Green Bay Packers star running Josh Jacobs is off to a great start for the 2-1 Cheeseheads. This season the former Alabama Crimson Tide star has rushed for 278 yards on 62 carries. He’s also in the news for his personal life, which has once again been thrust into the spotlight. Per reports, Jacobs is one of three NFL players to have fathered a child with an Instagram model who goes by the name Destani.
Jacobs, the 2022 rushing champion, is allegedly one of those three players, and he joined Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith who won the Comeback Player of the Year in 2022.
Free agent cornerback Eli Apple is the third gridiron star to reportedly have a child a with Destani.
There relationship has been rocky, as recently as last season, when the mother to Apple’s young son, placed a bounty in the form of fines that she will pay for players that inflict injuries to him during the season for trespasses she claims he did to her and her child. She detailed it all in a series of Instagram stories.
“If you play against my baby dad this season please go for the knees, maybe a hammy,” she posted. If it wasn’t clear who she was referencing she mafe it very clear later in the post. “#33 for the Dolphins, I’ll gladly Zelle you back any fines”
While, it’s nothing new for athletes and entertainers to be dating and having children with IG models, hearing of one IG model with three children by three different players is almost unheard of.
Destani is viewed as “the most dangerous woman in the NFL.”
Last year it was reported that the 24-year-old fathered his eigth child, all with different women, and while it also hasn’t been confirmed, to hear it is wild.
That’s Tyreek Hill numbers.
Following the allegations, Jacobs didn’t hesitate to take to social media to call cap.
“Mfs will say anything for some clicks and likes”
“Lawyers about to have a field day with this one.
As of now only one child has been linked to Jacobs, his son Braxton, who is 6 years old and was born while Jacobs was still at Alabama.
Jacobs Isn’t Antonio Cromartie
No matter how many children Jacobs truly has and by how many women, no NFL player will likely ever top former cornerback Antonio Cromartie.
The four-time Pro Bowl player, who enjoyed an 11-year career, has 14 children with eight different mothers. The craziest part of Cromartie’s story is the last three children were conceived after the former Florida State Seminoles star supposedly had a vasectomy.
If it’s really true that Jacobs, Smith and Apple all have children by Destani, monetarily she hit the jackpot three times over.
Gabby Williams returned to the WNBA after carrying Team France to the gold medal match against Team USA at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Shortly after her heroic Olympic run, Williams, who spent the first 28 games of the WNBA season playing overseas for financial reasons, re-signed with the Seattle Storm for the remainder of the 2024 season.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound versatile wing averaged 10.3 points, four rebounds and 3.7 assists in her 12 games, helping the Storm finish with a top 5 seeding in the playoffs before losing to the two-time defending champion Vegas Aces in the first round.
Williams is one of several star players who in the past had to play overseas in the offseason or during what would be the WNBA season, because of the low wages the league offers star players.
The versatile baller has been very critical of the WNBA’s pay structure in the past, and her decision to play overseas rather than return to the WNBA was purely financial.
Last summer she told The Next Hoops, “Unfortunately, [the WNBA] doesn’t pay the most. So I am happy to have other options to provide for me and my family.”
Williams repeated her criticism of the WNBA’s pay structure during her exit presser with the Storm on Thursday.
“The W[NBA] thinks that they don’t have to pay us more in order for us to be here. And I think I didn’t express that when I first talked about prioritization,” Williams said.
“Our commissioner talked about us being able to make $700,000. That’s actually not true at all. There’s not one player who makes that.”
WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert previously said that the league was valued at $60 million entering the season and that number had jumped significantly this season, past the $120 million they hoped to haul in off the backs of the new batch of captivating rookies.
Assuming that’s true, it’s odd that the WNBA didn’t find it important to put new pay scales into place by now. Or at least present a concrete plan for instituting it.
With the booming ratings and boosted attendance and interest, particularly in Caitlin Clark, and the new $2 billion media rights check the NBA cut, chartered flights in position and several current players having shoe deals, you’d think the league would prioritize pay hikes commensurate with the increased revenue streams.
The WNBA’s current CBA started in 2020 and runs through 2027, but both the WNBA and the Players Association can opt out of the agreement by providing written notice by November 1, 2024.
Star players, such as Breanna Stewart of the NY Liberty have been saying they want to opt of the current CBA for years now. With the new revenue platform and increased brand valuation — one which some analysts such as Cheryl Miller insist is still being undervalued — it’s likely that both parties will opt out and player salaries will be a major point of negotiations.
The prior WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement was built upon these three selling points:
1. Significant Increases to Player Cash Compensation and Benefits
2. Cash Compensation Triples to More Than Half a Million Dollars for Top Players
3. Enhanced Travel Standards; Expanded Career Development Opportunities; New Child Care, Maternity and Progressive Family Planning Benefits
Williams is simply pointing out that it’s been four years and nothing has changed.
The WNBA’s highest-paid player in 2024 is Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young, who earns an annual salary of $252,450.
In comparison, Duke freshman Cooper Flagg has a current NIL Valuation of $1.4M, according to reports.
Despite what is being presented as this unprecedented moment in WNBA history and one of exponential financial growth in a short time, according to Williams, the league has yet to come through on promises to players concerning marketing and promotions and salaries.
To be fair, under the last CBA, finalized in 2021, players were reportedly going to have the potential to earn more than $500,000 annually in cash compensation. Maximum salaries did climb to $215,000—nearly doubling prior max of $117,500.
Players and the league also agreed to share revenue 50-50 based on the league’s ability to meet revenue targets from marketing, broadcast, and licensing deals.
Williams says the players haven’t really benefitted from any of it and the league hasn’t seized the moment.
With those failures, players have been forced to seek work elsewhere. This issue concerning the dangers for WNBA players going overseas to get a bag really became part of the national conversation when Phoenix Suns star Brittney Griner was imprisoned for nine months in a Russian jail for having vape cartridges in her bag at the airport returning home to the states after representing a Russian team in competition.
“We were promised team marketing agreements and league marketing agreements, but they’ve fallen quite short,” Williams added. “So it’s still not enough for us international players to want to stay here. And that’s a choice of the players. If I make a choice to make more money, whatever, and then teams are mad that I don’t come back, but that’s how it is.
“The WNBA, if you want us to be here, you have to pay us more. It’s business, it’s how it works, and that’s all that means,” Williams concluded.
According to many fans, the WNBA has spent more time trying to temper the explosive popularity of Caitlin Clark and forcefully highlight other players that people simply aren’t as interested in, instead of focusing on capitalizing off the historic rookie class and the new audience that their presence has afforded the league.
Williams is now an unrestricted free agent, and she hasn’t made an official decision on whether or not she will be returning to the WNBA or playing overseas.
Her point is valid. Sometimes you wonder what the league’s focus is right now, because its players are not happy about the fans, the commissioner (who was attacked weeks ago by several stars) the salary, the promotion or anything the higher-ups are putting into motion.
The NIL era of college athletics is alive and kicking, and while it’s opened up doors and avenues for student athletes to capitalize on their name, image and likeness, it also comes with many drawbacks.
One of those issues is players claiming they were promised a certain amount of money to join the program and then allegedly not receiving it.
Last year it was former Florida commit Jayden Rashada claiming the Gators lied to him about a $13.85 million deal to flip his commitment from Miami.
Now, UNLV is dealing with something similar. Starting quarterback Matt Sluka, who’s led the Runnin’ Rebels to a 3-0 record has left the team over claims of a failed $100,000 NIL payment that was promised to him prior to him transferring from Holy Cross.
His representatives are alleging that UNLV didn’t hold up their end of the deal, and only paid the QBs $3K for a moving stipend, and $3K per month for four months total. That would still leave them $88K short of the $100K Sluka and his reps are alleging.
Speaking with CBS, second-year Rebels head coach Barry Odom addressed the matter. Odom, who was named Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year in 2023, says Sluka overvalued himself.
“Thought he had a market value higher than he was making here.”
Odom and the Rebels athletic department says this amount was never promised and Sluka is trying to leverage the team’s 3-0 start into an unwarranted and uncommitted payday.
As a result of the alleged deal not coming to fruition, Sluka will now redshirt and retain his eligibility because he didn’t play in four games. It’s the first known situation of its kind in the NIL era to have a player quit in season. Running back Michael Allen joined Sluka in redshirting, claiming that he also didn’t have his alleged NIL deal fell through.
Allen took to social media to say: “After 3 games, I have decided to utilize my redshirt & enter the portal at the end of the season as a RS JR. I’m grateful for UNLV & wish them nothing but success. Expectations for opportunities unfortunately were not met & I am excited to continue to my football career.”
Something’s fishy out in “Sin City” and it seems Iike the Runnin’ Rebels made promises they didn’t keep.
The WNBA released a statement condemning the allegations of racism and other hateful messages players have received over the course of a season that has changed the face of the WNBA forever.
After sweeping Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever out of the playoffs, Connecticut Sun star Alyssa Thomas dished the blame on Fever fans, who have gained a reputation for crossing the line when it comes to their support and defense of CC.
Following the team’s win, Thomas’ teammate DiJonai Carrington — a known archnemesis of Clark — revealed on Instagram a despicable, racially-charged email she had received.
Thomas spoke about the challenging experience she had this season, dealing with social media villains, after the Sun’s win.
“We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been calling on social media, and there’s no place for it,” Thomas said. “Basketball is headed in a great direction, but no, we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial names.”
Thomas isn’t making this up, and TSL has reported on several instances where Carrington, especially was the target of racial slurs and attacks based upon her contentious on-court relationship with Clark.
There was the George Floyd troll post.
The 2024 WNBA Most Improved Player award winner has also been told to “go back to Africa” this season by trolling Fever fans.
Thomas continued: “We already see what’s happening in the world and what we have to deal with in that aspect. We come to play basketball for our job, and it’s fun, but we don’t want to go to work every day and have social media blown up over things like that. It’s uncalled for, and something needs to be done, whether it’s (the Fever) checking their fans or this league checking. There’s no time for it anymore.”
We have definitely been down this path with the WNBA before. There is a whole contingent of new fans that are here to support Caitlin Clark, stir the pot and gaslight people on social media with racial slurs and misogynistic ideologies.
While the WNBA’s statement is commendable and as an organization you have to protect your players if they are under attack, there’s little anyone can do about how people choose to express themselves on social media. Especially as it pertains to a mega celebrity whose mere existence and popularity at its corporate core, is fueled by racism and hints of white supremacy.
The WNBA has always been a progressive, liberal-slanted league that is clear on its support of social, racial and gender equality and the LBGTQ community. This onslaught of aggressive, right-wing support that has helped Clark rise to one of the most famous athletes in sports in a few years is not something the WNBA is used to.
Being discussed, criticized and treated on equal footing as the men’s league by male fans is also something new, and clearly the gatekeepers and veterans in the league don’t like it. Even if this is what they thought they wanted.
WNBA legend and analyst Rebecca Lobo had plenty to say on the matter on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Thursday.
“If you’re someone who consumes WNBA content on social media, you have seen hate-filled and racist speech skyrocket this year,” Lobo said while referring to the disgusting email that Carrington received that allegedly threatened her life.
Lobo offers a solution:
“The league absolutely needs to investigate these things and social media platforms need to do a better job policing this content,” added Lobo, one of the first stars of the WNBA. “Not at all surprised that Alyssa Thomas spoke up yesterday. If you know the WNBA, you know that social justice, especially racial justice, the women are going to speak out and use their platforms.”
Again, not sure what the WNBA can do to control this new breed of fan and Clark worshipper.
The WNBA got chartered flights, saw unprecedented growth in every branding metric because of these fans that they now say are beyond terrible. It’s a slippery slope because it’s not an individual that the league is fighting. It’s a culture of social media communication that now defines how future generations interact. The tool itself is not based in honor, integrity or a commitment to spread unifying methods of communication rather than divisive ones. It’s actually become the perfect tool for division.
Once you open Pandora’s box and allow your product to be ingested by mainstream America, being a product that was somewhat hidden and protected by obscurity (while being funded by the NBA) is no longer an advantage.
One would have to believe, with the explosion in attendance and ratings and the confidence the NBA showed by breaking the league off $2.3 billion over 11 years with a new media deal, that the players would find a way to ignore the few obnoxious idiots online and zero in on improving the product for the fans who really make the league go.
Racism is bad in all forms, but the women of the WNBA can’t let a longstanding problem in America stop them from elevating themselves, their league and their connection with the fans. There’s always going to be some bad apples in the bunch, and when you can press block or delete, that’s a luxury that should be used while you keep building your brand and catering to real fans.
Caitlin Clark has been eliminated from the WNBA playoffs, but the anger concerning how she is being marketed and promoted is still a source of contention.
Clark as a victim, rather than the shining star she proved to be during her impressive rookie campaign, is a narrative that her supporters want to continue into this offseason.
The latest beef is with Nike and the WNBA and its sudden commitment to promoting A’ja Wilson as the league’s featured face. In reality, Wilson’s popularity can’t compare with Clark’s, but it seems Nike and the league are trying to make sure that it gives the majority of its promotion to the league MVP, rather than the league’s savior.
When Clark was riding the wave created at Iowa by becoming the NCAA’s all-time college scorer, Nike gave her a reported $28 million deal and promised her own signature shoe.
Of course, there were people who argued that Clark shouldn’t get a shoe before other WNBA players who have failed to capture a new fan base but have been stars in their own right prior to Clark’s arrival.
Wilson supposedly had a shoe coming, but that seemed to get sped up once Black Twitter started raging against the WNBA machine, demanding that Wilson’s shoe (that was apparently in the works) be accelerated and released before Clark’s.
Now it has recently been reported that Clark’s Nike shoe release is being held up, so that the company can focus on Wilson and help to boost her brand.
Upon hearing this, of course, Clark fans didn’t hesitate to throw shade at Nike and the WNBA for what they perceive as more mistreatment of a player that has elevated the league to new heights and singlehandedly brought a new fan base and new potential growth for the league.
Jason Whitlock was besides himself in a recent rant:
“There has been no Nike commercial for Clark as a pro,” he said. “Let that sink in. No Caitlin Clark commercial. She’s had four years of being the biggest star in all of sports, driving all of these television ratings. No Nike commercial.”
Then Whitlock read an excerpt from an article on the subject.
“Nike lucked into the marketing chance of a generation and they’re using that to advertise old products. Why is this happening? Based on conversations with people in the know it indeed has something to do with the WNBA MVP and Nike athlete A’ja Wilson.
But beyond Wilson it’s about the culture of the company that’s more concerned with quelling noise rather than making it as Nike once used to.”
Whitlock blamed the WNBA, Dawn Staley and the “everybody gets a trophy” concept that the WNBA seems to project.
“This is DEI. This is ‘Hey, A’ja will be offended.’ This is Dawn Staley and the rest of the angry Yass Queen feminists saying, “Don’t do that for that white girl, until you make this 6-foot-5 Black woman more popular.”
The Clark cult of course agreed with Whitlock — whose career has found new life since he became a Clark advocate and critic, at times defending her against the people who don’t want to see her succeed or are jealous of her success — with a series of comments on X that express exactly how they feel about this.
Whitlock is once proclaimed that Clark had received worse treatment than Jackie Robinson and that narrative, which is absurd, seems to be growing legs among disgruntled Clark fans.
“Why is the WNBA marketing the playoffs leading with A’ja Wilson or Kelsey Mitchell and not Caitlin Clark? “
Good question.
To be fair, according to a May 14 article by Sporting News, Clark’s shoe is a couple of years away, and that has little to do with the recent narrative that Nike is suppressing Clark’s promotion to boost Wilson up.
“The process is a delicate craft that requires input from Clark and the Nike team, not to mention manufacturing millions of pairs and the marketing campaign,” the article mentioned.
A’ja Wilson won her third MVP and she announced her shoe deal with Nike in May, however the process began in 2023. So the shoe was always expected to be released in spring of 2025 and winning her third MVP did nothing to stop that projected release.
Clark fans may have wanted Nike to release this shoe thai season, but that’s not how business works and it’s not necessarily a knock on Clark. The last thing Clark or Nike needs is to release a dud and then get criticized for the design. .
Under this two-year time frame, Clark’s shoe could hit stores sometime in 2026-27. Remember, Clark and Nike have been partnered through an NIL since 2022, so they have probably been planning and strategizing the release.
Getting A’ja shoe out of the way, while also avoiding some bad press and then allowing Clark to have her own stage next season, now that she has established herself as the real deal in the WNBA is also good business.
The Clark debates rage on.
Even in defeat, Caitlin Clark became the first WNBA player in history with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in a playoff game. The Connecticut Sun proved too much for her upstart Indiana Fever team, but after a rough Game 1 that saw her shoot 4 of 17 from the field, Clark was much more composed in Game 2, despite some aggressive defense led by DiJonai Carrington, DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas.
Now that the WNBA’s cash cow is out of the playoffs, can the league continue to haul in record ratings, attendance and interest?
As her fans raged about the inadvertent foul by DiJonai Carrington on Clark in Game 1, in some instances calling for the WNBA to suspend the league’s 2024 Most Improved Player, their outrage couldn’t stop the inevitable. Connecticut had too much veteran savvy and defensive grit to lose at home.
As much as Clark fans have helped elevate the WNBA to new viewership, revenue and media heights, their arrogance, unfriendliness and prejudice have also impeded her progress in many ways and made her a target each night. Her fans may have, to Clark’s detriment, even affected how she’s officiated.
The anger of her fan base was at a fever pitch following her elimination from the playoffs, an 87-81 loss on Wednesday night. Some swore not to watch any more of the WNBA playoffs.
“The WNBA has decided they want Clark out of the playoffs. The fix is in. This officiating is horrendous. Boston and Mitchell already with 2 fouls. Insanity!” said one X user.
The angry jokes and threats toward the WNBA kept coming.
Another said: “Clark out of the playoffs. Now casual ‘fans’ and the mainstream sports media are about to show their true colors about how they feel about the WNBA.”
Clark is not only a savvy player, but she knows how to manipulate the media without saying much. She understands the power of her fan base and how they can get distracted by things that have nothing to do with the true outcome of the game. She wouldn’t let this matchup with the Connecticut Sun become a pity party for Clark as a victim of mistreatment by opposing players.
While CC’s delusional fan base was calling Carrington’s blow to the eye during a loose ball intentional, Clark took time out to put it all in perspective and dismiss the silly notion that Carrington was trying to hurt Clark.
Connecticut went on a 20-2 run early in the game, but Clark and company rebounded and had a fourth-quarter lead at one point . The veteran cohesiveness of Connecticut, a team that is making their second straight appearance in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, was a bit too much for the Fever.
If the franchise decides to retain Kelsey Mitchell and can add one piece in the offseason, they will ride Clark’s historic rookie season and popularity to a high ranking in the preseason poll for 2025. With many most likely picking them to win the WNBA championship and Clark to win MVP.
This new WNBA fanaticism will continue throughout the offseason. The negative aspects of it are getting to a level in arenas and on social media that the league felt a need to release a statement concerning what is intolerable behavior according to league standards.
“We not watching anymore now that Cailtin is eliminated,” wrote one X user in response to the WNBA’s tweet about not tolerating “racist, derogatory, or threatening comments made about players, teams and anyone affiliated with the league.”
Now all of the people saying they can’t wait for Clark to be eliminated so other players can get their shine will get to enjoy the WNBA as it has been throughout the past 27 years — without Caitlin Clark.
Said One X user, who’s looking forward to seeing coverage of other players:
“Clark’s rookie year has been historic. Much respect. That being said, she’s no longer in the playoffs. All these analysts & her fans need to let the others that are still in the playoffs shine & get the coverage & respect they deserve without talking about CC all day #WNBA“
Her opinion seems to be in the minority, as Clark is the same player whose presence accounted for 17 of the top 20 highest attended WNBA games this season. TV ratings were also dominated by Indiana Fever games.
Now that Clark is officially going home for fall, these upcoming playoff games will be a great test to see just how far the league has really come. With Clark out of the playoffs, the product will have to sell itself and all of the players it has fought so hard to value, even at the expense of slighting Clark and ignoring its fan base. Will the “W” be able to pull it off?
Many of the WNBA’s current veteran stars, coaches and even high-ranking officials have reiterated their respect for Clark, but at the same time they’ve said the league is more than just one player.
The way the “cornfed Iowa girl” — as Shannon Sharpe described her — has captivated the basketball world is unprecedented. It doesn’t, however, make her the best to ever do it in one season and these playoffs proved that.
Let’s see if she left any crumbs on the table for anybody else
Caitlin Clark can’t single-handedly win a playoff game, but she definitely can hold her own. Now that she’s out of the limelight, let’s see how A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and Kelsey Plum and all of the veterans who demand their respect and deny being envious of Clark’s popularity carry the league these next few weeks without her.
Here we have the case of one clearly CTE-afflicted football player, Mr. Chandler Jones, who’s had several confrontations and bizarre interactions with law enforcement over the past few years.
Jones, the brother to former UFC light heavyweight champion and current heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones, was one of the talented characters of the NFL during his playing days and enjoyed some success in 2022 with the Raiders.
However, since then, his career has been a whirlwind of erratic behavior and obvious mental challenges.
Jones ran into some problematic legal troubles last season. In 2023, the defensive end was confronted by Las Vegas police who were trying to bring him to a mental facility following a court-ordered mental health petition.
Not only was Jones acting erratically during the police altercation, newly released police bodycam video shows the former NFL defensive star claiming he got bit by two Dobermans, acting very nervous and trying to call Tom Brady. It seemed he had hopes that Brady could help defuse the situation.
This particular situation took place on Nov. 27, 2023, and involved the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. It was at least the third time in three months that Jones had exhibited behavior that required police to handcuff him.
In the video, police are seen trying to get Jones to come with them to a psychiatric facility following a court-ordered mental health petition.
Jones, an 11-year veteran who had played previously for the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals inititally brought attention to himself with bizarre rants on social media.
Last season, he uploaded a 25-minute Instagram Live to X, formerly known as Twitter, and alluded to theories surrounding the death of former beleaguered NFL player Aaron Hernandez.
After being convicted of murder, Hernandez reportedly killed himself in prison in 2017.
“Y’all don’t know what Josh McDaniels really did to Aaron Hernandez,” Jones said during the video. “Y’all thought Aaron Hernandez killed himself in jail,” Jones said, breaking down and then cutting off the stream.
McDaniels is the former head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. During the 2012 season McDaniels was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots, the last year that Hernandez played on the Pats. Jones, who was a Patriots rookie in that 2012 season, doubled down and posted on X something more pointed and direct about how he believes Hernandez died.
“Josh McDaniels had my twin Aaron Hernandez killed at industrial park, not in jail.. see my IG for details,” Jones posted.
The video begins with Jones in darkness, saying he was outside his Las Vegas home. He flashes a flashlight into the camera and repeatedly says, “y’all thought my n***a Chico killed himself in jail,” before crying and turning off the video. “Chico” was the nickname for Aaron Hernandez.
In response to people who had stated that Jones is showing signs of insanity, the 33-year-old said, “I’m very sane. I just want to play for the Raiders.”
Jones made other social media posts aimed at the team, owner Mark Davis and general manager Dave Ziegler.
Prior to that ordeal, Jones claims he was taken to a mental health hospital against his will by the Las Vegas Fire Department and “injected” with an unknown substance.
“I was taken in by the Las Vegas fire department last week against my will,” Jones shared in three handwritten notes posted on X, with the caption, “First day out but I’m still aligned. I was injected with I don’t know what.”
The four-time Pro Bowl player didn’t play in a game for the Raiders in 2023.
Jones was placed on the non-football illness list on Sept. 23 by the Raiders and then released on Sept. 30 for conduct detrimental to the team after his first arrest on Sept. 29 on two counts of violating a protection order.
Authorities alleged he went to a woman’s home, grabbed some of her items from her backyard, and then appeared to burn the stuff while “completely nude inside of his own backyard.”
At one point, Jones indicated on X that he was at the Seven Hills Behavioral Health Hospital in Las Vegas. Then he was out.
“Fresh out of jail again,” Jones said in a video. “Ya’ll pray for me.
“First day out but I’m still aligned,” the post said.
Journal entries with highlighted passages and a statement of “patient rights” from the facility were attached to the post.
“I haven’t done anything wrong. The police said people were concerned about me because of my posts online,” Jones wrote, also stating that once in an ambulance he was “injected” with an undisclosed substance even though he didn’t give consent.
Jones also mentioned that he wrote to Raiders general manager Dave Ziegler “6 to 7 times asking for help and I wondered if he had me put in here, but he never answered.”
“I’m still confused on what I did wrong. I’m stuck here. I’m very sane,” he wrote, adding “I’m too strong of a person to be mentally broken.”
He was eventually released for conduct detrimental to the team, and we hope he’s getting the help he needs. Brain trauma is a common consequence to a very successful NFL career.
Brady isn’t the only person Jones tried to call during one of his police standoffs.
In the bodycam footage, a police officer can be seen walking up to a female on Jones’ property before the 34-year-old emerges from his home in his underwear. Before breaking down in tears, Jones rambled on about the woman in the driveway.
Jones claimed he didn’t want to be in trouble before the officer told the defensive lineman what was happening. After being told people were concerned for his mental health, Jones was immediately upset and told officers to “get the F*** out.”
Before attempting to run away from officers and engaging in a scuffle, Jones tried to call his UFC star brother, Jon Jones, but he was unavailable. Following the ordeal, he attempted to call former NFL teammate Tom Brady, who also didn’t answer.
Related: “Fresh Out Of Jail Again, Y’all Pray For Me” | NFL Free Agent Chandler Jones Arrested Again
After a lengthy standoff with police, who were trying to be as non-aggressive as possible, Jones eventually agreed to go with the cops.
We are hoping Jones gets his life back in order and some of his NFL brethren reach out to help him in this task.
Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are all the rave during the WNBA playoffs. Everybody is worried about how she plays, who’s roughing her up, who she’s roughing up and what the officials are looking at.
The latest drama surrounds her signature shoe, which Nike has put on hold — allegedly because they want to devote more time to WNBA three-time MVP A’ja Wilson’s shoe.
It’s all very odd and political, but there’s nothing confusing or enhanced about Sabrina Ionescu’s Game 2 playoff performance against the Atlanta Dream. She delivered a New York Liberty playoff-record 36 points Tuesday night in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to lead them to a 2-0 sweep in the first round of the WNBA playoffs. Now they prepare to face the Las Vegas Aces in a rematch of last season’s WNBA Finals. Vegas and A’ja Wilson took the Liberty out 3-1 to win the city’s second consecutive title.
Ionescu has been the second-best player on her team to Breanna Stewart, who is top 10 all-time. The Liberty came into this season with a mission to sacrifice everything to make sure they don’t falter at the finish line again.
That included sharing the ball even more than they have in the past. Ionescu, known for her incredible scoring ability entering the league, is the floor general, leading the Liberty in average assists per game (6.2), while scoring formidably at 18.2 points per game.
While “Stewie” is the big name and No. 1 offensive threat with her multiplicity of moves around the basket and from the perimeter, Ionescu can easily explode for a 30-piece, and she’s among the greatest three-point shooters in WNBA history. When it comes to consistency and composure, Clark is not on Ionescu’s level yet.
People tend to forget that until it’s playoff time and the ante goes up. To win championships, it can never be about one person. Greatness is relative to a combination of getting busy when your number is called, knowing when to fall back into a secondary role and using humility to boost your creativity.
Ionescu can score with the best of them. She’s overcome career-threatening injuries that could have compromised her greatness.
Before Caitlin Clark became the new darling of the league, Ionescu was getting similar hype. She was the one who almost defeated the great Chef Curry in an historic three-point contest between the two superstars at the 2024 NBA All-Star Week in February.
With all of the attention given to Clark, A’ja Wilson and the rookies, the Liberty’s dominance has been disrespectfully overlooked by the media. They ran away with the best record in the league at 32-8 and the tandem of Ionescu and Stewart led the way. They are performers at the highest of levels and it’s shameful they aren’t given their proper due.
Inoescu, however, doesn’t let that bother her.
“The ultimate goal is what it is. But, you know, every single game is a championship game to get to that final goal,” Ionescu told the press. “And obviously our goal is to not lose at home. So this was really important for us to come out, take these two and have a couple days off and kind of rest, recharge and get ready for whatever it is we’re going to play.”
In the postgame presser Ionescu, who had an historic scoring game while also posting nine assists and shooting 5-for-11 from the arc, said she was inspired by the presence of iconic New York Knicks fan Spike Lee sitting courtside.
“Spike Lee gave me a high five as I was going to take the balls out of bounds, and I felt like …New York was injected into my veins. At that moment I felt like we were winning it,” said Ionescu, who graduated from University of Oregon before becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft in 2020.
Ionescu’s teammate Jonquel Jones (20 points, 13 rebounds) has seen Ionescu’s growth up close.
“It’s just her being a great player and taking what the defense gives her,” Jones said Tuesday. “She can change the game in so many different ways. She does a really good job of playing the game and trusting teammates. She’s a big part of everything and I’m just happy to be able to see her shine on a big stage because we know that’s the kind of player she is.”
The new wave of WNBA fans who demand their oversaturation of Clark need to open their eyes, because they are missing some great basketball players. The obsession with elevating Clark to Michael Jordan status overshadows and misdirects attention that should be going to players who are just as great.
Ionescu is one of those players that inspired Caitlin Clark and the 27-year-old is in her prime, making history of her own.
Of the 15 players who received first- through fifth-place WNBA MVP votes, Ionescu got five third-place votes and finished sixth overall in the voting. Interestingly enough, her and Stewie combined for 57 third-place votes, which indicates that the Liberty were always an afterthought when it came to the most dynamic and captivating WNBA players this season.
Related: Caitlin Clark’s First Rookie Triple-Double In WNBA History Overshadows Sabrina Ionescu’s 22 Points
With Clark’s fourth-place finish, Ionescu definitely has a beef, but she will have to cook these playoffs and wait until next season for the individual accolades she deserves.
Stewart has won two MVPs and Ionescu still has plenty of time. She’s hunting her first WNBA title, and with that will come more respect and more attention on her masterful game.
The Las Vegas Raiders have proved time and time again that they don’t handle prosperity well. One week after upsetting the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore, the Raiders were blown out at home 36-22 by the lowly Carolina Panthers.
The same thing happened last season when the Raiders upset the eventual back-to-back Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day, only to lose their season finale to the Indianapolis Colts.
Each time it proved that the Raiders just aren’t ready to turn the corner. In both instances it was below-average quarterback play that caused the losses. Things got so bad in Sunday’s loss that head coach Antonio Pierce benched starter Gardner Minshew.
In the aftermath of the benching, Pierce mentioned that he was trying to get a spark, and while he would be making some permanent moves, benching Minshew at the moment isn’t one of them.
The quarterback position in Vegas has been an issue since the team parted ways with longtime starter Derek Carr following the 2022 season.
That’s caught the ire of superstar wideout Davante Adams, who’s let his frustration over the position be known in the past.
Back in July, when Minshew and Aidan O’Connell were battling for the starting sport, Adams said he would rather have a 58-year-old tom Brady than his current choices. Adams, who spent the majority of his career catching lasers from prime Aaron Rodgers might be a bit spoiled as well.
“Tom knows how I feel about him, and I would be the first person to play for both Tom and Aaron [Rodgers], so that would be pretty cool. He’s getting older but he still has to be able to throw it better than half these dudes in this league at this point,” Adams told Uncle Shay Shay back in July.
“He’s gonna sit right there in that pocket so you better have a nice, little secure home for him right there.”
Having spent the bulk of his career playing with four-time league MVP and future Hall of Famer in Green Bay, Adams accepted a trade to Vegas to team with the aforementioned Carr who was also his good friend and college teammate at Fresno State.
But, with Carr now in New Orleans the Raiders have yet to find a quality replacement, and Adams spoke of that during an appearance on “Up & Adams with Kay Adams.”
During a segment Adams was asked about the play of Commanders rookie and No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels who torched the Cincinnati Bengals for 293 total yards and three touchdowns in the 38-33 win.
“I mean, he, Daniels won the Heisman for a reason,” Adams said. “I mean, he’s a special player. We were hoping that maybe all the teams didn’t think so and he could slip down to the Raiders a little while ago. But he’s out there doing his thing. It’s impressive to watch such a young kid and a lot of expectations coming in. It’s hard to perform like that, especially on a team that’s been struggling for a while. So, really proud of him. It looked like he’s been able to turn it around a little bit.”
The arrival of Daniels has provided some much-needed juice and optimism in a once dormant fan base who felt abused for 24 seasons under former team owner Daniel Snyder.
As Adams stated, the Raiders’ only hope was that somehow Daniels would slip through the cracks and fall to the Raiders with the 13th pick. The Raiders were hoping to once again team Daniels with the aforementioned Pierce who was defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Arizona State under Herman Edwards.
Pierce was Daniels’ main recruiter and persuaded him to choose the Sun Devils over 25 other schools vying heavily for the talented young signal-caller’s services. With the Raiders unwilling to give up the draft capital it would’ve taken to move to draft him, the Commanders pounced, much to the chagrin of Adams.
Adams hasn’t been afraid to voice his opinion concerning the QB play and could be headed to a place like Washington at the trade deadline. At some point Adams is going to be ask to be moved, and when he does the Commanders should pounce.
The good news for the Kansas City Chiefs is that they have begun their quest for the first three-peat in NFL history with a 3-0 record. On a more personal note, Patrick Mahomes’ dad luckily avoided jail time in his DUI case, being sentenced to five years’ probation, so we will continue seeing Pat Sr. lighting up those Black & Mild cigars come playoff time.
Despite all of the optimism, there’s a serious problem, and that’s the play of Travis Kelce, particularly since he began dating Taylor Swift. Last season was a whirlwind of media coverage and celebrations of the tight end’s relationship with one of the biggest pop stars in history. The Chiefs rode the elevated attention all the way to a Super Bowl win, and Kelce ended the season productively.
The 34-year-old had no problem keeping up with the teen pop star, who is the same age, but on the field his stats declined. Kelce averaged a career-low 10.6 yards per catch, and he failed to corral 1,000 receiving yards (984) for the first time in seven seasons.
Kelce’s ability to rebound from the down statistical season was one of the concerns for Chiefs fans entering this season. So far, he’s done nothing to soften their concerns. With just eight catches for 69 yards (8.6 yards per catch) and 0 TDs through three games, college football insider Todd McShay didn’t bite his tongue in blaming Taylor Swift for Kelce’s demise. McShay said what plenty of football fans were probably thinking.
“Every show I watch, every pregame show, halftime show, postgame show, weekday show, every broadcast I watch for the last few weeks, it’s like, are we not allowed to say that he’s out of shape, that he’s been partying all offseason? He’s been jet-setting around with the most famous person probably in the entire world,” McShay said on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast.”
McShay implies that Kelce’s lifestyle change, which included jet-setting around the globe with Swift, following her on her Eras Tour throughout America and Europe and dealing with an elevated amount of public scrutiny and media attention, has accelerated Kelce’s decline as an athlete.
“I want you to take a picture from preseason 2022 and then take a picture preseason 2024. They are barely the same human being. Everyone’s like, ‘We got to get him the ball, why isn’t he part of the offense?’ The defense is double-covering. Here’s the thing, bottom line with Kelce: The coverage and the respect he gets is the same. The athlete is not,” McShay concluded.
Later in the show, McShay clarified his Swift comments, saying that he is not blaming her for Kelce’s decline, just her influence in his life as far as how active he has been when it comes to building his brand.
“I’m not blaming it on Taylor Swift, I’m not blaming anything,” McShay said. “All I’m saying is when you win two Super Bowls, you got that whole tour that happens after the Super Bowl. He’s the most commercialized guy. There’s no one else doing more commercials I don’t think in the league.”
Patrick Mahomes also does plenty of promotion and branding off the field, but McShay says it’s not at the same rate that Kelce has been going.
“He and Mahomes are up there. I think Kelce’s doing more commercials and things. He’s been at more events, doing more things socially. It’s impossible to carry that schedule and still put in the same amount of time for football,” McShay further added.
Travis Kelce’s Relationship With Taylor Swift Has Opened Doors
Everything has a price, and Kelce’s life changed dramatically when he got with Swift and their love story took on a life of its own, almost drowning out the historic second Super Bowl in a row for Mahomes and crew.
As down to earth a guy as Kelce is, stardom like that has to have an effect on you, and it comes at an odd time in his career when he is aging out of the game. Most tight ends don’t play past 35-38 years old, and Kelce has begun to full-speed transition into his business life after football as his body and skills begin to slightly diminish.
He’s not washed by any means, but to say he’s slowing down isn’t a stretch. Dating Swift seems to be the gift and the curse.
Brain trauma and diseases are something the NFL, one of the largest grossing companies in the world, doesn’t like to talk about. The league has made rules changes over the years —most recently the new hybrid kickoff rule — to limit collisions and concussions to players.
In response to these necessary, but game-altering changes, some purists have complained that the NFL is becoming more like flag football, but the warriors of yesterday, such as Brett Favre, who probably played way longer than he should have, are still suffering the sad aftereffects of the fame, fortune and glory that has defined their careers.
The Hall of Fame quarterback, who threw for 71, 838 yards and 508 TDs in his 20-year career, disclosed during a congressional hearing on Tuesday that he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative nervous system disorder that causes parts of the brain to deteriorate and affects movement.
Speaking before the House Ways and Means Committee, Favre spoke about Prevacus, a company developing a concussion drug that received $2 million of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.
Favre was the top investor in Prevacus and text messages show he began asking state officials for help securing funds for the company in November 2018.
How ironic that funds that Favre was accused of stealing from needy families in Mississippi to help fund a volleyball team also were used for what Favre now paints as a heroic effort to help treat NFL players affected by concussions.
While speaking at the congressional hearing Favre said:
“Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others,” Favre said during opening remarks. “And I’m sure you’ll understand why it’s too late for me, because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This is also a cause dear to my heart.”
Prevacus’ founder, Jacob VanLandingham already pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July, admitting that he egregiously used Mississippi welfare money to pay off gambling and other debts.
Favre got caught up in the case, though he wasn’t criminally charged, his reputation took a hit.
He addressed his involvement in the sprawling Mississippi welfare case where at least $77M in TANF funds, earmarked for poor families, were diverted to the rich and powerful, according to a 2019 Mississippi state audit.
The Hall of Fame quarterback was one of the original 38 defendants named in a civil lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services (MDHS) seeking to recoup Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds.
At the heart of the dispute between MDHS and Favre is a volleyball facility built in 2019 at Favre’s alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.
Favre donated his own money and helped raise funds for the facility, and text messages, which have become public in legal filings as part of the civil lawsuit, show he urged state officials for funding during the time his daughter was on the team. The university’s athletic foundation received $5 million in TANF funds.
Now it seems Favre has much bigger problems. Problems that were all too predictable and don’t come as a shock to anyone that saw Favre play with reckless abandon in an era of football that still allowed for quarterbacks to be mutilated by defenders.
In 2016, the NFL publicly acknowledged for the first time a connection between football and CTE. In June 2015, a federal judge approved a class-action lawsuit settlement between the NFL and thousands of former players, providing up to $5 million per retired player for serious medical conditions associated with repeated head trauma.
According to CNN.com, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, was found in 99% of deceased NFL players’ brains that were donated to scientific research,” according to a study published in Journal of the American Medical Association.
Related: Aaron Hernandez CTE Discovery May Offer Perspective On His Tragic Life (theshadowleague.com)
In the summer of 2017, researchers at Boston University studied the brains of 202 former high school, college and professional football players after they died and found CTE in 177 of them. The NFL said little about the matter and somebody seemed to put the muzzle on Boston University, which said it would have no further statement on its findings.
In July of 2021, researchers at Boston University released findings that showed that they discovered CTE in the brains of 110 of the 111 former NFL players they had examined. It was also found in three of the 14 high school players and 48 of the 53 college players. The study included brains of individuals and former NFL stars who have been publicly confirmed to have had the disease.
According to reports, when asked in a 2018 interview how many concussions he suffered, Favre, 54, said he knows of only “three or four” but believed he could have suffered more than 1,000 concussions during his long NFL career.
“When you have ringing of the ears, seeing stars, that’s a concussion,” Favre told the “Today” show. “And if that is a concussion, I’ve had hundreds, maybe thousands, throughout my career, which is frightening.”
Favre is not the only NFL star to suffer from the effects of brain disease after retirement.
Hall of Fame defensive lineman Warren Sapp, now a coach on Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes staff, revealed his cognitive struggles.
In a phone interview with the Tampa Bay Times Sapp said that he forgot the directions to a friend’s house in Miami and couldn’t remember where it was located.
“I wish you could’ve been there and looked into my eyes because it was the scariest thing. I can rip and run on every road in this city and do whatever I want to do. I’m telling you, it was the scariest moment of my life.
Former Washington Redskins Hall of Fame defensive end Charles Mann says if he could do it all again, he would never play in the NFL.
From 1983-93, the physically imposing Mann helped lead the franchise to two of its three Super Bowl wins. The former Nevada Wolfpack star retired second all-time in franchise career sacks with 83.
In a 2023 appearance on ”The Sports Junkies 106.7 FM The Fan,” Mann talked about his career and if he could change it by never setting foot on the gridiron.
“I’m being brutally honest. If I could do it again, I would not have played football.”
Sad news about a football legend, but it happens far too often and is a problem the NFL will always have to deal with and one that will create more holdouts and contract disputes as players deal with the realities of life after football.
The NFL is a brutal sport when the entire game is played clean. So when players purposely target opposing players with illegal hits, that’s when the sport can become deadly.
Despite the aggressive nature of the game, among players there’s a respected, professional brotherhood.
Defensive end Payton Turner of the New Orleans Saints violated that brotherhood when he saw injured Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver DeVonta Smith lying on the ground after a vicious illegal hit and then spit on him.
Philadelph Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson called the hit that injured receiver DeVonta Smith in Sunday’s game at the New Orleans Saints a “cheap shot” and accused his former team of “playing dirty.”
Smith left early in the fourth quarter with a concussion after a big collision with Saints defenders as he was stopped on a 5-yard reception at the Philadelphia 35-yard-line.
He crashed into multiple Saints defenders before New Orleans defensive tackle Khristian Boyd hit from behind and high, a forceful blow to the head, which led to Smith’s helmet flying off.
It appeared to be deliberate and Smith collapsed on the field and lay motionless, immediately sending a shock wave over his teammates and fans watching.
The perpetrators of the vicious hit showed no remorse. As Turner got up, he saw Smith was motionless and proceeded to spit right on him, which elevated the entire situation from unsportsmanlike contact to a possible investigation needed to be opened into “Bountygate” 2024.
“Man, that’s the dirtiest s— I ever saw in football, bro,” Gardner-Johnson said following the Eagles’ narrow 15-12 win. “Y’all obviously saw forward progression was stopped. For them to take a cheap shot on one of our key players, it goes to show what type of team that is. They’re front-runners.”
This was Gardner-Johnson’s first time playing against the Saints since they traded him to the Eagles in August 2022, and his emotions were clearly running high.
The game was very physical and the Saints were attempting to win by submission.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost two of their players to concussions. Another receiver, Lane Johnson, went down with a concussion in the first half of the game.
Are the Saints giving out money for player decapitations again like they did back in the day under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams?
Back when Drew Brees and Sean Payton were lighting up the NFL and contending for Super Bowls, “Bountygate” became one of the defining moments of that era.
The NFL discovered that the Saints were running a cash-for-hits program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams from 2009 to 2011. An investigation found that three of the players (Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith and Scott Fujita) engaged in conduct detrimental to the league.
The NFL suspended head coach Sean Payton, who now coaches the Denver Broncos, without pay for next season and indefinitely banned defensive coordinator Williams.
Former commissioner Paul Tagliabue was appointed by commissioner Roger Goodell to oversee the appeal. He overturned the suspensions of four current and former New Orleans Saints players in the case, but still found that three of the players engaged in conduct detrimental to the league.
He said they participated in a performance pool that rewarded key plays — including bone-jarring hits — that could merit fines. But he stressed that the team “has been contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints’ organization.”
Now, of course, we aren’t saying the hit on Smith was the direct result of a bounty situation in the Saints’ locker room. But it is at least historically notable that this franchise has been involved in such a thing in the past and the hit on Smith and the subsequent hideous act of being spit on makes you wonder if there was something more personal involved with that play.
Related: Tom Brady Lets The Saints Know They Ain’t Ready Yet
A play that became an example of the worst part of football, with a sure fine or even suspension coming down the pike.
Caitlin Clark’s playoff debut went about as poorly as anyone could have imagined. With all of the anticipation considering how well she has been playing and the social media excitement surrounding her fourth-place finish in the MVP voting, her 11-point performance on 4 of 16 shooting was a total letdown.
Her team got washed by the Connecticut Sun and Clark’s other archnemesis during her rookie season, DiJonai Carrington.
Adding insult to injury, early in the contest, Carrington swiped at the basketball and caught Clark in the eye. The refs didn’t catch the foul and play resumed as normal as Clark was on the ground writhing in pain.
Then the Rookie of the Year went to the bench and regrouped but never got into a groove.
The 93-69 blowout had Indiana Fever fans in an uproar. The fact that one of Clark’s on-court enemies got the best of her in the game had them calling for blood on social media.
Carrington (14 points) also outscored Clark and dished out a shiner, leaving a black eye that should just be fading away as Clark hits the court for a do-or-die Game 2 on Wednesday.
“Obviously, she got me pretty good in the eye,” shared Clark in a postgame media conference.
Matchups against Carrington and the Connecticut Sun are always very physical. The Sun are the No. 1 defensive team in the WNBA because of their aggressive play. Carrington has defended and flustered Clark as well as any guard in the league.
Clark wasn’t sweating the early contact after the game, but she did mention the refs early in her press conference. She didn’t dwell on it though, choosing to concentrate on her lack of production.
“I got good shots. They didn’t go down. It’s a tough time for that to happen. Had three wide open in the first half that I usually make. It didn’t feel good when it happened, but I don’t think it affected me,” Clark said.
Clark Retaliates, Smacking DiJonai’s Contact Out Of Her Eye
While some fans looked furious, most were worried about Clark’s eye. Clark actually got some get-back later in the game when she purposely swung her hand wildly hitting Carrington in the face and causing her contact to fly out. After searching for it and getting it back into her eye Carrington went to the free throw line. The refs could have called a flagrant foul on Clark but didn’t.
You could hear Carrington telling the referees. “If it was any other player, you would call that a follow-through foul”
A follow-through foul is a type of flagrant foul that occurs when a defensive player makes hard contact with an offensive player and then follows through.
Despite the get-back, Clark fans were still heated.
“Dijonai might actually be braind-ad. You literally blacked her f–king eye with no foul called, and you’re b–ching about a non-existent special whistle. STFU seriously.”
“Didn’t you black her eye and no foul was called? Y’all can’t b–ch about a ‘special whistle’ when CC is flagrant fouled the most in the league,” added another user.
Clark fans used this incident as another example of referees not only failing to exhibit the favoritism towards Clark that some have accused them of, but contrarily and blatantly ignoring obvious abuses towards Clark at the hands of veteran players.
The black eye was too much for some fans to accept, considering Carrington and Clark’s brief but explosive history.
“The thing about DiJonai is she dishes it out but then plays the VICTIM,” penned another spectator.
This isn’t the first time Carrington has played dirty. Earlier in the season, she ended up mocking Clark when she called a foul.
“She annoys me so much,” wrote another user.
Clark fans hate to see her lose, so watching her get bruised up and play poorly afterward has them ready to get Carrington thrown out the league.
Related:
Expect there to be a huge and bloodthirsty traveling Fever crowd during Game 2 of the first round of the WNBA playoffs on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Toronto Raptors star Scottie Barnes’ ex-girlfriend is truly a woman scorned right now and she’s letting everyone know about it.
Scottie’s ex, a very beautiful Black woman who goes by “nari” online, claims that he cheated on her with a 33-year-old white woman, Alyssa Rae Holmes, and even got the woman pregnant, as evidenced by an Instagram post.
The drama and suspicion emerged when Scottie’s ex-girlfriend came out and posted a TikTok video claiming that he broke up with her after she helped him through some tough times, even moved out of the country to support his dreams and then got dumped.
“Put a finger down if you’re dating your high school sweetheart for almost six years, you’re holding it down for him while he’s trying to make it to the NBA. He makes it to the NBA, so you move to another country just to be there with him to support him all the while studying for your masters, one day out of the blue he breaks up with you and then months later, he gets a white girl pregnant. Just me? Ok.”
After some very light sleuthing by the social media detectives, it was easily discovered that Alyssa Rae Holmes is the woman whom the NBA star impregnated and is currently dating.
The response under the video post was not favorable for Scottie as X users accused him of going to the same old playbook.
One X user said: “Bro coulda had a down to earth girl his age he been known instead he chose some washed up aunt who’s only in it for the bag🤦🏽what we doing Scottie?”
Barnes played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles, earning third-team all-ACC honors as a freshman, and was taken fourth overall by the Toronto Raptors in the 2021 NBA draft. He quickly asserted himself as a rookie, winning NBA Rookie of the Year for 2022.
Although the video has been removed, individuals have quickly saved and re-uploaded it on Twitter and other platforms.
In the video, the NBA star’s ex-girlfriend describes how they were an item since high school and how supportive she was of him when he was struggling in life before fame and fortune.
Now that Barnes is in the NBA and has already earned a cool $23 million, with the big bag on the horizon, she says, he’s cheated on her with a 33-year-old lady and even got her pregnant.
The final blow of disrespect is that the woman is white, which of course makes the entire situation ripe for social media outrage and the reinforcement of racial tropes when it comes to Black athletes and white women.
According to nari, she and Barnes were dating for nearly six years before Scottie abruptly announced their breakup. Months later, she shockingly discovered that he had gotten a woman pregnant and was about to be a father.
Alyssa Rae Holmes is the woman whom the NBA star impregnated and is currently romantically involved with. The account is currently private, although it was public before the social media piranhas started to hover. People started leaving comments, so she turned it private.
However, one piece of evidence escaped her preventive measures, a screenshot of a post floating online shows Alyssa’s prego tummy and a black hand holding it, leading people to believe it is Barnes.
Scottie also follows Alyssa on Instagram and has liked and commented on her pregnancy announcement post. The NBA player wrote “life with you” in the comments section and expressed his happiness for their child. That’s what Sherlock Holmes calls a slam dunk.
Although Alyssa’s Instagram is private, her TikTok is still public, but with no signs of Barnes. The overwhelming evidence suggests that Barnes has started a life with this new woman, and regardless of race, the scorned ex-girlfriend is going to be unhappy.
We remember how Travis Kelce’s ex-flame went postal when she found out he was moving on with Taylor Swift. These things happen, and the fact that his BM is an older white woman is a side note at this point. For every Patrick and Brittany Mahomes story, there’s 100 more stories where the high school sweet makes it to the draft, but her heart gets left at the contract table.
This is the game.
Carolina Panthers quarterback and 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, hasn’t had a great start to his NFL career. The Heisman Trophy-winning signal-caller, who broke all kinds of records in his two seasons as the starter of the Alabama Crimson Tide, is just 2-16 in 18 career starts.
That record, along with some very below average play, is the reason Young was benched in favor of NFL journeyman Andy Dalton.
Adding insult to injury is Young also reportedly lost his girlfriend, Myra Gordon as well. Gordon was seen sitting with Philadelphia Sixers star Tyrese Maxey during last Monday night’s Eagles-Falcons game in Philadelphia.
The shot of Gordon with Maxey in many ways could be symbolic of the regression we’ve seen from Young in his first two games of the 2024 season.
In those games, Young went 31-56 for 245 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions. His 4.4 yards per completion ranked dead last in the league, as the Panthers were blown out both weeks by a combined score of 73-13. Toward the end of the team’s 26-3 Week 2 loss to the Chargers, Young looked like he wanted to cry, and then to see his ex on television the next night only added to the situation.
One thing that made Young so appealing as a prospect was his maturity and how he never makes excuses or places blame on others. Despite plenty of blame to go around for the team’s struggles, which resulted in his benching, in typical Young fashion he put the onus on him and his play.
“I draw confidence from the Lord, I’m very blessed and I’m grateful for this challenge, not an ideal start, but God is everything for a reason,” he told reporters at the team’s practice facility last week. “I have faith in that.”
“Last year and these first two games for the most part every snap has hit my hands and I didn’t do enough with it at the end of the day. I take accountability for that. There are plays and a long list of things that I wish I was better at and I’m going to continue to work and grow and be better at them. I’m always going to look in the mirror.
“If I went out there and played better, and we won games, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he said.
That type of attitude in the midst of a tumultuous situation is exactly why there’s a place for Young in the league.
The question that remains is will it happen in Carolina?
After two weeks of paltry and uninspired play with Young under center, the Panthers looked like a different team with Dalton under center. The offense played with a fervor not seen with Young at the helm, and even the play calling was better. In the game Dalton went 26 of 37 for 319 yards and three touchdowns.
Running back Chuba Hubbard rushed for 114 yards, and new wideout Diontae Johnson chipped in with 122 yards receiving and one touchdown in the team’s huge 36-22 road win at the listless Las Vegas Raiders.
The team looked like they had a new lease on life Sunday, and it was without Young at QB. From the jump this hasn’t been a good fit for him, and with his ex moving on, just maybe it’s time for him to do so as well.
Per ESPN, several teams have reached out to the Panthers to get a feeler as to what it would take to trade for the embattled former No. 1 overall pick.
While those details haven’t been revealed, it’s definitely something to keep an eye on as the season progresses, and especially as the trade deadline approaches. If Dalton continues to play well it’s very likely the Bryce Young experiment in Carolina could be over, and for his sake that may not be a bad thing.
When Caitlin Clark doesn’t get her appropriate oversaturation of media coverage, her fans don’t like it. With the dynamic rookie embarking on her first playoff run, the WNBA tweeted, “THE STAGE IS SET,” and asked fans to predict which of the eight WNBA playoff squads will win the championship.
The photo featured members from each team. The Indiana Fever representative wasn’t Cailtin Clark, who has shattered her share of rookie and league records and catapulted to the face of the league during her first WNBA season.
She was also named the Associated Press 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year, pulling away after a wrist injury prematurely ended Angel Reese’s season.
Clark’s very capable backcourt mate, Kelsey Mitchell got the nod on the poster, which almost caused X to melt down from the heat directed at the WNBA for leaving CC off the picture.
How do you not put the woman responsible for record TV viewership when she’s on the court as a featured person on your promotion for the playoffs?
Proof of her lofty status is in the ticket sales. The tickets for the opening round, Game 1 Indiana Fever vs. The Connecticut Sun playoff game on Sunday went for $178. In comparison, the tickets for the four WNBA Finals games in 2023 cost an average of $105 a piece.
Some Clark fans were so upset by the omission that they accused the WNBA of (reverse) racism.
One X user wrote, “Racism is real, but it’s the reverse of what many think.
Jason Whitlock, who has flip-flopped back and forth concerning his praise and criticism for Clark, went to the WNBA, a league he has basically painted as a group of angry Black women who hate heterosexuals and whites in several rants.
“This is hilarious,” Whitlock wrote on X. “The WNBA is embarrassed by its savior because she’s the wrong color and has a boyfriend.
It’s called the “Caitlin Clark Effect,” and the game played in Connecticut had a huge contingent of traveling Fever fans that were just as loud as the home team.
Clark couldn’t provide the crowd with much as the first half of her first playoff game was poor and it didn’t get any better.
Her team trailed 46-38 at halftime and she was 0-for-6 from three-point range and hit just 11 percent of her overall shots from the field.
The physicality of the game seemed to wear Clark down, as she even had a rare miss at the charity stripe and looked gassed from early on. Indiana as a team missed 14 of its first 17 three-point attempts.
The game was a complete blowout to the dismay of thousands of fans as Connecticut romped 93-69.
Clark and Kelsey had their worst shooting games of the season at the wrong time. The duo, the most prolific long-range shooting tandem in the league, shot a combined 4-for-23 from three-point range. Clark finished with just 11 points and was 4-of-17 from the field.
It was a disappointing playoff start for Clark and Fever fans, who were already salty entering the game. Expect the physical play against Clark to be an issue for her fans, who love to complain when things don’t work out their way.
Clark fans and supporters have expressed their discontent with the way the WNBA has promoted Clark and handled the way other players have treated her throughout the season.
They didn’t appreciate her omission from the 2024 Olympic Team, and with her arrival, the Fever made the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2016. So most Clark fans also feel she is a legitimate MVP candidate, despite the monster season A’ja Wilson has posted.
Once Whitlock set it off, the Clark contingent followed with a flurry of highly-critical and accusatory posts against the league.
One X user wrote, “Not having Clark on this graphic is yet another example of the WNBA having no clue what they’re doing in regards to marketing the product.”
Another wrote, “the fact that Clark isn’t on the graphic should prove to everyone that WNBA is jealous of her success.”
“This is like the NBA leaving out Michael Jordan, and thinking they’re virtuous for doing so,” said an X user.
Some blatantly accused the league of racism.
“The wnba needs to die until it can stop its blatant racism,” an X user named @Kologar wrote.
The consensus opinion by those commenting was that “The whole league deserves to fold after purposely leaving Caitlin Clark off of the graphics,” as one X user wrote.
Whitlock’s comment is interesting because he’s blaming Clark’s poster snub on his running theme that the league dislikes her because she’s white and heterosexual.
Meanwhile, Jemele Hill caught flak on social media at the beginning of the WNBA season, for saying that Clark’s meteoric rise can be attributed to the fact that she’s white and heterosexual.
Jemele Hill on Caitlin Clark’s success:
“We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity. While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success — including the players; this has had such an enormous impact on the game…”
Hill received plenty of backlash for her comments from X users who dismissed her comments as typical race-baiting.
What these comments reveal are the many opinions that fans and media have concerning Clark, and usually there’s two sides of the fence. People such as Sheryl Swoopes try to temper the fanaticism and legendary media hype that Clark has inspired.
Then people such as Shannon Sharpe, Charles Barkley and, to a larger extent, Whitlock blame the league and the players for failing to ride her wave and acknowledge her influence.
They all predict that the WNBA’s refusal to put Clark on the pedestal she deserves will ultimately hurt the league’s ability to sustain this current fanbase and viewership explosion. Seventeen of the 20 most-viewed WNBA games this season featured Clark and the Fever.
With a maximum of two games left in the series, Clark and Mitchell have to get their acts together and bring their “A” shooting game in Game 2, or it will be an early exit for the Fever.
Related: Caitlin Clark’s First Rookie Triple-Double In WNBA History Overshadows Sabrina Ionescu’s 22 Points
Clark fans might want to spend less time criticizing the league for not kissing the ring and more on rooting for their team, which has its back against the wall against a veteran Connecticut Sun team with Clark’s nemesis, DiJonai Carrington, Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner capable of taking over a game.
Tristan Thompson is no stranger to dating and creating drama with his appetite for women.
His relationship with Khloe Kardashian was well-chronicled; the ups and downs, the extra marital affair with her sister Kylie Jenner’s best friend Jordyn Woods, now the significant other of NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns.
Thompson has moved on and just signed a contract to play another season in the NBA. He’s had no shortage of women since the breakup. The 40-year-old Khloé, however, is still dealing with the situation.
A new report claims Kardashian has been upset since Thompson, the father of her two children, began dating someone new.
Khloé and Tristan have not officially been together since 2019.
“It’s bad enough that he’s dating again,” Life & Style reports it was told by a source it did not name. “That’s very hurtful because it’s another clear reminder that he’s not interested in her anymore.”
Kardashian, who shares daughter True, 6, and son Tatum, 2, with Thompson, reportedly is hurt because “he’s dating someone that everyone is saying looks like a knockoff version of her sister, or even her, is an added knife in the heart,” according to the tabloid’s insider.
Thompson reportedly was sighted on Aug. 19 at the Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Los Angeles with a woman who resembles Kim Kardashian.
The supposed insider claims this set Khloé off, explaining, “Everyone is telling Khloé not to be jealous, that he’s chosen someone that looks practically related to her because he’s still obsessed with her, but Khloé is taking it very badly.”
Khloé Kardashian had a rough run with the NBA champion, who didn’t care about his infidelities and barely tried to hide them when they were together.
Khloé and Tristan’s relationship was fraught with breakups and make-ups before they split for good in 2019. While Tristan is still doing well as a high-paid NBA bachelor, the Kardashians star supposedly can’t move on.
Life & Style says a second insider previously claimed: “Khloé has turned down so many guys, she’s tried to go on dates, but she just can’t connect with anyone the way she does with Tristan. As much hos as he’s put her through, and as much as she denies that she still has romantic feelings for him, the fact is she just can’t seem to get over him.”
“She’s had to admit that she’s still not over him, even if she knows she should. It’s so upsetting for her because she’s tried everything to get over him, even hypnosis, but she can’t let go,” the insider reportedly added.
Tristan, 33, cheated on Khloé while she was pregnant with True — and he even fathered a child with another woman just months before they welcomed Tatum.
The 13-year veteran of the NBA and a former teammate of LeBron James, signed a one-year, $3,303,771 contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason. It’s short money for an NBA player, but Thompson has made some nice bags in his career.
Thompson has had several contracts with the Cavaliers, including a five-year, $82 million deal in 2015–2019 and a four-year, $16,821,270 rookie contract from 2011–2014.
While Khloé has never claimed another man as passionately since breaking up with TT, who in 49 games last season, averaged 3.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and one assist in 2023, Thompson seems to be just fine and knows that he still has Khloé’s mind, body and soul on lockdown.
She knows it too.
During a recent live video where comedian Jamie Foxx was at a Dallas Cowboys practice, owner Jerry Jones could be heard saying some things that only further support rumors that he’s losing a few marbles in his old age.
We would never wish any harm to Jones and hopes he lives as long as he can, but in this instance it wouldn’t be egregious to hope that he was losing his mind when he made the statement.
He’s the same exact age as Joe Biden who basically admitted that he was unfit to campaign for a job as time consuming, challenging and exhausting as president of the United States.
The Jerry Jones empire is worth 15.07B and he’s one of the richest self-made moguls in America. He’s 81 years old and has been saying and doing some outlandish things for years now.
It’s getting harder and harder to take him seriously.
That’s no knock on Jerry, who is an icon and considered one of the shrewd business minds of our time. His football-specific administrative prowess leaves something to be desired as the Dallas Cowboys haven’t been to the Super Bowl in nearly 30 years. While Jerry had become somewhat of a cult hero, his Dallas Cowboys brand continues to explode in worth even as his meddling in football affairs has only hurt the team.
At this point in his career Jones says and does what he wants, but it’s getting a bit out of hand.
Jones was reading off the measurements of players to Jaime Foxx when he began speaking about penis sizes.
While relaying the physical specifications of a particular player, Jones said the player had an “8.5 inch” sexual organ.
Foxx was clearly in shock, but immediately shut the videocast down. That was a wild, borderline racist statement by Jones, which speaks to every stereotype and racial trope.
This also isn’t the first time JJ has let his tongue flow free of any filter or hesitation. He could care less that Foxx was filming…or maybe he just forgot.
In a 2023 appearance on “105.3 The Fan” in Dallas, the Cowboys owner and general manager was asked if he had anything to say to the team’s fans.
“The rough times that you have with sports, everybody has it, you can’t really play unless you have some hard times,” he said. “It is the absolute glory hole to have that elusive win to be the champion.”
Now, we all know what comes to mind when the term “glory hole” is referenced, but that kind of uninhibited, frat boy, country club banter is part of what makes Jones a transcendent icon owner and businessman.
He definitely pays the cost to be the boss. This will go viral and only enhance his brand as a great-grandfather and historic figure in America’s history of business and entertainment.
Even at 81, he’s still attending team events, scouting players, handling rough contract negotiations with star athletes and speaking freely, going back to the days when he was a “curious” observer as an Arkansas student, gathering with other white students as the spectacle and tensions of integration at Central High in Little Rock brought out the worst in American youth.
Jones was spotted in a photo standing among the observers and antagonists.
“I don’t know that I or anybody anticipated or had a background of knowing what was involved,” Jones said to The Washington Post about his involvement in that transformational moment in American history. “It was more a curious thing.”
Jerry Jones is indeed the JR Ewing (reference for the ’70s and ’80s babies) of today and the embodiment of what it means to walk to the beat of your own drum.
Jaime Foxx, who’s a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, probably was in heaven up until that point. Some might say, on a smaller scale, Foxx got Diddied.
NBA legend Oscar Robertson, who’s also known as the “Big O,” did some magical things on the court during his playing days. The Cincinnati Bearcats great who teamed with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to bring the Milwaukee Bucks the 1971 NBA championship, was and is universally recognized as one of the greatest basketball players the game has ever seen.
But, it didn’t come easy. Robertson played in a time where racism was still very rampant. That made it even harder for players to go out and feel safe as they played the game they loved while also being able to take care of their families. In many ways Robertson crawled and endured so today’s players could walk and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Robertson Details KKK Threat On His Life Playing In Dixie Classics
The NBA trailblazer can often be seen sitting courtside at Bucks games as well as other NBA matchups. To the surprise of many he’s even dabbling in making appearances on podcasts. In fact, during a recent appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast with former NBA players Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes, Robertson opened up on some of the tribulations he had to endure and overcome during his career. Robertson talked about playing in the Dixie Classics in 1957 while a sophomore at Cincinnati.
Each year from 1949–60 the classic was an eight-team tourney which consisted of four North Carolina teams (UNC, Duke, Wake Forest and N.C. State. It also brought four teams from around the country. The games were played at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and this particular year Robertson and the Bearcats were one of those teams.
“We were playing the Dixie Classic. I get a telegram, says, ‘If you go out and play we’re going to shoot you.’ So I gave it to the coach. Later on that day, I get a knock on the door. Here’s a white kid from Alabama, some Alabama fraternity, that had come to get an autograph from me. … I autographed it for him.
“I never thought that much about guys who’d threaten me,” Robertson added. “It wasn’t the only time I was threatened, by the way. It didn’t bother me. I just didn’t think anything about being shot.”
In many ways Robertson is speaking for how all Black players had to be during those times. Unfortunately, they had to show no fear and just do their best to block out the daily blatant and malicious racism they faced. The late great Bill Russell talked about how he handled it playing in Boston where he won 11 titles, and still dealt with folks not liking the color of his skin.
Robertson Was The Original Triple-Double Machine
Robertson’s play on the hardwood was unmatched in his day. The first really big point guard, the burly-but-nimble Robertson stood 6 feet 5 and 210 pounds. In 1961-62 Robertson became the first ever player to average a triple-double for an entire season when he posted these numbers (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists).
Since then, only current Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook has been able to duplicate the feat. In fact, the once freakishly athletic Westbrook has accomplished the feat a whopping four times. During the podcast Robertson mentioned that in 2017 when Westbrook was the best version of himself, he told Russ to to enjoy it because it’s go change.
Related: Russell Westbrook On Pace To Surpass Wilt and The Big O’s Triple-Double Standard
He also told Westbrook that once his athleticism declines that the league would turn on him. Can’t say he was wrong because not many are fans of Westbrook anymore or his erratic style of play which was once overlooked because of that elite athleticism.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin went after Brittany Mahomes, the wife of NFL superstar and $500 million man Patrick Mahomes this week for her alleged support of Donald Trump — and her marriage to the three-time Super Bowl QB.
The co-hosts were discussing the impact of Donald Trump’s “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” post on Truth Social, which caused quite a stir and Patrick Mahomes was dragged into.
Whoopi Goldberg and Hostin both had plenty of smoke for Mahomes’ wife, as she has inevitably become close friends with Taylor Swift since Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce started dating the pop star last season.
Due to Trump’s apparent dislike of Swift, the Daily Mail reported that this week that Brittany is “questioning her support” for Donald after he publicly attacked the singer following her endorsement of presidential rival Kamala Harris.
“She is questioning her support for Donald Trump after he lashed out at Taylor, saying he hates her,” Daily Mail quoted a source it did not name as saying. “This deeply bothered Brittany because Taylor is like a sister to her, and she has done absolutely nothing wrong.”
Goldberg found Brittany’s alleged flip-flop interesting and offensive to her family and Black husband.
“He’s politically activating her army of Swifties, and there are also rumors that her best friend Brittany Mahomes who was hit with backlash for liking a pro-MAGA post is rethinking her alleged support,’ Goldberg said this week on “The View.”
“Some could say, because he’s mad at your best friend, now you’re mad? It didn’t bother you that he was being a racist and being a misogynist, and… that didn’t get you going?” she added.
Sunny got in on the Brittany bash, echoing similar sentiments and then bringing light to the irony of it all, considering Brittany’s husband is Black and she’s in an interracial marriage to Patrick.
“Just seems to me that since she is in an interracial marriage, she should have known that to support a racist is problematic. Her children are biracial, and her family is one of the families that in the ’70s could not have lived in any of Donald Trump’s buildings,” Hostin said.
Brittany Mahomes received major backlash after she liked several pro-Trump comments on her Instagram, even though neither she nor Patrick has publicly endorsed anyone.
Swift has shown support for Kamala Harris, and although the Mahomes haven’t endorsed a candidate, many wondered if Brittany and Swift’s relationship would last because of her vocal support of a man that plenty of people of color in this country feel is racist in many ways.
Reportedly, the Swift and Brittany got together at the U.S. Open this month and smoothed things over.
Brittany Mahomes had no clue that the 2024 presidential election would turn into such a public spectacle for her as the 29-year-old Kansas City Current co-owner has found herself in the middle of a Donald Trump fiasco.
She just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. It seems whenever her husband is getting too much attention, Mrs. Mahomes has to do something to bring attention to herself.
Jumping on the Trump bandwagon definitely accomplished that and now, a report claims, she was really bothered by Trump’s public “hate” for Swift.
If her husband refused to endorse a candidate maybe the best thing for Brittany to do was keep her allegiances to herself, because now she looks like a flip-flopper
