Yahoo Sports AM: Wemby!

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🚨 HEADLINES

🏈 New signals: Purdue coach Ryan Walters says they've installed new signals ahead of Saturday's game at Michigan as the sign-stealing scandal continues to evolve.

🏒 Brutal start: The Sharks lost 10-1 to the Canucks on Thursday and have yet to win a game this season (0-9-1).

🏀 City Edition jerseys: In addition to custom courts, NBA teams will also be debuting new uniforms during the in-season tournament that tips off today.

🏒 Neck protection: Capitals veteran T.J. Oshie wore a neck guard during Thursday's game and four Penguins players wore them at practice in the wake of Adam Johnson's tragic on-ice death.

📺 Super Bowl ads: It's early November and CBS already "virtually sold out" of all its ad inventory, per Variety. They're charging $6.5 million to $7 million for 30-second spots.

🏀 WEMBY'S FIRST MONSTER GAME

Victor Wembanyama had the first monster game of his NBA career on Thursday night, with 38 points (15-26 FG, 3-6 3PT), 10 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in the Spurs' 132-121 win over the Suns.

• He scored 10 of the Spurs' final 12 points, making play after play and looking so unguardable that all the announcers could do was laugh.

• Through five games, the 19-year-old rookie is averaging 20.6 points on 50.2% shooting with 8.0 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

• San Antonio is 3-2 after back-to-back wins over Phoenix, who'd beaten them nine straight times entering the year.

My take: The Wemby Experience cannot be summarized in a box score. The stats tell a story, but you have to watch the games to truly appreciate his greatness. Every few minutes last night, he did something that I swear I've never seen before.

• "What the heck am I watching? How is this a real person?" That's what it's like to watch Spurs games now. Even seeing Wemby do something as mundane as run up the court is mesmerizing.

• The only other player that had my brain in a pretzel like this was a young Shaquille O'Neal, who is coincidentally the only other rookie to post the numbers Wemby is putting up.

Watch the full highlights.

🏈 THE STEELERS ARE HAVING A WEIRD YEAR

The Steelers beat the Titans, 20-16, on Thursday night despite being out-gained by Tennessee. This is becoming a trend.

Crazy stat: Pittsburgh is the 34th team in NFL history to be out-gained in each of their first eight games. They are the first to have a winning record through those eight games (5-3), per Elias Sports Bureau.

📸 BEHIND THE LENS

Each week, we go "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to get the backstory on the best photographs in sports.

‌This week's photo: Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates winning the Mexico City Grand Prix. It was his 16th victory of 2023, the most in a season in Formula 1 history.

• Photographer: Mark Thompson

• Location: Mexico City

• Date: October 29

📸 Behind the lens: "The story of the race is summed up in this one photo — with the perspective of Max Verstappen on top of the world," says Mark.

• "When the winners pull up, you always hope they do something to engage with the crowd. Thankfully, Verstappen stood on his car."

• "The background was heavily backlit. I decided to use it to my advantage, using flare lighting and the stadium behind him to create a really nice picture."

Photographers are athletes, too: After photographing the starting grid, Mark had to run down to the first corner, which is not close. "Fun fact: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has the longest straight in F1 at about one mile," he says. "So it was a long way with all my gear and equipment."

⚾️ SNAPSHOT: ACTIVE HR LEADERS

With Nelson Cruz announcing his retirement on Thursday, there's now just one active MLB player with 400+ home runs.

Active HR leaders:

1. Giancarlo Stanton: 402

2. Mike Trout: 368

3. Joey Votto: 356

4. Evan Longoria: 342

5. Paul Goldschmidt: 340

6. Nolan Arenado: 325

7. Freddie Freeman: 321

8. J.D. Martinez: 315

9. Manny Machado: 313

10. Bryce Harper: 306

Farewell, legends: Cruz* ranks 37th on the all-time home runs list with 464. Miguel Cabrera, who also retired this year, is tied for 25th with 511.

*PEDs scandal: In 2013, Cruz was among 13 players banned by MLB for their connections to Biogenesis of America, a Florida clinic accused of supplying PEDs. His suspension was for 50 games.

🏀 CHRIS PAUL'S NEW ROLE: SIXTH MAN

Chris Paul finds himself in unfamiliar territory this season in Golden State: For the first time in his career, he's coming off the bench, Jeff writes.

A new role: After starting his first two games with the Warriors while Draymond Green recovered from an ankle injury, Paul came off the bench in Sunday's win over the Rockets — and has done so in both games since.

By the numbers: Sunday's game ended a streak of 1,365 consecutive starts for Paul (including playoffs), the most ever to begin a career. In fact, the last time Paul didn't start a game that counted was in 2004 as a sophomore at Wake Forest.

• With Paul's streak snapped, the longest active streak belongs to Damian Lillard, who has started all 835 games of his career. Next is Kyrie Irving at 748.

• Even LeBron James came off the bench once in 2007 after returning from injury, and again this past spring. Kevin Durant has done it three times. Michael Jordan did it 33 times. Stuff happens. But Paul made it more than 18 seasons.

Early results: Aside from struggling with his shot, Paul is thriving in the new role, averaging 8 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists in three games off the bench — all wins — with an impressive +44 plus-minus.

📆 NOV. 3, 1996: RICE'S 1000TH CATCH

27 years ago today, Jerry Rice became the first player in NFL history with 1,000 career receptions, Jeff writes.

One of 14: Rice ended his career with a record 1,549 receptions and is one of 14 members of the 1,000 catch club.

1. Rice: 1,549

2. Larry Fitzgerald: 1,432

3. Tony Gonzalez: 1,325

4. Jason Witten: 1,228

5. Marvin Harrison: 1,102

6. Cris Carter: 1,101

7. Tim Brown: 1,094

8. Terrell Owens: 1,078

9. Anquan Boldin: 1,076

10. Reggie Wayne: 1,070

11. Andre Johnson: 1,062

12. Steve Smith Sr: 1,031

13. Isaac Bruce: 1,024

14. Hines Ward: 1,000

More on this day:

• 🏀 1995: The expansion Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors* debuted on the same day.

• 🏈 2001: Arkansas beat Ole Miss, 58-56, in seven overtimes, the first of seven games in college football history to go that long.

*The other Toronto team: The Toronto Huskies were founding members of the BAA in 1946, which became the NBA in 1949. In fact, the Huskies hosted the Knicks in what is considered the NBA's inaugural game.

🇩🇪 GERMANY TRIVIA

Frankfurt, which hosts the NFL on Sunday, is the sixth-biggest city in Germany by population.

Question: What's the biggest?

• Berlin

• Munich

• Dortmund

• Hamburg

Answer at the bottom.

📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST

This weekend features NWSL and MLS playoff action, NASCAR's championship race, the NBA's in-season tournament, the NFL in Germany, and so much more, Jeff writes.

• ⚽️ Soccer: The NWSL semifinals and Round One of the MLS Playoffs.

• 🏁 NASCAR: Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Christopher Bell battle for the title.

• 🏈 CFB Saturday: Five ranked matchups, including No. 5 Washington at No. 20 USC and No. 14 LSU at No. 8 Alabama.

• 🏈 NFL Sunday: The Chiefs and Dolphins play in Frankfurt, Germany.

• 🏀 NBA: Seven games on Friday kick off the NBA Cup's group stage.

• 🗽 NYC Marathon: Five boroughs, 50,000 people, 26.2 miles.

Full watchlist on Yahoo Sports.

____

Trivia answer: Berlin

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