In today's edition: Knicks win NBA Cup, Crawford retires from boxing, the parallels between Pete Golding and Steve Fisher, NFL power rankings, emailing with the Warriors owner, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🥊 Bud Crawford retires: Terence "Bud" Crawford, 38, announced his surprise retirement from boxing on Tuesday. This comes just months after dethroning Canelo Álvarez to improve to a perfect 42-0 (31 KOs) and lay legitimate claim to the title of best boxer of his generation.
🏀 NBA expansion talk: The NBA has been flirting with expansion for years now, but Adam Silver says a decision is coming in 2026. He specifically threw out Seattle and Las Vegas as possibilities for new teams.
⚽️ FIFA slashes ticket prices: A week after fans responded with outrage over World Cup ticket prices, FIFA said it will provide each participating federation with a limited quantity of $60 tickets to each game to distribute to their fans.
🏈 ACC adds 9th game: The ACC is joining the other power conferences in moving to a nine-game conference schedule starting next year. The only caveat is that due to having an odd number of members (17), not every team will be able to play nine games each season.
🏒 Saban, the owner: Nick Saban has purchased a minority stake in the NHL's Nashville Predators. "Being involved in a sports team in Nashville has always been a goal," said the Hall of Fame football coach, who already owns multiple car dealerships in Tennessee's capital.
🏆 Knicks use team effort to win NBA Cup
The Knicks won the NBA Cup without a hero, and that should frighten the rest of the league.
Game recap: Despite an 11-of-27 shooting night for Jalen Brunson and an injury that temporarily sidelined Karl-Anthony Towns, the Knicks erased a double-digit deficit to defeat the Spurs, 124-113, and win the third NBA Cup title. For a team that hasn't won the NBA Finals since 1973, that certainly means something.
OG Anunoby posted a game-high 28 points. Tyler Kolek and Jordan Clarkson added double-digit points off the bench. Josh Hart kept doing Josh Hart things.
Mitchell Robinson extended possession after possession with 10 offensive rebounds and 15 total boards… in 18 total minutes.
What they're saying: "Without Tyler Kolek, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Jordan Clarkson, we don't win this game," said Brunson while accepting NBA Cup MVP honors.
From Yahoo Sports' Kelly Iko:
New York can make a strong claim as the deepest, most talented team in the East — and perhaps the NBA as a whole. How many teams can match the sheer offensive brilliance and leadership of Brunson? The two-way skill set of Anunoby and Mikal Bridges? Towns' unicorn-like gravity? Hart's glue? Robinson's ability to generate second-chance points? Clarkson's instant scoring off the bench?
This is why the Knicks should be feared. Brunson is the head of the snake, a likely MVP candidate and rightfully so. But take a stroll into Madison Square Garden and think that slowing him down is a surefire way to victory, and your mistakes haven't even begun.
New venues coming soon? Las Vegas has hosted the first three NBA Cup Finals, but that could be changing. Adam Silver told the NBA on Prime pregame show that "some storied college locations" are under consideration to host future title games.
My top 3, if that happens:
Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas)
Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke)
The Palestra (Penn)
Which college arena would you like to see host the NBA Cup Finals?
🏈 Can Pete Golding be the Steve Fisher of football?
As Ole Miss prepares for the College Football Playoff, the Rebels will be hoping that the parallels with Michigan basketball don't end with the mid-season promotion of an assistant coach.
From Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg:
In March 1989, two days after Selection Sunday, Michigan men's basketball coach Bill Frieder made a major miscalculation: he incorrectly assumed that he could accept a job offer from another school yet still coach the Wolverines in the NCAA tournament.
The morning after Frieder revealed that he intended to leave for Arizona State after the season, Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler summoned Frieder's top assistant Steve Fisher to his office for a 7 a.m. meeting.
When the 43-year-old assistant coach arrived, Schembechler didn't waste time with small talk or pleasantries. "Fisher, can you coach this team?" Fisher recalls Schembechler gruffly asking. "Because there's no way Bill Frieder's going to coach them."
36 years after Schembechler famously told Frieder not to bother showing up to the NCAA tournament, that banishment has gained newfound relevance.
It's by far the closest historical precedent to the messy breakup that resulted in Ole Miss refusing to let Lane Kiffin coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff after he spurned them for conference rival LSU.
As sixth-seeded Ole Miss prepares for its opening round matchup against 11th-seeded Tulane on Saturday, the Rebels will be hoping that the parallels with Michigan basketball don't end with the ill-timed coaching change.
They'll try to emulate how the '89 Wolverines rallied around their anonymous new coach, embraced the role of jilted underdogs and stormed to their program's first — and still only — national championship.
Can newly promoted Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding become the Steve Fisher of college football? Can Golding enter the College Football Playoff with zero wins as a head coach and then guide the Rebels to an improbable national title?
Fisher will be watching with great interest from his home in Del Mar, California. "I wish [Golding] good luck," he said. "I hope he has a great run and I'll be following it closely."
🌎 The world in photos
🇺🇸 Montgomery, Alabama — Jacksonville State beat Troy, 17-13, on Tuesday night to win the Salute to Veterans Bowl in a matchup of schools located just 162 miles apart.
3-for-3: Jacksonville State has played in a bowl game in each of its three seasons at the FBS level. Marshall is the only other team (1997-99) to appear in bowl games in each of its first three eligible seasons.
🇫🇷 Courchevel, France — American skiing sensation Mikaela Shiffrin continued her unbeaten run to start the World Cup slalom campaign, winning the night event in the French Alps on Tuesday for her fourth victory in four tries this season.
All-time leaders: This was Shiffrin's record 105th World Cup victory, 19 clear of second-place Ingemar Stenmark. On Friday, American Lindsey Vonn won her 83rd race, which ranks third.
🇶🇦 Doha, Qatar — Ballon d'Or winners Ousmane Dembélé (France, PSG) and Aitana Bonmatí (Spain, Barcelona) were named the best men's and women's players at FIFA's 10th annual awards ceremony.
Best XI: Dembélé was one of six PSG players to make the Best Men's XI, while Bonmatí was one of seven members of the Spanish national team to make the Best Women's XI.
🇪🇸 Murcia, Spain — Carlos Alcaraz runs during his VO2 Max test as he trains for the 2026 Australian Open.
VO2 max, explained: VO2 max is the maximum amount, or volume (V), of oxygen (O2) your body can use as a fuel source for exercise. Put simply, it's a gauge of how much hard work your body can do and is an objective way to tell how fit you are.
🏈 NFL power rankings
With just three weeks left in the regular season, the NFL playoff picture — and overall hierarchy — is taking shape. Where does your team sit in our latest power rankings?
Rising: No team had a bigger jump this week than the Ravens, who climbed four spots to No. 15 after blanking the Bengals to keep their playoff hopes alive. And though the Vikings may be eliminated, they still climbed three spots to No. 20 behind a vastly improved J.J. McCarthy.
Falling: The Packers suffered the biggest fall, dropping four spots to No. 9 after not only losing their game, but more importantly losing Micah Parsons for the season (ACL). The No. 17 Cowboys, No. 23 Dolphins and No. 24 Bengals all dropped three spots after losses.
📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Dec. 17
🏒 NHL on TNT
The first-place Red Wings host the Mammoth in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader (7:30pm ET), followed by the second-place Golden Knights hosting the Devils in the nightcap (10pm).
🏈 Bowl Games
Bowl season continues tonight with two games: Old Dominion vs. USF in the Cure Bowl in Orlando (5pm, ESPN), and Louisiana vs. Delaware in the 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile, Alabama (8:30pm, ESPN).
More to watch:
🏀 NBA: Grizzlies at Timberwolves (8pm, NBA) … Minnesota (17-9) is sixth in the West and Memphis (12-14) is ninth.
⚽️ FIFA Intercontinental Cup: PSG vs. Flamengo (12pm, DAZN) … Qatar hosts the final for the second annual competition featuring each continent's title winner.
⚽️ Women's Champions League: Juventus vs. Man United (3pm, Paramount+) … One of nine games in the final matchday of the league phase.
🏈 JUCO: Hutchinson vs. Iowa Western (7pm, ESPNU) … The junior college national championship at West Texas A&M’s Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium.
🏈 NFL trivia
Matthew Stafford, 37, remains the betting favorite to win his first MVP, which would make him just the sixth player in NFL history to win the award at age 37 or later.
Question: Can you name the other five?
Hint: 1963, 2002, 2013, 2017, 2020, 2021.
Answer at the bottom.
🏀 An email from the owner
A Warriors fan emailed team owner Joe Lacob on Sunday night, expressing his frustration about Golden State's poor start to the season. He didn't expect Lacob to respond two minutes later.
The email: Warriors fan Justin Dutari found an email address that he thought belonged to Lacob and shot off a quick note with the subject line "Please read." He complained about Steph Curry needing to shoulder so much of the scoring load, said Jimmy Butler is playing out of position, and asked him to "please do something about this team."
The owner's response:
You can't be as frustrated as me. I am working on it. It's complicated. Style of play. Coaches desires regarding players. League trends. Jimmy [Butler] is not the problem.
Trivia answer: Tom Brady (40 years old in 2017); Aaron Rodgers (37 in 2020, 38 in 2021); Peyton Manning (37 in 2013); Rich Gannon (37 in 2002); Y.A. Tittle (37 in 1963)
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Category: General Sports
