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🚨 Headlines

🏀 40 at 40: LeBron James put up a dazzling 42-17-8 line in Thursday’s win over the Warriors, joining Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to score 40 points at 40 years old. The King is also now both the oldest and youngest player ever to score 40.

⚾️ Mizuhara sentenced: Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, was sentenced to 57 months in prison and has been ordered to pay back the $17 million he stole from the Dodgers superstar.

🏒 16 to go: Alex Ovechkin scored a goal in his fourth straight game on Thursday, giving him 26 on the season and 879 in his career — 16 shy of passing Wayne Gretzky for the most all-time.

🏈 Ryan Day extended: Ohio State gave head coach Ryan Day a contract extension through 2031, adding three years to his current deal and raising his salary to $12.5 million annually.

🥊 Blockbuster back on: Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford will fight for what should be an undisputed super middleweight title in September in Las Vegas, ending a chaotic week during which talks over their blockbuster bout repeatedly fell apart.

🏈 Super Bowl LIX: Chiefs vs. Eagles, Part II

Super Bowl LIX kicks off on Sunday in New Orleans (6:30pm ET, Fox), where the Chiefs and Eagles will battle for the ultimate prize for the second time in three years.

The Big Easy: The Superdome is hosting its record eighth Super Bowl and New Orleans is hosting its 11th, tied with Miami for the most.

By the numbers: You may have heard that the Chiefs are going for a third consecutive title? That and more below.

• 0 three-peats: Kansas City is already the first team to reach three straight Super Bowls; now they’ll try to become the first to win three in a row.

• 9th rematch: Chiefs-Eagles is the ninth* Super Bowl rematch, including the fifth between head coaches (Andy Reid vs. Nick Sirianni) and the fourth between QBs (Patrick Mahomes vs. Jalen Hurts). Good news for KC: In every previous coach and QB rematch, the winner of the first game also won the second.

• 45 playoff games: Speaking of Reid, this will be his 45th career playoff game, breaking a tie with Bill Belichick for the most in NFL history.

• 17 playoff wins: Mahomes is a ridiculous 17-3 in the playoffs, already the second-most career postseason wins by a QB (Tom Brady, 35). But Brady didn’t win his 17th game until age 35; Mahomes is just 29.

• 31 catches, 350 yards: Those are Travis Kelce’s career numbers in the Super Bowl. With three more catches, he’ll pass Jerry Rice for the most ever, and with 15 more yards he’ll move into second place behind Rice (589).

• 30 rushing yards: That’s all Saquon Barkley needs on Sunday to break Terrell Davis’ record for the most in a season, including playoffs (2,476 in 1998).

• 3 rushing TDs: That’s how many Jalen Hurts had two years ago, tying Terrell Davis for the most in a single Super Bowl. With two more on Sunday, he’ll tie Emmitt Smith for the most career Super Bowl rushing scores.

• Top-4 defenses: The Eagles (No. 2 scoring defense) and Chiefs (No. 4) both boasted top-four scoring defenses this season, led by superstar pass rushers Jalen Carter (PHI) and Chris Jones (KC).

• 64% win percentage: The Chiefs will wear white on Sunday, a color that has historically delivered success. 64% of Super Bowls (37 of 58) have been won by the team wearing white, including KC two years ago against Philly.

Care to make a wager? If so, you’re hardly alone: A record $1.39 billion is expected to be legally wagered on the Super Bowl in the U.S., per the American Gaming Association.

Pregame reading:

*The other eight: Steelers-Cowboys, Dolphins-Commanders, Bengals-49ers, Bills-Cowboys, Patriots-Giants, Patriots-Rams, Patriots-Eagles, Chiefs-49ers

🏈 Allen tops Jackson for MVP

Josh Allen edged out Lamar Jackson to win his first MVP in the closest vote since 2003, when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the award.

By the numbers: Allen got 27 first-place votes and 383 total points, while Lamar got the other 23 first-place votes and 362 points. Saquon Barkley (120 points), Joe Burrow (82) and Jared Goff (47) rounded out the top five.

• Allen is the third Bills player to win MVP, joining O.J. Simpson (1973) and Thurman Thomas (1991).

• He’s the first player since John Elway in 1987 to win MVP despite not being named a first-team All-Pro (the same 50 voters chose Jackson over him last month).

What he’s saying: Josh kept his acceptance speech short and sweet, and ended it with a pretty great little kicker: “Be good, do good, God bless, and go Bills.”

The other awards:

• Offensive Player: Saquon Barkley (RB, Eagles)

• Defensive Player: Patrick Surtain II (CB, Broncos)

• Offensive Rookie: Jayden Daniels (QB, Commanders)

• Defensive Rookie: Jared Verse (LB, Rams)

• Comeback Player: Joe Burrow (QB, Bengals)

• Coach of the Year: Kevin O’Connell (Vikings)

Plus… TE Antonio Gates, DE Jared Allen, CB Eric Allen and WR Sterling Sharpe were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. QB Eli Manning and kicker Adam Vinatieri were among those who didn’t make the cut.

🎓 NCAA roster limits “creating havoc everywhere”

Thousands of college athletes will collectively make billions of dollars as a result of the historic House-NCAA settlement. But thousands more will see their roster spots disappear entirely if the terms of the settlement remain unchanged.

Catch up quick: The settlement, which was preliminarily approved in October ahead of this April’s final hearing, has two primary parts:

1. The $2.77 billion in backpay going to current and former athletes (mostly football and men’s basketball players).

2. The landmark revenue-sharing concept coming to college sports, which will see schools pay athletes directly.

The other side: A less publicized part of the settlement is the new limit on roster sizes that will lead to as many as 15,000 D1 athletes losing their spots. Most of the cuts — some of which have already occurred — are coming at the expense of walk-ons and Olympic sports, whose funds are being reallocated to revenue-generating sports like football and basketball.

From Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger:

Jack Tan, a North Carolina high school pole vaulter, saw his recruiting last fall suddenly slow to a crawl as schools began pulling scholarship offers to prepare for the new roster structure, with coaches flatly telling him, “We just don’t have room for a male pole vaulter.”

At Liberty, an assistant track coach, Mark Fairley, sat around a campfire with his women distance runners earlier this January to deliver the news that 16 of them would be cut by the end of the spring. “All of us were crying,” he said.

And at Auburn, Heather Rice fears that her son, Keaton, will see his five-year SEC grant-in-aid agreement evaporate if he doesn’t make the cut from the current 42-man swimming roster to the new SEC roster limit of 22, something that could cost the family an unexpected $45,000 annually in tuition, board and meals.

What’s next: Part of the settlement process is for the court to hear formal objections to its terms, and dozens if not hundreds are expected by today’s deadline.

• “The roster limits are creating havoc everywhere,” says Steve Molo, an attorney filing a bulk objection on behalf of over 100 athletes. “The standard of a settlement is that it needs to be fair, adequate and reasonable. This is not.”

• “None of these objections change the fact that this settlement is overwhelmingly in the best interest of the class,” says Jeffrey Kessler, one of the lead plaintiff attorneys who struck the settlement deal. “That’s the only question for the judge.”

The last word: “If not for walk-ons, I wouldn’t be talking to you,” said longtime Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim. “I got a walk-on spot and earned a scholarship and it went from there. I just don’t understand the reason behind it.”

⛷️ Lindsey Vonn is back in action

Lindsey Vonn retired from skiing six years ago due to a debilitating knee injury. But this weekend, one of the best to ever put on a pair of boots is back on the biggest stage at the Alpine World Ski Championships in Austria.

Pursuing history: Vonn, 40, became the oldest woman to win an individual medal at worlds back in 2019 at age 34, the last time she competed here. If she reaches the podium again in Saalbach this week, she’ll become the oldest skier to do so, period.

• Her first race on Thursday didn’t go as planned, as she failed to finish the Super-G after hitting a gate near the top of the run.

• Her next chance comes tomorrow morning in her best event, the downhill (5:30am ET, Peacock), and she’ll also compete in the new team combined event next week.

Rise, fall and comeback: Vonn — with 11 combined world championship and Olympic medals — long ago cemented her spot as one of the sport’s GOATs, winning 43 downhill World Cup titles (most ever) and 82 across all disciplines (trailing only Mikaela Shiffrin’s 99 among women). But a series of knee and leg injuries ultimately led to her retirement in 2019.

• Last spring, after enduring years of pain, she opted for a partial knee replacement. Now, her new titanium-fortified limb has her feeling like herself again, and she’s recorded five top-20 World Cup finishes since returning last December.

• “With this new knee … I feel like a whole new chapter of my life is unfolding before my eyes,” she said. “I think I’m ready to compete for a medal, and that’s really the only thing that counts here at World Championships.”

Looking ahead: Whether or not she medals this week, Vonn’s got her sights set on an even bigger stage: The 2026 Winter Olympics begin exactly one year from yesterday.

📺 Watchlist: Super Bowl Sunday

Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch Super Bowl LIX.

The broadcast: Kickoff in the Superdome is at 6:30pm ET on Fox, but coverage begins at 1pm with a pregame show live from Bourbon Street, featuring a lineup that includes Super Bowl champions Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Rob Gronkowski.

• The booth: Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play) will be on the call alongside Tom Brady (analyst), who will make his Super Bowl broadcasting debut in the same building where he won his first title 23 years ago.

• Sideline and rules: Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi will be the sideline reporters, while Mike Pereira will man his standard role as a rules analyst.

The music: Six artists who’ve won a combined 38 Grammys will perform on Sunday, including four Louisiana natives who’ll take the microphone before kickoff.

• “The Star-Spangled Banner”: Seven-time Grammy winner Jon Batiste

• “America the Beautiful”: Two-time Grammy winner Lauren Daigle joined by Grammy winner Trombone Shorty

• “Lift Every Voice and Sing”: Grammy-winning actress and singer Ledisi

• Halftime Show: 22-time Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar joined by five-time Grammy winner SZA

The commercials: 30-second spots are costing advertisers between $7-$8 million this year, and as always, many have already been released. Our favorites so far? Matthew McConaughey’s conspiracy theory that football was invented to sell food (Uber Eats) and David Beckham meeting his long lost American twin, Dave, played by Matt Damon (Stella Artois).

⚾️ World Series trivia

Sunday marks the third playoff meeting in major sports between Philadelphia and Kansas City, who met in Super Bowl LVII (2023) and the 1980 World Series.

Question: Who won the 1980 World Series?

Hint: You have a 50/50 chance, you don’t need a hint!

Answer at the bottom.

🏀 Welcome back, Dickie V!

The one and only Dick Vitale will return to the mic for Saturday’s game between No. 2 Duke and Clemson (6:30pm ET, ESPN).

The legend returns: Vitale, 85, hasn’t called a game in nearly two years amid a battle with cancer in his vocal cords.

Trivia answer: Phillies (in six games)

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