Sarni's Scrolls: Dolphins, Ravens leader of NFL popularity pack

By Jim Sarni Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger have won World Cups and Olympic gold medals together with the U.S national team. There's one more trophy left -- the

By Jim Sarni

Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger have won World Cups and Olympic gold medals together with the U.S national team.

There's one more trophy left -- the National Women's Soccer League championship -- before their careers end, and only one of these longtime friends will get to raise it.

Rapinoe's OL Reign and Krieger's NJ/NY Gotham meet Saturday, (8 ET, CBS) at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.

The match is the league's most high-profile game yet, with a championship-record crowd possible and a large global audience expected to tune in for the primetime matchup.

CBS's all-women's announcing crew: Jacqui Oatley, Lori Lindsay and Carli Lloyd.

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The growing soccer audience will be seeing a lot more of the NWSL as league announced a four-year media rights deal with CBS, ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and Scripps Sports on Thursday.

The deal, worth $60 million per year and $240 million in total, is the largest broadcast deal for any women's sports league.

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"USA Today"ranks the NFL's Most Entertaining Teams at mid-season:

1. Dolphins

2. Ravens

3. 49ers

4. Eagles

5. Chiefs

6. Lions

7. Cowboys

8. Bengals

9. Bills

10. Jaguars

Bottom 5

32. Giants

31. Panthers

30. Cardinals

29. Raiders

28. Patriots

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Bet the Under.

With NFL offenses struggling this season, Yahoo Sports reports that bettors are cleaning up by putting their money on two teams combining to score fewer points that the Over/Under set by sportsbooks.
By the numbers: Unders are 83-52-1 (61.5%) through Week Nine, according to Action Network

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No. 2 Duke hosts No. 12 Arizona at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Friday night (7, CBS) in the first game of a home-and home series between men's basketball powers.

Coaches Jon Scheyer of Duke and Tommy Lloyd of Arizona are both proponents of ambitious scheduling, and not just matchups at neutral sites."This isn't going to be a one-time thing," Scheyer told CBS Sports."I want to schedule really good teams every season." "For me, I want to have Arizona playing other big programs and have it be a big deal, Lloyd told CBS Sports

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Inter Miami will conclude its historic 2023 MLS season on Friday at DVR Pink Stadium by honoring Lionel Messi, the man who transformed both the club and the North American soccer landscape."Noche d'Or will celebrate Messi's record eighth Ballon d'Or win before the Herons take on NYCFC in a friendly (8 p.m., Apple.)There will be speeches from Messi ad well as Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas and MLS Commissioner Don Garber.

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"Candace Parker: Unapologetic" is ESPN Films' latest documentary, debuting Sunday at 9 p.m

The film offers a deeply personal look into the highs and lows of her life, on and off the basketball court. The documentary follows Parker throughout the 2022 season, the same year she welcomed a son with wife Anna Petrakova.

"There are so many different layers of people and I hope people see themselves," Parker told "USA Today."

"I hope that other wives, partners and mothers can relate to the balancing act that us parents try to do. And from the athletic point of view, competing and trying to win championships... that’s what I hope everyone sees."

Authenticity is the objective of Parker's documentary. That's why she chose to name it "Unapologetic."

"Being who you are is something that’s super powerful and something that I myself have grown into," Parker said. "You should never apologize for what you chose to do, what makes you happy and what you are pursuing in life."

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Sports betting in the U.S. continues to grow as more states legalize the practice.

Now comes blockbuster news that sports media group Better Collective has agreed to buy Canada's Playmaker Capital in a deal that will nearly double its audience across the globe.Copenhagen-based Better Collective's U.S. business, anchored by the Action Network, doubled in revenue between 2021 and 2022.Online sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings rely on companies like Better Collective to send them referrals from readers to their content.Playmaker houses a slew of popular sports media brands. It also operates a paid media division.ETC

.■ Andraya Carter will join ESPN'S "College GameDay," becoming the first woman with a fulltime role on the NCAA hoops pregame show.■ Conor Bedard became the third youngest player in NHL history to score four points (2 goals. 2 assists) in the Blackhawks' 5-3 win over the Lightning on Thursday night.■ ManningCast ratings have steadily gone down since 2021. The past three shows barely hit 1M viewers. The main MNF telecast has improved greatly with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.■ 49ers-Jaguars, the best NFL game on Sunday, deserves better than a 1 p.m. regional game on Fox. "This could be the game of the year in the NFL," said Evan Cohen in Unsportsmanlike.■ NASCAR saw a 5% viewership drop this season for the Cup Series. The stock car circuit averaged 2.86 million viewers across NBC, Fox, FS1 and USA this season.■ Scottsdale, Ariz. will become the home of USA Pickleball in 2024.■ The Texans' 39-37 victory over the Bucs last Sunday was a Scorigami, the NFL's 1,080th unique score.■ Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith shaved his mustache in a "Turnover Cleanse."■ Bill Belichick asked about the pretzels during his first Frankfurt press conference

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■ Lainey Wilson won Entertainer of the Year at the CMA Awards on Wednesday.■ Showtime's popular political documentary show "The Circus" will end its impressive eight-year run this year. Sunday nights will never be the same.■ Costa Rica is "Travel + Leisure's" 2024 Destination of the Year.■ Barbra Streisand claims "Yentl" co-star Mandy Patinkin wanted to have an affair in her memoir.■ Jared Leto scaled the Empire State Building on Wednesday as a publicity stunt for his band Thirty Seconds to Mars. "Harder than I thought it would be."■ "Mean Girls" is getting a musical adaptation.■ M&M's new holiday flavor is White Chocolate Toasty Vanilla.

***THEY SAID IT

■ "I love my girls [on my team], but sometimes you're playing checkers and she's playing chess. She's that good. -- Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks on Caitlin Clark, who scored 44 points in Iowa's 80-76 victory on Thursday.■ "I'm not even the sexiest man in my own family." -- Jason Kelce, who is one of the men in "People's" Sexiest Man Alive" issue.■ "I know college football players deserve to have their voices heard on and off the field." -- President Biden at a White House discussion on student-athlete safety standards.

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Jim Sarni, BC Class of '69, is a former sportswriter for The Boston Globe and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He resides in Fort Lauderdale and watches a lot of television.

If you have a comment or an opinion, we'd love to hear from you

Jksarni@aol.com

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