Caitlin Clark was named AP's Female Athlete of the Year without much competition, but one person who received votes was the cause for much controversy over the summer.
A group of 74 sports journalists from The Associated Press and its members voted on the award. Clark received 35 votes, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles was second with 25.
But Olympic gold medalist boxer Imane Khelif was third, getting four votes.
Khelif qualified for the Paris Olympics, but Khelif's gender was called into question following a disqualification from the 2023 championships before a gold medal bout over gender eligibility issues.
One boxer, Angela Carini, forfeited her bout against Khelif in Paris, saying "one punch hurt too much."
Khelif won gold in Paris and wasn't the only boxer to win a women's gold who has been disqualified for failing gender eligibility tests. Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting also won gold in another women's weight class in Paris, prompting similar outrage.
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) defended Khelif and Yu-ting's inclusion in the women's events until the very end.
"These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process," the IOC said during the games.
Khelif later won gold. Khelif did not lose a single round on any scoreboards in Paris.
After Carini won her eighth women's Italian title earlier this month, she claimed the victory was her "revenge."
Khelif was the most Googled athlete of the year, largely in part due to the controversy.
Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are doing something some players who are NFL Draft bound won’t do: Play in their school’s bowl game.
Because they are playing against BYU in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28, Sanders and Hunter both have historic disability insurance policies in the event either of them gets seriously injured during the game.
"We have a multitude of players that are draftable, that they received a draft grade. They’ve disability (insurance) all season long. We want to make sure that if something were to happen, they would cover it," head coach Deion Sanders said in a press conference Monday.
"We happen to have two players that are probably going to be the first two picks of the NFL Draft. I think we all know who those two are, and they have received, I think, the highest number of coverage that has ever been covered in college football. It far exceeds anyone that has ever played this game of college football. So, we’re happy and excited," Sanders continued.
Colorado’s athletic director Rick George confirmed Sanders’ statement that the policies are the highest ever in college football history.
George said multiple times that it was Sanders’ idea for the additional insurance claims to be taken out for Shedeur Sanders and Hunter.
Both Shedeur Sanders and Hunter are projected to go in the top five of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Hunter, the prolific two-way star, beat out Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty to win the Heisman Trophy after one of the most incredible years in college football history.
As a wide receiver, Hunter had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 total touchdowns. Hunter won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver.
Hunter also won the Bednarik Award as the nation’s best defensive player, becoming the first player ever to win both the Bednarik and Biletnikoff.
As a cornerback, Hunter had 31 tackles, 11 pass deflections and four interceptions, anchoring Colorado’s defense.
As for Sanders, the Colorado quarterback has completed 69.3% of his passes while throwing for 3,926 yards with 35 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The star quarterback helped lead Colorado to a 9-3 record this season, a big improvement after finishing 4-8 last season.
Sanders won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is given to the nation’s top quarterback who best exemplifies character, scholastic and athletic achievement.
Sanders also was named the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
Sanders and Miami quarterback Cam Ward are expected to be the first two quarterbacks taken off the board in April.
As of the end of Week 16 in the NFL, the New York Giants currently hold the No. 1 pick in next April’s draft and are in prime position to draft one of Colorado’s stars.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to the funky NFL schedule.
At one time, the NFL avoided Christmas games — and now, they can't get enough of them, scheduling two this year despite the day falling on a Wednesday.
That is prompting some oddities in the NFL schedule, with the Steelers one of four teams who played last Saturday and are now playing on Wednesday. What ever happened to "any given Sunday?"
Anyway, the rest is equivalent to that of teams who play on Thursday following a Sunday game, but with the Saturday contest, it all comes out to three games in 11 days for the Steelers, and former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger isn't happy about it.
"It's miserable. It's a shame that the league does this. It just shows that it's all about money and this is a way that they can, you know, make more money and figure this thing out, because it's not fair for the players," Roethlisberger said recently. "You wanna talk about injuries and making the game safer, changing the kickoff rule and preventing guys on hip-drop tackles, and concussions, and this that and the other, and you're going to make guys play the most violent game in the world, arguably, three games in 11 days. I mean, there's no time for your body to get healthy and rest."
The comments echo Patrick Mahomes' sentiment on the grueling schedule.
"It’s not a good feeling," Mahomes told reporters a couple weeks ago. "You never want to play this amount of games in this short of time. It’s not great for your body. But, at the end of the day, it’s your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it."
It will be the Chiefs and Steelers in a 1:00 p.m. showdown on Christmas.
Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy have discussions about the future, just not necessarily the coach's future with the organization.
Sports fans can breathe easy on Christmas Eve as there will only be one game played on Tuesday before a full buffet of games on Christmas Day.
College football aficionados will be happy to know there is one bowl game on the slate. The Hawaii Bowl between South Florida and San Jose State. The game will start at 8 p.m. ET.
The Bulls finished 6-6 on the season and earned a second straight bowl game under head coach Alex Golesh. They had the same record last season before entering and winning the Boca Raton Bowl over Syracuse, 45-0.
The Spartans finished the season 7-5 overall in Ken Niumatalolo’s first season at the helm. The team is on a three-bowl-game losing streak. They lost the Hawaii Bowl last season and the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in 2022. The Spartans also lost the Arizona Bowl in 2020.
San Jose State hasn’t won a bowl game since the 2015 Cure Bowl under Ron Caragher.
Sports fans looking for some action should take it all in and be able to get some sleep before opening presents and starting Christmas Day at noon ET with NBA games.
The NFL also has games on Christmas Day for the second straight year – a two-game menu featuring the Kansas City Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1 p.m. ET and the Houston Texans hosting the Baltimore Ravens at 4:30 p.m. ET.
College football will return on Dec. 26 and the NHL will be back on Dec. 27.
General manager Brian Cashman isn’t about to declare a postseason in which the Yankees lost an all-time great an unmitigated success. He’s too smart for that. So we’ll do it for him.
Sophie Hediger, a Swiss snowboarder who represented the country in the 2022 Winter Olympics, died following an avalanche at a ski resort, officials said Tuesday. She was 26.
The incident occurred Monday at the Arosa resort in Switzerland, the country’s ski federation said in a statement.
"We are stunned and in our thoughts with Sophie's family, to whom we express our deepest condolences," Swiss-Ski CEO Walter Reusser said in a statement.
"With the tragic death of Sophie Hediger, a dark shadow has been placed over the Christmas days for the Swiss ski family. We are immeasurably sad. We will keep Sophie an honorable memory," he added.
Hediger was a participant in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. She competed in snowboard cross and in the mixed team snowboard cross. She failed to qualify for the quarterfinals in the singles event and her team lost in the mixed event in the semifinals.
Hediger bounced back in 2023 when she won a gold medal in the FISU World University Games in Lake Placid, New York. She was one of three Swiss participants who won gold medals.
She then achieved two World Cup podium finishes, including a second-place finish in St. Mortiz in January.
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