The Sweep, October 27 — Beasley Agrees to Plead Guilty, a Big Ten Coach Calls Betting "Predatory," Circa Loses 617 Entries, and the Brewers Are One Win Away

Tuesday, October 27. Malik Beasley has agreed to plead guilty in the federal sports-betting case, his lawyer Steve Haney told ESPN. Over the weekend Haney had said talks were under way, and on Tuesday he said a deal was done. Beasley is scheduled to change his plea at a hearing in New York on December 9. In July he pleaded not guilty to four counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests, honest-services wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The reports do not yet say which of those the agreement covers. Until the hearing, that is all anyone can say with confidence, and we will not guess beyond it.

Monday, October 26. Northwestern's David Braun was asked about being an underdog at Oregon this weekend and answered a different question. "I will get myself in trouble with this one, but the last thing any of us are paying attention to is betting lines," he said, according to Covers. "Why are those lines placed? To draw action." He said he has young sons at home and is "terrified of how addictive phones are, how addictive gambling is." Then: "It's scary stuff. It's predatory." He is a coach at 6-1, so nobody can dismiss this as an excuse. As a description of how a betting line works, "to draw action" is about half right. As a description of what the industry's marketing aims at, it is the reason states keep writing ad rules.

Sunday, October 25 (counted Tuesday). The Circa Survivor field went into Week 7 with 1,275 live entries and came out with 660. Houston, a 10.5-point home favourite, lost 27-21 in overtime to the Giants and took 303 entries with it. The Jets lost to Miami and took 256. Carolina took 54. Of the original 25,017 entries, 97% are gone, and Covers puts the implied value of each survivor at $37,905 of the $25 million prize. In the $100,000-entry Grandissimo, three of six entries were on Houston. Two of the remaining three are on Minnesota and one on Denver. A double-digit home favourite is the most popular kind of survivor pick, and that is why a loss like this wipes out so many entries at once.

Monday, October 26. Brewers 10, Rays 1, at Tropicana Field in front of 40,388. Milwaukee leads the World Series 3-0 and can win its first title in Game 4 tonight. The fifth inning decided it: eight runs. Robert Gasser got the win, and Freddy Peralta took the loss. The Brewers had 16 hits to the Rays' 3. The first two games were decided by a single run, 3-2 and 5-4, and this one was a rout.

Monday, October 26. Cowboys 38, Eagles 21, and Philadelphia has lost five in a row for the first time since 2016. The Eagles' defense finished with no sacks, no tackles for loss and no quarterback hits. "I feel like I've been here before," Jordan Mailata said. The Inquirer's Marcus Hayes asked in print whether Nick Sirianni has lost the locker room. Our NFL desk looks at why the NFC East board has the 2-5 Eagles behind the 1-4-1 Commanders, with the two teams meeting on Sunday.

Monday, October 26. Mike Vrabel was asked about the $250,000 fine the league levied on him, Sirianni and the Jets' Aaron Glenn for "conduct toward officials." SI's Albert Breer reported the fines, which are held in abeyance and can be forgiven with good behaviour. "Those things are supposed to be held in strict confidence, confidentiality, so I'm not going to comment," Vrabel said. "I think it's best just to talk to the league. They seem to have plenty to say already about it." The league's process is supposed to be confidential and it leaked anyway, so his complaint about the leak is fair.

Monday, October 26. Valkyries 64, Dream 55, in San Francisco. Golden State leads the WNBA Finals 3-2 and can win the title in Atlanta on Thursday. Rhyne Howard scored 20 for the Dream, but at one point Atlanta was 3 of 20 from three, according to the AJC's live blog. That shooting decided the game. Kiah Stokes and Veronica Burton had 13 each. Both teams are still looking for their first championship.

Monday, October 26. Anthony Edwards scored 47 points on 19-of-33 shooting, and Minnesota lost 127-125 in overtime in Cleveland. James Harden's free throws made it 125-122 with 13 seconds left. Sam Merrill then fouled LaMelo Ball with 9.2 seconds left, and Ball missed both free throws. Edwards grabbed the rebound and missed what the AP called a "wide-open 3-pointer from the top of the key." It was his seventh game of 47 or more. All that work, and the result came down to two missed free throws.

Tuesday, October 27. The money: prediction markets did more than $14 billion in notional volume over the weekend, according to Aldrin Research's figures in Covers, including a one-day record of $7.2 billion on Saturday. Kalshi took $10.06 billion of it, and Chiefs-Seahawks was its biggest game at over $110 million. On Tuesday Kalshi also put a $2,500 monthly deposit cap on traders aged 18 to 20, and our betting desk works out what that number means. The CFTC sued Utah, and our lead explains why that suit is its weakest. Meanwhile New York's sportsbooks held 6.6% in September, the lowest for the first month of a football season, and revenue was down 17.7% on more handle. New York bettors had a good month.

What we are not running, and why

Deion Sanders' "$50,000 to stop mentioning me." The claim came from a family videographer on a livestream. Sanders called it a joke at his Tuesday press conference and, according to Yardbarker, called it "a lie" on social media. A secondhand claim that the subject denies is not an item.

Texas-Ohio State threats and Steve Sarkisian walking past reporters. These were circulating again on Tuesday, but the articles date from September 13 and 14 and cover a game played September 12.

Bill Belichick calling buyout reports "categorically false." This turns up in searches for a Monday press conference. It is from October 2025.

"NFL announces Week 7 fines," with Trent Williams fined for a punch. It is a 2024 CBS article that resurfaces every year in Week 7. We found no 2026 Week 7 fines list.

Polymarket pulling a market tied to a Cornell criminal case. The story is real but dated October 20, outside our window. It also does not belong in a gossip column.

Jalen Hurts' "superficial blood clot." Several search summaries still describe it that way. That was the team's first description, on October 16. On October 19 the Eagles and his agent said he has deep vein thrombosis and clots in both lungs, and he is out for the season.

A DraftKings "customer-friendly October" guidance cut. It appears only as undated aggregator copy that reads like a previous year's earnings call. We could not date it, so we did not run it.