University of Virginia photo

Sharing this light-hearted piece I wrote for https://www.si.com/college/virginia:

It’s not quite a bandwagon — at least not yet — but Virginia football is suddenly a hot topic among national media analysts. And if the Cavaliers’ profile were a stock, a lot of talking heads would be buying.

“They probably were the most disrespected team this offseason,” former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell said on Sunday’s On3 Podcast, a day after the Cavaliers routed NC State 34-8 in their season opener.

“Just forgotten about, written off. Only got one vote to be in the Top 25. That is incredibly disrespectful. And I think Virginia absolutely just announced themselves on the scene as a very real player in the ACC race this year.”

Overreaction is a staple of early-season analysis, and it tends to swing both ways.

It didn’t hurt the Cavaliers’ cause that they didn’t face a lot of competition on Saturday — either on the field or in the media. They played on national TV, in the prime 3:30 p.m. time slot, in the only intraconference game between two Power Four schools.

So a lot of eyes were on them as they dominated a team that had beaten them a year ago, stifling a quarterback (CJ Bailey) who had previously given them fits.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that — with the possible exception of North Carolina reviving Bill Belichick’s job security by beating TCU in an ugly affair in Dublin — Virginia was a focal point of the week zero conversation.

Despite winning a school-record games and the ACC regular-season title in 2025, the Cavaliers were a preseason afterthought. They were picked to finish sixth in the ACC and were unranked in both major preseason national polls, getting one 25th-place vote in the 69-person Associated Press panel.

Saturday’s result seems to have changed the narrative — and forced a few talking heads to do some public penance.

“Absolutely pulverized them,” said Pat Forde, sporting a Virginia cap on Sports Illustrated’s weekly ‘Also Receiving Votes’ podcast. “Pretty big makeover from last year for the Cavaliers after they won 11 games, and a lot of people said, ‘Well, they’ll never do that again.’”

“And then they just come out and poleax North Carolina State. Physical offensive line, Beau Pribula looking great as a dual-threat quarterback... Did we severely underestimate Virginia’s ability to come back with another big season?”

Time will tell, but the Cavaliers seem to have converted a lot more believers, especially after Pribula ran for 110 yards and threw two touchdown passes in his Virginia debut while a deep defense held Bailey to a career-low 84 yards passing and forced two turnovers.

“Hope you bought your Beau Pribula stock, or maybe you’ve been holding onto it since his days at Penn State,” wrote CBS Sports’ Cody Nagel. “The Virginia transfer put together a sensational debut in Charlottesville.”

Pribula is one of 31 grad students on the nation’s most experienced roster, which entered Saturday’s game with an FBS-high 48,313 snaps returning from last season. A few analysts have begun noticing that Tony Elliott’s recipe looks a lot like the one Curt Cignetti used to lead Indiana to an unbeaten run to the 2025 national title.

“If you want to find someone that fits the Indiana template, not necessarily 100%, but in a lot of ways, it’s Virginia. Historical loser. Has never really been good at football,” Forde said, obviously forgetting that George Welsh led the Cavaliers to a No. 1 ranking in 1990 and 16 winning seasons in his 19-year tenure. “Probably more of a basketball school.”

“Last year, break through, have a great season, win 11 games for the first time in school hstory. Everybody says it’s a fluke, they’ll never do it again. Just like Indiana won 11 games for the first time in school history in 2024, they come back this year with a very experienced team … I’m not saying they’re going 16-0. I’m not saying they’re gonna win the ACC, but some interesting similarities there.”

Even the most delusional Cavalier fans aren’t envisioning 16-0, and a lot could go wrong in the next 13 weeks, but the team’s experience and forgiving schedule have fostered optimism not seen since Welsh’s heyday in the early ‘90s. Getting back to the ACC championship game and contending for an FBS playoff spot are no longer pipe dreams.

But the national praise still comes with a caveat. Virginia didn’t get quite as much attention for its efficiency as NC State got blame for its struggles. SI’s Kevin Sweeney praised the Cavaliers but spent more time dwelling on the Wolfpack’s ineptitude (much of which was caused by Virginia).

And many pundits are calling for NC State to end Dave Doeren’s 14-year tenure as head coach, now declaring him on the same hot seat Elliott faced a year ago.

Of course, fame is fleeting A single misstep against West Virginia or Syracuse could mean the Cavaliers revert to national anonymity. And to be fair, not everyone is willing to anoint the Cavaliers as this season’s Hoosiers — at least not yet.

“Virginia brings a lot of Indiana vibes into 2026, but I doubt second-tier ACC budgets are enough to win national championships,” The Athletic’s Ralph Russo wrote. “Maybe Virginia is the Next Indiana Lite.”

That’s still a compliment.

https://www.si.com/college/virginia/virginia-nc-state-outcome-may-be-determined-by-who-s-available-01m0z8s8vj0j

https://www.si.com/college/virginia/football/how-s-this-for-openers-cavaliers-first-game-will-influence-their-whole-season-01m0qsknnh7n

https://www.si.com/college/virginia/football/might-virginia-s-defense-play-spy-games-against-nc-state-qb-cj-bailey-01m0t2gyj6cc

Credit where it’s due. For once, college sports has come up with a sane plan. And unfortunately, that’s newsworthy.

Let’s be clear: it wasn’t the NCAA’s idea to ban colleges from signing athletes who have been cut by professional teams. Surprisingly enough, that concept originated from the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences — the closest thing the college game has to professional leagues.

The ACC, Big 12 and other conferences are expected to follow suit soon, but hadn’t as of Wednesday evening. That would seem to be the logical move, but nothing makes much sense anymore.

On Wednesday, the SEC approved penalties for signing pro athletes that include suspension of coaches for half a season, a huge revenue hit and loss of voting privileges on conference business matters. Sixteen of the league’s 17 schools voted yes, with — believe it or not — LSU abstaining. (Shocking.)

This all stems from the NCAA’s new “five for five” rule that allows athletes whose high school classes graduated in 2023 five years of eligibility (up from the previous four). It slightly simplifies a messy environment by eliminates redshirting and intends to cut down on what has become annual free agency among athletes in high-revenue sports like football and basketball.

Two things that probably won’t surprise you: a bunch of athletes who just finished up their four years of eligibility sued for a fifth, hoping to be grandfathered into the new setup. And some schools — we’re looking at you, LSU — are seeking loopholes.

You might remember the kerfuffle that accompanied Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU last winter. If so, you’re probably not shocked that Kiffin was scheming to sign a couple of NFL rookies who will probably be released during next week’s roster cutdown: tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive lineman Zxavian Harris, both of whom played for Ole Miss last year.

Talking to reporters last week, Kiffin pleaded for understanding as only he can.

“Why are we recruiting them? Because we may end up playing against them,” he said. “And I don’t think I’m unique. I think these guys are being recruited by a lot of guys across the country.”

In that sense, he may be right. Even in an era where some college athletes make more than middle-age middle managers, coaches’ job security is tenuous. So they’ll try to be as creative as possible in adhering to (or bending) the rules.

This is where the NCAA is most to blame, for ignoring reality for too long and creating an out-of-control environment. By clinging to an antiquated view of amateurism that even the Olympic Games dismissed decades ago, college sports’ governing body allowed the pressure to build to a point of explosion, and now it can’t clean up the mess.

(And lest you think this only happens at football factories, just look at the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers have 29 graduate students on their roster, including eighth-year defensive back Ja’Maric Morris and seven seventh-year collegians. And the school’s best basketball player, Thijs De Ridder, played three professional seasons in Europe. All legal under the current rules.)

“I’m all in support of if they want to make a rule,” said Virginia football coach Tony Elliott, who also has two fifth-year players currently in legal limbo. “I just hope that all of the [Power 4] conferences come together because it doesn’t matter if one does it, right? If all four are not on the same page, then you’re going to kind of stay in the same state that we’re in with constant change because people, unfortunately — we’re in a very highly competitive industry, a very lucrative industry, and, man, people want to win.

“And the sad thing is it’s becoming more acceptable to do whatever it takes to win. And that’s the sad part about it because I don’t believe that’s the example that we really want to set for young people through athletics.”

It’s also not good for athletes who have recently graduated from high school and hope to play in college. Asking an 18-year-old to compete with a far more physically mature 24- or 25-year-old is hardly fair. (It’s not quite the same as the ridiculous debate about men in women’s sports, but that’s a topic for another day.)

Clearly, something needs to change. And clearly, it’s not going to happen this year. Congress has debated the Save College Sports Act, which would standardize wildly uneven NIL rules, limit transfers, provide some antitrust protection and support so-called non-revenue or Olympic sports like tennis, wrestling and swimming.

But Senators and Representatives have a lot on their plate at the moment (not that they do much of anything).

The only logical solution is collective bargaining with athletes, and that’s going to require a lot more organization than we have now — and a ton of additional lawsuits. So buckle up and prepare yourself for more controversy, on and off the field.

Who’d have thought, though, that the Big Ten and SEC would be taking the possible first small steps toward restoring sanity?

As much as I’d love to stick to sports on this site — and there’s plenty of great topics to discuss at the moment — my attention often wanders as my blood pressure rises.

For at least the past decade, we’ve heard that the next elections are the most important of our lifetimes. The mere fact that that statement remains true should frighten all of us.

I truly miss the days when I didn’t pay attention to election-night returns, because no matter who became President, Governor or even part of the local school board, I trusted that they had the best interests of their constituents in mind. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

(As always, I offer the disclaimer that I have no official party affiliation and don’t believe anyone has a monopoly on good ideas. I grew up in a conservative household, and I cringe when I hear calls to defund police or get rid of Thanksgiving.)

That said, I have to ask why anyone would support Republicans this fall.

If there were still anyone that still represented the GOP of my childhood, I would be glad to give them a fair listen. But they are rarer than rotary phones these days, as anyone with the spine to challenge the President or vote against his unqualified cabinet nominees has been unceremoniously showed aside.

Recent polls have shown a steady erosion of support for the White House, as ill-conceived tariffs and another disastrous Middle Eastern war — one the POTUS swore he’d avoid at all costs — make life more difficult and expensive for 99 percent of Americans.

Then came last week, and a couple of events that should have turned off even the President’s most loyal supporters and proved once and for all that he cares about no one except himself.

First came news of horrid conditions about the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been at sea near Iran for nearly nine months. Families of service members began to complain about lack of fresh food and unsanitary conditions that reportedly prompted at least one sailor to jump off the ship. (He was subsequently rescued.)

As bad as that is, the President made it worse by calling the complaints “fake” and claiming their tour of duty has been “not long enough.” This, of course, came from a man whose doctor invented bone spurs to keep him out of Vietnam.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that the President was smuggled off Air Force One, onto a catering van and eventually to a military plane to fly home from Turkey after July’s NATO summit. The unusual move was prompted by a reported Iranian assassination threat.

Safeguarding the President — no matter who he or she is — is the Secret Service’s top priority. But the subterfuge went off without the knowledge of members of the official travel party (including Secretary of State Marco Rubio) and White House reporters, who would have been collateral damage had the Iranians followed through.

Much of the President’s support over the past decade has come from military personnel and their families. In response, he’s reportedly called them “losers” and “suckers” and bad-mouthed former Senator John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

The President has never accepted blame or apologized for anything — and never will. He’s not on the ballot this fall — but many of those who have enabled him are. These sycophants have tried to justify their spinelessness, but there’s no good answer for confirming Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Todd Blanche, or for failing to rein in a convicted felon President’s worst instincts.

With control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the Republicans have no one but themselves to blame for the nation’s current mess — which will only get worse if the President’s authority remains unchecked. With his approval plummeting and scandal-ridden candidates like Ken Paxton and Max Miller on the ballot, the GOP seems to believe that sowing rumors of widespread voter fraud — or even seizing ballots in swing states — is its only hope of staying in power.

Not every Democrat is as convincing as Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff, but the choice seems incredibly clear to me.

Sportsnet.ca photo

In agreeing to terms with Stefon Diggs, the Washington Commanders accomplished two important things: they markedly improved their wide receiver depth and ensured they didn’t torpedo team chemistry.

Until news broke on Wednesday that Diggs, a former star at nearby Maryland and a proven pass-catcher at every one of his NFL stops, was coming to D.C., there was always the chance that the Commanders were holding out a roster spot for Brandon Aiyuk.

If you don’t spend all your time on social media, first, good for you. Second, you may or may not know that Aiyuk is a talented receiver who didn’t play last season and appears to be a psycho. He has spent the summer making videos blasting his current employer, the San Francisco 49ers, and taking occasional shots at his (apparently now former) friend and college teammate, Jayden Daniels.

Daniels, by the way, is the starting quarterback for the Commanders, the team Aiyuk allegedly wants to join. Besides teaming with Daniels at Arizona State, Aiyuk also was drafted by the 49ers when their front office included Adam Peters, who’s now Washington’s general manager.

So any mutual interest initially made sense — at least until Aiyuk took a flamethrower to his career hopes. He tore both the ACL and MCL in his right knee in an Oct. 24 game, missed all of last season and ghosted the 49ers, prompting them to place him on the reserve/left squad list. That means they don’t have to pay his $27 million (salary plus bonus) this year, and he can’t sign with anyone else until or unless they release him.

So Peters, coach Dan Quinn and the Commanders apparently have been spared that potential nightmare in what may be a make-or-break season for their head coach and their quarterback.

Quinn set the bar ridiculously high with a 12-5 first season in 2024, fueled by Daniels’ dazzling performance, then plummeted to a 5-12 mark last year as Daniel spent more time on the sideline than on the field.

He’s reportedly healthy now. But many observers — a group that may well include owner Josh Harris — will be watching to see which of the past two years was more indicative of this team’s potential and which was a fluke.

The Commanders made some roster upgrades through the draft and free agency — most notably taking Sonny Styles, a linebacker with star potential, in the first round — but did little to add receiver depth. Terry McLaurin seems primed to bounce back after the most frustrating (and well-paid) season of his career, but Daniels didn’t have a legitimate No. 2 receiver.

He seemingly does now. Diggs has topped 1,000 yards receiving in six of the past seven seasons; the only exception came in 2024, when a knee injury limited him to eight games in Houston. He’s 58 catches shy of 1,000 for his career, a number he could reach this season. And his price tag (one year, $12 million) is affordable.

It’s not ideal that Diggs is 32, or that he faced (and was acquitted of) felony strangulation chargers levied by his former live-in chef, or that he’s still a party to two other civil lawsuits. Without knowing any of the details, you would simply hope that he’ll be on his best behavior.

But the Commanders need him, if only to avoid slipping further behind their NFC East rivals. The Eagles have won the past two division titles, and the Cowboys seem poised to challenge them this fall, thanks to a vastly improved defense. Even the last-place Giants have upgraded their already strong pass rush and may finally have found their franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart.

Diggs won’t put the Commanders over the top by himself. But he’s a needed addition to a team facing a pivotal fall. At this point in the preseason, he’s a pretty good catch.

vivaelbirdos.com photo

Say this much for the Washington Nationals: They do things on their own schedule.

More than a week before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, the Nationals made the first splash. They sent infielder Curtis Mead to the Boston Red Sox Saturday night in exchange for promising left-handed starting pitcher Connelly Early in what looks like a solid move.

It’s likely not the last move they will make, and it signals that a precocious team ahead of schedule in its rebuild may be making a bid for an unexpected playoff berth this fall. (Don’t forget, the Nats’ World Series run in 2019 started with a wild-card berth.)

To be fair, that ’19 squad had a Hall of Fame pitcher in Max Scherzer and another ace (Stephen Strasburg) who might have been on a path to Cooperstown had injuries not derailed his career. This edition has a couple of lively starting arms (plus Early, who’s currently on the Injured List), but an atrocious bullpen. So simply playing meaningful games in September would be a bonus.

Still, the Nationals are arguably the most interesting team to watch, both on and off the field, in the upcoming week. They have baseball’s best offense, and they could be the most active organization before the deadline.

What their new front office must decide is exactly how far to go. Their options range from conservative to incredibly extreme. Besides looking out for the franchise’s best interests, they need to forecast how much the suddenly frugal Lerner family will agree to spend in the future — and just how patient a long-suffering fan base will be.

Odds are high that the Nationals will listen to offers for first baseman Luis Garcia Jr. and right-hander Foster Griffin, two of the team’s biggest success stories this season.

Entering play Monday, Garcia had 21 home runs, 70 RBIs and a .940 OPS and will be in demand as one of the rare corner infielders with power available at the deadline. Foster (12-2, 2.76 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP) is tied for second in the majors in victories after spending the past three seasons in exile in Japan.

Dealing one or both could further strengthen a talented farm system, but it likely would short-circuit any long-shot playoff hopes for 2026. (Few observers, even inside the clubhouse, thought that would happen anyway.)

If Paul Toboni wants to really think big — and alienate a large portion of his fan base — he’ll also accept calls from rival general managers regarding his two biggest stars, MVP candidates James Wood and CJ Abrams.

At 23, Wood has 30 homers, 25 doubles, 15 steals, a .953 OPS and has scored 96 runs, a staggering 24 more than any other major leaguer. Abrams, 25, is a below-average fielder but leads the majors with 82 RBIs and already has set a franchise season record for home runs by a shortstop (27) with 56 games remaining.

Few teams have anything remotely resembling that kind of 1-2 offensive punch, and on most franchises, they would be untouchable. But the Nationals aren’t most teams.

First, they have a brand new, young front office that inherited those stars. Second, they have an ownership family that acts as though they’re a small-market team. (This year’s highest-paid National is Garcia at $6.875 million, or about what Juan Soto makes every three weeks from the Mets.)

Wood’s agent is Scott Boras, which means there’s little chance of signing him to a hometown discount before he becomes eligible for free agency after the 2029 season. Abrams also would be eligible to hit the market that winter, but he’s much more likely to be wearing another uniform before then.

Toboni’s calculus has to include his team’s slim playoff chances (especially if he trades Garcia and/or Foster), plus the impending labor stoppage that could wipe out much (if not all) of the 2027 season and the fact that the market will never be greater for Abrams and Wood, who each homered twice on Sunday and are under team control for three more seasons.

They were both part of the haul Mike Rizzo brought to D.C. in exchange for Soto in 2022, and each could fetch several top prospects from a desperate contender with a deep farm system like the Dodgers, Yankees or Rays. Trading either would be tantamount to waving a white flag for this season — and ensuring that attendance plummets.

Whenever MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement is reached, it may well include a salary cap and a floor that will be well above the Nationals’ current $95 million payroll. (By the way, a third of that goes to Strasburg, who last pitched in 2022, for the final year of his contract.)

That could force the Lerners to pay Wood his market rate, which might rival that of Soto and Shohei Otani. But that’s a matter for a future Toboni to worry about. For now, he’ll spend even more time than usual on the phone.

The Nationals have been surprisingly fun to watch on the field this year. For the next week, the front office will be even harder to take your eyes off of.

Getty Images

No matter which team LeBron James chose in what we can only presume will be his final installment of “The Decision,” it would have provoked criticism.

After 23 NBA seasons, James has earned the status reserved for only a privileged few: legions of fans and at least as many haters. Despite a relatively pristine off-court profile and an unmatched resume on it, he’ll never please everyone.

To be clear: the made-for-TV original “Decision” to leave Cleveland and “take my talents to Miami” in 2010 was vain and ill-advised, and his reputation for flopping and whining to officials hasn’t endeared him to anyone.

Still, anyone who holds an actual grudge against him is likely doing so out of jealousy. Even Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert welcomed James back four years after disowning him, and Cleveland fans forgave and forgot pretty quickly.

Surely, there will be critics who knock him for joining the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $8 million contract as simply a ploy to match the six NBA titles won by Michael Jordan, his competitor for GOAT status. (If you don’t think that competition is real and passionate, spend about 30 minutes on X.)

To that allegation, the proper response is: so what?

Aging athletes have been chasing rings in a Tolkien-like quest for as long as they’ve been presented to champions. Do you think Tom Brady threw darts at a board before choosing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for his sixth Lombardi Trophy after his divorce from the New England Patriots, giving him one more than Bill Belichick? Yeah, right.

It’s happened a lot just in the NBA.

Wilt Chamberlain was 1-7 in playoff series against Bill Russell before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers and earned a second career title (and Finals MVP honors) in 1972.

A year earlier, Oscar Robertson capped his decade-long quest for a championship by joining Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and the Milwaukee Bucks. One of his teammates on that team, Bob Dandridge, helped the Washington Bullets claim their one and only title seven years after that.

The Houston Rockets took advantage of Jordan’s first retirement to win back-to-back crowns in the 1990s after trading for Clyde Drexler, who had played collegiately at Houston. And Kevin Durant bailed on Oklahoma City to join Stephen Curry and win a pair of championships with Golden State.

In almost all of those cases, these were brilliant players on the back ends of their careers who accepted supporting actor roles in pursuit of team success. Chamberlain was the most unstoppable scorer ever (with a 100-point game and a season average over 50), but he barely averaged double figures alongside Jerry West.

And with the exception of Durant, those legends were traded rather than moving via free agency. But teams parting ways with aging stars isn’t exactly new.

Chances are, James never really gave the 76ers much consideration before their stunning trade with Boston for Jaylen Brown. But if healthy — admittedly, a big but — a starting lineup of James, Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe looks to be the strongest in the East, if not the league.

At age 42, James won’t have to carry as big a load as he has for most of his career. The NBA’s all-time scoring leader can pass, rebound and shoot when necessary. And he’ll be doing it at a fraction of his market price to make things work under the NBA’s complex salary aprons. (Not that he needs the money, but many stars would insist on every penny they could get, to the detriment of their team’s cap health.)

Time will tell whether James and the 76ers can fulfill each other’s needs. It will seem strange seeing him in a Sixers uniform — but no stranger than Jordan in a Wizards tank top, or Patrick Ewing as a Seattle Supersonic or Hakeem Olajuwon as a Raptor. (Look it up.)

It will definitely give the Internet something to talk about. (Finally.)

Getty Images photo

Imagine this not-so-remote scenario:

After 120 minutes of hard-fought soccer Monday night, neither the United States nor Belgium can assert superiority. Their FIFA World Cup Round of 16 knockout match comes down to penalty kicks and reaches the fifth round.

Up steps Folarin Balogun, who (only partly of his own volition) has become the tournament’s most polarizing player. He needs to convert to keep U.S. hopes alive.

What are you hoping will happen?

As a proud American, I will admit that it wouldn’t break my heart if he missed or was stymied by the Belgian goalie. Balogun’s mere presence in the match — and the unseemliness that surrounds it — doesn’t sit well with me.

I’m guessing I’m not alone.

Let me be clear: I’ve covered sports for four decades, and soccer is among those in which I have the least expertise. I’m not all that familiar with strategic moves like shifting a center back up to midfield or an overlapping run by a forward. (I’m not even 100 percent sure if either of those is really a thing.)

I can usually spot a foul (though not always, after watching this year’s World Cup) but I struggle to know which ones deserve a red card. That was true of Balogun’s tackle of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Tarik Muharemovic in their most recent match last Wednesday.

It was clearly a violation, but did it merit a red card and disqualification not only from that match, but the next one as well? Even the referee didn’t immediately think so, but after a replay, that was the ruling.

And even though this is a litigious nation, it should have ended there, despite the protestations of millions of Americans — many of whom, like me, rarely tune in during the 3 11/12 years between World Cups. Yes, there should be an appeal process, but the rules seem to be pretty clear.

Or are they? On Sunday, FIFA announced that Balogun’s red card had been rescinded under Article 27 of its player conduct code, and that he was eligible to face Belgium Monday night in Seattle. That means the U.S. gets back its best goal-scoring threat for arguably the biggest game in the team’s history.

How convenient.

Then came reports that Donald Trump personally asked FIFA president Gianni Infantino and asked him to review Balogun’s red card. You know, the same Infantino who invented a FIFA Peace Prize and awarded the inaugural one to Trump for who knows why.

Asking which of those two men is more corrupt is like asking which Sharknado movie has the dumbest plot. Put them on the same phone line, and who knows what shenanigans might ensue.

What was promised, or threatened, we may never know. What we do know is this: Balogun will play. He’ll likely have a significant impact on a game in which he shouldn’t even be allowed to suit up.

And whether the Americans win or lose, it stinks.

Soccer bills itself as “The Beautiful Game.” And this World Cup has shown us why: exceptional talent, intriguing games and loveable overachievers. (Just wait to see how much more tourism Cape Verde gets next year.)

With or without Balogun in uniform Monday night, the U.S. still had a chance to join the party. If their compatriots can crash the quarterfinals for just the third time ever because FIFA showed favoritism, many Americans probably won’t care how it happened.

But as one prominent American likes to say, it’ll feel like the system was rigged.

As we get older, birthday celebrations lose a bit of luster. What was once a chance — nay, an obligation — to cut loose with friends becomes an annual reminder that we’re getting a bit less youthful, a bit stiffer and sleepier each morning, and a year closer to an end none of wants to embrace.

The same can applies to our nation and its semiquincentennial. It’s an anniversary well worth acknowledging, and we rightly should be proud of what we have accomplished over 250 years: introducing and exporting democracy to the modern world, inventing cures for once-fatal diseases, putting a man on the moon and producing Taylor Swift and The Simpsons (among many others).

Still, this year’s big round birthday brings decidedly mixed emotions. All empires have expiration dates, and we’re definitely showing our age.

That’s not just me talking. Every poll shows that a majority of Americans are at least dissatisfied (and in many cases, downright angry) at our nation’s direction. And it doesn’t take an increasingly expensive college degree to figure out who’s responsible.

Spoiler alert: It’s us.

Yes, there’s an easy (and correct) target in the White House, along with the corrupt cabal of sycophants that surround him. But collectively, we made a massive mistake (twice). Fool me once …

Okay, not all of us chose poorly in 2016 and then, inexplicably, again in 2024. (As Homer Simpson once lamented: “Don’t blame me. I voted for Kodos.”)

But that’s how things work in America, where “I told you so” doesn’t go over well and we have the freedom to choose, no matter how foolishly we do so.

But we have to live with the consequences.

For more than a century, we’ve had the youth and the resources to survive our follies. Now, like an aging party animal who used to shake off a hangover or a weekend warrior who now wakes up with sore muscles, we don’t respond quite as well as we did before.

Like so many empires before us, we became entitled and self-indulgent. Instead of the virile, young Elvis Presley of the 1950s, we’re starting to look like the late-’70s version: bloated, erratic and unwilling to look in a mirror. And everyone of a certain age knows how that worked out.

We somehow came to believe that the hard work and wisdom that won us the Cold War and made us the world’s only superpower didn’t need to continue. Personal freedom supersedes expertise. Celebrity trumps competence. Cruelty beats compassion. Might alone makes right. Likes and clicks are more important than integrity.

Want proof that we have strayed? Was it a coincidence that the president’s Mount Rushmore speech Friday was delayed by half-dollar sized hail or that the Great American State Fair was sparsely attended due to biblical heat caused by the very climate change that the administration denies? Ye reap what ye sow.

It’s gotten to the point where even the American flag brings out mixed emotions. There’s still pride, but the stars and stripes have been co-opted by one side and hugged too many times by a duplicitous con man of a president. Real patriotism requires honesty and sacrifice as well as well as mindless obedience.

I truly hope that this is just a midlife crisis. That would imply that we have another 250 years to atone for our sins and make things right. It starts at the ballot box in four months (assuming, of course, that we have genuinely free and fair elections, which is not a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination).

There’s ample reason for hope. Peaceful but determined protests against a wannabe dictator. Continued random acts of kindness. The unbridled joy of the FIFA World Cup, with visitors from countries this administration snubs and despises. Recent election trends — not only here, but in Hungary. Occasional flashes of spine from elected officials who have enabled a corrupt administration and confirmed incredibly dangerous cabinet officials.

But it’s not enough. It’s going to take all of us — or at least a veto-proof majority. We need to decide that no man is above the law, and that gaudy, gilded monuments and ballrooms are completely inappropriate when so many Americans — not to mention citizens of other nations — are hurting and dying unnecessarily.

All is not lost. Birthdays are reasons to celebrate, and we’ve accomplished more over two and a half centuries than even the Founding Fathers could have envisioned.

But milestones are also a time for reflection and self-evaluation. You can’t eat, drink and carouse at age 50 in the same way you did at 25. We need to rediscover and recommit to what made us great in the first place — and wearing a red hat is not the first step. We shouldn’t want to go back to any so-called golden era, but instead to move forward into an even better time.

So enjoy the hot dogs and beer today (in moderation, please). Then like someone who has reached a milestone birthday, take serious inventory and start acting like someone who wants to live to see the next one.

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Sharing a story I wrote this week for si.com/college/virginia that may spark some debate. Hope you enjoy and share it, and feel free to comment.

Spoiler alert: If you’re a member of Tony Bennett’s family or his fan club, you might want to stop reading now.

Today’s assignment is to select a Mount Rushmore of University of Virginia coaches. That’s a challenging assignment for a school that has been around for more than two centuries, has competed in intercollegiate athletics for nearly that long, and has won 37 national team titles.

One of those was the 2019 crown won by Bennett’s men’s basketball team, and it stands as the most memorable moment in school sports history for many alumni and supporters. That was part of Bennett’s stellar 15-year tenure that also included four Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles (plus two shared), two ACC tournament crowns, and two national coach of the year honors.

For some readers, that might ensure Bennett makes our list, perhaps even with top billing. But if we’re being true to the Rushmore theme, there are only four spots available, and there’s plenty of competition.

To be clear, this isn’t a knock on Bennett, who at the very least deserves a plaque at the base of our fictional monument detailing his achievement. But while he took over a program on a downturn, Terry Holland took the Cavaliers to two Final Fours and produced a three-time national player of the year in Ralph Sampson a few decades earlier.

And isn’t summer the best time for these kinds of debates before the arrival of a new school year full of games and meets? So before you cancel your season tickets or break your laptop in anger, consider these other worthy candidates (presented in alphabetical order) and their impact, both during their tenures and in comparison to the years before and after them:

BRUCE ARENA
Men’s soccer, 1978-95

A year before Arena arrived from his alma mater, Cornell, as head coach in 1978, the Cavaliers had posted the most wins (12-6-1) in the program’s 37-year history. He quickly raised the bar exponentially.

Aside from an 8-9-1 blip in 1980, Arena never posted a losing record in 18 seasons in Charlottesville. His 295-58-32 record included nine ACC titles and five NCAA championships, including four in a row from 1991-94. (The Cavaliers shared the 1989 title with Santa Clara after playing 150 minutes in frigid conditions). He left the program in good hands with his former player and assistant, George Gelnovatch, who led Virginia to the 2009 and 2014 national title.

His Virginia roster included future U.S. Men’s National Team standouts Claudia Reyna, Jeff Agoos, John Harkes, Ben Olsen and Tony Meola. After stepping down in 1995, Arena also served two stints (1998-2006 and 2016-18) as coach of the national squad and won three Major League Soccer Cup titles (two with D.C. United and three with the L.A. Galaxy). He currently coaches the San Jose Earthquakes.

TODD DeSORBO
Swimming, 2017-present

“Dynasty” is a word that gets thrown around lightly. But it’s hard to find a better term for what DeSorbo has built in less than a decade on Grounds.

No women’s swim team in NCAA Division I history has even produced a longer string of national titles than the Cavaliers’ current six-year streak. Four of them featured Gretchen Walsh, the 2025 Honda Cup winner, as the nation’s top female athlete. Even without her, though, the Cavaliers scored more points (589) in winning this year’s NCAA meet than they had in any of their previous five.

The only other Division I coach with a six-year streak of national titles was the legendary Doc Counsilman with Indiana’s men from 1968-73. DeSorbo’s run of national coach of the year honors also sits at six.

He was also named head coach of the U.S. women’s team for the 2024 Olympics, which featured five current or former Cavaliers, including Walsh and Kate Douglass. The Americans won 19 medals (six gold), including mixed relays.

And lest you think he’s concentrating too much on the women, DeSorbo has recently signed several of the nation’s top high school recruits to his men’s team, which sent six swimmers to this year’s NCAA championships.

DEBBIE RYAN
Women’s basketball, 1977-2011

Before Ryan arrived on Grounds, Virginia had been a coeducational institution for less than a decade, and the women’s basketball program was just four years old. Under her leadership, the Cavaliers grew up quickly.

After enduring an 8-17 debut season, she finished under .500 just once (13-16 in 2003-04) over the next 33 years. That stretch included 11 ACC regular-season championships, three ACC tournament titles, three consecutive Final Fours from 1990-92, and a 739-324 overall record.

The only blemish on her resume was a lack of a national title, but she came excruciatingly close, dropping the 1991 title game 70-67 to Tennessee in overtime.

Ryan was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008, but her legacy extends far beyond the playing court. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, she became an advocate for awareness and treatment. And she introduced the basketball world to two of the women’s game’s greatest coaches: Geno Auriemma (a former Virginia assistant) and Dawn Staley (the All-America point guard on her Final Four teams).

GEORGE WELSH
Football, 1982-2000

Degree of difficulty is a diving term, but it just as easily could apply to George Welsh’s coaching career.

After setting a school record by winning 55 games in nine seasons at his alma mater, Navy, Welsh in 1982 took on the challenge of a Virginia program that had posted just two winning seasons in the previous three decades. He went 2-9 in his debut season, then finished under,500 just once more (3-6) over the next 18 years en route to his 2004 induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Included in that run was Virginia's first bowl game in school history (a 27-24 victory over Purdue in the 1984 Peach Bowl), a share of the 1989 and 1995 ACC titles, and 11 more bowl appearances. Then there was a heady three-week span in 1990 when the Cavaliers sat atop the national polls en route to a 7-0 start that eventually imploded after a thumb injury to star quarterback Shawn Moore.

Still, against all odds, Welsh made the Cavaliers relevant nationally. He retired after the 2000 season as the ACC's winningest coach at the time (134-86-3), a mark that was subsequently eclipsed by Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Clemson's Dabo Swinney at schools better known for gridiron success. And in the quarter-century after his departure, Virginia has finished with winning season records just nine times under four head coaches.

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Under normal circumstances, it would make perfect sense for the Washington Commanders to explore the possibility of adding Brandon Aiyuk to their roster. They need receivers, and Aiyuk — if as expected, he becomes available — is one of the most gifted ones out there.

These aren’t normal circumstances, though, and it’s becoming increasingly apparent that the Commanders should stay as far away from Aiyuk as possible.

To begin with, the San Francisco 49ers own Aiyuk’s rights (for now, at least), so Washington can’t do anything without violating the NFL’s tampering rules. But Aiyuk and the Niners seem headed for a high-profile parting of ways, thanks to irreconcilable differences that the player keeps exacerbating.

He clearly wants to play in D.C.; he was a college teammate of Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels at Arizona State, and Washington general manager Adam Peters was a member of the 49ers’ front office when they drafted him in 2020. He rewarded the team with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2022 and ’23, and the Niners rewarded him with a four-year, $120 million contract extension in August 2024. If healthy, he’d ideally make a great complement to Terry McLaurin.

But Aiyuk tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee in Week 7 of the 2024 season and hasn’t played since. That would be enough of a red flag, but it’s hardly the biggest concern.

That would be Aiyuk’s ill-conceived social media campaign to get himself released by the 49ers. He has posted several videos criticizing the team, GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan, among others.

On Saturday, he added his agent, Ryan Williams, to that list in a video that also included a vow not to return to the 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium — unless it’s with the Commanders, who are scheduled to play there on Oct. 19 of this season.

It’s not exactly a master class in convincing the 49ers to release him — or in persuading the Commanders (or any other team) to sign him if he becomes a free agent. Washington has long been considered his most likely landing spot.

But his health and availability are obviously big concerns, especially for a Washington team that got shortchanged after trading for another high-profield former 49ers receiver, Deebo Samuel. last year. Aiyuk’s attitude may be an even bigger disqualifier.

Let’s be clear: all NFL receivers are no divas. (McLaurin is proof of that.) But it sure seems that most NFL divas are receivers.

Antonio Brown, Terrell Owens, Michael Irvin, Brandon Marshall, Randy Moss, DeSean Jackson. The list goes on and on. Most of them were talented enough that their teams tolerated their self-promotion.

Aiyuk certainly doesn’t seem to fit into that category, at least at the moment. Coming off a 5-12 season, does Commanders coach Dan Quinn want to risk his job (and team chemistry) by bringing in a possible distraction whose availability isn’t certain but whose me-first attitude is?

Every team deals with adversity, and the Commanders are trying to distance themselves from years of self-inflicted troubles. (Does Albert Haynesworth ring a bell?) Who’s to say Aiyuk wouldn’t go ballistic if he’s not getting the ball enough, or if he feels McLaurin is getting it too much?

Aiyuk doesn’t seem to be ingratiating himself with anyone these days. Mark Schlereth, a lineman on Washington’s Super Bowl teams, recently called him “stupid” and said he wouldn’t want “that turd” on his team. Five-time Pro Bowl receiver Jarvis Landry added on a recent podcast: “Man, somebody needs to get that phone from him” and added: “ … It’s not the same Brandon that I know.”

This is a critical season for Quinn and the Commanders, who need to prove that their 2024 run to the NFC title game wasn’t a fluke. They made some modest progress in getting younger and improving their roster through free agency and the draft, especially with first-round pick Sonny Styles.

They might be tempted to take a swing on Aiyuk, especially if Daniels advocated for him. But he’s giving everyone ample reason to say no. Adding him to the roster seems like throwing deep on fourth and inches from your own 20: high risk, low percentage.

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Back in March, had you asked any Washington Nationals fan — or, heck, any of the Nationals themselves — if they’d be happy to be 41-41 at the midpoint of the season, you’d undoubtedly have gotten a positive response.

But not all .500 records are built alike. And while there has been a lot to be optimistic about for a change in D.C., the Nats are in a concerning wobble mode at the moment.

Three straight ninth-inning losses to a division rival will do that to you. And for a young roster that had been reveling in its preciousness, it could be devastating.

According to MLB.com, the Philadelphia Phillies became the first team in Major League history — which goes back more than 150 years — to hit go-ahead home runs in the ninth inning of three straight games. And they did it against Nationals relievers who wouldn’t be blamed if they sent all future bullpen calls to voicemail.

“The guys in the bullpen, we feel for them,” Nationals starter Cade Cavalli told reporters Thursday after relievers cost him a win in a 10-5 loss to the Phils. “There’s nobody that feels worse than them. We know that they’re trying as hard as they can. Same with us. … I know those guys. I know the way they work, the way they compete. It’s a rough stretch. It’s part of a season. And they’re going to bounce back.”

Will they, though? This low-budget bullpen is on pace to blow 48 saves this season, which would shatter the MLB record of 37 set two years ago by the dreadful Chicago White Sox.

First-year manager Blake Butera was asked Thursday if his relievers were pitching “scared.”

“That’s what it looked like,” he told reporters in a rare bit of candor.

And let’s be clear: Sean Doolittle isn’t walking through that clubhouse door. (Actually, he’s already in the building, now serving as the team’s assistant pitching coach. But he’s not on the 40-man roster anymore, and he hasn’t been able to put out many fires in his new role.)

The Nationals have been one of baseball’s best stories in the season’s first half, thanks to a renewed focus on youth and analytics. Butera and first-year president of baseball operations Paul Toboni have overhauled Washington’s organizational approach, and youngsters like CJ Abrams and James Wood have thrived in the new system.

Remarkably, as of Friday afternoon, the Nationals lead baseball in runs scored (438) — better even than the mighty Dodgers — and rank fourth in team OPS (.744) with an everyday lineup that includes no one over age 27.

The minor league system is also benefitting, with 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick Eli Willitts not spending enough time at Low-A Fredericksburg to get a library card before getting promoted.

In short, after six miserable seasons following the 2019 World Series title, there’s finally reason for optimism. But there are always growing pains, and the Nats are experiencing their version of the terrible twos this week.

Every team confronts adversity; the Nationals could have crossed the field and asked the Phillies about that. Philadelphia started this season so poorly (9-19) that its front office fired popular manager Rob Thompson, less than four years after a World Series appearance. The veterans responded to interim skipper Don Mattingly, and at 45-36, they’re just four games behind NL East leader Atlanta entering the weekend.

The Nationals don’t have that kind of experience, thanks to the Lerner family’s frugality and baseball’s 26th-ranked payroll. It’s easy to believe in the plan when it’s working, as it did for most of the first half. When it doesn’t, doubts creep in, especially among younger players.

The Nats certainly could use a Bryce Harper or a Trea Turner to keep their younger teammates’ heads up in the clubhouse — and to do something on the field to change the team’s trajectory. (Come to think of it, didn’t those guys used to be Nationals?)

It’s a long season, and both Abrams’ and Wood’s second-half numbers in 2025 paled in comparison to their first-half production. They’re each a year older and wiser, but there’s little reason to believe Washington is a legitimate playoff contender — at least not this season.

That’s why Toboni must be clear-headed approaching the Aug. 3 trade deadline. If there were legitimate reason for hope, he might be tempted to dip into his deep farm system to make a deal or two to upgrade his leaky pen. But why mortgage the future in hopes of what would surely be a quick wild-card exit at best?

Toboni also should avoid the temptation to trade away Abrams for anything short of the haul his predecessor, Mike Rizzo, got from San Diego in exchange for Juan Soto at the 2022 deadline. That package included both Abrams and Wood, along with MacKenzie Gore (whom Washington flipped for more prospects over the winter).

The Nationals were never really supposed to contend this season anyway. The strong start sure looks like fool’s gold.

Barring an offer for Abrams he can’t refuse or a low-cost deal to improve the bullpen, Toboni should essentially play the hand he’s been dealt for another year — then beg the Lerners to add at least one valuable veteran leader over the winter.

The ultimate goal still looks attainable, but like a good wine, it requires patience. That almost certainly means another miserable second half of a season. Set your expectations accordingly.

Maybe, a year from now, Michael Winger and Will Dawkins will look like geniuses, and I’ll look like just another loudmouth cynic.

Maybe the Washington Wizards’ new-look lineup will have clicked. Rookie of the year AJ Dybantsa and a rejuvenated Trae Young will have formed a formidable offensive pair, sparking the Wiz to their first playoff berth in six years and convincing Anthony Davis that D.C.’s where he wants to cap his career with another title.

And maybe the Reflecting Pool will be algae-free.

If so, I’ll gladly admit I was wrong. Until then, I’ll retain my skepticism that Young is the missing piece to a rebuilding effort that’s now nearly a half-century old.

To be clear, I have no qualms about the Wizards selecting Dybantsa first overall on Tuesday night. Even in one of the most top-heavy drafts in recent memory, he seemed to stand out over Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson, who went with the next three picks.

Dybantsa looks like the smooth, talented scorer the franchise has lacked since its last championship run in 1978. Bradley Beal wore out him welcome. Gilbert Arenas played himself out of the league by bringing guns into the locker room. Beyond that, it was a past-his-prime Bernard King who lit up the scoreboard for the then-Bullets.

And if Young chooses to become a facilitator and a mentor on a young, raw but talented team that desperately needs one to learn how to win, it could work. If his presence changes Davis’ apparent desire to be almost anywhere except Washington, all the better.

But I’ll have to see it to believe it.

Young has put up some of the best stats in the NBA since joining the league in 2018, and he’s still just 27. He averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists per game in seven-plus years in Atlanta, making four All-Star teams and leading the league in assists in 2024-25 (11.6).

Aside from a run to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals, though, those numbers didn’t translate into playoff success. The Hawks lost in the first round in the subsequent two years — and again this spring, after trading Young to the Wizards.

That’s very reminiscent of the Wizards’ last two star lead guards: Arenas and John Wall, the team’s last No. 1 overall pick in 2010. Like Young, both were very productive for fantasy league owners, but couldn’t lift a franchise that hasn’t reached the conference finals since 1979 past the second round of the playoffs.

Still, Winger and Dawkins, whom the Wizards hired away from roles in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s front office to oversee their tank and rebuild, believed enough in Young to trade for him — then reward him with a massive four-year, $212 million contract extension.

That doesn’t sound like facilitator money. It sounds like megastar money — especially from a franchise that has traditionally been unwise in bestowing max-level albatross contracts to the likes of Beal, Juwan Howard and Mitch Richmond. No other team in the league would have given Young nearly that much.

For this experiment to work, Young will have to sublimate his ego and be willing to acknowledge that Dybantsa is the present and future star. The Wizards also have to improve dramatically on defense, a facet of the game that has never seemed to interest Young — and which might be Dybantsa’s weakest skill set.

Davis, 7-footer Alex Sarr and fourth-year forward Bilal Coulibaly could form a solid nucleus on that end of the court, but Davis has to be talked into signing an extension. (He didn’t play a game for the Wizards after his trade from Dallas last winter, and Young suited up just five times, all part of the tanking process to ensure the best chance of getting the No. 1 pick.)

That’s a lot of what-ifs, and it also depends on Washington’s youngsters (Dybantsa, Sarr, Kyshawn George and Tre Johnson) all developing and meshing the way the Thunder’s nucleus did. It probably means someone other than Brian Keefe, who endured three straight soul-crushing seasons, as head coach.

To be fair, after five-plus seasons of gloom, things are finally looking up again in D.C. The Commanders still have to prove that Jayden Daniels’ rookie season wasn’t a fluke, but the Nationals are hitting the midpoint of the season with a winning record and wild-card hopes, thanks to James Wood, CJ Abrams and a new reliance on analytics.

Maybe the Wizards can join the fun. But after watching almost five decades of mediocrity, I’ll believe it when I see it.

Associated Press photo

Congratulations to the New York Knicks and to a fan base that waited 53 years for an NBA championship. (Notice I didn’t say waited patiently, because no one in the Big Apple ever shows patience. If you’ve ever been the first car in line when in NYC when a light turns green, you understand.)

This was a remarkably likeable team that put on one of the great playoff runs (16-3) in NBA history — with the only blemish in the final three rounds coming, not surprisingly, with the president in attendance.

The Knicks erased a 29-point deficit to win Game 4 of the Finals, and Jalen Brunson exhibited an unguardable aura that had previously been reserved for the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Because the title drought covered more than half a century, we’ll forgive the Gotham pundits and fans for the expected hyperbole. (We won’t excuse the reported celebratory destruction that followed; that has never made sense to me, no matter where or when it occurs.)

With the exception of 9/11, whenever something significant happens in New York, it almost always gets more attention than it deserves. Remember a couple of decades ago, when Jeremy Lin had one of the best months ever for an undrafted player? Had he been playing for Bucks instead of the Knicks, he might have gotten a couple of nice writeups. Instead, ESPN was ready to induct him into the Hall of Fame before he quickly faded into obscurity.

Similarly, would Seinfeld have been as popular if Jerry had lived in a condo in St. Louis? As the realtors say, it’s location, location, location.

And part of the lore of this title was the Knicks’ celebrity fan following, which now rivals the Lakers’ in star power. Spike Lee, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Ben Stiller, Jay-Z, Timothee Chalamet and, of course, Taylor Swift were all courtside at Madison Square Garden while POTUS hid and napped in owner James Dolan’s suite.

But I digress. As I wrote before the Finals, the Knicks are talented, balanced and well-coached. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy than Mike Brown, who masterfully pushed the buttons and got contributions of nearly everyone on the roster, including OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart and supersubs Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet.

Still, most of the credit goes to Brunson, who joins Reggie Jackson in the pantheon of New York sports heroes.

The Spurs had no shortage of younger, taller defenders eager to guard him, plus the ultimate goalie in Victor Wembanyana to protect the rim. Didn’t matter; Brunson consistently found a way to get to (or at least near) the rim and dropped 45 points on the Spurs in Saturday’s Game 5 clincher. He moved up into the NBA’s elite class of superstar.

That’s the big takeaway from these playoffs. Let’s not get carried away and anoint the Knicks as one of the greatest teams ever, on the same level as the 1960s Celtics, Jordan’s 1990 Bulls, either of the three-pear Lakers squads or even the Spurs or Warriors of the 2000s.

New York emerged from a weak Eastern Conference which saw the top two seeds go down early at the hands of other squads. Then the Knicks faced a talented but green San Antonio team making its first playoff appearance in seven years.

Mea culpa: I was impressed by the Spurs’ young talent and thought they would win. But I should have realized that recent history is littered by precocious newcomers getting exposed by veteran opponents when it mattered most.

Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway and the Orlando Magic were swept by Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Rockets in the 1995 Finals. Six years later, Shaq was on the winning side with the Lakers, routing Allen Iverson’s 76ers in five games. And an earlier incarnation of the Spurs spoiled James’ first Finals appearance with a sweep of the Cavaliers in 2007. (Don’t forget that it took Jordan seven tries to win his first title, and we won’t mention the Bullets getting swept by the Bucks in 1971 or Golden State four years later.)

The Knicks should return the nucleus of their title team, but the Spurs will also be back, older and wiser. Wembanyama called getting humbled in the Finals “the biggest lesson of my life,” which has now spanned all of 22 years. Any team that trades for Giannis Antetokoumpo also figures to be a contender next year, and the Celtics and Thunder should have plenty to say about next year’s champions.

So let the Knicks and their fans celebrate. They earned it. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, they did it their way. Just remember, though, that just because it happened in New York, New York doesn’t make it any more special for the rest of us.

Associated Press photo

Leave it to the good folks in Texas to bend the rules until they’re unrecognizable.

Forty years ago, SMU boosters blatantly paid star football players like running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James, contrary to NCAA regulations of the era. It earned the Mustangs the only “Death Penalty” ever handed out by the NCAA, resulting in a two-year ban that the program is only now recovering from, and to spawn an outstanding ESPN documentary titled “Pony Excess.” (Check it out if you haven’t.)

Those under-the-table payouts and hundred-dollar handshakes seem quaint now that star players earn millions legally under liberalized NIL and direct-payment systems.

But there’s a line that most observers — wrongly, it turns out — assumed college athletes couldn’t cross: betting on your own team.

Meet Brendan Sorsby, Texas Tech’s new quarterback — thanks to Texas appeals court judge Ken Curry, who overruled the NCAA’s suspension of Sorsby and granted him a temporary injunction to play this fall, saying being sidelined would cause him “irreparable” harm.

Some background: Sorsby admitted placing $90,000 worth of bets while enrolled at Indiana University. Many of those bets were placed on the Hoosiers. That’s what we non-experts call a gambling problem. (Obscure Simpsons reference: I call him Gamblor.)

Sorsby subsequently transferred to Cincinnati and started for the past two years before agreeing to a reported $4 million deal with Texas Tech, which has been at the forefront of college sports’ new “You Gotta Pay to Win” philosophy. Led by billionaire alumnus Cody Campbell, the Red Raiders reportedly planned to pay their athletes $55 million in NIL money and revenue sharing for the 2025-26 school year.

That certainly irked the purists who preferred the antiquated notion of “student-athletes,” but any school that can find the money is free to match that total. (Virginia Tech just got a much-needed $75 million donation to its athletic department.)

Gambling, though, has always been a no-no. (You could ask Pete Rose or the 1919 Black Sox if any of them were still with us.) Even if one team has a millionaire at quarterback and the other has a walk-on, the playing field is, in theory at least, even.

“Integrity of competition” is the buzz phrase. College sports has endured point-shaving scandals in the past, and legalized gambling makes it even more dangerous now.

Prop bets on individual performances are the easiest to exploit, because one missed free throw here or fumble there might not affect the outcome of a game, but could make someone with inside information rich (and a help a backup point guard put a down payment on a new car).

Almost no one objected to the NCAA’s suspension of Sorsby after he copped to betting on his own team. No one, that is, except the Red Raiders, who desperately want to compete with state rivals like Texas and A&M. They backed his appeal, and Curry obliged. And while the NCAA has appealed the ruling, the four Seventh Court of Appeal judges scheduled to hear the case are reportedly all Texas Tech alumni.

Red Raiders AD Kirby Hocutt had the gall to claim that the school was looking out for Sorsby’s best interest. In an open letter, he said that Sorsby will miss Tech’s first two games of 2026 — against Abilene Christian and Oregon State — and will be eligible thereafter.

“The integrity of sports matters,” Hocutt wrote. “So does the integrity of how we treat a 22-year-old who has sought help, entered residential treatment, and is working every day toward recovery. Those two things don’t have to be in conflict.”

Don’t they? If Sorsby’s well-being was the Red Raiders’ top priority, they could keep him on scholarship and pay his salary — there’s a lot of oil money in Lubbock —without exposing him to the pressure of leading a Top-10 team in national televised games. (By the way, Sorsby’s record in November games at Cincinnati was 0-8.)

Texas Tech’s involvement in this fiasco has made the school a sporting pariah. The reaction from college coaches and administrators from across the country was immediate and furious. Fellow Big 12 Conference schools have floated the idea of boycotting games against the Red Raiders, and there’s even been talk of ousting them from the conference.

And guess who has come to the Raiders’ defense? None other than Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached on corruption charges in 2023 and whose former lawyer in that case is now endorsing his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, in their Senate race this fall.

On Texas Tech’s behalf, Paxton sent a letter to the Big 12 stating that any sanctions would be deemed “unlawful” and subject to legal action. Nothing like one of the state’s most unpopular men defending its least-popular athletic program.

Many high-profile observers have publicly speculated that this could be the final straw for the NCAA, which hid its head in the sand for decades, leading to litigation that ushered in this new, big-money era. The two superconferences, the Southeastern and Big Ten, are already making noise about seceding and merging to make even more money.

That remains to be seen, but Texas Tech has doubled down on the whole Sorsby saga in hopes of a happy ending.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Associated Press photo

Kristen Welker should consider it a badge of honor that Donald Trump angrily stormed out of their interview that appeared on “Meet The Press” Sunday morning. Likewise, Scott Pelley should be proud to be out of a job (for now).

Like so many professions, journalism is under heavy siege at the moment. (As a longtime practitioner of the craft whose job was eliminated 18 months ago, I know.) Extensive layoffs, corporate takeovers and plummeting approval ratings have taken a massive toll on what was once proudly known as the Fourth Estate.

In the past week, though, we have seen a couple of examples of journalism done right, giving us hope that holding powerful people to account remains possible, despite the odds.

The most recent case came when Trump prematurely ended his “Meet The Press” interview with Welker after she pushed back against his unproven claims of election fraud.

It followed a familiar pattern with Trump’s second administration: when you can’t answer a question with facts, make them up and insult the questioner as being part of the “Fake News.”

We’ve seen his cabinet members lambaste Democratic Senators and Representatives with prepared jibes and talking points during testimony. (Who can forget Pam Bondi responding to grilling about the unreleased Epstein files by insisting the Dow had topped 50,000, as if that mattered?)

Trump himself has always been dismissive of reporters who don’t fawn all over him, especially if they’re female and/or Black. “Quiet, Piggy” was his recent response to one female member of the press corps. Earlier last week he criticized CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for not smiling enough while she pressed him on important matters. And on Sunday, he said Welker was “either crooked or you’re stupid.”

The simple fact is, Trump can’t justify his expensive war in Iran that offers no face-saving escape route; his foolish tariffs and policies (including the war) that are raising costs for all Americans; his overzealous deportation campaign; his vanity projects that include plans for a gilded East Wing ballroom and a giant ugly 250-foot arch; and his refusal to release the entire Epstein files that he insists exonerates him.

Instead, he resorts to name-calling, a tactic that has worked in the past with his base but seems (like himself) to be losing steam. (Check out his disapproval ratings, which are topping 60 percent in some polls.)

Welker has taken criticism (some of it justified) after succeeding Chuck Todd as moderator of “Meet The Press.” But she deserves credit for calmly holding her ground against Trump’s lies and insults. His petulance doesn’t make her look as bad as he probably thinks it does. To the contrary, it reflects poorly on him.

Welker probably won’t lose her job over the kerfuffle. Pelley lost his after 37 years as a correspondent and anchor on “60 Minutes,” which was (until recently) the gold standard for TV journalism.

It’s not anymore — not since Bari Weiss was chosen to run CBS News and Nick Bilton was named executive producer of “60 Minutes,” despite the fact that neither had any tangible experience with broadcast news. They were chosen by billionaire David Ellison to placate Trump and earn his approval for SkyDance Media to purchase Paramount Plus, the parent company of CBS.

Among Weiss’ first directives was reportedly to make “60 Minutes” less critical of Trump. Pelley took it a step further, telling Bilton at a staff meeting Monday that “[Weiss is] murdering ‘60 Minutes.’ She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and she’s doing exactly that.”

Not surprisingly, Pelley was fired the next day, joining former executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega on the outs. Alfonsi was the correspondent whose damning piece on dismal conditions at the CECOT Detention Center in El Salvador Weiss pulled unexpectedly because it reflected poorly on the White House.

Like Welker with Trump, Pelley did what good journalists do. He spoke truth to power and challenged assertions that lack evidence. That’s what “60 Minutes” has traditionally done with administrations of both parties over the past six decades on the network that once featured Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather. (Yes, journalists make mistakes, but the good ones correct themselves when they do.)

The kind of integrity shown by Welker and Pelley is imperative if we hope to preserve democracy. It was Thomas Jefferson who once famously said (in the pre-TV days): “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Fortunately for Pelley, he won’t be unemployed for long if he doesn’t want to be. There’s a growing new trend of independent media that doesn’t rely on corporate ownership, led by The Meidas Touch, The Bulwark, The Contrarian and Democracy Docket. Pelley can have a powerful platform on any of them (or another) if he chooses.

We need that now, because the legacy media that we once trusted has lost its benefit of the doubt. It’s a comfort — albeit sometimes a small one — that there are still journalists who do their jobs well.

Associated Press photo

If you’ve ever tried to cross a street in Manhattan, you know that patience isn’t exactly at the top of most New Yorkers’ list of virtues. In the City That Never Sleeps, you can get a slice of pizza, a shoeshine or almost anything else you want at 3 a.m.

Imagine how difficult it’s been, then, for the Big Apple to endure a drought of more than half a century between NBA titles. When the Knicks dispatched the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1973 Finals, it was their second championship in four years and didn’t really feel like the end of an era.

But the Knicks were about to enter an ice age that made this past winter’s Snowcrete seem like a mere cold snap. Between 1973 and last spring, they reached the Finals just twice, losing to Houston in seven games in 1994 and to San Antonio in five in 1999.

Those were the rare high points in a span that saw them post nine straight losing seasons from 2001-02 through 2009-10 and six more between 2014-15 and 2019-20, including a couple of miserable 17-win campaigns. In that stretch, James Dolan gave Daniel Snyder a spirited run for the title of worst owner in professional sports.

To their credit, the Knicks have drafted, traded and signed wisely in recent years. This year’s team cruised through a weak Eastern Conference to arrive in the Finals (which start Wednesday) on an 11-game win streak, with six of those victories by 26 points or more. Jalen Brunson is Madison Square Garden’s biggest star since Patrick Ewing, and a supporting cast that features Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby is versatile, talented and mature.

And it would seem as if the Knicks caught a break when the precocious San Antonio Spurs knocked off the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. The Spurs entered the postseason thin on playoff experience, and New York defeated San Antonio in two of three regular-season meetings, including the NBA Cup final in December.

But while the Knicks have discovered a new gear in the postseason, so have the Spurs, who demonstrated remarkable grit with an impressive Game 7 performance on the Thunder’s home court Saturday night.

It all starts, of course, with Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 French wunderkind who has become what Ralph Sampson hoped to be four decades ago, before his knees betrayed him. Wemby is averaging 23.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 3.9 blocks against top-level competition in the playoffs, and he arguably affects shots like no one since Bill Russell.

He’s just 22, one of four San Antonio starters 25 and under. The Spurs’ oldest regular, D’Aaron Fox, is the same age (28) as the Knicks’ oldest starter, Anunoby. He’s the only member of their first five who was even born when New York last played in the Finals.

Advantage Knicks, right? Perhaps. But Wemby, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie sure didn’t look overwhelmed against the Thunder — or Portland or Minnesota in the first two rounds.

Most telling, the Spurs have the athleticism to make life infinitely more difficult on Brunson than he had it against Cleveland in the Eastern Conference finals. There, he torched James Harden, repeatedly driving past a 36-year-old who rarely played defense in his prime and can’t keep up with quicker scorers now.

At 21, Castle will be a more formidable foe. And even if Brunson can shake him, Champagnie and rookie Dylan Harper can handle him on switches, and Wembanyama will be waiting in the lane.

Knicks coach Mike Brown has done a masterful job in blending his veteran players’ skills, and they won’t go quietly. But they’ll have to shake off a week’s worth of rust and face a motivated, equally hot opponent.

Barring an injury or foul trouble to Wembanyama, the Spurs look like the better team. Wemby is the latest in a series of talented San Antonio centers, following Hall of Famers David Robinson and Tim Duncan, and he can match Duncan’s feat of beating the Knicks in his third season to win his first title.

If so, New Yorkers will have to wait a little longer for a major pro team championship that they once considered a birthright.

Besides the Knicks’ 53-year drought, it’s been 32 seasons since the Rangers hoisted the Stanley Cup (and 43 since the Islanders’ four-peat from 1980-83). Eli Manning’s second Super Bowl win over Tom Brady for the Giants came in February 2012. Even the Yankees are going on 17 seasons since claiming their record 27th World Series crown in 2009. Only New York City FC’s Major League Soccer championship in 2019 and the Liberty’s 2024 WNBA title have satisfied the Big Apple’s appetite.

The Knicks should approach the Finals with urgency. After all, they’re getting older (as are we all), and the Spurs figure only to get better. This may be New York’s best chance to prevent that lengthy drought from becoming a lot longer.