The Los Angeles Dodgers did it again. The defending back-to-back World Series champions have had yet another big-time offseason. After adding star closer Edwin Díaz, they went out on Thursday night and brought top free-agent outfielder Kyle Tucker into their already star-studded lineup, solidifying them even more as the Evil Empire of baseball.
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On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman talk about the shocking—at least to some—move of Los Angeles once again bolstering their roster as they look for the first three-peat in baseball since the New York Yankees’ 1990s dynasty. With the Tucker deal coming in at four years, $240 million, should Commissioner Rob Manfred start to worry about the perception the Dodgers are giving off to opposing fans with their free agent spending?
Later, Jordan and Jake discuss the Boston Red Sox adding one of the big-arm free agents, Ranger Suárez, to their already crowded starting pitching depth chart and why he will be an interesting fit in their rotation. They then get into the Yankees trading for Ryan Weathers and the Arizona Diamondbacks acquiring Nolan Arenado from the St. Louis Cardinals before giving an update on Team USA’s newest roster additions. The guys close the show by making their picks for this week’s edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Uggla.
1:39 – The Opener: Kyle Tucker to the Dodgers
20:36 – Red Sox sign Ranger Suárez
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43:29 – Scott Boras Scoreboard update
46:10 – Around the League: Trade news
1:01:48 – Team USA roster update
1:08:09 – The Good, The Bad & The Uggla
Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images
(Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
“Following hotline reports alleging an inappropriate relationship with a staff member, the University conducted a thorough investigation into your conduct,” the letter states before listing the relationship and Moore’s “dishonesty during investigation” as the two primary reasons for his firing.
“You provided untruthful statements during investigative interviews regarding this matter,” Manuel wrote.
“This conduct violates Section 4.02(g) (fraud or dishonesty in the performance of any duties or responsibilities under the contract, which includes providing untruthful statements during investigations).”
Since Moore was fired with cause, he’s not eligible to work at Michigan again.
Moore’s next court date is on Jan. 22. The felony charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $2,000 fine. He could also face up to 90 days in jail regarding the misdemeanor charges.
Prosecutors said at Moore’s first hearing that he and the woman had been in a relationship for several years and that she contacted the school two days before Moore was fired to disclose their relationship. Before her revelation, Michigan had reportedly received a tip in October about their relationship, though both parties had denied that anything was going on.
In a December story in The Athletic, people detailed Moore’s “increasingly volatile” behavior before his firing and multiple women provided messages from Moore via social media.
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Moore, the team’s offensive coordinator in 2023 when the Wolverines won the national title, first served as Michigan’s interim coach when Jim Harbaugh was suspended at multiple points that season. After Harbaugh left for the Los Angeles Chargers, Moore was promoted to replace Harbaugh and he had a 17-8 record across two seasons.
The Jan. 16 deadline is actually just the end of the window for players to enter their names into the transfer portal, but there will still be plenty of commitments in the coming days and even weeks. We don’t yet have a full picture at college football rosters for next season, but the majority of the pieces are signed or at least committed to their new teams.
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What’s next? Well, there’s still a national championship game to be played on Monday, and those players will have an extra five days after the game to decide whether they want to stay at their school, jump into the portal or make the leap to the NFL.
But many of the players who entered the portal have made their decisions and it’s been a flood over the past two weeks. What do you need to know about all the player movement? If we spelled all that out, this post would be a novel, but here are the biggest winners and losers from the transfer portal.
With thousands more players in the portal than previous seasons, these are some of the key things to know as transfer season winds down.
Top transfer
That’d be former Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt, who committed to LSU on Monday after flirting with several other major programs.
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Leavitt is a huge get for new LSU coach Lane Kiffin, who hadn’t added a marquee quarterback but was reportedly in the running for several top transfers at the position.
The former Arizona State QB entered the transfer portal after a 2025 season that was derailed by an ankle injury. He appeared in just seven games and was 145-of-239 passing for 1,628 yards and 10 TDs with three interceptions.
Leavitt led Arizona State to the Big 12 title and a spot in the College Football Playoff in 2024. He was 216-of-350 passing for 2,885 yards and 24 TDs to just six interceptions while also rushing for 443 yards and five touchdowns that season. The Sun Devils beat Iowa State in the Big 12 title game before losing to Texas in the College Football Playoff.
He’ll now join an LSU team that is looking for a fresh start under Kiffin after going 34-14 in 3 1/2 seasons with Brian Kelly as head coach.
What happened in the transfer portal? (Henry Russell/Yahoo Sports)
Which teams made out the best?
Kiffin and LSU definitely didn’t do poorly with the addition of QBs Leavitt, Elon transfer Landen Clark and USC transfer Husan Longstreet. Leavitt will be Kiffin’s main man next season and Clark should be a capable backup while Longstreet could be his developmental quarterback for the future. They also added a crush of offensive weapons, including eight wide receivers.
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Not surprisingly, Texas Tech reloaded after its success in the portal last season, and the Red Raiders thought they’d try the same formula again for 2026. Tech went hunting for a quarterback this time and nabbed former Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby on an NIL deal worth a reported $5 million. Sorsby emerged as one of the better quarterbacks in the country in 2025.
Arch Manning got himself a new weapon at Texas with the transfer addition of former Auburn receiver Cam Coleman, who was widely seen as the best wideout available. He should form one of the best receiving tandems in the country with Ryan Wingo.
National title contestant Indiana has already added a replacement for Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza for next season as TCU’s Josh Hoover has committed to the Hoosiers. They’ve also added Tulane WR Shazz Preston and Boston College RB Turbo Richard. The defense has been also been bolstered so Indiana likely won’t lose a step next season.
Which teams made out the worst?
As expected, teams that lose their coaches lose a lot of their players too.
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Iowa State and Utah lost longtime coaches Matt Campbell and Kyle Whittingham, respectively, and there was a mass exodus at both programs.
The Cyclones’ roster is going to be unrecognizable in 2026 under new coach Jimmy Rogers. Over 50 players entered the transfer portal following Campbell’s departure to Penn State and a good amount of those players went to State College. That group includes QB Rocco Becht, RB Carson Hansen, TEs Ben Brahmer and Gabe Burkle, CB Jeremiah Cooper and backup QB Alex Manske.
The Utes also experienced significant roster turnover in the wake of Whittingham’s departure. Utah was likely expecting a level of roster consistency as defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley took over for Whittingham and there was no logical landing spot for Whittingham in 2026.
But Michigan opened up after Sherrone Moore was fired with cause, and Whittingham became the Wolverines’ new coach. In addition to bringing offensive coordinator Jason Beck with him, players like DE John Henry Daley, CB Smith Snowden, edge rusher Jonah Lea’ea and WR JJ Buchanan have all transferred to Michigan.
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Additionally, it’s hard to say Alabama has gotten better so far this transfer cycle with numerous losses.
Where did the best offensive player land?
We’ve already mentioned Leavitt going to LSU and Coleman going to Texas, so we’ll focus on the rest of the pack here.
Per On3, the top-ranked running back in the portal was Caleb Hawkins, who played for North Texas and transferred to Oklahoma State after his coach Eric Morris made the move there. Hawkins ran for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns during his freshman season with the Mean Green and will surely be a star for the Cowboys.
Perhaps more notable though: Texas added NC State transfer Hollywood Smothers and Arizona State transfer Raleek Brown to its backfield in an attempt to reload and give the Longhorns a chance at a title run in what is likely Manning’s last season. The No. 2 RB in the portal was former Michigan RB Justice Haynes, who landed with Georgia Tech on Wednesday.
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On the offensive line, Colorado’s Jordan Seaton is the hottest commodity on the market. Texas is expected to get a visit from Seaton, per On3’s Pete Nakos.
Seaton, who was a five-star prospect and the Rivals industry ranking’s top-rated offensive tackle in the 2024 recruiting class, started 22 games at left tackle for Colorado over the past two seasons.
Where did the best defensive player land?
Per On3, freshman edge rusher Chaz Coleman was the top defensive player in the portal, and it’s likely not a coincidence he went from Penn State to Tennessee. The Volunteers hired former Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Jim Knowles after James Franklin’s firing in Happy Valley.
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There were also other more established defensive players on the move. Utah’s John Henry Daley followed Kyle Whittingham to Michigan after delivering 11.5 sacks for the Utes last season (sixth in the nation). Minnesota’s Koi Perich was the top-rated defensive back in the portal and is headed to Oregon after totaling 82 tackles last season. Perich also had a sack, an interception, a touchdown and played on offense and special teams for the Gophers.
There’s still one big name yet to commit to a new program. Missouri defensive end Damon Wilson II hasn’t made a decision yet after a season in which he had nine sacks and one interception for the Tigers.
Will it be the same next year?
The college football transfer portal is expected to stay the same, meaning just one window in early January as opposed to years past where there were multiple windows across several months for players to hop in and hop out. But that is still very much in flux and the sport’s brass could change their minds.
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The calendar is still causing all sorts of chaos and is a constant conversation for college football’s leadership. With an extended coaching carousel, an ongoing College Football Playoff and the transfer portal all overlapping, there’s bound to be some pain points and it may end with more changes to the calendar.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were already a “superteam” before they reportedly agreed to a four-year, $240 million contract with Kyle Tucker. Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Freddie Freeman are just a few of the big signings that have resulted in back-to-back World Series titles for L.A.
Dodgers ownership is willing and able to spend money, with a payroll more than double that of more than half of MLB teams. That has led to L.A. being a prime destination for free agents looking to contend for a World Series while also cashing in.
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How does this current roster compare to previous Dodgers teams and “superteams” of baseball’s past?
1927 New York Yankees (110-44-1, World Series champions)
This is the famed Yankees team that employed “Murderers’ Row,” a lineup featuring Earle Combs, Lou Gehrig, Mark Koenig, Tony Lazzeri, Bob Meusel and Babe Ruth.
In 1927, Ruth broke his own MLB home run record set in 1921 by hitting 60. Gehrig hit 47 and also recorded 173 RBI while batting .373 en route to the first of two MVP awards. Four Yankees finished with at least 100 RBI, and Ruth and Gehrig combined for 107 of the team’s 158 home runs that season. New York had a plus-376 run differential and was never out of first place.
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Eight total Hall of Famers were on this Yankees team: Combs, Gehrig, Hoyt, Lazzeri, Pennock, Ruth, plus manager Miller Huggins and Ed Barrow, the team’s business manager, who helped bring in most of “Murderers’ Row.”
The Yankees’ 110 wins broke the previous AL record of 105 and lasted until 1954. In the World Series, the Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games for their second championship.
Reggie Jackson during a celebration of the Oakland Athletics’ 1972 World Series-winning team in June 2022. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Oakland Athletics/Getty Images)
(Michael Zagaris via Getty Images)
1972-74 Oakland A’s (277-202, three World Series titles)
The 1972 A’s were meticulously built over time by owner Charlie Finley, beginning when the franchise was still in Kansas City. Baseball’s first draft pick, Rick Monday, was selected in 1965 and later traded for pitcher Ken Holtzman, who won 19 games in 1972. Drafted 118 picks after Monday was third baseman Sal Bando, who tied for the team lead in hits during its championship-winning postseason.
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The MVP of the 1972 World Series was Gene Tenace, whom the A’s drafted 400th overall in 1965. A backup to Dave Duncan behind the plate, Tenace got more playing time later in the season and became the starting catcher in time for the postseason. He led Oakland with four home runs and 10 RBI in 12 games in their ALCS win over the Detroit Tigers and their seven-game World Series victory against the Cincinnati Reds.
As noted, the A’s championship was built piece by piece. In 1966, Reggie Jackson was drafted second overall, and future Cy Young Award winner Vida Blue went 27th in 1967. A year before that fruitful 1965 draft, the A’s signed Joe Rudi, Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers.
Four seasons after moving to Oakland, the A’s won the first of three straight World Series. Fingers, Hunter, Jackson and manager Dick Williams eventually earned plaques in Cooperstown.
2009 New York Yankees (103-59, World Series champions)
Coming into 2009, the Yankees had won four titles since 1996 and reached six World Series in the Derek Jeter era. The “Evil Empire” was not shy about spending money to secure top talent. That’s how George Steinbrenner operated.
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But even as Steinbrenner faded out of the picture one year before his death, the franchise didn’t alter its direction. CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira were signed to free-agent contracts for a combined $423.5 million — a signal of intent as the team opened new Yankee Stadium. The roster featured players who had been re-signed in recent years, including Alex Rodriguez and his $275 million contract, plus Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. Andy Pettitte signed an extension one month before spring training.
After winning the AL East, the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS. They secured another World Series title by knocking out the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALCS and the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. Both series lasted six games.
Rivera, Sabathia and Jeter are all Hall of Famers from this roster, with Rodriguez and Pettitte potentially finding a way in down the road.
2024-25 Los Angeles Dodgers (191-133, two World Series titles)
The Ohtani signing changed everything for the Dodgers. Free agents were lured with big contracts, and pieces were continually added.
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L.A.’s payroll was $353 million in 2024 and $417 million in 2025. According to Spotrac, it’s actually down approximately $4 million heading into the 2026 season, following the Tucker signing.
Between the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the Dodgers signed contracts with a total value of more than $1 billion. Deferred money is another expensive story, but in the end, it was mission accomplished — two more championships.
These L.A. rosters featured numerous possible future Hall of Famers, including Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, manager Dave Roberts and Clayton Kershaw, plus maybe a few others depending on how the rest of their careers play out.
2026 Los Angeles Dodgers
A number of the same stars are back in 2026, minus the retired Kershaw, but this offseason hasn’t been the usual spending spree for the Dodgers. Some salary was shed by letting players walk, and only four major-league contracts have been signed in free agency: Tucker, closer Edwin Díaz (three years, $69 million) and infielders Miguel Rojas (one year, $5.5 million) and Andy Ibañez (one year, $1.2 million).
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Still, this roster boasts the likes of Ohtani, Freeman, Blake Snell, Betts, Yamamoto, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow to go with the newly signed Tucker. That means even more pressure to achieve a three-peat to make the money spent worth it.
Superteams across sports
The sports world has seen plenty of other superteams in previous decades. Here are a few from this century, for honorable mention:
2007 New England Patriots: Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss joined the Pats and caught a record 23 TDs, supercharging New England’s offense. Tom Brady led the Patriots to a 16-0 regular season — the only team to ever do so — only to lose to Eli Manning and the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
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2012-13 Miami Heat: LeBron James’ “Decision” rocked the sports world in the summer of 2010, when he chose to join Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami to form their formidable “Big Three.” That trio secured back-to-back NBA championships while James collected two MVP awards, two NBA Finals MVPs and four All-Star appearances in his four seasons in Miami.
2015-16 Golden State Warriors: Led by Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Golden State went 73-9, breaking the NBA’s all-time wins record set by the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, who went 72-10. The Warriors broke more than 25 NBA records that season but ultimately blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Dodgers land Tucker: We all saw this coming, right? The two-time defending champion Dodgers signed top free agent Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million contract — an average annual value ($60M) that trails only new teammate Shohei Ohtani’s ($70M) for the largest in MLB history.
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🏀 Point-shaving indictment: Federal prosecutors have indicted 26 men, including 20 former college players, for their roles in an alleged point-shaving scheme across dozens of games from 2022-25 in both the NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association.
🎾 Australian Open draw: 256 men and women were drawn into their brackets for the year’s first Grand Slam, which begins this weekend in Melbourne. Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka are the top seeds, while Jannik Sinner and Madison Keys are the defending champions.
⚾️ Kershaw joins Team USA: Despite retiring at the end of last season, Clayton Kershaw has decided to pitch for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic in March. He joins a star-studded roster that also includes Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal.
🏀 Klay passes Dame: Klay Thompson nailed a season-high six 3-pointers in the Mavericks’ win over the Jazz, giving him 2,809 in his career to pass the injured Damian Lillard (2,804) for the fourth-most ever. Only Steph Curry, James Harden and Ray Allen have more.
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🏈 How Indiana and Miami were built
(Bruno Rouby/Yahoo Sports)
Indiana and Miami square off on Monday night for the College Football Playoff National Championship, and though the juggernaut Hoosiers are the clear favorite, you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise if you only looked at the two teams on paper.
Head-to-head: The Hoosiers and Hurricanes have the same number of unranked recruits (19), according to Rivals, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
Miami: They have five 5-star recruits and another 32 with 4-stars, led by starting QB Carson Beck, starting RB Mark Fletcher and All-American edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. Their roster — which, it should be noted, would itself look like an underdog against the sport’s biggest Blue Bloods — is rounded out by 34 3-star recruits.
Indiana: What if I told you the No. 1 seed has zero 5-star recruits and just six 4-star recruits? Instead, this squad comprises mostly 3-stars, with none more important than Heisman-winning QB Fernando Mendoza. Here’s where I remind you that they are 15-0 with the nation’s second-highest scoring offense (42.6) and second-lowest scoring defense (11.1).
Consider this: Indiana’s lack of top-end recruits is virtually unprecedented. The last 20 national champions had at least two top-10 recruiting classes in the four years leading up to their title, per On3. Indiana’s last four recruiting classes? No. 53 (2025), No. 60 (2024), No. 59 (2023) and No. 29 (2022). Miami’s, by comparison, were ranked 14th, 5th, 8th and 13th.
Indiana and Miami’s recruiting rankings the past four years. (On3/Rivals)
So, how have the Hoosiers done this? Having a Heisman winner at QB certainly helps, but you can’t discount the importance of continuity and experience, which Indiana has in spades.
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Their starters average a whopping 4.4 years of college experience. And, because just eight of them are first-year transfers, that means two-thirds have played together in Bloomington for at least the last two years. Plus, six of those starters followed head coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison, so the ties run even deeper.
Miami’s starting lineup has roughly the same number of homegrown players as Indiana (9 vs. 8), but they’ve relied more heavily on the portal this season, with 12 first-year transfers. The end result: A squad that hasn’t had as much time to jell.
The last word: It’s human nature to search for answers when the unexpected occurs; to find order in chaos. And to those who’ve followed college football for more than two years, there’s nothing more chaotic than Indiana being a win away from the title. But perhaps, writes Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken, the Hoosiers are just that good.
When a phenomenon like Indiana football happens, our natural impulse is to scramble for an explanation. How did Curt Cignetti do this so quickly at a dormant program where nobody ever conceived of such possibilities? Why do the normal rules of building championship teams suddenly not apply?
We want it to make sense. We want to know the secret. We want to know if Cignetti possesses some kind of football Rosetta Stone that nobody else in the sport’s 155-year history has figured out. And the lack of an answer is breaking people’s brains.
But what if the actual answer to Indiana football being on the precipice of a 16-0 national championship season is that there’s no answer? What if it’s one of those accidents of history where everything aligned just the right way both with Cignetti’s arrival at Indiana and in college football more broadly to open the door for a traditional have-not?
The final eight teams take the field this weekend with a spot in the Conference Championships on the line.
Saturday:
Bills (+1 at BetMGM) at Broncos (4:30pm ET, CBS): This is Denver’s second playoff game since winning Super Bowl 50 almost exactly 10 years ago. Their first? Last year’s Wild Card loss to none other than the Bills.
49ers (+7) at Seahawks (8pm, Fox): These NFC West foes will square off for the second time in a three-week span, and the third time this season. San Francisco won the first matchup, 17-13, while Seattle took the second, 13-3, in Week 18.
Sunday:
Texans (+3) at Patriots (3pm, ESPN/ABC): Drake Maye took the fourth-most sacks during the regular season (47), and he’ll have to deal with one of the league’s best pass rushing duos in Danielle Hunter (15 sacks) and Will Anderson Jr. (12).
Rams (-3.5) at Bears (6:30pm, NBC): Puka Nacua has averaged 108.3 receiving yards through his first four playoff games, which is the best mark in NFL history(min. 4 games). Expect Matthew Stafford — and Chicago — to keep eyes on him all night.
🏈 CFP National Championship
It all comes down to this. Will Indiana complete their undefeated storybook season and win their first-ever national championship, or will Miami — playing on their home turf at Hard Rock Stadium — capture their first title since 2001? We’ll find out on Monday night(7:30pm, ESPN).
Odds (via BetMGM): Indiana is up to an 8.5-point favorite after most of the early money came in on the Hoosiers to cover the spread. They’re -350 on the moneyline (Miami is +280), and the over/under is at 47.5.
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🎾 Australian Open
The first Grand Slam of the year begins this weekend in Melbourne (Sat-Sun ET, ESPN/ESPN2), where 256 men and women will be competing for a record $74.9 million prize pool.
Storylines to watch: Novak Djokovic’s pursuit of a record-breaking 25th Grand Slam; a potential fourth consecutive major final between Carlos Alcaraz (going for the Career Grand Slam) and Jannik Sinner (seeking a three-peat); Coco Gauff vs. Amanda Anisimova for the title of top-ranked American; Venus Williams, 45, is set to become the oldest woman to compete in the Australian Open main draw.
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Cavaliers at 76ers (Fri. 7pm, ESPN); Timberwolves at Rockets (Fri. 9:30pm, ESPN); Suns at Knicks (Sat. 7:30pm, NBA); Magic vs. Grizzlies in London (Sun. 12pm, Prime)
🏒 NHL: Panthers at Hurricanes (Fri. 7pm, NHL); Wild at Sabres (Sat. 12:30pm, NHL); Lightning at Stars (Sun. 2pm, NHL)
🏀 NCAAW: No. 20 Tennessee at No. 21 Alabama (Sun. 2pm, SEC); No. 6 LSU at No. 13 Oklahoma (Sun. 3pm, ESPN2); No. 12 Maryland at No. 3 UCLA (Sun. 4pm, NBC); No. 15 Michigan State at No. 11 Iowa (Sun. 8pm, BTN)
⛳️ PGA: Sony Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf) … Nick Taylor and Kevin Roy (-8) are tied for the lead in Honolulu after the first round.
⚽️ EPL: Manchester United vs. Manchester City (Sat. 7:30am, USA) … Newly-hired manager Michael Carrick makes his Red Devils debut in the 198th Manchester Derby.
⚽️ AFCON: Senegal vs. Morocco (Sun. 2pm, beIN Sports) … Final in Rabat, Morocco.
Scott and his wife at the Rose Bowl. (Scott Endres)
Scott E. (Louisville, Kentucky) writes:
1975 was the first time I went to a college football game, if you could even call it a game. After all, it was Indiana, a team in the middle of a long era of futility, and we were playing a powerhouse in Nebraska. The Cornhuskers won, 45–0, with IU coach Lee Corso even calling a timeout with 30 seconds left just to increase the pain.
But for an 11-year-old, I was in heaven, mainly because I was there with my dad. My parents had divorced, and this was my chance to be part of something with him. That day quietly set the foundation for a lifelong love affair with IU football.
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I kept coming back at different stages of my life: more games with Dad, games as a student, watching my 4-year-old son bang a crimson drum set at tailgates, and bringing my future wife to one of our first dates, where she fell in love with IU football and I fell in love with her. Through all of it, IU was still not very good.
When our son grew older, Saturdays belonged to him, but I always kept track of the Hoosiers, and always looked forward to the best time of IU football season: the opening kickoff. Everything up to that point was hope. After the kickoff? Mostly despair as IU became, well, IU.
Scott’s son banging on his drum set at a tailgate, circa 2004. (Scott Endres)
The years moved ahead, and though Dad passed away, I was still a fan, but didn’t expect anything. Each year, my wife and I would watch the Rose Bowl Parade on TV. She’d say we should go someday, and I’d say it would never happen. So she finally made a bet: “When IU makes the Rose Bowl, we’ll go.” I took it, because I was sure it never would.
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On December 6, 2025, the bet was called in. Indiana won the Big Ten Championship and we followed them to the Rose Bowl. The trip was beyond what we could have expected, with IU football zombies roaming around Pasadena in a fog mumbling, “We can’t be here. We’re Indiana.”
However, when push came to shove, the IU fans figured it out. As the band played “Indiana, Our Indiana,” Hoosier Nation sang along at the top of their lungs as the release of years of frustration echoed throughout the stadium.
As for me, I was in a place I never thought I’d be, next to the love of my life, who was wearing a necklace my step-mother gave her, which was made from a silver dollar with the year my dad was born. I cried tears of joy as I screamed, “INDIANA, OUR INDIANA, INDIANA WE’RE ALL FOR YOU.”
💯 Big numbers
(Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
🏈 15th different opponent
Crazy but true: When the Rams visit the Bears on Sunday, Sean McVay will somehow be facing his 15th different opponent in 15 career playoff games as a head coach. He’s never played the same team twice.
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The full list: Falcons (2017); Cowboys, Saints, Patriots (2018); Seahawks, Packers (2020); Cardinals, Buccaneers, 49ers, Bengals (2021); Lions (2023); Vikings, Eagles (2024); Panthers, Bears (2025). … To keep his streak alive, he’ll need to lose this weekend as he’s already gone up against San Francisco and Seattle.
🏒 11 straight wins
The Lightning (29-13-3) have won 11 consecutive games dating back to Dec. 18 to take over first place in the Eastern Conference. Their winning streak is tied for the longest in franchise history and is also the longest in the NHL this season.
What they’re saying: “It’s a long way from winning one in our first seven to start the year, I’ll tell you that,” said Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper following Wednesday’s shootout victory over the Penguins. “Just tons of buy-in. Great group. Leaders, phenomenal.”
(Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
⏱️ 15:23:21
Katie Ledecky’s historic domination of the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle isn’t showing any signs of slowing. The 28-year-old posted the second-fastest time ever on Wednesday in her 2026 debut, finishing in 15 minutes, 23.21 seconds.
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Lapping the field: Ledecky touched the wall to finish her race just a few seconds ahead of the swimmers in the adjacent lanes… all of whom still had a lap to go.
🏀 100 points
Adrian Stubbs of Maryvale High School set the Arizona single-game high school scoring record on Tuesday with 100 points… in just three quarters… while making just six 3-pointers. As a reminder: High school games use eight-minute quarters, so the senior guard dropped 100 points in just 24 minutes of play.
Record books: The national high school single-game scoring record is 135 points, set by Danny Heater (the perfect name!) of Burnsville High (West Virginia) in 1960.
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🏈 Coming soon to D.C.
(Washington Commanders)
The Commanders shared the first renderings of their new home that will be built on the former RFK Stadium site, and I gotta say: Bravo. The monument-like vibe fits the surroundings, the shape pays homage to RFK and the transparent domed roof is awesome. Dan Snyder could never.
(Washington Commanders)
Details: The $3.65 billion stadium and mixed-use development is expected to be ready in time for the 2030 NFL season. The venue will be designed by HKS, which also designed SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles), U.S. Bank Stadium (Minneapolis) and AT&T stadium (Arlington, Texas).
🏀 NBA trivia
(Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports)
Cooper Flagg’s recent hot streak has made him a heavy Rookie of the Year favorite. If he wins, he’ll be the third Maverick to do so.
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Question: Can you name the other two?
Hint: 1995, 2019.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Anthony Black dunks over four Grizzlies during Orlando’s 118-111 win in Berlin. (NBA)
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It was New Year’s Day, early evening, and most of college athletics was watching the Rose Bowl with a sense of awe and admiration.
Here was Indiana, a program most athletic directors would never have imagined winning a national championship in football, just destroying Alabama on its way to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Though there was already a consensus that Curt Cignetti had pulled off the greatest turnaround in college football history, turning a perennial loser into the nation’s No. 1 team in just two years, something about that win over Alabama triggered different conversations.
“Biggest f-up ever,” said one athletic director who was evaluating coaching candidates a few years ago and ultimately did not hire Cignetti.
But was it really a (mess) up?
As this season progressed, it was stunning how often people in everyday life would ask me why the 64-year-old Cignetti was coaching in obscurity until a few years ago. It’s simply mind-boggling for a lot of fans that someone who is this good at the job didn’t get his shot until arguably the worst power conference program of all time came calling.
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It’s true, Cignetti was a winner at every level: 53-17 at D-II Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 14-9 at Elon and 52-9 at James Madison. And over the last decade, athletic directors and search firms have gotten better at considering candidates with small college backgrounds like Kalen DeBoer or Willie Fritz whose track records suggested they could really, really coach.
Curt Cignetti is 145-37 as a college football head coach with stops at IUP, Elon, James Madison and Indiana. (Davis Long/Yahoo Sports)
But while it’s easy with the benefit of hindsight to say programs like Boston College, Michigan State and Syracuse should have hired Cignetti when they were doing coaching searches concurrent with Indiana, there are legitimate reasons why it didn’t seem so clear at the time.
“You know how hiring is,” said one industry source who is typically involved in multiple searches. “There are no guarantees. I mean, kudos to Indiana for taking a chance on the guy, but nobody knew it would be this wildly successful.”
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In fact, if you rewind back to 2023 as James Madison reached 10-0 in mid-November, Cignetti was not one of the hot names on the coaching carousel.
It wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of his Birmingham-based agency, which got some traction on jobs — but not necessarily the ones Cignetti would have been willing to take.
At that moment in history, the coaching carousel was tilting against coaches at Group of Five programs. With the true impact of NIL and the transfer portal just beginning to sink in, it was a coaching cycle rife with skepticism that success at James Madison would translate from a roster-management standpoint.
And the truth is, Cignetti had never chased opportunities or money his entire tenure at James Madison. He made it clear he’d rather stay and continue to win than take a small step up the ladder or get stuck in a dead-end job.
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Though it seems discordant to have that mindset before going to Indiana — a program that hadn’t been within miles of championships in its entire history — something important happened in the summer of 2022. That’s when the Big Ten announced its new round of media deals that projected to pay schools $70 million per year.
Cignetti noticed. Or maybe he saw the future.
According to a source familiar with his thinking at the time, Cignetti recognized that even a lower-tier Big Ten program having such a financial advantage over the rest of college sports opened possibilities that were previously out of reach. When Cignetti was presented with Indiana as a potential suitor, he felt he’d have a shot if the school was willing to be a middle-of-the-pack spender right away in the Big Ten. He also studied the schedule and felt there were enough wins available to get the program going.
On the other side of that equation, the Hoosiers had nothing to lose. If Cignetti flamed out, he’d be just like every coach Indiana’s ever had.
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Not every athletic director has that kind of freedom, and Cignetti didn’t seem like a sure bet for two reasons.
First, while his won-loss record garnered respect, it was only a two-year sample size at the FBS level. Second, James Madison is one of those programs that’s been so successful for so many years, it’s sometimes hard to know how much credit to give the coach. It didn’t help Cignetti’s marketability that his predecessor at James Madison, Mike Houston, had coached himself onto the hot seat at East Carolina that year.
There’s also the matter of Cignetti’s personality. While he’s now America’s most beloved curmudgeon, he was not known to be particularly dynamic in an interview setting. Even his “Google me” bravado came off as awkward, according to one administrator who encountered Cignetti earlier in his career.
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“Now everybody thinks it’s kind of a cute schtick, but interviewing him, he comes across kind of like a serial killer,” the administrator said. “I don’t think you sit with him and you’re like, ‘Man, our fans are going to love this guy.’”
It just goes to show how difficult this business can be. Whether athletic directors are good or bad in any other aspect of their job, it often feels like their fate is tied to the record of the football coach they hired. Nobody wants to make a mistake, so administrators often gravitate toward whatever they perceive to be safety.
It seems ridiculous now, but in that moment a 62-year-old who was a dozen years removed from power conference recruiting did not feel particularly safe when football success is mandatory.
In the end, Cignetti and Indiana were perfect for each other.
They’re in the national championship game. Everyone who didn’t hire him? They can play the worst what-if game of all time.
Nobody in fantasy football has pulled a complete 180 quite like Falcons TE Kyle Pitts Sr. He was the butt of jokes and memes going into and early on in the 2025 NFL regular season. By the end of it, he was a legit league-winning tight end. Matt Harmon and Justin Boone take a look at Pitts’ surge up the TE rankings and whether or not he’ll carry that into the 2026 season on a recent episode of the Yahoo Fantasy Forecast.
Harmon immediately points out that it took WR Drake London going down with injury to really open things up for Pitts. The soon-to-be free agent finished the season as the TE2 overall behind Cardinals’ Trey McBride in fantasy scoring. Pitts had 88 receptions on 118 targets for 928 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games.
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A lot of that production was a 40.1-point explosion in Week 15 but Boone says it still happened for Pitts, who it was nice to see do meaningful things on a football field for the first time in a while. The analyst also reiterates what Harmon said, that the London injury was everything. Boone believes it’s a trend with tight ends, such as Mike Gesicki and Cade Otton in recent seasons, who tend to emerge when injuries to the receiving corps occur.
Despite the big year, Pitts really wasn’t a consistent option in fantasy for most of the season. He only topped 10 fantasy points in six games all season, and four of those games were when London was sidelined (London was active but limited in one of those games as well). So five of six games were directly tied to the ATL wideout’s status.
Pitts, 25, will enter free agency this offseason and can sign with a new team. His outlook is still positive, depending on where he lands after seeing what he can do when he’s a priority in the passing game.
For your average baseball, non-Dodgers fan, the Kyle Tucker sweepstakes ending with the perennial MVP-candidate signing with the perennial World Series contender Los Angeles Dodgers is … not amazing? Or maybe that’s just me, who would prefer parity over one juggernaut team dominating the sport. And hey, there’s no guarantee this means the Dodgers are gonna win the whole thing again, right? Right?!
But I digress. However you may feel about Tucker landing with LAD, one truth is indisputable: the Dodgers have an embarrassment of riches on their team, one fantasy baseball managers should be mining often in their upcoming drafts.
I mean, just look at what their starting lineup could look like:
Looks like a create-a-team in a video game.
And let’s say that’s what the Dodgers lineup actually looks like when the games start to count. That’s a whopping five hitters who are ranked in the top-100 players on Yahoo.
And we haven’t even mentioned the pitchers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani (the fantasy pitcher), Emmet Sheehan and Edwin Diaz are ALL IN THE TOP 150.
You can conceivably draft the entire Dodgers team in fantasy and be competitive. That’s ridiculous.
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It’s only January, but let’s just list ‘em out for fun’s sake:
Shohei Ohtani (Batter): Reigning three-time NL MVP, in the running for the No. 1 pick in fantasy
Kyle Tucker: Still just 28, a player with boundless potential
Mookie Betts: Former MVP, still getting it done
Freddie Freeman: Former MVP, STILL getting it done
Will Smith: Could argue should be the first catcher off the board after Cal Raleigh in drafts
Teoscar Hernández: 25 homers seems like a baseline
Andy Pages: Breakout season last year, yet set to bat in the latter half of this lineup
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: One of the best pitchers in baseball
Blake Snell: Another one of the best pitchers in baseball
Tyler Glasnow: When healthy, also one of the best pitchers in baseball
Shohei Ohtani (Pitcher): When he’s not hitting, he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball
Emmet Sheehan: Former top prospect, outstanding 2025 season
Edwin Díaz: In the running for the best closer in baseball
Each week during the 2025-26 NBA season, we will take a deeper dive into some of the league’s biggest storylines in an attempt to determine whether trends are based more in fact or fiction moving forward.
Fact or Fiction: Jonathan Kuminga is a good basketball player
Jonathan Kuminga has not entered a game for the Golden State Warriors since Dec. 18, when he played fewer than 10 minutes in a loss to the Phoenix Suns. He was not listed on their most recent injury report. He has suffered from some tightness, but your lower back might act up if you were stuck on a bench, too.
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“I wouldn’t have played, either,” an anonymous Warrior told The Athletic of an early January game, when the supposed injury kept Kuminga from entering a blowout. “It’s clear the coach doesn’t believe in him.“
We did not need anyone from Golden State to tell us this. It is plainly obvious. The Warriors are clinging to a winning record (23-19) and a berth in the Western Conference’s play-in tournament. They are a good team, but even head coach Steve Kerr recognizes they are not the perennial contender they once were.
“We are a fading dynasty,” Kerr said around Christmas. “We know that. Everybody knows that.”
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He later added, “I don’t want anyone to think we’re disillusioned, and we’re thinking, ‘We should compete for titles year in and year out with San Antonio and Oklahoma City the next few years.’ It’s not realistic.“
You know what the Warriors could use? A 6-foot-7, 225-pound uber-athletic 23-year-old lottery pick. They could use Kuminga, who has averaged 20.2 points per 36 minutes on 50.2% shooting in a five-year career.
The reasons to play Kuminga are many, especially if they wanted to trade Kuminga’s $22.5 million expiring salary, as they have for the entire season. Why not showcase his talent for all the league to see?
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Except, Golden State does not showcase him. Which begs the question: Does he have the talent?
It seems clear that he does. We have seen Kuminga score as many as 34 points in a game and average close to 20 for extended stretches. He has the size, length and athleticism to become a solid defender. Except, he cannot score with great consistency, and he rarely does the little things necessary to help the Warriors win games, though he is averaging more rebounds and assists per outing this season than ever.
The Warriors’ two-timeline approach has not worked out as planned. (AP Photo/Kelley L Cox)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
As the Warriors took a 1-0 lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a second-round series last season, Golden State superstar Stephen Curry suffered a hamstring strain. Kerr turned to Kuminga, who had rarely played to that point in the playoffs. He answered the call, averaging 24.3 points on 55/39/72 shooting splits for the remainder of a best-of-seven set. Unfortunately, the Warriors lost four straight.
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Which raises another question: Is Kuminga a winning basketball player?
That much we do not know. With Kuminga in the starting lineup, the Warriors started 4-1, looking very much like the contender that finished last season. Over the next seven games, as they finished 2-5, falling back to .500, Kuminga was a combined -56, and Kerr pulled him from the starting lineup. He finished scoreless in a -10 effort off the bench in the ensuing game and was pulled from the rotation entirely.
Golden State is 9.2 points per 100 meaningful possessions better when Kuminga is off the court this season, according to Cleaning the Glass. It was 3.5 points per 100 possessions better last season.
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What is clear: The Warriors no longer believe in Kuminga. They tried to trade him last season to no avail. They engaged in a prolonged contract negotiation over the summer, when they did not want to commit long-term salary to their No. 7 overall selection in 2021. Instead, Kuminga signed a short-term deal, including a $24.3 million team option for next season, that was supposed to make him easier to trade.
And here we are. On Thursday, Kuminga’s new contract became trade-eligible, so he simultaneously demanded a trade from the Warriors. It did not take Golden State by surprise. This was always the plan.
Having watched this theater unfold before them over the past year, the rest of the league’s 29 teams must now decide: If the Warriors do not want him, then why should we? And it is a good question to ask.
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After all, what player, other than Kevin Durant, has gone on to great success after leaving the Warriors? Even Durant has not been able to find a similar level of success as to what he enjoyed in Golden State.
It should be easy to thrive in the Warriors’ system. Curry’s gravity has allowed countless players to thrive, including Andrew Wiggins, who won a title playing the role that Golden State would like Kuminga to fulfill.
The Warriors gave up on Wiggins in the end, too, and look how that turned out for him.
Which brings to mind Kelly Oubre Jr. He arrived in Golden State for the 2020-21 season having averaged similar numbers to Kuminga through his first five seasons. The Warriors had high hopes, starting him for the majority of the year, but they gave up on him after a single season. They were 11.7 points per 100 possessions better without Oubre in the lineup, so they let him walk at the end of his rookie contract.
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Nobody was going to trade anything of value for Oubre then, just as no one may be willing to part with much of significance for Kuminga. That does not mean Kuminga and Oubre are not good at basketball.
Upon leaving the Warriors, Oubre signed a two-year $25 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets, and they failed to make the playoffs in either of those seasons. He has since inked for the mini mid-level exception with the Philadelphia 76ers, for whom he has forged a role as a bit player on the fringiest of contenders.
And maybe that is Kuminga’s destiny. That is for him to determine, not us.
But …
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Determination: Fact. Jonathan Kuminga is a good basketball player, as all replacement-level NBA players are, and he has value in the exact right situation. What that situation is, exactly, is yet another question.
It looks like the New York Giants are getting the guy they’ve been pushing for since he became available: John Harbaugh.
The Giants are finalizing an agreement with the former Baltimore Ravens head coach and a deal is expected barring a significant setback, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Wednesday. The deal is expected to be five years in length and with total value of $100 million — one of the largest contracts in the league — according to NFL reporter Jordan Schultz.
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On Friday, Schefter reported the two sides are still working through some language in Harbaugh’s contract, but the deal is expected to get done.
Harbaugh will become the Giants’ fifth head coach (seven counting interims) since Tom Coughlin resigned in Jan. 2016. Former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken is expected to reportedly join Harbaugh on his staff.
Normally, a coach resisting a “massive push,” as the Giants’ pitch was described by one reporter, would mean a deal isn’t imminent, but Harbaugh was apparently still on the phone and ready to start talking numbers about his first Giants contract.
John Harbaugh is the top name on the coaching market
Harbaugh coached the Ravens for 18 seasons before being fired this cycle after closing out a disappointing 8-9 season. He was 180-113 with the Ravens in the regular season and led the team to a Super Bowl victory in 2013.
While it was only the sixth time he missed the playoffs with the Ravens, Harbaugh has struggled to advance in the playoffs since winning the Super Bowl. The last time the Ravens won multiple playoff games in a season was 2012-13. Since 2014, Harbaugh’s playoff record is 3-6.
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If hired by the Giants, it will be a long time before Harbaugh has a reunion with the Ravens, barring a Super Bowl matchup. The two teams aren’t scheduled to play in the regular season until 2028.
Harbaugh got his start with the Philadelphia Eagles under Ray Rhodes and Andy Reid as a special teams and defensive backs coach in the early 2000s.
John Harbaugh would be the Giants’ prize for a tough year
The Giants finished 4-13 in 2025 and missed the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons. After dropping their opening three games and starting 2-8, the Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka was named interim head coach for the remainder of the regular season.
There were signs of improvement, however, and if the roster can remain healthy, Harbaugh could help guide the Giants to a more successful 2026 season. The Giants saw 38.7 more total yards per game offensively, with increases in average passing and rushing yards per game, as well as points scored. There were some down years on the defensive side, but Brian Burns finished second in the NFL with a career-high 16.5 sacks.
Help could be on its way come April’s NFL Draft as the Giants will be picking fifth overall, the fourth time in the past five seasons that they will have a top-six selection.
