PurplePTSD works in partnership with Vikings Territory, similarly doing their utmost to offer top-notch coverage of the Minnesota Vikings. As a result, we’re promoting five of their top articles of the past month in “The P/PTSD Perspective.” Take a peek at some of their best stuff.

The P/PTSD Perspective: August 8th, 2026

1) Demond Claiborne Concern Raises After Day 1 of Vikings Training Camp: Few are as fast. In fact, Demond Claiborne is so speedy that Aaron Jones likened the rookie to Detroit’s Jahmyr Gibbs. Recent updates have been a bit more concerning, though, with drops being the main culprit.

2) Vikings Announce Roster Moves After Day 1 of Training Camp: A roster is an evolving thing. GM Nolan Teasley hasn’t done too much but has sent some guys packing while bringing new talent to town. Many are wondering if there will be an eyebrow-raising deal before too long.

3) J.J. McCarthy’s Day 1 Reviews are In, and They Aren’t Good: Give the kid time. His career hasn’t been flawless. Another reality is that he has faced a pile of issues, injury foremost among them. At the very least, let the Vikings get to the preseason to start making firmer judgments for who is performing better.

4) Baker Mayfield Has Entered the Vikings Rumor Mill: To my eye, Mr. Mayfield does well when he’s underestimated. He responds well to having a chip on his shoulder. Can he continue being a great passer when he’s entrenched and a well-paid QB1?

5) Vikings 2026 Draft Class is Giving Reason for Excitement: At this stage, seeing a draft class shine early on would feel like finding an oasis in the desert. Minnesota has been parched. Does the cluster of young fellas consisting of Caleb Banks, Jake Golday, and several others make a difference from Week 1 onward?

Enjoy the extra reading, Vikings fans.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Aaron McKenna is the IBF middleweight champion of the world. McKenna outclassed Etinosa Oliha over 12 rounds in the Zuffa Boxing 10 main event in Dublin, earning a wide decision and capturing the vacant championship in front of his hometown Irish fans.

Oliha’s speed advantage was clear in the early rounds, as he was able to pop off a good jab despite McKenna’s reach advantage, and used that jab to set up some heavy right hands. McKenna was able to fire back capably, however, and the opening rounds were close as a result.

McKenna appeared to find his flow around the third round, getting his own long jab going and connecting with more clean shots as Oliha struggled to find his own desired space and timing. Oliha wanted an inside fight, but McKenna was able to clinch and crowd when the fighters did come close.

McKenna’s surprising ability to meet Oliha’s physicality seemed to throw Oliha off of his game plan. McKenna was able to push Oliha around the ring and even get his back to the ropes, with those moments coming more frequently as the fight wore on.

Things never really changed from that point, with McKenna dominating at pretty much every distance and Oliha unable to do much offensively no matter how willing he was to try.

After 12 rounds of action, the official scorecards read 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112, all for McKenna.

The win marked the first time McKenna has held a world championship, though he may have been slightly outshined by his brother, Stevie, who scored a big knockout on the prelims.

Callum Walsh survives knockdown, coasts to decision victory

Most observers were expecting a fairly easy fight for Callum Walsh in the co-feature as he took on Tyler Denny, a fighter who entered the ring with a 21-4-3 record and just one career win by knockout. Despite the favorable circumstances for the rising Irish star, he hit a bit of a speed bump in the opening round.

After largely controlling the action in the opening frame, Walsh bent at the waist and stopped fighting, seemingly waiting for the referee to intervene after Denny had pushed him down with his forearm. Instead, Denny let a barrage of punches fly, tagging Walsh until Walsh reached down and touched the canvas, making for an official knockdown.

Walsh was not badly affected by the situation and came right back to score a big knockdown off a counter shot in Round 2.

Walsh was able to mostly remain in control from that point, though he never came close to scoring the stoppage. In fact, the fight was a pretty ugly one, falling into a pattern of constant holding in between jabs.

The holding led to point deductions for both men in Round 8, a round that also saw Walsh cut around the left eye after an accidental clash of heads.

At the end of a fight that never lived up to the excitement of the first two rounds, Walsh was awarded the win on the official judges’ scorecards by scores of 98-91, 98-91 and 96-90.

It’s unclear where Walsh, Zuffa Boxing’s first “big signing” and a long-time project of Dana White, will go after the victory. It’s natural to think he would be matched with McKenna in an all-Irish title showdown of Zuffa fighters, but it’s also natural to think his performance against a lower-caliber opponent like Denny may show that he’s not quite at the championship level at this point in his career.

Jaja Santiago will no longer be Creamline’s problem. —PVL IMAGES

The last time Jaja Santiago played in the Premier Volleyball League, the towering middle blocker was nearly unstoppable.

Santiago emerged as Conference and Finals MVP and tormented Creamline in an epic Game 3 as Chery Tiggo became the league’s first professional champion inside the Bacarra, Ilocos Norte, bubble in 2021.

Five years later, Santiago is returning to the PVL—and this time, she will be wearing Creamline colors.

The longtime Japan SV.League player, who is headed to the United States to play for San Francisco Signal in League One Volleyball (LOVB), will reinforce the Cool Smashers for a limited stint in the PVL Invitational Conference.

For Creamline coach Sherwin Meneses, that means one less towering problem to solve.

“Thank you, Jaja. That’s all I can say!” Meneses told the Inquirer in Filipino, laughing.

Meneses was an assistant to Tai Bundit when Santiago helped Chery Tiggo dethrone Creamline in 2021. Now the league’s most successful coach with eight championships, Meneses finally gets the 6-foot-5 Filipino international on his side.

“Jaja is already at a very high level, so we don’t have to worry about her height anymore because she’s on our side now.”

Santiago’s arrival naturally raises expectations, pairing arguably the country’s top homegrown volleyball talent with the PVL’s most successful club.

“Of course, the expectations are high, especially knowing that Jaja is now playing with Creamline. Everyone is really excited to see what we can do together,” Meneses said.

“For now, we’re really working on integrating Jaja into the Creamline system and making sure she understands how we play,” he added. “She’ll definitely be a big help to our team. Her skills and experience will be very valuable. Hopefully, even in a short amount of time, we can build better chemistry both on and off the court.”

A two-time Japan SV.League Best Blocker who won a championship with Osaka Marvelous in the 2024-’25 season, Santiago strengthens an already loaded Creamline roster bannered by Alyssa Valdez, Tots Carlos, Jema Galanza, Michele Gumabao, Kyle Negrito and Kyla Atienza.

She is also expected to form one of the league’s most formidable frontlines alongside Pangs Panaga and Bea De Leon. INQ

Since getting scooped up as an undrafted talent, CB Dwight McGlothern has inspired intrigue among fan and coach like. After all, the young fella has lived on the roster as a depth option for two-straight seasons.

The odd part is that Minnesota has put great effort into ensuring he doesn’t get onto the field.

Soon enough, that Vikings mystery needs to arrive at some form of an answer. Can McGlothern be trusted to earn playing time? If not, then why is he demanding a spot on the final roster? He doesn’t help on specials, meaning he has been occupying a coveted roster spot without doing a ton in games. Presumably, the 2026 season won’t involve a similar setup. Indeed, the upcoming season appears to be the one where the UDFA success story needs to prove capable of actually playing football on Sunday.

The Dwight McGlothern Vikings Mystery Will Get Answered Soon

Back in 2024, it was pretty easy to explain the modest playing time due to the in-house corner depth.

Sitting atop the corner cluster was Byron Murphy Jr. He was being supported by veterans Stephon Gilmore and Shaq Griffin. Next up was Fabian Moreau, who was quietly sturdy in his time in Minnesota. In that particular context, McGlothern’s near non-existent job was sensible and to be expected. Moreover, the in-house safety talent was demanding a good workload, further depleting the available snaps for the kid corner.

The 2024 season was easy to understand, but he then got kept around in 2025. That’s the year when things got odd.

The Vikings went through a modest reset at corner. Neither of Griffin nor Gilmore were brought back. Instead, the pivot was toward Isaiah Rodgers and Jeff Okudah, both of whom were firmly within their prime.

Rodgers, for the most part, played sturdy football. Meanwhile, Okudah couldn’t overcome the issues that have hindered his career. He played poorly and then needed to take time away to get healthy.

The Vikings therefore had to find a third corner. Sitting at CB4 was Dwight McGlothern, who again got onto the final roster. The obvious move would be to feature the young coverage player but Brian Flores & Co. instead bumped up the veteran Moreau from the practice squad, bypassing the roster’s built-in option.

In two seasons (mostly) on the roster, Dwight McGlothern has played 19 snaps on defense and then 31 snaps on defense. He has just 17 snaps and then 20 snaps on specials, so it’s not as if he’s crushing things as a gunner.

Known by the nickname “Nudie,” McGlothern appears to be well-liked among coaches and teammates. He has proven capable of overcoming long odds by getting onto the team. What has been so bizarre, though, has been the team’s unwillingness to give him any on-field work despite making the effort to retain his services.

Keeping the 24-year-old corner suggests that Minnesota hasn’t wanted to lose him. He can’t get poached from the practice squad if he isn’t shuffled down to the practice squad. But, strangely, the team has then avoided playing him, suggesting there’s not huge trust in his ability to play sturdy ball.

McGlothern stands at 6’2″ and weighs 185 pounds. He’s facing increased competition from guys such as Chuck Demmings and Zemaiah Vaughn to make the final team.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

A former Nebraska running back entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Roger Craig is the sixth former Nebraska player to be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The former Husker spent 11 seasons in the NFL, nine of them with the San Fransico 49ers. He was a three-time Super Bowl champion in San Fransico with four Pro Bowl selections and an All-Pro selection in 1988. The former Husker is also a member of the NFL’s 1980s All-Decade Team and the 49ers Hall of Fame.

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Craig was also the first player to have 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season (1985). The Davenport, Iowa, native played at Nebraska from 1979 to 1982. During his time with the Huskers, he ran for 2,446 yards and 26 touchdowns. He was a second-round selection in the 1983 draft.

Craig did not deliver his speech from the podium and delivered a videotaped speech. In that speech, he announced that he had been diagnosed with vascular dementia, a condition that leads to cognitive decline and memory loss.

“I want people to know this diagnosis doesn’t define me. I am still Roger Craig. I am still a father, a husband, a teammate, a friend and someone who loves football and the people who brought it to my life. Football gave me everything: opportunity, discipline, lifelong friends and the platform to grow as a man.”

The former Husker is joined in the 2026 Hall of Fame class by Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri.

Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes and opinions.

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This article originally appeared on Cornhuskers Wire: Nebraska legend announces dementia diagnosis in Hall of Fame speech

Statistically speaking, it’s unlikely Davis Thompson will ever have another round his Saturday 65 at the Wyndham Championship.

Not because 65 is a particularly unusual score for Thompson, who shot a Saturday 63 at the 3M Open just two weeks ago. But because of what happened inside that 65: A collection of not one but two of the more statistical anomalies in all of professional golf … in just one round.

Let’s explain.

Thompson’s day in North Carolina started off slow. After four even par holes to start his Saturday, Thompson turned for the par-5 fifth hole knowing he needed to make some magic.

“Kind of got off to a slow start,” he said Saturday afternoon. “And then, you know, making an albatross usually helps get things going.”

Indeed, it does. And indeed it did for Thompson on Saturday, whose double-eagle two on the fifth hole was so unexpected he needed the ShotLink cameras just to capture it. (They did, delivering one of the funnier Jim Nantz highlight calls of the ’26 season.)

The Oklahoma Sooners have begun fall camp as the 2026 college football season draws closer. This fall camp will showcase some big position battles that could determine just how good the Sooners are this upcoming season.

One of the biggest position battles is for the EDGE opposite Taylor Wein, a spot vacated by R Mason Thomas going to the NFL. This battle is between Adepoju Adebawore and Danny Okoye. Adebawore is a former five-star recruit who has had a solid career, but not quite to the level the Sooners were hoping for when he arrived in Norman.

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Adebawore has had 27 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and five sacks in his career. The senior had his best season last year, racking up 17 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in a rotational role. He also established himself as one of the better run stoppers in the SEC.

Okoye, on the other hand, is a former four-star recruit with freakish athletic ability. He played sparingly as a redshirt freshman last season, totaling six tackles, two tackles for loss and two sacks. Adebawore spoke after practice on Friday about how Okoye has pushed him to be a better player.

“He has work ethic,” Adebawore said via OU Insider. “He has drive. Just a very driven player. And you know, just seeing that from a younger guy just makes me want to elevate all the time. Those guys come in, and they do so much for me. I see their work ethic, and it makes me want to try even harder to make sure I’m the example with me being older.”

The competition between Adebawore and Okoye could be one of the defining battles of Oklahoma’s fall camp. Replacing a player like Thomas won’t be easy, but the Sooners don’t necessarily need one player to replicate his production on their own.

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Instead, Oklahoma needs consistent pressure opposite Wein, regardless of who wins the starting job. If Adebawore continues building on the momentum from last season while Okoye takes the expected sophomore leap, Brent Venables could have another deep and disruptive edge rotation. For a defense that led the nation in sacks and tackles for loss last season, that depth could once again be one of the keys to another championship-caliber defense.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X (formerly known as Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions.You can also follow Jaron on X @jaronspor.

This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Adepoju Adebawore reveals how Danny Okoye has pushed him to be better

Jorge Messi, the father of soccer star and Argentina captain Lionel Messi, died Saturday at a hospital in the central Argentina city of Rosario. He was 68.

The Rosario-based Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys announced his death in a social media post that said he had undergone treatment in recent months for an unspecified illness. The post described him as “the pillar and the person who, with vision, rigor and affection, supported the career of the best player of all time, alongside his wife, Celia Cuccittini.”

The South American Football Confederation, CONMEBOL, in a statement also offered its condolences “with respect and affection for Lionel.”

Lionel Messi led Argentina to a runner-up finish in this year’s World Cup. In the team’s first match, against Algeria, he was visibly emotional after scoring the first of his three goals. He said later that he wept for “a reason unrelated to sports.”

“I went through some difficult, complicated days,” he said. “I am grateful to the delegation, to all my teammates, because they were always by my side wishing me strength so that I would be OK.”

Media reports at the time outraged the Messi family, which days later released a statement confirming that “Jorge is experiencing a health issue,” without specifying the nature of his condition.

“A person’s health and the peace of mind of their loved ones should not be the subject of speculation or irresponsible media interest,” according to the statement, which also expressed “discomfort at the lack of sensitivity, respect and scruples with which some people have treated a strictly private and family matter.”

Jorge Messi was a chemical technician and worked as a steelworker. He played soccer as a midfielder and reached the youth ranks of Newell’s Old Boys but had to abandon the sport to complete his mandatory military service in Argentina.

He played a fundamental role in his third son’s career, serving as his agent and managing his business affairs. He was the one who traveled with a young Messi to Barcelona in the early 2000s for the trial that would open the doors to La Masia, the club’s youth academy. Lionel Messi made his professional debut in 2005 and went on to win eight Ballon d’Or awards. He led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title.

“My dad was always by my side,” Lionel Messi said in a 2007 interview with Radio del Plata. “Sometimes I would lock myself in my room to cry when we arrived in Barcelona, or my dad would do the same without me seeing him, or thinking I didn’t see him. We pretended we were both OK, but we weren’t. My dad even asked me what I wanted to do when we were feeling down, if I wanted to stay or go back, and I wanted to stay, and he stayed with me.”

His father negotiated the contracts with Barça and later his transfers to Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami, while also managing the use of his famous son’s image rights and his numerous investments in real estate, hotels, and restaurants.

Jorge Messi (right) served as Lionel Messi’s agent. (Photo by Emma Garcia/picture alliance via Getty Images)

In 2013, father and son were accused by a Spanish prosecutor of trying to conceal earnings from the player’s image rights. Jorge Messi paid more than 5 million euros ($6.6 million) on Aug. 14 to cover alleged back taxes and interest.

The president of Argentina’s soccer federation, Claudio Tapia, on Saturday issued a lengthy statement in which he recognized Jorge Messi “for having raised a person of values: humble, respectful, and deeply committed to others.”

The organization ordered a moment of silence to be observed at all matches across all categories of Argentine soccer and mandated that players, referees and coaching staff wear black armbands.

Reporting by The Associated Press.