Elite athletes like Alex Honnold and popular films like "Free Solo," which chronicles his ropeless ascent of El Capitan, have brought increased exposure to rock climbing — and come August, the sport will make its Olympics debut.
The big picture: While climbing continues to mature as a competitive sport, it's also gaining popularity among young urbanites, who appreciate the workout.
At the start of the decade, 50-point games in the NBA were a special occasion. Now, thanks to an offensive revolution sparked by the deep ball, they're a weekly occurrence.
The backdrop: During the 2009-10 season, only three players scored 50 points in a game: Brandon Jennings (55), Andre Miller (52) and Carmelo Anthony (50). The following season, there were only two: LeBron James (51) and Melo again (50).
In his latest piece for The Athletic, former baseball big leaguer Lars Anderson talked about his experience using Adderall as a performance-enhancing drug (PED) while playing in Japan and how much it improved his on-field performance.
The big picture: Amphetamines were once super common in baseball. "Greenies" (real medical name Dexedrine), which were rumored to have been brought back by players who served in WWII, were passed around casually for decades.
With the top four sports unchanged, Utah moved to No. 5 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, with Oklahoma moving to No. 6 and Baylor gaining two spots to No. 7.
The case for Utah: Four of the last five teams ranked No. 5 entering conference championship weekend went on to make the playoff. So a win over Oregon could put the Utes through.
On Sunday, Justin Tucker kicked the game-winning field goal to give the Ravens a thrilling 20-17 win over the 49ers. Snapping the ball was Morgan Cox, a former walk-on at Tennessee who signed with the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2010 and has been their long snapper ever since.
Why it matters: During his nine-year career, Baltimore — led by former special teams coach John Harbaugh — has had one of the most consistent kicking and punting units in the NFL. (Tucker has the best career field goal percentage ever; that doesn't happen without Cox.)
