đŸ„Š Huge Brawl Results in Suspensions

Profar tests positive for drugs, NFL Rule Changes, Torpedo Bats, and more!

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Sportie Newsletter
April 02, 2025

🏀 Basketball

Huge Brawl Breaks Out And Results in Suspensions

As both teams fought for playoff position, seven players and coaches were ejected during a brawl during the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons game on Sunday.

With about 9:01 left in the second, Pistons center Isaiah Stewart, a well-known enforcer for Detroit, shoved Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo, leading to Rudy Gobert getting into Stewart's face.

The scuffle pushed into the baseline area, with even the FanDuel cameraman getting plowed over, and players grappling in the front row of fans.

2025 NBA Play-in, Playoffs & Finals Schedule

The 2025 SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament will take place on April 15-18. The first round of the NBA Playoffs starts on April 19.

🏒 Hockey

NHL, Rogers Agree to New 12-Year TV Deal Worth $7.7 Billion

The NHL has reached an agreement with Rogers Communications on a new 12-year Canadian TV deal that will pay the league about $7.7 billion ($11 billion CAD).

The total and per-year averages are more than double the league’s current agreement with Rogers.

The deal will kick in for the 2026-27 season. The deal will follow the league’s current 12-year deal with Rogers, which it signed in 2013.

Rogers’ sports assets include the Toronto Blue Jays and 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the parent of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, NBA’s Toronto Raptors and MLS’ Toronto FC.

Cam York takes ‘full responsibility’ for disciplinary issue

The Philadelphia Flyers dressed six defensemen on Thursday night against the Montreal Canadiens, but only five of them saw action on the ice.

Cam York, who was benched for the final 50 minutes of Tuesday night’s loss in Toronto, was stapled to the bench during the Flyers’ 6-4 win to kick off a three-game homestand.

Although York has had his issues with Tortorella, including an altercation that ultimately may have led to the coach’s firing, he had nothing but positive things to say about the hard-nosed coach.

⚟ Baseball

Braves' Jurickson Profar gets 80-game ban for PED violation

Veteran outfielder Jurickson Profar tested positive for a banned substance and began an 80-game suspension Monday.

Profar tested positive for chorionic gonadotropin, a performance-enhancing drug, according to the MLB.

The start of his suspension coincides with the beginning of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. Profar will be eligible to return to the Braves on June 29 but, as part of MLB's joint drug prevention and treatment program, will be ineligible for the 2025 postseason as part of his suspension.

What are the ‘torpedo’ bats in MLB that have everyone talking?

Baseball season is back, and it didn’t take long for the New York Yankees to start crushing records and dominating conversation. And at the center of it all? “Torpedo” bats.

The “torpedo” bat – so named due to its shape resembling a torpedo – is a customized bat that tailors the barrel for each hitter. Gone is the standard swell of the bat as it’s replaced with more wood in the barrel shifted closer to the hands.

It’s all about locating a hitter’s so-called “sweet spot” and moving more wood to that area – and because every hitter’s sweet spot is different, so too is their “torpedo” bat.

The Yankees analytics department looked at every player’s hitting data so that the widest part of the bat – or the barrel – could be placed where they most often hit the ball.

🏈 Football

NFL announces the Christmas Day tripleheader for 2025

Building on last season's holiday success, the NFL is planning a Christmas Day tripleheader in 2025.

Two games will air on Netflix on Dec. 25 followed by a Thursday nightcap on Amazon Prime, the league confirmed Tuesday at the annual league meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

The NFL broadcast two games on Netflix last Christmas, which fell on a Wednesday.

Both games averaged more than 24 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.

The teams participating in this season's Christmas trifecta will be revealed when the NFL schedule is released in May.