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Huge ratings for CFP finale: Indiana's win over Miami in the national title game averaged 30.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched non-NFL sports telecast since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Minter is coming (to Baltimore): The Ravens are hiring Chargers DC Jesse Minter as their new head coach. After spending the last four years under Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles and at Michigan, he'll now succeed Jim's brother, John, in Charm City.
️ Rodman inks historic deal: Trinity Rodman has signed a three-year contract with the Washington Spirit reportedly worth over $2 million annually, including bonuses, making her the highest-paid women's soccer player in the world.
NFL awards: MVP finalists Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Josh Allen, Christian McCaffrey and Trevor Lawrence headline the list of finalists for the NFL's end-of-season awards, which will be announced during the "NFL Honors" show on Feb. 5, three days before the Super Bowl.
️ Nats trade All-Star: In their first big move under new leadership, the Nationals traded All-Star lefty MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for five prospects, including the No. 12 pick in last year's draft, Gavin Fien.
Timothée Chalamet on the set of "Marty Supreme." (James Devaney/GC Images)
"Marty Supreme" and "F1" both received Oscar nominations for Best Picture on Thursday, becoming the 18th and 19th sports movies* to be up for the top honor at the Academy Awards.
Historic duo: This marks the first time that two sports movies received Best Picture nominations in the same year.
The full list (winners in bold):
*Editor's note: This list is according to Variety. There may be other Best Picture nominees that could be considered sports-themed (this list on IMDB includes "Gladiator," for example). It ultimately comes down to your own definition of what is and isn't a "sports movie."
(Yahoo Sports)
The Final Four teams take the field on Sunday with a chance to earn their place in Super Bowl LX. Who ya got?
Patriots (-4.5) at Broncos (3pm ET, CBS)
While the Patriots are starting MVP finalist Drake Maye, the Broncos are starting backup Jarrett Stidham, who hasn't thrown a pass in over two years. He's just the second QB in NFL history to make his first start of the season in a Conference Championship, joining Roger Staubach (1972 Cowboys).
Rams (+2.5) at Seahawks (6:30pm, Fox)
This is the ninth time since the 1970 merger that the No. 1 scoring offense (Rams) has faced the No. 1 scoring defense (Seahawks) in the Conference Championship or later. Good news for Seattle: the top defense went 7-1 in the first eight meetings.
Australian Open
The year's first Grand Slam reaches its halfway point this weekend (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/ESPN2), with all quarterfinalists set to be determined by Monday.
Stan the Man: 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, who plans to retire at season's end, won a marathon five-setter on Thursday to become the oldest man in 48 years to reach the third round of a major. Next up is a date with No. 9 Taylor Fritz.
Netflix's latest foray into live sports arrives tonight (8pm) in the form of Alex Honnold's death-defying, untethered climb up Taipei 101, the 1,667-foot skyscraper in Taiwan's capital city. Honnold is best known for his untethered ascent up Yosemite's El Capitan, as documented in the Oscar-winning film, "Free Solo."
What he's saying: "One of the big differences between climbing a building and rock climbing is that there really isn't a hardest single move," says Honnold. "The challenge comes from the overall physicality of it. The fatigue that [sets in] over the course of the building is slightly harder to anticipate. I don't know how it's gonna feel."
The undefeated Commodores will try to keep their perfect season alive in Sunday's blockbuster women's hoops matchup between SEC foes (3pm, ESPN).
Best of the rest: No. 1 UConn, the nation's only other undefeated team, visits Seton Hall (Sat. 12pm, Peacock), and No. 10 Iowa hosts No. 12 Ohio State (Sun. 2pm, Peacock).
Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje's lightweight title bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas (9pm, Paramount+) headlines the first UFC event of the year, and the first of the Paramount+ era.
No more PPV: This is the first event under the UFC's new broadcast deal with Paramount+, which will allow viewers to watch every fight with a basic subscription to the streaming service ($8.99/month). That's a substantial change after years at ESPN+, where every numbered event cost $79.99, on top of the monthly subscription.
This weekend's event at Buttermilk Mountain (Fri-Sun, ESPN/ABC) marks the 25th annual Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.
Athletes to watch: Americans Alex Hall and Nick Goepper (slopestyle), Austria's Anna Gasser (big air) and Australia's Scotty James (halfpipe) are among the Olympic medalists who will be using this weekend as a warm-up for next month's Winter Games.
More to watch:
Full weekend slate.
Jesse (R) rocking his Donovan McNabb jersey on a family trip to Detroit. (Kathleen Dobe-Call)
Today's reader submission is especially timely given the QB situation in Denver, with backup Jarrett Stidham stepping in for the injured Bo Nix.
Kathleen Dobe-Call (Syracuse, New York) writes:
Since we're lifelong Syracusans, we of course closely follow SU teams. Our younger son, Jesse, was just a toddler when Donovan McNabb was drafted by the Eagles, so he quickly claimed Philadelphia as his NFL team. He wore his McNabb jersey everywhere — even to a Lions game when we took the boys to Detroit.
He was crushed in 2005 when the Eagles lost the Super Bowl. He got his hopes up again in 2017 when they were playing so well, but was distraught when Carson Wentz went down with an injury, because he really thought they had a chance to go deep.
As the Eagles made their playoff run, Jesse was excited that Nick Foles kept leading them to wins, but he tried not to get too confident, especially once we realized the Patriots would be their Super Bowl opponent.
Jesse came home from college to watch Super Bowl LII with us, and we gathered around the living room TV together. As the teams traded touchdowns in the second half, we started to get that familiar sinking feeling that Tom Brady would pull it off yet again.
But when Foles made that fourth-down pass to keep the drive alive, Jesse jumped up and yelled, "SO HELP ME GOD, IF NICK FOLES WINS THIS SUPER BOWL FOR US, I'M NAMING MY FIRST DOG AFTER HIM!"
Sure enough, Foles then threw the touchdown to Zach Ertz, and it was upheld! More tense moments followed, until Brady's Hail Mary fell incomplete. The Eagles had won their first Super Bowl! Jesse was ecstatic! I was so, so happy for him. And sure enough, three years later, when Jesse got his first apartment, he got a sweet little corgi.
Meet Foles…
Jesse and Foles. (Kathleen Dobe-Call)
Submit your story: Do you have a fondest sports memory? Or an example of sports having a positive impact on your life? If you'd like to share, email me at [email protected]. We hope to feature at least one story per week throughout 2026.
(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
Every NBA team has played 41 games and most have played more, which means we're due for midseason report cards.
(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
Find your team:East | West
(The Athletic)
In addition to Yahoo Sports' original offerings, we have a growing list of best-in-class partners. Here are the best reads of the week, courtesy of the Yahoo Sports Network.
College Basketball: How NYU women's basketball quietly became D-III's No. 1 team (Eden Laase, The Athletic)
There is a purity to this level of basketball. No pro dreams clouding minds. No bank accounts overflowing with NIL money. No scholarships tying players to the program. "Other levels are transactional," associate head coach Nettie Respondek said. "There's nothing holding these girls here. They can walk away at any time. But they play because they love their team, they love the game and they love the work."
(Ben Cope/GOLF.com)
️ Golf:Tommy Fleetwood finally won. Now comes the hard part (Sean Zak, GOLF.com)
Whether it's fellow pros, family or just another golf writer, everyone has been asking him the same thing lately: "What's different, mate?" The truth: Tommy still doesn't know. "It's an obvious question to ask," Fleetwood admits. "Surely there must be something different. I ask myself that all the time as well."
(Mike Roach via Getty Images)
UFC:'I was born to be here': Ateba Gautier is UFC 324's most terrifying young force (Chuck Mindenhall, Uncrowned)
Ateba Gautier, a Cameroon-born middleweight built like a perfect Mr. Olympia, is an exception to the rule. He happens to be a lover AND a fighter. For Gautier, fisticuffs are an act of love. Love of fighting. Love of the warrior standing opposite him, welcoming him into the pocket. Love of the sport, the moment, and the ritual of parting a man from his senses. It's a love of fraternity, because to be locked in the cage is a shared experience that will last forever.
(Cllct)
️ Collectibles:'This isn't me': Seven MLB error cards featuring photos of the wrong player (Ben Burrows, Cllct)
When Carlos Beltrán was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, collectors might have started searching for his key rookie cards. Here's the problem: One of those cards, Beltrán's 1995 Topps Traded rookie, features a photo of a teammate who never climbed higher than Class AA. Beltrán isn't alone with this unfortunate case of mistaken identity. In fact, he's not even the first Hall of Famer to have an image of someone else pictured on his card.
The MVP favorites at the midpoint. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
The last seven NBA MVP Awards went to non-Americans, and that streak looks poised to continue as the current betting favorites for this season's award are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) and Luka Dončić (Slovenia).
Question: Who was the last American to win NBA MVP?
Hint: Guard.
Answer at the bottom.
Cowboys fans wear bags over their heads during a 2010 game against the Jags. (Chris Chambers/Getty Images)
This weekend's NFC title game, which yet again does not feature the Cowboys, serves as our annual reminder that "Big D" has had a rough go of it for, well, a while now.
The drought continues: Dallas' last trip to the Conference Championship came all the way back in 1995, a 30-year drought that's the longest in the NFC and third-longest in the NFL. In fact, just six other teams across the "Big Four" leagues have suffered such a run of final four futility.
One is not like the others: It's not all that surprising that the six teams above have endured such droughts; they're not exactly considered "Blue Bloods." But the Cowboys? They're "America's Team"! The most valuable sports franchise in the world! Yet they haven't reached their league's semifinals in three decades and counting. But hey, if they pull it off next year, that might just warrant another eight-episode Netflix documentary.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Trivia answer: James Harden (2017-18)
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.
Continue reading...
Headlines
Huge ratings for CFP finale: Indiana's win over Miami in the national title game averaged 30.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched non-NFL sports telecast since Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Minter is coming (to Baltimore): The Ravens are hiring Chargers DC Jesse Minter as their new head coach. After spending the last four years under Jim Harbaugh in Los Angeles and at Michigan, he'll now succeed Jim's brother, John, in Charm City.
️ Rodman inks historic deal: Trinity Rodman has signed a three-year contract with the Washington Spirit reportedly worth over $2 million annually, including bonuses, making her the highest-paid women's soccer player in the world.NFL awards: MVP finalists Matthew Stafford, Drake Maye, Josh Allen, Christian McCaffrey and Trevor Lawrence headline the list of finalists for the NFL's end-of-season awards, which will be announced during the "NFL Honors" show on Feb. 5, three days before the Super Bowl.
️ Nats trade All-Star: In their first big move under new leadership, the Nationals traded All-Star lefty MacKenzie Gore to the Rangers for five prospects, including the No. 12 pick in last year's draft, Gavin Fien.Sports make Oscars splash
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Timothée Chalamet on the set of "Marty Supreme." (James Devaney/GC Images)
"Marty Supreme" and "F1" both received Oscar nominations for Best Picture on Thursday, becoming the 18th and 19th sports movies* to be up for the top honor at the Academy Awards.
Historic duo: This marks the first time that two sports movies received Best Picture nominations in the same year.
The full list (winners in bold):
The Champ (1931)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
The Hustler (1961)
Rocky (1976)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Breaking Away (1979)
Raging Bull (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Jerry Maguire (1996)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
The Blind Side (2009)
The Fighter (2010)
Moneyball (2011)
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
King Richard (2021)
Marty Supreme (2025)
F1 (2025)
*Editor's note: This list is according to Variety. There may be other Best Picture nominees that could be considered sports-themed (this list on IMDB includes "Gladiator," for example). It ultimately comes down to your own definition of what is and isn't a "sports movie."
Weekend Watchlist
You must be registered for see images attach
(Yahoo Sports)
Conference Championships
The Final Four teams take the field on Sunday with a chance to earn their place in Super Bowl LX. Who ya got?
Patriots (-4.5) at Broncos (3pm ET, CBS)
While the Patriots are starting MVP finalist Drake Maye, the Broncos are starting backup Jarrett Stidham, who hasn't thrown a pass in over two years. He's just the second QB in NFL history to make his first start of the season in a Conference Championship, joining Roger Staubach (1972 Cowboys).
Rams (+2.5) at Seahawks (6:30pm, Fox)
This is the ninth time since the 1970 merger that the No. 1 scoring offense (Rams) has faced the No. 1 scoring defense (Seahawks) in the Conference Championship or later. Good news for Seattle: the top defense went 7-1 in the first eight meetings.
Australian Open
The year's first Grand Slam reaches its halfway point this weekend (Fri-Sun, ESPN+/ESPN2), with all quarterfinalists set to be determined by Monday.
Stan the Man: 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, who plans to retire at season's end, won a marathon five-setter on Thursday to become the oldest man in 48 years to reach the third round of a major. Next up is a date with No. 9 Taylor Fritz.
"Skyscraper"
Netflix's latest foray into live sports arrives tonight (8pm) in the form of Alex Honnold's death-defying, untethered climb up Taipei 101, the 1,667-foot skyscraper in Taiwan's capital city. Honnold is best known for his untethered ascent up Yosemite's El Capitan, as documented in the Oscar-winning film, "Free Solo."
What he's saying: "One of the big differences between climbing a building and rock climbing is that there really isn't a hardest single move," says Honnold. "The challenge comes from the overall physicality of it. The fatigue that [sets in] over the course of the building is slightly harder to anticipate. I don't know how it's gonna feel."
No. 5 Vanderbilt at No. 2 South Carolina
The undefeated Commodores will try to keep their perfect season alive in Sunday's blockbuster women's hoops matchup between SEC foes (3pm, ESPN).
Best of the rest: No. 1 UConn, the nation's only other undefeated team, visits Seton Hall (Sat. 12pm, Peacock), and No. 10 Iowa hosts No. 12 Ohio State (Sun. 2pm, Peacock).
UFC 324
Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje's lightweight title bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas (9pm, Paramount+) headlines the first UFC event of the year, and the first of the Paramount+ era.
No more PPV: This is the first event under the UFC's new broadcast deal with Paramount+, which will allow viewers to watch every fight with a basic subscription to the streaming service ($8.99/month). That's a substantial change after years at ESPN+, where every numbered event cost $79.99, on top of the monthly subscription.
Winter X Games
This weekend's event at Buttermilk Mountain (Fri-Sun, ESPN/ABC) marks the 25th annual Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.
Athletes to watch: Americans Alex Hall and Nick Goepper (slopestyle), Austria's Anna Gasser (big air) and Australia's Scotty James (halfpipe) are among the Olympic medalists who will be using this weekend as a warm-up for next month's Winter Games.
More to watch:
NBA: Rockets at Pistons (Fri. 7pm, Prime); Knicks at 76ers (Sat. 3pm, ABC); Warriors at Timberwolves (Sat. 5:30pm, ABC); Lakers at Mavericks (Sat. 8:30pm, ABC) … Detroit (32-10) leads the East by a season-high 5.5 games.
NHL: Lightning at Blackhawks (Fri. 7pm, ESPN); Canadiens at Bruins (Sat. 7pm, NHL); Avalanche at Maple Leafs (Sun. 1:30pm, NHL) … Colorado (34-5-9) has more regulation losses in their last eight games (3) than they did in their first 40 games (2).
NCAAM: No. 22 UNC at No. 14 Virginia (Sat. 2pm, ESPN); No. 11 Illinois at No. 4 Purdue (Sat. 3pm, Fox); No. 6 Houston at No. 12 Texas Tech (Sat. 6:30pm, ESPN) … Houston (11 straight) and Illinois (8) are both riding long winning streaks.
️ Golf: The American Express (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN+); Hero Dubai Desert Classic (Fri-Sun, Golf) … Min Woo Lee and Pierceson Coody (-10) lead in California; Francesco Molinari (-7) led after Round 1 in Dubai, with the second round already underway.
️ EPL: Newcastle vs. Aston Villa(Sun. 9am, Peacock); Arsenal vs. Manchester United (Sun. 11:30am, Peacock) … Matchday 23 of 38.
️ Friendly: USWNT vs. Paraguay (Sat. 5:30pm, TNT) … In Los Angeles.
Full weekend slate.
Why we love sports
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Jesse (R) rocking his Donovan McNabb jersey on a family trip to Detroit. (Kathleen Dobe-Call)
Today's reader submission is especially timely given the QB situation in Denver, with backup Jarrett Stidham stepping in for the injured Bo Nix.
Kathleen Dobe-Call (Syracuse, New York) writes:
Since we're lifelong Syracusans, we of course closely follow SU teams. Our younger son, Jesse, was just a toddler when Donovan McNabb was drafted by the Eagles, so he quickly claimed Philadelphia as his NFL team. He wore his McNabb jersey everywhere — even to a Lions game when we took the boys to Detroit.
He was crushed in 2005 when the Eagles lost the Super Bowl. He got his hopes up again in 2017 when they were playing so well, but was distraught when Carson Wentz went down with an injury, because he really thought they had a chance to go deep.
As the Eagles made their playoff run, Jesse was excited that Nick Foles kept leading them to wins, but he tried not to get too confident, especially once we realized the Patriots would be their Super Bowl opponent.
Jesse came home from college to watch Super Bowl LII with us, and we gathered around the living room TV together. As the teams traded touchdowns in the second half, we started to get that familiar sinking feeling that Tom Brady would pull it off yet again.
But when Foles made that fourth-down pass to keep the drive alive, Jesse jumped up and yelled, "SO HELP ME GOD, IF NICK FOLES WINS THIS SUPER BOWL FOR US, I'M NAMING MY FIRST DOG AFTER HIM!"
Sure enough, Foles then threw the touchdown to Zach Ertz, and it was upheld! More tense moments followed, until Brady's Hail Mary fell incomplete. The Eagles had won their first Super Bowl! Jesse was ecstatic! I was so, so happy for him. And sure enough, three years later, when Jesse got his first apartment, he got a sweet little corgi.
Meet Foles…
You must be registered for see images attach
Jesse and Foles. (Kathleen Dobe-Call)
Submit your story: Do you have a fondest sports memory? Or an example of sports having a positive impact on your life? If you'd like to share, email me at [email protected]. We hope to feature at least one story per week throughout 2026.NBA midseason grades
You must be registered for see images attach
(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
Every NBA team has played 41 games and most have played more, which means we're due for midseason report cards.
You must be registered for see images attach
(Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports)
Find your team:East | West
Good reads
You must be registered for see images attach
(The Athletic)
In addition to Yahoo Sports' original offerings, we have a growing list of best-in-class partners. Here are the best reads of the week, courtesy of the Yahoo Sports Network.
College Basketball: How NYU women's basketball quietly became D-III's No. 1 team (Eden Laase, The Athletic)
There is a purity to this level of basketball. No pro dreams clouding minds. No bank accounts overflowing with NIL money. No scholarships tying players to the program. "Other levels are transactional," associate head coach Nettie Respondek said. "There's nothing holding these girls here. They can walk away at any time. But they play because they love their team, they love the game and they love the work."
You must be registered for see images
(Ben Cope/GOLF.com)
️ Golf:Tommy Fleetwood finally won. Now comes the hard part (Sean Zak, GOLF.com)Whether it's fellow pros, family or just another golf writer, everyone has been asking him the same thing lately: "What's different, mate?" The truth: Tommy still doesn't know. "It's an obvious question to ask," Fleetwood admits. "Surely there must be something different. I ask myself that all the time as well."
You must be registered for see images
(Mike Roach via Getty Images)
UFC:'I was born to be here': Ateba Gautier is UFC 324's most terrifying young force (Chuck Mindenhall, Uncrowned)
Ateba Gautier, a Cameroon-born middleweight built like a perfect Mr. Olympia, is an exception to the rule. He happens to be a lover AND a fighter. For Gautier, fisticuffs are an act of love. Love of fighting. Love of the warrior standing opposite him, welcoming him into the pocket. Love of the sport, the moment, and the ritual of parting a man from his senses. It's a love of fraternity, because to be locked in the cage is a shared experience that will last forever.
You must be registered for see images
(Cllct)
️ Collectibles:'This isn't me': Seven MLB error cards featuring photos of the wrong player (Ben Burrows, Cllct)When Carlos Beltrán was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, collectors might have started searching for his key rookie cards. Here's the problem: One of those cards, Beltrán's 1995 Topps Traded rookie, features a photo of a teammate who never climbed higher than Class AA. Beltrán isn't alone with this unfortunate case of mistaken identity. In fact, he's not even the first Hall of Famer to have an image of someone else pictured on his card.
NBA trivia
You must be registered for see images attach
The MVP favorites at the midpoint. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
The last seven NBA MVP Awards went to non-Americans, and that streak looks poised to continue as the current betting favorites for this season's award are Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada) and Luka Dončić (Slovenia).
Question: Who was the last American to win NBA MVP?
Hint: Guard.
Answer at the bottom.
The Cowboys’ drought continues
You must be registered for see images attach
Cowboys fans wear bags over their heads during a 2010 game against the Jags. (Chris Chambers/Getty Images)
This weekend's NFC title game, which yet again does not feature the Cowboys, serves as our annual reminder that "Big D" has had a rough go of it for, well, a while now.
The drought continues: Dallas' last trip to the Conference Championship came all the way back in 1995, a 30-year drought that's the longest in the NFC and third-longest in the NFL. In fact, just six other teams across the "Big Four" leagues have suffered such a run of final four futility.
NFL: Browns (last trip to the final four: 1989) and Dolphins (1992)
️ MLB: Pirates (1992) and Reds (1995)
NBA: Wizards (1979) and Hornets (never, enfranchised in 1988)
One is not like the others: It's not all that surprising that the six teams above have endured such droughts; they're not exactly considered "Blue Bloods." But the Cowboys? They're "America's Team"! The most valuable sports franchise in the world! Yet they haven't reached their league's semifinals in three decades and counting. But hey, if they pull it off next year, that might just warrant another eight-episode Netflix documentary.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Trivia answer: James Harden (2017-18)
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.
Continue reading...
