Jerry Jones is only delaying the inevitable by waiting to fire Mike McCarthy

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, folks. Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.

The ceiling is caving in on Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys at Jerry World. That feels like an omen of things to come.

Listen, folks. I hate to say it, but McCarthy is not making it beyond this season in Dallas. You know it. I know it. It seems that even the Cowboys players know it if you listen to Micah Parsons.

Considering that, you might as well make the move now if you’re Dallas. You’d think losing six games in a row in historic fashion would be enough of a catalyst to make a coaching change — even if it’s not something you’d typically do. The Cowboys typically aren’t this bad!

But Jerry Jones seems to be cool with the status quo.

After Dallas’ 34-10 loss to the Texans in Dallas, Jones insisted that McCarthy hadn’t lost the locker room. He called the question “nonsense.” He also refuses even to consider letting go of McCarthy too early, no matter how often this team makes him make this face.

“I have made a change early on a coach with Chan Gailey, and I’ve always regretted that, and I’ve made a change during the season [on Wade Phillips] and regretted that, and that’s the music I’m listening to,” Jones said after the game.

And, well, I guess that’s fair. Past experience is always the best teacher. The Cowboys season is lost, anyway. What’s a few weeks of a head start on a coaching search going to do for this team? Probably nothing.

But, man. We all know what’s coming. I can’t help but feel like it’d be better just to get it over with.

A rivalry revisited

Rafael Nadal is officially retiring after the Davis Cup. Tuesday might actually be his final match!

This is it, folks. This could be the last we’ll see of this living legend on the court. It’s been a long time coming. He absolutely changed the game on his way to becoming one of the greatest players ever to pick up a racket.

One of his rivals — and friends! — Roger Federer wrote a sweet tribute about exactly that. Charles Curtis has more here.

Take a read:

“We were both at the start of our journey and it’s one we ended up taking together,” he wrote. “Twenty years later, Rafa, I have to say: What an incredible run you’ve had. Including 14 French Opens—historic! You made Spain proud… you made the whole tennis world proud.”

Hits you right in the feels, man. Happy trials, Rafa. Thanks for all the memories.

Happy birthday, Malice at the Palace!

Twenty years ago today, the Malice at the Palace changed the NBA forever.

What started as a run-of-the-mill scuffle between Ben Wallace and Ron Artest snowballed into one of the most unforgettable moments in league history.

This is simply one of those moments you remember where you were when you heard about it. Unfortuantely (or maybe fortunately?), I didn’t see it live. I only saw the replay on the news. But, looking back on it, this happened on national television with some of the biggest names in the NBA.

Ron Artest. Stephen Jackson. Ben Wallace. Reggie Miller (who didn’t even play!).  Dudes were in the stands fighting fans. It was so bad that Rasheed Wallace, of all people, seemed to try and play peacemaker. I still can’t believe it happened and it’s been 20 years since it did.

The aftermath was crazy. Reggie Miller said the Pacers faced bomb threats the next time they visited the palace.

After this, the NBA banned hand-checking. It also enacted a dress code that very blatantly targeted hip-hop culture. It was extremely problematic, to say the least. But players adhered to it and, eventually, flipped it on its head. And, because of the hand-checking ban, we got the freedom of movement we have in the game today.

I won’t call the Malice in the Palace the defining moment of this current iteration of the NBA. The stigma still hasn’t left the league in a lot of ways. But it certainly did shape the NBA as we know it today, for better and for worse.

Quick hits: Shedeur Sanders to New York … Seattle Storm chaos … and more

— A new NFL mock draft has Shedeur Sanders heading to New York to play QB for the Giants. Charles Curtis has more here.

—  Here’s Meg Hall on the chaos brewing around the Seattle Storm. This story is so weird. We don’t know what’s happening.

— Caitlin Clark at Iowa games as a fan is the best. Here’s Meg again with more.

— Robert Zeglinski and Christian D’Andrea have their NFL Power Rankings together for the week. The Lions are that team. 

— Here’s Tyler Nettuno with winners and losers for this week in the college football world. Georgia just keeps hanging around.

— Cory Woodroof says it’s not time for the Falcons to play Michael Penix just yet.

That’s a wrap, folks. Happy Tuesday. Peace.

-Sykes