Colorado football coach Deion Sanders and his medical team revealed that he had bladder cancer and had his bladder removed but is now cured.

He held a news conference Monday, July 28 in Colorado to discuss it after being away at his estate in east Texas in May and June while he recovered. He was accompanied at the news conference by his doctor, Janet Kukreja, and Colorado athletic trainer Lauren Askevold.

‘It’s been a tremendous journey,’ Sanders said.

He said he lost 25 pounds and ‘can’t pee like I used to pee’ but was grateful and is starting his third season as coach at Colorado.

‘I depend on Depend,’ Sanders said with a sense of humor, referring to the underwear brand for incontinence. He also encouraged men to get screened for the condition.

‘I always knew I was going to coach again,’ Sanders said, ending any rumors that he planned to retire. But he noted he is going through a lifestyle change with his recovery. He joked that his baby grandson, Snow, has the same issue with urination, and ‘we see who has the heaviest bag at the end of the night.’

‘If you see a Porta Potty on the sideline, it’s real, OK?’ Sanders said.

How Deion Sanders discovered his cancer

He said he didn’t have symptoms but instead was checked for his other vascular issues. The checkup ended up leading to the discovery of the cancer.

Askevold said Sanders was aware of the situation in April and had the surgery by early May.

Kukreja said it was a “very high-risk, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.” She added that if it did progress to the muscle, the rate of metastasis is about 50% and that only about 10% of people live five years.

Sanders then faced two general options. He could get recurring treatment for it, which would include regular trips to medical facilities. Kukreja said there’s about a 50-percent rate of recurrence in this case. Or he could have the bladder removed. He chose the latter so he could dedicate more time to his team and family. The procedure was assisted by a robot and involved making a new bladder from his small intestine.

“I didn’t want to be running down to the hospital once a week,” Sanders said

Sanders thanked an array of supporters who helped him, including former NFL receiver Randy Moss. Sanders said Moss called him every other day.

‘Get checked out, because It could have been a whole ‘nother gathering if I hadn’t,’ Sanders said, implying a funeral instead.

Deion Sanders’ health history

Sanders, 57, declined to disclose his condition until now, even though he acknowledged in late May that he had suffered an unspecified health setback. He missed several events during that time, including the May 24 wedding of his star player from last year, Travis Hunter, along with Colorado’s annual youth and high school football camps on campus in June. Recruits who came to campus in June were told he was out sick. He also missed a speaking appearance scheduled for June 8 in Florida but still said he was OK on social media without revealing what the problem was.

He made an appearance at a Big 12 Conference media days event in Frisco, Texas, July 9, but declined to talk about his health. He didn’t return to Colorado until July 25, two days before his players were due to report to campus for the start of preseason camp.

He has a history of blood circulation issues in his legs and has said blood clots run in the family, with one uncle dead because of it. He spent 23 days in the hospital in the fall of 2021 and said he nearly died there as he battled compartment syndrome on his left leg and had two toes amputated from his left foot. He missed three games because of it that season as head coach at Jackson State in Mississippi but healed enough to lead his team to a 11-2 record that season, including the three games he missed.

He underwent more surgeries to fix blood clots in the summer of 2023 and even had to miss a Pac-12 media days event because of it.

What does Deion Sanders’ contract say in this regard?

He agreed to a new five-year contract earlier this year worth more than $10 million per year. It requires him to notify the athletic director if he’s absent for more than five consecutive working days.

It has a disability provision:

“If after engaging in the interactive process with the University’s Center for Disability & Access, Coach is deemed unable to perform the essential functions of his job with or without reasonable accommodation, this Agreement will automatically terminate, and Sanders’ salary and all other benefits shall end in the month of such termination notice.”

If he decided to retire from coaching, it says he wouldn’t have to pay liquidated damages to the university to buy out his contract but would owe some damages if he retired and then changed his mind to coach somewhere else.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

Dave Parker did not make it to have his day in Cooperstown, dying from Parkinson’s disease on June 28, exactly one month before the Baseball Hall of Fame was set to induct the Cobra along with four other players.

Yet Parker, who was 74, seemed to sense this day was coming, and penned a poem that his son, David Parker II, read to the assembled throng at Cooperstown July 28.

It was equal parts defiant and reflective, braggadocious and appreciative and, for Pittsburgh, a balm. Parker played 19 major league seasons, the first 11 with the Pirates, helping them win the 1979 World Series. He went on to the Cincinnati Reds, won another title in Oakland and finished with one season in Milwaukee.

Yet Parker proclaimed ‘I’m a Pirate for life…the Bucs on my heart.’

Dave Parker poem

Here’s the full text of his son’s reading:

Here I am, 39.

About damn time.

I know I had to wait a little,

but that’s what you do with fine aged wine.

I’m a Pirate for life.

Wouldn’t have it no other way.

That was my family,

even though I didn’t go on Parade Day.

I love y’all, the Bucs on my heart

because those two championships I got,

y’all played in the first part.

I’m in the Hall now,

you can’t take that away.

That statue better look good —

you know I got a pretty face.

Top-tier athlete,

fashion icon,

sex symbol.

No reason to list the rest of my credentials.

I’m him, period.

The Cobra.

Known for my rocket arm,

and I will run any catcher over.

To my friends, families: I love y’all.

Thanks for staying by my side.

I told y’all Cooperstown would be my last ride.’’

Dave Parker induction

Parker hit 339 home runs and was a seven-time All-Star. He failed to garner the required 75% support on ballots submitted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, peaking at 24.5% in 1998. He also failed to earn any votes in his first two appearances on a veteran’s committee ballot in 2014 and 2018, but earned 43.8% in 2020 and was named on 14 of 16 ballots in December 2024, enough for enshrinement.

Sam Horn will start his pro baseball career after signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

However, the Missouri quarterback and pitcher will conclude his collegiate career with the Tigers before transitioning to play baseball professionally. Horn, who was selected in the 17th round of the 2025 MLB Draft, signed for a $497,500 bonus with the Dodgers, according to MLB.com’s Jim Callis, despite just 15 innings of experience over three collegiate seasons.

Horn’s signing bonus was overslot for a 17th-round selection, showing how much the Dodgers valued the right-handed pitcher. MLB’s 2025 draftees had until 5 p.m. ET on Monday, July 28, to sign a professional contract. Horn is expected to compete with Penn State transfer Beau Pribula for the starting QB job for the Tigers.

Along with only 15 innings pitched over three seasons, Horn sat out the 2024 college football and baseball seasons after having Tommy John surgery. The junior from Lawrenceville, Georgia, has completed 3 of his 8 career passes for 54 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Horn pitched 10 2/3 innings in 2025 for Missouri, with 14 strikeouts and eight walks in five starts. Despite Horn’s missed time on the mound, the Dodgers clearly liked his stuff ― which features a 98 mph fastball ― enough to make him the 525th overall selection.

Here’s the irony in Indiana canceling games against Virginia in two upcoming seasons and replacing the Cavaliers with even meeker opponents: If the Hoosiers aren’t good enough to beat Virginia, they aren’t good enough to make the College Football Playoff. Heck, if they can’t beat Virginia, they’re probably not good enough to make the Pinstripe Bowl.

This decision isn’t just pathetic. It’s unnecessary.

By ducking Virginia, and flaunting its scheduling choice at Big Ten media days, Indiana is begging the selection committee to treat it like gimcrack the next time it builds something resembling a playoff résumé – if there is a next time.

And for what?

Virginia last tasted a winning season six years ago.

Curt Cignetti’s upstart Hoosiers could beat Virginia when they were scheduled to play in 2027 and 2028. He just doesn’t see the point in trying.

“We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy,” quipped Cignetti, who fancies himself the cleverest man in the North.

By swapping Virginia for chum opponents, Indiana will join the many SEC teams that schedule only nine Power Four opponents. SEC schools protect Championship Subdivision games like they’re gold doubloons. Unlike SEC teams, though, Indiana won’t play a single Power Four non-conference opponent this season, or the next, or the next, and so on.

The Hoosiers, like some other Big Ten schools, decided the surest path to contention is scheduling the easiest possible collection of non-conference opponents. Washington coach Jedd Fisch said Cignetti’s strategy to avoid Power Four non-conference opponents is ‘dead-on right.’

Herein lies the great pitfall of the committee’s selection of Indiana to the playoff last season as the No. 10 seed, despite its flimsy strength of schedule. Coaches saw Indiana’s strategy work, and now they wonder if they should mimic it, at the expense of playing compelling games.

The 2024 Hoosiers capitalized on a soft schedule draw from the Big Ten, and they avoided any opponents from the SEC, ACC or Big 12. They reached 11-1 without a signature victory, but no bad losses.

The committee did not err by admitting Indiana. It lacked superior alternatives. Never mind the nonsense that Alabama, with its 9-3 résumé including two losses to 6-6 teams, built more deserving qualifications than the Hoosiers. If you believe that, you must have “It Just Means More” tattooed on your bicep.

The committee judiciously chose the Hoosiers, but, this being a copycat sport, now we’ve got teams from Indiana to Nebraska trying to game theory their way into the playoff by ducking any non-conference opponent with a pulse.

The issue isn’t confined to the Big Ten, either.

The SEC won’t dare add another conference game to its schedule, because why welcome another tussle when you could cream some flotsam from the MAC?

Programs that knew they’d never sniff a four-team playoff wonder if they can emulate Indiana and qualify for this expanded playoff by following a Hoosiers recipe that calls for construction of the feeblest schedule possible.

The twist of it is, if a few bubble teams with superior schedule strength had not gotten upset in the season’s final two weeks, the committee might have rejected Indiana from the field. Because, contrary to what the SEC’s propaganda campaign would have you believe, the committee cares about strength of schedule.

Enough bubble teams lost, though, so the Hoosiers slipped in, and the industry accepted Indiana’s scheduling method as foolproof, rather than foolish – until the committee reverses course, or the bubble strengthens in a future season.

Cignetti jabbed at the SEC at media days, but his quip and scheduling moves also mock the committee and its selection of the Hoosiers. He’s acting as if he outwitted the committee. Beware, because the committee is an evolving organism, unbound by past selection strategies.

The committee never barred an undefeated Power Four team from the four-team playoff – until it shunned 13-0 Florida State to make room for the SEC’s one-loss champion. What’s to stop the committee from rejecting the next 11-1 team that slinks into Selection Sunday touting three triumphs against non-conference lackeys that can’t spell football, and not a single win against a ranked opponent?

Nothing.

Committee membership changes. Its chairperson changes. Situations change. No two seasons unfold the same way.

If the committee believes it’s being played for a fool by Cignetti and others like him, perhaps it will stiffen its spine against a team that uses a weak schedule as a catapult to a strong record.

The persistent reluctance to schedule tough non-conference games remains an anchor preventing college football from ascending to a higher perch. The committee wields power to spur some evolution on that non-conference scheduling strategy. If the committee starts rejecting bubble teams that play nothing but slappies in September, I suspect we’ll begin to see fewer schedules devoid of Power Four non-conference opponents.

Until then, if Cignetti fears a game against Virginia, then he must not believe he’s built one of the nation’s top 12 teams. Maybe, the committee will learn to trust his judgment.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

LATROBE, Penn. – Leave it to Mike Tomlin to roll off a rather appropriate metaphor that sums up the challenge for this latest version of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Unpacking.

Tomlin, the energetic Steelers coach, implored his squad during a team meeting in the early stages of training camp to embrace a mindset of settling in with a purpose.

“If we want to maximize these days at a destination camp, you can’t have a ‘temporary stay’ mentality,” Tomlin told USA TODAY Sports. “Part of just feeling the urgency of these days is just really being hyper-focused on today. I think a reflection of that is unpacking.

“Visually, it feels temporary when you see boxes in the hallway and people living out of a suitcase. I think it’s a mindset for the collective. So, I just challenged these guys to unpack.”

It’s fair to wonder: Where in the heck is Tomlin going with this particular theme?

Well, in his 19^th season on the job – and let’s repeat it again for the record that Tomlin has never had a losing season with the Steelers – he is still one of the best when it comes to delivering pointed messages that stick. The standard is the standard. Two dogs, one bone. Squeeze eight pounds in a 5-pound bag. Stuff like that.

Yes, Tomlin’s catchphrases are undeniably part of the tradition for the Steelers, who for the 58^th summer have come to Saint Vincent’s College, a small Catholic school about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, for training camp. While NFL teams stay home for camp, the Steelers are one of just five teams that still hit the road for a training getaway, which is why you hear so much about the environment enabling team bonding.

Yet for all of that tradition, this iteration of camp clearly bucks some trends.

Start with Aaron Rodgers, the 41-year-old, Hall of Fame-credentialed quarterback now joined at the hip with Tomlin on a mission to potentially chase the championship glory that has eluded them for, well, a long time.

He knows. This has an all-in-or-else type of backdrop about it.

“I think there’s really only six to eight (teams) that really have a legitimate chance,” Rodgers said. “Sometimes, it’s 10 to 12, and there’s teams that surprise you. I would say on paper, we’re probably one of those 10 to 12.”

Then again, check back in January.

In the meantime, look at the revamped secondary, which replaced Minkah Fitzpatrick with the versatile Jalen Ramsey, a major chessboard piece for a unit that also added veteran Darius Slay and Brandin Echols. There are significant new faces on offense, too, including big-play receiver DK Metcalf, crafty veteran wideout Robert Woods and tight end Jonnu Smith – who, like Ramsey, came over from the Miami Dolphins in the Fitzpatrick trade and brings the versatility that will allow him to play a hybrid role in Arthur Smith’s offense.

When the Steelers open the regular season at the New York Jets on Sept. 7, there’s a good chance they will field a lineup with at least 11 new faces among the 22 starters on offense and defense.

Times have definitely changed for a franchise that has long been noted as a draft-and-develop operation, with the new starters generally being players promoted from within.

So, yeah, Tomlin & Co. have a lot of new boxes to unpack.

Knock, knock. (Who is it?) Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf, who could transform Steelers

“I just think the trends in the game and in the business, they’re ever-changing and it just feels like that’s less of an issue in today’s game,” Tomlin said. “The fluidity in college football the last four or five years, quarterbacks and everybody moving, I’d imagine half the Power 5 football teams can say the same thing. They probably have 11 new starters. I just think that’s a component of something trending in the game and in the business.”

Of course, that’s only part of the deal with the Steelers. For years, they’ve been seeking to replace Ben Roethlisberger at the game’s most important position – while other AFC contenders have been set in recent years with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen — with Rodgers now trying to fill the void that Russell Wilson and Justin Fields didn’t capitalize on last year.

Add the fact that the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in eight seasons – that’s six consecutive postseason losses dating to a 2016 AFC title game loss – and the ultra-aggressive offseason moves shepherded by Tomlin and general manager Omar Khan reflect a mindset of adapting to a landscape that goes far beyond unpacking boxes.

No, you can’t knock the Steelers for lacking aggressiveness during the offseason. Yet the bottom line is whether the moves will result in the proud franchise becoming a legit championship contender again.

“I think we’re hungry,” Steelers owner Art Rooney II told USA TODAY Sports as he watched practice on Friday, perched outside the dormitories above the fields below. “We’re a hungry group. It’s been a long time since we’ve been back to the Big Game.”

Steelers’ star pass rusher T.J. Watt got his megadeal. Now comes the hard part

The Steelers won a Super Bowl in Tomlin’s second season, then won an AFC crown two years later and lost in Super Bowl 45 to, ironically, Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. When they say the standard is the standard, you can’t ignore that it has been so long since the franchise has added to its collection of six Lombardi Trophies.

Last season, the Steelers were 10-3 in mid-December, then collapsed down the stretch in losing their last four regular-season games before bowing out with a first-round playoff loss at Baltimore.

That’s a pattern that underscores the current challenge as much as anything. Sure, they are setting a foundation for another season. Yet the verdict on this new version of the Steelers – and whether the moves will pan out – will be unveiled months from now.

In other words, can they peak down the stretch?

“I honestly feel like we have a legitimate shot,” Cameron Heyward, the all-pro defensive tackle heading into his 15^th season, told USA TODAY Sports. “Are we a finished product? No. But I think we have the tools to be a finished product late in the season.”

In addition to typical barometers, such as health, Heyward points to balance and consistency as keys.

“We can’t have those up and down kind of games,” Heyward said. “But I also think all phases have to be in tune with each other. If your defense is playing a lot of plays earlier, toward the end of the season you get worn down, and vice versa. If your offense is taking a lot of plays and not scoring a lot of points, then there’s a trade-off. A lot of times, it was kind of a swing of the pendulum last year. So, you look for that balance. And we have to look to be ever-changing.”   

Put another way, as they unpack the boxes the Steelers hope they are settling in for a much longer haul this time around.

“We look good on paper,” Rooney added. “Now we’ve got to become a team. That’s what it’s going to be coming out of here. Keep building that chemistry as we go through the season.”

Rooney has no shortage of feedback from the passionate base regarding the big offseason. But championships, he knows, are not won in March. Or April. Or July.

“I think people see we are working hard,” Rooney said. “At the end of the day, it’s only one thing they care about: Did you win or lose? Where we are now, people see these guys are trying to do something here. I think they appreciate that. But that only lasts until the first game.”

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on social media:

On X: @JarrettBell

On Bluesky: jarrettbell.bsky.social

Just one year after watching the Chicago White Sox set the modern-day major league record for most losses in a season, the Colorado Rockies seem to be saying, ‘Hold my Coors.’

The NL West cellar-dwellers are on a frighteningly similar pace this season, hitting the All-Star break with a 22-74 mark (.229) and threatening to eclipse the White Sox’s historic level of futility.

Chicago finished the 2024 season with 41 wins and 121 losses – a winning percentage of .253.

However, the Rockies have been on a bit of a roll since returning to action after the break. In three series against Minnesota, St. Louis and Baltimore, they posted a 5-4 record (although one of those losses was an atrociously ugly 18-0 shutout by the Orioles).

Through 105 games, the Rockies are 27-78 with a .257 winning percentage that has them slightly better than the 2024 White Sox. But there’s still a long way to go.

Most losses in MLB season (since 1900)

• 2024 Chicago White Sox: 121
• 1962 New York Mets: 120
• 2003 Detroit Tigers: 119
• 1916 Philadelphia Athletics: 117
• 2018 Baltimore Orioles: 115
• 1935 Boston Braves: 115
• 2019 Detroit Tigers: 114
• 1904 Washington Senators: 113

(Source: Baseball-Reference.com)

Worst team in baseball history

The one team the Rockies will not surpass is the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who posted a record of 20-134, for a ‘winning’ percentage of .130.

The Spiders had been a powerhouse in the fledgling National League for some time until the team’s owners purchased the bankrupt NL club in St. Louis and transferred almost all of the Spiders’ best players (including legendary pitcher Cy Young) to St. Louis.

As a result, the undermanned Spiders finished the 1899 season with an all-time worst record of 20-134. The Spiders were one of four NL teams to be contracted at the end of that season.

As star edge rushers around the league cash in on contract extensions, Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Micah Parsons is just trying to keep up with the Joneses.

But the Joneses, who own the Cowboys, have proven to be tough negotiators.

Cowboys ownership has heard the recent cries from fans to pay Parsons as the edge rusher voices his desire for an extension. However, the team appears to be committed to securing a deal on its terms.

‘We want to pay Micah too. He’s got to want to be paid,’ Cowboys EVP Stephen Jones told reporters at Cowboys training camp over the weekend.

Jones’ comment insinuates that the team has made an offer (or several) to Parsons this offseason. The edge rusher just hasn’t agreed to any of them yet.

Parsons is one of two star pass-rushers still embroiled in a contract standoff with his team – the other being Trey Hendrickson of the Cincinnati Bengals. Both players are looking to cash in on multiple successful seasons they’ve accumulated under their current contracts before entering the final year of those active deals.

Pressure has mounted on both Dallas and Cincinnati as other star edge rushers around the league got paid earlier this offseason: Maxx Crosby, Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt all received massive extensions from their respective teams.

‘I will never understand it,’ Parsons said in a recent interview with WWE wrestler Mark Calaway, better known as The Undertaker. ‘We wanted to do the contract last year – then you go out there and perform again. You would think, ‘All right, we’ll get it done early, we know some guys are about to get re-paid.’ There’s Myles [Garrett], Maxx [Crosby] is going, so you would think, ‘Hey, let’s get ahead of that.’

‘You can’t want us to take less (now) because you’re the one that decided to wait.’

Though Hendrickson has held out of all Bengals offseason activities, Parsons has attended all mandatory team events so far.

Parsons is a four-time Pro Bowler and a two-time member of the All-Pro first team. He’s tallied 52.5 sacks and 256 tackles over his four-year NFL career, along with nine forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.

The Penn State product has played in all but five games in his career: he sat out an inconsequential Week 18 game in his rookie season, and he missed four games last year with a high ankle sprain.

Parsons is set to play on a fifth-year option in 2025, the final season of the original rookie contract he signed in 2021.

Clips of Donic’s new-look physique have been posted on social media, and on Monday, July 29, Men’s Health posted a feature story plus two sidebars detailing Doncic’s diet and fitness routine. In photos, Doncic appears to have shed weight and added muscle.

‘Just visually, I would say my whole body looks better,’ Doncic told the magazine.

As Doncic has become one of the best players in the NBA, he has also been criticized for his weight and conditioning. Working closely in the offseason with a training staff that that includes a physiotherapist and nutritionist, Doncic wants to be in the best shape of his life for the 2025-26 season.

His dietary regimen includes fasting nearly 16 consecutive hours a day while consuming a high-protein, low-carb nutritional program that includes whey protein shakes. His workout plan includes weight lifting, resistance-band routines, agility and on-court drills.

‘This summer was just a little bit different,’ Doncic said in the story. ‘It kind of motivated me to be even better.’

Doncic, 26, played in just 50 games last season, the lowest of his career, and he did not make the All-Star or All-NBA team for the first time since 2020. He averaged 28.2 points 8.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists, but the Lakers, who acquired Doncic from Dallas last season in a much-scrutinized deal at the February trade deadline, were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

The Lakers are trying to maximize a championship window with LeBron James alongside Doncic while preparing for a future with Doncic as the centerpiece of the roster.

Doncic plans to play for Slovenia at Eurobasket, which runs from Aug. 27-Sept. 14.