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🚨 Headlines

⚾️ Crochet to Boston: The Red Sox landed LHP Garrett Crochet, who led all starters with 12.9 strikeouts-per-nine innings last season, in a deal with the White Sox.

🏈 NFL in Berlin: The NFL will play its first regular season game in Berlin next season as part of the league’s continued international expansion.

⚽️ Saudi Arabia 2034: FIFA officially confirmed Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 World Cup on Wednesday. The next question: Will it be in the winter, summer or neither?

🏈 Rich Rod’s return: West Virginia is reportedly finalizing a deal to hire Jacksonville State’s Rich Rodriguez, who coached the Mountaineers from 2001 to 2007.

👊 New MMA league: The Global Fight League, a new team-based MMA competition, will kick off in April with a roster of athletes that includes eight former UFC champs.

🏈 Belichick to UNC

It’s really happening. In one of the most shocking coaching moves in sports history, six-time Super Bowl winner Bill Belichick is headed to North Carolina.

Old man on campus: Belichick (72 years old) is now the oldest head coach in the FBS. The previous oldest was Mack Brown (73), whom he is succeeding at UNC.

Big picture: While jarring for many, the hire is understandable and timely given the state of college football, which looks more like pro football with each passing year.

From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:

Belichick knows pro ball. College isn’t so different any longer.

In seven months, in fact, college athletics takes another giant leap into the professional world: Schools are permitted to begin directly paying players under a salary cap-type system related to the NCAA’s settlement of three antitrust lawsuits.

Already, ahead of the implementation date of July 1, programs are offering guaranteed financial packages to players, some of them even sending school-issued revenue-sharing documents to recruits.

Most of these contracts are centered around purchasing an athlete’s commercial and endorsement rights, and some of them are even multi-year term deals featuring buyout language. Schools must stay within a cap, projected for now at $20.5 million in Year 1.

Contracts. A salary cap. Scouting departments and capologists. Sound familiar?

Soon, the only things separating major college football from the NFL is the tether to higher education (they must still go to class!) and absence of employment (they have not, yet, been deemed employees).

Even college recruiting is changing. Players and their parents aren’t necessarily courted through in-home visits or campus trips. These are, often, transactional relationships with guaranteed cash.

What he’s saying: “A lot of colleges are looking at NFL-type models to structure personnel and coaching,” Belichick told Pat McAfee during an interview last week. “You need a general manager, a coach and salary cap manager.”

Bottom line: The transfer portal is basically free agency. NIL deals are basically contracts. Heck, there are even two main conferences (SEC and Big Ten) with around 16 teams each. Kiss goodbye to the college football you once knew. These are now the minor leagues.

Further reading: Belichick’s pivot from the NFL to college is rare; here’s how others have fared

🧠 Study: Longer hockey careers yield higher CTE rates

The largest study ever conducted on the brains of hockey players suggests that the odds of developing a neurodegenerative disease like CTE increase with every year played.

Methodology and findings: The Boston University study looked at the brains of 77 deceased male hockey players from youth through the professional ranks and found the likelihood of having CTE increased by 34% per year played.

CTE rates:

• Youth and high school: 10% (2 of 21)

• College, junior, semi-pro: 46% (13 of 28)

• Pro: 96% (27 of 28)

Enforcers at higher risk: 18 of the 22 players (82%) who identified as enforcers had CTE, nearly twice the rate of those who didn’t (44%). That’s in line with a previous study suggesting enforcers die younger.

Big picture: CTE has long been connected to concussions, but this study — much like a similar football study conducted last year — suggests that cumulative force to the head, not diagnosed concussions, is the best predictor of future brain disease.

What to watch: As of right now, CTE can only be diagnosed postmortem, vastly complicating treatment options for the disease. But scientists are getting closer to being able to diagnose CTE in living patients.

📸 Photo gallery

Houston — The Rockets took advantage of a frantic and controversial finish to beat the Warriors, 91-90, and book a spot in the NBA Cup semifinals. The win snapped a 15-game losing streak against Golden State dating back to 2020.

New York — The Hawks came back to beat the Knicks, 108-100, behind a quartet of double-doubles from Trae Young (22-11), Jalen Johnson (21-15), Clint Capela (11-13) and Onyeka Okongwu (12-11) to reach the NBA Cup semifinals.

Turin, Italy — Juventus beat Manchester City, 2-0, in Wednesday’s Champions League match, as the reeling giants have now won just once in their last 10 games. The dagger was an all-American beauty, with Weston McKennie burying a volley off a cross from Tim Weah.

🏈 NFL power rankings: Week 15

The top five teams in this week’s NFL power rankings, courtesy of Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab:

1. Lions (12-1): The defensive injuries are getting concerning. We can talk and joke about Dan Campbell going for it on fourth-and-1 instead of taking the field goal last Thursday, but in doing so he indicated he didn’t trust his defense to hold Green Bay out of field goal range with only about 40 seconds left.

2. Eagles (11-2): There’s some panic over Philly getting just 108 passing yards in a win on Sunday vs. the Panthers. Jalen Hurts is averaging barely over 200 yards per game. Apparently, when the Eagles are on a nine-game winning streak, you have to find something to worry about.

3. Chiefs (12-1): The Chiefs’ +56 point differential is not only the worst of any team 12-1 or better in NFL history, it’s the worst by 33 points.

4. Bills (10-3): Josh Allen’s odds to win MVP got a lot better even in a loss. The Bills’ hopes of avoiding Arrowhead Stadium in January didn’t. Giving up 44 points to the Rams and losing Sunday might define the AFC playoffs.

5. Vikings (11-2): The Vikings still have hard games left against the Lions, Packers and Seahawks, and the Bears might not be a pushover. Still, they keep winning. A Week 18 game between a 14-2 Vikings team and 14-2 Lions team for the NFC North title isn’t a stretch.

Full rankings.

📆 Dec. 12, 2002: LeBron’s TV debut

22 years ago today, LeBron James played in his first nationally-televised game, erupting for 31 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists in St. Vincent-St. Mary’s upset win over Oak Hill Academy, the nation’s top-ranked team.

Legend left awestruck: “I came here with high expectations,” said the late Bill Walton, who called the game for ESPN2 alongside Dick Vitale. “I’m leaving more impressed than I could have ever believed.”

📺 Watchlist: California clash

The 49ers host the Rams tonight (8:15pm ET, Prime) in a critical NFC West matchup.

Chasing Seattle: The Seahawks (8-5) have won four straight games to take a one-game lead atop the division, but Los Angeles (7-6) and San Francisco (6-7) could still challenge for the crown with a strong finish.

More to watch:

• 🏀 NCAAW: No. 2 UConn at No. 8 Notre Dame (7pm, ESPN)

• 🏀 NBA: Pistons at Celtics (7:30pm, NBA)

• 🏀 NCAAM: No. 3 Iowa State* at Iowa (7:30pm, FS1)

• 🏐 NCAA Women’s Volleyball: Sweet 16 (1-9:30pm, ESPN2) … Four games.

*The Cyclones are rolling: No. 3 Iowa State has its highest ranking since the 1956-57 season.

🏀 NBA trivia

Question: Rank the four NBA Cup semifinalists (Bucks, Hawks, Rockets, Thunder*) by all-time winning percentage.

*This includes the Seattle SuperSonics

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 Fantasy pro tip

Good luck this week!

Trivia answer: Thunder/Sonics (.536), Bucks (.528), Rockets (.514), Hawks (.493)

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