 | Leveling The Playing Field |
| From The GIST Team |
Happy New Year! | ||
| Hope you had a relaxing and restorative holiday break. The first Monday back to work can be hard, but luckily we have sports to help get us through: The Unrivaled season tips off today at 1 p.m. ET, and we'll have a special edition preview hitting your inbox shortly.
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| Quote of The Day |
 | It's a very surreal moment because this was actually my home rink my sophomore and junior year of high school. We were even in the same locker room that I used when I was in high school, so it's really surreal. |
 | — Boston Fleet defender Riley Brengman, who got her nostalgia on during the PWHL's Takeover Tour stop in Detroit on Saturday. Unfortunately for the rookie, her squad fell 4–3 to the Vancouver Goldeneyes — a night that was still a win for women's hockey with stellar crowds taking in the action. |
| The Latest |
🏈 Reaching for something in the distance Source: AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel The GIST: The Week 18 NFL slate can sometimes be a buffet of meaningless football, with the playoff field often set and teams resting their top talent — but not this year. There was plenty to play for in the regular-season finale, from division titles to all-important playoff seeding. Let's dig in. 🤯 Pittsburgh Steelers secure AFC North crown, No. 4 seed in thrilling divisional showdown: Only one superstar quarterback (QB) could return to the postseason, but both Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers and Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson were electric in the fourth quarter of last night's 26–24 Steelers win, swapping scoring drives until the bitter end. Hug a kicker today.
💚 Seattle Seahawks lock in NFC's No. 1 seed: Defense wins division titles, earns home-field advantage, and sets franchise win records, apparently. Just ask the stifling Seahawks' D, who silenced a red-hot San Francisco 49ers offense — a unit that had put up at least 37 points in three straight games — in Saturday's 13–3 win. Now that's how you make the Legion of Boom proud. 🩵 Carolina Panthers win NFC South in unique fashion: Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield had a case of the Sunday Scaries — and for good reason. The NFC's final playoff spot came down to yesterday's divisional game between two long-eliminated teams: the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. And the 19–17 Falcons win sent the Panthers to their first postseason since 2017, eliminating Mayfield's Bucs. ☝️ One more thing: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett capped off one of the most impressive individual seasons in NFL history by breaking the league's sack record, a mark that had stood for more than two decades. Garrett said hello to Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow for his record-clinching 23rd sack of the season. Picture perfect.     |
🏅 Flame on Source: Olympics.com The GIST: With the calendar turning to 2026, that means it's officially an Olympic year — that's right, the Milano Cortina Games begin in just 32 (!!!) days. As the Olympic torch travels across Italy, here are the latest Olympic headlines, by the numbers. 🤷 0: There have been essentially zero updates on the status of the Games' main hockey arena, which is still under heavy construction with the first test event scheduled for Friday. Uh oh. 🇨🇦🏒 16: Sixteen years after his gold medal–winning Golden Goal in 2010, the legendary Sidney Crosby returns to lead Team Canada, alongside fellow NHL MVPs Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, who will compete in their first Games.
🇺🇸🏒 46: Speaking of, captain Auston Matthews and forwards Brady and Matthew Tkachuk (pronounced KUH-CHUCK) headline a Team USA roster hoping to claim its first gold medal since the 1980 "Miracle on Ice." Who do you play for? 🙌 1: After a phenomenal Rivalry Series showing and a decorated college career, two-way player Laila Edwards is the first-ever Black woman to make the Team USA women's hockey roster. Stay tuned — Team Canada will announce their women's roster later this week.
⛷️ 6: Swiss skier Camille Rast ended her rival Mikaela Shiffrin's six-race win streak in World Cup slaloms yesterday, setting up a sure-to-be fierce upcoming battle in the Italian Alps. 👏 41: Five years (and one titanium knee replacement) after retiring, 41-year-old skier Lindsey Vonn will compete in her fifth and final Olympics, qualifying for Team USA in the downhill race. Incredible. |
| Presented By Unrivaled  Source: Unrivaled 🔥 Welcome to The Heat Check, our new weekly newsletter segment where we'll preview one upcoming Unrivaled game that's sparking joy. And this edition is extra special — all four games of the season-opening slate are must-watch television, but this one has us sat: 🦉 Lunar Owls BC at 🌹 Rose BC — Tonight at 8 p.m. ET — TNT
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| Quick Hits |
🎓🏈 No. 1 Indiana soars, No. 10 Miami stuns in College Football Playoff (CFP) quarter-finals (QFs) | ||
| Outside of the top-seeded Hoosiers — who annihilated No. 9 Alabama 38–3 on New Year's Day — upsets abound in the CFP QFs: No. 5 Oregon blanked No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 6 Ole Miss won a thriller over No. 3 Georgia, and most surprisingly, Miami defeated defending champs No. 2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
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🇺🇸🏒 Team USA ousted from World Juniors after QF loss | ||
| The reigning champs' quest for a three-peat came to an unceremonious end with Saturday's heartbreaking 4–3 overtime loss to Finland. While the early exit is disappointing, it isn't necessarily a surprise: The Americans contended with untimely injuries, inconsistent play, and uninspired performances throughout the tourney. Red, white, and feeling blue. | ||
🏀 WNBA superstar Napheesa Collier sidelined for up to six months after surgery | ||
| We're pretty certain the five-time All-Star didn't have "double ankle surgery" on her 2026 vision board, but unfortunately that's exactly how Collier will start the new year: She's expected to miss all of Unrivaled's second campaign and possibly the start of the WNBA season, too. Say it ain't so.
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🎓🏀 Six unranked NCAA women's hoops teams knock off ranked opponents to start the year | ||
| We're just five days into January and five AP Top 25 programs are revisiting their New Year's resolutions after upset losses. No. 18 Notre Dame saw a double dose of defeats, losing to Georgia Tech and Duke over three days, while Washington beat No. 6 Michigan 64–52, Illinois edged No. 7 Maryland 73–70, Utah topped No. 8 TCU 87–77, and Stanford beat No. 16 North Carolina 77–71.
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| As Seen On Social |
| Fun & Games |
Question of the DayWelcome to 2026! A new year means new sporting events to look forward to. Which one are you most excited for? Choose from the options below, or reply with the event circled on your cal. |
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Today's email was brought to you by Alessandra Puccio, Lisa Minutillo, Lauren Tuiskula, Rachel Fuenzalida, Grace DePaull, and Briana Ekanem. Editing by Katie Kehoe Foster. Fact-checking by Elisha Gunaratnam and Mikaela Perez. Ops by Briana Ekanem and Elisha Gunaratnam. Ads by Katie Kehoe Foster, Alessandra Puccio, and Lisa Minutillo. Managing edits by Lauren Tuiskula and Alessandra Puccio. Head of content Ellen Hyslop.
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