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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed Tom Brady and the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House on Tuesday, the first visit by the reigning NFL champions since 2017.

It was Brady’s first visit since 2005 with the New England Patriots when George W. Bush was in office. Brady has won the Super Bowl during four different administrations but skipped visits by the Patriots in 2015 with Barack Obama and 2017 with Donald Trump.

The Patriots as a team chose not to attend after winning in 2019.

Brady was front and center, accompanying Biden, coach Bruce Arians and owner Bryan Glazer into the ceremony, which included jokes about age and the election and a push from the president for players to get vaccinated against the coronavirus if they hadn’t already.

Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, put on quite the comedy routine, comparing the Buccaneers’ run to Biden’s election victory.

“Not a lot of people think that we could have won, and in fact I think about 40% of the people still don’t think we won,” Brady said with a big grin. “We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me ‘Sleepy Tom.’ Why they do that to me?”

Biden was presented the traditional gift of a No. 46 jersey — which Glazer said was appropriate since Tampa Bay is heading into its 46th season as a franchise.

Players Donovan Smith and Bradley Pinion from the team’s social justice committee met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday morning to talk about voting rights.

Talking about how nearly 200,000 vaccine doses were given out at Raymond James Stadium — the Buccaneers’ home and site where they won the Super Bowl — Biden turned to dozens of players behind him and said: “If you don’t have a shot, get one, OK? Get one, get one, get one. You’re saving lives, helping us get back to our lives and our loved ones.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not directly answer when asked if the Buccaneers provided information on which team attendees were vaccinated. As of Friday, 10 NFL teams had reached the threshold of 85% of their traveling party fully vaccinated, though it was not immediately clear if Tampa Bay was one of them.

Before Brady took the microphone, Arians told Biden he wished the House and Senate would help the president fulfill “one goal” as a country, like his Buccaneers did last season.

Biden singled out receiver Chris Godwin, like himself Pennsylvania-born and Delaware-raised. Biden, 78, spoke with Godwin before the Super Bowl.

As the oldest person to become president, he compared himself to Brady being the oldest quarterback at 43 and Arians the oldest coach at 68 to win it all.

“You won’t hear any jokes about that from me,” Biden said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop.”

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NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Central: Schedule, rosters, news, how to watch

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NHL 4 Nations Face-Off Central: Schedule, rosters, news, how to watch

Instead of having an All-Star Game this season, the NHL and NHLPA are staging the 4 Nations Face-Off, which will run from Feb. 12 through Feb. 20. This is a round-robin tournament that will feature four national teams — Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States — with NHL players from those nations filling the rosters.

Read on for full coverage of the event, including rosters, schedule and broadcast information from the opening round games all the way through the championship matchup.

More: Schedule
Roster grades, snubs
Everything you need to know

Game schedule

Note: All times Eastern.

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. | TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland, 8 p.m. | ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. | ABC
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada, 8 p.m. | ABC
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. | TNT
Monday, Feb. 17: Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. | TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game, 8 p.m. | ESPN


Rosters

Note: Players are listed alphabetically by position. These are not projected lineups.

Finland

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Grading the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters, plus snubs and surprises

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Grading the 4 Nations Face-Off rosters, plus snubs and surprises

The first-ever NHL/NHLPA 4 Nations Face-Off is many things.

It’s a midseason exhibition tournament that replaces the NHL All-Star Game for a change of pace. It’s an antipasto of international hockey ahead of the Italian feast of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. It’s also the first time that a generation of Canadian and American superstars get to battle for bragging rights and a championship — although Sweden and Finland will have something to say about that.

On Wednesday, those four nations reveal their rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off, taking place from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston. The U.S. and Canada will announce their rosters at 7 p.m. ET, while Finland’s and Sweden’s reveals arrived earlier in the day. Some of the names are very expected, and some of the selections are a bit surprising.

Here’s how the rosters grade out — at each position group and overall — and which NHL players might be feeling snubbed by their home nations after these roster reveals.

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National signing day live: Commits, flips, rumors and best moments

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National signing day live: Commits, flips, rumors and best moments

College football’s national signing day has kicked off with the early signing period. Class of 2025 high school recruits are now able to sign their national letters of intent to lock them into the colleges of their choice.

With 16 ESPN 300 commitments, Georgia starts the signing period with the No. 1 class in ESPN’s rankings. However, the top spot has not been locked down completely and has changed hands a few times this cycle. Most programs will sign the majority of their class this week, but recruiting is far from over. If a prospect doesn’t sign a national letter of intent by Friday, the next national signing day for this cycle begins Feb. 5, 2025.

We’re tracking the latest news, analysis, class rankings movement and more throughout Wednesday, with latest updates at the top:

coverage:
Class rankings: Top 50 schools
Last-minute intel, flips to watch

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