Sport & Story Daily December 4, 2023

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December 4, 2023

Good morning! Undefeated Florida State gets snubbed by the CFP committee.

CFP: Michigan, Washington, Texas, Alabama to vie for title
Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama have been selected by the College Football Playoff committee to vie for the national championship, leaving out Florida State - the first time in CFP history an undefeated Power 5 champion failed to finish in the Top 4.

The Seminoles finished fifth despite going 13-0 and winning an ACC championship on Saturday night, down to its third-string quarterback after injuries to starter Jordan Travis (leg) and backup Tate Rodemaker (concussion). Defending national champion Georgia (No. 6), another team with a compelling argument for playoff inclusion, is also on the outside looking in.
espn.com

Jets QB Aaron Rodgers (Achilles) unlikely to play this year despite positive week returning to practice
If the Jets are eliminated from the playoff picture, Rodgers is not expected to play, sources say. Not a surprise, but that's where it stands. New York is 4-7 and its playoff chances hang by a thread. A loss today would make the climb even tougher. Rodgers has loosely targeted the Dec. 24 game against the Washington Commanders as his potential return date, but if the Jets are out of it by then, don't expect a return.

Rodgers insinuated as much this past week, saying it would be a risk for him to play when he's not 100% healthy. "If we are out of it, I would be surprised if they OK'd that to come back," he told reporters. Indeed.
nfl.com

Nightengale's Notebook: 10 questions heading into MLB's winter meetings
Despite the rampant rumors, unless someone suddenly writes a $1 billion check, Ohtani is not signing at the winter meetings. 

But, at least, he’s getting a little closer. 

There’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Angels. The Toronto Blue Jays. The Chicago Cubs. The San Francisco Giants. And at least one other team, call them a mystery team, are among the finalists. 
usatoday.com

Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett leaves Week 13 vs. Cardinals due to an ankle injury
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett left Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals due to an ankle injury. After being evaluated in the blue tent, Pickett walked to the locker room.

After further evaluation, the team deemed Pickett questionable to return to the contest.
si.com

NFL's first Black Friday game averages 9.61 million viewers on Amazon Prime Video
Prime Video Sports has greenlit a feature-length documentary about NFL star wide receiver DeSean Jackson, the former Philadelphia Eagles great and three-time Pro Bowler who announced his retirement from the league earlier this week.

The untitled documentary is based around footage that DeSean Jackson’s brother, Byron Jackson, began filming 30 years ago. “It started as an attempt to reconnect with his father, but turned into the project of a lifetime — following DeSean’s unexpected rise from nine-year-old Pop Warner prodigy to one of the best wide receivers in NFL history,” a press release describing the film explains.
variety.com

DirecTV dispute with Tegna leaves many unable to watch NFL games, SEC championship
A dispute between DirecTV and Tegna, which owns several NBC and CBS affiliates, left many fans unable to watch Week 13 NFL games Sunday after it also impacted Saturday’s SEC Championship Game between the Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. The companies are in disagreement over the rate Tegna wants DirecTV to pay to carry its channels.
theathletic.com

Brad Nessler ignores Gary Danielson’s handshake attempt in awkward moment during SEC on CBS signoff
Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson’s touching SEC on CBS signoff wasn’t without an awkward moment.

With Danielson seeming to think Nessler was wrapping up CBS’s final SEC broadcast after Alabama’s SEC Championship win over Georgia, Danielson reached his hand out for a handshake, but Nessler ignored the gesture and continued to speak for another roughly 30 seconds.
^nypost.com

F1 season is second-most watched, behind only last year
Formula 1 viewership could not quite measure up to last year, but that was the only shortcoming for the second-most watched season on record.

The complete 22-race Formula 1 season averaged 1.11 million viewers across the ESPN family of networks, down 8% from last year (1.21M) but up 17% from 2021 (949K). This season trails only last year — when viewership was boosted by a record performance or the inaugural Miami Grand Prix — as the most-watched on record. This season was just the third in the past decade in which viewership declined from the prior year, joining 2016 and the delayed, shortened 2020 campaign.
sportsmediawatch.com

Penguins’ Tristan Jarry scores goalie goal to cap amazing night
The goal gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead, and goes into the books as Jarry’s first NHL goal. His one previous professional goal came back in 2018, when he was playing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate.

“It was pretty lucky,” Jarry said after the game. “It’s pretty neat, honestly. It’s something that doesn’t happen very often. There’s very few that have done it, so it’s definitely pretty cool. But honestly, the win means more.”
sbnation.com

Panthers Expected to Attempt to Hire Lions OC Ben Johnson, per Report
The Panthers are expected to make a run at Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson to fill its head coaching vacancy, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Carolina fired coach Frank Reich in his first season at the helm on Monday after a 1–10 start to the season. 

Panthers owner David Tepper will attempt to lure Johnson after trying and failing to land him last year. Johnson elected to stay put in Detroit but is ready for a coaching job this time around, per the report. 
^si.com

Who's next? 10 NFL assistants who could be coveted as head coaches The NFL's annual purge of underperforming head coaches has already begun. Josh McDaniels was fired by the Raiders four weeks ago, Frank Reich was dismissed by the Panthers on Monday, and a half-dozen or so more coaches are in jeopardy as the season wraps up.

So we offer up a list of 10 current assistants most likely to be in the mix for interviews and hires in the upcoming cycle. It's a mix of young and old, offense and defense, names you've barely heard of and veterans who have been head coaches before.
^{foxsports.com}

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh: 'Don't forget to give them the share of the revenue'
The Michigan head coach used his platform Sunday to again call for athletes to earn a share of television revenue. While he was assessing his team’s No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff, he turned the tables around to emphasize his players and how they should receive a cut of TV revenue.

“It’s not about any coach, it’s about the players,” he said, a day after securing his third consecutive Big Ten title. “I love the way you’re talking about the players, that’s who everyone comes to see. Those are the people who put in the work. I hear a lot of the controversy about who should’ve been in, who shouldn’t of been in it. It’s going to be fortunate that the next year is going to be an expanded playoff and a true champion – it’s just going to be better.
^on3.com

NCAA leaders warn college sports at risk of ‘permanent damage’ without action from Congress
The NCAA’s most powerful conferences delivered an urgent plea to congressional leaders last week: We need your help to save college sports – and need it now.

The commissioners of the Big Ten, Big 12, Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference quietly lobbied leaders in both parties – including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries – to back legislation that would set national standards on how collegiate athletes can profit on their name, image and likeness.

Their warning: That a Supreme Court decision two years ago that paved the way for companies to pay student athletes has led to a complicated series of state laws that have undermined collegiate sports and could ultimately lead to the collapse of sports programs across the United States.
_cnn.com

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