San Diego FC takes 4-1 lead over Pumas to Mexico City
San Diego FC plays tonight but should be defensive-focused, Spring Training kicks off any day for the under-manned Padres, the Winter Olympics heat up, and more.
International sports are so fun. Probably not for everyone, but certainly for me, although I forget about it every time until I’m knee-deep in a marathon watch of curling at the Winter Olympics.
Watching the very best athletes in the world compete against each other for the highest stakes in front of millions of worldwide viewers is just fun, and it brings out the best in both national pride and competitive spirit.
It’s what makes the Olympics great, as well as the World Cup and the World Baseball Classic (both also happening this year!), as the athletes bring their A-game but there’s (seemingly) very little nastiness or sneakiness or pettiness built into the competition. There is a level of respect, athlete-to-athlete and country-to-country, that you don’t see in a Week 6 NFL battle between division rivals that are going to play against each other again in six weeks.
I much prefer the Summer Olympics to the Winter Olympics, I think, but I’ve been really enjoying these mental trips to Milan and I highly recommend them to anyone else that has the time and means to watch a bunch of sports that you probably won’t watch again for four years.
Now, onto the links!
San Diego FC
San Diego FC sign midfielder Bryce Duke - OneFootball
Duke spent the last three years with CF Montréal, tallying 7g/8a in 90 matches across all competitions. He’s also competed for Inter Miami CF and LAFC with 137 regular-season matches under his belt.
What’s in San Diego FC’s secret sauce? - SoccerAmerica
San Diego FC’s dominant, dramatic romp over Pumas UNAM in its Concacaf Champions Cup debut last week did far more than position last year’s surprise Western Conference frontrunners for a tantalizing, too-early showdown with Liga MX champion Toluca in the round of 16.
San Diego Padres
Taking a first crack at Padres’ potential Opening Day roster - MLB.com
The Padres enter camp with a roster that feels largely settled -- though it should still feature its share of spring position battles.
The addition of Miguel Andujar largely completes the offense. San Diego could still use another starter -- and potentially another option behind the plate.
10 Padres Prospects To Know Beyond The Top 30 In 2026 - Baseball America
Earlier this year, Baseball America presented the Top 30 Padres Prospects for 2026. Now, we’re digging even deeper to highlight prospects who just missed making the cut but still have the potential for breakout seasons or future MLB careers.
Here are the next 10 players to know in the Padres system beyond their Top 30.
2026 Winter Olympics
It’s Completely Insane, Worth No Points and Has the Olympics Flipping Out - Wall Street Journal
It doesn’t earn him any technical points. It puts his whole body at catastrophic risk. For nearly a half-century, it was also banned from the sport. But now this one act of pure showmanship has become the electrifying coda of Malinin’s programs as he stakes his claim as the greatest figure skater of all time.
He backflips. On ice. With a pair of knives strapped to his feet. And he sticks the landing.
Ukrainian Olympic athlete banned from wearing helmet commemorating victims of Russian invasion - The Athletic
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has told a Ukrainian skeleton athlete he cannot wear a helmet that commemorates the lives of Ukrainian athletes lost since Russia’s invasion in competition at the Winter Games, saying it breaks Olympic rules on neutrality.
Vladyslav Heraskevych, who was Ukraine’s flag-bearer in the opening ceremony in Cortina on Friday, announced the ban via his Instagram and X accounts on Monday evening, describing it as “a decision that simply breaks my heart”.
Odds & Ends
LeBron James calls out Lakers: We’re not ‘a championship team’ - ESPN
“You want me to compare us to them? That’s a championship team right there. We’re not,” James told reporters. “We can’t sustain energy and effort for 48 minutes, and they can. That’s why they won a championship.”
James scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half as the Lakers’ three-game winning streak ended with another ineffective defensive performance.
No. 9 Kansas stuns No. 1 Arizona without star Darryn Peterson, ending Wildcats’ undefeated run - Yahoo Sports
No. 9 Kansas rallied in the second half to knock off top-ranked Arizona 82-78 on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday. It marked the Wildcats’ first loss after a 23-game win streak to open the season, and likely paved the way for a new team to claim the No. 1 ranking next week. It marked Kansas’ first win over a No. 1 program since 2003, when it also beat Arizona.
The NBA’s Tank Off Is Here: Who Is the Most Shameless Loser? - The Ringer
It took three days for the NBA trade deadline to pass and the reality of the NBA’s second half to slap us in the face. Buckle up, not because a fierce playoff race is about to dominate the stretch run, but because we’re about to see a Tankapalooza like no other.
It Feels Great, Dude - Defector
Given the fine NFL career that he’s put together over the last 11 years, it made sense that Jason Myers converted all five of his field goal attempts in Seattle’s Super Bowl win on Sunday, setting a Super Bowl record. It seems wrong in some deep but ultimately inconsequential way that doing so nudged him ahead of LaDainian Tomlinson’s greatest season—2006, when he set a league record for rushing touchdowns with 28—to make Myers’ 2025 campaign the highest individual scoring season in NFL history, but given how kickers are and what kickers do, that is not really all that strange either.