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3 Stories: Vegas Golden Knights, Klinsmann Fired, H.S. Football Goes To Court

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The NHL has a new franchise...the Vegas Golden Knights. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The NHL has a new franchise...the Vegas Golden Knights. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The NHL has come to Las Vegas — and the league's newest franchise has already had some tough luck.

Dignitaries who gathered in Las Vegas this week were supposed to watch a video announcement for the city’s new team…the Vegas Golden Knights. But when the big moment came, the screen simply read: “Placeholder Vegas Hockey.” Owner Bill Foley was compelled to think quickly.

"We’re going to do better than that on the rink, I’ll tell you that," he said.

That's where we start this week's "3 Stories You Should Know." Sports on Earth’s Will Leitch and the Boston Globe and WBUR’s Shira Springer joined Bill Littlefield.

1. Bill On The Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights will begin NHL play in 2017. The Golden Knights are the first franchise from a major pro sports league to call Las Vegas home. Bill Littlefield has some questions.

First, will the arrival of the NHL in Las Vegas turn out to be merely the first part of what will be a three-ring circus in the desert featuring the NBA and — of course most significantly — the National Football League? And, if that does happen, will those expansions or relocations indicate that all three leagues have signed on to the proposition that, since gambling on sports is inevitable, they better get a piece of the action?

2. Will On Jurgen Klinsmann's Firing

Earlier this week, Jurgen Klinnsmann was fired from his position as technical director and coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team. It's a role he's held since 2011. Will Leitch thinks we should remember something positive from Klinsmann's tenure.

One of the major reasons Klinnsman was brought in in the first place was to change the culture of U.S. soccer. And one of the major things that Klinsmann has done is go throughout the youth leagues and try to de-emphasize the value of the coach. He's trying to say, "Trust players' instincts." The way for the U.S. to progress in soccer and to play like the rest of the world in soccer and to value the amount of talent that they do have is to try to stop trying to coach them all the time in these youth leagues. Let players create. Let players learn." This is a fantastic instinct, not just in soccer, but in all of youth sports. It is, however, a terrible instinct when you're coaching the U.S. men's soccer team.

3. Shira On A H.S. Football Game That Ended In Court

A high school football game in Illinois ended in controversy after an officiating error. This prompted the losing team to file a lawsuit. On Wednesday, a Cook County judge ruled that the result stood. Shira Springer thinks the lawsuit sent a bad message.

Bad calls happen all the time in sports. But you can't have parents or coaches or school administrators rushing to the courthouse every time there's a bad call. The court dockets would be overflowing if that was the case. And I think there was a real missed opportunity here to teach the kids some life lessons.

More Stories You Should Know:

This segment aired on November 26, 2016.

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