In today's edition: The "Returning Member Program," Texans destroy Steelers, Tarik Skubal's fascinating arbitration case, Harden passes Shaq, the Hughes Bowl, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Arizona, UConn still on top:Arizona increased its lead atopthe men's AP pollafter Michigan finally lost, dropping the Wolverines to No. 4 behind Iowa State and UConn. Onthe women's side, UConn became the unanimous No. 1 for the first time this season.
🏈 LSU lands top transfer QB:Former Arizona State QB Sam Leavitthas committed to LSU, giving the Tigers the top-ranked QB in the portal,per On3.Keep up with ourtransfer portal trackeruntil the window closes on Jan. 16.
🏀 WNBA moratorium:The WNBA and its players' unionagreed to a moratoriumthat will freeze free agency while the two sides continue negotiations around a new collective bargaining agreement.
⚽️ Alonso sacked:In a surprising move, Real Madrid havesacked manager Xabi Alonsoless than a year into his tenure following their loss to Barcelona in the Supercopa de España final. B team manager Álvaro Arbeloa, who played with Alonso at the club, will replace him.
🏁 NASCAR restores format:Starting this year, NASCAR willrevert back to its old playoff format, "The Chase," wherein the top 16 drivers compete in a 10-race postseason with no eliminations. Whoever has the most points at the end wins the title.
⛳️ PGA Tour takes direct shot at LIV
The PGA Tour-LIV Golf war had been quiet for nearly two years, but it just roared back to life — and the Saudi-backed Tour is now on the receiving end of the existential poaching threat it once dished out.
Driving the news: The Tour has effectively welcomed back Brooks Koepka immediately, albeit at a potential eight-figure cost, and other prominent players could soon follow under the same conditions.
Koepka must personally pay a $5 million charitable donation, and will be unable to access as much as $50 to $85 million in potential earnings through various penalty stipulations.
Considering the five-time major winner earned an estimated $165 million in 3.5 years with LIV, this all worked out quite well for him financially. His reputation and legacy, however, are another story.
What he's saying: "There was no negotiating. It's meant to hurt, it does hurt, but I understand. It's not supposed to be an easy path," Koepka told the AP on Monday. "I've got a lot of work to do with some of the players. There's definitely guys who are happy, and definitely guys who will be angry … If anyone is upset, I need to rebuild those relationships."
Who else could follow? New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has created the "Returning Member Program," which is designed to lure the three most notable remaining LIV golfers — Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith — to return alongside Koepka. They have until Feb. 2 to decide.
From Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee:
While LIV has always preached the gospel of worldwide international golf, its identity was built (read: paid for) on the star power of its most prominent, major-winning players, starting with Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, and later, Koepka, Rahm and DeChambeau.
But now, by providing them with a path back to the PGA Tour with a hard deadline, Rolapp is threatening to cut the one thread of potential relevancy LIV Golf has here in America.
If all three were to leave LIV — or perhaps just DeChambeau — the tour would still certainly continue. It's built up enough equity on the international circuit, and added enough international players of note, to remain a viable entity. And its financial backer — the Saudi Public Investment Fund — will never lack for cash.
But golf is built on star power, and despite handing out nine-figure checks, Rahm (who joined LIV in 2023) remains the most recent significant addition. The breakaway tour has achieved some successes, but it's struggled to find ratings and narrative traction in America since Rahm's much-heralded arrival.
Mickelson's snub: Returning Member Program eligibility is "limited to players who have been away for at least two years and who won The Players Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or The Open Championship between 2022 and 2025." Notably ineligible: Masters winners like Johnson, Patrick Reed and Mickelson, whose last major win was the PGA Championship in 2021. That 2022 cutoff seems oddly specific, doesn't it?
🏈 Texans rout Steelers for 10th straight win
The Texans crushed the Steelers, 30-6, on Monday night in Pittsburgh to reach the Divisional Round for the third straight year.
Defensive clinic: Though the Steelers hung around for three quarters, their offense couldn't get anything going against Houston's vaunted defense, which finally took over in the fourth with a pick-six and a scoop-and-score to clinch the blowout.
The Texans not only won their franchise-record 10th straight game, but also notched their first-ever road victory in the postseason.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, has now lost seven straight playoff games dating back to the 2017 season, which is two shy of matching the longest such streak ever (Lions, 1992-2017).
Looking ahead: The final eight teams take the field this weekend in Seattle, Chicago, Denver and New England.
49ers (+7.5) at Seahawks: The NFC West foes split the regular-season series, with Seattle winning in Week 18 to earn the No. 1 seed. The Niners, down yet another star player after George Kittle tore his Achilles, have a tall task ahead of them.
Bills (-1) at Broncos: Vegas isn't high on the Broncos, who are just the third No. 1 seed to be an underdog in the divisional round since it was introduced in 1970. The other two were the 1971 Vikings (lost) and 2017 Eagles (won).
Rams (-4) at Bears: Los Angeles is just the 11th road favorite of at least three points in the second round of the playoffs. That's not necessarily a good thing, though, as those first 10 favorites went 3-7.
Texans (+3) at Patriots: Either Houston — which, in case you've forgotten, started the season 0-3 — will reach their first ever AFC Championship, or New England will reach their first since 2018.
Super Bowl odds: The Seahawks are the current betting favorite to win Super Bowl LX (+300 at BetMGM), followed by the Rams (+320), Bills (+550), Patriots (+600), Broncos (+750), Texans (+850), Bears (+1400) and 49ers (+2000).
⚾️ Tarik vs. the Tigers
Tarik Skubal's arbitration case is shaping up to be perhaps the most fascinating in the system's 52-year history.
$13 million apart: The two-time reigning Cy Young — entering his final year of arbitration eligibility — requested a $32 million salary last week at the deadline to file for arbitration, while the Tigers offered $19 million. That $13 million gap is by far the largest in MLB history.
The $32 million figure requested by Skubal, who earned $10.2 million last season, would break the record for the largest one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player (Juan Soto, $31M).
Now, unless he and the Tigers reach an unlikely settlement in the coming weeks, it will be up to a panel of independent arbitrators to decide what Skubal's paycheck looks like this summer.
Arbitration, explained: Players with between three and six years of MLB service time are eligible for salary arbitration, wherein the player and team both file a salary figure for the upcoming season. They can continue negotiating and avoid arbitration if they reach a settlement, but otherwise they head to a formal hearing.
At the hearing, each side has one hour to present their case to a three-person panel, as well as 30 minutes for rebuttal. Those arguments are generally comp-driven, based on what players with similar age, service time and performance have earned in the past.
Then it's up to the arbitrators to decide one number or the other — no middle ground. If they think the player is worth even $1 more than the mid-point of the two numbers, they'll choose his salary request; if they think he's worth $1 less, they'll choose the team's proposal.
The wrinkle in Skubal's case: Though Skubal will almost certainly fetch more than $32 million annually when he hits the open market this fall as a free agent, the Tigers will be hoping the arbitrators stick to precedent when making their decision, as $32 million would shatter the record for biggest arbitration salary for a starting pitcher ($19.75M to David Price in 2015). His $22 million increase in salary would also shatter the record for biggest arbitration raise ($9.6M for Jacob deGrom in 2019).
Skubal's precedent-breaking strategy, on the other hand, hinges on a pair of provisions in the CBA that provide a boost to arbitration-eligible players with more than five years of service time and any "special accomplishments" like setting records or winning awards.
In other words, the back-to-back AL Cy Young winner is uniquely suited to argue for this record-breaking sum after going 31-10 across the last two seasons with a sterling 2.30 ERA, 469 strikeouts and just 68 walks.
Between the lines: Skubal, a Scott Boras client, won't sign an extension this close to free agency. And at this point, particularly after what could be an acrimonious arbitration hearing in early February, Detroit may be more likely to trade than retain him. If they're heading in that direction, a lower salary will increase Skubal's trade value, which could explain the Tigers' lowball offer.
💯 Big numbers
🏒 19 games
Connor McDavid extended his career-best point streak to 19 games on Monday with two assists in Edmonton's 4-1 win over Chicago. He has 44 points during the streak (19 goals, 25 assists) to give him 80 on the season, one shy of Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead.
Elite company: McDavid becomes just the fourth player in NHL history to record 10 consecutive 80-point seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky, Dale Hawerchuk and Phil Esposito.
🎓 $127 million
NIL Go cleared $127 million in deals through its first six months of operation, the College Sports Commission announced Monday. The clearinghouse, operated by Deloitte, launched in June following approval of the House settlement.
Athlete breakdown: The 17,845 deals submitted to NIL Go between June 11 and December 31 came from nearly 11,000 unique athletes across 40 different sports, the CSC said. 44% of those athletes play a sport other than football or men's basketball.
🏀 28,614 points
James Harden moved into ninth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list during Monday's win over the Hornets, overtaking Shaquille O'Neal. He passed him in his 1,187th game, slightly ahead of Shaq's pace of 1,207 career games played.
Looking ahead: At 36 years old, Harden remains an elite scorer (25.6 ppg) with a chance to move further into the top 10. That said, he'll be stuck at No. 9 for a while. Next on the list is Wilt Chamberlain, who is nearly 3,000 points ahead of him with 31,419.
🏈 17th season
Matthew Stafford is the second player in NFL history to be named a first-team All-Pro for the first time in his 17th season or later. He joins longtime kicker Gary Anderson, who was also named to the first team in his 17th season, in 1998.
In terms of QBs? Before Stafford, the longest wait for a quarterback was Fran Tarkenton, who was an All-Pro for the first time in his 15th season, in 1975.
📺 Watchlist: Tuesday, Jan. 13
🏀 Spurs at Thunder
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the first-place Thunder host Victor Wembanyama and the second-place Spurs tonight (8pm ET, NBC) in a potential Western Conference Finals preview.
OKC's kryptonite: Though the Thunder (33-7) remain 5.5 games clear of the Spurs (27-12), San Antonio has won all three meetings so far this season. Yes, the Spurs are responsible for nearly half of OKC's losses.
More to watch:
🏒 NHL: Red Wings at Bruins(7:30pm, TNT); Stars at Ducks(10pm, TNT)… Detroit (28-15-4) is second in the East and Dallas (27-10-9) is second in the West.
🏀 NCAAM: No. 16 Virginia at No. 20 Louisville(7pm, ESPN2); No. 2 Iowa State at Kansas(9pm, ESPN); No. 3 UConn at No. 25 Seton Hall(8pm, truTV)… Undefeated Iowa State has its highest ranking in program history.
⛳️ TGL: Jupiter Links vs. New York(7pm, ESPN)… Akshay Bhatia, Max Homa and Kevin Kisner vs. Rickie Fowler, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young.
⚽️ EFL Cup: Newcastle vs. Manchester City(3pm, Paramount+)… Semifinal.
🏈 NFL trivia
Question: Where did the eight remaining starting NFL QBs attend college?
Josh Allen
Sam Darnold
Drake Maye
Bo Nix
Brock Purdy
Matthew Stafford
C.J. Stroud
Caleb Williams
Hint: Two played at multiple schools.
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Minnesota hosted the "Hughes Bowl" on Monday, with Jack and Luke's Devils emerging victorious over Quinn's Wild.
Flashback: The original "Hughes Bowl" took place many years ago when the three brothers faced off in the family living room.
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Trivia answer: Allen (Wyoming), Darnold (USC), Maye (UNC), Nix (Auburn and Oregon), Stafford (Georgia), Purdy (Iowa State), Stroud (Ohio State), Williams (Oklahoma and USC)
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Category: General Sports
