2022 was the year many people decided the coronavirus pandemic had ended.

President Joe Biden said as much in an interview with 60 Minutes in September. “The pandemic is over,” he said while strolling around the Detroit Auto Show. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over.”

His evidence? “No one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.”

But the week Biden’s remarks aired, about 360 people were still dying each day from COVID-19 in the United States. Globally, about 10,000 deaths were recorded every week. That’s “10,000 too many, when most of these deaths could be prevented,” the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a news briefing at the time. Then, of course, there are the millions who are still dealing with lingering symptoms long after an infection.
Those staggering numbers have stopped alarming people, maybe because those stats came on the heels of two years of mind-boggling death counts (SN Online: 5/18/22). Indifference to the mounting death toll may reflect pandemic fatigue that settled deep within the public psyche, leaving many feeling over and done with safety precautions.

“We didn’t warn people about fatigue,” says Theresa Chapple-McGruder, an epidemiologist in the Chicago area. “We didn’t warn people about the fact that pandemics can last long and that we still need people to be willing to care about yourselves, your neighbors, your community.”

Public health agencies around the world, including in Singapore and the United Kingdom, reinforced the idea that we could “return to normal” by learning to “live with COVID.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines raised the threshold for case counts that would trigger masking (SN Online: 3/3/22). The agency also shortened suggested isolation times for infected people to five days, even though most people still test positive for the virus and are potentially infectious to others for several days longer (SN Online: 8/19/22).

The shifting guidelines bred confusion and put the onus for deciding when to mask, test and stay home on individuals. In essence, the strategy shifted from public health — protecting your community — to individual health — protecting yourself.
Doing your part can be exhausting, says Eric Kennedy, a sociologist specializing in disaster management at York University in Toronto. “Public health is saying, ‘Hey, you have to make the right choices every single moment of your life.’ Of course, people are going to get tired with that.”

Doing the right thing — from getting vaccinated to wearing masks indoors — didn’t always feel like it paid off on a personal level. As good as the vaccines are at keeping people from becoming severely ill or dying of COVID-19, they were not as effective at protecting against infection. This year, many people who tried hard to make safe choices and had avoided COVID-19 got infected by wily omicron variants (SN Online: 4/22/22). People sometimes got reinfected — some more than once (SN: 7/16/22 & 7/30/22, p. 8).
Those infections may have contributed to a sense of futility. “Like, ‘I did my best. And even with all of that work, I still got it. So why should I try?’ ” says Kennedy, head of a Canadian project monitoring the sociological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Getting vaccinated, masking and getting drugs or antibody treatments can reduce the severity of infection and may cut the chances of infecting others. “We should have been talking about this as a community health issue and not a personal health issue,” Chapple-McGruder says. “We also don’t talk about the fact that our uptake [of these tools] is nowhere near what we need” to avoid the hundreds of daily deaths.

A lack of data about how widely the coronavirus is still circulating makes it difficult to say whether the pandemic is ending. In the United States, the influx of home tests was “a blessing and a curse,” says Beth Blauer, data lead for the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. The tests gave an instant readout that told people whether they were infected and should isolate. But because those results were rarely reported to public health officials, true numbers of cases became difficult to gauge, creating a big data gap (SN Online: 5/27/22).
The flow of COVID-19 data from many state and local agencies also slowed to a trickle. In October, even the CDC began reporting cases and deaths weekly instead of daily. Altogether, undercounting of the coronavirus’s reach became worse than ever.

“We’re being told, ‘it’s up to you now to decide what to do,’ ” Blauer says, “but the data is not in place to be able to inform real-time decision making.”

With COVID-19 fatigue so widespread, businesses, governments and other institutions have to find ways to step up and do their part, Kennedy says. For instance, requiring better ventilation and filtration in public buildings could clean up indoor air and reduce the chance of spreading many respiratory infections, along with COVID-19. That’s a behind-the-scenes intervention that individuals don’t have to waste mental energy worrying about, he says.

The bottom line: People may have stopped worrying about COVID-19, but the virus isn’t done with us yet. “We have spent two-and-a-half years in a long, dark tunnel, and we are just beginning to glimpse the light at the end of that tunnel. But it is still a long way off,” WHO’s Tedros said. “The tunnel is still dark, with many obstacles that could trip us up if we don’t take care.” If the virus makes a resurgence, will we see it coming and will we have the energy to combat it again?

A group at the National Bureau of Standards at B­oulder, Colo., now reports an extremely accurate [speed of light] measurement using the wavelength and frequency of a helium-neon laser.… The result gives the speed of light as 299,792.4562 kilometers per second.

Update
That 1972 experiment measured the two-way speed of light, or the average speed of photons that traveled from their source to a reflective surface and back. The result, which still holds up, helped scientists redefine the standard length of the meter (SN: 10/22/83, p. 263). But they weren’t done putting light through its paces. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, photons set a record for slowest measured speed of light at 17 meters per second and froze in their tracks for one-thousandth of a second (SN: 1/27/01, p. 52). For all that success, one major hurdle remains: directly testing the one-way speed of light. The measurement, which many scientists say is impossible to make, could resolve the long-standing question of whether the speed of light is uniform in all directions.

Some immune defenses of the brain may have their roots in the gut.

A new study in mice finds that immune cells are first trained in the gut to recognize and launch attacks on pathogens, and then migrate to the brain’s surface to protect it, researchers report online November 4 in Nature. These cells were also found in surgically removed parts of human brains.

Every minute, around 750 milliliters of blood flow through the brain, giving bacteria, viruses or other blood-borne pathogens an opportunity to infect the organ. For the most part, the invaders are kept out by three membrane layers, called the meninges, which wrap around the brain and spinal cord and act as a physical barrier. If a pathogen does manage to breach that barrier, the researchers say, the immune cells trained in the gut are ready to attack by producing a battalion of antibodies.

The most common route for a pathogen to end up in the bloodstream is from the gut. “So, it makes perfect sense for these [immune cells] to be educated, trained and selected to recognize things that are present in the gut,” says Menna Clatworthy, an immunologist at the University of Cambridge.

Clatworthy’s team found antibody-producing plasma cells in the leathery meninges, which lie between the brain and skull, in both mice and humans. These immune cells produced a class of antibodies called immunoglobulin A, or IgA.

These cells and antibodies are mainly found in the inner lining of the gut and lungs, so the scientists wondered if the cells on the brain had any link to the gut. It turned out that there was: Germ-free mice, which had no microbes in their guts, didn’t have any plasma cells in their meninges either. However, when bacteria from the poop of other mice and humans were transplanted into the mice’s intestines, their gut microbiomes were restored, and the plasma cells then appeared in the meninges.

“This was a powerful demonstration of how important the gut could be at determining what is found in the meninges,” Clatworthy says.

Researchers captured microscope images of an attack in the meninges of mice that was led by plasma cells that had likely been trained in the guts. When the team implanted a pathogenic fungus, commonly found in the intestine, into the mice’s bloodstream, the fungus attempted to enter the brain through the walls of blood vessels in the meninges. However, plasma cells in the membranes formed a mesh made of IgA antibodies around the pathogen, blocking its entry. The plasma cells are found along the blood vessels, Clatworthy says, where they can quickly launch an attack on pathogens.

“To my knowledge, this is the first time anyone has shown the presence of plasma cells in the meninges. The study has rewritten the paradigm of what we know about these plasma cells and how they play a critical role in keeping our brain healthy,” says Matthew Hepworth, an immunologist at the University of Manchester in England who was not involved with the study. More research is needed to classify how many of the plasma cells in the meninges come from the gut, he says.

The finding adds to growing evidence that gut microbes can play a role in brain diseases. A previous study, for instance, suggested that in mice, boosting a specific gut bacterium could help fight amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, a fatal neurological disease that results in paralysis (SN: 7/22/19). And while the new study found the plasma cells in the brains of healthy mice, previous research has found other gut-trained cells in the brains of mice with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease of the brain and the spinal cord.

For now, the researchers want to understand what cues plasma cells follow in the guts to know it is time for them to embark on a journey to the brain.

It’s official: 2020 now has the most named storms ever recorded in the Atlantic in a single year.

On November 9, a tropical disturbance brewing in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean gained enough strength to become a subtropical storm. With that, Theta became the year’s 29th named storm, topping the 28 that formed in 2005.

With maximum sustained winds near 110 kilometers per hour as of November 10, Theta is expected to churn over the open ocean for several days. It’s too early to predict Theta’s ultimate strength and trajectory, but forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say they expect the storm to weaken later in the week.

If so, like most of the storms this year, Theta likely won’t become a major hurricane. That track record might be the most surprising thing about this season — there’s been a record-breaking number of storms, but overall they’ve been relatively weak. Only five — Laura, Teddy, Delta, Epsilon and Eta — have become major hurricanes with winds topping 178 kilometers per hour, although only Laura and Eta made landfall near the peak of their strength as Category 4 storms.

Even so, the 2020 hurricane season started fast, with the first nine storms arriving earlier than ever before (SN: 9/7/20). And the season has turned out to be the most active since naming began in 1953, thanks to warmer-than-usual water in the Atlantic and the arrival of La Niña, a regularly-occurring period of cooling in the Pacific, which affects winds in the Atlantic and helps hurricanes form (SN: 9/21/19). If a swirling storm reaches wind speeds of 63 kilometers per hour, it gets a name from a list of 21 predetermined names. When that list runs out, the storm gets a Greek letter.

While the wind patterns and warm Atlantic water temperatures set the stage for the string of storms, it’s unclear if climate change is playing a role in the number of storms. As the climate warms, though, you would expect to see more of the destructive, high-category storms, says Kerry Emanuel, an atmospheric scientist at MIT. “And this year is not a poster child for that.” So far, no storm in 2020 has been stronger than a Category 4. The 2005 season had multiple Category 5 storms, including Hurricane Katrina (SN: 12/20/05).

There’s a lot amount of energy in the ocean and atmosphere this year, including the unusually warm water, says Emanuel. “The fuel supply could make a much stronger storm than we’ve seen,” says Emanuel, “so the question is: What prevents a lot of storms from living up to their potential?”
A major factor is wind shear, a change in the speed or direction of wind at different altitudes. Wind shear “doesn’t seem to have stopped a lot of storms from forming this year,” Emanuel says, “but it inhibits them from getting too intense.” Hurricanes can also create their own wind shear, so when multiple hurricanes form in close proximity, they can weaken each other, Emanuel says. And at times this year, several storms did occupy the Atlantic simultaneously — on September 14, five storms swirled at once.

It’s not clear if seeing hurricane season run into the Greek alphabet is a “new normal,” says Emanuel. The historical record, especially before the 1950s is spotty, he says, so it’s hard to put this year’s record-setting season into context. It’s possible that there were just as many storms before naming began in the ‘50s, but that only the big, destructive ones were recorded or noticed. Now, of course, forecasters have the technology to detect all of them, “so I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about this season,” Emanuel says.

Some experts are hesitant to even use the term “new normal.”

“People talk about the ‘new normal,’ and I don’t think that is a good phrase,” says James Done, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. “It implies some new stable state. We’re certainly not in a stable state — things are always changing.”

The Chargers got outscored 27-14 in the fourth quarter on Sunday as Pittsburgh mounted a late comeback, but ultimately it wasn't enough for the Steelers, as Los Angeles won 41-37 after Justin Herbert hit Mike Williams for a 53-yard touchdown with 2:09 left to ice the game.

Herbert, along with running back Austin Ekeler out of the backfield, both did a bit of everything on offense. Herbert threw for 382 yards and three touchdowns while running for another 90. Ekeler, meanwhile, tallied four touchdowns — two rushing and two receiving — as he totaled 115 total yards.
The Chargers were 7-of-12 on third down, averaged 7.7 yards per play and amassed 533 yards of total offense. But it was two key plays late in the fourth quarter — a blocked punt and an interception by Justin Herbert — that allowed the Steelers to make a late comeback and even take the late lead for a short time.

Pittsburgh's offense flowed through Ben Roethlisberger, who turned in a three touchdown game as the ground game was sporadic at best, with Pittsburgh averaging just 3.1 yards per carry. Star rookie running back Najee Harris also missed much of the fourth quarter after being evaluated for a concussion. He was ultimately cleared to return on what wound up being Pittsburgh's final drive.

The win for Los Angeles improves its record to 6-4 and snaps a two-game home losing streak. They're now tied with Kansas City atop the AFC West with a game at Denver looming. Pittsburgh's loss drops it to 5-4-1, the Steelers' first loss since Oct. 3. They travel to Cincinnati next week to take on their fellow AFC North foes the Bengals.
Sporting News is tracked the live score, updates and highlights from 'Sunday Night Football.' Below is complete coverage.
Steelers vs. Chargers score
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F
Steelers 3 7 0 27 37
Chargers 7 10 10 14 41
Steelers vs. Chargers updates, highlights
Final: Chargers 41, Steelers 37
11:35 p.m.: It's now fourth-and-32 from the 3 and the Steelers turn it over on downs and the Chargers take over with 1:15 left and will kneel it out here to end the game.

11:33 p.m.: Roethlisberger is dropped for 11 yards on second down after Joey Bosa gets the sack. Third-and-29 for the Steelers from their own 6.

11:31 p.m.: Roethlisberger is sacked on first down to bring up second-and-18 and the two-minute warning.

11:31 p.m.: Najee Harris clears concussion protocols and is back on the field for the Steelers for this drive. They start at their 25 with 2:09 left.

11:28 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN CHARGERS. Herbert hits Mike Williams for 53 yards and a score, Williams' first in a month. Chargers 41, Steelers 37 with 2:09 left as Pittsburgh needs a touchdown to win it with just one timeout left.
11:25 p.m.: FIELD GOAL STEELERS. The Steelers retake the lead as Boswell nails the 45-yarder with 3:24 left as Pittsburgh has come back from down 17 to tie it up. Pittsburgh 37, Los Angeles 34 with 3:24 remaining.

11:24 p.m.: Roethlisberger's pass falls incomplete and it brings up fourth-and-3 with Boswell slated to come on and kick the 45-yard field goal.

11:23 p.m.: The Steelers call their second timeout with 3:34 left. Third-and-3 from the 27 for the Steelers.

11:21 p.m.: Staley's gamble doesn't pay off as Ekeler is stuffed at the line. The Chargers turn it over on downs and Pittsburgh takes over at the LA 34.
11:20 p.m.: On third-and-14, Herbert to Jared Cook for 13 yards and Brandon Staley keeps the offense on the field on fourth-and-inches.

11:19 p.m.: Following the touchdown, it's almost immediately third-and-14 after Herbert is sacked. Pittsburgh calls its first timeout.

11:16 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN STEELERS. Roethlisberger hits Pat Freiermuth from 5 yards out on second-and-goal to tie it up with 4:23 left. Steelers 34, Chargers 34 with just over four minutes remaining.
11:15 p.m.: LA's Joey Bosa gets hit for a roughing the passer call and it sets up first-and-goal for the Steelers from the 5.

11:13 p.m.: INTERCEPTION STEELERS. Justin Herbert's pass is tipped but picked off and returned to the 11 yard line. First-and-10 for the Steelers who are looking to tie it up.
11:09 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN STEELERS. The Steelers make it a one-score game with 4:49 left after Roethlisberger finds Ebron again. Chargers 34, Steelers 27.
11:07 p.m.: Roethlisberger hits Ebron again for 9 yards and the Steelers are inside the red zone and showing signs of late life.

11:06 p.m.: Diontae Johnson hauls it in for 32 yards on the catch-and-run to put the Steelers at the LA 27 following the third-and-5.

11:05 p.m.: Harris heads to medical tent as It's now third-and-5 following the incompletion. 6:40 remaining in the game with Pittsburgh down two scores.

11:02 p.m.: On the first down play, Roethlisberger completes it to Harris for 5 yards, but Harris is down injured on the play. It'll be second-and-5 from Pittsburgh's own 41.
10:55 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN CHARGERS. Austin Ekeler notches his fourth touchdown of the game and has two rushing and two receiving touchdowns apiece. Now a two-score game with 8:38 left. Chargers 34, Steelers 20.
10:53 p.m.: Herbert's impressive ground game continues. He's up to 93 yards rushing after a 36 yard run on third-and-5. Tack on an unneccessary roughness penalty and it's first-and-goal from the 4.

10:47 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN STEELERS. This time the Steelers have no problem punching it in from short yardage as Najee Harris leaps over the pile for the score. Chargers 27, Steelers 20 with 11:35 left in the game.
10:44 p.m.: The Steelers are quickly looking at fourth-and-goal from the 5 and it's batted down but there's a penalty in the endzone for defensive pass interference. Now first-and-goal from the 1 for Pittsburgh.

10:40 p.m.: The Chargers punt It away from their 32 and it's blocked as the ball rolls out of bounds at the 3 yard line. First-and-goal for the Steelers upcoming.
10:34 p.m.: FIELD GOAL STEELERS. Boswell splits the uprights again, this time from 36 yards out. Chargers 27, Steelers 13 with 14:10 left in the game.

10:33 p.m.: It's third down again for the Steelers, this time from the Chargers' 20 but the pass gets batted away. The field goal unit comes out for Mike Tomlin.

End third quarter: Chargers 27, Steelers 10
10:28 p.m.: The Steelers are looking to convert on third down following the field goal and they do as Roethlisberger finds Najee Harris out of the backfield. Now first-and-10 from the Chargers 25 as Roethlisberger. hits Eric Ebron for 1 yard to end the third quarter.

10:22 p.m.: FIELD GOAL CHARGERS. Hopkins nails the 41-yarder and Los Angeles increases its lead with 3:40 left in the quarter. Chargers 27, Steelers 10,

10:21 p.m.: It's now fourth-and-8 and the Chargers move up 5 yards after the Steelers jump offsides as Hopkins lines up for a 41-yarder.

10:20 p.m.: It's now third-and-13 from the Steelers 28 but the Chargers can't convert. Brandon Staley brings out the field goal unit.

10:17 p.m.: Herbert takes off and runs again, this time on third down and he converts. The Chargers are 5-for-6 on third down so far and Herbert has five carries for 57 yards and is the team's leading rusher.

10:15 p.m.: The Chargers are quickly near midfield to the their own 42 where they'll be faced with first-and-20 following a holding penalty.

10:09 p.m.: The Steelers go three-and-out on their first drive to open the quarter. They punt it away and the Chargers take over at their 26.

10:04 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN CHARGERS. Austin Ekeler's monster day continues. He peels off a 12-yard run and then hauls in a 17-yard touchdown pass. It's his third touchdown of the game. Chargers 24, Steelers 10 with just under 12 minutes left in the third.
10:03 p.m.: Herbert goes to Allen again for 14 yards and the Chargers are in the red zone.

10:01 p.m.: This time Herbert has no problem hitting Allen. The two connect for 30 yards for an easy third-down conversion. Chargers now on the Steelers 43.

9:59 p.m.: It's quickly third-and-13 to open the second half as Herbert's pass to Keenan Allen falls short.

9:57 p.m.: The Chargers will receive the second half kick and take over at their 26 but there's a flag on the play. The penalty goes against the Steelers and the Chargers move up 5 yards to their own 31.

Halftime: Chargers 17, Steelers 10
9:41 p.m.: FIELD GOAL CHARGERS. Dustin Hopkins nails a 30-yarder with two seconds left on the clock to give the Chargers a touchdown lead heading into halftime. Chargers 17, Steelers 10.

9:35 p.m.: The Chargers have been marching to close out the first half following the touchdown. Looking at first-and-10 from their own 41 with 27 seconds left.

9:25 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN STEELERS. Roethlisberger throws up a floater that hangs in the air and he finds Johnson again in the back of the end zone. Chargers 14, Steelers 10 with 1:09 left in the first half.
9:24 p.m.: Roethlisberger hits Diontae Johnson for 9 yards to the LA 10. Steelers in a position to score before the half.

9:23 p.m.: Following the touchdown, Roethlisberger executes a nice throw and helps the Steelers march down the field.
9:14 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN CHARGERS. It's Austin Ekeler again, and the Chargers extend their lead. Chargers 14, Steelers 3 with 3:42 left in the first half.
9:12 p.m.: Another 18-yard run for Herbert followed by an 18-yard pass and it's now second-and-goal from the Pittsburgh 10 for LA.
9:09 p.m.: The Chargers are looking at third-and-6 from their own 28 and Herbert scrambles and keeps it for 18 yards to the LA 46. Nearing midfield.

9:06 p.m.: Ekeler takes it for 10 yards and a first down as the Chargers now have a more manageable field.

9:03 p.m.: The Steelers go 73 yards on 12 plays but turn it over on downs at the Chargers' 2 yard line. That's where LA takes over to begin its next drive.

9:00 p.m.: Roethlisberger hits Chase Claypool for 37 yards to the LA 5. Steelers in prime position to retake the lead here early in the second.
8:59 p.m.: The second quarter starts with a 3 yard run and a 5 yard run. Now third-and-2 from the LA 44 for the Steelers.

End first quarter: Chargers 7, Steelers 3
8:53 p.m.: The Steelers' drive following the touchdown is three plays, all of them to Najee Harris. Now third-and-6 from the Steelers' 40 for Pittsburgh.

8:47 p.m.: TOUCHDOWN CHARGERS. No doubt about that one as Austin Ekeler runs straight ahead and barrels his way through for the score. Caps off a 12 play, 73-yard drive that chewed nearly six minutes of clock. Chargers 7, Steelers 3 with 2:09 left in the first.
8:46 p.m.: The Chargers punch it in but get hit for illegal formation. Drives them back 5 yards to the Pittsburgh 6 and a replay of first down.

8:44 p.m.: On third-and-3 from the Pittsburgh 21, Justin Herbert hits Williams again, this time for 17 yards. Brings up first-and-goal from the 4.

8:40 p.m.: Los Angeles converts on third-and-14 after hitting Mike Williams for 22 yards. That's followed up by 5-yard catch by Jared Cook and an 11-yard grab by Keenan Allen. Chargers across midfield to the Steelers' 39.

8:38 p.m.: The Chargers open their game at their own 27.

8:36 p.m.: FIELD GOAL STEELERS. Boswell nails the the 36 yarder and the game's first points are on the board. Steelers 3, Chargers 0 with 8:33 left in the game.

8:34 p.m.: The Steelers go three-and-out in the red zone and will send Chris Boswell on to kick.

8:32 p.m.: After a gain of 16 yards and two defensive penalties on the Chargers, the Steelers are officially in the red zone for the first time tonight. Second-and-5 from the 18 upcoming.

8:28 p.m.: Roethlisberger hits tight end Pat Freiermuth to convert on third down once again. This time it goes for 4 yards and the Steelers are nearing midfield at their own 49.

8:27 p.m.: The game's first penalty is against Los Angeles' Joey Bosa, who gets hit for a neutral zone infraction Second-and-5 upcoming for the Steelers.

8:24 p.m.: Ben Roethlisberger's first pass of the game is complete to Chase Claypool on third down and the Steelers convert. Gain of 8 on the play.

8:23 pm.: The Steelers start the game with the ball at their own 25.

Far too often, fighters say that they can’t afford to lose when they, in fact, can afford to lose.

A loss isn't the end for all fighters and the greatest have come back from significant losses in their career. All losses aren't the same and there's often an overreaction to how much a loss hurts the future of a fighter.
Take, for instance, Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant. Plant was never expected to win the fight. Of course, he didn’t want to lose and the spoils go to the victor but the concept of a moral victory applied. He made a good showing of himself and will certainly be back, perhaps with more eyeballs on him now than before.

There are rarely fights that neither can afford to lose because of just how devastating to their future the loss would be.

Terence Crawford vs. Shawn Porter on Nov. 20 in Las Vegas is one of those fights.

Why Terence Crawford can’t afford to lose
If Terence Crawford loses to Shawn Porter, the allure is gone. And maybe he wasn’t as good as we thought he was.

Although he was named the Fighter of the Year by ESPN and the Boxing Writers Association of America all the way back in 2014 (and again by ESPN in 2017), the current WBO welterweight champion remains in pursuit of a signature win. The critics have had every right to have their questions because as great as Crawford has looked, his resume lacks that one opponent who is respected for his accomplishments and accolades.

Shawn Porter is that opponent.

A two-time welterweight champion that has given hell to every single opponent that he’s stepped into the ring with. With Manny Pacquiao retired, an argument can be made that Porter has the most impressive resume of every fighter in the 147-pound weight class. And if it wasn’t for Canelo, Porter might have the best resume in all of boxing. Although he hasn’t won all of his big fights, he has yet to be dominated by an opponent.
He’s defeated Danny Garcia, Yordenis Ugas, Adrian Broner while losing narrow decisions to Keith Thurman, Errol Spence Jr. and Kell Brook. As a matter of fact, 11 of his last 13 opponents were world titleholders.

It doesn’t get much better than that. And a Crawford victory opens the door wide open for him to challenge Spence and the rest of the division in an attempt to become undisputed in two division. They won't be able to deny him any longer unless they are scared. It's just that simple.

With all of this being said, one would think that Crawford could afford to lose given Porter’s credentials. Well, that’s certainly not the case. He has hovered as one of the top five pound-for-pound fighters without a marquee name on his resume because he’s been that damn good inside of the squared circle.

But what he hasn’t been is tested by an opponent who has given the best 147-pounders 36 minutes of pressure.
Crawford may have graduated with high honors from his pugilism undergraduate but now he has to prove that he’s Magna Cum Laude and get his master’s degree in the sweet science.

He has an opportunity to barely pass the test like Errol Spence and still be considered as one of the best in the world or he gets mowed down by Porter’s aggressive style and find himself possibly removed from the pound for pound list. Or, he destroys Porter and is undeniably the top dog of the division and once again in the conversation as the best fighter in the world.

Of even more significance is that he’ll be a free agent. It’s no secret that Top Rank has struggled to get him a marquee fight as opponents ranging from Errol Spence Jr., Keith Thurman and the recently retired Manny Pacquiao fought for a rival promotion. There’s an expectation that Crawford will see what’s on the other side of the street if he gets past Porter. But at 34 years of age and facing constant struggles to prove he’s a marketable star, a loss would be devastating to his future.

Bob Arum has spoken in less than flattering terms about Crawford while PBC will have proven their point that Crawford is not in the league of their current stable. Where does Crawford go if he loses all of his leverage?

He cannot afford to lose on Saturday night.

Why Shawn Porter can’t afford to lose
Boxing has been kind to Shawn Porter because Porter has been kind to the sport. He’s a fighter who could care less about politics and risks. He’ll fight anybody at any time. And if you step into the ring with Porter, it will be less fun for you than it is for him. He enjoys plowing into opponents and forcing them to fight his fight. It’s rare to find a Porter fight that lacked excitement and fans have had the opportunity to enjoy Porter’s fearlessness inside of the squared circle.

But, eventually, you have to win the big one.

Porter is a two-time world champion who is 4-3 in major world title bouts. He fell just a hair short against Keith Thurman, Kell Brook and Errol Spence Jr. And while all three of those fights were a round or two away from seeing Porter victorious, the fact remains that he lost. The record books won't explain how close he was and future generations just won't care. The stats are the stats.

The expectation is that Porter will give Crawford all he can handle but fail to get the job done. Oddsmakers have installed him as a significant underdog despite his in-ring accomplishments. This is a sign that many people think that his time is up. And if he ends up proving the naysayers right, the idea that Shawn Porter is one of the best welterweights in the world is likely over.

Simply put, if he loses, he goes from contender to gatekeeper. He becomes the guy that young fighters target as a name for their resume. It’s highly unlikely that he’ll find himself in a marquee fight as the A-side and will spend the rest of his career as an opponent. Jarron "Boots" Ennis and Vergil Ortiz will look to use Porter's name as a stepping stone.

Nobody wants to be a stepping stone. But that's how Porter will be viewed if he is unable to get the job done.

It’s also possible that his hall of fame credentials hinges entirely on this fight.

A victory finds Porter back in the mix and rematches with Yordenis Ugas and Errol Spence Jr. will have to be made. There will be a reason to believe that Porter is absolutely one of the best fighters in the world and he'll certainly crash the pound for pound list with an exceptional performance.

But it all goes up in a cloud of smoke if he loses.

As you can see, the pendulum swing for both fighters is extreme. Neither can afford to lose because their respective futures rely so heavily on what happens inside of those 12 rounds. The stakes are high on both sides and that's more than enough reason to watch what could be an incredible fight with the respective futures of both Crawford and Porter hanging in the balance.

The Denver Nuggets will be without their superstar and the league's reigning MVP Nikola Jokic when they take on the Bulls at home.

This is the first game that Jokic will miss this season due to an injury, with the only other game he didn't suit up for so far was due to a suspension, following his altercation with the Miami Heat's Markieff Morris.
Through 14 games, he's averaging career-highs of 26.4 points and 13.6 rebounds while also dishing out 6.4 assists on career-high shooting efficiencies of 59.3 percent from the field and 41.0 percent from beyond the arc.
What's next for Jokic? Here's everything we know about his injury.

What is Nikola Jokic's injury?
Hours before the game against the Bulls, the Nuggets declared Jokic out with a right wrist sprain.
It's an injury that the Serbian big man reportedly suffered midway through the team's previous game, a home loss against the Philadelphia 76ers. Although he played until the end, he was seen favouring it in the second half.

How long is Nikola Jokic out?
It's currently unknown if Jokic will miss more than one game. In addition, the Nuggets will be without other key young stars in Jamal Murray (ACL) and Michael Porter Jr. (back).

The Serbian has been one of the most reliable players in his career, having missed just 20 games through his six previous seasons.

Nuggets upcoming schedule
The Nuggets enter this Bulls game with a 9-6 record, good for sixth in the West prior to Friday's games.

After this Bulls game, Denver will kick-off a road-heavy schedule as they play nine of their next 10 games away from home.

Date Opponent Time (ET)
Nov. 21 at Suns 8:00 p.m.
Nov. 23 at Trail Blazers 10:00 p.m
Nov. 26 vs. Bucks 9:00 p.m
Nov. 29 at Heat 7:30 p.m
Dec. 1 at Magic 7:00 p.m
Currently, the Nuggets rank third in defensive rating (103.8) and 20th in offensive rating (106.2).

It might not erase memories of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, but it could kickstart a sputtering start to the season.

The Atlanta Hawks snapped a six-game losing streak in emphatic style, blowing out the Milwaukee Bucks 120-100 at State Farm Arena.

The win was a continuation of a gauntlet schedule for the Hawks, with Trae Young exploding for a season-high 42 points to end the skid.

"He came out very aggressive. He felt the rhythm and stayed with it," head coach Nate McMillan said. "I thought he established a tempo on both ends of the floor. I loved the pace that we played with tonight."

The win over Milwaukee ends a stretch of games that has seen the Hawks face Brooklyn, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State, Utah again and then Denver in succession.

Forget the fact that those squads are all hoping to contend for a title, the Hawks are also battling their own expectations after a spectacular run to the Conference Finals.

"That's something that these guys are going through for the first time. Being a team that other opponents respect," McMillan said.

"We played some really good teams to start this season off. I thought last year we played good basketball and I don't think people were writing us off but this year they are coming in ready to play. This is something we are going through for the first time and guys are learning what it's like when expectations are higher."

"It's very similar to postseason play. You can tell them how physical it's going to be but until you go through it and experience it they really won't know."

The win improves Atlanta to 5-9 on the season, with the next four games all at home.

More than anything, Atlanta fans will be pleased to see the return of Young at his best, with the explosive scorer pouring in seven first-half triples on his way to 27 points through two quarters. He finished the night 8-for-13 from long range, with the eight makes his most in a game since January.

Prior to tonight, Young was just 34.4 percent from long range, with his ten assists giving him his sixth double-double of the season.

The Hawks offense found it's mojo against Milwaukee, with John Collins once again becoming an above-the-rim threat in pick-and-roll situations with Young.

Collins finished with 19 points and six rebounds, while also drawing two offensive fouls on Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It's only one win, and it came against an injury hit Bucks team at the end of a five-game road trip, but for the first time in a while the Hawks looked like last year's version.