Jun 29, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Jean Silva during UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Our Current Best Offers

Channel debug: betting

Our Current Best Offers

Channel debug: betting

Julian Sayin’s family group chat was blowing up.

A video of Sayin went viral after one of his classmates recorded him introducing himself during the discussion portion of an online sports marketing class in the first week of school. The students had been asked to share their wellness habits. Instead of identifying himself as Ohio State’s starting quarterback or a Heisman Trophy candidate, Sayin kept it as low-key as possible.

He tried to be a normal college student.

“My name is Julian Sayin, I just prefer Julian,” he began. “My major is sport industry. I wouldn’t really say I want to change too much about my physical activity — I feel like I have a pretty good routine, I’m pretty active, I play sports. And one interesting thing about me is I love to play golf and I love playing pickleball.”

The video spread quickly across social media, in part because of how casual Julian was, but his family wasn’t surprised by it.

“It’s very Julian,” his older brother, Aidan Sayin, told me with a chuckle. “He’s not going to give you much detail, but just be humble and to the point. We all had a good laugh.

“The ‘I prefer Julian’ line was hilarious, but that’s just him. We joke that [his humor is] similar to Larry David. We always watch ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ and say he sort of emulates that same character.”

Julian’s no-ego personality might be the opposite of what you’d expect from someone at the center of the college football universe. He tries to fly under the radar and never tells anybody who he is if they don’t already know. Fans loved the video and plenty of them flooded the comment section on the social media post.

“The video itself encapsulates a lot about him,” Aidan said. “He’s not concerned with the spotlight. To be honest, he doesn’t even like it. Whenever we’re out and about in Columbus, he keeps his hat on, his head down, and just wants to get his açaí bowl.”

Julian has been that way for as long as those closest to him can remember. It’s part of what makes him so effective on the field.

He’ll need to keep that level head as he enters his second season as a starter at Ohio State, where a talent-laden roster is chasing its second national championship in three years. The top-ranked Buckeyes have a challenging schedule ahead with their first major test coming Saturday when they visit Arch Manning and No. 4 Texas in one of the biggest games on the Week 2 slate.

‘It Always Came From Within’

Julian is the baby in a family of high achievers. He’s the starting quarterback on the No. 1 team in the country and is a front-runner to win the Heisman after finishing in fourth place last season. But he’s striving to be as accomplished as his three older siblings.

“I think he was always kind of scrappy and trying to follow along,” Sayin’s mom, Karen Brandenburg, told me. “I don’t know how to describe it — it’s kind of like, ‘Don’t think you’re all that.’”

Julian Sayin warms up before Ohio State’s Week 1 game against Ball State. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Julian’s eldest sister, Bailey, played soccer at the University of Chicago before attending the Cambridge School of Art in England. His sister Jocelyn attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she earned a degree in data analytics. After returning to the United States, Jocelyn took an interest in her youngest brother’s career, joining him on several college visits to LSU and Ole Miss. Now, alongside their mom, Jocelyn helps manage Julian’s NIL and marketing deals. She also earned a master’s degree in sports management from Ohio State and is pursuing her doctorate.

Aidan played football at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with honors from Wharton. He went on to play for the Columbus Aviators of the UFL and is now considering continuing his football career in Japan or Europe.

When asked whether the household she and her husband, Dan, created while raising their children influenced their ambition, Brandenburg paused for a moment. She’s Type A; Dan is more laid back. Maybe, she thought, it started with Bailey, who from a young age was determined to play on the best soccer teams. That drive might have trickled down to the rest of the siblings.

“I don’t know,” Brandenburg said. “But it always came from within. We didn’t have to push. We never had to say, ‘You’ve gotta go to practice.’ They just always sought after things on their own, which made parenting really easy. We’ve been really lucky that they push each other.”

With success comes praise, and the Sayin kids aren’t particularly comfortable with compliments or being celebrated. When Jocelyn was finishing her master’s program, Brandenburg suggested they attend her graduation. Her daughter immediately pushed back: “No, no. When I get my doctorate, we’ll go to graduation.”

Julian is much the same way. The only feedback he really wants to hear — positive or negative — comes from his coaches and teammates. Even an email from an Ohio State fan in Dayton simply wanting to tell Julian that he had played great didn’t feel right to him.

‘On To The Next’

Thadd MacNeal — who was both Julian and Aidan’s coach at Carlsbad High School outside of San Diego and is close with the Sayin family — was at Ohio State’s 38-14 win over Penn State last year and sat in on the post-game press conference. He remembers reporters asking Julian about his passing percentage — 87% on a near-perfect 20-of-23 passes — in addition to 316 yards and four touchdowns.

“And he literally said, ‘Well, that’s because I have great protection, because my receivers catch every ball, and they’re so productive,” MacNeal told me. “It’s always deflecting to other people. That’s just how he operates.”

When Julian won Elite 11 — a premier high school quarterback competition — in June 2023, his mom wanted to take him out to dinner. He had beaten out Dylan Raiola, the top-rated quarterback recruit in the 2024 class at the time. But Julian declined. There was a tournament about 30 minutes away, and he wanted to go play in it instead.

This story came up during one of Julian’s visits to Alabama while he and his family were sitting in Nick Saban’s office. Julian enrolled at Alabama early in January 2024, but on his first day of classes, Saban announced his retirement, prompting the quarterback to enter the transfer portal and head to Columbus. 

Sayin runs against Ball State in Week 1 to score a three-yard touchdown in the Buckeyes’ win. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

“Nick [Saban] said, ‘Hey, I heard you won Elite 11,’” Brandenburg recalled. “And Julian’s like, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘I tried to take him out to dinner and celebrate.’”

“Nick just looked at Julian, and Julian goes, ‘On to the next thing.’ And Nick Saban’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s one thing. On to the next.’”

That attitude, Brandenburg said, is part of what makes Julian different.

“I don’t know what made him that way,” Brandenburg added. “But it’s good. It keeps us grounded, too. There’s always the next thing. 

“I’m really trying to learn from him.”

‘Calm And Locked In’

Those traits serve Julian well on the field. He’s calm in big moments and doesn’t let the stage get too big.

He’s already off to a fast start this season, completing 21-of-25 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns before coming out midway through the third quarter in Ohio State’s season-opening 56-3 romp of Ball State. Julian also scored his first rushing touchdown of his collegiate career on a fourth-and-goal to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter.

“He seems even more relaxed and confident this year,” Brandenburg said. “He’s very calm and locked in.”

Last year, his first as a starter at Ohio State, Julian completed 77% of his passes and averaged 27.9 attempts per game, the best mark in the country. He threw for 3,610 yards with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions, leading the Buckeyes to a 12-2 record and impressive wins over Texas and Michigan. They lost to eventual national champion Indiana in the Big Ten title game and runners-up Miami in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

The year before, Julian played in four games as Will Howard’s backup, completing 5-of-12 passes with one touchdown on an Ohio State team that ultimately won the national championship.

Those experiences have helped Julian grow and develop into an even better player. Transforming his body during the offseason, he’s stronger, more poised, and Ohio State coach Ryan Day said this summer at Big Ten Media Days that he’s carrying himself with “a different look in his eye.” 

Ohio State offensive lineman Luke Montgomery, Sayin, running back Bo Jackson and offensive lineman Carson Hinzman celebrate after a touchdown against Ball State. (Photo by Jason Mowry/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Buckeyes center Carson Hinzman has seen it too.

“I mean, that dude can roll now,” Hinzman told reporters last month. “When he’s talking in the huddle, the confidence he has. Being able to zip that ball, you hear it literally whistle behind your ear, and it gives us confidence to have a quarterback who can go out there and have a little bit of swagger about him.”

No matter what happens this season — whether Julian wins the Heisman, Ohio State falls to Texas on Saturday or the Buckeyes run the table — his mindset will remain the same. It always has.

“I think sometimes bravado or being the star quarterback works, too,” Aidan said. “But for the most part, teammates want to see someone who is about the team and isn’t all about themselves. He’s just about playing football. He doesn’t care what else goes along with it. He just wants to play football and do his best this week.”

Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey

KOLKATA: The power struggle within Hockey India intensified on Saturday after president Dilip Tirkey issued a show-cause notice to director general Cdr RK Srivastava and directed him to immediately cease discharging functions of his office, citing eight instances of alleged non-compliance, governance lapses and failure to implement directions issued by the elected leadership.In a detailed communication issued through advocate Himanshu Chaturvedi, a copy of which is with TOI, Srivastava was informed that all authority ordinarily exercised by him as director general would remain in abeyance with immediate effect pending further consideration under the Hockey India Bye-Laws.The letter directed him to hand over operational charge, official records, files, credentials and other assets to an officer designated by the president’s office.The notice lists eight charges against Srivastava, including the national team’s jersey controversy, a pending POSH matter, disciplinary issues, delays in implementing administrative directives and alleged failure to keep the president informed on key affairs.A key allegation relates to Srivastava’s travel to FIH Hockey World Cup despite being advised to remain in India to oversee Hockey India League (HIL) matters.According to the notice, communications dated July 30 and August 2 had directed him not to travel and instead facilitate the deputation of other Hockey India representatives for institutional and developmental purposes.Describing the matter as a serious breach of authority, the letter stated: “The non-compliance on your part was a direct insult to, and disobedience of, the office of the President, Hockey India.”The notice also cites the non-production of records linked to the Vikram Pal ICC/POSH matter. “Despite repeated requests from 15.07.2026 onwards for the Vikram Pal ICC/POSH report and proceedings, the records remained unavailable,” the communication states. It further alleges that Srivastava “failed to exercise supervisory control” to ensure the records were secured and made available through an appropriate confidential process.The communication further alleged that while selection committee member Subhadra Pradhan and former internationals Rani Rampal and Sardar Singh were identified for specific roles during the World Cup, the plan was not implemented, and Srivastava attended the event himself.On the action taken against the director general, the notice said: “All authority delegated to or ordinarily exercised through you as Director General shall remain in abeyance with immediate effect and, as an ad-interim protective measure, you shall cease to discharge the functions of Director General pending further consideration and decision by the Executive Committee.”The letter maintained that the measure was “immediate, ad-interim and protective” and did not amount to a final disciplinary finding or punishment. It also clarified that the action would not affect Srivastava’s contractual remuneration or ordinary service benefits.Srivastava has been given four weeks to submit a detailed response along with supporting documents.

France are through to the final of the women‘s basketball World Cup for the first time after a 86-64 victory over host nation Germany on Saturday.

Gabby Williams top scored with 22 points for the Olympic silver medalists, who kept their unbeaten record at the tournament alive before Sunday’s decider in Berlin.

The US-born Williams, who also topped the assist charts with five and with four had the most steals, was the constant threat on both ends of the floor for the French.

Admitting she was “on a mission,” Williams told Bein Sports: “I just want to give it my all.

“You never know when you’ll get an opportunity like this. You don’t know if it’ll be the last one. So, I’m just going to give everything.”

Read moreWemby signs multi-year contract with Spurs, tells fans ‘I’m here to stay’

France are on track to face the United States and will hope to avenge their one-point defeat in the Olympic final in Paris in 2024, should the heavily favoured Americans get past Spain later on Saturday.

The 11-time champion United States are on a 34-game winning streak at the World Cup dating back to their surprise semi-final defeat at the hands of Russia in 2006.

The underdog Germans swept past European champions Belgium in their quarter-final clash for a first semi-final appearance as a unified country, with East Germany having made the final four in 1967.

France burst out of the blocks early but the Germans stayed hot on their heels, trailing by just two at quarter-time.

France’s quality told as the match went on and the French scored nine straight points to start the second-half, running out to a 16-point lead.

Alexis Peterson and Emily Bessoir hit threes in the final quarter as the Germans cut the lead to just nine to stay within striking distance, but France again went on a run, scoring 12 straight to end the match and seal progress to a maiden final.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

In the end, Chelsea clung on for a brave point. Emiliano Martinez made an important late save. They survived a barrage of set-pieces. And when Cole Palmer stood over a free-kick 30 yards from goal, with the last kick of the game, he pumped it into the stands just to be safe. A draw against a team who were, for much of the afternoon, top of the league? You have to take it.

Of course that wasn’t quite the mood at Stamford Bridge when the final whistle blew on this 2-2 draw. A volley of boos rang out and it was hard to know exactly who they were for. The players, perhaps, who were collectively disconnected and at times individually calamitous. The referee, Farai Hallam, who at one point intercepted a Chelsea counterattack with his feet and picked up the ball with his hands, like a schoolteacher at the end of break time. Chelsea were exasperated when he waved away several handball shouts.

But really it was an outpouring of frustration, that as talented a front three as Chelsea possess, they cannot possibly outscore a defence as chaotic and porous as this one. Chelsea have conceded at least two goals in all four Premier League games this season, 13 goals in six games in all competitions, and that is too much for Palmer, Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers to overcome every weekend. Arsenal, by comparison, have conceded only once.

Chelsea went from 1-0 up to 2-1 down in six minutes, and Xabi Alonso accused his players of “soft” defending. “We are attacking better than defending,” he understated. “It’s just four games, but the dynamic in terms of conceding, I don’t like it, and we need to do much better. Open play, set-pieces, long balls – this toughness, this competitive sense, we can do better.”

Perhaps there was also some confusion mixed into the fans’ outpouring, after a game when Alonso’s team didn’t always make sense. Why was Maxence Lacroix not at the heart of defence from the start? Why doesn’t the manager trust Estevao Willian when Chelsea are chasing a game? What exactly is the purpose of Malo Gusto?

The first Hull goal was particularly troubling from Chelsea’s perspective. Wesley Fofana watched a long ball fly over his head, Gusto lost a 50-50 in the corner and Jorrel Hato lost his senses, misjudging the flight of the cross like it was his first time encountering this strange bouncing sphere. Mohamed Belloumi couldn’t believe his luck as the ball hopped over Hato, and he took the opportunity beautifully with a low drive under Martinez’s body.

Moments before Hull’s second, it was quite obvious to everyone in the stadium before the corner was taken that Belloumi was alone in a sunny glade on the edge of the box. He pleaded for a pass which didn’t come, and yet still had no Chelsea player near him by the time the ball flew into the middle, bounced off the bar and rolled out to his feet. This time his finish took a couple of fortunate deflections, but you couldn’t say Hull deserved any less.

Martinez did not have his finest afternoon. He flapped at the corner which led to Belloumi’s second goal, and in the second half fumbled a routine shot which almost presented the ball to Oli McBurnie to tap in what would have most probably been the winner.

Another recruit from Aston Villa with improvements to make is Austin MacPhee, Chelsea’s hirsute set-piece coach, who bobbed around the technical area waving his arms and looking generally exasperated with players who apparently weren’t following his instructions, as if somehow that wasn’t his fault. Some of Chelsea’s intricate attacking corners almost worked, when Palmer would ghost to the front post and receive a low pass, but they need to spend time on the defensive side.

These are early days, of course. Alonso is still learning his best combinations. Chelsea will be better when Moises Caicedo returns, when Marco Palestra finally begins his career here. But for all their successful trading, earning a billion pounds in sales since BlueCo took over, there was a sense that some past players were missing. Trevoh Chalobah, for example, was Chelsea’s best defender for large parts of last season and would surely have enhanced this ragged display.

The only positive is that their attack continues to fire. Rogers and Pedro produced clinical finishes in each half, and while it wasn’t Palmer’s best game, he played a major hand in both goals. Palmer has a habit of drifting to the fringes when it becomes congested, partly out of an instinctive feeling of where the space is, where the opponents’ soft spots are, and partly out of frustration at a lack of involvement. He loitered on the left and then drove into the box to feed Pedro, who lashed a first-time finish into the roof of the net.

But they could not find another, and if anything it was Hull who looked most likely to score a third. No Premier League team have been involved in as many goals as Chelsea so far this season, but Alonso would much rather they were not the top flight’s great entertainers.

“I hope that one day you say it was a boring game and we won,” he said. “For sure, it’s some repeated patterns that we are making. It will take time to fix them. When we get the lead, you still need to be competing and not give the chance so easily for them to come back.

“Especially in the first goal, we can do much better. It was too soft to give them this hope because until then we were controlling, we were creating chances … It was from a long ball, two bounces. The way it happened, you need to be very, very aware, and very ready that the danger can come from any situation. If you are soft or if you are not prepared, you will get punished.”

NEW YORK (AP) — American Christian Harrison and British partner Neal Skupski won their second Grand Slam men’s doubles title of the year by defeating Germany’s Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4, 7-6 (6) in the U.S. Open final on Saturday.

Harrison and Skupski were playing just their second tournament together when they won the Australian Open in January. They are the fourth men’s team to win these two majors in the same year since Melbourne went to hard courts in 1988.

Advertisement

“It’s been a great year,” Harrison said. “To get two titles like this, I’m speechless — and to do it at home.”

They cruised through at Flushing Meadows, becoming just the third team since the Open era began in 1968 to win without dropping a set. It took fending off set point in the second during the tiebreak to join the duos of John McEnroe and Peter Fleming in 1983 and Bob and Mike Bryan in 2008 and ’10 in the history books.

“It’s amazing what a year does in tennis,” said Skupski, who lost in the 2025 U.S. Open and French Open finals with former partner Joe Salisbury. “Still in shock. … This moment right now feels so special.”

Harrison is a major champion on home soil after undergoing eight surgeries from 2009-18 that led him to largely abandon singles play to focus on doubles. That included two operations on his left femur, along with one on each hip and adductor.

Advertisement

Father and coach Pat was in attendance along with other family members, putting aside his fear of flying to make the trip.

“Got my dad to fly up here,” Christian Harrison said. “He doesn’t fly.”

Krawietz and Puetz came up short in the final for a second time in three years. They lost to the Australian pair of Max Purcell Jordan Thompson in 2024.

“To lose a final hurts, of course,” Krawietz said. “See you next year.”

___

See AP’s full tennis coverage here