Sports
White-hot Texas A&M in position to prolong Alabama's woes
Jan 24, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) reacts during the first half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images Alabama has hit a roadblock which coincidentally accompanies its controversial roster decision.
Since Charles Bediako’s much-criticized return nearly three years after he left the program for the NBA, the Crimson Tide have lost two of their last three games.
That has Alabama (14-7, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) outside the AP Top 25 for the first time this season entering Wednesday’s matchup against Texas A&M in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Bediako has been far from the problem, averaging 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds and shooting 73.3% from the floor in his first three games back in the college ranks.
Defense and ball security are far bigger culprits in the team’s recent struggles. The Crimson Tide are coming off a 100-77 loss at then-No. 19 Florida on Saturday in which they turned it over 18 times and allowed a gaudy 72 points in the paint.
Alabama’s up-tempo offense has the team third in the SEC in scoring offense (91.2 points per game), but it is undeniably playing a role in the Crimson Tide bringing up the SEC rear in scoring defense (82.3).
The team is a No. 5 seed in ESPN’s updated bracketology released Tuesday morning.
“It’s getting close to a tipping point,” Oats said. “We’re either going to start playing better and go on a run here, or we’re going to continue to play .500 basketball. That’s not what anybody came here to do.”
Things don’t appear to be getting any easier this week with a smoldering Texas A&M team coming to town.
Since a 2-2 start, the Aggies (17-4, 7-1) have won 15 of their last 17, including 10 of the last 11 after a 92-77 win at Georgia on Saturday.
In a battle of the league’s two highest-scoring offenses, Texas A&M jumped out to a 22-2 lead and led the rest of the way.
Rashaun Agee led the Aggies’ 46-39 rebounding advantage with a game-high 18 points and 15 boards for his 10th double-double of the season and his fifth in eight conference games.
Agee ranks second in the league in rebounds (9.0 per game).
Despite this extended run of success, Texas A&M enters the week as the first team out of the Top 25. That’s only serving as further motivation.
“I hope so,” Agee said when asked if the team has made believers out of everyone yet. “If not, it’s OK. We’ve got a lot of basketball left. We’re just going to continue to do what we do regardless.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Argentina club looking to lure Lionel Messi home in 2027
Dec 6, 2025; Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA; Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) looks on with the Philip F. Anschutz trophy after winning the 2025 MLS Cup against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Chase Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Argentina club Newell’s Old Boys is working on a plan to bring two-time MLS MVP Lionel Messi home next year.
A team executive confirmed that it’s trying to entice Messi to return to his boyhood club for the first half of 2027.
“It’s a project that goes beyond Newell’s. It involves the city of Rosario, the province, and Argentine football,” first vice president Juan Manuel Medina said, according to an ESPN story published Wednesday.
Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s best player, signed an extension with defending MLS Cup champion Inter Miami in October that runs through the end of the 2028.
Messi, 38, played for Newell’s youth teams from 1995-2000 before moving to the FC Barcelona academy.
Inter Miami will open the 2026 MLS season on Feb. 21 at Los Angeles FC. Messi also is preparing to defend Argentina’s World Cup championship this summer in North America.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lindsey Vonn's coach, Stefon Diggs confident she can ski with ACL injury
[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 3, 2026; Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITALY; Lindsey Vonn attends a press conference at a press conference at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in preparation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Mandatory Credit: Leonhard Foeger/Reuters via Imagn Images Lindsey Vonn’s coach and New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs are confident that the American skiing great can compete at the Milano Cortina Olympics with a ruptured ACL in her left knee.
Vonn, 41, is set to try her luck in the women’s downhill race on Sunday
“I’m pretty confident that she can still pull off this dream,” Vonn’s head coach Chris Knight told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve got no doubts in my mind that this is going to be OK.”
Knight’s comments came one day after Vonn said that she’s not interested in discussing surgery at the moment.
“It’s not really on my radar screen right now. The Olympics are the only thing that I’m thinking about,” she said. “Every day my knee’s gotten better. And every day we’re discussing with a full medical team, doctors, physios, everyone, to make sure we’re doing everything to make sure I am making smart and safe decisions.”
Diggs knows a thing or two about a torn ACL. His lone season with the Houston Texans in 2024 was cut short by the same injury.
“Prayers to her. I hope the surgery does go well when she does have it,” Diggs said Wednesday of Vonn. “Anybody who has torn an ACL, it’s kind of a weird injury. You can run after about two weeks when the swelling goes down. … As long as she doesn’t have to (decelerate), she should be fine.”
Like Vonn, Diggs has a big day ahead on Sunday. Diggs and the Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif.
As for Vonn, she must complete at least one official training run to take part in the Sunday downhill. Vonn is no stranger to the mountain. She collected 12 of her 84 World Cup victories there, the most of any skier.
Vonn earned gold (downhill) and bronze (Super-G) medals at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a bronze medal in the downhill at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Vonn retired after the 2019 world championships due to injuries. She subsequently received a partial replacement of her right knee and launched a comeback late in 2024 with the Olympics in her sights.
She has won the downhill twice this winter and leads the World Cup standings in the discipline and was considered a favorite to win the gold medal in the event in Italy.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Washington Post shutters sports department
Sep 15, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos in attendance before the Kansas City Chiefs play against the Los Angeles Chargers at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images The Washington Post shuttered its venerable sports department on Wednesday, part of a larger layoff involving one-third of the newspaper’s staff.
“The Washington Post is taking a number of difficult but decisive actions today for our future, in what amounts to a significant restructuring across the company,” a Post spokesperson said in a statement. “These steps are designed to strengthen our footing and sharpen our focus on delivering the distinctive journalism that sets The Post apart and, most importantly, engages our customers.”
Executive editor Matt Murray announced the changes in a video conference with employees.
The move comes with Post reporters already on site covering Super Bowl LX and the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
“It’s like somebody taking a hammer to my heart,” Sally Jenkins, who wrote a Post sports column until she left the paper last summer, told The Ringer. “It’s not just broken. It’s broken into about 20 pieces, one for every single one of my close friends there.”
Some sports reporters are expected to move into other roles, but the exact number was not reported.
A skeleton crew will continue to produce what Murray described as features about sports as a “cultural and societal phenomenon.”
The Post has undergone repeated changes, downsizings and reinventions since Amazon chief Jeff Bezos purchased the paper in 2013.
In addition to cutting the sports pages, the Post is reducing its international footprint, making the Metro section more “nimble and focused” and eliminating the Books section.
–Field Level Media
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