NPR Sports

Brock Purdy outperformed every reasonable expectation as a backup's backup in San Francisco. Now, the 23-year-old is poised to become the first rookie quarterback to lead his team to the Super Bowl.

For every sports team, there are fans and there are super fans. For the Brooklyn Nets, that's 86-year-old Mr. Whammy — who tries to hex the opposing basketball team into missing their foul shots.

Scott Rolen, a seven-time All-Star third baseman, played with the Philadelphia, St. Louis, Toronto and Cincinnati teams over a 17-season career. None of the 27 other players won enough votes.

American skier Mikaela Shiffrin won a record 83rd race on the women's World Cup circuit Tuesday. She passed fellow American Lindsey Vonn as the all-time winningest woman alpine skier.

The unexpected star of the Australian Open is a 20-year-old tennis player who had never been outside of the U.S. before this tournament. Ben Shelton has played his way into the quarterfinals.

Her 83rd victory in Italy on Tuesday leaves only one athlete ahead of Shiffrin: Ingemar Stenmark. The legendary Swedish skier has said he thinks Shiffrin will win more than 100 races.

There's another universe not far from land, devoid of cars, trees and the internet. You don't have to travel a great distance to discover this other cosmos. At 10 miles offshore, you're already there.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Female Force comic book writer Michael Frizell about the Brittney Griner edition.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with Howard Bryant of Meadowlark Media about the NFL playoffs and the first week of action in the Australian Open.

Super fan Bruce Reznick, 86, has been a fixture at Nets games since before the team moved to Brooklyn.