Packers fail yet again to produce a premier performance against a top NFC team in loss to Vikings
Alabama flips RB Jace Clarizio from Michigan State
Manchin, Sinema prevent Democrats from locking in majority on labor board through 2026
Published 10:22 pm Sunday, December 29, 2024 By Data Skrive Today’s NBA schedule features several top-tier games, including the matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings. Looking for additional betting info for today’s NBA action? We’ve got you covered with odds for each of the big games in the article below. Sign up for NBA League Pass to get access to games, live and on-demand, and more for the entire season and offseason. Watch ESPN originals, The Last Dance and more NBA content on ESPN+. Use our link to sign up for ESPN+ or the Disney bundle. Not all offers available in all states, please visit BetMGM for the latest promotions for your area. Must be 21+ to gamble, please wager responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, contact 1-800-GAMBLER .Manchester City blew a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord in a Champions League thriller on Tuesday and extend their winless run to six games. The English champions did snap a five-game losing streak but did little to boost confidence ahead of Sunday's trip to Premier League leaders Liverpool by conceding three times in the final 15 minutes. Pep Guardiola admitted his star-studded squad were "fragile" and lacking in confidence after the worst run of his managerial career. Two goals from Erling Haaland, either side of Ilkay Gundogan's deflected effort, looked set to restore some order for City. But the defensive frailties that have been the root cause for a staggering collapse in recent weeks was exposed in the closing stages. Anis Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez and David Hancko hit back to salvage a vital point for the Dutch giants. "We concede a lot of goals because we are not stable," said Guardiola. "We lost a lot of games lately – we are fragile, and of course we need a victory." "The game (at 3-0) was good for the confidence, playing at a good level and the first time something happens we have problems," he added. A draw leaves City with plenty of work to do to reach the knockout stages with trips to Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain to come in their next two Champions League games. Only the top eight progress directly to the last 16 with a place in the top 24 of the 36-team table enough to reach the playoff round. City drop to 15th on eight points from five matches, just one point ahead of Feyenoord in 20th. (AFP)
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seattle Seahawks were struggling a week ago, coming off their bye having lost five of their last six games. That included a gut-punch overtime defeat at home against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 3. The outlook for the last-place Seahawks (5-5) was beginning to look grim. They suddenly have renewed optimism this week after an uplifting victory over the San Francisco 49ers that snapped a six-game losing streak against their arch-rival that dated to 2021. Seattle will play the first-place Arizona Cardinals (6-4) on Sunday for a share of the NFC West lead. How quickly things change in the NFL. “We’ve earned the opportunity to be fighting for the lead in the division going into the home stretch,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “So that’s the way we’re treating it. It’s very much like a playoff mindset for us at this point.” The win over the 49ers, which was capped by a 13-yard touchdown run by quarterback Geno Smith with 18 seconds left, put the Seahawks in a much better place mentally than they’d been in over the previous six weeks. They're hoping it's just the start of something even bigger. “It can just spark something that you’ve been looking for this whole year,” wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “I know we started off very hot with the first three games, but, you know, when adversity hit, it’s all about how you respond. I think we responded the right way, and it’s going to carry us throughout the rest of the season.” While the Seahawks are feeling better this week, the Cardinals have plenty of reason to feel optimistic, too. After starting the season 2-4, Arizona has won four straight to put itself in first place in the NFC West. The Cardinals have a defense that is making big strides under the leadership of veteran safety Budda Baker and a top-five running game behind the dual threat of running back James Conner, who has 697 yards rushing, and quarterback Kyler Murray, who seems to be hitting his stride in his sixth NFL season. Murray has 2,058 yards passing with 12 touchdowns, and has rushed for 371 yards and four scores. Second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon has been impressed with Murray’s improved decision-making as Murray has thrown just three interceptions through 10 games. “There’s times that he probably wants to try to thread it a little bit, but understands when to pick and choose his spots,” Gannon said. “I think he’s done a phenomenal job with that and there are a lot of times throughout the game where you could say we like to put it in the quarterback’s hands, and you trust him to make the right decision for that point in the game.” Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba will see a familiar face on the other sideline Sunday in rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., who was Smith-Njigba’s college teammate at Ohio State in 2021 and 2022. The pair each caught three touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ wild win over Utah in the 2022 Rose Bowl, with Smith-Njigba having 347 yards receiving on what was a 573-passing yard day for C.J. Stroud, now the quarterback of the Houston Texans. “Late his freshman year, he really just stood out,” Smith-Njigba said of Harrison. “You could just see the growth and kind of who he is becoming. ... He’s passed a lot of people’s expectations, of course, but I knew he was going to be elite later on freshman year.” Murray is coming off one of the best games of his career after completing 22 of 24 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown against the Jets two weeks ago. He also ran for 21 yards and two TDs. Murray currently ranks No. 3 in the NFL in quarterback rating behind Cincinnati's Joe Burrow and Baltimore's Lamar Jackson. That has put him in the MVP conversation, particularly since Arizona has won four straight games. “I don’t play the game for the validation of others," Murray said. "But as a player, of course, sometimes the recognition and the words being said feel good. But it doesn’t satisfy me.” The most surprising part of Arizona’s four-game winning streak is the rapid improvement of the defense, which has allowed just 9 and 6 points, respectively, over the past two games. No touchdowns have been allowed – just five field goals. It’s just the second time over the past 30 years that the franchise has allowed 10 points or less over back-to-back games. Baker, a Bellevue native and former University of Washington football star, is the unquestioned leader of the bunch – he already has 100 tackles over 10 games - but the team also has a strong core of linebackers in Kyzir White, Mack Wilson and Zaven Collins. Metcalf and Baker have gone up against each other many times before, most famously when Metcalf ran Baker down on an interception return in 2020. “You really can’t prepare for a guy like that because his engine never stops,” Metcalf said. “He’s always going to be around the ball. He’s always going to affect the game with just his play effort and play style. ... Just got to try to minimize his playmaking ability as much as we can on offense.” AP Sports Writer David Brandt in Phoenix, Arizona, contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
US House passes defense bill banning gender care for minorsDeion Sanders does things different. That’s what rubs people wrong about the Colorado football coach. Or rubs them right; Deion has his proponents as well as his detractors. The detractors are a little less noisy these days. They were well-armed a year ago, when the Buffaloes lost their final six games to finish 4-8. Never mind that 4-8 was a three-game improvement three-game improvement over the derelict team Deion inherited. Now, of course, Colorado is 8-3 and still in the thick of the Big 12 title race, hosting OSU on Friday at Folsom Field, which is hopping again after nearly two decades as a mausoleum. The Buffalo herd is rumbling again courtesy of Deion and his strange ways. He’s brash and flash. He’s outspoken about his players, both in praise and in criticism. He embraced extreme roster makeovers before the transfer portal was cool among coaches. People are also reading... Bill Haisten: ‘Why would you even say that?’ OSU fund-raising was damaged by Gundy comments Former senior administrator at Tulsa Public Schools sentenced to prison Pagan prayer before Tulsa City Council meeting riles up Gov. Stitt, Ryan Walters What's the latest with Michael Fasusi? An update on OU's top 2025 recruiting target POLL CLOSED: Vote for the Bill Knight Automotive high school football player of the week for Week 12 State Department of Education bought 532 Trump Bibles, purchase order shows Berry Tramel: $100k in fines is worth the cost to restore optimism in Oklahoma football Where to eat on Thanksgiving Day Union sixth-graders could be relocated amid planned renovations, declining district enrollment Roster cuts are coming to Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy is dreading it Is GJ Kinne out of reach? What about Brennan Marion? A look at possible TU coaching candidates Bill Haisten: ‘Hungrier than ever’ Mike Gundy says, ‘I ain’t going out this way’ McAlester football coach Forrest Mazey faces criminal misdemeanor charges Police, sheriff talk about what Trump's mass deportation plan could mean for Tulsa Video: Stephen Colbert counts Ryan Walters among 'far-right weirdos' Trump could hire Deion Sanders is counter-culture, and counter-culture never is popular on the college gridiron. Not among coaches, not among traditionalists, not among anyone who likes the way things were way back in the olden days of 1947 and 2019. But too much focus is placed on Deion’s counter-culture gold chains and media company and self-promotion. Not enough focus is placed on Deion’s counter-culture view of how to win football games in the Year of our Lord 2024. Starting with this. Travis Hunter playing both flanker and cornerback full-time for the Buffaloes, averaging more than 120 snaps per game. Boldly going where no college football player has gone before. At least not in the 60 years of two-platoon football. Hunter is a phenom, of course. He’s a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, which goes to the nation’s best receiver; the Bednarik Award, which goes to the nation’s best defensive player; the Maxwell Award (best all-around player); and Walter Camp Trophy (most outstanding player). Hunter is not a finalist for the Oklahoma-based Thorpe Award (nation’s best defensive back), much to Deion’s chagrin. Deion himself won the Thorpe Award way back in 1988 and Tuesday told Thorpe voters “you can have it back; in fact, I’m gonna give him (Hunter) mine.” No matter. The Thorpe’s loss, since Hunter is the runaway favorite for the Heisman Trophy. Deion and Broadway is a match made in marketing heaven. But beyond the flash and the brash, beyond the attraction to Deion that makes traditionalists squirm, give Deion credit on the Travis Hunter front. Deion doesn’t say why. Deion says why not. Why not let a talent like Hunter try something unheard of on autumn Saturdays? Why not let Hunter go all Shohei Ohtani; pitch and hit; catch and cover? Hunter is not doing things that no other human can do. He’s doing things that no other coach has ALLOWED a player to do. Deion didn’t have to scrape the crust off his imagination to let Hunter play this much. Other coaches do. All of them. Literally all of them. Mike Gundy even admitted Monday that OSU has had players that were capable of playing extreme amounts of snaps at high levels. Justin Blackmon definitely. Tylan Wallace probably. Both were all-American receivers who could have been excellent safeties, Gundy said. R.W. McQuarters did play both ways, during his 1995-97 Cowboy days, but only in spot duty at receiver. Just like Chris Canty at Kansas State and Charles Woodson at Michigan and other select supreme athletes. But Deion is the first coach in forever who said, why not more? “This is unbelievable,” Gundy said of Hunter. In the McQuarters days, “we were 58 plays a game, and he (McQuarters) would play 10 plays on offense. I mean, this guy’s playing a bunch. “We’ve had guys in this organization that could do it. Those guys that are really, really skilled athletically, if they have enough of the physical part of it — you can get away being a wideout and be soft, but not on defense. But there’s guys that can do it. I’m gonna go back to what I said earlier, his ability to have the energy capacity, the oxygen to do that is what’s impressive.” What’s impressive is that Deion was willing to give Hunter the chance. To structure practice schedules around a two-way player. To trust an exceptional athlete who knows his body better than any coach or medicine man could. Deion even says the National Football League would be crazy not to use Hunter both ways. “The thing about Travis is, if he plays cornerback, and he's being dominant out there, and you sit up there and you can't move the ball at the next level, you're gonna say, 'Well, my best receiver's on the sidelines, somebody come on,’” Deion said. The NFL occasionally has used two-way players. Troy Brown and Mike Vrabel and Adoree’ Jackson; a few others in the 21st century. The great Roy Green for the old St. Louis Cardinals 40 years ago. And a fellow named Deion Sanders, who is one of the NFL’s greatest corners ever but also had 60 pro catches, including 36 for the 1996 Dallas Cowboys, coached by Barry Switzer. Same for Deion as for Hunter. “Travis is a football player, and you can't have a football player on the sidelines," Deion said. Go back and read that sentence. It’s nothing but common sense. We don’t associate Deion with common sense, and that has a lot more to do with us than him. Deion recruited Hunter, realized he was a supreme athlete, a supremely- conditioned athlete and also a sharp football player. “The first thing I said was the guy's got a high football IQ,” Gundy said “When I watch him play, I see a high football IQ, so I'm guessing that helps him play on both sides of the ball." There are a million things to say about Deion Sanders as a Colorado football coach. I’d start with this. Colorado football was in a pit for almost 20 years, and the Buffaloes quickly left the pit upon Deion’s arrival and now are soaring. One reason is this. Deion is willing to try things that other coaches have shown no willingness to do, in order to win football games within the rules. Someone please explain why that’s a bad thing.
None
Declassified files show the note to former MP John Spellar also said the republican party had ignored the “visceral component of sectarianism” in responding to a new government good relations strategy. Mr Spellar, then a Northern Ireland Office minister, had launched a consultation on the “A Shared Future” document, an attempt to address community divisions, segregation and sectarianism in the region at a time when the devolved powersharing institutions were suspended. A file at the Public Record Office in Belfast shows that OFMDFM official Chris Stewart wrote to the minister in July about a response to the document from Sinn Fein representative Bairbre de Brun. Mr Stewart told Mr Spellar that Ms de Brun’s letter had been critical of the document and was clearly intended to “mark your card”. He said among a number of points raised by de Brun was that “the promotion of equality is the key to improving community relations”. His memo adds: “Sinn Fein is clearly seeking to position or align the issue of community relations within its equality and human rights agenda. “This general Sinn Fein position has resulted in a simplistic analysis of community relations, which is flawed in its description of the causes and necessary policy response. “There is of course, no doubt that a lack of equality has been a contributing factor to poor community relations. “However, Sinn Fein ignores the many other factors, not least the violent conflict that resulted in over 3,000 deaths. “Sinn Fein also portrays poor community relations (for nationalists) as being a purely rational response to the political situation. “This ignores the more visceral component of sectarianism, which is all too prevalent in both communities.” Mr Stewart continues: “To suggest, as Sinn Fein does, that the promotion of equality should be the key component of good relations policy is to ignore the key message in A Shared Future, that indirect approaches alone are insufficient to deal with sectarianism and the abnormal relationship between sections of the Northern Ireland community.” The official recommended the minister invite representatives of Sinn Fein to a meeting to discuss the policy. The file also contains a note about Mr Spellar’s meeting with DUP representatives Maurice Morrow and Peter Weir the following month to discuss the document. The note says: “Morrow said he had no problem with sharing the future and suggested that the first step to that would be an election to decide who spoke for whom – though he was quick to say he didn’t want politics to dominate the meeting.” It adds: “Weir said that the biggest step towards improving community relations would be the creation of a political environment that had the broad support of both unionism and nationalism, and the GFA (Good Friday Agreement) could not create that environment.”
Julián Álvarez picking up the scoring pace with Atletico MadridFinland beats US 4-3 in OT in world junior hockey; Canada rebounds from loss to top Germany 3-0
