowing that even though you can’t dictate the outcome of any game, you can always cherish the opportunity to share something special with someone special. Thanks, Dad.
P.S. Dad is still alive today at 94 years old. He’s no longer going to baseball games but he did stay up until 2 am to watch the end of the 2025 World Series Game 3 marathon! Go sports!
🏈 Divisional dominance: West is best
(Jonathan Castro/Yahoo Sports)
All season long we watched as the top three teams in the NFC West laid waste to the rest of the NFL.* And now here we are, with the Seahawks, Rams and 49ers making up nearly half the remaining playoff field.
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Exclusive club: The 2025 NFC West is just the fourth division in NFL history to send three teams to the Divisional Round, with Seattle earning the bye as the top seed and Los Angeles and San Francisco winning their Wild Card matchups. The other three:
1992 NFC East: The Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins all made the last eight, with Dallas ultimately winning Super Bowl XXVII and birthing a dynasty that would win three titles in four years.
1997 NFC Central: The NFC North predecessor sent the Vikings, Packers and Buccaneers to the Divisional Round. Green Bay fell just shy of winning back-to-back titles, losing to John Elway’s Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII.
2022 NFC East: The most recent instance featured the Cowboys, Eagles and Giants in the final eight. This time, it was Philly that reached the Big Game, where they lost a heartbreaker to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII.
*Three-headed monster: The 49ers, Rams and Seahawks went 6-6 against each other during the regular season… and 32-7 against everybody else, good for an .821 winning percentage.
📸 In photos: Winter Games warm-up
(Al Bello/Getty Images)
Athletes around the globe are deep in preparation for the Winter Olympics with the Milan-Cortina Games just 23 days away.
🇺🇸 Lake Placid, New York —Germany’s Emma Weiss competes in the aerial qualifiers during last weekend’s Freestyle World Cup event.
🇮🇹 Milan, Italy — Here we have a composite image depicting numerous moments during Saturday’s Coppa Italia at Milano Santagiulia Arena, which will host the Olympics hockey tournament.
Rink concerns? Construction is well behind schedule at the Olympic hockey venues, leading to concerns from the NHL, whose players are participating for the first time since 2014. The playing surface now appears to be heading in the right direction, but “listing everything that still needs to be finished would be impossible,” writes The Athletic’s Chris Johnston ($).
(Christian Bruna/Getty Images)
🇦🇹 Bischofshofen, Austria — Norway’s Isak Andreas Langmo competes in last week’s Ski Jumping World Cup event.
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Ski jumping vs. aerials: We shared two photos here of skiers jumping high in the air, so what’s the difference? Aerials (top photo) is a discipline in which athletes are judged on specific maneuvers, akin to the halfpipe. Ski jumping, meanwhile, is all about distance and form.
(Leo Authamayou/NordicFocus/Getty Images)
🇩🇪 Oberhof, Germany — Athletes compete during the men’s relay at last weekend’s Biathlon World Cup event.
Did you know? The biathlon is the only winter sport in which Americans have never won an Olympic medal. Campbell Wright, a New Zealander with American parents, will look to end that drought next month after recently becoming the first American ever to win two medals at a world championships.
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📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Jan. 14
Rookie of the Year frontrunner Cooper Flagg takes the floor tonight in Dallas. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
🏀 NBA on ESPN
The 76ers host the Cavaliers (7pm ET) in the first leg of tonight’s doubleheader, then the Mavericks host the Nuggets in the nightcap (9:30pm).
ROY watch: Two of our top three rookies, courtesy of Yahoo Sports’ Steve Jones, are in action tonight. No. 1 Cooper Flagg leads the Mavericks in total points, rebounds, assists and steals, while No. 3 VJ Edgecombe is averaging 16-5-4 for the surprisingly frisky 76ers.
⚽️ AFCON Semifinals
The final four teams in the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations take the field today in Morocco, with Senegal vs. Egypt in the first semifinal (12pm, beIN Sports) followed by Nigeria vs. Morocco in the second (3pm, beIN Sports).
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Names to know:Former Liverpool teammates and global superstars Mo Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mané (Senegal) square off in the first game, while 2024 African Player of the Year Ademola Lookman (Nigeria) and AFCON leading scorer Brahim Díaz (Morocco) meet in the second.
More to watch:
🏒 NHL: Flyers at Sabres (7:30pm, TNT); Golden Knights at Kings (10pm, TNT) … Philadelphia, Buffalo and LA all fell out of playoff position on Tuesday, and can all jump right back in with a win tonight.
🏀 NCAAM: Iowa at No. 5 Purdue (6:30pm, BTN); No. 10 Vanderbilt at Texas (9pm, ESPN2); Arizona State at No. 1 Arizona (10:30pm, FS1); No. 4 Michigan at Washington(10:30pm, BTN); No. 6 Duke at Cal (11pm, ACC)
⚽️ EFL Cup: Arsenal vs. Chelsea (3pm, Paramount+) … Semifinal, first leg.
Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is one win away from becoming the fourth player in the CFP era (2014-present) to win the Heisman Trophy and the national championship in the same season.
Question: Which three players would he join?
Hint: They all play different positions.
Answer at the bottom.
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🏈 Let’s travel back to 2007…
Tomlin in 2007. (Jason Cohn/Icon Sport Media via Getty Images)
On Jan. 27, 2007, the Steelers promoted 34-year-old Mike Tomlin from defensive coordinator to head coach after the retirement of Bill Cowher. To get a sense of how long ago that is, here’s what else was transpiring around that date…
Peyton Manning had yet to win a Super Bowl.
Lane Kiffin was announced as the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders four days earlier. He is now on his sixth different job since then.
The Patriots had recently wrapped up a 16-0 regular season. You probably know what happened the next month.
The top picks of that year’s NFL Draft: JaMarcus Russell, Calvin Johnson, Joe Thomas. Two of them worked out.
Barry Bonds had yet to become MLB’s all-time home run leader.
Stephen Curry was a freshman at Davidson, and Tim Tebow was a freshman at Florida.
Novak Djokovic was more than a year away from his first Grand Slam title.
Usain Bolt was months from his first world championship medals.
Apple announced the first iPhone the same month.
Netflix, long known for DVD rentals through the mail, launched a video streaming service that month.
The No. 1 song on the billboard charts that month? Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable.”
Barack Obama announced his first presidential campaign a month later.
Martin Scorsese was on the verge of his first Academy Award for “The Departed.”
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A frustrating season continued for the Milwaukee Bucks with their 139-106 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. It was their 18th defeat in their past 27 games, and as they left the court at halftime down 76-45, the fans inside Fiserv Forum let them hear it with a chorus of boos.
Those boos would be surprisingly returned later in the game by their star player, Giannis Antetokounmpo, after he hit a shot in the paint and was fouled.
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Antetokounmpo gestured thumbs down to the crowd twice and let out an audible boo.
Antetokounmpo has done this before, but previously it was on the road to opposing fans — not his own. Afterward, he told reporters that he did not remember being booed by home fans before.
“I was definitely booing back. When I get booed, I boo back. I’ve been doing it all season. You [reporters] haven’t been with me on the road,” said Antetokounmpo. “Whenever I get booed, I boo back.”
The fact that the booing was coming from his own fans didn’t factor into Antetokounmpo’s decision to react.
Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the third quarter at Fiserv Forum. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
(Patrick McDermott via Getty Images)
“No, no, it does not matter. It doesn’t matter, I play basketball for my teammates,” he said. “I play basketball for myself and my family. When people don’t believe in me, I don’t tend to be with them. I tend to be against them. I tend to do what I’m here to do, what I’m good at, right?
“I think I’m like a maverick. I’ve always been that way, so won’t change now, it doesn’t matter if I am home, away. But, yeah, I’ve never been a part of something like that before, and I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t. But everybody has the opinion to do what they want to do; I’m not gonna tell them what to do or how to act when we don’t play hard, we lose games, or maybe not where we’re supposed to be. And I don’t think anybody has the right to tell me how I should act on the basketball court after I have been here 13 years. And I’m basically the all-time leader in everything.”
The T-Wolves were playing without a suspended Rudy Gobert or Anthony Edwards, who was out for injury management. Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers said tired legs played a role in his team’s sluggish play. Antetokounmpo, however, disagreed.
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“I don’t think it’s dead legs,” he said. “Were we tired? Yeah, a little bit. We had a day off yesterday. I don’t see the reason.
“It’s not dead legs. I’m never going to say I didn’t have legs. I’m going to say that I could do things better. My effort wasn’t there. Maybe I wasn’t as focused as I should. And then after that, when I look at myself, I look at overall the team, what we can do better, but I don’t think it’s dead legs. That cannot be an excuse.”
The 17-23 Bucks are back at it on Thursday with the start of a two-game road trip in San Antonio before an afternoon matchup on Monday against Atlanta.
The Bucks are just outside of the Eastern Conference play-in, but their recent stretch has put them in a deep hole to dig out of. The fans’ frustrations will continue, especially when Antetokounmpo’s future with the franchise remains murky.
