Benfica release new racism row footage to make incredible public claim that Real Madrid's players are lying about abuse of Vinicius Jr - posted at 2am
In a stunning intervention on social media, the Portuguese club shared a pitchside angle of the exchange, in which Prestianni can be seen in the vicinity of Vinicius.
Chattanooga takes on Mercer following Frison's 20-point outing
Chattanooga Mocs (10-17, 4-10 SoCon) at Mercer Bears (17-10, 9-5 SoCon)
Macon, Georgia; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Chattanooga faces Mercer after Jordan Frison scored 20 points in Chattanooga's 81-76 loss to the Western Carolina Catamounts.
The Bears are 12-0 on their home court. Mercer has a 7-7 record against teams over .500.
The Mocs are 4-10 in SoCon play. Chattanooga has a 0-1 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
Mercer averages 82.9 points, 9.0 more per game than the 73.9 Chattanooga gives up. Chattanooga averages 74.7 points per game, 0.4 more than the 74.3 Mercer allows to opponents.
The Bears and Mocs meet Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Baraka Okojie is averaging 19.4 points and 5.5 assists for the Bears. Armani Mighty is averaging 14.1 points over the last 10 games.
Brennan Watkins averages 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Mocs, scoring 9.5 points while shooting 47.1% from beyond the arc. Frison is averaging 15.4 points and 3.3 assists over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bears: 7-3, averaging 79.7 points, 34.6 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 6.7 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 43.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.9 points per game.
Mocs: 3-7, averaging 70.8 points, 29.1 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 4.1 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.4 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Tarleton State hosts Southern Utah following Duval's 20-point game - Yahoo Sports Canada
Want more curling? A new pro league is set to launch after the Winter Olympics
MILAN — It happens every Winter Olympics, the curling renaissance. For two-plus weeks in February, Americans south of Canadian border states remember that curling exists. Riding a wave of patriotic fever and a strong belief that they too could be Olympic-level curlers, Americans fall in love with the sport … right up until the torch goes out.
This year, curling aficionados are planning to keep the love going. Shortly after the Olympics wrap up in late February, the Rock League will launch. A collection of 60 of the world’s greatest curlers, complete with team names, the Rock League hopes to harness the expected momentum from Milan Cortina.
The new league might just revolutionize and professionalize curling as a sport. At the very least, it’ll be a fun watch with a couple beers close at hand. Win-win either way, right?
“It’s going to be a massive undertaking,” says John Shuster, the gold medal-winning skip of Team USA’s landmark 2018 squad, “but every single player I’ve talked to is really excited to see where this is going to go.”
Where do you find curling after the Olympics?
“If you're an American and you love watching curling every four years, but then there's nothing to engage with after, well,” says Nic Sulsky, CEO of The Curling Group, “you're gonna forget about the sport.”
Sulsky came to curling from the gaming industry to co-found The Curling Group, which owns the Rock League. He calls the Winter Olympics curling’s “lightning-hitting-the-clock-tower moment” — referencing, of course, the instant in “Back to the Future” when a massive plan all comes together — and understands that it presents a rare opportunity for national attention on a niche sport.
“We know that the whole world's gonna fall in love with curling like they do every four years,” he says. The question he and other investors in The Curling Group asked is, what’s the followup? How can curling harness and sustain the nationwide momentum it gathers every Olympics?
Curling does, in fact, exist outside the Olympics, of course. The Grand Slam of Curling, for instance, which draws more than one team per country, features more talent top-to-bottom than the Olympics. That intrigued Sulsky enough that he and The Curling Group bought The Grand Slam of Curling, which hosts events throughout the year, from its Canadian media ownership. And then he and his advisors, which include former Olympic curling medalists and NFL Hall of Famer Jared Allen, set about creating the Rock League.
“The sport finally needs a platform to professionalize,” Sulsky says. “The players need an opportunity to actually make a little bit more money. Sponsors need a way to integrate into the sport in a more professional way. There needs to be a proper business strategy within the sport of curling.”
The Rock League: Meet the teams
Comprising six teams of 10 curlers apiece, five men and five women per team, including multiple familiar Olympians, the Rock League’s format will look familiar to team-oriented Americans. Each team — Maple United, Shield Curling Club, Frontier Curling Club, Northern United, Alpine Curling Club and Typhoon Curling Club — has its own logo and, eventually, identity. With a range of nationalities represented, each team also boasts an array of athletes for fans to follow, connect with and perhaps even imitate.
“When I was growing up, it was like, I have this favorite hockey player, I have this favorite basketball player, whatever,” two-time curling Olympian Chris Plys said recently. “There’s kids out there that are 11, 12 years old, but there’s really been no pathway for them to see curling outside of the Olympics and think of that as a viable option for a sport to play. So having a professional league, it’s like, OK, I could do this.”
“Mixing players from countries and teams together is going to be a really refreshing thing for both us as players and for the fans, for sure,” says Shuster, who’s on the roster of the Frontier Curling Club alongside Korey Dropkin, who took sliver in mixed doubles at the Milan Cortina Games.
Sulsky also hopes the Rock League dispels a few of the misperceptions that have built up around curling. “When I walked into the sport, I was expecting old, fat, white guys, right?” he laughs. “I see the clips online of people smoking and drinking beer during curling events. I walked in and I was like, Oh my goodness, these are young, fit, attractive men and women who are real athletes.”
But Sulsky and the Rock League don’t just want to change outside perceptions of curling. They want to upend some traditions within the sport, too. At many bonspiels — the curling name for tournaments — the atmosphere is closer to a golf tournament than a football game, with rocks sliding in near-silence and crowds shushing talkers. It’s the traditional form of audience behavior, but some in the curling community believe it’s not the right play going forward.
“We need energy,” Plys said. “When people are going to spend their hard-earned money, we can't have these events where people just sit in silence. We're not going to draw in new fans that way. We need to make it more exciting and have other things going on to bring people in the door.”
The Rock League will begin in April with a one-week “preview season” in Toronto. Then, beginning in January 2027, the Rock League will kick off its touring with a four-week January-February season that includes stops in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, New York and Ontario. Future seasons could include Europe and other destinations outside the traditional curling footprint.
How to watch The Rock League
No sport can survive in the 2020s without eyeballs, though. Initially, the Rock League will be available on The Rock Channel, a FAST (free, ad-supported television) all-curling channel already up and running.
“Visibility is what the sport needs to continue to grow,” Plys said. “The reason that it grows so much during the Olympics is because people in every household finally have access to watching it.”
“The reality is, a sports fan needs to be able to engage with content, or what's the point?” Sulsky says. “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound? You can have the greatest sport there is. If people can't watch it, what's the point?”
Plus, the Rock League will take into account the fact that U.S. audiences tend to be a little less familiar with curling nuance than, say, Canadian ones. A tip here, a secret there, a storyline or two laid out, and all of a sudden the world of curling opens up to viewers.
“We’re seeing the differences when you actually get full games in front of audiences with the right commentators,” Shuster says, invoking names like Tom Brady, Tony Romo and Greg Olson in the NFL. “Getting people that are smart in the booth to bridge the gap between someone who’s never watched curling, or maybe watches it once every four years, to get them really going along with the game.”
Future plans for the league include everything from sponsorship alignment to social media storytelling to betting opportunities. “It’s going to be different enough, and exciting,” Shuster says. “Nic and The Curling Group are really working hard, trying to make this not be a novelty.”
The Rock League’s first stones slide in April. Until then, keep telling yourself you could do it just as well as them.