If you are or have been a Little League parent, you can relate to this story.

A young kid strikes the ball. It rises over an outfielder’s head. He starts running from home plate.

But he is so fast – and so excited – he threatens to pass the other baserunners.

“No, no, go back, go back, go back!” parents implore.

“Why am I going back?” he thinks to himself. “I just hit a home run.”

When did the boy, Curtis Pride, start dreaming about playing in the major leagues?

“After I hit a home run my first at-bat,” he tells USA TODAY Sports.

It’s a thought many of us have as youths, but for Pride, it seemed impossible. He would need to become the first deaf player to make it to the majors since Dick Sipek in 1945.

“It’s a tricky business, being deaf in a hearing world,” Pride writes in “I Felt the Cheers: The Remarkable Silent Life of Curtis Pride,” his memoir that was released this year about his life and big league career that spanned 11 seasons. “I have never tried to portray myself as someone who can hear, nor would I ever try to hide the fact that I cannot. It is mere fact, and it brings neither pride nor shame. It’s just who I am.”

As Pride has found, often it’s the self-imposed obstacles – or those imposed by others – that are harder to clear than the actual barriers in the way of your goal.

Players mocked him from Little League to the minors, sometimes right to his face. People overlooked him.

But he had the support of his parents, and he found the right group of friends, coaches and teammates to give him ground support. It’s what every kid needs.

“Curtis’s story of becoming Major League Baseball’s first full season deaf player of the modern era is unique but it’s also universal,” Doug Ward, Pride’s co-author, tells USA TODAY Sports. “Everyone has a dream, so everyone can relate to Curtis and appreciate the hurdles he overcame to make his dream come true. At book signing events, Curtis handwrites the inscription, ‘Anything is possible.’ I think that summarizes the widespread appeal of Curtis’s singular story.”

Pride, 56, played for 23 professional teams over 26 seasons. He’s now a father and has been a coach of youth and college baseball players. We asked him how his experiences can give young athletes and parents perspective on their games:

As parents, and as coaches, our job is to bring out the best in kids, regardless of their skill level

John and Sallie Pride never made Curtis feel like a burden. Sallie, their son says, never even felt she was making a sacrifice.

‘We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves or for Curt if he’s going to have a decent life,” John recalled his wife telling him, right after their son was born, for a Washington Post story in 1993. “We have to start reading and learn how to help him.’

Like many of us, Pride’s parents felt he needed to play sports in order to be a kid.

What are sports, but a place that can help us associate with others, and maybe even find our niche in life, at least in early life.

“We have a lost cause,” Curtis Pride writes about how he was presented by the Wheaton, Maryland, Boys Club, to his first T-ball coach, Don Stein, in the mid-1970s. “A player with two strikes against him: He is deaf, and he is Black. His father is making a fuss, so somebody has got to take him. Will you do it?”

Curtis remembers his dad being worried, spending a lot of time with the coach, relaying to his son what the coach was saying to the team.

We all hope we meet someone like Stein, who not only makes you feel comfortable and welcome, but plays to your strengths.

Curtis could speak and read lips. Stein worked with John Pride to figure out how the players could communicate, especially in catching popups or fly balls.

“Anytime I called for the ball, it’s my ball all the way, so that there’s no misunderstanding,” Curtis Pride told USA TODAY Sports in our video interview. “So if I don’t say anything, if the guys wave me off, I know that it’s (their) ball. I don’t remember ever having a collision or anything like that.”

Youth coaches, including myself at times in the past, tend to play the most polished kids a lot more than the ones who are slower to develop.

Over time, we realize our broader purpose. Be the coach who gives everyone a chance. You never know what you might find.

“It wasn’t so much that Don made me a better player, which he did,” Pride writes, “but it was more a case of him allowing me to believe I could be a good player. … Don was the first person outside of my family to open a major door for me and, in doing so, he began a butterfly effect that altered my life’s course for the better.”

If you work with someone’s deficit – or failure – he or she can before a source of strength

About 30 years ago, I was beginning my career as a part-time sportswriter for The Washington Post when I came across a story angle about a juggernaut volleyball team at Gallaudet University.

Gallaudet is a school for deaf and hard of hearing students that competes athletically against schools that have students who hear. It’s where Pride coached baseball after his playing career, and where he would tell his players that if they wanted others to view them differently, they needed to see themselves differently.

“I never viewed the deaf kids in my program any differently than the major leaguers I played alongside,” Pride writes.

Peg Worthington, who compiled a 615-305 record at the school, told me in 1995 she devised a plan where each player stuck to a specific area of the volleyball court. They gained comfort in performing through practice and repetition.

It’s a similar message Braves manager Bobby Cox would one day impress upon his players, including Pride a few years later: Know your role, adapt to it, perfect it.

Although Worthington said sometimes her players got “burned” because they couldn’t cover the entire court or hear when a teammate tipped a ball at the net, they brimmed with confidence.

‘They never take their eye off the ball,’ Penny Fall, then the coach of Washington College, a regional school that played Gallaudet, told me. ‘I’ve considered putting earplugs on my kids to make them focus that well. I’m tired of being wiped up and down the court (by Gallaudet), but I’m also happy for them.’

It’s your job as a coach to find out what’s inside every kid and unlock it.

Giving Pride the freedom to use his speed and chase down balls gave him confidence. His teammates, dismissive at first, accepted him as he practiced and showed them he could hit.

“I don’t like (not) knowing my role,” he told me in our interview. “The role can always progress as maybe you have a little bit more responsibility during the game, where you get better, and then, you start a game.”

You have to fail in order to get better

Pride’s parents let him get into basketball, gymnastics, track, wrestling and football. When he reached high school, he was the kid who changed from his baseball to soccer uniform as his father drove across Montgomery County, Maryland, and back.

“Make a point for kids at a young age to learn how to deal with failure,” Curtis Pride says. “That’s why my parents have always encouraged me to play different things, to try different things, even though failure was possible, but because you never know what you can do until you try.”

Just last month, Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering, with the National League Division Series on the line, struggled to field a two-out comebacker to him. He appeared to panic and quickly threw wildly home when he may have had a chance to extend the game and get the out at first base.

“We’re not perfect, we’re human beings,” Pride says. “We all feel bad for him. But it’s not his fault that the team lost. They had so many other opportunities to win the game. And they should never put that on him. Because of what he had to deal with at the moment, it’s gonna make him stronger.

“I’ve seen a lot of parents trying to protect their kids but they’re not helping them (when) they get older, when they do fail. But now, they’ve never had the experience of already having to deal with failure. So they become lost.”

Pride was 23, and in his seventh minor league season, at Class AA Binghamton (New York). He saw his teammates make fun of him across the locker room, he felt the hurt of his first girlfriend broke up with him. He couldn’t seem to hit.

He stuck out the season – as his father insisted – and returned to Maryland with the intention to quit. It was time, so it seemed, to pursue his degree in finance from William & Mary, which he earned congruently with his early minor league career with the Mets (another requirement of his father).

First he worked at his former high school as a teacher’s aide who served kids with disabilities.

“They didn’t know I played professional baseball until the teacher told them about my background,” Pride says. “And these kids were shocked” ‘How can you play professional baseball, you’re deaf?’

“I was talking to the kids. We all have different disabilities, but that shouldn’t stop us from pursuing our dreams and goals. We know what our capabilities are and we shouldn’t allow other people to place limitations on us. After I had that conversation with my class, I went home, and I talked to my mom, and these kids totally inspired me. What kind of message would I be sending to them if I quit pursuing my goal, the dream? So I felt I owed it to them.”

‘We’re never alone’ in the pursuit of our goals

Steve Swisher, Pride’s manager at Binghamton who had worked tirelessly with him in the batting cage, had told him that if he starts quitting now, it will become easy, and he’ll quit other things in his life.

Pride learned to thrive with the help and advice of others. He credits his neighbor, Randy Hurowitz, who played goalie for him every day as Curtis took shot after shot against him, with helping him reach the U-16 national soccer team.

Players on the basketball team at William & Mary, where Pride played point guard, would give him a nudge into a double switch on defense. He developed a sixth sense, he feels, fueled by the confidence of those who believed in him, to make up for his lack of hearing.

When he signed with the Montreal Expos in 1993, his manager in Class AA Harrisburg was Jim Tracy, who made him feel like his sole purpose in life was to make Pride a better person and player.

“We all go through struggles, but we can rely on other people to help us get through,” Pride says. “We’re never alone. It’s just always about being positive.”

Always remember to smile

When he returned to baseball, Pride met his future wife, Lisa, a reporter who interviewed him at spring training. Colten and Noelle, who are now college students, became his favorite players, as our kids do, as he watched him.

Getting married and having children were two of his goals on a list he began keeping as a kid.

Pride recommends writing down goals – big and small, team and individual – as he did, to help push you forward.

Even if you don’t achieve all of them, they are a reminder to be relentless in your pursuit.

When he rapped a double to left center field for the Expos on Sept. 17, 1993, Pride was determined, in his words, to prove he was not just a charity case. As he was standing on second base, he could see more than 45,000 people standing and cheering. He thought they were cheering for the team, which was coming back to win.

They knew Pride was deaf and, as third base coach Jerry Manuel took it in, he realized they were doing everything they could to try to make him hear them.

As the Phillies changed pitchers, Manuel called his player over and told him it was for him. Pride tried to keep a straight face, wanting them to know he was no one-hit wonder, but tipped his cap, as his coach suggested.

Second-base umpire Gary Darling walked over. “Smile,” he told Pride. “Smile!”

It was a good reminder for all of us, and our kids, when they’re playing sports.

“I remember, at a young age, I always wanted to please the coach,” Pride says. “But I lost focus on myself. … I’m not doing this for the coaches, I’m not doing this for my parents. I’m doing this for myself because I love the game.”

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

LSU has appointed Verge Ausberry as its interim athletic director, giving him the authority to hire the next football coach.
Ausberry was previously suspended in 2021 for his role in mishandling sexual and physical abuse complaints against LSU athletes.
Despite calls for his termination at the time, Ausberry received a 30-day suspension before returning to his role.

Burying an abuse complaint and circumventing Title IX reporting policies should be disqualifying for any leadership position in athletics, let alone the head of the entire department.

Not at LSU!

As if its dumpster fire isn’t big enough already, LSU appointed Verge Ausberry as its interim athletic director Friday and gave him full authority to hire the school’s next football coach. The same Ausberry who was suspended by the school in March 2021 for his role in improperly handling complaints of sexual and physical abuse against LSU athletes.

“We are very excited,” John Carmouche, a member of LSU’s board of supervisors and chair of the school’s athletics committee, said during the announcement of Ausberry’s interim appointment.

“Verge is the ideal person to lead this department through this change,” Carmouche said. “From the time he arrived on campus as a football student-athlete, Verge has been associated with excellence and championships.”

And demeaning and marginalizing women. But hey! What’s an insult to all the women on campus, the female athletes in particular, when there’s a football program to restore.

‘I’m going to hire the best football coach there is,’ Ausberry said. ‘That’s our jobs. We’re going to go out there (and) we’re not going to let this program fail. LSU has to be in the playoffs every year in football.’

Football above all else at LSU

It’s this kind of attitude — football is king and nobody best get in its way — that got Ausberry in trouble and made LSU the subject of national condemnation and an extensive outside investigation just a few years ago.

USA TODAY reporting in late 2020 found that Ausberry and other officials in LSU’s athletic department ignored complaints against abusers on Tigers rosters and subjected their victims to further harm by known perpetrators. They also funneled the complaints they did acknowledge to another athletic department administrator rather than the school’s Title IX coordinator, as school policy required.

This prompted LSU to hire law firm Husch Blackwell to investigate the school, and it found systemic failure by Ausberry and other employees.

Ausberry, Husch Blackwell found, did not report that then-LSU wide receiver Drake Davis told him in a text message that he had punched his girlfriend. No other LSU official knew about the incident until two weeks later, when the woman, another LSU athlete, went to an athletic trainer because she was still in pain.

Davis eventually pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of battery.

Ausberry also was reported to a deputy Title IX coordinator for screaming at a female employee in the athletic department, but was never investigated, Husch Blackwell found. Ausberry tried to downplay the complaint, saying his relationship with the woman was like “brother-sister” and “lovehate.”

“We believe the University should consider appropriate discipline for Ausberry,” Husch Blackwell wrote in its March 2021 report, saying his inaction “could have led to catastrophic consequences.”

Instead, Ausberry and another athletic department employee were suspended without pay for 30 days. The “punishment” drew widespread condemnation, with the Louisiana Legislature’s Select Committee on Women and Children calling for any employee who mishandled abuse complaints to be fired.

“In order to restore trust, there must be consequences,” the select committee said in a formal letter at the time.

Ausberry chose not to protect women

There weren’t, of course, with Ausberry returning to his job as executive deputy athletics director. Now, less than five years later, he’s one of the most powerful men in a state that prizes football above all else. Certainly above respect and concern for women.  

But tell me again why women don’t report their abuse.

Ausberry’s misdeeds were not minor or accidental. An LSU athlete told him he battered his girlfriend and Ausberry’s reaction was to turn a blind eye. Not express concern for the young woman or make sure she got proper medical attention. Her health and safety were inconsequential when compared with keeping a star football player on the field.

Will Ausberry hire a football coach with similarly bad judgment and disregard for women? What about the rest of the department? Ausberry punted when asked if he wants the job permanently, but it almost doesn’t matter. He’s in charge now, tasked with making decisions that affect LSU’s women athletes and, potentially, every woman on LSU’s campus. Can he be trusted to protect them? Or, at the very least, not put them in harm’s way? Not if his past actions are any guide.

Ausberry insists that LSU’s athletic department is “not broken.” But when a school with a track record of failing women elevates someone who has been careless with the health and safety of young women, it’s hard to see it as anything but. Still.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

Guess what? We’re at the halfway point of the NFL season. Week 9 is here, and while it would be nice to think everyone had a great record or a fully healthy fantasy roster, that just isn’t the case.

The reality is that some teams will be scratching and clawing their way through the rest of the regular season, which, by the way, is just six short weeks away for many of you. The best way to survive the bye weeks, injuries, or plain old bad performances is to turn to the waiver wire for sleepers you can stream. These players can give your team the boost it needs to stay alive in your league.

To help, here are 10 players and one defense you can stream to win Week 9.

*Streamers are players who are rostered in 50% or fewer of Yahoo! leagues.

Fantasy Football Week 9 Streamers

Quarterbacks

Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks

Darnold has bookended his season with two bad performances, but in between (Weeks 2 to 6) he was excellent. Over that five-week stretch, he ranked as the QB8 in points per game.

You can’t ignore the down weeks, but those came against much tougher opponents than the one he faces this weekend, the Commanders. Washington is allowing the sixth-most fantasy points to opposing quarterbacks and likely will not have an answer for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Cooper Kupp, and company. Darnold should have a good day.

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

Lawrence likely does not inspire as much confidence as Darnold, especially with the news that Travis Hunter is going on IR, but the matchup is too good to ignore. On paper, the Raiders are an average pass defense, allowing the 16th-most points to opposing quarterbacks. A deeper dive uncovers that their ranking is padded due to facing Cam Ward, who has made even the worst defenses look good.

The only real concern is Maxx Crosby, who can single-handedly wreck a passing game. Still, with a hopefully healthy Brian Thomas Jr., Lawrence has enough weapons to turn this into a solid fantasy outing.

Running Backs

Bam Knight, Arizona Cardinals

Why is a starting running back with the backfield mostly to himself still available in so many leagues?

Either way, he should not be, especially given Knight draws a premium matchup against the Dallas Cowboys. You can say he has been underwhelming since he has not topped 57 rushing yards, but he has still finished as an RB2 in both games without Trey Benson.

Tyjae Spears, Tennessee Titans

At this point, Spears might as well have a reserved spot in this article.

Tony Pollard is not going anywhere, so Spears will remain in a committee, which limits his ceiling. The reason to keep liking him is his increasing usage.

Last week, he out-snapped Pollard for the second time in three weeks. While Pollard had more carries (11 to 9), Spears handled the passing downs, two-minute drill, and inside-the-five snaps. With Tennessee likely playing from behind most weeks, that passing game role is huge for his value.

Brashard Smith, Kansas City Chiefs

This one is a deeper dive, but some of you will need to dig this deep.

With Isiah Pacheco out, that leaves Kareem Hunt and Smith in the backfield. It is tough to project exactly how much work Smith will get, but Andy Reid has not leaned on one running back in recent years. Expect plenty of Smith, especially in the passing game, similar to Jerick McKinnon’s old role.

Wide Receivers

Troy Franklin, Denver Broncos

Do you know who ranks as WR25 in half-PPR leagues right now? You guessed it, Troy Franklin.

Sure, that is boosted by two huge games, 20 points in Week 2 and 23.9 in Week 8, but he also posted a WR20 finish (9.9 points) in Week 7.

Houston is a tough matchup, no denying that. But Franklin now has 18 targets over the last two weeks and has solidified himself as the WR2 in Denver. Fun fact, he has just two fewer targets on the season than Courtland Sutton.

Chimere Dike, Tennessee Titans

Two Titans in one article, yikes. But receiver options for streaming this week are not great, so here we are.

Dike has been excellent without Calvin Ridley, who seems unlikely to play again this week. In those two games, Dike has caught 12 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown, averaging a WR17 finish. Sometimes you just ride the hot hand.

Chris Moore, Washington Commanders

Just like Brashard Smith above, this one is a deep dive. However, some of you are in leagues where Franklin, Dike, even other potential streamers such as Christian Kirk, Jalen Coker, etc. are long gone.

Moore saw reduced snaps last week with Deebo Samuel and Terry McLaurin both healthy. But with McLaurin already ruled out after re-aggravating his quad injury, Moore should return to the WR2 role in two-wide sets.

Even better, Jayden Daniels is expected back at quarterback. The last time that was the case, along with McLaurin being out, Moore caught three of five targets for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Tight Ends

Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints

Over the last two weeks, Johnson has been heavily involved again, just like early in the season. He has totaled 15 targets and 132 yards over that span, finishing as a TE1 both weeks in half-PPR formats.

The matchup against the Rams is not ideal, but with rookie Tyler Shough starting, Johnson should see a healthy target share once again.

Theo Johnson, New York Giants

Without Cam Skattebo, the Giants running game, which has been the engine of their offense, will likely take a step back. Tyrone Tracy Jr. will fill in, but his 3.5 yards per carry will not move the needle.

That should mean more passing from Jaxson Dart. Wan’Dale Robinson and Darius Slayton will remain the primary outside threats, but Theo Johnson has become a trusted target.

Since Dart took over in Week 5, Johnson has averaged around a 20% target share, even in games where both Slayton and Robinson were healthy. The 49ers matchup will not be easy, but if you are grabbing a tight end off waivers, getting one seeing five or more targets per game is solid.

Defense

Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars have been one of the league’s most opportunistic defenses, tied for second in interceptions and adding four fumble recoveries.

They hit a rough three-game stretch before their bye, when their aggressive style backfired. But this week against the Raiders, who have given the ball away 12 times, tied for second most in the league, the Jaguars should get back on track.

Stream them with confidence.

Current and former NBA players and members of four New York Mafia families face charges in two major investigations.
The schemes allegedly involved rigged high-stakes poker games using high-tech cheating devices and insider sports betting in the NBA.
A years-long investigation by multiple agencies used evidence like text messages, bank records, and surveillance footage.

One investigation spanned nine states, with illegal poker games allegedly taking place in glamorous locations like the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan. A second looked at alleged betting based on insider information and faked injuries involving stars of the NBA.

There were high-tech machines to rig poker games, prosecutors say, in a move straight out of Hollywood. X-ray tables. Special sunglasses and contact lenses. A card dealing machine that gave away the hands of other players. 

Then there were the high-profile names. Current and former NBA players and four of the five infamous New York Mafia families. 

The criminal charges over alleged illegal betting and gambling that rocked the NBA in late October arose out of a years-long investigation involving multiple federal and local agencies that pulled together phone and bank records, surveillance footage, and witness testimony.

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones were charged with playing a role in a ‘brazen’ scheme of insider sports betting. Jones and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were charged with helping to fleece victims of rigged illegal poker games. Members of four New York Mafia crime families were also charged with assisting in the rigged games.

‘The fraud is mind boggling,’ FBI Director Kash Patel said at news conference in October. ‘We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.’

Investigators within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security uncovered the alleged poker scheme more than four years ago, according to Ricky J. Patel, the special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in New York. He said in a statement that his Homeland Security chapter worked with a Newark, New Jersey chapter, the FBI, the New York Waterfront Commission, and the New York Police Department to expose crimes that defrauded victims out of at least $7 million.

Some of the alleged co-conspirators in the scheme were previously charged, according to New York federal prosecutor Joseph Nocella Jr., who spoke at an Oct. 23 news conference. That includes former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty in July of 2024 to wire fraud conspiracy and was subsequently banned from the NBA for life. His sentencing is scheduled for December.

Those prior charges now appear to be part of the wider cases that investigators were continuing to build.

‘This complex scheme was so far reaching that it included members from four of the organized crime families,’ said New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch at the Oct. 23 news conference.

As early as 2019, multiple defendants engaged in a series of schemes to use cheating technology – including rigged shuffling machines and X-ray readers – to rig illegal poker games, according to law enforcement. By December 2022, defendants were allegedly also using non-public information about upcoming NBA games to place fraudulent sports bets and launder the proceeds.

Law enforcement has made no promises that its investigations will end here.

‘We will continue following the money to ensure gambling operations of all kinds stay within the law and bring to justice those who take advantage of innocent victims,’ the FBI director said in a statement.

In a statement to USA TODAY, Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said his legal team has represented the Miami Heat player for over a year, telling prosecutors there should be ‘an open line of communication.’ Yet FBI agents suddenly arrested him, rather than letting him self surrender, Trusty said.

‘They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing,’ Trusty said. ‘Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.

Billups’ lawyer, Chris Heywood, said in a statement that anyone who knows his client ‘knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.’

‘Chauncey Billups has never backed down. He does not plan to do so now. He will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career. We look forward to our day in court,’ Heywood said.

USA TODAY wasn’t able to reach Jones for comment.

Here’s a look at investigative techniques law enforcement used and the types of evidence it pulled together:

Images obtained from phones

While a legitimate poker game can involve machines used to shuffle cards randomly before they’re dealt, the alleged rigged games used altered shuffling machines with hidden technology to read all the cards in a deck. Because cards were dealt to the players at the table in a specific order for each hand, the machines could determine which player had the winning hand, according to the allegations.

An offsite member of the poker conspiracy would get the information transmitted from the machines, and then send the information to the cell phone of a player at the table, who then secretly signaled the information to other co-conspirators playing the game. Victims would sometimes lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time, authorities say.

Co-conspirators also used a poker chip tray that read cards using hidden cameras, an X-ray table that could read cards that were face down, and special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards.

Investigators obtained images of at least some of the alleged cheating technology, which they could one day seek to show to a jury, according to court documents. The images were obtained from multiple defendants’ iCloud accounts. The images include a photo of a card shuffler that had been taken apart.

The images also include a photo of the computer program that allegedly used information transmitted by a rigged shuffling machine, and investigators also obtained an image of an X-ray poker table reading cards that were placed down.

At a trial, prosecutors have the burden to prove every part of their case, including that various defendants in the rigged poker games case conspired to commit fraud. Evidence of rigging technology could go a long way to proving the games were fraudulent.

Text messages

Investigators have also amassed an array of text messages that they say help to show the criminal schemes they’ve alleged in the indictments. In one message from 2023, for instance, former NBA player Damon Jones was allegedly asking another defendant for a $10,000 advance payment for a rigged poker game in East Hampton, New York.

The other defendant allegedly sent Jones $2,500 that same day over Zelle, a digital payment service.

Another phone record that investigators said they got from a defendant’s iCloud account allegedly shows a member of the poker conspiracy confirming that his game was backed by the Gambino crime family:

In one text message, a defendant who is charged with conspiring to engage in wire fraud, money laundering and extortion allegedly admitted to punching an unnamed poker player for not paying a gambling debt. ‘I punched somebody in the face the other day, (sh**) unraveling quick,’ he allegedly admitted in a text sent Nov. 9. 2022:

Other phone records allegedly helped investigators show how multiple defendants extorted another man to get him to pay a $10,000 poker debt. The records include text messages referring to giving the man ‘a little nudge’ through a ‘small but big threat,’ and a text message allegedly suggesting one defendant invoke his connections with organized crime to secure the payment, according to the records.

In the indictment charging people with illegal sports betting activity, Damon Jones allegedly shared non-public information that a Lakers player was injured and his performance at a Jan. 15, 2024 game would likely be limited. When that player ended up performing well after all, Jones allegedly reaffirmed to another defendant through a text message that he had gotten credible, non-public information before the game, the records show.

Phone voice recording

The government also looked into phone voice recordings, according to details in a court filing that recommends a defendant in the poker game case not be released on bail. The filing points to an alleged June 18, 2022 voice note recording in which the defendant, Ammar Awawdeh, says he sent someone else a picture of him holding his gun along with the message that he was going to shoot the person in the kneecaps.

‘This threat raises a substantial concern that AWAWDEH has access to firearms and would be a danger to the community and attempt to obstruct justice if released on bail,’ the government told the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Surveillance by May 2023

Law enforcement also appear to have surveilled members of the alleged rigged poker scheme. One court filing shows photographs law enforcement took of men who allegedly provided security for illegal poker games on May 31, 2023 and Aug. 16, 2023 at 147 Lexington Ave. in New York, one of the alleged locations for rigged poker games.

Surveillance video from outside the building also allegedly shows an unnamed extortion victim arriving on Oct. 18. 2023 in a black Range Rover and handing something to a woman outside the location. That’s the same day a check from the victim was dated, in which he allegedly paid half his poker debt, according to the court records.

Pole camera footage and license plate reader data

Investigators also accuse five defendants of plotting to steal a rigged shuffling machine. Part of the case they built for the allegation involves text messages, but they also turned to pole camera footage and information obtained with a license plate reader.

According to the allegations, the robbery took place on Sept. 7, 2023, in New York, when an unnamed victim was in a car with two defendants. Two additional people who were recruited by a third defendant approached the car, brandished a gun, and demanded the ‘box’ from the victim, who turned it over.

The license plate reader information showed that cars registered to two defendants participated in the robbery, according to court filings. Pole camera footage from the early morning hours of that day allegedly shows a defendant’s car arriving near a gaming location, just as two other defendants texted each other about the arrival.

Bank records

Investigators also say they have obtained bank records that help prove defendants engaged in money laundering. For example, bank records allegedly show a defendant on Aug. 4, 2023 sending $100,000 to another defendant’s front company in exchange for cash. The front company holder allegedly indicated in text messages that the sender would get $97,000 in cash from an intermediary, the court records show.

Witness testimony

The court filings from the Justice Department aren’t explicit about what kind of witness accounts investigators have already obtained. But they make clear that witness testimony is part of how investigators put together their case. In an Oct. 23, 2025 court filing, they say testimony along with electronic evidence and records shows ‘the weight of the evidence against each defendant is extremely strong.’

It’s possible law enforcement obtained testimony from several alleged victims across the two cases. In the Oct. 23 court filing, prosecutors refer to seven individuals – including alleged victims of robbery and extortion – as ‘John Does.’

It’s unclear if law enforcement has obtained cooperation from people who may have contributed to the alleged criminal schemes. In the indictment dealing with alleged illegal sports betting, the grand jury listed nine unnamed co-conspirators, including an alleged relative of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and a former player and current NBA coach.

Kiké Hernández and the Los Angeles Dodgers forced Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.

The Dodgers took the lead in the third inning, scoring three runs — their only runs of the game — and then held on.

The Blue Jays did have an opportunity to potentially win the game and the series, with runners on second and third in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Andrés Giménez hit a ball to left field, where it was caught by Hernández, who managed to quickly deliver the ball to Miguel Rojas at second base. Rojas caught the ball to double off Addison Barger, securing the double play and the 3-1 victory in Game 6 on Friday night.

When is World Series Game 7?

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays will play in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Rogers Centre. The game will be played at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

Anthony Davis will not play in the Dallas Mavericks’ next two games, including Saturday night’s contest against the Detroit Pistons in Mexico City, the team announced in a statement Friday, Oct. 31.

The 10-time All-Star has a ‘low grade left calf strain,’ the Mavericks said, suffered during their previous game.

Davis played just 7 minutes in Dallas’ win against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday, Oct. 29, exiting early after experiencing ‘left lower leg soreness.’ He was seen grabbing the back of his left leg near the heal before heading to the locker room.

In their statement Friday, the Mavericks said he was held out ‘for precautionary reasons.’ Davis had entered Wednesday’s game on the injury report, listed as having ‘bilateral Achilles tendinopathy.’

In addition to Saturday night’s contest in Mexico, Davis will miss Monday’s game at Houston. The Mavericks said he will be ‘re-evaluated after the road trip’ is completed. Their next game in Dallas is Nov. 5.

This is the latest injury setback for Davis, who has suited up for just 14 regular-season games for the Mavericks since he was traded to Dallas in February’s shocking deal that sent Luka Dončić to Los Angeles.

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