ESPN Daily

The WNBA’s newest team - the Golden State Valkyries - are coming to San Francisco in 

May.

And by the end of this week, we’ll have a better idea of which players fans of bay area women’s basketball will be rooting for. Because Friday’s WNBA expansion draft will welcome the Valkyries first players.

ESPN’s Kevin Pelton covers the W and is here to explain how all of this expansion stuff works – and how a new CBA should help the Valkyries use not just the expansion draft, but also trades and free agency to get competitive, fast. http://v.org/donate

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There were two big games on the week 13 NFL schedule - the Philadelphia Eagles at the Baltimore Ravens, and the San Francisco 49ers at the Buffalo Bills. 

And we did watch Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts, and a suddenly transcendent Eagles defense make a statement against Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Zay Flowers and the rest of the Ravens, during Sunday night football we saw Josh Allen potentially cement his MVP campaign against Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers.

But Ben Solak wants us to know that there were also unexpected stories across the league. Like how the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals met up in the highest scoring meeting the two teams have ever had. Joe Burrow’s heroics weren’t enough to outmatch Russell Wilson’s prolific passing day. 

Or how between Shane Steichen, Jerod Mayo, Drake Maye, and Anthony Richardson, we might be seeing the rivalry between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots enter a new - post Tom Brady and Peyton Manning - generation.

And there’s even a second life for Bryce Young with the Carolina Panthers, who may have lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in overtime, but seem to be heading in the right direction.

So Ben Solak joins us to tell us what he watched - and handicap the NFL’s MVP race as the season starts to wind down.

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We have arrived at Thanksgiving eve. And while you may be getting your stomachs ready for a meal full of all the fixings, don’t forget the annual football feast you will soon digest as well. Between the NFL and college, it’s four days of high stakes games to squeeze-in between all the family festivities. 

Will Tua Tagovailoa and the Miami Dolphins finally beat the cold weather curse? Have the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams turned the corner with new Offensive Coordinator Thomas Brown? Who will bolster their playoff case as Texas and Texas A&M face each other for the first time in 13 years? And how’s the Heisman race shaping up? So many things to chew on and we are here to feed those thoughts.

Today, Kevin Clark, host of This is Football, helps sift through the playoff implications at both levels and shares his recipe for understanding the difference between matchups of both the savory and unpalatable varieties. 

Other topics include:

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The San Jose State Spartans were preparing for another hopeful – but largely uneventful – women’s volleyball season in 2024.

But then a publication outed a player on that team as transgender and from there the protests and backlash grew seemingly by the day.

Player lawsuits, coach accusations and boycott threats, and that was just from inside their own locker room.

Soon teams all over the San Jose schedule decided to forfeit their matches, but also never gave an official reason why. 

So today, ahead of the Mountain West Conference Tournament, Katie Barnes joins us to quiet the noise and turn up the conversation on a team from San Jose that just wants to play the game.

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Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and that means we’re entering the stretch run in the NFL. A dozen weeks into the season, and some teams are starting to separate themselves from the pack. 

Like the Detroit Lions, who week after week keep bullying their opponents, and the Kansas City Chiefs, who just find ways to win seemingly every Sunday. And then there’s the Philadelphia Eagles, who are looking to stake their claim in the NFC.

So before we sit around the Thanksgiving table and tell each other what we’re thankful for, Ben Solak goes fact-or-fiction on Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, Chicago Bears rookie Caleb Williams, and the reclamation of Carolina Panthers signal caller Bryce Young.

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This weekend, two top-ten women’s college basketball teams — the USC Trojans and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish — face off in Los Angeles. It will be a battle between two of the league’s biggest stars, USC’s Juju Watkins and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo.

Another player to watch coming this season is UConn’s Paige Bueckers, but you already know that because she has been the player to watch since she was in middle school. 

All three of these stars are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a fresh new season of women’s college basketball unburdened from the discourse that dominated last season. Elle Duncan joins us to explain how the wave of excitement from last season shows no signs of stopping this year.

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For Washington Commanders fans, the Daniel Snyder ownership era was a brutal 24-year stretch. The once proud franchise became a laughingstock both on the football field and off, as the NFL and Congress launched various investigations into misconduct, sexual harassment, and financial improprieties. 

Then in 2023, financial executive Josh Harris bought the team and oversaw its decision to draft budding superstar quarterback Jayden Daniels. Even with close losses to good teams over the last two weeks, optimism in the nation’s capital is at its highest level in decades. 

Actor Jeffery Wright has lived that story. The Emmy, Tony and Golden Globe Award-winning performer has not only been rooting for the burgundy and gold since the Nixon administration, but also grew up with Josh Harris. And that made him the perfect person to help our resident D.C. native Clinton Yates explore a complicated relationship with the Commanders. 

Today, we dig into all that, as well as Wright’s love for Arsenal, his days as a Lacrosse player, and his new TV series “The Agency.”

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11 weeks into the NFL season, playoff possibilities are starting to take shape.

But who has a shot at each conferences’ coveted Number 1 seed?

It's the envious position every team desires as it ensures not only an extra week of rest and recovery when the playoffs start, but also home field advantage all the way through the conference championship round. That would be the easy road to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans.

So today, we are joined by our intrepid NFL expert Bill Barnwell, who looks at every squad that could take the top spot, but he also saves room on his plate for another serving of Tommy Cutlets.

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A generation later, the images of one of the worst scenes to ever take place in an NBA arena are still shocking. A cup full of liquid hurtling through the air, striking Indiana Pacers small forward Ron Artest, and setting off a powder keg - as coaches, security, members of the Pacers, and fans came to blows in the stands, the tunnel, and on the court itself.

When the bad blood between the Pacers and rival Detroit Pistons boiled over in Auburn Hills, it was impossible to ignore the sight of mostly black players clashing with mostly white fans. And elements around the NBA used the ugly night, and fear that it caused, to force changes in the NBA dress code that could only be called draconian today.

So Andscape senior writer David Dennis Jr. joins Clinton Yates to remember how it all went down, and explore how it changed the NBA forever.

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There was a lot of action across the NFL in week 11. And games ending on blocked field goals in back to back weeks was just the tip of the iceberg. 

Because even as the Chicago Bears failed to end their now 11 game losing streak against the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field, we also saw Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery, Jahmyr Gibbs and the rest of the Detroit Lions put up a league high 52 points on a hapless Jacksonville Jaguars team missing Trevor Lawrence.

In one of Sunday’s marquee matchups between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens, The Steel Curtain burst out of the past, stifling MVP front runner Lamar Jackson. While in Orchard Park, Josh Allen put on his Superman cape and handed Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and the rest of the Kansas City Chiefs their first loss of the season. So Mercury Morris and all of the 1972 Miami Dolphins can pop some champagne and relax as they remain the lone undefeated team in NFL history.

Ben Solak takes us through what stood out to him in week 11.

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