🏀 Sydney Celebrates Series Sweep

No throwbacks, it's Thursday, 12 May

🏏 Straight off the bat

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🔊 Sport Today Podcast

This morning, Sam Ferris and Lucy Watkin are at the mic. 

Today's listen time: 9.40 minutes.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

📺  What we're watching 

🏒 9.00am - NHL Playoffs - Rangers v Penguins - Madison Square Garden, New York City - Foxtel, Kayo

🏀 11.30am - NBA Playoffs - Grizzlies v Warriors - FedExForum, Memphis - Foxtel, Kayo

🏏 12.00am (Fri) - IPL - Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians - Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai - Foxtel, Kayo

All times are in AEST

🏀 All hail basketball's new kings 

Sorry, Freddie Mercury and co. Queen needs a name change, at least for today. The Sydney Kings are the champions after they kept on fighting ‘til the end. 

The score: Sydney Kings 97 defeated Tasmania JackJumpers 88.

Golden points: The wait is finally over for Kings fans after their team clinched the NBL title last night.

• It looked like the series would return to Tassie when the JackJumpers held a lead late in the game, but a big 4th quarter by former NBA player Ian Clark won it for Sydney.

• The 3-0 result means the Kings have won the title for the first time in 17 years. And a lot of people got to see it. 16,149, in fact, which is the biggest crowd at an NBL Grand Final. 

• Hats off to the Jackies. No team had ever come back from 2-0 down to win, so history was against them. But the history books will show they’re the first expansion team to get this far in their first season.

They said it: “I want to thank my dogs, man.” - Kings star Xavier Cooks won the Larry Sengstock Medal as Grand Final MVP. 

Watch it: Here are the highlights from last night. Soak ‘em up, Sydney fans.

🥊 Father Time extends undefeated streak 

Paul Gallen found out last night that there’s a reason why no one has ever defeated Father Time. 

Golden points: The former NRL star may have fought his last boxing fight after he lost by unanimous decision to Kris Terzievksi in Newcastle. 

• Gallen was looking to win the Australian and Australasian heavyweight titles, but all 3 judges scored it 97-92 to Terziewski. 

• The 40yo was the fresher of the 2 in the final rounds but just couldn’t land the knockout blow. He says he won’t make a decision on his future just yet.

• Nikita Tszyu looks really promising. He won his fight in the opening round, while Olympian Harry Garside also won.

They said it: “Toughest bloke I’ve ever hit in my life. Literally, probably the toughest man in Australia.” - Those are some nice words from Terziewski.

Watch it: This could be the last time we see Gal in the ring.

🏉 The buck doesn't stop here 

The stoush between former Collingwood player Héritier Lumumba and the club isn’t going away.

Golden points: Lumumba and former Magpies coach Nathan Buckley have shared their differences of opinion on social media when it comes to allegations of racism.

• The main focus this week has been on comments made by former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, who likened Adam Goodes to King Kong.

• Lumumba spoke out against McGuire at the time, and this week he shared an audio recording of Buckley saying that he’d thrown McGuire under the bus.

• It’s been a pretty messy few weeks. Back in April, Lumumba and a couple of other players cut all ties with the club for failing to act on the Do Better report that looked into systemic racism at the Magpies. 

Key click: Here’s the Twitter exchange between Lumumba and Buckley. Lumumba says he has hours of secret recordings but he hasn’t published them all due to legal reasons.

Watch it: Here’s Lumumba’s interview on the ABC, as well as Buckley’s response on radio.

🏉 It's that time of the week!

Don't Forget Your Tips! is a weekly podcast for footy fans who are keen to get an edge in their footy tipping comp. DFYT! will give you some facts, figures and maybe even a few omens that'll help you out with your AFL and NRL footy tips every week of the footy seasons. Episodes are around 12-minutes long and drop 6am every Thursday. Listen on Apple, Spotify and your favourite podcast app. Enjoy!

⚽️ Great Scot! Aussie Ange guides Celtic to glory

There are gonna be some wild scenes in Glasgow after Celtic wrapped up the Scottish Premiership this morning. 

Golden points: In his first year as manager, Australian Ange Postecoglou has guided Celtic back to the top of the Scottish Premiership. 

• Celtic overcame a rough start to the season to dominate the league and hold a healthy lead with only a few rounds remaining.

• All they needed was a draw this morning against Dundee to win the title and that's what they got with a 1-1 result.

• Cue the celebrations. This is Celtic's 52nd Premiership and first in 2 years after they lost the title to arch-rivals Rangers last year. This one is gonna taste sweet.

They said it: "The players trust the manager so much, you can see the supporters love him as well. He has come in with real authority and a real identity for this club." - Celtic captain Callum McGregor is a big fan of Ange. 

⛳ Golf draws a line in the sand against rebel tour 

The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) has rattled the Great White Shark’s cage, and now Greg Norman is ready to bite back.

Golden points: Things are getting messy in golf. The Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series starts next month, but the PGA won’t be releasing its players for the first event.

• That could be problematic. While nothing is official, top players like Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia are reportedly keen to join the rebel tour. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman says 19 of the top 100 golfers will be there.

• Who can blame them? The winner in London gets $5.75 million. That’s the biggest prize in golf history. 

• But the PGA isn’t playing ball. They say they won’t be releasing players because the event clashes with the Canadian Open.

They said it: “No matter what obstacles the PGA Tour puts in our way, we will not be stopped.”  Norman says the decision is “anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive.” This story is just getting started. 

What’s next: The London event starts on 9 June. It won't be long until we see who is on the official playing list.

👀 Quick singles

🏏 Master blaster Chris Lynn has parted ways with BBL club Brisbane Heat. The Heat are going in another direction and we might not see Lynn in the BBL again. 

🏏 Bring on the Ashes because it looks like former NZ cricketer Brendon McCullum will be England’s next men’s Test coach. A call is expected to be made this week, and his first match could be against NZ in a few weeks.

🥊 Mike Tyson doesn’t have to worry about any punishment for punching someone on a flight last month. All charges were dropped after a video showed the former boxing champion smashing someone who had decided to annoy him on a plane. 

⚽ Liverpool has moved level with Manchester City again after they beat Aston Villa 2-1 yesterday. The result means the teams are on 86 points, but City has a game in hand. 

🎮 If you’ve ever owned a game console then you’ve definitely played FIFA. But get ready for a name change because EA Sports has ended the partnership, and that means the game will now be called EA Sports FC. 

🥊 UFC star Tai Tuivasa wants to fight fellow heavyweight Ciryl Gane in Paris later this year. If he wins that then he should get a title fight against current champ Francis Ngannou.  

🏸 If you live in Sydney then the 333 bus to Bondi is your best friend. But Japanese world #1 Akane Yamaguchi isn’t a fan of the number after she lost to a teenager ranked #333 in the world at badminton’s Uber Cup. 

🎁 Feedback is gift

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🙃 Left of field...

A Brazilian footballer in France thought that farting in the locker room would be funny. It turns out his flatulence fell flat.

Golden points: Marcelo used to be in Lyon’s leadership group, but he’s no longer at the club. It probably has to do with a gassy gag gone wrong.

• The 34yo was already on the nose because he laughed during his captain’s speech after a loss.

• It only got worse. Apparently, he’s a serial farter and he finds it very funny. And he didn’t try to hide it. He did it in front of his teammates and management.

• Lyon’s bosses didn’t like it and they ended his contract. There will be no grudge match next season because his new club Bordeaux will probably be relegated. 

📽 The highlight reel

Batters always get the love in baseball. But today it's time to show the pitchers some love. Rookie Reid Detmers is just 22 and he's now the youngest pitcher since 2006 to throw a no-hitter. That means he didn't allow a single hit in 9 innings. Bad luck, batters. 

📸 Photo finish

Neale Daniher was at the MCG yesterday to launch this year's Big Freeze fundraising event. It's one of the biggest days on the calendar that raises awareness and funds for the fight against MND. 

🏃‍♀️ The finish line

🏆 Today's trivia answer

They fell just short of double digits. The streak was snapped at 9.