Sports
Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders wins Unitas Award
Nov 29, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) prepares to pass the ball in the third quarter against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders was named winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Friday, an honor given to the nation’s top quarterback.
Sanders will be honored next Friday in Baltimore.
Later in the day, Sanders passed for 438 yards and five touchdowns during the Buffaloes’ 52-0 shellacking of Oklahoma State.
Sanders set school records this season of 3,926 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes. It is the second straight season in which he set the school yardage mark.
Sanders has completed 74.2 percent of his passes while accumulating 35 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions. No. 25 Colorado (9-3, 7-2 Big 12) is averaging 34.5 points per game, and it’s possible the Buffaloes could be in the conference title game next week.
Coach Deion Sanders, father of Shedeur, said his son would play in whichever bowl game the Buffaloes are invited. Shedeur Sanders is considered a first-round pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
The other finalists were Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss, Dillon Gabriel of Oregon, Kurtis Rourke of Indiana and Cam Ward of Miami.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Which MLB Manager Will Be Fired First? Four Managers on the Hot Seat Already
Sep 23, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) on the field before a game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images No matter what outsiders think of the urgency, Major League Baseball teams usually wait longer than the third week of April before they start firing managers.
Although, Phil Garner and Cal Ripken Sr. would like a word. The Detroit Tigers fired Garner (and general manager Randy Smith) after an 0-6 start in 2002. The Baltimore Orioles fired Cal Ripken’s dad after starting 0-6 in 1988. Cal Sr. got a twisted bit of satisfaction when the ’88 Orioles infamously continued losing until they were 0-21.
Multiple teams with high expectations have gotten off to slow starts this season. If a front office believes the manager is in over their head, they will remove one head for another.
Here are four MLB managers who could be feeling hot under the collar soon, if they’re not already.
Carlos Mendoza, New York Mets
Mendoza’s Mets won 89 games and reached the NLCS in 2024 before the Dodgers took them out, but after adding Juan Soto in free agency they finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs in ’25. Currently, they’re 7-16 after losing their 12th straight game, blowing a three-run lead against the Twins on Tuesday night.
How much of it is actually Mendoza’s fault? Criticisms of Mendoza had been vague — at least until he decided to pitch to Nico Hoerner of the Cubs on Sunday when the Mets seemed to have better options. Odds there favored the Cubs no matter what, but the manager isn’t supposed to make things worse.
The Mets likely will play better, especially if the offense comes together as projected, but they’re going to expend a ton of energy just to get back to .500.
Coaches Kai Correa and Andy Green wait in the wings. Correa is a top managing prospect and Green has experience with the Padres.
Rob Thomson, Philadelphia Phillies
Philly won the NL Pennant in 2022 after firing manager Joe Girardi in June and replacing him with Thomson. They also won at least 90 games in each of the next three seasons, including 96 a season ago when they fell to the Dodgers in the NLDS.
The core of those winning teams remains, but all fans see is a group of underachievers whose seasons ended in disappointment, with Thomson unable to get Dave Dombrowski’s roster across the finish line. The Phillies are 8-15, having lost eight straight.
Don Mattingly, a former MLB manager, is on Thomson’s staff.
Matt Quatraro, Kansas City Royals
Quatraro led them to the playoffs two seasons ago, so his success is recent. His perceived shortcomings are like those of Thomson — he’s not fiery enough, and sometimes the players appear unmotivated. But that’s what it looks like when you don’t score runs. They needed a walk-off wild pitch to snap an eight-game losing streak Tuesday night, which also was their first one-run victory in six attempts. Someone in the clubhouse needs to light a fire.
Tony Vitello, San Francisco Giants
Mar 27, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello (23) talks with catcher Patrick Bailey (center right) during the eighth inning against the New York Yankees at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images Vitello just got here from college, and sometimes it really seems like it by the way he talks and behaves. After beating the Dodgers on Tuesday night, the Giants are 10-13, which isn’t terrible. Just based on talent, it looks like they’ll be closer to the bottom of the NL West than the top, but that’s not on the manager.
Most figured there would be an adjustment period for Buster Posey’s out-of-the-box hire, but if Vitello still looks overwhelmed in the coming weeks, why torture everyone?
Joe Espada, Houston Astros
They’ve been in decline every season, a little bit, ever since winning the World Series in 2022: ALCS in ’23 (Dusty Baker’s last season), Wild Card under Espada in ’24 after a slow start, second place and out of the playoffs in ’25. So far this season, they’re 9-16 amid a ton of injuries that are not Espada’s fault. But when organizations get desperate, they play the one card they have left.
Sports
Why Mike Tomlin Will Be Perfect Television Fit for NBC
Mike and mic loomed as a natural fit after the talkative Mike Tomlin resigned as Pittsburgh Steelers coach in January.
As with his Steelers teams of 19 seasons, Tomlin doesn’t figure to have a losing record as a TV studio analyst, either.
A report Tuesday from The Athletic cemented Tomlin’s long-anticipated transition. He’ll join the NBC “Sunday Night Football” pregame show “Football Night in America” beginning this season.
Surely, video editors and social media managers already have their popcorn ready.
That’s “popcorn” as in the salty snack, not the alternative definition Tomlin once served up during a press conference.
“You know, there’s been popcorn,” Tomlin said. “It hasn’t been any one man specifically; it’s been popcorn. But you can’t have popcorn.”
Asked to expound, Tomlin explained “popcorn” as: “A splattering of incidences. One here. One there. One there.”
That’s some tasty imagery, indeed.
Sustained coaching success boosted Tomlin’s profile as a would-be analyst. He guided Pittsburgh to a 193-114-2 regular-season record, while his 8-12 postseason mark included a 1-1 record in the Super Bowl.
His unique turns of phrase, however, set him apart. In a broadcast climate rife with programs and platforms for former players and coaches to fill, Tomlin, 54, should climb seamlessly into the mix at “FNIA,” a leading national brand.
“I think Mike is great at painting pictures, and those sayings, those Tomlinisms, they can immediately have a context,” Tony Dungy, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and Tomlin’s mentor, told NFL Films in 2021.
Per The Athletic, Fox also coveted Tomlin as a replacement for Jimmy Johnson, who’s retiring from its “Fox NFL Sunday” show.
At NBC, Tomlin will fill a void left by Dungy, who NBC did not retain for an 18th season. While various reports have stated that the “FNIA” lineup could undergo further shuffling, host Maria Taylor and analysts Jason Garrett and Devin McCourty are expected back.
In late 2015, “FNIA” explored Tomlin’s well-documented physical resemblance to actor Omar Epps, showing photos of either man and asking Steelers fans and Tomlin’s wife, Kiya, whether it was Tomlin.
Tomlin never should be confused with Epps’ Darnell Jefferson, the cocky freshman running back from 1993’s “The Program.” That character aimed to impress college coed Halle Berry with a forced, hyperintelligent vocabulary that indubitably would make Tomlin roll his eyes.
“I don’t think a lot about the things that I say, to be honest with you,” Tomlin once said when asked about the origins of his oft-celebrated, “The standard is the standard.”
He continued: “I’m just trying to use words to vividly capture the imagination of our guys so that they can remember the messages so they can somehow be ingrained in their mind so they can somehow make it come alive inside stadiums on the grass. By whatever means we get that done, I’m for it.”
Substitute “inside stadiums on the grass” with “on sofas across the nation,” and there’s Tomlin’s value to any network suitor.
NBC doesn’t want viewers to leave their couches, of course. But with Tomlin aboard, they may well leap from them – or at least sit up – while hanging on every word.
Sports
Nolan Schanuel, Jose Soriano help Angels defeat Blue Jays
Apr 22, 2026; Anaheim, California, USA; Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Mike Trout (27) runs after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Angel Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images Nolan Schanuel homered and also had a three-run, go-ahead double and Jose Soriano continued his historic start to the season with five more shutout innings as the Los Angeles Angels snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday afternoon in Anaheim, Calif.
Soriano extended his scoreless inning streak to 24 2/3 innings while lowering his ERA to 0.24, the lowest ERA in a pitcher’s first six starts to a season since earned runs became official in both leagues (1913) with a minimum of 30 innings pitched. Soriano, who allowed seven hits and struck out four, has allowed just one run – a home run by Atlanta catcher Drake Baldwin – in 37 2/3 innings. He also became the first pitcher since at least 1900 to allow one total run (or fewer) in his first six starts to a season.
Mike Trout homered, walked twice and scored twice and Logan O’Hoppe and Bryce Teodosio each had two hits for Los Angeles. Brent Suter (1-1) picked up the win, striking out two during one inning of hitless relief.
Ernie Clement went 3-for-5 with an RBI and Nathan Lukes and Andres Gimenez each had a double and two hits for Toronto, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Tommy Nance (0-2) suffered the loss allowing two runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Jo Adell’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly, driving in O’Hoppe who had singled.
Schanuel made it 2-0 in the fourth when he led off the fourth with his third home run and first since March 28, a 371-foot line drive just over the fence in right-center.
Trout extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when he drilled a 428-foot homer to the back of the bullpen in left, his eighth of the season. It was the 796th extra-base hit of Trout’s career, tying the team record set by the late Garret Anderson.
Toronto parlayed a walk and three hits, including an RBI double by Lukes and an RBI single by Clement, into three runs in the seventh to tie it, 3-3.
The Angels answered with four runs in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead, 7-3. Trout walked, stole second and went to third on a single by Adell. One out later, Yoan Moncada walked to load the bases. Schanuel then followed with an opposite-field double into the left field corner to clear the bases and give Los Angeles a 6-3 lead. Vaughn Grissom drove in Schanuel with a bloop single to right.
–Field Level Media
Which MLB Manager Will Be Fired First? Four Managers on the Hot Seat Already
Why Mike Tomlin Will Be Perfect Television Fit for NBC
