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Aston Villa 3-0 Club Brugge (6-1 on agg.): Marco Asensio scored twice as Unai Emery’s side reached the quarter-finals, where they will face PSG
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Don't taunt Juan Soto because he'll make you look silly.
Soto signed the richest deal in the history of North American sports in December, when he agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the New York Mets.
In the early going, Soto seems to be worth every penny, hitting nearly .400 in his first Mets spring training.
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But one fan in the stands Monday night disagreed, constantly heckling Soto by calling him "overpaid" and "overrated," and it was caught on camera.
Soto turned and gave the fan a look. Perhaps it was a look of annoyance, but maybe Soto was warning the fan of his imminent revenge.
The fan got an immediate taste of his own medicine when Soto launched a solo home run directly at the fan, and he didn't even come away with the ball.
Soto pointed at the fan after the ball cleared the fence, and it gave the Mets a 4-0 lead in an eventual 8-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
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Soto, a four-time All-Star, had the best season of his career with the Yankees last season, hitting .288 with a career-best 41 home runs and 109 RBIs.
In the Yankees’ run to the World Series, Soto elevated his game, hitting .327 with four home runs in 14 postseason games, including the ALCS-winning home run.
In addition to his four All-Star game appearances, Soto, just 26 years old, is a five-time Silver Slugger and won the batting title in the shortened 2020 season.
Now, he'll be at the top of a lineup that made it to the NLCS in a surprising late-season run last year.
Fox News' Ryan Canfield contributed to this report.
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College football saw its first expanded playoff system in 2024, with the Ohio State Buckeyes winning it all over Notre Dame in the end.
However, the system was criticized by many, leading to discussion about how to fix it. At the same time, expanding the playoffs even more was always a card on the table as well.
Speaking of Buckeyes, Urban Meyer, the ex-college and NFL head coach, made an appearance on Fox Sports’ "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," where he said he would be a fan of the 14-team College Football Playoff format.
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"I’ve actually done a little research on this," Meyer said, via Awful Announcing. "It’s a 4-4-2-2-1-1 format. I know it’s out there a little bit, but I did a little diving into it, and of all the ones I’ve heard, it makes the most sense. It’s a 14-team playoff. Now, there’s going to be a big caveat in that, the Big 12 and ACC are going to be pissed."
Why does Meyer believe two of the Power Five conferences will not be happy with this format? Well, this proposal for a 14-team playoff would have the SEC and Big Ten each getting four automatic bids. An at-large team and the highest rate Group of Five team would get in as well.
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"Here’s the best thing — it takes it out of selection and more into access," Meyer explained. "So, the selection committee’s going to be wrong. It’s an imperfect system. It’s been that way since the BCS. I like the idea you play into it. …It does not penalize you. If I’m a coach in the current model, I am not playing a tough team in the early part of the season. That’s going to hurt my team."
One of the main qualms about the current CFP system was teams in conferences like the SEC and Big Ten having tougher opponents than others, especially at the start of the season.
With automatic bids, there’s less risk in losing early in the season when thinking about playoff chances.
"If you go on the conferences handle the access, the Big Ten gets four (teams). You’re darn right I’m going to play Texas because I want to challenge my team. It’s great for recruiting. It’s great for our fans. It’s great for the game of football, and it will not penalize me. If I still win the Big Ten, I’m the No. 1 seed."
Meyer is only one of many inserting their opinion about this matter, with others like SEC Network top analyst Paul Finebaum believing auto bids would be "completely wrong" for the game.
"Doing our show yesterday, even SEC fans were calling in… saying they don’t like it," Finebaum said. "There’s something inherently wrong about stacking the deck before the season."
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The Vancouver Island University women's basketball team lost in the first round of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament Wednesday to Mohawk College.
The loss marked the end of a controversial championship run for the program after a season-long feud with rival Columbia Bible College over VIU's transgender player, Harriette Mackenzie. VIU will continue playing in the tournament despite the loss, competing in a loser's bracket.
Mackenzie played a prominent role in attempting to keep VIU's championship hopes alive Wednesday, leading the team with 20 points and 17 rebounds. No other player on VIU's roster registered more than eight points or five rebounds.
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Mackenzie's Instagram account also appeared to be deactivated after the loss. It had been active as recently as Wednesday morning.
Mackenzie and VIU declined to comment in response to a request from Fox News Digital.
Mackenzie was recently named an All-Canadian for the second time and led VIU to a PACWEST Tournament victory over CBC, winning tournament MVP honors. Mackenzie was the conference's player of the year in 2023.
Mackenzie can return for another college season because the CCAA provides athletes five years of eligibility.
VIU's feud with CBC started during an Oct. 25 game between the two teams, which VIU won 69-56 after Mackenzie scored a game-high 19 points. Five days after that game, the athlete posted an Instagram video alleging that CBC head coach Taylor Claggett "cornered one of our athletic staff and went on a tirade about how I shouldn’t be allowed to play."
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It was also alleged Mackenzie was deliberately fouled to the ground by a CBC player. In response, Claggett posted her own statement on Instagram, claiming Mackenzie's statements were inaccurate.
"My intention has nothing to do with a specific athlete, but instead, the safety of female athletes in their sport," Claggett wrote.
VIU then submitted a formal complaint to the PACWEST, prompting an investigation against VIU. When the two teams were scheduled to play each other again in two games Jan. 10-11, VIU refused to play due to the alleged incident from their first meetings.
"Intimidation, harassment and discrimination have no place in athletics," VIU said in a statement to Fox News Digital in January regarding the decision not to play. "VIU stands in full support of our student-athletes and affirms the right of all athletes to compete in an environment that prioritizes their safety and well-being."
VIU requested that the two forfeits not count as losses on the team's record, which was granted by the PACWEST.
CBC provided a statement to Fox News Digital that weekend stating "accusations that CBC, its coaches, players and fans are a safety threat are simply untrue and misinformed."
CBC players then condemned Mackenzie in a letter sent to Fox News Digital.
CBC players blamed Mackenzie for "personal attacks," "defamatory comments" and even "comments that incite violence" against their coach.
"Videos and letters posted by members of the VIU women’s basketball team over the past three months have directly violated multiple rules stated in Article 17.2 of the manual. Various posts have included 'personal attacks,' 'defamatory comments,' 'lack of respect towards the PACWEST' and led to 'comments that incite to violence and/or hatred' directed at our coach," the letter stated.
"Any and all allegations made by VIU players regarding our team and coach should have been directly communicated to PACWEST officials alone, they should not have been uploaded publicly to social media."
The PACWEST suspended Claggett in early February, and CBC lost its right to host the PACWEST championships after an investigation by the conference.
Beginning in June 2017, all places within Canada were ordered to comply with the Canadian Human Rights Act, equal opportunity and/or anti-discrimination legislation prohibiting discrimination against gender identity or gender identity expression. This law protects the inclusion of all trans athletes in women's and girls sports.
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MONEY FREEZE – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is placing a temporary pause on funding to the University of Maine System. The decision comes after a dispute between President Donald Trump and Gov. Janet Mills over policies concerning transgender athletes' participation in women's sports. Continue reading …
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Asensio is on loan at Aston Villa from Paris Saint-Germain and the clubs will meet in the quarter-finals
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Aaron Rodgers has just one more stop to complete the entire Brett Favre trifecta.
Like Favre, Rodgers spent roughly two decades with the Green Bay Packers before heading over to the New York Jets.
Favre spent one season with Gang Green before moving to the Minnesota Vikings for two seasons, and ironically enough, with Rodgers a free agent, that's exactly where Favre wants his successor to go.
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"By all means, sign with them," Favre said on "The Will Cain Show" Tuesday. "They got a really good football team. They're loaded at pretty much every position. They made it to the playoffs last year. They got a tremendous fan base, much like the Packers. If you get the opportunity, that's a good place to win.
"Of course, you gotta play the Packers then."
Minnesota moved on from Sam Darnold, who reportedly agreed to a three-year deal worth $100 million with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this week. Perhaps Darnold's performances in the Vikings' two most important games of the season cost him a lot of money.
The Vikings selected J.J. McCarthy with the 10th selection in last year's draft, but after he injured his knee, Darnold was automatically tabbed as the starter and revitalized his career.
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However, reports are circulating that Rodgers and the Vikings have some mutual interests, even though McCarthy is slated to be ready for Week 1.
Rodgers' tenure with the Jets was an overall disappointment. The 2023 campaign was a zero after he ruptured his Achilles on just the fourth play of the season, and last season, despite Rodgers showing signs of his vintage self, the team went 5-12.
The new regime announced that they would be moving in a different direction earlier this offseason, and they recently agreed to bring in Justin Fields as their presumed starter.
Rodgers could join the likes of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, and his former teammate Aaron Jones after the Vikings went 14-3 last season, narrowly missing out on the NFC North title.
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