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MORE: Monday Night schedule | Thursday Night | Thanksgiving Seattle Seahawks at San Francisco 49ers (Week 13, Nov. 27, 8:30 p.m. ET, NBC). The Niners drowned out the noise and pushed the ‘Hawks to the limit in the NFC title game in Seattle. There will be nothing familiaal about the teams’ first meeting in San Francisco’s new home on Thanksgiving. It just might be the first of three hard-hitting matchups of the division archrivals (again)....

But behind Seattle and San Francisco is an NFC stuffed full of championship-caliber squads. No division in the conference has an obvious, stand-out favorite to win, making predictions somewhat of a crapshoot. East Philadelphia Eagles (10-6) Don’t expect coach Chip Kelly and QB Nick Foles to be just a flash-in-the-pan with a case of some beginner’s luck. The Eagles will maintain their offensive creativity with some raised defensive intensity. That will allow them to pull a rare repeat in the East....

The U.S., which lost to Canada in one semifinal, and the Finns, losers to Sweden in the other, are playing the second-to-last hockey game in Sochi on Saturday morning. Canada-Sweden, the final, is Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET (NBC). FULL ANALYSIS: Finland crushes U.S. with blend of past, future Back in net for Finland is Tuukka Rask, who missed the Sweden game because he was sick. Jonathan Quick, of course, is starting for the the United States....

But there is still a glaring issue with The Game Awards – one that still remains since the early Spike days. Where the show might have some fun elements, trailers, and celebrity appearances, the awards still seem to take a back seat. Nevertheless, this year’s event had some hardware to give out, as designed by the folks at WETA Workshop. And while the winners may have been overshadowed by the pageantry of it all, The Game Awards still honored some truly deserving releases....

It was a lopsided match, for the first two sets, in which Daniel won five games. The 21-year-old Japanese found a chance in the third set, winning three straight games to take a 6-5 lead. Raonic found his rhythm back in time, hitting three aces in his following service game to force the set into tie-breaker. Raonic showed enough intensity in the tiebreaker, winning it 7-1. Raonic will next meet Peter Gojowczyk in the second round....

“I was struggling a little bit about the two-and-a-half hour mark, but I knew that if I hung in I would get that second wind where I could start playing good tennis again,” said Kyrgios after the match, “and that’s what happened in the fourth set”. Kyrgios became known to the world after beating world No.1 Rafael Nadal 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the Wimbledon fourth round. He was the first wild card to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals on debut since Florian Mayer in 2004, and the youngest player to reach the quarters at a Grand Slam championship since compatriot Tomic (18 years, 255 days) at 2011 Wimbledon....

The winner of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil will take home $35 million in prize money, and each of the 32 competing nations will get at least $8 million. The figure was released on Thursday by FIFA’s executive committee and is part of a $576 million fund set aside for the tournament. The funds are to be used to settle payments to clubs across the globe as well as to take care of insurance cover in the case of injured players’ salaries....

American Pharoah was too much for each of those competitors five weeks ago in Louisville, and he will be heavily favored to beat them once again on his way to capturing horse racing’s first Triple Crown since 1978, when Affirmed nosed out Alydar. More: Connections pleased with Pharoah’s post position draw Is there an Alydar-type in this field, someone to look American Pharoah in the eye? If so, he’s got some lengths he needs to find first....

12:10 p.m., CBS — UAB vs. UCLA (at Louisville) 2:40 p.m., CBS — Cincinnati vs. Kentucky (at Louisville) 5:15 p.m., CBS — Ohio State vs. Arizona (at Portland) MORE: All-time best tourney moments | Must-see photos from Friday | Dick Vitale thought ESPN was a disease 6:10 p.m., TNT — Georgia State vs. Xavier (at Jacksonville) 7:10 p.m., TBS — N.C. State vs. Villanova (at Pittsburgh) 7:45 p.m., CBS — Utah vs....

The atypical 2015 route unveiled Wednesday by Tour organizers also sees a greatly reduced emphasis on time trialing, plenty of opportunities for sprinters to shine and potential traps that could trip up race favorites, including a return to tricky cobbled roads in northeast France. The Tour starts July 4 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, with a 14-kilometer (8½-mile) time trial, the only solo race against the clock of this 102nd edition....

The stadiums have been full of Indian supporters during India’s matches, while surprisingly, empty seats have been visible during Australia’s matches. According to rumours, the Indian fans have bought 70% of the tickets and it will seem like a home away from home for MS Dhoni’s men. Pitch and conditions: Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) Matches won batting First: 82 Matches won bowling First: 61 Average scores recorded: 1st Inns - 218, 2nd Inns - 184...

Boston Celtics scored just 7 points in the first quarter, trailing by 17 points even before the second quarter began and unlike Game 1, the Celtics never seemed poised to make a run at the lead. Thier seven points in the first 12 minutes are the fewest points scored in any quarter of a playoff game in the shot clock era. Everything was going wrong for the C’s, their offense wasn’t functioning and the Hawks were dominating defensively....

After restricting England for just 346 in the first innings, Australia ended up scoring a mammoth 649/7, thanks to centuries from Usman Khawaja (171), Shaun Marsh (156) and Mitchell Marsh (101). Facing a huge deficit of 303 runs, England were never in a position of saving the Test as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and ended up getting dismissed for 180, 123 runs short to make the hosts bat again....

24 countries will be participating in the World Cup, from six different confederations. From Asia- Iran, Iraq, Japan and DPR ‘North’ Korea have qualified from the 2016 U-16 Championship while India has been given a spot on account of being the host nation. From Africa- Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Niger have progressed from 2017 Africa U-17 Cup of Nations. From Central, North American and Caribbean zones, we will witness the likes of Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico and the United States of America, all of whom have progressed from the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship....

The absence of the November Line in this year’s edition means that the finalists will have to resume play on Thursday itself. Another astonishing fact is that each of the nine players on the final table will be taking home at least a million dollars from the $10,000 buy-in tournament. In case you didn’t know… The World Series of Poker is an annual tournament that takes place in Las Vegas and is organised by Caesars Entertainment....

City were by far the biggest winners, beating the Terriers 6-1 with Sergio Aguero grabbing a hat-trick; the game was followed by United’s timid display at the Amex Stadium as Brighton rolled to a 3-2 win. On Saturday, Chelsea edged Arsenal 3-2 in a thrilling match that saw the Gunners recover from 2-0 down but defeated by Marcos Alonso’s second-half winner. Monday night’s fixture - Crystal Palace versus Liverpool served another enjoyable watch as the Reds were forced to fight for a 2-0 win, with Milner and Mane securing the three points....

But, they made a huge comeback by winning the Asia Cup in UAE under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. They also won the five-match ODI series against West Indies 3-1. Also Read: India’s 5 most valuable T20I players of the year 2018 In 2018, the Men in Blue have found a solution to their middle-order woes in the form of Ambati Rayudu. There were four cricketers - Siddarth Kaul, Khaleel Ahmed, Deepak Chahar and Rishabh Pant who made their ODI debuts in 2018....

USC and Washington lost New Year’s Day Six games after the conference was shut out of the College Football Playoff for the second time in four seasons. The Pac-12 finished 1-8 in bowl games, with Utah providing the only victory. The conference also hired five new coaches. MORE: 18 early questions for 2018 The good news? Heisman Trophy finalist Bryce Love and Washington stars Jake Browning and Myles Gaskins return....

Franco, 43, detailed his experience during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, portions of which were released on Wednesday. The conversation in full is scheduled to be released Thursday. During the interview, Franco described in-depth his battle with his addiction to sex over two decades, and how his sexual relations, in a cruel twist, helped him stay sober from alcohol. He also spoke of how one of his alcoholism rehab sponsors helped justify his sex addiction by stating that “whatever happens between two consenting adults is fine....