Philadelphia Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell addressed his behavior at the team's playoff game against the Packers Sunday, when he was seen on video berating a Packers fan who sat near him with vulgar insults.
Caldwell was fired from his job as a project manager at BCT Partners after a video of his insults went viral. He has apologized but also defended himself by insisting his actions "were not without provocation" and that the viral video "does not show the full context" of what happened.
"While attending an NFL game last Sunday to support my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, an incident occurred that I deeply regret," Caldwell said in a statement to the New York Post.
"What began as banter with two Packers fans sitting near me escalated to something more serious, and I said things that were unacceptable. In the heat of the moment, I chose unforgiving words to address one of the fans, Ms. Ally Keller.
"I want to sincerely apologize to Ms. Keller for those words, and to my wife, family, and friends, my former employer and colleagues, Packer fans, Eagle fans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the City of Philadelphia, and all who were offended. That said, there are two sides to every story.
"The video clip circulating online does not reflect the full context of what transpired, and my actions were not without provocation. I will live with this experience, and I am certainly paying a personal price. For those who don’t know me, this incident does not reflect my values or the respect I have for others and is not indicative of the person I am."
The viral video was filmed by Keller’s fiancé, Alexander Basara, and spread rapidly across the internet in the days after the Eagles' 22-10 win.
Caldwell's apology and news of his firing prompted a wave of celebration and mockery by sports fans on social media.
"Ok, that excuse may be ok from a random, drunk dude who wandered into the stadium that day. But someone whose job it was to be inclusive? Hahahahahaha They are now on the job search, and they are gonna have a hard to getting said employment," the user wrote.
Another X user "loved" seeing the consequences that have befallen Caldwell in recent days.
"I absolutely love how Ryan Caldwell, the Philly Eagles fan who abused a woman for no reason, has had his life ‘flipped upside down,’" the user wrote. "Hope it gets worse for you, Ryan."
Another X user described the public response to Caldwell's verbal attack as "social media justice."
"Philadelphia Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell has been FIRED from his job at BCT Partners due to the altercation he had with a Packers fan at last week’s game, which has been playing all over the internet. This isn’t social justice, it’s SOCIAL MEDIA JUSTICE," the user wrote.
One X user wrote that Caldwell's behavior is not an isolated incident, and similar language comes from the mouths of Eagles fans often.
"And Eagles fans wonder why everyone hates them and their team. This is not an isolated incident for someone showing up there to support an opposing team. Stuff like this happens all the time there," the user wrote.
Conservative filmmaker Matt Walsh even weighed in on the controversy.
"A few things here. 1) The Eagles fan is a stupid trashy goon. 2) Don’t bring your fiance to a game in Philadelphia wearing the opposing team’s jersey. You’re asking for something like this to happen. 3) You can’t let a man talk to your woman like that. You’re going to have to live with that shame for the rest of your life," Walsh wrote on X.
Eagles fans have a long history of unruly behavior.
The franchise's former home, Veterans Stadium, had an on-site judicial court and jail cells to deal with law-breaking fans.
During a loss against the San Francisco 49ers in November 1997, one fan infamously shot a flare gun into the crowd. Multiple fights broke out among fans at the game, and team owner Jeffrie Lurie addressed the incident.
"In spite of the fact that we feel we have made significant strides in recent years with regard to fan conduct at Veterans Stadium, what we witnessed this past Monday was undoubtedly a step backward," Lurie told reporters at the time.
The Eagles host the Los Angeles Rams Sunday for the right to advance to the NFC championship game.
What’s worse for the Islanders right now — their lack of power play production or their lack of power play opportunities? Both are on a historically bad pace.
It’s only halfway through his first college season, but already Cole Eiserman looks on his way to being the player the Islanders envisioned upon drafting him 20th overall last summer.
LeBron James celebrated his 40th birthday this past December, while six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan turns 62 next month.
Jordan appeared in 82 games with the Washington Wizards during the 2002-03 season, which turned out to be his final year in the NBA. Meanwhile, James was the top overall selection in the 2003 NBA Draft.
Although the basketball icons did not have the opportunity to go head-to-head during an NBA game, James recently reflected on a time he played a pick-up game with Jordan.
James told brothers Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce that he was a 16-year-old high school basketball star when he met Jordan in Chicago for the pick-up game.
"I was on the court with Michael Jordan, Antoine Walker, Penny Hardaway, Ron Artest, Michael Finley, all these guys," James said during a recent appearance on the Kelce brothers; "New Heights" podcast.
Travis, who is preparing to compete against the Houston Texans in the divisional round this weekend, eventually asked James who was responsible for guarding him during the game.
"Nobody. I was unguardable," James confidently responded.
James admitted that he initially experienced some nerves when he realized he had the opportunity to go up against an NBA great.
"When I finally got out there, I was like, 'I'm busting a--.' I was nervous. I was nervous as hell, being out there with MJ and the rest of those guys. But I was like, 'Oh, I'm about to go crazy.' And I did. I did," James added.
Metta Sandiford-Artest, also known at Ron Artest and Metta World Peace, last appeared in an NBA game in 2017, but he was 20 during the time the aforementioned pick-game took place. He recalled the moment during a May 2024 appearance on Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George's "Podcast P with Paul George."
"Everybody knew who he was. He was already famous. He was bigger than all of us in the gym," Artest said. "So he's coming into the gym, and I'm like, 'All right, cool, I wanna see what he's got.
"And he's cooking. He is 15, or 16. Posting, getting to the basket. And I'm like, ‘This is going to be a huge issue.’"
Artest added that the situation left him motivated.
"He actually motivated me. When I saw that, it motivated me. I'm like, 'I gotta go to work.' He's coming in the league cooking. I was not like that at 15."
James is a four-time NBA champion, a four-time league MVP, and a 20-time NBA All-Star. In his 22nd season in the league, he remains one of the best players in the NBA and is averaging 23.7 points per game this season.
The Lakers were idle on Wednesday night and return to action on Thursday night when they host the Miami Heat.
A tough stretch for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., got worse Tuesday when she watched members of her party vote for a bill she attacked at the expense of widespread mockery.
Ocasio-Cortez's viral rant against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act wasn't enough to convince Democratic allies Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, to vote against the bill. Cuellar and Gonzalez joined 218 House Republicans who voted for the bill that seeks to prevent federally funded educational institutions from allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls and women's sports.
For Ocasio-Cortez, the notion of Democratic congressmen voting for a Republican-backed bill before President-elect Trump even returns to office suggests her party is "not in good shape."
"We can't be ninnies about this," Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent Tuesday. "These are just the early days. Trump hasn't even been sworn in yet, and if a little bitty sports bill was gonna make Dems defect, we're not in good shape."
Ocasio-Cortez advised Democrats not to be "ninnies" the same day she delivered a widely-mocked tirade that contained multiple unsubstantiated claims and unfinished sentences. Her rant prompted multiple viral social media responses that labeled her "the dumbest person in congress."
For Ocasio-Cortez, it marks a poor start to 2025 after a rough 2024. Despite winning re-election to her House seat in New York, Ocasio-Cortez watched members of her coalition, "the Squad," lose their seats, including Jamaal Bowman in New York and Cori Bush in Missouri.
Ocasio-Cortez also lost in her bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, getting passed over by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
What's more, Ocasio-Cortez was frequently the subject of viral social media mockery, often for her unchanging stance on transgender inclusion in women's and girls sports.
In November, Ocasio-Cortez reshared a video of Green Party vice presidential candidate Butch Ware speaking out against transgender inclusion in women's sports with a caption that said, "This ticket is predatory and people deserve better." The post prompted heated backlash on social media.
"AOC says it’s predatory behavior to not want men competing in women’s sports. To AOC, acknowledging biological reality is ‘predatory.’ You know what’s actually predatory? Sexualizing children and normalizing pedophilia," conservative influencer and former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines wrote on X while posting a Fox News Digital article about Ocasio-Cortez’s comments.
The mockery of Ocasio-Cortez picked up weeks after the election when X users discovered she no longer includes her pronouns "she/her" in her bio.
Ocasio-Cortez is one of many prominent Democrats who remain firmly supportive of transgender inclusion in women's sports, even as the issue proved to be a vulnerability for Democrats in November's election.
Many Democrats who spoke out against the bill Tuesday did not argue on the premise that transgender athletes should be allowed in women's and girls sports. Instead, they argued the measures preventing transgender inclusion will subject girls to genital examinations and sexual predators despite no language in the bill that would suggest genital examinations for girls in sports.
Ocasio-Cortez included that unsubstantiated claim in her rant Tuesday but gave a shout-out to transgender athletes when she yelled "Trans girls are girls!" on the House of Representatives floor.
Ocasio-Cortez has previously co-sponsored the Equality Act, which was proposed in 2019 and has had revisions that "would force public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls sports teams." In March 2023, Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, proposed a resolution "recognizing that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement a Transgender Bill of Rights."
Unlike Ocasio-Cortez, other Democratic House representatives have publicly pulled back on their support for transgender inclusion, including Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass.; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas; and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. Still, each of those Democrats voted against the bill Tuesday.
A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters viewed "Donald Trump’s opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women’s sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women’s bathrooms" as important to them. And 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."
In June, a survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago asked respondents to weigh in on whether transgender athletes of both sexes should be permitted to participate in sports leagues that correspond to their preferred gender identity instead of their biological sex.
In that survey, 65% answered that it should either be never or rarely allowed. When those polled were asked specifically about adult transgender female athletes competing on women’s sports teams, 69% opposed it.
The second round continues at the 2025 Australian Open, with Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner headlining a massive day of action. Keep up with all the latest news and results from Melbourne Park here.
Three former members of the Indiana men's basketball team have accused former team doctor Bradford Bomba Sr., 88, of sexually abusing them during their playing days.
Longtime trainer Tim Garl is now listed as a defendant, as Flowers said Garl was aware of Bomba's "invasive, harassing, and demeaning digital rectal examinations."
"After his first physical, Flowers's teammates told him he had 'passed' Dr. Bomba, Sr.'s 'test,' and that he would not have to undergo a digital rectal examination again," the lawsuit states, via CBS Sports. "Garl laughed at Flowers and his freshman teammates and made jokes at their expense regarding the digital rectal examinations they endured."
The university officially declined comment but sent a statement from September that said the school was conducting its own independent review on the matter.
The players' attorney, Kathleen Delaney, said Bomba may have sexually abused at least 100 male athletes during his time at the school. Neither Garl nor Bomba's attorney responded to a request for comment.
Bomba pleaded the fifth during a deposition last month.
Mujezinovic and Miller, who played under coach Bobby Knight in the 1990s, also alleged that Bomba conducted prostate exams that were not necessary.
"Dr. Bomba, Sr.’s routine sexual assaults were openly discussed by the Hoosier men’s basketball players in the locker room in the presence of IU employees, including assistant coaches, athletic trainers, and other Hoosier men’s basketball staff," the lawsuit said, via NBC News.
"I’m standing up for all student-athletes who have suffered abuse," Mujezinovic said in a statement. "I hope that more of our former teammates will speak out and share their stories publicly."
"I will never understand why IU leadership did nothing to protect us from what I now understand was sexual abuse," Miller said.
Added Flowers, "I am proud to stand up on behalf of my former teammates and other IU basketball players to seek justice for the sexual abuse we endured as members of the Hoosiers."
Bomba was employed by the university from 1962 to 1970, and again from 1979 until the late '90s.
