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DP World Tour: Five Events That Stood Out

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Here are five tournaments that stood out in 2024.



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DP World Tour Championship: Five Players to Watch

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The tournament will also determine the winner of the Race to Dubai.



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How Did a Golf Course in Dubai Get So Lush? Let Us Explain.

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For the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, it took planning and water. “The desert golf courses are actually the most efficient users of water out of necessity,” a U.S.G.A. official said.



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College Football Playoff rankings: Georgia bumped out of bracket while Oregon, Ohio State hold steady at top

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Georgia plummeted from No. 3 to No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday following a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss, its second loss of the season, while previously undefeated Miami dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 after falling to Georgia Tech.

If the season ended today, the 7-2 Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the bracket, because No. 13 Boise State would claim an automatic berth as the fifth conference champion.

“Their offense hasn’t been consistent, and they’ve struggled with some turnovers,” committee chairman Warde Manuel said of Georgia. “Their defense has been solid, though in their loss to Ole Miss, with their offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.”

Oregon and Ohio State remained atop the rankings, while Texas, Penn State and undefeated Indiana moved up behind them, giving the Big Ten four of the top five teams.

Undefeated BYU jumped from No. 9 to No. 6 following its dramatic win over rival Utah late Saturday. Tennessee remained at No. 7, while Notre Dame moved up from No. 10 to No. 8.

Alabama, coming off a blowout win at LSU, moved up one spot from No. 11 to No. 10, with Ole Miss jumping up from No. 16 to No. 11. The Rebels would receive the last at-large berth if the season ended today.

Manuel said the fact Alabama and Ole Miss both beat Georgia head-to-head contributed to the Dawgs falling as far as they did.

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Is Georgia in trouble?

While Dawgs fans may be freaking out over being left out of this week’s hypothetical bracket, Georgia will move right back up if it beats seventh-ranked Tennessee at home this week. It would be Georgia’s second Top 10 win this season (it previously beat No. 3 Texas), and its two losses were to the committee’s No. 9 (Alabama) and No. 10 (Ole Miss) teams.

But the Dawgs would not be out of the woods yet. They close with Georgia Tech, which knocked off Miami last weekend. Barring a surge of upsets elsewhere, Georgia presumably cannot afford a third loss, unless it comes in the SEC championship game.

Can BYU breathe easier?

BYU, then 8-0, found itself behind five one-loss teams from the Big Ten and SEC last week. With Miami and Georgia dropping, the Cougars made up ground and now have some breathing room should they lose in the Big 12 championship game.

But as Georgia found out, the committee can drop a team precipitously at any time. BYU won’t be truly safe unless it earns an automatic berth.

How’s the G5 race shaping up?

Boise State dropped a spot from last week but is still rolling along as the highest-ranked Group of Five team, best positioned to earn one of the five bids reserved for conference champions if the Broncos win the Mountain West.

But there are now two teams from the American Athletic Conference in the rankings. Unbeaten Army is at No. 24, while 8-2 Tulane entered at No. 25. The Green Wave, also unbeaten in the AAC, play at Navy with a chance to clinch a spot in the conference title game, but Tulane seems unlikely to make up 12 spots on Boise State unless the Broncos lose once.

Army, which is plagued by its poor schedule strength to this point, has a golden chance to boost its resume when it faces No. 10 Notre Dame next week. 

Required reading

(Photo: Tom Hauck / Getty Images)



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Michael Strahan anthem controversy shouldn’t make you mad, unless you’re looking to be mad

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And here I thought the biggest takeaway from the most recent edition of “Fox NFL Sunday” was former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski jumping out of an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter.

Wrong! Turns out it’s Michael Strahan who’s topping the newsmaker charts, this after the former New York Giants defensive end was caught, if that’s the right word for it, failing to hold his right hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem. To fill out the picture here, the “Fox NFL Sunday” show was done live from Naval Base San Diego on Sunday as part of a Veterans Day salute, and during the anthem, all of the panelists, except Strahan, are shown with their right hand across the heart. Strahan has his arms in a resting position in front of his body, right hand over left.

According to the U.S. Flag Code, civilians “ … should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, or if applicable, remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart.” It’s the “should” part of this that would seemingly give Strahan an avenue for a pass, but that’s playing word gymnastics, don’t you think? This isn’t a legal case, because Strahan didn’t do anything illegal. What’s more, he looked quite dignified and focused during the anthem, as though in church.

What, then, did Strahan do wrong? He apparently was not acting in strict adherence to the U.S. Flag Code, but in every other respect, Strahan presented himself as a respectful, loyal American citizen.

Criticizing Strahan becomes an even more difficult exercise when one takes into account his family. His father, Major Gene W. Strahan Sr., served 23 years in the Army. According to the younger Strahan’s Fox Sports biography, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer and member of the Giants’ 17-14 victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII spent part of his childhood living in Germany, where his father was stationed.

Strahan posted a photo of his father on Instagram on Monday, along with these words: “Thank you to all veterans and active service members who courageously risk their lives to protect us every day. Your selfless sacrifice is beyond measure.”

There was more.

“This is my hero, it is also my father, Gene W. Strahan, Sr.,” Strahan wrote. “He served for 23 years in the army and was a proud member of the 82nd Airborne Division. Just as I honor my father, I keep all of you in my thoughts each and every day as we would not have the safety and freedoms we cherish without you. Thank you.”

Jay Glazer, a member of the “Fox NFL Sunday” cast, took to X to highlight Strahan’s family history.

“Let me tell you this, I don’t know if I have a friend who is more proud of his military roots than Michael, growing up on an army base constantly talking about what he learned from his dad Major Gene Strahan and how his time there shaped him,” Glazer wrote.  “I heard it CONSTANTLY, still do!

“But also, with no fanfare i personally saw him donate thousands of dollars of clothes to veterans, including many homeless veterans as well clothes for veterans to go on job interviews.”

That, right there, can easily be put to use in dismissing all the social media Captain Midnights who became outraged by Strahan’s lack of hand over heart during the playing of the anthem. But to pull Major Gene W. Strahan’s military record out of a file cabinet misses the point because it speaks to a much larger point: Major Strahan’s service to his country helped preserve our right — your right, my right, Michael Strahan’s right — to observe the playing of the national anthem in whatever manner we see fit.

No doubt lots of people would prefer that the playing of the anthem be a Norman Rockwell painting come to life, with everybody standing on Main Street as the high school band strikes the notes that put us in a patriotic mood. A mayoral proclamation is read. Cannons are fired. War veterans salute. And, yes, citizens place hand over heart.

The national anthem is so much more complicated in the 21st century — especially at sporting events, what with artists who feel the need to decorate their performances with signature flourishes that sometimes reduce the exercise to so many cats on so many keyboards. Furthermore, it’s pointless to monitor how people comport themselves during the anthem and then make judgments about patriotism based on the findings. If you don’t believe me, take a good, long look around your section during the playing of the national anthem next time you’re at a sporting event.

Granted, the setting for the latest edition of “Fox NFL Sunday” was Naval Base San Diego, and, yes, that was a genuine military band performing the national anthem. No disrespect to every singer, band and choral group that’s ever performed “The Star-Spangled Banner,” nothing catches the moment better than a military band. And yet “Fox NFL Sunday,” while saluting Veterans Day, did so in a way that played up the strength of its cast members. Count me among the millions who loved watching Gronkowski jump out of a helicopter, but in the end, it was all just a vehicle for the kind of hijinks we’ve come to expect from him. No problem here. He’s fun.

And Michael Strahan? He didn’t do anything that should make you mad, unless you’re the type who looks for things to get mad about. If that’s the case, look harder.

(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)





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Duke leaning on Cooper Flagg late didn’t work — this time. But Blue Devils want ball in his hands

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ATLANTA — Jon Scheyer would do it again.

And later this season, he almost certainly will.

With 26.5 seconds left, Duke and Kentucky tied in another Champions Classic thriller, Scheyer took timeout to scheme up his best play — or really, his best player.

Because, let’s face it: There was only ever one thing that Duke’s coach was going to call for in the clutch moments of Kentucky’s eventual 77-72 win. He knew it. Kentucky knew it. Everyone in State Farm Arena knew it. But with the game on the line, you go to your star — even if he’s 17 years old, playing in only his third college game.

So, Jon, what did you want on that last play?

“The ball in his hands,” Scheyer said before pointing his thumb to his right, where freshman Cooper Flagg was sitting.

It’s that simple. In the crucible of one of the best games of this early college basketball season, Scheyer put the rock in Flagg’s hands and, basically, said go make a bucket. Which, considering Flagg already had a game-high 26 points by then — including Duke’s final seven points, and 12 of its past 14 — ain’t exactly a bad strategy.

So after fellow freshman Kon Knueppel inbounded the ball to Flagg, Duke ran three ghost screens — first with Maliq Brown, then Tyrese Proctor, then Knueppel — and then cleared everyone out of the way.

No ball screens. No passes. No interference. Just let Flagg cook.

It worked the possession before, right? Flagg basically did the same thing when he took an offensive rebound from Brown and, without hesitation, drove into the teeth of Kentucky’s defense. Somehow, he got off a shot over 6-foot-11 forward Andrew Carr, which tap-danced along the back rim before finally falling through the hoop. That tied the score at 72, setting up a do-over scenario for Duke and its teenage phenom.

Only this time, Kentucky — the fifth most-experienced team in the country, per KenPom, which starts four seniors and a junior — learned a thing or two. Rather than following Knueppel out to the wing after his ghost screen, Kentucky wing Otega Oweh hung back a little, wary of Flagg’s incoming drive. Gotcha. This time when Flagg tried to post up Carr, Oweh saw his opening, timing his help defense perfectly before ripping the ball out of Flagg’s grasp. Knueppel fouled Oweh in transition before he got a shot off, but the damage was done; Oweh’s subsequent free throws put Kentucky ahead for good.

 

After the game, Scheyer acknowledged that he “probably could have put (Flagg) in a better position, to be honest.” Like a ball screen with Proctor, perhaps, to force the defensive switch? Duke’s junior point guard had Jaxson Robinson guarding him, and while Robinson’s an excellent shooter, his defense is about as tough as tissue paper. Earlier in the second half, when Flagg hit Robinson with a drop step in the post, that freed him up for his easiest points all night. Or maybe Scheyer could have gotten Knueppel involved first, and had him feed Flagg off a short roll.

But regardless, Scheyer was going to Flagg.

And he was right to.

“We’re going to be in these moments a lot together, and I trust his instincts,” Scheyer said. “But he’s got to touch it, and trust that good things are going to happen. I wish you could say that every time it’s going to work out, but that’s not reality.”

In that pivotal moment, it didn’t. And it didn’t the next possession, either, when Flagg — with Duke still trailing by only two — lost his dribble in the corner and the ball slowly rolled out of bounds. “I kind of lost the ball first, and then I might have slipped,” Flagg said, “but whatever happened, that’s not an excuse.” The 6-foot-9 wing crumpled to the court as the nearby referee signaled for the turnover, which all but sealed the Blue Devils’ defeat with 5.5 seconds left.

And while those two late turnovers are the moments that will endure, it’s plainly inaccurate to lay the blame for Duke’s defeat at Flagg’s feet. A teenager, in his first nationally televised game, after being touted for months as arguably the best American-born NBA prospect since Anthony Davis, responded with his game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, plus two assists and two blocks.

He played every second after halftime, which became paramount once graduate guard Sion James left with a shoulder injury and freshman big Khaman Maluach exited with cramps. (About those: Scheyer said he’s “concerned” that cramps have impacted Duke’s freshmen in all three games thus far, but it’s something Duke’s sports science staff is actively addressing, like it did with Paolo Banchero years ago.)

Without Flagg, who had an alley-oop tip-in dunk on Duke’s first possession, Scheyer’s team would never have had a chance to win in the game’s final minute. But, and yes, there’s a “but,” it’s also true that Flagg and Duke’s entire team, really, showed their youth in the second half.

In the first half, Duke had 28 points in the paint to Kentucky’s six. In the second half? Kentucky had 20 to Duke’s 18.

In the first half, Duke had 11 points off turnovers, and Kentucky had none. In the second half? Kentucky had nine, and Duke had only four.

In the first half, Duke had eight fast-break points, to only one for Kentucky. In the second half? Kentucky again had nine to Duke’s four.

That’s not one freshman having two tough possessions. That’s an entire team wilting, or at least looking its age when it could not afford to.

“They showed incredible maturity,” Scheyer said, “and their experience showed in the second half.”

That’s the difference between the nation’s fifth-oldest team and one that starts three freshmen, isn’t it? Flagg, a quick learner, isn’t likely to make those late-game mistakes again. Nor is Knueppel, one of the best shooters in the country, liable to go 5-of-20 overall, or 1-of-8 from 3. Also worth noting: Duke wouldn’t have been in nearly as close a game if it shot anywhere near normal. The Blue Devils entered Tuesday making 14 3-pointers per game, fifth-most in the country, before making just four of their 23 tries from deep, or 17.4 percent.

Still. This is the first time either of those guys have been in a game like this, in a building like this, where CATLANTA feels like an appropriate dateline. Scheyer has said multiple times this summer and season that he didn’t construct Duke’s daunting nonconference schedule in such a way so his team could go undefeated. The Blue Devils still play at Arizona, vs. Kansas in Las Vegas and host Auburn in the ACC-SEC Challenge.

He did it so his team would get better. And while learning from wins is more enjoyable than learning from losses, it isn’t always as effective.

“We got a long season to go,” Scheyer said. “I feel more optimistic tonight, losing, than I did even before, because you find out in this game the character of your team and the heart that they have — and this team’s got a lot of heart.”

Scheyer made a controversial choice to build his third roster around a freshman, even one as talented as Flagg, in the most experienced era in college basketball history. Remember that there have been two freshman starters combined in the past two Final Fours. But if Duke is going to get to that point, it’s going to take Flagg being the best player on the floor in situations like Tuesday.

He wasn’t on his first crack. It happens. But this is how youth gets experience. It lives things.

Want to bet how Flagg’s next game-winning opportunity goes?

“Coach has trust in me to go and make a play,” Flagg said. “I’m glad he had that trust in me, to put the ball in my hands. I’m looking for it in that moment. It didn’t work out, but I’m still going to look for it, no matter what.”

(Photo of Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Kentucky’s Otega Oweh: by Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)



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Why the Chiefs love Steve Spagnuolo: Exotic blitzes, tough love and home cooking

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before dawn on a fall Friday, Steve Spagnuolo enters the Kansas City Chiefs facility with a large aluminum pan. The defensive coordinator finds a place for it in the defensive line meeting room, returns to his car and comes back with another pan, this one for the linebackers room. Then he does it again, delivering the final pan to the defensive backs room.

In each pan, there are 15 generous portions of banana pudding. Chiefs defenders will find the pans waiting for them when they come off the field after a light practice. They will have to move quickly to get their highly coveted treat lest invasive offensive linemen move in.

Four days earlier, Steve’s wife, Maria, bought eggs, butter and other ingredients. Then she went on a banana hunt. She needed 25, starting at Aldi and taking only the ones that met her requirements for size and ripeness. She found more at Price Chopper and the rest at Cosentino’s Market. Some were a bit too green, but she put them in the oven or in plastic bags to expedite ripening. Freshness matters, so Maria waited until Wednesday to start the two-day cooking process.

Steve delivers Maria’s desserts every week during the NFL season. Of course, he’s more famous for devising blitzes so bold that no other coach would dare imagine them and coverages so complex they leave quarterbacks cross-eyed. Coaches and commentators testify about his insidious game plans that lure opponents into his web and praise his ever-evolving scheme.

But that’s only part of the story. The rest? It’s in those aluminum pans.

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‘Spags is a wizard’: How Steve Spagnuolo turned the Chiefs defense into one of the NFL’s best

Sports were the center of Spagnuolo’s universe during his childhood in Grafton, Mass., but were less important to his father, who worked long hours as an accountant and spent his free time listening to music, reading and writing. When Spagnuolo was 12, his parents split up, and his dad wasn’t around much in the years that followed.

Richard Egsegian, geometry teacher, guidance counselor and football coach at Grafton High School, took an earnest interest in every child in his sphere and a special interest in Spagnuolo, who happened to be his quarterback. Egsesian may not have been a wizard of a strategist, but his coaching touched the heart. “He was,” Spagnuolo says, “a man of character.”

Egsegian and Spagnuolo had long talks on bleacher benches after practices. Egsegian once loaded up a few of his players in his Volkswagen Beetle and drove them to the University of Massachusetts to watch one of his former players practice. He treated Spagnuolo to a day at Patriots training camp.

Egsegian set Spagnuolo on a path to being a coach. After playing wide receiver at Springfield College, Spagnuolo hopscotched like young coaches do, working for six colleges and two World League teams. Then, in 1999, new Eagles coach Andy Reid hired Spagnuolo as a defensive assistant. He worked with Reid in Philadelphia for eight seasons, eventually coaching defensive backs and linebackers.

Those years had an indelible effect on him. In Reid, he found a mentor and someone who always had his back. Defensive coordinator Jim Johnson helped Spagnuolo develop his defensive mentality. Spagnoulo sensed a certain peace in fellow assistant coach Les Frazier, who brought him to church.

Then he met Maria. The first time they were alone together, he looked at her as if he was about to say something romantic. Instead, he said, “You must be a hard worker. Your hands are very strong.” Regardless, she decided to stick with him.


Steve and Maria Spagnuolo make Chiefs defenders feel like family. (Dan Pompei / The Athletic)

He was the Giants’ defensive coordinator in 2007 when the team started 0-2 and gave up 80 points in the first two games. Defensive end Michael Strahan recalls Spagnuolo telling his players he believed in every one of them and wouldn’t trade them for anyone else. And then he pushed them to where they did not know they could go.

“He challenged guys to be better, but he did it in a way that didn’t demean anyone,” Strahan says. “It was like, ‘I know there’s more there. And I believe in you.’”

In the subsequent Super Bowl, Spagnuolo’s Giants prevailed over Tom Brady and the Patriots — “He’s been the bane of my existence,” Brady said on a recent Fox broadcast.

The victory propelled Spagnuolo to the St. Louis Rams’ head coaching job in 2009. With the Rams, he admittedly didn’t lean on the people around him enough. Given a precious opportunity he knew might never come again, he found it difficult to trust.

“Sometimes when you get that job for the first time, you either think you have all the answers or you’re kind of eager to do things the way you thought they should be done,” he says. “And you learn that it’s best to use as many resources and ask other people as many different questions as you can.”

Current Los Angeles Rams president Kevin Demoff, who had a hand in Spagnuolo’s firing after three seasons, posted about it earlier this year on X. “The team & organization he inherited in STL was a mess, nobody could have had success,” Demoff wrote. “Yet he changed the culture/staff & players believed. An amazing human deserving of the real shot we couldn’t give him.”

Time has been good for Spagnuolo. A conversation with him always made you feel like you sipped warm brandy, but now the finish is smoother.

“There’s more of a gentleness with people now,” says Maria, who has likewise been good for him. “I’ve seen him have a really tender heart towards some of his players, like a father’s heart.”

Like Egsesian, Spagnuolo never had biological children. He and Maria married when he was 45 and she was 40. Her stepchildren Jeffrey and Crissy and their families make up the extended Spagnuolo family, but many others are considered adopted members.

When safety Quintin Mikell was a rookie defensive back with the Eagles, Spagnoulo asked him how he was settling in. Mikell said he missed home cooking, soul food specifically. Not long after, he found an aluminum pan in his locker with fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas and sweet potato pie.

Maria can cook anything, learning from her paternal grandmother, Angelina Damiani, during her childhood in West Philly. The most important thing she learned from her grandmother: cooking was about more than just cooking.

“The first thing Jesus did was feed people, and then he showed them kindness and love,” Maria says. “Steve loves the fellas and likes to show them.”

They bring Greek food to Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis, a native of Athens. His favorite is Giovetsi. “It takes me back home whenever she makes it,” Karlaftis says.

For former Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, it’s the banana pudding. “She even cooks better than my grandma, and I don’t put no one above my granny,” says Sneed.

They recently gifted defensive lineman Chris Jones with a bottle of Maria’s homemade Limoncello, which he couldn’t help but sample during a workday. “Oh my God, it’s serious,” says Jones, who had dinner at the Spagnuolos’ home before the season with safety Justin Reid and linebacker Nick Bolton. Each player left with a doggy bag too large to carry on an airplane.

Jones has called Spagnuolo a father figure, as have Reid, Sneed and others. Spagnuolo particularly resonates with players whose relationships with their fathers are strained or nonexistent.

“I lost my father when I was 13, so I look up to him as a father figure,” Karlaftis says.

Sneed, who was traded to the Titans in the offseason, still texts Spagnuolo weekly and tells him he loves him. Chiefs safety Bryan Cook calls him one of the top five or 10 people he’s ever met. Reid had T-shirts printed in January that read, “In Spags We Trust.”

“He completely changed my life on the field and off the field and post-career,” says Strahan, who became a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and host of “Good Morning America” and “Fox NFL Sunday.” “Winning that Super Bowl gave me a life after football that I don’t think I ever would have had if not for him. And I attribute that win to him and his incredible game plan.”

Before their first meeting of the week, Chiefs defenders usually see a Bible verse or a statement about gratitude or another value displayed on the screen. Spagnuolo often begins the meeting by reflecting on the sentiment. Jones, who sits behind Spagnuolo at chapel every Saturday night, calls him his “spiritual muse.”

In December 2021, Sneed’s older brother was stabbed to death. When Sneed found out, his first call was to Spagnuolo.

“I called him crying,” Sneed says. “He said, ‘What’s wrong? What’s wrong?’ I couldn’t get my words out. ‘Speak to me, LJ, speak to me.’ I said, ‘My brother passed.’ Then he started crying as well.”

In the aftermath, Spagnuolo reached out daily. Spagnuolo still texts Sneed scripture from time to time, and the cornerback finds comfort in knowing Maria prays for him every morning. “He’s someone I call on when I need help, when I’m in danger, whether it’s on the football field or not,” Sneed says.

Early in Cook’s rookie season, he felt lost. He was trying to find his place and needed reassurance that he was on the right path. Spagnuolo had noticed some growth in Cook, and he wanted Cook to see it, too. In his office, Spagnuolo showed Cook a video of his combine interview earlier that year. The player who sat in Spagnuolo’s office looked and carried himself differently.

As he watched, Cook broke down.

“I don’t remember that guy,” he told Spagnuolo. “I’m a different guy now.”

Cook says it was a major pivot in his life. “I was going through a lot of personal things as well as things with the team,” Cook says. “It reminded me of how far I came, and it inspired me.”


The Spagnuolos made sure Nick Bolton (third from left), Justin Reid (third from right), Chris Jones (right) and guests left dinner with full stomachs — and plenty of food to take home. (Courtesy of the Spagnuolo family)

Despite his velvet touch, Spagnuolo does not coach meekly. His tenacity helped develop Sneed into one of the game’s premier cornerbacks.

“I was kind of lackadaisical when I came into the league,” Sneed says. “He showed me how to practice and run after the ball. He’ll come on the field yelling, ‘Run to the ball!’ He’s going to be on your tail like white on rice.”

Jones, who jokingly calls Spagnuolo a dictator, says they butted heads initially. “I spend a lot of one-on-one time with him,” Jones says. “And it’s not all good times. Sometimes, it’s a cursing out.”

This season, Spagnuolo is leading a Kansas City defense that ranks in the top 10 in points allowed for the fifth time in six years. He won his fourth Super Bowl ring earlier this year — the most of any coordinator in NFL history. Yet he has not had a legitimate interview for a head coaching job in 16 years (not including a token interview after serving as interim coach of the Giants for four games at the end of the 2017 season).

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Nguyen: Chiefs’ Steve Spagnuolo cements himself as an all-time great defensive coordinator

The legacy of his 10-38 record with the Rams explained things for a while. It didn’t help that Spagnuolo followed that up with a dumpster fire of a season with the Saints — with Sean Payton suspended for Bountygate, Spagnuolo’s defense gave up the most yards in NFL history.

Reconnecting with Reid in 2019 made those memories fade. But now, three championship parades later, Spagnuolo is 64 years old. His cholesterol is a little high. One of his hips wore out and needed to be replaced, but he still can sprint down the sideline to call a timeout, even if he isn’t supposed to.

Will he ever get another chance?

“You’d like to think you’re evaluated not by a number,” Spagnuolo says. “And I think somewhere along the way, somebody may do that. But if they don’t, I’m OK with it. It’s in God’s hands.”

The failure he experienced has led to a profound appreciation for all he has. With the Chiefs, he provides the yin to the yang of Patrick Mahomes, rides shotgun to the masterful Andy Reid and builds bridges with banana pudding.

This, he knows, is not a bad life.

Inspired by comedian Tony Baker, Steve and Maria instituted a “Cram Award” for the defender with the best hit in a Chiefs victory (Baker posts videos of rams ramming, which he calls “crams”). Saturdays after a win, Spagnuolo plays a video of highlights mixed with Baker’s posts, then a drum roll precedes the announcement.

The winner is presented with an Italian dinner from Maria in an aluminum pan. Recently, it was homemade gemelli in a blush sauce and chicken parmesan in gravy.

“Getting a game ball, I don’t really care about,” Jones says. “But the Cram Award, I mean, you get a dish from Maria.”

After a recent Chiefs victory, Spagnuolo received texts from Jones and defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton, who had been given Cram awards the previous Saturday. They sent messages of gratitude along with photos of the pans that had contained their dinners.

The pans were empty. Hearts were full.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)



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Klay Thompson wanted a low-key Warriors homecoming, but warm embrace could help heal wounds

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SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson didn’t want any of the pomp and circumstance.

The warm welcome from 400 or so Warriors employees who met him at the Dallas Mavericks’ team bus Tuesday and cheered for him as he walked toward the visitors’ locker room inside this familiar Chase Center. The sailor caps that were inspired by his boating passion and worn by everyone, from Warriors owner Joe Lacob to the rest of the sellout crowd of 18,064 that made sure his incredible legacy was honored. The Stephen Curry pregame speech that was scrapped, as Thompson shared, when the Splash Brothers exchanged text messages the night before and decided to pull it from the script.

According to league sources, Thompson’s message to his old team heading into his night of celebration was that less was more. But the Warriors, who were determined to pay homage to the massive part he played in their dynastic run in first-class fashion, pulled out all the stops anyway. This reunion game, one in which the Warriors went to such great lengths to honor the 13 years of memories between them, was bound to be uncomfortably ironic.

Here you had Golden State officials trying so hard to show proper respect to his storied past, only to be met with a lukewarm response that served as a reminder that the perceived disrespect regarding his future was the primary cause of this bitter basketball divorce. Unless Lacob found a way to put the two of them in a time machine and travel back to two summers ago, then committed to keeping the Warriors’ celebrated trio together by giving Thompson the same four-year, $100 million deal that he gave to Draymond Green, then these wounds were bound to stay open.

Or so it seemed.

Curry’s late flurry ruined Thompson’s plans for a revenge game. The Warriors won 120-117 after Curry buried the Mavs in video game form during those wildly entertaining final minutes. Still, it was quite clear that healing had occurred between the two sides. And by the time Thompson took the postgame podium, having hit six 3s en route to 22 points but surely lamenting his missed 3 that rimmed out with 89 seconds left, the tone that he had set behind the scenes coming into this emotional affair had changed for the better.

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Curry, Warriors ruin Klay Thompson’s Bay Area return with 120-117 win

“It was a really cool experience,” he said of the evening that also included a video tribute. “I appreciate the fans very much. The captain’s hat ended up being a great touch, since I’m such a passionate boater. I saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd. That was a warm-hearted feeling. So it was really cool to see fans with gratitude towards myself, and it’s something I won’t take for granted. It’s very, very awesome.

“It was a cool moment to feel the energy from the fans, and especially, you know, all the chatter that I heard — it was all positive. (That) just means a lot to myself, because I really enjoyed my time here and … left it all out on the floor.”

The pregame greeting from the employees, specifically, was a special touch that some in Thompson’s circle had hoped — like the Curry speech — would be scratched from the program. Yet as Thompson shared afterward, the gesture had the desired effect.

“That was really cool,” he said. “I’m very grateful for the employees to give me that kind of love. Totally unexpected, and definitely put a smile on my face. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

No matter the context, Thompson’s willingness to share warm feelings about the Warriors organization signaled a thawing of the iciness in this relationship that is only right considering all the history between them. Beyond the four titles, five All-Star appearances and countless good times in between, there was a special bond between Klay and the Bay that can’t be properly preserved if the friction remains. And while the disagreement surely remains about how his contract situation was handled, with Thompson believing he should have received equal treatment to Green and the Warriors pointing to his devastating stretch of injuries as justification for their more measured approach, the affectionate postgame scene came with signs of genuine reconciliation that should only get better from here.

Thompson hugged Warriors coach Steve Kerr first, and was then embraced by Curry. Next came longtime Warriors trainer Rick Celebrini, then Andrew Wiggins, Trayce-Jackson Davis, Moses Moody, various staff members, Green, fellow Bahamian and his replacement, Buddy Hield, Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco, Gary Payton II, and assistant coach Bruce Fraser. It’s unclear if Thompson connected with Lacob, but it reaches a point in this post-Warriors saga where that sort of subplot doesn’t truly matter anymore.

“The Warriors did an incredible job of honoring him,” said Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, a Bay Area native who attended Cal and knows the passion of these local fans well.

Warriors mission accomplished, in other words, with a win to boot as they improved to an unexpected 9-2 mark.

Anyone who knows Thompson well knows he likely didn’t sleep much after this one. Curry’s 37-point performance overshadowed Thompson’s dynamic night, with No. 30 celebrating the win as if he were still in a gold-medal march with Team USA rather than a mid-November NBA affair. Thompson left the floor with a sense of appreciation, tossing his headband into the stands on his way through the tunnel before being greeted by a long line of admirers.

Andre Iguodala, his fellow Warriors legend and current National Basketball Players Association executive director, visited the Mavericks locker room before the game and returned for a postgame chat as well. Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Kirk Lacob waited to see him too, as did former Warriors big man and current liaison between basketball and business, Zaza Pachulia.

For Thompson’s part, his mind inevitably turned to the next basketball challenge ahead. His Mavericks are just 5-6 now, with this Luka DončićKyrie Irving-Thompson trio still finding their way amid a parity-filled Western Conference that is up for grabs. As the nostalgia faded, with all those Warriors years irrelevant to the task at hand, he looked ahead.

“We’ve had like four games this year that could have gone either way,” Thompson said. “This one really stung, being up seven (points) with four minutes left. We’ll watch the film and get better. But I am really proud of how this team keeps fighting. We’re still getting to know each other, and I keep telling the guys, it’s better to go through this stuff early in the season versus Game 60. So I know we have a chance to be great. We’ve just got to stay the course.”

He would know, of course. There’s a past basketball life where his transcendent play sparked an annual charge to the NBA’s mountaintop. The Warriors cherish those days, and want to ensure they’re not forgotten. And if Tuesday night was any indication, Thompson does too.

(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)



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Best 2025 NFL Draft options for teams vying for No. 1 overall pick

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The annual race to the bottom of the NFL has several participants this season — 11 teams are at three wins or fewer heading into Week 11.

Unlike last year, there is no consensus pot of gold at the other end of the failure rainbow. There are elite players in the 2025 NFL Draft class, to be sure, but none of them play the positions we typically see go No. 1. There isn’t a no-doubt QB; the OT class is thin; the edge group is very raw.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the teams leading the race for the No. 1 overall pick and see what makes the most sense for each of them. Using The Athletic’s NFL projections model, here are the eight teams likeliest to land atop the draft:

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL Draft 2025 Big Board: Travis Hunter takes No. 1 spot, 4 QBs in updated top 50

Projected record: 5-12

Don’t rule out Georgia’s Mykel Williams pushing himself past Carter and into the top edge spot before this season’s over — The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Carter ranked as the No. 3 prospect and Williams No. 8 on his updated 2025 Big Board. However, as it stands now, I’d probably go with Micah Parsons’ understudy in Happy Valley.

The Panthers do not need to select another quarterback with that top pick — should they claim it — because they just did that in 2023. Carolina should work to continue developing Bryce Young and his offensive line while finding ways to add usable skill talent.

Defensively, Carolina has to find a culture. That’s hard to do without any impact players. There aren’t too many no-doubters defensively this year outside of Travis Hunter, but Carter’s a total freak, very young (age 20) and could be a pillar here.

Projected record: 5-12

You have no idea how badly I wanted to write down Malaki Starks name here. New England needs a safety, and Starks is one of the best prospects we’ve seen at that position in a long time. He also can play corner and is hands down the smartest defender in this class. He would change New England’s defense overnight. All that said, the Patriots would also have to explain drafting a safety No. 1 overall.

Campbell, as the best OT in this class, would require less justification. (He also might be a capable guard at the next level, depending on fit and situation.) This isn’t an elite tackle class, but New England could use help in front of Drake Maye.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL Power Rankings Week 11: Chiefs back at No. 1, plus quarterback confidence rankings

Projected record: 5-12

It’s still a back-and-forth thing, for me, right now between Cam Ward and Sanders as QB1 (Brugler’s board has it ranked Ward, Jalen Milroe, Sanders). In such an uncertain QB class, there’s no telling how it will ultimately play out, but Ward and Sanders have been steadily better than the rest of the crop this year. Ward has a better physical frame, but Sanders is closer to being ready for action right now — so long as your team can help him.

A current pro comp for Sanders might be a more athletic version of Bo Nix. Nix certainly has taken his lumps in Denver, but he’s a very smart processor with good quarterbacking instincts. Sanders is very much in that arena, only with a better arm and more impressive movement skills.

Having a bridge QB on the roster with Sanders would be ideal. But if the Raiders can surround him with a decent infrastructure, he might surprise everyone as a rookie.

Projected record: 5-12

I’m not even going to give the Browns another option, because they’d need to move this pick — even if they can’t land an all-time haul and just drop down a spot or two. The Browns have too many needs in too many areas, plus they are in an absolutely hellacious situation with Deshaun Watson. They cannot add a QB at No. 1 in April, and Campbell is the only OT in this class worth thinking about that high.

Cleveland is back in the first round for the first time since the disastrous Watson trade. Rather than immediately putting themselves back behind the eight ball, the Browns should find a way to cash a (hypothetical) No. 1 pick in for more capital.

Projected record: 5-12

It doesn’t look like Will Levis is the answer to anyone’s prayers, but he’s still only 25 years old and on a cheap contract. The Titans are in a weird spot, though, and it might get worse before it gets better.

A preferable option to going QB at No. 1: finding a decent veteran to compete with Levis while Tennessee builds out the rest of its roster. I’d love to say “draft Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan,” but Tennessee likely needs more than just a WR from a potential top spot.

Hunter, however, is “more than just a wide receiver.”

The Titans are one of the worst teams in football. They also started the year with an older roster, on average, than the Lions, Eagles, Packers and Chiefs. Tackle could also be a choice here, but — again — this might not be the right class to address that spot.

Projected record: 5-12

I’m only going to do this under the condition the Giants sign a bridge quarterback and let Ward sit and learn for a year. I’d say the same if Sanders were the match here. (Could Daniel Jones serve that purpose?)

The Giants, quite frankly, are not a quarterback away from being saved. I’m afraid if they select Ward or Sanders in the top five, they’ll wind up in two years where the Panthers and Colts are now: cold-sweat panicking about why their rookie hasn’t saved them by himself. No quarterback in this class is capable of strapping a team on his back and carrying it next year. If anyone’s hoping for that outcome, they’ll earn what they get.

All that said, Ward has improved every year he’s played — and has jumped up in competition levels multiple times.

There’s no way I’d draft a QB No. 1 this year, but I’m not in charge of a QB-desperate franchise that’s running out of choices.

Projected record: 5-12

We’ll see how things go (and, obviously, this job is still filled for the moment), but the Jaguars get my pre-vote for best opening of the impending 2025 NFL coaching cycle. That’s not just because the new coach would get Trevor Lawrence. There’s also a fair amount of young talent to work with on this roster, and the Jaguars currently have the most 2025 draft capital in the league.

Even though the 2025 draft class doesn’t look elite by any measure, it’s more than enough for the Jaguars — an aimless group that is better than its record — to turn their fortunes.

Hunter, the best college player in America, could help finally give Lawrence a real weapon and/or establish the Jaguars’ defensive culture. It’s a win-win. Easy fit.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Travis Hunter tracker: Clutch TD reception helps Colorado continue its playoff push

Projected record: 6-11

Talk about a team without a culture — what even are the Saints? Right now, they’re a team with an overpriced, low- to mid-tier starting quarterback surrounded by aging players from a bygone era. They’re also about to be starting over, again. Regardless of the direction this franchise takes with its coach (and perhaps its GM), New Orleans has to get better over the ball, on both sides of the line.

Graham’s ability to control the middle of a defensive front in several different ways from different spots gives off slight reminders of a younger (albeit better) Ndamukong Suh.

Graham’s motor is relentless, his grip strength might crush an apple, and his agility numbers at 320 pounds will be elite come evaluation time. Graham easily could’ve been the guy in high school voted “Most Likely to Wrestle an Actual Bear.”

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

NFL QB stock report, Week 11: Caleb Williams’ flaws have followed him from college

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos of Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders and Abdul Carter: Doug Murray, Julio Aguilar, Randy Litzinger / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)





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To keep South Carolina on top, Dawn Staley had to change

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Just a few weeks before South Carolina began its campaign to defend its national title, fifth-year senior Te-Hina Paopao laughed and joked with teammates on the sideline during practice as coach Dawn Staley stood nearby and rattled off feedback to players conducting a full-court drill.

Staley either didn’t notice or didn’t mind Paopao that October Monday (but given that it’s Staley, it’s fair to assume it’s not the former). A year ago, Staley would’ve characterized it as Paopao’s being unfocused. The constant chatter would have felt like disrespect to the game and that she was allowing distractions to enter this sacred space. But today, Staley doesn’t see it that way at all. Instead, she understands it as a necessary piece of what this team needs and more importantly, how she needed to adjust for her players. It’s now part of how they win games, even if it wasn’t how she won games in the past.

That ability to adapt might be Staley’s greatest asset as the No. 1 Gamecocks, who are on a 40-game winning streak, return most of last season’s roster and embark on a season in which they could become the first program to repeat as national champions since UConn won four straight from 2013 to 2016.

Staley has set the bar high at South Carolina. Time and time again, she has asked players to step outside their comfort zones. But last year, she had to do that too … even if she fought it first. A year ago at this time, when her players wouldn’t stop chattering, she’d looked to the north end of the gym where massive banners hang representing South Carolina’s first-round WNBA Draft picks. She’d remember what it had been like to coach those players who helped Staley mold the program into the gold standard and she’d fear, is this team going to tear down everything we built?

But then? That team accomplished something none of those players on the wall ever did — went undefeated and won a national title. In the course of that run, last season’s team also taught the Hall of Fame coach an unexpected lesson: Even in her mid-50s, after she’s won almost everything, there is still a lot more to learn.

“This game will stretch you out. It will give you what you need,” Staley says. “In some uncanny way, I’ve always gotten something I needed at the time I needed it.”

When she was a player, successes and losses often reinforced Staley’s idea of what it meant to respect the game — to be focused, to remove distractions. When she was cut from the 1992 Olympic team, the crushing defeat fueled her drive to return in 1996 (and an additional two Olympics after that). When she started as a coach at Temple in 2000, she was still playing in the WNBA, and the game allowed her to learn how to balance herself and see the game differently.

When South Carolina — then an SEC bottom dweller — hired Staley in 2008, she came in with an intensity and expectation that the players would have the same drive and chips on their shoulders as she did. But they didn’t. During Staley’s first preseason in Columbia, associate head coach Lisa Boyer pulled Staley aside to tell her that all the players could hear was her volume, not her words.

If Staley wanted to get through to them, she needed to pivot. She didn’t need to lower her standards, but she needed to change her approach.

The game gave her a chance to evolve. And she did. South Carolina, which had been to the Sweet 16 just twice in its history, won its first national title nine seasons after Staley took over.

Last season, Boyer reminded her of that pivot 15 years earlier and made her consider that the game perhaps was giving her a chance to do it again, to stretch herself as a coach. This time, it wasn’t about changing how she communicated but allowing players to communicate the way they needed to, to cede ground in a way she never had before to get this group to go further than she ever had before. Staley, who describes herself as an old-school coach who likes things to be defined strictly as right or wrong, suddenly realized she needed to step into the gray area so South Carolina could reach its full potential.

“She changed her coaching,” Paopao says. “She had to get things across quickly before we started losing attention. We were good for like six to eight minutes … . And she knows that. She knows our attention span is small.”

Staley picked her battles. She allowed the talking, singing and joking so long as players were more disciplined in every other way on and off the court. When they were late to team events or missed classes, she enforced time off from basketball. They weren’t allowed in the gym or weight room. Staley called it PTO.

Amid the players’ constant noise, Staley saw something clearly — this team was becoming one of the closest she had ever had. What she had once seen as a distraction she wanted to eliminate was unexpectedly what brought players together.

“I enjoy the challenges of the job, I really do. And I think I’m pretty good at it. But some stuff, you can’t win,” Staley says, referring to her losing the battle against her players in their chatty silliness.

The hallmark of great coaches is their ability to adapt over the years. Often, the focus is on an evolution on the court or how they adjust to new rules, not how a coach fundamentally — and quickly — adapts to their own players.

“They really can’t help it. It’s who they are. As long as we’re getting what we need to get from a competitive and a practice and core values standpoint, I let them be who they are,” Staley says. “That’s why I coach — to allow our players to get to who they are a lot quicker in their life. … Who am I to put my traditional outlook on life and basketball on them? To put them in a box they don’t fit in?”

It’s with this view that a stretched and pivoted Staley has returned for her 25th season on the sideline. The Gamecocks remain largely the same personality-wise even if their play looks a bit different now without 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso, who’s in the WNBA, but they’ve already clocked wins over Michigan and top-15 NC State.

This year feels different for Staley even if the roster and the results have been largely the same. South Carolina keeps winning, and the chatter in practice is still there. Paopao says they’re “not as bad” as they were last season but she can’t be quite sure. Maybe it’s just that Staley isn’t fighting them on it as much, she wonders.

This year, Staley wouldn’t dream of doing that.

“My heart is always with young people and wanting them to grow and learn, but it’s a challenge,” she says. “I needed (the lesson) for the pure sake of them letting us know, ‘It’s cool, we’ve got you. We’ve got you but we’re going to be us.’ That was refreshing.”

(Photo: Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)





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