Connections: Sports Edition hints for May 10, 2025, puzzle No. 229
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Game No. 229's difficulty: 3 out of 5
Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.
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Yellow: SAFE
Green: ALLEGIANT
Blue: AMERICAN
Purple: LEVIS
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(Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic)
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Commissioners, athletic directors and coaches are expressing a mystifying level of confidence that the new NIL Go clearinghouse, operated by Deloitte, will succeed in ensuring rev share doesn't just replace outside 'NIL' deals but in fact obliterate them. Athletes are required to submit any deals worth more than $600 for approval to ensure they're for a 'valid business purpose' (i.e., social media endorsements, autograph signings, charity appearances) and within a 'range of compensation' that's of fair-market value. Florida men's basketball coach Todd Golden predicted to Hoops HQ that players will soon be making just '10 to 20 percent' of what they did in the past two years. Ohio State AD Ross Bjork told Yahoo that collectives created a 'false market' and that the 'real' NIL market will be more like the pros, where 'NIL deals for pro athletes are really small.' Do they truly believe the words coming out of their mouths? Pro athletes' salaries only ever go up and up and up. 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He hasn't coached a game yet and people are speculating that he will resign or are calling for his resignation. How much of this is just the chorus of haters who have been waiting for years to dunk on him, and how much is legitimate concern? — Rick T., Hamilton, N.J. Both? I'm sure NFL fans who either grew tired of Belichick's dominance with the Patriots and/or saw their teams get their butts kicked over and over by the Patriots are getting a kick out of seeing a series of headlines about a 24-year-old girlfriend who may or may not be running his life right now. Case in point, see this amusing Tim Graham story where he talked to several former Buffalo Bills about the eroding perception of the guy who routinely vanquished them. 'All the distractions that he talked against,' laughed former Bills defensive back/linebacker Bryan Scott, 'that's why he's in the headlines.' Nevertheless, there's plenty of reason to be concerned. None of this is normal. It may be that Jordon Hudson made for good offseason fodder but will fade into the background once preseason camp starts and we become more focused on actual football. But none of this has eased my initial concerns. Advertisement One of which is: Is he really all that dedicated to his job? We know he spent a weekend in mid-May at the Miss Maine Pageant. And my colleague Brendan Marks inadvertently and hilariously stumbled into him during a New England golfing weekend shortly after that. Nothing wrong with a little R&R, I suppose, except that May weekends are often when recruits take official visits. Most coaches in America were likely hosting at least a few. But maybe UNC spaced out its visits to accommodate his schedule. And to be clear, he's not going to resign. He doesn't need to resign. Anyone suggesting otherwise is going out of their way to manufacture a hot take. When do you think the settlement and change fatigue will set in for most fans? — Daniel R. I think it already has. 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Meanwhile, Notre Dame's Jaden Greathouse is coming off of back-to-back 100-yard receiving games against Penn State and Ohio State in the CFP semis and title game, and Malachi Fields was an 800-plus-yard guy at Virginia each of the past two seasons. Which is to say, both Sayin and Carr are walking into highly favorable situations. But of the two, I'd rather be Sayin. For one, Ryan Day has a pretty spectacular track record with quarterbacks, and his offense allows for more big-play opportunities in the passing game than Marcus Freeman's. But most of all, Jeremiah Smith. He's that good. He and Tate will likely turn a lot of not-perfect passes into big gains. Advertisement Will players eventually become bigger than programs? — Jamar G. I highly doubt it. Ask Nico Iamaleava. Is the Friday night Auburn at Baylor game a great under-the-radar Week 1 game? Baylor finished strong and should be among the top of the Big 12, while a road win for Auburn could set the tone for a turnaround year. — Anthony V. Absolutely. Baylor snuck up on folks down the stretch last year. In fact, it looked like Dave Aranda was in big trouble after going 3-9 in 2023 and starting 2-4 last season. But then the Bears' offense, under first-year coordinator Jake Spavital, exploded in a 59-35 win at Texas Tech, which they then rode on a six-game winning streak to end the regular season before falling 44-31 to LSU in their bowl game. Quarterback Sawyer Robertson is back, as are running backs Bryson Washington and Dawson Pendergrass, receivers Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins, and four offensive line starters. And yet, Auburn, a sub-.500 program the past four seasons, will be expected to win on the road, simply by virtue of being an SEC team. Based on the early preseason power rankings out there, the Tigers will likely be around a 2- to 4-point favorite. Auburn was a weird team last year. All the Tigers' metrics suggest they should have finished much better than 5-7. Their offense finished No. 9 nationally in yards per play (6.7), their defense 18th (4.9). They should have been, at worst, a Top 25 team. But they couldn't stop turning the ball over (No. 106) and couldn't convert much of anything in the red zone (No. 109). Thus, they went 2-6 in the SEC, 5-7 overall. Personally, I think they could be much better in Hugh Freeze's third season. Oklahoma transfer QB Jackson Arnold, who became a scapegoat for a Sooners team with zero receivers, should be an upgrade from Payton Thorne. Last year's breakout freshman receiver Cam Coleman is a stud, and several young defenders emerged last season. I have the Bears No. 21 and the Tigers No. 24 in my post-spring Top 25. So yes, a great prime-time game for Fox that leads into Texas-Ohio State the next morning (my time). Advertisement The fan reaction to the House settlement was a lot of doom and gloom and anger. I get it that there are changes that affect players and athletic department administrators, but as a fan of a mid-tier, non-Playoff Power 4 team who enjoys sitting in the stands or watching TV on a Saturday, I don't see how the recent changes affect my experience or fandom. How might the changes affect fans? — Steve You guys would have to tell me, because I'm a neutral observer. I have not experienced the pain of losing my star quarterback to another program with more money or my team turning over 75 percent of its roster from one year to the next. But for all the bellyaching about NIL and the portal on social media, comments sections, etc., there has yet to be any drop in interest in the actual games in the four seasons since players began getting paid. If anything, it's up. Last year, the ESPN networks, which includes ABC, had their most-watched regular season in eight years. Across all networks, 53 games drew four million-plus viewers, pretty much identical to the year before (54). In 2019, the last non-COVID season before NIL kicked in, there were 44. This is at a time when ratings for pretty much everything else sports-wise on television are down, save the NFL and WNBA. As for attendance, I have not seen any trend reports for 2024 yet — likely because Dennis Dodd retired — but a year ago, he wrote that average attendance rose in both 2022 and '23 after eight consecutive years of it going in the other direction. So to Steve's question, I would ask one back: If the previous changes to the sport didn't affect interest in the games, why would the House settlement? All it really does is change the main source of the money that the players are already receiving. I think we can all agree that the governance of college sports is an absolute disaster. But the product itself has not suffered in the slightest. Fall Saturdays are still incomparable. The upsets, the crazy plays, the field stormings and the surrender cobras aren't going anywhere. The fine folks at Deloitte may have the authority to rob college kids of their money, but they can't rob our fun.
