Tag: Fox Sport News

On today’s Kevin O’Connor show, we’ve got a trade-deadline special! Kevin O’Connor is joined by Tom Haberstroh to dissect any and all movement in the league before the 3 PM ET buzzer, going through the biggest winners and losers in what may be the weirdest trade deadline in NBA history.

First, the pair discuss the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision to retain Giannis Antetokounmpo, and what that means for the landscape of the NBA–and for the future outlook of the Golden State Warriors, especially after the anticlimactic end of the Jonathan Kuminga saga. Were the Warriors the biggest losers of the trade deadline? Will another team arise in the summer to win the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes?

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Next, they discuss the James Harden trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and if this move can bring the city of Cleveland to the Finals once again.

Then, they muse on what exactly made this deadline so weird: multiple All-Stars being traded to bad NBA teams. They ask: why are bad teams trading for good players? Why are the Utah Jazz putting their top-8 protected first round pick in jeopardy? Why such a paltry return for Anthony Davis, who was traded for Luka Doncic just last year?

Plus, they cover all the bases with the more local trades made, from the Chicago Bulls picking up 9 second round picks to the Boston Celtics acquiring their long-coveted big man in Nikola Vucevic. Plus more questions: why didn’t the Sacramento Kings trade for Ja Morant? Why did the Philadelphia 76ers let go of Jared McCain? All that and much, much more on today’s KOC Show!

(0:16) Trade deadline instant reactions
(4:33) Giannis not traded by Bucks
(10:39) Warriors trade Kuminga to Hawks
(25:49) Cavs get James Harden
(43:34) Wizards acquire Anthony Davis
(48:22) Clippers trade Zubac to Pacers
(55:57) Jazz trade for Jaren Jackson Jr.
(1:02:18) Ja Morant stays in Memphis
(1:07:45) Timberwolves trade recap
(1:10:18) What are the Chicago Bulls up to?
(1:13:05) Celtics trade Simons for Vucevic
(1:19:04) 76ers trade Jared McCain to OKC

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

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

You really never know what’s going to come up at the Olympics.

Thursday saw officials from the World Anti-Doping Agency address a growing controversy in the world of ski jumping, in which athletes are alleged to have injected their penises with hyaluronic acid to increase the length of their jumps.

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The claims originate from an article in the German newspaper Bild published last month, and the alleged mechanics basically break down like this:

• Ski jumpers want as much surface area against the air as possible to generate lift

• Jumpers could get that by wearing extra-baggy suits

• To prevent jumpers from getting a suit like that, they are 3D scanned each season with their suits fitted off those scans

• With those genital injections, jumpers can increase the size of their groins during those scans

• Said jumpers receive a little extra material in that area of the suit, which could cause significant gains in jump length

As one doctor consulted by Bild said, “It is possible to achieve a temporary, visual thickening of the penis by injecting paraffin or hyaluronic acid.”

To be clear, no specific jumpers have been singled out as potential culprits. The discourse is instead described by Bild as a “heated discussion behind the scenes.”

This isn’t the first time jumpers have been accused of manipulating their suits, but it is certainly the most outlandish way it’s come about. Ski jumping is a sport where the athletes use technique and equipment to fight for the slightest advantage against the competition — just think, how different do these jumps actually look when you’re watching?

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And in this case, the gains could be real. As noted by The Athletic, an article in the Frontiers science journal found that a 2-centimeter change in a suit represents an extra 5.8 meters in jump length.

All of … this led to an amusing scene at a news conference for WADA senior officials on Thursday. One of them, director general Olivier Niggli, pleaded ignorance, via The Athletic:

“I’m not aware of the details of ski jumping and how it can improve but if anything was to come to the surface we would look at anything if it is actually doping related,” said Olivier Niggli, director general of WADA, when asked about the allegations at a press conference on Thursday.

“We don’t do other means of enhancing performance but our list committee would certainly look into whether this would fall into this category. But I haven’t heard about that until you mentioned.”

WADA president Witold Banka, meanwhile, insisted he would investigate:

Ski jumping is very popular in Poland (his home country) so I promise you I’m going to look at it,” he said.

As Niggli noted, it’s unclear if this matter falls under WADA’s jurisdiction, as it seems to be more of a matter of equipment manipulation than actual doping. And Banka could very well be joking, as many people have been throughout Thursday.

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It’s still something this sport is going to have to address in one way or the other, even if this turns out to be more of a hypothetical problem than one that’s deciding Olympic medals.

Prior to Friday’s Opening Ceremony, the second day of action at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics was a good one for Team USA as the women’s ice hockey and mixed doubles curling teams won their debuts. Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn showed fans that she intends to pursue a fourth Olympic medal despite a knee injury. However, Finland’s women’s ice hockey squad had its start delayed due to a norovirus outbreak among the players.

Here are the top stories of the day:

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U.S. women’s ice hockey dominates Czechia in opener

Hailey Scamurra scored twice while three of her teammates also added goals in Team USA’s 5-1 victory over Czechia. Both teams opened group play with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in attendance at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena.

The game was essentially put out of reach early in the second period. Already holding a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal in the first period from Alex Carpenter, Joy Dunne and Scamurra each scored goals within 83 seconds. Tessa Janecke earned the assists on both scores. Hilary Knight added another goal late in the period to give the U.S. a 4-1 lead.

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Czechia scored its lone goal when Barbora Jurickova left the penalty box and received a pass for a breakaway to cut the deficit to 3-1. But Knight answered shortly thereafter.

The U.S. will next face Finland on Saturday in Group A play with face-off scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET. That is, if Finland is healthy enough to compete. (See below.)

U.S. defeats Norway and Switzerland in mixed doubles curling

Team USA took the ice in mixed doubles curling on Thursday, one day after eight other countries made their debut.

Facing defending silver medalist Norway, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin took an early 1-0 lead before the Norwegians rallied with three points in the second end of the match. The two teams then battled back and forth, with the U.S. tying the score during the third end before Norway took a two-point lead after the fourth.

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Norway held a 6-4 lead going into the seventh end before Team USA tied the score at 6. In the final end, the U.S. took a two-point lead and Norway’s final shot fell short, giving Thiesse and Dropkin the 8-6 victory.

The U.S. later faced Switzerland in a match that carried far less drama. The Swiss did take a 2-1 lead in the second end, but Team USA rallied to gain two points in the third end when Thiesse knocked away Switzerland’s stone. The U.S. increased its lead to 5-2 after the fourth end and employed a defensive strategy through the rest of the match, knocking Switzerland’s stones out of the way and creating pressure to make perfect shots. Ultimately, the Swiss couldn’t hit the mark and Team USA won 7-4.

Up next for Thiesse and Dropkin is Canada and the Czech Republic on Friday.

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Lindsey Vonn ‘not giving up’ Alpine downhill, despite torn ACL

Any doubts that Lindsey Vonn would attack the opportunity to medal in the women’s downhill despite suffering a torn ACL in her left knee during a training run were likely silenced by a video posted by the three-time Olympic medalist to social media on Thursday.

Vonn showed footage of her doing barbell squats, agility drills, side lunges and box jumps while wearing a brace on her injured left knee. If she can handle that work, she can seemingly handle the rigors of the Alpine downhill skiing course, something that doctors have stated is very possible.

“I’m not giving up, working as hard as I can to make it happen!” Vonn wrote in a caption with the video. “Thank you to my team and everyone for your incredible support. Keep believing.”

Vonn still has to complete a training run to qualify for the starting field in Sunday’s downhill event. Weather has created an obstacle with heavy snow canceling Thursday’s exercise. But opportunities could still be available Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.

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Finland women’s ice hockey postpones opener due to norovirus outbreak

Elsewhere in women’s ice hockey group play, Finland and Canada had their opening match postponed due to a norovirus outbreak among the Finnish team. After four sick players forced the team to cancel its Wednesday training session, 14 members of the team were ill on Thursday. Possible exposure to the virus warranted several players being placed into quarantine.

With only 10 available players for Finland and a risk of passing the virus to Canada’s team, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee decided to postpone the game with Canada until Feb. 12.

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As mentioned above, Finland is scheduled to play the U.S. on Saturday, but it’s not yet known whether enough Finnish players will be out of quarantine for the team to play.

Team USA medals

Highlight of the day

U.S. snowboarders Red Gerard and Jake Canter looked ready to compete for medals in the Big Air event, each landing backside 1800 jumps during qualifying rounds on Thursday. A backside 1800 involves five full 360-degree horizontal rotations, spinning in a backside direction.

One more thing

Leading up to Friday’s Opening Ceremony, the Olympic torch is making its way through Milan. Three-time snowboarding gold medalist Shaun White was among the athletes to carry the torch on Thursday.

White will next travel to Livigno to watch the snowboarding competition, which begins Saturday with the men’s Big Air final.

The Opening Ceremony hasn’t happened yet, but the 2026 Winter Olympics curling competition is already under way. This Friday, Team USA will compete in not one but two mixed doubles matches, including a highly anticipated matchup against our neighbors to the north, Canada. Team USA vs. Canada will stream live at 4 a.m. ET (and you’ll also be able to catch Team USA vs. Czechia at 8:35 a.m.), with all the action happening live on Peacock.

Here’s a complete schedule of all Team USA Curling events at this year’s games, along with a rundown of who is competing. And if you want to learn even more about every event at this year’s Winter Games, here’s a guide to everything you need to know about the Milan Cortina Games.

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How to watch the Team USA vs. Canada Curling match at the 2026 Winter Olympics

Date: Friday, Feb. 6

Time: 4:05 a.m. ET

Location: Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium

TV channels: CNBC, USA, NBC

Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, and more

Where can I stream Curling at the 2026 Winter Olympics?

Where to watch Curling on TV:

The Team USA vs. Canada curling match will stream exclusively on Peacock on Friday and will not be broadcast on TV. Typically, most Team USA curling coverage will be split between CNBC and USA, and the women’s final on Feb. 22 will also air on NBC. (To see specific air times, check out the official NBC Olympics broadcast schedule, and toggle your search to “TV Only.”) You can stream all of these channels on DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV and more.

Nate Tice, Matt Harmon & Charles McDonald are LIVE from San Francisco to give their final thoughts and predictions for Super LX as they find the strengths and weaknesses of the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots.

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The trio kick things off with the latest non-Super Bowl news from around the NFL, including Jay Glazer hinting at a potential Maxx Crosby departure on Yahoo Sports Daily and Philadelphia Eagles offensive line guru Jeff Stoutland departing, leaving Philly with major shoes to fill.

Next, the three hosts dive into the Super LX matchup, previewing each side of the ball’s top matchups to watch, key injuries, predictions for the game and more.

Later, Prime Vision’s Sam Schwartzstein joins the group to give his analytical insights on the game before Nate, Matt, Charles and Sam give their final Hail Mary bold predictions for the game.

The show wraps up with conversations with Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels & Bijan Robinson.

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(2:00) – Latest NFL news: Maxx Crosby out? Jeff Stoutland leaves Eagles

(14:10) – Patriots offense vs. Seahawks defense

(27:40) – Seahawks offense vs. Patriots defense

(40:10) – Sam Schwartzstein breaks down Super Bowl LX

(46:40) – Hail Mary bold predictions

(56:00) – Josh Allen, Jayden Daniels & Bijan Robinson interviews.

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

The NBA trade deadline came and went Thursday, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the biggest name on the market, once again stayed with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Here are the full details of who went where at the 2025-26 trade deadline:

Celtics trade Xavier Tillman to Hornets (Feb. 5)

Hornets get: Xavier Tillman, $3.5 million

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Celtics get: Salary, tax savings

Hornets trade Tyus Jones to Mavericks (Feb. 5)

Mavericks get: Tyus Jones

Hornets get: Malaki Branham

Pacers get: Ivica Zubac and Kobe Brown

Clippers get: Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, Pacers 2026 first-round pick (protected Nos. 1-4 and 10-30), 2029 Pacers first-round pick, 2028 Mavericks second-round pick

76ers trade Eric Gordon to Grizzlies (Feb. 5)

Grizzlies get: Eric Gordon, 2032 second-round pick swap

76ers get: 2032 second-round pick swap

Celtics trading Josh Minott to Nets (Feb. 5)

Nets get: Josh Minott

Celtics get: Salary/tax savings

Nuggets trade Hunter Tyson to Nets (Feb. 5)

Nuggets get: 2026 second-round pick (least favorable of Clippers or Hawks)

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Nets get: Hunter Tyson, 2032 second-round pick

Knicks gets: Jose Alvarado

Pelicans get: Dalen Terry, two second-round picks and cash

Suns get: Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey

Bucks get: Ousmane Dieng and Nigel Hayes-Davis

Bulls get: Nick Richards

Jazz get: Chris Boucher and Denver’s 2027 second-round pick

Celtics get: John Tonje, salary/tax savings

Lakers get: Luke Kennard

Hawks get: Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick

Bulls get: Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller, 2026 second-round pick (least favorable of Nuggets or Warriors); Cavaliers 2027 second-round pick; 2031 second-round pick (most favorable of Timberwolves or Warriors); 2032 second-round pick (most favorable of Suns or Rockets)

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Timberwolves get: Ayo Dosunmu and Julian Phillips

Knicks trade Guerschon Yabusele to Bulls (Feb. 4)

Knicks get: Dalen Terry

Bulls get: Guerschon Yabusele

Warriors trade Trayce Jackson-Davis to Raptors (Feb. 4)

Raptors get: Trayce Jackson-Davis

Warriors get: Lakers 2026 second-round pick

Warriors get: Kristaps Porzingis

Hawks get: Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Magic trade Tyus Jones to Hornets (Feb. 4)

Hornets get: Tyus Jones, 2027 second-round pick (least favorable of Celtics or Magic), 2028 second-round pick

Magic get: Cash considerations

Jazz get: Lonzo Ball, 2028 and 2032 second-round picks from Cavs

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Hawks get: Jock Landale

Cavaliers get: Salary and tax savings

Clippers get: rights to Vanja Marinković

Raptors get: Chris Paul

Nets get: Ochai Agbaji, 2032 Raptors second-round pick, cash

Bulls get: Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng, 2029 second-round pick (least favorable of Nuggets or Hornets), Knicks 2031 second-round pick, Nuggets 2031 second-round pick

Hornets get: Coby White, Mike Conley Jr., 2029 second-round pick (least favorable of Hawks or Heat)

Thunder get: Mason Plumlee Jr.

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

76ers get: Rockets 2026 first-round pick, 2027 second-round pick (most favorable of Thunder, Rockets, Pacers or Heat), Thunder 2028 second-round pick, Bucks 2028 second-round pick

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Thunder get: Jared McCain

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Mavericks get: Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, Malaki Branham, Marvin Bagley III, Thunder 2026 first-round pick, Warriors 2030 first-round pick (top-20 protected), Suns 2026 second-round pick, Bulls 2027 second-round pick, Rockets 2029 second-round pick

Wizards get: Anthony Davis, Jaden Hardy, D’Angelo Russell and Dante Exum

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Clippers get: Darius Garland and 2026 second-round pick

Cavaliers get: James Harden

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Bulls get: Anfernee Simons and second-round pick

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Celtics get: Nikola Vučević and second-round pick

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Bulls get: Jaden Ivey, Mike Conley Jr.

Pistons get: Kevin Huerter, Dario Saric, 2026 first-round protected swap from Timberwolves

Timberwolves get: Cash

Jazz get: Jaren Jackson Jr., John Konchar, Jock Landale and Vince Williams Jr.

Grizzlies get: Walter Clayton Jr., Kyle Anderson, Taylor Hendricks, Georges Niang, 2027 first-round pick (most favorable of Jazz, Cavaliers or Timberwolves), Lakers 2027 first-round pick, Suns 2031 first-round pick

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Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Blazers get: Vit Krejci

Hawks get: Duop Reath, 2027 second-round pick and 2030 second-round pick

Cavs get: Keon Ellis and Dennis Schröder

Kings get: De’Andre Hunter

Bulls get: Dario Šarić, Cavaliers 2027 second-round pick, Kings 2029 second-round pick

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

Wizards get: Trae Young

Hawks get: CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert

Trade grades: Who won the deal?

The 2026 World Baseball Classic is a month away, and Team USA’s roster is finalized.

The star-studded group is headlined by reigning back-to-back AL MVP Aaron Judge and NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes. It also includes Clayton Kershaw, who announced his retirement at the end of the 2025 season but will make one last appearance in the WBC.

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Here’s a snapshot of the top players and, below that, a full breakdown of the 30-man roster, which was announced Thursday:

Team USA roster for the 2026 World Baseball Classic

Team USA position players

• C Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners

• C Will Smith, Los Angeles Dodgers

• 1B Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies

• 1B Paul Goldschmidt, free agent

• 2B Brice Turang, Milwaukee Brewers

• 3B Gunnar Henderson, Baltimore Orioles

• 3B Alex Bregman, Chicago Cubs

• SS Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals

• INF Ernie Clement, Toronto Blue Jays

• OF Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

• OF Corbin Carroll, Arizona Diamondbacks

• OF Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs

• OF Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins

• DH Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

Team USA pitchers

• SP Clayton Kershaw, retired from MLB

• SP Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

• SP Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates

• SP Joe Ryan, Minnesota Twins

• SP Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants

• SP Nolan McLean, New York Mets

• SP Clay Holmes, New York Mets

• SP Matthew Boyd, Chicago Cubs

• SP Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals

• RP Mason Miller, San Diego Padres

• RP Griffin Jax, Tampa Bay Rays

• RP Garrett Whitlock, Boston Red Sox

• RP Garrett Cleavinger, Tampa Bay Rays

• RP David Bednar, New York Yankees

• RP Gabe Speier, Seattle Mariners

• RP Brad Keller, Philadelphia Phillies

The 2026 World Baseball Classic will begin March 5 and run through March 17. Team USA will be looking for redemption after falling to Shohei Ohtani and Team Japan in the final in 2023.

Full rosters for the WBC can be found here.

The San Diego Padres are reportedly moving closer to the franchise going up for sale, with opening bids for the team expected to be submitted by the end of February, according to The Athletic.

One of the people presumably interested in bidding is Golden State Warriors team owner Joe Lacob, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin and Mike Vorkunov reported. While Lacob has looked into the possibility of buying the Padres, he has not committed to making a bid, at least publicly. However, he has previously made attempts to buy the Athletics, Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers.

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Lacob, 70, has owned the Warriors since 2010, overseeing a franchise that has won four NBA championships and has become the most valuable team in the league, according to CNBC and Forbes. His sports team portfolio also includes the WNBA expansion Golden State Valkyries.

Others who have reportedly shown interest in purchasing the Padres include Dan Friedkin and José E. Feliciano, according to Sportico. Friedkin’s Pursuit Sports group currently owns Premier League club Everton and AS Roma in Serie A. He also pursued buying the Boston Celtics before that franchise was sold to Bill Chisholm and Symphony Technology Group last spring. Feliciano and his private equity firm, Clearlake Capital, own Chelsea in the Premier League.

The path to a sale of the Padres was cleared earlier this week, when Sheel Seidler, the widow of late team owner Peter Seidler, settled her lawsuit against her brothers-in-law, Bob and Matt Seidler. The lawsuit, filed in January 2025, alleged that the brothers committed “breaches of fiduciary duty and fraud” as trustees of the Seidler Trust that controls the franchise.

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Peter Seidler died in November 2023 at the age of 63 after a months-long illness. He became the Padres’ chairman and largest stakeholder after being part of the group that purchased the franchise in 2012.

John Seidler currently controls the family trust, and thus the Padres, after being approved by MLB owners a year ago. He was not named in Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit.

The lawsuit also accused the Seidler brothers of exploring a relocation of the team. Despite being based in the Bay Area, Lacob reportedly would not consider moving the Padres out of Southern California.

The Padres were valued at $2.3 billion by Sportico last year. The highest sale price for an MLB team was the New York Mets, which Steve Cohen purchased for $2.4 billion in 2020. The Seidler family is reportedly seeking a sale price closer to $3 billion, according to The Athletic.

LIVIGNO, Italy — On Jan. 9, freestyle skier Eileen Gu posted on Instagram a “Day in my Life” video commemorating the one-month countdown to the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Glimpses of Gu brushing her teeth, eating breakfast, riding a ski lift, practicing tricks on a giant airbag, cooling down with a 5 kilometer run, talking to the media, completing a doping test, and reading a book while she’s in a hyperbaric chamber were all stuffed into a 29-second Instagram reel.

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Within 10 days, it generated more than a million views.

So it’s probably no coincidence that Gu, the American-born dual gold medal winner who chose to compete for China in 2019, was the fourth highest-paid female athlete of 2025.  According to Sportico, all but $20,000 of her $23 million came from endorsements.

While sponsorships have always been crucial to the earning potential of Olympic athletes, who generally aren’t raking in huge sums of prize money, financial success no longer hinges on whose image lands on the Wheaties box.

Now most of it happens on social media, where the line between Olympic athletes and influencers has been blurred — usually to the benefit of their pocketbooks as this Winter Games draws close.

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“The number of Olympians who have become more popular and made money in the Olympics has grown exponentially,” said Doug Shabelman, the CEO of Chicago-based Burns Entertainment, a firm that matches celebrities and athletes with marketing opportunities. “Now everybody, whether you win or lose, can be an influencer. Before you had to win gold medals, you had to do something special. Now social media has leveled the playing field, and the marketability of these athletes is 365 days a year.”

Gu is among the handful of Olympic athletes at the top of that food chain along with the likes of Simone Biles and Lindsey Vonn. It’s no surprise given Gu’s success in the sport and her endorsement potential in China, which likely played at least some role in her choice to represent her mother’s homeland rather than the more crowded American market.

But you don’t need to be the most successful winter sports athlete in a country of 1.4 billion people to leverage social media for endorsement dollars.

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Take freestyle skier Alex Ferreira. Once a year, he puts on a prosthetic mask, a gray wig and fake facial hair to make him look like a skiing has-been, goes to the slopes with a film crew, talks trash to younger skiers and shocks crowds as he executes Olympic-level tricks.

The character, “Hot Dog Hans,” was inspired by Kyrie Irving’s portrayal of streetball legend “Uncle Drew.” Though it started out as a one-time gag a few years ago, Ferreira realized within 15 minutes of his first day in costume that it was something he could draw out into a multi-episode series of short films.

The full Hans skits now generate hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, with the clips drawing millions on Instagram. And while it may have started as a fun distraction, it has become a high-profile example of how an Olympic athlete who is not particularly famous in the mainstream world can find a niche that leads to dollars.

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“We’re in this day and age where your main job is to compete, learn new tricks, go to these contests and win them,” Ferreira said. “But the other half of the business is gaining sponsors, so you need to create content as well. I’m a professional skier, but I’m also an influencer in a way. Basically, when you think the job is over, you have to get back and get on the computer and start cranking out content. When I started, it was much less than that.”

Though the content game does require more time outside of traditional training and media obligations, it keeps many athletes in the mix during those four-year gaps between Olympics when they don’t get as much mainstream attention. And then, once an Olympics begins, you never really know what’s going to hit.

One of the biggest social media stars of the Paris Games was Henrik Christiansen, a Norwegian swimmer who did not finish better than 20^th in any of his three events but went viral for videos about chocolate chip muffins in the athletes’ village. The “Muffin Man” now has more than 500,000 followers on TikTok and is still trading off the joke. One of his most popular recent videos from last October shows him whisking cocoa powder into a mixing bowl trying to replicate a recipe he’s watching on television.

“I’m 56, and our generation, we still look at it like, ‘We want to see the winners and the great stories,’” Shabelman said. “But a different generation has different things they’re more interested in, and there are so many different avenues now, so many different ways to get your story and your personality out that it changed the game in a big way on the marketing side.

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“It’s not just the winners anymore. Engagement on social media with fans is so important to marketers because they don’t just want to see how many people look at videos. They want to see who’s engaging, who has that accessibility and who has something that other people don’t.”

It also helps that Olympic sports, particularly in the winter, have great visuals that lend themselves to social media. Whether it’s a striking costume being worn by a figure skater, a gravity-defying trick on a snowboard or simply the backdrop of a snow-capped mountain, Winter Olympians don’t necessarily have to stretch far outside their comfort zone to create eye-catching content.

Many of Gu’s posts, for instance, have nothing to do with sports and fall more into the category of modeling or a peek into the lifestyle of a rich, young woman who travels the world like a true celebrity and hangs out with other celebrities. They are slickly produced and undeniably targeted to demographics that are not watching the Freestyle Ski World Cup.

“We are still a society that does value attractiveness and different elements that we all have come to know about people who are endorsers,” Shabelman said. “But then you also add on being really good at building great content, you have a lot of (famous) friends you might tag in a post and that might get you even more followers.”

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Though not every Olympic athlete handles their social media as seriously or professionally as Gu, it’s now just a fact of life that maximizing endorsement potential — which is what keeps many of these Olympians going in sports that don’t offer big prize money — often runs through Instagram or TikTok.

“Content creation is what’s happening right now,” snowboarder Jamie Anderson said. “It’s bigger than almost anything. There are YouTubers making more money than NFL players. So it really doesn’t matter what I think about it, it’s happening. You kind of have to move with the waves. It’s definitely the future of marketing and sports. Times have changed quick.”

The allegations against Emmanuel Clase appear to stretch much further than previously known.

A court filing has revealed that the Cleveland Guardians closer is accused of manipulating pitches in 48 different MLB games over the span of two years, according to ESPN’s David Purdum. That’s far more than the nine specific games identified in the federal government’s indictment last year.

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Including playoffs, Clase appeared in 178 games ranging from May 2023 to June 2025, the timeline of the scheme alleged by prosecutors. If the 48-game figure is correct, that would mean Clase threw suspicious pitches (i.e. intentional balls to allegedly help his co-conspirators win prop bets) in 27% of his appearances with the Guardians in that span.

That figure reportedly comes from Clase’s co-defendant, Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz, who is accused of manipulating only two pitches in June 2025. It was Ortiz who was first implicated in the scandal, but his attorneys are now reportedly requesting that his case be severed from Clase’s due to “markedly different levels of culpability.”

Basically, Ortiz’s camp is arguing that the case against Clase is so overwhelming, it hurts Ortiz’s case to be at the same defendant’s table. From ESPN:

In Thursday’s filing, Ortiz’s attorney pointed to this difference in scale and emphasized that the indictment did not contain evidence of Ortiz communicating directly with bettors.

Georgalis argued that a jury presented “with 26 months of alleged criminal conduct by Mr. Clase — including suspect pitches during 48 games, dozens of communications with [a bettor], cash transfers and coordination of illegal wagers” could find Ortiz guilty by association.

Another court record reportedly shows that a judge asked prosecutors to provide Clase’s attorneys with evidence for suspicious pitches:

“[Clase] has identified at least 250 pitches on which bets were placed, so the Court encouraged the government to disclose discovery to [Clase] as to any additional pitches that it alleges were included in the conspiracy,” a record of the court proceeding states.

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Clase and Ortiz were indicted in November on charges of wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. They have both pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a total maximum sentence of decades in prison.

Their trial is scheduled for May.

The pitchers officially remain members of the Guardians organization, but they remain on the restricted list (i.e. unpaid leave). In addition to prison time, they face a lifetime ban from baseball, pending MLB’s investigation into the allegations.

Clase is alleged to have done all this despite his status as one of the top closers in baseball and a contract that would have paid him $6.4 million in 2026, with a pair of team options for $10 million each in 2027 and 2028.