It is shameful enough for the president of the United States to launch a barrage of insults at a fellow adult and issue not-so-veiled threats.

But a teenager? A 16-year-old whose biggest concerns ought to be her upcoming finals and choosing a topic for her college application essay is now in harm’s way because of Donald Trump’s latest effort to gin up his base.

Trump targeted the transgender teen as part of a social media post Tuesday threatening California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s law protecting the participation of transgender athletes. (Ask Maine how well that’s going to go.) Though Trump did not mention the young woman’s name, her high school or even which events she’s won, it only takes a quick spin of the Google machine to find all that out — along with when she’ll be competing at this weekend’s state championships.

If you don’t think that’s a threat to her physical safety, if you can’t imagine how Trump’s screed might encourage one of his followers to take matters into his or her own hands, you must have been under a rock on Jan. 6, 2021.

Hernandez has shrugged off the hysteria from the anti-trans activists, telling Capital & Main, “I’m still a child, you’re an adult, and for you to act like a child shows how you are as a person.” But there’s quite a difference between Karen from Chino trying to make you disappear and the president of the United States bringing the full weight of his social media following to the fight.

And, as usual when it comes to transgender participation in sports, facts are irrelevant.

Trump claimed that Hernandez ‘won ‘everything’ at last weekend’s southern California regional championship and “is practically unbeatable.” This despite her finishing fourth in the high jump at what was not even a statewide meet.

Hernandez did win titles in the triple jump and long jump, but even in those events she is not close to being “unbeatable”. Her personal best in the triple jump is 41 feet, 4 inches, which is almost 2 feet behind the nation’s best this season. Two feet! And Hernandez didn’t come close to that Saturday.

It’s similar in the long jump, where the 19 feet, 3.5 inches Hernandez jumped on Saturday doesn’t even crack the top 25 for best performances nationally this season. Heck, it isn’t even the best result in the state this season.

“I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash. `She can’t be beat because she’s biologically male,’” Hernandez told Capital & Main after an earlier meet, where she won the triple jump but was third in the long jump and eighth in the high jump.

I don’t know how many times this needs to be said, but there is no reputable science showing a competitive advantage by transgender women. Nor are the performances of cisgender men an appropriate comparison or predictor for transgender women because the two are not the same.  

Transgender girls and young women have been competing for years now and, last time I checked, they aren’t overrunning the podium or taking all the roster spots. They don’t pose an existential threat to cisgender women or women’s sports.

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Are there some transgender girls and young women who’ve beaten their cisgender opponents, as Hernandez did in the triple jump? Sure. But it’s not because they’re transgender. It’s because that’s how sport works. You line up, you compete, and somebody wins and everybody else loses, and the reasons for that are as varied as the people involved. Physiology. Coaching. Experience. Work ethic. Nutrition. I could go on.

But the transgender community, and transgender women athletes in particular, have become a convenient punching bag for opportunistic politicians and mean-spirited grifters, often as a cover for their own failings. These people have made the few dozen transgender athletes — yes, that’s really all there is across the levels of youth sports — into bogey men and women who will be the ruin of our society, and too many Americans have fallen for the con.

It’s craven and it’s cruel. And in the case of Trump’s post Tuesday, it’s dangerous. The discourse over transgender athletes has gotten so out of hand, devoid of all reality and decency, that it’s only a matter of time until someone gets physically hurt.

Or worse.

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

John Kopecky, a salesman in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had grand plans for this coming weekend. He paid about $3,000 for flights, hotel rooms and four tickets to take his wife, 14-year-old daughter and her basketball teammate to Caitlin Clark’s game May 30 against the Connecticut Sun in Indianapolis. 

On May 26, Kopecky read on social media that Clark had a strained left quadriceps and would be out for at least the next two weeks. He spoke to his wife and they decided right then and there to cancel their flights and hotel rooms, give their tickets to a friend in Indianapolis and look at the Fever’s August schedule for another game to attend. 

“Once I found out Caitlin wasn’t playing, it didn’t make sense for us to fly to Indianapolis,” Kopecky said in a phone interview. “We are Caitlin fans before Fever fans. She’s the biggest draw − that’s who the girls want to see. That was the whole point of going to Indy: seeing Caitlin Clark. When she was injured, we thought, ‘Let’s just postpone until August.’” 

Kopecky and his family are not alone. Ticket prices for the next four Fever games on the secondary market are plummeting as fans as well as the WNBA itself begin to grapple with the reality that the biggest draw in the history of women’s basketball, and one of the greatest attractions in all of sports, men’s and women’s, will not be around for awhile. It has happening most dramatically with tickets for the June 7 Fever-Sky game at the 23,500-seat United Center in Chicago, where Clark is such an overwhelming draw that ticket prices have fallen more than 300% in less than two days.

I can personally confirm the pronounced change in interest in Fever games without Clark. A week ago, I bought four tickets on StubHub to take my sports-playing nieces to the Fever-Washington Mystics game in Baltimore. Tickets in the same row are now going for less than half of what I paid. I could only imagine what they would cost by game time. Perhaps they’ll be giving them away. And yes, we are still going to the game.

Ironically, the reason the game is being played in Baltimore is because the Mystics decided to move it from their 4,200-seat venue in Washington to the 14,000-seat CFG Bank Arena to make as much money from Clark’s presence as possible. Massive Capital One Arena, which Clark and the Fever sold out twice last season, including the largest crowd in WNBA regular-season history, 20,711, is undergoing renovations and is unavailable, hence the trip to Baltimore. 

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The superlatives never seem to stop for Clark, but one stunning statistic stands out above the rest. In Clark’s record-breaking rookie season last year, the Fever’s average home attendance was by far the highest in the league: 17,036. It also was better than the average home attendance of five NBA teams in the 2023-24 season: their hometown partner Indiana Pacers, the Atlanta Hawks, the Washington Wizards, the Memphis Grizzlies and the Charlotte Hornets, according to my upcoming book, ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports.’

You read that right. Clark and the Fever beat five NBA teams in average home attendance. Before her arrival in the WNBA, this kind of statistic would have been unthinkable. So, for those who want to continue to minimize Clark or her historic impact on the league and throughout women’s sports, consider that as she attracts people who never before watched women’s basketball, she helps shine a light on so many players in a league that is 74% Black or mixed-race − players who never received the attention or recognition they deserved from the male-dominated sports media, as well as a vast swath of the American fan base, until she arrived.  

TV viewership, always sky-high for Clark’s games, probably will take a hit as well. In the 2024 regular season, of the 23 WNBA games to reach at least 1 million viewers, 20 of them featured Clark. According to Fox Sports, Clark’s games averaged 1.178 million viewers; all other games averaged 394,000. This is why 40 of the 44 Fever games are on national TV this year, the most of any team in the league.

All of this illustrates the significance of the news about Clark. This is not just another player getting injured; this is the WNBA’s top financial driver who is now unavailable to play, promote and sell the league, for a couple of weeks at least.

In December 2024, The Indianapolis Star reported that Clark was responsible for 26.5% of the WNBA’s league-wide activity during the 2024 season, including attendance, merchandise sales and television, according to Dr. Ryan Brewer of Indiana University Columbus. One of every 6 tickets sold at a WNBA arena could be attributed to Clark, said the Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. 

That is just how crucial Caitlin Clark is to the WNBA. You would think the league might acknowledge the moment. But so far, no. Asked three times for a comment on Clark’s injury and what it meant to the league, a WNBA spokesman never replied. 

Editor’s note: Christine Brennan’s book, ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports,’ will be published by Scribner July 8.  

An Indiana man allegedly took the Pacers and New York Knicks rivalry too far, after he was arrested and charged for stabbing a Knicks fan at a bar on May 23 and injuring another fan.

The stabbing occurred around 10:40 p.m. after the Pacers fan, Jarrett Funke, 24, had allegedly harassed two Knicks fans while they were watching the game at bar in Carmel, a suburb about 20 miles north of Indianapolis.

According to court records, Funke allegedly approached one of the Knicks fans, hitting the fan’s hat off his head and began yelling at the two fans to engage in a fight.

At that point, Funke’s father grabbed his son and attempted to de-escalate the situation. Bar staff called police and told Funke and his family to leave the premises.

After receiving this warning, Funke’s father started to drag his son out of the bar, as Jarrett cursed at the Knicks fan, yelling ‘take this outside,’ according to court records.

Court records: Men pull out knives out on patio

Officers with the Carmel Police Department initially responded to the call at the brewery, Danny Boy Beer Works, but turned around after staff called back and said that the man causing the issue had left.

After Funke left, the two Knicks fans stepped onto the bar’s patio to smoke. That’s when Funke stormed onto the patio and began harassing them once more.

One of the Knicks fans pulled out a pocket knife and then put it back in his pocket, according to court records.

Funke then attacked the man, pulling out his own pocket knife and stabbing him in the back with it, while the Knicks fan fought back, according to court records.

The other Knicks fan attempted to pull Funke off of his friend, but ended up cutting his leg against the patio’s stoop, according to court documents.

Multiple people told police that the man was bleeding profusely, causing them to worry that he might die from his injuries.

During the fight, bar staff once more called the police.

Pacers fan facing battery charges

As Funke attempted to drive away from the bar, he was stopped by Carmel Police officers in the parking lot.

Police arrested Funke, while emergency medical personnel transported the two Knicks fans to a hospital. Police brought Funke to the hospital to address his injuries, and while there, police interviewed Funke to figure out what caused the fight on the patio.

‘They were talking (expletive),’ Funke told the officer.

Funke claimed that the Knicks fans had started the fight, but after interviewing everyone involved in the fight and at the bar, the officer determined that Funke was the aggressor.

On May 27, 2025, the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office charged Funke with battery by means of a deadly weapon, battery resulting in serious bodily injury, criminal recklessness and battery.

Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at npadilla@indystar.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.

MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — Let’s not look past the obvious and wade into the ridiculous. 

They’re football coaches, OK? Their job is to win games, and everything should be seen through that lens.

Even paradigm change in the sport. 

So while just about everyone else associated with college football trudges through the weeds of drastic change, SEC football coaches are talking roster management at the league’s annual spring meetings. That’s right, bubba. 

It’s roster size and roster management, right down to the third-team long snapper. 

“If I lose two long snappers, where do I get my third one?” said Texas A&M coach Mike Elko.

And if you can’t believe a coach in the biggest, baddest conference in all of college football would say such a tone-deaf thing when the world is crashing down on 70 percent of the sport, that’s just the beginning.

“The biggest problem from our perspective is we don’t have access to a revolving roster (like the NFL) during the season,” Elko said. “The fear we have is if you get a rash of injuries, there’s no avenue to fix it.”

On a 105-man roster. 

It is here where we pause, ever so briefly, to soak in the absurdity of that statement — and underscore just how detached coaches are. Again, it’s not their fault; they’re paid to win games. 

They’re not paid to fix the College Football Playoff format, or negotiate terms on a pooled media rights revenue concept, or figure out billions in back pay to former players, or have any impact on the SEC playing eight or nine conference games.

They’re given football parameters, and told to win football games within those parameters — or you’re out. It’s about as simple and cutthroat as it gets. 

So while college football careens closer and closer to an NFL model, coaches are left wondering why the sport’s leaders refuse to embrace the benefits of a professional structure. Why there are not one, but two free player movement transfer portals. 

One access to free movement and an uncapped salary pool (because that’s what it will be with private NIL deals) is bad enough. Two bites at the apple for players, coaches say, is devastating for development.

On a 105-man roster. 

“It’s really hard to be playing in a championship setting and have to deal with that,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart.

Ladies and gentlemen, the biggest, baddest coach in all of college football really said that.

“But when I brought that up as a complaint or a problem,” Smart continued, “It was told to me there’s no crying from the yacht.”

And he was dead serious. 

Smart has everything he could possibly want at his alma mater, and every possible advantage to winning. It also helps that he’s the best coach in the business, and Georgia will do anything to keep him happy.

Smart once flew in a helicopter to a high school football game of a recruit, and landed right next to the field before the game began. He and his staff recruit better than anyone in the sport, and he annually has the most talented roster in the nation.

On the other side of the grind, where reality resides, SMU chose to forgo millions in media rights payments from the ACC just to get in the door of power conference football — after paying a what was essentially a $200 million initiation fee by forgoing media rights payments for nine years.

The same SMU that somehow, some way, trudged through the hardships of building a team and earned a spot in the College Football Playoff.

In its first season of big boy football.

I mean, imagine if SMU had lost two long snappers along the way. The horror.

To be fair to these multimillion dollar SEC coaches, they’re creatures of habit. When a plan works, they stick with it. 

Who among us could’ve not only seen change, but a completely sidetracked system evolving into an unthinkable abyss?

“We saw where this was going when NIL began,” Elko said, because of course they did. “I don’t think any of it is a surprise to us, once that can got opened.”

So now they’re asking for a single transfer portal window, one that doesn’t affect roster building. Which is sort of like asking for peace in the Middle East.

There are pitfalls for both the winter and spring portals. Place the portal window in the winter, after the regular season, and everyone is dealing roster management during the postseason. 

Place the portal window in the spring, and everyone is dealing with a changed roster after three months of preparation and practice for the upcoming season. Teams would then spend a majority of the summer reorganizing a roster, and in some cases, completely changing the face of a team.

Then there’s another teeny weeny problem: If you think player tampering is out of control now, imagine what it looks like in a spring-only portal.

“If there were a (portal) sometime between the end of the last game of the season, and the start of spring ball, that would be ideal,” said Texas coach Steve Sarkisian. “But I don’t think there are a lot of presidents lining up to shift the start of the spring semester for the College Football Playoff.”

You never know. It is the SEC, after all.

Where long snappers mean everything.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points for the Thunder, while his cousin, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, led the Timberwolves with 23 points in a Western Conference finals game.
SGA nearly had a triple-double, while Alexander-Walker outscored Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards.
The Thunder won 128-126, putting it one win away from the NBA Finals.

MINNEAPOLIS — A diamond-framed sports card holder hung from a chain around Vaughn Alexander’s neck. 

Inside were two trading cards. One Shai Gilgeous-Alexander card, one Nickeil Alexander-Walker. Both depicted in their Team Canada jerseys. Either was visible depending on how the chain was flipped. Sometimes it was SGA’s turn to be forward facing. Other times, Nickeil got the shine. 

And that’s exactly how Game 4 went, Gilgeous-Alexander and Alexander-Walker taking heroic turns in a Western Conference finals bout that doubled as a one-on-one, cousin vs. cousin duel. 

“I’m just so proud of both of them,” Vaughn Alexander, SGA’s dad, told The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, after the Thunder’s 128-126 win Monday night in Minneapolis. 

Gilgeous-Alexander dropped a game-high 40 points. Alexander-Walker had 23 to lead the Timberwolves. 

The MVP vs. Minnesota’s man off the bench. 

“He got the better of me sometimes, I got the better of him,” SGA said. “Stuff we’ve dreamt about for our whole lives and it’s crazy that it’s come to fruition.” 

Siblings Vaughn and Nicole Alexander, Nickeil’s uncle and Shai’s aunt, sat courtside observing it all. Their kids who grew up together, who played countless games on the playground, were going back and forth in a conference finals clash. 

“It feels like you’ve got to wake up and pinch yourself to make sure the dream’s not gonna be over,” Vaughn said. “But when you put so much hard work in, you know it’s not a dream.” 

Vaughn, who helped raise nephew Nickeil, was as conflicted as his shimmering chain suggested. 

“I’m cheering for both of them, I can’t lie,” Vaughn said. “I don’t care who wins, I just want them both to play well.” 

They played well, all right. A career-playoff high in points for both. 

Pushing the Thunder a win from the NBA Finals, Gilgeous-Alexander was a rebound shy of a triple double: 40 points (13-of-30), 10 assists, nine rebounds. 

An exquisite SGA performance, but not as astonishing — given their respective standings in the league — as what his cousin accomplished. 

Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s 23 points were seven more than Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had. Alexander-Walker’s six assists tied Edwards for a team-best. 

“Shai was Shai,” Vaughn said. “That’s who he is. That’s a cool, smooth operator. Nothing bothers him. The game’s always in slow motion for him. He’s always three or four steps ahead. He’s just that kid. And when the game’s on the line, you want the ball in his hands.” 

And Nickeil?

“Same mentality,” Vaughn said. “Played like a boss today as well. Tried everything he could do for his team to win and fell a little bit short.” 

In addition to draining timely 3s, it was Nickeil, not Jaden McDaniels, who got the SGA defensive assignment more times than not down the stretch. 

“The night like he had tonight, he’s very capable of every night,” SGA said. “He’s a really good basketball player. Great feel, great skill. It’s only a matter of time before he blows (up).” 

After the game, Gilgeous-Alexander walked to the baseline seats near the Timberwolves bench to embrace his dad and hug his aunt. 

This matchup between cousins? What’s difficult to appreciate now will live on in family lore. 

“When it’s all said and done,” SGA said, “we’ll definitely have plenty of stories about it.” 

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com.