TNS Sports Budget for Friday, Jan. 6, 2023

Updated at 8 a.m. ET (1300 UTC).

TOP STORIES

Dan Wiederer: Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey turns 100 — and her pride and optimism for the franchise still resonate

FBN-WIEDERER-COLUMN-SPORTSPLUS:TB — The first thing that became obvious was Virginia McCaskey’s ebullience, the way she entered the room with infectious pep. On a Sunday afternoon in Phoenix in March 2019, McCaskey had come to do something she hadn’t done at any point in her 96 years. As she walked into a dining room at the Arizona Biltmore before the NFL spring meetings, she was entering the realm of podcast guest.

“This,” she said, “is a first for me.”

1711 words by Dan Wiederer, Chicago Tribune. MOVED

PHOTOS

BASEBALL

Paul Sullivan: Pressure is now on Andrew Benintendi — the big, new piece of the puzzle — to help Chicago White Sox get back to October

BBA-SULLIVAN-COLUMN:TB — When the Chicago White Sox handed Luis Robert a six-year, $50 million contract — with options through 2027 — three years ago this week, general manager Rick Hahn said the organization “put our money where our mouth is in terms of our level of excitement” about the rookie center fielder.

The 22-year-old Robert had yet to play in a major-league game, but the commitment by the Sox suggested he soon would be the centerpiece of a contending team for the rest of the decade.

1216 words by Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune. MOVED

PHOTOS

NFL

Joe Starkey: Steelers' surge highly encouraging, hardly miraculous

FBN-STARKEY-COLUMN:PG — Cris Collinsworth lost his mind at the end of the Steelers' pulsating, 16-13 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

"It's unbelievable!" Collinsworth exclaimed. "If you think about where the Pittsburgh Steelers were at 2-6, for them to be sitting here now at 8-8 is borderline unbelievable."

742 words by Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. MOVED

PHOTOS

Karen Guregian: Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has taken control as only he can during a difficult situation

FBN-GUREGIAN-COLUMN:YB — FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Patriots were back to work Wednesday with their focus aimed at the task at hand: beating Buffalo on Sunday.

So, life was back to normal inside the walls of Gillette Stadium. It was business as usual.

897 words by Karen Guregian, Boston Herald. MOVED

PHOTOS

NBA

Friday’s games

TNS expects coverage from the following games:

Bulls at 76ers, 7 p.m. ET

New York at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.

Brooklyn at New Orleans, 7:30 p.m.

Charlotte at Mikwaukee, 8 p.m.

Detroit at San Antonio, 8 p.m.

LA Clippers at Minnesota, 9 p.m.

Cleveland at Denver, 9 p.m.

Miami at Phoenix, 10 p.m.

Atlanta at LA Lakers, 10:30 p.m.

NHL

Friday’s games

TNS expects coverage from the following games:

Florida at Detroit, 7 p.m. ET

Tampa Bay at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

Arizona at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.

NY Islanders at Calgary, 9 p.m.

San Jose at Anaheim, 10 p.m.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Paul Zeise: It isn't a fluke — Pitt might be the best team in the ACC

BKC-ZEISE-COLUMN:PG — There is no reason the Pitt men's basketball team can't win the ACC this year.

None at all.

1227 words by Paul Zeise, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. MOVED

PHOTOS

Dom Amore: Tap the brakes on March Madness, UConn men dealing with a January crisis of confidence

BKC-AMORE-COLUMN:HC — So here we thought words like “embarrassing” and “outtoughed” were a thing of the past for the UConn men’s basketball team. The Huskies, after 14 games, were lost in a giddy world of analytics and win probabilities and their nation of followers was preoccupied with the AP poll.

But KenPom ratings and AP rankings can’t predict what a team will look like when the heat is turned up on a night like Wednesday, in a place like Providence. Conference road games rattle and trip up even the best teams, and UConn did not look like the No. 1 or 2 or 4 team in the nation, but rather the second best team on the floor in the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

923 words by Dom Amore, Hartford Courant. MOVED

PHOTOS

SOCCER

Kerith Gabriel: The Reyna-Berhalter soccer saga spotlights the potential problem with parents in sports

SOC-GABRIEL-COLUMN:PH — I’m honestly embarrassed for Claudio and Danielle Reyna.

I know the type of parent they are acting like. I’ve encountered enough of them as a soccer player and still find myself around them from time to time as I watch my own son navigate an uber-competitive development track to an academy team.

970 words by Kerith Gabriel, The Philadelphia Inquirer. MOVED

PHOTOS

RECEIVE TNS SPORTS BUDGETS BY EMAIL

To have the TNS Sports budget emailed to you each day—or stop getting the emails—contact tcacustomerservice@tribpub.com.

To receive TNS videos, contact tcavideo@tribpub.com.

Visit TNS at TribuneNewsService.com. To obtain a user ID and password, please contact TCA sales at tcasales@tribpub.com.

TNS Sports Editors: Brian Rene, brene@tribpub.com; Ben Estes, bestes@tribpub.com

News Desk: tcanews@tribpub.com

Photo Desk: tcaphoto@tribpub.com

©2023Tribune Content Agency, LLC.