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.

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.

Fifa has strongly criticised what it calls a “concerted and ongoing effort” to “undermine” the organisation and its president Gianni Infantino.

The statement follows a Daily Telegraph report, external which claimed Infantino’s alleged lover was given a severance payment by Uefa after he had an affair while he was its general secretary.

Fifa hit out at “unsubstantiated assertions and demonstrably false claims”, adding that “speculation and insinuation should not be presented as fact”.

Infantino has come under increasing pressure from Uefa and European football associations over his aborted Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.

FFE would have meant a new company being created to manage commercial and ticketing rights, with 21% sold off to a private investment company.

Uefa has said it has lost confidence in Infantino, while Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) president Lise Klaveness on Friday called on the Swiss-Italian to resign.

European football’s governing body says its threat to boycott Fifa events remains on the table, adding that certain conditions have not been met.

“The Fifa President was democratically elected by Fifa’s Member Associations and continues to serve with their mandate,” Fifa said in its statement on Saturday.

“It is increasingly evident that there is a concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine Fifa and its president.

“Those who do not have the support of Fifa’s member associations should not seek to achieve through allegation, insinuation or misinformation what they cannot achieve through Fifa’s established democratic processes.”

Opposition to Infantino is largely from within Europe.

The Mexican Football Federation broke ranks with its regional governing body Concacaf to come out in support of Infantino.

It echoed a statement from Conmebol – South America’s governing body – in saying it would reject any attempt to remove Infantino without a vote involving all 211 Fifa member countries.

Infantino is also unanimously backed by the 54 nations of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

Jordan Coyle with Eristov and Britain’s Rachel Proudley with Easy Boy De Laubry Z shared the Defender Puissance at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show on Saturday night.

It was an incredible result for Eristov, the 17-year-old grey gelding who has achieved so much success throughout the world, as the event was his final career class before retirement.

Easy Boy De Laubry Z and Proudley won the Puissance last year and were popular competitors as the British rider wore a Mayo jersey during most of the competition.

Round One

Nine combinations entered the Defender Puissance – seven from Ireland along with The Netherlands’ Zoi Snels and the defending champion, Rachel Proudley with Easy Boy De Laubry Z.

Waterford’s Paddy O’Connell and Quality Command were the only four faulters from the opening round.

Jump-Off Rounds 1 & 2

Derry rider Daniel Coyle and VDL Mourinho exited at the jump-off round 1 stage – where only the triple bar and the Wall had to be jumped – when failing to successfully clear the Wall at 1.95m (6′ 5″).

In jump-off round 2, the first to take on the Wall at 2.05m (6′ 9″) was Sligo’s Richard Howley aboard the Bolesworth Puissance victor, French Connection. The pair dislodged a brick from the top of the Wall, with the same happening to the Dutch competitor Zoi Snels with Jiminez Z.

Jordan Coyle and Eristov, next into the Laya Arena, became the first combination to clear the Wall at 2.05m (6′ 9″).

His fellow Irish rider Mikey Pender, riding Coblue PS, experienced the same fate as Richard Howley and Zoi Snels as they knocked part of the top line of the Wall.

Rachel Proudley and Easy Boy De Laubry Z ensured a third jump-off round when they went clear. They were followed by Andrew Hodgins from Sligo with Shanaclough Luichew, and then Longford’s Derek McCoppin and Explosief’s Legacy.

Jump-Off Rounds 3 & 4

For jump-off round 3, the Wall was increased to 2.15m with four combinations talking on the challenge.

Jordan Coyle and Eristov went clear, before Rachel Proudley and Easy Boy De Laurby Z followed them, to ensure there would be jump-off round four. Andrew Hodgins and Shanaclough Luichew were unable to clear the Wall at 2.15m, but were immediately followed into the arena by Derek McCoppin with Explosief’s Legacy, who became the third combination to go through to a final round.

The fourth jump-off round saw both Coyle and Proudley have four faults each, as they and their horses failed to clear the Wall at 2.22m (7′ 3″). Derek McCoppin and his partner, Explosief’s Legacy, had both the triple bar and the Wall down for eight fault.

As a result Coyle with Eristov and Proudley and Easy Boy De Laubry Z shared the win in the Defender Puissance for 2026.

Speaking after the class, Derry rider Jordan Coyle admitted:

“I actually feel disappointed. I think I let him down bigtime in the last round. I actually think he would have jumped it if I had done my job, but for him to retire like this is unbelievable. He is actually the horse that started everything for me. What he has given me has been unbelievable and for him to retire like this in incredible.”

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