The class of 2025 will be enshrined at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Former Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony highlights the class on the men’s side, with Dwight Howard, coach Billy Donovan, official Danny Crawford and the 2008 USA Men’s National Team also being enshrined.

On the women’s side, the names are far more notable, with legends Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore getting honored, and creating perhaps the greatest Hall of Fame class in the history of women’s basketball.

Anthony was a member of the storied NBA Draft class of 2003, when three Hall of Famers — Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh — were selected in the top 5 picks. The No. 1 overall selection that year, LeBron James, is certain to get inducted in his own right when he becomes eligible.

Known for a silky jumper and smooth offensive scoring prowess from all over the floor, Anthony reflected on his path from Baltimore, all the way to the Hall.

“Oh man, my legacy was done with such grace,” Anthony told reporters Friday. “A lot of humbleness, a lot of competitiveness. And I did it my way. I did it a way that a lot of people didn’t agree with. I did it a way that I went against the grain a lot of times, not disrespectfully, but just I have my own vision. I have my own way of doing things.”

Anthony, 41, played 19 seasons in the NBA and was a 10-time All-Star, a six-time All-NBA selection, the 2012-13 scoring champion (28.7 points per game) and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team.

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Anthony ranks 10th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, with 28,289 points. He’s also a four-time Olympic medalist, and three-time gold medalist.

But one of the things that separated Anthony from his peers was that he opted to forge his own path on his teams against the backdrop of an era where superstars routinely joined forces to create super teams.

“I have my own ways of approaching the game,” Anthony continued. “I have my own ways of preparing for the game and dealing with the game, and my own ways of dealing with being a professional athlete. I keep going back to being 19, being thrown the keys (to the Nuggets). That’s a lot of responsibility that you don’t know until you start to reflect back on.”

In an episode of “Podcast P with Paul George” that premiered Tuesday, July 22, Anthony opened up about the 2010 offseason, when James and Bosh joined Wade on the Miami Heat. Anthony said the plan was for Bosh and Wade to team up and James and Anthony to team up elsewhere, but Anthony said those plans broke down when they couldn’t find a destination.

“Imagine me at 23 years old, 24 years old, being the fourth option on the team when I’m leading my team every single year, like, I’m finding my way in this league,” Anthony said during the episode. “And you want me to leave that and go be a fourth option? I don’t know, mentally, how, I was going to do that. …

“So I was like, ‘Hell, no. I can’t be that fourth (option).’ That was always a what-if.”

Switching to the trio of women’s legends, Bird, Fowles and Moore have 10 combined WNBA championship titles and 11 Olympic gold medals, which is most for any class entering the Hall of Fame.

“I think it would be fair to say that they have the title of best class ever,” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said, according to the Associated Press. “They are each Hall of Famers and are terrific in their own right to the extent they impacted their sport.”

The Hall of Fame Class enshrinement ceremony will take place Saturday, Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. ET at Symphony Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Iowa and Iowa State football face off on Saturday, Sept. 6, in the latest version of the Cy-Hawk rivalry.

The in-state foes almost always provide a competitive game, regardless of where either program stands entering the nonconference matchup. Iowa State is looking for its second consecutive win against Iowa, and first at home since 2011.

Iowa has won seven of the past 10 matchups against the Cyclones, and has seen tremendous success in the past away from Iowa City, Iowa, in the game.

Iowa State needed a 54-yard field goal from Kyle Konrardy in the final seconds of the matchup last season to defeat its in-state rival. The 2025 game is shaping up to be another competitive affair.

Follow along here for live updates and highlights from Iowa State vs. Iowa in the 2025 Cy-Hawk rivalry:

Watch Iowa vs. Iowa State football live with Fubo (free trial)

Iowa vs Iowa State score

This section will be updated live.

Iowa vs Iowa State live updates

Iowa State fans pack Fox’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’

Iowa State fans showed up in droves for Fox’s ‘Big Noon Kickoff’ pregame show:

Dave Portnoy also made an appearance on an Iowa State-themed fire truck wearing Cyclones gear.

Kirk Ferentz career record

Ferentz has a 205-124 record at Iowa, which is tied with Woody Hayes for the most wins by a Big Ten coach ever.

If Ferentz leads Iowa to a win over Iowa State in Cy-Hawk on Sept. 6, he’ll be the winningest coach in Big Ten history.

What time does Iowa vs Iowa State start?

Date: Saturday, Sept. 6
Time: Noon ET
Location: Jack Trice Stadium (Ames, Iowa)

Iowa-Iowa State is set for a noon ET kickoff on Saturday, Sept. 6, from Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

What TV channel is Iowa vs Iowa State on today?

TV channel: Fox
Streaming: Fox Sports app, Fubo (free trial)

Iowa-Iowa State will air live on Fox, with streaming options on the Fox Sports app or Fubo, which offers a free trial to potential subscribers.

Iowa vs Iowa State predictions

Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register: Iowa 23, Iowa State 20.
Travis Hines, Des Moines Register: Iowa State 20, Iowa 10.

Hines writes Iowa State is the better team, while Leistikow, who picks Iowa, says the margin of error is slim for the Hawkeyes.

NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka, the world’s No. 1 player, will attempt on Saturday to become the first woman to defend her U.S. Open title in 11 years when she takes on American Amanda Anisimova.

Serena Williams was the tournament’s last back-to-back champion, accomplishing the feat in 2014, the last of her six titles here.

Sabalenka, who beat Jessica Pegula in the semifinals, is in the U.S. Open final for the third consecutive year, and her third Grand Slam final in 2025. She lost the previous two finals to Americans: Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Coco Gauff at Roland Garros.

Anisimova’s road to the finals at Flushing Meadows included an upset of Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals, avenging a 6-0, 6-0 beatdown six weeks ago in the Wimbledon final, and a three-set semifinal triumph over two-time U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka.

Anisimova, the No. 8 seed, has reached consecutive Grand Slam finals for the first time. She leads the head-to-head battle 5-3 against Sabalenka, including a semifinal victory at Wimbledon in July, which propelled her to the first Grand Slam final of her career. She will vault to a career No. 4 in the rankings regardless of Saturday’s result.

Sabalenka, the tournament’s top seed, must contend with Anisimova’s power game, which has resulted in a tournament-leading 177 winners. The New Jersey native has also been adept at converting break points, as evidenced by her 29 break points won through the first six matches.

Follow along for live coverage from the women’s final at the 2025 U.S. Open:

What time is US Open women’s final?

The 2025 U.S. Open women’s final between No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. ET.

What TV channel is US Open women’s final on?

ESPN is televising the 2025 US Open women’s final between Aryna Sabalenka and Amanda Anisimova at 4 p.m. ET.

How to stream US Open women’s final?

Aryna Sabalenka vs. Amanda Anisimova can be streamed on ESPN+ and Fubo (with a free trial).

Watch the US Open women’s final on Fubo

Odds to win 2025 US Open women’s final

All odds according to BetMGM.

Aryna Sabalenka: -200
Amanda Anisimova: +170

When tennis legend Venus Williams stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA Billie King Tennis Center for her first-round matchup at the 2025 US Open, her white polo and matching pleated skirt was near identical to Althea Gibson’s signature outfit throughout her career. It was intentional on Williams’ part.

‘The most important part is that we are celebrating (Althea Gibson),’ said Williams, who donned a custom ERL tennis set in honor of Gibson in a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 first-round loss to Karolína Muchová on Aug. 25. ‘Althea accomplished so much, and a lot of it has not been given the credit it deserves and the attention and the praise.’

Gibson became the first Black player to compete at the US Open (formerly known as the U.S. National Championships) in 1950. Seventy-five years later, the 2025 US Open is honoring Gibson breaking the color barrier in tennis by hosting “75 years of breaking barriers’ this year.

‘It’s amazing that she’s been able to create this path for so many Black females,’ said Hailey Baptiste, who dropped a second-round matchup to Naomi Osaka, who advanced to the semifinals. ‘From Venus (Williams) and Serena (Williams), to me, Coco Gauff.

‘There’s so many. Without that trailblazer, we wouldn’t be here today.’

Gibson may have been the first Black woman to win a Grand Slam, with the first of her five singles titles coming at the 1956 French Open, but she’s certainly not the last. Thirty-eight Black women have gone on to win a Grand Slam singles title since the Open Era began in 1968, including Serena Williams (23), Venus Williams (7), Naomi Osaka (4), Coco Gauff (2), Sloane Stephens (1) and Madison Keys (1).

‘I had an opportunity to feel proud of who I was and who I am because of people like Althea,’ Venus Williams said. ‘Of course, there’s different kinds of ways you’re perceived or sometimes treated because of the color your skin, but it never stopped me.’

Althea Gibson ‘accepted on her ability’

The brown hue of Gibson’s skin effectively barred her from entering prominent U.S. tournaments that not only favored pristine white tennis outfits, but white patrons as racial segregation and Jim Crow laws ran rampant. Inclusion had reached other sports, including boxing, football and baseball, where Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in MLB in 1947, but tennis was a step behind.

‘If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it’s also time we acted a little more like gentle-people and less like sanctimonious hypocrites,’ five-time Grand Slam champion Alice Marble wrote in a scathing open letter to the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association (now the United States Tennis Association) in July 1950. ‘(Gibson) has a much better chance on the courts than in the inner-sanctum of the committee, where a different kind of game is played.”

Gibson was granted entry into the 1950 U.S. National Championships in Forest Hills, New York, becoming the first Black player to receive an invitation. She recalled the moment in her 1960 autobiography, ‘I Always Wanted To Be Somebody,’ writing, ‘The president of the (USLTA) that year said that I was one of the fifty-two women whose entries had been accepted for the national championship tournament, and he added meaningfully, ‘Miss Gibson has been accepted on her ability.’ That was all I had ever asked.’

She defeated Great Britain’s Barbara Knapp 6-2, 6-2 in the first round on Court 14, the court furthest from the clubhouse that was typically used for practice sessions. Gibson faced three-time reigning Wimbledon champion Louise Brough in the second round and built an impressive 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 lead, needing one more game for the massive upset, before ‘the worst thing that could have happened’ did, Gibson wrote. A weather delay was called due to a thunderstorm, halting Gibson’s momentum.

A nervous Gibson went on to lose to the veteran, but the pivotal moment proved she belonged. Gibson went on to become the first Black player to win a Grand Slam at the 1956 French Open and the first Black player to be ranked No. 1 in the world after winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals in 1957. She ended her career with 11 Grand Slams, including five singles, five doubles and one mixed doubles title. (In 1964, Gibson also became the first Black woman to join the LPGA Tour.)

‘She was ‘the’ trailblazer for African Americans in tennis,’ Ben Shelton said. ‘If it wasn’t for her… who knows if my dad is ever playing tennis as a Black kid in Alabama in the ’70s and ’80s.’

Who can be the next Althea Gibson?

Gibson and Billie Jean King are both tennis pioneers. Both used their talents to advocate for change and equality, but it was Gibson who inspired King’s path toward social justice.

‘At 12, I was at the Los Angeles Tennis Club … and I noticed everyone who played our sport wore white clothes and everyone who played was white. I asked myself, ‘Where is everyone else?’’ King wrote in a foreword for Gibson’s biography in 2022. ‘From that moment on I committed my life to a life of equality for everyone.’

In an interview with USA TODAY Sports last month, King said she’s ‘still thinking about how to change the sport’ and is ‘looking for players that can take our sport to another level in the next generation.’ King said she sees these traits in Gauff, 21, and Canadian teen sensation Victoria Mboko, 19, who possess the capability to transcend tennis. It’s a duty that Gauff does not take lightly.

“Win or lose, knowing that there’s, you know, at least one or two girls out there who look up to me,’ said Gauff, who was knocked out by Osaka in the Round of 16 (6-3, 6-2). ‘It makes me want to keep waking up and doing this every day and being the best version of myself.”

Art, comics, marching band: Althea Gibson tributes at US Open

Ahead of the women’s singles semifinal matchup between Osaka and Amanda Anisimova, Venus Williams announced the launch of the Williams Family Excellence Program with the USTA Foundation. Williams said the achievement wouldn’t be possible without Gibson forging a path for people of color, one of many tributes to Gibson during this year’s tournament.

Melissa Koby, the US Open’s first Black theme artist in tournament history, created a striking logo out of Gibson’s silhouette that has been prominently featured throughout the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

“When I was creating the piece, I thought of Althea as my ancestor, as a strong black female,’ Koby told the US Open. ‘She’s not my grandmother, but I thought of her as that, and I created it with the intention of making her proud to see that a little black girl created something to honor her.”

The Florida A&M University Marching 100 performed in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Aug. 27, just days after what would have been Gibson’s 98th birthday on August. 25. Gibson, who died in 2003, attended FAMU on a tennis scholarship. Other tributes include a Marvel comic book that features Gibson and the Fantastic Four.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

The NFL’s first game streamed on YouTube featured the Los Angeles Chargers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil.
The main broadcast team included Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner, while an alternate stream featured internet personality ‘IShowSpeed.’
The NFL’s partnership with YouTube is part of a broader strategy to engage younger audiences and expand its global presence.

Hope you enjoyed the Mr. Beast show – excuse me – the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Los Angeles Chargers on YouTube Friday evening on the device of your choosing. 

If you were lucky enough to be watching on YouTube TV, at least the option to rewind and fast-forward existed. For us mere mortals the pause button was the lone form of agency during the three-hour broadcast that ended with the Chargers victorious, 27-21, from São Paulo. 

As far as first tries go – even within the seeming absurdity of “The Shield” airing a game on YouTube and fully leaning into the content-brained shenanigans that comes with the territory of spotlighting creators with large followings on the platform – YouTube and parent company Google have to be pleased with how the proceedings went. 

The good news for YouTube/Google is that the basics were done well. The picture was clear. Nobody on social media reported outages or issues with the quality of the stream. The scorebug was simple without being minimalist (like FOX’s new one), although the characters of the team abbreviations seemed stretched and the font was sans-serif-adjacent. The camera work ahead of Patrick Mahomes’ miraculous fourth-down completion with three minutes left in the fourth quarter left something to be desired, but that’s not a YouTube-based issue. NBC Sports loaned production assistance for the show to give it a professional feel.

As far as the halftime show goes, shoutout Karol G. Some fans reported audio issues during her show. But it’s worth noting the halftime countdown clock inside the stadium was paused because the smoke from the performance wasn’t clearing in time for the second half to start. 

Rich Eisen isn’t my first choice to broadcast any football game, ever, no knock on his hosting abilities. But we might not have a better line from a booth all year than his ‘interestingly wide right” comment after Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker missed an extra point in the third quarter to keep the Chiefs behind 13-12. (If you don’t get it, well, you’re not gonna.) He and Kurt Warner have become the soundtrack of NFL international games and there are worse options. Also better ones. 

If the alt-cast with personality “IShowSpeed” – who actually did his day job instead of challenging professional athletes to races – was more your … speed … then more power to you. The host declared the Cincinnati Bengals as his favorite team and Lamar Jackson, of the Baltimore Ravens and an AFC North rival of his squad, his favorite player. Times certainly have changed. Marshawn Lynch being the best, however, carries over no matter the continent or viewing platform. 

The Los Angeles-based pregame set was distracting with the chairs and former NFL quarterback Derek Carr left a lot to be desired during his telestrator demonstration (the Jon Gruden impression was decent at least). Peter Overzet, a fantasy-centric creator, was a bright spot during the pregame show (his joke about being let out of his mom’s basement played well). 

What didn’t work was the emphasis on YouTube itself during the pregame show. Kay Adams is a pro, but when “Deestroying” and “Hayleyybaylee” joined her and Cam Newton on the desk, it all felt a little too self-promotional and contrived. The point of the debut should have been to familiarize NFL fans to a new platform, not trying to inject a brand and philosophy into the pregame show. Newton can hang out with Stephen A. Smith on ‘First Take,’ smoke his cigars on the podcast he posts on YouTube, but he probably should remain far, far away from the actual analysis-driven formats real fans desire.

Mr. Beast’s “challenge” between a Chiefs fan and Chargers fan who went viral a couple of years ago during another primetime broadcast felt contrived. The Chiefs fan being shot out of a cannon – they actually did this with the NFL’s blessing – was symbolic of the entire idea. Deestroying’s sideline report in the fourth quarter was just a meme, a “six seven” joke. 

It’s worth noting that I’m probably not the target demographic – “six seven” has been a thing for months and I still have absolutely no idea what it means – for this type of experiment and broadcast. But this is part of the NFL’s effort to appeal to younger fans and stay ahead of the curve. This is where sports on screens is going, eventually. Get used to it. Or don’t. And remain in the venn diagram of confused and blissfully ignorant. 

The NFL will cash the checks all the same while growing its global footprint on the way to world domination.

Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart slapped Kelce on the front of his helmet following a two-yard run by Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt with a little over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Referees quickly threw a flag and penalized Tart for unnecessary roughness.

The penalty moved the football to the Chargers’ 11-yard line. Patrick Mahomes reached the end zone on an 11-yard run on the ensuing play to cut Kansas City’s deficit to 13-12. Harrison Butker missed the game-tying an extra point.

Kelce had just one catch for 10 yards at the time of the penalty.

World Series champion Dodgers are stuck in a rut to start September.
Los Angeles has lost four in a row against last place-teams.
$72 million reliever Tanner Scott has struggled mightily in recent months.

Yes, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are going through it. And while a title defense that’s been injury-wracked and arrhythmic from the jump has kept them from pulling away from the San Diego Padres, what they’re facing now is particularly grim.

After a 2-1 walk-off loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 5, the misfiring parts of this roster – a sputtering offense and a closer struggling to the point of despondency – were laid bare once again.

Their fourth consecutive loss by three or fewer runs has created frayed dispositions in the clubhouse.

‘They suck. They suck,’ says closer Tanner Scott of the close losses after he gave up the game-winning homer to Orioles rookie Samuel Basallo with two outs in the bottom of the ninth at Camden Yards. ‘For everyone that threw tonight that was great, for that to happen, just sucks. It sucks.

‘It feels terrible. I have to figure it out. Baseball hates me right now.’

Scott, signed to a $72 million contract to be the Dodgers’ highest-leverage reliever, instead has been a punching bag in the 78-63 Dodgers’ latest cold streak. He’s given up 10 earned runs in his last nine innings pitched, including five home runs, dating to July 6.

But scolding the pitchers during this skid is like blaming the firefighters, not the arsonists; emergency starter Shohei Ohtani did not give up a run and five relievers gave up just one run to the Orioles until Scott yielded the game-winning blast.

No, it’s the Dodger lineup that’s been flaccid in this streak, even as it is decimated.

Catcher Will Smith, probably their best player this year, was injured earlier on the trip, leaving a big hole in the lineup. Third baseman Max Muncy should return next week from an oblique strain, and that’s no small addition: The Dodgers are 54-35 when he’s in the lineup, 24-28 when he’s sidelined.

Yet this is a team of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts and Ohtani and 2024 hero Teoscar Hernández, right?

Freeman tallied the lone Dodgers run with his 19th home run and as such, figured he’d be questioned postgame. He thought hard, pondered potential answers and still found himself mystified.

‘I’m not going to sit here and give some cliches. We’re just not playing very good,’ says Freeman. ‘Our pitching was great tonight. Offensively, we were not good.

‘There’s no sugarcoating this. We need to figure this out and figure this out quick.’

If momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher, the Dodgers are in good stead with Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Unfortunately, Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers has been on a roll as well, and ready to dig into a Dodgers offense missing apparently indispensable cogs.

‘I’ve said it the last two weeks: Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. You’ve got to be a pro and make it happen,’ says manager Dave Roberts. ‘This is our team. We’ve got guys coming back but for the next few days, this is what we got.’

Smith likely won’t play the rest of the weekend, and his replacement, top prospect Dalton Rushing, will get a CT scan Sept. 6 to rule out any further damage after fouling a ball off his right leg; X-rays were negative, but he was on crutches after the game.

Not exactly the sight the flailing Dodgers needed to see. Ohtani, too, can see that his mates are pressing.

‘We, individually, are trying to find ways on our own to make sure we’re hitting better than we are and I think a side effect of that is we’re a little too eager and putting a little too much pressure on ourselves,’ says Ohtani through team translator Will Ireton. ‘In a sense, that’s really hurting us more than helping us.

‘I do feel it, in a sense my job is to make hard contact and get on base, finding ways for myself and Mookie to make sure there’s runners on base for Will Smith and Freddie Freeman.’

The Chargers led against the Chiefs in São Paulo, Brazil from start to finish.
The Chargers ended a seven-game losing streak against the Chiefs.
The Chiefs face their Super Bowl 59 opponent, the Eagles in Week 2.

The Los Angeles Chargers’ seven-game losing streak versus the Kansas City Chiefs faded away in Brazil on Friday night. Los Angeles’ upset win in South America is an early season notice for the Chiefs.

The AFC West isn’t going to be a cakewalk for Kansas City this year.

Justin Herbert and the Chargers controlled most of the game against the defending AFC champions and held on for the 27-21 victory. Herbert passed for 313 yards and three touchdowns as the Chargers preserved a lead from start to finish.  

Friday’s AFC West battle was an offensive struggle for the Chiefs, who were outgained by the Chargers, 143 to 33, in the first quarter and went 0-7 on third down in the first half.

“We can learn from this as we move forward,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid told reporters postgame. “We were a little flat in the first half and that cost us.”

Patrick Mahomes tried to will the Chiefs to victory in the second half. He had a circus third-down completion to JuJu Smith-Schuster on third down and made an amazing 49-yard pass to Hollywood Brown on fourth down in the fourth quarter. Kansas City scored on all three of its possessions in the second half, but they were playing catch up the entire evening as the Chargers seemingly padded their lead every time Mahomes and the Chiefs responded.

Kansas City’s defense had an opportunity to give Mahomes the football again, but Herbert made the game’s decisive play with a little over two minutes remaining when he scrambled 19 yards on third-and-14 and made an overemphasize slide in satisfaction.

“It wasn’t good enough. Just in general, they came out with more energy than we did. Their defense and our offense. We didn’t execute,” Mahomes told reporters after the loss. “And obviously, we didn’t play good enough in the first half.”

Herbert is now 3-7 in his career versus Kansas City. It was the Chargers’ first victory against the Chiefs since Sept. 26, 2021. The Chargers’ win also extended Jim Harbaugh’s record to 6-0 in NFL season openers.

Yet for the Chiefs, the loss was a memo that the AFC West division is bound to be more difficult to navigate this season. The Chargers are better as they illustrated Friday night. Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos reloaded, and the Las Vegas Raiders have a new identity with Pete Carroll at the helm.

“It’s a learning moment, especially for the young guys on the team. We’re gonna get everybody’s best and we have to play up to that standard if we want to win football games. I felt like we didn’t play to that standard (Friday), everybody – offense, defense and special teams,” Mahomes said. “But credit to the Chargers. They had a great plan, came in played great football and beat us. Now we have to learn from that knowing that next week is gonna be just as tough.”

The Chiefs will get the benefit of playing at home next week. However, Week 2 will pose a daunting test against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, a team Kansas City is still licking its wounds from the Super Bowl 59 rout.

“We got to learn fast,” Mahomes said. “We’re playing the reigning Super Bowl champs next week.”