2024 Olympics are set to get underway; Cowboys’ superstar holding out with no end in sight

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🥇 Good morning to everyone, but especially to …

FANS OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Let the trumpets blare, and get in your patriotic mood, no matter what country you support: The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are here! Even though the Opening Ceremony isn’t until Friday, men’s soccer and rugby play opens today.

The United States is competing in both, with the men’s soccer team in the Games for the first time since 2008. In men’s Olympic soccer, 15 of a team’s 18 players have to have been born on or since Jan. 1, 2001, meaning you won’t see a ton of big names. The U.S. is using those three exceptions on Walker Zimmerman, Miles Robinson and Djordje Mihailovic. Here’s the full roster.

Still, it’s a great opportunity for USMNT youngsters to prove they can be contributors at the senior level soon.

• Chuck Booth looked at what would be considered a success for the Americans in Paris.
• The U.S. is fifth in Jonathan Johnson’s Power Rankings but faces stern competition in Jonathan’s No. 3 team, France, to get things started.
• Here’s our preview, and here are our expert predictions.

I ran through the biggest storylines at these Olympics, and the U.S. women’s soccer team getting back on track is among them.

• Pereles: “The U.S. women haven’t looked particularly good in their pre-Olympic matches, having recently drawn Costa Rica, 0-0, after defeating Mexico, 1-0. It’s still far, far too early to judge things just four games into Emma Hayes‘ spell with the USWNT. That will likely remain the same regardless of how far the USWNT goes. But it’d be nice to see the offense find its footing, especially with plenty of stars in Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson and Jaedyn Shaw.”

The USWNT is outside the top five of Sandra Herrera’s Power Rankings, reflecting just how different things are for what was once the world’s premier side. The USWNT opens against Zambia tomorrow. Pardeep Cattry has more on what to know about the team and an excellent story on defender-turned-striker Crystal Dunn.

As for a team with much higher expectations, Team USA women’s basketball cruised past Germany, 84-57, in its final pre-Olympic warmup. The U.S. opens Olympic play Monday against Japan.

• LeBron James (USA), Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and Dennis Schroder (Germany) are NBA players who will be their country’s flag bearers.
• Snoop Dogg is a torchbearer.
• Here’s how to follow the men’s basketball competition.
• Three-time Olympic dressage gold medalist Charlotte Dujardin withdrew after a video showed her mistreating a horse.
• SportsLine Olympic expert (and 1996 decathlon gold medalist) Dan O’Brien shared his Olympic medal count predictions.

😁 Honorable mentions

• Clyde Drexler is selling his Dream Team gold medal.
• The Vikings made Christian Darrisaw the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman with a four-year, $113-million extension.
• Tyson Campbell and the Jaguars agreed to a four-year, $76.5-million deal.
• Meet the Giants rookie who is making Barry Bonds-esque history.
• Chuck ranked the top five USMNT coaching candidates, and Jonathan took a deep dive on one such candidate, Patrick Vieira.
• Here’s why Army joined the AAC.

🏈 And not such a good morning for …

CEEDEE LAMB AND THE DALLAS COWBOYS

CeeDee Lamb is coming off arguably the best receiving season in Cowboys history, and he’s more than ready to get paid like it. The star wide receiver does not plan to report to Cowboys training camp — which starts tomorrow — without a new deal.

• Lamb set franchise records in receptions (135) and yards receiving (1,749) last season. However, he is due just $18 million in 2024 under the fifth-year option of his rookie deal.
• That pales in comparison to several of his peers. Justin Jefferson received a four-year, $140-million ($35 million per year) deal this offseason. A.J. Brown ($32 million), Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million), Jaylen Waddle ($28.25 million), DeVonta Smith ($25 million) and Nico Collins ($24.25 million) also got new deals this offseason and are making significantly more than Lamb per year. In my opinion, Lamb is absolutely worth the upper tier of that range.
• Lamb skipped all of Dallas’ mandatory minicamp, racking up more than $100,000 in fines, and he’ll be fined for missing training camp, too.
• Making things look worse for Dallas, 49ers star Brandon Aiyuk, who similarly is coming off a huge year and similarly skipped offseason activities (and even has requested a trade), is at least attending training camp.

The Cowboys have no one to blame but themselves. They have repeatedly bungled Dak Prescott‘s contract situation and have put off extending him, Lamb and Micah Parsons — the franchise cornerstones. Now, they’re focused on the Prescott deal and “trying to a little bit play Houdini” to keep their big three in place, COO and EVP Stephen Jones said recently.

Again, it didn’t have to come to this. Now that it has, though, this could conceivably be the Cowboys’ last run as we know them, as I wrote last week.

Here’s more as training camps continue to get underway.

• We played “Big deal or no big deal” about some of the league’s top training camp storylines.
• Joe Burrow has a new haircut. He also leads Josh Edwards’ list of players who need a strong training camp.
• It doesn’t sound like the Bengals are prioritizing keeping Tee Higgins around.
• Matthew Stafford got a contract adjustment and reported to camp.
• Amari Cooper also avoided a holdout with a $20-million guarantee.
• Alvin Kamara also reported despite wanting a new contract.
• As for players not participating, Haason Reddick is holding out, and Odell Beckham Jr. is on the PUP list.

😓 Not so honorable mentions

• Paul Skenes suffered his first MLB loss despite pitching a gem.
• Mike Trout left his first rehab game with knee soreness.
• Saquon Barkley apologized to Giants fans.
• The Braves held a players-only meeting amid their struggles.
• The Mariners sent Julio Rodríguez (ankle) and J.P. Crawford (fractured hand) to the IL.
• Christian Scott (UCL sprain) hit the IL.
• Jorge Mateo suffered an ugly-looking arm injury.
• Billy Napier was among the parties filing to dismiss Jaden Rashada‘s NIL lawsuit.

🏈 NFL discussing expanding to 18-game regular season

From 14 games to 16 games in 1978.

From 16 games to 17 games in 2021.

From 17 games to 18 games in ____.

The NFL is having “high-level discussions” with the players association about expanding the regular season to 18 games, per The Washington Post. NFLPA executive director Lloyd Howell said the additional game could come before the current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2030 season.

Expansion from 16 to 17 wasn’t exactly popular among the players, and going from 17 to 18 likely wouldn’t be, either. But that’s what negotiations are for. The additional week of games would likely come with an additional bye week and one fewer preseason game. Howell mentioned the players will also be interested in addressing the following:

• health and safety
• field surface
• OTA makeup
• compensation
• percent of annual compensation guaranteed

Jonathan Jones wrote about the near inevitability of the 18th game back in May.

• Jones: “No one must wait several years just to posture near the deadline. No threat of a lockout. No one’s out any money. The inevitability of 18 games becomes reality, and everyone winds up making more money anyway. … If it’s a fait accompli there will be an 18th game by the start of the 2031 season, and if owners are thirsty for increased revenue it will bring, then the union may currently own the most leverage it can get. The sooner owners agree to what the players want, the sooner they can unlock hundreds of millions of dollars more.”

🏈 In 18-team Big Ten, Ohio State vs. Michigan still reigns supreme

In case you forgot how wild conference realignment has been, there was a gigantic (Oregon) duck floating through downtown Indianapolis on Tuesday as Big Ten Media Days opened. And that was just the start.

Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA are now Big Ten country (which is almost the entire country at this point) with the conference up to 18 programs.

Not going anywhere, though, are the three-time reigning conference champions, Michigan, and this year’s preseason favorite, Ohio State. The Wolverines enter Year 1 of the post-Jim Harbaugh era while the Buckeyes are embracing the high expectations.

And in the end, even with all the new teams, that rivalry endures, Dennis Dodd writes.

• Dodd: “And while first-year Michigan coach Sherrone Moore deserves some form of a honeymoon year after Jim Harbaugh rode off into the NFL sunset with a national championship, Ryan Day has a next-level nightmare waiting if he loses to Michigan for a fourth straight time. … Incredibly, 12 players decided to forego possible NFL careers in favor of returning to Columbus, Ohio. It’s believed the school spent $11 million for its makeover when factoring in NIL money and staff upgrades.”

📺 What we’re watching Wednesday

⚽ Olympics: USMNT U-23s vs. France, 3 p.m. on USA Network
⚾ Mets at Yankees, 7 p.m. on ESPN