During his storied coaching career, Nick Saban rarely shied away from an opportunity to share his thoughts on college football-centric hot topics.
Saban and the rest of ESPN's "College GameDay" crew were in Indiana ahead of the 12-team College Football Playoff opener between Notre Dame and the Hoosiers. While the high-stakes game was the main topic during the pregame show, embattled Ohio State coach Ryan Day was also discussed.
Saban came to Day's defense and directed his ire at Buckeyes fans, suggesting they shoulder at least some of the blame for the cloud of negativity circling the program.
"I think every coach has gotta define how he wants to do it, and I have a lot of respect for Ryan Day and how he’s tried to do it," Saban said. "For me, I always wanted to get every player in the organization to reach their full potential. It wasn't so much about the outcome, it was what you had to do to make everybody better.
"But a big part of that was insulating the players from external factors — criticism, internet. I used to tell the players all the time, ‘Why do you care about what some guy puts on the internet who’s a fat guy in his underwear living in his mother’s basement? Why do you care? Why does that mean anything to you? Why does that affect you in any way, shape or form? We should be focused on what we control and what we can do.’
"It’s the same thing for the fans. I would tell the fans the same thing. If Ohio State wants to beat Michigan, they need to be positive about their coach and their players. There’s nobody that wants to beat them worse than the players and the coaches. That's No. 1. No. 2, they have an opportunity to win the national championship. Everybody ought to be supporting the hell out of them so that they have the best opportunity to do it and quit all this negative bulls---."
While Day has compiled a 66-10 record at Ohio State, his Buckeyes have lost four straight to the Michigan Wolverines.
Day's underwhelming results against Michigan have drawn criticism and raised concerns about the coach's job security. Day's focus is on the Buckeyes' upcoming game against Tennessee in the College Football Playoff. The Buckeyes host the Volunteers Saturday.
A day after New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers said those who criticize him should "state [their] vax status," former NFL star and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark launched into a minutes-long diatribe ripping the outspoken quarterback.
Clark recently called Rodgers a "fraud" on ESPN after Rodgers criticized the network, which he appears on weekly for "The Pat McAfee Show."
"Now, it’s all talk shows and people whose opinions are so important now, and they believe they’re the celebrities now. They’re the stars for just being able to talk about sports or give a take about sports, many of which are unfounded or asinine, as we all know. But that’s the environment we’re in now," Rodgers said.
That led to Clark calling Rodgers a "hypocrite" last week. And after subtle jabs against one another, Clark posted a video on his X account, noting Rodgers' "continuation of his hypocrisy that started with criticizing ESPN analysts while being paid to be on ESPN."
After further discussing why he believed Rodgers was a "hypocrite," Clark said Rodgers was the "only" person to discuss the vaccine wars.
"Now I know something else you were very interested in was my vaccination status. And yes, I’m vaxxed because I have no spleen, have no gallbladder because of playing in Denver," Clark said in the video. "And as far as your vaccination status, so you can stop trying to trick people into thinking that we want to talk about that above the stink of your film. I’ve never heard it one more time after your incident.
"And the only reason we spoke about it then was because, based on your vaccination status, it was going to determine how long you were out. And also, people didn’t care that you weren’t vaccinated. They cared that you were slimy about it. They cared that you were deceitful about it. And they cared that you had this air of arrogance when answering the questions about it. And you’ve kind of been the only person that has talked about it since."
Clark also said he formed his opinion of Rodgers based on conversations he has had with those who were teammates with Rodgers, not because of their vaccine status. The former defensive back then fired off a closing shot.
"But let me be very, very clear. My job is to analyze you. You’ve decided to analyze me. And in analyzing you, what I know is your QBR is 21st. I also know that you’re the quarterback of a 4-10 team who has to win the last three games of the season to even be equal to what last year’s team was without you," Clark continued.
"Now, I get it. You get on the show, and you talk about my broach. And you curse and all this tough talk. I just need you to know, don't none of that scares me. I’m gonna do my job the way I’m supposed to do it. I feel no way about not being able to talk about what the film says because of what my career was. And if you continue to be arrogant, or smug, or hypocritical, and it pertains to my job, I’m going to do it."
I’m not thrilled that Donald Trump has renewed his attack on the "corrupt media."
Fresh off his $15-million victory over ABC and George Stephanopoulos, Trump yesterday sued the Des Moines Register and gold-standard pollster Ann Selzer over a bad survey. She projected him losing by 4 points, and he won the state by 13 points. He called this "brazen election interference."
Trump is also pursuing legal action against CBS for the "60 Minutes" blunder in substituting a crisper Kamala Harris response to a different question than was asked. But the network can argue that this was normal television editing.
Trump is unlikely to win those suits, but he doesn’t care. Just putting his perceived opponents through the ordeal and considerable expense of defending themselves is reward enough.
Most legal experts say ABC could have won its suit, involving Stephanopoulos’ repeatedly saying Trump was found liable for "rape," as opposed to "sexual abuse," in the E. Jean Carroll suit, because of the malice standard for a public figure. Trump would have to prove the network knowingly showed reckless disregard for the truth. But ABC would have endured the embarrassment of turning over emails, texts and cell-phone records.
What surprised me, though, was that the president-elect shifted to attack mode just days after saying he had "tamed" the press and was getting better coverage. So much for the cease-fire.
But some of Trump’s more positive aspects were on display during the hourlong presser, a seriousness of purpose that I saw in our New York interview two weeks before the election.
I’ve known Donald Trump for more than three decades, interviewed him twice this year, and now that we’re done with the sometimes incendiary rhetoric of the campaign, he sounds different.
With apparently boundless energy at 78, he deliberately speaks a bit more slowly and softly, while moderating his positions on a number of divisive issues. He knows how to deflect questions he shouldn’t answer, such as "Will you retaliate against Iran." He threw in phrases like "maybe it was my fault," deflating any superhuman image. He recently admitted it would be hard to get grocery prices down.
The incoming president was asked whether Republican senators who oppose his nominees should be primaried. His response was carefully composed.
"If they are unreasonable, I'll give you a different answer. An answer that you'll be shocked to hear. If they're unreasonable, if they're opposing somebody for political reasons or stupid reasons, I would say it has nothing to do with me. I would say they probably would be primaried, but, if they're reasonable, fair, and really disagree with something or somebody, I could see that happening."
Of course it’s Trump who determines what’s reasonable or fair.
Asked about the parade of Silicon Valley executives who have come or are coming to Mar-a-Lago – the leaders of Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple and others – Trump noted they were "very hostile" in his first term ("and maybe that was my fault, but I don’t really think so"). It doesn’t hurt that Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos are kicking in a million bucks for his inauguration.
"One of the big differences" is that "everybody was fighting me" in the first term. Now, "everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know, my personality changed or something." That was tongue in cheek.
What was striking about the press conference was how much news Trump made on a wide range of subjects, some of which barely got mentioned.
He weighed in on the bogus Duke rape accuser, who finally admitted that she lied back in 2006, saying life would never be the same for the lacrosse players who did nothing wrong. He talked about how the Biden team was not leveling with the public about the drones. He described the "sickness" of those who positively view the alleged murderer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. He backed the polio vaccine. He defended Pete Hegseth. He talked Venezuela and Syria and Turkey and North Korea and Bibi. He ruminated about TikTok.
There was a sense of deja vu, a stark reminder of how Trump was a round-the-clock source of news in the first term, even when he was talking to reporters he disliked, sometimes denigrating them or counterpunching against their coverage. The contrast with the soon-to-be Former Guy, who made no news on the weekends that he usually spent in Delaware or at Camp David, could hardly be greater.
So beyond the full-throated attack on the media, long his favorite foil, the Incoming Guy actually showed restraint and nuance and was clearly enjoying himself.
Now maybe Trump has just been in a bad mood the last couple of days. After Judge Juan Merchan refused to toss out the hush money conviction on grounds that his private actions were not covered by the recent Supreme Court ruling on official acts, the incoming president yesterday posted this:
"Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than [Jack] Smith in his fight for my hopeless political opponents, just cannot let go of this charade. Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law? This has to stop!...
"In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax."
Now there’s the Donald we all came to know during the trial.
"I have two thoughts on the subject. And I’m not a UFO guy. I don’t know what’s out there. Don’t pretend to know what’s out there," Francesa began. "The government has taken a very cavalier attitude. I don’t believe this stuff about ‘foreign countries have ships off our shore.’ No one has a ship off our shore. We would know it was there in two seconds. Nobody is letting any foreign country fly stuff over our country. I don’t believe that for a second. I think some of them are commercially being tested by companies that want to deliver things, like Amazon. I think part of it is our military testing stuff, and working on things at night, and they don’t want to really spend a lot of time discussing it with us.
"I think the idea that they have taken such a cavalier approach to it makes you realize that when they keep telling you that there’s nothing to worry about, that should pretty much tip you off that they know what they’re doing here," he said.
Well, the government says Francesa has nothing to be afraid of. In a statement penned by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense, the agencies said while they "recognize the concern," there is no evidence that the drones are "anomalous" or a threat to national security or public safety.
"Having closely examined the technical data and tips from concerned citizens, we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones," the statement said.
Though the agencies said they have found no risk during their investigation thus far, they have urged Congress to enact legislation when it returns that would "extend and expand existing counter-drone authorities to identify and mitigate any threat that may emerge."
Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
An attorney advising Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slamming a New York Times report last week that claimed the Trump HHS secretary nominee sought to revoke the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval for the polio vaccine.
"Contrary to hysterical media reports that the petition sought to make sure no polio vaccines would be available, the scope of the petition was quite narrow," Aaron Siri, a close RFK Jr. adviser and partner at Siri & Glimstad LLP, told Fox News Digital. "It simply asked the FDA to require a proper trial for licensure for children of a novel polio vaccine."
The New York Times reported Friday that Siri is "waging a war" against all vaccines, but Siri said the report "falsely claimed the petition sought to eliminate" the polio vaccine, "as if there is only one, and that our client sought to leave Americans without the choice to get vaccinated for polio."
"In reality, the petition sought to ensure the safety of one of the six existing licensed polio vaccines that we inject into our children three times before their first birthday," he said.
The report came just days before RFK Jr. headed to Capitol Hill this week to meet with Senators, seeking support for his HHS confirmation.
The petition, filed in 2022 on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) and not as an individual action by Siri, urged the FDA to suspend the polio vaccine IPOL for infants and children. ICAN's request stems from concerns that IPOL, licensed in 1990 by Sanofi, was approved based on pediatric trials that, according to the FDA, evaluated safety for only three days after injection.
This is not the traditional polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk or Albert Sabin that many people are familiar with, Siri added. Instead, it is a product utilizing a different technology, where the polio virus is grown on monkey kidney cells that have been genetically altered to replicate indefinitely, similar to cancer cells. Traces of these cells are present in each vaccine dose.
Another petition filed on behalf of ICAN in 2021 addresses 13 childhood vaccines containing aluminum adjuvants. According to the petition, a peer-reviewed study found discrepancies between the aluminum levels in these vaccines and the amounts listed on their FDA-approved labels. The petition calls on the FDA to verify and publicly release documentation proving the accuracy of the aluminum content or halt distribution until resolved — an issue critics say should not be controversial for products injected into infants.
"Currently, political labeling (pro-vaccine, anti-vaccine) is inadequate to encompass the realities of medical ethics, regulatory capture, and the influence of corporate money on health policy," Siri said. "We must be able to raise valid questions about vaccine safety, efficacy and policy without fear that any deviation from the mantra 'safe and effective' will be smeared with epithets and outrage."
In the days since media outlets have reported about Siri's petition, both Trump and RFK Jr. have said they support the polio vaccine, without specifying which one. RFK Jr. has expressed his skepticism of some vaccines, while supporting the use of others, in interviews during his 2024 presidential campaign run as part of his "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) slogan.
"Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied," Katie Miller, the transition spokeswoman for Kennedy, said in response.
Meanwhile, Trump said "everything should be looked at," adding that he's a "big believer in the polio vaccine," during a Mar-a-Lago press conference Monday morning.
Fox News Digital reached out to the New York Times for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.
By the time he finished speaking, he had gone on for an hour.
Trump made news on a dozen topics, a reminder of the freewheeling approach in which even among journalists who can’t stand him, the incoming president is a newsmaking machine who provides headlines around the clock, setting the terms of debate – in a sharp contrast with the reclusive Joe Biden.
Trump also deflected a few questions that he absolutely should not have answered, such as strategy on Ukraine and whether he’d retaliate against Iran.
I was a bit surprised, though, that he launched an attack on the press, though, since this contradicted his recent remarks about reaching out to even hostile news outlets, as long as they treat him fairly.
This took place two days after ABC and George Stephanopoulos apologized to Trump to settle a defamation, agreeing to donate $15 million to a presidential library or foundation, plus another million bucks to cover his legal fees. This averted what could have been an embarrassing and grueling deposition by its star anchor.
The network’s problem is that Stephanopoulos had repeatedly said Trump had been found liable for "rape," repeating the word about 10 times, in the E. Jean Carroll civil suit, when the jury held him liable for "sexual abuse."
While the judge said this would commonly be understood as rape, they are legally different in New York. You don’t agree to 15 million bucks unless you think you don’t have much of a case.
While left-leaning pundits are accusing ABC of "caving" to Trump, the network made a different judgment call.
Trump ripped the media as "very corrupt" and ticked off more lawsuits he has filed or plans to file.
The president-elect said he planned to sue the Des Moines Register for having a poll before the election that turned out to be wrong. He praised pollster Ann Selzer as always having gotten him right until the Iowa caucuses, when she said he’d lose by 4 points and he won the state by 13.
Trump said he was taking legal action against "60 Minutes" for substituting a different, tighter answer to a different question than had been asked—a practice that most journalists, including me, said was a huge blunder by the CBS show.
"We have to straighten out the press," he said. "The press is very corrupt. Almost as corrupt as our elections."
He added: "I’m doing this not because I want to. I’m doing this because I feel I have an obligation to," Trump said. "In my opinion, it was fraud and it was election interference."
Trump also said he would pursue a suit against Bob Woodward for making public the audiotapes from a book project. Woodward has said he never agreed not to do so.
And Trump plans to pursue his action against the Pulitzer Prize board for giving the Washington Post and New York Times awards for what he calls the Russia Russia Russia hoax. While it was certainly overplayed, the board says Trump could not point to any inaccuracies in the articles submitted.
And then there was Trump commenting on, well, just about everything else.
He said he would consider a pardon for indicted New York Mayor Eric Adams because he’d been treated "very unfairly."
He said he couldn’t understand how people could sympathize with the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson: "It was cold-blooded. Just a cold-blooded, horrible killing, and how people can like this guy is — that’s a sickness, actually."
He heaped praise on Lara Trump but said the decision on whether to name her to a vacant Florida Senate seat was up to DeSantis. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that he has lobbied the governor to choose her.
He defended DOD nominee Pete Hegseth, saying all he wants to do is improve the military. He also provided visual backing by bringing Hegseth to the Army-Navy Game, along with JD Vance, Elon Musk (of course), Ron DeSantis, Tulsi Gabbard and Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump said he would keep the polio vaccine but would have discussions with RFK Jr. about other vaccines, including his totally debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. Trump did argue there has been a rise in autism among boys. "I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think," he told reporters.
Trump demanded that Biden officials explain what is happening with the mystery drones, since they obviously know.
That is a whole lot of news. Perhaps we’ve forgotten how Donald J. Trump loves to sound off on everything under the sun. We’re about to get a four-year refresher course.
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith tore into Democrats during a podcast episode on Sunday after a Justice Department Inspector General report revealed new information last week about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said there were a total of 26 confidential human sources in the crowd outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 but only three were assigned by the FBI to be present for the event, while stressing that none of the sources were authorized or directed by the bureau to "break the law" or "encourage others to commit illegal acts."
The report also revealed that there were a total of 26 confidential human sources in the crowd but only three of them were assigned by the FBI to be there.
Smith recalled the report on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" and became irate about Democrats misrepresenting information.
"The big issue is I’m really, really sick and tired of every time I turn around, I’m finding something else that the Democrats have lied about or downplayed or misrepresented along the way," Smith said.
Smith said he was "really getting ticked off" at Republicans seeming right when they criticize their Democrat opponents.
"We can argue policies. We can argue politics all day long. But the Democrats worked really, really diligently to make the case that the right had a monopoly on insidious, evil tendencies. Corrupt tendencies. Duplicitous, hypocritical, untruthful tendencies and every time they made those accusations. We turn around and find out that at least some of them are guilty of the same s---. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m sick of all of it.
"They’ve actually made Donald Trump look like he was right instead of them."
Horowitz stressed that no sources were encouraged or authorized by the FBI to enter the Capitol or any restricted area and stressed that they were not encouraged or authorized to commit any illegal acts.
Twenty-three of the confidential human sources present on Jan. 6 came to Washington, D.C., to the Capitol on their own. Of that group, three entered the Capitol during the riot, and an additional 11 sources entered the restricted area around the Capitol.
However, Horowitz said that investigators "found no evidence in the materials we reviewed or the testimony we received showing or suggesting that the FBI had undercover employees in the various protest crowds, or at the Capitol, on January 6."
The report came on the heels of FBI Director Christopher Wray announcing he would step down from his role before President-elect Donald Trump took office next month.
NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss revealed to fans in an Instagram livestream Friday he was diagnosed with cancer.
During the livestream, Moss said he's a "cancer survivor," adding he spent six days in the hospital and underwent surgery. He thanked his team of doctors and all those who prayed for him.
"I am a cancer survivor," Moss said. "Some trying times, but we made it through."
Moss said doctors found cancer in his bile duct "right between the pancreas and the liver."
Moss was revealed to be stepping away from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" for an extended time to focus on a personal health challenge earlier in December in a statement from ESPN.
"(Moss) briefly addressed the matter at the start of the show on Dec. 1. For nearly a decade, Randy has been an invaluable member of the team, consistently elevating ‘Countdown’ with his insight and passion. He has ESPN’s full support, and we look forward to welcoming him back when he is ready," ESPN’s statement said.
Moss revealed last week he was battling an illness.
"I just wanted to let the viewers know that me and my wife and my family are battling something internally. I have some great doctors around me. I couldn’t miss the show. I wanted to be here with you guys," Moss said during last week's ESPN’s "Sunday NFL Countdown."
"I feel great. But if you see me with these ‘Michigan turnover glasses’ that I have on, it’s not being disrespectful because I’m on television. It’s because I’m battling something. I need all the prayer warriors. God bless you all. Thanks for the prayers."
During FOX NFL Sunday, several of Moss' ex-New England Patriots teammates, including Tom Brady, shared their support for Moss.
"One of the all-time great teammates and friends, in touch to this day," Brady said during FOX's broadcast. "Our heart obviously is with you, our prayers, all our positive energy. We love you so much, man."
Rob Gronkowski added: "We're thinking about you, Randy. We love you, man."
The 47-year-old Moss was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 after playing 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings (1998-2004, 2010), Oakland Raiders (2005-06), New England Patriots (2007-10), Tennessee Titans (2010) and San Francisco 49ers (2012).
Moss is second in NFL history with 156 touchdown catches and had an NFL-record 23 TD receptions in 2007 for the Patriots.
Donald Trump is making a deliberate effort to soften his tone.
Or is he?
I’ve given this a lot of thought, having interviewed Trump twice this year, including two weeks before the election. He was focused and substantive, trying to reach a more independent audience, and while he took some campaign-style shots, he was relatively restrained by Trumpian standards.
Now that he’s the de facto president, I saw a similar Trump on display in the "Meet the Press" interview. Kristen Welker’s follow-ups must have annoyed him, because he told her she had asked "nasty" questions.
During the campaign, such episodes were overshadowed by Trump’s rock-n-roll rallies, where he’d ramble on about the great Hannibal Lecter or Arnold Palmer’s genitalia. But his declaration on NBC that he also wants to represent those who didn’t vote for him is a long way from his 2017 "American carnage" inaugural address.
And yet, the president-elect has also mastered the art of saying things that can be interpreted two ways, or sending not-so-coded messages.
The Washington Post editorial board, not a big fan, says Trump "tried to sound a conciliatory tone" with Welker, backed by substance.
Trump declared he wouldn’t oust Fed chief Jerome Powell, and wants to work with Democrats to protect the Dreamers. Trump said he "would not restrict the national availability of abortion medication, and that the United States will ‘absolutely’ remain in NATO, as long as other member states spend what they have pledged on defense."
And why shouldn’t he appear more reasonable? He’s got the job he believes was unfairly taken from him. He can’t run again. He knows his first term was savaged by the left-leaning media establishment. If he can have a more successful second term – after turning on some top aides in the last go-round – he could modify history’s verdict.
And that brings us to the question of retribution. He said on NBC that the best retribution is success, the same line he used with me. On "Meet the Press" he even retracted a campaign declaration that he would name a special prosecutor to go after Joe Biden.
When Welker asked whether he’d order the Justice Department, which he sees as having persecuted him, to investigate Biden and his administration, Trump gave a response that I doubt he would have offered in the first term.
No, he said, that would be up to his attorney general and FBI director, which will definitely be Pam Bondi and probably Kash Patel. Would he tell them to do it? Nope.
It’s called distancing.
Now one could argue that he was in effect suggesting they do it by announcing it on national television. But I’m sure they knew his views anyway.
Trump’s one misstep on NBC was lashing out at members of the House Jan. 6 Committee. He said Liz Cheney "did something that’s inexcusable, along with [Bennie] Thompson and people on the Un-Select Committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps," Trump told moderator Kristen Welker, arguing without proof that they "deleted and destroyed" testimony. "Honestly, they should go to jail."
So that was a gift to his critics, enabling most journalists to lead with him wanting the lawmakers behind bars. By the way, their investigation and hearings are protected by the Speech and Debate clause, which gives the members immunity.
Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told CNN that his boss’ words had been taken "out of context," that he "wants everyone who he puts into key positions of leadership ... to apply the law equally to everybody," mentioning Bondi and Patel.
In a similar vein, Trump has mainly avoided attacks on individual journalists, this after saying he would reach out to even hostile outlets. But he made an exception and mocked Maggie Haberman of the New York Times when she co-authored a couple of stories he didn’t like.
So will we be getting Trump 2.0, or Trump 1.0 with plenty of fancy packaging?
Veteran Trump watchers know that he can slip off the high road when he gets angry, that it’s not just about mass deportations, slashing inflation and drill, baby, drill.
But I still believe we’re seeing a more disciplined, restrained and moderate Trump so far. He campaigned on shaking things up, so there are plenty of clashes to unfold. What’s fascinating is that he’s already essentially running the country while Biden has faded and, since the pardon fiasco, is refusing to talk to the press.
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith appeared to be stunned on Friday as he learned about how much OnlyFans model Sophie Rain earned from her content and how much one fan paid for access.
Rain posted her yearly earnings from OnlyFans on social media, which showed she raked in more than $43.5 million. One fan, named Charley, appeared to spend more than $4.7 million and Rain posted a screen-recorded video showing the fan tipping her $200 at a time.
Smith noted the earnings were more than some NBA players.
"Sophie Rain made more money on OnlyFans than many of the NBA’s biggest stars," Smith said on "The Stephen A. Smith Show." "Ladies and gentlemen, look at this list right here – Anthony Davis, Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Edwards, look at the money that they’re making.
"This platform has grown so much that, in 2023, OnlyFans, content creators earned a total of $6.6 billion, which exceeds the total of salaries earned by the entire National Basketball Association ($6.6 billion vs. $4.9 billion), according to Basketball Forever.
"Miss Rain says she is a devout Christian and a virgin. So Sophie made $43 million and almost $5 million from Charley. I guess he might be the horniest man in America, huh?"
Rain, 20, has maintained that the figure is real and pushed back on any notion to the contrary.
She also advised other girls like her not to think being an OnlyFans content creator is all "sunshine and rainbows."
"I do not want girls to think oh if sophie rain is making this i should do it too," she wrote on X last week. "this career is not sunshine and rainbows 24/7 and if you don’t make it big, it will NOT be worth it. anyone who is doing it i wish you all success, but please don’t quit your jobs for this."
Former ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski was the best in the business, and that’s supposedly why the Harris campaign picked the ESPN insider to break the news of Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, senior writer Chris Mannix reported the Harris campaign had reached out to the beloved NBA insider in August to break the news that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz would be added to the Democratic ticket alongside Harris.
"Consider: In August, representatives from Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign reached out. They had settled on their nominee for vice president and wanted Woj to break it. Alas, another outlet scooped him before he could," Mannix wrote.
Representatives from the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Wojnarowski announced in Thursday’s interview that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer before he decided to leave ESPN to take a job at St. Bonaventure.
"When you hear cancer, you think about it going through your body like Pac-Man," Wojnarowski said. "Prostate cancer, it generally stays confined to your prostate and is typically slow growing."
While his diagnosis did not force his retirement from ESPN, it did open his eyes.
"It made me remember that the job isn’t everything. In the end, it’s just going to be your family and close friends. And it’s also, like, nobody gives a s---. Nobody remembers [breaking stories] in the end. It’s just vapor."
Ohio State fans hoping that former head coach Urban Meyer would abandon his broadcast career to return to the sideline will have to look elsewhere after the FOX Sports analyst confirmed Thursday he has no plans of making a comeback.
Meyer, who coached the Buckeyes from 2012 to 2018 and led the team to a national championship in 2014, was floated as a potential replacement for head coach Ryan Day after Ohio State's shocking loss to rival Michigan, its fourth straight to the Wolverines during Day’s tenure.
As rumors began to spread, Meyer released a statement removing his name from the mix.
"It has come to my attention that there are reports speculating my return to the sidelines in Columbus. While I thoroughly enjoyed my seven seasons as head coach at the Ohio State University, I have no interest in coaching again," Meyer said.
Day addressed questions about his future in Columbus after Saturday’s loss, adding he expects to return.
"I think the culture is as strong as it's ever been [at Ohio State]," he said, via ESPN. "I think we have great players. I think we have great coaches.
"It was a bad day. So, we have to go forward, and the mindset is go win the whole thing now."
Among those calling for Day’s firing was Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, who played at Eastern Michigan. Crosby said on a recent podcast he was done with the Buckeyes until they bring back Meyer.
"I hope they fail," Crosby said. "I want them to lose so Day gets fired. Sorry."
Former ESPN star Adrian Wojnarowski revealed in an interview he was diagnosed with prostate cancer before he decided to leave the company and take a job at St. Bonaventure.
Wojnarowski opened up about the cancer in an interview with Sports Illustrated. He said he went to the doctor in February and blood tests revealed an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). He had a second blood test after an MRI showed nothing. A biopsy later revealed the early-stage cancer.
"When you hear cancer, you think about it going through your body like Pac-Man," Wojnarowski said. "Prostate cancer, it generally stays confined to your prostate and is typically slow growing."
He added that the cancer is "pretty limited in scope" and that he’s going through checkups every three months. He said doctors have told him to change his eating habits and surgery is an option but only if he can’t handle the battle mentally, according to Sports Illustrated.
Wojnarowski left the network in September to serve as St. Bonaventure basketball’s first-ever general manager. He said the cancer didn’t make him retire from ESPN, but added that it brought some levity to the chaotic days he was spending as the premier NBA insider.
"I didn’t want to spend one more day of my life waiting on someone’s MRI or hitting an agent at 1 a.m. about an ankle sprain," he said.
Wojnarowski added that when he went to Chris Mortensen’s memorial, after the late ESPN NFL insider died of throat cancer, he received a sobering reminder.
"It made me remember that the job isn’t everything. In the end, it’s just going to be your family and close friends. And it’s also, like, nobody gives a s---. Nobody remembers [breaking stories] in the end. It’s just vapor."
Wojnarowski graduated from St. Bonaventure with a journalism degree in 1991 and received an honorary doctorate from the school in 2022. The 55-year-old has worked at ESPN since 2017, and his decision to retire came even while he was still under a contract he signed with the Disney-owned media company in 2022.
Wojnarowski was voted the National Sports Media Association’s National Sportswriter of the year over a three-year span from 2017 to 2019.
Fox News’ Chantz Martin contributed to this report.
The Cleveland Browns dropped to 3-9 after falling to the Denver Broncos on "Monday Night Football," but fans have to admit Jameis Winston has kept the team in games as the team’s starting quarterback.
He's won games against two divisional opponents, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.
With the first half clock winding down Monday, ESPN color commentator and Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman discussed the Browns’ quarterback situation.
During his synopsis, he called Deshaun Watson, the embattled quarterback out for the remainder of the season, an "albatross."
"You know, this is a tough league," Aikman began his monologue, via Awful Announcing. "And we all talk about parity. But when it comes to your hometown team, nobody wants to hear it. And Kevin Stefanski is an outstanding football coach, and he’s proven that. Two-time Coach of the Year. What he did to that group last year to get them in the postseason — they started four quarterbacks, they were decimated with injuries.
"And I get it. You know, this year hasn’t been what people thought coming in, but the albatross is Deshaun Watson. If you go to Jameis Winston earlier in the year, does this look different? Because I would say the defensive struggles, in at least a small part, have had to do with how inept the offense has been moving the football. I think it’s affected the defensive play, as well."
Aikman doubled down later in the game when Winston had 355 passing yards and Jerry Jeudy caught six of those passes for 167 yards and a touchdown.
"You can’t help but wonder what this year might have looked like for Cleveland if Jameis had taken over from the start or at least much sooner than when he did," Aikman said. "I know Deshaun Watson goes down with a torn Achilles, but it had been a real struggle offensively watching him."
The Browns’ season is virtually over in terms of playoff contention, but the organization has a lot of evaluation to do at the quarterback position after Watson went 1-6 to start the season before tearing his Achilles against the Cincinnati Bengals Oct. 20.
During those games, Watson threw for 1,148 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions, while getting sacked 33 times.
Since Winston took over Stefanski’s offense, the Browns have gone 2-3 with the 30-year-old passing for 1,680 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the five games he’s started.
The biggest issue with Watson is the $230 million contract he signed that has him under Cleveland control until the 2027 campaign, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Do the Browns want to see Watson recover and try to find his way again, hoping he can recreate the magic he had in Houston with the Texans? Or does the organization want to move on, especially considering off-the-field allegations that continue even after the numerous civil lawsuits that led to an 11-game suspension in 2022?
The Browns will deliberate over those very questions while evaluating Winston over the team’s final five games, starting with a rematch against the Steelers Sunday in Pittsburgh.
ESPN star Stephen A. Smith teed off on President Biden for one aspect of his decision to pardon his son, Hunter, weeks before he’s set to leave the White House.
Biden announced the pardon Sunday after the first son was convicted in two separate federal cases this year. The pardon applied to offenses against the U.S. that Hunter Biden "has committed or may have committed" from Jan. 1, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2024.
The ESPN sports pundit opened the latest episode of "The Stephen A. Smith Show" on Monday night by jumping right into the president’s sudden decision.
"Respectfully, to the president of the United States, specifically as it pertains to that statement, you’re full of it," he said. "I’m going to look right here, over the national airwaves, and look the president of the United States in the face and say, ‘You’re full of it.’"
Smith explained he had no problem with Biden not wanting his son to go to jail and was adamant that President-elect Donald Trump would have done the same for his sons.
"I said weeks ago, you’re damn right you should let him off. He’s your son, and he’s a recovering addict, and he’s battled those demons for years," Smith said. "And the fact that you let your son off, I totally understand. Donald Trump would have let his son off. Anybody would have, or at least most people. I understand that. That’s not the issue, sir.
"The issue, and why I say you’re full of it, is because of the excuse you gave. A simple statement, ‘That’s my son. I have the power to pardon him, to grant him clemency, whatever. That’s what I’m doing. You all kick rocks.’ That would have been good enough for me. That’s your son. That’s your son, that’s your flesh and blood. That’s your child. And as you pointed out, he’s battled a lot of demons. He’s going through a lot. I get it. But what’s all of that other stuff you said about him?"
Biden said in his statement he believed his son was "treated differently" in those cases he was convicted in.
"The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election," the president said. "Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
"No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough."
Smith dismissed the notion that Hunter Biden was targeted because of the president and took issue with him issuing the pardon now, after the election, after months of talking about Trump and his trials, tribulations and convictions in the months leading up to the election.
"You didn’t talk about this then. As a matter of fact, you specifically said you wouldn’t pardon your son … before the election. You’re announcing it now that we know Donald Trump is coming in and about to be sworn in as the 47th president. You were intending to do this all along, which again is no problem. But it doesn’t make you any less full of it," he said.
"Because when you look at Donald Trump and how the Democrats went after him … you do understand the Democrats are no longer in a position to say anything, right? You can talk till the cows come home. You whistling into the wind. Nobody wants to hear what you have to say right now. I’m not talking about you, I’m talking about your party.
"Because when you pardon your son, going back on your word, telling the American people there was no way you were going to pardon him, when everybody and your grand mama knew you were lying and didn’t hold you accountable for it. And now you’ve confirmed what people believed you were probably going to be lying about that very thing that you said you wouldn’t do for your son. All you had to do was say, ‘He’s my son. I can’t let him go to jail.' What’s the matter with y’all?"
In a statement on Sunday night, Hunter said he would "never take the clemency" his father gave him for granted and that he plans to devote his life to helping those with addiction.
"I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport," the first son wrote.
"In the throes of addiction, I squandered many opportunities and advantages. In recovery we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded."
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President-elect Donald Trump announced Karoline Leavitt will return to the White House next year as his press secretary, making the 27-year-old the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history and notching another massive career benchmark.
Leavitt has been a fierce defender of Trump throughout his hard-fought campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, which included Democrats and the Harris campaign lobbing attacks at Trump that he is a "fascist" and on par with Nazi Germany dictator Adolf Hitler, two assassination attempts and crisscrossing the nation to rally support for the former president.
"Karoline Leavitt did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary," Trump said in a statement announcing Leavitt as his press secretary this month.
"Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again."
Ahead of her appointment as the youngest press secretary in the nation’s history – unseating President Richard Nixon’s press secretary Ron Ziegler, who was 29 when he took the same position in 1969 – Leavitt had long been in Trump’s orbit and also made her own political mark with a congressional run in 2022.
Leavitt served in Trump’s first administration as assistant press secretary before working as New York Rep. Elise Stefanik’s communications director following the 2020 election. Leavitt launched a congressional campaign in her home state of New Hampshire during the 2022 cycle, winning her primary, but losing the election to a Democrat.
During her time on the campaign trail for Trump this cycle, Leavitt sparred with liberal media outlets about Trump’s candidacy, fielded media inquiries about the 45th president’s policies and vision for the U.S., served as one of Trump’s top defenders amid legal battles and political landmines lobbed by both the Biden and Harris campaign, and maneuvered an unprecedented campaign cycle that saw President Biden drop out of the running in July amid heightened concerns over his mental acuity and age.
She was among the dozens of Republican elected officials and Trump supporters who joined Trump in Manhattan court over the spring as he faced trial over 34 counts of falsifying business records, which Trump repeatedly slammed as a "sham" case. She also reported that with the job as the campaign’s national press secretary, she became accustomed to Trump's "sleep schedule" – which has famously only consisted of roughly four or five hours of rest before getting to work – and joined him at rallies across the nation and at the campaign’s headquarters in Florida.
Leavitt made national headlines in June, before Biden dropped out of the race, when CNN’s Kasie Hunt cut her microphone off as she argued on air that CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash would be politically biased against Trump while moderating a debate between Biden and the now president-elect. Biden ultimately performed terribly during the debate, which opened the floodgates to traditional Democrat allies calling on him to drop out of the presidential race and pass the torch to a younger generation.
"That’s why President Trump is knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years. And their biased coverage of him," Leavitt said to Hunt during the interview previewing the debate.
"So I‘ll just say my colleagues, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, have acquitted themselves as professionals as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle. I‘ll also say that if you talk to analysts of previous debates, that if you’re attacking the moderators, you’re usually losing," Hunt responded.
As Hunt tried to redirect the interview back to previewing the debate, Leavitt said it would take just a few minutes to pull up examples of Tapper’s anti-Trump rhetoric across the years.
"Ma'am, I'm going to stop this interview if you're going to continue to attack my colleagues," Hunt said, before Leavitt continued that she was "stating facts" about what CNN hosts had previously said about Trump.
"I'm sorry, guys, we're going to come back out to the panel," Hunt said. "Karoline, thank you very much for your time. You are welcome to come back at any point. She is welcome to come back and speak about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump will have equal time to Joe Biden when they both join us later this week in Atlanta for this debate."
Following the mic getting cut, Leavitt told Fox News Digital at the time that, "CNN cutting off my microphone for bringing up a debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies just proves our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly in Thursday’s debate. Yet President Trump is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win."
As Leavitt juggled the media, she also spent the first six months in her role as Trump campaign national press secretary while pregnant with her first child. Ahead of Mother’s Day this year, Leavitt touted the importance women and mothers have within the Trump orbit and celebrating that in July, she would welcome her own baby.
"Joe Biden can’t even define what a ‘woman’ is, and his Administration disrespectfully refers to mothers as ‘birthing people.’ Joe Biden has left working moms and families behind by creating the worst inflation crisis in decades, welcoming millions of illegal immigrants into our country to commit crimes, and allowing violent protests to erupt on college campuses," Leavitt exclusively told Fox News Digital in May.
The campaign touted that it employed dozens of moms during the election cycle, including Leavitt and recently-announced White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. He has also hired hundreds of working moms since 2016, including high-profile names such as Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Kayleigh McEnany. RNC and Trump campaign senior adviser Danielle Alvarez and Trump legal spokeswoman Alina Habba are also both mothers of young kids.
"We have a really welcoming environment for children at the office, the headquarters in West Palm Beach," Leavitt told the Conservateur in October. "You know, we joke that on Saturdays, it’s bring-your-kid-to-work day."
Months following the article touting the women and moms on the campaign, Democrats came under fire in October after Harris campaign surrogate Mark Cuban said "you never see [Trump] around strong, intelligent women."
"This is extremely insulting to the thousands of women who work for President Trump, and the tens of millions of women who are voting for him," Leavitt shot back at Cuban. "These women are mothers, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders, and they are, indeed, strong and intelligent, despite what Mark Cuban and Kamala Harris say."
Leavitt gave birth to her son in July and had planned to take maternity leave before a would-be assassin opened fire on Trump and his supporters at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, just days ahead of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Trump was injured on the side of his head, while two other rally-goers were also injured, and local dad and Trump supporter Corey Comperatore was fatally shot.
Leavitt said the assassination attempt sparked her to jump back into the campaign just days after giving birth.
"I had just brought my newborn, my three-day-old baby home from the hospital. And I said, ‘I’m going to turn on the television and watch the rally today,’" Leavitt recounted to the Conservateur of watching the tragic and shocking rally on July 13.
"I looked at my husband and said, ‘Looks like I’m going back to work.’"
She also recounted that following the birth of her son, she received a call from Trump congratulating her before having her chat with former first lady Melania Trump.
"It was incredibly warm and kind," she said of Trump’s call. "He wanted to check in. He asked me how I was doing." Trump then passed the phone to his wife, the Conservateur reported.
"Mrs. Trump and I talked about how wonderful it is to be a mother to a boy. They spoke about their love for Barron, and the president cracked a joke: ‘We have a little boy, but he’s not so little now!’" she said.
Leavitt predicted Trump would notch a win this cycle, repeatedly pointing to his message of unity and uplifting Americans of all races and creeds, his vow to secure the border and strengthen the economy following spiraling inflation under the Biden-Harris administration.
Trump was declared the victor in the race late into the evening on Election Day, after sweeping battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. He ultimately secured 312 electoral votes and locked down the popular vote.
Leavitt celebrated the win as the "Greatest political comeback in HISTORY!" where Trump "defeated the big tech oligarchs who tried to silence him, the weaponized system of justice against him, and the fake news that has lied about him and his supporters for years."
Just over a week after his win at the ballot boxes, Trump named Leavitt as his White House press secretary pick.
"Thank you, President Trump, for believing in me. I am humbled and honored," she posted to her X account following the announcement.
Daniel Jones' tumultuous tenure with the New York Giants came to an end last week. After initially benching the 2019 first-round draft pick, the franchise granted the quarterback's request for his release.
The decision to part ways with Jones was described as a mutual agreement, with Giants President and co-owner John Mara saying moving on from Jones "would be best for him and for the team." Jones cleared waivers in short order and landed with the Minnesota Vikings. He is expected to serve as a backup to starter Sam Darnold.
Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl winner and lead analyst for "NFL on FOX," was on the call for the Dallas Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day game.
The Cowboys hosted the Giants, and, at one point during the broadcast, Brady shared his thoughts about Jones' unceremonious exit.
Brady suggested he would have handled the situation differently had he been in Jones' shoes.
"I don't know how that whole situation went down, but to think that you'd ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than how I would've handled that," Brady said during Thursday's broadcast. "I always felt I wanted to get the trust and respect of my teammates regardless of the situation, knowing that I was trying to be the best I could for the team because that was the most important thing."
The former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback acknowledged the unique challenges football players can face at different points of their careers but noted that helping any team he was on was always his top priority.
"There's just some different things that happen in the NFL," Brady said. "Everyone makes individual choices. I think we all, at points in our career, face different challenges. I faced them in college, and some things didn't go the way I wanted, but the people that mattered the most to me were the guys in the locker room. I showed up every day. I didn't care if they asked me to be scout team safety, be scout team quarterback. I was gonna do whatever I could to help the team win."
Shortly after Jones was benched, reports surfaced that the quarterback lined up as a scout team safety for the Giants' defense at practice. He was also seen participating in passing drills alongside veteran quarterback Tim Boyle, who is listed as the third string signal-caller on the Giants' depth chart.
The Giants lost 30-7 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12, which marked the team's first game without Jones this season. Thursday's loss to the NFC East rival Cowboys dropped New York's record to 2-10.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – President-elect Trump turned to podcasts during the 2024 election cycle, rallying support particularly among young men who have trended to the right in recent years and helped deliver Trump’s massive victory.
"I want to thank some people real quick," UFC CEO Dana White declared from the election night podium following Trump’s win, thanking a list of podcasters who spoke with Trump on the campaign trail. "I want to thank the Nelk Boys, Aidan Ross, Theo Von, Boston, Bussin with the Boys, and last but not least, the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan."
Ahead of President Biden dropping out of the race, and before facing two assassination attempts and pouring hours of work into seven key battleground states and beyond, Trump joined the popular podcast "Full Send," also known as the "Nelk Boys," for an interview in March 2022. This interview marked his entrance into the podcast world while appealing to a voting bloc of young men. Trump discussed not only his policies and vision for the U.S., but his family and sports, and he allowed voters to take a peek into his life beyond politics.
The Nelk Boys interview touched on Trump’s golf game, his favorite songs, such as "YMCA" and "Hold on I’m Coming," to play on the campaign trail, as well as his thoughts on the Biden administration’s handling of COVID and Russia.
"If you put up this whole interview, let’s see what happens when Instagram and Facebook and Twitter and all of them take it down," Trump quipped during the podcast, only for the interview to later be pulled from YouTube, setting off a firestorm of condemnation from Trump.
"Whatever happened to free speech in our Country? Incredibly, but not surprisingly, the Big Tech lunatics have taken down my interview with the very popular NELK Boys so that nobody can watch it or in any way listen to it," the 45th president said in a statement released by his Save America PAC at the time.
"In the 24 hours that it was up it set every record for them, by many times," he continued. "Interestingly, on the show I told them this would happen because Big Tech and the Fake News Media fear the truth, they fear criticism about Biden, and above all, they don’t want to talk about the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, all topics discussed."
Fast-forward to 2024, Trump again joined the Nelk Boys, and a bevy of other podcasts as he worked to rally support among young men, including joining Joe Rogan, who hosts the most popular podcast in the U.S. with 14.5 million followers on Spotify alone and endorsed Trump just a day ahead of the election.
In August of this year, the Nelk Boys debuted Send the Vote on their podcast, which was a massive nonpartisan voter initiative aimed at youth, especially young men.
"Making a post on Instagram or making a tweet, that’s cool," Kyle Forgeard, one of the Nelk Boys, said in a promo video back in August, the Wall Street Journal reported. "But every single one of you guys needs to register to vote, and you need to make your voice heard. Don’t be f---ing lazy, get your ballot in the mail, do whatever you got to do, plan around it."
Armed with about a $20 million budget, Send the Vote placed ad buys targeting 1.1 million inactive, registered male voters between the ages of 18-34 to vote. The ads reached more than 35 million people, Fox News Digital learned, while countless others also saw the ads via the Nelk Boys’ social media accounts.
SendTheVote.com saw more than 2 million visitors, while 210,000 first-time voters who saw the ads and subsequently voted, and 110,000 people who visited the site requested they be reminded to vote.
Send the Vote reached more than 140 million people through influencers, nearly 1 million on streamed content, and nearly 7 million people through podcasts specifically, Fox Digital learned. Send the Vote ads were featured on other wildly popular podcasts, including on comedic shows KillTony, Theo Von, Tim Dillon, as well as the sports-oriented podcast "BS with Jake Paul," as well as viral TikTok celebrity Hailey Welch’s "Talk Tuah" podcast.
Send the Vote launched tailgate events during the Penn State vs. Wisconsin game in October, which appealed to young voters in two top battleground states. Volunteers knocked on frat house doors and held a voter registration concert in Atlanta with pro-Trump rapper Waka Flocka Flame.
"Too many people in our country felt like their voice didn't matter and that the barriers to making real change are too big to overcome. The goal of Send the Vote was to tear down those barriers and remind our audience that posting on social media does not count as a vote and they need to physically show up to vote. Sick of how much things cost? Go vote. Tired of unnecessary wars? Go vote - it’s not as difficult as they make it out to be." - John Shahidi, co-founder of "Full Send" told Fox News Digital.
Trump leaning into podcasts this election cycle, as opposed to traditional media interviews, paid off among Gen Z men and millennials. The Fox News Voter Survey published earlier this month found that men aged 18-44 supported Trump at 53% compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 45%.
In addition to the Nelk Boys, and other podcasters who highlighted Trump, Rogan’s endorsement of the 45th president was viewed as a massive success. The former and upcoming president had joined Rogan on his podcast for a three-hour interview ahead of the election. Harris was offered the same interview, but Rogan rejected her campaign's requests to shorten the interview and move it out of the studio, he previously said.
Trump attended a UFC fight in New York City following the election, and was seen embracing Rogan in a viral video.
On election night when Trump was projected the winner, the UFC’s Dana White celebrated the podcasters who spotlighted Trump to their audiences, adding that "karma" caught up with Democrats.
"Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does," White said on election night. "This is what happens when the machine comes after you. What you've seen over the last several years, this is what it looks like. Couldn't stop him, he keeps going forward, he doesn't quit, he's the most resilient, hard-working man I've ever met in my life, his family are incredible people.
"This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family."
Those names would include guys like Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum and Anthony Edwards, to name a few. And those guys aren't considered the best under 30. Those players are widely regarded as the game's best regardless of age.
But two talking heads say it's not even an argument.
"I literally did not care about women’s college basketball 10 years ago in any way, shape or form. So, I think some things have moved forward, just the quality of play is more fun to watch. She seems to be some sort of catalyst that is like before or after, and now we’re in the after," Simmons said.
"Her stardom in a way has changed many conversations about sports, I feel like, especially women’s sports," Chuck Klosterman added.
"Part of it is, it’s real difficult now for a guy to become famous in basketball at the collegiate level. It still seems very plausible for a woman."
Some of Clark's regular-season games drew bigger audiences than playoff games without her, and her matchups with Angel Reese drew some of the biggest audiences the league has seen.
On top of that, NBA ratings have been down, which was not the case before Clark became a pro.
Kelce revealed the news on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," and the future Pro Football Hall of Fame center said Kimmel has given him "tons of advice" about how to make his show a hit.
"To be able to go on his show and promote my show that’s coming out, but also to just go there and talk to him, get all the ins and outs about how to run a late-night show — how you talk into the camera, how you choose topics, how you prepare. It was honestly a very beneficial trip to take," Kelce said on his "New Heights" podcast.
Travis Kelce, Jason’s younger brother who stars for the Kansas City Chiefs, called Kimmel "one of the best in the business for a reason," noting he got to meet the host over the summer.
Jason said he is also a big fan of Conan O’Brien, though he likes all the current late-night greats.
Jason has been to football stadiums all over this year despite being retired after joining the "Monday Night Countdown" panel for ESPN while making appearances at "College GameDay" and doing his podcast with Travis throughout the year.
Jason’s wife, Kylie Kelce, is also launching her own podcast, "Not Gonna Lie."
Jason will embark on his first solo act with this late-night show, and he’s making sure to use all his resources to make it stick.
