BOSTON — New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers finished testifying Friday in his assault and battery trial by denying he choked or shoved his accuser.
Peppers, who first took the witness stand on Thursday, has been on trial this week on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. A woman testified Thursday that Peppers grabbed her by the neck, slammed her against the wall and pushed her down the stairs after another man called her cellphone several times while they were in bed.
OMAHA, Neb. — Calvin Jones, who rushed for more than 3,000 yards in three seasons at Nebraska and was with the Green Bay Packers when they won the Super Bowl after the 1996 season, has died. He was 54.
Police said Jones’ body was found in the basement of a house in north Omaha on Wednesday night. Police have not confirmed a cause of death pending an autopsy.
A friend of Jones, Jo Dusatko, told the Omaha World-Herald that carbon monoxide poisoning was suspected. She said the furnace in the home was
Pete Carroll and the Las Vegas Raiders have reached an agreement on a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option to be the team’s new head coach, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Carroll, 73, is one of four head coaches to have led teams to both a national championship and the Super Bowl. The others are Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and Jim Harbaugh.
Carroll helped shape USC into a national champion and then went to Seattle and, over a run that lasted 14 seasons, led the Seahawks to 10 playoff appearances, two conference
EA Sports’ beloved college football video game series won’t be hitting the transfer portal any time soon.
“College Football 26” will return for the 2025 season and will be available this summer, EA Sports announced on Jan. 16. EA Sports re-launched the popular video game series in the summer of 2024, marking the first time it had released the game since 2013.
After 2.8 million players bought the game at launch, “College Football 25” became the highest-selling video game of all time in the United States in November. Players like Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty became instant fan favorites, due to their electric abilities in the game and on the field.
With so much excitement around the game, it got us thinking — who are the greatest sports video game characters of all time? We looked back at games over the last couple of decades and picked out the most dominant athletes in that span.
ADVERTISEMENT
Did your favorite player make the list? Let’s take a look:
10 best sports video game characters of all time
10. Ronaldinho, “FIFA 07”
Plenty of FIFA legends through the years could represent EA Sports’ beloved soccer simulator on this list, but Ronaldinho’s superior offensive abilities propel him into this spot. The Brazil superstar had a rating of 90 or better in finishing, short passing, dribbling, ball control, acceleration, sprint speed and reaction.
9. Sunday Tiger Woods, “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2009”
Really, Sunday Tiger from any 2000s edition would suffice. If your character was lucky enough to make the cut and face Sunday Tiger, you had to play a virtually perfect round of golf to stand a chance of beating him.
EA Sports even leaned into Sunday Tiger’s God-like abilities by using a fan video of a glitch in “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008” in which the namesake character could walk on water and hit a chip shot from a lake, turning it into an incredible marketing campaign for the next edition of the game.
8. Michael Jordan, “NBA 2K11”
Some of the characters in these games became overpowered superstars by accident. This edition of Jordan was anything but. The Chicago Bulls legend graced the cover of the 2010 release of the iconic basketball game and had several different modes centered around him, including one in which players could compete in a “Jordan Challenge” that let them simulate key moments from his career.
There were eight retro versions of Jordan from different seasons of his career, and all eight of them had him rated at an unstoppable 99 overall. Jordan also starred in one of the most memorable sports video game opening sequences ever.
7. Peja Stojakovic, “NBA Ballers”
If sweet-shooting NBA players who became video game juggernauts had a patron saint, it would be Stojakovic in this 2004 streetball simulator. The digital version of the Sacramento Kings swingman paved the way for a long line of NBA players in future basketball video games who, once you figured out their shot timing and favorite places to let it fly from beyond the arc, could not be contained.
The first and only player to earn a 99 overall rating in one of the most anticipated games of the decade, Hunter is a cheat code in “EA College Football 25.” The Heisman winner was given 99 acceleration, 99 awareness, 99 spectacular catch, 99 play recognition, 97 jumping, 97 change of direction, 97 catching, 95 speed, 95 juke move, 95 zone coverage and 90 man coverage. There probably has never been a football video game character to have several ratings in the 90s on both sides of the ball — which is apt for his unprecedented two-way play this past season. The Colorado receiver/cornerback finished the year with 96 catches for 1,258 yards and 15 touchdowns, along with 36 total tackles, 11 pass deflections, a forced fumble and four interceptions.
5. “Jon Dowd” (Barry Bonds), “MVP Baseball 2005”
The folks at EA Sports had a problem. Barry Bonds, MLB’s consensus best player at the time, had pulled out of the MLB Players Association’s common licensing agreement. Thus, EA Sports could not use his name or likeness in “MVP Baseball 2005.” It circumvented this by creating the fictional “Jon Dowd,” a slugging, left-handed-hitting San Francisco Giants outfielder with a familiar build and swing. And Dowd, much like the real-life Bonds at the time, was a cheat code, routinely depositing virtual baseballs into a digital McCovey Cove beyond the right-field wall in San Francisco.
4. Mike Tyson, “Punch-Out”
Unlike the other names on this list, Tyson was not a playable character but instead was the final boss in this boxing game. The virtual Tyson is considered one of the most difficult video-game final bosses of all time thanks to his ability to, like the name suggests, knock players out with a single punch.
3. Bo Jackson, “Tecmo Bowl”
The original unstoppable video game character, this version of Jackson is still considered the G.O.A.T. for sports video game fans of a certain age. It’s easy to see why. The pixelated Jackson was too fast and too strong for just about anyone else in the game to stop him, no matter what they did. And unlike the real-life Jackson, whose incredible two-sport professional career was cut short due to injuries, this Jackson could not get hurt.
“Tecmo Bowl” Bo Jackson lives on in the cultural zeitgeist, including an appearance in the iconic animated sitcom “Family Guy” and a Kia commercial starring the actual Bo Jackson.
2. Pablo Sanchez, Backyard Sports
With respect to Jon Dowd, Sanchez is the only truly fictional character on this list, but he deserves to be here after a decade across a litany of Backyard Sports titles.
Sanchez is best known for his abilities in various Backyard Baseball editions. He was a true five-tool player, representing one of the best hitters and fastest runners in just about every edition of the game. When Millennials and even some older Gen Z gamers discuss their Backyard Sports memories, Sanchez is usually the first name they think of.
1. Michael Vick, “Madden 2004”
The first true dual-threat quarterback of the modern Madden era, the current NFL on FOX analyst was simply impossible to stop in the game that bore his image on the cover. He was too fast when he took off running and too accurate as a passer to be contained by even the best defensive game plan.
Nothing like Vick has been seen in Madden since then — which is by design. Madden developer Clint Oldenburg revealed in a 2016 interview that several features included in subsequent Madden editions, such as the popular “Hit Stick” and much less popular and since-discontinued “QB Vision,” were added specifically to counteract Vick. It was as though they were Frankenstein trying to stop a monster of their own creation.
Additionally, the Madden player ratings system has been changed significantly so that no player is overwhelmingly dominant at so many different facets like Vick was.
“For me, Andy is a Hall of Famer,” Sabathia said in an interview with MLB.com. “Getting a chance to pitch alongside him, getting a chance to still talk to him pretty much all the time, I believe he’s a Hall of Famer. … [with] my getting in, hopefully people will reconsider his candidacy and put him in.
“I mean, anybody that wins 19 games in the playoffs, I think deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Pettitte, a three-time All-Star, won five World Series with the Yankees in his three stints with the franchise (1995-2003, 2007-10 and 2012-13); he pitched for the Houston Astros from 2004-06, posting a combined 3.38 ERA over 84 appearances/83 starts and a career-best 2.39 ERA in 2005.
ADVERTISEMENT
In his career, Pettitte had a 3.85 ERA, 1.35 WHIP and 2,448 combined strikeouts across 531 appearances/521 starts. He also sported a 256-153 career regular-season record.
Pettitte is first in Yankees history with 2,020 career strikeouts, is tied for first with 438 games started and is third with 219 wins, 2,796.1 innings pitched and a 51.3 WAR among pitchers.
A potential hindrance to Pettitte’s Hall of Fame case has been him admitting in 2007 that he took HGH to recover from an elbow injury in 2002. This year, Pettitte received 27.9% support to get into the Hall, up from 13.5% from 2023; a player needs 75% to get in.
On the hill, the left-hander is best remembered for being one of the premier postseason pitchers in MLB history. Making 44 postseason starts, Pettitte posted a combined 3.81 ERA and went 19-11. Pettitte’s 19 postseason wins stand as the most by a pitcher in MLB history.
As for some of his more epic outings, Pettitte pitched 8.1 scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the 1996 World Series in a 1-0 Yankees win. Two years later, he tossed 7.1 scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of the 1998 World Series. And then, two years after that, Pettitte gave up two runs, neither of which was earned, in the Yankees’ Game 5 series-clinching win over the New York Mets in the 2000 World Series.
Moreover, in the last two seasons that he played in the postseason (2010 and 2012, when he was 38 and 40, respectively), Pettitte pitched through at least 6.2 innings and surrendered no more than three runs in each of the four starts.
Sabathia and Pettitte were teammates on the Yankees from 2009-10 and 2012-13. The former joined the Yankees in 2009, serving as their ace for the bulk of his 11 years in the Bronx and helping them win the World Series in his first season (2009). The pair of left-handers (Sabathia and Pettitte) and fellow free agent signee A.J. Burnett formed a three-man starting rotation in the 2009 postseason for the Yankees.
“There’s one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from,” he said through a translator Thursday, two days after receiving 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.”
Suzuki had been to the Hall seven times before attending a news conference Thursday with fellow electees CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner. The trio will be inducted on July 27 along with Dave Parker and Dick Allen, voted in last month by the classic era committee.
Suzuki struggled to process being the first player from Japan elected to the Hall.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Maybe five, 10 years from now I could look back, and maybe we’ll be able to say this is what it meant,” he said.
BBWAA secretary-treasurer Jack O’Connell recalled Suzuki was at the Hall in 2001 when he called to inform the Seattle star he had been voted AL Rookie of the Year. Suzuki received 27 of 28 first-place votes, all but one from an Ohio writer who selected Sabathia.
“He stole my Rookie of the Year,” Sabathia said playfully.
Sabathia remembered a game at Safeco Field on July 30, 2005. He had worked with Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis in a bullpen session on a pitch he could throw to retire Suzuki, which turned out to be a slider.
“I get two strikes on Ichi, and he hits it off the window,” Sabathia said of the 428-foot drive off the second deck restaurant in right field, at the time the longest home run of Suzuki’s big-league career. “Come back around his next at-bat, throw it to him again, first pitch he hits it out again.”
Suzuki’s second home run broke a sixth-inning tie in the Mariners’ 3-2 win.
As the trio discussed their favorite memorabilia, Suzuki mentioned a mockup Hall of Fame plaque the Hall had created — not a design for the real one — that included his dog, Ikkyu.
“Our dog and then Bob Feller’s cat are the only animals to have the Hall of Fame plaque. That is something that I cherish,” Suzuki said, referring to a mockup with the pitcher’s cat, Felix.
Sabathia helped the New York Yankees win the World Series in 2009 after agreeing to a $161 million, seven-year contract as a free agent. Sabathia started his big league career in Cleveland, finished the 2008 season in Milwaukee and was apprehensive about signing with the Yankees before he was persuaded by general manager Brian Cashman.
“Going into the offseason, I just heard all of the stuff that was going on, the turmoil in the Yankees clubhouse,” Sabathia said. “Pretty quick, like two or three days into spring training, me and Andy [Pettitte] are running in the outfield, I get a chance to meet [Derek] Jeter, we’re hanging out, and the pitching staff, we’re going to dinners, we’re going to basketball games together. So it didn’t take long at all before I felt like this was the right decision.”
Sabathia was on 342 ballots and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%. While Suzuki and Sabathia were elected in their first ballot appearance, Wagner was voted in on his 10th and final try with the writers.
Even two days after learning of his election, Wagner had tears streaming down his cheeks when he thought back to the call. His face turned red.
“It’s humbling,” he said, his voice quavering before he paused. “I don’t know if it’s deserving but to sit out 10 years and have your career scrutinized and stuff, it’s tough.”
Wagner, who is 5-foot-10, became the first left-hander elected to the Hall who was primarily a reliever. He thought of the words of 5-foot-11 right-hander Pedro Martínez, voted to Cooperstown in 2015.
“I hope kids around see that there is a chance that you can get here and it is possible, that size and where you’re from doesn’t matter,” Wagner said. “I think Pedro said it first, but If I can get here, anyone can get here.”
LOS ANGELES — Guess who’s joining Kendrick Lamar on the Super Bowl halftime stage? None other than multi-Grammy-winning singer SZA.
Lamar and Apple Music released a trailer Thursday of him walking on a football field before SZA walked up from behind and playfully splashed the rapper. Lamar and SZA will lead the halftime festivities from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9.
SZA is Lamar’s former Top Dawg Entertainment labelmate. She appeared on his recent album “GNX” and was featured on a couple of songs, including “Gloria” and “Luther,” which also features
Barkley, Burrow and Jackson also are finalists for Offensive Player of the Year and Burrow is also in the running for Comeback Player of the Year.
The winners will be announced at NFL Honors on Feb. 6. A nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league completed voting before the playoffs began.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
Here are the finalists, in alphabetical order, for the eight AP NFL awards:
The all-time great became the first player from Japan to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class.
The all-time great was just one vote away from becoming the second player to be unanimously selected for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, getting voted in as part of the 2025 class. Suzuki is the first player ever from Japan to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
ADVERTISEMENT
C.C. Sabathia and Billy Wagner will join Suzuki as part of the 2025 Hall of Fame class. Sabathia, who was in his first year on the ballot, received 86.8 of the vote. Wagner, who was in his 10th and final season on the ballot, received 82.5% of the vote.
Nominees needed to earn at least 75% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in order to be inducted. Dave Parker and Dick Allen will also be a part of the 2025 class, getting voted in last month by the classic era committee.
With Suzuki falling just short of the unanimous vote, Mariano Rivers remains the only player to be unanimously selected for induction in Cooperstown. He got 100% of the vote from the BBWAA in 2019, appearing on all 425 ballots. Derek Jeter was picked on 395 of 396 in 2020 and Ken Griffey Jr. on 437 of 440 in 2016.
Suzuki came to Major League Baseball from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001 and joined Fred Lynn in 1975 as the only players to win AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP in the same season. He was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove outfielder, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with the Seattle Mariners (2001-12, 2018-19), the New York Yankees (2012-14) and Miami Marlins (2015-17).
Suzuki’s perhaps the best contact hitter in baseball history, with 1,278 hits in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB. His combined total of 4,367 is higher than Pete Rose’s MLB record of 4,256. Suzuki had a record 262 hits in 2004.
Sabathia was a six-time All-Star, won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), the Milwaukee Brewers (2008) and New York Yankees (2009-19).
Wagner received 284 votes and 73.8% in the 2024 balloting, five votes shy of the 75% needed when third baseman Adrian Beltré, catcher/first baseman Joe Mauer and first baseman Todd Helton were elected. Wagner’s induction was quite the climb as he received 10.5% support in his first appearance in 2016.
Wagner is the ninth pitcher in the Hall who was primarily a reliever after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Dennis Eckersley, Bruce Sutter, Goose Gossage, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and Rivera.
A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for the Houston Astros (1995-2003), Philadelphia Phillies (2004-05), New York Mets (2006-09), Boston Red Sox (2009) and Atlanta Braves (2010). His 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the most among pitchers with at least 900 innings.
Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramírez are among the most prominent players to fall short of induction as part of the 2025 classes. Both players have lagged in voting, getting hurt by suspensions for performance-enhancing drugs. Rodriguez was in his fourth year on the ballot and Ramírez was in his ninth year on the ballot, making next year his last chance to be voted in through the BBWAA.
Other holdovers include Andruw Jones, Chase Utley, Omar Vizquel, Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Andy Pettitte, Mark Buehrle, Francisco Rodríguez, Torii Hunter and David Wright.
Pitcher Félix Hernández, outfielder Carlos González and infielders Dustin Pedroia and Hanley Ramírez were among the newcomers joined by reliever Fernando Rodney, second baseman Ian Kinsler, second baseman/outfielder Ben Zobrist, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, catchers Russell Martin and Brian McCann, and outfielders Curtis Granderson and Adam Jones.
Players joining the ballot in 2026 include Cole Hamels, Ryan Braun and Matt Kemp.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
–>
recommended
Get more from Major League BaseballFollow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Which one of its five starting pitchers has the best chance to win the NL Cy Young Award? Let’s check out the odds at DraftKings Sportsbook as of Jan. 21.
ADVERTISEMENT
National League Cy Young Award 2025 (Dodgers)
Blake Snell: +1000 (bet $10 to win $110 total) Tyler Glasnow: +1700 (bet $10 to win $180 total) Yoshinobu Yamamoto: +2500 (bet $10 to win $260 total) Shohei Ohtani: +3000 (bet $10 to win $310 total) Roki Sasaki: +7500 (bet $10 to win $760 total)
In terms of the entire oddsboard, Snell is fifth, Glasnow is seventh, Yamamoto is 11th, Ohtani is 19th and Sasaki is 28th.
Snell has won the award twice and is one of only eight pitchers in MLB history to win the award in both leagues. He won the AL version in 2018 with the Tampa Bay Rays, and won the NL version in 2023 with the San Diego Padres.
Glasnow was an All-Star in 2024 with L.A., and Ohtani was the All-Star starting pitcher in 2021 with the Angels.
Ohtani was also an All-Star reserve pitcher in 2022 and 2023.
Rōki Sasaki’s best pitches of the World Baseball Classic
–> <!–>
Still, the guy that has the longest odds of the Dodgers’ rotation is the guy most in the limelight, and that’s Sasaki.
Here is what FOX Sports MLB writer Rowan Kavner had to say about the 23-year-old Japanese star who will make his way to Major League Baseball ahead of next season:
“Sasaki can light up a radar gun. His fastball has clocked in over 102 mph in Japan and touched 101.9 at the World Baseball Classic, where he sat 100.5 mph and got a bevy of whiffs with his devastating splitter. … Over his four years in NPB, Sasaki tallied a 5.74 strikeout-to-walk ratio — more than a full strikeout higher than Yamamoto, whose 4.48 mark was still good enough to make him the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history. That stat demonstrates Sasaki’s ceiling.”
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
–>
recommended
Get more from Major League BaseballFollow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
