Sports Desk

The Chargers have never won five in a row under coach Jim Harbaugh, but they have a chance to do so Saturday. It won’t be easy against this Houston Texans defense, ranked No. 1 in the NFL.

The Texans crushed the Chargers in the first round of the playoffs last season, intercepting Justin Herbert four times in a 32-12 drubbing.

Now, the Texans are riding a seven-game winning streak and haven’t dropped a game since a three-point home loss to Denver at the beginning of November.

The Chargers clinched a playoff berth this week but are looking for more than a wild-card spot. If they win Saturday, the AFC West title — and at least one more game at SoFi Stadium — is within reach. Even the AFC’s No. 1 seed is in play.

How the Texans can win: Houston’s defense can hold up against the run and has the secondary to challenge Herbert, but the Texans offense has been one of the league’s worst in the red zone. The Texans need to convert those opportunities into touchdowns. C.J. Stroud is at his best throwing between the numbers when protection holds, although he has a suspect offensive line, and the Texans will lean on short passes to compensate for a shaky running game. Forcing a turnover or two is critical. Houston thrives when it shortens the field and avoids asking the offense to sustain long drives. Field goals alone won’t be enough.

How the Chargers can win: Control the game with balance and patience. Houston’s defense is opportunistic and excellent at forcing turnovers, but it can be stressed if Herbert has time and the Chargers stay committed to the run. That won’t be easy if Kimani Vidal is out. Even modest success on the ground forces the Texans to respect play-action fakes and opens throwing lanes, particularly over the middle. Herbert’s ability to escape pressure and run, especially up the middle against man coverage, could be a hidden weapon late. If the Chargers protect the ball and finish drives instead of settling for field goals, they can keep Houston from dictating the tempo.

Untold riches awaited Adrian Kempe as one of the NHL’s top unrestricted free agents next summer.

Mitch Marner, among last summer’s top targets, got $12 million a season from Vegas in a sign-and-trade deal with Toronto hours before he would have hit the open market. With more goals than Marner over the last four full seasons, how much could Kempe — in his prime at 29 — have demanded?

We’ll never know. Because whatever amount it might have been, Kempe decided it wasn’t worth more than his happiness. So last month he signed an eight-year contract extension worth a reported $85 million with the Kings that figures to keep him with the only organization he’s ever known for the rest of his career.

“There’s probably some teams that would have given me offers. But I never really got to the part where that was something that I wanted,” he said. “I’m really happy here. Always have been. Family-wise, the same.

“So there was never anything else in my mind.”

That’s a mind that is apparently at ease now that Kempe’s hockey future has been determined. With 13 goals and a team-high 17 assists, he leads the offensively challenged Kings with 30 points and seven of those goals have come in the 17 games since he signed his extension.

But that’s done little to lift the team, which has lost six of their last seven heading into Saturday’s game with the Ducks. The last time the Kings had a seven-game stretch this bad it cost coach Todd McLellan his job.

“I’m not happy, but I really believe in this group,” said winger Kevin Fiala, who shares the team goal-scoring lead with Kempe. “I really believe this is a great team, great players. We just have to kind of find the game. And not just for some minutes, not even for one game, 60 minutes.

“We have to go for a stretch here, get some wins in a row. Start feeling good, start playing good.”

That might be tough given how the Kings will finish 2025. After Saturday’s home game with the resurgent Ducks, the team travels to Colorado to face the Avalanche, who lead the NHL in points.

If the Kings are to turn things around, they will have to jump start an offense which is second-to-last in the NHL, averaging 2.52 goals a game, and a power play that has converted on less than 14% of its chances, also 31st in the 32-team league. And the responsibility for making that happen probably will fall to Kempe, who has scored as many goals over the past four full seasons as Sidney Crosby and has just six fewer assists than Alex Ovechkin, keeping the Swedish Olympian in heady company.

Kings forward Adrian Kempe shoots during a win over the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 4.

(Harry How / Getty Images)

“Adrian is a bit of a streaky scorer,” coach Jim Hiller said. “A lot of his recent goals are goals that we’ve seen him score before, where he’s either beating someone with speed, a nice deke.

“So to me it’s the type of goals he’s scoring right now that’s got me encouraged.”

That’s not all that’s encouraging. Kempe, a quick and physical two-way forward, is averaging a career-high 19:18 of ice time per game and is on pace to score 30 goals and top 68 points for a second straight season.

With captain Anze Kopitar retiring at the end of the season and defenseman Drew Doughty in the penultimate year of his contract, re-signing Kempe, the team’s future leader on and off the ice, was at the top of Ken Holland’s to-do list when he took over as general manager last spring. And while the length of the contract he offered Kempe never wavered, the price did.

In the end, media reports said Kempe blinked first, telling agent J.P. Berry to lower his salary demands to get a deal done, eventually accepting an average annual value of $10.625 million beginning next season. That nearly doubles the $5.5 million he’ll earn this season and makes him the fifth-best-paid Swede in the NHL, according to the Sweden Herald. But it’s less than he would have gotten on the open market.

“I think it says two things,” Hiller said of the deal. “What it says about the franchise is that the player was known, was drafted here, was developed here.”

What it says about Kempe, he continued, is that he values that loyalty more than money.

Kings forward Adrian Kempe against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 18.

(Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

“I think he probably appreciates the time and energy spent on his career, getting him to where he was,” Hiller said. “Now it’s his choice and he says, ‘You know what? I want to stay in place.’”

He’s not alone. A number of the Kings’ recent cornerstone players — among them Dustin Brown, Kopitar and Doughty — spent their entire NHL careers with the team. If he avoids serious injury and a major dropoff in play, Kempe will almost certainly rank among the top five in franchise history in games, goals and points when his contract runs out.

That’s the long-term return on investment Holland and the Kings are hoping for. For the time being, however, they’re counting on Kempe to save a season that seems in danger of spiraling.

Like Fiala, Kempe believes in the Kings.

“If I weren’t happy here, obviously I would consider not playing here,” Kempe said. “We have a good core. We have a good group of younger guys coming up. I think we’re in a good spot.

“Obviously you have to take that in consideration, too, when you sign a new deal. You want to play on a good team, you want to win cups.”

And it’s hard to put a price tag on that.

Trading sports cards is a game of negotiation for Greg Petikyan. Within seconds, he talked to multiple vendors at Frank and Son Collectible Show last month offering the same card: a 2025 Panini Donruss Saquon Barkley Downtown.

The first deal consisted of a 3-for-1 exchange, with an additional couple of hundred dollars to sweeten the deal or a straight purchase for $460. As the vendor looked through his phone for the value of the cards he asked for, Petikyan told him he’ll circle back.

Instead, the entrepreneur offered it to Eric Mitchel, another booth owner, across the aisle and sold it. A rectangular cardboard collectible with the Super Bowl-winning running back in front of the Philadelphia skyline sold for $300.

What about the other deal?

“Too late,” Petikyan said. “I’ll still buy those cards I asked for.”

Customers browse and shop for cards at vendor Eric Mitchel’s booth at Frank and Son Collectible Show.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Nothing personal, just business.

Trading and collecting cards, an industry valued at $14.9 billion in 2024, is estimated to reach $52.1 billion within the next decade, according to Market Decipher report. The sports memorabilia business, as a whole, is estimated to reach a value of $271.2 billion by 2034.

E-commerce platforms like Fanatics Live and Whatnot have turned business transactions involving the cards of sports legends into entertainment and helped grow the market. Heritage Auctions sold the most expensive card in August. The collectible known as the “holy grail” by basketball collectors was a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Autographs Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant card.

The one-of-one sold for $12.932 million, a sum that topped a Mickey Mantle card that went for $12.6 million in August 2022. The Jordan-Bryant card is the second-most expensive sports collectible of all time, trailing Babe Ruth’s 1932 World Series Jersey, which he wore when he called his shot, that cost $24.12 million.

Last Friday, Heritage Auctions set a sales record for the year by crossing the $2 billion mark. The cards sold that day included a 2003 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Dual Logoman Jordan-Bryant card for $3,172,000 — this one was not autographed.

The trading card business has grown so much, the ecosystem has created specialized markets within it. Collectors can chase a specific team; stick to vintage cards; complete a set of prints with mistakes; chase specific relics of their favorite team; or even just buy cards to resell them for the sole purpose of buying more to flip.

“I know for a fact, a lot of men like to show off their collection,” Adam Campbell, sports cards specialist with Heritage Auction, said. “People love to have good, cool collections,” he added.

The type of chase can change the direction of a business transaction, said George Peña, 53, another booth owner at Frank and Son, an old Sam’s Club that now houses more than 200 vendors selling and showcasing collectible merchandise three days a week.

Kids go into his booth and negotiate with him. Most of the time he doesn’t necessarily need a card from them but engages with them to give them the experience.

“Family members get all excited for them,” Peña said.

But when dealing with people like Petikyan, the stakes change.

“Negotiations are a little different with those kinds of people because they want to make money and we want to make money,” he said as he quipped with Petikyan.

Some collectors have turned into investors because the value of cards is so volatile. It changes in real time — it’s fast, unpredictable and relentless. The moment Dodgers designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and struck out 10 batters in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS, the value of his cards went up. But it cuts both ways — the moment Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase was indicted on federal charges for wire fraud conspiracy and bribery, the value of his cards dipped.

“The value of cards is not based on anything else, whatsoever, except for hype and buzz” Campbell said. “[It’s] entirely arbitrary.”

Vendor Marion Owens completes a transaction at Frank and Son Collectible Show last month. Owens has been selling cards since 1992.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

Collecting trading cards has been a part of the culture since Goodwin Tobacco Company released the first set of individual players’ baseball cards in 1886. The N167 Old Judge sets were inserted into tiny cigarette boxes to increase sales and to make sure the cards were not damaged in transit.

Since the tobacco industry started the trade, sports cards have endured changes through generations, each defined by specific characteristics.

The vintage era, before the 1980s, ushered in simpler designs, lower print runs and sets featuring the legends of all the sports. Then came the junk wax period, marked by mass overproduction that devalued the product. The current ultra modern era evolved the market into investments, scarcity, and digitized the business with websites like Arena Club, which repackages pre-graded cards as slab packs.

No matter the changes, there remains a common thread within collectors throughout the years: opening packages and feeling a bump of euphoria when a chase card, a sought-after item, appears.

“It’s the best feeling ever, imagine getting a $1,000 card for like 20, 30 bucks?” Petikyan said. “It’s like hitting a lotto ticket, but better, because it could go up in value depending on the player.”

Petikyan, 27 from Montebello, runs a page called Strictly Pullz on the shopping app Whatnot where he opens boxes and auctions the items within them. Any card pulled from a team that’s purchased by the individual will be shipped to them. On occasion, he inserts a card with higher value to hype a specific set.

To some, the business is intertwined with collecting.

“I’ll use some of the money that I am able to make on the business side, to add to my personal collection,” Mitchel said. “Finding items for the personal collection, I wouldn’t find if I wasn’t out for the business part of it.”

Regardless of motivation, pulling a card worth more than the price paid for will remain priceless.

“I just bought a pack and I pulled a card worth $1,000,” Campbell said, speaking as a collector. “It can change your whole day, and maybe your whole week, maybe a whole month or even a whole year every time you open a pack.”

But, collecting cards is more than just the value of each, Campbell said.

“Do this because you like sports, do this because you love collecting.”

Newcastle United‘s Joelinton is a target for Saudi Pro League clubs, Oscar Bobb could leave Manchester City if they sign Antoine Semenyo, and Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner is not intending to sign a new deal with the club.

Newcastle United midfielder Joelinton, 29, is a target for Saudi Pro League clubs and the Magpies could be open to letting the Brazil international leave depending on the conditions of any deal. (Teamtalk), external

Manchester City and Norway winger Oscar Bobb, 22, may look to leave the club if they complete the signing of Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, 25, from Bournemouth in January. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, 37, could be tempted by a move to Saudi Arabia as there is uncertainty over the Poland international’s future at the Nou Camp. (AS – in Spanish), external

Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner does not intend to extend his contract with the Eagles beyond his current deal, which runs out in the summer. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is unsure if the club will keep Brazil midfielder Casemiro, 33, and 32-year-old England defender Harry Maguire, with the pair set to be out of contract in the summer. (Manchester Evening News) , external

Real Madrid do not intend to extend 33-year-old Austria centre-back David Alaba’s deal beyond this summer, while Germany defender Antonio Rudiger, 32, could also leave the Spanish club. (ESPN) , external

Manchester City‘s 19-year-old Argentine attacking midfielder Claudio Echeverri will end his loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen to join Girona until the end of the season. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish), external

The Premier League and English Football League (EFL) are to look into allowing games that kick-off at 15:00 on a Saturday to be broadcast live for the first time when they negotiate their next rights deals. (Guardian), external

Located in southern Russia, Dagestan has a mystical status among fight fans after producing a slew of UFC champions in recent years.

The region has a long tradition in wrestling, thriving in the sambo style and producing a host of Olympic and world champions in the discipline.

Such success is no coincidence, though, as children from the region are often encouraged to take up combat sports, specifically wrestling, almost as soon as they are able to stand on two feet.

“When I was a kid, my dad was always telling me and my little brothers that we had to be strong, firstly to protect yourself, your family, and your friends,” says Ibragim.

“So we all got used to fighting, and that’s why everyone knows how to fight in Dagestan. It’s not a surprise.

“Amir was a very good wrestler. You can see the transition from wrestling to football; obviously, it helped my little brothers a lot.

“Some of the footballers he comes up against don’t have the same base he has. That’s why he’s stocky, strong and really competitive – because of wrestling.”

Amir was just nine years old when he was being put through his paces at Sheffield United. Unaware of his age, coaches grouped him with boys five years older.

He was unfazed by the oversight and was more than comfortable holding his own against older players because of his experience in wrestling.

“They thought Amir and I were the same age, apparently,” says Ibragim.

Amir was signed up, along with Ibragim’s little brothers Gazik and Muhammad.

The family’s stay in South Yorkshire was short, however, as just weeks after signing for the Blades, Manchester United became aware of Amir’s talent and he moved across the Pennines as a result.

“They played Manchester United in a tournament and Amir scored a brilliant free-kick,” says Ibragim.

“One of their scouts saw him play and picked him straight away.”

Six years after joining the Old Trafford club and at the age of 15, , Amir became one of the youngest players in the club’s history to train with the first team when he did so in April 2023.

“Do you know what he said to me? ‘This is where I belong’,” Ibragim says.

“Can he be a first-team player for Manchester United? 100%. They need to let all the young players play right now.

“I don’t think they would play worse than the first-team players. I think the young guys are hungrier than the current first-team players.”

Since then, Gazik and Muhammad, the latter once on the books of Manchester City, have also made the move to Manchester United.

“Gazik, this kid is talented,” adds Ibragim.

“He picked up everything quicker than everyone else. He’s a good defender. He’s going to be like a new Rio Ferdinand for Man United.”

Nikola Jokic recorded a 56-point triple-double and broke a record set by Steph Curry as the Denver Nuggets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 142-138 on Christmas Day.

The Serb hit 56 points, recorded 16 rebounds and 15 assists – becoming the first player in NBA history to hit at least 55 points, 15 rebounds and 15 assists in a triple-double.

Three-time MVP Jokic hit 18 of his 56 points in overtime, breaking Curry’s record of 17 overtime points from 2016.

The Timberwolves took the game in Denver to overtime after clawing back a 15-point deficit in the final five minutes of the game.

Anthony Edwards top-scored for the Timberwolves with 44 points, including the game-tying three that took the game to overtime.

But the 24-year-old was ejected in the extra period for arguing over foul calls as the Nuggets clamed the win.

The Nuggets are third in the Western Conference, with the Timberwolves in fifth.

The Denver Broncos eked out a 20-13 victory as they chase the AFC top seed the Chiefs have claimed so often in the last decade, but Travis Kelce was still the headline news in what could have been his final game in Kansas City.

The 36-year-old seemed to soak in his pre-game introduction more than usual then lingered on the field afterwards with plenty of Broncos players coming over to share a few words and show their respect to the three-time Super Bowl champion – with both his mother Donna and fiance Taylor Swift in the stands watching on.

Kelce and his Chiefs played hard despite being out of the play-offs and being two-touchdown underdogs without injured star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The home crowd and home defence made it tough for a Denver team looking to emulate Kansas City’s recent success, but the Broncos’ own star quarterback Bo Nix eventually got them over the line with a fourth-quarter touchdown.

Denver are certainly emulating last season’s Chiefs in winning tight games, with this their 11th one-score victory – four more than anyone else – while they’re the only team in NFL history to earn 12 comeback wins in one season.

But head coach Sean Payton will want a more explosive element to the offence, which dominated possession but struggled to make big plays and score touchdowns, making it a much closer game than it really should have been against a severely depleted Chiefs side.

While the Broncos are building there could be some upheaval in Kansas City this summer, whether that includes losing Kelce at the end of his 13th season remains to be seen.

There was an element of fortune to start. Travis Head dragged on to Gus Atkinson and Jake Weatherald was strangled down the leg side by Josh Tongue.

But then the latter’s skillful knack of snaffling wickets came to the fore as he bagged two of Australia’s dogged top order.

Marnus Labuschagne received a full delivery from Tongue angled into the stumps and edged to slip, before the same bowler snared Steve Smith with one which nipped to bowl him through the gate.

Michael Neser and Scott Boland followed to Tongue in consecutive deliveries – bowled by a nip-backer and caught at second slip respectively.

CricViz’s stats showed Tongue finished with 5-21 off the 24 deliveries that he pitched in the area of the pitch classed as full (3-6m).

In the ball-tracking era, only one English seamer (before Tongue today) has ever picked up five wickets from a full length in a Test innings.

That was a memorable effort by Stuart Broad at Trent Bridge in 2015.

Tongue’s pace dropped from an average of 86.7 mph in Adelaide to 85.3 mph in Melbourne. This looked and felt more like the ‘Redditch Rhythmist’, rather than the ‘Redditch Rocket’.

“It was a case of pressure really: good constant pressure and Australia couldn’t get away. England bowled how Australia did on that very hot day in Adelaide,” Tufnell added.

“You could get behind the bowling unit and clap them instead of being carved through gully. We have bowled too short all series until today but that was a good performance.

“There were a few overheads too, a few clouds, but they put it in good areas. I am delighted for Josh Tongue, he’s been the pick, without doubt. It was excellent bowling.”

England bowled full, and as their bowlers put their feet up between innings their glasses – whatever the tipple – must have been a little more than half full.

Even if their respite was shorter than they might have liked.

England’s innings gets off to a horror start, as Australia take three early wickets to leave the visitors on 8-3 inside the first five overs on day one of the foruth Ashes Test in Melbourne.

FOLLOW LIVE: The Ashes fourth Test – day one

Available to UK users only.

The Lakers felt good about their starting lineup Thursday when Luka Doncic and Rui Hachimura returned from injury to restore their normal starting unit for only the seventh time this season.

But the good times didn’t last long. Coming out of halftime down 10 points to the Houston Rockets, the Lakers announced Austin Reaves wouldn’t play in the second half because of left calf soreness.

With another apparent setback for Reaves adding to the Lakers’ desperate search for continuity, the team put up another inconsistent performance on defense in a 119-96 loss to the Rockets at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers, who’ve lost three in a row for the first time this season, allowed the Rockets to shoot 53% from the field. Amen Thompson led the way with 26 points and Kevin Durant scored 25 as the Rockets out-rebounded the Lakers 48-25.

Reaves missed three games with a left calf strain before returning against Phoenix on Tuesday. He scored 17 points off the bench in the Lakers’ loss to the Suns.

Against the Rockets, Reaves started and played 15 minutes in the first half, scoring 12 points on five-for-eight shooting.

Reaves entered Thursday averaging 27.3 points per game, ranking him 11th in league scoring.

Doncic, who had been out with a lower left leg contusion, had 25 points and seven assists and LeBron James had 18 points. Hachimura (right groin injury management) didn’t score in his 28 minutes.

With so many players rotating through the lineup because of injuries, the Lakers have struggled to find solutions to their defensive issues.

They entered Thursday allowing 117.4 points per game, 19th most in the league. They were allowing the 26th highest field-goal percentage (48.4) and the highest three-point shooting percentage (40.1). They were next-to-last in rebounds, averaging 40.1 per game.

That was a real issue against the Rockets team that entered the game first in offensive rebounds (16.1).

And in this game, the Rockets got 17 offensive rebounds.

The Lakers didn’t have key role players Jaxson Hayes (left ankle soreness) and Gabe Vincent (lumbar back strain), adding to their woes.

“It’s the modern NBA where there’s injuries and then there’s not a lot of time to practice,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “So, when you have continuity, you can kind of capture what you’re trying to do and you feel comfortable and good about it.”

Two former USC football players and another man pleaded guilty to lesser charges Tuesday and were sentenced to 15 years in prison for a series of robberies and beatings last April.

Superior Court Judge David Perez accepted the plea-bargain offered by Danette Meyers, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

The players, Howard McCowan, 19, of Carson and Marcel Brown, 20, of San Diego, were redshirt freshmen last year and expected to play pivotal roles in USC’s football program. Brown’s childhood friend, Garylan Coleman, 19, of San Diego, also was sentenced.

The plea-bargains were accepted shortly before the jury trial was to begin in Santa Monica Municipal Court. The compromise involved reducing a kidnapping charge, which carries a life sentence, to simple kidnapping, a felony with a 15-year maximum.

The defendants also were charged with assault and robbery for incidents April 23 in which Donald Christal, James Van Adler, Norm St. Landau and Lester Lawless were attacked and robbed in Westwood and Redondo Beach. In most of the attacks, the victims’ automatic teller machine cards were taken.

Brown and Coleman, who were charged with the kidnapping, are also being tried in San Diego on assault and robbery charges. McCowan had no other arrests.

If convicted by the jury, they might have received 20 years in state prison, said Michael Brush, McCowan’s lawyer.

In accepting the reduced sentence, Brown broke down in court, telling Perez, “We’re not murders or nothing. (We get) just a couple of minutes to decide on 15 years.”

Brown and Coleman, who was planning to play baseball at Southwestern College in Chula Vista before his arrest, were ready to accept the deal Monday. McCowan balked because the prosecution’s case against him was not as strong as those against the others.

But McCowan changed his mind after Perez ruled Monday that written confessions by Brown and Coleman could be used as evidence by the prosecution.

McCowan is a former standout at Carson High, walked over to his mother, Thelma, who was sitting nearby. He gave her his dark blue blazer, tie, dress shirt and dress shoes. He hugged her, his sister and a friend before returning to enter a guilty plea.

He and the others could be paroled within six or seven years, Brush said.

Thelma McCowan blamed USC officials for her son’s fate, saying that Howard had asked to move away from Brown, but was told he had to stay in the dormitory.

“I know the boys are 19 years old and are considered grown, but they’re not grown,” she said.

“They don’t need baby-sitters following them around, but they do need a little attention and advice once in a while.

“When they come and ask to move, someone should come and ask them why, what’s wrong. But they don’t do that.”

William E. Davis III, Brown’s lawyer, said USC offered no support for the players once they were arrested. Davis, the brother of Anthony Davis, a former USC star running back, said he represented athletes in the past. He said he took the case because Brown had no family support and the school was not willing to do anything.

NEW YORK — An embarrassed CBS fired a contrite Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder Saturday after the sports commentator said in a much-criticized television interview that blacks were “bred” to be better athletes than whites.

Snyder, who outraged civil rights leaders with this and other remarks about blacks in sports, reiterated a “heart-felt apology” he made after the interview was televised Friday, but raised the possibility he may sue CBS for dropping him.

He said that CBS executives wanted him to resign, but he refused and was fired by Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports, who called Snyder from Hawaii.

Snyder said in a statement read by a CBS spokesman that he has “referred this matter” to his lawyer, former Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada, “who is looking into it. Accordingly, I will have no further comment at this time.”

However, speaking from his Washington hotel in a brief phone interview, Snyder, for 12 years a commentator on the “NFL Today” pregame show, seemed willing to answer questions. But he was prevented from doing so by CBS spokesman Doug Richardson.

Asked if he may sue CBS, Snyder, 70, vaguely replied, “We just want to be protected. We shouldn’t say anything . . . .” He was interrupted by Richardson, who had read Snyder’s statement to a reporter.

Asked why he made his controversial remarks Friday, Snyder again tried to respond, only to be interrupted again by Richardson, who was sharing the same phone. “He’s a good guy–he wants to talk and he shouldn’t,” Richardson said.

“I’ll talk to you later, OK?” Snyder told the reporter. CBS, in a separate statement Saturday, said CBS Sports had “ended its relationship” with Snyder following his remarks. It said the remarks in no way “reflect the views of CBS Sports.”

Snyder, known for his predictions, was in Washington with “NFL Today” colleagues Brent Musburger and Irv Cross for today’s National Football Conference championship game between the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings.

He has been dropped from today’s telecast.

Snyder’s one-year contract, reportedly worth about $750,000, was due to expire soon.

Snyder made his comments in a lunchtime interview Friday at Duke Zeibert’s, a Washington restaurant.

His interviewer was Ed Hotaling, a black producer-reporter for NBC-owned WRC-TV. Hotaling said Saturday he had just come from covering a memorial to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., where a tape of King’s famous “I have a dream” speech was played.

Hotaling said he’d been doing interviews with various people in the restaurant, asking what they thought the next step in civil rights progress for blacks should be. He put the question to Snyder.

“It was all on the occasion of Martin Luther King’s birthday,” Hotaling said. “So I thought it was an appropriate, forward-looking question, and got a backward-looking answer.”

In the interview, Snyder, whose remarks were termed “reprehensible” by CBS, said that the only sports realm in which whites now dominate is coaching, and if blacks “take coaching, as I think everyone wants them to, there is not going to be anything left for the white people.”

Snyder, who during his remarks emphasized he was not meaning to be “derogatory,” said the only thing now that “whites control are the coaching jobs–the black talent is beautiful, it’s great, it’s out there. The only thing left for the whites is a couple of coaching jobs.”

He also said that black athletes perform better than white athletes for reasons that went back to slave times.

“The slave owner would breed his big black (man) to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid . . . . That’s where it all started,” he said.

While Hotaling said he was “stunned” and appalled by Snyder’s remarks, he thought it “outrageous they (CBS) fired him.” He said there should be far more reporting on civil rights in sports, and with Snyder participating in the coverage.

“I think it (the interview) was about the best possible Martin Luther King Day story you could have because it brings everything out in the open,” Hotaling said in a phone interview from Washington.

“And I think maybe one of the few people who might have agreed with me that Jimmy the Greek should not be fired would have been Martin Luther King.

“I think you have to think a little more broadly than firing a sports commentator for expressing stupid comments about civil rights. You should start covering the story and let him learn something.”

One way, he suggested, would be to put Snyder on today’s “NFL Today” broadcast and discuss his remarks, and civil rights, with black and white athletes.

“His views would be expressed a little more adequately, I think,” Hotaling said. “He wouldn’t come out to be such a bad guy. They’d have the thing resolved in a positive way instead of a negative way.”

Snyder was quoted by the Washington Post as saying: “I told (Pilson) I wanted to face everyone (on today’s program). He told me, ‘I can’t let you do that.’ ”

Hotaling was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “I saw no liquor or wine on his table. He did not seem drunk or even tipsy to me. He was articulate in what he was saying. His point of view was made very articulately.”

Hotaling said that at one point in the interview, Snyder “turned to me and said, ‘I don’t want this on.’

“The reason we kept rolling was because he kept right on talking about the same issue. He is a professional sports commentator and he kept on talking even though he knew the lights were on. I think he knew he was on.”

Snyder, who was born Emetrios Snyodinos in Steubenville, Ohio, also made news in 1980, but on a lesser scale, when he and Musburger got into a brief fist fight at a midtown New York bar after the two argued over the amount of air time that Snyder was getting.

Musburger said Saturday he “was stunned” by Snyder’s remarks.

“I don’t know what he was thinking about,” Musburger said.

At Des Moines, Iowa, Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson, appearing at a conference marking Martin Luther King Day, said that Snyder’s “obviously regrettable and racially offensive” comments were less important than the lack of black managers and coaches in professional and college sports.

The Los Angeles branch of the NAACP sent a telegram to Pilson commending CBS for firing Snyder. Raymond Johnson, president of the L.A. group, said at a press conference Saturday: “The NAACP is outraged at the racist and insensitive remarks made by Jimmy Snyder.”

Jim (Mudcat) Grant, a former major league pitcher who is an NAACP chairperson, said: “Even though (Snyder’s) comments may seem comical to some, the seriousness of it all is that Americans must work harder to open the closed doors and provide equal opportunities for minorities of color.”

Harry Edwards, head of major league baseball’s minority hiring program, expressed outrage.

“Some of his explanations as to why blacks have emerged to a point of near dominance in sports make it clear the man is abysmally ignorant,” he said.

NEW YORK — Jalen Brunson scored 34 points, reserve Jordan Clarkson had 25 and the New York Knicks came from 17 down in the fourth quarter to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 126-124 on Thursday and win on Christmas Day for the third straight year.

Reserves Tyler Kolek and Mitchell Robinson sparked the comeback after the Cavaliers led 103-86 early in the final period. Kolek had 16 points and nine assists, and had fans chanting his name after a late block on Donovan Mitchell that originally was called a foul but was overturned on review. Robinson hustled after offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive and finished with 13 boards.

Brunson made the go-ahead three-pointer with 1:05 remaining, after he, Kolek and Clarkson all hit from behind the arc in a 13-2 run that cut Cleveland’s 12-point lead to 111-110.

Mitchell had 34 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Darius Garland added 20 points and 10 assists, but the Cavaliers blew their chance at a third straight win.

Evan Mobley finished with 14 points and nine rebounds after missing five games with a strained left calf.

The Cavs raced to an 18-3 lead behind 10 points from Mitchell and led 38-23 after one quarter. But Clarkson opened the second with consecutive 3-pointers, and after a Cavs three-pointer, the Knicks ripped off an 18-0 burst to take a 47-41 lead.

The Knicks made 12 of their first 14 shots in the second, before Mobley had Cleveland’s final four baskets as New York took a 60-58 edge into the break.

Cleveland quickly regained control in the third. Mitchell slammed down a lob pass that Garland threw from beyond halfcourt to cap a 10-3 burst to open the period, and Mitchell later hit a three-pointer to cap an 18-4 spurt that turned a 71-all tie into an 89-75 advantage for the Cavs.

St James’ was once the second-biggest club stadium in the country, behind Old Trafford, but Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, West Ham United, Arsenal, Manchester City and Everton have all since leapfrogged Newcastle‘s 52,335-seater ground in terms of capacity.

In that time, a huge revenue gap has opened up between the established order and Newcastle, with Manchester United generating £87m more in match-day income and £219.3m more in commercial income in 2023-24.

Newcastle‘s training ground has been modernised in recent years, including hydrotherapy and plunge pools, a new canteen, a players’ lounge and bigger dressing rooms – but it remains some way off the best in the country.

Howe was keen to stress that the “ambition is there from everyone to make that happen”.

But the Newcastle head coach said there needs to be a “bit of patience” with the club’s infrastructure plans to “make sure it’s the right solution for everybody”.

He added: “If there is extra time taken to make the right decisions so the stadium project is correct, and it’s the right one for Newcastle for how ever many years the club are there, then take the extra time.

“It’s the same with the training ground. You need the right site and designs. I would rather it was correct than rushed.

“I know that there’s a 99.9% chance that I’m not going to see either in my position, but I’m still passionate about making sure it’s there for the future generations of Newcastle, whether that’s supporters or players.”

LANDOVER, Md. — Dak Prescott threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, and the Dallas Cowboys blew most of an 18-point lead before squeezing past the Washington Commanders 30-23 Thursday.

Dallas (7-8-1) scored touchdowns on its first three possessions to go up 21-3. Although the Commanders (4-12) cut the gap to a touchdown on three different occasions, they couldn’t complete the comeback and absorbed their 10th loss in 11 games.

Both teams were previously eliminated from playoff contention, which severely lessened the significance of this matchup between longtime NFC East rivals.

Prescott completed 19 of 37 passes and helped Dallas convert all six of its fourth-down tries. His two TD passes gave him 30, tying Tony Romo’s franchise record of four seasons with at least 30 touchdown throws.

Prescott shrugged off six sacks, including three by Jer’Zhan Newton.

Playing without injured quarterbacks Jayden Daniels (elbow) and Marcus Mariota (quad, hand), Washington turned to 39-year-old journeyman Josh Johnson. Making his 10th career start and first since 2021, Johnson went 15 for 23 for 198 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

Jacory Croskey-Merritt scored on runs of 10 and 72 yards for Washington. The latter touchdown got the Commanders to 24-17 in the third quarter, but Dallas restored its double-digit lead with a 52-yard field by Brandon Aubrey.

Aubrey added a 51-yarder to make it 30-20 with 3:59 remaining.

After Prescott threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jake Ferguson on the game’s opening drive, Johnson went 3 for 3 for 68 yards to get Washington to 7-3. The key play was a 41-yard completion to Deebo Samuel, Johnson’s longest since 2018. Samuel finished by running into Donovan Wilson, knocking the safety’s helmet off.

On their second possession, the Cowboys converted three fourth downs on a 17-play march that ended with a touchdown run by Javonte Williams. Prescott then made it three TDs in three drives with an 86-yard scoring pass to KaVontae Turpin.

Rooney’s love of boxing has never been a secret.

He even went viral in 2015 for sparring with friend and former Manchester United team-mate Phil Bardsley in his kitchen.

But Rooney revealed he has also targeted someone who would put up more of a fight than Bardsley – former world champion Joe Calzaghe, at his agent’s wedding no less.

Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford explained the story: “Joe came to the wedding, and Wayne’s there of course. And we’ve had a few drinks and he offers Joe Calzaghe out. I’m stood there talking to them both and he goes, ‘Alright Joe’, ‘Alright Wayne?’ ‘I could have you’.

“I’m looking and I’m thinking, ‘You’re joking me’. He’s going, ‘No, just calm down… I just want to do a bit of shadow boxing with him’. So we go onto the green outside in the middle of my wedding.

“Joe’s going, ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing’. Joe’s just sort of stood there but [Rooney’s gone] into the ribs.”

Remembering the moment, Rooney joked: “I saw him, he looked a bit vulnerable, he’d had a few drinks. I thought I might give him his first defeat.”

Born in the Viewpark area of North Lanarkshire, Robertson played for Drumchapel Amateurs and Scotland at youth level before joining Forest in May 1970, making his debut later that year.

Having been on the transfer list before Clough’s arrival in 1975, he became a key player under the iconic manager, appearing in 243 consecutive games between December 1976 and December 1980.

Robertson scored the winner from the penalty spot in the 1978 League Cup final replay win over Liverpool.

He was sold to Derby in 1983 for a constested transfer fee, a move which soured the relationship between Clough and his former assistant, Peter Taylor.

An early injury hampered Robertson’s progress at County and, despite rejoining Forest in 1985, he never again captured the same form and moved on to non-league Corby Town, Stamford and then Grantham Town.

At Forest, he also won the First and Second Division titles, the Uefa Super Cup, two Football League Cups, the 1978 FA Charity Shield and the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

And in 2015, Robertson topped a poll by the Nottingham Post of favourite all-time Forest players.

As O’Neill’s assistant, Robertson helped Wycombe win promotion from the Football Conference and Third Division, and promotion to the top tier with Leicester, as well as the League Cup.

An even more successful spell with Celtic followed.

In Glasgow, they won the Scottish Premier League three times, the Scottish Cup three times, the League Cup once and reached the Uefa Cup final.

Then, in Robertson’s final season as a coach in 2010, Villa finished runners-up in the League Cup final.

Growing up just outside Melbourne, Australia, Scotty James was more likely to spot the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot as he was to spot snow. For him, the Winter Olympics seemed about as accessible as Mars.

“It is very unique, being an Australian in winter sports,” he said. “We’re very few and far between.”

Unique, but not impossible. Because if he qualifies for February’s Milano-Cortina Olympics, as expected, James will become the first Australian man to represent the country in five separate Winter Olympics. If he reaches the podium in the men’s halfpipe, his specialty, he will become the most decorated winter Olympian in Australian history with three medals.

Yet it almost didn’t happen. If his father Phil, a passionate snowboarder, hadn’t talked a Vancouver ski-shop worker into selling 3-year-old Scotty a miniature display board during a family vacation to Canada decades ago, James still might be watching the Winter Olympics on TV.

“My parents were always making sure that I realized how fortunate I was to be doing what I was doing,” said the 31-year-old James, a four-time world champion and the most successful halfpipe rider in history. “And incredibly supportive through all of it, through the challenges and through the most recent great moments.”

But James, whose fortunate if still unfolding life story is told in the film “Scotty James: Pipe Dream,” which will be available on Netflix beginning Friday, won’t be the only accidental Olympian in competing in Italy. The Summer Games feature running, jumping, swimming and throwing, activities that can be done mostly anywhere, but many of the disciplines in the Winter Games — skiing, figure skating, luge and snowboarding, for example — require ice and snow, which are unavailable to about two-thirds of the world’s population.

That’s why more than 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries competed in the 2024 Summer Games in Paris and fewer than 3,000 representing about 90 nations will participate in Italy.

“Africa, big parts of southeast Asia, South America, many of those countries don’t have a heritage of winter sports,” said Gene Sykes, president and chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “Given that there’s a limitation that all the sports have to conducted on snow or ice, we have to be creative.”

Among the creative ideas that have been discussed is adding events such as cross-country running, cycling and indoor sports that could be practiced anywhere to the Winter Olympics calendar, which would make the Games more universal.

In the meantime, athletes such as alpine skier Richardson Viano of Haiti and figure skater Donovan Carrillo of Mexico will be curiosities in Milan, having followed paths that were arduous, complicated and completely out of the ordinary.

James fits that description as well, having lived much of his life abroad, traveling to the U.S., Canada and the Nordic countries in search of mountains, snow and competition. That’s a hardship unknown to Winter Olympic athletes from Europe and North American.

“You know, 80% of the time I wasn’t really in Australia,” said James, who started competing in snowboard at the age of 6 and began traveling to events at 10. “I was always overseas. My mom would organize some tutors in different countries and then I would do some online stuff with my school back in Australia.”

There is snow in parts of Australia, but since the country is in the southern hemisphere, the winters there are short and they come during what is summer in the northern climes. So to stay fit and to compete in major events, James had to live on a Northern Hemisphere calendar, meaning he was overseas from October to May almost every year.

“It was a real task,” he said, “to get it all done.”

It was expensive, too, though it proved a wise investment since he progressed quickly, turning pro at 14 and making the Australian Olympic team at 15, becoming the country’s youngest male Olympian in 50 years and the youngest male competitor in the Vancouver Games in 2010.

Yet on the eve of those Games, James was ready to pass all that up.

“I didn’t love it anymore,” he said. “I would go home and cry to my mom all the time. I wanted to quit. I ended up in this spiral that made me want to go home and just have a normal life and go to school and be with my friends.”

It didn’t help that James broke his right wrist in practice before the Olympics. But he recovered from the injury and the lack of confidence to place 21st; four years later, while still a teenager, he won the first of four World Cup titles in the halfpipe and ranked No. 1 in the world.

At 23 he was chosen to carry the Australian flag in the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, where he won a bronze medal.

Scotty James carried the flag of Australia’s team during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

(Julie Jacobson / Associated Press)

“It’s one of the biggest honors, being an Olympic athlete, to walk your team into the opening ceremony,” he said. “The first time I ever watched the Olympics, I remember watching the opening ceremony and I believe one of the basketballers walked the team in. And I just remember being like ‘wow, that must be just a special thing to do.’

“Little did I know it was potentially on the radar for me. That’s a moment that lives rent-free in my head, that’s for sure.”

But if James had to leave Australia to become an Olympian, back home his exploits have made enough of a celebrity that he’s often recognized on the streets of Melbourne or Sydney.

“They remember for sure, which is really cool,” said the still-boyish James. “I always am chuffed when people come up and recognize me or have followed my career. It never gets old.”

Neither, it seems, does James, who turns 32 in July but isn’t ready to call his fifth Olympics his final one just yet.

“I don’t have a timeline. I don’t give myself an end date,” he said. “Every day when I wake up I think about how I can be better at snowboarding and what I can do to make myself better. So I really haven’t thought about that at all.”

But James, who is raising 14-month-old son Leo with his wife, Chloe Stroll, a Canadian singer-songwriter and daughter of Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll, has begun preparing for a life beyond the slopes. In the last two years he’s released two illustrated children’s books featuring MOOKi, James alter-ego who has adopted the snowboarder’s childhood nickname and his insistence on always dreaming big.

He’s also an investor and brand advisor for MSP Sports Capital, which purchased the X Games — James is a seven-time X Games gold medalist — in 2022, kicking off his move from snow moguls to business mogul. There’s also the Netflix film, directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Patrick Dimon, which will spread his legend and legacy even further.

“Typically athletes kind of close the door on their athletic journey and then they start to invest in their sport. But I want to do it right now,” he said. “I can really add value to a business like X Games because I’m still competing. I can speak to the athletes and I can give really good feedback about where it can get better.”

However, the contribution he’d really like to leave involves creating an environment that would allow the next generation of Australian Winter Olympians to learn and grow in their sports without having to leave their homes. James did that by building Australia’s only 13-foot mini halfpipe for kids in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, where he trains when he’s in Australia. That’s a project he’d like to expand.

“I would love to leave a mark in some sense of hopefully opening up the door and creating some access [for] freestyle sport in Australia,” James said. “Specifically in the winter, to see if we can produce some really great talent in the future.”

Williams was selected for this summer’s British and Irish Lions tour, but having impressed in a pre-tour warm-up match against Argentina, he was forced to return home after suffering a hamstring injury in the first game on Australian soil against Western Force, having scored two tries.

His departure from Kingsholm will come just as his Wales team-mates Jac Morgan and Dewi Lake join the west country club from Ospreys for 2025-26.

“Tomos Williams will depart Gloucester Rugby at the end of the 2025-26 season,” a statement on 16 December had said.

“After impressing at Kingsholm, Williams was offered a new deal to stay at the club beyond the end of the season, but has instead opted to pursue a new challenge elsewhere.

“The Welshman will depart with the best wishes of everyone at the club when the time comes, but in the meantime, is entirely dedicated to ending his time at Gloucester Rugby on a high.”

Gloucester also announced at the same time that former academy graduate Dan Robson, 33, is to return to Kingsholm next season, 10 years on from his departure in 2015.

The scrum-half previously made 80 appearances for Gloucester, where he started his senior career, before leaving for Wasps and spent seven years there until their demise in 2022. He has been with French Top 14 club Pau for the last three seasons.

PHOENIX — It’s not the lineups, the injuries or necessarily the system. The cause of the Lakers’ defensive demise is a thousand little decisions gone wrong.

“It comes down to just making the choice,” coach JJ Redick said after the Lakers gave up 132 points in a blowout loss to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. “It’s making the choice. There’s shortcuts you can take or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort or you can sprint back or you can’t. It’s just a choice and there’s a million choices in a game, and you’re very likely not gonna make every choice correctly. But can you make the vast majority of ‘em correctly? It gives you a chance to win.”

Coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season, the Lakers (19-9) are ranked 28th in defensive rating in the last 14 games entering a Christmas Day showcase against the Houston Rockets at 5 p.m. PST at Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers, without any individual shutdown defenders, need a perfectly executed team defense to compete. But 15 different starting lineups in 28 games has delayed some of the team’s ability to build continuity. The Lakers have had their full complement of 14 standard contract players for two games.

Forward Rui Hachimura (groin) and Luka Doncic (leg) could return Thursday. Guard Gabe Vincent, one of the team’s top defensive options on the perimeter, will miss his fourth game with lower-back soreness. Center Jaxson Hayes tweaked his left ankle in the second quarter of Tuesday’s loss and didn’t return.

The Rockets (17-10) limp into the Christmas Day blockbuster with their own struggles. The team thought to be one of the few who could challenge Oklahoma City in the West has lost five of its last seven games. Three of the losses were in overtime and four came against teams currently out of the play-in picture, including Tuesday’s loss to the Clippers.

Led by Kevin Durant’s 25.2 points, the Rockets are a statistical anomaly in the sped up, possession-maximizing modern NBA. They have the third-ranked offense in the league despite being one of the slowest. They shoot the fewest three-pointers per game, but make them at a 40% clip that ranks second, and dominate the glass with NBA-leading 48.7 rebounds and 16.1 offensive rebounds per game.

Houston’s physicality and expertise on the boards could be especially worrisome for a team that still has to consciously choose defense on a possession-by-possession basis instead of consistently living up to a standard of playing hard.

“There’s really no defense, no scheme we can do when we’re giving up offensive rebounds in crucial moments like we are, our [opponents] are getting wherever they want on the court,” guard Marcus Smart said after Tuesday’s loss. “And there’s no help, there’s no resistance, there’s no urgency. … It’s on us.”

The Suns grabbed 12 offensive rebounds against the Lakers on 35 missed shots, an offensive rebounding rate of 34.3%. After the Suns scored a three-pointer by twice grabbing offensive rebounds off tipped balls, Lakers players had an animated discussion in a timeout with Smart was gesturing toward center Deandre Ayton about tipping rebounds. Ayton, who finished with 10 rebounds and 12 points, and Smart ended the timeout with a high-five.

“[I need to] just continue to talk to guys, even though sometimes they might not want to hear it,” said Smart, a free-agent addition the Lakers coveted for his leadership and tenacity on defense. “Especially when we losing, nobody wants to hear it, myself included, but also understand that it’s integral for us to hear those things, to see and to be able to talk to one another and figure it out as players on the court, because we’re the ones out there.”

Redick intentionally built in moments for players to connect and communicate during every timeout this season before coaches speak. The strategy was meant to encourage players to take a larger leadership role. “Championship communication” was one of the team’s three pillars.

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, left, foulds Clippers guard James Harden on a layup during their game Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Along with “championship shape,” Redick also asked his team to build “championship habits.” Living up to the mantras is easier said than done.

“It’s not the easy choice,” Redick said. “It’s human nature. … We do it on a daily basis. We make easy choices cause it’s comfortable. Comfortable doesn’t win.”