Curse of Spoty? Rory McIlroy and golf could miss out again to Kelly or Norris

It has been a 2025 for the ages for Rory McIlroy. He cemented his legacy by completing a career grand slam with victory at the Masters. Then he carried Europe on his back at the Ryder Cup, defying the venom and spite of a braying Maga crowd. Now, though, he has one final devilish sandtrap to navigate: the curse of golf at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.Only twice in the 71-year history of the event has a golfer claimed the honour: the Welshman Dai Rees in 1957, when he captained Great Britain and Ireland to Ryder Cup success, and the Englishman Nick Faldo, following his Masters success in 1989

The Knicks have a trophy and Wembanyama has a chip on his shoulder: Five NBA Cup takeaways

New York got a championship while a high-stakes meeting between the Thunder and Spurs showed where the NBA, and the NBA Cup, is todayAfter toppling the defending champion Boston Celtics in a shocking upset in the Eastern Conference semi-finals this spring, The New York Knicks immediately became the favorites to represent the conference in the NBA Finals. The Indiana Pacers, a team that will no doubt go down as having one of the most compelling Cinderella stories in modern NBA history, had other plans.But this year, the East is more open than ever (though Knicks guard Jalen Brunson insists he’s “not a fan” of the narrative of a wide open conference). The Detroit Pistons have made a remarkable turnaround from being at the bottom of the East standings a few years ago to the top of them, but the Knicks’ showing in Cup play, ultimately hoisting the trophy in the third year of the contest, has shown what many believed heading into this season: they’re the team to beat.Brunson continues to be every bit the superstar his franchise needs, Mikal Bridges is having a fantastic season, and (knocks on wood) they’re as healthy as they’ve been in ages

Khawaja and Carey rise up to fill the gaps as England squander Australia’s gifts | Geoff Lemon

Chalk it up to fates or fortune or a quirk of probability, whatever your inclination. If Australia’s first day of the Adelaide Test was a jigsaw puzzle hurled into the air, most of the pieces landed face up in the right place. It has been a pattern for Australia in this Ashes series: monstered by England’s bowlers in Perth, only to create an even greater collapse; sliding in Brisbane, rescued by the lower order.England, meanwhile, brought a gameplan built on the surety that they couldn’t win in Australia with medium-fast seamers and a keeper up to the stumps, then lost to medium-fast seamers with a keeper up to the stumps. They were given the gift of no Pat Cummins, no Josh Hazlewood, no Nathan Lyon (in Brisbane) and still managed to lose twice in six days

Jofra Archer steps up to show his true value lies beyond pundits’ stereotypes | Barney Ronay

This was a gripping day of Test cricket. The visuals were perfect. Adelaide Oval was a dreamy place, with its bleached greens, soft surfaces, the scroll of blue above the stands, the sense of some chino-shorted Eden, ultimate expression of the leisured triumphalism of the southern summer.In the middle of this there were long periods where three games seemed to be happening all at once. England versus Australia

The Spin | Bradman’s greatest hour: how Australia came from 2-0 down to win the Ashes

By the time you read this, day one of the third Test will have gently unfolded/catastrophically unspooled. You will already have some inkling of how (un)likely it is that England will be able to haul in Australia’s 2-0 lead and claw back the urn.As you also probably know, only one side has overcome a 2-0 deficit to win a series, and that side was Australia, and that Australia included Don Bradman.The year was 1936. England boarded the Orion at Southampton docks in gabardines and trilbies to sail away on their first Ashes tour since Bodyline

‘Very TikTok-able’: sumo wrestling’s unlikely British boom

It is a centuries-old Japanese tradition, steeped in ceremony, with roots deep in the ancient faith of Shintoism … and it also happens to be super popular on TikTok.Sumo is finding a new audience in the UK and, not only that, many Britons are now donning a loincloth – or mawashi – and taking up the sport themselves. So much so, in fact, that amateur wrestlers from across the UK and Ireland are gearing up for the first ever British Isles Sumo Championships, due to be held in six weeks.It comes after sumo’s elite professionals captured hearts in October when they visited from Japan for a grand tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London. They were pictured wholesomely visiting Horse Guards Parade, enjoying Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross station and riding Lime bikes around London