MUNICH, GERMANY – JANUARY 23: Board member sports Max Eberl of FC Bayern Munich during a the press conference on the day before the bundesliga match against FC Augsburg at Säbener Strasse on January 23, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images) | FC Bayern via Getty Images
Sustained success, revenue generation, and a fanbase that spans the farthest reaches of the globe — these markers separate an average team from Bayern Munich.Therefore, Die Rekordmeister attracts footballing talent to Munich the way a bright light draws a swarm of insects. Committing that talent to pen and paper is, however, a different story.
But how complex can bringing a player to an elite side like Bayern be? Surprisingly, very. Max Eberl knows the nuances of signing players better than anyone else — it is his job, after all. He doesn’t point out a player he likes, get out his wallet and pay. No, this isn’t as simple as breaking out the piggy bank, walking into a toy store, and picking out the one you like. Eberl needs permission from mom and dad.
“First, I talk to Vinnie and Christoph about the player, and then in discussions with Jan (Dreesen), the financial aspect comes into play,” the Bayern board member for sport explained (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Furthermore, I talk to the supervisory board, including Herbert Hainer, Uli, and Kalle, who inevitably get involved when the sums of money get bigger. Discussions with them are simply “FC Bayern.” They want what’s best for the club. Just like me.”
To ink one player, Eberl must coordinate six times the amount of people — seven including himself. Now consider the fact that all seven party members need be on the same page, and that’s not even taking the financial aspect into account. It’s no wonder transfers take so long to complete.
Transfers are complex. They are mechanisms powered by hundreds of gears that differ in shape and size, but all fit together. One bad fit, missing, or damaged cog, and the whole mechanism collapses. Think about that the next time you feel impatient when Bayern are in the process of signing a player.
Pitching was supposed to be the strength of Arizona’s 2026 team, but then life happened.
It started with the departures of two coaches who were instrumental in assembling and developing the staff, including one only a few weeks before the season began. Then a series of arm injuries popped up, most notably to closer Tony Pluta.
This had a major effect on the Wildcats’ bullpen, where roles had to be redefined and new pitching coach Sean Kenny had to learn on the fly who could be trusted in what situation. Not surprisingly, the results during the first half of the season reflected all this uncertainty.
But as it heads into a 6-game Big 12 homestand, Arizona’s pitching has started to perform as expected despite all the change. The staff ERA over the last five games—which includes four wins, three on the road—is 3.27, and no opponent has managed more than five runs or eight hits in that span.
That includes Monday’s 11-inning win at ASU, which saw six UA pitchers hold one of the most potent lineups in the country to three runs and seven hits.
It doesn’t get any easier for Arizona (14-22, 5-10), though. Kansas State (23-14, 7-8) leads the Big 12 in hitting in conference games in batting (.344), on-base percentage (.440) and slugging (.586).
“This weekend is a huge weekend against another good team in our conference, and we have to play good baseball,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “We know with our starting pitching, they’re going to give us a chance to have a chance to win and late in the game, like we’ve been doing.”
Arizona’s starting rotation of Owen Kramkowski, Smith Bailey and Luc Fladda have averaged just over 5.5 innings in Big 12 play, with Kramkowski going six or more in his last three starts. That has enabled Hale and Kenny to line up the bullpen arms in a particular order, with seven getting into at least four conference games.
Garrett Hicks has established himself as the closer, with three saves and a 2.61 ERA in Big 12 play. He’s also thrown 11.1 consecutive scoreless innings, including three at the end of Monday’s win at ASU.
“Garrett Hicks was not 100 percent to start the year,” Hale said. “He’d gotten hurt in the fall and we had slow played it, bringing him back. Sean was very careful how he used him early on in the year. What Sean has figured out, as has the rest of us, is (Hicks) is probably better with a lot of work.”
Most of Arizona’s top relief arms are upperclassmen, the exception being freshman right-hander Benton Hickman. He holds a 3.45 ERA in 12 appearances totaling 15.2 innings, and his opposing batting average of .175 is lowest among regulars.
“He really hasn’t struggled with guys hitting him,” Hale said. “His stuff is very hard to hit, but what you don’t factor into it is, can you throw enough strikes. We maybe overshot what he could do to start with. There were people that said he could be our closer when Tony went down.”
Hickman’s first career appearance, against Oregon State in Surprise, saw him hit the first two batters he faced, picking up the loss. He hit six batters in his first three outings.
“I definitely got the experience my first outing at U of A,” Hickman said. “It was a good first outing. It got (me) a lot of experience.”
Hickman, from Litchfield Park, Ariz., has worked with a pair of ex-MLB pitchers in Todd Stottlemyre and Stephen Randolph to help him transition to a college reliever.
“I kind of leaned on them, especially early, when I was going through struggle,” he said. “I called them and talked to them, and they got me refocused on my mental game. I think my biggest part of my game for relievers are the mental side. I mean, coming in with bases loaded or coming in with guys on is never the easiest situation. But I think when I talked to them, I definitely got a better grasp of reminding myself who I was and how that’s my role as a pitcher. That’s my strong suit.”
That’s showed in recent outings, like at ASU when he was brought into a 2-run game with the tying runs in scoring position and one out. He got a strikeout then, after an intentional walk to load the bases, induced an inning-ending groundout to preserve a 3-1 lead at the time.
“He’s gonna be better than I am,” Pluta said of Hickman. “He’s really impressive. His stuff is elite. It’s way better than my stuff is. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, if he can find a way to recover after the bad outings and just stay in a good mental space, I mean, he’s gonna be absolutely dominant. I’m understating it more than anything, I think he’s gonna be a really good player.”
After hosting Kansas State, Arizona welcomes BYU to Hi Corbett Field. The Wildcats are currently in 13th place in the Big 12, with only the top 12 making the conference tournament, but are only a game out of 10th.
The
MMA Lab rep will attempt to correct course when he confronts
former TKO
Major League MMA champion Charles
Jourdain in the
UFC Fight Night 273 co-main event this Saturday at the Canada
Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Phillips, 30, enters the arena
gladiatorum on the heels of back-to-back losses for the first time
in his career. “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 27 graduate last
fought at UFC 318, where he wound up on the wrong side of a
unanimous decision against Vinicius
Oliveira on July 19. Phillips holds a 6-3 record in the UFC,
his run with the promotion highlighted by wins over Pedro
Munhoz, Raoni
Barcelos and Yadong
Song. Jourdain, meanwhile, steps into the spotlight on the
strength of consecutive victories. The 30-year-old Academie Pro
Star MMA export last saw action on Oct. 18, when he put away Davey
Grant with a guillotine choke a little more than three minutes
into their UFC Fight Night 262 pairing. Jourdain has compiled an
8-7-1 mark across his 16 appearances inside the Octagon, his resume
anchored by wins over Victor
Henry, Ricardo
Ramos, Kron Gracie
and Doo
Ho Choi.
The Phillips-Jourdain showdown sticks out as one of the prime
candidates for “Fight of the Night” honors at UFC Fight Night 273.
Four more to consider:
Burns appears to be walking a tightrope at 170 pounds. The
Kill Cliff Fight Club mainstay sets out in search of his first
victory in more than three years when he takes on Malott in the
welterweight headliner. Burns, who turns 40 in July, staggers into
the five-round clash on a career-worst four-fight losing streak. He
last suited up on May 17, when he yielded to punches from the
unbeaten Michael
Morales in the first round of their UFC Fight Night 256
encounter. On the other side of the equation, Malott has started to
build real momentum in the welterweight division. The 34-year-old
Canadian has rattled off three straight wins against Trevin
Giles, Charles
Radtke and Kevin
Holland. Malott arrived in the UFC via
Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022.
Nallo, if nothing else, has established himself as a scary
proposition for virtually anyone who calls the lightweight midcard
home. The
Tristar Gym product makes his long-awaited promotional debut
opposite Herbert in a three-round showcase at 155 pounds. Nallo,
36, enters the cage riding a wave of five straight wins, all of
them finishes inside one round. The Firas Zahabi protege last
competed on Week 4 of DWCS in September, when he punched out Samuel
Silva just 3:29 into their confrontation. Nallo has held titles
in the Samourai MMA and Elite 1 MMA organizations. Hebert,
meanwhile, has endured an up-and-down tenure in the UFC thus far.
The former Cage
Warriors champion has not strapped on the gloves since he
dropped a split decision to Chris
Padilla at UFC Fight Night 255 on March 22. Herbert has secured
nine of his 13 career victories by knockout or technical
knockout.
Barbosa looks well prepared to introduce himself to a wider
audience. The 5-foot-6, 145-pound Brazilian draws his first
assignment in the UFC when he toes the line against Buzukja in a
three-round featherweight feature. Still just 27 years old, Barbosa
has strung together four straight wins and nailed down his spot on
the roster with a TKO of Damon
Wilson on the Contender Series in August. It was his 16th
first-round finish to date. Barbosa operates out of the Giants Team
camp in Niteroi, Brazil. On the other side of the ledger, Buzukja
has not yet established a foothold at the sport’s highest level.
The
Syndicate MMA featherweight last appeared at UFC on ESPN 62,
where he lost a split decision to Francis
Marshall on Aug. 24. Buzukja, 28, was a champion in Ring of
Combat and Maverick MMA before he set up shop in the UFC.
Nascimento has begun to cultivate a reputation as an action hero at
125 pounds. The 34-year-old Brazilian sizes up his latest hurdle
when he meets Raposo in a three-round flyweight prelim. Nascimento
steps onto the battlefield with the wind of a four-fight winning
streak at his back. He continued his ascent within the division at
UFC Fight Night 263, where he rallied to dispatch Cody Durden
with an anaconda choke in the second round of their Nov. 1 affair.
Nascimento trains out of the same Diego Lima-fronted
Chute Boxe affiliate that produced Charles
Oliveira. Raposo, meanwhile, remains something of a mystery
man. He rebounded from back-to-back defeats to Andre Lima
and Su
Mudaerji with a three-round unanimous decision over Azat Maksum
at UFC 321 on Oct. 25. Raposo, 27, sharpens his skills as part of
the
New England Cartel in his native Massachusetts.
The New England Patriots have identified the former franchise great who will present one of their draft picks on Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, former Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch will announce one of the Patriots’ selections between rounds 2-3 of the NFL draft as part of the NFL’s Legends initiative.
Branch was selected by the Patriots with the No. 65 overall pick in the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft. The Louisville product played for the Patriots from 2002-05, and then from 2010-12.
Branch won two Super Bowls with New England and was named the Super Bowl XXXIX MVP.
The Patriots are in the market for a wide receiver, off-ball linebacker and an offensive lineman on the right side of the ball in the draft. New England owns the No. 63 overall pick in the second round, as well as the No. 95 overall pick in the third round this year.
In pursuit of a better-rounded roster, the Texas Longhorns hosted Long Beach City College edge Paul Kouame on Thursday, extending an offer during the official visit.
The 6’3, 240-pounder was a full qualifier out of high school with three seasons of eligibility remaining.
The Inglewood product recorded 34 tackles, three tackles for loss, two sacks, and one forced fumble in 10 games as a freshman, better production than he achived as a senior in high school, earning offers from Eastern Washington after an official visit, Idaho, and New Mexico.
A consensus three-star prospect, Kouame is the No. 262 JUCO player nationally and the No. 26 edge, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.
The 6-foot-9 forward played in only eight games and taking a redshirt season with former coach Will Wade, averaging 6.1 points and 2.1 rebounds, while playing 12.8 minutes per game.
Deng joins a roster that is expected to include transfers Brandin “Beebah” Cummings (junior guard, Pitt transfer), Rihards Vavers (senior wing, Washington State transfer), returners Julius Thedford (junior guard) and William Whorton (junior forward), as well as incoming freshmen Fred Smith Jr., Cello Jackson Jr., and Parker Pounds.
Cummings and Vavers joined Memphis on April 15.
A native of Norcross, Georgia, and a career 37.2% 3-point shooter on 263 attempts, Deng will play for his fourth school in four seasons, but he will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. He began his collegiate career at Hampton, then spent a season at Florida State.
In 2024-25 with the Seminoles, Deng appeared in 31 games, making two starts, and averaged 7.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. He also shot 37% from the 3-point range, finishing second on the team with 44 from beyond the arc. He scored his season-high 16 points against North Carolina.
As a freshman at Hampton, Deng scored 10.1 points and grabbed 4.2 rebounds a game, while shooting 39.1% beyond the arc.
Last season, after Deng missed more than a month of playing time, Wade announced the decision was made to shut him down for the rest of the season and pursue a redshirt. Wade cited “some off the court things” and “some medical things” as reasons for the move.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The NBA is sending Denver and Indiana to Mexico City for a regular-season game on November 7, the league said Thursday.
The game will be the 35th in Mexico, all since 1992, and the 16th regular-season contest there. Other than the U.S. and Canada, no nation has played host to more NBA games than Mexico.
“Hosting the 35th game in the country reflects the depth of the NBA’s relationship with Mexico and the role this event plays in bringing the global game closer to fans locally, throughout Latin America, and around the world,” said Raul Zarraga, senior vice president of NBA Latin America.
Denver has played in Mexico once before, that being a preseason game against Golden State in Monterrey in 2006. The Pacers are heading to Mexico for the first time, set to become the 23rd NBA franchise to play a game in that country.
The game will be played during the week of the Day of the Death celebrations in Mexico.
The NBA will also play regular season games in Paris and Manchester, England, next season.
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 07: Nolan Gorman #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals bats against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 07, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There is a lot to like about the 2026 season so far for the St. Louis Cardinals. Through the first 18 games, the team has a winning record and several players are off to a great start. One of the exceptions is Nolan Gorman and the early numbers reveal there is real reason for concern as 2026 is starting to look a lot like 2025.
Full disclosure: I am not a numbers expert like some of my colleagues here. I’m interested in the metrics, but don’t pretend that I can interpret them like the many in our community that also probably did a lot better in algebra than I did in school, too. However, I decided to dig in to see exactly how much progress (or not) that Nolan Gorman has made with his new approach. I did not like what I learned.
I decided to compare how Nolan started the 2025 season compared to what he’s done in 2026 through the same amount of games. So far during the 2026 season, Nolan Gorman has 11 hits in 53 at-bats with 2 home runs and 9 RBI’s and a .208 average and .611 OPS. Through the first 18 games of 2025, he had an almost exact same stat line. Gorman had 10 hits in 53 at-bats with 2 home runs and a .189 average. Nolan’s walk rate and walk-to-strikeout rate was also slightly better at the start of the 2025 season compared to what we’ve seen in 2026. His hard hit rate and barrel percentage are also slightly down from 2025.
“When you talk about what we’re doing with him and what he’s doing in order to prevent that from changing…more contact, not doing that at the expense of bat speed. You have to start somewhere and that’s why I wanted to lay that out last year….the bat speed is going to drop a little bit while we try to figure out how to get him through the zone and impacting the baseball at a higher rate.”
Nolan Gorman showed signs of improvement during Spring Training, but the first 18 games of the season have not seen that trend continue. If anything, he’s regressed somewhat although 18 games is a very small sample size. I suppose I would be delusional to hope that we’d see the Nolan Gorman that we saw at the start of the 2023 season when he began on a tear. Through the first 18 games of 2023, Nolan had a .319 batting average, already had 6 home runs and 18 RBI’s with an OPS north of 1.000. The 2023 version of Nolan Gorman was a confident one while the 2026 Nolan we’ve seen so far looks…well, “uncomfortable” would be the word that comes to mind.
I have to wonder if the key to Nolan Gorman rediscovering himself might be what’s happened with Jordan Walker. When asked about how he’s been able to turnaround his approach and results, Jordan has said that he doesn’t want to think about it too much. On one of the pregame broadcasts earlier this week, I recall Jim Hayes talking to hitting coach Brant Brown. When asked about Jordan Walker, Brant said that he’s not discussing too much about mechanics unless he sees a red flag. The only change he says he’s made is talking to Walker about how he will now be pitched with the opposition knowing he’s a threat. Other than that, he doesn’t want Walker to overthink his new success. The at-bats I’ve seen Nolan Gorman take this season, he looks like a player that’s trying to apply someone else’s approach.
I think that Nolan Gorman is a player that really needs to have some success and he needs to have it soon. Jordan Walker now has his confidence back and he goes to the plate expecting to do damage. We know that Nolan Gorman is capable of being that type of impact player, too. I daydream about a St. Louis Cardinals lineup where both Gorman and Walker are offensive threats. Walker is on his way to living up to his massive potential. Will Gorman be able to jumpstart his flatline start to 2026? We can only hope.
On Thursday, Cleveland Guardians rookie pitcher Parker Messick was this close to putting his name into the history books.
In just his 11th major-league start, Messick put up a stellar performance, throwing eight hitless innings in the Guardians’ 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
The 25-year-old starting pitcher entered the ninth inning with nine strikeouts and two walks across 106 pitches, having already put away 23 batters with the help of the Cleveland defense.
But in the top of the ninth, Messick’s no-hit bid was broken up a Leody Taveras single that snuck just past Guardians second baseman Juan Brito.
Right afterwards, Blaze Alexander hit another single, and Messick’s night was over. The rookie was replaced by reliever Cade Smith.
Both Taveras and Alexander went on to score, bringing the game to 4-2 and giving Messick two earned runs in his final stat line.
Messick ended the night with 112 pitches — approaching the rookie’s career high of 121 from his time at Florida State, where he played before being drafted by the Guardians in 2022.
If Messick had been able to finish the job, it would have been the 327th no-hitter in MLB history. It also would have been Cleveland’s first no-hitter since 1981.
The league went through the entire 2025 season without a no-hitter, breaking a 20-year streak. The last no-no was all the way back on Sept. 4, 2024 — 589 days ago — with Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga leading a combined no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It looks like MLB will have to wait a bit longer before that drought is finally broken.
