| | | | | | | Presented By SiriusXM | | | | Axios Sports | | By Kendall Baker · Sep 30, 2022 | | 🎉 Happy Friday! You made it. Today's word count: 1,681 words (6 minutes). Let's sports… | | | | | | 1 big thing: 🏈 Scary scene in Cincy |  | | | Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images | | | | The Bengals beat the Dolphins, 27-15, on Thursday night in a game overshadowed by a scary injury to Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa. What happened: Tagovailoa was immobilized and taken off the field on a stretcher after being thrown to the ground and slamming his head. - His arms appeared to seize up immediately — a frightening scene.
- The Dolphins said he suffered head and neck injuries, and he was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.
- He was conscious and had movement in all his extremities at the hospital, per the team.
The backdrop: This marked the second straight week Tagovailoa was forced out of a game after hitting his head on the ground. - He was designated with a back injury on Sunday but questions lingered about whether he'd suffered a concussion and if it was safe for him to play.
- See for yourself: Does this look like a back injury, or something head-related?
What they're saying: "I'm upset about this Tua head injury because of what happened last weekend. It's hard to not tie these together," tweeted former NFL player Geoff Schwartz. - "Finding some comfort in the news that Tua is 'moving his extremities,' seems to ignore everything we have [supposedly] learned in the last decade about football and the human brain," tweeted NBC Sports' Tim Layden.
- Asked after the game if he could express, with 100% certainty, that Tagovailoa didn't suffer a concussion or other head injury on Sunday, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said yes.
What to watch: The NFLPA says it is investigating potential protocol violations by the Dolphins, and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith says they will pursue "every legal option." |     | | | | | | 2. ⚽️ NWSL: Final weekend chaos |  Data: NWSL; Table: Axios Visuals The NWSL regular season concludes this weekend, and there's almost nothing set about the playoff picture. State of play: Six teams make the playoffs, with the top two earning byes. As it stands, four teams are fighting for the final two spots, four are fighting for first-round byes, three are in the hunt for the NWSL Shield (top team), and eight are jockeying for position. - Final spots: The Houston Dash, NC Courage, Chicago Red Stars and Angel City FC are all still alive. By Sunday night, only two will be heading to the postseason.
- NWSL Shield: The Portland Thorns, OL Reign and KC Current have a shot at finishing atop the table, which comes with a $10,000-per-player bonus — significant given the league's minimum salary is $35,000.
- First-round byes: The San Diego Wave join the Thorns, Reign and Current as teams with a chance at a bye and an extra week off.
📆 Weekend slate: Wave vs. Courage (Fri), Gotham FC vs. Thorns (Sat), Washington Spirit vs. Dash (Sat), Racing Louisville vs. Current (Sat), Reign vs. Orlando Pride (Sat), Red Stars vs. Angel City (Sun). | | | | | | | | 3. 🏈 The most absurd streak in sports |  | | | Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios | | | | On Sunday, the NFL will play its 31st regular-season game in London. And for the 31st straight time, it will not feature two winning teams (2-1 Vikings vs. 1-2 Saints). Think about that: The NFL has been going to London since 2007 — the same year the first iPhone debuted — and it has yet to put two winning teams on the field together. - This is partly due to bad luck, with games that looked good on paper becoming less appealing by the time the teams took the field.
- 10 London games have matched up two teams with losing records, while the other 21 have had one team with a record of .500 or better.
Looking ahead: The Buccaneers (2-1) play the Seahawks (1-2) on Nov. 13 in the first regular-season NFL game in Germany. Unless Seattle surprises people, it's looking like another streak could start in Munich. | | | | | | | | A message from SiriusXM | | Get 3 months free of SiriusXM | | |  | | | | Stream more than 425 channels on your devices for free on the SXM App, including expertly curated ad-free music with channels dedicated to your favorite decades and genres. Even better: You'll even get access to exclusive music channels created by your favorite artists. See Offer Details. | | | | | | 4. ⚡️ Lightning round |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | ⚾️ Pitch clocks work: The average minor league game decreased by 25 minutes this season with the use of pitch clocks (3:03 to 2:38). MLB, whose games average 3:06 this year, is introducing a pitch clock in 2023. ⛳️ PGA countersues: The PGA Tour has filed a countersuit against LIV Golf, accusing the rival league of inducing top players to breach PGA Tour contracts by claiming the tour couldn't enforce them. 💵 AU funding: Athletes Unlimited, the multi-sport women's professional league, announced a $30 million fundraise on Thursday from investors including Kevin Durant and David Blitzer (76ers co-owner). 🇺🇸 Proud American: Joel Embiid, a native of Cameroon who also holds French citizenship, is now a U.S. citizen. | | | | | | | | 5. 🏀 Return of the queen |  | | | Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images | | | | Australia's Lauren Jackson, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has quietly returned to the sport she once dominated, Jeff writes. Driving the news: Jackson, 41, helped lead Australia to the FIBA World Cup semifinals in her first national team appearance in a decade. The big picture: Jackson's comeback wasn't planned — the mom of two was happy in her role as the leader of Basketball Australia's women's program. But talent found a way. - Knee injuries effectively ended her career in 2012, and after numerous failed attempts to return — while relying on painkillers and sleeping pills — she retired in 2016.
- But last year she began a medical marijuana trial, which has "been just incredible for my recovery," she told the Daily Mail. Marijuana is banned by WADA, but she received a therapeutic exemption for the World Cup.
- With her legs feeling better, she started playing pickup in her hometown of Albury, Australia. Eventually, she suited up for her local semi-pro team, whose arena is named after her.
By the numbers: "Everyone I talk to has her in the top three [of all time]," Kobe Bryant once said of the Hall of Famer who won two WNBA titles in 12 seasons with the Storm (2001-12). "And I mean everyone." - She's one of just three players to win three WNBA MVP awards, joining Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes.
- She's also a seven-time All-WNBA First Teamer and four-time Olympic medalist.
The last word from Jackson, via NYT: "The sport has meant so much to me … So to have this opportunity, this last shot at being a part of something special — this journey might be the most significant in my entire life." | | | | | | | | 6. 🎮 End of an era for EA Sports, FIFA |  | | | Graphic: courtesy of Electronic Arts | | | | FIFA 23, officially released today, marks the end of an era for one of the most popular video game franchises of all time. Why it matters: Electronic Arts ended its near 30-year partnership with FIFA in May following months of tense negotiations, so this will be the last version of the game that bears the name "FIFA." - Starting in 2023, the game will be called EA Sports FC and will no longer feature major FIFA-run events like the World Cup.
- FIFA, meanwhile, plans to launch a new game with a new partner. "The only authentic, real game that has the FIFA name will be the best one available," said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Between the lines: EA Sports negotiated thousands of separate licensing agreements with players, clubs, leagues and stadiums, so EA Sports FC won't change much — it just won't have the FIFA brand attached. By the numbers: The FIFA franchise has generated more than $20 billion in sales over the past two decades, per NYT, with FIFA getting $150 million annually from EA Sports under their most recent agreement. - Over 150 million people play the game, according to EA, which would make "FIFA players" the world's eighth-biggest country.
- Combined, they completed 7.5 billion matches last year and cover athlete Kylian Mbappé scored more than a billion goals in them.
| | | | | | | | 7. 🌎 The world in photos | | Photo: John Cordes/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images ANAHEIM — Shohei Ohtani pitched 7.2 no-hit innings on Thursday, going eight scoreless and striking out 10 A's in a 4-2 win. He has the AL's fourth-best ERA (2.35) and third-most strikeouts (213). - 💪🏼 Plus: He went 2-4 with an RBI to extend his career-long hitting streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in MLB.
Photo: Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images TOKYO — Steph Curry and Klay Thompson tried their hand at sumo wrestling against all-time great Hakuhō Shō on Thursday before their preseason game against the Wizards. Photo: Joosep Martinson - International Skating Union via Getty Images GDAŃSK, Poland — Psh. Doesn't look so hard. | | | | | | | | 8. 📺 Watchlist: Superb Saturday slate |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | College football's scheduling gods gifted us quite the weekend, with five matchups between ranked teams on Saturday. More to watch: - 🏈 NFL: Vikings vs. Saints in London (Sun. 9:30am, NFL); Chiefs at Bucs (Sun. 8:20pm, NBC)
- ⚾️ MLB: Orioles at Yankees (Fri. 7pm, Sat. 1pm, Sun. 1:30pm, MLB) … Watch Aaron Judge continue his pursuit of 62.
- ⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Tottenham (Sat. 7:30am, USA); Man City vs. Man United (Sun. 9am, Peacock)
- ⚽️ NWSL: Six games (Fri.-Sun. Paramount+, Twitch) … See story above.
- ⚽️ MLS: Portland vs. LAFC (Sun. 3pm, ABC); Sporting KC vs. Seattle (Sun. 5pm, FS1)
- 🏁 F1: Singapore Grand Prix (Sun. 8am, ESPN)
- 🏁 NASCAR playoffs: Talladega Superspeedway (Sun. 2pm, NBC)
- ⛳️ LPGA: Volunteers of America Classic (Fri.-Sun. Golf)
- ⛳️ PGA: Sanderson Farms Championship (Fri.-Sun. ESPN+, Golf)
- 🏀 NBA preseason: Seven games (Fri.-Sun. NBA)
- 🏒 NHL preseason: Eight games (Fri.-Sun. ESPN+, NHL)
| | | | | | | | 9. Submit your questions! | | We need some trivia questions. To submit one, reply to this newsletter or email me at kendall@axios.com. Please include the question, the answer, your name and your hometown. Thanks! | | | | | | | | 10. ⚾️ 1 epic collapse: Phils in trouble |  | | | Photo: Rob Tringali/Sportschrome/Getty Images | | | | The Phillies, looking to end a 10-year playoff drought, are trying to avoid yet another September collapse, Jeff writes. Where it stands: After losing five straight — and 10 of 13 — Philly's lead over the Brewers for the final wild card spot has dwindled to just 0.5 games. The big picture: This isn't new territory for the Phils, who've turned September losing into an art form: In the past five seasons, only the Diamondbacks (27 games under .500) have a worse record after Sept. 1 than the Phillies (26 under) among NL teams. - Six days left. Can they hold on?
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