Category: Sports

Konecny nets 200th career goal, Brink shines as Flyers edge Penguins in shootout

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Philadelphia Flyers’ Bobby Brink, left, scores a goal against Pittsburgh Penguins’ Arturs Silovs during a shootout in an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Travis Konecny scored a milestone goal, Bobby Brink scored the shootout winner and had a goal and an assist and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Konecny notched his 200th career goal in the second period on a shot from the right circle, beating Pittsburgh goalie Arturs Silovs over his blocker. He became the 17th player in Flyers history to reach the 200-goal plateau.

Brink scored on the power play in the first by poking a rebound past Silovs for his third goal of the season. He also made a deft double deke move on a goal in the shootout. Sam Ersson made 24 saves for the Flyers, who won for the fourth time in five games.

Sidney Crosby scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season to force overtime for the Penguins, who have registered at least one point in seven straight (5-0-2).

Justin Brazeau scored his sixth goal for Pittsburgh and Silovs made 32 saves.

Both teams thought they had won the game in overtime. A Penguins goal by Evgeni Malkin was waived off for an illegal substitution on a delayed penalty when Malkin entered the ice before Silovs made it to the bench.

Minutes later, a would-be power play goal by Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster was waived off after a league-initiated review determined the play was offside.

Up next

The Penguins continue their four-game road trip in Minnesota on Thursday.

Philadelphia remains home, where they are in the middle of playing nine of 10, when they host Nashville on Thursday.

Steelers sign wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling warms up during practice at NFL football minicamp, June 10th, 2025, at the team’s training facility in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer, File)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) Sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler yesterday that the Pittsburgh Steelers made a plan to sign wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The move yesterday to the Steelers gave Valdes-Scantling another opportunity to play on the same team as their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Both of them played for the Green Bay Packers from 2018 to 2021. Valdes-Scantling was drafted 174th overall in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft by the Packers and has also played for the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, and the New Orleans Saints. Valdes-Scantling signed a one-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks on March 12th, 2025, but was released on August 26th, 2025, and he most previously played on the San Francisco 49ers active roster before being released on October 18th, 2025.

Crosby has goal, 2 assists to reach 1,700 points as Penguins beat Blues 6-3

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby skates back to the bench during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists to become the ninth player in NHL history with 1,700 points and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Monday night.

Crosby, who accomplished the feat in the fourth-fewest games, is the fourth player in NHL history to reach the mark with one team. Crosby also had his 498th multi-point game, passing Mario Lemieux for the team record and sixth in NHL history on the all-time multi-point list.

Evgeni Malkin had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to seven games, while Bryan Rust had two goals and an assist. Parker Wotherspoon scored his first with Pittsburgh and Anthony Mantha added his fifth of the season.

Tristan Jarry made 22 saves to help the Penguins get their fifth win in six games. Pittsburgh is 7-2-1 and hasn’t lost in regulation since Oct. 14 at Anaheim.

Jordan Kyrou extended a seven-game point streak with a goal, while Nick Bjugstad and Mathieu Joseph also scored for St. Louis. Joel Hofer stopped 20 shots for the Blues, who lost their fourth straight game.

St. Louis has lost five of their last six games and allowed more than six goals in four of those defeats.

Crosby iced the game with a breakaway goal with 3:21 left in the third off a pass from Rust to make it 5-3. Crosby had the primary assist on Wortherspoon’s goal and the secondary helper on Rust’s second goal.

Both teams played without top forwards. Penguins forward Rickard Rakell will miss six-to-eight weeks after he was struck by a shot on Saturday against Columbus and underwent successful surgery on his left hand on Sunday. Robert Thomas (upper body) and Jake Neighbours (lower body), both normally on the Blues’ top line, are day-to-day.

Up next

Blues: Host Detroit on Tuesday.

Penguins: Open a four-game road trip at Philadelphia on Tuesday.

2025 WPIAL high school football playoff first-round matchups in each bracket

(File Photo of the WPIAL Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The 2025 WPIAL high school football playoffs kicks off this week as the first round in all six classes will start the journey to a WPIAL championship for each team that has qualified. Here are all the first round matchups that were revealed today with bold indicating the matchups of the Beaver Valley teams competing for their respective WPIAL championships, which will all take place at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh:

Class 6A

#4 Canon-McMillan vs #1 Central Catholic (Location to be Determined, 11/07/25 at 7 p.m.)

#3 Norwin at #2 North Allegheny (11/07/25 at 7 p.m.)

Class 5A

#1 Pine-Richland (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#9 Kiski Area at #8 Shaler, (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#4 Penn-Trafford (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#12 Armstrong at #5 Moon Area (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#2 Peters Township (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#10 North Hills at #7 Bethel Park (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#3 Woodland Hills (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#11 Plum at #6 Upper St. Clair (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

Class 4A

#8 Chartiers Valley at #1 McKeesport (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#5 Mars at #4 Thomas Jefferson (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#7 Aliquippa at #2 Trinity (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#6 Montour at #3 New Castle (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

Class 3A

#1 Avonworth (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#9 Beaver Area at #8 Freeport (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#4 Elizabeth Forward (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#12 Burrell vs #5 North Catholic (Location to be Determined, 10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#2 Imani Christian (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#10 Hopewell at #7 Southmoreland (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#3 Central Valley (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#11 Derry at #6 Highlands (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#12 Beaver Falls at #5 Washington (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#2 Western Beaver (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#10 Riverside at #7 Apollo-Ridge (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#3 Steel Valley (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#11 Keystone Oaks at No. 6 Ellwood City

Class 2A

#1 Seton LaSalle (First-Round Bye), will host the winner of,

#9 OLSH at #8 Mohawk (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#13 Waynesburg Central at #4 South Allegheny

Class 1A

#16 Avella at #1 Fort Cherry (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#9 Neshannock at #8 Leechburg (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#13 Jefferson-Morgan at #4 Laurel (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#12 Chartiers-Houston at #5 South Side (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#15 Monessen at #2 Clairton (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#10 Jeannette at #7 Bentworth (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#14 Greensburg Central Catholic at #3 Bishop Canevin (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

#11 Frazier at #6 California (10/31/25 at 7 p.m.)

Hopewell High School football ends the longest-standing WPIAL playoff drought in the Beaver Valley at thirteen years

(File Photo of the Hopewell Area School District Logo)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Cranberry Township, PA) Even though Hopewell High School’s football team lost to North Catholic High School 44-36 on Friday on the road in Cranberry Township, they broke their thirteen-year WPIAL playoff drought, which was the longest in the Beaver Valley. The Vikings finished the 2025 high school football season with a 6-4 record overall and a 2-4 record in the WPIAL 3A West Hills Conference, but still clinched a wild card spot as the #10 seed in the WPIAL 3A bracket. This is the first time since 2012 that Hopewell High School has reached the high school playoffs, and since their current head coach Matt Mottes got hired as their interim head coach in 2024, they have had one .500 season and two winless seasons since 2013. Hopewell will travel to Alverton, Pennsylvania to take on the #7 seed Southmoreland High School Scotties on Friday, October 31st at 7 p.m. Southmoreland is 9-1 overall with a 4-1 record in the WPIAL 3A Interstate Conference.

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell to miss 6-8 weeks after undergoing hand surgery

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Florida Panthers fans react in the stands as Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Rickard Rakell (67) celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal, during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to try to keep their hot start going without forward Rickard Rakell.

The team announced Sunday that the 14-year veteran will be out 6-8 weeks after undergoing hand surgery. Rickard sustained the injury while blocking a shot in the third period of a shootout loss to Columbus on Saturday night.

Rakell has three goals and five assists in nine games this season for Pittsburgh, which is off to a 6-2-1 start under first-year coach Dan Muse. The injury means Rakell won’t be able to play when the Penguins and Nashville Predators play a pair of games in his native Sweden next month.

Pittsburgh recalled forward Ville Koivunen from its AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to take Rakell’s spot on the roster.

Blue Jackets pick up rare victory in Pittsburgh with 5-4 shootout win over the Penguins

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs makes a save during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko scored in the shootout to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-4 on Saturday night.

The Blue Jackets won for just the second time in their last 18 trips to Pittsburgh when Penguins star Evgeni Malkin fired wide of the net and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins in the final round of the shootout.

Dmitri Voronkov scored twice for Columbus. His second of the night 4:54 into the third period put the Blue Jackets up two and put Columbus in position to beat the Penguins in regulation in Pittsburgh for the first time since November 2015.

Pittsburgh rallied to force the extra session when Kris Letang and Bryan Rust scored their first goals of the season two minutes apart late in the third period.

Mirzlikins finished with 24 saves, including a sprawling save of Malkin in overtime in which he stopped the shot with his glove only to see it flutter over him toward the Columbus net before a teammate knocked it out of harm’s way.

Yegor Chinakhov and Charlie Coyle scored their first goals of the season for Columbus, which bounced back from a 5-1 loss to Washington on Friday night by carrying play for long stretches against the Penguins.

Letang and Anthony Mantha had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Ryan Shea scored his first of the season for the Penguins. Malkin finished with two assists to boost his career point total to 1,360 and move him past Hall of Famer Mike Modano and into 10th on the NHL’s list for most points by a player with one franchise.

The 39-year-old Malkin now has 14 points through nine games for Pittsburgh, which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. Arturs Silovs made 36 saves but failed to stop any of Columbus’ three shootout attempts.

The result put a small damper on a night in which the Penguins honored former coaches Scotty Bowman and Eddie Johnston and forwards Kevin Stevens and Ron Francis by inducting them into the club’s revamped Hall of Fame.

Up next

Blue Jackets: At Buffalo on Tuesday night.

Penguins: Host St. Louis on Monday night.

Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers fall short in QB’s reunion with Packers as Love leads 35-25 win

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Green Bay Packers’ Rashan Gary sacks Pittsburgh Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jordan Love spent three years absorbing what he could from Aaron Rodgers. Footwork. Cadence. Throwing motion. Film study. The list of things Love gleaned from his mentor goes on and on, every last item invaluable in Love’s development.

And seemingly every last one of them was on display Sunday night, when the Green Bay quarterback of the present and future outdueled the Green Bay quarterback of the past and served notice he’s ready to start writing a legend of his own.

Looking every bit as good as Rodgers in his prime, Love passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns as Green Bay raced past Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers 35-25 in what in many ways felt and looked like an official passing of the torch.

Yes, Love knew there would be considerable hype around Rodgers’ first-ever game against the Packers since being nudged aside for Love in early 2023. While Love admitted there was a little more pressure this week than usual, he hardly looked bothered while completing 29 of 35, including a franchise record-tying 20 straight spanning the end of the first half and the vast majority of the second.

“My mindset was just trying to come out here and focus on getting that win, trying to block all that extra stuff out and just be the player I need to be,” Love said.

That player looks plenty good enough to keep Green Bay (5-1-1) in contention in a wide-open NFC.

“He showed why he’s the (successor),” Packers defensive end Micah Parsons said. “I mean, he’s the up-and-coming. Like Jay Love, when I talking about when I was coming here, I was like, ‘I know they got a quarterback.’”

Yes they do.

“He was on fire,” Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur said. “That’s why we kept wanting to throw the football.”

That and the fact the Steelers (4-3) had trouble stopping it. Green Bay piled up 454 yards of total offense and after a promising first half, the 41-year-old Rodgers and the rest of Pittsburgh’s offense couldn’t keep pace.

Rodgers, who won four MVPs and a Super Bowl in 18 seasons with the Packers before being traded to the Jets in the spring of 2023, completed 24 of 36 passes for 219 yards and two scores but couldn’t deliver the kind of magic that he has summoned on occasion in his 21st year.

“Disappointed I didn’t play better (and) that we didn’t play better, especially in the second half,” Rodgers said.

Given the way Love was slinging it, it might have been Rodgers to keep pace even while at his best. Love completed his last four passes of the first half and his first 16 of the second, two of them for scores, as the Packers erased a nine-point deficit to win at Pittsburgh for the first time since 1970.

“It’s great for Jordan,” LaFleur said. “Jordan’s worked his (butt) off to get here. He was patient throughout the process, throughout the journey, and he took advantage of the opportunity, he really did.”

Tight end Tucker Kraft caught seven passes for a career-high 143 yards and two touchdowns. Christian Watson added four receptions for 85 yards in his return from a torn ACL he suffered in the 2024 regular-season finale.

Josh Jacobs ran for just 33 yards, but his 3-yard scoring sprint on the first play of the fourth quarter put the Packers up for good as Pittsburgh’s defense stumbled yet again, nine days after being carved up by Joe Flacco in a loss at Cincinnati.

Wearing throwback jerseys honoring Pittsburgh’s inaugural team in 1933 — when the club was known as the Pirates — the Steelers turned back the clock in a way that felt less like nostalgia and more like “here we go again.”

Given an opportunity to strengthen its hold on the underwhelming AFC North, Pittsburgh instead saw the NFL’s highest-paid defense struggle to keep Love and the Packers in check. The Steelers were pushed around repeatedly over the final 30 minutes as the Packers firmly grabbed control.

“We’ve just got to be better in all areas and it starts first with the positions that we put players in and so as coaches, as players, as all of us, we own it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We’ll be better. We have to be.”

Rodgers said repeatedly that he wasn’t looking for revenge against his old team, and he plans to one day retire in the town where he cemented his status as a future Hall of Famer.

By the end, Rodgers found himself in familiar territory: hearing the fans chant “Go Pack Go! Go Pack Go!” after another Packers victory. It was the first time in 21 years Rodgers found himself on the other side of it.

“I’ve heard that chant for 18 years, so Packer fans travel really well,” he said. “First time in a while I’ve used silent count for a home game. That’s a credit to most Packer fans.”

Injuries

Packers: Linebacker Nick Niemann left in the second half with a chest injury.

Steelers: Defensive lineman Daniel Ekuale left with a knee injury in the second quarter. Safety DeShon Elliott exited in the third quarter with a potentially serious right knee injury. Left guard Isaac Seumalo went down with a chest injury and didn’t return.

Up next

Packers: Host Carolina on Sunday.

Steelers: Host Indianapolis on Sunday.

Aaron Rodgers isn’t looking for “revenge” when the Steelers face the Packers, just a victory

(File Photo: Source for Photo: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) rolls out looking to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cincinnati Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers knew this game might be coming five years ago.

Maybe it’s why he appears to be at peace with what will be the very jarring visual of the four-time MVP standing on one side of the line of scrimmage and the team he long defined being on the other when Pittsburgh (4-2) hosts Green Bay (4-1-1) on Sunday night.

Asked this week if his first-ever meeting with the Packers was about revenge, Rodgers simply shook his head.

“What do I got to be avenging here?” Rodgers said this week, 2 1/2 years after his remarkably successful run with Green Bay ended with a trade to the New York Jets so the Packers could hand the keys to the franchise to Jordan Love. “They made me a ton of money. I grew up there, spent some of the best years of my life there. I’ve got nothing but love for the organization.”

And nothing but love for the man who replaced him.

The moment NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Love’s name near the end of the first round of the 2020 draft, Rodgers understood his time in Green Bay was on the clock.

In a perfect world, Rodgers would have guided the Packers to another Super Bowl title and headed off into the California sunset while gracefully ceding the spotlight to Love.

Yet Rodgers learned long ago that things rarely wrap up so tidily. And they didn’t.

While Rodgers fended Love off for three years — a third and fourth MVP season helped — by early 2023, Love looked ready to take over, and the Packers were ready to move on. Somewhat begrudgingly, so was the quarterback who helped bring “Titletown, USA” its fourth Super Bowl.

So no, Rodgers is not bitter. If he were, why has he stayed in contact with Love since his departure? The two swapped texts last week, exchanging notes on what they’ve seen from common opponents. Their “student/teacher” dynamic has been replaced by something that sounds an awful lot like friendship.

“(Love is) one of the real good guys in the league,” Rodgers said. “I’m sure his leadership has continued to grow over there, but I like the way he’s playing. He’s super accurate. He’s taking care of the football. He’s been opportunistic, making great throws down the field and using his legs as well.”

All words that have been used to describe Rodgers through the years. There is a symmetry to that, and maybe that’s the point. While Love was initially wary when he arrived in Green Bay, knowing his job was to eventually replace a future Hall of Famer, there was never the edginess that defined the relationship between Rodgers and Brett Favre, whom Rodgers replaced in 2008 much in the same way Love took over for him 15 years later.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for how he handled it, the way he went about me coming in and like I said before, he welcomed me with open arms,” Love said.

Those arms have remained open through the years.

Yes, Rodgers is enjoying his time in Pittsburgh. Yet he knows there is only one team he will be forever associated with. And it’s not the one he’ll be playing for under the prime-time lights this week.

“Regardless of when I hang it up, that’s the bulk of my career,” Rodgers said, “I’ll retire a Packer and see what happens after that.”

Portugal beats United States’ women’s soccer team for 1st time, 2-1 in Alex Morgan’s farewell

(File Photo: Source for Photo: United States’ Alex Morgan stands during her retirement ceremony before an international friendly women’s soccer match between the United States and Portugal, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Chester, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. women’s team stumbled Thursday in its first game since July, allowing a goal in each half that sent Portugal to its first win against the Americans, 2-1 on a night two-time World Cup winner Alex Morgan was feted with a star-studded farewell.

Portugal not only beat the U.S. for the first time in 12 matches, it scored its first goals against the Americans in international play.

U.S. coach Emma Hayes said she could tell at practice ahead of the match the nearly four-month layoff could affect the team.

“It felt to me like we just hadn’t played together for a long time,” Hayes said. “I just didn’t recognize us.”

Rose Lavelle scored only 33 seconds into the friendly for the Americans, only for Inês Pereira to shut them down the rest of the game.

Lavelle electrified the crowd that included retired Eagles great Jason Kelce inside Subaru Park — the home field for the MLS’ Philadelphia Union — when she scored before many of the more than 17,000 fans had even settled into their seats following a pregame ceremony for Morgan.

“Sometimes, you can start the game like that and you think to yourself, I hope we don’t sit back and be passive,” Hayes said. “That’s what we did.”

Portugal’s Diana Gomes scored her eighth international goal when she got a header past Phallon Tullis-Joyce that tied the game 1-all in the first half. Portugal had been outscored 40-0 by the United States in the previous 11 matches between them, plus Lavelle’s goal.

Fatima Pinto scored her fifth international goal from atop the box through traffic late in the second half for the winner that gave Portugal its landmark victory.

“There is a standard of winning, and it kind of exceeds all those things, whether it’s the time apart or the age of the team or experience. We have a choice now of how we respond,” midfielder Sam Coffey said.

The U.S. women returned after a 113-day layoff for the start of a true ramp-up toward World Cup qualifications. There’s another match scheduled against Portugal and one against New Zealand to close out the three-match window at the end of the month.

The team needs the work before the results truly matter.

“We didn’t look like the team that we’ve been working on but that’s what happens when you’ve got 113 days apart,” Hayes said.

With Morgan in the house, the stadium underwent a makeover in honor of her big night.

Her greatest moments (such as her four-goal game for the U-20 women’s World Cup team) were recognized in stand-up cutouts that lined outside the stadium. Girls lined up at the Alex Morgan pre-wrap station to get their hair “game-day ready” and T-shirts and banners with her name on them were the hot items at merch stores. Fans everywhere raised signs showing Morgan love in her national team send-off.

Even national team members who couldn’t take the field wouldn’t miss Morgan’s night. The 36-year-old Morgan retired from soccer last year when she became pregnant with her second child.

American forward Trinity Rodman was on hand for Morgan’s celebration but did not play as she recovers from a knee injury. Rodman has only played for the Americans once since they won the 2024 Olympic gold medal in France. Abby Wambach, Kelley O’Hara and Megan Rapinoe also attended the game.

Besides World Cup titles in 2015 and 2019, Morgan also won an Olympic gold medal in 2012. She played in 224 matches for the U.S. — and was honored with a framed jersey with that total as the number — with 123 goals and 53 assists. She was chosen the U.S. Soccer Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018.

Morgan also played in 150 NWSL matches over her career, which included stints with the Portland Thorns and the Orlando Pride. She rejoined the Wave in May as a minority stakeholder.

Hayes only had Morgan for one game during her tenure. But the former Chelsea coach has been around the sport long enough to appreciate Morgan’s impact on the game — and for her to be feted at the same stadium where she scored her first national team goal in 2010.

“There was nothing she didn’t achieve,” Hayes said a day earlier. “She was a player that epitomized everything this program is about. She’s an unbelievable credit to her family because her drive, her desire, her determination to prove herself at the highest level is second to none.

“You can’t go anywhere in this country without them talking about Alex Morgan, and I think the sport should show a lot of gratitude to that, because it’s important for our players to be recognizable. And she is, without question, in recent times, one of the most recognizable faces in our sport.”