The most anticipated measurement of the 2026 NFL combine – Rueben Bain Jr.’s arm length – has been revealed.

Bain measured in with 30 ⅞-inch arms ahead of the combine’s defensive line workouts on Feb. 26. That puts the Miami (FL) product in the first percentile – where a lower percentile placement correlates with smaller/shorter arms – among edge rushers and defensive linemen since at least 2010, according to MockDraftable’s database of NFL combine measurements.

Bain’s wingspan of 77 ½ inches was marginally better; it ranks in the 10th percentile among edge rushers and 13th among defensive linemen since 2010, per MockDraftable.

Nonetheless, Bain’s measurables in these areas peg him as an outlier. That will make him an intriguing evaluation for teams considering him with a top-10 selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.

To his credit, Bain didn’t seem worried about his arm length when asked about it ahead of his combine workouts.

‘People keep bringing that up out of nowhere, but no teams brought it up to me, so I don’t bring it up either,’ Bain told reporters, per ESPN. ‘As long as I just talk the talk and walk the walk, play with technique, nobody actually cares about it.’

Bain accomplished that goal in his final season with the Hurricanes. He generated a career-best 9.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss while helping lead Miami to an appearance in the national championship game.

That’s why the 21-year-old is confident he will be able to succeed at the NFL level despite his atypical frame.

‘I’m versatile and I got a hot motor,’ he said. ‘I could do it at any position, at any time with the best effort, and it’s on film, it’s not something I’m just seeing.’

Bain wasn’t the only potential first-round edge rusher to measure in with bottom-tier arm length at the combine. Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell checked in with 30 ¼-inch arms ahead of his workout.

That will leave both prospects hoping teams will be willing to look past their physical shortcomings, much like the New England Patriots did when they selected LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell No. 4 overall in 2025 despite similar arm length concerns.

WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is adding to her resume with a Milan Fashion Week appearance.

On Thursday, the 24-year-old, who has never been shy about wearing high-end clothing, attended Prada’s Fall 2026 fashion show in Milan. Clark has a long-standing relationship with Prada and wore the brand during the 2024 WNBA Draft orange carpet before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever.

‘It’s the first time Prada’s ever dressed a male or female for [the] WNBA or NBA draft, so pretty cool,’ Clark said then of her white Prada two-piece set.

During her appearance at Milan Fashion Week, she sat front row with Olympic skier Eileen Gu, as the pair took in the sights. True to form, Clark was wearing a Prada belt with her pants and a cropped polo. She finished the look with an oversized coat, brown heels and a small bag.

Gu, who won three medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, including gold in the women’s free ski halfpipe, later shared a selfie of herself and Clark on Instagram of the athletes spending time together.

‘Hi @caitlinclark22,’ Gu posted with an emoji of two women dancing side by side.

Clark reshared the photo to her Instagram story and posted three white hearts in response.

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There is no doubt that New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton will be depended on if the Bronx Bombers want to win their first World Series since 2019.

Stanton has been plagued by injuries in recent years, and his elbow issues limited him to just 77 games last season.

The now 36-year-old Stanton still hit .273 with 24 home runs and 66 RBI when he did play but, even after an offseason of rest, was asked during spring training this week if his elbows would heal.

“That’ll never be the case,” Stanton said (via NJ.com). “Not while I’m in this line of work. “You have your good days and bad days, just like your mood and everything.”

The five-time All-Star then made a stunning admission on how useful his elbows are.

“I can’t open a bottle,” he said. “I can’t open a bag of chips … a bag of anything. That’s the way it is.”

Stanton said he wants to play a full season, though he hasn’t played 140 games or more in a campaign since 2021. He will mostly be a designated hitter in 2026, but plans to get some outfield reps as his health allows.

“That’s not going to be fixed in surgery, and I don’t care what any doctor says because they don’t know what’s going on,” Stanton said. “What’s written (about my elbows) is what me and the Yankees give you.”

Stanton is the active MLB home run leader, with 453. He has two more seasons on a 13-year, $325 million contract he signed as a member of the Miami Marlins in 2014, before a 2028 club option — which contains a $10 million buyout — has to be decided.

Jontay Porter plans to resume his professional basketball career in the newly re-created United States Basketball League after being banned for life from the NBA for his role in the wide-ranging gambling scheme that also led to federal indictments for NBA player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups.

The Seattle SuperHawks announced on Wednesday, Feb. 25 that Porter was the team’s newest signee and noted the 6-foot-10 forward was ‘marking a new chapter in his professional basketball journey.’ Porter’s first game will be the team’s season opener on March 7 against the Lilac City Legends at Seattle Pacific University.

Porter, the younger brother of Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr., last played in 26 games for the Toronto Raptors while on a two-way contract during the 2023-24 season. The 26-year-old averaged 3.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

The NBA gave Porter a lifetime ban in April 2024 for ‘disclosing confidential information to sports bettors, limiting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games.’ Court documents later showed Porter also texted alleged co-conspirators in his gambling case during an NBA game as part of the scheme to win prop bets related to Porter’s performance.

Porter plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court in July 2024 for his role in the gambling scheme that has rocked the NBA. He is still awaiting sentencing as part of the case. Porter previously had a request to play professional basketball in Greece denied by a federal judge.

Terms of Porter’s contract with the USBL were not disclosed.

This revived version of the USBL is beginning its first season in March and the Seattle SuperHawks are one of eight teams based on the west coast in Washington, Oregon and California. The original USBL began in 1984 and ceased operations in 2008, with Muggsy Bogues, Manute Bol and Spud Webb among the future NBA players to emerge from the league.

The U.S. women’s national team has announced two roster changes ahead of the 2026 SheBelieves Cup, which kicks off Sunday, March 1.

Two defenders departed the 26-player roster, with Jordyn Bugg (hamstring) and Kate Wiesner (calf) both removed from the squad due to injury.

In their place came Houston Dash fullback Avery Patterson and Angel City center back Emily Sams.

Patterson has earned nine USWNT caps, all of which came last year after making her debut in April. The 23-year-old has scored one international goal.

Sams also has nine caps, including two last month in the USWNT’s wins over Paraguay and Chile. The center back scored her first international goal in the 5-0 win over Chile.

The USWNT will face Argentina on March 1 in Nashville, Tennessee, then take on Canada in Columbus, Ohio on March 4. Emma Hayes’ side will close the tournament against Colombia on March 7 in Harrison, New Jersey.

The U.S. will be looking to regain the title it lost last year after winning five consecutive editions of the competition.

USWNT SheBelieves Cup roster (club; caps/goals)

Goalkeepers (3): Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign FC; 7), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals; 5), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United, ENG; 4)

Defenders (9) Emily Fox (Arsenal FC, ENG; 71/1), Naomi Girma (Chelsea FC; 50/2), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash; 9/1), Lilly Reale (Gotham FC; 6/0), Tara Rudd (Washington Spirit; 10/0), Emily Sams (Angel City FC; 9/1), Emily Sonnett (Gotham FC; 113/2), Gisele Thompson (Angel City FC; 5/0), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave FC; 3/0)

Midfielders (8): Sam Coffey (Manchester City, ENG; 42/5), Lindsey Heaps (OL Lyonnes, FRA; 170/38), Claire Hutton (Bay FC; 13/1), Riley Jackson (North Carolina Courage; 1/0), Rose Lavelle (Gotham FC; 116/27), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC; 13/5), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC; 31/9), Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes, FRA; 13/1)

Forwards (6): Maddie Dahlien (Seattle Reign FC; 2/0), Jameese Joseph (Chicago Stars FC; 2/1), Trinity Rodman (Washington Spirit; 49/13), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC; 14/6), Ally Sentnor (Kansas City Current; 15/6), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea FC, ENG; 26/3)

Perhaps he’s simply trying to further ingratiate himself to Chicago Cubs fans, or draw the attention of boo birds when he heads back home.

But Pete Crow-Armstrong – an L.A. dude to his core, the son of actors and the product of one of SoCal’s preeminent baseball factories – went well out of his way to bash Los Angeles Dodgers fans this week.

Crow-Armstrong, an All-Star center fielder at 23 last season, initially defiled fans of the two-time defending World Series champions in the proverbial ‘wide-ranging interview’ with Chicago magazine, saying that Cubs fans ‘give a (expletive). They aren’t just baseball fans who go to the game like Dodgers fans to take pictures and whatever. They’re paying attention. They care.’

Given a window to blunt the edges of those remarks Wednesday, Feb. 25, Crow-Armstrong instead doubled down in an appearance on Foul Territory, apparently referencing the tragic beating of San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow and mildly castigating the vibes of a place that drew an MLB-high 4 million fans last season, though perhaps too many that aren’t PCA’s type.

‘I grew up going to Dodgers games when they weren’t always good,’ he told the popular vodcast. ‘When they had Mannywood pop up. But it’s like they go in phases. I remember … putting the Giants fan in the coma. That stuck with me as a kid. Just little things. Sitting in the stands, just nasty stuff goes on. I didn’t always experience that at other ballparks.’

The Mannywood-Stow era of 2008-2010 would certainly dovetail with Crow-Armstrong’s boyish fandom era – he was roughly 6 to 9 years old then. Though perhaps the ‘go in phases’ bit was lost on him – the Dodgers franchise was shortly thereafter plundered by former owner Frank McCourt, who was forced to sell the team by Major League Baseball amid a messy divorce.

Yeah, the fans didn’t like that. And perhaps the finer points of sports business were lost on a young PCA, as the Dodgers returned to the limelight only after a sale to Guggenheim investments; the team essentially hasn’t missed the playoffs since while re-setting the game’s upper salary structure.

A structure Crow-Armstrong will eventually benefit from once he, too, is a free agent. So perhaps the bad memories of traffic jams on the way from Harvard-Westlake School – where tuition now retails for $55,000 – to Chavez Ravine stuck with him. (Was it the 134, the 101 or Sunset that was the culprit?) Maybe the music’s too loud.

Or perhaps he wants to generate a faux rivalry between the Cubs and Dodgers. Either way, the Dodger lifestyle PCA seems to deride might look a little better come 2030 – when he’s eligible for free agency.

Broadcaster Stephen A. Smith is known for his outspoken personality, whether it’s discussing sports across the ESPN platform or talking about politics wherever he can.

Smith spoke with Graham Bensinger, host of ‘In Depth with Graham Bensinger,’ and provided some clarification on several notable topics involving himself, including his relationship with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and a potential 2028 presidential campaign.

Stephen A. Smith on beef with LeBron James

Smith has often been critical of James, the face of the NBA for nearly two decades.

“My daughters love LeBron. And I had to look at them and say, ‘Yeah, he is phenomenal.’ They ain’t lying. He’s one of the greatest ever. And so, again, you can have differences with people, but if you’re a grownup, if you’re a man, you’re able to compartmentalize and say, ‘we might have a disagreement.’

“We might have a beef,” Smith said. “… It doesn’t mean you should look at him in a negative kind of way. I might have affected him in ways that other people haven’t, and that might have provoked him to do whatever, I don’t know. But at the end of the day, I just know that I’m 58 years old and I’m not interested in walking around bitter and with a grudge and with all of this other nonsense.

Smith’s latest remarks come nearly a year after he was confronted by James while sitting courtside after the Lakers’ 113-109 overtime win over the New York Knicks at Crypto.com Arena on March 6, 2025.

Smith has leaned on the support of his peers and colleagues when he needs it.

“There are people who helped (following the confrontation with James),” Smith said. “Charles Barkley got on me. Kenny Smith is like a brother to me, got on me. Shaq, and then guys internally, Ryan Clark, Marcus Spears. I love those brothers. They’re my brothers. And they weren’t the only ones.”

Will Stephen A. Smith make a presidential run? 

Smith has dabbled in politics over the years as a media personality. He decided to expand that part of his career, hosting a show on SiriusXM radio, covering politics and news that’s happening outside of the sports world. That began in September 2025.

He’s also been mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

“Do I desire the campaign and be on the campaign circuit and running for office? No, I do not,” Smith said. “Do I desire to be on a debate stage to call out these politicians for what they have done to compromise this country? Yes, I do. 

“That’s where it gets serious for me, because you can enter the debate and then leave after the debate and decide you’re not running.”

Smith also made it clear he intends to have the opportunity to ask politicians to justify what they’ve ‘done to contribute to the chaos that’s happened in the streets of America.’

“I want you to look at us in the face and justify the divide that you’ve caused, the friction that you’ve caused,” Smith said.

The solution is right there staring back at them, a lost standard from the past with a full tank just itching to get back in the fight. 

Yet the current acting NCAA — the presidents and chancellors of the SEC and Big Ten — has virtually ignored it. In fact, all but walked away from it.

If you’re looking for the magic bullet of change, if you’re desperate to slow an out of control train barreling down the NIL era tracks, let me reintroduce a friend that has somehow been ignored for the past five years.

Academics. 

Straight, no frills, classwork.  

Want to get a grip on player movement and ridiculous appeals for extended eligibility? Start focusing on academics again — you know, the education in higher education. 

More to the point: academic eligibility.

Forget about NCAA clock eligibility lawsuits from greedy attorneys, or the antitrust threat thrown around every time the NCAA steps foot in a courtroom. These are our academic standards, and you will abide by them. Period.

But when was the last time academics not only forced players to sit out a season, but prevented them from enrolling in school? Or prevented a transfer because credit hours from one school weren’t accepted at another?

Look, I don’t pretend to know the academic standards of every college and university, but I’m pretty sure a double transfer (or more) can’t simply wind up at an Association of American Universities school with a clean transcript.

Or even be accepted. 

It’s not that difficult to scan transfer portal additions for any FBS school, and see the progression from school to school and realize the absurdity of this exercise.

These universities barely talk among themselves, and have distinctly different academic curriculum. There was a time when universities stood behind academic standards as a badge of honor, refusing to budge for anything or anyone. 

Not even a star football player. 

Now it appears they’ve simply decided to go along to get along. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Who cares about transferable credit hours?  

At the front of it all, leading the way with baton in hand and proudly stepping out the new beat, is the NCAA. Don’t buy the righteous indignation they’re selling, everyone. 

This is the same group that in 2017, allowed North Carolina — one of the top five public institutions in the country — to argue systemic academic fraud (fake classes) was available to all students, and therefore didn’t break NCAA rules. 

And I know this is going to shock you (sarcasm alert), the argument worked.

I don’t know what was more shocking: that UNC, a bastion of academic integrity, used the argument ― or that the NCAA bought it. All to protect the mighty basketball program.

Six years later, in the early NIL stages of what-the-hell-are-we-doing-here, the NCAA decided to drop standardized SAT and ACT scores for incoming freshmen and opted instead for a minimum 2.3 grade point average on 16 high school core courses.

That’s a C-minus average on 16 courses over four years.

This is the same NCAA who decided players must only pass 6-9 credit hours a semester, and 24 over an entire academic year, to stay eligible. Low expectations, everyone, do not lead to high achievers.

Meanwhile, the presidents and chancellors who willingly built this mess and now realize it’s not what they want, charged a couple of conference commissioners to lobby Congress — the only organization more dysfunctional than the NCAA — for help to clean up the carnage.

Two conference commissioners who, at this point, can’t even agree on the format of a multibillion dollar College Football Playoff.

So players are earning foundational wealth without the restraints of contracts or limited mobility. Coaches are complaining about the system, but not the generational wealth they’re earning.

Universities are complaining because once available media rights money and booster contributions are quickly being erased by pay for play and paradigm legal losses.

And here we are, engulfed in a transitory world of annual player movement with a longterm goal of what? That should — and really always has been — the No. 1 question for universities. 

What are we working toward, and how do we make it better? 

Instead those same universities (see: the NCAA) have systematically removed any academic governor that could slow the self destructive tsunami — when they didn’t need to. 

The only limitation to athletic and financial player opportunity should be the ability to stay academically eligible, and have classes that transfer toward a degree at your next stop. 

But that would take 130-plus FBS schools to welcome back our old friend academic eligibility standards.

The magic bullet itching to get back in the fight.