Ahead of what will likely be his final World Cup, Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo’s making the wrong kind of headlines amid his monthslong fallout with Premier League team Manchester United.

For NCAA fall sports, it’s already the most wonderful time of the year. Unwrap these early playoff snapshots and prepare to celebrate…confetti showers are right around the corner.

November may not start until midnight(s), but the postseason is already underway with cross country conference meets in the books and, as we mentioned on Friday, women’s soccer conference tourneys kicking off yesterday. Tighten those laces and catch up on the race toward the nattys.

Two former Huntington University women’s cross country runners have filed a federal lawsuit against current and former coaches, school officials and the institution (a private Christian school near Fort Wayne, IN), claiming systemic abuses that center around sexual assault and doping.

It’s the last Sunday of September, a month that saw not one, not two, but three sports greats retire, with Serena Williams, Sue Bird and Roger Federer all hanging ’em up. And those retirements came after another legend, Allyson Felix, crossed her final finish line in August.

The NCAA cross country season began last night, with action ratcheting up this weekend.