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Stat of the day: Less than five years ago, it cost $2 million to buy an NWSL expansion team. Arthur Blank just paid $165 million to bring the latest franchise to Atlanta.

In today's edition: Curry and Jokić go off, NHL points leaders, superstitious attire, NFL power rankings, new job alert, and more.

Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. For the web version, click here. Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

Let's sports...

🚨 ICYMI

⚾️ Cy Young winners: Pirates righty Paul Skenes was a unanimous winner for the NL, while Tigers lefty Tarik Skubal got 26 of 30 first-place votes to become the AL's first back-to-back winner since Pedro Martínez (1999-2000).

⚽️ NWSL expansion: Atlanta has been awarded the NWSL's 17th franchise, with new owner Arthur Blank (Falcons, Atlanta United) set to pay a league-record $165 million expansion fee. They'll debut in 2028 after the 15th and 16th teams (Boston, Denver) begin play next year.

🥇 LA28 schedule: The official schedule for the 2028 Summer Olympics has been announced. The Games will run from July 14-30, and in one big change they'll flip the normal order of swimming and track & field, starting with the latter instead of the former.

🏈 Gronk retires as a Patriot: Rob Gronkowski signed a one-day contract with New England on Wednesday, allowing the future Hall of Famer to retire as a member of the organization with whom he won three Super Bowls and cemented his status as arguably the greatest tight end of all time.

🏈 Michigan State sanctioned: Michigan State's football program received three years of probation from the NCAA and former coach Mel Tucker was given a show-cause penalty due to recruiting violations from 2021-23. The Spartans were also forced to vacate 14 wins.

See what else is trending on Yahoo Sports.

📸 SNAPSHOTS

(Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images)

San Antonio — Steph Curry (46-5-5), Jimmy Butler (28-6-8) and the Warriors handed the Spurs their first home loss of the season, winning 125-120 even as Victor Wembanyama (31-15-10) and Stephon Castle (23-10-10) became the first Spurs duo with a triple-double in the same game.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles: Nikola Jokić erupted for 55 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists on 78% shooting in the Nuggets' 130-116 win over the Clippers. The Joker during Denver's six-game winning streak: 35.8 pts, 12.0 reb, 11.0 ast, 73.9% FG, 55.6% 3PT. Is that good?

(Notre Dame Athletics)

South Bend, Indiana — Hannah Hidalgo, already a two-time first-team All-American, had the best game of her career on Wednesday, scoring a program-record 44 points and notching an NCAA-record 16 steals in No. 18 Notre Dame's blowout 85-58 win over Akron. 16 steals!!!

Speaking of big statlines: Audi Crooks led No. 16 Iowa State's 97-50 rout of Valparaiso with a program-record 43 points in just 20 minutes. The junior is averaging 28.3 points on a blistering 73% shooting through four games.

(Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

Turin, Italy — Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev, 6-4, 6-3, to clinch a semifinal spot in the ATP Finals as he looks to defend his title in the season-ending event.

Total domination: Since losing to Novak Djokovic in the finals here in 2023, Sinner has won 28 consecutive matches on indoor hard courts. That includes seven in a row at this event, all in straight sets, without so much as being pushed to a tiebreak.

(Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

Belleair, Florida — Caitlin Clark participated in the LPGA's Annika Pro-Am for the second consecutive year, flanked by Fever teammates Sophie Cunningham and Lexie Hull as her caddies.

From long range! Clark showed that no matter the sport, she's bound to provide a highlight, nailing a long putt from just off the green during Wednesday's round.

🏒 LEAGUE LEADERS

Bedard and McDavid. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

The top five point-scorers in the NHL right now are all former No. 1 or No. 2 overall picks — a scouting department fever dream that almost never materializes this cleanly.

Cream of the crop: Nathan MacKinnon (No. 1 in 2013) leads the way with 32 points, followed by Macklin Celebrini (No. 1 in 2024), Connor Bedard (No. 1 in 2023) and Leo Carlsson (No. 2 in 2023) with 26 each. Connor McDavid (No. 1 in 2015) is right behind them with 25.

Bottom line: It's one thing for elite talent to live up to the hype. It's another to see four No. 1 picks and one No. 2 pick deliver on their promise — all at once, at the very top of the league leaderboard.

🏈 ROLL TIDE

The Tide look like one of the best teams in college football, and their coach is showing more emotion than ever before while rocking the black hoodie. (Jeffrey Vest/Getty Images)

Call it a superstition. Call it silly. Call it what you will. When Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer wears his signature black hoodie, the Tide are unstoppable.

From Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger:

Deep within the Mal Moore Athletic Complex, perhaps in some locked box or barred closet, the University of Alabama football team's not-so-secret weapon of viral superstition resides.

There, somewhere, hidden and kept secret, are seven crisp and clean Nike Dri-FIT black hoodies. Better known to the college football world as coach Kalen DeBoer's black hoodie of death. "They're in safe keeping where only I know about them," says Kyle Smith.

Smith holds an important role within the Alabama football program. He's the director of equipment, a thankless and often overshadowed job but one of great importance. In this job, Smith's most visible responsibility is clothing the team's head football coach on gameday.

That means acting as the caretaker of what's become one of this season's quirky oddities: DeBoer's black hoodie. As coach at Alabama, he's 16-0 in regular season games while wearing the outfit — the short or the long-sleeve version.

This bizarre statline is no longer just some fan-driven internet sensation. Bama players are well aware. So is the coaching staff, administrators and DeBoer's own children. From his office this Monday, DeBoer cracks a smile. He's getting a kick out of all the hubbub. "It got brought up this year with our players. They were like, 'Coach, you got to wear it, man,'" DeBoer says laughing.

DeBoer wore a two-toned hoodie during last year's loss to Oklahoma. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

Things are good here right now. People are smiling, laughing and enjoying themselves — a product of their beloved Crimson Tide, now ranked fourth in the country, having won eight straight games.

Alabama meets No. 11 Oklahoma here on Saturday with a chance to likely secure a playoff berth and remain in pole position to play in the SEC championship game. It also provides an opportunity for DeBoer's team to avenge last year's costly and ugly 24-3 loss in Norman — a playoff hope-dashing debacle that sticks with the coach nearly one calendar year later.

"It is probably one of the things that baffled me the most about last season," he says. "It's how it happened. It's how it felt. You're not always going to be at your best, but we just didn't bring it that night."

For one, he wasn't wearing that traditional black hoodie. On that night, for whatever reason, he chose to wear a two-toned hoodie: black but with red sleeves. It was one of the last times he veered away from his traditional gameday attire.

Will the 2024 Nike version of the black hoodie make its ninth straight appearance on the Alabama sideline this weekend? DeBoer smiles. Of course it will. "At some point," he says, smiling, "I'll have to change to the newer version."

Read the full story.

🏈 WEEK 11

(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)

The Eagles sit atop our NFL power rankings for the second straight week, followed by the Colts (+2), Seahawks (+2), Rams (+5) and Chiefs (-2).

Playoff projection: The Chiefs' streak of AFC West titles may be on the line at Denver

📺 VIEWING GUIDE

Drake Maye is top three in yards (2,555), completion percentage (71.7%) and passing TDs (19). (Amy Monks/Yahoo Sports)

🏈 GRONK

A Gronk spike during a 2015 game at Foxboro. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Rob Gronkowski, back in the news after signing a one-day contract to retire as a Patriot, has the third-most career receptions in the Super Bowl (29).

Question: Which two players have more?

Hint: Their last names end in the same two letters.

Answer at the bottom.

⚾️ SPEED DEMON

The Freeze races a fan during a game in 2023. (Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)

Any world-class sprinters out there looking for a side gig? The Braves are seeking a new mascot to serve as "The Freeze" for their between-innings promotion that features a race around the warning track against some lucky (or unlucky) fan.

Tough act to follow: The original "Freeze" was former college sprinter Nigel Talton, a member of the Braves' grounds crew who once clocked a blazing 4.28-second 40-yard dash. Think you can beat that? Go ahead and apply.

Trivia answer: Travis Kelce (35 Super Bowl receptions) and Jerry Rice (33)

Thanks for reading! Wanna be friends? Follow me on X and Instagram, or drop me a line: kendall.baker@yahooinc.com.