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🚨 Headline
🎾 Nadal withdraws: Rafael Nadal withdrew from Indian Wells on Wednesday after missing most of last season with a hip injury. He said that's because “he's not ready to play at the highest level.” The 37-year-old has played in just 12 competitive matches since the 2022 US Open.
🏈 Your invoice is due: The Bills on Wednesday cut six players, including All-Pro safety and team captain Jordan Poyer, All-Pro cornerback Tre'Davious White and 2022 Pro Bowl center Mitch Morse, to save about $46 million in cap space. Reduced.
🏒 Trading frenzy before the deadline: Stanley Cup contenders were on the move Wednesday, with the Rangers, Panthers, Avalanche, Golden Knights and Oilers making moves ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline.
🏀 Abu Dhabi games: The Celtics and Nuggets will play two preseason games in the UAE next October at the 3rd NBA Abu Dhabi Games.
⚽️ Champions League: Man City defeated Copenhagen (6-2 on aggregate) and Real Madrid defeated RB Leipzig (2-1 on aggregate) to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals along with PSG and Bayern Munich. The final four spots will be decided next week.
🏒 Matt Rempe is here to fight
The chances are fifty-fifty. When Rangers rookie Matt Lempe takes the ice against the Blues on Saturday, he expects to drop his gloves and start throwing punches. Jeff writes.
NHL's newest enforcer: The 6-foot-7, 241-pound center from Calgary has appeared in four of eight games since his debut last month, spending almost as much time in the penalty box (39 minutes) as on the ice (40 minutes, 32 seconds). .
State of play: This is nothing new for the 21-year-old Rempe, who had logged 16 of 96 AHL games before being called up last month. But his style of play has made waves in the sports world, and despite mounting negative sentiment, he is one of the few players who has continued to uphold a tradition that has been disappearing for years.
To fight or not to fight: The simplest argument against combat is safety. Recent studies have shown that NHL enforcers have significantly shorter lifespans than other enforcers, primarily due to causes often associated with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
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Analytics also plays a role, with data showing that enforcers who are typically less skilled than their teammates don't really help produce wins.
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Add it all up and you can see why they played only 0.23 games this season, up from 0.58 games in 2010 and 0.64 games in 2002.
However, not everyone agrees. Defenders argue that grappling is an important part of the game and “acts as a release valve that settles scores in a more orderly way than increasingly dirty blows according to the rules,” says Colin in the Guardian. – Hogan wrote.
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It's also a tradition, an unwritten rule similar to being thrown off after ruffling an opponent's feathers in baseball, and some people don't want it to go away.
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“That blow is fine,” former bailiff Paul Bissonnette said Saturday on TNT, referring to the blow Lempe took that sparked the recent fight. “But I'm OK with him having to respond to a tough guy on the other team.”
current situation: Games have been banned at the youth and university levels, and one of Canada's three major junior hockey leagues also canceled games last fall. The NHL seems content to let the Matt Rempe's of the world die out on their own so they can continue to be traded until the game decides they no longer need him.
⚽️ In photos: America's wild and wet victory
USWNT defeats Canada Henry Bushnell of Yahoo Sports writes that the penalty in Wednesday night's wild World Cup semi-final should not have been taken by any reasonable standard.
Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego flooded due to heavy rain The first half becomes a farce. The ball didn't roll. No passes were allowed to travel more than 10 yards. 'This is insane' former USWNT star Julie Foudy I wrote to X During the first half. “Please stop the match.”
When I asked about it later As for whether the game should have been played, USWNT coach Twyla Kilgore said, “Probably not.” “Obviously the game was impossible,” Canada coach Bev Priestman added.
Alyssa Neher appears as the main character He made three saves in the 3-1 penalty shootout and converted his own penalty to advance the USWNT to Sunday's final against Brazil.
🏈 Mock draft after combination
Latest mock draft The Charles McDonald and Nate Theis trade is a wild one, with four expected in the top 10 (including Vikings to acquire QB amid rumors of Kirk Cousins heading to Atlanta). include).
preview: The first six draft picks are all skill position players, with All-World tight end Brock Bowers dropping to No. 15 and five QBs going in the first round (the four mentioned above include Michael – With the addition of Penix Jr., the Patriots are 31st).
Read the full coverage of Round 1.
⚽️ Does Messi's advantage lie with him or with MLS?
Three games into Lionel Messi's first full MLS season. The GOAT continues to look unstoppable. The question is, does that say more about him or the league he dominates in his 36 years? Jeff writes.
Latest: Messi scored two goals in Saturday's 5-0 win over Orlando, giving him three goals in three games. And this comes after he turned the league on its head in his part-season debut last year with performances reminiscent of his heyday in Europe.
In terms of numbers: Yahoo Sports' Henry Bushnell points out that Messi averaged 1.61 goals and assists per 90 minutes last season before his injury. This would be the second best result of his career, after the 2012-13 season at Barcelona when he was 26 years old.
What they are saying: “It is clear that Messi's move to MLS helped reverse the typical aging career trajectory,” Bushnell wrote. “And the simplest explanation for the reversal is, of course, MLS. It's the lowest level Messi has ever played at. … He has half a second more time on the ball, an extra half a second to summon his magic. We had yard space.''
Opposite side: Messi may just be better. After all, he led Argentina to a World Cup title just 15 months ago and won a record-breaking eighth Ballon d'Or last fall. Sure, he's scored 14 goals in his last 14 games for Inter Miami, but he's been just as dominant in Europe at times.
Conclusion: No one disputes that MLS is on par with the world's top leagues. However, they have improved significantly in recent years, and the gap between them and Europe's big five should further narrow thanks to Messi's own gravitational pull.
Enjoy tonight: Messi and Miami play Nashville tonight (9 p.m. ET, FS2) in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16.
📆 March 7, 2016: “God Bless Soccer”
8 years ago today, Peyton Manning has announced his retirement, ending one of the most prolific careers in NFL history. Jeff writes.
Manning: “We fought the good fight. We finished the soccer race. After 18 years, the time has come. God bless you all, and God bless soccer too.”
Details for this day:
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🏀 1982: The NCAA Tournament selection show was broadcast on television for the first time. The No. 1 seeds were DePaul, Virginia, Georgetown, and eventual national champion UNC.
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🏒 1986: Wayne Gretzky* broke his own single-season assists record at No. 136, reaching a record that still stands at 163. No player has ever surpassed 114 (Mario Lemieux).
*One of the craziest statistics of all time: Even if you scored all 894 of Gretzky's goals, he would still Leads NHL in career points Just an assist.
📺 Watchlist: Clash of the Titans
Nuggets host Celtics tonight (10 p.m. ET, TNT/Max) A clash between the two teams with the highest chance of winning this June's NBA Finals. Jeff writes.
Favorite title: Boston (+220 at BetMGM) and Denver (+450) lead the way, with the Clippers (+500), Bucks (+700) and Suns (+1800) rounding out the top five.
Also noteworthy:
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🏀 NBA: mavericks heat (7:30 p.m., TNT/Max)
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🏀 NCAAM: Washington, 18th Washington State (9 p.m., FS1); 5th place Arizona (UCLA) (9:30 p.m., ESPN)
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⚽️ CONCACAF Champions Cup: Cincinnati vs Monterrey (7pm, FS2); Nashville vs. Inter Miami (9 p.m., FS2)
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🏒 NHL: blues at devils (7 p.m., ESPN)
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🎾 tennis: Indian Wells (2pm, tennis)
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⛳️ PGA: Arnold Palmer Invitational* (7:30 a.m., ESPN+; 2 p.m., Golf/Peacock)
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⚾️ Spring training: red sox braves (1 p.m., ESPN); Reds Cubs (8 p.m., MLB)
*Onboard fields: 9 around the world top 10 players He plans to tee it up at Bay Hill in Orlando. The only thing missing is No. 3 Jon Rahm, who is currently in LIV.
⚾️MLB Trivia
There are only three weeks left until opening day. To celebrate, let's test your knowledge about the 2023 season.
question: Can you tell me the names of last season's six division winners?
The answer is at the bottom.
⛳️ A meal kit like no other
masters meal As iconic as Amen Corner is, the good news is that you can experience it firsthand from the comfort of your couch. Jeff writes.
Master taste: Augusta National began shipping refreshment kits for the first time in 2020 to provide a more authentic at-home viewing experience for fans who were unable to attend during the pandemic. This year he has two options:
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Classic Kit ($99.95): Pimento cheese, potato chips, moon pie, souvenir cups, and coasters are enough for 6 people.
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Large-scale hosting kit ($179.95): The larger option serves 14 people and includes pimento cheese, egg salad, barbecue pork, chips, cookies and cups.
Future prospects: The 88th Masters begins on April 11th.
Order the taste of Masters.
Trivia answer: Orioles (AL East), Twins (AL Central), Astros (AL West), Braves (NL East), Brewers (NL Central), Dodgers (NL Central) West district)
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