NEW YORK — The New York and New Jersey World Cup host committee has canceled its fan festival that had been planned to be held at Liberty State Park in Jersey City.
The committee scrapped plans for the weekslong festival that would have been held about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, where the final will be played on July 19.
The FanFest was announced in February 2025 by Tammy Murphy, wife of then-New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and chair of the New York/New Jersey host committee’s directors, who said it would be open for all 104 matches of the tournament, which starts June 11.
The committee said in a statement Friday an “expanded network of fan zones and community celebrations across 21 counties in New Jersey will serve as a cornerstone of the region’s official fan engagement program.”
Mikie Sherrill, Murphy’s successor as governor, announced a $5 million initiative Thursday to fund community World Cup initiatives.
Tickets for the FanFest had been put on sale in December.
Plans for a FanFest in New York City’s Corona Park in Queens did not move forward. One is now planed for the U.S. Tennis Association’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens from June 17-28 and a fan village is scheduled for Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center from July 4-19.
Fan fests with large video screens have been a part of each World Cup’s organization since 2006.
FIFA is running the World Cup itself unlike in the past, when a local organizing committee was in charge of logistics. The host committees are limited to sponsorship agreements in categories not reserved by FIFA.
MILAN — Zach Werenski and his U.S. teammates tried not to look ahead to a potential gold-medal game against Canada at the Olympics. After each went unbeaten in group play, there was no way the North American rivals could meet before the final, but there was work left to do.
After routing Slovakia 6-2 in the semifinals on Friday night, the much-anticipated but never guaranteed U.S.-Canada showdown for gold is on.
“It’s the matchup everyone wanted,” Werenski said after his three-assist performance against Slovakia. “Now that it’s finally here, we can kind of shift our focus to Canada.”
The two top seeds in the tournament, who went in as the favorites, will meet Sunday. It comes a year after the U.S. and Canada played two memorable games against each other at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“It’s the final that we wanted and the team that we wanted to play,” winger Matt Boldy said. “It’s exciting for the fans and for hockey and everything like that.’’
That NHL-run event ended a drought of nearly a decade without an international tournament featuring the best hockey players in the world. Three fights in the first 9 seconds of the first meeting put the 4 Nations in the spotlight, and the epic final won by Canada in overtime only built the anticipation for the Olympics.
“Now that it’s all set in stone, everything happens for a reason,” said Brady Tkachuk, who along with brother Matthew and J.T. Miller, was involved in the 4 Nations fisticuffs. “We’ll be looking forward to this one. You guys have been talking about it for a while. Now you get to enjoy it.”
After Canada did its part by rallying to beat Finland earlier in the day, the U.S. had no trouble against the Slovaks, who made an improbable run and were simply overmatched. They’ll face the Finns for bronze on Saturday night, looking for just the second hockey medal in the country’s history after getting the first with a third-place finish in Beijing in 2022.
The U.S. is playing for gold after the semifinals were a much easier go than the quarterfinals against Sweden, when overtime was needed to survive a scare. Dylan Larkin, Tage Thompson, Jack Hughes, and Jack Eichel scored the four goals on 23 shots that chased Samuel Hlavaj out of Slovakia’s net past the midway point of the second period.
Thompson, one of just a handful of newcomers who did not play at the 4 Nations, exited later in the second after blocking a shot and did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan said Thompson “was held out for precautionary reasons more than anything.”
“We’ll see how he recovers, but I anticipate him being ready for game time,” Sullivan said.
Hughes got his second goal of the game just after a power play expired, and Brady Tkachuk scored on a breakaway with just over nine minutes left to provide some more breathing room.
The U.S. cruised in the semifinals with a 6-2 win over Slovakia. They’ll face Canada on Sunday for gold.
“That was definitely one of our strongest games, for sure,” said Quinn Hughes, who, along with brother Jack, has been among the best U.S. players in Milan. “For the most part, we played really well. A little bit looser there in the third, but it’s a 5-0 game and you want to get out safe and feel good for the next game.”
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck did his job as his teammates outshot Slovakia by a substantial margin. Everything he has done at the Olympics has validated Sullivan’s decision to go with Hellebuyck as the U.S. starter over Jake Oettinger and Jeremy Swayman.
The U.S. last reached the final in 2010, when it lost to Canada in overtime on Sidney Crosby’s famous golden goal. Crosby’s status is uncertain this time after getting injured in the quarterfinals Wednesday and not playing Friday against Finland.
The last U.S. men’s hockey gold came in 1980 with the “Miracle on Ice” in Lake Placid.
“It definitely motivates us,” Werenski said. “We’ve talked about. We’re well aware of it. I don’t think it’s pressure. It’s fun. It’s exciting.”
Under the boardwalk, down by the sea. That’s where Bryce Harper wants to be, apparently.
Harper’s newest cleats — the Under Armour Harper 10 “Mad House” — pay homage to the Jersey Shore, and unlike his previous colorful, locally-inspired cleats, these are not player exclusives (PE), meaning anyone can buy the $130 cleats.
With a hyper violet base and slime-green studs that resemble a boardwalk funhouse, the cleats are “inspired by Bryce’s love for spending time at the Jersey Shore during the offseason early on in his career,” Under Armour said.
On Thursday, Harper posted a short promotional video for the new kicks. Inside the funhouse’s skull entrance, the Harper 10s are displayed in the middle of a spiraling, mirror maze — akin to one that can be found on the Wildwood boardwalk.
The latest edition of Bryce Harper 10s, “Mad House,” are a nod to boardwalk funhouses.
Harper has not gone on the record to claim one shore town in particular. In July 2022, while rehabbing his broken thumb, he spent time in Stone Harbor, taking photos with fans in a Wawa. That same month, he posed with restaurant workers at Uncle Bill’s Pancake House in Ocean City.
The release of the “Mad House” cleats comes after Harper and Under Armour reached a contract extension on Jan. 13. Under Armour initially signed Harper in 2011. In 2016, they awarded him with what was then the largest endorsement deal in MLB history.
Previously, Harper has made his love for the Phanatic known through apparel. Last year, Harper and Under Armour released a pair of green, fuzzy Harper 3s inspired by the Phillies mascot, equipped with insoles displaying caricatures of Harper and the Phanatic. But that was hardly the first time Harper’s cleats have paid tribute to the Phanatic — he also wore custom Phanatic cleats during his first game as a Phillie in 2019, and again during the team’s home opener in 2020, this time featuring Swarovski crystals.
Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper’s Wawa themed spikes against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, June 21, 2024 in Philadelphia.
No one in the NBA has played more minutes than Tyrese Maxey this season.
Without Joel Embiid in the lineup, even more of the Sixers’ offensive load lies on Maxey’s shoulders, and it’s leading to inefficiency in his shot-making.
To play better with — and without — Embiid, coach Nick Nurse said he needs Maxey and the Sixers to play faster. Earlier this season, the Sixers played with “tremendous speed.” But as the season has progressed, they’ve moved away from that play style.
“I just talked to [Embiid] for a long time, and he said the same thing,” Nurse said. “[Embiid said], ‘They need to play faster, even when I’m out there. They wait for me too much. They need to blast ahead and take opportunities that are there, and if they’re not, I’ll get down there eventually to get into some of the halfcourt offensive stuff.’”
On Thursday, Cameron Payne, playing in his first game back with the Sixers after starting the year with Serbian team KK Partizan, got the first minutes in relief of Maxey in the second quarter and again in the fourth. The Sixers lost Payne’s fourth-quarter minutes, 11-7, and Payne missed all three of his three-point attempts in his return to the NBA. But he dished out four quick assists in the second quarter and has familiarity with much of the roster.
Payne played 31 games under Nurse after the Sixers acquired him at the trade deadline in 2024. While some things are similar to his last stint, Payne says there still are several new plays to learn, and he needed to get back into NBA shape after the time away from the league.
“They play a lot faster,” Payne said. “I feel like we played fast when I was here, but they play a lot faster now.”
Nurse hopes they’ll get even quicker. But to maintain that, Maxey and VJ Edgecombe especially need to have fresher legs. Edgecombe already has played more games this season than he did all of 2024-25 at Baylor.
Nurse said that Maxey and Edgecombe’s speed and athleticism are among their biggest strengths, and the Sixers need to leverage it even more to find success down the stretch. But if players like Payne are able to come in and become playmakers on offense, that can help buoy the team in tough minutes and give Maxey more rest opportunities.
“I thought early in the year, our guards were creating offense for each other a lot more,” Nurse said. “Remember all the VJ to Tyrese, all the stuff with [Quentin Grimes], and that has gotten a little less.
“But I think that’s what [Payne] did last night. He came in and just hit through, ran the screen roll, got in the paint, boom, it’s out. Or even just simple throw-aheads, catch-and-shoots. … That’s what we need, is more creation for others, more hitting the paint and not trying to play through the gauntlet and then hitting the paint and getting it out a little.”
CLEARWATER, Fla. — After Cristopher Sánchez finished his bullpen session on Friday, Phillies manager Rob Thomson walked off from where he’d been observing behind the mound.
As he passed by Mark Kolozsvary, the catcher who had been behind the plate, Thomson leaned over.
“He any good?” he joked. “Make the team?”
Sánchez, who looked very sharp in his session, is preparing to represent the Dominican Republic at the World Baseball Classic next month. He will make at least one start in a Grapefruit League game before he joins his federation for pool play in Miami.
“I just want to box him up and send him up north,” Thomson said. “He’s been great.”
Thomson said the Phillies expect Sánchez to pitch in the Dominican Republic’s first game of the tournament, which is against Nicaragua on March 6, but they don’t know the plan after that.
He was one of several pitchers who impressed Thomson on Friday, the final workout day before the Phillies’ Grapefruit League slate opens on Saturday with a game against the Blue Jays. Also turning some heads was prospect Alex McFarlane, a 24-year-old right-hander who was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster in December ahead of the Rule 5 deadline.
Phillies pitcher José Alvarado throws in the bullpen during a workout on Friday in Clearwater, Fla.
McFarlane had been somewhat “erratic” in a previous live batting practice session on Tuesday, but showed better command Friday.
“Fastball, heavy sink, 97 [mph] or whatever it was,” Thomson said. “Slider for strikes. That’s what you’re going to see. I think a lot of times, first time out you see hitters, [pitchers] can be a little bit erratic, but he was more in the zone today. He was really good. … Very mature kid, too.”
Another standout was José Alvarado, who struck out Adolis García and Bryce Harper in his live batting practice session. Thomson said Alvarado looked like he did last year around this time. The lefty had a strong 2025 spring, hitting 100 mph on the radar gun with his sinker multiple times and not allowing a run in nine Grapefruit League appearances.
That hot start cooled off quickly, though, when Alvarado was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
“He’s in a good spot, and I think we’re behind all that stuff,” Thomson said.
Justin Crawford will start in center field in the Phillies’ spring opener on Saturday against the Blue Jays.
‘Satan’s corner’
Justin Crawford is scheduled to play center field in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener against Toronto. He will be sharing the outfield with García in right and Otto Kemp, who will play left.
It will be a tough first test for Kemp, who has been getting more outfield work this spring as the Phillies believe he could be a platoon for Brandon Marsh. Rob Thomson has nicknamed the left field in TD Ballpark, the Blue Jays’ spring training home in Dunedin, ‘Satan’s Corner,’ because it is a particularly difficult place to play.
“The wind swirls down there. The sun, it seems like every time we go over there, there’s not a cloud in the sky,” Thomson said. “I’ve seen a lot of mistakes out there.”
The biggest thing Thomson is looking for from Crawford this spring is to take the lead in the outfield as the center fielder.
“Reads and routes, and taking charge,” Thomson said. “Florida for an outfielder, it’s brutal in spring training. High sky, wind, sun. I’ve seen gold glovers make a lot of mistakes out there. But that’s really what I’m looking for is just proper reads and routes and taking charge.”
Extra bases
Harper homered off Tanner Banks in a live batting practice session Friday. … Bryse Wilson is scheduled to start for the Phillies on Saturday against the Blue Jays (1:07 p.m., NBC Sports Philadelphia and 94.1 WIP).
Ever since Jason Kelce belted out “No one likes us, we don’t care” at the Eagles’ 2018 Super Bowl parade, the chant, with its origins in soccer, has become a staple of Philadelphia sports fandom. Whether they are liked or not, there appears to be a respect for Eagles fans, and recently, opposing players like Maxx Crosby and George Kittle have come out and praised them. The latest? NFC East rival Jayden Daniels.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this month, Daniels, the Washington Commanders quarterback, compared games at Lincoln Financial Field to a college football-like atmosphere.
“I love Eagles fans,” Daniels, an LSU alumnus, told SI. “I mean, they just embody what Philly brings, and to be able to go out there and play against them, it’s kind of just that their environment is the closest thing you can get to a college environment.”
Daniels has played two seasons in the NFL, and has faced the Eagles twice at the Linc. His first was a 36-33 victory in December 2024, but just over a month later, Daniels and the Commanders were routed by the Eagles, 55-23, in the NFC championship game. He missed this past season’s game at the Linc due to injury, but his backup, Josh Johnson, was also excited to play in front of Eagles fans — even if he suffered some past trauma in South Philly.
“It’s awesome,” Johnson, who was knocked out of the 2023 NFC championship game against the Eagles with a serious concussion that forced a hospital stay, told reporters before this year’s regular-season finale. “We get to go into the lion’s den. I love it. I wouldn’t change it.”
Jayden Daniels was sacked three times in the Eagles’ NFC championship win over the Commanders.
Some players don’t just like the environment, they use it for extra motivation. Daniels is one of them.
“Yeah, for sure,” Daniels said when asked if Eagles fans bring him extra motivation. “If you can go out there and beat Philly in Philly — that is a different type — but their fans bring it, man, especially as we’re rivals with them in the NFC, in the East, so I love playing against them.”
‘Exactly what you dream of’
As trade rumors swirl around Crosby, the Raiders star edge rusher’s past comments about the Eagles and their fans have resurfaced.
On a December episode of his podcast, “The Rush With Maxx Crosby,” the 28-year-old defensive end spoke about the fan base following the Raiders game against the Eagles, his first at the Linc.
“Cities that really have substance to them and true fan bases, and love for their city and the game — and going to Philly, you can feel that energy when you go there,” Crosby said on his podcast. “There were people everywhere downtown. We stayed right downtown in the thick of it. You know how Philly is. They’re rowdy, they are crazy, they’re flipping off the [team] buses. They didn’t give a damn about anything.”
Maxx Crosby said he remembers the snow-covered trees outside the Linc as fans prepped for the Eagles-Raiders game in December.
Crosby also got a taste of what the fan base brings not just on game day, but every day.
“I low-key never do this, but I was driving into Philly, and this is the first time I’ve ever played in Philly, so that’s why I took some pictures,” Crosby said. “[I] was driving in there, trees just all white (snow) and fans everywhere in the tailgate. You can see the stadium behind it. I took a couple dope-ass pictures because this is my first time ever playing there.
“If you love football, that’s what you dream of as a kid, playing in Philadelphia in December in a grimy-ass environment. That is exactly what you dream of, so I loved it.”
If Crosby indeed hits the Raiders trading block, could Philly be a potential destination for the five-time Pro Bowler?
‘They hate all of us equally’
Kittle has also embraced the city’s fans after several battles with the Eagles. Ahead of San Francisco’s wild-card playoff game at the Linc, his fifth appearance in Philly, Kittle told reporters about the respect he has for the fan base.
“The one thing that’s really unique about Philly is that they don’t really — I mean, maybe like a division rival is different, but any other road team that comes in there, they hate all of us equally, and I just appreciate that,” Kittle said. “It’s incredibly loud, they flip you off, they moon you on your bus ride in.
“But, they do that to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re the 49ers, if you’re the Jacksonville Jaguars. It doesn’t matter. They just give you that no matter what, and I appreciate that because you can tell how much they love their team.”
Eagles fans didn’t get the ending they hoped for last season, with the Birds falling to the Niners in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Kittle and Crosby aren’t the only ones to see the positive in Eagles’ fans antics, which can sometimes cross the line, like when fans egged then-offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo’s house after the team’s Black Friday loss to the Chicago Bears.
Before his team’s game in Philly this season, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell said the city was “probably the most hostile place to play” and recalled a time when he was playing for the Giants and a fan at Veterans Stadium dumped a cup of tobacco spit on Michael Strahan. Despite that, Campbell still loves the Philly faithful.
“You go on the road and it’s you against everybody else,” Campbell said. “And it’s very clear that it’s you against everybody else there. You go some places and they wave at you like, ‘Man, we’re so happy you’re here to play against us.’ This is not one of those places. It’s as far from that as you can possibly get. I love playing in atmospheres like that.”
Even players who have had serious beef with Eagles fans have changed their tune.
“I hate Eagles fans,” Los Angeles Rams edge rusher Jared Verse repeatedly told the L.A. Times before the teams’ divisional round matchup in 2025. “They’re so annoying.”
The Eagles went on to win that game in the snow, and fans pelted Verse with snowballs on his way out after his quote was displayed on the video board for the crowd to see. But after the game, Verse said he has grown to respect Philly fans.
“I like that they stand on it,” Verse said. “They don’t shy away from it.”
On media day at the start of the season, Nick Nurse said the Sixers were building their game plan around not having Joel Embiid in the lineup. If they had him, great. If not, no big deal.
That plan worked in early stretches. The Sixers opened the season a perfectly respectable 10-7 in their first 17 games without Embiid on the floor, while going 7-7 in their first 14 games with the former MVP.
When the calendar turned to 2026, Embiid suddenly was available more than he had been in a long time, missing just three games in January. Embiid played at an All-Star level, and the Sixers went 10-7 for the month. But they dropped all three games Embiid missed.
Now, with Embiid sidelined with right shin soreness, the Sixers have lost three straight, the latest being a home loss Thursday to Atlanta.
“I don’t anticipate it being a long time,” Nurse said of how long before Embiid returns. “I’m pretty optimistic about it.”
The Sixers are 1-7 in their last eight games without Embiid.
“He’s a walking 30 points,” VJ Edgecombe said. “We miss Joel; he’s a big presence. He requires so much gravity, so now all the attention is on Tyrese [Maxey], and we’ve got to make his job easier.”
With Embiid out of the lineup, defenses hyperfocus on Maxey, who regularly faces double teams and traps. Theoretically, that should open up space for other players, like Edgecombe, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Quentin Grimes.
Without Embiid, Edgecombe said, the burden is on the rest of the players to create more of their own offense, instead of relying on the pick-and-roll game with Embiid or on just finding Embiid in the paint.
“It’s easy, man,” Edgecombe said. “You can just hit Joel, and he’s going to score. No one can guard him.”
Those stylistic differences from game to game even are challenging for more experienced players like Maxey. Dealing with defensive coverages in games without Embiid has led to a decrease in Maxey’s overall efficiency.
Since Jan. 1, Maxey is shooting 46.8% from the field. In the games without Embiid, he has shot 38.4%. Maxey’s total points scored don’t take too much of a hit — he’s averaged 26.5 points in 2026, and that number only drops to 24 in games without Embiid — but it takes a lot more effort to get him there.
“We’re playing multiple styles of basketball,” Tyrese Maxey said. “That’s why I said for myself a couple games ago, it’s weird. I’ve had a successful year, but I’ve played three different roles.”
Tyrese Maxey’s shooting has been off lately when Joel Embiid isn’t in the Sixers’ lineup.
A big part of that inefficiency, Nurse said, is that Maxey’s shots inside the three-point line are virtually always contested. Without Embiid, Maxey is the Sixers’ primary offensive engine, and he draws a huge amount of respect from opposing defenses.
The extensive time with Embiid back in January “probably” is forcing the team back into a learning curve as they adjust back to playing without him, Grimes said.
But the biggest point of emphasis has been for Embiid’s teammates to just keep taking their own shots.
“Guys got to make plays,” Maxey said. “Just got to go out there and be aggressive. Don’t be nervous or scared to make a play and make a mistake. Be aggressive, man, go out there, and just play.”
Charles Barkley is about to get his wish to work more this season.
The former Sixers star and his longtime Inside the NBA colleagues Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson return to ESPN Friday night to cover a doubleheader beginning at 7:30 p.m. Philly time.
Since making the jump to ESPN this season, Inside the NBA’s schedule hasn’t been as orderly as it was on TNT, where it aired every Thursday night as part of an NBA doubleheader (outside of the first few months of the year, where it avoided going head-to-head with Amazon’s Thursday Night Football).
Or as frequent. Entering Friday night, Inside the NBA has only aired on ESPN or ABC nine times this season, something Barkley has complained about on various platforms.
“I wish we’d have been on more during the first half of the season,” Barkley said on The Dan LeBatard Show last month. “We only worked one day in December.”
But as ESPN always planned, Inside the NBA’s schedule will ramp up in the final third of the season leading into the playoffs. This week alone the show is scheduled to air three straight nights and six times over the next 10 days. It will also air during ESPN’s coverage of the Eastern Conference finals and the NBA Finals.
The back-loaded schedule was actually requested by TNT Sports, according to ESPN president of content Burke Magnus, who said their deal included a provision that called for the majority of Inside the NBA episodes to air after Jan. 1.
“I’m not entirely sure what was behind that,” Magnus said on the SI Media with Jimmy Traina podcast in November, adding he’s “confident” they can figure out a way to make the schedule more consistent throughout the entire season.
Fans are certainly tuning in. Inside the NBA is averaging 1.34 million viewers per show across ABC and ESPN, according to Nielsen numbers. Their TNT numbers weren’t immediately available, but NBA games themselves on TNT averaged 1.25 million viewers last season.
Here’s the full Inside the NBA schedule on ESPN and ABC for the rest of the season:
Friday: ESPN
Saturday: ABC
Sunday: ABC
Fri, Feb. 27: ESPN
Sat., Feb. 28: ABC
Sun, Mar. 1: ABC
Fri, Mar. 6: ESPN
Sat., Mar. 7: ABC
Sun, Mar. 8: ABC
Sat., Mar. 14: ABC
Sun, Apr. 12: ESPN
As ESPN takes over NFL Network, Ian Rapoport’s future uncertain
NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport during Super Bowl week in San Francisco.
Ian Rapoport is used to breaking news, but the longtime insider at the NFL Network hasn’t yet gotten the scoop on his own future.
Last month, regulators approved ESPN’s deal to take over control of the NFL Network as part of its billion-dollar acquisition of NFL Media, with the NFL receiving a 10% ownership stake in the Disney-owned sports network. ESPN is expected to take full control of the network in April, and Rapoport’s contract expires in May.
In case you’d forgotten, ESPN already has its own NFL news breaker: Adam Schefter. But the network also has a history of employing multiple NFL insiders, pairing Chris Mortensen and Schefter for years. Prior to that, Mortensen worked breaking NFL news alongside John Clayton
Rapoport isn’t the only NFL insider at the NFL Network. Philly native Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero also cover the league’s moves, and the three cohost a show on the NFL Network appropriately called The Insiders.
ESPN has been quiet about its plans for the NFL Network. Rapoport said, from his understanding, “it’s going to be more football, more coverage, investing in NFL Network, and making it as best as it can possibly be.”
Quick hits
Jim Salisbury, seen here in 2018 alongside former Comcast SportsNet anchor and reporter Leslie Gudel.
Jim Salisbury is returning to NBC Sports Philadelphia to cover the Phillies’ spring training. The former Inquirer reporter previously covered the team for the network from 2009 through the 2022 season, going back to the Comcast SportsNet days. Salisbury also cohosts The Phillies Show podcast with Rubén Amaro Jr. and MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.
One of Salisbury’s former colleagues also has a new gig covering the Phillies. Corey Seidman, who left NBC Sports Philadelphia last year, is joining digital start-up PHLY, where he’ll cohost the site’s daily Phillies video podcast alongside Jamie Lynch. PHLY launched in 2023, and while parent company ALLCITY has raised at least $25 million since 2022, they’ve hit some bumps in the road. Earlier this month the company shifted away from newsletters, costing PHLY’s Rich Hofmann and Tyler Zulli their jobs.
Versatile CBS host and former NFLer Nate Burleson will host coverage during the first two weeks of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Ernie Johnson, who has previously announced he’d be taking a step back this year, will return for the Final Four and NCAA men’s tournament final.
NBC is taking over Sunday Night Baseball this season from ESPN. In its place this summer, ESPN plans to air top-tier WNBA and NWSL games in what its calling “Women’s Sports Sundays.” But plans to highlight Caitlin Clark and other stars will depend how the WNBA’s labor issues shake out — right now a fight between the league and players union over a new collective bargaining agreement threatens to delay the start of the 2026 season, scheduled to begin April 25.
The Imhotep Charter boys’ basketball team was in Boston a few years ago for a tournament when Andre Noble told his players that they were in his hometown.
“I said, ‘Wait. What?’” said Ebony Twiggs, whose son, Justin Edwards, was one of Imhotep’s stars. “I just thought he always lived here. I didn’t know he wasn’t from Philly.”
Noble reminded Twiggs of the people she knew from West Oak Lane. He had been at Imhotep for more than 20 years. And he was one of the city’s premier high school basketball coaches. He fit in. Of course he was from Philadelphia.
Noble, who can win a sixth straight Public League title and 13th overall on Sunday when Imhotep plays West Philly High, is one of Philly’s all-time coaches.
Unlike the rest, Noble didn’t spend his teenage summers playing at places like Chew, Tustin, and Myers. He didn’t win CYO titles, ride the trolley to watch doubleheaders at the Palestra, or find himself within six degrees of separation from someone who played on the 1954 La Salle basketball team.
Philadelphia has produced great players, coaches, and even referees. And the high school coaches, especially the ones who have won at the rate Noble has, often grew up here. They played for the city high schools, perhaps even stayed for college, and remained a tight-knit crew who stayed home to teach the game.
Speedy Morris still lives in Roxborough, Dan Dougherty was from Olney, Bill Ellerbee grew up on Uber Street, and Carl Arrigale is as South Philly as slowly driving past a stop sign. The guys on the Mt. Rushmore of Philadelphia high school coaches are from the neighborhood who coached kids like them.
Andre Noble has been at Imhotep for 20 years, but his hometown is Boston.
But Noble grew up in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood and didn’t even play high school ball. He came to Philadelphia in 2000 after graduating from Lincoln University and taught math at Imhotep, which did not yet have an athletic program.
Noble planned to stay in Philly for a year before moving on. His plans changed, he stayed, and Imhotep became a basketball powerhouse.
The guy from Boston did what seemingly has never been done: become a great Philly high school coach as an outsider.
“I think by the time everyone figured out I wasn’t from Philly, it was too late,” Noble said. “The ball was already rolling down the hill. But I’m definitely a Philly basketball guy. It’s important to me.”
A special guy
Imhotep didn’t have a basketball team when Noble arrived. The school didn’t even have a building.
“We called them modulars, but everyone else said, ‘Yo, that’s the trailer school,’” said Noble, who is now the school’s CEO.
Two students in his algebra class — Briscoe Chew and Marlon Mills — told Noble at the end of the school year that they were transferring. Noble was stunned. Why? Imhotep doesn’t have sports, they told him. So Noble launched a basketball team and kick-started a league with the city’s other charter schools.
Noble didn’t have a playing background to lean on, so he picked the brains of coaches in the area. Rap Curry, Greg Dennis, and Clyde Jones became his mentors. He was on his way. His plan to leave Philly after a year was spoiled, so he began to scour the city for players. He watched games at youth programs in North Philadelphia and hung at playgrounds, hoping he could fill a roster at Imhotep.
“I knew he was from Boston, but then I started seeing him at 25th and Diamond or 33rd and Diamond,” said Kamal Yard, who runs Philly Pride, one of the city’s premier AAU programs. “I’m like, ‘Bro, what are you doing down here? Do you know where you’re at?’ But he was in the mix. He was in the hood. He was in the projects. Nobody goes to the back of the projects at 25th and Diamond, but he did it. He was meeting the kids. That was his intro to Philly, and he was onto something. He got immersed into it.”
Yard met Noble years earlier when they were both students at Lincoln. Yard played ball and Noble watched from the stands. The future coach was studying, Yard said. When students complained about the food in the cafeteria, Noble led the charge as a member of the student government. He led a boycott, filed a petition, called the state, and ordered a review.
Imhotep players soak head coach Andre Noble after winning PIAA Class 5A boys basketball championship in 2024.
“You blinked and, man, we had a whole new menu,” Yard said. “But the whole point was that he was always about other people. So watching this transition, it’s no surprise. He’s a giver of people. He doesn’t look like a tough guy because he’s mild-mannered, but there’s a lot of toughness and resiliency in that frame. He’s as tough as they come.
“Brother Andre will go into the lion den with a tiki torch and a sword to go help a kid. He might come out scratched up, but he helped his kid. That’s Brother Andre.”
The Panthers, waiting for their gym to be built, practiced at a nearby recreation center and a middle school. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked. Imhotep won the Charter School league before moving in 2004 to the Public League. Five years later, Noble’s team won it all.
The Boston guy had built one of Philly’s finest teams.
“He’s a special guy,” said Fran Dunphy, the quintessential Philly coach. “The biggest asset he brings is just his genuine goodness. He treats the kids well, but there’s no question that he has an accountability for them and needs them to pay attention. They all seem to buy in. He’s remarkable for me.”
A teacher
Noble was a junior in college when he thought about how he was the only kid he grew up with preparing to get a degree. He wondered, how did that happen? And then he thought about his mom, a single parent who worked as an office manager and raised her sons — “Two knuckleheads,” Noble said — in a tough neighborhood.
“I called her and thanked her,” Noble said. “I knew it was that little lady who I thought was crazy but provided the foundation. She was a stickler, a disciplinarian. It was her way or the highway, ‘Hey, this is what you’re doing.’”
It was a big deal when Noble secured admission to the Boston Latin School, a prestigious school near Fenway Park. But his mother asked him to think about it before she sent in his paperwork. She asked her son, would he take his studies seriously? Would he be ready to work hard? Can he commit himself? Noble said he would.
Years later, he found out that his mom already had sent in the paperwork. But Della Noble wanted her son to feel a sense of ownership in his decision. She believed her son could do it. And now Noble empowers and supports the kids at Imhotep the same way his mom did. If a kid on his team wants to visit a college, Noble often is driving the car. If a kid has a problem in school, Noble’s door is open.
Imhotep’s Andre Noble (left) shown with Justin Edwards during the 2023 Public League championship game against West Philly. Edwards now plays for the Sixers.
“You realize that there’s way more important things in life,” Noble said. “If we can get them to be the best young men we can be, then the rest of their lives will be meaningful. There’s so many things you can teach through basketball.”
Becoming one of Philly’s all-time coaches is about more than just breaking a press or drawing up an inbounds play with seconds left. Noble proved that an outsider can do it, too.
“There’s a trust that he has with his players that we all try to search for in relationships with the kids,” Dunphy said. “I think he’s found that secret. To be honest with you, I don’t know if I ever sat down with him and said, ‘Yo, what is your secret?’ I think he would be so humble, and he’d say, ‘I don’t know. I’m just being myself.’ It’s what makes mentorship so important to all of us. You have to be there for the young people.”
Noble has surrounded himself with a crew of assistant coaches who grew up in Philly. He has embraced the city’s basketball history and has now spent more time here than he did in Boston. He’s an adopted Philly guy.
Charles “Shoob” Monroe, who organizes an annual showcase game for the city’s top high schoolers, said Noble knows more about old-school Philly basketball than people who actually lived here. No, he’s not from Philly. But Noble became a part of it.
“Someone always knows someone or knows someone who knows someone,” said Arrigale, who could win his 13th Catholic League title on Sunday when his Neumann Goretti squad plays Father Judge. “He didn’t really have that experience because no one played against him and things like that. But he’s been around long enough that he knows everyone now. He’s had a pretty good run over there.”
A father figure
Twiggs’ son now plays for the Sixers but once was a teenager who didn’t clean his room or finish his homework. And when that happened, Twiggs knew to call the guy from Boston.
“Justin would come home and be like, ‘You told on me,’” Twiggs said.
Twiggs, a single mother who worked two jobs to keep her son’s dream alive, said Noble was like “a father figure” to her son. He wasn’t from Philly but that was OK.
“Justin lacked that growing up,” Twiggs said of a male role model. “Having Brother Andre and the whole coaching staff just be so hands on with Justin took a lot of stress off for me.”
Andre Noble has enough accolades to coach in college. He’s instead decided to stay at Imhotep.
Edwards is one of the many players Noble coached who moved onto a Division I program. By now, the coach who didn’t play high school ball has enough accolades to coach in college. He’s instead decided to stay at Imhotep.
A few years ago, Mills’ son, Timmy, graduated from Imhotep. He brought his son to see Noble and tell the story about how two students triggered Noble to start a team. It was true, Noble said. And that helped the guy from Boston find a home in Philly.
“I love what I get to do,” Noble said. “I love the school. I love serving this community. I don’t see myself anywhere else. I don’t rule anything out, but if I have the opportunity to coach and lead at Imhotep until the rest of my career, that would be a blessing. The one-year plan definitely didn’t work out. I failed in that.”
If the Melchionni name was not already decorated enough in Villanova history, now it is getting a second chance.
Villanova junior long-stick midfielder Jake Melchionni was a unanimous selection on this year’s All-Big East preseason lacrosse team. Last season, he was named the Big East’s Co-Specialist of the Year — the first Wildcat to ever earn that honor — and to the All-Big East First Team after collecting a team-high 24 forced turnovers, eight goals, three assists, and 49 ground balls.
Sixty years earlier, Melchionni’s grandfather, Bill Melchionni, was a household name in college basketball. He averaged 27.6 points during his senior season on the Main Line and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1966 National Invitation Tournament (NIT). Villanova retired his No. 25 jersey in 1995.
Melchionni was drafted in the second round of the 1966 NBA draft by the 76ers, with whom he won the 1967 NBA title. He also won two American Basketball Association (ABA) championships with the New York Nets and was a three-time All-Star in the ABA, leading the league in assists three times. With the Nets, he played alongside Rick Barry and Julius Erving.
Jake Melchionni, who also wore No. 25 the past two seasons, has the opportunity to carry on his family’s name at Villanova, but this time on the lacrosse field. He remembers going to Villanova basketball games as a kid with his grandfather, and the school has since held a special place for him.
“Just kind of growing up around the Villanova basketball culture with his friends, Coach [Jay] Wright is obviously a good friend of his, always seeing him,” Melchionni said. “And he’s obviously the biggest Villanova person that I know. So I think when I was getting recruited, it’s just knowing that there are people who really love and care about this place. It’s just such a special thing to me.”
Jake Melchionni pictured with his grandfather, Bill Melchionni, at Finneran Pavilion.
Bill Melchionni is partially to credit for his family’s involvement in lacrosse. When Bill was playing in the American Basketball Association (ABA) for the New York Nets, he and his family lived on Long Island, one of the most popular lacrosse hotbeds in the country.
“When my grandpa was playing for them, it was the New York Nets,” Jake Melchionni said. “They were living in Garden City, N.Y., which is Long Island, which is obviously the lacrosse powerhouse. So my dad played lacrosse [at] not too young an age, but has played pretty much his whole life. I played hockey and soccer and a couple other sports from a young age, but it’s always really been lacrosse at the forefront.”
Melchionni grew up playing lacrosse in Bernardsville, N.J., after picking up the sport from his parents, Christina and Keith Melchionni. His father played Division I lacrosse at Duke, while his mother played at Trinity.
Melchionni’s father was also a long-stick midfielder.
“He was an All-American at Duke,” Melchionni said.” He obviously knows the game better than anyone. So I think obviously some parents like to give advice to kids and sports, and even lacrosse and stuff like that, but just having a dad who played the same position and knows that position really well, he knows the little things that I did wrong, the little things that I did right. It’s just so easy from a young age to lean on him and just always have him in my corner after games and before games.”
The first time Bill Melchionni saw Keith play lacrosse, he was stunned.
“I never saw a lacrosse game until [Jake’s dad played],” Bill Melchionni said. “So his dad didn’t start playing lacrosse until ninth grade. And I had never seen the game. I had no idea about the game, but I remember the first time I went to see him play, I said to him, ‘This is nuts.’ I mean, these guys are out [there] whacking each other over sticks and stuff, and the goalie’s got no protection.”
It was a large contrast from basketball, which Bill Melchionni is all too comfortable with. But it did not stop him from supporting his family in playing lacrosse.
Jake Melchionni is a junior midfielder for Villanova lacrosse.
“My grandpa, he’s a massive supporter of mine,” Jake Melchionni said. “I pretty much talk to him every day and definitely after every game and stuff like that. And it’s just really fun.”
Recently, the two were seen in the crowd for Villanova basketball’s game against Seton Hall on Feb. 4, where they were shown on the video board during the second half.
“When he comes back, he’s really respected at basketball games,” Melchionni said. “So that’s really cool to see. And it’s definitely something that I think is really cool.”.
With most of the season still in front of the team, Villanova men’s lacrosse coach Mike Corrado saw a large improvement from Melchonni in his sophomore year and expects the same this season.
“He plays long-stick middie, which is kind of a unique position,” Corrado said. “And I’ve coached a long time, and we’ve had some great ones, and they’re usually great with sticks.
“They’re usually really good off the ground. They’re usually very good at transition. And a lot of times, they aren’t the most studious with six-on-six basic base core defensive principles. I would say the area that Jake has improved in the most is his ability to operate in the six-on-six defense. They have the ball, and we’re on defense, and we got to try to stop them. And so he’s definitely improved in that area.”
Villanova is coming off back-to-back seasons in which they lost in the Big East championship game. Melchionni and the Wildcats (1-1) will look to get past that obstacle and earn their way into the NCAA Tournament this time around.
“The Big East tournament, Big East championship is number one on our list,” Melchionni said. “But it’s deeper than that. I know it’s a little cliché to say, but it’s really just focusing on one game. Just the step ahead. I just think it’s getting 1% better every day.”
