Yahoo Sports AM: Who's the true women's scoring champ?
We hope you enjoy this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Pants problems: MLB's new Nike-designed, Fanatics-made uniforms drew negative reviews last week. The see-through pants might be even worse.
🏈 Chiefs sign Araiza: Punter Matt Araiza has signed with the Chiefs after no charges were filed in the alleged gang rape case that resulted in the Bills releasing him in 2021.
📺 "Chad Powers": Glen Powell will star in a new Hulu comedy series based on Eli Manning's Chad Powers character that took the internet by storm.
🏒 Nine in a row: The Rangers beat the Devils, 5-1, on Thursday for their ninth straight win, one shy of the franchise record.
⚾️ Pujols' new gig: Albert Pujols is the new manager of Los Leones del Escogido, a Dominican Winter League team based in his hometown of Santo Domingo.
🏀 Who's the true scoring champ?
Caitlin Clark scored 24 points on Thursday, pushing her historic total to 3,593. Only 57 more until she passes Lynette Woodard, Jeff writes.
The record vs. "the record": While Clark broke Kelsey Plum's all-time NCAA scoring record last week, some believe Woodard — who scored 3,649 points at Kansas from 1977-81 — is the true record-holder.
Why the discrepancy? The NCAA doesn't recognize individual statistics that were recorded before it began governing women's sports in the 1981-82 season, a year after Woodard graduated.
But there are some inconsistencies in how that rule is applied. Take Stanford's Tara VanDerveer, who is recognized by the NCAA as the winningest coach in D-I history.
She passed Mike Krzyzewski in January despite 59 of her wins — at Idaho and Ohio State — pre-dating the 1981-82 season. Without those, she would still trail Coach K.
VanDerveer thinks Woodard is the true record-holder, she told WSJ this month ($), and many other women's basketball legends agree.
What they're saying: "I just think that we should take care of our history just as the men take care of [theirs]," Woodard told WSJ. "I know so many players, and about them, on the men’s side. But we work so hard to make people on the women's side disappear."
"The NCAA put all those athletes, prior to 1982, on the back page," former Kansas coach Marian Washington told R1S1 Sports.
"They have distorted the history of women's basketball. And that is just unacceptable."
Woodard's Hall of Fame career: The Wichita native was a four-time All-American at Kansas and amassed her enormous point total without a 3-point line, and with a ball that had not yet been shrunk to better fit women's hands.
She captained the gold medal-winning team at the 1984 Olympics, and in 1985 she became the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Woodard came out of retirement in 1997 to play two seasons in the newly-formed WNBA, and in 2004 she was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
In related news… Grace Beyer is 15 points shy of breaking the NAIA scoring record (3,855 points) after scoring 40 points on Thursday for the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy. Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg profiled Beyer earlier this month.
🏈 CFP already discussing 14-team model
The CFP's 12-team playoff debuts next season, and the powers that be are already talking about expanding it even further.
From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel:
Ideally, the people that run the College Football Playoff wouldn't be discussing expanding the soon-to-be expanded College Football Playoff before the soon-to-be expanded College Football Playoff has even officially expanded.
Then again, this is college football. Nothing seems to happen on time — either fast or slow.
On Tuesday, the format for the expanded 12-team playoff that will determine the champion in 2024 and 2025 was finally announced — just six months before the start of the season.
By Wednesday, the powers that be (which is increasingly just the Big Ten and SEC) were laying out options to expand it to 14 teams in 2026 and beyond. The proposals include additional automatic qualifiers, disproportionate revenue sharing and all sorts of other ideas that would benefit … the Big Ten and SEC.
Jumping from four teams to 12 is already a shock to the system. It is almost assuredly for the better, but a test drive wouldn't be a bad thing.
The Big Ten and SEC, however, aren't willing to find out things such as how the selection process plays out, what the impact on the regular season will be, how home field playoff games work and if extending the college football calendar deep into the new year is a good idea. Next season's title game will be played on Jan. 20.
There is power to grab and money to be guaranteed. Why wait?
⚽️ The 2024 Messi tour
When Messi arrived in Miami last summer, the other 28 MLS clubs began pitching themselves to the league office, hoping to be among the dozen teams who'd host the GOAT in 2024, his first full season in America.
"They nudged and coaxed league officials, more persistently than ever before. Because they knew a date with the GOAT could boost annual revenues by double-digit percentages [and] for some clubs, yield more ticket income than 16 other home games combined." — Henry Bushnell, Yahoo Sports
How the schedule was made: Of Miami's 34 games this season, 28 are home-and-homes within the Eastern Conference. The other six were the league's choice (three home, three away), and MLS ultimately awarded those away games to Los Angeles (this Sunday), Kansas City and Vancouver.
The 2024 Messi Tour:
Feb. 25: Los Angeles Galaxy
March 16: D.C. United
March 23: New York Red Bulls
April 13: Sporting Kansas City
April 27: New England Revolution
May 15: Orlando City
May 25: Vancouver Whitecaps
June 15: Philadelphia Union
June 29: Nashville SC
July 3: Charlotte FC
July 6: Cincinnati FC
August 31: Chicago Fire
Sept. 18: Atlanta United
Sept. 21: NYC FC
Oct. 2: Columbus Crew
Oct. 5: Toronto FC
Strictly business: After the MLS schedule was released in December, the Galaxy spent weeks exclusively selling season ticket memberships and six-match packages; to secure a seat for Messi, you had to pay for at least five other games, too.
Full story:As Messi-mania resumes, MLS foes maneuver to capitalize on his star power
🌎 The world in photos
Peoria, Arizona — The Dodgers spanked the Padres, 14-1, in the first spring training game of 2024.
Tucson, Arizona — No. 21 Washington State stunned No. 4 Arizona, 77-74, to take over first place in the Pac-12. What a season for the Cougars.
Dubai, U.A.E. — Sorona Cirstea saved six match points and came back from 6-2, 5-1 to beat Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová at the Dubai Championships.
A Coruña, Spain — Cool art.
📆 Feb. 23, 2014: Collins makes history
10 years ago today, Nets center Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete in major North American sports, Jeff writes.
Collins: "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation." — Sports Illustrated essay (May 2013)
🏀 1985: An irate Bobby Knight was ejected during Indiana's loss to Purdue after infamously hurling his chair across the court in protest of a technical foul.
⛳️ 2021: Tiger Woods broke his leg in a single-vehicle car accident ahead of the Genesis Invitational. He's played just six official PGA Tour events since then*, finishing only two.
*The six events: 2022 Masters (47th place), 2022 PGA Championship (withdrew), 2022 Open Championship (missed cut), 2023 Genesis (T45), 2023 Masters (withdrew), 2024 Genesis (withdrew).
📺 Watchlist: Star-studded slate
The NBA schedule is roaring out of the break with seven star-studded games on national TV this weekend, Jeff writes.
Friday: Cavaliers at 76ers (7:30pm ET, ESPN); Bucks at Timberwolves (10pm, ESPN)
Saturday: Celtics at Knicks (8:30pm, ABC)
Sunday: Bucks at 76ers (1pm, ABC); Lakers at Suns (3:30pm, ABC); Nuggets at Warriors (7pm, ESPN); Kings at Clippers (9:30pm, ESPN)
More to watch:
⚽️ MLS: Opening weekend (Sat-Sun, Apple TV) … Three of the 14 games are free, including LAFC vs. Seattle on Fox (Sat. 4:30pm).
🏀 NCAAM: No. 2 Houston at No. 11 Baylor (Sat. 12pm, CBS); No. 13 Alabama at No. 17 Kentucky (Sat. 4pm, CBS); No. 10 UNC at Virginia (Sat. 4pm, ESPN); Texas at No. 9 Kansas (Sat. 6pm, ESPN); Villanova at No. 1 UConn (Sat. 8pm, Fox)
🏀 NCAAW: No. 11 Colorado at No. 7 USC (Fri. 10pm, Pac-12); No. 24 Baylor at No. 22 WVU (Sat. 2pm, ESPN+); No. 13 LSU at Tennessee (Sun. 12pm, ESPN); Illinois at No. 4 Iowa (Sun. 1pm, FS1)
🏒 NHL: Blues at Red Wings (Sat. 12pm, ABC); Rangers at Flyers (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Lightning at Devils (Sun. 1pm, TNT/Max); Flyers at Penguins* (Sun. 3:30pm, TNT/Max)
⚾️ MLB: Padres at Dodgers (Fri. 3:05pm, ESPN); Phillies at Blue Jays (Sat. 1pm, MLB); Astros at Mets (Sun. 1pm, MLB)
⚽️ EFL Cup Final: Chelsea vs. Liverpool (Sun. 10am, ESPN+)
⚽️ CONCACAF W Gold Cup: USWNT vs. Argentina (Fri. 10:15pm, Paramount+)
⛳️ PGA: Mexico Open (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/Golf)
🏁 NASCAR: Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sun. 3pm, Fox)
🏈 NCAAF: HBCU Legacy Bowl (Sat. 4pm, NFL)
🏉 Six Nations: Wales at Ireland (Sat. 9:15am, Peacock); England at Scotland (Sat. 11:45am, Peacock); Italy at France (Sun. 10am, Peacock) … Round 3 of 5.
🏒 PWHL: New York at Toronto (Fri. 7pm, YouTube); Ottawa at Montreal (Sat. 2:30pm, YouTube); Boston at Minnesota (Sun. 4pm, YouTube)
*Sid the Kid: Sidney Crosby has 31 goals through 54 games, putting him on pace for 47, which would be his second-most ever (51 in 2009-10).
⚽️ MLS trivia
Three MLS teams have won at least three league titles. Can you name them?
Hint: Two East, one West.
Answer at the bottom.
⚾️ Guess the swing
Batter Up is a fun new game that's basically Wordle for baseball swings, Jeff writes.
Each day features a new video that shows a silhouette of a baseball player's swing.
You get six guesses, with hints along the way based on how close you are to the players' number, team, division, position, age and birthplace.
Trivia answer: LA Galaxy (5 titles), D.C. United (4), Columbus Crew (3)
We hope you enjoyed this edition of Yahoo Sports AM, our daily newsletter that keeps you up to date on all things sports. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every weekday morning.
