Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Brooks Nader had a cheeky response to rumors she dated both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the same time. Plus, she’s the first person to call out a baseball IQ — but did she get the right answer?
TMZ Sports spoke to the former two-time All-Star outfielder at a Raising Cane’s this week. He had a lot to say about Harper, his father and more. See what he said in the video above.
The Asian Games, also known as the Asiad and officially the 20th Asian Games, will be held in the Aichi and Nagoya prefectures in Japan from September 19 to October 4 next year. The event will be co-hosted by the cities of Aichi and Nagoya. This will be the third time Japan has hosted the Asian Games, following Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. It will also mark the return of the Asian Games to its traditional four-year cycle.
Aichi and Nagoya are very familiar with hosting large-scale events, having done so since the Expo 2005. They are working together to support the Asian Games and ensure that they are a success. This includes cooperation with the Aichi Prefectural Government, various local governments and businesses, and mass media.
Founded in 1951, the Asian Games were first held shortly after World War II to reestablish bonds between Asian countries through sports and contribute to peace in the region. They are the largest regional multi-sport event with 45 participating countries and regions. They are run by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and organized every four years.
The Olympic Council of Asia considers Israel an Asian country based on its membership in the OCA, but it has not competed in the Asian Games since 1974. The OCA also allows Taiwan and Macau to compete under their own names in the Asian Games, despite their lack of full international recognition, because of their geographic location in Asia.
The intersection of sports and social media continues to change the industry for the better. While a few teams and leagues still aren’t leveraging the rapid rise of social media platforms, the ones that do have seen their audiences grow substantially and build a deeper connection to the brand.
The ability for fans to share their own sports content on social media allows them to control the narrative of their favorite events and players. It gives them a sense of ownership, which increases their loyalty to their favorite team and athletes. One example is the Chelsea football club, whose fans banded together on social media to petition against a referee they felt had influenced a crucial game outcome.
Social media has also helped to humanize athletes and make them more accessible. For instance, many athletes now use their social accounts to post behind-the-scenes or day-to-day content. These posts allow them to connect with their fans in a more human way, which can help boost their profiles and career opportunities. Some athletes, like Simone Biles, also use their social media to advocate for issues such as mental health, which helps reduce stigma and builds support networks.
Athletes also benefit from the ability to monetize their personal brands on social media platforms like TikTok. This enables them to connect with new audiences, and some of these audiences might not have been a part of their original fan base. This enables them to become long-term supporters and potentially generate revenue from endorsements, products and other partnerships.
The Champions League is a club competition for the best teams in Europe. Originally called the European Cup, it debuted in 1955 and has become a staple of the soccer calendar. In the first edition the sixteen top clubs from major national leagues competed in four rounds of knockout play to determine a champion. Real Madrid won the first five titles and established an enduring legacy that allows winning clubs to keep the trophy (which must be displayed in their stadium).
In 2024-25 the tournament was overhauled to add a league phase and the format was changed from a single round-robin group stage to a double-round-robin group stage. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the knockout phase play-offs, which consisted of two-legged matches between the teams ranked 9th to 24th in each pot, a system that aimed to promote competitive balance.
In the new system, a maximum of 32 teams will qualify for the league phase of the Champions League. Then, a draw will be conducted to establish the groups. Each group will contain one team from each national association. Then the teams will be seeded for the quarterfinal and semifinal draws based on their performances in the group stage. A re-seeding is done for the final eight and the draw takes place on Feb. 21. The top four teams from the league phase advance to the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a draw is held to establish which will play which.
AUGUSTA, Georgia — After a day that was full of shuffles on The Masters leaderboard, the field is beginning to sort itself out for Sunday’s final round. Overnight rain softened Augusta National Golf Club for the second round, but the course’s difficult elements remained present. Justin Rose maintained his overnight lead with a 1-under 71, but the world’s best players are right on his heels.
Rory McIlroy flipped the script from Thursday’s second-nine meltdown and fired an impressive 6-under 66 to make a huge move up the leaderboard. The Northern Irishman is chasing a career grand slam, but he’ll have to get through a few big-name contenders before he can claim that elusive green jacket.
McIlroy will tee off in the last group on Sunday with Bryson DeChambeau, the 2024 U.S. Open champion who edged McIlroy in a playoff at Pinehurst. He’ll also be paired with one-time major winner Jason Day, who will look to add another green jacket to his collection.
Scottie Scheffler is in a tie for fifth at 5-under with Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry and Matt McCarty, who’s on a Masters run that could culminate in a record third green jacket.
The top 50 players, plus ties, advance to the final two rounds of The Masters. Currently, the cut line at Augusta is 2 over. Masters winners are awarded a green jacket, which must be returned to the clubhouse within a year of the victory. It’s stored in a special cloakroom with past winners, including Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
The ICC can’t afford to be a spectator in the upper echelons of Test cricket. Its responsibilities as the game’s global governing body – not its events promoter or gatekeeper – call for more.
That ethos is reflected in the structure of its World Test Championship, which begins its third cycle this week when current holders Australia take on South Africa at Lord’s. It will be the first time the iconic London venue has hosted the showpiece final after commercial and logistical snags caused it to miss out in 2021 and again when the final was played at the biosecure Rose Bowl in Southampton last June.
In its current incarnation, WTC is run over two years with 67 matches in a cycle culminating in the final for the coveted mace. Each win is worth 12 points, a draw is six and a loss earns zero. Teams are then ranked on the table according to their percentage of the points won to the total points contested.
It’s a system that has been criticised, notably by India, as it puts its big three rivals at a distinct advantage. Despite India missing out on the opportunity to host a final in 2023, the ICC’s decision to keep the fixture in England for the next three cycles appears likely to be ratified at the governing body’s annual conference next month. There are a number of factors that contribute to England being the favoured venue, including good infrastructure and strong crowds as well as an early summer in contrast to the winter or monsoon seasons that are typically experienced in other cricketing nations.
Unlike any other sport, Formula 1 combines tradition and futurism with cutting-edge racing cars that resemble aeroplanes flipped upside down — delivering exhilarating speeds, dazzling engineering and technological ingenuity. Its renowned drivers push themselves and their incredibly innovative machines to the limit, battling extreme g-forces and daring decisions at more than 370kph (230mph).
But they’re not alone in their pursuit of glory, with all F1 teams vying for a coveted title in two different competitions. Drivers battle for the prestigious F1 Drivers Championship, while teams vie for the F1 Constructors Championship — with prize money playing a crucial role in both titles.
Driver points are awarded to the top ten finishers at each race, with 25 going to the winner. Each team also scores points for their position at the end of the season, with the total of both cars counting toward a team’s overall score. The current scoring system includes an extra point for the fastest lap, although that will be removed in 2025. Shortened races, meanwhile, allow for full points to be scored if 75 per cent of the scheduled distance is completed.
It’s rare that the Drivers Championship comes down to a single point, but there have been 19 occasions since the Constructors’ Championship began in 1958. Indeed, the most recent instance saw McLaren pipped Ferrari in Abu Dhabi by a single point when Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri drove their way to glory in 2024.
The World Athletics Championship is a major sporting event where the top athletes in each discipline compete to decide the world’s best. It is a once-a-year competition held at the end of the season, and the selection process for this competition is based on world rankings.
The first World Championships were hosted in Helsinki, Finland, in 1983. It was the result of a growing desire within athletics to have a tournament that brought together the world’s leading athletes and really decided who the very best was in each discipline.
At a meeting of the IAAF Council in 1976 in Puerto Rico, the decision was made to establish a World Championships separate from the Olympic Games. After bids were received from Stuttgart, Germany and Helsinki, Finland, the latter was chosen to host the inaugural competition in 1983.
It was an event that saw a number of outstanding performances. Carl Lewis won a triple gold in the sprints, and Jarmila Kratochvilova dominated in the middle distances. Meanwhile, British athletics star Daley Thompson claimed decathlon bronze and Steve Cram took the 1500m crown.
It was also the year that saw a new generation of talent come through, with Josh Kerr storming through on the final straight to force Jakob Ingebrigtsen into second place in the 1500m and Sifan Hassan grabbing a double gold medal in the 5000m and 10,000m.
At its most noble level, international sports unite communities and foster intercultural exchange and friendship. At its basest, however, sport can become a tool for major countries, brands and even international politics. It is also a magnet for those seeking to cheat in order to gain a competitive edge.
The Olympics are the most visible of all international sports events, with its origins in the Ancient Olympic Games in 776 B.C and the modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. Other major international sports include the Cricket World Cup (by one estimate, 3 billion people around the world watch or play cricket), the UEFA European Championships, the French Open tennis tournament, the Giro d’Italia cycling race, and the America’s Cup sailing competition.
Hosting a major international sporting event can have both tangible and intangible impacts, with the most obvious being improved transport infrastructure, urban regeneration and new parks. Less obvious, but equally important, is the increased prestige and status as a global tourist destination conferred by the event. The Olympics has done this for Barcelona, Sydney and London.
International sports can provide a platform for addressing a wide range of social issues, from gender equality to environmental sustainability. International sporting organisations, such as CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, can hold participating countries accountable for human rights violations in their regions by requiring compliance with the Olympic Charter and other international treaties that prohibit discrimination. For example, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights includes the right to education and participation in cultural life.
International qualifiers are often more than just football matches, but battles of identity, pride and perseverance. With varying stakes, qualifying tournaments have produced moments of extraordinary skill and courage that have captured the world’s imagination.
FIFA allocates a number of spots at each edition of the World Cup to each of its confederations, with the top teams in each zone automatically qualified and the remaining berths allocated to winners of intercontinental play-offs. The tournament has been expanded over the years, but the format has remained relatively unchanged.
The European qualifying process started this month, but with a large number of teams already in action for their Nations League groups, the first group stage qualifiers won’t be played until September — because fixture slots must be freed up for those matches. Six of the 12 groups have four or five teams, and those who finish in the top two will qualify for the World Cup. The other two runners-up will advance to the second round of qualifiers.
South America’s qualification tournament is a bit closer to completion, with Colombia and Bolivia fighting it out for one of the three automatic places at next summer’s World Cup, as well as an additional berth in the intercontinental playoff. Los Cafeteros currently hold a five point lead over Bolivia and four points over Venezuela, so they could seal the deal with a win over their rivals this week in Barranquilla.
Elsewhere, Harry Kane became England’s all-time leading goal scorer with a pair of goals in a 2-1 victory over Italy, while Dion Charles scored twice as Northern Ireland beat San Marino 2-0. The four top-two finishers in each of the nine African groups – along with the best two runners-up from each group who aren’t among those automatic qualifiers – will advance to the World Cup second round of qualifiers, which will see them compete in a two-legged play-off tie for two of the remaining places at the finals.
