Yahoo Sports AM: College football fiesta
🎉 Happy Friday! A jam-packed sports weekend is nearly upon us. Cheers, friends.
— Kendall Baker (email), Jeff Tracy (email)
Let's sports...
HEADLINES
🏀 Niners stay perfect: The 49ers moved to 3-0 with a 30-12 win over the Giants on Thursday night. Christian McCaffrey stayed hot, scoring a touchdown in his 12th straight game.
🏒 Sale finalized: The NHL has finalized the sale of the Senators to a group led by Michael Andlauer, which agreed to purchase the club in June for nearly $1 billion.
🏈 Brutal blow: Cowboys star CB Trevon Diggs tore his ACL during Thursday's practice and will miss the rest of the season — a huge loss for a Dallas team with Super Bowl aspirations.
🏀 Most improved: Dallas Wings forward Satou Sabally was named the 2023 WNBA Most Improved Player. She averaged 18.6 points and 8.1 rebounds this season, up from 11.3 points and 4.8 rebounds.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
A COLLEGE FOOTBALL FIESTA
Saturday's college football slate is absolutely loaded, with six matchups between ranked teams and a seventh that feels like it ought to be.
No. 15 Ole Miss (+7) at No. 13 Alabama (3:30pm ET, CBS)
No. 19 Colorado (+20.5) at No. 10 Oregon (3:30pm, ABC)
No. 22 UCLA (+5.5) at No. 1 Utah (3:30pm, Fox)
No. 14 Oregon State (-3) at No. 21 Washington State (7pm, Fox)
No. 6. Ohio State (-3) at No. 9 Notre Dame (7:30pm, NBC)
No. 24 Iowa (+14.5) at No. 7 Penn State (7:30pm, CBS)
No. 4 Florida State (-2.5) at Clemson (12pm, ABC)
Get excited: "Fire up the grill, ice down the beverages, crumple up the to-do list and notify the loved ones you'll be unavailable for them tomorrow, friends,” writes Yahoo Sports' Jay Busbee. "We've got one of the great sports days of the year on tap, a college football fiesta so bountiful and overflowing it makes Thanksgiving dinner look like a midnight snack."
BEHIND THE LENS
Each week, we'll be going "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to get the backstory on the most spectacular photographs in sports.
This week's photo: American Danielle Collins serves against France's Caroline Garcia during their quarterfinal match at the San Diego Open.
Photographer: Sean M. Haffey
Date: September 14
📸 Behind the lens: Here's Sean on what it's like shooting tennis, and how a stroke of inspiration turned a nuisance (sponsor logo in the background) into an asset.
Sean M. Haffey: We shoot a wide variety of sports at Getty Images, and tennis is one that is both rewarding and frustrating at the same time.
Typically, we can count on the possibility of great light and action, but the backgrounds are often difficult to keep uncluttered, with large sponsor logos and words that can detract from the player in the image.
For this photo of Danielle, I was in the corner on the baseline, using a 600 mm f4 lens to compress the player and background to make the cleanest image I could. While I was shooting, it dawned on me that the background logo could actually be incorporated into the image.
The light was pretty good on her face as she served, and after many attempts, I was able to find the angle that gave me the creative, well-lit result I was after.
WHY DARTMOUTH WANTS TO UNIONIZE
The Ivy League isn't the most likely candidate to sit at the epicenter of college athletics' rapidly evolving landscape. But the actions of 15 young men in New Hampshire have thrust it there nonetheless, Jeff writes.
What's happening: The Dartmouth men's basketball team has filed a petition to unionize, becoming the first college team to seek employment status since Northwestern football's failed attempt in 2015. If successful, players would be considered employees of the university.
What they want: "Our common motivation [is] to improve our own working conditions [and catalyze] the transformation of college sports into a less exploitative business," two players wrote this week in the school's student newspaper, The Dartmouth.
Two primary issues they'd like addressed: Dartmouth players believe they should be compensated with hourly wages like other student employees, and that healthcare costs stemming from sports-related injuries should be covered by the school.
"The age of amateurism and the brazen exploitation of athlete labor … should be over," they wrote. "It is time for a new model for collegiate sports in the United States to be built."
Why this time could be different: Northwestern's attempt failed in part because they were the Big Ten's lone private school. The National Labor Relations Board, which only applies to private employers, argued that if one Big Ten school had the ability to collectively bargain, all of them should. In Dartmouth's case, all eight Ivy League schools are private.
Zoom out: This is the latest effort to more forcibly pop the NCAA's amateurism bubble, which began to burst in 2021 with the birth of the NIL era and the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in NCAA vs. Alston.
In the Alston decision, SCOTUS ruled that the NCAA's strict rules limiting certain compensation for student athletes violated antitrust law.
Earlier this year, the NLRB designated USC athletes as employees in a complaint filed against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA, with a hearing set for November.
Little fish, big impact: "It's ironic that you have billions of dollars flowing through college football and it might be Dartmouth basketball that upends the system," Tulane sports law professor Gabe Feldman told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.
NHL FANTASY RANKINGS
Another fantasy hockey season approaches, with another chance to select Connor McDavid in your drafts — if you have the No. 1 pick, of course.
Top 20 players, via Yahoo Fantasy’s Scott Pianowski:
McDavid, C/F (Oilers)
Leon Draisaitl, C/LW (Oilers)
David Pastrnak, RW/F (Bruins)
Nathan MacKinnon, C (Avalanche)
Matthew Tkachuk, LW/F (Panthers)
Nikita Kucherov, RW (Lightning)
Jason Robertson, LW (Stars)
Mikko Rantanen, RW/F (Avalanche)
Tage Thompson, RW (Sabres)
Brady Tkachuk, LW (Senators)
Auston Matthews, C/F (Maple Leafs)
Jack Hughes, C (Devils)
Cale Makar, D (Avalanche)
Kirill Kaprizov, LW (Wild)
Alex Ovechkin, LW/F (Capitals)
Sidney Crosby, C/F (Penguins)
Mitch Marner, RW/F (Maple Leafs)
Igor Shesterkin, G (Rangers)
Ilya Sorokin, G (Islanders)
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G (Maple Leafs)
Join or create a 2023-24 Fantasy Hockey league.
SEPT. 22, 1911: CY YOUNG'S FINAL WIN
112 years ago today, Boston Rustlers* ace Cy Young (you may have heard of him) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 for his 511th and final victory.
By the numbers: "Old Cy" has 94 more wins than any other MLB pitcher (Walter Johnson is second with 417) and also holds the record for innings pitched (7,356), complete games (749) and losses (315).
What they wrote: Without knowing Young had just won his final game, C.B. Power wrote a fitting tribute in the morning edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which features some wonderful early 20th century prose…
"Truly Mr. Young gives promise of never growing older as a pitcher, and we are all glad of it, for during his long and brilliant career the big fellow has always been a credit to himself, his associates, his employers and his profession. Of course, it was very unkind of Cyrus to take two games from the Pirates — one in Boston and one on Forbes Field — without allowing them once to cross the plate, but in our admiration for him as a man and a pitcher we are forced to overlook the double sting."
⚾️ 1969: Willie Mays became the second player in MLB history to hit 600 home runs, joining Babe Ruth. May currently ranks sixth on the all-time list with 660 long balls.
🏈 1987: NFL players went on strike, leading to "The Year of the Scab." For the first time in American professional sports, replacement players took the field.
*History lesson: The Atlanta Braves franchise originated in Boston, where they had seven names over an 82-year period: Red Stockings (1871-75), Red Caps (1876-82), Beaneaters (1883-1906), Doves (1907-10), Rustlers (1911), Braves (1912-1935) and Bees (1936-40).
WATCHLIST: THE 18TH SOLHEIM CUP
USA and Europe go head-to-head this weekend (Fri-Sun, Golf/Peacock) at Finca Cortesín Golf Club near Malaga, Spain, in the 18th edition of the Solheim Cup*, the LPGA's version of the Ryder Cup.
The matchup: The U.S. holds the all-time edge, 10-7, but Europe has won the last two editions. Europe was favored again this year, but Team USA swept today's opening session to take an early 4-0 lead.
More to watch:
🏈 NFL: Steelers at Raiders (Sun. 8:20pm, NBC) ... See the full Week 3 slate.
🎾 Tennis: Laver Cup (Fri-Sun, Tennis) ... Team Europe vs. Team World at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
⚾️ MLB: Mets at Phillies (Fri. 7pm, Apple TV+); Giants at Dodgers (Sun. 7pm, ESPN) ... Lots of intrigue across the league this weekend as playoff races tighten.
⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Tottenham (Sun. 9am, Peacock) ... Two of the four clubs that haven't lost face off at Emirates Stadium.
⚽️ MLS: 13 matches (Apple TV+) ... One month left in the regular season.
🏁 Formula 1: Japanese GP (Sun. 1am, ESPN2) ... Red Bull and Max Verstappen look to rebound after having their win streaks snapped.
🏁 NASCAR: Texas Motor Speedway (Sun. 3:30pm, USA) ... The fourth playoff race of the season.
⛳️ LIV: Chicago (Fri-Sun, CW App) ... At Rich Harvest Farms.
🏒 NHL preseason: Kings vs. Coyotes (Sat. 12:05am, NHL) ... The NHL is in Australia to kick off the 2023 preseason.
🥍 PLL: Archers vs. Waterdogs (Sun. 3pm, ABC) ... Championship game in Philadelphia.
🏉 Rugby World Cup: Group stage (Fri-Sun, Peacock)
*Fun fact: This is the first time since 2002 that the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup will be played in consecutive weeks
NFL TRIVIA
Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt, who takes center stage this weekend on "Sunday Night Football," has the highest sack-per-game average in NFL history (0.92).
Question: Who ranks second at 0.88 sacks per game?
Hint: Also an active player.
Answer at the bottom.
NO MORE FLOPPING
The NBA will crack down on flopping this season, with referees issuing technical fouls for egregious acting jobs.
How it works: Using the S.T.E.M. acronym, refs will be looking for "secondary, theatrical and exaggerated movements to minimal contact."
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Trivia answer: Cleveland's Myles Garrett
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