📰🏟️ Olympic payday

Good afternoon. Welcome back to another week full of top sports stories in an easy-to-digest format. Let’s rock and roll.

—Kyle

BREAKING: The Buffalo Bills will reportedly promote OC Joe Brady to fill their open head coaching position.

1) Super Bowl LX, by the numbers

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have both clinched a spot in the NFL championship game, which is shaping up as one for the record books:

• This year's title game is the most unlikely Super Bowl matchup by preseason odds in at least five decades, per Sports Odds History (Patriots: 80-1 entering Week 1; Seahawks: 60-1).
• It’s the first time since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger that both Super Bowl teams feature top-four scoring offenses and scoring defenses.
• Super Bowl LX will be the third time that both head coaches share the same first name—and in all three cases, both were named Mike.

Other crazy Super Bowl LX stats

2) Financier pledges $200K for each US Olympic athlete

Unlike many other nations, the US gov’t doesn’t spend a dime on rewarding any Team USA Olympic athletes. But starting with next month’s Milan Winter Games, financier Ross Stevens has committed to giving $200K to each Olympic and Paralympic athlete, regardless of their performance.

The money does come with some strings attached:

• $100K will be paid out 20 years after the athlete’s first qualifying Olympic appearance or at age 45, whichever comes later.
• The other $100K comes in the form of a guaranteed-benefit life-insurance policy for the athlete’s families.

US Olympians are earning real gold

3) NBA unveils All-Star Rising Stars roster

Cooper Flagg (Mavericks), Stephon Castle (Spurs), and VJ Edgecombe (76ers) headline the list of first- and second-year NBA stars selected to play at All-Star weekend next month in LA.

These 21 players will join seven G-League players as part of the Rising Stars Challenge, a pre-All-Star-game tournament involving four teams of seven.

• NBA teams will be captained by Hall-of-Famers Vince Carter, Carmelo Anthony, and Tracy McGrady, while longtime NBA player Austin Rivers will lead the G-League team. 
• All four captains are analysts at NBC, which is broadcasting All-Star weekend for the first time since 2002.

Check out the Rising Star class of 2026

4) NCAA asks judge to recuse from landmark eligibility case

Last week, a local Tuscaloosa judge granted Alabama C Charles Bediako, 23, a temporary restraining order that let the former NBA and G-League player return to college basketball, and potentially opening the door for other similar cases.

But the NCAA is now seeking to have Judge Jim Roberts recuse himself from the case over his close ties to Alabama’s athletic department, per a court motion filed yesterday.

• Roberts and his wife, Mary Turner, are listed as active donors on the Crimson Tide Foundation’s website, with lifetime contributions between $100K and $249K. 
• And Mary Turner is also currently representing Bediako’s former teammate Darius Miles in a capital murder trial.

Read more

5) Browns QB Shedeur Sanders named Pro Bowl alternate

The rookie Sanders was selected as a replacement for the AFC’s Pro Bowl Games roster to replace Patriots QB Drake Maye, who’s playing in the Super Bowl.

• Sanders had arguably the worst regular season of any QB to participate in the Pro Bowl, completing 56.6% of his passes for 1,400 yards, 7 TDs, 10 INTs, and a 18.9 QBR across eight games.
• For reference: the median qualified NFL QB this season threw for 3,370 yards, 23 TDs, and 8 INTs with a 58.3 QBR.

Why Shedeur was selected for primetime

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