NoneA NEW TOP GUN: Maverick McNealy earns first career win at RSM Classic
Nerdy CEO Charles K. Cohn buys $266,010 in company stockDejan Kulusevski cannot wait to play Man City again after Tottenham run riotAs investigations into the incident continue, authorities are working tirelessly to piece together the events leading up to the victim's disappearance and subsequent death. The circumstances surrounding the crime remain murky, with speculation and rumors adding to the complexity of the case. The victim's family and friends are left grappling with grief and uncertainty, struggling to come to terms with the brutal reality of their loss.
The scenes of chaos and preparation unfolding in the Syrian Chinese community serve as a stark reminder of the harsh realities of conflict and displacement. As tensions escalate and violence spreads, ordinary civilians find themselves caught in the crossfire, forced to make difficult choices in order to survive.
Rarely does a college basketball game provide such stark contrast between the sport's haves and have-nots as when Jackson State faces No. 9 Kentucky on Friday in Lexington, Ky. While Kentucky claims eight NCAA Tournament crowns and the most wins in college basketball history, Jackson State has never won an NCAA Tournament game and enters the matchup looking for its first win of the season. Impressive tradition and current record aside, Kentucky (4-0) returned no scholarship players from last season's team that was knocked off by Oakland in the NCAA Tournament. New coach Mark Pope and his essentially all-new Wildcats are off to a promising start. Through four games, Kentucky is averaging 94.3 points per game, and with 11.5 3-pointers made per game, the team is on pace to set a school record from long distance. The Wildcats boast six double-figure scorers with transfer guards Otega Oweh (from Oklahoma, 15.0 ppg) and Koby Brea (from Dayton, 14.5 ppg) leading the team. The Wildcats defeated Duke 77-72 on Nov. 12 but showed few signs of an emotional letdown in Tuesday's 97-68 win over a Lipscomb team picked to win the Atlantic Sun Conference in the preseason. Kentucky drained a dozen 3-pointers while outrebounding their visitors 43-28. Guard Jaxson Robinson, held to a single point by Duke, dropped 20 points to lead the Kentucky attack. Afterward, Pope praised his team's focus, saying, "The last game was over and it was kind of on to, ‘How do we get better?' That's the only thing we talk about." Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff also delivered a ringing endorsement, calling Kentucky "the best offensive Power Four team we've played in my six years at Lipscomb." Jackson State (0-5) and third-year coach Mo Williams are looking for something positive to build upon. Not only are the Tigers winless, but they have lost each game by nine or more points. Sophomore guard Jayme Mitchell Jr. (13.8 ppg) is the leading scorer, but the team shoots just 35.8 percent while allowing opponents to shoot 52.3 percent. The Tigers played on Wednesday at Western Kentucky, where they lost 79-62. Reserve Tamarion Hoover had a breakout game with 18 points to lead Jackson State, but the host Hilltoppers canned 14 3-point shots and outrebounded the Tigers 42-35 to grab the win. Earlier, Williams, who played against Kentucky while a student at Alabama, admitted the difficulties of a challenging nonconference schedule for his team. "Our goal is not to win 13 nonconference games," Williams said. "We're already at a disadvantage in that regard. We use these games to get us ready for conference play and for March Madness." Jackson State has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2007. The Tigers had a perfect regular-season record (11-0) in the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 2020-21 but lost in the league tournament. Kentucky has never played Jackson State before, but the game is being billed as part of a Unity Series of matchups in which Kentucky hosts members of the SWAC to raise awareness of Historical Black Colleges and Universities and provide funds for those schools. Past Unity Series opponents have been Southern in December 2021 and Florida A&M in December 2022. --Field Level MediaLiverpool reportedly made a bid of 1.1 billion for Kessie, which was accepted by Milan. However, Chelsea, who have been monitoring the situation closely, decided to make a late bid of 1.15 billion to secure the midfielder's signature. The extra 50 million proved to be the difference, as Kessie ultimately chose to join Chelsea over Liverpool.
Sexual harassment is a pervasive issue that continues to plague many societies around the world. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of addressing this problem through both preventive measures and effective responses. One key aspect that experts have identified as crucial in this effort is the need to refine the definitions of what constitutes sexual harassment, in order to improve evidence collection and strengthen the enforcement of penalties.
For the second straight Major League Baseball offseason, a norm-shattering contract has been the talk of the winter, with Juan Soto agreeing with the New York Mets on a $765 million, 15-year deal that's the richest in baseball history. It comes almost exactly one year after the Los Angeles Dodgers forked out a princely sum of $700 million on a 10-year, heavily deferred deal for two-way Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani. They are believed to be the two richest contracts in pro sports history. The way it's going, a contract approaching $1 billion doesn't seem out of the question. But several factors are working against it — at least in the near future. There's reason to believe the megadeals for Ohtani and Soto are unicorns in the baseball world. Both players are uniquely talented, surely, but both also had unusual circumstances propelling their value into the stratosphere. Ohtani is the greatest two-way player in baseball history, capable of improving any team on both sides of the ball. He's also the rare baseball player who has true international appeal. His every move ( like his unexpected marriage announcement ) is followed closely in his native Japan, adding another 125 million potential fans who buy merchandise, watch him play and help fill the Dodgers' coffers. Then there's Soto — a four-time All-Star and on-base machine who won a World Series with the Washington Nationals in 2019. The X-factor for him is he became a free agent at the prime age of 26, which is extremely hard to do under current MLB rules. Players have to be in the big leagues for six years before testing free agency. The precocious Soto debuted at 19 with the Nats, making him part of a rare group of players who reached the highest level of professional baseball as a teenager. That accelerated his free agency timeline. It's rare for players to debut that young, and rarer still for them to develop into stars and test the open market the first chance they get. Two recent examples are Manny Machado and Bryce Harper, who both reached free agency in 2019. Machado signed a free-agent record $300 million contract with San Diego, and Harper overtook him days later with a $330 million contract to join the Phillies. Most players debut in the big leagues from ages 22 to 26, which means free agency comes in their late 20s or early 30s. A typical example is Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is one of this generation's great players but didn't hit the market until he was 30. Judge played three seasons of college baseball for Fresno State before getting drafted by the Yankees in 2013 at age 21 — already two years older than Soto was when he made his MLB debut. It took a few years for the budding superstar to reach the majors, and he was 25 when he had his breakout season in 2018, smashing 52 homers to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors. By the time he reached free agency after the 2022 season, he had already passed age 30. It's a major factor that led to him signing a $360 million, nine-year deal with the Yankees, which seems downright reasonable these days after the Ohtani and Soto deals. Two major trends are colliding that will make it harder for guys like Soto to hit free agency in their mid 20s. First, MLB teams have been more likely in recent years to take college players early in the draft, betting on more experienced talents. Just 10 high school players were drafted among the top 30 picks in the 2024 draft. Second, teams are more eager to lock up young, premium talent on long-term deals very early in their careers, well before they hit free agency. Sometimes before they even reach the majors. Since Soto, just two players have debuted in MLB before their 20th birthday — Elvis Luciano and Junior Caminero. Luciano hasn't been back to the majors since his 2019 cup of coffee. Caminero is now 21 and has only played in 50 big league games. Among those that debuted at 20: Fernando Tatis Jr. signed a $340 million, 14-year deal with San Diego in 2021, years before reaching the open market. Milwaukee's Jackson Chourio got an $82 million, eight-year deal before even reaching the big leagues. Young stars Corbin Carroll ($111 million, eight years with Arizona), Bobby Witt Jr. ($288 million, 11 years with Kansas City) and Julio Rodriguez ($209.3 million, 12 years with Seattle) also got massive guarantees early in their 20s to forgo an early free agency. The exception and wild card: Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. will be a 26-year-old free agent next offseason. Guerrero hasn't been as consistent in his young career as Soto, but a standout 2025 season could position him to threaten Soto's deal. More likely is that the player to pass Soto isn't in the majors yet — and might not even be in pro baseball. When 25-year-old Alex Rodriguez signed his record $252 million, 10-year deal with Texas in 2001, it took over a decade for another player to match that total, when Albert Pujols got $240 million over 10 years from the Angels in 2012. For many players, passing up life-changing money in their early or mid 20s is too enticing, even if it means that they might not maximize their value on the free agent market later in their careers. Soto was determined to test the market. He famously turned down a $440 million, 15-year offer to stay with the Washington Nationals in 2022, betting that he could make even more as a free agent. Not many players would turn down that kind of cash. Then again, that's what makes Soto so unique. And it's also why his $765 million deal could be the industry standard for some time.