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3 Stories: Wake Forest Spycraft, Jeff Fisher Fired, NHL Fighting Ban

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Wake Forest players take the field before a game against Syracuse in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014. (Chuck Burton/AP)
Wake Forest players take the field before a game against Syracuse in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014. (Chuck Burton/AP)

The latest hacking scandal to break on American soil has the sports world buzzing.

But we're not talking about foreign intervention in the U.S. election. We're talking about "WakeyLeaks." That's where we start this week's "3 Stories You Should Know."

Rachel Bachman of the Wall Street Journal and Michael Lee of Yahoo! Sports joined Bill Littlefield.

1. Espionage At Wake Forest

Tommy Elrod, the radio announcer for Wake Forest football, was fired this week after school officials discovered that since 2014, he had been revealing some of the team's plays to opponents. Louisville confirmed it had gotten plays ahead of time but said Wake Forest didn't use any of them in the game. Many questions remain unanswered in light of the scandal.

Rachel: One question: How many teams received plays in advance? And how were the outcomes of those games affected? And the biggest question, which has not been answered yet, is why would the announcer, who is a Wake Forest alum, do this?

Michael: You're playing Wake Forest. Do you really need inside information to beat one of the sorriest teams in the ACC?

Bill: Did Wake Forest know their plays were being given to the opposition? Because why else would they not use any of the plays that were given to the opposition?

2. Jeff Fisher's Long Run Of Mediocrity

Before being fired by the Los Angeles Rams, Jeff Fisher was just one defeat away from being the league's all-time losingest coach. As it stands now, he's tied with Dan Reeves at 165 career losses. It would likely be difficult for Fisher to find another head coaching job in the league, but thus far, the 22-year veteran has kept his career afloat on the back of just one Super Bowl appearance with the Tennessee Titans in 1999. Michael Lee think it's time for NFL teams to start looking elsewhere for a head coach.

The worst part about Fisher going down is that the record's gonna stand for some time, and there won't be another coach that has a chance to get the all-time loss record. Bill Belichick, right now, is the closest. Bill Belichick is the closest, with 115. Belichick could lose every game for the next six seasons and still have a better winning percentage than Jeff Fisher. ... How can someone be so mediocre for so long and still get paid?

3. Should The NHL Ban Fighting?

This week Yahoo! Sports released the results of their survey of NHL fans. Fifty-one percent of fans said that a formal ban on fighting would have “no impact” on their viewership, 24 percent said a ban would make them less likely to watch and 25 percent said a ban would make them more likely to watch. With those numbers in mind, Bill Littlefield says the NHL should just go ahead and ban fighting.

I know survey results can be interpreted in various ways, and I’m oversimplifying the data. But as far as I’m concerned, the bottom line here is that if fights were eliminated from NHL games, the league would be no less popular than it is now. Also, games would more often depend on what the fastest, most highly-skilled players could do on the ice, pro hockey at its worst would cease to resemble pro wrestling ... And then there are the injuries that happen sometimes during these fights.

More Stories You Should Know

This segment aired on December 17, 2016.

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