It’s been a long, long time since the Raiders had swagger at their quarterback position — but no fans expected this kind of swag from Gardner Minshew. It’s photo week around the NFL, and when the studio lights came on the QB didn’t disappoint.
This shoot had a little of everything. Well, it’s more like it had a lot of one, specific, dirtbag (but in a charming way) kind of thing.
Superhero Gardner Minshew ready to save the Las Vegas Raiders from mediocrity
Uncle Rico Gardner Minshew, who I’m pretty sure can throw a football over a mountain if he wanted to
Pro Wrestler Garnder Minshew who is ready to go one-on-one with The Undertaker in a steel cage
The Gardner Minshew who got called to school for a conference with the principal because you and your friends got caught smoking cigarettes under the bleachers during fourth period
Is it just me or does the entire NFL just feel more fun this year? Around the league teams are letting players be themselves more, and throwing aside the stuffy, boring sanitized normality and letting players be their brilliant, weird selves.
At the end of May 64 college baseball teams began a journey, with Omaha as their dream destination.
Now just two teams are left standing in Omaha, with dreams of NCAA baseball immortality alive.
The Men’s College World Series Finals begin on Saturday, with SEC rivals Tennessee and Texas A&M set to begin a best-of-three series to determine this season’s National Champion. When this tournament began the Volunteers and the Aggies were viewed as two of the top teams in the field, as the Aggies were the third-seeded team heading into the tournament, while the Volunteers were the top team in the field.
If history is to be our guide, the Aggies might be in a better position to win the Finals. Since the NCAA expanded to the current format the top-overall seed has won the Men’s College World Series just once, and that was Miami back in 1999, the first season with a 64-team field. More often than not the top seed comes up short, as the Volunteers did back in 2022 when they were the top-seeded team and did not even advance to Omaha.
As for teams seeded No. 3, like Texas A&M, they have won the Men’s College World Series three times. Most recently Oregon State won as a No. 3 seed back in 2018.
Ahead of the Finals getting underway, let’s take a look at each team’s path to this point, a statistical matchup between the two teams, revisit what happened the one time they played this season, and finish it off with a prediction sure to be wrong.
Tennessee’s path to the Finals
The Volunteers enter the Men’s College World Series Finals with a 58-12 overall record, and went 22-8 this season in SEC play.
The Volunteers have lost just once in the entire Men’s College World Series.
Game 1: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M | 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+
Sunday, June 23
Game 2: Tennessee vs. Texas A&M | 2:00 p.m. ET | ABC/ESPN+
Monday, June 24
Game 3 (if necessary): Tennessee vs. Texas A&M | 7 p.m. ET | ESPN/ESPN+
Statistical matchup
Here is how these two teams matchup in a number of key statistics, provided by both D1Baseball.comand NCAA.com:
Head-to-head
These teams have met just once this season, back in SEC Tournament play.
In that game, back on May 23, the Aggies took an early 1-0 lead thanks to a solo home run from leadoff hitter Gavin Grahovac in the third inning. But the Volunteers chipped away over the next few innings, tying the game in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly from outfielder Dylan Dreiling. They took the lead in the fourth on a Fielder’s Choice off the bat of Christian Moore, with Dean Curley scoring from third.
In the bottom of the fifth a double from Kavares Tears brought Dreiling around to score, giving the Volunteers a 3-1 lead. Texas A&M cut that lead to just one with a solo shot off the bat of catcher Jackson Appell in the sixth.
Tears came through again for Tennessee in the seventh, with a three-run blast to left pushed the Volunteers’ lead to 6-2. The teams traded runs in the eighth, and Grahovac added another run for the Aggies in the ninth on a solo shot, but it was not enough as the Volunteers advanced by the final score of 7-4.
A prediction sure to be wrong
What is a preview piece without a prediction that is sure to be wrong?
As the old adage goes, good pitching beats good hitting. As you can see above, the Aggies have a solid staff to call on for this series, and that staff is rested and ready to go.
But the college game is a bit different these days. Watching the entire Men’s College World Series this year, you get the sense that today’s game is about what you can do at the plate. While both teams have potent lineups, Tennessee does have an advantage at the dish.
This is likely a series that goes the entire three games, and when all is said and done, the Volunteers will take home the title.
Nelly Korda fought hard throughout her Thursday round at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She signed for a 3-under 69 and currently leads the field by one stroke with half the field left to play.
Korda began her day on the back nine and went out in 33 strokes. She recorded four birdies in her first five holes.
Despite carding a 69, the Florida resident had to scramble throughout her first round. The Douglass fir, red cedar and hemlock trees on the Sahalee Country Club course did their jobs as they made Korda work for her score.
“If you try and be aggressive when you’ve hit it offline, it just bites you in the butt,” Korda said after her first round. “Overall, I think I played pretty well. I took my chances where I could and I played safe the majority of the round.”
She made birdies on holes 13-15 before to get to 3-under. Korda moved to 4-under after a birdie on the 4th. However, the 25-year-old coughed up two shots on the fourth as the 14-time LPGA winner made a double-bogey.
“This entire golf course is so demanding. I had to make some pretty good up-and-downs,” Korda said.
Korda closed her round with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 9th to get back to 3-under on the day, giving her some much-needed momentum.
It is a much better start than her last major championship start. Three weeks ago, Korda shot an 80 at Lancaster Country Club in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open. She shot 10 strokes better on Friday with an even-par 70 but missed her first cut of the 2024 season.
The 2-time major winner also missed the cut at last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic after she shot a 76 and 67. It is the first time all season that the No. 1 ranked player in the world missed consecutive cuts. Prior to that, she won the Mizuho Americas Open for her sixth victory of the year.
Korda made history by winning five straight before she settled for a T7 at the Cognizant Founders Cup.
She will tee off with Ruoning Yin and Hannah Green at 1:28 p.m. PT or 4:28 p.m. ET for her second round of the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
This week, the LPGA hosts its third major championship, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington.
It has been eight years since the LPGA played Sahalee for the Women’s PGA Championship.
The last time the venue hosted the major was in 2016 when Brooke Henderson defeated Lydia Ko in a playoff.
Jessica Korda played in that event before ultimately missing the cut. She returns to Sahalee in 2024, but this time to cheer on her younger sister and current World No. 1, Nelly Korda.
She explained the best way to attack this tree-lined track.
“Sahalee is one of the purest tracks I think we’ve ever played. It’s such a great test of golf and an amazing major championship host,” she said to the LPGA social media team.
“All you see are these big trees, the roughs up — you got branches in the way. So paying attention to where the pins are — coming in at the right angles from the fairway, those are all going to be really important things. You would say it’s a second-shot golf course, but it’s not. It’s an every-shot golf course.”
Pine trees line the fairways at Sahalee, making it a challenge to take home the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship trophy on Sunday.
Korda has been on quite the run in 2024, already racking up six victories on the LPGA Tour She won five straight, finished T7 at the Cognizant Founders Cup and won the Mizuho Americas Open the following week.
However, since that sixth victory, her game has gone cold.
Korda missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club earlier this year and the Meijer LPGA Classic last week. She looks to bounce back and play the weekend at this major championship.
The 14-time LPGA winner posted a 3-under 69 to sit atop the leaderboard after her round on Thursday. The afternoon group still has to play, but she leads by one shot.
Korda set the tone with six birdies, a bogey, and one double bogey.
“As long as she can keep it in the fairway, she’s going to be fine,” Jessica Korda said. “But she does scramble really well. So, as long as she can score, I think that’s going to be the most important thing.”
Nelly’s double bogey was rough, but she bounced back with a birdie on her 18th hole to reclaim the lead.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
CROMWELL, Conn. — The World No. 1 looked like the best player on the planet again at the Travelers Championship on Thursday.
Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a surprising T-41 at the U.S. Open, carded a 5-under 65 during the first round of the final Signature Event of the season. He had control of his swing once again and holed plenty of putts, much like he did during his five wins.
“I feel like I hit it nice,” Scheffler assessed.
“Found some swings, or found some stuff in my swing at the beginning of the week, and definitely feel like I’m swinging a lot better than I did last week.”
Scheffler did not record a single under-par round at Pinehurst No. 2, a week he called “frustrating.” Thursday’s 65 in Connecticut is his first-under-par score since the third round of the Memorial Tournament when he shot a 1-under 71.
“I struggled to see the break on the greens last week. I had a hard time finding the right line,” Scheffler explained.
“I felt like I hit a lot of good putts that came off the way I wanted to, and I looked up, but they were just not even really close to going in at times. So that can always be a bit frustrating, but it’s nice to get here on some familiar surfaces and hit some good putts and see some balls go in.”
Scheffler gained two strokes on the greens on Thursday, ranking 9th in the field. Meanwhile, Scheffler lost 1.51 strokes to the field last week with his putter, which was good for 70th of 74 players who made the cut.
Of course, Scheffler switched to a mallet putter ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he then won. Since that change, Scheffler has added four more victories, and his putting has improved immensely since the beginning of the season.
Wooooo boy what a shot from Scottie here at 13. Went on to make eagle here, and has a stretch of birdie holes upcoming.
Look no further than early Thursday, when the top-ranked player in the world poured in three straight birdies over his first four holes. He made a 19-footer at the par-4 2nd, a 13-footer at the 3rd, and then, at the challenging par-4 4th, Scheffler drained a birdie try from 16 feet. He also made an eagle on the par-5 13th, thanks to a spectacular approach from 256 yards out that landed eight feet away.
“I hit two really great shots in there to give myself a look,” Scheffler said of the 13th.
“Then I got a nice read off Max [Homa’s] putt and was able to knock that in.”
Scheffler added another birdie at the par-4 14th, which got him to 5-under for the day. He failed to capitalize on a good tee shot at the drivable par-4 15th, finishing with four straight pars.
The reigning Masters champion struggled to save par last week in North Carolina, but now he has no issues making par this week. That should intimidate the rest of the field, as Scheffler looks back to being the best after an off week at the U.S. Open.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
Bryson DeChambeau’s U.S. Open win is still the most talked-about golf news story despite LIV Golf Nashville and the PGA Tour’s final Signature Event this week.
In the 24 hours after DeChambeau’s win, Google searches about him went up by 250 percent, and he gained over 150,000 new followers across all his social media platforms.
The Bryson DeChambeau effect is in full force, but the professional golfer is taking it in stride.
“I’ve got to say I’m humbled by all of it,” DeChambeau said ahead of the LIV Nashville event. “I never would have thought that from a year and a half ago, things would be where they’re at right now. Gosh, I’m trying to hold it in right now. The support has been overwhelming. It’s with complete thanks and gratitude.”
His YouTube channel now has 750k subscribers. Two days ago, DeChambeau posted highlights from his historic win, which have already amassed 614,000 views, 26,000 likes, and 3,515 comments.
On Twitter, he has 410,240 followers. In the last few days, he posted photos with Grant Horvat and San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle with the trophy. Kittle even got to drink out of the trophy with DeChambeau.
His Instagram has also grown since his victory. It is the social channel that has the most followers at 1.4 million.
He also posted a reel of his favorite shots on there less than 24 hours after it went live, and it already has 1.5 million views, 117,434 likes, and 1,100 comments.
The video of him hitting that incredible bunker shot to three feet, which he dubbed “the best moment of my life,” has four million views, 285,330 likes, and almost 3,000 comments.
He is taking over golf through a different lens, and the fans appear to like it.
“It was a risk a year and a half ago, but I knew it was a way for me to get my voice out there and inspire a younger generation,” he said.
DeChambeau saw what enormous YouTube star Mr. Beast did with his channel and added his own spin. Mr. Beast now has over 200 million followers as an entertainer who does all kinds of things on YouTube.
“I said, why can’t an athlete do something like that? Why is that not possible? He’s inspiring millions of people,” DeChambeau said.
“It was in 2021 that we produced our first video. It was a week-on-tour video, and it got a million views. We went out there filming and then pumping it on YouTube. No paid ads, no media spins or anything like that. It just happened. Everybody loved it.”
After that first video, DeChambeau saw the potential and how much it could change golf. His goal is to grow the game, and he found his way.
“How do I do it all the time and create great content that people want to see so people can not only be entertained but see who I truly am,” DeChambeau said.
“What’s nice is when I’m playing these challenges, it keeps me in that creative mindset. It keeps me focused on playing golf. Even though I’m filming, I’m still practicing and working. It’s a symbiotic relationship I have with YouTube that allows me to be the best and give my best to the fans.”
Growth like that on social media is not unheard of, but what DeChambeau has accomplished is huge for golf content creators. They see what he does, and it shows them how possible it is.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
Kendrick Lamar through one of the greatest televised concerts of all-time on Wednesday night during Juneteenth in a show that featured so many West Coast icons. Los Angeles natives Russell Westbrook and DeMar Derozan came out on stage singing and dancing to all FIVE renditions of Lamar’s lyrical Kamehameha diss track ‘Not Like Us,’ directed at Drake.
‘The Pop Out’, hosted by Kendrick Lamar and every West Coast rapper seemingly on Earth, was less a concert and more a victory lap, putting people on to West Coast rappers while giving Lamar the time to go through his entire setlist of songs that include direct or shaded shots at Drake. It was a moment, an event that put the West Coast right in front of everyone in the world.
It was also a chance for West Coast icons such as Westbrook and Derozan to show up and show out in their home. Getting DeRozan there felt like a given, because of Lamar’s line in ‘Not Like Us’: “I’m glad DeRoz came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither, from Alondra down to Central n**** better not speak on Serena.” DeRoz is obviously DeRozan, who was traded out of Toronto in the Kawhi Leonard deal, but is known as an icon with the Raptors. However, he’s even more known for being from Compton, a West Coast dude at heart. Getting him up on the stage when Lamar called all of the West Coast icons and rappers up to the stage was an awesome moment, as well as getting Westbrook up there.
Russ looked like he was having the time of his life. He looked like he was having more fun up on stage than he was at any time with the Clippers this season.
While Westbrook and DeRozan are obviously big hits to Drake’s rep in the NBA (which he very deeply cares about), neither of them will equal the final NBA player spotted at The Pop Out on Wednesday.
Take the L out of Certified Lover Boy, it’s Certified OVER Boy.
This is the greatest victory lap of all time, and getting all the NBA players out there was just another chance to dance on the grave.
CROMWELL, Conn. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan met with the media at TPC River Highlands on Wednesday and revealed that the Travelers Championship will receive Signature Event status again in 2025.
These tournaments feature elevated purses and limited field sizes, hovering around 70 players. This year’s Travelers Championship marks the eighth and final Signature Event of the 2024 season.
“This event will be a Signature Event in 2025,” Monahan said. “This is the 18th year with Travelers, and we have an agreement; they’re in a 10-year agreement through 2030.”
Travelers first sponsored this tournament in 2007, when Hunter Mahan won his first event on the PGA Tour. Since then, it has become a fan favorite among tour pros, who cite the golf course and hospitality as reasons why.
“It’s good to be back. I feel like this is always a fun tournament to come play,” said World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Wednesday.
“The community really rallies around the tournament. The fans are always tremendous. The golf course is typically always in great shape. The clubhouse. The way the tournament treats us as players is always tremendous. So it’s a very easy, fun week for us to come play, and glad to be back here.”
Caddies even receive courtesy cars this week, a rarity on the PGA Tour. But that’s not all. The top players on the PGA Tour receive plenty of other amenities.
“They do such an amazing job for us, our caddies, and our support team,” added Xander Schauffele.
“If you look at the range, it’s got the little umbrellas, we have a coffee stand, a lounging area, there’s the green truck there with the pizza. So it’s such a relaxing week coming after the U.S. Open and I think all of us really appreciate that.”
With this in mind, the Signature Event model—new for 2024—has drawn plenty of criticism. In March, Lucas Glover called these tournaments a “money grab,” adding that he “doesn’t like the idea at all.”
“Why do the signature events have [a maximum of] 80 players, and only 50 make the cut? Our biggest signature event next week is 144 players with a full cut. The signature event,” Glover said in March, referencing The Players Championship.
“I just don’t see what was so bad out here that we had to do all this. Let’s raise some purses to make sure we keep some guys around, but now we’ve eliminated a lot of playing opportunities for some really good players.”
Monahan recognizes this too, as many players, such as Min Woo Lee, who has had a strong 2024 season, did not qualify for the Travelers this week, even though Rory McIlroy withdrew.
“Nothing’s perfect, nothing ever is, but when you look at where we are today and as we shared with our board [on Tuesday], we feel like we’re delivering to our fans exactly what we set out to do, and that is to get our top players competing together more often, and to create the most competitive schedule we can possibly create,” Monahan said about the Signature Events.
“When you look at our full-field events, and you look at the strength of the field, whether it’s top 50 or top 125, our strength of the field at full-field events is up 35 percent.”
The Signature Events have undoubtedly provided opportunities for the best players to compete against one another. Look no further than who has won the seven Signature Events this season: Scheffler has won three. Wyndham Clark triumphed at Pebble Beach with a record-breaking 60. Hideki Matsuyama shot 61 at Riviera to come from behind and steal the Genesis Invitational, and then Rory McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship. Chris Kirk also won The Sentry, the first tournament of the year. That’s a pretty strong whos-who of the PGA Tour.
Plus, these wins came against very strong fields. The top 50 players from last year’s FedEx Cup standings gained entry into each of these tournaments in 2024. Then, the PGA Tour established the Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5 to help round out these limited-field events. Whoever wins an event on the PGA Tour in 2024 also gains entry, while each tournament has sponsor exemptions they use to round out the field. Those exemptions have been greatly scrutinized, as PGA Tour Policy Board members seem to take a fair share of those. Look no further than Webb Simpson, who again received an exemption to play this week.
Nevertheless, this tournament always delivers. Players typically go low on this golf course, as TPC River Highlands, the shortest course on tour, yields plenty of birdies. It also produces great drama, as the tournament has had six playoffs since 2007. One stroke has decided the result six other times, too.
So, considering all of this, it makes sense for the tour to make the Travelers Championship a Signature Event in 2025, despite some of the criticism the overall model has received.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
Wednesday was the kind of outing you dream about as a pitcher for Tennessee’s Zander Sechrist. The senior left-hander got the call for the Volunteers and was tasked with slowing down Florida State with a spot in the Men’s College World Series Final on the line.
For six innings, Sechrist did exactly that.
Facing a Seminoles lineup that hung 11 runs on the Volunteers earlier this week and had mashed all season long — Florida State posted a Slugging Percentage of .559 this season (seventh in the nation) and an OPS of .974 (sixth in the country) — the left-hander kept Florida State scoreless through six innings of work. Sechrist showed complete command of the strike zone, placing an array of fastballs and sharp-breaking balls almost anywhere he wanted to. With some of those breaking balls topping out in the low 80s and even upper 70s, the Florida State hitters were kept off-balance for the first six innings of the game.
By the time the Seminoles finally got to Sechrist for a pair of solo home runs in the seventh inning, the Volunteers’ potent offense had put six runs on the board, spurred on by a three-run first inning. Tennessee added another run in the second, and one more in the third when Christian Moore — who made MCWS history earlier in the week when he became just the second player ever to hit for the cycle — ripped a triple down the right-field line, bringing catcher Cal Stark around to score from first:
And while the Seminoles made it interesting with the two solo home runs in the seventh, Blake Burke added an insurance run for Tennessee with this absolute bomb to right-center:
But the headlines belong to Sechrist, who finished the day giving the Volunteers 6.1 innings of solid work, allowing just a pair of runs while striking out three.
Earlier this week Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello talked about Sechrist getting this opportunity, and how Vitello was “excited” to see the left-hander on the bump.
“We’re really excited,” Vitello said. “This is the guy that has the ability to pitch on the weekend, which he’s accomplished that and helped pitch our team to Omaha, which he did last year as well. I mean, it’s so crucial every game that you play. And he’s logged a ton of innings for us in his career with us and just been a good leader and a good teammate as well.
“I don’t want to call it gravy or anything like that, but now it’s time to enjoy the opportunity for him to compete and then for us to enjoy the opportunity to watch him compete while at the same time just kind of managing the game as best we see fit.”
Sechrist made managing the game easier for Vitello, thanks to his outing on Wednesday.
Now the Volunteers will wait to see who they will face in the Men’s College World Series Finals, between the winner of the Texas A&M-Florida matchup. The Aggies just need one win to advance, while the Gators need two straight wins to make a return appearance in the Finals.
After helping his father, Tiger Woods, prep for the 124th U.S. Open, Charlie Woods now has another USGA Championship to get ready for. He has qualified for the 76th U.S. Junior Amateur, which Oakland Hills Country Club in Detroit, Michigan, will host in late July.
The 15-year-old Woods carded a 1-under 71 at the Eagle Trace Golf Club in Coral Springs, Florida, as 86 players vied for four qualifying spots. Woods bested them all, winning medalist honors with the only under-par score of the day.
He made three birdies over his final six holes—an impressive accomplishment on any stretch, let alone after he dropped three shots on the 11th and 12th holes combined.
But now he will have an opportunity to win a U.S. Junior Amateur title, something his father did three years in a row, from 1991 to 1993. Tiger won his first at Bay Hill in Orland and then triumphed at Wollaston Golf Club in Massachusetts before winning again at Waverley Country Club in Oregon in 1993. The now 15-time major champion went on to win three consecutive U.S. Amateur titles after that, meaning he won six straight USGA Championships—an accomplishment likely never to happen again.
Meanwhile, the younger Woods has had an impressive stretch over recent months. In November, he helped his high school team win the Florida High School Golf Championship. Then, a month later, he and his father tied for fifth at the PNC Championship. He recently tried to qualify for the U.S. Open but fell short. Yet, that did not set him back, as he rebounded with an exceptional performance in U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThroughfor more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.