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The Star Tribune dug through its archives and blessed us all with an excerpt of a story about Prince’s athletic endeavors during junior high and high school. The timeless pop artist grew up playing basketball, football and baseball and he was actually really good. MORE: Reminiscing on Prince’s Super Bowl performance | Best photos from Prince at the Super Bowl The clip from the story says Prince was a jock and even made his school’s varsity basketball team as a freshman....

Memphis dealt with an unprecedented number of injuries, playing a record 28 players throughout the 2015-16 campaign. Take a look at this list and then try to figure out how this team made the playoffs. MORE: Ranking the 16 head coaches in the NBA playoffs The Spurs mercifully ended the Grizzlies’ season Sunday afternoon by finishing off a first-round sweep. It was expected, but you still have to give a ton of credit to all 28 guys who threw on a Grizz uniform, and Dave Joerger, who should get some Coach of the Year consideration....

The U.K.’s longest-reigning monarch was laid to rest at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor, England on Monday, September 19, following a state funeral held at London’s Westminster Abbey. The former professional soccer player shared the touching tribute via Instagram later that evening. “Our Queen is home.. Today we said a final farewell to Her Majesty The Queen,” Beckham, 47, wrote. “This week the world has mourned the loss of a unique, inspirational & caring leader....

First came the reports that Kyrie Irving would not be available on Monday due too heath and safety protocols. That comes as no real shock given recent reports about Irving’s COVID vaccination status. Irving’s absence was unexpectedly filled by legendary late night host David Letterman, who showed up to play the role of reporter on behalf of ‘Basketball Digest.’ MORE: Stephen A backtracks on Irving-Simmons trade talk Letterman wasted no time getting in on the action, asking several questions do Durant....

We were still able to dig through the numbers and find several studs worth paying up for and more than a few matchups that provide stacking opportunities and potential values plays for FanDuel and DraftKings contests. MORE: Fantasy football sleepers Overall, this looks like a good day to use solid lefthanded bats (especially from the Rockies, Royals, Reds and Padres). We’re trusting that most DFS players know that they should be careful with lefthanded batters against lefthanded pitching and that many righthanded hitters, while often better against lefties, still have plenty of value against most righthanded pitchers....

It’s a short, eight-game slate Thursday with only five games on the evening slate. To make things more difficult for daily fantasy baseball owners, the top three pitchers are going in the afternoon slate and won’t even be available in certain contests. MORE FANTASY: Prospect rankings | Waiver wire All that means you’re going to have to dig deep for value on the mound tonight, so let’s take a look at today’s full starting pitcher rankings and picks....

Saturday features several aces, which always makes for interesting decisions. The afternoon slate is headlined by Clayton Kershaw vs. Madison Bumgarner. Kershaw will be hard to fit into DFS lineups at his high price. Meanwhile, the Tigers’ and Blue Jays’ hitters are the most appealing for the day slate, but Detroit’s bat are cheaper. MORE FANTASY: FanDuel lineup | Pitcher rankings | Play FanDuel MLB! For the evening slate, expect high ownership for Padres and Rockies hitters at Coors Field....

There are plenty of other games with higher projected point totals, and DFS owners shouldn’t be afraid to spend up at shooting guard and center and look for values at the forward spots. MORE FANTASY: 2016 baseball rankings | Play FanDuel! As usual, the experts at FantasyAlarm.com will publish their top daily fantasy basketball picks at each position across various DFS sites in the Playbook (free preview below). Playbook PRO members get even more daily fantasy basketball advice, along with detailed analysis and strategies, suggested team “stacks” and optimal daily fantasy lineups....

This adds up to plenty of excitement and a great week to bone up on the strategy and advice below in order to catch some late-season fantasy cash. Even if some NFL teams might be mailing it in, the variables of finding players who will get surprise volume at bargain prices add to the intrigue while playing FanDuel, DraftKings and Yahoo contests. We have the best volume-based values for you in Week 17....

The play was blown dead as the Rebels’ Trae Elston came to meet Prescott at the goal line, smashing him below the knees to send him head-over-heels to the turf. MORE: Gallery | Georgia’s 99-yard touchdown | Numbers that Matter: Auburn vs. Alabama Elston likely didn’t hear the whistle and there was no flag on the play. Prescott was a bit shaken up but went on to play. Ole Miss beat Mississippi State, 31-17....

NASCAR announced that Earnhardt failed race inspection three times at Michigan, leading to a warning and a time penalty, while the teams of Paul Menard and Josh Wise were late to qualifying, resulting in their penalties. MORE: Michigan Winners & Losers | Info for Bristol Night Race The teams of Brad Keselowski and AJ Allmendinger received written warnings for failing race inspection twice. While the written warnings do not include any penalties, the teams could be subject to P1-level penalties should they be issued warnings again this weekend at Bristol....

But that didn’t stop Junior from joining the party in Victory Lane. MORE: Rough starts for Gordon, Stewart | Highest paid drivers | PHOTOS: Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 This is just another case of Earnhardt ruling over the Twittersphere, and Johnson was all for it. Despite two unfortunate finishes to start the season, Earnhardt is pretty pleased with his performance. He should be, considering he is in the top five in the Sprint Cup points standings heading into the Kobalt 400 on Sunday in Las Vegas....

That figure shattered the existing record for a first-time arbitration-eligible pitcher. David Price (2012) and Dontrelle Willis (2006) shared the previous mark of $4.35 million. MORE: Eight MLB stars who could be traded in 2016 | Former players other than Bonilla still getting paid by MLB teams Friday marked the deadline for teams to reach contract agreements with arbitration-eligible players, or to state their respective contract offers for the coming season....

Daryl Henry, 24, and Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 19, in conjunction with two co-defendants, posed as gay men on Grindr to draw unsuspecting users to the Solana Ridge Apartment Complex in Dallas. The victims were alternately robbed, assaulted, sexually assaulted, held against their will or carjacked, court documents say. Lawyers for Henry and Ceniceros-Deleon did not respond to requests for comment. At least one defendant “urinated and wiped human feces on” at least one victim, prosecutors allege....

Perry was handed a five-game suspension by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Friday following his ejection from Monday’s Winter Classic. The 34-year-old forward delivered an elbow to the head of Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis early in the first period of the annual New Year’s Day game, resulting in his expulsion after just 38 seconds of ice time. Nashville scored twice during the ensuing five-minute power play, but the Stars ultimately won the game 4-2....

The Trail Blazers star tweeted the following question on Thursday evening: “Why is Orlando like this and Miami was like that?” To no surprise, his followers speculated whether or not he was taking shots at the Magic, who are amongst the worst teams in the Eastern Conference, but he was quick to silence any skeptics by clarifying his vague tweet. MORE: Classic Jordan photos | Rockets’ season gets NBA Jam twist | Jazz are winning without tanking...

During a Wednesday radio appearance on 1080 AM in Portland, former Blazer Damon Stoudamire confirmed a film crew is working on the feature. He did not divulge the network that is commissioning the project, but Awful Announcing reported it’s being produced to air on HBO. MORE: 2016 NBA mock draft | Take a stand, NBA “We got a lot of people on board,” Stoudamire told the station, via The Oregonian....