A new lawsuit in New York alleges Mariano Rivera and his wife, Clara, of ignoring the sexual abuse of a minor that occurred both at their home and a church.
The New York Yankees legend is the pastor of Refuge of Hope Church in New Rochelle, roughly 15 miles from where he played.
However, "Jane Doe" says she was sexually abused by an older girl, known as "MG," during a summer internship in 2018. MG was a minor at the time of the alleged incidents.
The internship took place at the Ignite Life Center in Gainesville, Florida, which was affiliated with Rivera's church.
The suit says that the victim's mother informed Clara of the abuse and that Clara promised to investigate the matter. But they allegedly covered it up.
"Rather than take sufficient action to end the sexual abuse of Jane Doe, the Riveras each separately isolated and intimidated Jane Doe to remain silent about her abuse by MG to avoid causing trouble for Refuge of Hope and the Ignite Life Summer Internship," the suit reads.
The suit also alleges that MG abused the victim at the Rivera residence that summer during a barbecue.
"At all times relevant, [the Riveras] knew or should have known that MG was a risk to sexually abuse children… before and during the time of the barbecue," the suit reads.
"In order to avoid the potential scandal of child sexual abuse in its programs and otherwise protect [themselves] above all else, the Riveras… assured [Doe's mother] that [Doe] was safe and in no danger at Ignite Life Center, despite actual or constructive knowledge that Doe remained vulnerable to additional acts of sexual abuse by MG."
Several months later, in January 2019, Rivera became the first, and still only, player to be unanimously elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Later that year, President Donald Trump, during his first presidency, awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Rivera, widely known as the greatest closer in the history of baseball, is the sport's all-time saves leader with 652. His 2.21 ERA is also the lowest by any pitcher with at least 500 innings since the live-ball era began in 1920.
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For Ohio State Buckeyes standout linebacker Jack Sawyer, the last 48 hours have been quite a "whirlwind" if you ask him.
On Monday night, he helped the Buckeyes cap a resilient College Football Playoff run with a national championship victory over Notre Dame. And you can expect what happened when the team returned to Columbus, Ohio.
"It’s been a lot of fun," Sawyer told Fox News Digital before his celebratory "shift" at Raising Cane’s in Columbus alongside his star quarterback teammate Will Howard. "Obviously, it’s been a whirlwind after the game when we first got back to Columbus. Now, it’s maybe even more of a whirlwind, but we’ve had a lot of fun with it and so happy we were able to get the job done for Coach Day and the city of Columbus."
Sawyer pulled up to Raising Cane’s early Wednesday morning with "already 100 people outside," all of whom were waiting to praise the two Buckeyes for their contributions to a championship season.
But while the Buckeyes’ celebrations continue, the end of the season means both Sawyer and Howard are set to become NFL Draft prospects, as they aim for their transition to pro football.
Sawyer’s draft stock skyrocketed as he had a tremendous CFP run, including the strip-sack, scoop-and-score against his former Ohio State roommate, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, to seal the Buckeyes’ victory in the Cotton Bowl to cement a spot in the national title game.
While his motor on the field, and work ethic off it, are qualities that teams will be looking at during the scouting process, Sawyer knows that his faith will continue to play a large role in what happens next.
"It’s everything to us," Sawyer said about his faith, bringing Howard into the fold as well. "It’s a number in our lives when you put God first like that and truly seek to grow with him and follow his plan. He’s going to open so many doors for you that you would never think you could achieve otherwise.
"For me and Will, and really everyone on the team, our faith’s been the biggest thing keeping us up and keeping us moving forward after a couple tough losses in the season."
One of those losses was a massive upset by the Michigan Wolverines, the Buckeyes’ bitter rival whom Sawyer naturally refers to as the "Team Up North," on Nov. 30. It was a loss in Columbus that led to a brawl on the field between the two teams, where Sawyer was seen ripping a Michigan flag away from midfield after the Wolverines wanted to celebrate their win even more.
At the time, it was a disaster for head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. They weren’t able to get a shot at the Big Ten title, and many questioned if they had what it took to make that CFP run.
But Ohio State showed what resiliency looks like in the face of adversity, especially with a load of naysayers believing the Buckeyes once again wouldn’t be able to take their talented team to the title game.
"We knew we had to get to work and fix the things we needed to fix and attack it as hard as we could," he said. "That’s exactly what we did. No one saw the work we were putting in behind the scenes."
For Sawyer personally, he went into his next game after losing to Michigan and racked up 1.5 sacks with two passes defended and five total tackles in the rout against Tennessee in the first round of the CFP. Then, he had two sacks and three passes defended in the Rose Bowl against Oregon, followed by his 83-yard return for a touchdown against the Longhorns.
"I think it’s just taught me a lot about life," Sawyer said of this title run. "It’s taught me about how everything is not always going to go your way, but if you keep trusting in God and fight and keep getting up every day swinging, eventually you’re going to come out the other end.
"I think that is something I’m going to take with me to the next level, and it’s something I hope teams see in me. No matter what, I’m going to give it my all, keep fighting and continue to grow every day."
Again, this is time for celebration after a long, hard season for Sawyer, his teammates and his coaches. But the NFL Scouting Combine is right around the corner, and pretty soon, Sawyer will likely be hearing his name called in April when the NFL Draft kicks off.
Whichever team writes his name on their card, he knows he’ll be giving his all to make an impact like he has in Columbus. But he won’t stress any step moving forward, as his faith will remain a constant as he looks ahead to his next major life moment.
"Anything’s possible with God, and I’m going to keep trusting his plan," Sawyer concluded. "Like I said, he blessed us far more than we could ever thank him enough for."
Just don’t try to be Parcells. Don’t try to be Belichick, as Eric Mangini did, as Joe Judge did. Don’t try to be Payton. Don’t try to be Campbell. Be Aaron Glenn.
Texans running back Joe Mixon has been handed a re-issued $25,000 fine by the NFL, in this instance for his actual comments about the officiating in the divisional round matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Texans.
Round-up: Brendan Rodgers’s side and the defending champions are both through to the play-off round at least with one more matchweek of fixtures in the league phase
National outrage over questionable penalties called during the Kansas City Chiefs' playoff game against the Houston Texans made its way to Travis Kelce's podcast Wednesday, but he stayed on the sidelines of the debate.
After NFL referees called two roughing the passer penalties after hits on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during Saturday's divisional round game, Texans players and head coach DeMeco Ryans suggested officials sided with Kansas City. Many fans expressed grievances about the questionable penalties on social media.
Kelce and his brother Jason read some of the outraged tweets during Wendesday's episode of their podcast, "New Heights," but Travis refused to speak about the issue.
"I'd like to plead the Fifth," the tight end said, jokingly referring to his constitutional right to remain silent.
"I don't feel that way,'' Mahomes answered. "At the end of the day, the referees are doing their best to call the game as fair and as proper as they possibly can. And all you can do is go out there and play the game that you love as hard as you can and live with the results. ... I think that's what we preach here in Kansas City.
"You get new referees every year, you get new circumstances and you never can really tell because every play's different. And that's what makes the NFL so special. I feel like I've just continued to play the game, and I just try to win. And whatever happens kind of happens.''
Mahomes defended the referees Tuesday during a radio interview on 96.5 The Fan.
"I‘ve kind of learned that no matter what happens during the game, something’s going to come out about it if you win and you continue to win. So, I don’t really pay attention to it," Mahomes said.
"I mean, obviously, I’ve been on both sides of it as far as how I felt the calls were made, but, at the end of the day, man, those guys are doing their best to make the best calls and keep it to where the players are making the plays in the game.
"And that’s what decides the outcome. And obviously there was a call here or there that people didn’t agree with, but, at the same time, I think there was a lot of other plays that really decided the outcome of that football game."
Head referee Clay Martin explained the calls to a pool reporter after the game, saying one of the controversial calls was a result of "forcible contact to the face mask area," which warranted a flag. He said there was forcible contact to Mahomes’ "hairline" on another unnecessary roughness call.
Arsenal all but secured a spot in the Champions League knockout phase as they outclassed visitors Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 on Wednesday thanks to with goals from Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Martin Odegaard.
Holders Real Madrid hammered RB Salzburg 5-1 in a Champions League clash in the Spanish capital on Wednesday thanks to doubles from Brazilian forwards Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr either side of a goal by Kylian Mbappe.
Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez scored twice in the first half to steer the hosts to a 3-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday and boost their chances of a top-eight finish on the last matchday next week.
Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker knows that video of her botching an Eagles chant before Philadelphia's 28-22 victory over the Rams in their Divisional Round game last Sunday went viral.
