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Good morning! Find a rare card today. Coming up:
While You Were Sleeping: Respect Rivers, but fear the Niners
There are really only two takeaways from the 49ers’ slow-roasted 48-27 beatdown of the Colts in Indianapolis last night:
1. Philip Rivers deserves many flowers.
This game was close late in the fourth, largely because of the 44-year-old Rivers. As I watched this literal grandfather make quick decisions and put the ball in the right spot over and over, I couldn’t get a point colleague Robert Mays made on “The Athletic Football Show” last week out of my head: Rivers is basically a walking brain playing quarterback in the NFL … and it works.
Rivers finished 23-of-35 for 277 yards and two touchdowns, with one late interception returned for a TD that blew this open. I still think a large majority of NFL teams would accept this performance from their QB at any time. This guy is 44! I can’t stop talking about this.
2. The 49ers are really, really good.
Brock Purdy threw five touchdowns, the defense pulled a classic bend-but-don’t-break performance and 11-4 San Francisco, despite sharing the NFC West with the Seahawks (12-3) and Rams (11-4), will make the playoffs and still have a 29 percent chance to win the division, per our simulator.
No one’s talking about the Niners as a Super Bowl contender. Maybe we should change that.
Moving on. Time to saddle up:
Neigh? Jokić swallowed the horse hair
The bit is almost tired at this point: Nikola Jokić, a three-time MVP and one-time NBA champion, doesn’t actually like basketball that much. He treats it like a job, despite having a magician’s touch and a wizard’s savvy. You want to make him light up, though? Talk about horses.
As Nick Friedell found out reporting this story, published this morning, it’s not just a bit. Everyone in the Nuggets locker room knows it. Two tidbits I found enlightening:
Nick relays the story of a postgame news conference in which Jokić couldn’t remember a poster dunk teammate Aaron Gordon converted that night. It feels impossible. But no one seemed surprised by it, most of all Gordon himself.
Gordon, a teammate of Jokić’s for six seasons now, has been to the 30-year-old’s hometown of Sombor, Serbia, to see how his teammate operates on the racetrack. It turns out the horses and Jokić’s friends all still consider the 6-foot-11 multimillionaire a “stable boy.”
As Jokić told Nick: “We have a saying. ‘If you’re young and you swallow the horse hair, you cannot stop loving them.’” Jokić clearly swallowed it.
The full story is worth your time today, especially as the holidays roll in. Let’s keep going:
News to Know
Wesley Hitt / Getty Images
Petrino + Belichick
North Carolina hired Bobby Petrino as its new offensive coordinator yesterday, which feels like a bizarre hit on 2025 coaching bingo. Two very accomplished coaches with two strange runs in recent years linking up at a proud school to resurrect a program that endured a tough season in Bill Belichick’s first year? What a world. Petrino did produce a good offense at Arkansas last year, though. This could work. Theoretically.
Chiefs on the move
The Kansas City Chiefs, in a semi-shocking move, are heading across the border from Missouri to Kansas to a new domed stadium by 2031, Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and team owner Clark Hunt said yesterday. Pro: Kansas City could now host a Super Bowl by playing indoors. Major con: Playing away from Arrowhead Stadium, one of the NFL’s last remaining true home-field advantage venues. More details here.
Ultra-rare card comes to light
The T206 Honus Wagner card is already a collectible of world renown. So imagine the delight when a new card came forth from a single family that had preserved it for over a century since it was originally acquired. One expert called it “the biggest discovery in the hobby in the past 50 years” — and the card will fetch millions at auction. Read the full backstory here.
More news
Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf was suspended two games for his for his altercation with a fan Sunday. According to multiple reports, Metcalf alleged the fan used slurs while addressing the player, which the fan denied. Full backstory here.
Notre Dame and USC won’t play in football until at least 2028 after the two could not come to an agreement this week. Feels … wrong.
Interim Michigan coach Biff Poggi wants the full-time job. Intriguing?
Snoop Dogg will be an analyst for Clippers-Warriors on Jan. 5, because of course he will.
The Mets traded second baseman/utility man Jeff McNeil to the A’s for pitching prospect Yordan Rodriguez. Sounds like a win for both teams.
Liverpool striker Alexander Isak’s disappointing debut season with the club got worse yesterday after exams confirmed he fractured his leg over the weekend. See more on his timetable.
What to Watch
📺 NHL: Penguins at Maple Leafs
4 p.m. ET on TNT and HBO Max
This isn’t exactly an elite matchup at this point, but I find it compelling nonetheless. Pittsburgh has fallen after a hot start, while Toronto feels like it never started to begin with. And the one question on everyone’s mind: What’s wrong with Auston Matthews? Someone has to win here. Also, there is a full day of good hockey today, so check the schedule for further planning.
📺 NCAAF: Western Kentucky vs. Southern Miss
5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
We have three bowl games today, and I picked this matchup in the New Orleans Bowl because the spread is closest (Hilltoppers are favored by 1.5 points, per BetMGM). If you’re off, you can watch bowl action from 2 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET if you wish. See the full schedule.
📺 NBA: Nuggets at Mavericks
8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock
Denver remains excellent while Dallas … remains a big talker on the trade deadline, which feels bad for a team that’s endured some bad trade history in the last year. Also: Now you’ll understand Nikola Jokić on a deeper level.
Get tickets to games like these here.
Pulse Picks
Our writers picked the top women’s sports moments from 2025. There were more bonkers moments than you remember.
The Red Sox have created a financial path to make a big swing. It should be for Alex Bregman, as Ken Rosenthal writes.
Many think the NBA really starts around Christmas, when a splashy set of games tries to capture attention. This year, that comes with an entirely new TV-watching experience. Zach Harper made a handy guide to the new landscape.
Mike Sando says Bears fans should still be thrilled with how the season’s going, no matter what president Kevin Warren tries to do on the side.
Meet Myles McLaughlin, the high school running back who nearly beat Derrick Henry’s absurd rushing record.
The holidays are supposed to be a time of cheer. For many NHL teams, though, it’s a season of panic. Sean McIndoe has five teams facing holiday crises.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The new Sherrone Moore story, by far.
Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝️
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