Turnaround king Jim Harbaugh has playoff-bound Chargers dreaming big

The 61-year-old coach has a Chargers team that finished 5-12 last year headed to the playoffs. All they needed was the sort of attitude adjustment he’s famous for inspiringNot long after Jim Harbaugh was hired in January to coach the Los Angeles Chargers at a handsome $16m per season, he picked out the stalwarts on his roster. Stalwarts is not a typical football term, but Harbaugh loves stalwarts – those who are truly committed to the cause.The Chargers were coming off a 5-12 season in which head coach Brandon Staley was fired with three games to play, so it would figure that the quirky Harbaugh’s stalwart safari would not be too fruitful. But he found maybe 15 stalwarts, and there would be a great place to start

LeBron to Saudi and a UK NFL team: our bold sports predictions for 2025

On the heels of another sports year that was chock full of surprises, Guardian US contributors make their bold predictions for the months to comeHere are our bold predictions for 2025 in sports. Please note the bold (or should that be bold?) in bold predictions: these are mostly to be taken with a pinch of salt.LeBron James’ tongue-in-cheek reaction to Kylian Mbappé’s rejection of a $776m offer from Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal might have seemed innocuous enough. As did subsequent responses from Draymond Green and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But you have to believe the NBA was at least a little nervous when the Kid from Akron paid a visit to the Kingdom six weeks later at the behest of the Saudi Ministry of Sport

‘There are so many crazy stories’: the hunt for every sports statue in world

“There are more statues of Lester Piggott in the UK than there are of sporting women,” said the statistician Chris Stride with dismay. “It is really bad … there are hardly any at all.”In fact, there are a fewer than a handful of sporting women celebrated with public statues. They include the pentathlete Mary Peters on the outskirts of Belfast; the 1930s Wimbledon champion Dorothy Round in Dudley; and the trailblazing footballer Lily Parr at the National Football Museum in Manchester.That is compared with more than 350 men, from Steve Ovett on Brighton seafront to John Curry at the ice skating arena in Sheffield, to a grimly determined arms-folded statue of Alex Ferguson outside Old Trafford in Manchester

Boxing Day Test for the ages is the cricketing dream Australia needs | Jack Snape

Life rarely meets expectation. At around this time each year, those realisations come knocking with increasing frequency. Yes, you are fatter, poorer, wrinklier and less well-read than you would like to be. That fleeting aspiration in high school, that you might travel the world, or make a difference: for most, sorry to say, the optimism was misplaced.So when a match of cricket delivers far beyond what fans could dream, it is worth celebrating

Luke Littler comes up with killer finish to deny Ryan Joyce a dramatic upset

He looks wounded out there. His cheeks are flushed. Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. Ryan Joyce is on a finish already. Single‑20

Emma Raducanu back injury leaves her facing race to be fit for Australian Open

Emma Raducanu has sustained another frustrating injury setback at the beginning of the new tennis season as she was forced to withdraw from the Auckland Open before her scheduled first-round match becuase of a back injury.Raducanu, who was seeded sixth, had been due to start her season on Tuesday in Auckland against Robin Montgomery of the US but the 22-year-old has been nursing a back injury in recent weeks. Her back pain did not abate enough during her preparation, forcing her to withdraw from the tournament.Although she had previously been considering competing at the Adelaide Open next week, Raducanu will instead travel to Melbourne where she faces a race against time to be at full fitness for the Australian Open, which begins on 12 January.“Tried my best to be ready,” Raducanu said in a statement