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Today — 17 January 2025Sport News

Ohio State players enter national championship with confidence rooted in faith

17 January 2025 at 13:57

College football players and coaches have spoken openly and on the biggest platforms this season about their faith, and on Monday, two teams that have led that conversation will face off in the national championship. 

Ohio State is the favorite heading into the title game, but for many players it's their faith, not stats and analytics, that’s the driving factor behind their confidence on the field.  

In a series of interviews with Sports Spectrum this season, several Buckeyes players spoke about turning to their faith and how doing so has impacted their performance on the field. 

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"I would say for the past couple years we’ve kinda been – there’s kinda been a number of players on the football team who have restored their faith in Jesus Christ. And that was something that was big for me my freshman year," star receiver Emeka Egbuka told the outlet in November. 

Egbuka, a graduate student, recalled in his interview the turning point for him. He was invited to attend a mass by his fellow teammates and said it was the first time he had felt a true connection to his faith. 

"Ever since then, my life has been changed. A complete 180, and I have a similar testimony to a lot of players on the team. We’ve been praying for a type of revival like this on our team, and we decided to share with everybody what God has been doing on our football team." 

Egbuka said he opted against going into the NFL Draft last season because he felt a calling that was "bigger" than football. 

NOTRE DAME'S RILEY LEONARD CREDITS OPEN FAITH FOR BRINGING TEAM, OHIO STATE TOGETHER FOR NATIONAL TITLE

"I felt the Lord was leading me back to Ohio State for another year. I felt the Lord asking me a question, testing my heart: ‘If you do come back for this next year, you’re going to have this massive platform, you’re going to have tons of following, you are going to have these accolades –  this name to live up to, and you can do one of two things with that moment. You can either use it to glorify me or to glorify yourself,’ so I saw it as somewhat of a challenge and something that I had to do." 

Star running back TreVeyon Henderson told the outlet in a separate interview that despite his standout rookie season, which included success and NIL deals, he had turned to his faith following an injury. 

"He saved my life from going down that road of destruction. He saved me. He put me on this path of everlasting life . . . you see so many people go down that large path of destruction, but I’m so thankful that Jesus, He rescued me from that path and put me on His path." 

And just last month, tight end Gee Scott Jr. said that this season has been highlighted by massive change spiritually. 

"I would just say there’s been a mass herd of people who are making the public declaration to yield their life to Christ, which I commend so much, because, especially at this age and in 2024, the world that we live in right now, there’s so many things that you could allude or surrender your life to, there’s so many things that you can give your life to." 

Just this week, Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard praised both teams for speaking so openly about their faith, and he believes that it's a big reason as to why they are the two teams battling it out for college football’s biggest prize. 

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ESPN announces Hall of Famer Dick Vitale's return to broadcasting after latest cancer battle

17 January 2025 at 13:38

One of the preeminent voices in college basketball is returning to the air after a nearly two-year absence. Dick Vitale's most recent television assignment for ESPN was April 3, 2023.

Vitale was on the call for the international broadcast of that season's men's basketball national championship game between the UConn Huskies and San Diego State Aztecs. 

The Hall of Fame broadcaster is scheduled to resume his analyst duties when Duke goes up against Wake Forest Jan. 25 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The 85-year-old's return comes after he faced four different types of cancer over 3½ years.

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Vitale had his most recent medical procedure last summer after a biopsy of a lymph node in his neck showed cancer. Earlier this month, the legendary broadcaster declared he was cancer-free.

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In 2021, months after undergoing a handful of surgeries to remove melanoma, Vitale was diagnosed with lymphoma. The next year, he announced he was cancer-free. In 2023, Vitale learned of his vocal cord cancer diagnosis, and he underwent radiation treatment.

"I am absolutely ecstatic, and I can’t believe this is happening after going through five major vocal cord surgeries, 65 radiation treatments and chemotherapy for six months," Vitale said in a statement.

"It’s been a very tough journey, but all of the prayers and messages from the beautiful fans have inspired me. I can’t thank Jimmy Pitaro and all of my ESPN colleagues who I consider my second family enough for the love they showed me through such a tough time. I just hope that I can offer the people some basketball insights that can bring even more excitement to the game."

Pitaro, ESPN's chairman, said Vitale "is one-of-a-kind."

"There is no better ambassador for the sport of college basketball than Dick Vitale. Even while navigating his own health challenges, Dick continued to look for ways to give back and help others, inspiring us all," Pitaro said in a statement. "Dick is one-of-a-kind, and we can’t wait to have him back doing what he loves most on ESPN on Jan. 25."

Vitale has been with ESPN for more than four decades, joining the network during the 1979-80 college basketball season. He has since called more than 1,000 games. 

Vitale was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in September.

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Cowboys icon DeMarcus Ware says Micah Parsons won't do podcast during season if he joins coaching staff

17 January 2025 at 13:05

The Dallas Cowboys are looking for new leaders to save them from disarray. One of their old leaders thinks he has some solutions. 

Former Dallas linebacker and Hall of Famer Demarcus Ware told Fox News Digital he may look to join the next Cowboys coaching staff under a specific condition. He wants his former teammate Jason Witten to be the team's head coach. 

"I'm vouching for him right now to be head coach, he might vouch for me to come over and some kind of defensive coach," Ware said in an exclusive interview. "There is a 94% chance that if Jason Witten becomes head coach, that Demarcus is very interested in coming over there as well." 

Witten has been a head coach at the high school level since 2021, when he took over Liberty Christian High School in Argyle, Texas. Witten reportedly turned down multiple assistant coach openings at NFL and college programs to take the Liberty Christian job, per ESPN. 

Meanwhile, Ware served as a pass-rush consultant on the Denver Broncos coaching staff in 2018. 

If Ware were to join a hypothetical coaching staff led by Witten, Ware says he would prioritize the handling of current star linebacker Micah Parsons. Ware says the Cowboys' defense has lacked the "lightning bolt" from Parsons that it needs to compete for a Super Bowl. 

"If he can become consistently on the field and play like he plays at the beginning of the season, he's like the electricity that the team needs to just wake up," Ware said. "If we can get him consistently playing on defense, they would win more football games and take the pressure off [quarterback] Dak Prescott." 

If a staff led by Witten and Ware materializes, Ware suggests that Parsons won't be doing a podcast every week during the NFL season, as Parsons has done since the start of the 2023 season when "The Edge With Micah Parsons" launched on Bleacher Report. 

"He probably won't be doing it during the season, I know he won't be," Ware said "Because he'll be too focused on getting to the quarterback and just wreaking havoc in the backfield." 

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Ware says having a weekly podcast during the season isn't something he would have done in his career, especially early in it. Ware believes it is a "hard" balancing act for Parsons. 

"That's very hard," Ware said of Parsons' overlapping football and media obligations. "There's some things that you probably can't say and questions that will be asked to sort of press you to make press." 

During one episode of Parsons' podcast in November 2023, following a game against the Carolina Panthers in which he threw up on the sidelines, Parsons revealed that his teammates had pressured him into overdosing on C4 Energy powder before the game, which caused him chest pain and eventual nausea. He ended the story by suggesting he caved to "peer pressure." 

In an episode in September of that year, while discussing the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, Parsons encouraged other NFL players to pursue relationships with high-status celebrity women, and specifically named Zendaya as someone they should pursue. He said this despite the fact that Zendaya has been in a long-term relationship with Spider-Man actor Tom Holland since 2021. 

Parsons has since faced pushback from his own teammate over his decision to do an in-season podcast. That criticism came during a separate podcast appearance by Cowboys safety Malik Hooker. 

"My advice would be for Micah, it would be: Just make sure we’re all right, and being where your feet are," Hooker said in a June 27 interview on the "All Facts No Brakes" podcast. "Because if we’re out working, and the run game’s terrible, but you’re doing a podcast every week — and you know the run game is terrible — then what are you really caring about? Are you caring about the crowd that’s watching your podcast, or are you caring about the success of our team, and the Super Bowl that we’re trying to reach?"

When Parsons was pressed by reporters about the distraction his podcast might pose during training camp on Aug. 21, the star pass rusher became passionately defensive. 

"I don't think no one really cares about what I'm doing on a Monday afternoon when I'm at home with my kids," he said. "So why would they care if I'm on Xbox? I think we all get our own free time. When y'all away from here are y'all thinking about me at home? I would hope not.

"I try not to say (anything) controversial but everyone always is gonna be drawn to something. They're going to try to take one thing. We all have opinions. We're not going to agree to what everyone says. That's life."

Parsons went on to have his worst season as a pro in the months that followed. He put up career-lows with 12 sacks, 43 tackles and 23 QB hits, while playing in a career-low 13 games. He missed games to injury for the first time in his NFL career. The team had its worst season since he joined in 2021, finishing with a 7-10 record, resulting in the departure of head coach Mike McCarthy. 

Now Parsons goes into the offseason bracing for a coaching change for his first time as a pro. He is also seeking a contract extension that some experts have projected could exceed the largest for a defensive player in league history. That record is currently held by San Francisco 49ers star pass rusher Nick Bosa, who signed a five-year, $170 million deal in 2023. 

Parsons' current salary with Bleacher Report is currently unknown. However much it is, it is supplementing a base NFL salary of just $2.2 million in 2023 and $2.9 million in 2024. However, that number will jump to $24 million in 2025 under the fifth-year option on his rookie contract. Then he'll be a free agent, and could get paid far north of that number. 

If Ware ends up on the Cowboys' coaching staff, Parsons may end up having to sacrifice his Bleacher Report salary while his NFL base pay increases.

JASON KELCE'S SUPER BOWL RING 'OFFICIALLY GONE' AFTER CHILI POOL DIVING COMPETITION

Still, Ware suggests he would have no problem with Parsons doing a podcast in the offseason. 

"Having a podcast, doing those types of things, I just won't do them during the season. Because I'm focused all on football and winning football games and making the championships, but afterwards, we can talk all we want to about whatever sports, whatever it is we're doing," Ware said. 

"When I win a lot, I can talk a lot." 

Ware's approach with Parsons is just one part of his greater outlook on the Cowboys defense and what he would try to bring as a coach on staff. 

"Staying focused at the end of the season when it matters," Ware answered when asked what the Cowboys' defense has lacked in recent years. "Because usually most of the distractions happen at the end of the season because you're balling… everyone has their hand out to you."

Ware learned the consequences of a lack of focus ahead of the playoffs during his playing career with the Cowboys. For him, he says the most difficult playoff moments he experienced were consequential losses to the New York Giants. 

"The most difficult playoff losses? You kidding me? Both the losses to the Giants!" Ware said. Then they went on to win the Super Bowl, and that was probably one of the hardest things." 

The Cowboys lost to the Giants in the 2007 NFC Divisional round, when the Cowboys were 13-3 and favorites to make the Super Bowl, while the Giants were a 10-6 Wild Card team. The Giants won 21-17, en-route to a historic Super Bowl XLII win over Tom Brady and the undefeated New England Patriots.

Former Dallas quarterback Tony Romo threw a game-ending interception in the final seconds to seal the game, and was heavily scrutinized for failing to deliver a win after he was seen on a vacation in Cabo, Mexico with his then-girlfriend Jessica Simpson, during the team's first-round bye week. Witten was on the vacation with them. 

But Ware believes that the by time off was detrimental to the entire team, not just Romo and Witten.

"I don't think it was about the trip, it was about the break," Ware said. "We have what we call mojo, and no matter what teams do, you have that "it" factor. We had that. But when you take time off, sometimes a team can lose that… we should have practiced each and every day just to keep our minds and bodies sharp, but something really light instead of sitting or taking a vacation. Because when we went back I could tell something was missing and that was the edge that we had. 

In 2011, the Giants and Cowboys met in the final week of the regular season with a division title on the line. The Giants won that game 31-14, en-route to another Super Bowl championship against the Brady and the Patriots. 

Ware went on to leave the Cowboys for the Denver Broncos in 2014, and won the first and only ring of his career in Super Bowl L a year later. 

The Cowboys have not been to a Super Bowl since the 1995 season. 

But Ware might get the chance to help break that drought if the Cowboys hire Witten as their next head coach. 

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