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🚨 Headlines

🏀 WNBA blockbuster: Seattle is trading six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd to Las Vegas in a three-team deal that will send three-time All-Star Kelsey Plum to Los Angeles and the No. 2 pick in the 2025 draft to Seattle (via LA).

🏒 NHL blockbuster: The Hurricanes acquired superstar winger Mikko Rantanen from the Avalanche and former MVP Taylor Hall from the Blackhawks in a three-team trade on Friday night that sent shockwaves through the NHL.

🏈 The last vacancy: The Raiders hired 73-year-old Pete Carroll and the Cowboys hired “career assistant” Brian Schottenheimer, leaving the Saints as the only NFL team without a head coach. One name to watch: Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury.

🙏 Prayers for Tereza: Czech skier Tereza Nová underwent brain surgery and was placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a horrifying crash ahead of the World Cup women’s downhill in Bavaria, Germany.

🏈 Penn State poaches Knowles: Penn State hired away Ohio State DC Jim Knowles on a three-year, $9.3 million contract that makes him the highest-paid coordinator in NCAA football history and resets the market for college assistants.

🏈 Super Bowl LIX: Chiefs vs. Eagles

In 2023, the Chiefs beat the Eagles in one of the best Super Bowls ever. Two years later, they’ll meet again in Super Bowl LIX after punching their tickets to New Orleans on Sunday.

• Chiefs 32, Bills 29: Kansas City vanquished Buffalo (again) to inch closer to becoming the first three-peat Super Bowl champion in NFL history and the first in any of the “Big Four” leagues since the Shaq-Kobe Lakers at the turn of the century (2000-02).

• Eagles 55, Commanders 23: Philadelphia scored the most points ever in a conference title game (and the seventh-most ever in a playoff game) to win for the 15th time in their last 16 tries and end Jayden Daniels’ quest to become the first rookie QB to start a Super Bowl.

Opening odds: The Chiefs are slight favorites (-1.5 at BetMGM) to hoist the Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 9 at the Superdome, and the total (over/under) sits at 49.5.

The new “Four Falls of Buffalo”: Jim Kelly’s Bills lost four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s, and now Josh Allen’s Bills have lost four straight playoff games to the Chiefs in the 2020s. It’s the Patrick Mahomes era, and we’re all just living in it, Allen included.

Notes:

• Running wild: Saquon Barkley (15 carries, 118 yards, 3 TD) scored on his first two touches, and the Eagles had seven rushing touchdowns. That’s tied for the most in a playoff game with the 1940 Bears, who also did it against Washington.

• Bills Mafia, look away: Teams that score 4+ touchdowns and commit zero turnovers are 21-2 in the playoffs since 2020. The two losses? Bills at Chiefs in the 2021 divisional round, and Bills at Chiefs on Sunday.

• Hurts so good: Jalen Hurts (20/28, 262 total yards, 4 TD) did it all for Philly, and head coach Nick Sirianni made sure to address his doubters after the game: “How about our quarterback? He’s a stud. I knew he was gonna play that way. I knew it. Don’t doubt him. All he does is win!”

• GOAT trajectory: Mahomes has been an NFL starter for seven seasons. In five of those seasons, he’s led the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. In the other two, he lost in overtime of the AFC championship game. We’ve never seen anything like this.

Looking ahead: Top 10 storylines for Super Bowl LIX (Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports)

🎙️ Football 301 Podcast: Nate Tice and Matt Harmon recap Championship Sunday, preview the Super Bowl and conduct postmortems for Washington and Buffalo. Listen now. 🎙️

📸 Snapshots: The weekend in photos

Melbourne, Australia — No. 1 Jannik Sinner beat No. 2 Alexander Zverev, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, on Sunday to repeat as Australian Open champion and win his third Grand Slam. The 23-year-old Italian has won 21 straight matches at hard-court majors and is the first player to win 22 straight sets against top 10 players* since the ATP Tour was founded in 1990. Dominant.

Wichita, Kansas — World champion Ilia “Quad God” Malinin landed a record-tying six quadruple jumps on Sunday to win his third consecutive U.S. figure skating title by a historic margin. “I’m still not at my full potential yet,” said the 20-year-old Virginia native, who could be one of Team USA’s biggest stars at the 2026 Olympics.

Aspen, Colorado — Japanese snowboarder Hiroto Ogiwara broke his wrist during practice on Friday. Hours later, the 19-year-old landed the first-ever 2340 (6.5 rotations) to win Big Air gold in his X Games debut… and earn the No. 1 spot in our Top 13 Plays of the Weekend.

Liverpool, England — Mohamed Salah scored his 176th Premier League goal on Saturday to move past Thierry Henry for seventh on the all-time list. The only players ahead of the Liverpool legend: Frank Lampard (177), Sergio Agüero (184), Andrew Cole (187), Wayne Rooney (208), Harry Kane (213) and Alan Shearer (260).

*In his own league: Sinner has won 10 straight matches against top 10 players — De Minaur (3x), Medvedev (2x), Fritz (2x), Djokovic, Ruud and Zverev — without dropping a single set. “You’re just too good,” said Zverev on Saturday. “You’re the best player in the world… by far.”

🎾 Madison Keys and the power of letting go

American Madison Keys beat two-time defending Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam title and complete one of the great runs in tennis history.

Path to victory: Keys, who arrived in Melbourne as the No. 19 seed, took down the top two players in the world (Sabalenka, Iga Świątek) and became the first woman to defeat four top-10 seeds at a Grand Slam since Evonne Goolagong at Wimbledon in 1980. In a full circle moment, it was Goolagong who handed Keys the championship trophy.

• This was Keys’ second appearance in a major final and her first since the 2017 U.S. Open, which is the longest gap ever between first and second appearances.

• “Bear with me, I’m absolutely going to cry,” the 29-year-old Illinois native told the Rod Laver Arena crowd. Among the sea of people: Her coach, who’s also her husband.

A long time coming: There’s been buzz surrounding Keys since she was a 12-year-old phenom. But as the years passed and her 30th birthday inched closer, a panic set in that she might never win a major and ultimately be labeled a failure. The secret to breaking through? Letting all that go.

“I’ve done a lot of work to no longer need this. I really wanted it, but it was no longer the thing that was going to define me. Letting go of that burden finally gave me the ability to actually play for it.”

A beloved champion: Keys is one of the kindest players on tour, and her peers showered her with love all weekend. “It’s hard to recall a title that has gone over so well in the locker room,” noted SI’s Jon Wertheim. She moves up to No. 7 in this week’s WTA rankings, joining fellow Americans Emma Navarro (9), Jessica Pegula (6) and Coco Gauff (3) in the Top 10.

💸 Vandy’s victories are getting expensive

Vanderbilt upset an AP Top 10 team on its home court for the second straight Saturday, which was thrilling for the fans who got to storm the court — and not so thrilling for the university, which has to foot the bill.

Costly celebrations: In 2023, the SEC increased fines in an attempt to deter fans from storming courts and fields. Schools must now pay $100,000 to the opposing team for their first offense, $250,000 for their second, and $500,000 for subsequent violations.

Third-time offenders: The Commodores have paid $850,000 to their rivals in the past four months.

• 🏈 Oct. 15: Upset No. 1 Alabama ($100,000)

• 🏀 Jan. 18: Upset No. 6 Tennessee ($250,000)

• 🏀 Jan. 25: Upset No. 9 Kentucky ($500,000)

Was it worth it? That depends on who you ask. Athletic director Candice Lee was pleading with students not to rush the court on Saturday (“Let us use the money for NIL to make a great team next year”), while first-year head coach Mark Byington had a different message: “Let the fans enjoy it. We’ve got to start a GoFundMe page or something to pay fines. We’ll figure it out.”

• Vanderbilt Athletics brings in an estimated $125 million in annual revenue, per CNBC, so another $500,000 fine isn’t going to cripple the Commodores.

• But with schools laser-focused on saving money as they prepare for revenue sharing, don’t be surprised if they beef up security before No. 1 Auburn comes to town next month.

Winning fixes everything: Vandy could recoup all these fines (and then some) by qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, which comes with a ~$2 million payday and increases with each March Madness win. The Commodores, who have already won seven more games (16) than they did all of last season (9), are currently projected to make the field, per ESPN’s Bracketology.

✍️ Extra points

🏀 No. 15 forever: The Nets raised Vince Carter’s No. 15 jersey to the rafters on Saturday in Brooklyn, three months after the Raptors did the same in Toronto. That makes Carter the 17th NBA player* to have his number retired by multiple teams.

🏈 Young and old: The Bears are hiring 28-year-old Declan Doyle as their new OC, making him the youngest coordinator in the NFL. This comes two days after the Raiders hired Pete Carroll, who will be the oldest head coach in NFL history (74) when he takes the field next fall.

🏀 A real thing that happened: Mesrobian High School senior Nick Khatchikian scored 102 points in a game (California record), and his brother Dylan had 35 assists (also a state record), 15 rebounds, 13 steals… and 0 points on 0 shot attempts. The score was 79-0 at halftime, and 119-25 when the final buzzer sounded, putting an end to whatever this was.

⚽️ Still perfect: Christian Pulisic buried a penalty kick during AC Milan’s 3-2 win over Parma on Sunday. He’s now 10-for-10 in his professional career for club and country.

⚾️ Skenes card goes to auction: The Pirates offered season tickets for 30 years, among other prizes, to an 11-year-old from Los Angeles who pulled a highly-coveted 1-of-1 Paul Skenes rookie card that has since been graded a Perfect 10. But the young collector turned them down, opting instead to sell the card at auction, where it could fetch six figures.

*Who does he join? Bill Russell (league-wide); Wilt Chamberlain (Warriors, 76ers and Lakers); Pete Maravich (Hawks, Jazz and Pelicans); Shaquille O’Neal (Magic, Lakers and Heat); Kobe Bryant (Lakers and Mavericks); Michael Jordan (Bulls and Heat); Nate Thurmond (Cavaliers and Wizards); Bob Lanier (Pistons and Bucks); Charles Barkley (76ers and Suns); Earl Monroe (Knicks and Wizards); Clyde Drexler (Trail Blazers and Rockets); Oscar Robertson (Kings and Bucks); Moses Malone (Rockets and 76ers); Julius Erving (76ers and Nets); Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Bucks and Lakers); Dikembe Mutombo (Nuggets and Hawks)

📺 Watchlist: Title favorites in action

The current title favorites in men’s and women’s college basketball take center stage tonight, with South Carolina (+250 at BetMGM) and Duke (+450) both in action.

More to watch:

• 🏀 NBA: Pistons at Cavaliers (7pm, NBA); Clippers at Suns (9:30pm, NBA) … The first-place Cavs (36-9) have lost three straight games.

• 🏒 NHL: Kings at Red Wings (7pm, NHL) … Lucas Raymond (DET) has 19 goals and 33 assists; Adrian Kempe (LA) has 24 goals and 20 assists.

• 🏒 PWHL: New York at Ottawa (7pm, YouTube) … Sarah Fillier (NY) ranks second with 12 points; Emerance Maschmeyer (OTT) ranks first with a .934 save percentage.

• ⛳️ TGL: Jupiter Links vs. Boston Common (6:30pm, ESPN) … Tiger Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner vs. Rory McIlory, Hideki Matsuyama, Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott.

*Welcome back, mom! Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell will be back on the sideline tonight exactly one week after giving birth to her first child, Conor.

🏈 Super Bowl trivia

The Chiefs beat the Eagles two years ago in the third-highest scoring Super Bowl ever.

Question: What was the final score?

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top plays of the weekend

1. 🏂 2340!

2. 🏒 Is this the save of the year?

3. 🏒 Or is this the save of the year?

4. 🏈 Saquon to the house

5. 🎾 Sinner wins epic rally

6. 🏒 How’d she do that?

7. 🏀 6-11 dunks on 7-4

8. 🏀 Kawhi gets fancy

9. ⚽️ Dazzling skill

10. 🏈 Won’t be denied

11. 🏀 Poster + Staredown

12. 🏈 Elite hang time

13. 🏀 Bronny James!!!

Watch all 13.

Trivia answer: 38-35

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