Daily Archives: May 20, 2022

Chad Marek is charged in the death of Regan Gibbs. (Associated Press)

Former Kansas University soccer player Regan Noelle Gibbs was found dead in her Lawrence home on Monday. She was 25 years old.

Her husband Chad J. Marek, 26, is facing a first-degree murder charge in her death.

Gibbs was a goaltender for Kansas from 2015-18 and played on two NCAA tournament teams. She was a native of Naches, Washington, and attended West Valley High School before enrolling at Kansas. Head coach Mark Francis released as statement on Tuesday mourning Gibbs.

Our soccer program is heartbroken to hear about the tragic loss of Regan," the statement reads. "She was a tremendous teammate and young woman, and touched so many during her time at Kansas. Regan will always be remembered for the impact she had both on and off the field. We share our condolences to her family, friends and teammates during this difficult time.

The Lawrence Police Department announced via news release that officers arrived at the couple's apartment after receiving a call at 7:26 p.m. on Monday to find Gibbs dead. Marek was at the scene when first responders arrived.

Lawrence Police Chief Rich Lockhart told the Lawrence World Journal that Marek made the 911 call himself and told the dispatcher that God told him to do it. Marek was arrested at the scene and detained on $1 million bail with the prosecutor citing the "excessive brutality" of the crime in the bail request, the Lawrence Times reports. Officials didn't announce the method of the alleged murder.

Marek appeared before the Douglas County District Court and told the judge that Jesus Christ is my attorney," the World Journal reports. According to the World Journal, Marek was frequently seen in downtown Lawrence "evangelizing with a bullhorn." His Facebook page contains messaging that includes linking Halloween, the Easter bunny and COVID-19 vaccines to Satan.

Deputy District Attorney Joshua Seiden said in court on Tuesday that Marek had at least 10 prior convictions including battery, interference with medical emergency crews and interference with law enforcement, the World Journal reports.

Marek is scheduled for his next court appearance on May 24.

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Husband charged with murder in death of former KU soccer player Regan Gibbs, says God told him to do it - Yahoo Sports

It looks like divisions in college football could soon become a thing of the past.

In an expected move following recommendations from the Football Oversight Committee, the NCAAs Division I Council officially voted to eliminate a requirement for conferences to have divisions in order to hold a conference championship game.

Previously, NCAA rules mandated that football conferences with 12 or more members hold a championship game and split teams into divisions with round-robin schedules for divisional opponents.

Now, FBS conferences will be able to create their own rules for deciding a champion. Its expected that most, if not all, FBS conferences will put the two teams with the best records into their championship games instead of pitting the two division winners against one another. With that change, divisions could be scrapped as soon as the 2023 season.

Minutes after the NCAAs announcement, the Pac-12 became the first conference to say it will do just that. In years past, the winners of the Pac-12 North and South would face each other for the conference title. Beginning with the 2022 season, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentages will meet.

According to the Pac-12, the updated rules would have resulted in a different title game matchup in five of the past 11 seasons.

Our goal is to place our two best teams in our Pac-12 Football Championship Game, which we believe will provide our conference with the best opportunity to optimize CFP invitations and ultimately win national championships, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff said. Todays decision is an important step towards that goal and immediately increases both fan interest in, and the media value of, our Football Championship Game.

The Pac-12's current conference football schedule will remain in place for the 2022 season, but "scheduling scenarios for seasons beyond 2022 will continue to be reviewed," the league said.

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - DECEMBER 03: A general view of the PAC-12 logo at midfield before the PAC-12 Football Championship football game between the Oregon Ducks and the Utah Utes at Allegiant Stadium on December 03, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

In a hint that additional changes around college football are coming, the Pac-12 noted that Wednesdays change by the NCAA D-I Council was unanimously supported by all FBS conferences.

Schedules for the 2022 season based in most conferences on divisions are already set, but updated conference scheduling formats are on the horizon. The ACC has publicly mulled a 3-5-5 scheduling model that would have its members play three permanent opponents each season and then cycle through the others over a two-year period, playing five teams one year and the other five the next year. That change could be implemented as soon as 2023, according to ESPN.

Other formats, like having four-team pods, have also been discussed among conferences. In getting rid of divisions, conferences like the SEC would avoid the long periods of time where two teams do not play each other. And as Kliavkoff noted, putting the two best teams against one another can help with College Football Playoff positioning.

Theres also the issue of imbalance within conferences. In the Big Ten, for example, the East division champion has won the conference title in all eight seasons with the current format.

Even without divisions, it will still be a challenge for conferences with as many as 16 teams (like the expanded SEC with Texas and Oklahoma) to create a balanced schedule.

A second rule change was also formally approved by the Division I Council on Wednesday. It involves the 25-man cap on signing classes for college football programs.

Programs are only allowed to add 25 scholarship players per recruiting cycle between high school recruits and transfers. But for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years, the 25 scholarship limit has been totally removed. The limit of 85 total scholarships remains in place for FBS programs (63 for FCS), but the change allows for additional roster flexibility and maneuvering for coaching staffs over the course of the year.

With the one-time transfer rule in effect and the extra year of eligibility provided to players due to the COVID-19 pandemic, roster management has been more chaotic than usual.

Programs that lose a substantial amount of players to the NFL or the transfer portal have had a difficult time getting back to 85 scholarship players due to the limit on the number of prospects they can add in one signing class.

"Some schools hadn't given out all their scholarships and felt constrained by the annual limit," said DI Council chair Shane Lyons, the athletic director at West Virginia. "This temporary change provides schools more flexibility and adds opportunities for incoming and current student-athletes to receive aid."

Moving forward, the Football Oversight Committee will be tasked with collecting recruiting data and monitoring trends over this two-year span to "inform potential future rule changes," the NCAA said.

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With new college football rule change, divisions could become a thing of the past - Yahoo Sports

In the latest episode of the Yahoo Sports podcast, senior NBA insider Chris Haynes and senior NBA writer Vince Goodwill discuss the performances by Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler in the Playoffs, and debate if he is the best player left in the field. Hear the full conversation on the Posted Up with Chris Haynes podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CHRIS HAYNES: What's gotten to your boy Jimmy Butler?

VINCE GOODWILL: This is what he does.

CHRIS HAYNES: Not scoring like this though, Vince. This surge he's been on, I haven't seen this, man.

VINCE GOODWILL: I've seen this from him in different points of his career. When I was covering him in Chicago, our relationship got off to a rocky start because I told him he wasn't as good as Kawhi Leonard or Paul George.

CHRIS HAYNES: How do you feel about that now, Vince?

VINCE GOODWILL: Oh, it's time to have a discussion. It's time to have a conversation now. You know what I mean?

CHRIS HAYNES: Just a conversation? You don't want to admit that? You don't admit fault that you were wrong?

VINCE GOODWILL: No, no, no. He asked me because he was doing a "Slam" cover at-- a "Slam" magazine cover at the time. It was him, Kawhi, and Paul. And he said, who would you take out of the three of us? And I said, honestly, Jimmy, I'll take you last. But this was in the '15, '16 season. This was Jimmy coming off of his first really, really good year. And those guys had done it.

CHRIS HAYNES: I understand. I'm asking right now. Do you change your opinion on where he stands amongst those two?

VINCE GOODWILL: I changed my opinion the next year. I didn't need five years to change my opinion.

CHRIS HAYNES: But more importantly, did you tell him you changed? Does he know?

VINCE GOODWILL: I will never give Jimmy Butler that validation. Are you serious?

CHRIS HAYNES: See, man?

VINCE GOODWILL: I would never give him that--

CHRIS HAYNES: You're being petty.

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VINCE GOODWILL: Because--

CHRIS HAYNES: You're plenty.

VINCE GOODWILL: It's not petty, Chris. It is, you're never going to give someone the validation. Because you know what he said to me? He said to me that day, I'm going to prove to you that I'm better than those. And you know the thing he did that year, Chris?

CHRIS HAYNES: What did he do?

VINCE GOODWILL: Kawhi Leonard had a game winner in Chicago. Jimmy blocked it. About a week later, Paul George came to town. Jimmy hit like an alley-oop tip in layup over him that was at the buzzer. He didn't have to say anything to me. But he made sure when we got to the locker room back in the days when we were allowed in locker rooms and everything, Chris.

CHRIS HAYNES: That was a long time ago.

VINCE GOODWILL: Long, long, long, long, long time ago. He was like, you still taking them over me?

CHRIS HAYNES: So he remembered.

VINCE GOODWILL: Oh, he don't forget a thing. He's the best player left. He is the best player left.

CHRIS HAYNES: Whoo. You putting him over Steph, huh?

VINCE GOODWILL: He's doing it on both ends. He's giving it to you on both ends. When I'm talking about best player left, I'm not talking about naturally gifted, talented, all that. He literally turned the game, Chris, in that third quarter with two cringeworthy steals that Eric Spoelstra was trying to pull his hair out because you know Eric Spoelstra don't like his guys gambling off the defense like that.

And he went off. And he locked up Jayson Tatum. Then he big bodied Jayson Tatum for 40. You tell me what remaining player in the playoffs can do that on both ends. There's better offensive players. Yes. Steph is a better offensive player. Luka Doncic is a better offensive player. Jayson Tatum is. But who can do it that way and dominate a game on both ends of the floor? If Giannis was still playing, I'd be saying it was Giannis. But Giannis is sitting at home right now.

CHRIS HAYNES: All right. Hold on. You're saying Jimmy Butler is better than Stephen Curry. Is that what you're saying?

VINCE GOODWILL: I'm saying Jimmy Butler has performed better than Stephen Curry in these playoffs. 30 a night. Eight boards. Six assists. Steals and blocks. He's performed better. He has. I don't think there's much-- I don't think there should be much debate. Steph hasn't performed to Steph-like standards in these playoffs as of yet. Now--

CHRIS HAYNES: Does it matter? Does it matter? You know their resume already. You've seen what they've done.

VINCE GOODWILL: Oh, you mean resume like James Harden's resume before the Eastern Conference semifinals? Or were you willing to bet on James Harden's resume, Christopher Haynes?

CHRIS HAYNES: No. Because I seen what he was doing this season. So no. I was not. No.

VINCE GOODWILL: You've seen his movies. Right? Ain't you seen my movies? That's how I talk. Yeah. Yeah.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Posted Up - Is Jimmy Butler the best player left in the 2022 Playoffs? - Yahoo Sports

There was a lot working against the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

It was going to be difficult for the Celtics to refocus after an emotional Game 7 win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. They had just one day in between games, after a tough series against the reigning champs. That's a tough spot, especially against a good Miami Heat team.

Then the Celtics took two roster hits. Al Horford was out due to health and safety protocols. Marcus Smart missed Game 1 with a foot injury. That shortened the Celtics' rotation.

It wasn't a huge shock when the Celtics faded badly in the second half. They lost 118-107. Miami played well, but a lot of that result seemed due to the issues Boston faced.

Game 2 will be where we find out what kind of series this should be. Smart is expected back and Horford cleared protocols, so he'll play. Derrick White, who started Game 1 in Smart's place, will be out as his wife is expecting to give birth. The Heat are 3.5-point favorites for Thursday night's game at BetMGM.

Both teams have been great this season. The Heat, the East's best team, have been good from opening night through the Game 1 win over Boston. The Celtics took a while to get it together, but since late January they have been the NBA's best team. It's a great series.

Thursday seems like a prime zig-zag theory game. That's an approach in which bettors do the opposite of what happened in the previous game of a series. The Heat won and covered in Game 1, but the Celtics showed they were more than capable of taking a game in Miami. It was just a bad situation for them. Boston will bounce back, assuming Smart plays. We'll see if the Heat can hold off their charge.

Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat and Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics will do battle again in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Here's the first look at the sports betting slate for Thursday:

We have our second golf major starting Thursday. Yahoo Sportsbook's Pamela Maldonado broke down her favorite bets:

The Florida Panthers, which had the NHL's best record in the regular season, lived on the edge in the first round of the NHL playoffs but survived. They're back to fighting out of a hole early in their second-round matchup.

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The Panthers are down 1-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning and face a crucial Game 2. They're -165 favorites, and that line is not giving the Lightning much credit. The Lightning are built for the playoffs and the same might not be true for the Panthers.

The Colorado Avalanche also have a Game 2, after an overtime win over the St. Louis Blues in Game 1. The Avalanche were clearly the better team in Game 1, they're the best team left in the NHL playoffs and they should have an easier time in Game 2. The Avs are -225 favorites but taking them on the puck line at -1.5, for +105 odds, could be the better play.

There's an eight-game baseball slate, with five games happening in the afternoon. The most intriguing games are probably the San Diego Padres with Yu Darvish pitching against the Philadelphia Phillies (-120) and the St. Louis Cardinals at New York Mets (-185).

The Celtics seem primed to cover, and it's worth a +140 play on the moneyline as well. As a bonus, take that Avalanche puck line, and why not, how about Viktor Hovland to win the PGA at +2500.

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The Daily Sweat: Celtics look to bounce back, even series against the Heat - Yahoo Sports

While the first congressional hearing on UFOs in more than 50 years didnt reveal the existence of extraterrestrial life, it did affirm that the U.S. military is taking sightings of unknown craft seriously as a national security threat.

A House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee hearing convened Tuesday morning with a 90-minute public session that was followed by closed-door testimony later in the day.

Unidentified aerial phenomena [UAPs] are a potential national security threat, and they need to be treated that way, Rep. Andr Carson, D-Ind., said at the beginning of the hearing, referring to the preferred technical term for unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.

For too long, the stigma associated with UAPs has gotten in the way of good intelligence analysis, he added. Pilots avoided reporting or were laughed at when they did. DOD officials relegated the issues to the backroom or swept it under the rug entirely, fearful of a skeptical national security community.

Today we know better, Carson continued. UAPs are unexplained, its true, but they are real. They need to be investigated, and any threats they pose need to be mitigated.

The first congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena in over 50 years was held on Tuesday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The hearing the first on the topic since 1966, when congressman and future president Gerald Ford held one after a sighting in Michigan was less focused on concerns about alien invasion and more on intelligence lapses that could lead to other nations having unknown technology about which the U.S. is not aware. That push included making sure pilots feel comfortable reporting anything they see.

The intelligence community has a serious duty to our taxpayers to prevent potential adversaries such as China and Russia from surprising us with unforeseen new technologies, said Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark. This committee has an obligation to understand what you are doing to determine whether any UAPs are new technologies or not and if they are, where are they coming from?

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In November, the Pentagon announced the new Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group program to help with tracking. It followed a June 2021 report documenting 144 observations dating back to 2004.

We know that our service members have encountered unidentified aerial phenomena, and because UAP pose potential flight safety and general security risks, we are committed to a focused effort to determine their origins, Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, testified at the hearing. We want to know whats out there as much as you want to know whats out there. We get the questions not just from you. We get it from family, and we get them night and day.

Ronald Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, testifies on Tuesday. (Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images)

Scott Bray, deputy director of naval intelligence, said the Pentagon's database of unidentified objects has grown to approximately 400 reports. He said that while there had not been any collisions between military craft and UAPs, there had been at least 11 near misses. Bray said the military had not picked up communication signals from the objects, nor had it tried to begin communications with them.

Generally speaking, it appears to be something thats unmanned, appears to be something that may or may not be in controlled flight, so we have not attempted any communication with that, he said, noting that the military had not fired on any UAP, nor had it come across any wreckage that isnt consistent of being with terrestrial origin.

While Bray said that most of the sightings that were still unexplained could be attributed to a lack of data, he conceded, There are a small handful of cases in which we have more data that our analysis simply hasnt been able to fully pull together a picture of what happened.

The American fascination with and military interest in UFOs are both decades old. In his opening remarks, Carson referenced the Air Forces Project Blue Book, a classified program set up in 1952 that counted more than 12,000 UFO sightings over its 17-year existence, with hundreds still unexplained. A 2006 report of a disk hovering over OHare International Airport in Chicago was dismissed by the Federal Aviation Administration as a weather anomaly. The 1947 crash of a high-altitude balloon in Roswell, N.M., inspired generations of conspiracy theories about flying saucers. The unmanned craft was part of a top-secret program to monitor Soviet weapon tests.

Scott Bray, the deputy director of naval intelligence, plays a video of an unidentified aerial phenomenon during the congressional hearing on Tuesday. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

In a March 1966 letter to two fellow congressmen, Ford wrote, In the firm belief that the American public deserve a better explanation than that thus far given by the Air Force, I strongly recommend that there be a committee investigation of the UFO phenomena. I think we owe it to the people to establish credibility regarding UFOs and to produce the greatest possible enlightenment on this subject. The following month, Ford issued a statement saying that while some had ridiculed his call for a congressional investigation, they were a fraction of those who had given approval to look into a March event in which 40 people, including 12 police officers, claimed to have seen a cluster of UFOs.

In 2017, the New York Times published a story about how former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had pushed for funding for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, which investigated unexplained aerial sightings. The program ran from 2007 to 2012.

Im not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going, said Reid. I think its one of the good things I did in my congressional service. Ive done something that no one has done before.

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Military takes UFOs seriously at congressional hearing: 'We want to know what's out there' - Yahoo News

Dont call TrueCar (TRUE) the next Carvana (CVNA), or Vroom (VRM).

The car-buying service is an online platform linking car buyers to dealers, using its database of pricing information to give both parties an accurate, fair price of cars on the platform. Buyers and dealers can use an offer the system creates, or come to their own during the negotiation process.

TrueCar says 60% of its users want to complete the full car buying process online. Thats where a new pilot program in Florida called TrueCar+ comes into play.

There's been a trend for more and more of the shopping experience to move online and with TrueCar+, we're bringing the entire experience and the ability to buy the vehicle, TrueCar CEO Mike Darrows said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. [Consumers] can start their research on our site, find a vehicle that meets their needs, they can actually calculate a real monthly payment, either a loan or a lease, get a cash value for their trade-in, actually apply for financing directly online and then sign a buyer's order on our platform.

A TrueCar certified dealer

What TrueCar does not do, however, is acquire cars to sell directly to its users - thats what the 13,000 car dealers on its network are there to do. TrueCar calls its model asset light versus those competitors, but that doesnt mean the company isnt trying to amp up its services.

We sit right in the middle of supply and demand, we want to be the technology and the platform, the marketplace, if you will, that connects consumers with our retail partners and enables that transaction to happen, Darrow says. We'll continue to advance it from a digital perspective and allow consumers to do more and more of that from the comfort of their home.

Drilling down into what consumers are currently buying, as fuel costs have skyrocketed, consumer interest and purchasing of electric vehicles (EV) has risen concurrently. Recent data from Experian has been bearing that that out, with EV registrations jumping 60% in the first quarter this year compared to a year ago.

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A new Tesla Model 3 is shown at a delivery center on the last day of the company's third quarter, in San Diego, California, September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

According to Darrow, another factor fueling the rise is an actual jump in EV supply.

We are starting to see the original set of EVs that were sold new, come back to the market, he says. So I think as gas prices stay up, as more and more EVs come back as used cars, they'll be viable alternatives on the used car market.

As for the company itself, TrueCar has avoided the recent pitfalls of Carvana and Vroom due to its asset-light business model, and fiscal prudence. But operating in a highly discretionary market like auto sector means the company isnt immune from economic and market forces.

TrueCar stock is down 8% year-to-date, though it is easily outpacing the performance of its competitors Carvana and Vroom, and even the S&P 500 (^GSPC), which at the time of this writing is down 17%.

We're certainly feeling some of the pressure of what's going on in the marketplace, Darrow says when discussing the companys stock performance. We're fortunate in that we've got a really strong balance sheet, we've got a lot of cash on hand and no debt, so we're trying to stay focused on what we want to accomplish.

Pras Subramanian is a senior autos reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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TrueCar CEO explains why his company isn't the next Carvana or Vroom - Yahoo Finance

PHOENIX The Dallas Mavericks had their bags packed for San Francisco while the favored Phoenix Suns were ready for Bora Bora, 10 minutes into an elimination game.

With every basket, the Suns got tight and the Mavericks got more confident, squeezing on the Suns All-Star backcourt until they were dry except it was the first quarter, with Chris Paul and Devin Booker looking out of sorts and out of answers.

The lead couldve ballooned to 60 if Dallas wanted it to, playing loose and free while the Suns couldnt muster the magic that garnered them a trip to the NBA Finals last summer blowing a 2-0 lead and surrendering a 123-90 Game 7 loss at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

We basically played the worst game of the season tonight, Suns coach Monty Williams said, matter-of-factly.

Every team loses four of five during the regular season; its too many games, schedule quirks, travel inconsistencies and randomness for it not to happen. And every team has a worst game, even the eventual champions.

Never, ever do both instances occur on the same evening and never in May. A funny thing happened on the way to June.

The Suns collapsed, both from the pressure of the charging Mavericks and their growing on-floor leader Luka Doncic, and perhaps from within. Williams was curt when asked why soon-to-be-restricted free agent Deandre Ayton played only 17 minutes.

Its internal, Williams said, quickly turning the page.

Williams is the Coach of the Year, rightfully so, and tried his very best to own this unexpected disaster, as true to his character. As he conducted his news conference, with his two stars Paul and Booker standing to the side waiting their turn, Williams claimed he mightve pushed his players too hard during the regular season.

I probably rode these guys too much this year, Williams said. From a minutes standpoint, expectations standpoint. They wanted that. We all just had an off night tonight.

Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul reacts during the Suns' loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals at Footprint Center in Phoenix on May 15, 2022. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Nights like this are more costly for Paul, honestly. By the time he connected on his first field goal in the third quarter, his team was down 40 they needed the steady hand he provided through the season and he played with no sense of urgency, almost resigned to the fate the Mavericks provided in the first quarter when Doncic (35 points) and Spencer Dinwiddie (30 points) blitzed the Suns into indecision and panic.

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Its easy to have games where putting up 10 shots seems admirable in the name of getting everyone else involved, but Paul's team needed him to do more, be more and perhaps its too much to ask at this stage of his career.

Thats why hes augmented with youth, with Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Ayton, while Booker is the leader of that pack, but he had nothing for the Mavericks relentless defense.

They followed the game plan, did a good job of getting the ball out of my hands, Booker said. I try to make the right play, but it wasnt the right play every time. I missed a few open ones I got.

It was probably too much to ask even when Paul was in his prime, given how this is the fourth time hes played a full series and his team has blown a 2-0 lead. Hes lauded for his control on the game, but so many times hes been powerless when his teams lose control.

This, like the others, doesn't fall only on him but as time goes on and the details fade, the standing memory is the historical point guard failing to maximize opportunities.

This aint tennis, this aint golf, we need everybody, Paul said. I think Mont said its on him. I think thats on me, the point guard, the leader of the team to get the right shots. It is what it is."

Williams granted his point guard some pregame bail when asked if the wear and tear affects him more now than before.

I would imagine, yes, Williams said. I used to have hair. I dont. When we were younger, things were different. I would imagine. But you cant live there.

Doncic lived in the Suns heads and in their nightmares, though, scoring the same amount as the Suns at halftime (27) while Booker and Paul were 0-for-11 in 40 combined minutes.

Youth is serving all through the league, even though the older guys are playing longer and more effectively than in previous eras. The defending champions went out due in large part to Jayson Tatum putting it together, and the three-time champion Warriors mightve very well been joining Milwaukee if Ja Morants body didnt fail him.

This title window seemed like Pauls best chance at launching himself into an upper echelon of greats, and instead he looked like food to Doncic and Jalen Brunson on defense. At the start of the series, Brunson was getting trash talked by Booker following blocked shots 11 days later felt like 11 years later for the likes of Paul.

I do think when you see the lead building, your guys cant hit shots, it is deflating, Dinwiddie told Yahoo Sports. If thats what yall mean by choking, sure.

We put CP into actions, we had a stifling defense. When somebody says choking, its like they froze. Im never gonna say that about a team thats competing. But its inevitable. I think they started getting out of character. They thought theyd try to shoot threes and get back. Remember, wed been up in this building and then we folded.

The Mavericks kept going all-in with their hands, with Doncic hitting step-back threes that youd prefer he take, and Dinwiddie being the player hes long told everyone who would listen that he could be.

Those are daggers, he said. Youre up 12, 15 and then it turns to 24 we werent gonna let up.

It feels like an easy strategy when the opposing teams point guard is closer in age to the Hall of Fame point guard coaching Dallas than the future Hall of Famer (Doncic) hes facing. It didnt seem like it or look like it when Paul was motioning for Kidd to call timeout in Game 2, putting the finishing touches on a sterling playoff performance, but Kidd was playing the long game the whole way. He just had to make sure his team hung around long enough to take advantage.

Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul looks to pass against the Dallas Mavericks during Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals series on May 15, 2022, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Its a tightrope to walk when turning over a team to Paul, especially one that didnt have a footprint in the NBAs landscape before a trade for him fell into their lap. Hell elevate your program, streamline your processes and his control over a game is peerless at times.

But the back end can be predictably painful, especially when it matters most. Either his play will crater, or his body will, or both. Andscape reported he was dealing with a left quad injury, which would be part of the explanation for his play.

He didnt look like himself the last five games of the series, and cruelly, the downturn began on the day he turned 37 years old. Putting up 9.4 points and 5.8 assists with 16 turnovers since going up 2-0 can be a main culprit for Phoenixs collapse.

The last time Paul had this level of playoff impotency, it was last years first round when an injured shoulder prevented him from fully participating in the upset of the the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in Round 1.

A week later, he was carving up the Denver Nuggets, piece by piece.

A week from now, hell still be processing this loss while Golden State and Dallas engage in an unexpected tussle for a spot in June.

How far can a team go when its heavily dependent on an aging point guard who gets hurt? Paul's value isnt as a decoy, so even bringing in another shot creator alongside Booker would minimize the things he does best.

With three more years on his contract at around $30 million each, its a tough spot for the Suns to be in. He still voiced resilience, and doesnt want to wear the label of being the next great loser.

You play long enough and dont win, every time you lose theyll say it was your best chance, Paul said. Ill tell you this, Ill be back next year. Im not retiring tomorrow.

Tomorrows comes for everyone and eventually, you run out. If today belongs to Doncic, tomorrow seems like it will, too.

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Chris Paul runs into Father Time and the future as another title window closes - Yahoo Sports

For more than a year now, the original COVID-19 vaccines have held up remarkably well even miraculously so against a Greek alphabet of new variants: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta.

But now experts say something is changing. Since the start of 2022, the initial version of Omicron, known as BA.1, has been spinning off new sublineages BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.4, BA.5 at an alarming pace.

Earlier variants did this too. But it never really mattered, because their offshoots had no functional consequence, according to Eric Topol, founder of Scripps Research Translational Institute. They did not increase transmissibility or pathogenicity.

Todays rapidly proliferating Omicron mutants are different, however. They all have one worrisome trait in common: Theyre getting better and better at sidestepping immunity and sickening people who were previously shielded by vaccination or prior infection.

The virus, in other words, is now evolving faster and in a more consequential way than ever before. Given the increasing speed of immune evasion, and what this pattern portends for the future, experts warn that the time has come to rethink our reliance on the vaccine status quo and double down on next-generation vaccines that can actually stop infection.

A computer-generated image of multiple copies of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. (Getty Images)

As difficult [as] it is to mentally confront, we must plan on something worse than Omicron in the months ahead, Topol wrote on May 15. We absolutely need an aggressive stance to get ahead of the virus for the first time since the pandemic began instead of surrendering.

The brewing storm of BA sublineages isnt all bad news. COVID cases have been rising nationwide since the beginning of April, nearly quadrupling over the last six weeks to more than 90,000 per day on average. Yet both COVID deaths (about 300 per day) and ICU patients (about 2,000 total) are still at or approaching record lows even though other countries with bigger gaps in previous exposure or vaccination have been hit hard, and even though new research shows that Omicron and its spinoffs are not, in fact, intrinsically less severe or deadly than prior variants, contrary to early assumptions.

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Clearly, existing immunity is still valuable. Along with new therapeutics like Paxlovid, its the major factor that makes 2022 different, and much less deadly, than 2021 or 2020.

A skeptic might say thats all that matters. A low rate of death and severe disease? Mission accomplished, the argument goes. COVID really is no worse than the flu now. Americans are right to unmask and return to normal.

The problem with this approach is that it ignores the viruss new direction and what science can do to redirect it. It succumbs to a complacency that could, in time, become deadly itself.

Passengers on a New York City subway train without face coverings in April. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Just a few months ago, it was possible to believe COVID was running out of steam. Fresh off a massive winter BA.1 wave, the world was flooded with new antibodies, which seemed to slow the next version of Omicron, BA.2, to a crawl. It felt like the beginning of the end: the first big step toward endemicity, or a less dangerous, disruptive and predictable coexistence with COVID. Like the flu.

But the near-simultaneous and near-immediate emergence of BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 has upended those expectations. All three strains share several mutations with BA.2, but they also boast additional alterations in a key amino acid called L452, which may help explain why all three dodge immunity so well. As Gretchen Vogel of Science magazine explained in a recent story titled New versions of Omicron are masters of immune evasion, L452 is part of the receptor-binding domain, the part of the spike protein that locks onto cells, enabling infection. The domain is also a key target for protective antibodies.

The disturbing thing about these L452 mutations is that they didnt happen to just one strain in one place. They occurred in at least four different sublineages in four different countries, all at the same time: Belgium, France, South Africa and the U.S. (specifically New York). This strongly suggests that the mutations werent random, but rather a Darwinian adaptation meant to help the virus sidestep the very thing that seemed to be keeping cases low in the first place: the huge amounts of Omicron immunity generated over the winter.

The independent appearance of four different mutations at the same site? Thats not normal, immunologist Yunlong Richard Cao of Peking University told Science magazine. Already, Omicron and its descendants should be called SARS-3, added Linfa Wang, a bat coronavirus researcher at the Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore an entirely distinct virus.

And the fact that the virus responded this way once suggests that it can keep responding the same way in the future.

People walk by a COVID-19 testing site in New York Citys Times Square on May 12. (Liao Pan/China News Service via Getty Images)

We can be certain that [future variants will] continue to be more and more capable of immune escape, explained Kristian Andersen, who studies viral evolution at Scripps Research.

This new trajectory toward immune escape with little pause for a breather after a big wave isnt a return to square one. But its risky for several reasons.

For most of the pandemic, a previous infection provided real protection against reinfection, even by a different variant. Yet initial studies indicate that theres little cross-immunity between BA.1 and BA.2.12.1, BA.4 or BA.5 meaning that those infected with the first Omicron variant are already reporting second infections with the newer versions of the variant just a few months later, according to the New York Times.

In turn, those people may go on to have third or fourth infections, even within this year.

It seems likely to me that thats going to sort of be a long-term pattern, Juliet Pulliam, an epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, told the New York Times.

Needless to say, getting infected multiple times a year with a virus that has the potential to cause a host of other health problems including long COVID in roughly 10% of those it infects is not optimal.

Combine frequent reinfections with rising breakthrough cases, meanwhile, and the viruss overall burden on society will soar both in terms of sick days at work and school and the threat of more serious outcomes, including death. Even now, Omicron and its descendants arent just evading immunity against infection (even shortly after a booster shot). Theyre showing they can erode at least some protection against severe illness as well.

In a crowded Times Square, a news ticker highlights that the U.S. has reached 1 million COVID deaths on May 12. (Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images)

A major misconception is that the vaccines are holding steady to protect against severe disease, hospitalizations, and deaths, Topol wrote Monday in the Guardian. They are not. When a booster was given during the Delta wave, it fully restored protection against these outcomes, to the level of 95% effectiveness. But for Omicron, with a booster (or second booster) the protection was approximately 80%. While still high, [that] represents a major, fourfold rise in ineffectiveness, from 5% to 20%.

Extrapolate this fourfold reduction in protection to the entire U.S. population roughly 70% of which is unboosted, including 20 million seniors and it means more tragic outcomes, especially if COVID is allowed to spread unchecked. In Massachusetts, one of Americas most vaccinated states, hospitalizations are up 56% over the last two weeks which is when BA.2.12.1 overtook BA.2 to become dominant. ICU numbers are up 97%.

Finally, the more the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to develop more dangerous properties. Its overly optimistic to think well be done when Omicron variants run their course, Topol explained. Not only are they providing further seeding grounds for more variants of concern, but that path is further facilitated by tens of millions of immunocompromised people around the world, multiple and massive animal reservoirs, and increased frequency of recombinants the hybrid versions of the virus that we are seeing from co-infections.

Every single time we think were through this, every single time we think we have the upper hand, the virus pulls a trick on us, Andersen added. The way to get it under control is not Lets all get infected a few times a year and then hope for the best.

So what is the way forward? Not what the U.S. is doing now, experts insist.

Currently, theres only one new vaccine in the regulatory hopper: an Omicron booster based on the BA.1 variant, which is up for approval this summer. Yet BA.2.12.1, BA.4 and BA.5 may have already rendered it obsolete a mismatch that will become only more pronounced as the virus continues to evolve.

A nursing student administers the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Las Vegas last year. (John Locher/AP)

Then theres Congress, which has refused to approve the Biden administrations request for $10 billion in new COVID funding. As a result, the White House is now preparing to ration the forthcoming Omicron booster, according to Politico.

Unfortunately, America is getting it backward here. Instead of spending less on behind-the-curve shots, the U.S. should be spending more to get ahead of the virus. How? By investing in next-generation vaccines that can stop new variants from dodging our immune defenses.

One promising path is a nasal vaccine a simple spray that would enter the mucus layer inside the nose and help the body make antibodies that capture the virus before it even has a chance to attach to peoples cells, according to Akiko Iwasaki, a professor of immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine whose team has been developing just such a vaccine.

We have shown in animal studies that we can spray the viruss so-called spike proteins into the nose in a previously vaccinated host and significantly reduce infection in the nose and lungs as well as provide protection against disease and death, Iwasaki wrote in a New York Times op-ed. Using the nasal spray as a booster potentially over the counter every four to six months may make the most sense for this pandemic.

The second major avenue would be a variant-proof vaccine based on the many neutralizing antibodies that scientists have discovered since the start of the pandemic, which have a high likelihood of protecting against any future variant, according to Topol.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, left, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with other members of the House on the Capitol steps on May 12 to honor the nearly 1 million lives lost in America due to COVID. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Such vaccines are clearly in our reach, but the lack of investment in a high priority and velocity initiative is holding us back, he has explained.

Three nasal vaccines are in late-stage clinical trials; four variant-proof vaccines recently started trials too. They could be used in concert: the latter for the initial doses, the former as boosters. But theres been no Operation Warp Speed for any of them and federal COVID funding is about to run out.

Given how fast the virus is changing, Topol and others say its time for that to change too. The immune protection many Americans were relying on when they removed their masks and returned to normal isnt what it used to be. So unless theyre fine with getting repeatedly reinfected and spreading the virus to other, more vulnerable friends and family members next-generation vaccines are starting to look like the smartest exit strategy.

We need to focus on broadening our immunity, [and] we really, really need to get going, Andersen told Science magazine. Simply letting the virus do what viruses do continue to infect us, and likely several times a year just isnt an option in my playbook.

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Future COVID variants will likely reinfect us multiple times a year, experts say unless we invest in new vaccines - Yahoo News

Yahoo Sports Dan Wetzel and Sports Illustrateds Pat Forde discuss coaches who are heading into the 2022 college football season including Louisvilles Scott Satterfield, Arizona States Herm Edwards, Nebraskas Scott Frost, and Auburns Bryan Harsin.

[YAHOO SPORTS LOGO JINGLE]

DAN WETZEL: We know Jeff Brohm is the head coach at Purdue. And Jeff Brohm is a-- from the Brohm family of Louisville. His father, Oscar, brothers, Greg, and Brian, his son-- everybody. Everybody in Louisville knows the Brohms, right?

PAT FORDE: Yes. And every male Brohm who has ever thrown or caught a pass did it at the University of Louisville.

DAN WETZEL: He's speaking at the Louisville Flaget High School Alumni Association. Somebody asked, "How much pressure did you feel when the Louisville job opened in 2018?"

"You know what? After being at Purdue two years when it came open, that was a tough call," Brohm said. "It was just too early to leave Purdue for Louisville at that point. Now, we're on year-six-- at Purdue-- I love this town, this area. I'm an alumnus of Louisville, so anything can happen in the future."

PAT FORDE: Boom.

DAN WETZEL: This is all from a column by the great Rick Bozich, who writes for WDRB. But he used to write for "The Courier-Journal" for years.

PAT FORDE: That is an eye-opening comment, for sure. [CHUCKLES] And it sends a clear signal to Scott Satterfield. Better win big this year, pal.

DAN WETZEL: So Satterfield had a enormous success at Appalachian State. Gets to Louisville. He's 18 and 19. He's 6 and 7 last year. Took an L in the First Responder Bowl, which is always such a classic.

PAT FORDE: [LAUGHS] A lot of fan investment in that First Responder Bowl.

DAN WETZEL: Came in last place in the First Responder Bowl.

PAT FORDE: [LAUGHS]

DAN WETZEL: Yeah, he's got a win. Brohm has basically just stated I'll take the job.

PAT FORDE: Yeah. On the list of potential openings now, Louisville moves up a couple notches, I think, just based on Jeff Brohm's rhetoric.

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DAN WETZEL: You got to put Satterfield at number one on the hot seat, if only because of this.

PAT FORDE: Right.

DAN WETZEL: Herm Edwards at Arizona State, with all the scandals and the transfers out-- I thought-- he's got 40 guys on the roster or something now. [CHUCKLES]

PAT FORDE: Yeah. I mean--

DAN WETZEL: Total mess.

PAT FORDE: They have just been-- yeah. They've been gutted by transfers, they've had staff turnover, they have an ongoing NCAA investigation. And things had only been going OK for Herm. It was not like he was lighting anything on fire there. So Herm is at or near the top as well.

Scott Frost, right?

DAN WETZEL: Scott Frost.

PAT FORDE: Scott Frost has like a month, I think, to either keep the job until the end of the season or to get fired quickly. The referendum will come quickly on him. He's lucky that he still has the job this season.

[SWISH]

DAN WETZEL: 4 and 8, 5 and 7, 3 and 5, 3 and 9. I mean, if he gets to 6 and 6, that's going to be progress enough. He's going to be back.

PAT FORDE: Why should 6 and 6 be good enough to be back?

DAN WETZEL: Why was 3 and nigh good enough to be back?

PAT FORDE: Well, because of the buyout, mostly. But now, OK, the buyout's gotten lower. And eventually-- look, it's-- at some point in time, they've got to show something, don't they? Here's their September schedule-- actually, start in August.

They're playing in Dublin, Ireland, against Northwestern. Very important game for Scott Frost. Then, North Dakota, Georgia Southern. You got to win those two, obviously.

Then, Oklahoma comes to Lincoln, and then they have the Bye Week, and that's-- the old Bye Week firing. We've seen that a few times there. You plug in the interim coach.

If they are 2 and 2 at that point, I think he's gone.

DAN WETZEL: Wow.

PAT FORDE: I do.

DAN WETZEL: Who else you got that needs a win? Harsin. Brian Harsin, down at Auburn.

PAT FORDE: Brian Harsin.

DAN WETZEL: They tried to fire him.

PAT FORDE: The boosters were dying to fire him. So much they just kept leaking stuff to try to make Brian Harsin's life miserable and untenable and to get him pushed out.

DAN WETZEL: I don't hold anything that happens this year-- much of it-- against Brian Harsin because he's been literally undercut by his school. So I don't know. Those seem to be the big ones.

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Coaches on the hot seat heading into the 2022 season | College Football Enquirer - Yahoo Sports

Abbott (ABT) has reached an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could allow it to get baby formula products, currently in shortage, to customers in about two months, once it restarts a Michigan plant which shut down in February.

A nationwide shortage of baby formula has been growing in recent weeks as a domino effect of Abbott's plant closure and ongoing supply chain constraints has left store shelves bare.

Abbott announced a potential timeline of two weeks to restart the plant and six to eight weeks before products make it back on shelves.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said Monday evening he believes these goals are doable.

"We believe those timeframes are reasonable," he said, but added that he cannot commit to a timeline.

But, he said, the FDA expects overall supply to improve "in the next couple of months."

Califf added that the FDA was working with outside consultants to gain realtime updates on the company's progress to resolve the safety concerns, and the agency would give the green light as soon as Abbott meets all the requirements.

Abbott voluntarily shut down its plant and recalled some of its infant formula products after reports of four cases, including two infant deaths, following the use of its formula. The company has maintained that the subsequent investigations show that the strains found by the FDA did not match the strains of infection in the babies.

FDA officials told reporters on Monday that there were many types of strains found at the plant, but because Cronobacter sakazakiior is not a reportable disease, except in Minnesota, the data do not exist for a definitive conclusion. The FDA only had two samples from the four cases to work with, and the database of the bacteria only has 238 strains identified.

"We simply don't have the evidence to demonstrate that causality. But again, the data are so limited with sequencing only available for two out of the four cases," said Susan Mayne, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

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ARLINGTON, VA - MAY 16: A view of nearly empty shelves at a giant grocery store due to shortage in the availability of baby food Monday, May 16, 2022, in Arlington Virginia. Parents in much of the U.S. are scrambling to find baby formula. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The U.S. government has taken several steps in the past week in efforts to alleviate the situation.

Last week, the White House met with major retailers and manufacturers to determine how to increase production domestically. Meanwhile, the FDA has been looking abroad to find supplies that meet regulatory requirements, as well as increasing flexibility to add more domestic production partners.

A White House official told reporters on background Monday that since President Joe Biden's calls with manufacturers and retailers last week, there have been follow-ups to help determine how to get products in areas of critically-low formula supply.

That includes production and distribution from manufacturers like Abbott, the largest maker, and Rickett, Mead Johnson, Nestl/Gerber, and Perrigo, which make the in-house brands for Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT). Those retailers and Target (TGT) have also been contacted by the president about helping with distribution to ensure supplies are reaching where they need to as well, officials said.

The White House said last week that the U.S. produces 98% of the baby formula it consumes, both for infants and for adults with certain health issues. The remainder comes from overseas including, The Netherlands, Chile, Mexico and Ireland.

In addition, two U.S. House committees have sent letters to the product makers to understand what has caused the severe shortage in addition to pandemic-related supply chain constraints. The companies have until next week to reply.

The FDA is also working on ways to diversity the infant formula supply in the U.S. going forward.

Califf said the topic will be "much discussed and needs to be considered" in light of the last few months' events.

Follow Anjalee on Twitter @AnjKhem

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FDA expects baby formula shortage to improve in 'next couple of months' - Yahoo Finance