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Social media reacts to Lindsey Vonn’s frightening crash

Lindsey Vonn knew the risks of skiing in the Olympic downhill on a ruptured ACL in her knee. Yet she also knew this was likely her last chance, at age 41, to chase gold.

Her decision would be polarizing, regardless of the outcome.

Vonn’s quest ending in a high-speed crash was always a possibility. But seeing it happen to the world’s No. 1-ranked downhiller less than 15 seconds into her run at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games was still stunning to watch.

The intial reaction from fans around the world was one of concern. Vonn remained down on the course surrounded by medical personnel for roughly 15 minutes before being airlifted of the mountain in Cortina by helicopter.

Vonn’s Alpine skiing teammate Mikaela Shiffrin and 1984 Olympic figure skating champion Scott Hamilton were among the first to offer their thoughts and prayers.

With the crash occurring early in the morning, U.S. time, many of the first to weigh in on social media were, predictably, journalists.

Once the shock had worn off, the question of whether or not she should have even attempted to compete in these Games was sure to be second-guessed.

And after all the knee-jerk initial takes had poured in, the real irony of the crash began to come into focus.

Vonn’s dream of a fourth Olympic medal was derailed not by her barely intact knee, but by her arm just clipping a gate on the course − an extremely rare occurrence that could have happened whether she was injured or not.

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‘THE greatest defensive mind’: How Macdonald got Seattle to Super Bowl

SAN JOSE, CA – By nearly any metric, the Seattle Seahawks were a success in 2024, head coach Mike Macdonald’s rookie season. They finished 10-7 – better than any of previous coach Pete Carroll’s final three years in the Pacific Northwest – and fell just a tiebreaker shy of winning the NFC West and qualifying for the playoffs.

Yet it didn’t necessarily feel like success to Macdonald, something Pro Bowl defensive lineman Leonard Williams noticed during the offseason.

“To me, as a leader, I think he showed vulnerability,” Williams told USA TODAY Sports while reflecting on Macdonald’s message to the team last spring.

“He was super open and brutally honest about where he felt like he lagged and where he felt like he needed to grow. And I think to see the head man like that, be so vulnerable, it allowed all of us to (see) we all have room to grow. And I think he created an environment where like you can really give each other advice and talk to each other without anyone taking it personally.”

And grow the Seahawks did, no longer a team that couldn’t quite overtake the Los Angeles Rams and their genius of a coach, Sean McVay, but one that finished 14-3 in the regular season – beating LA twice over the last two months on the way to the divisional crown and then a berth in Super Bowl 60 against the New England Patriots.

“Sean McVay’s one of the greatest offensive minds, and Mike Macdonald’s the greatest defensive mind in my book,” Seattle linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who’s played for both men, told USA TODAY Sports.

“And the way they’re just intentional to the details, they’re able to adjust at any moment – I think that’s what separates them. And they’re not stuck in their ways where if something else is working (better), they’ll adjust.”

Yet Macdonald’s Seahawks were able to separate from McVay’s Rams this season, thanks to a thrilling 38-37 overtime win in Week 16, followed shortly thereafter by a 31-27 triumph in the NFC championship game.

Certainly Seattle was vastly improved by the free agent signing of quarterback Sam Darnold. The team also employed the complementary football approach Macdonald craved, reliant on a dominant defense plus a balanced offense that could control the clock with an efficient passer and strong run game.

That, plus added experience in his role, allowed Macdonald to truly flourish.

“His confidence has really grown over this last year. First time being a head coach, so he didn’t know what to expect,” linebacker Uchenna Nwosu told USA TODAY Sports while referencing 2024.

“Over the year, his confidence grew, his trust in us grew, and we started all playing better. And once we were playing better, it makes it a lot easier for him to do this thing, get in his bag and call his plays.”

Yet the starting point of the Seahawks’ arc begins with the organizational decision to hire a rising defensive-minded coach like Macdonald in a division that had been dominated by offensive masterminds McVay and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers. And Macdonald and Co. quickly caught up, going 22-5 (including postseason) since Seattle’s Week 10 bye in 2024.

“Mike Macdonald over in the NFC West? Where it’s McVay and Shanahan? OK, we’re not gonna find another guy like that – let’s find a defensive genius who can combat it. And then the leap we saw from Year 1?” marveled NBC analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms to USA TODAY Sports.

“The defense grew schematically. … All of that’s special.”

Indeed.

After finishing 11th in scoring defense in 2024, the Seahawks allowed the fewest points in the league in 2025. Their 230-point differential (playoffs included) is the fourth best this century among teams entering the Super Bowl. And Macdonald’s defense created havoc, mostly generated by its stunting front four – finishing with 180 pressures, third in the league, despite being 26th in blitz rate (not quite 20% of the time).

“This defense attacks, they simply attack,” analyst Cris Collinsworth, who will call Super Bowl 60 for NBC, told USA TODAY Sports. “The overriding theme for this team is to attack.

“It’s an exciting defense to watch. Is it the Legion of Boom? No, it’s completely different. But it’s exciting to watch.”

Yet Macdonald feels the most important change from Year 1 to Year 2 was a philosophical shift.

“You’re not waking up in the morning trying to be a players’ coach or not be a players’ coach, or ‘I want to be this type of coach,’” he told USA TODAY Sports. “Where do we want to go?”

And the answer was he wanted his team to feel more “connected,” part of the reason he laid bare his shortcomings in those offseason meetings.

“I just felt like that’s what we needed to get to,” he continued. “Tried to make all the decisions to try to create that as the core identity of our team.”

Macdonald’s boss noticed.

“He’s so intelligent. Everything he does, there’s an intent to it. He’s a real clear thinker,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said Monday on NFL Network. “It’s really been a cool fit.

“He’s a very authentic person, and I love that about him.”

And, in addition to the players and Schneider, Macdonald’s staff noticed, too – the entire organization now just four quarters away from winning its second Lombardi Trophy.

“It’s a million things – it’s like which grain of sand makes the sandcastle?” Seahawks special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh told USA TODAY Sports regarding the adjustments Macdonald made before this season.

“It isn’t really one thing. In my opinion, for a leader, the first real responsibility is to model the desired behavior of the group. That’s where a lot of people go wrong, especially in high-stakes, high-pressure environments, where people see through b.s. really fast. Mike’s really modeled the behavior that he wants from the team. So we just do what he does.”

Harbaugh also said the accountability and vulnerability Macdonald value has “trickled down” to the players and staff.

“It gives you permission to (acknowledge) you’re not perfect, you don’t need to pretend to be perfect,” said Harbaugh. “He’s already shown that’s an acceptable thing. I think there’s a cumulative effect of that, really just minimizing egos and increasing the collective vulnerability and accountability to just being the best that it can and not needing to protect your image or cover your tracks, that kind of thing – which you can get sometimes on bad teams.

“There’s a lot of things under that umbrella, the way he acts. That’s the leader you want to follow and do things like him and look where we are – it’s working out pretty well.”

Just ask McVay.

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Canada picks Crosby as captain at Olympics for second time

As most people expected, Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby has been named captain of Team Canada’s 2026 Winter Olympics team.

Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid and Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar will serve as the alternate captains. This is the same leadership trio the Canadians ran at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off, where they won gold after defeating the USA in the finals. 

Crosby finished that event with a goal and five points in four games, proving he still has what it takes to dominate a best-on-best tournament.

Crosby has worn the ‘C’ for Canada in every event he’s played in since the 2014 Olympics. 

In that time frame, he’s led Canada to an Olympic gold medal, a World Cup of Hockey gold medal and a World Championship gold medal in addition to the 4 Nations Face-Off. In total, Crosby has won four gold medals in five events as captain of Canada. 

His most recent time captaining Canada was at the 2025 World Championships, where Team Denmark shockingly defeated Canada in the quarter finals.

The 2026 Olympics will be Crosby’s third tournament, winning gold in his previous two attempts. In 2010, Crosby served as an alternate captain, scoring four goals and seven points in seven games, scoring the iconic golden goal against Team USA. In 2014, Crosby scored just one goal and three points in six games, but his lone goal came in the finals against Sweden.

Crosby is one of the most decorated hockey players at the NHL level and has become one of, if not Canada’s most decorated international players on the men’s side. His on-ice dominance and stout leadership have become a staple of Canada’s success ever since he first donned the Canadian jersey. 

McDavid and Makar are partaking in their first Olympic Games. McDavid has captained Team Canada previously, leading the team at the 2018 World Championship, where he scored five goals and 17 points in 10 games.

Makar has never worn the ‘C’ for Canada, and it was his first time wearing a letter at the 4 Nations Face-Off. It was also Makar’s first bit of international experience at the senior level. 

Canada begins its quest for a gold medal on Feb. 12, when they takes on Czechia. 

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DAVID MARCUS: In rural Virginia, mixed signals for Trump and the GOP

LEXINGTON, Va. – President Donald Trump’s poll numbers are a bit all over the place these days. The averages have him about seven points underwater, while some surveys show him down as much as 19. And then, one poll, the most accurate of 2024, has him up one point at 50%.

Likewise, large majorities of Americans say in polls that they want all illegal immigrants deported, but large majorities also say that the Trump administration is going too far in executing this policy. 

So, what do the American people actually want?

I traveled to Lexington, Va., to get a feel for what the reality is on the ground, below these shaky and inconsistent poll numbers, and what I found was good news and bad news for both parties and a midterm that is still wide open.

Brian, from nearby Lynchburg, was visiting town with his wife Erin. A chef in his early 50s and a former Republican, he finds Trump’s coarseness, and what he would call his racism, such as the recent social media post featuring the Obamas as monkeys, to be a dealbreaker.

Brian was very interesting because, while he knew he could not tolerate Trump, he was also quite forthright about the negative tradeoffs in voting for Democrats. When I asked him, as a business owner, about Virginia’s new governor, Abigail Spanberger, his response was telling.

‘I voted for her,’ Brian told me. ‘Part of me wishes I hadn’t had to, but I did, given the alternative.’

The alternative here seemed to be Trump, not Spanberger’s actual opponent and former Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, something that any Republican thinking of running by distancing themselves from Trump should consider. It probably won’t work anyway.

I pressed a bit on Spanberger, asking Brian if the wave of new taxes she supports worries him.

‘Absolutely it worries me,’ he said. ‘I’m a fiscal conservative. I have to balance my budget, and the government should too. But if the alternative is racism, then I have to reject that.’

Never mind that Sears is African-American. Brian was the perfect example of why Democrats focus so much on race and racial issues. For some voters, alleged racism on the president’s part will trump even their own policy beliefs and preferences and taint the party he rules.

This phenomenon can also look like fools gold to pollsters who see a voter with some conservative leanings who should be obtainable, but some, like Brian, just flat-out will never support Trump or the GOP so long as Trump leads it.

As Brian bluntly put it, ‘If it’s men in women’s sports or racism, I have to go with men in women’s sports.’

But it wasn’t all bad news for Trump in rural Virginia. Alice, who is in her 40s and works in real estate, thinks the Trump’s economic measures are starting to pay off.

‘I can just feel it,’ she told me. ‘Gas prices are low, more stuff is on sale at the grocery. That’s what we voted for.’

When I asked about Trump’s gruff manner, the one that bothered Brian so much, she just said, ‘If you aren’t used to it by now, you’re not getting used to it.’

Others, like Peter, in his 70s and retired, are feeling a real political fatigue. Apathy is the wrong word, but perhaps frustration fits.

‘Today, it’s like who you vote for is your whole identity,’ he said. ‘But I can’t fall out of a tree every time Donald Trump opens his mouth.

On Friday afternoon, a small protest of mostly older White people was gathered on a street corner in pretty-as-a-picture Lexington. Annette, the leader and spokesperson, was handing out cookies. Unlike their peers in Minneapolis, they were happy to talk with the press.

‘This is what we feared all along,’ one man holding the Virginia state flag with its motto, ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis,’ told me of the Trump administration’s handling of Minneapolis. ‘It’s why we have been out here protesting for a year.’

Generally speaking, the huge shifts that pollsters are so ardently looking for appear to exist more in the world of numbers than that of flesh and blood, where it continues to be very rare to meet anyone who has changed their mind politically in the age of Trump.

No, the fear for Republicans today is not that Trump or the party are bleeding support. It’s that the Democrats on the ground seem far more motivated to stop Trump than the Republican voters are to reward slow and steady progress.

Importantly, there does not appear to be anything that Trump could do, any position he could soften, be it on immigration enforcement, tariffs or his own rhetoric, that will sway the third of voters who just detest the man. But both Trump and the party have proven they can win without them.

From now until the midterm, we will be in the field with our ear on the ground, listening to the things that voters never tell the pollsters. And if Lexington is any indication, this is still anybody’s ballgame.

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North Korea executed teens for listening to K-pop, watching ‘Squid Game’: report

North Korean authorities executed teenagers for watching the South Korean television series ‘Squid Game’ and listening to K-pop, human rights researchers announced in early February.

Amnesty International cited testimony from an escapee with family ties in Yanggang Province who said people, including schoolchildren, were executed for specifically watching the popular survival drama series.

It also separately documented accounts of forced labor sentences and public humiliation for consuming South Korean media elsewhere in the country, particularly for those without money or political connections.

‘Usually when high school students are caught, if their family has money, they just get warnings,’ said Kim Joonsik, 28, who was caught watching South Korean dramas three times before leaving the country in 2019.

‘I didn’t receive legal punishment because we had connections,’ he told Amnesty International in an interview.

Joonsik said three of his sisters’ high school friends were given multi-year labor camp sentences in the late 2010s after being caught watching South Korean dramas, a punishment he said reflected their families’ inability to pay bribes.

‘The authorities criminalize access to information in violation of international law, then allow officials to profit off those fearing punishment. This is repression layered with corruption, and it most devastates those without wealth or connections,’ said Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director.

‘This government’s fear of information has effectively placed the entire population in an ideological cage, suffocating their access to the views and thoughts of other human beings,’ she added. ‘People who strive to learn more about the world outside North Korea, or seek simple entertainment from overseas, face the harshest of punishments.’

Several defectors told the human rights organization that they were required to witness public executions while still in school, describing the practice as a form of state-mandated indoctrination designed to deter exposure to foreign culture.

‘When we were 16, 17, in middle school, they took us to executions and showed us everything,’ said Kim Eunju, 40. ‘People were executed for watching or distributing South Korean media. It’s ideological education: if you watch, this happens to you too.’

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Olympic gold medalist Breezy Johnson was suspended in 2023. Here’s why

It hasn’t been a smooth journey to Olympic gold for 2026 Olympic women’s downhill champion Breezy Johnson.

The American star edged Emma Aicher of Germany by a razor-thin margin of 0.04 seconds on Sunday, Feb. 8, just a little over a year after returning from 14-month suspension by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.

Johnson − who finished seventh in the downhill in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games, but didn’t qualify for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing − was banned from competition starting on Oct. 10, 2023, for three separate violations of drug testing protocol over a 12-month period.

USADA policy requires an athlete to inform anti-doping authorities where they will be for at least one hour every day for unannounced out-of-competition testing. The punishment for violations can range from one to two years.

Johnson’s suspension was announced on May 13, 2024, with all of her competition results and prize money forfeited dating back to the previous October when her third violation occurred.

She missed all of the 2024 World Cup season, returning last year to take gold in the downhill at the World Championships − making her one of the favorites heading to Cortina.

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Falcons DE James Pearce Jr. arrested after police pursuit in Florida

Atlanta Falcons rookie defensive end James Pearce Jr. was arrested Feb. 7 in Doral, Florida, after police say he crashed his vehicle during a police pursuit while fleeing a domestic dispute.

Doral Police Chief Edwin Lopez told WPLG Local 10 News that Pearce, 22, was involved in a dispute at the Doral police headquarters when Pearce fled the scene and later crashed a vehicle he was driving before he was arrested.

Court records show that Pearce was jailed Feb. 7 on suspicion of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated stalking, fleeing/eluding police officers, aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer without violence to his person. Bond had not been set on three of the charges, according to Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation.

According to NFL Network reporter Mike Garafolo, the Falcons released the following statement Feb. 7:

“We are aware of an incident involving James Pearce Jr., in Miami. We are in the process of gathering more information and will not have any further comment on an open legal matter at this time.”

Pearce was runner-up to the Cleveland Browns’ Carson Schwesinger for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after compiling 10.5 sacks and a forced fumble for the 8-9 Falcons. Pearce attended the University of Tennessee prior to being selected 26th overall by the Falcons in the 2025 NFL Draft.

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Whispering death: Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank is a hybrid-drive silent killer

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has his ‘Arsenal of Freedom Tour’ in full swing, visiting the nuclear submarine production floor at Newport News, Virginia and Blue Origin’s space launch at Cape Canaveral Florida. His goal: restore American industrial prowess and secure freedom for generations to come.

You’ll never guess which program is moving fastest of all: it’s the Army’s new M1E3 Abrams tank.

Get this: the M1E3 Abrams is five years ahead of schedule. Yes, five years. And it’s a hybrid.

While Golden Dome missile defense, the battleship design and other programs are on the drawing board, the Army has accelerated the M1E3 Abrams to wartime pace.

Credit Army Chief of Staff General Randy George and Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll. It’s part of their push to accelerate top programs like the MV-75 air assault tilt-rotor plane. In the case of the tank, the Army had been studying upgrades and watching the Ukraine war. George and his science adviser Dr. Alex Miller were told they would not see the tank until 2032. ‘We said no,’ Miller recalled.

The result: the M1E3 prototype rolled out at the Detroit Auto Show in January. The first platoon of the M1E3 will be ready for testing by soldiers in 2028.

As seen in Detroit, the new M1E3 is a sleek change from earlier Abrams models. Gone is the top turret position. Now the three-man crew side by side in the hull where armor is strongest. External cameras, sensors, heat-detecting thermal sights, and laser-range finders feed into gaming-inspired cockpit displays. Their remote? It’s not for changing channels. An M1E3 tank crew can remotely fire Javelin anti-tank missile with a 2.5-mile range and a range of other weapons, including loitering munitions.

Here are five killer attributes of the M1E3 Abrams.

Formula One Cockpit. The M1E3 tank has a driver interface that ‘looks like an Xbox controller,’ said George. Just as important, the tank uses a modular, ‘plug-and-play’ open systems software backbone. Soldiers can plug in new apps and upgrade it in at a point in the vehicle software where all the things that make the vehicle run are protected.
Quiet mode. It’s a hybrid. No, the Army isn’t going eco-friendly. The M1E3 will have a Caterpillar diesel engine and a SAPA transmission that allows it to switch into electric mode. The hybrid electric drive is all about silent stalking. Iraqis facing the Abrams in 1991 called it Whispering Death, but the new Abrams takes the silent mode into a new realm when the tank is running on electric. Add in heat signature reduction and electronic jammers. This is not eco-mode. It’s whispering death. Iraqi soldiers reportedly feared the quiet killing power of the Abrams in 1991 Gulf War; the new Abrams takes silent lethality to a new level.

Active Protection. Shoot at an Abrams and ‘active protection’ will detect, target and obliterate you. This is the Army’s term for a system that can sort out a whole range of incoming threats, from recoilless rifles to anti-tank guided missiles, rockets, tank rounds and rocket-propelled grenades.  And of course, drones. The best part is the detection system nails the location of the enemy shooter. So, the Abrams crew can destroy it.
Reactive Armor. Already an Abrams standard, tiles fitted on the tank hull prevent penetration by RPGs and deflect blast downward or outwards, depending on the tactical situation. The Army really doesn’t like to talk about this secretive system, but guarantee you, the M1E3 will improve on it.

Great Guns.  With lessons drawn from the Ukraine battlefield, a .30-mm chain gun replaces both the .50-caliber and the loader’s gun. The .30-mm can hit light-armor vehicles like the Russian BMP. It can also chew up drones. Remember remote control permits the crew to fire without popping the hatch.

By the way, this is a tank on a diet. Older Abrams models weigh close to 80 tons. Expect the M1E3 to weigh in at about 60 tons, after shedding top turret armor. Lighter weight yields about 40% greater fuel efficiency. It also allows the M1E3 tank to access 30% more bridge crossings in Poland and other NATO Eastern front-line countries facing Russia.

Why a new tank? To deter Russia. The Ukraine war could stop tomorrow, and Putin’s Russia would still be a long-term threat. Russia has lost over 3,000 tanks in Ukraine but can still produce 1,500 tanks per year, according to former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Christopher Cavoli.

In the end, it is the tank that deters the taking of territory. Just ask the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, who wrapped up an armored live-fire exercise in Poland during Operation Winter Falcon last month. Polish and U.S. forces fired their M1A2 Abrams tanks side by side. ‘We train to be ready for anything that might happen in the future … you’ve [got to] do that in the place you may have to defend,’ said U.S. Army Col. Matthew Kelley, Commander, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team.

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Jon Scheyer says Duke staff members ‘punched in the face’ at UNC

Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer said that members of his staff ‘got punched in the face’ after his Blue Devils were defeated 71-68 by rival North Carolina on Saturday, Feb. 7.

‘It’s hard to talk about the game when I was most concerned for the safety of our players,” Scheyer said. “I don’t wanna make it about that, but … I got staff members that got punched in the face … That’s not what this game is about. That was a scary ending.’

The University of North Carolina did not immediately respond to USA TODAY Sports’ request for comment.

The game itself was a thriller as the two longtime rivals added another dramatic chapter to their storied men’s college basketball rivalry. Seth Trimble helped No. 18 North Carolina earn the win over No. 4 Duke with a 3-pointer in the last second of regulation.

The excitement from the game led fans in attendance at UNC’s Dean Smith Center to storm the court on two separate occasions.

Incident reminiscent of Kyle Filipowski injury in 2024

On Feb. 24, 2024, Duke center Kyle Filipowski hurt his ankle when Wake Forest fans stormed the court following an upset of the Blue Devils in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

After that incident, Scheyer said that court storming ‘can’t happen’ and that the ACC needed to find ways to prevent it or make it safer.

‘The bottom line, however people feel, that can’t happen,’ Scheyer said. ‘The ACC needs to do something. There has to be something done to protect our guys. To protect not just our guys, but any team that’s in that situation.

‘We shouldn’t wait until next year, something should be done right now.’

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Patriots first lady Ann Michael Maye baked up sweet viral success

Ann Michael Maye was draped in a red and green apron Dec. 1 in the white-walled kitchen she shares with New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, explaining a new social media series ‘Bakemas’ that she self-created.

Maye would bake a sweet treat daily in the 25 days leading up to Christmas, she said, starting with M&M chocolate chip cookies. She separated red and blue candies for the Patriots’ official colors and measured the dry mixings. Maye added a stick of softened butter and the granulated sugar. She sprinkled the cookie dough with flaky sea salt.

And then to top it all off, the 22-year-old recent University of North Carolina grad became a social media sensation with over half-a-million TikTok followers.

Maye has warmed the internet’s heart while warming up her oven, breaking from tradition while appearing to stick to it, garnering 9 million views on the video sharing platform. She is one in a growing group of women who are wed to or dating professional athletes and have bulldozed tropes about ‘the wives and girlfriends of professional athletes’ (WAGs).

As the NFL grew in popularity in recent years, stars including Taylor Swift, Ciara, Kylie Kelce, Madison Beer, Simone Biles, Olivia Culpo, Kristin Juszczyk, Cardi B and Maye have brought their own followings to the field.

Former coach: Ann Michael ‘one of the best female athletes’ in school history

Born Ann Michael Hudson, Maye was raised in a football family in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina. Her younger brother Tad plays quarterback at Coastal Carolina, and their dad, Kevin, was on the roster at Wofford. In seventh grade, she started dating her now-husband and the Mayes have been together ever since.

The couple both attended Hough High School in Cornelius, North Carolina during their freshman year before Maye’s husband transferred to nearby Myers Park in Charlotte. Maye remained at Hough, later receiving the 2020-21 Julia Brown Female Athlete of the Year Award during her senior year.

The annual award goes to Hough’s top female athlete. ‘Ann Michael is one of the best female athletes to ever wear a Hough uniform,’ her high school softball and field hockey coach Allison Mashburn told the Patriot Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Both Mayes went to college at UNC, but she stayed there after her husband was selected third overall by the Patriots in the 2024 NFL Draft. On a sandy beach, in color-coordinated white ensembles, the Mayes were engaged to be married after a proposal in January last year. ‘Love doing life with you,’ Drake Maye captioned a post.

Maye graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill last May. ‘Thank you, Carolina,’ she wrote, adding a light blue heart emoji that aligns with her school colors.

Maye started sharing photos of her meals on TikTok: Caesar protein pasta salad, eggs with grapes and berries, Greek bowls, the summertime staple of grilled chicken and corn on the cob paired alongside a sweet potato.

Then the Mayes got married in June 2025. They honeymooned in St. Lucia, capturing memories on TikTok. She started making posts about baking pistachio and sourdough breads. When the NFL regular season started in September, Maye posted about her gameday outfits, a trend also popularized by the Olympic gymnastics great Biles.

Ann Michael Maye nicknamed ‘Queen of the North’

Often outfitted in sweaters, Maye baked up success of her own as her husband found success in his second season as a starting NFL QB. And when December came, Bakemas began.

She prepared a loaf of brown sugar cinnamon sourdough bread on the second day of Bakemas. Peanut butter protein balls came next and on day four, she whipped up mandarin dark chocolate bark with her mom. Oatmeal cream pies followed and then Christmas tree dark chocolate peanut butter bars.

On day 15, Maye made Oreo truffle balls, followed by puppy chow on day 18. On Christmas Day, Maye’s husband made an appearance alongside teammate Will Campbell, a Patriots offensive tackle. Nicknamed the ‘Queen of the North,’ Maye garnered a loyal fanbase when her relatability – called ‘painfully normal appeal’ by Yahoo – was the subject of online inside jokes among followers.

Patriots fans have quipped that ‘Gisele never baked snickerdoodle cookies for us,’ for example, in reference to former quarterback Tom Brady’s ex-wife and Gisele Bundchen. She made a cameo in a pizza review with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, munching on a chicken parmesan sandwich and cheese slices at Gianni’s Deli and Pizza located in a Boston suburb.

After Bakemas ended, Maye landed a baking show ‘Beyond Bakemas with Ann Michael Maye’ featuring celebrity guests. Portnoy starred in the first episode, followed by former Patriots star David Andrews and Emma Pritchard, the wife of Boston Celtics player Payton Pritchard. ‘She is pretty good guys, it’s okay,’ Maye said of comments about Bundchen during the ‘Beyond’ segment with Portnoy.

The Patriots clinched the AFC title Jan. 25 as snowflakes fell in Denver. NFL cameras captured the Mayes walking on the field after the game in a now-viral clip. ‘You’re going to the Super Bowl!’ Maye excitedly proclaimed.

And Maye already baked a win of her own, made fresh from scratch, a few months ago.

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