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Category: Sports

  • Lane Kiffin, a former Eagles undrafted free agent, and a fitting episode for our times in college sports

    Lane Kiffin, a former Eagles undrafted free agent, and a fitting episode for our times in college sports

    Maybe the best thing that can happen to college sports’ integrity is everything that is happening to its integrity right now. It would be ironic, in a way. The NCAA and its member institutions are where they are because they spent decades adhering to a policy of inertia. Only now does it look like a viable strategy, after their world is already burning around them. Sometimes, in order to gain back what was lost, one must lose what little remains.

    Very little remains. Let’s be clear about that. That was true even before last weekend’s news that former Eagles undrafted rookie free agent Dae’Quan Wright was planning on returning to the college ranks after being waived by the Browns. In fact, the hand-wringing that has accompanied the tight end’s reported agreement with LSU is mostly an admission of naiveté or ignorance on the part of the hand-wringers.

    The NCAA is more than a decade into a series of logical premises and conclusions that was always going to lead power conferences like the SEC and Big Ten to where they are right now. The university presidents who operate behind the NCAA’s bureaucratic anonymity chose this path when they allowed the almighty dollar of television contracts and the vanity of a news cycle monopoly to become the primary goal of collegiate sports rather than sports played by, for, and among collegiates. They are living in a reductio ad absurdum of their own creation.

    SEC joins Big Ten in banning pros from returning to college, includes basketball players

    The best thing any of us can do for our sanity is to lean back and enjoy watching them lose theirs. It no longer makes sense to react to each development as if university athletic departments are tethered to some sort of ethical baseline that sets them apart from any other major professional sports organization. They pulled up that anchor long ago. The ship has sailed.

    Frankly, the idea of an undrafted athlete moving from the bottom of an NFL training camp roster to a college football starting lineup pales in comparison to the legion of current college football starters who are making bigger bank than they would as NFL players on rookie contracts. The average Power 4 quarterback is currently signed to a name, image, and likeness deal worth $3.1 million, according to Sportico. It always made sense that there would come a day when a player would ask out of a contract from the Browns for a more competitive offer funded by Big Willy’s Jeep-Chevy of Baton Rouge. That’s the way NIL was always going to work.

    The ridiculousness is the real sport, now. We should treat it as such. For years, the NCAA chose to address the logical implications of its profit drive with a weird and counterintuitive combination of hope, avoidance, and authoritarian dictates. They fully recognized that the genie would one day escape the bottle. Now, they’re left to hope that Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow already have plans for their bye week, when LSU plays Mississippi State.

    Lane Kiffin’s central role in the latest lunacy is fitting. College football’s Kendall Roy has spent the early part of this week channeling the exact sort of ends-based nihilism so sublimely satirized by HBO’s Succession. He did the same last year when he left his Ole Miss team on the eve of the college playoffs in order to sign a mega contract with LSU. Nick Saban, his former boss at Alabama, leveraged the full power of the media-sports industrial complex to absolve him of responsibility.

    “We need to take a better approach to the business aspect of what we do in college athletics,” Saban said on ESPN’s pregame studio show after Kiffin left Ole Miss. “In the NFL, you can’t leave your team until you are finished playing. You can’t talk to another coach in the regular season. There’s a defined time when you can talk to them if they are in the playoffs. We should match the academic calendar with the football calendar.”

    Well, yeah. You should. But there are a whole lot of competing self-interests standing between ought and is. Like any system, it is first and foremost a reflection of those who agree to its framework. Major college football has become nothing more than Boar on the Floor in pads. Any television news segment on NCAA should conclude with a clip of Logan Roy smirking at all the piggies at the trough.

    Dae’Quan Wright is among the NFL players trying to play another season of college football.Carolyn Kaster

    “In general, should NFL players come back to college? I believe — it doesn’t matter necessarily what I believe — that answer would be no,” Kiffin said in a Monday news conference while defending his recruiting of at least two former Ole Miss players who’d spent the summer in NFL training camps.

    Focus on Kiffin’s interjection.

    It doesn’t matter necessarily what I believe.

    You’ll struggle to find seven words that more accurately summarize both the current state of college sports and its contributing factors. In a more principled world, they would be written off as the words of a coward. In our current world, they might as well be written in Latin beneath the flag or family crest or company logo of a disconcerting number of tech titans, politicians, and Fortune 500 firms, not to mention the hundreds of university presidents who have long embraced the plausible deniability of the concept of shareholder value. The best thing you can say about the system of higher education in the United States is that it remains steadfastly by and of the system at large.

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    The only hope is that it burns itself as quickly and completely as possible. The inevitable end game for the major football-playing schools won’t look much closer to the mandates of their university charters. The big schools will break away, impose a salary cap, hiring and transfer restrictions — all of the things major sports leagues long ago did as a result of similar competitive inevitabilities. They will sign their own television contract, sell their own licensing agreements, consolidate the revenues. The nonpower schools will exist mostly as a counterweight to any antitrust claims. Meanwhile, the rest of us will continue to contemplate the question: Do we really care about college sports if they are no longer about the college?

  • Aaron Nola’s resurgence continues, but Phillies’ bats are silenced in 4-1 loss to the Mariners

    Aaron Nola’s resurgence continues, but Phillies’ bats are silenced in 4-1 loss to the Mariners

    SEATTLE — The second-best option in the bullpen hadn’t pitched in six days. Nothing to see there, the Phillies insisted. The game situations simply didn’t call for Jonathan Bowlan.

    “But tonight,” interim manager Don Mattingly said before Tuesday’s game, “is probably almost a must-pitch.”

    So, here were the Phillies, trailing by one run against the Mariners as the seventh inning began. And there was Bowlan, still sitting in the bullpen as Orion Kerkering came on in relief of starter Aaron Nola.

    Bowlan pitched, true to Mattingly’s word. But by the time he entered in the eighth, the deficit had swelled to three runs in a 4-1 loss, the Phillies’ second setback in a row here in Seattle after nine consecutive victories.

    Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    The record will reflect that Nola yielded the go-ahead run in the sixth inning on back-to-back singles to Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor. But Nola allowed only three hits overall to continue a resurgence in the midst of ace Zack Wheeler’s worst six-start stretch in nearly 10 years.

    So, let’s not pin this one on Nola. Not after the Phillies went 15 consecutive at-bats without a hit between the third and eighth innings against Mariners starter George Kirby.

    And certainly not after Mattingly put a 2-1 seventh-inning deficit in the hands of someone other than his well-rested setup man.

    Why Kerkering over Bowlan in the seventh?

    “He’s kind of been our seventh-inning guy, eighth depending on where it goes,” Mattingly said of Kerkering. “It felt like he was the right guy.”

    Aaron Nola has a 3.57 ERA in his last 10 starts.Lindsey Wasson

    To be fair, Kerkering seemed to have gotten a second wind lately after struggling to throw strikes in late July. But he hit Taylor Ward with one out in the seventh, then allowed a single to J.P. Crawford and walked Brock Rodden to load the bases before Randy Arozarena fouled out.

    With two out, Mattingly played the matchups, turning to lefty Brooks Raley to face lefty-hitting Dominic Canzone. Raley’s 1-1 pitch was a low-and-away sweeper. But Canzone covered the outer edge of the plate and lined it to center field for a two-run single.

    Bowlan, meanwhile, pitched around a one-out walk in a scoreless eighth with an assist to Bryce Harper, who made a diving catch in right field to end the inning.

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    Kirby muted an offense that had been fully operational throughout the nine-game winning streak. With a blazing fastball and a four-pitch offspeed mixture, he gave up a run on Justin Crawford’s RBI single in the second inning, then slammed the door.

    “He’s good, man,” Trea Turner said. “He’s got four or five really good pitches and then just the command is really good. He doesn’t give you much to hit in the middle of the zone. The fastball was hard today. I think I saw a bunch of 99s up there, so he’s tough.

    “I felt like we did a good job early battling to get some runners on there, but it’s hard to put a big inning against him as a team.”

    Justin Crawford’s RBI single in the second inning was the Phillies’ lone run.Lindsey Wasson

    Before the game, most of the attention of the Phillies’ pitching brain trust was focused on trying to solve the riddle of Wheeler’s 8.51 ERA in his last six starts. It’s his worst six-start stretch since he posted a 9.89 ERA midway through the 2017 season when he was still with the Mets.

    Absent a solution, not much else matters.

    But imagine the state of the Phillies’ rotation in these waning days of summer if not for Nola.

    And imagine saying that even a month ago.

    “He’s been on a good roll,” Mattingly said. “He was really good tonight.”

    Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month

    Nola gave up a game-tying solo homer to suddenly scorching Cal Raleigh in the second inning. He retired 13 of the next 15 batters, allowing only two walks before the back-to-back hits by Rodríguez and Naylor in the sixth.

    It marked another quality start for Nola, who has a 3.57 ERA in his last 10 starts. Since July 5, he has lowered his season ERA from 6.04 to 5.03.

    “I just kept trying to work, keep working, having good weeks, and keep competing out there,” Nola said. “I feel a little more on the attack, and my misses are a little bit smaller.”

    Since July 5, Aaron Nola has dropped his ERA from 5.87 to 5.03.Lindsey Wasson

    But after flying across the country on the wings of an improbable ninth-inning comeback at home Sunday, back-to-back losses in the Pacific Northwest have felt like a bucket of ice water.

    It has also stretched the deficit in the NL East back to 4½ games and narrowed the Phillies’ wild-card lead to three games over the Diamondbacks.

    “It’s tough,” Turner said. “But I think we ran into two really good starting pitchers the last couple of days and just didn’t get the job done. I don’t feel like we’re beating ourselves or doing some stupid stuff. I just feel like we just got beaten. You move on.”

  • Eagles practice observations: Riq Woolen intercepts Jalen Hurts twice; Another big day for D; DeVonta Smith still awesome

    Eagles practice observations: Riq Woolen intercepts Jalen Hurts twice; Another big day for D; DeVonta Smith still awesome

    The Eagles held the 16th open practice of their 2026 training camp on Tuesday at Lincoln Financial Field. Here were my observations from Day 16 (and links to Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15):

    Stowers update

    Eli Stowers missed a second straight practice with a hamstring injury that he suffered in the second preseason game against the New England Patriots. The rookie tight end is expected to be out for about two weeks, from what I understand. If he’s healthy by the Wednesday before Week 1 of the regular season, he could be available for the season opener.

    Jalyx Hunt is fine with you noticing his ascent. Just don’t call the Eagles pass rusher a breakout player.

    The following Eagles were also held out because of injury: Tackle Markel Bell (thumb/leg), cornerback Jonathan Jones (shoulder), tight end Grant Calcaterra (back), cornerback Jakorian Bennett (knee) and safety Cole Wisniewski (concussion). Cornerback Mac McWilliams (shoulder) was limited.

    The Eagles had a number of players make full returns from injury, including center/guard Willie Lampkin (stinger), defensive tackle Byron Young (shoulder), running back Dameon Pierce (hamstring), tackle John Ojukwu (pectoral), wide receiver Quez Watkins (foot), cornerback Ambry Thomas (groin), and receiver Danny Gray (groin).

    Eagles fans were back at the Linc and witnessed a defense-dominated display. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Oh, O-line

    Guard Landon Dickerson was given a not-injury-related rest day. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, he tore the meniscus in his knee during last year’s open practice at the Linc. The Eagles may have sat him to stay away from potential bad juju. Dickerson rushed back from surgery in time for the opener a year ago, but recently said that he should have waited until he was fully recovered.

    Drew Kendall took all the repetitions at left guard in Dickerson’s place. He had his ups and downs in a scrimmage that favored the Eagles defense, particularly the first unit. Kendall got toasted by defensive tackle Moro Ojomo on an inside rush that resulted in a sack at one point. Right tackle Lane Johnson left early not long after edge Nolan Smith Jr. beat him inside for a hurry. Fred Johnson took his spot with Bell out. Ojukwu got bumped up the depth chart and filled in the few times left tackle Jordan Mailata took a rest.

    DeVonta Smith (right) was an offensive standout and gave Eagles fans something about which to cheer. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    D-lightful

    The makeshift O-line likely had something to do with the struggles of Jalen Hurts and Co. The quarterback was pressured a bunch. But Sean Mannion’s unit was often out of sync except for a couple successful red-zone plays and one good drive after being backed up. Hurts’ two interceptions to cornerback Riq Woolen will make headlines — as they should for both parties — but there were a lot of reasons why the first-unit offense looked sloppy.

    Riq Woolen feels like ‘a rookie again’ with the Eagles. His prove-it year is big for him and the Birds.

    Credit has to be given to Vic Fangio’s group. He’s had all of his starters for most of the summer and that same 11 was in the lineup again. Mannion’s installation has been completed for over a week, so there isn’t much new to throw at the defense. The group knows the plays, the snap count, and often what’s coming before it even happens.

    On the first series, Hurts hit receiver Dontayvion Wicks for a short gain and Saquon Barkley had a solid run to the left, but it was mostly defensive dominance thereafter. Safety Marcus Epps snuffed out a Hurts draw play. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter met Barkley at the line of scrimmage for a stop. Hurts hooked up with receiver DeVonta Smith after getting forced to his right. But his pass to receiver Makai Lemon on an inside route was broken up by cornerback Quinyon Mitchell.

    Jalen Hurts and the offense remains a work in progress. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Hurts so much

    The next set was less productive for the offense or more fruitful for the defense — take your pick. Hurts went to Lemon on a schemed-up pass off play-action, but cornerback Cooper DeJean was in the receiver’s pocket. Smith burned Mitchell on a deep post route, but Hurts’ pass was underthrown and Mitchell recovered to break up the pass. Smith is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the Eagles’ receivers.

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    Jalyx Hunt made Fred Johnson look like a turnstile on the way to a would-be sack. Hurts continued the play and hit Wicks over the middle, but the play was given to the defense. Another short toss to Lemon netted few yards with cornerback Michael Carter II in tight coverage. Jalen Carter touched up Barkley for a stop. And when Hurts did well to roll away from an unblocked blitzer and found Smith as his outlet, the receiver dropped the ball. On the last play of the set, Hurts chucked the ball wide and out of bounds with a covered Smith.

    Jalen Hurts missed some throws behind a patchwork line but was more effective in the red zone. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Lemon aid

    Lemon has been getting a tutorial from DeJean, one of the best slots in the NFL. Mannion called for another quick hitter to the receiver off a naked bootleg, but with Hunt in Hurts’ mug, DeJean was all over Lemon by the time the ball arrived. Jalen Carter gifted the offense five yards when he jumped offside, but a Barkley outside zone run on the next play was blown up in the backfield. Hurts likely needed to check out of that call with so many defenders in the box.

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    It just got worse. A Fangio blitz collapsed the pocket, but Hurts still threw to Lemon on a crossing route. It wasn’t the greatest route and Woolen snatched the ball for his first interception of the night. An offensive false start followed. Hurts did hook up with receiver Darius Cooper on a button hook. And running back Tank Bigsby had decent gains up the middle on the ground.

    But Ojomo’s sack and another drop — this time from Cooper — ended the set.

    Fans watched as the Eagles defense defeated the offense by a count of 58-36, based on practice scoring. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Red zone district

    The offense rebounded in the red zone. On the first play from the 20-yard line, Barkley ran a sort-of corner route and got behind linebacker Zack Baun. Hurts’ throw was perfect and the running back made the catch for a touchdown.

    On the next red-zone possession, Barkley gobbled yards up the middle on first down. But on the next play, Hurts’ downfield throw to Lemon off play-action was broken up by Mitchell. The rookie receiver didn’t appear to get enough depth on his route. The ball went back to Lemon on his next pattern — when he motioned inside and ran a wheel route — and the defense didn’t account for him. He waltzed into the end zone untouched.

    What changed for Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion after an ugly preseason debut? ‘Execution’

    Back to back

    Hurts built off that modicum of success during the backup portion. A first-down run didn’t net many yards. In fact, it resulted in defensive tackle Jordan Davis hobbling off after he dinged his left arm. (He later returned, outfitted with a brace.) But Bigsby churned ahead on the ground on a couple carries. And Hurts again rolled away from the rush and found tight end Cam Latu for a first down.

    We got a rare glimpse of tight end Johnny Mundt in the backfield. The Bigsby rush was thwarted, but not exclusively because of Mundt’s lead block. A screen pass to Smith on the ensuing play was blown up by DeJean. But Hurts wisely kept feeding his best receiver. He rifled a dart to Smith on a comebacker ahead of Mitchell. And two plays later, tossed a strike to No. 6 just out of Woolen’s reach and Smith jetted upfield for chunk yards.

    A busted play that forced Hurts into a throwaway and DeJean snuffing out a Will Shipley draw forced another third down. But receiver Hollywood Brown got wide-open downfield and raced the last 10 yards untouched into the end zone.

    Saquon Barkley had a frustrating night on the ground in the open practice. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Two for two

    The first two-minute drill was an odd one as the offense worked on getting the defense to jump offside. Barkley and tight end Dallas Goedert looked back at their coaches upset or confused or something else when a couple of the tailback’s rushes were curtailed. Center Cam Jurgens walked out of the huddle and was replaced by Jake Majors. Jurgens didn’t appear hurt. But Hurts’ hard count finally did get an impatient Ojomo to jump. It wasn’t exactly riveting stuff for the fans.

    Nevertheless, the first units came out for one last hurry-up period. The offense got off to a solid start with a Barkley catch-and-run out of the backfield, a checkdown to Smith and a Hurts seed to Wicks over the middle. But when Hurts was pressured again by Hunt, he tried for Smith near the sideline. Woolen was in lockstep with the receiver, jumped the route and went the other way with the ball for a pick-six.

    Nick Sirianni gave Andy Dalton the first crack at No. 2 reps on Tuesday night. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Second best

    This was a night almost exclusively for the starters with fans in the house, and the final preseason game reserved for guys fighting to make the roster or the practice squad. There were some periods for the second and third units. Andy Dalton got the nod at quarterback as he and Tanner McKee continued to split snaps in their battle for the No. 2 job.

    Dalton overthrew Cooper on his first drop. But he got into a rhythm with receiver Elijah Moore and scored on their third connection when Moore found space on a crossing route and zigzagged into the end zone.

    Tanner McKee outperforms Andy Dalton in the Eagles’ confounding backup QB competition. Will it matter?

    McKee had some good moments, too. He went to Brown for a couple quickies vs. zone coverage. He found Moore as his outlet vs. the blitz. And on fourth down, he hit tight end E.J. Jenkins on a short release. Shipley did the rest on the ground and scored when he ran off right tackle. McKee’s two-point conversion try in the back of the end zone went off Brown’s hands.

    McKee shined in the two-minute period. He hooked up with Cooper on a deep crosser and hit Moore on a 15-yard out. His downfield pass to Cooper was on target, but the receiver eased up his route and the ball sailed by. Cooper reacted as if he knew he messed up.

    Extra points

    The final score was Defense 58, Offense 36. … Rookie quarterback Cole Payton got a few reps in the backup period. … Britain Covey was again the first up to field punts, but Lemon took turns as well. If the Eagles believe the rookie can handle punts, it could make Covey expendable on game days … Shipley and Bigsby were paired as the first two kick returners. … The Eagles announced attendance of more than 45,000. Pennsylvania governor and noted Eagles fan Josh Shapiro was among them. … The Eagles will return to the Jefferson Health Training Complex for practice on Wednesday afternoon. They will have a closed walkthrough on Thursday ahead of Friday’s preseason finale at the Linc vs. the Cincinnati Bengals.

  • Gov. Josh Shapiro reiterates that the Eagles’ home of the future will ‘be in the city of Philadelphia’

    Gov. Josh Shapiro reiterates that the Eagles’ home of the future will ‘be in the city of Philadelphia’

    Josh Shapiro spent his formative years in Montgomery County as a rabid Philadelphia sports fan, but as an undersized point guard at Akiba Hebrew Academy, the path to signing autographs for Philadelphia fans as a sports star wasn’t all that probable.

    As the governor of Pennsylvania, though? Shapiro found himself catching miniature footballs and jerseys from fans and tossing them back into the stands after applying his signature Tuesday night as the Eagles warmed up at Lincoln Financial Field ahead of their open practice.

    “I was joking with some of the kids, I think I was decreasing the value of their Jalen Hurts jersey,” Shapiro joked.

    Jalyx Hunt is fine with you noticing his ascent. Just don’t call the Eagles pass rusher a breakout player.

    “Look, it’s humbling. It’s an honor to be with all these folks and to be with fellow Birds fans, who are not only out here to watch our team but also support an incredible cause. The amount of money they’re raising, about $800,000 tonight for the Eagles Autism Foundation, it’s an amazing thing Jeffrey [Lurie] has done for this city and the example he’s set for the entire country.”

    Shapiro, after finishing with autographs and pictures, made his way to the sideline, where he chatted with Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, who he later called “the best GM in all of sports, although Mike Gansey is giving him a hell of a run for his money landing LeBron.” The longtime Eagles fan is optimistic that Roseman has put together a team that can compete for another Super Bowl. Shapiro attended each of the last two Eagles Super Bowl appearances.

    “I think there’s a lot of hope, there’s a lot of optimism, a lot of excitement after, obviously, a down year last year,” Shapiro said. “It didn’t end how we wanted. Folks are pumped up. I think there’s something unique about this city that 50,000 people came out to watch a practice. They’re fired up and so am I.”

    Tuesday was the team’s annual open practice at Lincoln Financial Field. The stadium itself has been a topic of conversation since Lurie made public statements earlier this year about his team’s future home, indicating all options were on the table when it comes to the type of stadium and even where it’s located.

    Shapiro on Tuesday reiterated what he told The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane on the unCovering the Birds podcast in April.

    Gov. Josh Shapiro (left) talks with Eagles GM Howie Roseman during an open Eagles practice at Lincoln Financial Field on Tuesday. Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    “I appreciate the way [team president] Don [Smolenski] and Jeffrey and the entire franchise are thinking really critically about what they want for the future of a home for the Philadelphia Eagles,” Shapiro said Tuesday. “Here’s what I can tell you for sure: It’s going to be in the city of Philadelphia, and we’ll work with the Eagles once they determine what it is they’re interested in doing, but I appreciate the thoughtful and deliberate approach that they’ve taken to this process.”

    The Eagles are at Lincoln Financial Field until 2032 under their current lease agreement. But the team has begun what Lurie called “exploratory research” on a new or renovated stadium. Last year, the organization sent out surveys to season-ticket holders to seek input on the prospects of a stadium renovation or a new building. It is similar to what the Eagles did before they moved from Veterans Stadium to Lincoln Financial Field in 2003.

    Lurie said the goal is to have a more “definitive approach” to the team’s stadium plans in a year or two.

    “They’re going to think about what they want as a home for the next 30, 40, 50 years, and then we’ll have a conversation when they’re ready to have that,” Shapiro said.

    Shapiro won’t be in his current office when the lease expires. He’s up for reelection in November, and while polls show him with a 16-point lead, he’s term-limited and can’t be governor beyond the next four-year term. It remains possible, too, that he considers a run for president in 2028.

  • SEC joins Big Ten in banning pros from returning to college, includes basketball players

    SEC joins Big Ten in banning pros from returning to college, includes basketball players

    The Southeastern Conference passed a rule Tuesday banning players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues, joining the Big Ten in taking a strong stand against this month’s unexpected surge of pro players trying to return to college.

    The SEC’s rule differs from the one adopted by the Big Ten, which only included football in its decision released earlier in the day.

    Combined, it leaves little doubt about where the nation’s two biggest conferences stand in the wake of court orders that were allowing players who had been on pro rosters, then released, to return back to college.

    It puts LSU on notice. This week, Tigers coach Lane Kiffin added Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, a pair of undrafted players out of Mississippi who had tryouts in the NFL over the summer, but were released by their teams during training camp.

    The rule would also apply to basketball player R.J. Luis, who Monday won a court ruling that allowed him to sign with Will Wade’s program at LSU despite having briefly been under contract with the Jazz and Celtics of the NBA.

    There was no immediate comment from LSU.

    The Big Ten’s penalties for violating its rule include a half-season suspension for the head coach and a fine to the school. The SEC did not immediately divulge its penalties.

    The burst of rulemaking marked the latest chapter in a remarkable month for college sports, which was suddenly faced with the once-unthinkable but now court-approved return to college of players who had signed and sometimes played for professional teams.

    “I feel like I took a freaking gummy,” said Sean McVay, the coach of the Los Angeles Rams, when asked about the prospect of a player he released returning to college. “I don’t even understand it.”

    Kiffin was much more in tune with the change, suggesting in a news conference Monday that if LSU didn’t take such players, other teams certainly would. Now, nobody can — at least not among the 34 teams that make up the two biggest leagues in college and play an outsize role in spearheading policy across the industry.

    Another Power Four league, the Atlantic Coast Conference, was set to discuss the issue Wednesday.

    They are reacting to a series of losses in state courts around the country, where judges are granting players who graduated high school in 2022 a fifth year of eligibility. In June, the NCAA passed a rule giving most players five years to finish five seasons of eligibility in college, but did not grandfather in the Class of ’22.

    Hundreds of those players saw their fourth — and supposedly final — year of eligibility run out last spring. They are arguing in courts that they’re being denied educational opportunities and the chance to earn name, image and likeness money that they could get in a fifth year.

  • The LeBron hype has not died down as Sixers fans line up outside the arena for James and Jaylen Brown jerseys

    The LeBron hype has not died down as Sixers fans line up outside the arena for James and Jaylen Brown jerseys

    It’s been over a month since LeBron James announced he was coming to Philly to finish his career with the 76ers, and the fanfare has not slowed down.

    The Sixers team store at Xfinity Mobile Arena opened on Tuesday (and will be open again on Wednesday), giving fans another opportunity to get their hands on fresh gear ahead of the season, including newly-minted James and Jaylen Brown jerseys.

    Fans who lined up outside the store before it opened to secure the new jerseys were greeted by members of the Sixers entertainment team and music as they entered the store.

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    Victoria Isley, the team’s vice president of partnership solutions, said that while the store is normally open only on game days, the Sixers wanted to do something special to help fans gear up for the season given the hype surrounding the team — and the demand for James jerseys.

    “Fans have been so excited since this entire offseason, [with] multiple acquisitions,” Isley said. “So I think we’re ready to have the season start, and I think fans are showing it by lining up early to get their gear and their jerseys ahead of the season.”

    Evelina Capelli, 12, and her brother Anthony Capelli, 10, of South Philadelphia, are greeted by the Sixers Entertainment Squad as they enter the team store at Xfinity Mobile Arena.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    Turning the team store into an event, Isley said, was the Sixers organization’s way of showing what it expects the vibes to be like all season. Isley believes the excitement will continue into media day and the start of preseason, carrying all the way into the season opener.

    And most fans at the store on Tuesday — like 21-year-old Cam Johnson, from Oak Ridge, N.J. — expect the excitement of the season to culminate with a parade down Broad Street.

    Sixers fans got their first look at LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, and Tyrese Maxey on the court together

    “The hype is definitely going to continue,” Johnson said. “Anytime you got LeBron James on your team, you’re going to get heightened media attention, fan attention, all that. But we got the GOAT on our team, in my opinion, two GOATs on our team, and I expect to win a championship because this team made it to the second round last year.

    “Now you’re inserting the greatest player of all time with this team — and I think he fits seamlessly — and now you got Jaylen Brown too. I got high expectations.”

    Stacy Romeo, of South Philly, looks over some Sixers gear while Antoine Mapp, leader of the Sixers Stixers drum line, brings the energy.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    While Johnson believes James, 41, to be the best player ever, he thinks that this season, Brown, 29, will make the bigger on-court impact for the Sixers and average more points than James due to the different stages of their careers.

    Still, it was James’ jersey that was the main event on Tuesday.

    Stephanie Hannum, 36, drove from Cape May to buy her son a James jersey ahead of his 14th birthday on Wednesday. Hannum used to have to buy her son James merchandise in yellow and purple when he was with the Los Angeles Lakers.

    Sixers hiring assistant coach Phil Handy, a veteran with deep ties to LeBron James

    Now, with James on the Sixers, Hannum said she hopes to take her son to more games while wearing red and blue to support his favorite team and favorite player.

    “He’s a huge LeBron fan and a 76ers fan,” Hannum said. “As soon as [James] got signed, it was like all he could talk about, so I was like, I need to drive up here to get this today.”

    Fortunately, Hannum was able to find one that fit her son. Some fans had complained about a lack of available youth jerseys, but a Sixers representative noted that was due to the demand, and they restocked later in the afternoon.

    Noah Hammad, 12, wears the jersey of one Philly great while shopping for merchandise of the city’s newest superstar, LeBron James. Hammad had to settle for a T-shirt due to a lack of jerseys in youth sizes.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    The combination of Philly fans, known for being an impassioned group, and hard core James’ supporters, who follow him from team to team, has caused the future Hall of Famer’s Sixers jerseys to become a hot commodity. James quickly passed Shohei Ohtani for the most jersey sales after switching teams, according to Fanatics.

    When James’ jersey hit Dick’s Sporting Goods, they quickly flew off the shelves there too.

    LeBron James releasing sneaker to commemorate only All-Star Game he missed

    At the team store in South Philly on Tuesday, the turnout was just the latest display of the fan base’s passion and excitement for the season, which Isley said stems from “nothing but love.”

    “The fans have been waiting, and I think they’re just so excited to rep the gear, to get LeBron’s jersey, to get Jaylen’s jersey, to get [Tyrese] Maxey’s jersey,” Isley said. “So, it’s incredible to see everyone come out and bring everyone together.”

  • Big 5 Classic men’s and women’s dates are set with a new venue for the women’s championship

    Big 5 Classic men’s and women’s dates are set with a new venue for the women’s championship

    The dates and locations for the men’s and women’s Big 5 Classic are set.

    The men’s classic will be held at Xfinity Mobile Arena for the fourth consecutive year on Dec 5. Meanwhile, the women’s classic will come to the Palestra on Dec 6.

    The choice of Palestra for the women’s classic coincides with the 100-year anniversary of the storied arena. The event was held at Villanova’s Finneran Pavilion for its first two years.

    Along with the women’s Big 5 Classic, Penn is hosting an expanded Cathedral Classic during Thanksgiving weekend and the men’s and women’s Ivy League tournaments this season.

    Both the men’s and women’s Big 5 Classic will feature the city’s six Division I programs playing in a triple-header. Seeding will be once again be determined by the teams’ performance in pod play. Each pod game will take place at the schools’ on-campus arenas in a round-robin format.

    For both the men and women, the teams that make up each pod are the same. Pod 1 will feature Drexel, Penn, and Saint Joseph’s while Pod 2 will consist of La Salle, Temple, and Villanova.

    St. Joe’s and Villanova’s men’s teams are separated for a second year in a row. The Hawks won the first two iterations of the Big 5 Classic, while Villanova enters its season as the defending champions after it trounced Penn, 90-63.

    In the women’s championship, the Wildcats also came out on top, defeating St. Joe’s 76-70.

    Follow the Inquirer’s complete coverage of college sports right here!
  • East Side Little League falls 6-5 to Phenix City, ending its run in Williamsport

    East Side Little League falls 6-5 to Phenix City, ending its run in Williamsport

    East Side Little League, a 12-and-under baseball team from West Chester, saw its run in Williamsport, Pa., end in a heartbreaker.

    On Monday, East Side fell 6-5 to Phenix City Youth Baseball LL and was eliminated from the Little League World Series. Powered by its stellar hitting, East Side came out to an early 5-0 lead. However, a big third inning from Phenix City led the Alabama team’s comeback.

    Trailing 5-0 with two outs in the third, Phenix City left fielder Cooper Champion stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a two-run single to right field. Phenix City added two runs before the inning was capped off by an RBI single from pitcher Kinley Rasmus that tied the score.

    Rasmus is just the 25th girl to appear in a Little League World Series game.

    West Chester’s East Side Little League soaking up the Little League World Series experience despite opening loss

    The game stayed tied at 5-5 through the regulation six innings until Phenix City catcher Brooks Cameron’s single scored Urijah Berklite with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

    For East Side, Cole Warner scored a run in the first inning before hitting a two-run homer to center field in the third. After starting the game at center field, Warner moved to the mound in the fourth inning. He allowed just one run while collecting six strikeouts to close out the game.

    East Side outfielder Ryan Hennessey, the son of coach Bob Hennessey, scored two runs and had a two-run double before Phenix City stormed back.

    The kids from East Side Little League in West Chester made the trip to Williamsport.Courtesy of Katherine Cowperthwait

    The loss marks East Side’s second of the tournament in as many appearances. The team, which battled out of the loser’s bracket in the Pennsylvania state tournament, gained significant support from the Greater Philadelphia area after cruising through the Mid-Atlantic regionals. In West Chester, watch parties, filled with East Side alumni and fans, sprung up around the borough.

    In Williamsport, the East Side players were able to interact and befriend peers from all over the world — even bunking with Japan’s 12-and-under team. They also had the chance to meet players from the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves before the Little League World Series MLB Classic.

    “It’s just a dream come true, to be honest,” Bob Hennessey previously told The Inquirer. “That’s every Little Leaguer’s dream. It was my dream growing up to see these boys get here and get to experience it. Nothing but amazing.”

  • Last week, Esha Velaga took the MCAT. This week, the Penn senior made her pro tennis debut — right on campus.

    Last week, Esha Velaga took the MCAT. This week, the Penn senior made her pro tennis debut — right on campus.

    On Friday, Esha Velaga sat for her MCAT.

    That gave her just about one day to prepare for her first professional tennis match at the Ennoble Care Philly Open, a WTA 125 event being held at the University of Pennsylvania’s Hamlin Tennis Center. Later that evening, she learned she was going to play her second — in doubles, with Penn teammate Lara Stojanovski, the next day.

    “It’s been so hectic,” Velaga said. “Obviously, it didn’t go the way I wanted to in both singles and doubles, but no matter what, it was genuinely so cool. Even if I wasn’t necessarily preparing to the best of my ability, it was really fun.”

    Velaga, a senior, lost her qualifying match 6-2, 6-4 to Ekaterina Ovcharenko in front of a packed crowd of Penn teammates, coaches, and friends cheering her on. She is headed for medical school after graduation instead of a professional tennis career. But she is planning on using the experience as a springboard for the Quakers’ upcoming season.

    “We can compete here, even though we haven’t been doing professional-level training,” Velaga said. “I think we’ll definitely use the momentum and the good energy as well, and bring it into our very high-energy college season, and just know that no matter what team we compete against, we always have a chance, and we’re in it.”

    Penn senior Esha Velaga played in her first professional tennis match on Sunday at the Ennoble Care Philly Open.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    Velaga and Stojanovski were all-Ivy honorable mentions in doubles in 2025-26, but hadn’t practiced together all summer. They ultimately fell 6-4, 6-2 to the second-seeded team, but considering the circumstances, both were happy with the experience.

    “It was a lot better than I expected,” Stojanovski said. “I think our chemistry since I came here as a freshman has been really good. We get each others’ games, so I don’t think we needed that much time to get on, but I do wish we had a little bit more time to prepare because I genuinely think we have the level.”

    The Philly Open is the first WTA tournament in the area in over 20 years. Since the opening of the Penn Tennis Center, the university has been trying to attract a professional event, and they are taking full advantage of the opportunity.

    Velaga lost both her matches, but thinks the experience will pay dividends for the Quakers this season.David Maialetti / Staff Photographer

    The event is a boon to all of Penn’s tennis players. Stojanovski and Velaga got the wild-card entries into the draw, but other Penn players on campus got the chance to serve as hitting partners for players on-site and to watch their trainings.

    Stojanovski said playing against the professionals showed her just how high the level is in college tennis, and that they have the ability to compete.

    “It’s been an amazing experience because we got to practice with professionals, see how they’re preparing, see how they’re practicing, how they’re recovering,” Stojanovski said. “What are they doing differently?”

  • MLBPA supports banning players from promoting sportsbook VIP programs

    MLBPA supports banning players from promoting sportsbook VIP programs

    The Major League Baseball Players Association said Monday that it supports prohibiting players from participating in personalized marketing campaigns for sportsbook VIP programs, amid congressional scrutiny of a video of Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper that a FanDuel employee sent to a customer who had a gambling addiction.

    Jeffrey Perconte, MLBPA’s general counsel, wrote in a letter to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) and U.S. Reps. Paul D. Tonko (D., N.Y.) and Valerie P. Foushee (D., N.C.), that the union would be willing to adopt this restriction as part of a new collective bargaining agreement that it is negotiating with Major League Baseball.

    The three members of Congress had sent letters on Aug. 10 to MLB, the players’ union, and FanDuel, demanding that each take corrective action to address The Inquirer’s reporting on the personalized video Harper recorded and a FanDuel VIP host sent in 2024 to Terry Thompson, a Montgomery County resident who lost $1.5 million on sports wagers that he placed with FanDuel.

    Thompson planned to die by suicide earlier this year rather than acknowledge to his family the scope of his losses, according to a lawsuit that the nonprofit Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March on Thompson’s behalf against FanDuel and DraftKings, which had also allegedly provided him with VIP perks.

    Harper has said that he recorded the message through the video service Cameo but didn’t know that FanDuel would utilize the 21-second video as a reward for an addicted gambler.

    The Democratic lawmakers told FanDuel to end its VIP program, which they described as predatory, and called on MLB and the MLBPA to prohibit players from performing promotional work for gambling entities.

    That players aren’t prohibited from doing promotional work for gambling companies is a “systemic failure,” the lawmakers wrote, “rooted in the deep enmeshment between leagues, teams, and sports books.”

    In his response, Perconte noted that the current collective bargaining agreement, which expires in December, allows players to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, provided the ballplayers do not encourage betting on baseball.

    “We believe the restrictions on endorsements and partnerships in our collectively bargained policies represents a good-faith effort to allow responsible betting-related promotional activity by teams and players,” Perconte wrote.

    “That said, our current policies do not explicitly reference or otherwise address the types of ‘predatory VIP programs’ described in your Aug. 10 letter. The Association stands ready to make proposals to fill that gap.”

    FanDuel responded in a separate letter to the lawmakers, explaining that the company offers tools that enable bettors to limit how much and how often they wager, and extensively reviews customers’ betting history before offering them VIP status, according to a copy of the message that was posted online by the outlet Sports Betting Dime.

    “Employees who are primarily responsible for engaging with VIPs — VIP Account Managers — are salaried employees,” wrote Cory Fox, a FanDuel senior vice president. “Their compensation is not tied to how much their customers wager or the results of those customers’ wagering activities.”

    FanDuel did not address questions that the Congress members raised about whether VIP managers had sent videos of other athletes or celebrities to gamblers.

    Since the U.S. Supreme Court voted in 2018 to give states the authority to enact their own sports betting laws, MLB and other professional sports leagues have entered into lucrative partnerships with sportsbook companies and prediction markets.

    Perconte wrote that half the league’s 30 franchises have partnerships or sponsorships with sports betting operators, while the owners of three teams — the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and Los Angeles Dodgers — are “seed investors in a newly announced prediction market futures trading platform called FutureSports.”

    As part of collective bargaining negotiations, the players union has proposed lobbying with MLB to ban proposition bets and event contracts that are based on a player’s in-game performance, which the union said is linked to higher rates of problem gambling and bettors harassing players and their families.

    “And while MLB has thus far rejected this proposal, we intend to continue pursuing it,” Perconte wrote.

    Elected officials in Pennsylvania are separately planning legislation that would restrict or eliminate sportsbook VIP programs, and in-game microbets, an effort that Joe Maloney, the president of the Sports Betting Alliance — a national advocacy organization whose members include FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, bet365, and Fanatics — said the organization will oppose.

    Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board, which regulates casinos, online gambling and sports wagering, has also said that it is reviewing the Harper video.

    The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com