Stephen A. Smith: Baseball's Job Is Not Politics

On a tennis court with a makeshift basketball hoop installed on the side, a 10-year-old’s bleeding knee told the tale of the fierce competition within the Hammond basketball clan. The Hammond family, from left to right, Jeremiah, dad Julian II, Julian III and Christian Hammond, practice on a hoop at the side of a tennis court at the Eastmoor Park Condominiums in Denver in August 2017.

Quitter’s Day was last Friday, apparently, when many New Year’s resolutions get chucked into the recycling bin. Not up in the Grading The Week cubicles. No way, no how. We make a promise for 2025, we keep it. And one of those vows: Full disclosure. Which means we’ve got to be 100% honest on two fronts: 1.

To reach a stage that is bigger, Bo Nix has to play better. It remains a critical component as the Broncos aim to move from a playoff team to a Super Bowl contender. From his work ethic to his mindset, everything suggests Nix will improve. He is determined to exhaust all options this offseason — talking to Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, for instance — to take the next step forward.

In Miami, the sheen of a 2023 NBA Finals run has long since worn off. It has been replaced by an ongoing public feud between Heat team president Pat Riley and star forward Jimmy Butler, who’s trying to force himself into a new team before the trade deadline. The Nuggets rolled into town at a critical moment in the soap opera Friday, defeating the Heat 133-113 in Butler’s first game back from a seven-game suspension imposed by Riley for conduct detrimental to the team. Jamal Murray went for 30 points (20 in the first half), seven rebounds and eight assists, and the Nuggets (25-16) reached the halfway point of the season on a pace for 50 wins. Sleeved up Joker After an alarming last-minute injury scratch from the lineup on Wednesday, Nikola Jokic was able to play with a sprained right elbow in Miami.

Niwot runner and 5A state champion Addison Ritzenhein has been named Gatorade Colorado Girls Cross Country Player of the Year for the second straight year, Gatorade announced this week. The junior put up a time of 16:54.7 to take home that individual state title — her third straight — and lead her team to a fifth-place finish.

As a freshman last season, Colorado State’s 6-foot-7 forward Rashaan Mbemba showed glimpses of what he could do once he grew into an expanded role with the team. The Austria native played sparingly as the team’s No. 2 big man behind Patrick Cartier but made the most of his opportunities when he got on the court. He averaged 11 minutes per game off the bench, scoring 3.8 points and grabbing 2.2 rebounds per contest, reaching a then-career high in points (13) twice, against San Jose State and Creighton. CSU head coach Niko Medved and his teammates knew that Mbemba could be something special, and teammate Nique Clifford emphasized that during Mountain West Conference media days before the start of the season while providing some foreshadowing to what the big man would do this season. “The thing for Rashaan is, he’s been playing against grown men for what, since he was like 13 years old,” Clifford said.