Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 8 #138

Knowing player names will help you solve Connections: Sports Edition No. 138 for Feb. 8.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, and generational studies Credentials

• Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year”​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, but today’s Connections: Sports Edition is not all Big Game-themed. Still, there’s one dedicated football category and other clues are football-related. Read on for hints and answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle.

And you should know that Connections: Sports Edition is coming out of beta on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 9. That’s a sign that the game has earned enough loyal players that The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times, will be continuing to publish it. It won’t show up in the NYT Games app but will appear in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can continue to play it free online. 

Read more: NYT Has a Connections Game for Sports Fans. I Tried It

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint:  Bunch of athletes

Green group hint: Accessories for a sport

Blue group hint: Fleet football players

Purple group hint: Same male name

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Group of players

Green group: Baseball equipment

Blue group: NFL running backs

Purple group: Jason ____

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is group of players. The four answers are club, side, squad and team.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is baseball equipment. The four answers are bat, cleats, glove and helmet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is NFL running backs. The four answers are Barkley, Cook, Henry and Swift.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Jason ____. The four answers are Day, Giambi, Kelce and Witten.

Toughest Connections: Sports Edition categories

The Connections: Sports Edition puzzle can be tough, but it really depends on which sports you know the most about. My husband aces anything having to do with Formula 1, my best friend is a hockey buff, and I can answer any question about Minnesota teams.

That said, it’s hard to pick the toughest Connections categories, but here are some I found exceptionally mind-blowing recently.

#1: Series A Clubs, Jan. 11. Answers: Atalanta, Juventus, Lazio, Roma.

#2: WNBA MVPs, Jan. 21. Answers: Catchings, Delle Donne, Fowles and Stewart.

#3: Premier League team nicknames, Jan. 17. Answers: Bees, Cherries, Foxes and Hammers.