MESA, Ariz. — The news was stunning and the Chicago Cubs had a hard time grasping how they felt about it as word spread quickly Friday morning throughout their clubhouse.

The New York Yankees, for the first time in nearly 50 years, announced that they will now permit their players to grow ‘well-groomed beards’ moving forward.

“I don’t know how to feel about it,’ Cubs veteran shortstop Dansby Swanson, who has had a beard for the past eight or nine years, told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m really torn. Part of me is like, ‘Dang.’

“I mean, it was the Yankees. That was their thing, being clean-shaven. It was pretty cool.’

Cubs broadcaster and former All-Star first baseman Ron Coomer, who played in 2002 for the Yankees, didn’t have mixed feeling at all. He hates that the Yankees got rid of the policy that has been in effect since 1976.

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“I think it’s terrible,’ Coomer said. “Mr. [George] Steinbrenner will be rolling over in his grave right now. They had a golden rule, and they stuck with it.

“When we went over there to play, there were three of us, Robin Ventura, Jason Giambi and I were all signed the same year, and we knew. “When [former manager] Joe Torre called us, ‘You do know you have to shave, right?’ I said, ‘We know. We’ll be there clean as a whistle.”

It was part of Yankees lore. No names on the back of the uniform. No beards. No hair past the uniform collar.

“I totally respect why they did it,’’ said Jed Hoyer, Cubs president of baseball operations, “but it was always a fascinating element of their culture. It feels like a bigger change than it actually is.

“Watching those guys who have beards go in there and be clean-shaven, it was a tradition.’

Yankees managing partner Hal Steinbrenner, the son of George, said Friday he had been considering the change for years. The irony is that it happened just days after new closer Devin Williams arrived.

“Good for Devin Wiliams!’ Cubs manager Craig Counsell said of his former closer. “My reaction is that looks better with facial hair.’

And, as the Cubs players joked, no one looked worse clean shaven than outfielder Alex Verdugo last year, saying he was unrecognizable.

“I played with Brian Wilson,’ infielder Justin Turner said of his former Dodger teammate. “The one thing I learned from him is he got offered a million dollars to shave his beard. …

“He says, ‘When I’m done playing, I’m going to shave my beard and no one is going to know who I am and I’ll be left alone.’

“I said, “Hey, that’s a good point. I like that.’

Turner, whose red beard is now trimmed, says he’s still not sure his beard would pass Yankee standards. He always wondered if he would reject free-agent overtures from the Yankees if they came calling because of the beard policy, but never had the opportunity. Certainly, the Yankees had to lose some bearded free agents, several Cubs players believed, if offers were close.

“I think it’s about time,’ said Turner, who was drafted by the New York Yankees in 2005, but instead went to Cal State Fullerton. “I don’t know how that rule makes anybody a better baseball player. Yeah we’re professionals, but it’s 2025, you should be able to express yourself a little bit.’’

Turner has had his beard since 2011, and shaved it only once. It was for a Halloween costume, he said. He was “Chucky, not the cartoon, the killer.’

“I wonder what made them change their mind,’ Turner said. “Did someone look so bad without a beard that they’re like, ‘we got to change this?’ Was it Alex Verdugo? He looked terrible.

“I’m like, ‘What’s a short, well-groomed beard? Does mine count?’ I might have had to put a Bruce Bolt on the side of my beard like guys are doing with their hair. I’m going to be like PCA [Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstong] and have them put blue stars in my beard.’’

The Cubs players believe that the edict forcing Williams having to shave his beard, particularly since he was traded to New York and didn’t sign as a free agent, played a role in the policy change.

“I just saw a picture of Devin Williams with a little moustache,’ Cubs veteran reliever Ryan Brasier said, “and I didn’t even know who it was. I couldn’t’ even tell it was him. I remember when I saw Verdugo on TV last year. I called him and I was like, ‘Dude, you got to figure something out. You look weird.’

Brasier, who came up with the Los Angeles Angels and was prohibited from growing a beard until he reached the big leagues, has had his beard since 2013. He hasn’t been clean-shaven since, and says he’s unrecognizable too from pictures from his minor-league days.

“I think it sucked for those guys, but hey, it’s the Yankees,’ Brasier said. “It’s been one of those things since the beginning of time for them. But it’s the Yankees. You do what you have to do.’

And if you were adamant that you didn’t want to shave, well, you weren’t going to sign with the Yankees.

“If I had two options, I wouldn’t say I definitely would go somewhere else over the Yankees because of facial hair,’ Brasier said, “but if it was between the Yankees and Cubs, Dodgers or whoever, I’d be like, ‘The teams are pretty even, but I don’t feel like shaving so I won’t go.’ But still, it’s the Yankees. It would suck to shave, but I would go there.

“But I do know there were people who would not go there because they didn’t want to shave.’

Steinbrenner conceded in his press conference in Tampa that it was a legitimate concern that players may have snubbed the Yankees in free agency simply because of their policy banning beards and not permitting hair past the collar of their uniforms.

Still, it’s the Yankees, the 27-time World Series champion Yankees, the most iconic brand in baseball.

“It was kind of a cool, unique thing that the Yankees had that made them different,’ Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather said. “No names on the back of their jerseys. The shaves. Everything being tucked in.

“It will be nice not seeing [former teammate] Mark Leiter clean-shaven, so that’s probably the best thing. It will be cool to see what all of those guys look like this year.’

But for other veterans, well, it marks the end of a glorious, albeit antiquated, era.

“I grew up in a military household where my dad (Kurt) would constantly remind me in high school to shave every day,’ Cubs veteran starter Matthew Boyd said, “so I’m mixed. I really respected it. It wasn’t too out of the norm for me that someone would ask for that.

“I just remembering growing up watching all of those Yankee teams and you think of all of the tight hair, no beards, it was kind of synonymous with the Yankees growing up. That clean-cut appearance.

“But I guess, changing times, right?

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The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office announced an arrest in the case involving three stolen luxury cars during a burglary at the home of new University of Miami quarterback Carson Beck earlier this week.

Tykwon DeAndre Anderson, 20, of Miami Gardens, Florida was placed in custody by police Thursday afternoon and faces three felony charges related to burglary of an occupied dwelling and grand theft auto, according to an arrest affidavit provided to USA TODAY Sports by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

Police allege Anderson and three unknown male co-defendants arrived at Beck’s residence around 2:45 a.m. on Thursday morning and two men jumped over a concrete fence to gain access to the driveway area. Beck’s red 2023 Lamborghini Urus was parked inside the garage of the residence, the affidavit stated, while his silver 2023 Mercedes-Benz E635 and a white 2025 Range Rover belonging to Beck’s girlfriend, Hurricanes women’s basketball player and social media influencer Hanna Cavinder, were both parked in the enclosed driveway area.

One co-defendant broke into the Range Rover and obtained the garage door opener, according to police, and the device was used to gain access inside Beck’s house and the cars’ key fobs in the living room area. Anderson stole Beck’s red Lamborghini from the garage, he later told police, while Beck’s Mercedes and Cavinder’s Range Rover were stolen from the driveway simultaneously.

Beck told police he and Cavinder were asleep inside the house at the time of the suspected burglary.

The Range Rover was quickly abandoned and left on a nearby south Miami street, according to the affidavit, and police then recovered Beck’s Mercedes at approximately 1:42 p.m. on Thursday. Law enforcement were able to identify Anderson through the license plate of the rental vehicle that transported him and the three co-defendants to Beck’s house. Authorities obtained historical data from the tracking capabilities of the Mercedes-Benz E63 rented by Anderson to place the vehicle at Beck’s house at approximately 2:45 a.m. Thursday morning.

The investigation also revealed the stolen Lamborghini and rented Mercedes were traveling in tandem after the theft. Anderson was operating the rental vehicle when police arrested him. Anderson offered a ‘full confession’ during a police interview after he was placed in custody, according to the affidavit, and ‘explained in detail how the burglary occurred. He also told police he was the driver of the red Lamborghini.’

Detective Argemis Colome, a public information officer for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, told USA TODAY Sports the other subjects in the case remain at large and the missing red Lamborghini has not yet been recovered. The Sheriff’s Office investigation will continue, Colome said.

Beck announced his decision to transfer to Miami in January for his final year of NCAA eligibility after initially declaring for the 2025 NFL draft. He underwent season-ending elbow surgery in December and missed Georgia’s College Football Playoff run. Beck had a 24-3 record as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback the past two seasons. He was pictured with a Lamborghini last year at Georgia and spoke to reporters in March 2024 about why he had one.

‘I’ve always been a huge car guy,’ Beck said, ‘then growing into that and being able to associate myself with that brand name that large, being able to get that car, obviously it’s a blessing. Being able to associate myself and get that car, it’s been awesome.’

Cavinder has started all 26 Miami women’s basketball games during her final college season alongside twin sister and leading scorer, Haley.

Hanna Cavinder is averaging 6.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and more than 32 minutes per game. Both sisters chose not to play college basketball last year after initially transferring from Fresno State to Miami ahead of the 2022-23 season. Their huge social media following has led to millions of dollars in NIL deals from brands such as Under Armour and WWE.

Two hiring cycles, two shutouts.

That’s another scorecard reflecting how slanted the playing field appears to be for aspiring minority coaches in the NFL. The Thursday hiring of Doug Nussmeier as New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator made it 29-for-29 over the past two years for white men landing the NFL’s open OC positions – which by the way is the most prominent stepping stone to becoming a head coach.

Hey, as anti-DEI forces intensify, let that sink in, NFL: 29 for 29!

No, this isn’t so much about Nussmeier, the former Philadelphia Eagles quarterbacks coach following new Saints coach Kellen Moore to the Big Easy. Maybe Nussmeier will someday become the next Sean Payton.

It’s the pattern – 29 in a row – that illustrates an imbalance undoubtedly playing out in a larger context. The current cycle, which began with seven head coach openings, resulted in one minority hire and four first-time head coaches leaping from offensive coordinator.

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Without more minority coaches in the pipeline as top offensive coaches, the chances of them rising to become head coaches seemingly are more limited.

In other words, the one-for-seven result for minorities when it came to head coach hires this time around might have been a preview. Go ahead, connect the dots.

‘It continues to be an eyesore,” Rod Graves, executive director of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, told USA TODAY Sports. The FPA monitors and supports equal opportunity for coaches and front office personnel in the NFL.

‘We could have stood at this point last year, after last year’s hiring cycle, and looked down the road and expected we were going to still have issues because we’re not seeing any growth in the offensive room,’ Graves said. ‘We’re not seeing growth in terms of diversity, when it comes to offensive assistants, quarterback coaches. That’s where the growth has to be apparent, before we get to offensive coordinators.

“And because of where we stand today, we’re going to be faced with these issues down the road.’

That’s sobering for Graves, whose organization has worked with the NFL over the years on multiple initiatives, including career symposiums and networking events, designed to enable equal opportunities. The FPA has also engaged with the league on the Rooney Rule since its inception in 2003.

Yet for all of those efforts, there’s still a sense with some minority coaches and long-time league observers that double standards persist.

“Take a good look at defenses in the NFL and even in the SEC – most of them outstrip the percentage of Black athletes in these leagues, with some teams starting 100% Black players!” e-mailed Harry Edwards, the renowned sociologist.

‘We can decipher offenses and react amazingly to them, but we can’t coach offenses? Racism is TRULY insidious!’

NFL history provides further context. Decades ago, Blacks were systematically prevented from playing quarterback. Yet times have changed to the point where the Super Bowl 59 matchup pitting Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts, marked the second time in three years those two Black quarterbacks met on the NFL’s biggest stage. And next season, at least half of the NFL’s teams could start Black quarterbacks for the first time.

That quarterback evolution, though, has coincided with barriers Black coaches and others in league circles over the years have suspected as being linked to a stigma that devalues their leadership abilities.

‘We still need to turn attention to the commitment of ownership, and the commitment of teams to really level the playing field,” Graves said.

Who gets a shot? And when? The Jacksonville Jaguars’ fresh hirings of Liam Coen as head coach and Grant Udinski as offensive coordinator will bear watching against the context of experience. Coen, 39, served just one season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator. Udinski, 29, hired off the Minnesota Vikings staff, landed an OC role despite never being a position coach.

“I’m not discrediting their experience,” Graves said. “But there are a lot of people out there who should be on the radar that aren’t. Who have, as we say, paid their dues. What sometimes becomes apparent is that we’re not giving enough respect to the people who have put in a lot of work and a lot of time, and they are truly experienced at the job.”

Jalen Hurts’ journey to Super Bowl MVP was forged by adversity

Coen followed a path that his Bucs predecessor, Dave Canales, took the previous year. Canales (who is of Hispanic descent) became the Carolina Panthers coach last year after coordinating Tampa Bay’s offense for just one season.

The departures of the past two Bucs OCs are consistent with the bias that shapes the head coach market.

Sure, it can’t be ignored that some of the NFL’s most successful coaches – including John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott – were never offensive coordinators. And neither was Bill Belichick, who guided the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl crowns.

This year’s cycle resulted in former Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn getting the New York Jets job, while Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel, steeped in defensive background, landed new shots with the Las Vegas Raiders and Patriots, respectively.

Still, more than half of the head coaching vacancies in recent years have been filled by offensive coordinators and there are currently zero Black offensive coordinators in the NFL and just one minority in that position (Mike Kakfa of the New York Giants, who is part Puerto Rican). The last non-white hired as offensive coordinator occurred nearly two years ago, when the Eagles promoted Brian Johnson.

According to research complied by USA TODAY Sports’ NFL Coaches Project, 15 non-white men were hired among the 29 defensive coordinator openings the past two hiring cycles. Non-white men were hired for five of the 15 head coach jobs over the past two years.

Will the statistics, trends and patterns move the needle?

As much as they should, the issue keeps popping up with every hiring cycle. Now, with a wave of anti-DEI sentiment flowing from the White House and through corporate America, the NFL’s response could be substantial.

The league has pledged to maintain its commitment to DEI principles, which theoretically includes maintaining various support programs and policies.

Graves says it’s still about equal opportunity.

“Nobody’s asking for quotas, or anything along those lines,” he said. “We just want a system where we all feel like we’ve got a shot when we put in the work.

“I think the league has it right. Our focus should be on creating a system of hiring that focused on a fair, open and competitive process. And if we’re focused on that, we’ll survive the rest of the stuff.”

At least that’s a plan.

Kylie Kelce wants to make one thing clear: she ‘love(s) and appreciate(s)’ Taylor Swift.

Kelce, the wife of retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, used her own podcast, ‘Not Gonna Lie,’ to clarify the details of a story she told on Alex Cooper’s ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast earlier this month.

In the episode, Kelce told Cooper she didn’t really eat one of Swift’s famous home-cooked meals while on a double date with Jason, Swift and Swift’s boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end (and Jason’s brother) Travis Kelce, because she was eight weeks pregnant.

One magazine took the liberty to say Kelce had ‘refused’ the ‘home-cooked meal’ in a headline. And in a ‘Not Gonna Lie’ segment that Kelce called ‘(Expletive) Around & Find Out,’ the media personality set the record straight on what actually happened during the double date.

To begin, she explained that the ‘home-cooked meal’ was actually a private dinner that Swift had organized, prepared by an ‘outstanding chef,’ Kelce said.

Kelce, who is still pregnant, emphasized that she did not refuse the meal out of personal choice. Rather, she was experiencing nausea symptoms associated with her pregnancy that at the time ‘suggested that if I consume anything other than crackers,’ it would have caused vomiting.

‘I didn’t refuse anything. I wouldn’t refuse anything, especially if I was without child,’ Kelce said. ‘I would not refuse a home-cooked meal because I love food.’

The ‘Not Gonna Lie’ host went on to criticize the tabloid for ‘trying to pit women against women.’

‘Why are we doing that?’ Kelce said. ‘That seems counterproductive.

‘Anyone that asks me in person, I’m very forthcoming with how much I love and appreciate (Swift) and how much I love the fact that you can tell how happy Travis is. And that’s what I care about. So let’s not pit women against women.’

MIAMI — Apple TV+ series “Severance” is midway through its second season and has already become the most viewed series on the platform. With 589 million minutes viewed in the United States, the show surpassed “Ted Lasso,’ the company disclosed to Deadline Hollywood this week.

Kendrick Lamar’s Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show broke last year’s record with 133.5 million viewers, the company said shortly after the big game. 

Lionel Messi’s first MLS playoff game was Apple TV’s most watched sporting event, the company announced last December without releasing any viewership figures. 

Apple has generally shied away from disclosing its viewership data, so we don’t know exactly how many people are watching soccer games. But, put it this way: If people were watching MLS games like they were watching Ted Lasso or Severance or Kendrick Lamar, they’d be sharing it with the world.

Soccer continues to fight its way in the American sports landscape among the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and a host of women’s sports leagues. But interest is at an all-time high ahead of the World Cup in 2026. Apple is working to capitalize on that with its biggest MLS push to date for the 2025 season, which begins Saturday.

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‘We have the best player in the world playing in the United States, playing in MLS. We’ve had games where millions of people have watched — that had never happened before in MLS. You have the World Cup coming. You have the Olympics (in Los Angeles in 2028). There’s so much momentum right now,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, told USA TODAY Sports. 

MLS commissioner Don Garber has also floated the “millions” number when discussing the league’s viewers last December. Garber said MLS has seen “over a million viewers” for Saturday night games collectively and “more than that watch our playoff games.” The figure includes viewers internationally, not just the U.S.

This year, MLS and Apple have partnered with several companies so fans can readily access MLS games. DirecTV and Xfinity users can buy MLS Season Pass through their providers. T-Mobile customers can receive complimentary access to MLS Season Pass for the season. Android users can find MLS Season Pass in the Google Play Store. MLS games have also been available on Apple TV+ via Amazon Prime Video since last October. Simply put, you don’t need to have an Apple device to access MLS games. 

‘We’re breaking glass with this Apple partnership,’ Garber told USA TODAY Sports. ‘The media business with sports goes through its transformations over time, whether it’s broadcast television televising sports, or the advent of cable or satellite, and now it’s the digital era. We wanted to have a global partnership that was without blackouts, where somebody in Madrid or Buenos Aires or Miami or Kansas City can watch a game on their devices, whatever those devices are — an Apple device, an Android device, they’re streaming television — and it could be basically accessible to anybody. And that was important to us.

Added Garber: “I think we’re early, and MLS has been an innovative leader from the very beginning. I’m proud of that moniker, and I think like everything else with us, … we’re learning as we go along.”

FOX analyst and former U.S. men’s national team standout Alexi Lalas shared concerns about the MLS-Apple partnership. While Lalas considered the 2024 MLS Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls a dream matchup because of the two major markets involved, he felt the buildup to the final lacked some luster and visibility — especially after Messi and Inter Miami were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. The final was available to stream on Apple, and it drew an average of 468,000 total viewers on linear TV across Fox and Fox Deportes. Before the Apple deal, national MLS games were on ESPN, ABC, FOX Sports and briefly on NBC Sports Network.

“When you are behind this subscription and this paywall and you’re tasked with going through multiple steps in order to get to MLS, you want to make it as turnkey as possible and accessible as possible,” Lalas told USA TODAY Sports. “And I think that’s a bigger conversation that has to happen right now when it comes to what Major League Soccer is. Are they sacrificing exposure, which is something that they value? And let’s be honest, they need the money that Apple is giving them. Is that a smart business? Maybe they’re seeing down the future, and maybe this is a long term type of plan, and I can certainly respect and understand that. But I don’t feel MLS the way that I have felt it in the past.” 

Along with the partnerships to attract more viewers, MLS will debut “Sunday Night Soccer” — a showcase to engage and retain fans with the league’s most compelling game of the week. The Galaxy will host the league’s newest club, San Diego FC, in the first Sunday night game of the season this Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.

Another push MLS and Apple have made is “Onside: Major League Soccer” — an eight-part documentary series produced by Box 2 Box Films, the company behind Netflix’s popular “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” series, which attracted fans outside the F1 ecosystem and has the potential to do the same for soccer. But it has to happen organically. 

Major events from last season will be showcased in the series, which premieres Friday. Some of those key moments include Messi, 15-year-old Cavan Sullivan’s pro debut with the Philadelphia Union, the exciting FC Cincinnati-Columbus Crew rivalry in Ohio, and Atlanta United’s push to eliminate Inter Miami in the playoffs.

Paul Martin, executive producer for ‘Drive to Survive’ and ‘Onside’ told USA TODAY Sports the F1 phenomenon after the docuseries was not planned, and that’s why it worked.

‘It wasn’t something that we were like, ‘Hey, we’re going to radically change people’s perception of a sport,” Martin said. ‘We just set out to make a good show, and we did. And it found an audience and people really reacted to it. And as a result, have really wanted to find out more about that sport. Hopefully (Onside is) something that resonates with fans — already fans of soccer, but maybe new fans that never thought about watching MLS or following any of the teams.

‘I think the best strategy is always just, we’re going to find the best characters, and we’re going to try and tell the best stories that we can that represent as much of the league as we can.”

MLS executive vice president of media Seth Bacon said last month he is bullish on the league’s partnership with Apple because of the growth they’ve seen in audiences and subscriptions. MLS Season Pass surpassed 2 million subscribers at the end of the 2023 season, Sports Business Journal reported last year.

Again, soccer’s momentum is key to MLS and Apple’s potential success. So the partners are not just capitalizing on the natural momentum happening, they’re creating some of their own — such as the MLS Season Pass ad featuring Messi, which was released immediately after the Super Bowl. Messi’s attendance at the Super Bowl drew millions of eyeballs, even two social media posts featuring him just walking into the game.

Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders will be the only MLS teams competing in this summer’s Club World Cup alongside soccer giants like Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan — bringing another opportunity for MLS exposure during its 30th season.

“We have so much wind in our sails right now between everything that’s happened, with the way the league has been growing, with investment from our ownership groups, the strategic direction from the commissioner, the arrival of Messi,’ Bacon told USA TODAY Sports. ‘You’ve got Club World Cup. You’ve got World Cup. Even Olympics down the road. There is going to be a lot of focus on this sport, and we are the premium domestic brand for the sport of soccer in the United States and Canada. And that is a huge opportunity for us. We are doing everything we can to make sure that we capitalize on that.’