NCAA:
Alabama is college football's national champion for the fourth time in seven years after Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry ran for 158 yards and three touchdowns in the Crimson Tide's 45-40 win over Clemson at Glendale, Ariz. O.J. Howard had touchdown grabs of 53 and 51 yards while setting an Alabama bowl game record with 208 receiving yards. The Tigers lost despite Deshaun Watson, who completed 30 of his 47 passes for 405 yards and four touchdowns.
In college men's basketball, Monmouth overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Fairfield 86-74 last night. Micah Seaborn scored 24 points for Monmouth. Marcus Gilbert led Fairfield with 20 points, and Curtis Cobb had 16 points with nine rebounds.
UConn remains Number 1 in The Associated Press women's basketball poll after a busy week that saw the Huskies win all three of their games by double-digits. They beat Tulsa, Houston and South Florida to stay undefeated. UConn is once again followed by South Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas and Ohio State.
NBA:
In the NBA, San Antonio beat Brooklyn 106-79, Washington topped Chicago 114-100, and it was Golden State over Miami 111-103.
NHL:
In the NHL, the Rangers edged Boston 2-1, San Jose beat Calgary 5-4, Los Angeles doubled up Detroit 4-2, and it was Vancouver over Florida in overtime 3-2.
NFL:
The Philadelphia Eagles have completed an interview with Tom Coughlin for their coaching vacancy. Coughlin is a two-time Super Bowl champion, who stepped down last week after 12 seasons with the New York Giants. He previously coached Jacksonville from 1995-2002. The Eagles have interviewed six candidates since firing Chip Kelly on December 29th.
The New York Giants have interviewed former Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith for their head coaching job. The Giants say Smith met with team president John Mara and general manager Jerry Reese yesterday. Smith is the sixth person to interview for the job that opened a week ago when Tom Coughlin stepped down after 12 seasons.
NFL owners are poised to start two days of meetings Tuesday in Houston to consider relocation to Los Angeles. The Raiders, Rams and Chargers have petitioned the league to leave their current homes for the nation's second largest market, which has been without an NFL team since 1994. Commissioner Roger Goodell has indicated the stadiums in Oakland, St. Louis and San Diego are all inadequate. Twenty-four of 32 owners must approve any move.
Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict has been suspended for the first three games of next season for repeated violations of the NFL's rules against dangerous hits on opposing players. The punishment has been doled out two days after he drilled Steelers receiver Antonio Brown after an incompletion during Pittsburgh's 18-16 playoff win. Brown suffered a concussion on the play, and Burfict was penalized for targeting a defenseless receiver. The NFL said it's also reviewing the conduct of other players and coaches during the acrimonious game.
Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith has announced that he will skip his final year of eligibility and enter the NFL draft. He was projected by some to be a possible top 10 pick before suffering a serious injury to his left knee in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State.Smith has led the Irish in tackles the past two years and won the Butkus Award as college football's best linebacker this season.
MLB:
Yankees manager Joe Girardi says newly acquired left-hander Aroldis Chapman will go into spring training as New York's closer. During an interview on the YES Network, Girardi revealed yesterday that he's choosing the hard-throwing Chapman over Andrew Miller.
FIFA:
United States World Cup-winning captain Carli Lloyd has won the FIFA women's world player of the year award for 2015. Lloyd dominated a worldwide vote and collected the award at FIFA's annual awards ceremony in Zurich.
In an emotional acceptance speech, Lloyd says: "I honestly wouldn't be sitting up here, standing up here, without my incredible teammates."She stood out by scoring six World Cup goals, including a stunning hat trick in the opening 16 minutes of a 5-2 rout of Japan in the final.
Lloyd, of New Jersey, got more than 35 percent of votes made by national team captains and coaches, plus invited journalists, on a 10-player ballot. Celia Sasic of Germany got 12.6 percent of the votes and third-place Aya Miyama of Japan got almost 10 percent.
Meanwhile US Women’s National Team Coach Jill Ellis has won Fifa’s Coach of the Year for 2015.
Aerials:
The International Ski Federation has added an aerials event to its Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort. The event will be a make-up for the canceled World Cup in Lake Placid, New York. The additional aerials event will be held the morning of Feb. 4 prior to the afternoon's moguls qualifications and finals. The second aerials event will take place at night on Feb. 5. Finals for both events will be live-streamed.
Fantasy Sports:
A New York court will allow Boston-based DraftKings and New York-based FanDuel to continue operating in the state as they appeal a lower court's ruling that they stop. A panel of state Supreme Court Appellate Division judges in Manhattan continued a stay yesterday issued by one if its members exactly a month ago. The case will next be argued in May.
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