Yahoo Sports AM: Tempest Tepper
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🚨 HEADLINES
✍️ AI at SI: Sports Illustrated published articles by fake, AI-generated writers, according to a Futurism report. When asked about it, they deleted everything.
🏈 Bears 12, Vikings 10: Chicago won an ugly game on "Monday Night Football," becoming the first team this season to win without scoring a touchdown.
⚽️ MLS MVP: FC Cincinnati midfielder Luciano Acosta was named MLS MVP after leading the league with 31 goal contributions (17 goals, 14 assists). The Argentina native received an overwhelming 60.4% of the vote.
🏀 Trojans at No. 6: Led by freshman phenom JuJu Watkins (three 30-point games already), USC women's hoops has its best AP poll ranking since 1994.
⚾️ Cards sign Gray: The Cardinals have signed AL Cy Young finalist Sonny Gray to a three-year, $75 million deal.
🏈 TEMPEST TEPPER
The Panthers fired Frank Reich on Monday after just 11 games as Carolina's downward spiral under owner David Tepper continues.
Reich's tenure is the second-shortest in NFL history for a head coach who coached a regular-season game. The 49ers fired Pete McCulley after a 1-8 start in 1978.
Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor will take over as interim head coach, making him the sixth man to hold the top job since Tepper bought the team in 2018.
Tempest Tepper: Tepper became a hedge fund billionaire by being patient. But in his brief time as a sports owner, he's been incredibly impatient. Between the Panthers and Charlotte FC, the MLS team he also owns, Tepper has now fired four head coaches in 18 months.
"Going forward, Tepper's tantrums are unlikely to attract head coaches of the highest caliber. … At this rate, only a man desperate to become a head coach and kowtow to Tepper's every whim would agree to work for him." — Shalise Manza Young, Yahoo Sports
Where it stands: The Panthers are 30-63 during Tepper's reign and the current state of the team is... not great. They're 1-10 on the season, and their blockbuster trade to select Bryce Young at No. 1 is starting to look like a disaster. Young has struggled mightily as a rookie, and the 2024 pick they gave up to get him is on track to be the first pick in a draft loaded with QBs.
🇸🇲 SAN MARINO: THE COUNTRY THAT NEVER WINS
San Marino, the tiny country enclaved by Italy, has played 205 international men's soccer matches. It has won just one of those games — a 1-0 friendly over fellow microstate Liechtenstein back in 2004.
The latest: San Marino finished 0-10 in this year's European Qualifiers — though they showed improvement over the course of the group stage. After being held scoreless in their first seven matches, they scored in each of their final three. Progress!
March 23: Northern Ireland 2, San Marino 0
March 26: Slovenia 2, San Marino 0
June 16: Kazakhstan 3, San Marino 0
June 19: Finland 6, San Marino 0
September 7: Denmark 4, San Marino 0
September 10: Slovenia 4, San Marino 0
October 14: Northern Ireland 3, San Marino 0
October 17: Denmark 2, San Marino 1
November 17: Kazakhstan 3, San Marino 1
November 20: Finland 2, San Marino 1
A reason to cheer: This scoring outburst gave the "Never One Joy Brigade," a San Marino fan club that prides itself on never having seen their team win, a rare cause for celebration. San Marino is 0-136 since the fan club was formed.
The club's custom scarves have a message poking fun at their plight: "If you don't cheer for us when we lose, don't cheer for us when we win."
A red cross has been stitched through "when we win" — on the basis that nobody expects it to actually happen, notes The Athletic ($).
The world's smallest countries: A quick geography lesson before you go!
🇻🇦 Vatican City (0.19 square miles)
🇲🇨 Monaco (0.77)
🇳🇷 Nauru (8)
🇹🇻 Tuvalu (10)
🇸🇲 San Marino (24)
Fun fact: When I was in middle school, my youth soccer team played a tournament in San Marino (and stayed in a hotel right by that castle pictured above). We did the country proud, losing all of our games.
⚾️ HOW IT WORKS: MLB PLAYOFF BONUS POOL
Did you know that MLB players (and team employees) can earn prize money for advancing in the playoffs?
Here's how it works: MLB pools together postseason gate receipts (i.e. ticket sales) and disburses that money based on how far teams advance, as outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Jeff writes.
The pool comprises 60%* of the gate receipts from every guaranteed playoff game (first two games in each Wild Card series, first three LDS games, first four LCS and World Series games).
That sum is then awarded to the champion (36%), runner-up (24%), two LCS losers (24%), four LDS losers (13%) and four Wild Card losers (3%).
Once teams have their allotment, they can distribute it as they please, breaking it up into full and partial shares that go to players, coaches and staff.
This year's bonus pool: A record $107.8 million was handed out, with the title-winning Rangers getting $38.8 million. Texas voted to give out 64 full shares worth $506,263 each, plus 12.56 partial shares and $48,000 in additional cash awards.
Life-changing money: Hefty holiday bonuses are always a treat, even for millionaire baseball stars, but it's the younger players and especially team staffers who benefit the most from the playoff pool.
The Diamondbacks gave out full shares ($313,634) to every player who made a playoff series roster, per The Athletic ($). That means guys like rookie reliever Andrew Saalfrank, who made $104,517 this season, tripled their earnings.
The money is even more impactful for kitchen and clubhouse attendants, who are about to receive a check in the mail worth years of their salary.
*Where does the rest go? The remaining 40% of gate receipts from guaranteed playoff games (and 100% of gate receipts from all additional playoff games) goes to the owners.
🏈 COMPUTERS SETTLE TIEBREAKER
The Mountain West found itself in a pickle this past weekend: Three teams, but only two spots. The conference's solution? Ask the computers.
What's happening: The Mountain West utilized "select computer rankings" to determine which two teams would play for the conference title after UNLV, Boise State and San Jose State finished the regular season tied atop the league at 6-2.
How it works: The conference used computer-generated rankings from four different sources: Anderson and Hester*; Colley Matrix; Massey and Wolfe.
Each ranking accounted for one-fourth of the tiebreaker score, and the two teams with the best average ranking were deemed conference finalists.
The Mountain West installed this system after it disbanded divisions in the offseason. They couldn't use the head-to-head tiebreaker because all three teams didn't play each other.
The results: The computers determined that UNLV will host Boise State on Saturday, leaving San Jose State as the odd man out. UNLV's average computer ranking was 44.5, while Boise State's was 55.75 and San Jose State's was 58.5.
*Anderson and Hester: Former University of Washington roommates Jeff Anderson and Chris Hester started their own ranking system because they felt the Huskies were routinely underrated in national polls. Guess who's currently ranked No. 1 in the A&H rankings? Washington.
🏒 IN PHOTOS: CHAOS IN OTTAWA
Monday's game between the Panthers and Senators descended into total chaos, with multiple melees, 150 penalty minutes and 13 ejections in the final period alone.
At one point, all 10 skaters on the ice got a misconduct penalty on the same shift, leaving both teams heavily shorthanded.
The Tkachuk brothers were at the center of it all, with Matthew and Brady mixing it up and exchanging words. Matthew's Panthers got the last laugh, winning 5-0.
📆 NOV. 28, 1895: AMERICA'S FIRST AUTO RACE
128 years ago today, on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago, Frank Duryea won America's first automobile race, Jeff writes.
Chicago to Evanston and back: The 54-mile race was put on by the Chicago Times-Herald, which offered a $5,000 prize "to successful competitors in a horseless carriage or vehicle motor race [in the] belief that the invention and coming perfection of vehicle motor is destined to work a revolution in road transportation."
More than 80 entries were originally expected, but with freezing temperatures and fresh snowfall, just six cars showed up at the starting line — and only two finished the race.
Duryea's own automotive creation beat Hieronymous Mueller's modified Benz, finishing in just under eight hours. Duryea's average speed? 7 mph. Take that, Verstappen.
🏈 1929: Chicago fullback Ernie Nevers set the NFL record for points in a game, scoring all 40 points in the Bears' 40-6 win over the Cardinals (six touchdowns, four extra points).
🏀 2003: 40-year-old Karl Malone recorded 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in a Lakers win over the Spurs, becoming the oldest player* in NBA history with a triple-double.
*Flashback: Earlier this month, 38-year-old LeBron James became the second-oldest player with a triple-double (28-10-11).
📺 WATCHLIST: WHO WILL ADVANCE?
The NBA In-Season Tournament has reached the final day of group play, with eight games left to determine the eight-team knockout round, Jeff writes.
Where it stands: The Lakers and Pacers have already clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and 12 teams have been eliminated, leaving 16 teams* fighting for the final six spots.
Tonight's slate: Four of the eight games are between teams who are still alive, including both games on TNT: Bucks at Heat (7:30pm ET) and Warriors at Kings (10pm).
More to watch:
🏀 NCAAM: No. 8 Miami at No. 12 Kentucky (7:30pm, ESPN); Clemson at No. 23 Alabama (9:30pm, ESPN)
⚽️ Champions League: Matchday 5 (12:45-3pm, Paramount+) … Eight games.
🏒 NHL: Stars at Jets (8pm, ESPN+) … Tied for second in the Central.
*Still alive: Cavaliers, 76ers, Hawks, Bucks, Knicks, Heat, Hornets, Magic, Celtics, Nets, Suns, Pelicans, Rockets, Kings, Timberwolves and Warriors.
🇺🇸 PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA
Delaware is moving from the FCS to the FBS and will join Conference USA in 2025. With the Blue Hens in the news, I had to pull out one of my all-time favorite trivia questions…
Question: Which five colleges have produced both a U.S. President and a Super Bowl-winning QB?
Hint: Delaware is one of them (Joe Biden and Joe Flacco) so you're 20% there. Can you name the other four?
Answer at the bottom.
🥶 QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I HAVE FROZEN MY PENIS"
"I have frozen my penis. For real." That's a quote from Swedish cross-country skier Calle Halfvarsson, who, well, froze his penis during a World Cup event in ice-cold Finland.
"Damn, I had to lie in [the athletes' tent] for 10 minutes to warm it up. It hurts so damn much. It's terrible. … It's lucky that I'm about to have my second child because it's going to be difficult in the future if I'm going to continue like this."
Halfvarsson was asked if he could describe the sensation: "No. Those who know, they know. But here's a tip from me: Stay away from it, because it is the worst thing you can experience."
___
Trivia answer: Navy (Jimmy Carter and Roger Staubach), Michigan (Gerald Ford and Tom Brady), Stanford (Herbert Hoover and John Elway/Jim Plunkett), Miami-Ohio (Benjamin Harrison and Ben Roethlisberger)
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