After six weeks of testimony from the plaintiffs, the Los Angeles Angels began their defense in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs by calling a former player to testify.

CJ Cron, who had two stints with the Angels, testified on Monday, Dec. 1, that Skaggs informed Cron he could acquire opioids from Angels communications employee Eric Kay, according to The Athletic. Cron testified he eventually paid cash to Kay and received the pills in the Angels clubhouse.

Kay is serving a 22-year sentence for providing Skaggs an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl that resulted in the pitcher’s July 2019 death. Skaggs’ family is seeking $120 million in future earnings plus other damages from the Angels, claiming they knew or should have known that Kay was providing drugs to Skaggs.

Cron, a first baseman and designated hitter, testified that Skaggs informed him Kay could provide pills, likely after Cron mentioned he was playing through pain. Cron previously testified in a similar fashion at Kay’s criminal trial in Texas.

The Angels traded Cron to Tampa Bay before the 2018 season; according to The Athletic, Cron testified that Skaggs delivered him 15 oxycontin pills at Tampa Bay’s team hotel when the club played the Angels in May, and Cron paid Kay in cash later at Angel Stadium.

Cron also texted Skaggs in July 2018 before the Angels visited Tampa Bay.

‘Get as many blues from EK as you can, I’ll pay you however much.’

Replied Skaggs, in a reference to Kay’s struggles with addiction: ‘Lol he is off them. Text him.’

Cron testified that his text to Skaggs was in jest.

The Angels, per The Athletic, are scheduled to call orthopedist Neal ElAttrache, who performed Skaggs’ 2014 Tommy John surgery, and club president John Carpino to the witness stand this week. Skaggs’ mother, Debbie Hetman, testified that she informed ElAttrache of Skaggs’ 2013 Percocet addiction. The trial is scheduled to conclude Dec. 12.

The PWHL expanded to eight teams for the 2025-26 season, adding franchises in Vancouver and Seattle.
Attendance for the league’s original six teams grew by 6.6 percent at their home-openers compared to the previous year.
The PWHL’s average attendance per game already surpasses that of the American Hockey League, the NHL’s top affiliate.

Year over year, the PWHL continues to grow. 

It didn’t take long for the league to show that growth in the 2025-26 season, with attendance up across the league’s now eight home-openers.

Not only did the league expand on the ice this season, adding the Vancouver Goldeneyes and Seattle Torrent, but the PWHL continued to grow off the ice as well, adding to its fan base.

Across its Original Six franchises, five of six teams saw attendance grow on opening night, representing a 6.6 percent increase. 

American markets, in particular, saw an uptick with the reigning-champion Minnesota Frost adding more than 1,100 fans for their banner-raising night. 

While the Boston Fleet and New York Sirens continue to trail the pack with the league’s lowest average attendances, they saw the most significant year-over-year increases in attendance at their home-openers. In New York, the Sirens welcomed 23 percent more fans in year two, despite playing at the Prudential Center on the same day as the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. The Fleet saw the largest increase, watching home-opener attendance balloon by 35.5 percent from 2024-25 to 2025-26.

Expansion teams pushing women’s hockey attendance to new heights

While the Original Six showed positive growth, a pair of record-setting openers for the league’s two newest teams stole the show at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.

On the opening night at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum, the league’s first and only venue where a team is the primary tenant, the Goldeneyes drew a sold-out crowd of 14,958. The mark was a new record for the PWHL for attendance at a permanent home venue. With their own venue, the Goldeneyes became the first PWHL team to play their home-opener with their logo painted at center ice.

It was another new step for the Goldeneyes and their fan base, who immediately embraced the team and league.

‘You know that when you walk into the Pacific Coliseum, you’re coming to see the Goldeneyes, and I think that’s something that’s so special,’ Goldeneyes forward Sarah Nurse told reporters. ‘It’s something that the fans have really embraced. To see the amount of jerseys and merch in the stands – I took a second to look around the entire arena, and it just seemed like everybody had a piece of Goldeneyes merch.’

Vancouver’s home venue record lasted less than a week, however, as the mark was quickly broken at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena for the Torrent’s home opener. Seattle not only surpassed Vancouver’s home venue mark, but it also set the new American professional women’s hockey attendance record (14,288), surpassed the arena’s previous women’s hockey mark set during the 2022 Rivalry Series (14,551) and broke the all-time American women’s attendance record for an indoor game set in 2017 by St. Cloud State and the University of Wisconsin (15,359).

Seattle’s attendance of 16,014 raised the bar for the PWHL.

‘It’s super special. A lot of inaugural (experiences), but there’s something about Seattle that is just so special,’ Seattle Torrent captain Hilary Knight told reporters. ‘I don’t know if it’s the rich history of women’s sports, how you all have started a movement well before we even got here, to the icons and the legends that have graced this arena. We could feel the love…the big takeaway is how special this was. A dream come true, pinch me moment.’

In the past, players have pointed to markets such as Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto as having the most difficult buildings to play in due to large and loud crowds. Opponents immediately took note in Vancouver and Seattle of the crowd factor.

‘It’s fun to play in buildings like this when fans are engaged and loud,’ said Minnesota Frost veteran Kelly Pannek following their game in Seattle. ‘It’s great that they have a new team and set a new record, and it’s fun to see all the other markets in the U.S. compete to try to one-up that mark. Even if it’s not the crowd cheering for you, it’s so fun to play in a sold-out arena.’

Will another league-wide record fall? 

In 2024-25, the PWHL drew 653,415 fans across its 90-game regular-season schedule, averaging 7,260 fans per game.

In comparison, the highest average attendance since 1962 for the AHL, the NHL’s top farm league, is 5,982. The AHL set that mark in 2015-16.

Already the second-most attended hockey league in North America behind only the NHL, the PWHL will again break its own records this season with a now 120-game schedule, featuring 30 games in Seattle and Vancouver combined.

Last year, a large chunk of the PWHL’s attendance came on the PWHL Takeover Tour, drawing sold-out crowds in markets like Vancouver and Quebec City, with the total attendance across nine games reaching 123,601. 

This season, the Takeover Tour has expanded to 16 games in Chicago, Detroit, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Hamilton, Halifax, Washington, Denver and Dallas. Seattle and Vancouver were venues in 2024-25 but have become permanent fixtures in the league. 

With more games in bigger venues and an early increase already in the books, the PWHL continues to grow its footprint and fan base.

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The Washington Commanders have been without Jayden Daniels for the last three games because of an elbow injury. Could that change in Week 14 against the Minnesota Vikings?

Daniels has made slow-but-steady progress in his attempt to return from a dislocated left elbow. The second-year quarterback returned to the practice field ahead of Week 13. He hasn’t yet been cleared for contact, but once he is, he may have a chance to return to that lineup.

Naturally, if Daniels is able to return, the NFL’s reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year would provide Washington’s offense a boost. It would also mark an improbably short comeback from an injury that many initially feared would knock him out for the season.

Here are the latest injury updates about Daniels and his status for Week 14 and the rest of the 2025 NFL season.

When will Jayden Daniels return?

The Commanders have not provided a definite timeline for Daniels’ return. His status for Week 14 remains in question, as Washington coach Dan Quinn revealed during a Nov. 1 media availability the second-year quarterback had not yet been cleared for contact.

‘He’s still going through that process of the functional testing,’ Quinn told reporters. ‘I’ll have a better sense as we go through the week.’

Quinn then told reporters the team wouldn’t have a concrete update on whether Daniels will potentially be able to play the team’s Week 14 game against the Minnesota Vikings until Friday.

Daniels originally returned to the practice field ahead of Washington’s Week 12 game against the Denver Broncos. Quinn made it clear the 24-year-old was ‘unlikely to play’ but characterized his participation as a good sign.

‘Man, it’s good to get started and get the return to play going,’ Quinn said at a Nov. 24 media availability. ‘That’s a big deal for us.’

Quinn has made it clear he believes ‘it’s important’ for Daniels to play again in 2025, if he’s healthy enough to do so. The second-year quarterback is in agreement with his coach.

‘If I’m healthy, and I’m ready to go, I want to be out there,’ Daniels told reporters on Nov. 25.

Who is Commanders backup QB?

Mariota, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Oregon, has posted a 1-5 record across six starts in place of Daniels. The 32-year-old has completed 63.2% of his passes for 1,359 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns and six interceptions while adding 248 yards and a score on the ground.

Mariota has a 35-45 career record across 80 starts. Before the 2025 season, he had not started an NFL game since he went 5-8 across 13 starts with the Atlanta Falcons in 2022.

Commanders QB depth chart

Daniels is one of four quarterbacks in the Washington organization. Below is a look at the pecking order within the unit:

Jayden Daniels (injured)
Marcus Mariota
Josh Johnson
Sam Hartman (practice squad)

Johnson, 39, has backed up Mariota in Daniels’ absence. The veteran has played for an NFL record 14 different teams since being selected in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He has a career record of 1-8 and last made a start for the Baltimore Ravens in 2021.

Hartman signed with the Commanders as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame in 2024. He hasn’t yet played a regular-season snap at the NFL level.

The New England Patriots routed the New York Giants in front of a national television audience on ‘Monday Night Football’ at Gillette Stadium on Monday, Dec. 1.

The win was the streaking Patriots’ 10th in a row as New England owns the NFL’s best record after Week 13.

However, what fans might remember most from the Patriots’ 33-15 win over the Giants might be a real unfortunate moment for New York’s kicker, Younghoe Koo. It is arguably the biggest blooper of the 2025 season, and among the NFL’s biggest field goal blunders.

Here we’ve listed some of the all-time NFL field goal fails:

11. Younghoe Koo kicks FieldTurf

Down 17-7, the Giants already were in a bad way at Gillette Stadium against the Patriots. Koo lined up for a 47-yard attempt that could have trimmed New England’s lead down to seven. Instead, Koo’s boot came up short. Literally. He kicked into the artificial surface inches behind the ball. Giants holder Jamie Gillan had to pick up the ball and scramble. He was tackled for what will go into the record books as a sack.

10. Joe Nedney vs. Bears in 2005

They don’t call it the Windy City for nothing. On a mid-November afternoon at Soldier Field, Chicago lived up to its moniker as high winds wreaked havoc on the Bears’ matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.

Sporting a 3-0 lead in the final seconds of the first half, 49ers head coach Mike Nolan sent Joe Nedney out to attempt a 52-yard field goal. What the heck, right? What’s the worst that can happen? Well, the worst did happen. Nedney’s kick into a stiff wind pushed the ball well off target and into the arms of the Bears’ Nathan Vasher. Vasher collected the ball 8 yards deep in the end zone, eluded 49ers pursuers and scampered for an unlikely touchdown. After Vasher had one of the longest plays in NFL history, the Bears would go on to win, 17-9.

9. Lane Kiffin has Sebastian Janikowski attempt 76-yarder

Kiffin has been in the news lately for yet another ugly coaching exit. Two days before Al Davis had seen enough from his young head coach, the polarizing Kiffin sent Sebastian Janikowski out to attempt a 76-yard field goal during a game in Week 4 of the 2008 season. It did not go well. Davis fired Kiffin, and who can forget the press conference announcing the dismissal in which Davis used an overhead projector like a 1980s-era science teacher?

8. Cody Parkey double-doink in 2018 playoffs

NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth made ‘double doink’ part of NFL lexicon after the Bears’ Cody Parkey missed a 43-yard field goal attempt in an NFC wild-card playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Parkey’s kick hit the uprights, then the crossbar before landing in the end zone.

‘The Bears’ season is going to end on a double doink,’ Collinsworth said during the game broadcast.

Parkey had made a habit of hitting the uprights, including four times in a game against the Detroit Lions.

7. Blair Walsh in 2015 playoffs

Walsh – who was a Pro Bowl kicker during the 2012 season – was put on the spot in a 2015 wild-card playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. The game was played outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium – normal home to the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team – in the season before the team’s new stadium, TCF Bank Stadium, opened. In below-zero temperatures, the Seahawks and Vikings had played a low-scoring game. Minnesota, however, managed to get Walsh into position to move the team onto the divisional round, setting up the kicker for a game-winning 27-yard field goal attempt. Instead, Walsh missed badly and Seattle prevailed, 10-9.

6. Mike Vanderjagt in 2005 playoffs

The 2005 Indianapolis Colts were on a real heater. The team opened the season 13-0 before finishing 14-2. The Colts hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC divisional playoff game at the RCA Dome in what would be a memorable playoff showdown. After falling behind 21-3 to the Steelers, the Colts had rallied and down 21-18 had put kicker Mike Vanderjagt into position to tie the game. Instead, Vanderjagt missed badly on a 46-yard field goal attempt, and to top it off got penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after the play.

Nearly three years earlier, Vanderjagt went on a cable TV show in Toronto and criticized future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and Colts coach Tony Dungy for a lack of competitiveness. Asked about Vanderjagt’s comments, Manning said ‘our idiot kicker who got liquored up and ran his mouth off.’

The 2005 playoff was Vanderjagt’s last game with the Colts. The Steelers, meanwhile, went on to win Super Bowl XL.

5. Tony Romo botches snap in 2006 playoff

The Seahawks defeated the Cowboys, 21-20, in an unforgettable wild-card playoff game in Seattle. The game is known primarily for a botched hold by Tony Romo on what would have been a go-ahead field goal in the game’s final minute. Cowboys kicker Martin Gramatica lined up for a 19-yard field goal with 1:19 remaining in the game. Romo was the holder (back when quarterbacks would occasionally take part in such plays). The snap from center slipped through Romo’s hands. The quarterback then picked up the ball and attempted to scramble for the end zone, but was tackled for no gain on what was a fourth-and-1 play.

4. Garo Yepremian in Super Bowl VII

About the only imperfect aspect of the Miami Dolphins’ perfect 1972 season was a crazy play on a blocked field goal attempt by kicker Garo Yepremian in Super Bowl VII against Washington at the L.A. Coliseum. Yepremian lined up for an attempt that if made, would have put the Dolphins up 17-0 in a 17-0 season. Instead, the kick was blocked, Yepremian picked up the football and tried to throw a pass. It was instead deflected into the hands of Washington’s Mike Bass who raced 49 yards for a touchdown. The Dolphins still won, 14-7, but Yepremian’s play lives in pro football infamy.

3. Billy Cundiff in 2011 AFC title game

The Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots met in a hotly contested AFC championship game that came down to the final seconds. Trailing 23-20 with 15 seconds remaining in the game, the Ravens sent kicker Billy Cundiff out for a game-tying 32-yard field goal attempt. Cundiff missed badly and the Patriots would go on to play in Super Bowl 46.

Adding to Baltimore’s misery was that Cundiff’s kick didn’t even need to happen. Two plays earlier, Ravens receiver Lee Evans couldn’t hold onto a Joe Flacco pass in the end zone. After Evans’ drop, Cundiff sealed the Ravens’ fate at Gillette Stadium.

2. Gary Anderson in 1998 NFC title game

The Minnesota Vikings were up 27-20 against the surprising Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game, and were in position to ice the game. With just over two minutes remaining, Vikings kicker Gary Anderson lined up for a 39-yard field goal attempt that would have given the Vikings a 10-point lead and nearly assured the team’s first trip to the Super Bowl since the mid-1970s. Instead, Anderson – who had made 39 consecutive field goals before this kick (no missed field goals or extra points during the entire 1998 season) – missed wide left. The Falcons had new life, marched down the field and scored the game-tying touchdown. In overtime, the Falcons kicker – Morten Andersen – booted the winner (a 38-yarder) and the Falcons were a stunning Super Bowl entrant.

1. Scott Norwood in Super Bowl 25

One of the greatest Super Bowls ever played ended on a missed field goal. Scott Norwood’s miss is a tempting butterfly effect debate. What would have happened had he made the kick? Instead, the Buffalo Bills went on to lose four consecutive Super Bowls. In an epic clash with the New York Giants, the Bills moved into position to win the game in the final seconds. Norwood’s 47-yard attempt sailed wide right and the Giants held on for a hard-fought 20-19 win.

Dillon Brooks delivered an impressive performance in the Phoenix Suns’ 125-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, Dec. 1, ending the Lakers seven-game win streak and finishing the night with some trash talk.

In a game where the Suns’ star player, Devin Booker, exited after only 10 minutes due to a strained right groin, Brooks stepped up significantly. He scored 23 points in the first half and finished the game with a total of 33 points, making 15 of his 26 shots from the floor during his 33 minutes on the court.

Brooks was not shy about provoking the crowd at Crypto.com Arena and LeBron James with his trash talking and celebratory gestures that mirrored James’s own celebrations. At one point, Brooks did an exaggerated shoulder shrug aimed at James, which appeared to upset the Lakers’ fans.

‘He likes people that bow down,’ Brooks said after the game. ‘I don’t bow down to him. So, that either entices him or it aggravates him – either-or.’

After their victory over the Lakers, the Suns have won seven of their last 11 games and improved their record to 13-9. Brooks is averaging 22.3 points per game this season for the Suns.

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Mya De Jesus came to flag football through a bit of backdoor. Now, the senior at Harrison (New Jersey) High might be looking at a scholarship in the sport.

‘The flag football coach, he had seen me play basketball and he was like, ‘I need you to try out,’ ‘ said De Jesus, who also plays point guard on the basketball team. ‘I’ve never heard of flag, had no idea what it was … I’m like, ‘OK, whatever, we’re just gonna do it.’ And I just fell in love with it. It’s just such a fun game. I feel like anyone that plays it will just love it.’

De Jesus plays running back and linebacker for her high school team, where she ran for 510 yards and seven touchdowns on offense and had 49 tackles on defense as a junior last spring. De Jesus was already getting recruited to play in college, but thanks to the New York Jets, flag football will have its first official conference in the spring of 2026.

The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) will launch a women’s flag football league with a $1 million investment from the Jets through the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation. The league will begin play in the spring of 2026, starting in February. The season will kick off with a media day at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 27, 2026. Fifteen universities in the Northeast will compete in 7-on-7 flag football from February through April. The top six to eight teams will advance to a playoff tournament at MetLife Stadium in May.

It’s the next logical step for flag football which, as of late 2025, is sanctioned in 17 states as a varsity high school sport, with many more states in various stages of pilot programs. The numbers continue to grow as the flag football gains popularity and recognition. 

‘One of the beauties of adding this sport is every college already has a field,’ ECAC commissioner Dan Coonan said. ‘They already have locker rooms, so there’s there’s not really a much infrastructure they need. There’s not a whole lot of equipment.

‘If you’re looking to add women’s opportunities, it’s pretty easy to go from zero to 60 on it.’

The Jets were in on flag football early. They started programs to grow the sport in New York and New Jersey in 2011. They have since created more than 260 teams in three countries, giving opportunities for nearly 7,000 girls to play flag.

‘We reached out to a couple of different groups, and when we found the ECAC and what their model is in the number of schools that they have in their relationships with, we thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to grow the game,’ said Jesse Linder, Jets vice president of community relations.

‘It’s also to kind of push the NCAA and push the institutions that, ‘Hey, this is coming. The Olympics are coming.’ We need to get on board so that these girls have a spot to get ready for the next step. The other thing, too, is the only way that the sport is really going to grow in the exponential level … is to have those scholarships, right?’

Callie Brownson, who coached in the NFL most recently with the Cleveland Browns, played tackle football for the D.C. Divas in the Women’s Football Alliance (WFA) for eight seasons. She is working with the ECAC and Jets as a flag football advisor.

‘The first time I watched a high school (flag football) game in 2020, just the passion and the excitement and the attachment to it,’ Brownson said. ‘That’s how I felt when I played and when I was around the sport and it was it was inspiring to me.

‘I remember saying, ‘Whatever’s needed for me for this to grow, I’m all in.’ … Football is a part of our culture, I know I would have loved to have played flag football or any kind of football besides Powder Puff (in high school).’

The opportunities are just getting started for players like De Jesus, thanks in part to the Jets.

‘If the Jets didn’t help my high school, we definitely wouldn’t have had flag as early as we did,’ De Jesus said. ‘Our neighboring town, Carney, they just started this year. We have four years on these teams that are just starting, which I think is pretty cool.

‘(The Jets) promote flag football so much and they’re one of the teams, they’re not just doing it for publicity, they actually really care about the teams and put a lot of hard work and dedication into it.’

ECAC women’s flag football schools

School, Name, Location, Division

Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, Division III
Caldwell University*, Caldwell, NJ, Division II
Dominican University, Orangeburg, NY, Division II
Eastern University, St. Davids, PA, Division III
Fairleigh Dickinson*, Teaneck, NJ, Division I
Franciscan University, Steubenville, OH, Division III
Kean University, Union, NJ, Division III
Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, Division I
Mercy University, Dobbs Ferry, NY, Division II
Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA, Division I
Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, Division III
Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, MD, Division I
Union College*, Schenectady, NY, Division III
Penn State Schuylkill, Schuylkill Haven, PA, Division III
Sweet Briar College*, Sweet Briar, VA, Division III

*Will begin play in spring 2027

When the New York Giants took the field for their first defensive series on ‘Monday Night Football’ against the New England Patriots, first-round rookie Abdul Carter remained on the sidelines.

The Penn State product was once again expected to take on a larger role for the Giants with Kayvon Thibodeaux (shoulder) out of action. Instead, Carter sat on the bench in an oversized coat for New York’s first two defensive series, during which the Giants surrendered 10 points and fell behind 17-0.

Carter’s benching marked his second in a three-game span. Giants interim coach Mike Kafka benched him for the first defensive series of the team’s Nov. 16 game against the Green Bay Packers after the No. 3 overall pick missed a walkthrough while in a recovery bed.

Carter disputed reports he napped through a team activity and insisted the treatment was part of his training.

But what led the Giants to bench Carter early in their ‘Monday Night Football’ game against the Patriots? Here’s what to know about the 22-year-old’s latest benching.

Why was Abdul Carter benched on ‘Monday Night Football’?

Giants interim coach Mike Kafka did not provide a detailed explanation about Carter’s benching when asked about it postgame.

‘Just based on how we went during the week, that was a decision I wanted to make,’ Kafka said.

Kafka went on to repeat that Carter’s benching was ‘my decision’ 11 times during his availability, per USA TODAY Sports’ Chris Bumbaca. That included when the 38-year-old coach was pressed on whether there were any disciplinary reasons for the first-round rookie sitting out the first two series.

‘The standards that we have in our program are sky-high and everyone’s upheld to them, but that was my decision. My decision only,’ Kafka said. ‘Anything else outside of it, it’s gonna be kept in house.’

What Abdul Carter said about being benched on ‘MNF’

After the game, Carter told reporters ‘(expletive) happens’ when asked about his benching and was focused about moving forward in its wake.

‘Like I said, I have to be better,’ Carter told reporters. ‘I have to take pride in what I do, be where I have to be at. Simple as that.’

Kafka offered his full support of Carter despite the benching. He praised the impact the 22-year-old made upon coming into the game, during which the No. 3 overall pick logged four tackles and the first full sack of his career.

‘Again, those are tough decisions to make, but that was my decision and, again, the kid, nothing with him,’ Kafka said. ‘Everything that we did was my decision and obviously I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it, which I understand, but I thought that was the best thing for the team and it was my decision to move forward with it and that’s where we’re at.’

Siena men’s lacrosse coach Liam Gleason was hospitalized Sunday, Nov. 30, after what school officials have called a ‘serious accident’ at his home.

The school declined to release additional information out of respect for Gleason and his family. ‘We ask that you keep Coach Gleason and his family in your thoughts and prayers,’ Siena said in a prepared statement.

Gleason, who turned 41 on Friday, Nov. 28, has been the head lacrosse coach at Siena for the past seven seasons. He led the Saints to a MAAC championship and an NCAA Tournament berth last season.

A GoFundMe page established to help Gleason’s family had raised over $250,000 as of 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

BATON ROUGE, LA – Verge Ausberry had secured the greatest booty of college football’s coaching carousel, but LSU’s athletic director still had to travel behind enemy lines to retrieve it.

No trouble, right? Fly into Mississippi. Pick up the package. Fly out.

Ha. Nothing about hiring Lane Kiffin could ever be so easy.

The initial plan had been that LSU’s plane would pick up Kiffin from the Tupelo airport, 50 miles from the University of Mississippi. At least that would provide some distance between the LSU envoy and the Ole Miss fans furious by Kiffin’s heel turn.

Once aboard the plane, Ausberry learned plans had changed. They’d be flying into Oxford, ground zero itself, to secure LSU’s prize.

“I said, ‘We’re going where? Oxford? They’ll be shooting missiles at us,’” Ausberry said.

No missiles fired, but Ole Miss students and fans who gathered at the airport gave the LSU plane and anyone who boarded it a middle-finger salute.

As Ausberry waited for Kiffin to arrive, the pilots asked him if he wanted to deplane and use the restroom.

“I said, ‘That’s OK. I’ll hold it,’” Ausberry said.

Smart thinking.

Kiffin had concerns of his own, and why shouldn’t he? He’d made his choice to leave Ole Miss on the playoff’s doorstep, but he still had to get out of Dodge.

Ole Miss had hired Kiffin when powerhouse schools like LSU didn’t want him. The Rebels had given Kiffin the opportunity to relaunch his career inside the SEC and rebuild his image.

The relationship became gloriously beneficial for both parties for six seasons, but Kiffin couldn’t resist the itch to coach another blue-blood. He left Ole Miss at the worst possible moment — with the Rebels on the verge of their first playoff appearance.

As Kiffin made for his exit route, Ole Miss fans wanted to give him the sendoff he’d earned.

Kiffin claims people tried “to run us off the road” on his drive to the airport. Kiffin had his son, Knox, in the vehicle with him. Kiffin, concerned for their safety, says he called a cop friend for help.

At the Oxford airport, fans were lined up at the fence line, waiting to jeer Kiffin and flip him the bird. Not your ordinary job change, though perhaps a bit familiar for Kiffin.

Even after Kiffin boarded the plane, he wondered to himself: Had he made the right choice to leave?

And then he landed in Baton Rouge.

A king’s welcome awaited. Fans cheered and hollered his name. The savior had arrived. Kiffin noted the time. He’d been in town for six minutes.

“There’s the (LSU) fans, just all of them out there at the airport, and their excitement and their passion … as we’re going to the office, and you go by Tiger Stadium, and it’s lit up, and you are like, I absolutely made the right decision,” Kiffin said, “and (those bad feelings) all went away.’

This is how it goes in the South’s college football hotbeds. They’ll worship you when you arrive. If you win big, they’ll worship you more. You’ll become more than a king. You’ll be a god. What a power trip. Just ask Nick Saban.

If you fail, they’ll holler for your firing.

And, buddy, if you leave for a hated rival, well, good luck getting out of town. Because, that’s not just a job change. That’s betrayal.

One town’s traitor becomes another’s hero.

“That’s the SEC,” Kiffin said. “I’ve been around it long enough to know that, and it’s just the passion of the SEC.”

Kiffin admitted that hearing what Ole Miss fans said as he left and seeing their reaction hurt him. It got to him. He also took it as a compliment: If they were that incensed at him leaving, that must have meant he’d done the job well while he was there.

When Kiffin returns to Ole Miss next season on the LSU sideline, it’ll be the hottest game on that weekend’s calendar. Don’t forget to bring the mustard, Rebels.

Much has been said and written lately about what Kiffin’s exit means for his legacy. At Ole Miss, his name is forever tarnished, but I’m not sure Kiffin’s legacy is all that changed, on the whole.

This is his legacy. He’s arguably the most polarizing figure in college football history.

Years ago, he left a great SEC job in the middle of the night but not undetected. Tennessee fans gathered in protest and literally burned objects in the street.

He’s the lightning rod with enough charisma and talent to make everyone in one state love him, even as everyone in another hates him after he twisted the knife on them.

Of course Kiffin would become the first college football coach to ever leave his team and not coach it in the playoff. And for anyone who thought a coach would never do that, and skip out on a chance to win a national championship, well, you’ve never met Kiffin. He’s the rebel who doesn’t bend to norms.

He likes to say he doesn’t just think outside the box. He builds a new box.

Stay and pursue a national championship at Ole Miss? That would sound nice to some, but, sorry, that’s Baton Rouge calling. Kiffin would have liked to accept the LSU job and have still coached Ole Miss in the playoff. When Ole Miss brass made him choose, he cast his lot with LSU.

And when more coaches repeat this move in the future, Kiffin will take pride in knowing he was the pioneer. He steamrolled the path for all the renegades who’ll inevitably follow.

You’ll hear plenty about how this moment — a coach leaving one team on the playoff’s doorstep to move up the perceived food chain — is awful for the sport.

Is it? Or is it the epitome of this sport.

These past 48 hours and the scenes emanating from Oxford and Baton Rouge could be a dang infomercial for college football, especially within the SEC, or at least a YouTube tutorial for those who don’t understand this zany enterprise.

College football’s never been about the postseason, and certainly not about the College Football Playoff. Heck, the playoff is younger than Kiffin’s youngest son.

College football peaks in the fall, when the rivalries burn hottest, when fans storm the field seconds after an upset ends, not worrying about who they might trample along the way, when games radiate from college towns, inside ancient 100,000-seat cathedrals instead of the glitzy NFL stadiums that hijack the games in the playoff.

No matter how big the bureaucrats make the playoff, college football isn’t about the playoff.

It’s about loving your team, hating your rivals, worshipping your heroes while you revile the heels.

At the heart of college football are the rivalries that burn as hot as the sun.

And at the center of those rivalries, are the coaches.

Even as college athletes celebrate more power and recognition than they’ve ever had before, the coaches are college football’s stars in ways they are not in the pro leagues.

And there’s never quite been a coach like Kiffin. Everyone feels some type of way about him, and they’ll feel those feelings deeper after these past three days.

In Oxford, their former king disgusts them now. That’s fine. He’ll be feted at LSU.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.