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Biden is in charge of country on second straight vacation, White House insists

The White House insisted again Monday that President Biden remains in charge of the country despite being on a second straight week of vacation. 

During a teleconference Monday, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby recognized the three-year-anniversary of the Aug. 26, 2021, Abbey Gate suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans outside Kabul Airport. 

Biden, who is at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for the week, notably remained out of public view on the anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack. Last week, Biden was vacationing in California, including when the Israeli military said they launched a preemptive strike destroying thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in Lebanon, essentially deterring a major attack by the terrorist group intended for central Israel.  

A journalist noted Biden’s public absence in a question to Kirby on Monday.

‘The President’s public comportment and the paucity of events on his public schedule, as on this very day, have fostered a public perception that Mr. Biden is increasingly disengaged from the presidency,’ Newsmax’s James Rosen said on the teleconference. ‘Time and again, the question I am hearing from members of the general public, and which I put to you here, Admiral, is: Who is running the country?’

‘Is he a ceremonial figure in some sense at this point?’ he added. 

‘James, now you know better than that. I mean, my goodness, he talked to Prime Minister Modi today,’ Kirby said of Biden. ‘He had calls with leaders in the region and in Europe, President Zelenskyy, last week.  He monitored in real time what was going on over the weekend. I mean, come on.’ 

‘The President is on vacation, but you can never unplug from a job like that, nor does he try to,’ Kirby added. ‘He’s very much in command of making sure we can continue to protect our national security interests here at home and certainly overseas.’ 

Former President Trump participated in a wreath laying ceremony Monday with relatives of the 13 fallen at Arlington National Cemetery. Biden and Vice President Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, were both absent but released separate statements listing the names of the 13 U.S. service members killed. 

Some of the relatives of the fallen took to the stage of the Republican National Convention last month to condemn Biden for never publicly stating their names, and the Trump campaign doubled down on their criticism of the Biden-Harris administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal, noting that Harris had ‘bragged’ about being the last person in the room with Biden before he made the decision.

The Trump campaign on Monday also slammed how neither Biden nor Harris, despite their written statements, have ever said the names of the 13 Americans killed out loud publicly and stressed how their handling of the withdrawal ‘stranded thousands of American citizens and left billions of dollars worth of U.S. equipment behind for the Taliban.’ 

The statements from Biden and Harris each noted that ‘America’s longest war’ was over and remembered the 2,461 U.S. service members killed and the 20,744 wounded during the two-decade-long conflict. 

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Kamala Harris is the most left wing major party candidate for the presidency in post-World War II America

Vice President Kamala Harris gave a nice, no-calorie acceptance speech last week. She said nothing about her two substantive policy proposals to date—price controls and a Publishers Clearinghouse-style giveaway of $25,000 for first time new home buyers—and steered clear of formal repudiation of her 2019 presidential campaign platform. (As Senator Tom Cotton pointed out repeatedly to ABC’s Jonathan Karl Sunday, Harris has not said a word about her alleged repudiation of her 2019 proposal to abolish employer-provided health care and a move to ‘Medicare for All.’ An unnamed staffer has told some media outlets that she no longer believes that, but she herself has not said so, and what she does believe about health care policy we do not know.)

Harris has been the nominee of the Democratic Party for 36 days and has not given an interview or taken any serious questions. Her acceptance speech was a dance of GOP cliches—yes, Republican go-to talk like ‘opportunity society’—and represented a very calculated misdirection from her actual record. But we do know that as senator she was once rated as the most liberal member of the Senate. We know that during her 2019 presidential campaign she vowed to close illegal immigrant detention centers ‘Absolutely. On Day 1.’ 

We also know she was charged, explicitly by President Biden with ‘stemming the migration to our southern border.’ President Biden also said in March of 2021 that among Harris’s responsibilities at our border was to persuade Central American countries and Mexico to ‘enhance migration enforcement at their borders—at their borders.’ At least 10 million uninvited migrants have crossed our southern border since Biden tasked Harris with getting it under control. So we know for sure that Harris is a spectacular failure in her big mission set as Vice President, and indeed, until Joe Biden’s incapacity became too obvious to hide, Democrats were persuaded that an incoherent Biden was preferable to the candidacy of Harris. 

That’s because Harris is a perfectly awful candidate who has never won an election other than in deepest blue California. Her interviews have always been rambling disasters. Her laugh is infamous and her quick wit non-existent. Perhaps her candidacy will survive the September 10 debate with former President Trump. Stranger things have happened. There are strategies out there that, if she can execute without a teleprompter and an adoring audience, will work. We shall see. 

What we have already seen, however, is that legacy media, like Jonathan Karl with Senator Cotton—indeed like every other legacy network anchor and lead reporter since the Biden abdication—are complicit in the ‘see no Harris, hear no Harris, speak-no-skepticism-much-less-ill of Harris’ campaign strategy. 

James Carville and George Stephanopoulos famously laid down the iron law of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign: ‘It’s the economy stupid.’ Whomever is running the Harris campaign has a similar dictum: ‘Say nothing at all, often.’

This is brilliant when your candidate is from the far left of the Democratic Party, is the real deal ‘San Francisco Democrat,’ and cannot give interviews or answers without great embarrassment. And especially when legacy media is in your corner and helping at every turn. Harris has one enormous advantage in the campaign: All of legacy media is all in for her. 

It is as though the cartel of legacy media leaders gathered and agreed: ‘We will emphasize every negative about Trump and erase every positive from his presidency. We will also erase every negative about Harris and emphasize every positive that we can find.’ 

The cartel also agreed that it would not publicize that Harris is a child of Berkeley, California and Montreal, Canada—Harris Iived in Berkeley until she was 12 and then Montreal and until she left for Howard University in the District of Columbia after her high school years. She left Canada for good after completing Westmount High School in Montreal and enrolling at Howard University in D.C. She apparently did spend time with her father, a Stanford economist, and family friends during summers and vacations during her junior high and high school years, but the Harris campaign is tight-lipped on Harris’s Montreal years or her visits in the Bay Area. (Apparently records, year books and classmates from Westmount High School in Montreal are much more difficult to locate than those belonging to Georgetown Prep, where Justice Bret Kavanaugh which all figured mightily in his confirmation hearings). 

The one portion of policy that made it into Harris’s speech was a spectacular bit of ‘moral equivalency’ when Harris first noted the horrors in Israel perpetrated by Hamas and various other residents of Gaza while emphasizing ‘At the same time’ the hardships visited on Gaza because of that attack and Hamas’s refusal to surrender its Israeli (and American) hostages. That peculiar, awkward phrasing should shock supporters of Israel who don’t follow national security issues or figures closely. It did not shock those who know the past positions of her National Security Advisor Philip Gordon or her likely White House National Security Advisor Maher Bitar if, as is rumored, Gordon wants a Cabinet seat if Harris wins. 

The country knows everything about Trump, not only his record as president but every detail of his life. Scores of books have been written about the former president. We know nothing about Harris except her record in the Senate, her campaign for president in 2019 and her time as Joe Biden’s right hand on the border. 

The legacy media is fine with situation. Because like Harris, the Manhattan-Beltway media elite is far to the left of the center.

Independents and moderates of both parties should be repulsed by the idea of voting for a candidate who is hiding in plain sight. They should ask: Why is that?

Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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2024 Countdown: Harris has post-DNC momentum but Trump is burning up campaign trail with 10 weeks left

Tuesday marks 10 weeks until Election Day on Nov. 5.

And former President Trump is now working at breakneck speed as he aims to blunt Vice President Harris’ momentum as she rides a wave of energy and enthusiasm out of last week’s Democratic National Convention.

Trump campaigns this week in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, three of the seven battleground states from coast to coast that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, returns to Michigan.

Last week, as the Democrats held their convention in Chicago, Trump stopped in five of the key swing states, part of his counter-programming effort, with Vance also crisscrossing the campaign trail.

The vice president and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, kick off a two-day bus tour this week in the crucial southeastern battleground of Georgia.

Expect the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the campaign trail to be repeated going forward until Election Day.

But over the next month, there are also a handful of major markers that could impact the outcome of the election.

Harris interview?

Trump, Vance, their campaign and allied Republicans have repeatedly criticized Harris for not holding a news conference or sitting for an interview since replacing President Biden at the top of the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket more than five weeks ago.

‘She can’t answer questions,’ Trump said on Monday as he took questions from reporters during a stop in northern Virginia.’ Why doesn’t she do something like I’m doing right now?’

So, all eyes will be on Harris to see if she lives up to her promise to do a national news media interview by the end of the month.

Fundraising fight

There are just a handful of days left in August, and the end of the month brings anticipation of the latest fundraising figures from both the Trump and Harris campaigns.

Biden enjoyed the fundraising lead over Trump earlier this year, but the former president saw his fundraising soar in the late spring and early summer.

But after Biden’s blockbuster move to end his re-election bid and Harris replacing him as the Democrats’ standard-bearer, the campaign and the party’s fundraising surged and Harris walloped Trump in fundraising during July.

The August numbers, which the campaigns could release as early as Sept. 1, will be closely watched and scrutinized, as fundraising along with polling is a crucial metric.

Debate clash

The first and possibly the only presidential debate between Harris and Trump is scheduled for Sept. 10 in Philadelphia. But Trump on Monday questioned whether he would take part in the ABC News-hosted showdown as he charged that the network was ‘biased.’

The face-off, if it truly happens, could be the most important evening in the 2024 presidential election, with the power to potentially shift or transform the current margin-of-error race between the vice president and the former president.

For proof of this, look back to the late-June debate between Biden and Trump. The president’s disastrous performance fueled questions about whether the 81-year-old president had the mental and physical stamina to handle another four years in the White House. And it sparked calls from within his own party for Biden to drop out of the race.

Less than a month after the clash in Atlanta, the president was out of the race.

Early voting

There are 70 days to go until Election Day, but some voters start casting ballots next month.

In swing state North Carolina, mail-in voting begins on Sept. 6. And early voting begins on Sept. 16 in Pennsylvania and Sept. 26 in Michigan, two other crucial electoral battlegrounds.

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Thiem should be remembered for more than 2020 US Open title

NEW YORK — His final shot landed long of the baseline, meaning it was time to walk to the net, but still Dominic Thiem had reason to do it with a smile.

From 2017 through 2020, Thiem was no worse than the fourth-best tennis player in the world. Often, he was a couple spots higher than that. He made four Grand Slam finals, had nearly a 50/50 combined record against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and finally won his first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open.

For awhile now, Thiem has accepted that he’d never be able to play like that again. The stress he put his body through for all those years he was trying to compete with the game’s legends had physically broken him. The surgically-repaired wrist he had used to generate immense power was no longer capable of producing shots that could damage the best players in the world. So a few months ago, the 30-year-old Austrian decided he would make one last go-round at the majors, play in Vienna one last time and then call it a career.

In some ways, the most important stop on this goodbye tour was Monday. Not because Thiem had a chance against the 13th-seeded American Ben Shelton – it was a predictably one-sided 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 match – but because it gave Thiem the chance to experience something he never got the last time he played inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Applause, and maybe even more than that, appreciation.

“It’s actually a really important moment for me because I’ve had my greatest success of my career here on this court,” Thiem told the crowd after a short ceremony to acknowledge his retirement. “Unfortunately, I had this success without any of you. So that was of course at one point a really amazing moment but also pretty sad.”

Every tennis player grows up dreaming about what it would feel like to win a Grand Slam. None of them envisioned doing it in an empty stadium with silence all around them after championship point.

But those were the circumstances under which Thiem won his major in 2020 after a nervy five-set battle against Alexander Zverev.

Just four years later, that whole period of our lives seems a little surreal and thankfully long in the past. The compromises we had to make to put on tournaments like the U.S. Open were necessary at the time, but far from ideal. Even in the moment, we all understood Thiem deserved a better Grand Slam celebration than the one he got that night.

Still, Thiem had given tennis every reason to believe there was more in store. He was just entering his prime, as fit as anyone in the sport and poised to collect significant hardware as Nadal and Djokovic got older.

Instead, Thiem never won another professional title. His wrist flared up early in 2021, and when he came back nine months later, the game that he had ridden to the top of the sport wasn’t there anymore. There were a few flashes of good play, but nothing was sustainable. The thing that had made him great – elite baseline power off both his forehand and backhand – had been diminished just enough that the strokes were ordinary.

“The feeling on the forehand never came back like it was before,” Thiem said Monday. “And of course I was struggling mentally a lot because it was difficult to accept. But I’m really happy with the career I had before and never expected it was going to be that successful, so I don’t have any regrets and I’m good with that.”

It’s good that Thiem is leaving the game fulfilled and gratified about what he achieved rather than bitter over what he missed out on, but it’s still a bit sad to think that he might not get the recognition historically for just how good of a player he was. Anyone calling him a one-Slam wonder is completely missing the point.

In an era when nobody was getting past the Big 3 on a regular basis, Thiem beat Djokovic five out of 12 times including at the 2017 and 2019 French Open. He had six wins in 16 meetings against Nadal, including a remarkable 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 victory in the 2020 Australian Open quarterfinals. And he went 5-2 against Federer, including the Indian Wells final in 2019.

“I had legendary matches against the best players in our era, maybe the best players in history,” he said. “Now it’s amazing memories. But back then it was really important to me to know that when I step on court against Novak or against the other best players I had the ability to win.”

The last couple years, Thiem knew he no longer had that ability. When he finally accepted it, it freed him to look ahead at the normal life he was going to enjoy rather than the tennis career in his rearview mirror.

But he did want one more chance on Ashe, to hear the admiration and appreciation that he never got four years ago on the best day of his career. It was a fitting send-off, indeed.

“I tried to really soak up every moment in this stadium,” he said. “Of course I’m not having the level anymore that’s required to really go head-to-head with players like Ben so I tried to enjoy as much as possible. I’m happy.”

Follow columnist Dan Wolken on social media @DanWolken

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Increased sausage demand may be a red flag for the economy, Dallas Fed survey says

An uptick in sausage demand can offer the latest sign of consumers tightening their belts as they continue grappling with high prices.

There’s been “modest growth” in the dinner sausage category for one producer, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey released Monday. This underscores the trends of shoppers opting for cheaper products and pulling back spending all together as cumulative inflation bites into purchasing power.

“This category tends to grow when the economy weakens,” the respondent said, according to edited comments included in the Dallas Fed’s report. That’s because “sausage is a good protein substitute for higher-priced proteins and can ‘stretch’ consumers’ food budgets.”

This anecdote pointed out by eagle-eyed Bespoke Investment Group on X comes as grocery prices remain top of mind for consumers. While the rate of annualized inflation has fallen closer to levels deemed healthy by economic policymakers, the collective increase in prices compared with just a few years ago has left everyday Americans feeling sour about the state of the national economy.

Additionally, it bolsters two themes emerging as hallmarks of today’s post-pandemic economy.

A growing chorus of corporate executives, including those leading some of the largest restaurant chains, have warned that the consumer is starting to slow down. In particular, they’ve pointed to stress on lower-income tax brackets as they attempt to make their dollars go further.

The shift to sausage also highlights an action experts call the “trade down.” Carefree customers may select protein that’s typically more expensive like steak or chicken. On the other hand, price-conscious shoppers will hunt for sausage or other lower-cost alternatives.

Other food manufacturers who responded to the Dallas Fed’s survey also raised concern about their economic health. One said agriculture as a whole was “hurting,” citing challenges from factors like weather and higher costs.

Another put it more plainly, saying it was “preparing for the recession.”

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Aaron Judge collects hit No. 1,000, robs HR at fence in Yankees win

Nestor Cortes pitched into the seventh inning to win his third straight start as the visiting New York Yankees beat the Washington Nationals, 5-2, on Monday night.

Gleyber Torres, Austin Wells and Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered for the Yankees, who have won five of their past six games. Anthony Volpe and Alex Verdugo had three hits each, and DJ LeMahieu had two RBIs.

Aaron Judge singled in the ninth inning for career hit No. 1,000.

Cortes (8-10) went 6 2/3 innings and extended his scoreless-innings streak to 20 before allowing a seventh-inning homer. He gave up one run on four hits, walked two and struck out five and was aided immensely by the outfield play of Verdugo and Judge. Clay Holmes pitched the ninth for his 28th save.

Juan Yepez and Jacob Young homered for the Nationals, and 22-year-old right fielder Dylan Crews, the No. 3 prospect in all of baseball according to MLB Pipeline, went 0-for-3 with a walk in his major league debut.

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Washington starter Mitchell Parker (7-8) allowed two runs on five hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Torres led off the game with a home run.

With a runner on second in the second, Keibert Ruiz hit a deep fly to left, but Verdugo ran into the wall while making the catch.

In the fourth, Volpe led off with a double, went to third on a flyout and scored when LeMahieu flied out.

With James Wood on first and one out in the fourth, Andres Chaparro flied deep to center. Judge raced to the wall, reached over and robbed Chaparro of a homer. He then fired to the infield where Wood, who had rounded second, was doubled off first.

Wells made it 3-0 when he homered leading off the sixth. Volpe then singled and took second on an error by center fielder Young. Volpe stole third and scored on LeMahieu’s second sacrifice fly.

The Nationals had a solid chance in the sixth. Ildemaro Vargas singled and Young doubled. Cortes struck out CJ Abrams and Crews. Wood followed with a walk, but Cortes fanned Chaparro to end the inning.

Yepez homered in the seventh to cut the deficit to 4-1, but Chisholm made it 5-1 in the eighth.

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MLB history: How catcher played for both teams in same game

Danny Jansen had his date with Major League Baseball history Monday.

Jansen became the first player in MLB history to play for both teams in the same game when the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays continued their suspended game at Fenway Park.

Jansen was Toronto’s starting catcher June 26 when the game was suspended in the second inning, with Jansen at the plate batting. He was then traded by the Blue Jays to the Red Sox on July 27.

When the game resumed Monday morning, Daulton Varsho took Jansen’s spot in the Toronto batting order and came up to bat with Jansen now behind the plate for the Red Sox facing his former teammates.

Jansen’s former team got the best of the Red Sox, winning the suspended game, 4-1. Jansen was 1-for-4 with a single in the fifth inning for one of Boston’s four hits.

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“When I got traded, I didn’t really think of it, but I do remember having a tweet maybe sent to me earlier on,” Jansen told MLB.com after Monday’s game. “The last couple of weeks, it’s really picked up steam, just around the press and stuff like that. I think a couple of weeks ago I saw it was definitely a possibility. And when (Boston manager Alex Cora) announced I was catching this game, then it really (became real) and then I thought about it.”

Jansen said he received a lot of text messages as the baseball world started to pick up on his impending history-making feat.

“Everybody keeps saying history is being made,” Jansen said. “It’s such a strange thing. I never would have imagined myself in this situation with it being history. I guess I would have assumed it would have happened before. That’s one of the first thoughts that went through my mind.”

Jansen’s feat will likely be documented in some way by the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

“I haven’t spoken to them directly, but I think there may be something about getting some things authenticated, and I spoke to some authenticators about maybe sending something so that’s kind of been pretty cool,” Jansen said.

Jansen, 29, who will be a free agent after this season, was a member of the Toronto organization for 12 years before being traded to Boston. He was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 16th round of the 2013 draft and made his MLB debut Aug. 13, 2018, against the Kansas City Royals.

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Packers make trade with Titans for backup QB

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Green Bay Packers are going young with their backup quarterback but it will be the Tennessee Titans’ Malik Willis and not one of their recent draft picks.

The Packers have sent a seventh-round draft pick to the Tennessee Titans for Willis, a third-round pick in the 2022 draft, a source confirmed.

ESPN was first to report the trade.

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Willis started three games for the Titans in two years and threw no touchdowns and three interceptions, going 1-2 in those games. He completed 31 of 61 passes for 276 yards.

Willis played better in the preseason this year, completing 20 of 27 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, but he couldn’t beat out Mason Rudolph for the backup position behind recent first-round pick Will Levis.

Malik Willis brings different dynamic to Packers’ QB room

The 6-foot-0 1/2, 219-pound Willis is not a typical quarterback you would associate with coach Matt LaFleur or general manager Brian Gutekunst. Unlike Love, who is 6-4 and comfortable sitting in the pocket, Willis more resembles a Justin Fields or Jalen Hurts because of his size and rushing ability.

Willis has a strong arm like Love, but he’s more prone to run with the ball and the Packers may have to incorporate some read-option into their scheme to get the most out of him. Willis originally went to Auburn but transferred and spent his final two years to Liberty University.

Sean Clifford, Michael Pratt unimpressive in preseason

The Packers are choosing Willis over 2023 fifth-round pick Sean Clifford and 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Pratt.

Combined they led the offense to three touchdowns in 28 series, which is not going to get it done in the regular season. Their individual stats weren’t as important as their ability to move the team.

Pratt has a better arm and averaged more yards per play (4.78 to 3.76) than Clifford. One of his drives ran out the clock and might have led to a score had it occurred earlier in the game, but only once did he get the ball in the end zone. He went scoreless in six possessions against Denver.

Clifford got the ball in the end zone twice and led the team to three field goals (both quarterbacks had one possession that ended with a missed field goal). Clifford was an interception machine in practice but was picked off just once.

One of the two quarterbacks will likely be signed to the practice squad.

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Former WWE champion Sid Eudy, AKA ‘Sycho Sid,’ dies at 63

Former WWE champion Sid Eudy, also known as ‘Sycho Sid,’ died at the age of 63 after battling cancer, his son announced on Monday.

‘I am deeply saddened to share that my father, Sid Eudy, has passed away after battling cancer for several years. He was a man of strength, kindness, and love, and his presence will be greatly missed,’ Gunnar Eudy said in a Facebook post. ‘We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we grieve this loss.’

A wrestling career that began in the late 1980s, Eudy was briefly a member of Ric Flair’s legendary stable ‘The Four Hourseman’ before he joined WWE, then known as WWF, in 1991. With a bold, intense and unpredictable persona to match his staggering physique, Eudy quickly rose into the spotlight in the company, including a memorable appearance in the 1992 Royal Rumble which started a feud with Hulk Hogan. Eudy and Hogan would be one of the main event matches at WrestleMania 8 that same year at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

After leaving the company shortly after, Eudy returned in 1995 and introduced his iconic ‘Sycho Sid’ gimmick a year later. He would win the WWE Championship for the first time at Survivor Series 1996 after defeating Shawn Michaels. Eudy would win the title again in 1997 and defended it against The Undertaker in the main event match of WrestleMania 13, which The Undertaker won during his unprecedented WrestleMania streak. Eudy left WWE later that year. Eudy also had stints with WCW, and in 2001, suffered a devastating leg injury that nearly ended his wrestling career. He made his last appearance with WWE in 2012.

In his wrestling career, he was a two-time WWE champion, two-time WCW champion and United States champion.

‘Sid was one of the most imposing and terrifying competitors of his generation with a natural charisma that immediately connected with the WWE Universe,’ WWE said in a statement. ‘Known as ‘The Master and Ruler of the World’, Sid’s reputation as one of the toughest and most thrilling Superstars cemented his legacy in WWE, and his influence can still be seen in wrestling rings around the world.

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Ranking the 10 toughest college football schedules for this season

The best part about being a member of the SEC is the money, followed a few miles later by the fame and notoriety that comes with playing in the most elite conference in the Bowl Subdivision.

The worst part about being in the SEC is playing an SEC schedule, which has gone from nasty to outright diabolical with this summer’s addition of Texas and Oklahoma. There are few or no easy Saturdays in the SEC, unless you have the good luck to draw Vanderbilt.

That’s why a list of this year’s most brutal schedules includes several SEC teams, with no team in the FBS set to take on a more ferocious slate than Florida — that’s bad news for coach Billy Napier as he looks to get the Gators moving in the right direction in his third season.

With a heavy dose of the SEC and the equally competitive Big Ten, these are the hardest schedules to be found this season:

Florida

Toughest games: at Tennessee (Oct. 12), vs. Georgia (Nov. 2), at Texas (Nov. 9)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 106-50

On paper, this is one of the hardest schedules in recent FBS history. The Gators face Miami, Central Florida and Florida State in non-conference play, opening the regular season at home against the Hurricanes and ending November in Tallahassee. The Gators’ final six games are against the Volunteers, Kentucky, the Bulldogs, the Longhorns, LSU, Mississippi and the Seminoles. This slate is an absolute beast.

Southern California

Toughest games: vs. LSU (Sept. 1), at Michigan (Sept. 21), vs. Notre Dame (Nov. 30)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 106-53

Non-conference games against LSU and Notre Dame accompany a rowdy first-time run through the Big Ten, which sends USC on the road against the defending national champions, Minnesota, Maryland, Washington and UCLA while drawing home games against Wisconsin, Penn State, Rutgers and Nebraska. It’s possible, though not entirely likely, that every Power Four opponent the Trojans face this season will reach bowl eligibility.

Michigan

Toughest games: vs. Texas (Sept. 7), vs. Oregon (Nov. 2), at Ohio State (Nov. 30)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 98-59

The Wolverines will be more tested than last year’s forgiving schedule. There are some easy stretches of play for Michigan, including a run of Minnesota, Washington, Illinois and Michigan State from late September through October and games against Indiana and Northwestern in November. But even that late two-game run is sandwiched by the Ducks and Buckeyes, on paper the two best teams in the Big Ten and two strong contenders for the national championship. And there’s that marquee matchup with the Longhorns, followed two weeks later by the Trojans. The Wolverines do miss Penn State, though.

UCLA

Toughest games: at LSU (Sept. 21), vs. Oregon (Sept. 28), at Penn State (Oct. 5)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 99-59

Those three opponents listed above come in three consecutive weeks — representing the toughest uninterrupted three-game run of any team in the Big Ten and possibly the entire Bowl Subdivision. It gets easier, though only to a point: UCLA takes on Nebraska (away), Iowa, Washington (away) and USC down the stretch, also without a break. This schedule will make it very hard for the Bruins and new coach DeShaun Foster to stay out of the bottom of the Big Ten.

Georgia Tech

Toughest games: vs. Florida State (Aug. 24), vs. Notre Dame (Oct. 19), at Georgia (Nov. 30)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 103-54

The good news is that the Yellow Jackets miss Clemson, winners of nine in a row in their series. The bad news is a road slate that includes Louisville, North Carolina, Virginia Tech and Georgia, not to mention a neutral-site matchup to open the year in Ireland against Florida State. The Yellow Jackets also face the Fighting Irish and Miami at home.

Vanderbilt

Toughest games: vs. Alabama (Oct. 5), vs. Texas (Oct. 26), at LSU (Nov. 23)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 97-57

The Commodores could go 3-1 in non-conference play games against Virginia Tech, Alcorn State, Georgia State and Ball State. (They could also go 1-3.) But they’re unlikely to snap a five-year postseason drought against an SEC schedule that includes the Crimson Tide, Longhorns, Tigers, Tennessee and Missouri.

Purdue

Toughest games: vs. Notre Dame (Sept. 14), vs. Oregon (Oct. 18), at Ohio State (Nov. 9)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 84-67

Purdue gets the projected top three in the Big Ten — the Ducks, OSU and Penn State — and teams in Nebraska and Wisconsin that could rank near the top of the league’s second tier. In addition, toss-up games against Illinois, Michigan State and rival Indiana come away from home. The Boilermakers also get Notre Dame and Oregon State in September, with the Beavers on the road.

Oklahoma

Toughest games: vs. Texas (Oct. 12), vs. Alabama (Nov. 23), at LSU (Nov. 30)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 96-58

Four of Oklahoma’s final five games come against Mississippi, Missouri, Alabama and LSU; all but the Crimson Tide come on the road. Hey, welcome to the SEC. That stretch joins the neutral-site rivalry with Texas, a road game against Auburn and the Sooners’ SEC debut against Tennessee on Sept. 21. OU also gets a pair of feisty non-conference opponents in Houston and Tulane.

Alabama

Toughest games: vs. Georgia (Sept. 28), at Tennessee (Oct. 19), at LSU (Nov. 9)

Opponents’ 2023 record: 97-58

It’ll be a predictably tough schedule for first-year coach Kalen DeBoer, capped by a four-game stretch at LSU, home for Mercer, at Oklahoma and back home for the Iron Bowl to close the regular season. There’s also a road trip to Wisconsin in non-conference play that marks the first test of the DeBoer era. But one thing to keep in mind: Alabama plays many of the top teams in the FBS but does get an open week before playing the Bulldogs and Tigers. The Crimson Tide also face off with Vanderbilt and South Carolina before taking on the Volunteers.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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