Yahoo Sports AM: Olympic athletes in peril

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🚨 Headlines

⚾️ Rays need temporary home: Tropicana Field sustained $55 million worth of damage from Hurricane Milton last month and won’t be ready to host Rays games until 2026.

🏀 Champions Classic: No. 19 Kentucky upset No. 6 Duke, 75-72, in Mark Pope’s third game as head coach; No. 1 Kansas beat Michigan State, 77-69, as Bill Self passed Phog Allen for most wins in KU history (591).

⚾️ Silver Sluggers: Astros 2B Jose Altuve and Dodgers UTIL Mookie Betts won their seventh Silver Slugger awards, headlining a group that included seven first-time winners.

📺 New way to watch: Diamond Sports Group, the nation’s largest owner of regional sports networks, will begin offering single-game pricing ($6.99) for local NBA and NHL games next month.

🏡 Mahomes, Kelce burglarized: The houses of Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were reportedly both burglarized last month. The FBI is investigating.

🎓 The future of college sports: Olympic athletes in peril

Today is National Signing Day, when high school athletes across the country can formally accept scholarships from their chosen university — that is, if they haven’t already been rescinded.

Vanishing spots: The historic House vs. NCAA antitrust settlement has made headlines for the $2.8 billion in backpay to former athletes and landmark revenue-sharing concept. Less publicized are the roster limits that will result in thousands of athletes losing their spots.

How it works: Most NCAA sports currently have a scholarship limit but not a roster cap. Under the terms of the settlement, which will take effect in July if approved, that will flip.

• In other words, while overall scholarships may increase, total roster spots will be capped and walk-ons could be eliminated entirely.

• The change affects not only high school recruits hoping to continue their athletic careers, but also enrolled athletes who’ve been told they’re no longer part of their team.

What they’re saying: More than a dozen parents of college athletes or recruits spoke to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger about the current reality playing out across the country. They were granted anonymity for fear of negative impacts to their children.

A beach volleyball recruit, committed to a Big 12 program for months, was recently told the spot no longer exists. A sophomore cross country runner for an SEC team was notified by email that she was cut from the team two days after the semester began.

At one SEC school, eight track and field runners were cut or pushed out over the summer. One power conference program released all of their 2025 men’s swimming commitments. And in football, it is estimated that more than 1,500 walk-on players — roughly 20-30 per team — will see their spots cut.

The big picture: In all, the 68 power conference schools are expected to eliminate at least 3,000 roster positions as administrators work to adhere to new limitations, reallocate resources to revenue-generating sports and balance opportunities to comply with Title IX.

• This change will have an outsized impact on Olympic sports, which could ultimately upend the Olympics, themselves, considering how many NCAA athletes compete in the Games.

• To wit, 1,217 current or former college athletes from 125 countries competed at the Paris Olympics this past summer, including 385 on Team USA alone.

The last word: “The beginning of change — it’s new and fancy. You get to a finish line and you think you’ve accomplished something. In the middle of anything is messy. This is messy,” SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said last week of the sea change coming to college sports.

🏒 Best start ever: 15 wins in 16 games

The Winnipeg Jets are off to the best start in NHL history. With their 6-3 victory over the Rangers on Tuesday, they’ve now won 15 of their first 16 games.

By the numbers: Connor Hellebuyck has been superb in net (1.92 goals against average, .934 save percentage), and the Jets also boast the league’s best power play (42.2%) and offense (4.56 goals per game). Not a bad combo!

Per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski:

They became the fourth team since 1967-68 to lead the NHL in goals for and against per game through their first 15 games. They’ve scored five or more goals in half their games. Their 73 goals are the third most by a team in its first 16 games over the past 30 years.

Schedule:

• Oct. 9: Jets 6, Oilers 0

• Oct. 11: Jets 2, Blackhawks 1 (OT)

• Oct. 13: Jets 2, Wild 1 (OT)

• Oct. 18: Jets 8, Sharks 3

• Oct. 20: Jets 6, Penguins 3

• Oct. 22: Jets 3, Blues 2

• Oct. 24: Jets 4, Kraken 3 (OT)

• Oct. 26: Jets 5, Flames 3

• Oct. 28: Maple Leafs 6, Jets 4

• Oct. 30: Jets 6, Red Wings 2

• Nov. 1: Jets 6, Blue Jackets 2

• Nov. 3: Jets 7, Lightning 4

• Nov. 5: Jets 3, Utah 0

• Nov. 7: Jets 1, Avalanche 0

• Nov. 9: Jets 4, Stars 1

• Nov. 12: Jets 6, Rangers 3

The backdrop: Just a few months ago, there was talk about the Jets potentially relocating amid a dramatic season ticket sales drop-off. Could their historic start be the spark for long-term viability in the NHL’s smallest market?

🏀 In photos: NBA Cup opening night

The 2024 Emirates NBA Cup (in-season tournament) tipped off on Tuesday, with 16 teams playing their first of four Group Stage games.

San Francisco — Klay Thompson matched his season-high with 22 points and was honored in his return to Golden State, but former Splash Brother Steph Curry (37 points) got the best of him in a 120-117 win over the Mavericks.

Detroit — A wild and sloppy finish saw the Heat lose to the Pistons, 123-121 (OT), after Miami gave up a game-tying alley-oop with one second left and then got called for a technical foul when head coach Erik Spoelstra called a timeout they didn’t have.

Boston — The Celtics have one of the coolest-looking NBA Cup courts, but it didn’t help them avoid falling to the Hawks, 117-116, for just their third loss of the season.

Philadelphia — The Knicks beat the 76ers, 111-99, behind a triple-double from Josh Hart (14-12-10). Joel Embiid looked sluggish in his season debut, going 2-for-11 and grabbing just three rebounds.

Elsewhere: Trail Blazers 122, Timberwolves 108* | Suns 120, Jazz 112 | Bucks 99, Raptors 85 | Magic 114, Hornets 89

*Ice cold to red hot: Portland shot 4-of-42 (9.5%) from deep on Sunday, which was the worst 3-point percentage in any NBA game this season. On Tuesday, they shot 18-of-32 (56.3%), which was the best.

🏈 CFP rankings: Georgia drops out of the field

Georgia fell out of the provisional playoff field in the second edition of the CFP rankings, which were revealed on Tuesday night.

As a reminder: The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded Nos. 1-4 in the 12-team field. The next seven highest-ranked teams, plus the fifth-highest ranked conference champion, will be seeded Nos. 5-12 in their ranking order.

Projected matchups…

• Columbus, OH: No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Ohio State

• State College, PA: No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 6 Penn State

• Bloomington, IN: No. 10 Alabama at No. 7 Indiana

• Knoxville, TN: No. 9 Notre Dame at No. 8 Tennessee

First-round byes: No. 1 Oregon (Rose Bowl vs. Tennessee/Notre Dame), No. 2 Texas (Sugar Bowl vs. Indiana/Alabama), No. 3 BYU (Fiesta Bowl vs. Penn State/Ole Miss), No. 4 Miami (Peach Bowl vs. Ohio State/Boise State).

🎙️ Fresh pod: Is the 12-team playoff already broken? (College Football Power Hour)

📆 Nov. 13, 1995: Four straight Cy Young awards

29 years ago today, Greg Maddux became the first pitcher ever to win four consecutive Cy Young awards. Only Randy Johnson (1999-2002) has matched him since.

By the numbers: This season might have been his best of the four. The Braves righty went 19-2 in the strike-shortened campaign, making him the only pitcher in MLB history to post a .900 winning percentage with more than 20 decisions.

• He led the league in ERA (1.63), WHIP (0.81), complete games (10), innings (209.2), HR/9 (0.3), BB/9 (0.99) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.87).

• His preternatural ability to limit walks reached another gear, as he issued just 23 free passes all season. That included a 51-inning stretch without a single walk.

Zoom out: Across the four-season run, which included his final year with the Cubs and first three with the Braves, Maddux won four Gold Gloves* and compiled a microscopic 1.98 ERA — nearly a full run better than any other starter who threw at least 200 innings in that time (José Rijo, 2.82).

*Flashing the leather: Given his dominant pitching statistics, it’s easy to forget that Maddux is also the greatest fielding pitcher of all time: His 18 Gold Gloves are the most in MLB history, regardless of position.

📺 Watchlist: Western Conference clashes

Tonight’s NBA doubleheader on ESPN features three of the top seven teams in the West.

More to watch:

• 🏒 NHL: Red Wings at Penguins (7:30pm, TNT); Kings at Avalanche (10pm, TNT)

• 🎾 Tennis: ATP Finals (Tennis, 8am) … Group Stage in Turin, Italy.

• 🏈 NCAAF: Kent State at Miami-Ohio (7pm, ESPNU); Akron at NIU (7pm, CBSSN); EMU at Ohio (7pm, ESPN2)

*Pregame reading: With Chet Holmgren out, what will the Thunder do now? (Dan Devine, Yahoo Sports)

🏀 Fab Five trivia

Chris Webber’s infamous timeout came at the end of the 1993 national title game, which his Michigan Wolverines went on to lose.

Question: Who beat them?

Answer at the bottom.

🏈 The Cowboys are down bad

When the Cowboys finally lose their title as America’s Bandwagon Team, there won’t be an announcement … but there will be signs. Like, for instance, the NFL potentially flexing them out of some prime broadcast windows in the coming weeks, writes Yahoo Sports’ Jay Busbee.

That’s right, folks: The team you couldn’t escape in prime time is close to becoming the team you can’t find there. That’s what losing your marquee quarterback, four straight games, six of nine on the season, and basically the last shreds of your dignity will do to you.

Trivia answer: North Carolina

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