It’s finally here.

In Scott Stallings’ case, that means his Masters invitation.

Last week, three-time PGA Tour winner Scott Stallings was patiently waiting for his invite to play at Augusta National in April in the first major of the year. Yet it never arrived.

Instead, it went to Scott Stallings, who happens to share the same name as the professional golfer but doesn’t have quite the skills.

The other Stallings, an Atlanta realtor, received the golfer’s invite by mistake and shared it on social media, quickly going viral. Nothing to fret, however, as the golfer Stallings received his invitation from the realtor Stallings in the mail after the mixup.

The Stallings will meet at Augusta National in April, as the golfer will host the realtor during a practice round.

A Russian Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary tribunal has found that while then-15-year-old Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva committed an anti-doping rule violation, she bore “no fault or negligence” for it, the World Anti-Doping Agency announced Friday morning. 

RUSADA imposed no sanction except for the disqualification of her results on the date the sample was collected, which was Dec. 25, 2021. 

It is considered very likely that WADA will appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which would then make a final decision on Valieva’s punishment and eligibility to compete. 

WADA said it will wait to announce its plans until after it sees a copy of the RUSADA decision. 

“However, based on the elements of the case with which WADA is already familiar, the agency is concerned by the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ and will not hesitate to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, as appropriate,” WADA said in a statement. 

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency CEO Travis Tygart blasted the RUSADA ruling in a text message Friday morning, urging action not only from WADA but also the International Skating Union, the worldwide federation governing figure skating.

“WADA and the ISU have to appeal this decision for the sake of the credibility of the anti-doping system and the rights of all athletes,” Tygart said. ‘The world can’t possibly accept this self-serving decision by RUSADA, which has been a key instrument of Russian state-sponsored doping fraud and is non-compliant with the world anti-doping code.”

Eleven months ago at the Winter Olympics, Russia won the gold medal, the United States won the silver medal and Japan won the bronze in the team figure skating competition. The following day, those results were thrown into disarray when Valieva, the star of the Russian team, was found to have tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine the previous December, forcing the unprecedented cancellation of the event’s medal ceremony.

There could be a re-ordering of the medals if Valieva were to be disqualified by CAS, with the United States moving up to take the gold, followed by Japan and Canada, the fourth-place finishers in the competition.

Another CAS panel that convened at the Beijing Olympics allowed Valieva to continue to compete in the women’s competition at the Games, citing the fact that Valieva was a “protected person” (a minor in this case) under WADA rules. That CAS ruling did not address the merits of the doping case and in fact allowed her to compete in part because of the possibility that she might not be banned at a later date.  

‘As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Beijing Games, it remains very important that the figure skating team event athletes who competed in Beijing get the resolution they deserve,” U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday afternoon. ‘We thank WADA for their commitment to reviewing this issue and moving the process forward as expeditiously as possible.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) – Robbie Knievel, an American stunt performer who set records with daredevil motorcycle jumps following the tire tracks of his thrill-seeking father – including at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1989 and a Grand Canyon chasm a decade later – has died in Nevada, his brother said. He was 60.

Robbie Knievel died early Friday at a hospice in Reno after battling pancreatic cancer, Kelly Knievel said.

“Daredevils don’t live easy lives,” Kelly Knievel told The Associated Press. “He was a great daredevil. People don’t really understand how scary it is what my brother did.”

As a boy, Robbie Knievel began on his bicycle to emulate his famous father, Evel Knievel, who died in 2007 in Clearwater, Florida.

But where Evel Knievel famously almost died from injuries when he crashed his Harley-Davidson during a jump over the Caesars Palace fountains in Las Vegas in 1967, Robbie completed the jump in 1989 using a specially designed Honda.

Robbie Knievel also made headline-grabbing Las Vegas Strip jumps over a row of limousines in 1998 at the Tropicana Hotel; between two buildings at the Jockey Club in 1999; and a New Year’s Eve jump amid fireworks in front of a volcano attraction at The Mirage on Dec. 31, 2008.

After a crash-landing to complete a motorcycle leap over a 220-foot (61-meter) chasm at an Indian reservation outside Grand Canyon National Park in 1999, Robbie Knievel noted that his father always wanted to jump the spectacular natural landmark in Arizona, but never did. Robbie Knievel broke his leg in his crash.

Evel Knievel instead attempted to soar over a mile-wide Snake River Canyon chasm in Idaho in September 1974. His rocket-powered cycle crashed into the canyon while his escape parachute deployed.

Robbie Knievel’s brother recalled other stunts including a 2004 jump over a row of military aircraft on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a museum in New York.

Robbie Knievel, who promoted himself as “Kaptain Robbie Knievel,” set several stunt records, but also failed in several attempts. In 1992, at age 29, he was injured when he crashed into the 22nd of 25 pickup trucks lined up across a 180-foot (55-meter) span in Cerritos, California.

“Injuries took quite a toll on him,” Kelly Knievel said Friday.

Kelly Knievel lives in Las Vegas. He said his brother died with three daughters at his side: Krysten Knievel Hansson of Chicago, Karmen Knievel of Missoula, Montana, and Maria Collins of Waldport, Oregon.

Services were not immediately scheduled, but Kelly Knievel said his brother will be buried with other family members in Butte, Montana.

The singer and beauty mogul released a teaser for her performance on Friday, acknowledging her long hiatus from music. Rihanna has not released an album since 2016’s ‘ANTI’ and has not performed publicly since the 2018 Grammys, where she sang DJ Khaled’s ‘Wild Thoughts.’

‘Rihanna is who everybody is waiting for,’ a voice says in the clip before another person shouts, ‘RihRih, where have you been?’ while the diamond-certified singer poses in a fluffy yellow jacket with lights flashing around her. The trailer ends with her song ‘Needed Me,’ a declaration of how essential she is.

Rihanna appeared at the Golden Globes on Tuesday with boyfriend A$AP Rocky, who she has a newborn son with. She was nominated for Original Song for her work on ‘Lift Me Up’ for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.’ While her Navy fanbase continues to beg her for new music, host Jerrod Carmichael gave her a different message at the awards ceremony.

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‘I’m gonna say something very controversial. I will actually get in trouble for this,’ he said with a smile. ‘Rihanna, you take all the time you want on that album, girl. Don’t let these fools on the internet pressure you into nothing!’

Rihanna also released a collection of limited edition T-shirts through her Savage x Fenty website for her Super Bowl performance. The white T-shirt says, ‘Rihanna concert interrupted by a football game, weird but whatever.’

OPINION:The NFL and Jay-Z said they’d amplify league’s social justice efforts. They didn’t. 

In 2019, Rihanna said she rejected an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, citing a desire to support ostracized quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Jay Z, who played a role in signing her to Def Jam when she was 16 years old, has served as a consultant for the NFL since 2019 as the league seeks to expand its cultural influence and support of social justice.

NHL Central Scouting confirmed what has been clear for years – and especially since the world junior championship: Connor Bedard is the top prospect for the 2023 draft.

Bedard, who heads up the midterm rankings, won tournament MVP by scoring 23 points in seven games as Canada repeated as gold medal winners. In his first game back with the Regina (Saskatchewan) Pats, the 5-10, 185-pound center scored four goals and two assists in a 6-2 win against the Calgary Hitmen.

Bedard, 17, who entered the Western Hockey League draft early as a 15-year-old, has a league-best 70 points in 29 games. He has a 28-game point streak since being shut out in the opener. Last year, he had 100 points in 62 games.

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With the winner of the draft lottery in April able to move up only 10 spots this year, the bottom 11 teams have a chance to land the generational talent. Here’s a look at the teams with the best chances, starting with the last-place team (stats as of Jan. 12; this file will be updated at various points during the season).

Columbus Blue Jackets (12-27-2, 26 pts.)

They made the biggest offseason splash by signing Johnny Gaudreau, but issues abound. The team is racked with injuries, including No. 1 defenseman Zach Werenski and top six forward Jakub Voracek. Goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, last in the league in goals saved above expected, according to Money Puck, is out with an illness. Gaudreau, who was called out by coach Brad Larsen, responded with a goal and six shots on Jan. 12, but the Blue Jackets lost for the 12th time in 14 games. Bedard would answer the question of who plays between Gaudreau and Patrik Laine.

Chicago Blackhawks (11-25-4, 26 pts.)

The Blackhawks parted ways with Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach, Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik in the offseason and were playing as expected. But they have won three in a row, moving percentage points ahead of the Blue Jackets. They did it without star Patrick Kane (lower body), who was placed on injured reserve. If the Blackhawks choose to continue their rebuild, they have plenty of unrestricted free agents who could be moved at the deadline, ranging from Max Domi and Andreas Athanasiou to franchise players Kane and Jonathan Toews (who would have to waive their no-movement clauses).

Anaheim Ducks (12-26-4, 28 pts.)

Their minus-77 goal differential is worst in the league. They didn’t get their first regulation win until Nov. 23 and it took them until Dec. 15-17 to get two in a row. Though they had another two-game winning streak in early January, they were outscored 13-3 in their next two games. General manager Pat Verbeek dealt pending UFAs Josh Manson, Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell last season. This year’s UFA list includes John Klingberg and three other defensemen.

Arizona Coyotes (13-23-5, 31 pts.)

The rebuilding team has been hurt by a road-heavy start of the season (26 out of their first 38 games), and their road losing streak has hit 12 games. But they also have lost their last three games at Mullett Arena and seven in a row overall. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun has played well since returning from injury but also had expressed interest in a trade. Bedard would be a good selling point as voters choose whether to approve a new arena in Tempe during a May special election.

San Jose Sharks (13-23-8, 34 pts.)

Erik Karlsson leads all defensemen with 56 points in a resurgent Norris Trophy-caliber season that also earned him an All-Star Game berth. But the Sharks have only four home wins. First-year general manager Mike Grier could choose to continue to remake this team, as he did with an offseason trade of Brent Burns. Plus, he has a decision to make on pending restricted free agent Timo Meier, their leading goal scorer.

Montreal Canadiens (17-22-3, 37 pts.)

The Canadiens went through a 1-9-1 freefall after a strong start, but they have won two of their last three games. Brendan Gallagher will miss at least six weeks with a lower-body injury. The team also holds the first-round pick of the Florida Panthers, who currently sit in the bottom 11.

Vancouver Canucks (17-21-3, 37 pts.)

The Canucks overcome a season-opening 0-5-2 start to top .500 on Dec. 27. But they have lost six out of seven since. They have put up good offensive numbers but are plagued by defensive mistakes and a league-worst penalty kill. No. 1 goalie Thatcher Demko is hurt and wasn’t playing well before the injury. The team announced that Tanner Pearson (hand) is out for the season. Veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was a healthy scratch on Jan. 12.

Other teams

Philadelphia Flyers (17-18-7, 41): The John Tortorella-led team had a 10-game winless streak following a 7-3-2 start. They’re on an upswing, winning six of their last seven. Travis Konecny has 20 points in a 10-game point streak.

Ottawa Senators (19-19-3, 41 points): The Senators, who made major moves in the offseason, seem to be gelling after a slow start. Josh Norris is out long-term with a shoulder injury.

Florida Panthers (19-20-4, 42): Last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners gave up their first-rounder last season to Montreal for rental defenseman Ben Chiarot. That could come back to haunt them if they win the lottery with long-shot odds.

Buffalo Sabres (20-18-2, 42): They’re new to the list after their three-game losing streak allowed the Detroit Red Wings to pass them in the standings. Tage Thompson is an All-Star and Rasmus Dahlin is playing at that level. But the Sabres have given up at least four goals in each of their last five games.

When Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field early in a game against Cincinnati on Jan. 2 and required life-saving CPR, David Silverstein had déjà vu.

Silverstein, a certified athletic trainer, now works with the U.S. Army at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, just south of Tacoma, Washington. But two years ago, in January 2021, he was sitting in the gym at Shaw High School in East Cleveland during halftime of a boys basketball game when a player rushed onto the floor.

“Z’s down, come quick!” 

“Z” was Zaharius Hillmon, a senior guard and younger brother of WNBA player Naz Hillmon.

Silverstein sprinted to the locker room to find Hillmon violently convulsing as a terrified teammate cradled him. Silverstein told the player to carefully lower Hillmon to the floor. 

At first glance, as Hillmon’s eyes rolled back into his head, Silverstein thought the teen was having a seizure. 

But then, “I did my ABCs, like I’d been trained to do,” Silverstein recalled. 

That meant checking Hillmon’s airway, breathing and circulation. Hillmon was gasping repeatedly, a sure-tell sign someone can’t breathe on their own, he said. Silverstein checked Hillmon’s pulse. When he felt nothing, he immediately started CPR. 

Hillmon, just 17, was having a heart attack. 

It was a shocking, terrifying moment — and one too common in sports. Deadly cardiac events are well-known in arenas and playing fields across the world, from Hank Gathers to Pete Maravich to Olympic ice skater Sergei Grinkov.

But it is most common among those who aren’t playing in prime time or for big paychecks. Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among young athletes, according to the Mayo Clinic, with between one in 50,000 to one in 80,000 deaths per year.

The CDC estimates about 2,000 seemingly healthy people under the age of 25 die each year due to sudden cardiac arrest, a statistic cited by many health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Hamlin, like Hillmon, was saved by the quick action of a certified athletic trainer; Bills’ assistant trainer Denny Kellington, who performed CPR on Hamlin, has been hailed as a hero. 

But what if no athletic trainer had been present? 

One in three American high schools don’t have access to a certified athletic trainer, according to the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA). And it’s been that way since NATA first started tracking data about a decade ago.

With roughly 24,000 high schools in the U.S., that translates to about 8,000 that don’t have an athletic trainer patrolling the sidelines, a startling number considering nearly 8 million high schoolers play organized sports. 

‘Would you let kids play football without shoulder pads?’

In East Cleveland that night, Silverstein told a player to go find the school’s automated external defibrillator (AED), thinking they’d need to shock Hillmon’s heart once he had enough of a rhythm. As Silverstein continued compressions, he worried about the device being fully charged and wondered if the pads were new enough that they’d stick. 

Meanwhile, another teammate had run upstairs to retrieve Hillmon’s phone, abandoned on the bleachers after live streaming the first half of the game on Instagram (in January 2021, because of COVID protocols, no fans were present).

The player looked into the phone and shouted for Hillmon’s mom, NaSheema Anderson. “Z fainted, get here now!” She sped to the school, sprinted into the locker room and stopped cold at the scene in front her.

“To watch someone do chest compressions on your child, to know they’re only alive because someone else is pumping their heart for them, nothing can prepare you,” Anderson told USA TODAY Sports, her voice catching. “I will never, ever unsee that.”

Soon, paramedics were there too, using their AED to shock Hillmon before rushing to the emergency room. Silverstein walked back to the bench with the rest of the team, dazed and emotional, desperate to get an update on Hillmon.

It was actually somewhat of a fluke that Silverstein was even on site that night. 

On friendly terms with one of the assistant football coaches at Shaw High, Silverstein had volunteered to work as the athletic trainer during football games, knowing the school didn’t have one on staff.

Silverstein said shortly before the end of the season, Shaw’s athletic director — who has since left the school —  offered to pay Silverstein to attend basketball games, too.

But even after Hillmon’s cardiac event, Silverstein wasn’t offered a full-time role, and he told USA TODAY Sports the high school did not hire an athletic trainer to replace him when he left town months ago for his new Army gig. The school and district did not respond to request for comment from USA TODAY Sports.

That there’s no full-time trainer on staff infuriates Anderson, even if her son — who was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect that required open heart surgery — is now a healthy, thriving college sophomore dominating intramural hoops at Georgia Southern University. 

She’s also gobsmacked that thousands of other high schools are in the same situation. 

“How could a school ever explain to somebody’s parent, ‘Sorry, we didn’t have a trainer?’ How is that acceptable?” Anderson said, fury in her voice. “Tell me you don’t have the money and I will show you the photo of me sitting in a dark ICU room holding my child’s hand, praying to God that he survives one more day. 

“Don’t have athletics if you can’t support it in totality. Would you let kids play football without shoulder pads? 

ATCs, AEDs and EAPs

If you’re going to have a heart attack, the best place to do so, outside of a hospital, is at one of the following locations: an airport, a major sporting event or a casino. In all those scenarios, emergency personnel is nearby and AEDs are easily accessible. 

At the Bengals’ stadium that Monday, Hamlin was surrounded by almost a dozen medical professionals within seconds of collapsing. University of Cincinnati Medical Center doctors who operated on Hamlin credited that quick response for why Hamlin displayed ‘no identifiable neurological deficit’ when he woke up in the hospital. 

‘We may not have been as lucky if the ambulance didn’t get there when it did,’ Silverstein said. ‘We were in an urban setting, too — what if we’d been in a rural setting and it took the ambulance 20 minutes to get there? 

“I told all my colleagues after it happened, this is exactly why we drill emergency action plans.” 

And while it’s great if coaches, administrators or bystanders are trained in CPR, it’s not their job to save an athlete in crisis. What’s more, numerous studies have shown few coaches are trained in CPR, and even fewer feel confident in their ability to administer it in an emergency. 

“To expect a coach to deal with an injury when they don’t all have the training, it’s unfair to them,” said Kathy Dieringer, the president of the National Athletic Trainers Association. “The bottom line is that if you’re going to prioritize the health and safety of students, you’ll have an athletic trainer there to take care of them.” 

Dieringer is empathetic to ongoing budget crises in school districts and said finances are often cited as a reason schools don’t employ athletic trainers. Games that pass without incident or injury can give schools and parents a false sense of security, she said, and many might not realize the necessity until it’s too late.

Sudden cardiac events in high school sports

A quick internet search surfaces dozens of high school athletes who have suffered cardiac events across the country. 

Just a week ago, Ashari Hughes, a 16-year-old Las Vegas student, collapsed and died during a flag football game. Though her cause of death has not yet been determined, a family member told FOX5, a Vegas TV station, Hughes had ongoing heart issues and was seeing a cardiologist. 

The Clark County School District, where Hughes was a student, told USA TODAY via email that certified athletic trainers are present at both practice and games throughout the district, and Jan. 5 was no different. The certified athletic trainer provided immediate aid to Hughes, and deployed the AED, the school district said.

In La Porte, Indiana, about 30 miles west of South Bend, Julie West had just returned home the evening of Hamlin’s collapse during Monday Night Football, when a friend called with a warning: Don’t turn on ESPN. 

In September 2013, Julie’s son Jake, then 17, collapsed during football practice. West told USA TODAY Sports that while there was an athletic trainer on site, that person froze and someone else had to perform CPR. But there was no AED on the sidelines; it was locked away in the coach’s office. After being rushed to the ER, Jake West was pronounced dead. 

West has since become a fierce advocate for AEDs, constantly harping on the importance of the life-saving device being not just located in every school but on the sidelines of every athletic event. 

“I am never one to judge,” West said. “The problem isn’t that they didn’t know CPR, it’s that they didn’t have drills. I used to be a teacher and we drilled everything — fire, earthquake, active shooter. If we’re not practicing regularly for these events, how could we ever be prepared?”

Dieringer said athletic trainers aren’t critical only for the life-saving care they can provide, but because they’re trained to formulate emergency action plans so that if the worst happens, precious seconds aren’t wasted trying to figure out who’s doing what. 

In Kentucky, where AEDs are not required at school sporting events, a law was passed mandating schools create and rehearse emergency action plans after the tragic 2008 death of Max Gilpin, a high school football player who collapsed on the field during a 95-degree day and died of heat stroke. 

But in 2020, after Matthew Mangine Jr. died during soccer practice at St. Henry District High in Erlanger, Kentucky, his family filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging the school had no emergency plan in place.

“I don’t want another family to live what I live every day,” West said, adding that she’s thought for years, “it was going to have to happen to a pro athlete, on TV, for everyone to pay attention.”

‘It’s insane’: No certification required for athletic trainers in California

Like AED requirements, rules and regulations surrounding certified athletic trainers (ATCs), vary widely from state to state. 

Currently 49 states, and Washington, D.C., regulate athletic trainers. NATA stresses the importance of distinguishing an athletic trainer from a personal trainer. Most athletic trainers require licensure, which NATA considers ‘the gold standard,’ while New York and South Carolina require certification. Hawaii, which requires registration, is the only state in the U.S. with at least one athletic trainer in every high school.

But the real outlier is California, where more than 800,000 students play high school sports, and where athletic trainers aren’t required to be licensed, certified or registered. 

That means that anyone off the street could show up at a California high school, tape some ankles and declare themselves an athletic trainer, without any oversight from the state board or state legislature. 

“I guarantee you parents do not know that,’ Anderson said. ‘And think about it: you have to have a license to drive, you have to register if you have a dog and we spend so much time trying to regulate people’s body’s, but we’re not protecting our children? That’s insane.”

According to the CIF, California’s governing body of high school sports, 21% of California schools reported having access to a full-time athletic trainer, while 49% have no access. But the CIF cannot require schools to employ athletic trainers — that mandate must come from the California legislature. 

The CIF told USA TODAY in an email that it “encourages” schools to have certified athletic trainers on staff as they are “an integral part of the high school athletic program.”  

Hillmon, Anderson and Silverstein would agree. 

Though Silverstein is now 2,800 miles away from Hillmon, he checks in regularly with the boy he rescued, peppering Hillmon with questions on his grades, his girlfriend and his health. He talks to mom regularly, too.

“As you can imagine,” Anderson said, “David is my favorite person. This is someone who will always be in our life.” 

Like other parents who’ve experienced the trauma of their child suffering a sudden cardiac event, Anderson has made it her mission to educate others on the importance of heart screenings, AED accessibility and CPR knowledge. 

“If this happening on Monday Night Football didn’t wake up the rest of the world on how to know CPR and how important trainers are, what else could have?” Anderson said. “The one-third number, it’s startling — and it makes you wonder, who’s looking at all those physical forms and OK’ing them?’

Now, she’ll add getting athletic trainers at every high school to her to-do list. 

“Listen, you might see me and other moms on Capitol Hill, because this one-third number is not OK,” Anderson said. “Athletic trainers in high schools should be mandatory; it should be legislative. It’s not about if you think it’s necessary — I’m here to tell you, it is.” 

Follow Lindsay Schnell on Twitter at @Lindsay_Schnell

When Kurt Busch stepped out of Ryan Hunter-Reay’s No. 1 Andretti Autosport Chevy nearly 10 years ago, the 2004 NASCAR Cup champ did so with a smile, a handshake to Michael Andretti and a belly full of uncertainty.

“I wouldn’t be able to do it this year, just with stamina and not being able to give my all to by team in Charlotte,“ Busch said that day. “I need to get more comfortable in an Indy car. A day like today, I’m white-knuckled. My hands were tense and firm, and that was only after 10 laps.”

It was 10 months before Busch made the commitment. For those two months in the leadup to the 98th running of the Indy 500, Busch became a leading headline. With a run to 6th-place as a lead-lap finisher and the eventual Rookie of the Year, Busch captured the moment at IMS, but nothing more than faint rumblings about a return followed.

Kyle Larson wants to do this differently.

If the next 16 months go according to plan, the 2021 Cup champ will spend loads of time in the IndyCar simulator at General Motors’ new technical center – conveniently just down the road from Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports home base in Concord, N.C. – carve out part of a race weekend to sit in on Arrow McLaren’s team debriefs, stand on the timing stand for on-track activity and hop in an open-wheel car for an oval test before 2023 closes. With such a long runway before what he called “the biggest race of my life,” Larson, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown and Larson’s NASCAR boss, Rick Hendrick, say plans are in store for “maximum preparation” that could give the 30-year-old a legitimate shot at winning his Indianapolis 500 debut in 2024.

And if Larson can’t manage to become just the fifth rookie to win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing since the end of World War II, don’t expect this to be it. All this preparation, the short track racing legend said, isn’t a three-hour bucket list experience to be checked off a list and then forgotten about.

“I think if you look at all the types of stuff I’ve done, most recently with the dirt late models now, when I get involved with something, I don’t like it to be a one-and-done thing,” Larson said Thursday following the joint announcement with Arrow McLaren that will include Hendrick as a co-owner on Larson’s Chevy Indy 500 one-off next year. “I want to take it serious. I want to continue to compete in it and learn the craft.

“I want to win (the Indy 500) someday down the road. I’m still 30 now, in the prime of my career, and while you are, you need to take advantage of it and compete in as many events you can go have a shot at winning,”

FRANKIE MUNIZ: TV star to test at Daytona, race full time in ARCA Series in 2023

After talking to the trio that, along with HMS vice chairman Jeff Gordon, helped make Thursday’s news a reality, it seems the runway for something more long-term than Busch’s solo attempt at the 500 may have been laid. The deal gives Hendrick, whose company, HendrickCars.com, will be featured as Larson’s primary sponsor, a role in this far larger than simply being the one to give Larson the OK. That hurdle, as the driver explained, was first cleared about a year ago near Christmas of 2021 when, during a call, Larson first truly planted the seed.

“I told him, ‘I really want to do the Indy 500 someday,’ and he was like, ‘Well let’s do it then!’” Larson said. As the months passed last year during his Cup title defense, Larson kept Gordon’s ear in hopes of the idea “not losing any momentum.”

“I didn’t want Rick to forget about it,” he continued. “And thankfully, he didn’t.”

The deal with Brown gives Hendrick his first entry into the 500 which, despite being NASCAR’s winningest team owner, will leave him feeling like he did when he arrived as a rookie IMSA team boss in the mid-80s.

“I thought, ‘Man, I shouldn’t be here,’” Hendrick remembers. “Zak and I have been friends for 25 years, and I never dreamed we’d be partners to go run the Indy 500, but I always wanted to partner with a premier team if we ever did. It’s going to be really exciting for our organization and our fans.”

But those that have followed Larson’s career know that wherever the fiercest racing competition is on any given weekend, Larson’s often not far away. An annual 100-race schedule that includes his three-dozen Cup races a year is what keeps him going.

Eighteen months ago, Larson had just won what, at the time, was one of the biggest races of life in the Knoxville Nationals, the premier date on the USAC National Sprint Car calendar. Instead of sipping a few beers until the sun rose, as is typical for the race field, Larson shared a quick, rushed toast with his fans outside the media center before being whisked off to a private jet that took him to Indianapolis.

“I haven’t really gotten to enjoy it. It’s all like a blur so far, and that makes the win a little bittersweet,” Larson told the media in Indianapolis that morning after four hours sleep. “But I think running all these races helps my confidence out a lot, and with that comes momentum. I think that’s the biggest thing. I’m fresh whenever I get in a race car. My body’s just used to it, I guess.”

He’d go on to take 3rd in that day’s Cup race. Four days later on a quarter-mile dirt track built in Turn 3 of the IMS oval, Larson returned to his roots and took the BC39 crown in a performance that led track owner Roger Penske to tease the crowd, saying, “Maybe I can find a 500 driver out here tonight, what do you think? Give me a good name, will ya?”

Though it will ultimately take nearly three years from that night for Larson’s boyhood dream to become reality, he believes he’s ready for the moment. Should he start both the 500 and Cup’s Coca-Cola 600 later that day in Charlotte, Larson will become just the fifth driver in racing history – and first since Busch a decade ago – to attempt “The Double,” the feat John Andretti first completed in 1994.

The best Andretti, Robby Gordon, Tony Stewart or Busch could ever manage on the Indy 500 leg of the day has been 6th, with Stewart logging 4th and 3rd-place finishes in the 600 in 1999 and 2001, respectively. But only once – Stewart’s journey in 2001 – has a driver completed all 1,100 miles and 600 laps.

IMS president Doug Boles reckons Kyle Larson may be just the driver to tackle this feat in a way no one has – and be able to do so perhaps for years to come.

“He’s as well-positioned to be successful in a ‘Double’ as anyone has been, with the exception of Tony Stewart, only because Tony started in Indy cars,” Boles told IndyStar. “And I’d argue he’s certainly as talented.

“This isn’t a, ‘Hey, I’ve always wanted to do this my whole life, and now that I’m done pursuing my other things, I’m going to come try this.’ This is a guy who, theoretically, will be in a NASCAR title hunt in 2024, and he’s coming over there to try and win an Indy 500.”

After receiving a letter from the NFL informing him of a $13,261 fine over his coin-flipping touchdown celebration in Week 18 against the Baltimore Ravens, Mixon took to Twitter to call the league out.

His message was simple: Have another coin toss and if it comes up heads, Mixon will pay the fine.

But if it comes up tails? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has to pay the fine money to the Boys and Girls Club of Cincinnati.

The NFL is unlikely to engage in this, of course, but Mixon has at least made a funny moment out of trolling the league with his celebration.

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And if nothing else, Chad Johnson has offered to pay the fine.

The allure of NFL’s Super Wild Card Weekend – which will span three days once again, thanks to the expansion of the postseason field – is the wall-to-wall action. 

There are two games Saturday, starting in the afternoon, followed by three games Sunday. Then there’s the Monday night game. By the end of it all, you could spend in the neighborhood of 20 hours watching football this weekend. 

That’s a lot of time. People may not have other priorities, per se, but there are other commitments and obligations to attend to. Fear not.

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Here, we rank all six wild card matchups by ‘watchability’ and determine which ones are most worthy of your attention. 

6. Ravens at Bengals 

If quarterback Lamar Jackson were playing for the Ravens, perhaps this game would be much higher on this list. If Tyler Huntley were playing quarterback for the Ravens, maybe it wouldn’t even be last. But Huntley is questionable with shoulder tendinitis, setting up undrafted rookie Anthony Brown Jr. as the potential starter in Cincinnati. Furthermore, these two teams played each other last week in a game that already had significant stakes attached to it, even if the AFC North had already been decided. The primetime slot for this one is a headscratcher.

Time/channel: Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET (NBC)

5. Seahawks at 49ers

Beating a team three times in one season is difficult, but it’s what the 49ers must do to host a divisional round contest next week. The Seahawks lost five of their last eight games  and needed the Detroit Lions to defeat the Green Bay Packers to sneak into the playoff field. Meanwhile, the 49ers have won 10 in a row, five of which have been started by Brock Purdy, who originally began the year third on the depth chart. The early time slot Saturday is a good fit for this matchup. 

Time/channel: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX) 

4. Dolphins at Bills 

All of America will be sweet on the Bills this postseason, and this game would be a better watch if a third-string quarterback (Skylar Thompson) wasn’t starting for the Dolphins. The two teams played a ‘snow bowl’ classic last month, in which the Bills were victorious, and the Dolphins bested them in an early-season matchup in Miami. With all of that going against this game, Josh Allen, the Bills defense and love for Damar Hamlin make this one an ideal way to kick off a long Sunday of playoff football viewing. 

Time/channel: Sunday 1 p.m. ET (CBS) 

3. Giants at Vikings

Fans of both teams won’t have to jog their memory much to remember that Vikings kicker Greg Joseph nailed a 61-yard field goal as time expired to give Minnesota a 27-24 win on Christmas Eve. The Giants and quarterback Daniel Jones’ comeback effort against Justin Jefferson and the Vikings came up short, but set the stage for an enticing rematch. 

Time/channel: Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX) 

2. Chargers at Jaguars 

With the college football season officially over, the Saturday night primetime slot for wild-card weekend belongs to the NFL. While that was previously used to perhaps hide an unintriguing game, the NFL has the opportunity to showcase two of its bright, young quarterbacks: Los Angeles’ Justin Herbert and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence. 

Time/channel: Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET (NBC)

1. Cowboys at Buccaneers

They save the best for last. It’s Tom Brady. It’s the Cowboys in the playoffs. It’s ‘Monday Night Football.’

A blowout or wholly unwatchable game is a distinct possibility, but there is a break in case of emergency option if it goes that way: the ‘Manningcast.’

Time/channel: Monday, 8:15 p.m. ET (ABC/ESPN) 

Follow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.