Marlon Mack looks around the Indianapolis Colts locker room and sees the continually changing nameplates. On Monday, Charcandrick West and Marquis Young went up on running back row. On Tuesday, James Williams joined the group.
Hannah Keyser explains why you should change your fandom and embrace it in Episode 14 of The Bandwagon.
A memo sent by MLB to its players warns them that several over-the-counter sexual-enhancement pills contain anabolic steroids and other prohibited substances.
ATLANTA – Money, in certain situations, does matter to the world’s top golfers. When Justin Thomas is at home, playing a game with one of his friends, and $200 is riding on the final putt, well … “That makes me nervous,â€� JT said, “when you have to physically give the money over and you lose to somebody.â€� Or when your mother points out how much money you lost with a double bogey. In 2014, Thomas – then a member on the Korn Ferry Tour — played the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide on a sponsor’s exemption. He doubled the 72nd hole, going from a top-20 finish to T-37. “That cost me,â€� JT told himself at the time. Related: How it works: TOUR Championship | Expert Picks | Tiger: ‘All hell broke loose’ last year The next day, his mother sent him a text, telling him exactly how much it cost him: $42,000. JT’s response? Mom, if you ever send me a text like that again, I will delete your number. Don’t ever text me something like this. JT laughed as he told the story Wednesday while answering questions about the amount of money he and his 29 peers will be playing for this week at the TOUR Championship. It’s slightly more than $200, slightly more than $42,000. To be exact, Sunday’s winner gets the $15 million bonus that goes with the FedExCup trophy. It’s a 50% bump over the previous FedExCup winner’s bonus, and it’s the biggest prize on the PGA TOUR. It’s also among the biggest single-week prizes in sports. Forbes’ annual list of the world’s highest-paid athletes is usually populated by those playing team sports, so their money is spread out over the course of a season. Boxers generally receive the highest single-day paydays; Floyd Mayweather made $275 million for his fight against Conor McGregor, albeit with a guaranteed $100 million before throwing a single punch. This week’s total purse at East Lake is $60 million, so even last place in the 30-man field this week will get $395,000. “Being a player from yesteryear, this is an ungodly amount of money,â€� noted NBC golf analyst Roger Maltbie, who made $2.2 million during his five-win PGA TOUR career. But that’s the way all sports have evolved, and golf – to some degree – still is playing catch-up. Even with the increase in money, the top golfers aren’t yet at the annual levels stars in other sports are making. “If you turn on SportsCenter, you turn on any other shows, you’re looking at football players and baseball players, basketball getting $150 million over four years. So it’s front and center over there, and it’s guaranteed,â€� said Rory McIlroy, the 2016 FedExCup champ. “This isn’t guaranteed for us. You’ve got to play to earn it, so this is a little different. But at the same time, I think it does bring us in line with the other sports.â€� But McIlroy would rather talk legacy, not dollars and cents, when it comes to the FedExCup, now in its 13th year. The FedExCup is a unique honor in that it rewards a combination of regular-season wins and consistency, followed by the three-tournament Playoffs sprint to the title. Money can be spent, but his name on the silver trophy will never disappear. “If the FedExCup wants to create a legacy that lasts longer, it doesn’t need to be about the money,â€� McIlroy said. “It should be about the prestige of winning an event that you’ll be remembered for. … “For me and my competitive spirit, I want to win the FedExCup for a lot of different reasons. Is money one of them? Yeah, look, it would be nice to win on Sunday and be, oh, I’m $15 million richer, whatever it is. But at the same time, I’ll get more satisfaction from winning the golf tournament and playing well. One of the things that I’ve talked about over the past couple of years is I don’t think the money needs to be front and center because I don’t think that’s what the fans care about.â€� Nor is it what the players care about, at least not in the heat of competition. Asked if he would let his mind drift to the $15 million payoff if he was walking toward the 72nd green Sunday with a guaranteed win, Patrick Cantlay still said no. He wants to remain immersed in his shot-by-shot process. “I think you could get caught up in something like that and lose your attention or lose your focus and your intensity, and I don’t think that helps you,â€� said Cantlay, who starts on Thursday in the second-most advantageous position at 8 under, just two strokes behind Thomas, the FedExCup points leader who starts at 10 under in this year’s new format. Defending FedExCup champ Justin Rose acknowledged that playing for last year’s $10 million bonus can “get in your head a little bit. It’s a huge reward, huge pot of gold at the end.” But, said Rose, “I’ve always played to win and also for pride.” Patrick Reed won $1.98 million for winning the Masters in 2018, but the money is secondary compared to simply slipping on the green jacket. He feels the same way toward the FedExCup, even with its much bigger payoff. “We all know, it’s a big number,â€� said Reed, starting the week at 6 under. “But as the end of the day, as competitors, we’re out there trying to get hardware. We’re going out there to try to win a golf tournament. Whatever comes with it is great, but at the end of the day, we’re trying to go win a golf tournament and hold up a trophy because that’s what we’ve always played for. We’ve always played for trophies growing up.â€� Thomas already has won FedExCup trophy. On Sunday, he hopes to join Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners. Like Mclroy, he’s playing for his legacy, not his pocketbook. “If I win the FedExCup this week, it’s not going to change my life,â€� Thomas said. “It’s unbelievable and it’s an extremely substantial amount of money, and how FedEx has stepped up to take care of us players is crazy. It’s unbelievable. I’m sure 10 years ago I never would have thought that was possible, but I’m not going to change the way I live my life if I win. “Money has never driven me. I hope it never will. I play to win trophies and win championships and be the best player to ever the walk the planet – and that’s all I play for.â€�
The names, along with logos, of the XFL’s eight teams were revealed Wednesday: the Dallas Renegades, Houston Roughnecks, Los Angeles Wildcats, New York Guardians, St. Louis BattleHawks, Seattle Dragons, Tampa Bay Vipers and Washington Defenders.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Former Arkansas forward Gabe Osabuohien has transferred to West Virginia.
ATLANTA – Justin Thomas had won nine times on the PGA TOUR before last week’s BMW Championship. He started the final round at Medinah Country Club with a comfy six-shot cushion. Despite his experience withstanding Sunday pressure, and the distance between himself and the rest of the field, Thomas admitted that he was “really nervous� at the start of the day. Thomas’ lead was whittled down to just two strokes with eight holes left, but he birdied half of the remaining holes to win for the first time in more than a year. How did he right the ship? He told himself, “Hey, you have a two-shot lead standing on the 11th tee on Sunday.� “If I have a two-shot lead with eight holes left, I feel confident I can pull it off.� Related: How it works: TOUR Championship | Power Rankings | TOUR Championship experts roundtable Last week’s win vaulted Thomas to the top of the FedExCup standings. He has another two-shot lead, but now there are 72 holes remaining. Thomas has technically led the TOUR Championship since Sunday, giving him four extra nights to sleep on the lead. “It’s going to be tough,� said Thomas, the 2017 FedExCup champion. “I think (Thursday) I’ll kind of feel it for the first time.� That’s when this new TOUR Championship finally gets underway. There has been much discussion over the past year, and especially in the last three days, about how players will handle the season finale’s new staggered start. Players agree that the best way to handle this new format is to not think about it. “I’m just going to have to try to play another golf tournament and act like everyone’s staring at zero and try to shoot the lowest 72 holes,� said Thomas, who will start the final round with a two-stroke lead over Patrick Cantlay. Thomas is five shots ahead of Rory McIlroy, who’s fifth in the FedExCup, and 10 shots ahead of the last five players to qualify for the TOUR Championship. When McIlroy won both the FedExCup and TOUR Championship three years ago, he made up three shots in the final three holes before winning in a playoff. The lowest score in relation to par, including the starting strokes, wins both titles this week. McIlroy has a target score, not Thomas, at the front of his mind. The winning score at East Lake has been between 11 and 13-under-par in four of the last five years (it was 9 under in the other year). “If I was in JT’s position, it would be, OK, I’m just going to set myself a target for the week. … You say, ‘OK, I’m going to go out and shoot 67 every day. No one should beat me if I do that,’� McIlroy said. “I think you have to just control what you can.� Thomas is the pacesetter, so he controls how this week transpires. A strong start could eliminate most of the field, while some early struggles may bring most of the 30-man field into the mix. The rough is thick this week at East Lake, making it harder for someone to run away from the field. Cantlay said he’d want some odds if Thomas asked for two shots in a match at home in Jupiter, Florida, even if it was 72 holes. Like Thomas, Cantlay also has a win this season. Cantlay overcame a large deficit in the final round of his victory at the Memorial, while Thomas watched his lead get whittled away. Cantlay was four shots behind 54-hole leader Martin Kaymer entering the final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Cantlay’s 64 was the low final round by a winner in tournament history. He beat Kaymer by eight on that day. “I felt like I was always chasing that day,� Cantlay said. This week, his pursuit begins Thursday. He will play in the shadow of Thomas in Thursday’s final group. Thomas will control the tournament when he steps to the tee. “There isn’t a person on the planet that’s experienced this before, for the stakes it’s for,� Thomas said. “I’m just going to try to deal with it the best I can.�
Speedy receiver/returner Jakeem Grant has signed a four-year extension with the Dolphins, the team announced Wednesday.
Celtics green, to be precise – would work on that palette as well. The Boston Celtics will have at least three and possibly four players on the final 12-man roster that USA Basketball will take to China next week for the FIBA World Cup.
Baker Mayfield said Wednesday that he has reached out to Daniel Jones regarding his recently published comments about the New York Giants rookie.
