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Analysis: Sean Payton’s curious calls, sideline spat with Russell Wilson have Broncos on the brink

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

DENVER (AP) — It was Russell Wilson who got a tongue-lashing from Sean Payton, but if the Denver Broncos blow their chance to end an eight-year playoff drought, it’s the veteran head coach who will be getting an earful from fans over the same kinds of game management miscues that plagued his predecessor.The Broncos (7-7) have engineered a remarkable recovery from their 1-5 start that featured losses at home to underdogs quarterbacked by Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Howell and Zach Wilson while Payton was still settling into his new gig.Garoppolo was soon benched and Josh McDaniels fired. Howell has lost 10 of his last 12 starts and Wilson has won just three other games.Throw in Nathaniel Hackett’s happy homecoming, the famous Miami meltdown in which Denver lost by 50 points and all the Broncos were left with was a comeback after trailing 28-7 at Soldier Field to win in Payton’s hometown.Payton famously castigated Hackett for overseeing one of the worst coaching jobs in NFL...

Long losing streaks uncomfortable for NBA players. It can be part of their pro indoctrination

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

Victor Wembanyama has adjusted to many things — food, culture, double teams — since the top pick’s arrival with the San Antonio Spurs.There’s just no getting accustomed to all the losing.Pick an NBA player’s name, any name, and they’re not hard-wired for skids. Players like Wembanyama have typically always been on winning teams before coming to the league, not ones that stack up defeats at historic rates. For Wembanyama, along with youngsters like Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson in Detroit and Bilal Coulibaly of Washington, losing has become part of their NBA education.Misery does love company, and the Pistons, who lost their 24th straight game Monday night, have some in the Spurs and Wizards. Despite the presence of Wembanyama, the Spurs have dropped 19 of 20, while the Wizards are in the midst of losing 17 of 19.“Sometimes, you’ll be in a game and maybe think about the losing streak and causes you to do a little extra or just do something you wouldn’t no...

Backup QBs are on display all around the NFL as injury-depleted teams push toward the postseason

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Joe Flacco was at home a month ago, all but ready to accept his 15-year NFL career might be over.Then came a phone call from his agent with an invitation to a workout with the Cleveland Browns. A commercial flight and practice-squad deal later, the former Super Bowl MVP has become an overnight hero for a team ravaged by injuries but still trying to maintain playoff hopes.It can happen almost overnight: a backup quarterback goes from holding a clipboard — or in Flacco’s case, watching at home — to being thrust into action, sometimes at the most important point of the NFL season. They’re on display all around the NFL right now after a flurry of starters have gone down for the year with injuries and teams have needed help to stay in contention.“It’s one of the more important positions on your team,” said Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who called on backups in several games last year, including in the postseason, when starter Tua Tagovailoa mis...

CJ Carr, grandson of ex-Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and All-America Tom Curtis, to sign at Notre Dame

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

SALINE, Mich. (AP) — CJ Carr was standing in his kitchen, searching for an after-school snack, when his grandfather sent a verbal jab over the kitchen island.“You wearing that sweatshirt?” former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr asked his grandson with a smirk.“Yeah,” he said to his grandfather, grinning and wearing a green sweatshirt with Notre Dame in white.CJ Carr will be among hundreds of prospects to sign a national letter of intent with college football programs on Wednesday, sealing his commitment to join the Fighting Irish.No one on Signing Day has a story quite the same.The former Saline High School star quarterback has two College Football Hall of Fame grandfathers, Lloyd Carr and Tom Curtis, with ties to the Wolverines and a late brother, whose battle with brain cancer inspired a foundation that has funded $27 million in research.CJ Carr caused a stir last year when he chose to attend Notre Dame, rather than play five miles from his house at Michigan, where his father, Jason, wa...

From relegation battlers to high flyers: Brest fighting for European spots in French league

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

BREST, France (AP) — Since coming back from two goals down to stun last season’s runner-up Lens on the opening day of the season, Brest has continued to take the French league by surprise.The result? With one match left to play before the year-end break, the small club from the Brittany region dreams about Europe.After 16 rounds of matches, Brest boasts its best record ever at this stage of the French league season, with eight wins, four draws and only four defeats for a total of 28 points. That’s just nine points fewer than leader Paris Saint-Germain and its armada of stars. And four points fewer than second-place Nice ahead of Brest’s game against local rival Lorient on Wednesday.For its final league game of the year, PSG hosts Metz. Nice plays Lens and third-place Monaco travels to Toulouse.Not many experts could have imagined such an ascending trajectory for Brest when the struggling side appointed Eric Roy as its coach in January, with hopes that the 55-year-old wou...

Denver weather: Nearing record highs on Tuesday

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Even with a mix of sun, clouds and a light breeze, highs along the Front Range will climb into the middle to upper 60s on Tuesday in the Denver weather forecast.Weather today: Warm with sun, cloudsThe Front Range and Eastern Plains will see a mix of sun and clouds on Tuesday with extra clouds over the higher elevations. 5 gray wolves released into Colorado Highs will be near Denver's record 67 degrees with highs in the middle to upper 60s. Winds can be brisk during the afternoon.Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on Dec. 19 Weather tonight: Partly cloudyExtra clouds linger Tuesday night, giving Denver partly cloudy skies. But, the mountains will see cloudy skies. Overnight lows are also mild, only dipping to the freezing mark.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on Dec. 19 Looking ahead: Mild until Christmas Eve snowThe mild weather will continue through the end of the workweek. Wednesday will feel comfortable with highs in the upper 50s with partly cloudy skies. ...

This very ’80s evening gown worn by Princess Diana just set an auction record

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

(CNN) — A dress first worn by Princess Diana in 1985 has sold for a record $1.148 million at auction, 11 times its estimate.The blue and black dress, designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury, is now the most expensive dress worn by the princess to be sold at auction, smashing the previous record of $604,800, Los Angeles auction house Julien’s Auctions said in a statement.Diana wore the dress, which features a black velvet bodice embroidered with stars, in the Italian city of Florence in April 1985, and in Vancouver, Canada in May 1986.The dress was sold along with a matching illustration as part of Julien’s “Hollywood Legends” auction, which ended Sunday.The sale also featured a blush-pink chiffon blouse worn by Diana in her engagement portrait in 1981. It sold for $381,000, almost four times its estimate.Earlier this year, a quirky wool sweater adorned with sheep set a record both for the most expensive sweater ever sold at au...

England’s schools told to inform parents if kids want to change gender identity

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

LONDON — Schools in England will be expected to inform parents if their kids want to change their gender identity, under new guidance issued by the British government Tuesday.Under the draft plan, which comes amid heated debate about gender in the governing Conservative Party and calls from schools for more support, teachers will not be forced to automatically tell parents if their kids raise “general” questions about their gender identity at school.But they will be expected to inform parents if kids want to take more concrete steps towards transitioning. There will be some exemptions in place where there are concerns about a child’s safety at home.The guidance notably stops short of a total ban on social transitioning — which can include changes to someone’s name, pronouns and appearance — in schools, as some in the Tory Party had been calling for.Instead, the government says schools must take a “cautious approach” to such requests and are not under a “general duty” to comply...

Volcano erupts on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula weeks after town evacuated

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

(CNN) — A volcano has dramatically erupted in Iceland, expelling spectacular bursts of lava onto the landscape and emitting huge plumes smoke into the sky after weeks of seismic activity prompted the evacuation of a nearby town.The eruption on the Reykjanes peninsula began at around 10 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET), following an earthquake around an hour earlier, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said in a statement.The office reported that the eruption was located close to Hagafell, about 3 kilometers (about 2 miles) north of the town of Grindavík.Iceland’s Coast Guard posted a video on Facebook showing one of its helicopters at the scene on Monday night, hovering over a long line of glowing lava spurting from the fissure in the ground. The air is shrouded by smoke and lit in glowing hues of orange and red.The fissure had formed underground last month, stretching 15 kilometers long, with magma entering into a crack beneath the surface, according to Rikke Pedersen, a scientist ...

Dana Farber Cancer Institute masking up once again

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:59:27 GMT

Patients and staff at Dana Farber Cancer Institute will be wearing masks again for the foreseeable future.The hospital said they will require everyone to wear face coverings due to the current high rates of respirator illnesses.Officials said they will lift the mask requirement when the number of infections is lower.According to the latest data from the state’s Department of Public Health, more than 15 percent of emergency room visits in Massachusetts over the past week were due to respiratory illnesses including COVID-19, the flu, and RSV.These illnesses also accounted for more than 17 percent of all hospital admissions.