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🚨Heads
🏀 Wemby’s Monster Night: Victor Wembanyama scored 25 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 steals and 5 blocks in the Spurs’ 106-88 win over the Jazz, making him only the third NBA player with multiple 5×5 games.
🎙️ Costas stops play-by-play: Bob Costas is retiring after 44 years as an MLB play-by-play announcer, although the Hall of Fame broadcaster will continue to work as an analyst and commentator for MLB Network.
🏀 Banchero out indefinitely: Magic star Paolo Banchero has been ruled out indefinitely (oblique fracture), ending what looked like a breakout season for the young forward.
⚾️ World Series Ratings: The 2024 Fall Classic averaged 15.8 million viewers per game on Fox, the best since 2017.
🏀 $1 million offer: Caitlin Clark has reportedly been offered $1 million to play in the first season of Unrivaled, the new 3×3 women’s league that starts in January. The deal also includes an equity stake.
⚾️ “Daddy, I’ll never stop”
We knew World Series MVP Freddie Freeman suffered from a sprained right ankle throughout the postseason.
What we didn’t know: A day before the playoffs started, Freeman couldn’t pick himself up off the floor after swinging into the batting cage. It turned out he had broken the costal cartilage in his sixth rib, an injury that can sideline players for months.
From ESPN’s Jeff Passan:
The destruction began. Walking hurt. Breathing stung. Swinging a bat felt like an impossibility.
Freeman’s father, Fred, worried about his youngest son, whom he raised after Freeman’s mother, Rosemary, died of melanoma when Freddie was ten. He could see the pain in every tiny movement.
Considering the injuries to his rib and ankle and the lingering pain from a middle finger he broke in August, Freeman was certainly too beat up to keep playing. There would certainly be more postseasons, more opportunities.
“I actually told him to stop,” Fred said. “I said, ‘Freddie, this isn’t worth it. I know you love baseball. I love baseball. But it’s not worth what you’re going through.’ And he looked at me like I was crazy, and he said, ‘Daddy, I’ll never stop.'”
Legendary quote: “It only hurts when I miss,” Freeman told his father during the NLDS. “So I just have to stop missing.”
🏈 Catch of the year
Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson made the catch of the year in New York’s 21-13 victory over the Texans on Thursday.
Davante Adams: “I told him he might get kicked out of Adidas after that. That one looked like he went to Jumpman with me. I’m going to talk to some people.’
Looking ahead: Aaron Rodgers and his two-star wideouts finally connected in the second half of Thursday’s win. But do the Jets have enough time to dig themselves out of a hole?
⚾️ MLB Offseason: Top Free Agents
Now that the World Series is behind us, it’s time to turn our attention to a new winter of transactional activities.
Our top 10 free agents, courtesy of Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman of Yahoo Sports:
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Juan Soto (RF, 26 years old): Yes, he’s still somehow only 26. After a career high of 41 HR and five straight seasons with more walks than strikeouts, his contract could at least start with the #5 pick.
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Corbin Burnes (RHP, 30): The 2021 Cy Young has started at least 32 games in three consecutive seasons, and his 2.92 ERA with Baltimore this year was fourth-best in the AL.
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Alex Bregman (3B, 31): His extension with Houston in 2019 was a relative bargain (6 years, $100 million), and his elite bat-and-glove combination should earn him much more this time around.
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Willy Adames (SS, 29): The Brewers star picked a banner year to post career highs in games played (161), doubles (33), home runs (32) and steals (21).
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Blake Snell (LHP, 32): The two-time Cy Young has another chance to land the mega-deal he missed out on last season after posting a 1.23 ERA in his last 14 starts with the Giants.
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Max Fried (LHP, 31): There’s only one stat you need to know about the old Brave: Of the 55 pitchers with more than 100 starts since 2020, his 2.81 ERA ranks first.
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Pete Alonso (1B, 30): Speaking of key stats, the Polar Bear’s 226 home runs since his debut in 2019 are second only to Aaron Judge (232).
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Teoscar Hernández (OF, 32): The veteran proved his worth with a one-year show-me deal with the Dodgers, racking up a career-high 33 HR and winning the World Series.
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Christian Walker (1B, 34): He may win his third straight Gold Glove this year, which was also his third straight season with at least 50 extra base hits.
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Anthony Santander (RF, 30): The Orioles slugger broke out for a career-high 44 HR, making him just the eighth switch hitter ever to eclipse 40 (and the first since 2006).
What’s next: Teams have until 5:00 PM ET on Monday to make qualifying offers to free agents, then they’re off to the races at next week’s GM meetings in San Antonio. The stove should really heat up during the Winter Meetings in Dallas (December 8-11).
View the full top 50.
📆 November 1, 1913: The game that changed football
111 years ago today, Notre Dame upset Army, 35-13, at West Point in a game that changed football forever thanks to one simple concept: the forward pass.
Change was needed: College football in its earliest form mirrored rugby and was brutally dangerous. In 1905, the Chicago Tribune reported that 19 players died from injuries sustained during games.
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Fearing that football would be banned if it continued on this path, President Theodore Roosevelt gathered key figures to discuss player safety. One rule that emerged from that 1905 meeting? The legalization of the forward pass.
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But it wasn’t until 1912 that rule adoption began to resemble those in the modern game (for example, incomplete rules used to be counted as turnovers), paving the way for Notre Dame to revolutionize the sport .
“Everyone seemed surprised”: While Notre Dame QB Gus Dorais split Army’s defense with 14 completions, 243 yards and 2 scores, the Irish proved that passing was more than a parlor trick.
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No play was more impressive than when Dorais hit the big Knute Rockne in his stride for a 40-yard score that left Army players scratching their heads.
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“Everyone seemed surprised,” Rockne later wrote. “There was no obstruction, no tackling, no diving, no crushing of fibers and tendons. Just a long-distance landing by rapid transit.”
The big picture: This game has become a mix of history and myth, aided by the movie “Knute Rockne, All-American,” starring Ronald “Win one for the Gipper” Reagan. And in addition to changing the sport, it was the first meeting in the once-historic rivalry between Army and Notre Dame.
What to watch: That rivalry, which once involved annual games at Yankee Stadium, has faded in recent years as they have played just three times this century. But in three weeks, the Irish and Cadets will face off again at Yankee Stadium for their first matchup since 2016, and both teams are currently ranked.
📺 Watchlist: Buckeyes at Nittany Lions
No. No. 3 Penn State hosts No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday (12 p.m. ET, Fox) in the weekend’s college football game.
One-sided rivalry: This marks the eighth straight year the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions have met as ranked teams, and Ohio State has won each of the previous seven.
More to watch:
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🏈 NFL Sunday: Broncos at Ravens (1 p.m., CBS); Lions at Packers (4:25 p.m., Fox); Rams at Seahawks (4:25 p.m., Fox); Foals at Vikings (8:20 p.m., NBC) …Week 9.
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🏀 NBA: Cavaliers magic (Friday, 7 p.m., ESPN); Gold nuggets at Timberwolves (Friday, 9:30 p.m., ESPN)
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🏒 NHL: Stars vs. Panthers (Friday 1 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m., NHL) … In Tampere, Finland.
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⚽️ MLS Playoffs: Vancouver (1-0 down) vs. LAFC (Sun. 8:45 p.m., FS1) …The other seven Round One games are on Apple.
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⚽️ NWSL: Portland vs. Angel City (Friday 10 p.m., Prime); Chicago vs. KC (Sun. 3 p.m., ESPN); San Diego vs. Louisville (Sun. 5:30 p.m., ESPN) … Regular season finale.
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⚽️ Premier League: Liverpool vs Brighton (Sat. 11 a.m., Pauw); Tottenham vs Aston Villa (Sun. 9am, USA); Manchester United vs Chelsea (Sun. 11:30 a.m., USA)
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👟 Marathon: 53rd New York Marathon (Sun. 8 a.m., ESPN2)
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🏁 NASCAR Playoffs: Martinsville Highway (Sun. 2 p.m., NBC)
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🏁 F1: Brazilian GP (Sun. noon, ESPN2)
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🐎 Horse racing: Breeder’s Cup* (Fri-Sat, US/NBC)
*The richest race in North America: The two-day Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar, California, features 14 races and a total purse of $30 million.
🏀 College hoops trivia
The college basketball season starts Monday.
Ask: Can you name the past four men’s and women’s national champions?
Tip: There were multiple champions for both men and women.
Answer below.
🏈NFL design big sign
Here is the top of our midseason NFL Draft Big Board, courtesy of Nate Tice of Yahoo Sports:
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Will Johnson, CB (Michigan)
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Travis Hunter, CB (Colorado)
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Mykel Williams, EDGE (Georgia)
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Abdul Carter, EDGE (Penn State)
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Will Campbell, OT (LSU)
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Mason Graham, D.T. (Michigan)
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Jalon Walker, LB (Georgia)
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Ashton Jeanty, RB (Boise State)
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Kelvin Banks Jr., OT/OG (Texas)
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Nic Scourton, EDGE (Texas A&M)
Full size board.
Trivia answer: UConn (2024 and 2023), Kansas (2022), Baylor (2021) among the men; South Carolina (2024), LSU (2023), South Carolina (2022), Stanford (2021) for women
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