Audun Grønvold, a Norwegian skier who won Olympic bronze in ski cross in 2010, died July 15 after being struck by lightning over the weekend. He was 49.

The Norwegian Ski Federation confirmed Grønvold’s death in a statement July 16, indicating Grønvold was struck by lightning while on a trip to his family’s cabin July 12. He was quickly taken to a hospital to receive treatment, the federation said, but succumbed to his injuries a few days later.

‘Norwegian skiing has lost a prominent figure, who has meant so much to both the alpine and freestyle communities,’ federation president Tove Moe Dyrhaug said in a statement. ‘… There will be a big void after Audun.’

Grønvold was born in Hamar, a lakeside town about 80 miles north of Norway’s capital city, Oslo. He first got his start in alpine skiing, also known as downhill skiing, and established himself a rising talent in one of the country’s most popular sports. According to the ski federation, he spent more than a decade on Norway’s alpine national team before switching to ski cross, in which skiers race directly against one another through a course with jumps and turns.

Grønvold won bronze in ski cross’ Olympic debut at the 2010 Vancouver Games, then went on to become a national team coach and board member for the federation, according to its statement. He also worked as a skiing broadcaster.

‘It’s just terribly sad and tragic,’ Marius Arnesen, who coached Grønvold in the early 2000s, told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang. ‘(He was) a thoughtful and wonderful boy who, when it comes to skiing, had a fantastic feeling for the surface in the snow.’

Grønvold is survived by his wife, Kristin Tandberg Haugsjå, and three children. According to Norwegian national broadcaster NRK, Haugsjå also confirmed her husband’s death in a Facebook post, describing him as ‘my great love and my best friend for 20 years.’

‘The loss of you is enormous,’ she wrote, according to NRK.

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on social media @tomschad.bsky.social.

Who are the top 10 quarterbacks of all time? Does that list include current Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes?

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff doesn’t think so.

Goff did not include Mahomes when listing his top 10 quarterbacks of all time, ‘in no particular order,’ in a social media clip Netflix Sports posted on Tuesday. The clip was an advertisement for the second season of Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ documentary series, in which Goff is a featured quarterback.

The video of Goff’s top quarterbacks list appears to be a snippet only for social media; it was not included in the show.

Jared Goff’s top 10 quarterbacks of all time

Goff listed these 10 quarterbacks as his greatest ever, in no particular order:

Tom Brady

Goff cited his seven Super Bowls as the reason he’s ‘the greatest.’

Peyton Manning
Joe Montana

The reason Goff wears No. 16, he says, as a kid who grew up in the Bay Area.

John Elway
Drew Brees
Philip Rivers
Eli Manning
Ben Roethlisberger
Brett Favre
Aaron Rodgers

Notably, Pittsburgh Steelers newcomer Aaron Rodgers is the only active quarterback Goff included on his top-10 list. The Steelers gunslinger is 41 years old and preparing for his 21st season in the league – and his first with his third team.

Goff’s list includes five of the 11 players who have won multiple MVP awards in their careers: Brady, Peyton Manning, Montana, Favre and Rodgers. It does not include the two other active players who have won multiple MVPs: Mahomes and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Kalen DeBoer needs this Nick Saban rumor like a drowned man needs a drink.

It was a matter of time before a media member introduced the rumor that Saban, DeBoer’s predecessor at Alabama, wants to return to coaching. Greg McElroy did the honors.

McElroy, one of Saban’s former players, said Monday morning on his radio show that he’d heard from someone “in the know” that Saban will coach again. McElroy later said “a couple of people” told him Saban returning to coaching remains a possibility.

McElroy ultimately denounced the rumor he introduced, saying he didn’t believe it.

Too late.

By then, the rumor had gained the necessary oxygen and made the rounds at SEC media days. Never mind the veracity of this speculation. This becomes catnip for the SEC’s four-day televised talkathon.

SEC football coaches run with Nick Saban rumor

Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin dubbed it “malpractice” for Saban to not be coaching. LSU’s Brian Kelly told On3 that Saban returning to coaching would be “a great day.” (The adage, “Careful what you wish for,” comes to mind.)

Georgia’s Kirby Smart quipped he’d have loved to hire Saban, if only Saban wasn’t so overqualified for an assistant job.

Media types mused whether Saban would resurface at an SEC school or reprise his role as coach of the Miami Dolphins.

What’s more likely is Saban, who will turn 74 this year, will keep teeing it up on the golf course and in his role on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” when he’s not posing for photos.

Multiple blue-chip recruits posted photos with Saban this summer while on recruiting visits. Who could blame them for wanting a quick pic with the GOAT, who retains an advisory job within Alabama athletics and an office on campus? As you can imagine, those photos laid groundwork for rival fans to introduce the theory that Saban remains the engine behind Alabama – and DeBoer’s just the guy who lost to Vanderbilt.

Auburn might need Nick Saban more than Alabama does

None of this is fair to DeBoer. He steered Alabama throughout a smooth offseason that included excellent recruiting, better gains than losses in the transfer market, and the smart hire of offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb.

Will anyone want to discuss those developments when DeBoer takes the media days stage Wednesday in Atlanta? Not while the Saban rumor draws breath. Eighteen months after Saban’s retirement, he magnetizes attention like no other college football figure.

But, then, none of this was ever going to be fair to DeBoer, was it? This is why Kiffin once told me replacing Saban would be “the dumbest” move a coach could make.

DeBoer didn’t make the challenge any easier by missing the College Football Playoff and losing four games in his debut season.

“This is a program that expects to be front and center,” DeBoer told me in April, reaffirming that he understands the lofty expectations he failed to meet in Year 1. “That’s what I expect.”

Truth is, Alabama’s aura of invincibility started to wane throughout the years since its undefeated 2020 season.

An average Texas A&M team starting a below-average quarterback toppled Alabama in 2021. A year later, Alabama lost to Tennessee for the first time since 2006. Texas smashed Alabama inside Bryant-Denny Stadium in Saban’s final season.

Saban soured on an evolved college sports landscape within which coaches lost their omnipotence and athletes gained freedom and power, plus bigger-than-ever paychecks.

Still, it’s hard to imagine Saban, in this era or any other, blowing a playoff opportunity by losing to Vanderbilt or to a team as bad as Oklahoma looked throughout most of last season.

Those losses in DeBoer’s debut season helped create a breeding ground for rumors of a Saban comeback, unfounded though they may be.

The best DeBoer can do is ignore this rumor, keep securing commitments from blue-chip prospects, let the recruits take photos with Saban if they like, and play to the standard this season. He must reaffirm his quarterback development chops by making something of Ty Simpson. Instill the discipline and toughness Alabama lacked the past few years, after they once served as pillars of Saban’s dynasty.

Defend Alabama’s home turf against Tennessee and LSU. Smash Auburn and its embattled coach Hugh Freeze in the Iron Bowl. Make the playoff.

Even if DeBoer does all that, he can’t ensure the spotlight won’t find Saban.

After all, if Alabama wins the Iron Bowl, Auburn might find itself in the market for a new coach, and the rumor mill churns indefatigably during coaching searches.

Know anyone who’s proven himself in the SEC, who’s already left one SEC job only to be hired years later by a rival school?

Saban couldn’t possibly meet the bar he set at Alabama. But, reviving a proud SEC program that’s lost its way? That sounds up his alley. If only Saban would drag himself off the golf course.

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

Adam Silver once called NBA expansion manifest destiny.

It was Dec. 21, 2020, at the start of the 2020-21 season and shortly after the conclusion of the 2019-20 season in the Orlando bubble amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But even manifest destiny comes with a murky timeline.

Nearly five years later, the NBA is not ready for imminent expansion.

The commissioner wasn’t wrong then. There will be NBA expansion at some point. There’s just not a definitive process today.

Silver told reporters on Tuesday, July 15, that the NBA will form a committee to explore the financial and on-court competitive issues around expansion and go from there. He called owners’ appetite for expansion “more as curiosity and more let’s do the work.

‘We also have this greater obligation to expand, if we do so, in a very deliberate fashion in a way that makes sense holistically for the league,’ Silver said.

Why – when there are markets, notably Seattle and Las Vegas, clamoring for an NBA franchise – has the NBA not moved faster on expansion?

To start, the league has been deliberate in its actions. Even when Silver made that “manifest destiny” comment in 2020, he said expansion was not on the front-burner of the league’s agenda.

In those five years, much has changed financially, especially with skyrocketing franchise valuations and the influx of money from the league’s 11-year, $76 billion TV deal that starts with the 2025-26 season.

The Boston Celtics have been sold on a $6.1 billion valuation, and with the way that sale is structured, there is a strong possibility that figure increases. The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold on a $10 billion valuation.

The NBA’s committee on expansion needs to determine the cost of an expansion franchise. Will it be $6 billion? $7 billion? Then, owners need to decide if that infusion of money is worth it in the long term because as Silver noted with expansion, ‘you are selling equity, and if for every additional team you add, you’re diluting the economics of the current league.’

The league would have to split its revenue with two extra teams, reducing the amount for each team. Here is crude mathematics: If 30 team owners are splitting $10 billion a year, that’s $333.3 million per team. Divide $10 billion by 32, that’s $312.5 million per team. That $20 million a year difference over several seasons adds up quickly.

It’s far more complicated than that, as Silver noted, but you get the idea. ‘It’s just one other factor we have to look at as we are trying to think what is the value of expansion, what does it mean to dilute the existing equity and how additive is this potentially to the league by adding an additional team,’ Silver said.

Adding two teams also means adding another 36 players which adds to Silver’s concern about spreading rosters too thin. ‘How it could potentially affect competition around the league, if we were to expand. How you would stock those teams, all those related issues,’ Silver said.

Silver also mentioned another form of expansion – the creation of an NBA-backed league in Europe, which potentially creates another revenue stream.

‘The fact that we would be creating new basketball teams in Europe is related,’ Silver said. ‘It’s separate but related to this notion around building additional organizations in the league. … Part of what we look at is how can we continue to grow this game on a global basis and how can we take advantage of the NBA brand to do that.’

Silver also mentioned the league needs to figure out where local broadcasting is headed as regional sports networks have struggled. ‘We would be malpracticing if we didn’t figure out how local and regional television is going to work before expanding. … Many of our teams have now taken significant cuts in regional television,’ he said.

Las Vegas, Seattle (or some other city), it’s not your time for expansion. Not yet anyway. There is one other option to monitor, and that’s relocation of a current franchise. That would come with a relocation fee that is less than a fee for an expansion team but still splits revenue among 30 teams.

‘A lot of analysis still needs to be done,’ Silver said. ‘Nothing has been predetermined one way or the other, and without any specific timeline. We’re going to be as thorough as possible and look at all the potential issues.’

In the wake of Fox Sports 1 and Taylor parting this week – along with the show she co-hosted, ‘Speak,’ and two others in the network’s daily lineup being canceled – former NBA-All-Star-turned-podcaster-and-streamer Gilbert Arenas has voiced his desire to hire Taylor.

“Joy’s a great host,” Arenas said on a recent ‘No Chill Gil’ Summer League stream, according to Awful Announcing. “I know we’re looking at her for the football side. We’ve been behind the scenes talking to her for the last year.”

Arenas’ show, ‘Gil’s Arena,’ exists under the Underdog Fantasy umbrella and has 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube.

Taylor has not commented since the news broke of her show’s cancellation.

Knowing the feeling of antisemitism firsthand, Liv Shumbres wants to see change — and isn’t shy about standing up for it.

It’s what drove her, a track and field athlete from the College of Charleston, and five other Jewish student-athletes, to partner with The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS), joining as the inaugural class of the non-profit’s newly announced NIL-sponsored Blue Square Athlete Ambassador Program.

‘It truly is about being something bigger than just a small part of a brand,’ Shumbres said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY Sports.

‘This is impacting everyday lives, especially as someone who is Jewish. I wanted to raise awareness and use this opportunity to speak authentically about myself, my story, be able to storytell and spark conversations with other people around me as well.’

Officially launched on Wednesday, July 16, the Blue Square Athlete Ambassador Program is the latest facet to the FCAS, which was started in 2019 by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. It signed six NCAA Jewish student-athletes to the innovative NIL program, where they will work with experts from the organization to combat antisemitism.

Those six athletes, who range from Division I to Division III, include Meyer Shapiro (Cornell wrestling), Ethan Hott (Stanford baseball), Riley Weiss (Columbia women’s basketball), Ze’ev Remer (Cal Lutheran men’s basketball), Alan Mashensky (NYU basketball) and Shumbres.

‘We are excited about being pioneers in this regard, and we’re really excited about the six athletes that are involved,’ FCAS president Adam Katz told USA TODAY Sports. ‘We’re excited about what this will do for each of them individually and collectively, and we’re excited for the potential to show a new way that NILs could be used to create a positive benefit for the world.’

The program, in its pilot stage, was a Day 1 priority for Katz, who was named FCAS’s president in May. According to research from the FCAS, 25% of adults in the United States have shown a trait of antisemitic attitudes — which is an increase of 10% over the last 18 months. That number is “frankly worse” among younger people, per Katz, with those perceptions being based on misinformation and lack of information.

On top of working together as a team to promote combat antisemitism, Katz said he hopes the program will also help the student-athletes to further grow as leaders in their communities.

‘It’s an opportunity for them to really take on even more of a leadership role, but it’s also role modeling for others in the community (that) this is a way that you can help build empathy, build bridges and build connection in a world and a country that is increasingly polarized and increasingly isolated,’ Katz said. ‘This is a way to kind of cut through that. At least that’s our intent.’

The three student-athletes who spoke with USA TODAY Sports — Remer, Hott and Shumbres — mentioned that driving forces for them to be part of the program was to shed light on the “good” of Jewish student-athletes, ‘humanize’ those of Jewish descent and break down the stereotypes that surround them.

‘It’s scary. It’s scary to be a Jewish person, to be openly Jewish,’ Remer said. ‘You see people are getting shot in the streets. A lot of protests are going on. So I think if I can be that light that shows that I’m not afraid to be who I am and give some hope to the Jewish community, that’s huge to give my people that hope.’

Hott, the only Jewish baseball player at Stanford, said that though there may be recognition and publicity that comes from this opportunity for him, that wasn’t a priority of his when he signed up.

‘That’s almost secondary to the bigger task at hand,’ Hott said. ‘… “It’s not about shifting people’s belief that they may already have personally. …We want to show that, yes, we are such a small percentage of the world’s population, but we are out here doing amazing things and we don’t want to spread hate.

‘… We just want to show that we can be excellent and thrive in whatever we choose to do, just like everybody else is trying to do.’

For Shumbres, a way for her to be that leader is using her platform to be an advocate, especially the younger generation, while continuing to bring awareness and spark conversation.

‘(Antisemitism is) all over the world right now, unfortunately. I can use my platform to really bring awareness to that and show … That it’s okay to be Jewish, it’s good to be proud of who you are and represent the people around you in a way where you don’t have to quiet yourself just because everyone else is,’ Shumbres said.

‘It’s okay to stand up. … I am unapologetically Jewish and I’m proud of that.’

It is from her own experience with antisemitism from ‘subtle comments’ made toward her on social media and the initiative behind the Blue Square program — something bigger than sports — that also reminds her why she wanted to be part of this program with FCAS in the first place.

‘Rather than focusing on the negative, let’s stand up for what’s right,’ Shumbres said. ‘Let’s make this a thing of positivity going forward. Let’s not focus on the negativity. Let’s grow from it and introduce others to that light as well.’

ATLANTA — It was an All-Star Game like we’ve never seen before, leaving fans cheering, players celebrating and traditionalists screaming.

Gone forever are the days of Pete Rose crashing into Ray Fosse at home plate at the All-Star Game.

Major League Baseball took a page out of the Savannah Bananas’ playbook, deciding an All-Star Game with a mini-sized home run derby.

When the All Star Game ended July 15, there were only six players on the field playing home run derby, or technically called a swing-off, with the National League prevailing 7-6, based on the NL outhomering the American League, 4-3.

The swing-off quietly was put in the last collective bargaining agreement, declaring any All-Star Game that was tied after nine innings would be decided by a three-on-three home run derby.

The game ended when Tampa Bay Rays infielder Jonathan Aranda’s fly ball landed harmlessly in the outfield, with the scattered few players who remained celebrating into the night, immediately embracing the concept, with traditionalists wondering what has happened to this grand ol’ game.

‘Probably,’ San Francisco Giants starter Logan Webb said, when asked whether there would be a public outcry from baseball traditionalists. ‘But at the end of the day, who cares? We had a blast watching it, all the guys that are still here, and I think the fans enjoyed it. I got a group text here from a bunch of players around the league and they seemed to really like it, too.

‘I think it was an awesome way to end.’

Said New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso: ‘I just thought it was awesome. I mean, everyone was super, super into it. I think people really thoroughly enjoyed the show.’

Really, it was impossible to find a player who was angry that the outcome was decided on a gimmick. No one wants a repeat of that 15-inning All-Star Game in Anaheim in 1967. And no one wanted to see another tie like the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee.

Sure, these are historic All-Star Games, but they’re just exhibitions, too.

‘Pretty exciting,’ AL manager Aaron Boone said. ‘There’s probably a world where you could see that in the future, where maybe it’s in some regular season mix. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if people start talking about it like that.’

Really, a swing-off in regular season games that are tied after nine innings?

You mean, games that actually count?

‘Obviously, I don’t think that should happen, necessarily, or would at any time in the near future,’ Boone says. ‘But I’ve got to say, you know, it was pretty exciting. Like all of a sudden, here we go. And the camaraderie that you kind of build these last couple days with the team, I think went into overdrive there. Like guys were excited out there.

‘It’s like wiffle ball in the back yard. Here we go. Let’s do it.’

There weren’t any players rushing to lobby Commissioner Rob Manfred for a swing-off rule in games that count,  but when asked if they could see it arriving one day in the future, well, why not?

There weren’t pitch clocks, enlarged bases, ghost runners on second base, and shift limits a few years ago, either.

‘I can totally see that,’ Miami Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers told USA TODAY Sports. ‘We talked about pitching injuries, or the length of games, and honestly the runner on second base really helped in extra innings. Can you imagine if it happened in the postseason. I guess that would make it very unique.

‘But it’s like penalty kicks in soccer. Hockey has their form of it, a shootout, or whatever it is. So, I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that it couldn’t be a part of the game.’

Well, maybe it will happen one day, Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez said, but they may be all retired by the time they see it.

But for an All-Star Game, well, bring in the new tradition.

‘I think it’s a good idea,’ said Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber, who won All-Star MVP honors for hitting three home runs in his swing-off, ‘just for the fact we’re not putting more people at any other kind of risk. We’re not playing more innings, things like that …

‘I think it’s a unique way for the league to kind of try different things. It makes you feel like it’s a penalty kick. That was like the baseball version of a shootout or extra time.’

The swing-off occurred only because the National League blew a 6-4 lead going into the ninth inning, and with the game tied the sold-out crowd of 41,702 was unaware of the swing-off featuring three hitters from each team.

So were the players.

‘When they told me what was happening,’ Stowers said, ‘I thought they were kidding. I never heard of it. I thought it was like one of those hypotheticals you hear about in the minors or something.’

No, it was real, with each manager designating a list before the game of three hitters and an alternate for the swing-off. Each hitter was allowed only three swings. NL manager Dave Roberts chose Suarez, Schwarber and Alonso, only to switch out Suarez for Stowers after Suarez’s hand was throbbing from being hit by a pitch in the eighth inning. Boone chose Brent Rooker of the Athletics, Randy Arozarena of the Seattle Mariners and Aranda.

The first round began with Rooker hitting two home runs with Stowers hitting one.

Arozarena hit one homer to give the American League a 3-1 lead until Schwarber clobbered three home runs, 428 feet, 461 feet and 382 feet, for a 4-3 lead.

That was all that was needed when Aranda went homerless, and just like that, the wildest ending to an All-Star Game was in the books, with Schwarber becoming the first DH to win the MVP award, and the first Phillies player since 1964.

When asked how Schwarber will remember the night, and where it ranked among his career achievements, he really couldn’t say.

Really, no one could.

‘All I know,’ Suarez said, ‘is that it was historic. We were part of history. It was a great experience. But would I want to see it in regular season games, well, I don’t know about that. Let’s leave it like this.

‘I still like baseball tradition, you know.’

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