George Kliavkoff said he took over the Pac-12 because he felt compelled by its mission. Then he got there and found “not just a dumpster fire, but multiple dumpster fires.”
NEW on the downfall of the Pac-12 during Kliavkoff’s tenure
I’m currently dead last in my fantasy football league and if I lose this week (which I’m projected to do) I must sit in a Waffle House for 24 hours. And each waffle I eat reduces the total time by 1 hour.
Please say a prayer for me and Melvin Gordon 🙏
Dr. Carlos Del Rio, one of the NCAA's chief medical advisors, on whether he would go forward with fall sports: "We have a serious problem. I feel like the Titanic: we have hit the iceberg and we’re trying to make decisions of when the band should play."
Team USA Goaltender Alex Cavallini told reporters that she tore her MCL on Jan. 14 and wasn’t sure she would even make it to Beijing. She didn’t have a full practice until 3 days after arriving in China, and felt shaky until the medal round.
She’s now a silver medalist 🥈
Not long after Connor Stalions moved to Ann Arbor in 2022, his HOA sued him for allegedly running a business out of his unit (note the vacuums). In legal documents, Stalions said the suit was the design of a Michigan State fan hoping to distract him.
Lots of figure skaters for Team USA were sitting at Capital Indoor Stadium to watch the ladies free skate. They all walked out before Kamila Valieva took the ice. That seems... intentional.
I asked 🇺🇸 Ryan Murphy, who just took silver in the 200 back behind Russia’s Evgeny Rylov, about any concerns he had about his opponents doping.
“I’m swimming in a race that’s probably not clean,” he said. Full quote below ⬇️
Not long after Connor Stalions moved to Ann Arbor in 2022, his HOA sued him for allegedly running a business out of his unit (note the vacuums). In legal documents, Stalions said the suit was the design of a Michigan State fan hoping to distract him.
Caeleb Dressel wrote mantras on his Tokyo schedule before the Games:
-What’s going to happen is going to happen
-Give yourself a chance
-Control what you can control
-Progress not perfection
-Pressure is good. Stress is bad. Stress is self made.
It ended like this: 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
Nathan Adrian has got to be one of the most gracious swimmers out there. Despite missing his fourth Olympics after placing third in tonight's 50, he's gushing about the swimmers that beat him and what they'll be able to do in Tokyo. A true class act.
#SwimTrials21
Game recognize game:
@USFigureSkating
Gold medalist Nathan Chen and Ice Dancers Jean-Luc Baker, Evan Bates, Madison Chock and Kaitlin Hawayek in the house supporting
@usahockey
women playing Finland 🇺🇸🥇🥉
Quarterback recruit Jaden Rashada picked Miami for the lucrative NIL deals. Then the Hurricanes started losing.
What happened next serves as a cautionary tale in the free-wheeling NIL era. NEW for
@WSJSports
Watching Michael Phelps win 8 golds here in 2008 jump started my love of swimming, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched Jason Lezak’s 4x100 relay anchor leg swum here for motivation. Even though it’s now a curling venue, being at the Water Cube gives me goosebumps 🤩
Ohio State Coach Ryan Day & Penn State Coach James Franklin on College GameDay right now saying that they don’t have an issue with the Big Ten’s decision not to play, they just have issues with WHY it was made.
That’s singing a... slightly different tune this morning 🤔
NEW: Since USC and UCLA jumped to the Big Ten on Thursday, 10 schools have reached out to Commissioner Kevin Warren. No formal applications submitted, but it's clear the league will think long and hard about adding anyone else -- except Notre Dame
To the people calling me a hypocrite, journalists are not here to decide if it's safe to play football. Whether that answer is yes or no it's our job to write about it. I have not once expressed my opinion on this.
Also kudos to
@NDFootballPR
for making the press box safe
Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax and... Hogs+?
In the ever-accelerating recruiting arms race, the next frontier for athletic departments is bespoke streaming services with original content. Arkansas leads the way with
@HogsPlus
This is dedication: USWNT goalie
@AlyssaNaeher
bought a subscription to
@WSJ
while in France for the World Cup so she could print out and play our crossword puzzle every day.
Just had a horrifying realization that no one in UConn's band that is currently playing "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" by the Backstreet Boys was alive when that album came out in 1997
One of my favorite moments of the women’s triathlon this morning was 🥇 Flora Duffy congratulating 🥉Katie Zaferes as she crossed the line. The camaraderie between these athletes is so cool to see 🥺
cc:
@justwsports
I’ve wanted to say this for years, but yesterday I finished the NYC Marathon! It was the hottest on record, and I’m endlessly proud for pushing through to BQ. I know I left it all on the course (TY, heat stroke 🥵). Waddling and crying happy tears today. I ❤️ NYC
Racing a half marathon during the first weekend of March Madness may not have been one of my better ideas, but a big PR nonetheless! Man, oh man, did I miss racing on NYC streets 🤩
Not to get all emotional, but covering swimming at the Olympics this week is a childhood dream come true.
I was never near fast to swim my way to the Games (lol) but wow am I glad I was nerdy enough to write my way here 🤓🏊♀️🥇🗾
One day this won’t be a story, but in 2020 it’s noteworthy: women’s college basketball is on a hot streak, with several programs saying that women’s games now account for over 50% of basketball attendance at their schools. ⛹️♀️
A bit of personal news! Today I’m (re)joining
@WSJSports
as a reporter after a 1.5 year tour with Exchange. I’ll be covering a bit of everything and can’t wait to get started!
College football players are getting tested at least 3 times per week. The rest of the undergrads? They might go from move-in to finals without getting tested once. Welcome to the weird world of college sports in 2020.
NEW for
@WSJSports
🥉🥉🥉 MOLLY SEIDEL!! 🥉🥉🥉
She had only run two marathons before today — one to get onto Team USA and one in London. And now she’s an Olympic Bronze Medalist and the first American to medal since 2004
Simone Manuel says she was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome. She took three weeks off completely at the end of March 2021. "It was kind of one of those bittersweet moments where my body wasn't doing what I knew it was capable of."
I feel for Zach Apple. His race was on track through the first 150 meters. Then he came home in a 29.00 split.
We've all had races where we die, hard. It's so tough to have that happen on the biggest stage, let alone when this is the outcome.
Working in sports is a dream job for many young women. You don’t go into it expecting blatant sexism and harassment. And yet almost every woman I know in the industry has one of these stories.
No. 9 Indiana football is undefeated and cracked the AP Poll's top ten for the first time since a man walked on the moon. It's a stunning turnaround, made possible with the power of Coach Tom Allen's positive thinking. NEW for
@WSJSports
National Athletic Trainer’s Association says in a new study that only about 1/3 of college athletes are actually complying with all university health protocols
LSU QB Joe Burrow is the front runner to win the Heisman Trophy tomorrow and probably the most famous person on campus. Turns out, he doesn't actually spend much time there.
Per his upstairs neighbor: "I've never seen him on campus."
via
@WSJ
Newsroom graphic designer/editor appreciation tweet: the amount of work that went into making clear, nuanced, rapidly updating election maps is unbelievable and readers (though perhaps not my anxiety levels) are much much better for it
I’m realizing it may have been a mistake to wear this t-shirt to the airport (it’s my last clean shirt) as 5 people have already asked me what event I swam and I’ve only just sat down at the gate 😬
Three years ago today I had my first print byline in
@WSJ
: 200 words on the 76ers selecting Markelle Fultz as No. 1 pick & the Timberwolves trading for Jimmy Buckets. Simpler times.
What’s the best thing you can do in a Tiger fight? Remain calm — something both teams’ ultra poised (and future NFL) QBs do every game. The similarities don’t end there for Clemson and LSU, 2019’s championship contenders.
The only thing crazier than Katie Ledecky owning the top 10 fastest 1500m times in history as of tonight in Des Moines is that the women have never gotten to contest it in the Olympics until THIS YEAR 🏅
NYC Marathon champ
@ShalaneFlanagan
went into a dark place in retirement after two major reconstructive knee surgeries. She explains that her long road to recovery began with a crazy goal: 6 marathons in 6 weeks, finishing w/
@nycmarathon
This March we saw the inequities between the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments. But this trend is nothing new and stretches back to the 1970s, when the NCAA launched a “hostile takeover” of the AIAW.
NEW on the history of women’s college sports ⬇️
Ariarne Titmus runs down Siobhan Haughey at the end for the win and Olympic record.
🥇 Ariarne Titmus (1:53.50) 🇦🇺
🥈 Siobhan Haughey (1:53.92) 🇭🇰
🥉 Penny Oleksiak (1:54.70) 🇨🇦
Katie Ledecky finishes off the podium in fifth (1:55.21)
One of the craziest ways coronavirus has upended the sporting world: most pools are closed so Olympians don’t have a place to train:
“Worst-case scenario we’ll have everybody go out in wetsuits and train in the ocean, because they can’t close the ocean.”
Lydia won surprise gold in the women’s 100m breast in Tokyo and is now competing for Texas. Thanks to new NIL rules, she no longer has to choose between racing in college and signing with a sponsor (something Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin both did)
Lots of figure skaters for Team USA were sitting at Capital Indoor Stadium to watch the ladies free skate. They all walked out before Kamila Valieva took the ice. That seems... intentional.
There aren’t many firsts left in the world, but Sarah Fuller of Vanderbilt became the first woman to play a down of college football in one of the five major conferences.
The 2020 college football season went by in dog years, but now that it’s wrapped, I wanted to say thanks for coming on this bumpy ride with me. & thank you to the crack team at
@WSJSports
(and MVP
@jimchair
) that makes this dream job a reality. To tailgating again in 2021!
Blake’s father James Corum also said that he was not aware of an LLC registered to his son with Connor Stalions’s address until seeing posts on social media.
Asked Blake Corum tonight about a contract circulating on social media today linking him in business with Connor Stalions “I have no business with him” Said he found out before practice and his lawyers are looking into it.
"There were a lot of days where I woke up and the first words out of my mouth weren't 'Wow I'm so excited,'" said Caeleb Dressel. "Most days it was oh F**K, this is going to be so hard" 😂
UConn’s Paige Bueckers is a freshman phenom. So is Jalen Suggs of Gonazaga. That’s not the only thing they have in common.
The duo, born and raised in Minnesota, have been friends since age 10. NEW for
@WSJSports
on their tight friendship ⬇️
NEW w/
@melissakorn
: Michigan President Mark Schlissel is an immunologist by training and is hesitant to make promises about football in 2020: “there is some degree of doubt as to whether there will be college athletics, at least this fall.”
Men's tourney courts say "March Madness;" women's say "Women's Basketball." That's intentional: the NCAA for years has denied women the use of the powerful “March Madness” brand even though it’s trademarked for both tournaments.
@bachscore
@louiseradnofsky
Chloe just asked reporters at the press conference "if anyone had some snacks in their pockets? It's lunchtime! I'm starving"
Cue four volunteers running up and delivering her chocolate bars, rolls and crackers 😂
Hit a career milestone today, made possible by a long season of Zoom press conferences where you never know when the moderator will call on you: I asked Nick Saban a question two seconds after taking a massive bite into a cinnamon roll 🤦♀️
To everyone who followed me during the Olympics, welcome! I usually tweet about American college sports & personal mishaps (there are many)
To everyone else, thanks for putting up with that burst of swimming
#content
. One more story then back to regularly scheduled programming!
Getting to Tokyo was never going to be easy. For
@katieledecky
, it took her through Tod Spieker’s backyard pool. It gave her a family she never knew she needed & the Spiekers a reason to cheer for Team USA an ocean away. NEW for
@WSJSports
WFH in my childhood bedroom whilst wearing pajamas makes me feel like I’m writing essays for AP Euro rather than articles for WSJ.
Perhaps today I’ll put on jeans.
External NCAA: they're called student-athletes because they're students first and athletes second
Internal NCAA: teams relocating to Indianapolis bubble for 3+ weeks should "consider" including saving one spot in their travel party for academic support
Per Commish
@BobBowlsby
, Big 12 is considering a conference-only slate that starts Week 0 and ends December 12 (10-11 games; 16 wks).
Preference is still 12 games as scheduled, though Board of Directors not expected to make a decision until at least next Monday.