Just as the high from Paris is beginning to wear off, there’s another Olympics and Paralympics right around the corner.

The Milan Cortina Olympics begin a year from Thursday. Given this is the first Winter Games since the COVID-19 pandemic and the Western Europe location makes it easily accessible for most fans, expect a rollicking show like the one in Paris. Raucous, happy fans packing public spaces and stands, athletes happy to be competing in front of families and friends, and all of it with a picturesque backdrop — though it’ll be the Italian Alps instead of the Eiffel Tower.

“In Paris, you saw the power of sport. You saw the power of the Olympic Games to bring people together,” said Kit McConnell, sports director for the International Olympic Committee.

“This is what’s waiting for us on snow and ice in one year in Milan Cortina.”

Milan Cortina will be the largest Winter Games yet, with 116 medal events in 16 sports for the Olympics. There are 79 medal opportunities in six sports at the Paralympics, which are March 6-15, 2026.

Here’s what else you need to know about next year’s Winter Games:

Where are the 2026 Winter Games?

The Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics will be held across eight sites in northern Italy. Figure skating, speedskating, short track and ice hockey will be in Milan, while women’s Alpine skiing, curling, bobsled, luge and skeleton will take place in Cortina.

Men’s Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering will be in Bormio; biathlon in Antholz; freestyle skiing and snowboarding in Livigno; Nordic combined and ski jumping in Predazzo; and cross-country skiing and Nordic combined in Tesero. Verona will host both the Olympic closing ceremony and the opening ceremony for the Paralympics.

That sounds a bit spread out

It is. Milan and Cortina are more than 250 miles apart, Cortina to Bormio is almost 200 miles, Bormio to Milan is 122 miles, Milan to — you get the picture. Though you can reach the various sites by car, train or bus, these are not Games where the snow and ice sites are in close proximity, as they were in Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Pyeongchang.

“These are not the Games where you will be watching three events a day, unless you are in Milano and you stay in Milano. But if you want to be in the mountains and then looking at some ice events, this will be impossible, right?” said Christophe Dubi, the IOC’s executive director.

“For all of us, it will all be in how we plan for the events, where we are going to go. And then for the organizers to have all the resources that are needed,” Dubi said. “You can’t do it all. It has to be planned.’

Pro tip: Bookmark the Milan Cortina schedule and move Google maps to the front of your home screen.

Is Milan Cortina ready for these Games?

Organizers mostly made use of existing venues, including some that were used when the 1956 Winter Games were held in Cortina. The others are regular hosts of World Cups or world championships, which eliminates most of the angst in the lead-up to the Games.

But there’s always something, right?

Against the IOC’s objections, local organizers decided to rebuild the sliding track that was used in 1956 at an estimated cost of $123 million, and it isn’t done yet. The IOC will decide in March if the track can be used, and there are two key tests in the coming weeks.

The first, the icing of the track is expected to be done some time this month. Then there is what is called “pre-homologation,” which is a fancy word for athletes and officials from the bosled, luge and skeleton federations inspecting and testing the track to make sure it meets their standards.

And if the track isn’t done? The IOC had wanted the Olympic sliding events to be held in Austria or Switzerland, but the Italians didn’t want to pay one of their next-door neighbors to help throw their party. Instead, the track in Lake Placid, N.Y., is Plan B.

“Very much (the Cortina track) is Plan A for the Games and we’re very confident and hopeful that it will remain on track,” McConnell said. “But there’s a lot of work still to do and it’s being very closely monitored by everyone involved.”

Speaking of headaches, what’s the status of the Russians?

Just as in Paris, don’t expect to see “Olympic Athletes from Russia” or “Russian Olympic Committee” teams. After years of trampling on Olympic ideals with little to no consequence, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine remains something even outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach can’t excuse.

The IOC is allowing the various sport federations to make the call on whether any “individual, neutral athletes” from Belarus and Russia can compete, but the conditions are so strict very few will make it to Milan Cortina.

For example, the International Skating Union, which governs figure skating, speedskating and short track, is allowing only one skater each at a series of qualifying events later this year. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, which governs Alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined, has yet to lift its ban.

And despite some thought the return of NHL players to the Olympics might entice the International Hockey Federation to lift its ban of Russia and Belarus, it announced earlier this week that it was “not yet safe” to do so.  

“As the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all, the IIHF must maintain the current status quo until further notice,” the federation said.

This likely means we’ve seen the last of Alexander Ovechkin, who is 39, at the Olympics.

Wait, the NHL is back?

Yes. And let us all rejoice, because the Olympic tournament is better with NHL players.

Fortunately, commissioner Gary Bettman agreed, announcing last year that the NHL would return to the Winter Games for the first time since 2014. Even better, the agreement is for both Milan Cortina and the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Who are the athletes to watch for Milan Cortina?

The NHL players, obviously. Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor Hellebuyck — they’re all too young to have played in the last Olympic tournament. Though if they need some pointers, maybe they can ask Matthew Tkachuk’s dad.

Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin will again be favored in multiple Alpine skiing events. Ilia “Quad God” Malinin has dominated men’s figure skating this, umm, quad, and it should be more of the same in Milan. Jessie Diggins might be even better than she was in 2018, when she led the U.S. women to the team sprint gold in cross-country skiing.

Jordan Stolz has been rewriting the record books in speedskating, winning the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 titles at each of the last two world championships. Chloe Kim will be looking for a three-peat in snowboarding while the ageless Lindsey Jacobellis could add a few more medals to her haul.

Are there any new events?

Yes! Ski mountaineering, better known as ‘skimo,’ is an endurance sport that combines skiing and climbing. Competitors will climb a hill, first on foot and then on skis, and then ski down. It is popular both as an elite sport and for weekend warriors in Italy, France and Switzerland.

‘It’s a great fit for these Games,’ McConnell said. ‘We’ll measure the success of that. With the next Games in the French Alps, we’ll see if they choose to put forward ski mountaineering, as well.’

Women’s ski jumping has added the large hill event, and there’s now a mixed relay in skeleton. Instead of the individual Alpine combined, which featured downhill and slalom runs, there is now a team combined that pairs a speed skier with a technical specialist.

Paris had gender equality. What about Milan Cortina?

No, but it’s getting closer. Women are expected to make up 47% of the more than 3,500 athletes competing, McConnell said.

“The job is not done yet because it’s not 50% and we still have that goal. But it’s a record level and another big stepping stone to that gender equality in the Olympic Winter Games,” McConnell said.

Tom Schad contributed.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

NEW ORLEANS – They’re like your favorite cabernet or chardonnay. Many improve with age, barring conditions largely outside of their control. They’re relatively subdued but pack a punch. 

They are NFL offensive linemen, perhaps the lone position group in football that gets better with time. The Philadelphia Eagles – with right tackle Lane Johnson as the clearest current example – are proof ahead of their Super Bowl 59 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs.  

“It’s like a fine wine almost,” Eagles offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland told USA TODAY Sports. “As they get older, they understand more of the importance of technique. Because an offensive lineman’s life is all technique, and I mean that.”

The best years of former center Jason Kelce’s career came in his 30s. Detroit Lions right guard Kevin Zeitler (34) is having the same trajectory. When healthy, the San Francisco 49ers’ Trent Williams – 37 at the start of next season – is one of the most dominant players in football.  

“I would relate it to probably almost being the elder statesmen in the jungle , the sense that you understand what it takes to win fights, battles and leverage and power,” former NFL offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, who earned his first All-Pro nod 10 years into his career in his age-34 season, told USA TODAY Sports. “And if you think of, like, movies you’ve seen with, like, the old lion or the old bear educating the young one – they’re full bigger and stuff, but that’s not what wins the battles.” 

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Now a studio analyst for Amazon, Whitworth compared an offensive lineman’s improvement to older UFC fighters who have an advantage over their younger competitors. They’ve been there before. 

After the Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC wild-card round last month, USA TODAY Sports asked Johnson himself to start positing the theory: do offensive linemen get better with age? 

“Oh, that’s a good question,” Johnson said. “I would say yes because we’re not having to cover a whole lot of ground, we just got to be quick inside of a short area beside some backside cutoffs. So you can make up a lot with wisdom.” 

In that game, Johnson, who will turn 35 this year, executed a spin-move block he called “a last-second parachute.” 

“The funniest thing I saw today was (expletive) Whitworth with my jersey on,” said Johnson, who noticed Whitworth shown on the jumbotron enjoying the game with Kelce and other former Eagles players. “I said, ‘By the end of this game, I might just look like his (expletive), might get some grey in my beard.’” 

In youth football and the early stages of development, the build of an offensive lineman is universal, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said, whereas receivers and linebackers have multiple body types capable of playing the position. Size is the primary reason a young player starts playing offensive line, thus they are constantly playing catch-up with their skill development. 

“Then the more that their size and strength doesn’t really go away,” Orlovsky told USA TODAY Sports, “they’re big and strong for a great majority of their life.

“It’s really, for them, just consistently building their skill group and their intellect group. And so I think the older they get, they get more skillful, they get smarter, and that’s one of the reasons why I totally agree with that.” 

As Stoutland said, technique is everything. 

“You cannot be a great player if you don’t have the right stuff technically,” Stoutland said. “And you ask any of these great players and they’re gonna back me up on that.” 

Whitworth said he doesn’t even have to watch a clip of film to know whether a lineman had a good game if somebody else says he played with great technique. 

“The reality of our position is it’s about O-linemen who get in either positions where they’re too weak or positions where they freak out and their fear of failing, they take bad steps, bad hands, they overreact to things, they lean, all those type things,” Whitworth said. “Those are the things that actually make them lose, not any of the other stuff that’s skill set-driven. So it’s really about the ability to control your body.” 

Chiefs offensive line coach Andy Heck believes in the concept based on his personal experience as a 12-year tackle and guard with three teams. 

“It took me, I felt like, seven years until I felt like I was playing at my best,” Heck told USA TODAY Sports. “It was the best combination of coaching, technique, maturing strength-wise, knowing people I’m going against.”  

But the body starts to wear down eventually. For some people, it’s faster than others.

“There comes a point where your experience and your craftiness can carry you,” Heck explained, “but you’re still diminished as an athlete.” 

Washington Commanders right tackle Andrew Wylie, who played for Heck in Kansas City for five seasons, also said his time in the league informed him of that belief. 

“I think you figure out what type of player you are,” Wylie told USA TODAY Sports. “When you’re young, that first contract, those first three years, you’re really trying to figure out what works for you in this league. It could be your thing and it doesn’t work against specific rushers, either. But I think you just figure out the player you are and sometimes that takes a little while.” 

Players being more proactive with their offseason work is one reason offensive linemen can often have greater success in the back halves of their careers. Strength is important, but mobility is equally vital. 

“As players age, they say they get stiffer,” Johnson said. “They lose explosiveness.” 

Johnson could only think of his former Eagles teammate, Jason Peters, the two-time All-Pro who signed with the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad at the age of 42 in October. 

“What year did he come in? (2003)? Holy (expletive),” he said.

Experience can be a driving factor of improvement for any player. But offensive linemen have time on their side more than positions that are involved in high-speed collisions or require more explosiveness on a per-down basis. 

“The longer you play,” Eagles left tackle Jordan Mailata told USA TODAY Sports, “the more you can refine your craft.

“(Johnson) is a prime example. Jason Kelce is a prime example of it. (Expletive), (Peters) is a prime example. Although I will say there should be a limit, a mandatory requirement to retire,” Mailata added with his trademark humor. “(Expletive), I don’t know how he’s still playing, man. He loves the game. That’s one thing I took from him.”

Whitworth said that when he entered the league in 2006, he came from a college strength and conditioning program at Louisiana State that consisted of lifting heavy weights and running.

“What I’ve seen more of the young guys that come in now is, they’re actually the opposite of us,” Whitworth said. “They’re super mobile and athletic and all these things, but they don’t necessarily have what I call foundational strength and power and what I would call your ‘man strength,’ like ‘grown-man’ strength.”  

Watching his rookie tape with the Cincinnati Bengals makes Whitworth want to “throw up.” 

“So I spent most of my career reversing all that and trying to move better to get limber and doing yoga and Pilates,” he said. 

None of this is to say that younger offensive linemen are incapable of playing better than their elder linemates. The first-team All-Pro right guard and right tackle, Quinn Meinerz of the Denver Broncos and the Lions’ Penei Sewell, respectively, both were fourth-year players in 2024. 

“I think you’re talking about some very special people, some outliers,” Heck said of the offensive lineman category of “improved with time.” “Those are great players – they were always great players. Maybe it took a year, two, three, to really notice that because they were still hung up on the other great players that were still going. Sometimes the recognition does come later because it takes a while for everyone to be like, ‘You know what? Come to think of it, that’s two or three years in a row he’s been doing that.’

“To be doing that at their age, unbelievable. Players are taking better care of themselves today than they were 20 years ago, that’s for sure. But they’re also freaks of nature, all the guys you just mentioned.”  

Whitworth laughs that the main highlight from the movie “The Blind Side” is Michael Oher blocking an unassuming defender off the field and over a fence. Plays like that are the worst indicator of whether an offensive lineman is good at his job. Observing consistent performance over an extended period of time is a more accurate way to assess a player at the position. 

“So when you’ve watched guys do it for eight, nine, 10, 11 years, there’s no question how good they are,” Whitworth said. “And that’s why all of a sudden their star goes. Because people have heard their name, moved on. Heard their name, ‘Ah, maybe I’m a little interested.’ Heard their name, and (maybe) their team has success now, they pay a little more attention. And then they get to an age where they go, ‘Man, I’ve heard this guy’s name like five, six times. God, he must be good cause he just keeps coming back.’ 

“And so I think that’s really why you see these veteran offensive linemen that finally get their due and their respect is because they’ve been that way the whole time.”

Mark Pope’s Kentucky Wildcats don’t play any more defense than John Calipari’s final team that couldn’t guard a Division II transfer last March.
Kentucky gets buried under a barrage of 3-pointers by one SEC opponent after another.
Kentucky, when healthy, good enough to topple good teams, but defense sure helps in March Madness.

The coach grew in height and shrank in ego, but other than that, tell me, what’s changed about Kentucky men’s basketball in the 10 months since John Calipari vamoosed?

Mark Pope’s Wildcats don’t play any more defense than Calipari’s final team that couldn’t guard a Division II transfer that played for Oakland last March.

Joy ride’s over, folks, halted by a 3-point barrage brought by Alabama, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Mississippi. The Wildcats have dropped four of their last five games, surrendering at least 89 points in three of those defeats.

In these last two losses against Arkansas and Ole Miss, the Wildcats (15-7) defended the hoop about like Lululemon protects its merchandise.

You want it? Take it!

Just last week, the New York Times published an article on Pope under the headline: Mark Pope’s Kentucky honeymoon phase refuses to fade.

Nice timing, Gray Lady.

Forget the honeymoon, some Kentucky fans need comforting.  

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Mark Pope holds to reputation for fun offense, fickle defense

Big Blue Nation convinced itself last spring after Calipari’s jailbreak for Arkansas that it would attract a coach listing at least one national championship on his résumé, and, if Billy Donovan and Scott Drew turned them down, well, call Bruce Pearl as the failsafe.

That plan sounded great on talk radio, but talk radio is not real life.

Kentucky hired a coach with no March Madness victories. In Pope’s five seasons at Brigham Young, only once did his team rank in the top 50 nationally for defensive efficiency, as measured by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy.

Big Blue Nation initially balked at the hire of Pope, but he’s a true ‘Cat who played for Rick Pitino. He stoked all the feels during his introduction at Rupp Arena that morphed into a revival, then won over lingering doubters by beating Duke in November, Louisville in December and Florida in January.

Since then, other teams improved, Kentucky stalled, and its porous defense repeatedly got exposed.

If only these Wildcats defended half as well as Pitino’s surging St John’s team.

Pope lives up to his reputation for a modern offense that’s usually easy on the eyes, built around the 3-pointer. He’s also adhering for his reputation for fickle defenses.

A Rupp Arena crowd that booed Calipari on Saturday before tipoff of his return made for the exits before the buzzer. Calipari’s Razorbacks came to Lexington needing a compass to find the bottom of the net. A game against the Wildcats cured their shooting ailment. They sank 13 3-pointers against a Kentucky defense helpless to stop the assault. Three days later, Ole Miss drained 13 triples, too, and the Wildcats forced exactly one more turnover than a lampshade during 40 minutes against the Rebels.

“I’m doing a poor job of finding answers to (the defensive woes) right now,” Pope admitted to reporters after the latest loss.

It’s been years since Kentucky had answers. The Wildcats’ last played truly stout defense throughout the 2018-19 season. Not coincidentally, the Wildcats’ last Elite Eight appearance came in that campaign. Since then, they’ve ranged from average to bad on defense.

Kentucky’s defense worrisome ahead of March Madness

Analytics nerds earmark teams ranked inside the top 20 of Pomeroy’s offensive and defensive efficiency ratings as smart bets to make March Madness runs. UConn and Purdue, the two teams that reached the finals last season, ranked in the top 15 nationally on both ends of the court.

Kentucky’s latest rankings? No. 2 on offense, trailing only Auburn, and 109th on defense. Calipari’s final team finished 109th in defensive efficiency.

Yes, we’ve seen this film before, and Kentucky didn’t like the ending.

“My guys are playing hard,” Pope said after a loss in which Ole Miss blitzed Kentucky with 54 points by halftime. “I’m doing a poor job with our team defensively right now.”

Pope owning his shortcomings comes as a refreshing pivot after Calipari ducked interviews or blamed youth for losses, even as he repeatedly built rosters built on freshmen over transfers.

Better than shouldering blame, though, would be devising solutions.

Now, let’s acknowledge a couple of disclaimers. After recovering from an ankle injury, point guard Lamont Butler missed the last three games with a shoulder injury. The Wildcats aren’t the same without him.

Also, Calipari’s exit cost Kentucky its roster. Five prized recruits left the signing class, three of whom followed Kentucky’s former coach to Arkansas. Several Wildcats stampeded for the transfer portal during a mass roster transition. That’s expected amid a coaching regime change.

Pope did nicely to combat the losses with quality transfers, and he deserves a chance to get a recruiting class installed before making any lasting judgments.

Still, Pope knows better than most what he signed up for at Kentucky. In a nod to the lofty expectations, he dubbed Kentucky’s preseason training camp “Banner Week.”

“Hanging banners, that’s what we’ve been called to do,” Pope said on the ‘College Hoops Today’ podcast before the season.

Unless these Wildcats commit to defense, they won’t be hanging any banners this season, because early NCAA exits that end under a blurry of buckets are grieved, not celebrated, at Kentucky. Pope’s predecessor can attest to that.

Blake Toppmeyer is a columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer. Subscribe to read all of his columns.

Some of us are old enough to remember when national signing day in early February was one of the biggest days on the college football calendar; some of us are even old enough to remember the shockingly large role the fax machine played in the recruiting process.

In recent years, the most dramatic adjustment has been the nearly wholesale shift by Bowl Subdivision programs to the earlier signing period, in early December. Another major change has been the emphasis on the transfer portal for roster management, leading to a notable deemphasis on the traditional four-year developmental process for recruits.

That means any evaluation of Wednesday’s signing day should also include December’s early period and how teams fared on the transfer market, a two-month stretch of Extreme Makeover: FBS edition. These are the biggest winners and losers from the young offseason:

Winners

Texas

The Longhorns locked down the nation’s top-ranked class back in December. This group includes five-star defensive backs Jonah Williams and Kade Phillips, five-star receiver Kaliq Lockett and another five star in defensive tackle Justus Terry, a huge pull out of Georgia. This makes Texas just the second team other than Alabama and Georgia to sign the nation’s best class since 2010, according to the composite rankings from 247Sports.com. While the Longhorns haven’t been very active in the portal, the offense could still use a more proven receiver to help new starting quarterback Arch Manning.

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Michigan

The Wolverines made Wednesday’s biggest splash by signing four-star offensive line Ty Haywood, the nation’s top uncommitted prospect. Haywood was originally committed to Alabama but backed off his verbal pledge back in December, eventually landing on the Wolverines over Florida State. This addition moves Michigan’s class into the top six nationally, according to 24/7 composite rankings, the program’s top-rated group since 2017. The Wolverines were also very active in the portal, bringing in immediate-impact transfers such as quarterback Mikey Keene (Fresno State) and running back Justice Haynes (Alabama).

Florida

On the field and in recruiting, Florida began to turn things around with November’s announcement that coach Billy Napier would return for his fourth season. Back in December, the Gators were able to turn safety Hylton Stubbs away from Miami, nab former Florida State running back commitment Byron Louis and reel back in four-star defensive lineman Joseph Mbatchou and wide receiver Naeshaun Montgomery. Florida’s most important transfer is former UCLA receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who is expected to play a big role in the passing game.

Oregon

Oregon’s traditional recruiting class includes five-star receivers Dakorien Moore and Dallas Wilson five-star defensive back Na’eem Offord, who was flipped away in December from his longtime verbal commitment to Ohio State. The Ducks have also been very productive in the transfer market, bringing in running back Mekhi Hughes (Tulane), defensive tackle Bear Alexander (Southern California), wide receiver Malik Benson (Florida State) and offensive tackle Isaiah World (Nevada).

Losers

The Big 12

The conference is well off the pace set by the Big Ten and SEC, as well as the top teams in the ACC. TCU leads the Big 12 with the nation’s No. 24 ranked class, starring four-star receivers Terry Shelton and Ed Small. The Horned Frogs are followed by Kansas State, which was able to hang onto top-ranked tight end and in-state prospect Linkon Cure. While small, Colorado 14-person class includes multiple blue-chip prospects led by quarterback Julian Lewis. The Buffaloes are again very active in the portal as coach Deion Sanders looks to rebuild his roster. Overall, the league simply hasn’t added the talent needed to close the gap between the rest of the Power Four.

Florida State

Last year’s two-win debacle didn’t do too much damage to Florida State’s recruiting class, which ranks second in the ACC behind Miami, and the need for a roster overhaul helped Mike Norvell and his staff sign what may be the league’s top group of transfers. But there have been misses along the way that keep the Seminoles’ haul from ranking among the best in the FBS. A few of these misses have come on the defensive line, including one on Wednesday in four-star edge rusher Zahir Mathis. The former Ohio State commitment picked Maryland over Florida State.

Aside from performance in the ring, voice is a major component needed to succeed in wrestling. One word and the crowd instantly knows who it is, cheers and waits in anticipation. Think of the best to ever grace the industry: they all knew how to captivate an audience on the mic.

It’s even harder to do as a ring announcer. It can get stale just announcing names. There’s legends like Howard Finkle and Lilian Garcia, who pioneered the roles and are seen as the gold standards of commanding the microphone. Just like in the ring, it takes immense talent to stand out.

That’s what made Samantha Irvin this generation’s icon. 

It was a funny rise to stardom.

Irvin didn’t attempt to become a WWE ring announcer. In fact, she had never done any announcing. She was a career musician attempting to become a wrestler. But in 2021, she was offered the mic. Little did the wrestling world know what would happen next.

“When they told me that I was going to ring announce, I said ‘OK, well, I’m gonna go so hard doing this,’” she told USA TODAY Sports.

Go hard she did. Irvin started at the developmental level before she catapulted herself onto ‘Friday Night SmackDown’ and ‘Monday Night Raw,’ stealing the show and becoming a fan favorite along the way. Whether it was the way she fabulously said Chelsea’s Green name, brought intensity when announcing Roman Reigns and The Bloodline or upped the big-match feel in title bouts, Irvin earned praise and became a voice people looked forward to hearing.

When it felt like her popularity couldn’t rise anymore, she put on a masterclass performance at WrestleMania 40. She announced both nights and her work was highly acclaimed, earning applause from one of the best in the business in Michael Buffer. She cemented herself among the greatest to do it.

But, six months later, she departed WWE, shocking fans that fell in love with her voice. It felt sudden, but according to her, it was needed. Now, nearly four months after leaving wrestling, she is starting her next chapter – now as Samantha The Bomb. Back in music form, she’s hoping those that fell in love with her in WWE will follow her as she taps into her singing career.

Because she’s far from showing the world all she can do.

“I feel creatively free right now,” Samantha said. “It’s a beautiful feeling.”

An epic WrestleMania performance

One thing Samantha desired during her WWE career was she wanted to be like the fans, not knowing what would transpire. She grew up a wrestling fan, and wanted to still have that raw feeling of finding out results in real time.

“You can’t shake 30-some years of fandom,” she said.

So it makes complete sense why Samantha had an emotional reaction to Cody Rhodes winning the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 40. She was able to announce him as the winner, but she fought off tears getting it out in what became a viral clip.

What’s funny is the tears actually started before the bell rang. It was a different bell that started it; the classic gong sound of The Undertaker’s entrance music – which sent Lincoln Financial Field into a frenzy – was when the emotions began to pour out for Samantha. She wasn’t just Samantha Irvin; she was the child that went to WrestleMania 14 and fell in love with the profession. When Rhodes emerged victorious, it was the cherry on top.

“I felt so terrible in the moment that I couldn’t get the announcement off,” Samantha said. “I felt so bad. I was apologizing to people around me.”

No one was mad at Samantha. She recalled the commentary team of Michael Cole and Corey Graves telling her not to apologize. Backstage, The Rock thanked her for her passion and The Undertaker – the one responsible for the tears – told her he appreciated what she brings to the business.

With that epic performance, it was clear why Garcia, when she returned to WWE one month later, gave a symbolic passing of the torch to Samantha.

“Being in the ring with Lilian Garcia, I mean, that was like the ultimate co-sign,” Samantha said. “I felt that I could be proud of the job that I had done with that role to that point.”

Why did Samantha Irvin leave WWE?

As Samantha puts it: “touring is hard.”

Being on the road and consistently announcing names was unrealistic for her. Her voice was getting tired, and singing was starting to take a back seat.

“It just became more and more sad as time went on, because it’s like, ‘Wow, am I just not a singer anymore? Like, what am I doing?’” she said. “I know that I am a performer and being a ring announcer on WWE, it was the performance of a lifetime. But then when people stopped calling me for singing gigs, and now they’re asking me to announce everything, I said, ‘Oh no, I took it too far.’

“I was like, man, like, this cannot be forever,” Samantha added.

Samantha left WWE in October, but there were no hard feelings with the company. She saw her time in WWE as giving her an audience that cared about her, and the space to show her creativity in front of millions of fans around the globe. She doesn’t feel like she is working just to support herself and has the freedom to do what she wants, rather than what she has to do.

“I didn’t leave WWE to necessarily pursue anything specific. I just knew that I’m not a ring announcer, and I knew that if I continued going any longer, that was it. It was done. I could kiss any other thing that I wanted to do goodbye,” she said. “I just need to be myself. That’s literally it.”

Starting the next chapter

Samantha has found what’s next. It’s going back to her roots: making music.

Years ago, she wrote songs, but it was put on hold when she started ring announcing. After leaving WWE, she went back to those songs and retrained her voice to get back to singing. She announced she will be releasing her first song on Feb. 14, titled “Make Me.”

Samantha describes the song as a “personal little love letter to everyone.” She wrote and recorded the song on her own, and she plans to release more music in the future. When more songs are released, she believes fans will start to view her as her actual self, rather than just as a ring announcer.

She developed quite the fanbase in wrestling. She’s hopeful it will follow her into this next chapter. As she said, “let me cook.”

“Hopefully the fans that were touched by my vocal performance in WWE will give the music and everything else I do a chance, because it’s the same thing that I’ve always done, and everything that I do, I try to pour as much emotion into it and make people feel something,” she said.

The confidence in making music was heavily influenced from WWE having her back. She recalled a conversation she had with chief content officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque when he told her the company believed she was a star. 

“For them to look at me and see something in me, it actually made me say ‘I got to show what I can really do,’ ” Samantha said. 

And for those missing her role in wrestling, don’t worry: she insists she’ll come back to the profession at some point.

“That’s a guarantee. My wrestling career has barely even begun,” she said. “I think it would be an absolute waste of everything that I’ve done so far to not continue the story. I gotta finish my story.”

It’s anyone’s guess as to when – and how – Samantha would come back to wrestling. It’s unlikely she’d want to return as a ring announcer. Her fiancé, Ricochet, is currently in AEW, and she mentioned she can’t wait to work with him in the future, just like they did in WWE. 

But for now, Samantha is ready to launch her music career, and showcase how much she has to offer.

“Now, I want to just see creatively what else I can do,” she said. “Hopefully, when I come back (to wrestling), I’ll bring even more value than I did before.”

The Toronto Raptors landed Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Pelicans received Bruce Brown Jr., Kelly Olynyk, a first-round pick and a second-round pick from the Raptors, a person with details of the trade told USA TODAY Sports.

The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly until the trade is official.

Ingram has been mentioned as a trade candidate since the start of the season when Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin addressed Ingram’s free agency after the season and said the team faces “economic realities.”

Those economic realities meant they likely were unable to retain Ingram at the salary he sought.

Grading the Pelicans-Raptors trade:

Toronto Raptors grade: A

Don’t let Toronto’s 16-35 record blur what the Raptors can become with Ingram, Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, Jakob Poeltl and Ochai Agbaji.

This season in just 18 games due to injury, Ingram averages 22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and shoots 46.5% from the field, 37.4% on 3-pointers and 85.5% on free throws. Ingram has been out since Dec. 8 with a sprained left ankle.

When he returns, he provides the Raptors with offense and should have better playmaking opportunities in Toronto’s rotation.

The Raptors have significant money invested in Barnes, Barrett and Quickley and will need to pay Ingram, too, so that’s worth watching in their roster building.

New Orleans Pelicans grade: B

New Orleans’ season has been upended by injuries, and it had financial decisions to make. The Pelicans already made a move ahead of the trade deadline to get out of the luxury tax when they traded Daniel Theis Wednesday.

Brown has an expiring contract, and Olynyk, who has a manageable salary, is a free agent after the 2025-26 season. A first-round pick helps, too, both in terms of drafting a potential star and navigating the salary cap.

It’s too bad the Pelicans never had a chance to see what a healthy roster with Ingram, Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray looks like.

Now that the Dallas Cowboys have hired a head coach, Deion Sanders is making something clear again about how he feels about coaching in the NFL.

Sanders, the head coach of Colorado, said this in a discussion with former Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, who appeared on the show that streamed Tuesday. Sanders was discussing with Aikman the intensity of football practices when both were teammates on the Cowboys in the 1990s, as compared with what he perceives as a lesser work ethic in pro football today.

“That’s why I say, I couldn’t coach … I know it was cute, but I couldn’t coach pro ball, because the way they practice, the way they go about it, I couldn’t take it, as a man, and as a football enthusiast, and I care about the game,” Sanders said. “The game is still providing for Troy and I, so there is no way I could allow that to happen on my watch. That would be tough.”

Cowboys coaching candidacy discussed

Sanders never got a formal interview to become head coach of the Cowboys before they hired Brian Schottenheimer. But he did get a call from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to discuss the position before that. Aikman referenced that early in his appearance on the show and noted that fellow Cowboys legend Michael Irvin wasn’t happy that Sanders didn’t get the job.

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“I can’t believe I didn’t hear from you when all that’s going that was going on,” Sanders said to Aikman, apparently referencing his possible candidacy for the Cowboys job. “I was waiting for that call.  I was waiting to see Troy Aikman in my phone.”

“You didn’t need a call from me,” Aikman said. “I was, hey, I was watching, wondering how this whole thing was gonna unfold. I will say this, as you know Playmaker Michael Irvin is a Cowboy apologist and you not getting an official interview, not being hired, even he, I’m not sure he’s on the train right now.”

“He’s not happy,” Sanders said. “Trust me.”

After Sanders said he couldn’t coach pro ball, the show’s co-host, Rocsi Diaz, made sure his statement came through clearly.

“You just said you couldn’t coach pro ball,” she said. “You just said that right here.”

“Yeah, I’m telling you,” Sanders said.

Aikman: Sanders would have been ‘really good fit’

This is in line with what Sanders has said before when he told “60 Minutes” in 2022 he was “not one bit” interested in coaching in the NFL. He generally has said he prefers to mentor younger players and coach those who truly love the game of football. He also previously said he would only consider an NFL job if he could coach his two youngest sons.

Diaz then asked Aikman if the Cowboys still would have been a good fit for Sanders.

“Since Jerry did make that phone call to him and we did get the Playmaker’s thoughts on that call, it kind of would make sense though, right?”

“It would make a lot of sense,” Aikman said.

Aikman, Irvin and Sanders played on the last Cowboys team to win the Super Bowl, in January 1996.  Irvin said on his own YouTube show in January that he was pushing for Sanders to be the Cowboys coach and was shocked Jones didn’t take advantage of the opportunity. Aikman said he saw Sanders’ potential, too.

“For Dallas, Deion would have been a really good fit because he would have commanded the room, and his personality is such that people would have known that he was in charge,” Aikman said on the show. “And I think that’s important for (an) organization to know that the head coach is the one who’s calling the shots and that he’s in charge.”

Sanders just finished his second season at Colorado, having improved the Buffaloes to 9-4 in 2024 after finishing 4-8 in 2023.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

NEW ORLEANS – Winning three straight Super Bowls is something not even Tom Brady accomplished. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs can be the first team to do so Sunday with a win in Super Bowl 59 over the Philadelphia Eagles. On the call will be Brady, the winningest player in NFL history with seven Super Bowls, as the FOX game analyst wraps up his first season in the booth. 

Of course, Brady took the easy way out when asked Wednesday during a conference call with reporters about Mahomes’ pursuit of history and how the Chiefs quarterback stacked up to “TB12.” 

“The comparisons are fun naturally for the media because it serves different kinds of perspective and context that people can write about and talk about,” Brady said, “but in terms of being a competitor, I never viewed it that way.”

Brady sat down with Mahomes on Wednesday morning for a pre-taped segment to air during Sunday’s pregame show and told him there is “nobody happier for you than me” if Mahomes and the Chiefs pulled off the historic three-peat.

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Brady’s dynasties with the New England Patriots never three-peated despite their chance to do so after the 2004 season. Additionally, had Brady’s Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52, New England would have won three in a row from the 2016-18 seasons. 

That people want to compare the two doesn’t surprise Brady. It’s just not the way he considered things.

“I think I approached the game in a way that was, ‘Can I be the best I can be for myself and my teammates?’” Brady said. “And, ‘What’s the best version of myself every single year?’ without comparing myself to anybody else.”

While Brady didn’t entertain comparisons at all, his praise of Mahomes was effusive. 

“I love Patrick as a player, as a person,” Brady said. “Since he came onto the scene, I couldn’t think any more highly of a player in that position, knowing all that he’s going through, gone through and will continue to go through to try to accomplish things at the highest level.”

Where that puts Mahomes in a historical context is not Brady’s forte. The five-time Super Bowl MVP does appreciate the mental and emotional aspects Mahomes brings to the game. 

“He’s a competitor. He’s driven to succeed,” Brady said. “He approaches that in practice and the offseason. as well as the games, and that’s what it takes to truly be great at what you do.” 

Whether the Chiefs have received a beneficial whistle from the officials – a theory commissioner Roger Goodell called “ridiculous” Monday – Brady said that he never made excuses as a player. 

“I understand (officials) have a difficult job to do,” Brady said. “If anything, I would love for those guys to have their jobs be a little bit easier.”

The amount refs have to dissect in one play while making split-second decisions is an arduous task. Brady noted that everyone watching on television at home has the benefit of high-definition and super slow-motion replays with various angles. 

“These officials are very talented at what they do,” Brady said. “They don’t get to this point in their careers by being less than the best. They’re not going to get every call right. I don’t get everything right in the booth. I didn’t get everything right as a quarterback.”