The Scorecard: Jim Harbaugh to the Chargers, Doc Rivers to the Bucks. Plus, the NFL’s Final Four.
The two coveted spots in the Super Bowl are on the line this weekend.
There are four teams left in the NFL playoffs.
The Kansas City Chiefs look to keep the ball rolling on the road, this time in Baltimore as they face the Ravens.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have been to three Super Bowls in the last four seasons, so they know a little about winning the AFC championship. The Ravens, led by likely MVP Lamar Jackson, don’t have that record of recent success, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the firepower to get the job done.
Besides, we’ll all be watching for another fired-up, shirtless Jason Kelce anyway.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers will host the Detroit Lions. It will be the 49ers’ third consecutive NFC championship game, while the Lions haven’t been in this position since 1992.
Major coaching changes across sports
We’ve been monitoring the NFL coaching carousel, where one more team has made their decision. The Los Angeles Chargers are bringing college football’s national championship-winning Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL. Harbaugh coached in the NFL from 2002 to 2014.
There have been a few smaller coaching moves, like the Miami Dolphins firing defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and the Green Bay Packers firing DC Joe Barry. But, aside from what I mentioned last week with the Dallas Cowboys keeping Mike McCarthy and the Tennessee Titans hiring the Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as their head coach, no other major changes have been made…in the NFL that is.
Over on the NBA side of things, however, a curious firing took place. The Milwaukee Bucks fired coach Adrian Griffin, who was hired less than eight months ago. And it’s not like the team was struggling, as the Bucks are in second place in the Eastern Conference at 31-13.
Nevertheless, the Bucks announced the next day that they hired longtime basketball coach Doc Rivers. Rivers was most recently the coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. Rivers was fired in May 2023 after the 76ers lost in Game 7 of the conference semifinals to the Boston Celtics.
Top Stories
- Keeping with our basketball theme, a historic night occurred earlier this week. The 76ers’ Joel Embiid scored a franchise-record 70 points on Monday night. The franchise record was previously held by Wilt Chamberlain, with 68, and not to be confused with his 100-point game with the Philadelphia Warriors.
- Switching over to baseball, Cooperstown has a few new members. Three to be exact. Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton all received enough votes to join the ranks this summer. The ballot also included a final year for former New York Yankees slugger Gary Sheffield, who did not receive enough votes.
- Some changes are coming for the Yankees. The words “change” and “Yankees” aren’t normally used in the same sentence, but the organization is reportedly tweaking their away uniforms for the first time in 50 years. Let’s not applaud them just yet though…they are just removing the white trim from the lettering and sleeves. You’d have to be an avid uniform geek to notice, or a Yankees player or fan from pre-1973.
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This story was originally published January 25, 2024 at 9:43 PM.