The start of MLB’s winter meetings, the debate over Notre Dame-Miami for a College Football Playoff spot, the evolution of the World Cup into the Trump Cup and other things to ponder while counting down the minutes until the Chicago Bears hit the frozen tundra.
Baseball’s winter meetings begin Monday in Orlando, Fla., and the Cubs and White Sox are ready to make some noise … relatively speaking.
The Cubs reportedly made some news Saturday in their pursuit of starting pitching, but a viral tweet about closing in on an agreement with Zac Gallen was quickly retracted, and the Hot Stove League returned to its regularly scheduled crawl, already in progress.
Interest in Gallen makes sense, however, and his friendship with Cubs catcher Carson Kelly could pay off.
The Cubs missed out on the San Diego Padres’ Dylan Cease, the former prospect they traded to the White Sox, though at $210 million for seven years, it’s seemingly well beyond the Cubs’ budget, especially if they want to add another hitter, such as third baseman Alex Bregman.
Cease’s megadeal, and Devin Williams’ three-year, $51 million deal with the New York Mets, suggest teams aren’t all that worried about the possibility of a work stoppage after 2026, and are overpaying for pitching.
The Sox are reportedly bringing in left-hander Anthony Kay from Japan on a two-year, $12 million deal, so that’s more noise than usual on the South Side. Kay, 30, had a 1.74 ERA in 2025 for the Yokohama Bay Stars, with 130 strikeouts and 41 walks in 155 innings.
It’s a decent risk that at the very least could turn into some prospects at the trade deadline if he performs up to snuff and the Sox are out of contention. But if this is indicative of the kind of moves general manager Chris Getz plans on making, it’s probably going to be a slow winter as he waits for free-agent prices to come down.
Notre Dame should be in the College Football Playoff, regardless of the results of Saturday’s conference championship games.
For reasons not fully explained, the Fighting Irish dropped to No. 10 in the last regular-season CFP rankings despite a convincing win at Stanford, while Alabama moved up to No. 9. This was seen by many as a prelude to dropping Notre Dame out of the 12-team field as an at-large bid if BYU upset Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game to get an automatic bid.
Miami defensive lineman Armondo Blount (18) pressures Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr during the second half Aug. 31, 2025, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
That didn’t happen, but there’s still the outside chance Miami jumps over Notre Dame, based on their head-to-head matchup — a 27-24 Hurricanes win in Week 1 in Miami Gardens, Fla. Some prominent analysts are seemingly lobbying for it.
“They kicked Notre Dame’s ass in the game,” ESPN’s Nick Saban said Saturday on College GameDay. Actually, Miami had 339 total yards in the game to Notre Dame’s 314 and won on a late field goal with 64 seconds left, so it wasn’t much of an ass-kicking.
ESPN personality and SEC apologist Paul Finebaum insisted the CFP committee would be “making a major, colossal mistake” if they pick ND over Miami.
But Notre Dame has won 10 straight by double digits and is ranked ahead of Miami in every poll. Miami lost two conference games to unranked teams and didn’t make it to the ACC title game.
If the playoffs were held in September, Miami deserved to go ahead of ND. But this is December, and it would be criminal to drop Notre Dame for Miami, no pun intended.
President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the draw for the 2026 World Cup on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, at the Kennedy Center in Washington. (Jia Haocheng/Pool Photo via AP)
Sportswashing is coming to America in 2026. Thanks, President Trump.
If there was any question about what next summer’s World Cup celebration will look like, one only had to watch the World Cup draw Friday from the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The show reportedly was viewed by more than a billion people, most of whom waited an excruciatingly long time to find out which group their country or favorite team would wind up in for the 48-nation tournament that begins next summer in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
After awkward conversations between hosts Kevin Hart and Heidi Klum and unfunny video bits featuring FIFA President Gianni Infantino and retired English soccer player Rio Ferdinand, the world was subjected to an obscene display in which the obsequious Infante handed Trump a made-up peace prize.
The Trump administration has been blowing up Venezuelan boats accused of carrying drugs, leading to an investigation into possible war crimes, while also detaining at least 170 American citizens during raids and protests, according to Pro Publica, in its effort to deport illegal aliens.
FIFA handing Trump a peace prize would be like the NFL giving Antonio Brown its Man of the Year Award. It took sportswashing to a new level. The televised event was even partly sponsored by Aramco, the state-owned oil company that was part of the World Cup draw’s graphics.
As many recall, the term sportswashing came in vogue a few years ago after Saudi Arabia started the LIV Golf tour. Pouring tons of money into a new league with big-name golfers was one way to try to clean up its reputation after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman allegedly ordered the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1 percent, then we’ll continue doing sportswashing,” the crown prince told Fox in 2023.
The kingdom recently engaged in a cousin of sportswashing — comedywashing — inviting a few dozen prominent comedians, including Hart, to perform in the country where freedom of expression is limited and an American was once imprisoned for more than a year for an old tweet criticizing the kingdom.
Like Trump, Hart has the Saudi seal of approval, so expect to see a lot of him in Fox Sports’ World Cup coverage. With friends like Saudi Arabia and Infantino, rest assured this World Cup will turn into the Trump Cup, a monthlong infomercial next summer glorifying our stable genius on the world stage.
Tough day in the Big Ten. Top-ranked Purdue was throttled by No. 10 Iowa State 81-58 at Mackey Arena. No. 7 Michigan State was topped at home 66-60 by No. 4 Duke. Indiana, ranked No. 22, fell to No. 6 Louisville. With a few weeks left before conference play really heats up, it looks as if No. 3 Michigan is the team to beat.