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🚨 Headlines
🏈 Cousins benched: The Falcons are benching Kirk Cousins in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr., who will make his debut as a starter on Sunday against the Giants.
⚾️ Bellinger to the Bronx: The Yankees landed former MVP Cody Bellinger in a trade with the Cubs, marking their first step in rebuilding their offense post-Juan Soto.
🏀 New All-Star Game format: The NBA is officially replacing the traditional All-Star Game format with a four-team, pickup-style tournament, which will debut this February in San Francisco.
🏈 Costly blunder: A whopping 7.9% of Yahoo Fantasy public league teams rostering Jonathan Taylor lost their respective matchups because he dropped the ball short of the goal line on Sunday. Ouch.
⚽️ Farewell, Becky: Former USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn, 39, announced her retirement on Tuesday. The center back made 219 national team appearances, 10th-most in USWNT history.
🏈 Coach Vick: The next chapter of a redemption story
17 years after hitting rock bottom, Michael Vick has been hired as the head coach at Norfolk State (FCS), continuing his comeback story, a prolonged atonement for all to see.
From Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel:
On Dec. 10, 2007, Michael Vick walked into a federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia, chomping gum and rocking bright-white Nike Air Force 1 Mids, which happened to match the stripes on his jailhouse garb.
He was there to be sentenced for his role in a brutal dog-fighting ring, which had cost him his $100 million NFL contract, his record-breaking Nike deal and, most importantly, his freedom.
He came across with at least a measure of defiance — if not disbelief — when he should have been, at least for practical purposes, trying to project remorse and responsibility.
Federal prosecutors would soon lay out not just Vick’s crimes in running Bad Newz Kennels, but a list of mindless violations even after he had pleaded guilty and knew all eyes were on him.
While awaiting sentencing, the government argued that Vick had failed to fully admit to some of his actions, engaged in deceptive practices to cover up others and even smoked marijuana just one night before a scheduled test assuredly would, and did, bust him.
Even his own friends and family in attendance, who saw any incarceration as unnecessary, could only shake their heads. Disappointment hung in the air. This was self-inflicted stuff. All that potential was about to be hailed away to Leavenworth.
Vick had arrived that day facing a sentence of 12-18 months, with speculation he’d get the minimum due to his lack of prior record. If so, he could have been out in a little over 10 months, back in the NFL soon after. Instead, his actions and attitude caused the sentencing guideline to jump to 18-24 months.
Vick wound up getting 23, more than any of his co-defendants, many of whom did have priors. Officers soon led him out, cuffed, en route to being caged. His family simply wept. This, they swore, wasn’t him, it wasn’t Mike.
“I’m willing to say that should Michael Vick get another chance either in society or the NFL,” his attorney, Billy Martin, said that day, “he will take full advantage of it.”
Seventeen Decembers later, in the same Virginia where he had grown up, where he electrified ball fields from Newport News to Blacksburg and where he was sentenced, Michael Vick lived up to his lawyer’s promise with a new title: Coach.
Norfolk State has reportedly hired Vick, now 44, to run its football program, which is located just a half-hour drive from his hometown.
It is the latest chapter of a powerful redemption story that had already seen Vick come to terms with his actions, serve his debt to society, triumphantly return to the NFL and carry himself as a powerful spokesman for animal rights.
He went from vilified villain to role model and leader. And it isn’t done. The Vick who stood in that courtroom, who seemingly thought he was as untouchable off the field as he was on it, is long gone. The new man is here to prove himself once again.
🏀 Bucks top Thunder to win NBA Cup
The Bucks dominated both sides of the ball en route to a 97-81 victory over the Thunder in the NBA Cup championship game.
Player of the night: Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double (26-19-10) and added three blocks and two steals. In a season where “teams are taking too many threes” has become a talking point, he attempted zero.
From Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill:
Antetokounmpo went through years where he attempted to become a 3-point shooter, taking nearly five a game during his second MVP campaign (2019-20), but never got over the 30% hump.
He’s much better attacking the basket, and he’s found a home in the 18-foot range, making him a much more dangerous scorer now. He hasn’t shot below 50% in any game this season.
It’s contributed to his career-high 61.4% accuracy, as he’s taking fewer than one triple a game — the lowest mark since his third season, the year before his first All-Star appearance.
The Bucks are back: After starting the season 2-8, Milwaukee has been on a tear. They went 7-0 in NBA Cup play and this was their 13th win in their last 16 games, even though it won’t be part of the official record.
Shoutout to OKC… The Thunder couldn’t finish the job, but it’s been an incredible season so far for America’s Team.
📸 Photo gallery
Frisco, Texas — Memphis beat West Virginia, 42-37, in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Tuesday, which ended with head coach Ryan Silverfield getting doused with cold brew.
Las Vegas — Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy (PGA) dominated Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka (LIV) in “The Showdown,” taking home $10 million in crypto for their win.
Doha, Qatar — Two months after finishing second in the Ballon d’Or, Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior was named FIFA’s player of the year. Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí won the women’s award.
🏈 NFL power rankings: Eagles on top
The Bills are the talk of the NFL after beating the 12-1 Lions behind another standout performance from MVP favorite Josh Allen. But they’re not yet the NFL’s best team.
From Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab:
For as great as Josh Allen and the Bills were Sunday, they still gave up 42 points, including 494 yards and five TDs to Jared Goff. A week earlier they gave up 44 points to the Rams and lost.
There’s another team out there that hasn’t lost since September. Another team with a stellar defense that has allowed 48 points in its past three games combined, while having an offense that is top 10 in points scored and yards gained.
The Eagles might not have a highlight win like Buffalo’s victory in Detroit, but their overall dominance and consistency is why Philly is No. 1 right now. They started 2-2 but they were without star receiver A.J. Brown in both losses. They’re a perfect 10-0 since their bye.
Full rankings: Analysis for all 32 teams
📆 Dec. 18, 2017: Mamba forever
Seven years ago today, the Lakers retired both of Kobe Bryant’s jersey numbers (8 and 24) during a ceremony at Staples Center. Two years later, he and his daughter Gianna were gone.
Words to live by: Bryant gave an emotional speech that night about hard work and chasing your dreams, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Here he is, addressing his three daughters:
You guys know that if you do the work, dreams come true. You know that, we all know that. But hopefully what you get from tonight is that those times when you get up early and you work hard; those times when you stay up late and you work hard; those times when you don’t feel like working but you do it anyway. That is actually the dream.
It’s not the destination, it’s the journey. And if you guys can understand that, what you’ll see happen is that your dreams won’t come true, something greater will. [Points to the rafters]. And if you guys can understand that, then I’m doing my job as a father.
📺 Watchlist: Back-to-back Bowl games
Bowl Season continues tonight with back-to-back games on ESPN.
More to watch:
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🏒 NHL: Flyers at Red Wings (7pm, TNT); Panthers at Wild (9:30pm, TNT)
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🏀 NCAAM: Xavier at No. 11 UConn (7pm, FS1); No. 21 Memphis at Virginia (7pm, ESPN); No. 14 Oklahoma at No. 24 Michigan (9pm, ESPN2)
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🏀 NCAAW: No. 19 UNC vs. Florida (6:30pm, ESPNU); No. 18 Tennessee at Memphis (8:30pm, ESPNews)
*The Rebels had never been ranked in the AP poll before this season. They’ll need to win tonight to end the season in the Top 25.
⚾️ MLB trivia
Seven U.S. states have exactly two MLB teams. Can you name them?
Answer at the bottom.
⚾️ Who will be MLB’s first $1 billion player?
One day, some big leaguer will sign a $1 billion contract. Who will it be? Gunnar Henderson? Ethan Holliday? Or someone baseball fans haven’t even heard of yet?
Let’s dive down that rabbit hole and theorize irresponsibly.
Trivia answer: New York (Yankees and Mets), Illinois (Cubs and White Sox), Texas (Rangers and Astros), Florida (Marlins and Rays), Pennsylvania (Phillies and Pirates), Ohio (Guardians and Reds), Missouri (Cardinals and Royals)
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