As regular college basketball watchers know, the ability to win on the road is one factor that separates the good teams from the potentially great ones. As a result, our latest bracketology has a change on the top line as Arizona replaces Tennessee as a projected No. 1 seed.

The Wildcats had to work overtime to win at Utah before facing a quick turnaround against a Colorado squad that desperately needed a quality win. But the ‘Cats were all business, completing the weekend road sweep in blowout fashion against the Buffaloes. On the same day, a red-hot Tennessee team got cooled considerably at Texas A&M, making the Volunteers’ stay as a No. 1 very short lived.

The other three regional headers remain the same as, with Connecticut, Purdue and Houston all posting wins over the weekend.

In other moves, Clemson and Virginia are trending in the right direction, Wisconsin and Kentucky are headed the opposite way, and a six-bid Mountain West Conference remains a possibility.

Last four in

Mississippi, Utah, Nebraska, Nevada.

First four out

Gonzaga, Cincinnati, Villanova, Wake Forest.

Next four out

Colorado, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Providence.

Conference breakdown

Multi-bid leagues: Big 12 (9), SEC (9), Big Ten (6), Mountain West (6), ACC (4), Big East (4), Pac-12 (3), American Athletic (2), Atlantic 10 (2).

NCAA tournament bubble games to watch this week

Tuesday, Feb. 13

Marquette at Butler, 6:30, FS1

Iowa State at Cincinnati, 7 p.m., ESPN2

St. John’s at Providence, 7 p.m., CBSSN

LSU at Florida, 8 p.m., SEC

Mississippi at Kentucky, 9 p.m., ESPN

New Mexico at Nevada, 11 p.m., CBSSN

Wednesday, Feb. 14

Xavier at Seton Hall, 7 p.m., CBSSN

Thursday, Feb. 15

Northwestern at Rutgers, 6:30 p.m., Big Ten

Colorado at UCLA, 9 p.m., ESPN

California at Washington State, 10 p.m., Pac-12

Utah at Southern California, FS1, 11 p.m.

All times Eastern

Donna Kelce may have achieved celebrity status on television, due in part to her son Travis helping lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a third Super Bowl title in the last five years.

But while traveling home from Las Vegas, the site of Super Bowl 58, her frequent flier status may have been even more important.

‘Mama Kelce’ got a little shout-out from the Southwest Airlines crew on her return flight Monday, complete with an MVP designation for ‘Most Valuable Parent.’ Video of the interaction even made its way to Southwest’s Instagram account − where it received over 100,000 likes in the first 12 hours.

CHIEFS FANS: Here’s where you can buy the Super Bowl 58 commemorative cover

After getting to meet the pilots, Kelce posted in a photo caption that her next stop will be at the Chiefs’ victory parade in Kansas City on Wednesday.

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A volatile mix of huge crowds, mud and alcohol at the WM Phoenix Open had fans and players talking about changes needed to keep the event safe while maintaining its unique atmosphere.

On Saturday, the tournament shut its gates in the early afternoon, leaving ticketed fans unable to gain entry. At the same time, alcohol and food sales were cut off − all in an attempt to ease crowding near the entrance. The issue, organizers believed, was that muddy conditions left much of the course unsuitable for fans, forcing them to crowd into smaller areas.

Tournament organizers are already saying changes are in the works for next year’s event.

Speaking to the Golf Channel on Monday, Chance Cozby, the executive director of the civic organization that hosts the Phoenix Open, said the initial focus will be on the sale of general admission tickets and tournament security.

‘I think that you will see a complete operational change of how we manage, really, our Friday and Saturday, but the entire week,’ Cozby said. ‘We don’t like what happened on Saturday. The players don’t like what happened on Saturday. Our fans don’t like what happened on Saturday, and, so, nothing is off the table.’

The Scottsdale Police Department also cited the unusual weather as a contributing factor to the crowd control problems.

‘The course conditions were not normal due to the mud and rain,’ Allison Sempsis, the department’s public information officer, said. ‘This resulted in the large crowds only occupying a small portion of the course and caused large buildup of crowds.’

Sempsis also noted that, at one point, fans were being allowed in without having their tickets scanned.

‘There was a large group of attendees that were stopped before going through the gate,’ Sempsis said. ‘Attendees were waved through for a short time period in order to keep everyone safe and to create a larger space for people to move around on the course.’

Sempsis did not say whether Scottsdale police plan to make any changes to their procedures next year. Tournament chairman George Thimsen was not available for comment Sunday.

The tournament stopped announcing daily attendance figures in 2019. The last time attendance was made public, 576,807 fans watched the four days of tournament action, including over 200,000 on Saturday, which is typically the most crowded and chaotic day.

Sempsis said, ‘Every year after the event, SPD and other partnerships continually assess and evaluate what can be done the following year to ensure everyone attending the event is safe and has a good experience.’

As intoxicated fans reveled in the conditions Saturday, that safety came into question.

All over the course, shirtless fans found muddy hills to slide down. A shirtless fan leapt into a bunker on the 16th hole to do sand angels. Videos of fans who were unable to stand straight took hold on various social media sites.

For many tournament regulars, those events and other logistical issues tipped the scales.

One regular attendee, Todd Williams of Phoenix, has gone to the Open for 10 straight years but said the tournament would need to announce ‘drastic changes such as multiple new entrance points and more concessions’ for him to continue attending.

‘I’m all for the party and craziness,’ Williams said. ‘The insane and rowdy crowds make the event. This year, Friday felt like a normal Saturday, and Saturday was just complete chaos. It was hard to enjoy the event when it took 30-plus minutes at any concessions and bathrooms were long waits, too.’

Elizabeth Suchocki, a regular attendee who lives in Tempe, echoed that sentiment.

‘I felt cramped and anxious,’ Suchocki said. ‘All of a sudden, there were just so many people in our area. … But people just kept packing in and packing in and there were people all over. And I was like OK, this is a lot of people, this is very uncomfortable.’

Suchocki was frustrated by the lack of communication from the tournament. At 2:05 p.m. Saturday, the Phoenix Open’s X account posted a message notifying fans that gates were closed but made no mention of food or alcohol sales being impacted. And with overcrowding on the course, many fans were unable to get cell service.

‘If you’re going to shut down alcohol, if you’re going to shut down food, you need to communicate that over the speakers,’ Suchocki said, ‘because it created more chaos.’

When the tournament’s account posted a video on X on Sunday morning celebrating the party atmosphere on the 16th hole, it received 50 replies, almost all of which were critical.

‘Your event has become an embarrassment,” one reply read. ‘It’s out of control.’

‘Embarrassing the game,’ read another. ‘PGA players need to boycott next year.’

Tour pros debate where to draw the line

Billy Horschel likes the WM Phoenix Open. Loves it, even. Every year, playing in the event is a priority for him. Partly because he believes TPC Scottsdale suits his game, but for more than that, too.

‘I love the energy, I love the crowds,’ Horschel said. ‘I love some of the funny things they say.’

Typically, the players who choose to participate in the Phoenix Open revel in the event’s unique role on tour. With a handful of notable exceptions, likeChris DiMarco’s famous comments in 2004, they celebrate the atmosphere.

After his win in Sunday’s playoff, champion Nick Taylor said, ‘The atmosphere has been incredible all week.’

But that sentiment began to shift for some. By Sunday afternoon, Horschel had seen enough. That’s when he was shown on video yelling at a fan for heckling during Nicolo Galletti’s backswing. ‘Buddy, when he’s over a shot, shut the hell up, dude,” Horschel told the fan. “He’s trying to hit a damn golf shot here. It’s our (expletive) job.’

Outside the clubhouse after his round, Horschel explained to The Republic where he draws the line.

‘When you’re impacting the golf tournament, that’s where it gets a little bit too much,’ Horschel said. ‘And when you’re saying personal things. The last couple of years, the guys I’ve played with, I’ve heard some personal stuff yelled at them. And I think that’s just not right.’

Whether players decide not to return to the tournament remains to be seen, but Horschel said it became a discussion point this week.

‘It’s been talked about amongst players about, if this would continue to escalate over the next few years, you could see players not want to come here,’ Horschel said. ‘And that’s an unfortunate situation.’

Horschel said he would be back, but Zach Johnson − another player who was shown in a viral video over the weekend arguing with fans − was not so committed.

‘You’re hitting me at a very emotional point right now, so if I were to say if I’m gonna come back, I’d probably say no,’ Johnson told The Republic. ‘But at the same time, I have no idea.’

Johnson added, ‘This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I’ve been on tour and this is my 21st year.’ He plays in it, he said, because he likes the course. But this week, his frustrations mounted.

‘I don’t know what the line is, but you have people falling out of the rafters, you have fights in the stands,’ Johnson said. ‘It’s to the point where now, how do you reel it in? Because it’s taken on a life of its own. I think the Thunderbirds probably need to do something about it. I’m assuming they’re ashamed. Because at some point, somebody’s either gonna really, really get hurt or worse.’

Like Johnson, Horschel worries about a tragedy occurring with the number of intoxicated fans on the course.

‘We all know alcohol plays a massive factor in all of this,’ Horschel said. ‘And I think limiting the alcohol sales, limiting what time alcohol starts, limiting how many drinks someone can buy. I think there’s a couple different (solutions) that can happen.’

Horschel said he spoke with the Thunderbirds − the group that runs the tournament − to voice his complaints.

‘I think they understand the situation and they want to do right for everyone involved with this tournament,’ Horschel said. ‘So we’ll see what happens.’

.

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – A federal judge in Tennessee is mulling a preliminary injunction which would suspend NCAA rules regarding name, image and likeness benefits for athletes. He expects to make that decision in ‘short order.’

On Tuesday, Judge Clifton Corker heard arguments from attorneys representing the state of Tennessee and the NCAA in an Eastern Tennessee District courtroom.

Corker didn’t announce an order from the bench but soon will determine whether the NCAA’s NIL rules cause irreparable damage to athletes. It’s unclear whether Corker will deliver that decision this week or next.

Attorneys general for Tennessee and Virginia, who filed the antitrust lawsuit over NIL rules, await the decision. So do the NCAA and the University of Tennessee, who are locked in a fierce fight over NIL rules about 70 miles away.

About 40 people, including a few Tennessee fans, were present in the gallery for Tuesday’s hearing, which lasted 70 minutes.

If the injunction is granted, it could have a seismic impact on college sports. It would freeze the NCAA’s rules banning NIL recruiting inducements for more than 523,000 athletes at 1,088 institutions, at least until the case concludes

Under current NCAA rules, college recruits and transfers cannot negotiate and sign NIL contracts before enrolling at a university.

What it means for NCAA investigation into University of Tennessee

This federal case and the NCAA’s investigation into Tennessee aren’t directly connected, but the prior impacts the latter.

If the injunction is granted, the NCAA likely would drop the most serious charges against the school. Otherwise, it would be attempting to punish a school for breaking rules in the past that are unenforceable and potentially illegal in the present.

If the injunction is denied, the NCAA could be emboldened by the small victory and continue its investigation with vigor, or it could see the writing on the wall and abandon the probe. After all, Corker previously said that NIL rules likely violate antitrust laws.

But the longer Corker takes to make a decision, the more time the NCAA has to move forward with its investigation.

The NCAA is investigating allegations that Tennessee broke NIL rules in multiple sports, including football, the Knoxville News has learned. But the university has not received a Notice of Allegations, so the probe could still heat up or cool down.

The San Francisco Giants have added another free agent outfielder to their roster.

Veteran Jorge Soler, who played last season with the Miami Marlins, has agreed to a three-year, $42 million contract with the Giants, according to a baseball official with direct knowledge of the deal. The official spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not yet been announced. 

Soler, who hit 36 home runs for the Marlins in 2023, gives the Giants a much-needed power bat in the middle of their lineup. They had the fourth-lowest slugging percentage in the majors last season (.383) and team’s leading home run hitter, first baseman Wilmer Flores, hit just 23. No one else had more than 18 homers.

The signing was San Francisco’s second major addition this offseason, following Japanese outfielder Jung Hoo Lee’s six-year, $113 million deal. However, Lee is more of a contact hitter and a plus defender in center field.

Soler, 31, played 32 games in the outfield last season for Miami and served as the designated hitter for 102 games. Since the Giants also have Mike Yastrzemski, Luis Matos and Austin Slater in the outfield, Soler will likely spend most of his time at DH, possibly sharing time with lefty-swinging Michael Conforto.

HOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.

Pay the man.

That’s a real theme of what might happen next for Andy Reid, not whether or not he’ll walk off into the sunset.

Reid just won his third Super Bowl – tied with Bill Walsh and Joe Gibbs for third all-time, eclipsed only by Bill Belichick (6) and Chuck Noll (4) – but ranks as the third-highest paid coach in his own division.

The Kansas City Chiefs coach earns about $12 million per year, per multiple reports, leaving him in the dust when compared to two AFC West counterparts. Sean Payton is believed to be the NFL’s highest-paid coach, with multiple outlets putting him at roughly $18 million per year when he joined the Denver Broncos in 2023. Jim Harbaugh, meanwhile, landed a $16 million-per-year package with the Los Angeles Chargers last month, per reports, when he bolted from the University of Michigan after winning a college national championship.

By those comps, Reid has clearly out-performed his contract in guiding the Chiefs to the first repeat Super Bowl crown in 19 years and capturing a third NFL title in five years. He has two years remaining on his current contract.

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Yes, as Reid confirmed (again) on Monday, he’s coming back.

It’s your move, Clark Hunt. The Chiefs owner, whose franchise had not won a Super Bowl in 50 years before this dynasty run, should tear up Reid’s existing contract and give him a hefty raise that shows some more appreciation for the championship glory.

Reid, 65, can thank Payton and Harbaugh for pacing the market. And of course, he can tip his cap to Patrick Mahomes, the three-time Super Bowl MVP who brings Reid’s creative schemes to life. 

Hunt foots the bill for the massive contract that ties up Mahomes, with the team last fall restructuring the 10-year, $450 million deal the signal-caller signed in 2020. The Chiefs will also have to pay a pretty penny to keep All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones and star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed from leaving as free agents this offseason.

Yet that’s the cost of doing business in a powerhouse league where revenues continually increase and are believed to be in the neighborhood of $20 billion per year. The Chiefs get a benefit by playing in taxpayer-supported Arrowhead Stadium as the value of the franchise is expected to keep rising, bolstered by another Super Bowl victory. In 2023, Forbes estimated the franchise’s worth at $4.3 billion, its value more than doubling in five years.

With Reid being such an integral part of the Chiefs operation, it’s hard to believe that he won’t land a new contract. His value was demonstrated again on Sunday as he outcoached San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan ($14 million) to cap what was likely his best job yet over the course of a season. And it was striking to hear some Chiefs players talk of being prepared for nuances of the NFL’s new overtime rules for the playoffs, covering the topic as far back as training camp. By the same token, several 49ers maintained that they were unaware of the new overtime rules. 

While the Chiefs are at it, they should also invest in upgrading the facilities at their headquarters and in other areas of their operation. The team ranked 29th in the league in a report card released in 2023 by the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) that was based on a player survey. The team tied for 22nd for its weight room (with outdated training equipment cited as an issue), tied for 24th for its training room and tied for 28th for its locker room. The team was given an ‘F’ for its travel. And separate from the NFLPA survey, some regard the practice bubble as below NFL standards.

Then again, the questions about the facilities makes the case for a raise even stronger for Reid.

After all, he’s not planning on leaving anytime soon. Why would he? He has the NFL’s best quarterback in Mahomes.

He knows. With Belichick (who, according to Sportico, had a $25 million-per-year contract before parting ways with the New England Patriots) and Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll gone, people wonder if he’s close to retiring. Reid is now the NFL’s oldest coach, turning 66 in March.

‘Honestly, I haven’t even thought about (retiring),’ Reid said on Monday. ‘But people keep asking me and I keep saying, ‘Why didn’t (Bill) Belichick and Pete (Carroll) retire?’ Ask those old guys those questions. But I’m the old guy now, so I guess I’m going to be asked that. And I really haven’t gone there.’

Now is not the time to talk retirement. But it’s a perfect time for Reid to get a championship reward.

LAS VEGAS — Imagine what the reaction would have been if Terrell Owens had screamed into the face and bumped his coach during a heat-of-the-moment tantrum in the middle of the Super Bowl.

Or Antonio Brown. Or A.J. Brown. Or Tyreek Hill.

I’m guessing the reaction would have been much different if a high-profile, super-charged and competitive Black player unloaded on his coach with the same tacky irreverence that Travis Kelce demonstrated with his blow-up on Andy Reid in Super Bowl 58.

Instead, after the Kansas City Chiefs claimed their back-to-back Super Bowl crown, Kelce pretty much laughed off the incident. And Reid squashed the whole thing, too.

‘I was just telling him how much I love him,’ Kelce said.

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Yeah, right. He hurled his helmet in frustration. Screamed like an idiot. Nearly knocked his 65-year-old coach to the turf with an aggressive bump. He put hands on the man, which is technically assault. And maybe it would have been even worse if a teammate, running back Jerick McKinnon, didn’t come over to escort Kelce away with a bear hug.

Competitive fire on display?

Whatever. The sideline episode was obviously the worst moment of what turned out to be a classic Super Bowl. Disgusting.

Had it been a Black player erupting in that fashion, I suspect it would have been a bigger deal – and maybe with talk of a pending suspension – because, well, we’ve seen a double, harsher standard throughout history.

Although Kelce spoke during his postgame news conference about how much Reid has helped him channel his emotions during his career, that was hardly enough. He should have apologized – publicly – to the man he says is the greatest coach the game has ever seen.

Reid, meanwhile, mentioned how Kelce ‘keeps me young’ during multiple postgame interviews. In his engaging, gee-whiz, pass-the-chicken-nuggies persona, he explained that he understands how Kelce is wired.

‘He caught me off-balance,’ Reid, who was looking at his play-calling sheet when Kelce unloaded during the first half, said during his postgame news conference. ‘I wasn’t watching. It was a cheap shot, but it’s all right. He did good. He was really coming over to tell me, ‘Put me in! I’ll score.’ That is really what it was. Well, I love that. I mean, it isn’t the first time. So, listen, I appreciate it.’

No, not the first time that Kelce has acted like a moron while exhibiting apparent anger issues.

During the last Chiefs training camp, Kelce punched a teammate in what was described as a retaliatory action. Kelce apologized days later, while maintaining that he needed to be a better teammate and leader.

He had another incident on Christmas, during a loss against the Las Vegas Raiders, when he hurled his helmet in disgust. It prompted Reid to intervene – and not in a touchy-feely kind of way.

Kelce, one of the NFL’s most popular players and prominent pitchmen, surely has charisma. You see it with his commercial urging people to get vaccinated. Yet he has also demonstrated a tendency of being a hothead, with the disturbing Super Bowl moment being another example of how not to lose your cool, even during an emotional game like football.

Amid the celebration on Sunday night, the laid-back Reid certainly was not going to publicly rebuke Kelce’s actions. That’s not his style. Besides, Kelce is an all-pro game-changer and not some third-string role player. He has tremendous respect from Reid, which is why he was one of the three players – along with Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones – that Reid tapped to speak to the team on the eve of the Super Bowl. And multiple accounts maintained that Kelce gave the most passionate speech, which is surely believable when considering his postgame address to the crowd as it rained confetti at Allegiant Stadium.

It’s also worth noting that after Kelce had just one catch in the first half, he caught fire in the second half and finished with a game-high nine catches for 93 yards. His 22-yard catch during the final seconds of regulation set up the field goal that forced overtime.

So, the no-harm, no-foul takeaway from Reid is understandable. It’s pretty much engrained in sports culture: the star players are going to get the breaks that lesser players don’t.

Reid has also pushed back on Kelce. During the episode on Christmas, Reid wouldn’t allow a team staffer to return the helmet that Kelce hurled. At least not right away. And the coach gave Kelce what seemed to be a few stern words – and Reid shoved his tight end, too, as he got his point across.

So, their connection and history underlies what went down Sunday.

‘He wants to help his team win,’ Reid said. ‘It’s not a selfish thing and I understand that. And so, as much as he bumps into me, I get after him. We understand that.’

Yet the status of the Chiefs tight end and all the attention he generates as the love interest of Taylor Swift, should not give him a pass.

Especially in the context of the terrible message that came with Kelce’s tirade. He completely disrespected his coach in a fashion that should never be OK. 

Sure, it might have been a bigger storyline had the Chiefs not become the NFL’s first repeat champion 19 years.

But the Chiefs won. Reid is still standing. And Kelce is still to some, a hot-headed folk hero.

It’s once again a winter in which the Major League Baseball offseason never really ends. But time waits for nobody – not even a handful of Scott Boras clients.

With pitchers and catchers reporting to camp Tuesday and commencing first workouts Wednesday – the Korea-bound Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres already started – the handful of elite free agents and gaggle of unsigned others won’t make it on time.

Sure, almost all will find jobs, but new business is at hand. So let’s wrap up a bit of the old and examine the winners and losers of this most momentous offseason:

Winners

Atlanta Braves

Not easy to do much when you’ve won 104 games and have nearly every position player under a long-term contract – yet GM Alex Anthopoulous managed to swing 10 trades involving 24 players, with several changing clubs multiple times.

HOT STOVE UPDATES: MLB free agency: Ranking and tracking the top players available.

And in the end, likely made his club even better. The Braves will enjoy the upside of 24-year-old Jarred Kelenic batting eighth and oft-dominant lefty Chris Sale operating out of the No. 4 starter role. Versatile Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer were added to the bullpen.

Even if Kelenic doesn’t tap into his potential or Sale doesn’t rediscover his dominance and make 30 or so starts, it is a nice shakeup to a club that hasn’t gotten out of Philly and the NL Division Series the past two seasons.

Cincinnati Reds

The additions weren’t splashy – infielder Jeimer Candelario ($45 million), swingman Nick Martinez ($26 million) and reliever Emilio Pagan ($16 million) – but they give the Reds a certain strength in numbers they lacked last season, when pitching injuries slowed a surprise run to contention.

Now, they have a diverse and fortified lineup, featuring both power and speed and with eight of the nine projected starters toting OBPs between .330 and .348 (the ninth is the dynamic Elly De La Cruz). They could use one more pitcher, but the state of the NL Central – the Brewers folding, the Cardinals’ vaunted reload amounting simply to Sonny Gray, the Cubs staying fairly quiet – breeds opportunity.

Baltimore Orioles

It’s almost impossible for a team with a payroll south of $100 million to win 101 games and emerge the following winter in even greater position.

Yet these are heady days in Baltimore, where the Angelos family’s impending sale to David Rubenstein signals potentially less tumult and higher payrolls down the road. Meanwhile, GM Mike Elias’s sound infrastructure enabled them to acquire former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes from the Brewers, giving them three potential aces and six bona fide starters in an era many teams don’t have more than three.

With No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday expected to join the mix, the Orioles will begin the season as consensus AL East favorites for the first time this century.

Houston Astros

A rare free agent expenditure – guaranteeing Josh Hader arguably the biggest contract ever ($95 million) for a reliever – gives their bullpen a daunting late-inning look, with Hader, Ryan Pressly and Bryan Abreu. Franchise icon Jose Altuve was extended for five years.

And while their starting pitching is still a little iffy, Shohei Ohtani is out of the division and the Rangers will begin the season with Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle on the mend. While Seattle will have a say, things are aligning for a seventh consecutive full-season division title.

Losers

Blue Jays, Cubs, Giants

A trifecta, simply because all had high hopes to land a Shohei Ohtani-like figure, all have been linked to at least one of the remaining elite free agents – and all would really disappoint their fans if they don’t add any of them.

The Plane Ohtani Was Never On is kind of a decent metaphor for the Blue Jays’ offseason, during which they’re slated to lose Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman and only add DH Justin Turner, utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Cuban pitcher (via Japan) Yariel Rodriguez.

While Chapman had a subpar platform year at the plate, his absence would be palpable with the Blue Jays – and either of these teams failing to add him would leave glaring holes. Cavan Biggio (Toronto), Nick Madrigal (Chicago) and J.D. Davis (San Francisco) would man the position to varying degrees of capability, but likely not at an All-Star level.

Meanwhile, the Giants can’t get superstars to take their money, so overspending a bit ($113 million) on Korean outfielder Jung Hoo Lee was their next best option. They did add Jorge Soler, who slugged 36 homers last season, to a three-year, $42 million deal. But they still have multiple holes in their starting rotation; remaining free agents Blake Snell and Cody Bellinger would solve problems in San Francisco and Chicago, but for now, the staring contests continue.

Boston Red Sox

Not so much what they did or didn’t do but rather what they’ve become: A non-destination for elite free agents.

The franchise that won a World Series after signing Daisuke Matsuzaka expressed interest in Yoshinobu Yamamoto but wasn’t really in play for him. Ohtani? Heh.

It’s almost like years of half-measures and scrimping in odd places have turned Fenway Park into an unserious place for elite players. While the lineup features an intruging mix, the paucity of pitching (Lucas Giolito probably won’t solve that, Jordan Montgomery would only help so much) makes them an overwhelming choice to finish last in the AL East for the third time in five years.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers? Winter spenders of $1.2 billion? Proud new caretakers of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow? Losers?

Well, everything’s relative – and the Dodgers’ ceiling was already so high, anyway.

Will Ohtani boost ticket sales? The Dodgers were already playing to 93% capacity.

Send TV ratings through the roof? The Dodgers already enjoy an $8.35 billion TV contract.

What about those jersey sales? Well, they go into a centralized revenue stream, anyway.

And how about on the field? Lest you forget, the Dodgers have already made the playoffs 11 consecutive seasons and won 100 games last year.

Certainly, the new guys will help – a lot. But come Oct. 8, they’ll simply be one of eight clubs hoping the postseason roulette wheel spins favorably. Sure, they might have a better than 12.5% chance of winning the World Series.

But the grander expectations and lavish spending will far more likely engender greater disappointment if they again fall short of a championship – as the postseason crapshoot heavily suggests they will.

Univision’s goal in broadcasting its first Super Bowl was clear.

‘Our absolute objective for this game is to deliver the most-watched Super Bowl in Spanish language history in the U.S. Period,’ Olek Loewenstein, Univision’s president of global sports business, told USA TODAY Sports ahead of the big game.

And deliver they did.

Univision’s United States broadcast of Super Bowl 58 was the most-watched Spanish language broadcast of the championship to date. According to final Nielsen ratings, an average of 2.3 million viewers tuned in across all platforms to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers and capture their third title in five years. The overtime matchup was also the longest game in Super Bowl history by 10 minutes, 59 seconds.

The network said in a statement that the most eyes were on the broadcast — 2.66 million people — during Usher’s halftime show where he delivered a medley of hits while dancing and roller skating.

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In partnership with CBS, the overall viewership for the game was the most in Super Bowl history, reaching an average of 123.7 million viewers.

The previous record for a Spanish language broadcast was set by Telemundo, who hosted the first network broadcast of the Super Bowl in 2022. Univision’s viewership was about 20 percent higher than Telemundo’s 1.9 million fans. Last season, Fox Deportes hosted the Spanish language Super Bowl broadcast and saw 951,000 viewers. Univision beat that number by more than 140 percent.