Month: July 2024

USC 2024 Summer Olympics guide for July 27

We have event highlights featuring USC athletes at the Summer Olympics in Paris on July 27.

The opening ceremony was on Friday. On Saturday, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics shift into high gear with a full day of sports action. USC Olympians will be found in a lot of different sports and venues across France.

USC athletes’ progress and results at the 2024 Summer Olympics can be tracked here at this site provided by USC Athletics.

On Saturday, July 27, USC Olympic athletes will compete in the following sports: swimming, beach volleyball, indoor volleyball, soccer, and water polo.

The highlights: Beach volleyball matches will air on NBC, first at 5 a.m. Pacific with Andy Benesh of Team USA, then at 1 p.m. Pacific with Sophie Bukovec of Team Canada going up against an American opponent.

Another highlight is indoor volleyball at noon Pacific on USA Network, featuring Micah Christenson of Team USA against Argentina.

The swimming preliminary heats on Saturday begin at 2 a.m. Pacific, so if you’re up for it (literally), you can watch USC athletes for close to 12 hours on Saturday.

Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire. Follow our newest sites, UW Huskies Wire and UCLA Wire.

Check out more NFL draft coverage with the USA TODAY Sports NFL Draft Hub.

36 Days (and counting) until UCLA Football 2024 kickoff

We are down to 36 days until the start of the UCLA Bruins football season for the 2024 season.

We are down to 36 days until the start of the UCLA Bruins football season. There is no 36 on the current roster, so today, we are going to give you the history of the Rose Bowl, where the Bruins play their home games.

The Rose Bowl broke ground in 1922 and opened in October of 1922. The first Rose Bowl game came on New Year’s Day 1923.

The Bruins have played their home games there since 1982. They share it with the Los Angeles Galaxy, out of the MLS. There have been four national championship games in the history of the Rose Bowl. The last time was in 2014 when Florida State beat Auburn in front of 94,208 fans.

There have also been four college football playoff semi-finals played there. The last time was in 2024 when Michigan beat Alabama 27-20 in overtime. 96,000+ fans were in attendance for that game.

It has been said that the Rose Bowl wants a quarterfinal game annually on New Year’s Day now that the College Football playoff is at 12 teams:

The first game this season at the Rose Bowl is their Big Ten opener against Indiana on September 14th, 2024.

Duke football coach Manny Diaz encourages ACC deniers to ‘put the film on and watch it’

“How come when Clemson loses to Duke, it’s about what’s wrong with Clemson?” New Duke football coach Manny Diaz defends the ACC’s depth.

In the eyes of the college football world, ACC stock might be lower than it ever has. Florida State, last season’s undefeated conference champion, missed the four-team College Football Playoff in favor of a one-loss Alabama team, and fans around the country pointed to an unemphatic title-game matchup against Louisville as justification.

At the ACC Football Kickoff on Wednesday, new Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz explained why he thinks that’s a shame.

In Diaz’s eyes, dismissing Louisville feels silly when the Cardinals manhandled Notre Dame for a 33-20 win. He cited how the Fighting Irish came one play from beating Ohio State, who came one play from beating Michigan, the eventual national champions. The depth of the conference, from teams like Louisville to his new Blue Devils, routinely get dismissed.

“Louisville was a hell of a team,” Diaz said. “What do you get credit for, then? How come when Clemson loses to Duke, it’s about what’s wrong with Clemson?”

Diaz, who previously coached the Miami Hurricanes from 2019-21, spent the past two seasons as the Penn State defensive coordinator. With experience in both conferences, he said the middle of the pack in the Big Ten doesn’t compare to the ACC.

“There’s not a team in the Big Ten conference like NC State, but nobody talks about them,” Diaz said. “Watch Georgia Tech’s offense against Georgia in that game. Look what Virginia Tech did down the stretch. These are real things, this is not like opinions, all you’ve got to do is put the film on and watch it, and you can see what’s going on in this league.”

Diaz’s first game as the head coach in Durham kicks off at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham on August 30.

Raiders depth chart to start training camp: Who is getting first team reps for missing starters

Three starters missing from camp on Day three opens door for next men up.

It was Day three of Raiders camp in Costa Mesa. And through the first three days, we are getting a feel for the current depth chart.

As of Friday, there were three expected starters missing. Those players are left tackle Kolton Miller, left guard Jackson Powers-Johnson, and defensive tackle John Jenkins.

Stepping in for Miller at left tackle with the first has been veteran Andrus Peat. Next to him at guard has been veteran Cody Whitehair. And today, across the line at nose tackle it was second year man Byron Young getting reps alongside DT Christian Wilkins.

With this players plugged in, here is where the bulk of the first team reps have gone on both offense and defense over the first three days of camp.

Offense

QB Aidan O’Connell
RB Zamir White
WR Davante Adams
WR Jakobi Meyers
SWR Tre Tucker
TE Michael Mayer
TE2 Brock Bowers
LT Andrus Peat
LG Cody Whitehair
C Andre James
RG Dylan Parham
RT Thayer Munford

Defense

DT Christian Wilkins
DT Byron Young
ED Maxx Crosby
ED Malcolm Koonce
LB Robert Spillane
LB Divine Deablo
CB Jack Jones
CB Jakorian Bennett
SCB Nate Hobbs
SS Marcus Epps
FS Tre’von Moehrig

Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins agree to $212M contract extension

Tua Tagovailoa gets a huge extension from the Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins and Tua Tagovailoa have eliminated contract issues, for the time being. The quarterback and AFC South team came to terms on a four-year contract extension worth $212 million on Friday.

The contract comes with $167 million in guarantees. The $53.1 million average on Tagovailoa’s deal is the highest on a four-year extension in NFL history.

Tagovailoa has thrown for 12,639 yards and 81 touchdowns in four seasons since being chosen in the first round out of Alabama.

Emma Navarro and LeBron James recreated this hilarious meme with this selfie at the Olympics opening ceremony

This is a TOP TIER selfie from Emma Navarro

Team USA’s basketball and tennis teams seem to be having an absolute blast together.

Coco Gauff posted a selfie with both teams at the beginning of the opening ceremony. She somehow managed to get most of both teams in the selfie, which is just an elite selfie technique, if we’re being honest.

But the selfies weren’t done. U.S. tennis star Emma Navarro had to get one in with LeBron James. She posted a picture of her, Jessica Pegula and LeBron on Instagram.

That wasn’t all, though. She also included an infamous LeBron meme with it. The caption on the picture was “Smiling through it all! Can’t believe this is my life,” which you should absolutely recognize.

That’s the same quote LeBron used when he was having a blast inside his pool.

This is just a perfect callback for an awesome moment. Top-tier selfie.

Jake Haener dealing with a rare form of skin cancer

Jake Haener shared that he’s dealing with a rare form of skin cancer. He’s taken action to treat it, but says his work at Saints training camp is his focus:

New Orleans Saints quarterback Jake Haener was seen wearing a bandage on the right side of his face at Friday’s media availability after training camp practice, which he disclosed was due to treatment for a form of skin cancer.

Haener said it was rare skin cancer for his age group which developed as a “bump” on his cheek just before training camp began. He ultimately had it removed and biopsied. He will learn more from doctors on Aug. 1 and will form a treatment plan from then on out.

It is considered to be non-life threatening, which is a relief, and up to now has not prevented Haener from practicing in any capacity. However, it does need to be taken care of, and he is currently waiting to see how long he can go before it ultimately needs to be treated, as he will need to get another procedure done on his face.

Haener said that his family, the Saints training staff, and people in the building have been great about supporting him, and he is focused on what he needs to do “here” at training camp. He’s in good spirits despite the scary situation. As of right now, information regarding what type of cancer it is will remain confidential until Haener is ready to discuss it.

“I feel like I’m pretty young and healthy to be able to have something like that pop up,” Haener told local media on Friday. “But I want to take care of it, and I want to be responsible about it, and obviously not make it a distraction because I’m gonna be fine, everything’s gonna be taken care of. But like I said, I don’t wanna wait too long for something like this, and I wanna get it handled.”

The Saints experienced a similar situation last summer when tight end Foster Moreau signed with them after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which he was able to have treated early on. That quick action helped him recover rapidly and not miss a beat in his first season with his hometown team. Here’s hoping for good news for Haener, too.

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A headless, singing Marie Antoinette was part of an unhinged Paris Olympics opening ceremony

Yep, this was a thing at the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris.

Full disclosure: I’m not up enough on my French history, so you’ll pardon me here.

But, uh, Marie Antoinette was queen of France in the late 1700s and was beheaded. That much I know. And while I know the French Revolution overthrew the French monarchy, I would not expect there to be a tribute at the wild 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony with … a body holding a head in its hands and singing.

But there was! And people had a lot of reactions to the move to do that in something that would represent France.

Here’s a sampling of some of that reaction:

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Teen sentenced to youth state facility for shooting at Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally

A teen involved in the shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally has been sentenced

One of the people involved in the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration that saw a person killed and many injured or wounded was sentenced to a state facility for youths.

The decision was handed down on Thursday. The 15-year-old made a statement saying, “That is not who I am.”

He described himself as a good kid before he became associated with a group of peers involved in the Feb. 14 shooting, The Kansas City Star reported.

A Family Court Judge made this statement during the hearing, which is akin to a sentencing hearing in adult court:

“You made some bad choices, but that doesn’t make you a bad person, it doesn’t make you a bad kid,” Jackson County Family Court Administrative Judge Jennifer Phillips said.

The teen’s attorney attempted to get him released to house arrest with no social media use. The attorney for the juvenile office successfully argued that separating the teen from negative peer influences would be beneficial.

Kim Pegula makes first public appearance at Bills training camp (video)

A nice moment for the #Bills:

In a wonderful and positive surprise, Kim Pegula made her first public appearance since 2022 at Buffalo Bills training camp on Friday.

Accompanied by her husband and team owner, Terry Pegula, she helped the team break their usual huddle at the end of practice.

Kim, 55, had a cardiac arrest episode in 2022. She had only previously watched training camp practices from an SUV on the side of the field since then. Heading out to the huddle was the first true public appearance.

It was later revealed that the initial health scare has led to other problems for Pegula, including brain and memory loss issues.

Players and coaches were eager to welcome her to the group.

The team went on to share video of the moment to social media which can be found below:

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