The daily pitch from Sports Editor Matt Daniels: Sept. 12, 2026

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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:

Rajeev Ram Joe Salisbury — Illinois athletics

Former Illini Rajeev Ram, left, and his long-time doubles partner Joe Salisbury. Ram, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles in his tennis career, retired from the sport on Thursday after he and Salisbury lost in the semifinals of the men’s doubles bracket at the U.S. Open.

Three reasons we love sports today

➜ 1. Rajeev Ram. The former Illinois men’s tennis player who helped the Illini win the 2003 NCAA title announced his retirement from tennis on Thursday after his run at the U.S. Open ended with a loss in the men’s doubles semifinals.

➜ 2. The 42-year-old Ram won three men’s doubles titles at the U.S. Open in 2021, 2022 and 2023 along with two mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open in 2019 and 2021 and another men’s doubles titles at the Australian Open in 2020.

➜ 3. Ram also has two silver medals from the Summer Olympics. He and Venus Williams took silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro before he and Austin Krajicek earned silver at the 2024 Games in Paris in men’s doubles.

Bengals running back Chase Brown finished the 2025 season with 1,456 yards from scrimmage, which was an NFL-single season record for a player born in Canada with the former Illini a London, Ontario, native.

John Kuntz/cleveland.com

Numbers game: 2,188

career rushing yards by former Illini Chase Brown during his first three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals. The 26-year-old running back — who is the last Illinois running back to top 1,000 yards in a season when he rushed for 1,643 yards in 2022 for the third-best mark in program history — begins his fourth season with the Bengals on Sunday. Cincinnati hosts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at noon at Paycor Stadium.

Illinois defensive end Joe Barna and Illinois linebacker Jack Paris prepare to tackle UAB running back Roderick Robinson II during the season opener on Sept. 3 at Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

Mike Heiniger/The News-Gazette

Crowd control

Three events I’m paying attention to

➜ 1. Duke at Illinois football. How the Illini deal with Duke running back Nate Sheppard is one of the biggest storylines before Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. kickoff at Gies Memorial Stadium in Champaign. Sheppard rushed for 227 yards on 35 carries during Duke’s 17-3 win against Tulane last Saturday.

➜ 2. Illinois State at Northern Illinois football. Can the Redbirds (2-0) knock off an FBS team in the Huskies (0-1)? Find out when this game kicks off at 6 p.m. on Saturday from Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.

➜ 3. Southeast Missouri at Southern Illinois football. Before the Salukis (1-1) visit Champaign on Sept. 19, they’ll host the Redhawks (1-1) at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.