Two institutions spent the week marking their own homework. The NFL agreed to review a medical decision it had told the players' union needed no review, and LIV Golf's court filings showed what its chief executive was paid while the money was running out.
The ruling: the NFL agrees to look again at Jalen Hurts
On 10 October an ultrasound in London found a superficial blood clot in Jalen Hurts' left calf. The Philadelphia Eagles said their medical staff and London doctors "concluded that activity and mobility were important and that Jalen could safely play", and he played against the Jacksonville Jaguars the next day (ESPN).
Back in Philadelphia, a follow-up scan showed the clot had moved. On Monday the Eagles and his agent, Nicole Lynn, gave the diagnosis as deep vein thrombosis and bilateral pulmonary emboli (ESPN). The quarterback is on injured reserve and expected to miss the rest of the season (ESPN).
On Tuesday the NFL's chief medical officer, Dr Allen Sills, called the Eagles' treatment "very conservative, very patient-focused" and said the idea that any physician would put a player in harm's way was "nonsense" (ESPN). That night the NFL Players Association said the league had "previously informed the union that it did not plan to review the care he received", and asked for "a full investigation" (ESPN).
On Wednesday Roger Goodell said the league welcomed one, while insisting that "the protocols were followed" (Associated Press). Today the league and the union put out a joint statement saying they are reviewing how the diagnosis was handled (ESPN).
So the league will now investigate a decision its own chief medical officer defended in public five days ago. That is an odd order in which to do things. Nobody outside the room yet knows whether clearing him to play was wrong. Its statement asked for something narrower, the facts before the conclusions, and the league had published its conclusions first.
No date has been given for the review's findings. Hurts, 28, cannot take part in any football activity until he is off blood thinners (ESPN).
The number: $6.375 million
That is the retention bonus LIV Golf paid its chief executive, Scott O'Neil, on 24 June, according to the statement of financial affairs it filed in the US Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey (ESPN). Seventy-six days later, on 8 September, the league filed for Chapter 11 protection (ESPN).
Between September 2025 and August 2026 O'Neil received more than $13.6 million in pay, bonuses, benefits and retention payments (ESPN). His predecessor, Greg Norman, left with more than $9.4 million (ESPN). Last week's Dispatch reported that Jon Rahm walked out of LIV Golf on a separation agreement that mentions no payment to him at all (Associated Press).
The call: €255 for walking out on Portugal
Cristiano Ronaldo left the Portugal camp before a Nations League match against Denmark, after accusing head coach Jorge Jesus of breaking an agreement over his role. He had been an unused substitute in a win in Norway (Associated Press).
On Monday the Portuguese Football Federation suspended him for 30 days and fined him €255, calling the punishment "adequate and sufficient" (Associated Press). It said his formal admission of the facts and his clean disciplinary record reduced it, and that the fine was the most it could impose once those were counted (Associated Press). The ban runs from 1 October, so he is due back against Denmark on 14 November (Associated Press).
When the case opened, the Associated Press reported that the federation's regulations call for a suspension of one to six months, plus a fine, for a player who abandons the national team or fails to appear without justification.
The case for the federation: it applied the bottom of its own scale exactly as written. He admitted it, apologised, has a clean record and missed two matches (Irish Examiner). The case against: a ban that finishes before the next fixture and a fine of €255 tell the next player that leaving camp costs nothing he will notice.
Right call or wrong call?
Around the grounds
Football. Bruno Fernandes started today's game against Bournemouth on the bench, four days after he criticised Michael Carrick's tactics in the 4-1 defeat by Como. On Wednesday he had told TNT Sports: "It's a decision from the staff to not press man-to-man." Harry Maguire captained the side, and Carrick called the selection "pure football" (ESPN). Bournemouth won 3-0 at Old Trafford, with goals from Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson (ESPN).
NFL. Marshall Faulk, the Hall of Fame running back who now coaches Southern University, said on Wednesday that he has Parkinson's disease (ESPN). He said medication keeps the symptoms to some rigidity in his hands and small tremors, and that he has lived with it for about a year and a half (ESPN). "I want to help as many people as I can," he said on the podcast where he made it public (ESPN). Southern are 3-4 this season (ESPN).
F1. Can Kimi Antonelli win the title in Austin today? He can, and he starts from pole, 0.179 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen (ESPN). What does he need? A win, with George Russell ninth or lower and Lewis Hamilton fifth or lower (ESPN). He arrived with a 102-point lead and 150 still available (ESPN). He is 20. The result will be on the wire tomorrow.
Tennis. 6-2, 6-2, and four break points saved. Elena Rybakina beat Leylah Fernandez in today's Ningbo Open final for her first trophy since taking the No. 1 ranking (ESPN). It is her fourth title of the year, after the Australian Open, Stuttgart and the US Open, and she is now 8-0 in her career in Ningbo (ESPN). At the China Open she lost her opening match to the world No. 118 (ESPN).
Golf. Yuri Yoshida started the last round of the LPGA South Korea event four shots behind and won it by one, at 17 under, for her first LPGA Tour title (ESPN). She and the overnight leader, Haeran Ryu, both bogeyed the 18th (ESPN). Hye-Jin Choi finished a shot back. She has now made 125 LPGA starts as a member without a win, and has held or shared the 54-hole lead five times (ESPN).
NBA. How long had Tyrese Haliburton been away? Sixteen months, since he tore his right Achilles in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals (ESPN). How did the return go? He scored 23, 16 of them in the fourth quarter, with 12 assists, as the Indiana Pacers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 123-120 on Wednesday (ESPN). Without him the Pacers went 19-63 last season (ESPN).
WNBA. 2.1 million viewers watched Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on NBC and Peacock, the most for a Game 1 in Finals history, according to NBC (NBCUniversal). The series is now 2-2. The Golden State Valkyries won Game 4 in Atlanta 67-62 yesterday, two days after losing Game 3 by 26 (ESPN). Gabby Williams scored 17 (ESPN). Game 5 is Monday night at Chase Center (ESPN).
The argument: should Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have stayed on?
Last week's question, one game or two for a punch after the whistle, is still open.
On Thursday, with the Oklahoma City Thunder 93-76 up on the Denver Nuggets and 1:43 left, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 17 points and asked to come off (ESPN). That ended his NBA record run of 20-point games at 141 (ESPN). Wilt Chamberlain's old mark was 126 (ESPN). His coach, Mark Daigneault, said he had wanted to leave him on because a "historic streak" was at stake (ESPN). "You always treat the game with respect," Gilgeous-Alexander said, after seeing Denver had made their own substitutions (ESPN).
For sitting down: the game was won, and padding a personal number against a beaten team's reserves is exactly what he refused to do. For staying on: 141 games is a record that may stand for decades, and three points in garbage time harms nobody.
Right to sit, or should he have stayed on?
One from the archive
Twenty-two years ago yesterday, on 24 October 2004, Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-0 at Old Trafford and ended their 49-match unbeaten run in the league (Sky Sports). With the score 0-0, Mike Riley gave a penalty for Sol Campbell's challenge on Wayne Rooney. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored it, and Rooney added the second (Sky Sports).
Dermot Gallagher, reviewing the game for Sky Sports years later, said it was not a foul. "If Mike could change one decision in his refereeing career, it would be this," he said (Sky Sports).
The referee that day went on to become the Premier League's VAR chief (Sky Sports).
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