Sarni's Scrolls: Battle of the Shooting Stars

Curry takes on Ionescu in 3-point contest during NBA All-Star Weekend

Stephen Curry has made more 3-point baskets than anyone.

Sabrina Ionescu has the best 3-point contest performance in NBA or WNBA history.

On the Saturday night in Indianapolis at the NBA All-Star Game Weekend, the Golden State Warriors star and the New York Liberty star go head-to-head in the 3-point contest.

“It’s an authentic competition between two great shooters," said Curry who challenged Ionescu.

Their relationship goes back well over a decade. Ionescu is a kid from the Bay Area whose family had Warriors season tickets, Curry took his daughters to see Ionescu play when she was at Oregon facing Cal in 2020. Ionescu talked to Curry’s girls that night.

"I think a lot of people are either on one side or the other of their reactions, like this dopest thing in the world, it’s the first of its kind and it’ll be something that kind of changes the narrative of what it looks like,” Curry told AP.

“But then also, there is the camp that’s like ‘Oh, you’ve got a lot on the line. You really want to take on that challenge? What if you lose?’ There’s a lot of fear attached to it, really, I guess. This is what sports is about."

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It took Caitlin Clark two minutes and 12 seconds to break the NCAA women's basketball scoring record.

The Iowa star, who needed eight points to pass Kelsey Plum, scored 49 in the Hawkeyes' 106-89 victory over Michigan on Thursday night.

But records and milestones are just part of Clark's story. She is a generational talent who is growing her sport's popularity.

She's also must-see sports TV.

"My favorite athletes are those who are champions in sports and champions in life, and Caitlin Clark is one of those athletes," tennis champion and women's sports advocate Billie Jean King told ESPN.

"She is the hottest star in basketball -- all of basketball, and not just women's basketball -- and with that comes a heavy responsibility to be a leader on and off the court. She gets it, and that is part of the reason she will have an opportunity to be one of the best in her sport and a role model for future generations."

■ Next: Clark (3,569) is chasing Pete Maravich (3,667), who has the men’s D-1 record.

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The Dynasty” — Apple TV+’s docuseries about the Patriots’ two decades of dominance, and all the joys, clashes, and consequences that accompanied it — debuts Friday with the first two episodes.

The documentary, which is produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Documentaries, is based on Jeff Benedict’s book of the same name.

"The Boston Globe's" Chad Finn has seen all 10 episodes, and writes that the appeal comes from its thoroughness and candor of the approximately 80 people director Matthew Hamachek and his collaborators interviewed for the project, and especially the access.

"There were really no roadblocks," Hamachek told Finn. "To everybody’s credit that’s involved, there was total freedom. We go into everything, and in the last five episodes, we detail the unraveling of the dynasty in great detail. But I also think that it’s really important to be able to do that in a way where you can understand why everybody made the decisions that they did."

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Women were a dominant story in final Super Bowl LVIII viewership figures. 

Nielsen data showed the final audience for Super Bowl LVIII reached an average of 123.7 million, up slightly from fast national estimates of 123.4 million and reconfirming the game’s status as the largest single event in the history of U.S. television. 

That aggregate figure represents a 7.4% boost from Super Bowl LVII a year ago, but across multiple segments, women showed even greater levels of growth. 

■ Women ages 18–24 watching the game on CBS and Univision posted a 24% jump in year-over-year Super Bowl viewership.

■ Girls ages 12–17 posted a 11% jump.

■Women overall logged a 9% increase to 58.8 million.

■ Women also comprised 47.5% of the game’s total audience, representing the highest figure ever for the Big Game, beating a comparable 47.1% for Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

Some of this influx no doubt owes to the Taylor Swift Effect. The pop star contributed earned media value of $9.6 million to the NFL.

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Retired NASCAR star Kevin Harvick is transitioning full time into broadcasting this season.

Harvick's new job ramped up with Wednesday qualifying for the Daytona 500 and he closes the week by calling Sunday's “Great American Race.” (2:30 ET, Fox).

It will be the first time since 2002 that Harvick, the 2007 race winner, will not be part of the Daytona 500 field.

In 2015, Fox began a program of bringing in drivers as guest broadcasters/analysts for Xfinity Series and Truck Series races. Harvick made multiple appearances.

“Television was always very interesting,” Harvick said. “I’ve always had a great relationship with everybody from Fox since we started."

***

BasebaIl players reported to spring training this week to find that they cannot customize their pants anymore, and that their new style of jerseys — designed by Nike, manufactured by Fanatics — is not up to big league standards.

As "The Athletic’s" Stephen J. Nesbitt wrote, players around the league “criticized the jerseys’ poor fit, cheap look, inconsistent quality and small lettering.”

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred -- who said he will step down in 2029 when his term ends -- reiterated his faith in Nike on Thursday at Grapefruit League media day.

"The jerseys are different. They're designed to be performance wear... I think after people wear them a little bit, they're going to be really popular," Manfred said.

***

"Billboard" handicaps the latest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees:

■ Mary J. Blige, 3-1

■ Mariah Carey, 2-1

■ Cher, 3-2

■ Dave Matthews Band, 3-1

■ Eric B. & Rakim,  12-1

■ Foreigner, 5-1

■ Peter Frampton, 10-1

■ Jane's Addiction, 8-1

■ Kool & the Gang, 8-1

■ Lenny Kravitz, 3-2

■ Oasis, 4-1

■ Sinéad O'Connor, even

■ Ozzy Osbourne, even

■ Sade, 5-1

■ A Tribe Called Quest, 6-1

***

ETC.

■ Rintaro Sasaki, 17, the Japanese baseball prospect who was projected to be the top draft pick in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, has opted not to turn pro and will attend Stanford. He will be eligible for the MLB Draft in 2027.

■ CBS's Verne Lundguist, 73, will retire after broadcasting his 40th Masters in April.

■ JJ Redick will join Mike Breen and Doris Burke on the NBA Finals for ABC.

■ NBA analyst Reggie Miller signed an extension with TNT.

■ "The Pat McAfee Show" is taking the next two weeks off.

■ Notre Dame will play Army in a Shamrock Series game at Yankee Stadium, Nov. 23, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Four Horsemen.

■ One fan rushed the court Wednesday night after the Detroit Mercy men's college basketball team won its first game... That leaves Mississippi Valley State as the only winless Div. I men's team... There are no winless Div. I women's teams.

■ The National Pickleball League is adding six new franchises, each valued at around $750,000—more than double the roughly $300,000 price tag that the original six teams sold for, according to Bloomberg. The new NPL teams are in Houston, Kansas City, Seattle, Columbus, Ohio, Princeton, N.J., Coachella Valley, California.

■ Winthrop University handed what is believed to be the first two athletic scholarships for students to play college cornhole.

■ The NHL Winter Classic is coming to Ohio State's Horseshoe next season.

■ The New England Revolution has new Boston Tea Party kits, honoring the bravery of early Bostonians.

■ NWSL expansion club Bay FC has paid $789,000 for Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji—the highest transfer fee in women’s soccer history.

***

■ Franklin Armstrong-- the first Black character in "Peanuts" -- is the subject of a new special, debuting Friday on Apple TV+.

■ Pudding.com has an analysis of 140 National Anthem performances from major political and sporting events.

■ Paramount+'s extraordinary "Evil" will end with the upcoming Season 4. Please, someone, save it.

■ Squishmallows and Build-A-Bear are suing each other.

■ Wheelhouse Entertainment CEO Brent Montgomery and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian (Serena Williams' husband) have combined to create a social media platform focused on the collectibles community.

■ The People's Choice Awards are Sunday (8 p.m. ET, NBC).

***

THEY SAID IT 

■ "Praying for Kansas City." -- Pat Mahomes.

■ "You can't give Mbappe that much space. It's like showing your neck to Dracula." CBS's Ray Hudson, describing goal by PSG star against Real Sociedad in Champions League match.