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ST. LOUIS — Nolan Arenado‘s eighth-inning blast didn’t give the St. Louis Cardinals the lead — they were already in front at the time — nor did it complete a big day for him at the plate.

But it had plenty of extra meaning, and the crowd knew it. It’s why they asked for and received a curtain call from the 12-year veteran, who was on the trade block all winter.

“I wasn’t expecting the current call,” Arenado said after the Cardinals’ 5-3 win Thursday over the Minnesota Twins on Opening Day. “I’m actually surprised I got it. I don’t think I got one last year.”

Arenado took Twins right-hander Griffin Jax deep to left to pad the Cardinals’ lead, giving him two hits, but it was before the game that he really began to feel the emotion of the afternoon. Arenado received a huge ovation from the sold-out crowd during player introductions, giving him a reason to take things in more than normal.

“I usually don’t, but today I did, and the way they cheered for me, it meant a lot to me and it got me motivated, and I was just fortunate to give them something to cheer about again,” Arenado said. “Usually, they don’t do curtain calls if you hit one homer, but it was a big homer.”

The emotions from Arenado’s blast and the ensuing curtain call stemmed from the uncertainty that loomed over his future in a Cardinals uniform following an unproductive 2024 campaign in which he hit just 16 home runs. Over the winter, he invoked his no-trade clause, turning down a deal to Houston, though many observers thought he would eventually be moved.

Another trade never materialized, but that doesn’t mean one won’t happen this summer. Arenado understands that.

“I don’t know,” he said. “There’s different things going through your head, so you just think of all the uncertainty. I was like, I don’t know if this is going to be my last time.”

His teammates recognized the meaning of the moment as well.

“Significant to him,” outfielder Lars Nootbaar said. “Significant to us. Cool for the fans to bring him out like that.”

St. Louis is going through a transition phase as longtime executive John Mozeliak has already announced this will be his last year. Unless the Cardinals are in the race, there is an expectation they will move some veterans later this summer.

But that wasn’t the narrative on Thursday when St. Louis played a solid opening game, led by veterans such as Arenado and starter Sonny Gray. It’s possible that Gray will eventually be moved as well, along with closer Ryan Helsley, who locked down the save against the Twins.

But that’s for the future. The present was about a fan favorite getting his due after a rough season.

“That was a pretty nice bow on it,” manager Oliver Marmol said of the home run. “This is a guy that’s worked really hard this offseason to come back and show what he’s capable of doing. That’s a big homer. It’s probably more meaningful than people think.”

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Rose Bowl agrees to earlier kick for CFP quarters

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Rose Bowl agrees to earlier kick for CFP quarters

LAS COLINAS, Texas — The Rose Bowl Game will start an hour earlier than its traditional window and kick off at 4 p.m. ET as part of a New Year’s Day tripleheader of College Football Playoff quarterfinals on ESPN, the CFP and ESPN announced on Tuesday.

The rest of the New Year’s Day quarterfinals on ESPN include the Capital One Orange Bowl (noon ET) and the Allstate Sugar Bowl (8 p.m.), which will also start earlier than usual.

“The Pasadena Tournament of Roses is confident that the one-hour time shift to the traditional kickoff time of the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential will help to improve the overall timing for all playoff games on January 1,” said David Eads, Chief Executive Office of the Tournament of Roses. “A mid-afternoon game has always been important to the tradition of The Grandaddy of Them All, but this small timing adjustment will not impact the Rose Bowl Game experience for our participants or attendees.

“Over the past five years, the Rose Bowl Game has run long on several occasions, resulting in a delayed start for the following bowl game,” Eads said, “and ultimately it was important for us to be good partners with ESPN and the College Football Playoff and remain flexible for the betterment of college football and its postseason.”

The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, a CFP quarterfinal this year, will be played at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on New Year’s Eve. The Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, a CFP semifinal, will be at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Thursday, Jan. 8, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will host the other CFP semifinal at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Jan. 9.

ESPN is in the second year of its current expanded package, which also includes all four games of the CFP first round and a sublicense of two games to TNT Sports/WBD. The network, which has been the sole rights holder of the playoff since its inception in 2015, will present each of the four playoff quarterfinals, the two playoff semifinals and the 2026 CFP National Championship at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) on Jan. 19, at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.

The CFP national championship will return to Miami for the first time since 2021, marking the second straight season the game will return to a city for a second time. Atlanta hosted the title games in 2018 and 2025.

Last season’s quarterfinals had multiyear viewership highs with the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (17.3 million viewers) becoming the most-watched pre-3 p.m. ET bowl game ever. The CFP semifinals produced the most-watched Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (20.6 million viewers) and the second-most-watched Capital One Orange Bowl in nearly 20 years (17.8 million viewers).

The 2025 CFP national championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame had 22.1 million viewers, the most-watched non-NFL sporting event over the past year. The showdown peaked with 26.1 million viewers.

Further scheduling details, including playoff first round dates, times and networks, as well as full MegaCast information, will be announced later this year.

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Mike Patrick, longtime ESPN broadcaster, dies

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Mike Patrick, longtime ESPN broadcaster, dies

Mike Patrick, who spent 36 years as a play-by-play commentator for ESPN and was the network’s NFL voice for “Sunday Night Football” for 18 seasons, has died at the age of 80.

Patrick died of natural causes on Sunday in Fairfax, Virginia. Patrick’s doctor and the City of Clarksburg, West Virginia, where Patrick originally was from, confirmed the death Tuesday.

Patrick began his play-by-play role with ESPN in 1982. He called his last event — the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 30, 2017.

Patrick was the voice of ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” from 1987 to 2005 and played a major role in broadcasts of college football and basketball. He called more than 30 ACC basketball championships and was the voice of ESPN’s Women’s Final Four coverage from 1996 to 2009.

He called ESPN’s first-ever regular-season NFL game in 1987, and he was joined in the booth by former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann and later Paul Maguire.

For college football, Patrick was the play-by-play voice for ESPN’s “Thursday Night Football” and also “Saturday Night Football.” He also served as play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s coverage of the College World Series.

“It’s wonderful to reflect on how I’ve done exactly what I wanted to do with my life,” Patrick said when he left ESPN in 2018. “At the same time, I’ve had the great pleasure of working with some of the very best people I’ve ever known, both on the air and behind the scenes.”

Patrick began his broadcasting career in 1966 at WVSC-Radio in Somerset, Pennsylvania. In 1970, he was named sports director at WJXT-TV in Jacksonville, Florida, where he provided play-by-play for Jacksonville Sharks’ World Football League telecasts (1973-74). He also called Jacksonville University basketball games on both radio and television and is a member of their Hall of Fame.

In 1975, Patrick moved to WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., as sports reporter and weekend anchor. In addition to those duties, Patrick called play-by-play for Maryland football and basketball (1975-78) and NFL preseason games for Washington from 1975 to 1982.

Patrick graduated from George Washington University where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

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NASCAR’s Legge: Fans making death threats

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NASCAR's Legge: Fans making death threats

NASCAR driver Katherine Legge said she has been receiving “hate mail” and “death threats” from auto racing fans after she was involved in a crash that collected veteran driver Kasey Kahne during the Xfinity Series race last weekend at Rockingham.

Legge, who has started four Indy 500s but is a relative novice in stock cars, added during Tuesday’s episode of her “Throttle Therapy” podcast that “the inappropriate social media comments I’ve received aren’t just disturbing, they are unacceptable.”

“Let me be very clear,” the British driver said, “I’m here to race and I’m here to compete, and I won’t tolerate any of these threats to my safety or to my dignity, whether that’s on track or off of it.”

Legge became the first woman in seven years to start a Cup Series race earlier this year at Phoenix. But her debut in NASCAR’s top series ended when Legge, who had already spun once, was involved in another spin and collected Daniel Suarez.

Her next start was the lower-level Xfinity race in Rockingham, North Carolina, last Saturday. Legge was good enough to make the field on speed but was bumped off the starting grid because of ownership points. Ultimately, she was able to take J.J. Yeley’s seat in the No. 53 car for Joey Gase Motorsports, which had to scramble at the last minute to prepare the car for her.

Legge was well off the pace as the leaders were lapping her, and when she entered Turn 1, William Sawalich got into the back of her car. That sent Legge spinning, and Kahne had nowhere to go, running into her along the bottom of the track.

“I gave [Sawalich] a lane and the reason the closing pace looks so high isn’t because I braked midcorner. I didn’t. I stayed on my line, stayed doing my speed, which obviously isn’t the speed of the leaders because they’re passing me,” Legge said. “He charged in a bit too hard, which is the speed difference you see. He understeered up a lane and into me, which spun me around.”

The 44-year-old Legge has experience in a variety of cars across numerous series. She made seven IndyCar starts for Dale Coyne Racing last year, and she has raced for several teams over more than a decade in the IMSA SportsCar series.

She has dabbled in NASCAR in the past, too, starting four Xfinity races during the 2018 season and another two years ago.

“I have earned my seat on that race track,” Legge said. “I’ve worked just as hard as any of the other drivers out there, and I’ve been racing professionally for the last 20 years. I’m 100 percent sure that … the teams that employed me — without me bringing any sponsorship money for the majority of those 20 years — did not do so as a DEI hire, or a gimmick, or anything else. It’s because I can drive a race car.”

Legge believes the vitriol she has received on social media is indicative of a larger issue with women in motorsports.

“Luckily,” she said, “I have been in tougher battles than you guys in the comment sections.”

Legge has received plenty of support from those in the racing community. IndyCar driver Marco Andretti clapped back at one critic on social media who called Legge “unproven” in response to a post about her history at the Indy 500.

“It’s wild to me how many grown men talk badly about badass girls like this,” Andretti wrote on X. “Does it make them feel more manly from the couch or something?”

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