Welcome back to “I’m Curious!”

It’s an evening edition this week, as I’ve been navigating work and a bit of existential dread. All good now, but just needed to go to sleep early last night instead of writing this when I usually do.

There’s been a little bit of everything from the world of sports, so let’s dig in.

The Most Curious Thing This Week

It’s the planting of flags in college football.

This past weekend was rivalry week, as some of the sport’s biggest rivals matched up to close out the regular season.

But for all the action during the games, it was events after a few games that led to some major hubbub (and even a bit of possible police brutality.) 

Ohio State and Michigan played “The Game,” their iconic and infamous rivalry showdown. Michigan has been middling this season but upset a ranked the second-ranked Buckeyes on the road in Columbus.

It’s an emotional moment for Ohio State’s senior class, which has seen four straight losses to that team up north and will graduate without seeing a win.

Michigan players unfurled a maize-and-blue flag at midfield with their big M on it. It led to a brawl between players from both teams. Ohio State campus police got involved, pepper spraying players and coaches as the fight was being broken up. The university police said they are investigating the incident and that officers representing both teams used pepper spray.

Before the day wrapped, two more games had flag-related scuffles. Florida defensive end George Gumbs Jr. planted a flag into the middle of the Florida State Seminoles logo after the Gators won in Tallahassee. It prompted a brawl. Gators head coach Billy Napier apologized after the game, saying in part, “what happened there at the end of the game is not who we want to be as a program,” and adding that players involved will face consequences. 

After Arizona State defeated in-state rival Arizona, defensive lineman Jacob Rich Kongaika, who transferred to ASU from Arizona, planted the Sun Devils’ signature pitchfork into the “A” on Arizona’s field. It led to some pushing and shoving between players but ended before a major brawl could break out.

I get it. Rivalry games are tense and mean a lot. Emotions will run high. But this flag stuff is so petty and pointless. Isn’t getting the win enough? You have plenty to celebrate.

But before we leave this point, I have to raise particular concern about the police, especially in the Ohio State-Michigan fight. One video seemed to indicate the fight was tapering off, only for an officer to spray pepper spray.

The bar should always be high for using that type of force but particularly so when player health and safety are a concern.

For a police force that faced criticism over how it handled anti-Israel protesters on its campus earlier this year, there’s particular reason to be concerned about Ohio State campus police escalating situations of any sort. 

The petty fights and scuffles are bad and affect a school’s reputation. But they pale in comparison to the prospect of any campus police officer or security official escalating beyond pepper spray against a player or team staff member.

Cooler heads have to prevail. Otherwise this could get really bad really quickly.

My Reporting

I have to work quickly in my new job at Straight Arrow News. I produce several stories per day and even have my own bio page where my stories all land. Most are not sports-related but I was able to touch on one sports issue in the last week.

After years of battles (and a Justice Department investigation,) Formula One is allowing a second American team to join its grid.

F1 has approved an entry by General Motors, which will race under its Cadillac brand starting in 2026. GM has had major success in American racing series like NASCAR and IndyCar but it has never entered into F1. Its chief rival Ford has been in and out of F1 as an engine supplier through the years.

To operate the team, GM has partnered with Andretti Global, which was run until recently by racing legend Michael Andretti, son of former F1 world champion Mario Andretti. F1 had rejected the team when Michael Andretti was involved but has now approved the bid after he left his namesake company.

The Justice Department investigated F1’s parent company Liberty Media for possible violations of antitrust law in rejecting the Andretti bid.

The GM bid may be more American than the other U.S.-based team. Haas F1 Team has consistently raced near the back of the pack and does not employ any American drivers. A Cadillac team may try to more actively hire Americans to race for them.

Other Sports Takes and Things of Note

A Tale of Two Championships: Let’s stick with Formula One for a sec here. F1 has two titles it gives out each year: the World Drivers’ Championship and the World Constructors’ Championship. 

The drivers’ championship was settled a couple of weekends ago in Las Vegas. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won it for the fourth year in a row, doing so with enough padding to clinch it a few races before the season’s end.

Cue the Dutch techno song made in his honor!

Good luck getting that one out of your head.

It’s a different story with the constructors’ championship, which is calculated by adding up the points that all drivers for a team’s two cars accumulate in a season.

Despite having the world champion, Red Bull Racing fell out of contention for the title because Verstappen’s points were not enough to make up for the struggles of their second driver Sergio Perez.

With one race to go, it’s between two teams: McLaren and Ferrari.

McLaren will enter this weekend’s season finale with a 21-point lead over Ferrari. A team can earn up to 43 points in a weekend (25 for first, 18 for second) and only the top 10 finishers earn points.

That puts McLaren in the driver’s seat to win its first constructors’ championship since 1998. If Ferrari can race past McLaren in this final weekend, it will be their first constructors’ championship since 2008. 

Bad Luck Bengals: This season, the Cincinnati Bengals have been a consummate example of just how weird the NFL can be. 

The Bengals have a potent offense built around quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase.

@nfl

these two always find each other 🤝 #joeburrow #jamarrchase #cincinnati #bengals #nfl

In the process, they have scored 27 or more points seven times this season. They are 2-5 in those games.

The latest of those five came Sunday, when the Bengals lost a 44-38 shootout at home to the Steelers. The Bengals nearly erased a 17-point lead Pittsburgh had early in the fourth quarter but couldn’t force a late turnover after cutting the gap to six with less than three minutes left.

After the game, Burrow told the press that the Bengals just “haven’t been good enough.” The Bengals are tied for 5^th in the NFL, scoring 27.9 points per game. But they are also tied for 2^nd -worst, with 28.3 points allowed per game.

The problem may be less with Burrow than with Cincinnati’s defense. Bengals coach Zac Taylor has always been an offensive-focused coach and the limits of that approach are becoming abundantly clear in Cincinnati this season. 

PWHL Drops the Puck: This weekend marked the opening of the second season for the Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL. The league is looking to build off an exciting first season that came to a thrilling end in the spring.

Minnesota defeated Boston in a deciding game 5 to win the first-ever Walter Cup, the league’s championship trophy. 

This season, the league has shown signs of growth. Teams now have names and logos of their own after previously all carrying names with the template “PWHL [city name.]” 

The Toronto Sceptres opened things up with a 3-1 win at home against the Boston Fleet. Despite former Olympic gold medalist Hilary Knight scoring the season’s first goal to give Boston an early lead, Toronto scored three unanswered goals to start the season with a win. 

@pwhl_fleet

Knighter with the snipe!! 🔥 HELLO PWHL SEASON 2!! @The PWHL @Hilary Knight

The Montreal Victoire snagged their first victoire of the saison by winning in a shootout against the Ottawa Charge. More than 10,000 fans were on hand to see Montreal record their first-ever shootout win after Marie-Philip Poulin scored the only goal of the shootout in its fourth round. 

And I’ll be a homer and take some joy in the New York Sirens knocking off the defending champion Minnesota Frost 4-3 in an overtime thriller. 

The duo of first overall pick Sarah Filier and Alex Carpenter made the difference late. Filier found Carpenter for a goal to give the Sirens a 3-2 lead early in the third period, then did it again just 19 seconds into overtime as Carpenter potted the game winner for New York.

@thepwhlofficial

Not over this sauce from first overall Draft pick Sarah Fillier ➡️ Alex Carpenter 🤩 @pwhl_sirens

The teams will play 30 regular season games through early May. There are games on five of the next six days (including Tuesday). Fans in league markets have access to most of their team’s games on cable or network TV but for the rest of us, the league’s YouTube page streams most matchups live.

Something Good I Ate

Sorry to say but this edition features food that you can’t get at a restaurant.

We were lucky enough to be able to host my parents for Thanksgiving this year. For the fifth year in a row, my fiancée Abby worked her magic and cooked up a lovely Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey, corn casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and of course, the late Grandma Lois’s cranberry delight, made exactly to her recipe and served in the same bowl she would use to serve it.

I love all of Abby’s Thanksgiving meals, including her efforts to experiment. But the standouts for me this year were the mashed potatoes with boursin, garlic and herb, as well as the cranberry delight, made with a can of cranberry sauce, black cherry Jell-O, pineapple and walnuts.

The chef and the recipe are great but we’re all convinced: it’s gotta be the bowl!