Yahoo Sports AM: Down goes Aaron Rodgers
👋 Good morning! Hug a Jets fan today.
— Kendall Baker (email), Jeff Tracy (email)
Let's sports...
HEADLINES
🇺🇸 LeBron eyes Paris: LeBron James reportedly wants to play in one more Olympics, and he's already recruiting other superstars to join him in Paris next summer.
📺 We've got a deal: Disney and Charter reached a deal to end their carriage dispute — just in time for Monday Night Football.
🏀 KPJ arrested: Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. was arrested Monday and charged with assaulting his girlfriend in a Manhattan hotel.
🏈 Jones signs: The Chiefs have reached a one-year deal with Chris Jones, ending the stud pass-rusher's holdout.
⛳️ New No. 1: For just the second time in history, China has the No. 1 player in women's golf: 20-year-old Ruoning Yin.
See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.
DOWN GOES RODGERS
The Jets won the battle on Monday night, beating the Bills 22-16 in overtime. But in the process, they took a massive loss.
Disaster at MetLife: Aaron Rodgers' Jets debut ended after just four plays. The 39-year-old went down awkwardly after taking a sack, limped off the field and was carted to the locker room.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Rodgers suffered an Achilles tear and will miss the entire season.
Déjà vu: In 1999, the Jets entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations, only to lose QB Vinny Testaverde to a torn Achilles in their opening game. 24 years later, history seems to be repeating itself.
ICYMI… The night couldn't have started worse for the Jets but it ended in ecstasy, with rookie Xavier Gipson — who only found out he made the team last week — returning a punt 65 yards for the walk-off TD.
MATT KEEPS MASHING
Braves slugger Matt Olson is having perhaps the quietest 50 home run season ever.
The latest: The 29-year-old blasted his 49th and 50th dingers on Monday, putting Andruw Jones' franchise record of 51 in his sights. 60 homers isn't out of the question for Olson — and nobody's talking about it! Okay fine, some people are talking about it. But not enough!
Usually it makes sense why certain players get overlooked, but this one is rather curious. Big market. First-place team. Why isn't Olson's historic power surge a bigger story?
The answer: The Braves may simply be too good. It starts with Ronald Acuña Jr., whose MVP-worthy campaign has overshadowed Olson's. But there’s also the rest of the roster, which has been mashing alongside Matt.
By the numbers: Atlanta is on pace to smash the record for most home runs in a season (307), set by the 2019 Twins. They already have 278 — 54 more than any other team — thanks to seven players with 20+ homers and 10 with double-digit bombs.
Olson: 50
Acuña Jr: 36
Austin Riley: 34
Marcell Ozuna: 33
Ozzie Albies: 29
Eddie Rosario: 21
Sean Murphy: 20
Orlando Arcia: 17
Michael Harris II: 16
Travis d'Arnaud: 11
Fun fact to go… The 2023 Braves are the fourth team in MLB history to have a player with 50 HR (Olson) and another with 50 stolen bases (Acuña Jr.). They join the 2017 Marlins (Stanton and Strange-Gordon), 2000 Cubs (Sosa and Young) and 1995 Indians (Belle and Lofton).
THE DARK SIDE OF TENNIS
For weeks, the tennis world has been transfixed on the US Open, where players compete for millions. But a majority of pros are barely scraping by, opening the door for the sport's dark side to emerge, Jeff and I write.
In the news: Tennis match-fixing is a growing concern, and the scale of the problem was highlighted last week in a Washington Post report on the biggest match-fixing ring in the sport's history.
The operation's mastermind, 33-year-old Armenian Grigor Sargsyan, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison this summer.
Nicknamed "the Maestro," Sargsyan built a roster of 180 players from more than 30 countries who threw roughly 400 matches for a fee.
Why tennis: With over 60,000 matches per year, there's ample opportunity to bet on tennis. In fact, only soccer and basketball attract more wagering activity globally.
And with so many pros making little to no money, Sargsyan and others like him can offer more cash for one thrown match than many players earn in a year.
Crazy stat: A study examining the 2013 season found that just 589 of the world's 14,000 pro tennis players broke even that year after accounting for expenses. That's 4% of pros.
Plus: Another reason why tennis is a popular target for match-fixing is because detection is difficult. Consider how much easier it is for a tennis pro to make intentional hits into the net look unintentional than it is for, say, a basketball player to shave points.
What to watch: The men's tour is piloting a minimum wage program next year that will pay the top 250 players at least $75,000. It may not be much, but it's a start.
THE WORLD IN PHOTOS
🇺🇸 Newport Beach, California — A surfer falls while riding The Wedge*, a popular beach break with massive waves.
🇧🇦 Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina — Red Bull's Cliff Diving World Series held its penultimate event of the season on Sunday. Next up: the finals in Auckland on Nov. 19.
🇫🇷 Paris — Host nation France beat three-time champion New Zealand on Friday in the opening game of the Rugby World Cup.
*Fun fact: While attending USC in the 1920s, John Wayne got injured bodysurfing The Wedge. Unable to play football, he lost his scholarship and had to drop out. After leaving school, he found work at a Hollywood studio. The rest, as they say, is history.
BASEBALL MOVIES, RANKED
The Cubs have called up their top prospect, outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who has a fun bit of family history: His mother, Ashley Crow, played the mother in the 1994 classic, "Little Big League," Jeff writes.
With that in mind: It's high time we rank the best baseball movies ever made — a natural follow-up to last week's football movie list.
Moneyball (2011): It took a lot for a 21st century movie to vault into the top spot after the run we saw 30 years ago. Moneyball's just that good.
Bull Durham (1988): The 14 things Crash Davis believes in are always worth a listen.
Field of Dreams (1989): "Hey Dad… wanna have a catch?"
A League of Their Own (1992): But seriously, did Dottie drop the ball on purpose?
The Sandlot (1993): Still waiting to live out my childhood dream of playing under the lights of July 4th fireworks.
Major League (1989): "F*ck you, Jobu. I do it myself."
The Natural (1984): Wonderboy is great, but Wonderbat may be even better.
Little Big League (1994): Crow plays Jenny Heywood, whose 12-year-old son inherits the Twins after his grandfather passes away.
Everybody Wants Some!! (2016): A criminally overlooked piece of Richard Linklater's oeuvre.
The Bad News Bears (1976): Your dad loves this movie.
Runners-up: Eight Men Out (1988), Rookie of the Year (1993), Hardball (2001), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), 42 (2013), For Love of the Game (1999), The Rookie (2002), Angels in the Outfield (1994)
SEPT. 12, 1995: THE GLOBETROTTERS LOSE!
28 years ago today, the Harlem Globetrotters lost to "Kareem's All-Stars," a team of former NBA stars led by 48-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar*, ending their 24-year winning streak, Jeff writes.
How it happened: Most Globetrotters games were scripted, hence their 27,000-345 record. But this was a real exhibition in Vienna, Austria, against legends like Abdul-Jabbar, Artis Gilmore and Nate "Tiny" Archibald. It was one of 11 games the teams played on a tour across Europe, with the Globetrotters winning the other 10.
🥇 1920: The Antwerp Olympics concluded, ending the first Games to feature the now-iconic Olympic flag.
⚾️ 1985: Mets fireballer Dwight Gooden struck out 16 Pirates to reach 251 for the season, breaking the record for most strikeouts by a rookie.
*Fun fact: Abdul-Jabbar, born in Harlem, was offered $1 million to join the Globetrotters in 1969 after his standout UCLA career. But he turned them down, entered the NBA draft and was picked first by the Bucks.
WATCHLIST: YANKS-SOX AT FENWAY
The Red Sox host the Yankees in a doubleheader today (1:35pm ET, MLB; 7:10pm, TBS) — a pair of rivalry games that will be more muted than usual this time of year.
Where it stands: Instead of battling for playoff position, Boston (73-70) and New York (71-72) are trying to avoid the AL East cellar. The Yankees are in danger of finishing last* for the first time since 1990.
More to watch:
⚽️ Friendly: USMNT vs. Oman (8:30pm, TNT) … In Saint Paul, Minnesota.
🎾 San Diego Open: Day 2 (2:30pm, Tennis) … Seven of the top-20 women in the world are among the 32-player field.
🍿 "Welcome to Wrexham": Season 2 premiere (10pm, FX) … Available to stream on Hulu starting Wednesday.
*Double trouble: The Yankees and Mets have never finished last in the same season. The Yankees are currently in last and the Mets are just 0.5 games ahead of the last-place Nationals.
MLB TRIVIA
Julio Rodríguez on Monday became the fourth player age 22 or younger to join the 30-30 club (30 HR, 30 stolen bases).
Question: Can you name the other three?
Hint: Two are active.
Answer at the bottom.
CURRY HITS THE LINKS
Steph Curry has wowed audiences with some incredible golf shots this year, namely this hole-in-one back in July. Now, he's ready to try his hand at a few more, Jeff writes.
This sounds fun: "Niiice Shot with Stephen Curry," a four-part series on Golf Channel that premieres tonight (9pm ET), will see Curry try to recreate four of the most iconic shots from the last 20 years.
Episode 1: Tiger Woods' flop shot hole-out at the 2012 Memorial.
Episode 2: Jordan Spieth's hole-out from the bunker to win the 2017 Travelers Championship.
Episode 3: Rory McIlroy's 137-yard hole-out at the 2016 Tour Championship.
Episode 4: Tiger's 2-iron stingers used throughout the 2006 Open Championship to avoid the bunkers at Hoylake.
The cast: Joining Curry will be former Warriors teammate Andre Iguodala, 2014 US Women's Open champion Michelle Wie West and swing coach Alex Riggs.
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Trivia answer: Ronald Acuña Jr., Mike Trout and Alex Rodriguez.
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