Catégorie : Sport News

Stephen Curry’s relationship with Under Armour has been a defining feature of his NBA journey. After the two parties signed a deal in 2013, their partnership has grown tremendously, and recently, Curry’s own banner under the brand even signed De’Aaron Fox as their first signature athlete. It’s pretty evident that the four-time NBA Champion’s decision to part ways with Nike has paid off.

Curry even went so far as to shade the Oregon-based sneaker giant when speaking to Bloomberg Originals’ Emily Chang. She asked for his thoughts on a former Nike market exec’s bold claim that his business would’ve been far more successful had he stayed with them instead of moving to UA.

Curry declared that his decision to move on was a very valid one, considering how he was treated during Nike’s original pitch in 2013. He also added that he has always had an underdog mentality, and signing with a brand that wasn’t a top player at the time was much more relatable to him.

“There’s a reason I’m not there. I’ve always been an underdog, it’s kind of my mentality, and when I joined Under Armour back in 2013, their basketball roster was pretty slim. Basically starting their category from scratch, so to be a signature athlete for the 7-8 years that I was there to then turning it into Curry Brand, and the success we’ve had, I’m super proud of that to be honest.”

The two-time MVP claimed that building an empire with UA was much more fulfilling than any lucrative partnership with Nike could have been.

How Nike fumbled Stephen Curry

Curry, who started his career as a Nike athlete, and had exclusively worn the company’s shoes till 2013, was looking for a contract extension. However, Under Armour showed interest in him and to compete with Nike’s $2.5 million/year offer, they were ready to give him $4 million and a signature shoe. Sounds like an open-and-shut case right?

But Curry still took the meeting with Nike because their one of their executives at the time, Nico Harrison, used to represent his father Dell Curry. That’s where things went off track. Harrison revealed that someone made a major error in the presentation by calling Curry “Steph-on” instead of “Steph-en”. Next, the marketing team used a repurposed ppt slide from their meeting with Kevin Durant.

One of the slide still had KD’s name on it.

Curry felt disrespected and he signed with UA soon after. The rest, as they say, is history.

Milwaukee Bucks’ Thanasis Antetokounmpo is expected to be out for the entire season due to a torn Achilles. Giannis Antetokounmpo, therefore, sat down with his brother on the Thanalysis Show and suggested an alternate career for him while he nurses himself back to health.

Although Thanasis is expected to re-sign with the Milwaukee Bucks, he doesn’t have a signed contract as of now. Giannis believes that the 32-year-old can make good use of his time working on live TV since he is already doing the same thing on YouTube. He jokingly suggested that Thanasis should join Stephen A. Smith on First Take so that Giannis can finally have a voice that speaks for him on national TV.

The two-time NBA MVP hyped up his brother before revealing the plan to him. He said, “We have somebody in our family that’s a great salesman, charming, great spokesperson that can set the record straight for me, my mom, my brothers, my close friends, my agents, my team, my organization, my city, my country.”

The 30-year-old added, “I want you one day Thanasis, to go to First Take. Sit down at the table.” Giannis declared he wants his elder brother to sit beside the host of the show, Stephen A. Smith, to push out a more favorable narrative for himself. Giannis believes that he will be immediately accepted because people “love” Thanasis over there at ESPN.

“Stephen A. Smith is your guy,” the 2021 NBA Champion added.

The eight-time All-Star said that he is tired of seeing First Take all the time because the show runs on repeat everywhere. If his brother manages to make his way into the broadcasting giant’s studio, he will no longer receive unfair treatment from the media.

Giannis Antetokounmpo believes that the media is unfair

The Bucks superstar said that the media doesn’t waste any time hyping up players and teams when they win games. However, as soon as they hit a rough patch, the media turns against them and starts labeling them as trash. He said, “The day you beat a team…’The Bucks are rolling. They’re going to Vegas…wow.’”

“The day you lose, ‘They suck. Get him out of here. Trade Giannis. He has blood on his hands and nobody wants him and he can’t shoot…Bad teammate. Zero IQ.’ Guys, yesterday I was the best player in the world,” Giannis added.

The 30-year-old was speaking from recent experience because his name was involved in several trade rumors when the Bucks were struggling in the league. Now, they have qualified for the NBA Cup final and the superstar is also playing really well. That’s why Giannis believes that having a familiar face, who also knows him personally, on a platform like First Take would be very beneficial for him.

Once upon a time the Yankees had more money to spend than everyone else. I mean LOTS more. On December 10, 1988, The Yankees reached agreement on a 12-year $500 million television deal with the Madison Square Garden cable television network. That was ten times more than most other teams.

Owner George Steinbrenner was capable of buying whichever players he coveted. If they wanted to be Yankees, George simply out bid all others. Well, times have changed. While the Yankees still have oodles of cash, they have company.

The Dodgers current tv deal is the best. Almost $200 million a season or about $50 million more than the Yankees. There are others as well with deep pockets quite capable of pulling players away from the Yanks.

Mets owner Steve Cohen doesn’t need your tv money, he’s brought some billions of his own to use anyway he likes. And he has of course. He just walked off with Juan Soto.

The loss of Soto was no doubt hurtful on many fronts for the Yanks. They gave up players for him last year. He gave them a significant one-two punch with Aaron Judge hitting behind him. They got a taste of the world series again and of course it was the rival Mets who got him.

Even with a signing of Soto, there was much to do to put this Yankees team over the top. With Soto gone, a outfielder was added to the list but the $50 million plus a year they don’t have to pay him gives them the flexibility to fix the other glaring weaknesses.

Max makes many millions

General manager Brian Cashman has begun to do just that. First there was the free agent addition of lefthander Max Fried. He fits the ballpark, he gets a long term deal and he’ll take some pressure off Gerrit Cole at the front of the rotation.

The Yankees adressed the iffy nature at the back end of their bullpen by trading for one of the best in the business. Picking up Devin Williams from the Milwaukee Brewers. Next up certainly seems to be a deal with the Cubs for first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger.

With a healthy Jasson Domínguez finally expected to take over center field full time, Judge in right and presumably Jazz Chisholm back at third, it seems second base and left field would still need to be attended to. The Yankees should have enough money to do that and some other things if they want.

Trust Nick Kyrgios to never mince his words. The Australian star, appearing on the Nothing Major Podcast, spoke candidly about Jannik Sinner and Rafael Nadal. Kyrgios has never hidden his thoughts about Sinner and stayed true to his views on the podcast. He warned the World No.1 about what to expect should they meet in the first Grand Slam of 2025.

During his discussion with Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, John Isner, and Steve Johnson, Kyrgios was asked about his return to professional tennis at the Australian Open 2025. The Wimbledon 2022 finalist admitted that he would surely feel the nerves and pressure of playing after a lengthy absence, especially in front of his home crowd.

However, Kyrgios admitted that he doesn’t mind playing Sinner, say, in the third round of the men’s singles event. This is a huge possibility because the Australian will be entering the main draw directly using his protected ranking. He claimed that if Sinner was his opponent, he would “do anything to beat him”.

“I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner.”

Kyrgios warned that he would try to get the crowd in his favor, putting more pressure on Sinner and turning Melbourne Park into an “absolute riot”. The Aussie said it is healthy for the sport to have two opponents who are complete opposites in terms of their personalities.

“If I played him in the Australian Open I would just get every single person in the crowd to get on him. Everyone will watch because it’s contrasting personalities, we don’t like each other and I think it’s healthy in sport.”

It would be some matchup for sure. But the point Kyrgios made about contrasting personalities is somewhat similar to how he felt about Nadal when they played against each other.

Kyrgios revealed two reasons why he “hated” Nadal at the start of his career

Kyrgios was candid enough to admit that out of the ‘Big 3′, Nadal annoyed him the most on the court at the beginning of his career. A lot of this was due to Nadal’s famous routines, or superstitions, as some would call them.

Nadal was known for being slow in delivering his serves, and he managed to get under Kyrgios’ skin every time he missed out on his first serve.

“He would abuse the shot clock all the time. I used to hate and despise him so much when I saw him walking around… If I played him, I would get up for it and try and get the best tennis I could possibly play.”

Kyrgios also revealed that many people in Australian academies praised Nadal for his work ethic, among other things. He wanted to show them that there was another way to play the game.

“Everyone in our academies back home idolized him, they were like he is such a hard worker, he’s this and that. I was like I can’t stand this guy. I wanted to show people you could just have fun and be chilled and beat people like that.”

While Kyrgios mended his equation with Rafa eventually, would he do the same with Sinner in the future? Only time will tell.

Jimmy Butler and the Heat are seemingly heading toward a divorce and the Warriors are reportedly keeping close tabs on the situation to see if they can swoop in and land the forward. They are among the three teams on the six-time All-Star’s wishlist alongside the Rockets and the Mavericks. Many are keen to see the veteran forward team up with Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. But Bill Simmons isn’t sure whether he’d turn them into title contenders.

On The Bill Simmons podcast, the analyst said he understands why the Warriors are keen on trading for Butler. He said,

“From the Golden State standing point, I think they have a two to three-year window here with Curry and Draymond to compete for a title. Whether they win a title, remains to be seen. But they one more offensive player. Someone who can take the burden… So Jimmy Butler is somebody that makes sense for them.”

However, he went through the finances and other costs of acquiring Butler and suggested that adding Butler won’t improve their title odds because they’d have to gut the roster to some degree to sign the forward. He explained,

“[Butler] makes $48.8 million this year… Golden State is hard-capped at the first apron and $1.7 million under the second apron… So here’s the trade. It’ll be [Andrew] Wiggins, [Jonathan] Kuminga, and [De’Anthony] Melton, who’s out for the year. That’s $46.6 million… So that doesn’t work. I don’t know how it works for Golden State.”

Simmons added that the Warriors will have to dump more salary and acquire players from a third team to make the deal work. However, making wholesale changes midway through the season and figuring out the chemistry and roles while competing in the stacked Western Conference sounds too arduous.

The analyst doesn’t see how the Warriors will overcome these hurdles and compete for a championship. As sound as Simmons’ breakdown is, the team has no choice but to swing a trade to maximize what’s left of Curry and Green’s careers.

The Warriors are desperate to acquire a game-changer

The guard will turn 37 and the forward will celebrate his 35th birthday in March. Despite their ages, they remain among the top players in their respective positions. However, the roster around them isn’t good enough to compete for a title.

The Warriors understand that the duo’s production could fall off a cliff soon. They have to bring in players who could give them a shot at competing in the playoffs. They have been linked to several star players since the summer.

Bulls star Zach LaVine, Nets trio  Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Dennis Schroder, and even Lakers stars Bronny and LeBron James have been linked with a move to the Bay Area. The Warriors’ front office has been doing its due diligence and exploring every trade possibility to improve the roster.

Their interest in Butler, regardless of his age and contract situation, indicates how desperate the team is to surround Curry and Green with players who could help them win a fifth championship together. Despite their efforts, nothing has materialized so far. However, they’ll continue trying until the trade deadline.

Most of the worst NFL teams this season, including the Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants, are in quarterback hell right now. Shedeur Sanders (or perhaps Miami’s Heisman finalist Cam Ward) could be their way out. So naturally, links between Shedeur and those teams have begun to pop up—though Shedeur’s brother says there’s been no talk of Shedeur refusing to play for the team that selects him.

On Saturday, NFL Rookie Watch, a Twitter account with over 159k followers, tweeted that there was a “high likelihood” that Shedeur would refuse to play if he was drafted by the Giants or Browns. Similar to what Eli Manning did after getting drafted by the Chargers in 2004. Shedeur’s oldest brother, Deion Sanders Jr., quickly refuted the claims in the strongest possible terms.

“Bro is completely lying about everything he just tweeted”

In the post that Deion Jr. was quoting, NFL Rookie Watch used words like “reportedly” and quotation marks to give the impression of a report with actual genuine sources. The post claimed that Shedeur would play for the Cowboys or Raiders, but not the Giants and Browns. It also suggested that “NFL scouts” believe the Giants will draft Ward because of the expectation that Shedeur would refuse them.

It’s one of the more blatant examples of irresponsible reporting we’ve seen in an age defined by such practices.

However, it was not completely without basis. It is true that over the last year or so, Shedeur’s father, NFL legend Deion Sanders, has said publicly that he didn’t want his kid playing somewhere “cold”. He also said that he would “privately” tell NFL teams not to draft Shedeur if it wasn’t the right fit.

However, Shedeur has not personally indicated he would refuse to play anywhere. We’re not even going to dignify the idea that the Cowboys would draft Shedeur the year after handing Dak Prescott a $60 million deal with a response.

Shedeur has, however, shared posts and videos on his social media pages that would suggest he’s more than okay playing for the Raiders or Giants. Shedeur was seen playing catch with Giants rookie wideout Malik Nabers this past week. That was merely one of many hints of an impending Giants-Shedeur marriage.

Even the social media replies to the original post by @NFLRookieWatxh lambasted the account for its intentional click-bait content. The tweet contained no links or references to any reputable (or non-reputable) sources, despite making some wild claims.

Hopefully, social media users can continue to use their critical thinking to discern good journalism and sports reporting from the false reports only intended to farm clicks and foster animosity and strife online. Just as they did here.

Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens’ fairytale relationship is going strong. This Christmas, she is forgoing her usual family customs to spend time with him. Unlike most people who welcome the sight of snow during the holidays, Biles isn’t fond of it. The gymnast, who grew up in Texas, prefers a tropical Christmas and typically spends this time in Belize. However, this year, she is abandoning that tradition to stay closer to Owens.

Simone sat down for a riveting conversation with Kelly Clarkson on her show where she revealed her plans for Christmas. She is giving up her travel plans to Belize to stay in the cold winters of Chicago with her husband, Owens.

“I want to be in a bathing suit. We used to actually go away for Christmas to Belize. Yeah, my mom just got there on Monday. I’m gonna stay with my husband, in the cold.”

Giving up her plans seems like a significant sacrifice, especially since she holds Belizean citizenship and considers the country her second home. However, she had to because the schedule for Owens and the Chicago Bears is heating up, with three games packed in just ten days.

The stretch begins on Monday with an away game against the Vikings in Minnesota, followed by a home clash with the Lions on Sunday – a crucial divisional matchup. The busy run concludes on Boxing Day, December 26th, when the Seahawks visit Chicago for their showdown.

Following that, there is a small break before the Bears conclude their season at Lambeau, taking on the hated rivals, the Green Bay Packers. Looks like there might be some time for Biles and Owens to spend in Belize for the New Year, if not Christmas.

Simone Biles makes her husband Jonathan Owens wrap all the presents

The couple will now be able to spend plenty of time together this holiday season, especially on Christmas. And there’s one thing Owens might finally get a chance to teach Simone – how to wrap presents. During a conversation with Kelly, Biles admitted she’s terrible at gift-wrapping and avoids it altogether by stuffing everything into bags.

Wrapping a gift provides that element of surprise, but ironically, Owens always knows what he’s getting for the holidays. Why? Because she makes him wrap all the Christmas presents.

“I am a horrible wrapper. Everything goes in bags. I don’t care what it is. I make Jonathan wrap his own Christmas presents. I’m horrible at it.”

In contrast, Kelly Clarkson admitted she loves wrapping and decorating presents. For her, receiving gifts in bags feels like a sign of last-minute effort.

To avoid giving the impression that she isn’t putting thought into her gift-giving, Biles confessed that she often invites a friend over to help her wrap presents.

Watch Manchester City vs Manchester United this weekend as one of football’s best rivalries continues at the Etihad Stadium. Being such a huge spectacle across the globe, there are plenty of TV channels and live streams showing the game, and you have the ability to watch from anywhere with a VPN.

Manchester City are in turmoil having now won just one of their last ten games in all competitions. That came against Nottingham Forest in the Premier League last weekend.

Apart from that, losses against Liverpool, Tottenham, Brighton and Bournemouth have threatned to derail City’s season which looked so promising to begin with. Perhaps losing Rodri really was the catalyst that the Sky Blues couldn’t have done without.

Manchester United acted to axe Erik ten Hag earlier this year and now Ruben Amorim is tasked with leading the Red Devils through another tough campaign. Their form in Europe has improved and another cup success could spin a positive look on a season that has already seen losses to Nottingham Forest, West Ham United and Brighton.

Who comes out on top this weekend remains a real mystery so can United really do the unthinkable and add further woes to City’s horrendous recent form?

Watch Man City vs Man Utd in the UK

You can watch Manchester City vs Manchester United this weekend live on Sky Sports and also via their official associated streaming services, Now TV.

Sky Sports’ Super Sunday coverage will start with Brighton vs Crystal Palace at 14:00 GMT before attention quickly turns to the north-west of England.

To watch Sky Sports on your television, you have to add it to the package you have with your pay-TV providers, such as Sky, BT, EE, and Virgin Media – costs vary by platform.

To watch a Man City vs Man Utd live stream, NOW TV is the streaming platform for Sky Sports. A 6-month Saver Membership starts this month at £26 and you can from there watch all 12 live Sky Sports channels for half a year.

Not in the UK right now? You can still access your Discovery+ subscription when travelling, by using a VPN, such as NordVPN.

Watch Man City vs Man Utd in the US

In the US, you can watch Man City vs Man Utd on USA Network, a cable television channel, or via a cord-cutting streaming service.

Despite being part of the same NBC stable, Premier League games on USA Network are not available live on the broadcasting giant’s streaming platform, Peacock. That means that to watch online, you’re looking at a cord-cutter – which offers TV channels in online packages – and these can be pricey.

Sling TV is one of the leading and cheapest services, starting from $40 a month for the Sling Blue package, which gets you USA Network. Fubo is another option, costing $79.99 a month (discounted to $49.99 for your first month), but it does get you more live sport.

Other cord-cutting services that carry USA Network include YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, and DirecTV Stream.

How to watch Man City vs Man United from anywhere

Struggling to find time on Sunday to be situated in just one place and want to watch on the move? Fear not, a VPN – or Virtual Private Network – is a piece of software that sets your IP address to make your device appear to be in any country in the world.

Provided it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, you can use a VPN to unblock the streaming services you subscribe to, and it also comes with added internet security benefits.

FourFourTwo’s colleagues TechRadar are experts in this field, and they reckon NordVPN is the best VPN provider on the market.

Watch Man City vs Man Utd streams globally

For more information on global Premier League broadcasters, check out our guide on How to watch Premier League live streams from anywhere in the world in 2024/25.

Rafael Nadal has passed on the baton of Spanish tennis to Carlos Alcaraz following his retirement at the Davis Cup 2024. Alcaraz will continue the tradition of tennis players from the country endorsing Babolat, a French tennis equipment brand. The company’s CEO, Eric Babolat, is well aware of the needs of both players, as he made an interesting comparison between their playstyles.

In an interview with AS.com, Babolat claimed that, like Nadal, they signed a deal with Alcaraz at the age of nine. Interestingly, both have also used the same version of the racket brand, the ‘Aero’ variant. However, for the CEO, the similarities end there. Babolat believes Alcaraz’s game is a “little more complete” than that of the recently retired veteran.

He said that Nadal was always looking for more spin in his racket to produce as much topspin as possible, but Alcaraz is seeking greater control. As a result, Babolat claimed they couldn’t play with each other’s rackets, despite being from the same Aero family.

“Rafa’s is a racket purely to give it more effect, while Alcaraz’s allows him to give a little more control to his game… His game is a little more complete than Rafa’s, you can see for example in the drop shots he does. So the needs of both are different.”

Alcaraz, who recently signed a deal with Babolat until 2030, is set to be the face of the brand that will celebrate 150 years of their existence next year. However, the Frenchman confirmed that their deal with Nadal has not expired and that they have plans for him as well.

“This is not even the end of Babolat’s story with Nadal. We are involved in a lot of Rafa’s activities like his academies in various countries, and I think there are new opportunities ahead of us,“ the CEO added.

At his peak, Nadal could have chosen a different path, but he decided to stay loyal to Babolat, which the company’s CEO praised greatly.

Babolat renewed Nadal’s contract for 10 years in 2007 after a lot of pressure

Given that Nadal was the most sought-after tennis player in the mid-2000s, Babolat acknowledged that they were under a lot of pressure to keep hold of him. So Babolat went out of the box and offered him a 10-year contract, a rare occurrence for a racket brand.

To Nadal’s credit, he did not succumb to the temptation of other brands and chose to remain with Babolat.

“In 2007, Rafa was very coveted by competing brands that bid hard for him, promised him many things, and it was difficult to have negotiations every three or four years to renew. That’s why we said we would make a 10-year contract, until 2017.”

Nadal was very cooperative and hands-on in making necessary improvements to his rackets every year. This reflects his humility and commitment – values that Babolat hopes Alcaraz and the next generation of players they sign will uphold for years to come.

Earlier in December, Randy Moss made a public announcement stating that he would be taking an indefinite leave from his duties as an analyst for ESPN’s Sunday Night Countdown. He cited an “internal” issue and urged men to get checkups and blood work done. Reports that he was battling liver cancer were refuted by Moss’ son, Thaddeus. Now, the former NFL wide receiver has cleared the air.

On Friday, he triumphantly named himself a “cancer survivor,” while heaping praise on his medical team. In his initial statement from December 13, Moss revealed that the “internal” issue he had been dealing with was cancer of the bile duct.

The bile duct is located just between the pancreas and the liver. He underwent a “Whipple Procedure”, which successfully addressed the cancerous cells. Moss made sure to hand his team of doctors many thanks for the work they did to help him during his six-day stay in the hospital. He credited several of them by name, including the leader of the team, Dr. John Martinie M.D.

“The best that Charlotte has to offer, man. I appreciate it. Some of the best around the whole country, not just in the City of Charlotte… Dr. Martinie, you are the man. I am forever grateful. Thank you and your team, nursing me back to health and getting me back here to my family,” Moss said.

The successful surgery came after a 2.5-hour Thanksgiving procedure that inserted a stent into his liver after he’d experienced some discolored urine. It was that discolored urine that pushed Moss to undergo diagnostic procedures, which eventually revealed the cancer.

“By the grace of God, my liver started acting up.”

That twist of fate is what has made Moss so adamant in his push for more men to get more health screenings. When he first announced his health issue, he said “All you men” need to “get your blood work done and we’ll work through it.”

Moss also made sure to thank all of the “prayer warriors” who prayed for him after he announced his diagnosis. He gave fans and supporters a little peek into his mindset post-surgery as well.

“I just wanted y’all to see that I did bounce back, but there’s a lot of people out there (who are) either battling cancer or has had cancer in their family. Things took the turn for the worst (for me)… y’all best believe your boy came through… I’m nursing myself back. Yes, it’s going to be a little tough road with some chemo and some radiation, but like I said, ‘Man, I’m good.’”

Randy Moss is currently on extended leave from his job at ESPN. He has said that now he’s focused on maintaining his health and getting back to his ESPN TV family as soon as he can.