Archive

2024

Browsing

On Wednesday, McCall announced on Instagram that he’s decided to retire from football after medical professionals advised him to walk away from the sport following a concussion he suffered in NC State’s Week 6 loss to Wake Forest. He said it’s something he ‘cannot come back from’ following a string of concussions.

‘Unfortunately, my dream has been cut just short,’ McCall, 23, wrote. ‘As you all know I have battled injuries my whole career, but this is one that I cannot come back from. I have done everything I can to continue, but this is where the good Lord has called me to serve in a different space. Brain specialists, my family, and I have come to the conclusion that it is in my best interest to hang the cleats up.’

In the first quarter of NC State’s 34-30 loss to Wake Forest on Oct. 5, McCall attempted to run for a first down and was hit by multiple Demon Deacons defenders, including one who made helmet-to-helmet contact with McCall, knocking his helmet off as he slammed to the ground. He was carted off the field on a stretcher and hospitalized.

McCall spent the first five seasons of his collegiate career at Coastal Carolina, where he completed 710 passes for 10,005 yards and 88 touchdowns in 42 games. McCall led Coastal Carolina to its first undefeated regular season in 2020 and was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year, the first of three consecutive honors from 2020-2022. But his 2023 campaign was cut short after he was hospitalized for a hit to the head.

He transferred to North Carolina State in December for his sixth season, but McCall only suited up in four games due to multiple concussions. He suffered a concussion in NC State’s 30-20 win over Louisiana Tech in Week 3 on Sept. 14, forcing him to miss the next two games. McCall returned under center on Oct. 5 vs. Wake Forest before he suffered another concussion, which ultimately led to his retirement.

During his stint at NC State, McCall completed 53 passes for 518 yards and three touchdowns in four games.

‘As I feel like my whole world is being taken from me, I feel some sense of contentment,’ McCall wrote in is retirement announcement. ‘Every time my feet hit the grass, I left every single ounce of myself on that field. I always played my hardest and to the best of my ability because I never knew what play would be my last. I have no regrets throughout my career and that is something I can be proud of.’

Although he’s stepping away from the playing field, McCall said he won’t be too far away from the game.

‘I look forward to taking my passion and love for the game into the coaching space to serve and lead the next group of kids with a dream,’ he said.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Vice President Kamala Harris stood outside the vice president’s residence in Washington, D.C., launching a blistering attack on former President Trump, her rival in the 2024 White House race.

Harris charged that the former president was ‘increasingly unhinged and unstable’ as she pointed to critical comments made by retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff, in a New York Times interview.

The vice president argued Trump was a ‘fascist’ as she noted Kelly’s allegations that the then-president repeatedly voiced admiration for Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler.

Hours later, at a CNN town hall in battleground Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, Harris doubled down on her charges.

Asked if she believed the Republican presidential nominee was a fascist, the vice president answered ‘yes, I do.’

And she emphasized that American voters ‘care about our democracy and not having a President of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’

Trump, who has vehemently denied Kelly’s allegations, took to social media to fire back at Harris, arguing that her criticisms were a sign that she’s losing the election.

The former president claimed that Harris was ‘increasingly raising her rhetoric, going so far as to call me Adolf Hitler, and anything else that comes to her warped mind.’

If Harris’ criticisms that Trump is ‘unfit to serve’ in the Oval Office sound familiar, there’s a good reason – they are.

As he ran for re-election, President Biden made his argument that Trump was an existential threat to democracy a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.

Biden spotlighted what he called the former president’s ‘assault on democracy’ – as he pointed to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters aiming to upend congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 election victory – during a January speech as he kicked off the election year.

As he continued to run for another four years in the White House, the president repeatedly argued that Trump was ‘a threat to democracy.’

But after a besieged Biden in July dropped his re-election bid and backed Harris to replace him atop the Democrats’ 2024 ticket, the vice president and her advisers seemed to discard the Biden playbook on Trump.

Instead, ‘joyful warrior’ Harris spotlighted a more upbeat message and when she focused on Trump, she noted his petty grievances and called him an ‘unserious man,’ as she argued during her Democratic National Convention address in late August.

But as the calendar moved from summer to autumn, and Election Day neared, in a margin-of-error race where plenty of polls suggest the momentum belongs to Trump, there’s been an apparent shift of tone coming from the vice president and her campaign.

‘Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged and will stop at nothing to claim unchecked power for himself,’ Harris charged last week during multiple campaign rallies in battleground Wisconsin.

According to a senior campaign official, Harris will deliver what’s being described as a major ‘closing argument’ address next Tuesday – one week until Election Day – on the Ellipse, which is just south of the White House and north of the National Mall.

The campaign spotlighted that Trump headlined a large rally of supporters at the Ellipse on Jan 6, 2021. Many of those who attended Trump’s rally then marched to the U.S. Capital and joined other protesters in storming the building. The campaign sees the Ellipse as a symbolic location that they believe will help make clear to voters the choice in the presidential election.

The contrast with the former president that Harris is working to sketch comes as she and her campaign make a full court press to attract dissatisfied Republicans who supported Trump rival Nikki Haley earlier this year in the GOP presidential primaries. 

While Trump continues to hold massive sway over the Republican Party, even a sliver of GOP voters casting ballots for Harris could make a difference in some of the battleground states in a race likely to be decided in the margins.

Harris in recent weeks has teamed up in the key battleground states with high-profile anti-Trump Republicans, including former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

A Democratic strategist in Biden’s political orbit told Fox News that the shift in Harris’ messaging is a sign that the president was right to repeatedly take aim at Trump on the campaign trail as an existential threat to democracy.

The Trump campaign argues that the new messaging will backfire with voters.

‘Kamala Harris is focused on Donald Trump and President Donald J. Trump is focused on the American people,’ Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez argued on ‘Fox and Friends’ on Thursday. ‘Our closing argument is so different than theirs. They are throwing everything they can at the wall to see what sticks because Kamala Harris is floundering.’

Longtime vocal GOP Trump-critic Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire – who was a top Haley supporter and surrogate in the Republican nomination battle but says he’ll vote for Trump – said that the attacks wouldn’t succeed in courting voters.

‘You’re dealing with an individual who makes outrageous statements all the time,’ Sununu said of Trump during an interview on Fox News’ ‘Your World with Neil Cavuto.’ ‘They’re baked into the noise.’

Sununu argued that ‘the reason the Harris campaign has completely frozen, lost all their momentum, is because all they do is talk about crazy things that Trump says and does.’

Longtime Republican strategist Colin Reed, a veteran of multiple presidential campaigns, agreed.

‘Voters have been hearing versions of this overheated rhetoric for the better part of the last decade, and they’re starting to tune it out as background noise,’ he told Fox News Digital.

Reed also noted that the new criticism comes after Trump survived two assassination attempts against his life this summer, and many of the former president’s allies blame rhetoric from some Democrats for fueling the toxic political climate.

‘It’s especially ironic coming from the Biden-Harris Administration that ran on an idea of unity, and are now demonizing someone who has been subject to multiple attempts on his life,’ noted Reed, who supported vocal Trump critic former Gov. Chris Christie this cycle.

But Reed said ‘the bigger challenge is that life was easier under the previous presidency than the current one. Prices were lower, the border more secure and ‘inflation’ was an esoteric term from an economics class and not a headache of everyday life. The Harris campaign has failed to lay out their vision and positive plans to address these issues, leaving them with no choice but to focus solely on the negatives around Trump and hope for the best.’

He called it ‘a risky bet when voters are looking for concrete solutions to real problems.’

Even some Democrats have issues with the new messaging.

‘I worry that the threat to democracy message rings hollow with the majority of voters who are much more focused on improving their own personal situation and want to vote for someone who will make their life more affordable,’ seasoned Democratic strategist and communicator Chris Moyer told Fox News Digital.

Moyer said that ‘if I were the Harris campaign, I would continue to hammer home through Election Day the message of what Harris will do for these voters to lower costs and help them get ahead. In doing so, she will be speaking to the top priority across multiple subsets of the electorate. Voters who have the luxury of worrying about the broad concern of the fate of democracy are most likely already voting for Harris.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The U.S. National Security Council released on Thursday its first-ever memo on artificial intelligence (AI), ordering federal agencies to use the ‘most powerful’ AI systems while balancing the risks associated with the new technology.

The National Security Memorandum (NSM) details the U.S. approach to harnessing the power of AI for national security and foreign policy purposes ‘to ensure that America leads the way in seizing the promise and managing the risks of AI,’ senior administration officials said.

‘We are directing that the agencies gain access to the most powerful AI systems and put them to use, which often involve substantial efforts on procurement,’ the officials said.

The NSM, which was signed by President Biden, serves as the framework for the AI Safety Institute in the Department of Commerce, which already issued guidance on safe AI development and entered into agreements with companies to test new AI systems before they are released publicly.

‘This is our nation’s first-ever strategy for harnessing the power and managing the risks of AI to advance our national security,’ national security adviser Jake Sullivan said as he described the new policy to students during an appearance at the National Defense University in Washington.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have been hailed as potentially transformative for a long list of industries and sectors, including military, national security and intelligence.

But there are risks to the technology’s use by governments, including possibilities it could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices.

The framework announced Thursday also prohibits national security agencies from certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is warning Israel on Thursday not to lead a ‘protracted campaign’ against the terrorist group Hezbollah in Lebanon. 

Blinken, who is visiting Qatar for talks to end the war in Gaza, said, ‘as Israel conducts operations to remove the threat to Israel and its people along the border, with Lebanon, we have been very clear that this cannot lead, should not lead to a protracted campaign and that Israel must take the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger U.N. peacekeepers or the Lebanese Armed Forces. 

‘Right now, we’re working intensely to reach a diplomatic resolution . . . [that] allows civilians on both sides of the border to return to their homes and to be able to live there in peace and security,’ Blinken added. ‘We’re also committed to building up and supporting Lebanese efforts to build up their own institutions free from the grip of Hezbollah, so that the people of Lebanon have more security, more opportunity, more prosperity.’ 

Blinken’s comments come nearly a month after the Israeli military began its limited ground operation inside Lebanon. The Israel Defense Forces revealed Thursday that it has found another hideout where Hezbollah’s special forces unit was allegedly planning an Oct. 7-style attack on Israel. 

The IDF says its troops discovered ‘bunk beds, storage cabinets, food supplies, infrastructure for long-term stay, a large amount of equipment, weapons and launch positions’ in the underground facility. 

‘During these limited and localized ground operations in southern Lebanon, our troops also located 4 weapons storage facilities with rockets, mortars, RPGs and more,’ it added. 

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that Blinken ‘met with Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani today in Doha,’ where they ‘discussed renewed efforts to secure the release of the hostages and end the war in Gaza, as well as ongoing work to provide for security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza after the war.’ 

The visit comes after Blinken was in Israel earlier this week, just days after Hezbollah launched a drone strike to assassinate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his private residence in Caesarea. 

Fox News’ Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Energy industry leaders are pushing for Vice President Kamala Harris to clarify her stance on fossil fuel production in the final days of the presidential race, citing fears that she would restrict production and add on to four years of confusing policy under President Biden.

These concerns reached a fever pitch last week after senior campaign climate adviser Camila Thorndike said in an interview that Harris has no plans to promote fracking in office. The remarks, since walked back, sparked backlash and criticism from Republicans and industry groups, who re-upped their calls for clarity from the vice president. 

Many viewed the now-retracted comment as a sign she would crack down on fracking. This could cost Harris big time in Pennsylvania – the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer behind Texas, and a key swing state with 19 electoral votes out for offer in the presidential race.

Harris did little to assuage voters in her town hall event Wednesday night. She denied that she had previously endorsed a fracking ban while seeking the presidency in 2019 – when she said there was ‘no question’ she is in favor of banning fracking – and instead pointed to her recent endorsement of the practice. 

She has also repeatedly noted her tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, or the Democratic-led legislation that opened new lease sales for fracking.

However, even in the Keystone State, gas groups remain skeptical as industry leaders note that with just days left before the election, Harris has done little to spell out how she would lead on oil and gas issues, especially when it comes to issues of fracking – a necessary technology to extract natural gas in Pennsylvania. 

Instead, one statewide industry group said, her remarks have only inspired ‘more fracking confusion.’ 

Harris ‘was against it before she was for it. Or is it the other way around now?’ a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Energy Infrastructure Alliance quipped of Harris’s fracking flip-flops in a blog post Wednesday.

Harris ‘continues to give mixed messages about her position on fracking – an issue central to voters in battleground states like Pennsylvania,’ a spokesperson for Grow America’s Infrastructure Now Coalition told Fox News in a statement. 

While Harris has said she would ‘not ban fracking,’ the group said, ‘there is a distinct difference between not banning fracking, and promoting energy production.’

‘As the Harris campaign travels through Pennsylvania … it remains to be seen whether she will clarify her position,’ they added.

Winning Pennsylvania may require an embrace of fossil fuel production. The state is the second-largest natural gas producer in the U.S. and boasts a gas industry that supports more than 120,000 state jobs and adds roughly $41 billion annually to the state’s economy.

‘It’s obvious that the pathway to the presidency goes through Pennsylvania,’ Amanda Eversole, the chief operating officer of the American Petroleum Institute, told Fox News earlier this month. 

Bigger picture

Harris, to date, has ignored calls to clarify her exact policy positions on energy production, which was a heated topic during the Biden administration. 

Her recent stump speeches in Pennsylvania have leaned heavily on the historic levels of U.S. oil and gas production reached under President Biden – despite the fact that this production was in large part a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

‘I am proud that as vice president over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels,’ Harris said in recent campaign remarks.

The U.S. Oil and Gas Association described Harris’s view on social media as the latest ‘change in her prior, prior, position.’ 

Republicans also used it to seize on their wins in Pennsylvania, where Democrats have struggled to gain momentum in recent weeks– including both Harris and down-ballot candidates, such as Sen. Bill Casey.

When asked for a comment Wednesday, a spokesperson for former President Donald Trump’s campaign seized on Thorndike’s recent remarks, telling Fox News in a statement that they only ‘cement the reality’ that ‘the only candidate in this race who will unleash Pennsylvania energy to cut utility bills and fuel American growth is [Trump].’

Former U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry also criticized the interview and the confusion swirling around Harris’s policy positions so close to Election Day.

‘With the election less than 2 weeks out, the recent comments from Harris’ climate director are concerning,’ Perry told Fox News in a statement.

‘Calling the oil and gas industry ‘ecoterrorists’ is insulting to the millions of energy workers across the country, and the Vice President should disavow these extreme comments,’ he said. ‘Voters from PA, OH, and WI should believe Vice President Harris the first time she vowed to ban fracking.’

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

LOS ANGELES — The start of the 2024-25 season marks a new era for the Los Angeles Clippers, who played the Phoenix Suns in their home opener at the Intuit Dome on Wednesday.

‘It’s a huge day for Clippers basketball, our fans and ownership,’ Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said about opening the season in the new venue. 

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer spent $2 billion on the arena. Before it opened its doors to the public on Wednesday, he spent time outside the arena amongst the fans as a ‘Let’s go Clippers’ chant started to break out.

Ballmer was around the fans again in the minutes leading up to game time, dancing and cheering before grabbing a microphone to say ‘Welcome home Clipper Nation!’

Here are some takeaways from the Clippers’ season opener:

The Wall, Clippers fans make their presence felt

Ballmer’s new venue features ‘The Wall,’ a supporters section located behind the opposing team’s basket and strictly for Clippers fans. The section’s intent is to help create a distraction for the opposing team.

‘I love the wall they have,’ Suns forward Kevin Durant said after the game. ‘It was insane. … It was crazy, I was just staring at it the whole time. You’re not used to that.’

Final: Suns 116, Clippers 113 (OT)

Clippers guard James Harden was asked to lead the way for the Clippers, who were playing without star forward Kawhi Leonard.

Harden was in a limited role last year among a star-studded lineup that also featured Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Following the departure of both players, Harden moves into a different role in his second season with Los Angeles.

Harden shot 10 of 28 from the field and collected 12 rebounds and eight assists in 40 minutes. The veteran had a chance to further extend the game to a second overtime period but missed the second of two free throw attempts that would’ve tied the game.

Harden believes there’s still room to play better by taking better shots and limiting his turnovers but remained encouraged by what he saw from his squad.

‘A lot of positives coming out of that game,’ Harden said. ‘I think we played extremely hard and that’s going to be our calling every single game.’

Clippers guard Norm Powell scored the first points of the game before going on to lead all scorers at halftime with 11 points. The Clippers finished the first half on a 10-2 scoring run in the final 2:32 of the second quarter but it was the Suns who took a 47-39 lead into the locker room.

Harden led a second-half charge, scoring 16 of his 29 points in the third quarter.

Center Ivica Zubac scored six points early in the third quarter to help close the gap for the Clippers, who matched the Suns at 51 with 7:33 left in the period. The Suns’ biggest lead of the game was 14 while the Clippers did not hold a lead larger than 10 points.

Clippers set own expectations

Harden mentioned that he has not missed the playoffs at any point during his career and doesn’t expect this year to be any different.

The Clippers are projected to finish with a 41-41 record and a 40% chance to make the playoffs, according to ESPN’s NBA Power Index.

Harden is aware of the expectations that NBA analysts and pundits have for his team but believes the Clippers will stay true to their internal expectations.

‘Our entire team has a lot to prove,’ Harden said. ‘There’ve been many times where I’ve been on teams told they weren’t good enough but we made people believe in us. This is another opportunity for that and I think we have a lot of guys in this locker room who have that mindset and I’m excited about what we have.’

Kawhi Leonard’s injury status 

Leonard was unavailable for Wednesday’s game against the Suns and could be out for several weeks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

‘We have to have an identity of playing hard and competing at a high level,’ Harden said. ‘There are some things we have to correct but even when Kawhi comes back that’s still our identity.’

Leonard averaged 23.7 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season.

(This story was updated to change a photo.)

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

It is a ratings jackpot more than four decades in the making, a bicoastal bonanza that has eluded Major League Baseball since 1981 and Fox Sports since the broadcasting giant aired its first World Series in 1996.

And most likely, a one-year respite from the nearly annual postmortems that the USA just witnessed the lowest-rated World Series in history.

That was again the case a year ago, when an Arizona Diamondbacks-Texas Rangers matchup averaged just 9.11 million viewers during the five-game series, a new low that performed even worse than the 2020 Series contested at a neutral site during the height of the pandemic.

Now, baseball gets the matchup that exemplified the apex of the sport’s popularity.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

In 1978, the second consecutive Dodgers-Yankees battle averaged a record 44.2 million viewers for the six-game series, its 32.8 rating nearly quadrupling the 4.7 rating pulled in 2023. Three years later, more than 41 million tuned in for the Dodgers’ six-game vengeance against the Yankees.

Of course, so much has changed in the 43 years since.

The three over-the-air networks are now four. Cable television took over the airwaves, and then stratified the audience. Streaming sliced it into bite-size pieces and marginalized the once-ubiquitous cable box.

And the NFL’s growth and appetite for global domination now commands attention three nights a week in the autumn, chasing the World Series off the hallowed Sunday night airwaves.

Yet the baseball industry now has a gift four decades in the making: The Bronx vs. the beach, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto vs. Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts.

And for better or worse, it’s about to find out just how good it can get in this atomized landscape.

“They must be jumping for joy, getting the top two markets and such a great rivalry, going back to their first World Series in 1941,” says Dennis Deninger, Syracuse University Sport Management professor emeritus and author of Live Sports Media: The What, How and Why of Sports Broadcasting.

“The stars are important, too. You’ve got big markets and a history in the rivalry between these two teams and big stars.”

Deninger predicts big things, based on the appetizer: The L.A.-New York National League Championship Series pitting the Dodgers against the Mets drew some startling numbers, most notably Game 1, which averaged 8.26 million viewers, most for an NLCS since 2009 and rivaling last year’s World Series number.

NLCS Game 1 also went up against Sunday Night Football and did some actual damage, with SNF losing 8% of its audience year-over-year even as its 15.4 million viewers nearly doubled the baseball playoff game.

For this World Series?

It’s once again the two biggest markets, with the more hallowed Yankees supplanting the Mets, and no NFL interference. And Deninger projects average viewership around 16 million, which would be highest for a World Series since the 2017 Dodgers-Houston Astros seven-game battle averaged 18.9 million viewers.

After four consecutive years of World Series ratings that all ended among the lowest-rated in history, it would be a nifty reversal of the clock. And MLB has made some progress in that area of late.

The kids stay in the picture

The erstwhile national pastime has always battled the existential crisis of an aging fan base, a trendline that dovetails with the times when TV ratings were king.

Those coveted 18-to-34 viewers in the 1980s are now eligible for Medicare, and their children and grandchildren born into a traffic jam of entertainment options and social media distractions.

Yet the league’s aggressive efforts to speed up and present a more aesthetically pleasing game seem to be bearing fruit.

Fox Sports, which broadcast the NL Division Series and NLCS, has experienced a 39% boost in viewership among the 18-to-34 demographic entering the World Series, according to a person familiar with the 2024 postseason ratings.

The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about viewership figures.

That jump comes after nearly all of MLB’s broadcast partners experienced double-digit growth – Fox was at 9% – in the 18-to-34s.

At season’s end, MLB reported that the median age for ticket buyers has decreased from 51 to 46 since 2019, a span in which the percentage of ticket buyers aged 18-35 has jumped 8.5%.

The league credits its pitch clock and liberal base-stealing rules with the upticks; though there are any number of other reasons – most notably being several years removed from the height of the pandemic – it makes sense that a younger, more distracted audience might vibe more with a sports contest that averaged 2 hours, 38 minutes this year – down from 3:11 as recently as 2021.

Put simply, commissioner Rob Manfred says the “increased enthusiasm baseball fans of all ages have shown the last two seasons is evident in all of the ways we track fan engagement.”

The gains at the box office and with national television partners are all the more important given the uncertainty in the regional sports network space, where cable cord-cutters and the eventual bankruptcy of the Sinclair-owned Diamond Sports Group has thrust numerous franchises into revenue limbo.

The bankruptcy and an extended court battle has resulted in MLB producing and taking over the broadcast rights for six teams, with Minnesota, Cleveland and Milwaukee joining San Diego, Arizona and Colorado in 2025.

Diamond has committed to continuing to broadcast games for Atlanta and Miami, under the rebranded FanDuel Sports Network. The Texas Rangers mutually agreed to shop their own rights on the market.

That leaves six teams – Detroit, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City and the Los Angeles Angels – in flux as bankruptcy proceedings continue.

While revenue and spending aren’t a direct line to on-field success, there is a significant correlation. And while there are no such things as have-nots in Major League Baseball – more like haves and have-mores – the RSN situation has the potential to exacerbate revenue disparities.

Essentially: Clubs who own or have significant shares of their own networks – or massive deals in major markets – will continue flourishing. That includes Boston, both New York teams, the Dodgers and to a lesser degree Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Given that three of this year’s final four came from that group – and the Cleveland Guardians were quickly dispatched in a five-game ALCS – it could serve as a coming attraction for an eventually unappealing caste system. And a playoff structure where a handful of teams do dominate – as opposed to the relative parity of the past 23 seasons, where 16 teams have won the Fall Classic.

For this year, though, the ultimate matchup is very much a novelty.

‘They don’t want to be third’

It’s not exactly like the NFL is the bear in the woods, and MLB and the NBA in a race to finish second, lest the bear consume it.

But it certainly helps a league’s self-esteem to know it’s not No. 3. And that’s a plateau MLB might be shooting for with this Dodgers-Yankees clash.

“The number to beat this year is 11.3 million viewers per minute that the Celtics vs. Mavericks got,” Syracuse’s Deninger says. “I’m sure they’ll be jumping for joy if they clear that number.

“It’s, ‘Where are you in the pecking order of American sports?’ MLB, in relinquishing Sunday nights to NFL knows it’s behind the NFL. They don’t want to be a regular third behind the NFL and NBA. It’s a marketing thing and a pride thing.

“And, if it’s reaching more people, you can charge more for those championships.”

The NBA Finals have drawn a larger audience than the World Series in five of the past six full seasons, with only the 2021 Atlanta-Houston World Series outpointing a Milwaukee-Phoenix Finals.

In 2016, both championships went the full seven games, and the Chicago Cubs’ championship that ended a 108-year drought trumped a Warriors-Cavaliers LeBron-Steph battle, averaging 22.8 million viewers to 20.2 million watching Golden State famously blow a 3-1 lead.

That Cubs-Cleveland 2016 Game 7 shattered decades of ratings doldrums, its 40.8 million average viewers making it the most-watched Series game this century, and the largest audience since Games 6 (40.8 million) and 7 (50.3 million) in 1991, when Minnesota and Atlanta went the distance.

New York and L.A. will aim for that ceiling.

“It’s what the people wanted,” the Dodgers’ Betts said after clinching the NL pennant.

Now, we’ll find out just how many people.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fastDownload for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The U.S. women’s national soccer team will play its first match since winning the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Aug. 10.

In all, the USWNT will play three friendlies to close out the month of October, including two against Iceland, with the first taking place on Thursday night in Austin, Texas. The team also will play Argentina.

USWNT coach Emma Hayes called in 18 members of the Olympic team for her 26-player roster for these friendly matches. Hayes also called in six uncapped players who will be looking to make their USWNT debuts: defenders Eva Gaetino, Alyssa Malonson and Emily Sams, midfielder Hal Hershfelt and forwards Yazmeen Ryan and Emma Sears.

Thursday’s match will be the 16th time that the USWNT has faced Iceland, having compiled a record of 13 wins, 2 draws and no losses vs. Iceland. The most recent encounter came in the final of the 2022 SheBelieves Cup, won the the U.S., 5-0.

Following Thursday’s match, the U.S. will play Iceland on Sunday, Oct. 27 at GEODIS Park in Nashville, Tennessee, before playing Argentina on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.

Watch the USWNT vs. Iceland on Sling

Here’s everything you need to know for Thursday’s USMNT-Iceland match:

When is the USWNT’s friendly against Iceland?

Kickoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 24.

Where will the USWNT’s friendly against Iceland be played?

The USWNT-Iceland friendly will be held at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas. Q2 Stadium is the regular home of Austin FC of Major League Soccer.

How to watch USWNT vs. Iceland on TV

The television broadcast will be available on TBS, with pregame coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET. The Spanish-language television broadcast available on Universo.

How to stream USWNT vs. Iceland

The match will stream on Max and Peacock, with pregame coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET. Streaming is also available on Sling.

Which players are on the USWNT and Iceland rosters?

USWNT roster

Goalkeepers (3): Jane Campbell (Houston Dash), Casey Murphy (North Carolina Courage), Alyssa Naeher (Chicago Red Stars)

Defenders (9): Emily Fox (Arsenal FC/England), Eva Gaetino (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Naomi Girma (San Diego Wave FC), Casey Krueger (Washington Spirit), Hailie Mace (Kansas City Current), Alyssa Malonson (Bay FC), Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

Midfielders (7): Korbin Albert (Paris Saint-Germain/France), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns FC), Hal Hershfelt (Washington Spirit), Lindsey Horan (Olympique Lyon/France), Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns FC), Ashley Sanchez (North Carolina Courage)

Forwards (7): Yazmeen Ryan (NJ/NY Gotham FC), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville FC), Jaedyn Shaw (San Diego Wave FC), Sophia Smith (Portland Thorns FC), Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City FC), Lynn Williams (NJ/NY Gotham FC)

Iceland roster

Goalkeeper (3): Cecilía Rúnarsdóttir (Inter Milan/Italy), Fanney Birkisdóttir (Valur), Telma Ívarsdóttir (Breiðablik)

Defenders (8): Sandra Jessen (Thor), Glódís Viggósdóttir (Bayern Munich/Germany), Ingibjörg Sigurðardóttir (Brøndby IF/Denmark), Natasha Anasi (Valur), Guðrún Arnarsdóttir (FC Rosengard/Sweden), Sædís Heiðarsdóttir (Valerenga/Norway), Guðný Árnadóttir (Kristianstads DFF/Sweden), Hafrún Halldórsdóttir (Brøndby IF/Denmark)

Midfielders (8): Berglind Ágústsdóttir (Valur), Selma Magnúsdóttir (Rosenborg BK/Norway), Ásdís Halldórsdóttir (LSK Kvinner FK/Norway), Karólína Vilhjálmsdóttir (Bayer Leverkusen/Germany), Katla Tryggvadóttir (Kristianstads DFF/Sweden), Hildur Antonsdóttir (Madrid CFF/Spain), Heiða Viðarsdóttir (Breiðablik), Amanda Andradóttir (FC Twente/Netherlands)

Forwards (4): Emilía Ásgeirsdóttir (FC Nordsjælland/Denmark), Diljá Zomers (OH Leuven/Belgium), Hlín Eiríksdóttir (Kristianstads DFF/Sweden), Sveindís Jónsdóttir (VfL Wolfsburg/Germany)

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY operates independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Note: This story contains graphic descriptions of sexual abuse that may be offensive to some readers or painful to survivors of sexual assault.

Five former ‘ring boys’ who worked with WWE have filed a lawsuit against the company, founder Vince McMahon, his wife Linda McMahon and TKO Group Holdings, alleging negligence for allowing ‘systemic and pervasive abuse’ of underage children.

The complaint and demand for a jury trial was filed on behalf of five John Does in Baltimore County Circuit Court on Wednesday. It alleges the McMahons knew about and failed to stop decades of sexual assault, from the 1970s to early 1990s, perpetuated by former WWE ring crew chief Melvin Phillips Jr.

The complaint alleges Phillips, who died in 2012, hired underage boys as young as 12 years old to assist the ring crew in preparations for WWE’s shows, then groomed and abused them.

‘Phillip’s real motivation in luring the ring boys with the promise of gaining access to the popular WWE events was to sexually abuse them,’ the suits alleges, ‘And Vince McMahon knew it, admitting that he was aware, at least as early as the 1980s, that Phillips had a ‘peculiar and unnatural interest’ in young boys.’

Jessica Rosenberg, an attorney for McMahon, said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports that the allegations are ‘false claims’ that stem from New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick’s reporting of the abuse 32 years ago.

“The negligence claims against Mr. McMahon that were asserted today rely on these same absurd, defamatory and utterly meritless statements by Mr. Mushnick. We will vigorously defend Mr. McMahon and are confident the court will find that these claims are untrue and unfounded,’ Rosenberg said.

USA TODAY Sports has reached out to Vince McMahon and TKO Group Holdings for comment.

All of the John Does in the lawsuit recounted their alleged experiences with Phillips, which included multiple instances of sexual abuse at WWE events and in ‘plain sight’ of wrestlers and company executives. They also allege Phillips took boys to his hotel room and filmed sexual encounters.

The complaint alleges McMahon and his wife ‘failed to act even though they knew or should have known’ the risk for sexual harassment by employing Phillips as it was well known in the company, and that McMahon either directly or indirectly provided Phillips with the funds to transport and board the victims.

‘Defendants were fully aware of the systemic and pervasive abuse and did nothing to prevent or stop it,’ the suit reads.

In 1992, Phillips and the then-WWF were under federal investigation for inappropriate sexual relations with underage boys after a former ring boy publicly spoke about the alleged abuse. Phillips was fired by McMahon years prior, but was later re-hired and ordered to stay away from children.

The scandal was covered in the Netflix docuseries ‘Mr. McMahon,’ which also touched on sexual abuse accusations directed at company employees Terry Garvin and Pat Patterson.

Lawyers representing the plaintiffs in Wednesday’s lawsuit said there are likely countless other victims that were also abused, and the five alleged victims decided to come forward after they ‘recently learned of the depth of knowledge that the McMahons and the WWE had about what happened to them.’

‘Thanks to the bravery of our clients, we finally have a chance to hold accountable those who allowed and enabled the open, rampant sexual abuse of these young boys,’ Greg Gutzler of DiCello Levitt, which is leading the litigation, said in a statement. ‘That so many were aware of the sexual abuse of the Ring Boys and did nothing to prevent or stop it is simply unconscionable.’

McMahon is also facing a lawsuit from a former WWE employee that alleges the wrestling company’s founder took part in sex trafficking and sexual abuse. That case is currently paused because the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Before Wednesday, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball had not played in a regular-season NBA game since Jan. 14, 2022.

For almost three years, Ball was sidelined with a bad left knee that required three surgeries, and it left the question: would Ball ever play again?

After all the rehab and frustration and questions about his pro basketball future, Ball played in his first regular-season NBA game in over 1,000 days on Wednesday night.

He made his season debut against the New Orleans Pelicans, checking into the game with 6:14 left in the first quarter. Playing on a minutes restriction (about 16 per game), Ball replaced Josh Giddey. Ball played 3 minutes, 16 seconds before being replaced by Talen Horton-Tucker with 2:58 left in the first.

Ball made his first shot and had a turnover and rebound in his first minutes on the court. He finished with five points, four assists and two rebounds in 14 minutes in the Pelicans’ 123-111 victory against the Bulls.

All things Bulls: Latest Chicago Bulls news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

“My time is definitely limited out there, so I’m being as aggressive as possible,” Ball told reporters. “I’m playing with a lot of energy and trying to give a spark off the bench.”

Ball appeared in two preseason games, scoring 10 points in the first one and recording 11 points, three rebounds and three assists in the second. He made a corner 3-pointer and delivered a perfect bounce pass to Zach LaVine on a backdoor cut that resulted in a layup, revealing flashes of the player Ball was before the setbacks.

“I had a goal to get back on the court,” Ball told reporters last week. “And I knew it was a long journey, a long process. But it all paid off because this is what I was looking forward to. I’m just glad it’s here now and I can finally go out and do what I love to do.”

Before the knee problems, Ball was playing some of his best basketball in his fifth NBA season in 2021-22, averaging 13 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals and shooting a career-high 42.3% on 3-pointers.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY