With the main event of UFC 326 underway, Paramount+ suffered a knockout.
When its own feed apparently went down.
The fight between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira was headed to the third round when the livestream went dark for about two minutes.
When the livestream resumed for most, it was about two minutes into the third round.
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Combat sports figures sounded off on social media:
Team USA trailed for half the game but was awoken by Kyle Schwarber’s mammoth go-ahead home run in an eventual 9-1 win against Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic.
The Americans improved to 2-0 in pool play and has the day off Sunday before facing Mexico at Daikin Park in Houston.
Britain’s Nate Eaton led off the game with a solo home run off back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and Team USA was unable to push a run across until Ernie Clement scored on a wild pitch to tie things 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
Schwarber followed with his two-run homer to put the U.S. ahead for good, the latest electrifying longball for the Phillies slugger who hit 56 home runs last season.
Britain falls to 0-2 in Pool B and faces Italy on Sunday.
Gunnar Henderson went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs for Team USA and Clay Holmes picked up the win, striking out six in three scoreless innings after taking over from Skubal in the fourth.
Here’s how the game unfolded:
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The Americans sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth and plated three more runs to seemingly put the game out of reach for Britain, which hasn’t scored since Nate Eaton led off the game with a homer.
After Kyle Schwarber’s home run put them in front 3-1, the Americans loaded the bases with two outs. Gunnar Henderson laced a double that scored two runs to extend Team USA’s lead to 5-1 through five innings.
Team USA finally got on the board when Ernie Clement scored on Andre Scrubb’s wild pitch – having reached base via a throwing error earlier in the fifth inning. Kyle Schwarber stepped to the plate and did what he did best, destroying a cutter from Scrubb into the upper bleachers in right field, giving the Americans a 3-1 lead.
Najer Victor replaced starter Tyler Viza on the mound for Britain in the fourth, and the 24-year-old Angels prospect proceeded to strike out Aaron Judge (three MVPs) and Bryce Harper (two). Victor walked Will Smith with two outs but whiffed Gunnar Henderson with a slider to end an eight-pitch battle to end the frame.
Victor had a 4.87 ERA in 35 relief appearances in Single-A last season.
Tarik Skubal gave up a home run on his first pitch of the night but retired nine of the next 10 batters including five strikeouts and is being replaced by right-hander Clay Holmes to start the fourth inning after 41 pitches.
This is the only appearance Skubal is making in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, planning to return to spring training with the Tigers after the game against Great Britain.
Holmes retired all three batters he faced in the top of the fourth.
With one out in the bottom of the second Team USA catcher drove an offering from Tyler Viza to the right field wall, but outfielder Trayce Thompson made an epic leaping catch to keep Britain ahead.
Thompson, the younger brother of NBA star Klay Thompson, has played 369 MLB games over seven seasons since his debut in 2015, mostly reecently appearing in the majors in 2023.
After giving up a home run on his first pitch of the night, Tarik Skubal only needed 20 more to retire the next six Britain hitters. The Tigers’ back-to-back Cy Young winner has racked up a pair of strikeouts through the first two innings.
Leading off the game against reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, Nate Eaton crushed a ball to left-center that was initially have ruled to have hit the wall. A review overturned the call on the field, giving Eaton a solo home run and the Brits an unlikely 1-0 lead.
Eaton, 29, made his MLB debut in 2022 and has played 113 games across three seasons with the Royals and Red Sox.
Pick for championship game and tournament MVP
We also break down next week’s catalysts to watch to help you prepare for the week ahead.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) navigated a volatile week.
Early week caution gave way to a rebound by Monday’s close (March 2), with the Nasdaq eking out a small gain led by defense and tech stocks. On Tuesday (March 3), the Trump administration’s plans to secure the Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes helped pare losses, with major indexes closing down but less severely.
US services PMI on Wednesday (March 4) showed the fastest expansion since mid-2022, supporting gains; however, the Nasdaq rose only slightly, with gains capped by lingering oil price worries.
Markets plunged on Thursday (March 5) after an Iranian missile strike on an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf intensified concerns of conflict longevity and supply constraints. The price of oil surged to its biggest weekly gain since 2022, with analysts forecasting further increases if the Strait of Hormuz stays disrupted beyond 3 – 4 weeks.
Also on Thursday, reports surfaced that the administration was considering new rules requiring US approval for AI chips shipped abroad, which hit Nasdaq heavyweights NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD). This revelation followed earlier reports that officials were considering limiting purchases of Nvidia’s H200 chips and AMD’s MI325 chips, which have similar capabilities, to Chinese companies, capping them at 75,000 chips per firm.
Friday’s (March 6) jobs report for February boosted rate-cut odds but fueled recession fears. The report showed nonfarm payrolls dropped by 92,000, a stark contrast to the forecasted 50,000 to 60,000 added jobs. Additionally, unemployment increased to 4.4 percent, signaling that the labor market is cooling faster than expected.
These macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical uncertainty exerted a palpable weight on financial markets, heavily impacting volatility-sensitive tech stocks.
Intuit had a strong week, finishing up 25.08 percent as investors rotated into defensive fintech and software amid weakness in the capital-intensive and cyclical semiconductor sector.
Zacks Investment Research explained Intuit’s stock rise as a gain driven by analyst upgrades and price target hikes. Piper Sandler raised its price target on Intuit to US$780 and maintained an Overweight rating. Susquehanna also raised its target to US$850 and kept a Positive rating. Meanwhile, TD Cowen cut its target to US$633 but reiterated Buy.
Analysts cited Intuit’s strong AI-driven results from last week’s Q2 earnings and highlighted growth in the company’s GBS Online Ecosystem, Desktop Ecosystem and Credit Karma.
Palantir gained alongside other defense stocks as Mideast tensions boosted demand for defense AI. Shares rose more than five percent on Monday, while analysts at Wedbush named it a top pick on Thursday with a US$75 price target. Palantir gained 17.22 percent for the week.
AppLovin ranked third for this week’s gainers, closing 16.29 percent higher on Arete’s upgrade to neutral from sell, with an adjusted price target down to US$340 From US$458. Speculation about AppLovin potentially launching a competing app to rival TikTok may have further contributed to the gains.
Intuit, Palantir Technologies and AppLoving stock performance, March 2 to 6, 2026.
Chart via Google Finance.
Tech exchange-traded funds (ETFs) track baskets of major tech stocks, meaning their performance helps investors gauge the overall performance of the niches they cover.
This week, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) declined by 5.91 percent, while the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ) lost five percent.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) also decreased by 4.21 percent.
Investors face a pivotal week ahead, headlined by Monday’s (March 9) release of the NY Fed’s one-year inflation expectations and the highly anticipated February CPI report on Wednesday (March 11), which could provide a key signal for the Fed’s next move.
Later in the week, Thursday’s (March 12) jobless claims will be under the microscope to see if February’s labor trends hold steady. On the corporate side, it’s a big week for software and cloud infrastructure, with Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Constellation Software reporting Monday, followed by Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) on Thursday.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Brien Lundin, editor of Gold Newsletter and New Orleans Investment Conference host, shares his stock-picking strategy at a time when high metals prices are beginning to lift all boats.
In his view, gold and silver equities may still only be in the second inning.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Adrian Day, president of Adrian Day Asset Management, shares his latest thoughts on what’s moving the gold price, emphasizing that its bull run isn’t over yet.
‘It’s monetary factors that are driving gold — that’s what’s fundamentally driving gold,’ he said. ‘Monetary factors, lack of trust in governments and particularly lack of trust in fiat currencies.’
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The Government of New Brunswick announced a new comprehensive mineral strategy on Tuesday (March 3), at the 2026 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada conference in Toronto.
The plan calls for a streamlined permitting process that will ensure clear communication and transparent timelines. Additionally, it promises a collaborative partnership with First Nations, science-based decision-making and a community-based approach to jobs, procurement and infrastructure.
Oil prices jumped significantly this week following the start of the US-led war against Iran. West Texas Intermediate has surged more than 25 percent since March first, climbing to over US$90 per barrel in trading on Friday, the first time since October 2022.
The most significant gains came on Friday, after Iran effectively stopped traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. More than 20 percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas and 25 percent of oil shipments travel through the strait.
The price rise has had a downstream effect on gas prices in Canada and the US, increasing by up to C$0.10 per liter and US$0.27 per gallon, respectively.
Over the past week, US producers have activated four additional rigs, bringing the total rig count to 411, although that total is down by 75 from the same period last year. Most companies are unlikely to rush to restart operations shuttered due to low oil prices until there is a more sustainable rise in oil prices.
Meanwhile, the war caused turmoil in bond markets as concerns over inflation and rising central bank interest rates seeped into the market. US two-year bonds rose by 18 basis points, while Britain’s rose by 43 basis points.
For more on what’s moving markets this week, check out our top market news round-up.
Canadian equity markets were largely down this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) fell 3.87 percent over the week to close Friday (March 6) at 33,083.72, while the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) slipped 4.54 percent to 1,057.04.
However, the CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) gained 1.27 percent to 178.51.
The gold price fell 3.31 percent to close at US$5,170.63 per ounce on Friday at 4:00 p.m. EST. The silver price fared worse, closing the week down 6.4 percent at US$84.30 on Friday.
In base metals, the Comex copper price recorded a 2.01 percent decrease this week to US$5.85 per pound.
The S&P Goldman Sachs Commodities Index (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) was up 16.14 percent to end Friday at 700.62.
How did mining stocks perform against this backdrop? Take a look at this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.
Stocks data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on Friday using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market caps greater than C$10 million are included. Mineral companies within the non-energy minerals, energy minerals, process industry and producer manufacturing sectors were considered.
Weekly gain: 100 percent
Market cap: C$128.67 million
Share price: C$0.19
Adex Mining is an exploration company that holds a 100 percent stake in the Mount Pleasant project in Southwest New Brunswick, Canada. The property contains two main deposits: the Fire Tower zone, which hosts tungsten and molybdenum mineralization, and the North zone, which hosts tin, zinc and indium.
The asset consists of 102 mineral claims covering 1,600 hectares, as well as equipment and facilities from historic mining operations conducted by BHP (ASX:BHP,NYSE:BHP,LSE:BHP) between 1983 and 1985.
According to its most recent investor presentation released on June 11, the property hosts the world’s largest indium reserve and North America’s largest tin deposit. Indicated resources for the North zone demonstrate contained metal values of 47 million kilograms of tin, and 789,000 kilograms of indium from 12.4 million metric tons with average grades of 0.38 percent tin and 64 parts per million indium.
Adex Mining has not released news since it published its interim management discussion and analysis on November 18.
In a mid-February interview, New Brunswick Natural Resources Minister John Herron revealed that a deal “is due imminently with a well-known company in the Canadian mining community” for Adex’s Mount Pleasant project.
While the company did not release news this week, the project may benefit from the freshly announced New Brunswick Comprehensive Mineral Strategy. The report highlights Mount Pleasant’s indium, tin and tungsten mineralization.
Weekly gain: 91.67 percent
Market cap: C$29.3 million
Share price: C$0.115
Southern Energy is an oil and gas company with assets located in Mississippi, US. The majority of its production is natural gas.
Its operations are centered around the state’s Interior Salt Basin, in the northeastern Gulf Coast Region. Southern has an interest in producing wells spread across several assets, including Gwinville, Mechanicsburg and Mount Olive East.
According to a February 2026 corporate presentation, current production from the company’s wells is about 11 million cubic feet of natural gas equivalent per day, with 27.9 million barrels of oil equivalent in reserves.
The company’s most recent news came on February 12, when Southern closed a non-brokered private placement that generated proceeds of US$23.5 million. The company said the funds will be used to repay the balance of a US$12.9 million senior credit facility, with the rest being directed to development capital, including the completion of two wells in Gwinville.
The share price gains also come amid volatility in the energy market.
Weekly gain: 86.67 percent
Market cap: C$165.31 million
Share price: C$0.42
Africa Energy is a South Africa focused oil and gas exploration and development company.
Its flagship asset is Block 11B/12B located approximately 175 kilometers off the south coast of South Africa. The block covers an area of 18,734 square kilometers and depths between 200 meters and 1,800 meters.
It holds a 4.9 percent interest in the asset through its investment in Main Street 1549, a 49/51 joint venture with Arostyle Investments. The three other partners in the asset announced plans to withdraw from the Block 11B/12B joint venture in July 2024, and announced a definitive agreement for the new ownership structure of the Block 11B/12B asset in May 2025.
The restructuring would result in Africa Energy owning a direct 75 percent stake in the block, with Arostyle holding the remainder. This is contingent on the asset being granted the production rights, which itself requires approval of its environmental and social impact assessment. The report must be submitted by May 2026.
Shares of Africa Energy posted gains this week amid energy market volatility.
The company has not released any news since January 26, when it announced the resignation of Dr. Phindile Masangane as Director and Head of Strategy and Business Development. She will still assist Africa Energy as a consultant.
Weekly gain: 60 percent
Market cap: C$41.58 million
Share price: C$0.16
Gabriel Resources is a precious metals explorer and developer focused on advancing its Rosia Montana gold project. Based in Transylvania, Romania, Rosia Montana is in a region that has seen significant historic mining. Covering 2,388 hectares, the site is host to a mid-to-shallow epithermal system containing deposits of gold and silver.
The most recent resource estimate from a 2012 technical report shows proven and probable quantities of 10.1 million ounces of gold and 47.6 million ounces of silver. Gabriel has invested more than US$760 million into Rosia Montana, but has undertaken little development at the site since the early 2010s, as Romania blocked further development.
In 2015, the company entered into arbitration through the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over permitting at the site and suggested that Romania was in violation of bilateral investment treaties. In March 2024, Gabriel issued a press release with an update saying that its case against Romania had been dismissed by the ICSID, which also awarded Romania US$10 million in legal fees and expenses. Gabriel said it would review the decision with its legal team and evaluate its options.
In March 2025, Gabriel announced that the committee had ruled that a stay of enforcement of the Award would continue if Gabriel guaranteed the proven solvency of the US$10 million.
The committee was scheduled to hold hearings on January 22 and 23 of this year, but on January 19, Gabriel reported that the hearings would be postponed to a later date. A new date for the hearing has not been announced.
The company did not release news in the past week.
Weekly gain: 48.05 percent
Market cap: C$41.58 million
Share price: C$1.14
Rio Silver is an exploration company advancing its Maria Norte project in Peru. The property changed hands several times in the 18 years prior to Rio Silver’s acquisition in March 2025, but saw little exploration during that time.
However, in a February 5 release, the company noted that historic mining occurred as the site hosts a reclaimed waste dump. In that announcement, the firm said it plans to advance surface mapping and sampling in the third quarter of 2026.
Throughout January, Rio Silver made several announcements regarding its exploration and development timeline. On January 6, the company reported results from technical work at the site, confirming the presence of silver mineralization with grades up to 991 g/t in a 0.7 meter channel sample.
To end the month, the company said it was launching a metallurgical program at the site to assist in determining the project’s potential value.
The most recent news came last week in a pair of releases.
The first on February 25, the company announced a new private placement to raise proceeds of up to C$3 million. Funds will be used to advance work at the Maria Norte project. The placement is being led by Sprott (TSX:SII,NYSE:SII) Founder Eric Sprott.
The second release came on February 26 when Rio reported it secured permission from the local community to begin site activities at Maria Norte. The company said it will continue working with the community to develop a formal definitive agreement for long-term exploration and mining activities.
The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, and the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.
As of December 2025, 898 mining companies and 71 oil and gas companies are listed on the TSXV, combining for more than 60 percent of the 1,531 total companies listed on the exchange.
As for the TSX, it is home to 175 mining companies and 51 oil and gas companies. The exchange has 2,089 companies listed on it in total.
Together, the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.
There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.
The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.
These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.
Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.
Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.
Securities Disclosure: I, Dean Belder, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Securities Disclosure: I, Lauren Kelly, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Peter Krauth, editor of Silver Stock Investor and Silver Advisor, shares his thoughts on silver price activity and where the white metal is in the cycle.
He believes the awareness phase is just beginning, with mania still relatively far in the future.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
In a move that could lead to massive change in college sports, two U.S. senators from opposing political parties have proposed an amendment to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 that would allow colleges to pool their media rights in an effort to grow revenue and ‘stabilize’ college sports.
The proposed legislation is bipartisan and came on Friday, March 6, from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), both members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. They released a discussion draft of the ‘College Sports Competitive Act,’ which would amend the Sports Broadcasting Act, a 65-year-old law that exempted professional sports leagues from antitrust laws and allowed them to pool their television rights but didn’t do the same for college sports.
The proposal comes as college sports faces a crisis of huge new expenses from revenue-sharing with players, up to $20.5 million per school starting in 2025 under terms of the House vs. NCAA legal settlement.
“If we don’t address the revenue problem, college sports, as we know and love them, will slowly disappear,” Schmitt said in a statement. “This is a serious problem, and Congress needs to provide real solutions to help alleviate the pressure being put on schools. Allowing conferences and universities to voluntarily pool and sell their media rights together can unlock new revenue streams while preserving the broad-based athletic programs that make college sports the institution it is today.”
The bill would “unlock collective media deals to potentially generate billions in new revenue for college sports,” according to the release from the committee. It would allow colleges and conferences to voluntarily participate in the pooled media rights.
But not everybody agrees with this as a possible solution. The Big Ten and Southeastern conferences have pushed back against this idea and recently commissioned a study that said pooling media rights wouldn’t produce more revenue. Those two conferences also are the two richest leagues in college sports and have a stake in keeping the status quo instead of sharing revenue with other leagues.
The draft bill aims to ensure that all schools receive more media rights revenue than they received in the 2024-25 academic year while giving all schools a percentage of new revenue. It also allows performance-based awards for schools that drive viewership revenue and reach the playoffs.
To address the concerns of the richest leagues, it proposes to create a 14-member board that “fairly represents the institutions that generate the most revenue.”
Cantwell said it would help women’s sports and ensure they won’t be cut.
‘With women’s sports, Olympic sports, and other sports losing scholarships and roster slots every year, it is time to reverse the damage,” Cantwell said in a statement. “Opening the Sports Broadcasting Act to college sports allows more revenue to be generated from sports viewing, and that new revenue can go toward supporting and growing opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports while still protecting consumers from being over-charged by having sports events behind pay walls. Fans should not have to pay extra to watch their home teams play on TV.’
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
While the fate of college sports was being discussed at the White House with the biggest and best of sports and politics, the silent partner of the free-spending, free-falling framework was all but ignoring it.
ESPN, Fox, NBC and CBS — who combined to throw more than two billion dollars annually at college sports — were more interested in televising the NFL, college basketball, and talk and reality shows.
Don’t mess with Judge Judy, people.
Then again, what played out in Washington D.C. wasn’t much different from Judy’s reality show.
In between ideas (some good) from various participants, President Donald Trump — who, to his credit, somehow got all of these iconic individuals together — rambled on about “going back to the old way.”
“I’d like to go exactly back to what we had, and ram it through a court,” Trump said.
Excuse me, Mr. President? That’s what got us here in the first place.
It didn’t take long for the two-hour event to devolve into an airing of grievances, an opportunity for those 50-plus at the table to have their moment and their say. Until, that is, Trump had heard enough.
Right on cue, it became his show again.
He’s issuing a second executive order (the first accomplished nothing), one he says will return college sports to “common sense, and let colleges and players survive and everyone will be happy.”
Says the order will be done in a week, and that it may not hold up in court, but that, “you’re not going to get anything through (Congress).”
And with that, the most powerful man in the free world decided to punt.
Look, I don’t blame him. This thing is an unwieldy mess, and will get zero help from the only body on the planet that’s more tribally dysfunctional than the NCAA: Congress.
So let’s start with the non-negotiable of the process: No change in college sports begins without some form of antitrust protection for universities.
Which, of course, is like saying you want to protect the fox while he guards the hen house.
These universities have spent the past five years whining and complaining about a system they built, proclaiming over and over it’s unsustainable. Yet the damn thing keeps printing money. Lots of it.
But there has to be a starting point, so maybe this is it. Maybe, as Yankees president Randy Levine said, it begins with a two-year antitrust exemption to see if universities can implement an agreement. Or if they screw it up.
If it’s the latter, the whole process begins again from Step 1.
An antitrust exemption is incredibly university-friendly, allowing those with the money to set rules for those without. Or in this case for players, about 20% of it.
If universities receive the antitrust exemption, the first thing implemented is a return to restricting player movement. (That voice you just heard was Trump announcing, “Go back to the wonderful system.”)
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey says his conference wants one free transfer, and that’s it. You know, the old days.
Because free player movement, they insist, leads to structural and financial instability. Leads to an unwinding of the critical thread that makes college sports different and unique from the NFL. Like that matters now.
Forget that the ‘old days’ were awful for players, the financial equivalent of traversing a long, lonely desert — only to have someone eventually offer you a box of cotton balls to quench your thirst.
Which brings us to former coach Urban Meyer, he of the spotless reputation (both at Florida and Ohio State, and one disastrous year in the NFL). His gift to the day: “Get rid of collectives. That’s cheating!”
Cheating. Imagine that.
He then tried to explain the machinations of collectives and their cash is king mantra to Trump. Insert your joke here.
It’s all just so rich.
And speaking of money, very little was said about Cody Campbell’s idea to use the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, and allow conferences to pool their media rights and make more money — so everyone can share the wealth.
The SEC and Big Ten don’t want to pool television media rights, and they certainly don’t want a billionaire businessman — who just so happens to be the president of the Texas Tech Board of Regents — telling them how to financially structure their swindle. I mean, their system.
Early in the meeting, before it was every man and woman for themselves, a football coach said the most important thing of all. Not surprising that it was Alabama legend Nick Saban, who grew up in hardscrabble Monongah, W.V.
Saban’s dad, Big Nick, once took Saban to the coal mines after Little Nick lost his way one specific day as a teenager.
Get an education, Big Nick said with a threatening tone, or you’ll end up here.
Saban began his time at the Trump event by saying he’s just a football coach, and that he’s honored to be in the same room with everyone. Shoot, his big dilemma was always finding an answer to third-and-long.
Then he said it, the most pointed thing of the entire two-hour ordeal.
“What are the guiding principles for college athletics?” Saban said. “My goal as a coach was to help (players) create value for themselves in life, and prepare them for a future beyond athletics.”
Oh, wait, the players. Yeah, those at the center of this quagmire weren’t invited to the event. Why would they?
They currently have the law (and free player movement) on their side, thanks to a federal judge in ― wait for it ― West Virginia.
No need to punt on third-and-long.
It’s March Mad-Maxx-ness.
The Las Vegas Raiders put an end to one of the more tense trade sagas in recent seasons, with the team agreeing to trade star pass rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens for two first-round picks, including one in 2026, per reports. The deal will become official on the first day of the new league year on Wednesday, March 11 at 4 p.m. ET.
The swapping of a forthcoming pick means the 2026 NFL Draft order has now been shaken up.
Las Vegas is now armed with two first-round picks in the draft, with mystery only surrounding one. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick come the first round in April, leaving Vegas’ second first-rounder up to the imagination of fans and analysts as the draft nears.
That’s good news for the Raiders and maybe more for Mendoza: could Vegas target receiving help? Will it beef up the offensive line? Time will tell how the board falls, but more darts never hurt.
For now, here’s the new-look draft order following the Crosby trade:
Here’s how the 2026 NFL Draft order stacks up following the Maxx Crosby trade: