Mentally at the cottage
From The GIST (hi@thegistsports.com)
Leveling The Playing Field
Happy New Year!
Hope you had a relaxing and restorative holiday break. The first Monday back to work can be hard, but luckily we have sports to help get us through: The Unrivaled season tips off today at 1 p.m. ET, and we’ll have a special edition preview hitting your inbox shortly.
- And if your New Year’s resolution was to consume more women’s hoops, click here to subscribe to Unrivaled Weekly, our Friday breakdown on everything the innovative 3v3 league has to offer. Go ahead, start 2026 with a slam dunk.
— Boston Fleet defender Riley Brengman, who got her nostalgia on during the PWHL’s Takeover Tour stop in Detroit on Saturday. Unfortunately for the rookie, her squad fell 4–3 to the Vancouver Goldeneyes — a night that was still a win for women’s hockey with stellar crowds taking in the action.
NFL
🏈 Reaching for something in the distance
The GIST: The Week 18 NFL slate can sometimes be a buffet of meaningless football, with the playoff field often set and teams resting their top talent — but not this year. There was plenty to play for in the regular-season finale, from division titles to all-important playoff seeding. Let’s dig in.
🤯 Pittsburgh Steelers secure AFC North crown, No. 4 seed in thrilling divisional showdown: Only one superstar quarterback (QB) could return to the postseason, but both Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers and Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson were electric in the fourth quarter of last night’s 26–24 Steelers win, swapping scoring drives until the bitter end. Hug a kicker today.
- As for the rest of the conference, the 14-3 Denver Broncos took care of business to secure the No. 1 seed (and a coveted first-round bye), edging out the No. 2 New England Patriots, who finished with an identical record, and the 13-4 No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars.
💚 Seattle Seahawks lock in NFC’s No. 1 seed: Defense wins division titles, earns home-field advantage, and sets franchise win records, apparently. Just ask the stifling Seahawks’ D, who silenced a red-hot San Francisco 49ers offense — a unit that had put up at least 37 points in three straight games — in Saturday’s 13–3 win. Now that’s how you make the Legion of Boom proud.
🩵 Carolina Panthers win NFC South in unique fashion: Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield had a case of the Sunday Scaries — and for good reason. The NFC’s final playoff spot came down to yesterday’s divisional game between two long-eliminated teams: the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. And the 19–17 Falcons win sent the Panthers to their first postseason since 2017, eliminating Mayfield’s Bucs.
☝️ One more thing: Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett capped off one of the most impressive individual seasons in NFL history by breaking the league’s sack record, a mark that had stood for more than two decades. Garrett said hello to Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow for his record-clinching 23rd sack of the season. Picture perfect.
Milano Cortina Olympics
🏅 Flame on
The GIST: With the calendar turning to 2026, that means it’s officially an Olympic year — that’s right, the Milano Cortina Games begin in just 32 (!!!) days. As the Olympic torch travels across Italy, here are the latest Olympic headlines, by the numbers.
🤷 0: There have been essentially zero updates on the status of the Games’ main hockey arena, which is still under heavy construction with the first test event scheduled for Friday. Uh oh.
🇨🇦🏒 16: Sixteen years after his gold medal–winning Golden Goal in 2010, the legendary Sidney Crosby returns to lead Team Canada, alongside fellow NHL MVPs Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, who will compete in their first Games.
- ICYMI, NHL players are permitted to play in this year’s Olympics, the first time since 2014 that the world’s best will appear.
🇺🇸🏒 46: Speaking of, captain Auston Matthews and forwards Brady and Matthew Tkachuk (pronounced KUH-CHUCK) headline a Team USA roster hoping to claim its first gold medal since the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.” Who do you play for?
🙌 1: After a phenomenal Rivalry Series showing and a decorated college career, two-way player Laila Edwards is the first-ever Black woman to make the Team USA women’s hockey roster. Stay tuned — Team Canada will announce their women’s roster later this week.
- P.S. Sign up for The GIST Plus to hear our exclusive, subscriber-only interview with Edwards when it’s released on Wednesday.
⛷️ 6: Swiss skier Camille Rast ended her rival Mikaela Shiffrin’s six-race win streak in World Cup slaloms yesterday, setting up a sure-to-be fierce upcoming battle in the Italian Alps.
👏 41: Five years (and one titanium knee replacement) after retiring, 41-year-old skier Lindsey Vonn will compete in her fifth and final Olympics, qualifying for Team USA in the downhill race. Incredible.
Presented By Unrivaled
🤝 You deserve better basketball coverage. That’s why we’re popping into your inbox every Friday during the Unrivaled season to break down everything that makes this fast-paced league so electric.
- What can you expect? So glad you asked: We’ll recap clutch performances, chronicle the game’s brightest stars, and preview the league’s spiciest showdowns all season long.
💌 Consider it your weekly run-down of women’s hoops brilliance, perfectly timed before every weekend of action. Opt in now — your new fave read is waiting.
🎓🏈 No. 1 Indiana soars, No. 10 Miami stuns in College Football Playoff (CFP) quarter-finals (QFs)
Outside of the top-seeded Hoosiers — who annihilated No. 9 Alabama 38–3 on New Year’s Day — upsets abound in the CFP QFs: No. 5 Oregon blanked No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 6 Ole Miss won a thriller over No. 3 Georgia, and most surprisingly, Miami defeated defending champs No. 2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
- The semis begin on Thursday, but until then, check to see if you’re one of the three GISTers tied for first atop our College Football Playoff Bracket Challenge leaderboard.
🇺🇸🏒 Team USA ousted from World Juniors after QF loss
The reigning champs’ quest for a three-peat came to an unceremonious end with Saturday’s heartbreaking 4–3 overtime loss to Finland. While the early exit is disappointing, it isn’t necessarily a surprise: The Americans contended with untimely injuries, inconsistent play, and uninspired performances throughout the tourney. Red, white, and feeling blue.
🏀 WNBA superstar Napheesa Collier sidelined for up to six months after surgery
We’re pretty certain the five-time All-Star didn’t have “double ankle surgery” on her 2026 vision board, but unfortunately that’s exactly how Collier will start the new year: She’s expected to miss all of Unrivaled’s second campaign and possibly the start of the WNBA season, too. Say it ain’t so.
- But don’t expect crutches to hinder the WNBPA vice president’s resolve: The next collective bargaining agreement (CBA) deadline is looming on January 9th, and the WNBA and its players’ union remain far apart as negotiations continue.
🎓🏀 Six unranked NCAA women’s hoops teams knock off ranked opponents to start the year
We’re just five days into January and five AP Top 25 programs are revisiting their New Year’s resolutions after upset losses. No. 18 Notre Dame saw a double dose of defeats, losing to Georgia Tech and Duke over three days, while Washington beat No. 6 Michigan 64–52, Illinois edged No. 7 Maryland 73–70, Utah topped No. 8 TCU 87–77, and Stanford beat No. 16 North Carolina 77–71.
- 2026 hasn’t been kind to No. 5 LSU either: They’ve lost twice since the ball dropped, falling 80–78 to No. 11 Kentucky and 65–61 to No. 12 Vanderbilt. LSU remains winless against SEC foes ranked in the top 12 across head coach Kim Mulkey’s five-year tenure. Oof.
Question of the Day
Welcome to 2026! A new year means new sporting events to look forward to. Which one are you most excited for? Choose from the options below, or reply with the event circled on your cal.
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