Philadelphia Eagles defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson had one last parting gift for Washington Commanders fans at Northwest Stadium on Sunday: two middle fingers.
Gardner-Johnson received a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the second half and was kicked out of the game. He appeared to get into a scuffle with Commanders wide receiver Dyami Brown and was pushed in the helmet. Gardner-Johnson still received the penalty.
Losing Gardner-Johnson may have been as detrimental to the Eagles’ defense as losing Jalen Hurts was to the offense. Philadelphia led by 10 points when Gardner-Johnson was ejected and scored another three when they got the ball back after a fumble.
Jayden Daniels threw three of his five touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. The Commanders scored 22 points in the final frame and stunned the Eagles, 36-33.
"We didn't do enough," Eagles running back Saquon Barkley said. "We left a lot of plays out there, including myself."
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the NCAA on Sunday and accused the collegiate organization of deceptive marketing practices for including transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Paxton said in a news release the NCAA violated the Texas Trade Practices Act "which exists to protect consumers from businesses attempting to mislead or trick them into purchasing goods or services that are not as advertised."
He accused the NCAA of "engaging in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by marketing sporting events as ‘women’s’ competitions only to then provide consumers with mixed sex competitions where biological males compete against biological females."
"The NCAA is intentionally and knowingly jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women by deceptively changing women’s competitions into co-ed competitions," Paxton said in a statement. "When people watch a women’s volleyball game, for example, they expect to see women playing against other women—not biological males pretending to be something they are not. Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports."
Paxton said he was seeking a court to grant a permanent injunction to prohibit the NCAA from allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports in Texas or "involving Texas teams, or alternatively requiring the NCAA to stop marketing events as "women’s" when in fact they are mixed sex competitions," the news release said.
The NCAA released a statement to Fox News Digital later Sunday.
"College sports are the premier stage for women’s sports in America, and while the NCAA does not comment on pending litigation, the Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships," the organization said.
NCAA President Charlie Baker was grilled over transgender participation in sports while he was on Capitol Hill last week. He was also asked about it during an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show."
When McAfee asked Baker how the parents of daughters should feel about trans athletes in women's sports and the NCAA's record on it, Baker downplayed the impact.
"There are 510,000 college athletes playing in the NCAA, there are less than 10 transgender athletes, so it's a small community to begin with," Baker said.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
It was the Tigers who struck first with a touchdown, but the Longhorns outscored them 31-3 heading into the fourth quarter. But, Clemson did not go quietly.
The Tigers scored 14 unanswered points during a span that included its defense stopping Texas on a fourth and 2 from the Clemson 36. Suddenly, it was a seven-point Texas lead with 11:43 to go.
Just as Clemson was getting back into the game, though, Jaydon Blue scampered for a 77-yard touchdown to put Texas back up by two touchdowns.
Clemson drove down the field to continue its attempt at a comeback, but the Tigers were stuffed on a fourth and goal from the 1.
The Tigers got the ball back again with 1:43 to go but were unable to keep a drive alive, and the Longhorns ran out the clock.
Quinn Ewers finished with 202 passing yards, going 17-for-24 through the air. Blue and Quintrevion Wisner combined for 256 rushing yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries.
Clemson's Cade Klubnik threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns, completing 26 of his 43 passes. T.J. Moore led all players with nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown.
The Longhorns will now face Arizona State, which earned a first-round bye by winning the Big 12, in the Peach Bowl New Year's Day.
Home teams are 3-0 in the first three games of the new 12-team format. Each winning team has covered the spread.
The first-round finale between Tennessee and Ohio State in Columbus kicks off at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
Quinn Ewers made his political support clear ahead of one of the biggest games of his life.
Ewers' Texas Longhorns are hosting the Clemson Tigers in the first round of the College Football Playoff, and members of Texas' football team arrived dressed to impress.
Ewers rocked a navy blue suit with white pinstripes, a red tie and a gold tie clip.
Ewers seemed to show support for the president-elect when he shared a picture of Trump holding his fist in the air shortly after the assassination attempt on Trump's life in Butler, Pa.
After Trump won the presidential election, Ewers also shared a graphic of Trump and JD Vance on his Instagram story, captioning it "Legendary."
Athletes have shown support for Trump since he won the election. Perhaps the most notable tribute to Trump has been players mimicking the president-elect's YMCA dance.
San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa wore a "Make America Great Again" hat after a game in October, a move that cost him an $11,000 fine.
Trump attended the Army-Navy game last week, and it could be argued his attendance led to the game's highest viewership of all time. Over 9 million people watched the Midshipmen's 31-13 victory over the Black Knights.
The president-elect has also attended NFL games and UFC events this year.
The Longhorns led Clemson, 28-10, at the half. The winner has a date with Arizona State in the Peach Bowl New Year's Day.
Travis Hunter wants to become the NFL’s Shohei Ohtani, and, if it's up to his head coach, he just may become that player.
The two-way Colorado star parlayed his offensive and defensive skills into becoming the Heisman Trophy winner, playing well over 1,000 snaps this season.
He also won both the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver and the Bednarik Award as the defensive player of the year.
Experts have him playing cornerback in the NFL. But after Hunter caught 92 passes for 1,152 yards and scored 14 touchdowns on offense, Deion Sanders says whoever drafts him better let him put his abilities to full use.
"He’s gonna do that, or they shouldn’t draft him. Don’t do that," Sanders told "The Rich Eisen Show" this week.
"And I’m gonna make sure of that. Don’t draft him if you’re not gonna give him the opportunity to play on both sides of the ball."
Sanders said a team could be "creative" with Hunter.
"He don’t have to do what we did with him here and play every snap," Sanders added.
Hunter played 670 snaps on offense and 686 snaps on defense while also playing 24 special teams snaps. As a corner, Hunter had 31 tackles, 11 pass deflections and four interceptions, anchoring Colorado’s defense.
Despite projecting as a cornerback in the NFL, he might have actually been better on offense this year.
Hunter is expected to be an early selection in April's NFL Draft, and there's a chance his quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, Deion's son, could be the top pick.
The Fighting Irish became the first team to win a home College Football Playoff game with their 27-17 victory over Indiana in the first round of the new 12-team playoff.
The big blow came early with Jeremiyah Love scampering for a 98-yard touchdown. On Notre Dame’s next drive, Riley Leonard found Jayden Thomas to make it a 14-0 game, and all Indiana could muster up was a field goal, which was immediately matched by the Fighting Irish.
Indiana’s offense continued to struggle out of the locker room, punting on both of their third quarter drives and their first of the final quarter.
Leonard ran in for a score to make it a 27-3 Indiana lead, but the Hoosiers wound up scoring two more touchdowns. On their second one, with 25 seconds left, they went for two to make it a one-possession game, but it was unsuccessful, all but icing the ball game for the Irish.
The Hoosiers scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late.
Leonard completed 23 of his 32 passes for 201 yards – Jordan Faison led the Irish with seven receptions for 89 yards.
The three other first-round games will be played throughout Saturday.
Notre Dame now has a date with Georgia for the Sugar Bowl, which will be played in New Orleans on New Year's Day.
There are usually mixed reactions when NFL referees flag pass interference.
League policy does not include language to explain what constitutes pass interference, so it is still considered a judgment call.
Jon Gruden, who coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl title in 2002, weighed in on the often criticized rule.
In the NFL, when officials call pass interference, the ball is placed at the spot of the foul. There have been instances where a pass interference call has resulted in a team benefiting from 25 or more penalty yards before the next snap.
After admitting pass interference was one of his top worries for the NFL, Gruden suggested the league adopt a penalty similar to what college football enforces. Instead of placing the ball where the foul occurred, Gruden would prefer the ball only move 15 yards per penalty.
"I would make it the college rule, honestly, because some of these pass interference calls are impacting the game, just one play there," Gruden said during a recent appearance on the "Pardon My Take" podcast.
Gruden then brought up the subjective nature of the call.
"I don’t think there’s a common thread in what is and what isn’t pass interference," he said. "I think this crew calls it a little different from that crew. That is a penalty right now that, I think, has taken over a lot of these games."
After the podcast co-host suggested an NFL quarterback could simply underthrow a ball and be rewarded with free yardage, Gruden argued pass interference should only be applied in situations where it was clear and "obvious" a foul was committed.
"Jerry Austin taught me that pass interference should call itself. We should all be sitting in a bar in Chicago and go, ‘That’s PI.' It should be a common, obvious pass interference. Otherwise, let these guys play. That's my feeling."
In 2019, the league approved a proposal that made pass interference a reviewable play. The decision appeared to be a response to a controversial play in the 2018 season's NFC championship game.
Referees did not call what many argued was pass interference during the NFC title game between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints. The Rams defeated the Saints in overtime and advanced to the Super Bowl.
NFL teams' ability to review pass interference was scrapped in 2020.
San Jose State University has acknowledged a recent mass exodus of volleyball players who entered the transfer portal after a controversy-riddled season involving a trans athlete on the team.
The university provided a statement to Fox News Digital in which it expressed "respect" for the recent wave of players who have opted to transfer. "Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that," the statement read.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that seven of the team's players have entered the transfer portal.
The seven players who are transferring will be leaving the team after a season that included eight forfeited matches, regular police protection, national scrutiny and internal turmoil between players and coaches. One player even received threats of physical harm amid the controversy.
Head coach Todd Kress even spoke about how the 2024 season was one of the "most difficult" of his life after the team's loss in the conference final to Colorado State, in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
"This has been one of the most difficult seasons I’ve ever experienced, and I know this is true as well for many of our players and the staff who have been supporting us all along. Maintaining our focus on the court and ensuring the overall safety and well-being of my players amid the external noise have been my priorities," Kress said.
The transgender player, Blaire Fleming, is out of eligibility after completing a fourth collegiate season in 2024. The team's season ended in the Mountain West Conference championship game after it advanced to the title game by virtue of a forfeit from Boise State in the semifinal round. Boise State previously forfeited two regular season games to San Jose State amid the controversy involving Fleming, accounting for three of its seven conference wins via forfeit this year.
A loss to Colorado State in the conference final ended the season and prevented the controversy from slipping into the NCAA tournament. The loss effectively ended Fleming's collegiate career.
In September, co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging the program withheld knowledge about Fleming's birth gender from her and other players on the team. Slusser alleged she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with Fleming without knowing that Fleming was a biological male.
Slusser, along with several other players in the Mountain West, filed a separate lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State in November over Fleming's presence. That lawsuit included testimony from former San Jose State volleyball players Alyssa Sugai and Elle Patterson alleging they were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming.
That lawsuit also alleges that San Jose State players spoke up about an alleged scheme by Fleming to have Slusser spiked in the face with a volleyball in a game against Colorado State on Oct. 3. Slusser was not spiked in the face in that game, and an investigation by the Mountain West concluded without finding sufficient evidence of the alleged plot.
Assistant coach Melissa Batie-Smoose was suspended by the program in early November after she filed a Title IX complaint against the university for showing favoritism toward Fleming over the other players, especially Slusser. Batie-Smoose's complaint also included allegations of Fleming's plot to have Slusser spiked in the face.
Slusser previously told Fox News Digital that Batie-Smoose's dismissal severely impacted the morale of the team.
"After we found out that she was released, a lot of the team just kind of broke down and was kind of freaking out, and even one of my teammates was like, ‘I don’t feel safe anymore,' because there's no one now that we feel like we can go and talk to about our concerns or our actual feelings and can actually speak freely in front of," Slusser said.
Slusser added that she and other players lost trust in the coaches, including head coach Kress.
"You can't truly voice how you're feeling without them just trying to cover it up or act like it's all OK. With Melissa, you could voice how you felt, and she could comfort you and validate your feelings and at least make you feel heard compared to the other coaches," Slusser said.
Kress also blamed the team that forfeited for igniting backlash against his team, as each forfeit brought about more controversy and media attention.
"Sadly, others who for years have played this same team without incident chose not to play us this season. To be clear, we did not celebrate a single win by forfeiture. Instead, we braced for the fallout. Each forfeiture announcement unleashed appalling, hateful messages individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff and many associated with our program."
However, these issues did not stop the players from at least having some fun on what was their final road trip as San Jose State Spartans for most of them.
Slusser previously told Fox News Digital that the team went out to a magic show together when they traveled to Las Vegas for the Mountain West tournament, and even had a team Thanksgiving meal together at the team hotel with takeout from a local diner with many of their families.
However, that was not enough to keep the seven players who have entered the transfer portal attached to the program, as the team will be facing a major roster turnover as it looks to rebound on the court and in its reputation in 2025.
NCAA President Charlie Baker claimed TV ratings for the NCAA women's volleyball tournament rose "100%" this year during an interview on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" Thursday.
The surge comes just one year after the 2023 tournament saw a 115% increase from 2022.
"The ratings this year grew a little too, by another 100%," Baker boasted during the interview. "People love to see competition. People love to see young people compete, and we got to stop talking about sports other than football and basketball as ‘non-revenue.’"
Baker celebrated the surge in viewers ahead of the semifinals Thursday night, when Pittsburgh takes on Louisville and Penn State takes on Nebraska.
This year's tournament nearly had an appearance by San Jose State amid a national controversy that overshadowed much of the college volleyball season. San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser has an active lawsuit against the NCAA and leads another lawsuit with several other players against the Mountain West Conference.
The lawsuits allege Slusser and other players were forced to compete with transgender player Blaire Fleming without ever being told of Fleming's natural birth sex. The controversy and the transgender athlete's continued presence on the team throughout the season resulted in forfeits of seven regular-season matches and a conference tournament semifinal.
It was an unprecedented string of forfeits in the sport's history. The backlash to the situation resulted in a threat against Slusser and added police protection for the team at all home and away games this year, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The controversy even drew criticism from Donald Trump during a Fox News town hall in October.
San Jose State previously confirmed to Fox News Digital the team did not notify any opponents on its schedule of the situation involving Fleming throughout the season, only giving notification to other schools of needed extra security.
police protection The inclusion of the transgender player was even challenged in court. Slusser and other players involved in her lawsuit sought to have Fleming removed from the Mountain West tournament.
Colorado District Judge Kato Crews allowed Fleming to play in the tournament, ruling the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency delay "was not reasonable" and "would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, [San Jose State] and other teams participating in the tournament."
So Fleming, Slusser and the other SJSU Spartans went to Las Vegas for the tournament and even got a bye in the first round by virtue of six conference games forfeited by opponents.
Boise State had already forfeited two regular-season meetings to San Jose State amid the controversy because the university's home state of Idaho has an executive order in place to bar transgender athletes from women's sports. So, after Boise State beat Utah State in the quarterfinal round, the Broncos forfeited a third time in the semifinal to send San Jose State to the championship match.
Colorado State defeated San Jose State in the final, keeping Fleming and the Spartans out of the NCAA tournament.
After that match, Spartans head coach Todd Kress provided a statement to Fox News Digital.
"Each forfeiture announcement unleashed appalling, hateful messages individuals chose to send directly to our student-athletes, our coaching staff and many associated with our program," Kress said.
NCAA president Charlie Baker was the subject of harsh scrutiny after defending the organization's current policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete against women during a senate hearing on Tuesday.
Baker addressed the issue again during an interview on ESPN's "The Pat McAfee Show" Thursday. When McAfee asked Baker how the parents of daughters should feel about trans athletes in women's sports and the NCAA's record on it, the president made it a point to minimize the impact of the issue.
"There are 510,000 college athletes playing in the NCAA, there are less than 10 transgender athletes, so it's a small community to begin with," Baker said.
It was the same statistic that Baker offered in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday when asked about the specific numbers. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. faced backlash as well when he posted a clip of Baker providing the stat with a caption that read, "Let’s focus on ways to actually improve women’s sports."
At that hearing, Baker also suggested that women athletes who feel alienated by sharing a locker room with trans athletes "should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so."
On Thursday Baker repeated the same justification for the NCAA's policies during the interview with McAfee. Baker referenced five recent court rulings that have enabled trans athletes to compete against biological females in the last 15 months. On Tuesday, he referenced five cases in the last 18 months.
Only one ruling enabled a trans athlete to compete at the college level. He has not specifically identified any of the other cases, but mentioned that some have occurred at the high school level.
The ruling that he has reference was by Colorado district Judge Kato Crews in November, that allowed trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming to compete in the Mountain West Tournament for San Jose State University. That ruling after an emergency injunction by other players in the conference to have the athlete removed from competition.
Crews wrote that the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency delay "was not reasonable" and "would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, [San Jose State] and other teams participating in the tournament."
However, Crews' ruling did not address the issue of trans inclusion at a macro level. It simply rejected a proposal that would disqualify a player, and potentially an entire team, from a conference tournament.
The other federal rulings on this issue in the last 18 months have focused on the issue occurring at the high school and youth levels. This includes a ruling in Arizona in September that blocked a state law preventing two prepubescent trans athletes from competing in girls' sports. In April, a ruling in West Virginia blocked a law that would have prevented a 13-year-old biological male from competing in girls' cross-country.
Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, who were both appointed during the Obama administration, each issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls' soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, and Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia.
During the McAfee interview on Thursday, Baker said he is open to working toward a clear federal policy on the issue.
"I would love to work with people in Washington to create a federal standard around this issue, because right now we don't have one, and it's a problem," Baker said. "And I accept that it's an enormously controversial and challenging issue, but right now if you look at the way these issues are getting decided in court, courts are deciding in favor of participation. So, we are abiding by the way they're deciding this."
During Thursday's interview, McAfee, who expressed his desire to have his daughter play sports when she's older, ended the conversation by praising Baker on ESPN's airwaves for his handling of the situation.
"I think you'll get it right, Charlie, I think you have done a fantastic job since taking over the help, I think you've been phenomenally transparent through it all and I can't thank you enough for making us sports stooges a little bit smarter," McAfee said.
McAfee previously said he believes that "men have a clear advantage" over women in sports while speaking about the controversy involving Algerian Boxer Imane Khelif at the Paris Olympics this summer.
"I know that it's not every woman and not every male physical body. We're not talking about souls, we're talking about physical bodies, but at those high level of competition, there is a clear advantage," McAfee said on Aug. 1. "There always has been, and I assume there always will be, and I hope we get to a point that we can all agree on this. I think we all feel the same way about this."
James Madison Dukes defensive lineman Eric O’Neill picked up a key sack in a win against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on Wednesday night in the Boca Raton Bowl.
O’Neill then celebrated the sack by emptying the quiver on Hilltoppers quarterback Caden Veltkamp. It was not the only time he performed the celebration either, and college football fans on social media noticed.
O’Neill had three tackles, including one sack, as James Madison won the game 27-17.
"It’s surreal. It’s probably the best moment of my life," he told ESPN after the win. "We got a bunch of (Football Bowl Championship) guys nobody wanted out of high school. Now, finished the season 9-4, winning bowl games at JMU. You can’t even dream of this."
He was asked about the celebrations after the game as well.
"It was just working hard, getting there and the celebration, I’m a big UFC fan so it was one of those," he said, via The Breeze. "I don’t blame them if they … if I’m an offensive lineman and someone did that to my quarterback, I’d probably want to push them."
It was the Dukes’ first bowl win as a Football Bowl Subdivision team. They moved up from the FCS prior to the 2022 season. Curt Cignetti, who is now the coach at Indiana, was James Madison’s head coach for their first two years at the highest level of college football.
Bob Chesney took over after Cignetti left the team for the Hoosiers and guided the team to the bowl win.
O’Neill, a redshirt-junior from New York, transferred from Long Island University before the start of the 2024 season. He played in his first bowl game with a bunch of other teammates.
He wrapped up his first season at James Madison as a First Team All-Sun Belt Conference defensive lineman. He had 13 tackles and 52 total tackles. He also returned an interception for a touchdown.
Alabama Crimson Tide Athletic Director Greg Byrne called on fans to donate to the school’s name, image and likeness (NIL) fund in a message on Wednesday.
"Over the past few years, there have been drastic changes in college athletics. We have been careful during this transitional period to protect our position at the top of college athletics while being mindful to listen, engage and learn from our generous supporters, proud alumni and unrivaled fans to make sure that we protect our great traditions here at Alabama," Byrne’s message read. "But there’s a time for talk and a time for action. Now is a time for action.
"Although we have been competitive from an NIL standpoint, our competition has us in their sights and are actively trying to surge ahead with NIL. You have heard examples of other teams using promises of million-dollar paydays to lure away our players or convince them not to come to Alabama. It is time for the Bama Nation to fight back.
"Under the new model of college athletics, which is the result of an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA, a university can succeed if their fans purchase authentic NIL from student-athletes. The good news is when @yea_ala was created last year, the focus was on providing our fans with a legitimate product rather than booster inducements. @yea_ala delivers exclusive content and access you cannot get anywhere else. We also have a plan to grow @yea_ala’s offerings with more videos, features and news in 2025."
Byrne said donating to the fund was about keeping stars with the Crimson Tide so they do not go elsewhere for a better deal.
"At Alabama, we’ve not measured ourselves against our competition," he added. "We are the standard, and that measurement is against the mirror and against a rich and proud history, but it’s impossible to ignore what is taking place in college athletics. Hungry fan bases are acting decisively to give their respective programs competitive advantages. We must respond."
More than a dozen football players entered the transfer portal when it opened on Tuesday, including wide receiver Jaylen Mbakwe.
However, the team received a few commitments through their own endeavors into the transfer portal. The school signed Florida defensive lineman Kelby Collins and Utah cornerback Cameron Calhoun.
Robert Cole Parmalee, 40, said on social media he intended to marry the UConn phenom.
When he was first arrested back in August, he had an engagement ring and lingerie while walking along a highway near Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Connecticut.
He told a state trooper that he had just flown in from the Pacific Northwest and was on his way to see Bueckers at UConn, the police reports said.
The trooper took Parmalee into custody when he learned there was an arrest warrant against him out of Josephine County, Oregon, accusing Parmalee of setting a home on fire with roommates and pets inside, police said.
Parmalee had posted photos, videos and comments about Bueckers on TikTok and other social media platforms and had emailed UConn officials since June with rambling comments including his desire to marry Bueckers, police said. The postings and emails initially did not warrant criminal charges, but his comments became alarming over time, police reports said.
He had originally faced charges of stalking, breach of peace and harassment, but those were substituted for a single count of second-degree stalking, the clerk said.
A two-time All-American, Bueckers leads the Big East with 20.6 points per game and a 58.4 shooting percentage. As a true freshman, she was named the AP Player of the Year and given both the Wooden and Naismith Awards.
Bueckers missed the entire 2022-23 season after tearing her ACL, but she returned to form by being named an All-American for the second time. Her Huskies lost in the Final Four to South Carolina, who defeated Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes to finish their undefeated season.
YouTube is partnering with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to help celebrities, athletes, and creators identify content that uses their AI-generated likeness on the platform. The tool, which YouTube will begin testing early next year, will let these professionals submit requests for the removal of their AI-generated likeness. YouTube will first make the tool available for […]
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., took heat on social media on Tuesday for a post he made about transgender athletes in women’s sports.
Durbin was among the lawmakers who grilled NCAA President Charlie Baker on Capitol Hill. Durbin asked Baker how many athletes were in the collegiate organization and how many of those athletes were transgender.
Baker said there were about 510,000 NCAA athletes with 10 or fewer of those being transgender.
"Let’s focus on ways to actually improve women’s sports," Durbin wrote on X.
The senator faced backlash for the post on X.
Baker faced questions from Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., about trans participation in women’s sports and the accommodations for those athletes.
Hawley and Baker sparred over NCAA policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete on women's teams. Hawley confronted Baker about the NCAA policy that states "transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity."
Baker responded by insisting other athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they are uncomfortable with it.
"Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so," Baker said.
Baker added that NCAA guidelines give the institutions and organizations that host college sporting events, who he referred to as "locals," the option to accommodate athletes however they see fit.
"I believe our guidelines give people optionality in how they choose to use their facilities," Baker said. "We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments that they need to make accommodations for the people who are playing."
Baker also refused to initially agree with the notion that biological males have physical advantages over female athletes. When asked by Kennedy if trans athletes are at an advantage, Baker said the idea was debatable.
"There's not a lot of research on it, but it's certainly debatable," Baker said.
Kennedy posed the question a second time, asking if Baker did not think that "a biological male has an advantage every time competing against a biological female."
The NCAA president changed his answer, saying, "I think the way you defined it, yes, I would agree with you."
When Baker was pressed about why he and the NCAA have not taken action to amend policies to prevent trans inclusion in women's sports, he repeatedly cited federal law and recent rulings of federal courts that have enabled it. Kennedy loudly encouraged Baker to do something about it anyway.
"Why don't you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?" Kennedy yelled at Baker.
Trans inclusion in women’s sports has been a major issue in the U.S. The issue has grown in recent years, with Lia Thomas winning a women’s swimming national championship and Blaire Fleming helping San Jose State women’s volleyball to a Mountain West Conference Championship appearance.
Fox News' Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
"He has expressed interest in the position, and, yes, I did meet with him about his interest in Sac State football and our athletic rise. As you can imagine, given the success of our athletic programs, our football head coach job is an attractive role," Sacramento State President Luke Wood said in a statement to ESPN.
The Sacramento Bee reported that Sacramento State officials said the reports of Vick being considered for the job are "premature at best."
Vick played his college career at Virginia Tech from 1998-2000, earning first-team All-American honors in 1999. Vick was then drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons, where he became one of the top young stars in the sport.
Vick was the cover athlete of EA Sports' Madden NFL 2004. That year's version of the video game made Vick one of the fastest players in the game and one of the fastest quarterbacks in the history of the series.
But Vick's career and reputation took a dark turn in 2007.
Vick infamously spent nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty to financing a dog-fighting operation, forcing him to miss the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Vick had to rehab his image, and the NFL allowed him to play with the Philadelphia Eagles, where he spent five seasons after being released from prison in 2009. He also joined the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers before retiring in 2015.
Vick ventured into coaching in the summer of 2017, when he joined the Kansas City Chiefs and his former Eagles head coach, Andy Reid, as a coaching intern. He joined the NFL on FOX as an analyst after training camp concluded that year.
In April 2018, Vick was hired as offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football. However, shortly before the season began, head coach Kevin Coyle announced Vick wouldn't serve as offensive coordinator but would remain with the team as a consultant.
Vick has never coached at the college level, but he now gets a chance to help turn a program around after a 4-8 season in 2024.
NCAA president Charlie Baker sent a message to women's college athletes who are uncomfortable sharing locker rooms with transgender athletes on Tuesday, putting the responsibility of their own safety squarely on the women themselves.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing over legalized sports gambling, Sen. Josh Halwey, R-Mo., questioned Baker about the NCAA's policies that have allowed trans athletes to compete on women's teams. When Hawley confronted Baker about the NCAA policy that states "transgender student athletes should be able to use the locker room, shower and toilet facilities in accordance with their gender identity."
Baker, the former Democrat governor of Massachusetts, responded by insisting other athletes have the option to find other accommodations if they're uncomfortable with it.
"Everybody else should have an opportunity to use other facilities if they wish to do so," Baker said.
Baker added that NCAA guidelines give the institutions and organizations that host college sporting events, who he referred to as "locals," the option to accommodate athletes however they see fit.
"I believe our guidelines give people optionality in how they choose to use their facilities," Baker said. "We told the local folks who hosted our tournaments that they need to make accommodations for the people who are playing."
Baker also refused to initially agree with the notion that biological males have physical advantages over female athletes. When asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., if trans athletes are at an advantage, Baker said the idea was debatable.
"There's not a lot of research on it, but it's certainly debatable," Baker said.
Kennedy posed the question a second time, asking if it Baker didn't think "a biological male has an advantage every time competing against a biological female," the NCAA president changed his answer.
"I think the way you defined it, yes, I would agree with you," Baker said.
When Baker was pressed about why he and the NCAA hadn't taken action to amend its policies to prevent trans inclusion in women's sports, he repeatedly cited federal law and recent rulings of federal courts that have enabled it. Kennedy passionately encouraged Baker to do something about it anyway.
"Why don't you go to Amazon and buy a spine online and take stand?" Kennedy yelled at Baker.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., also lambasted Baker for the NCAA's current pro-trans policies during the hearing.
The Concerned Women for America (CWA) provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing Baker's comments on Tuesday.
"Charlie Baker's time as NCAA President has exposed a scandalous dismissal of the safety and dignity female athletes deserve. His lack of leadership has compromised the integrity of all member institutions, and his carelessness for Title IX protections endangers female athletes. We're grateful for Senator Hawley, Senator Blackburn, and Senator Kennedy's leadership on the issue and we hope Congress takes further action to condemn the NCAA's continued discrimination against women," said the organization's legislative strategist Macy Petty.
During the hearing, Baker referenced "five lawsuits in the last 18 months" that have enabled trans athletes to compete against biological females. However, as Hawley pointed out, there have not been any rulings that have explicitly instructed the NCAA to allow trans athletes to compete against females or share women's locker rooms.
One case Baker mentioned was a ruling by Colorado district judge Kato Crews in November that allowed trans volleyball player Blaire Fleming to compete in the Mountain West Tournament for San Jose State University after an emergency injunction by other players in the conference to have the athlete removed from competition.
Crews wrote the plaintiffs’ request for an emergency delay "was not reasonable" and "would risk confusion and upend months of planning and would prejudice, at a minimum, (San Jose State) and other teams participating in the tournament."
However, Crews' ruling did not address the issue of trans inclusion at a macro level. It simply rejected a proposal that would disqualify a player, and potentially an entire team, from a conference tournament.
Other federal rulings on this issue in the last 18 months have focused on the issue occurring at the high school and youth level. This includes a ruling in Arizona in September that blocked a state law preventing two prepubescent trans athletes from competing in girls' sports. Another ruling in April in West Virginia that blocked a law in that state which would prevent a 13-year-old biological male from competing in girls' cross country.
Judges Landya McCafferty of New Hampshire and M. Hannah Lauck of Virginia, both of whom were appointed during the Obama administration, each issued rulings this year that enabled biological males to play on high school girls' soccer and tennis teams. McCafferty issued an order that allowed two transgender athletes to compete in New Hampshire, while Lauck ruled that an 11-year-old transgender tennis player was allowed to compete against girls the same age in Virginia.
Those cases did not address the inclusion of trans athletes at the NCAA level.
Meanwhile, there are currently two ongoing lawsuits against the NCAA over its policies that have enabled trans athletes to compete against women.
Former NCAA swimmer and OutKick contributor Riley Gaines currently leads a lawsuit against the NCAA with other female athletes, accusing the governing body of violating their Title IX rights due to its policies on gender identity. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, details the shock Gaines and other swimmers felt when they learned they would have to share a locker room with trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 championships in Atlanta.
San Jose State volleyball player Brooke Slusser, along with several other Mountain West volleyball players and former coach Melissa Batie-Smoose, filed their own lawsuit against the university and Mountain West Conference for allowing Fleming to compete as a woman without informing opponents or teammates of the athlete's natural birth sex.
While teams are vying for a national championship against 11 others, many college football players, including those in the College Football Playoff, are on the hunt for new schools.
The transfer portal opened up last week, several days before the 12-team College Football Playoff, and the timing has led to skepticism.
Earlier this week, Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula said he was put in an "impossible" situation to enter the portal, following Drew Allar's announcement to return next season, when the team has bigger things to focus on. Even head coach James Franklin said the quarterback was in a "no-win" situation.
Well, the head coach that will be opposite Franklin in Rhett Lashlee took it a step further, calling the timing "terrible."
"I feel so awful for our kids and kids around the country," the SMU head coach said on Tuesday, via ESPN. "There's no other sport at all that has free agency in the season. It's sad. It's terrible. You hear the story about their backup quarterback saying, 'I don't have a choice.' That's wrong. That's unacceptable. That's not OK. He shouldn't have to make that decision.'"
"The real easy thing is you don't have a transfer portal in December. That's the real easy answer, and it solves all the problems," Lashlee added. "Why in the world would we put kids in a position where they've got to decide, ‘Do I transfer or play in the playoff? Do I transfer or play my bowl game?…' People are bombarding our roster, trying to pick people off our roster, and we're trying to focus on the playoff. So yeah, it's real easy – don't have a transfer portal in December. Go to the spring."
Lashlee, who defended NIL money and transferring, finds himself in a similar scenario with his backup quarterback in Preston Stone, admitting it's a "juggling act" at the moment. Stone entered the portal last week, but will stay with the team through their playoff run.
The Mustangs will head to Happy Valley for a noon contest on Saturday, with the winner facing third-seeded Boise State and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty.
The fiancée of Colorado Buffaloes star Travis Hunter broke her silence amid a wave of criticism she has received over the last week for her interactions with the football player.
Leanna Lenee received the brunt of wild online criticism as of late for her reactions at specific moments. She posted a video on her TikTok account to try and quell the outpouring of negativity.
"I’m tired, emotionally and mentally. I’ve seen people trying to make me out to be a person that I am not," Lenee said in the near 8-minute clip. "But what’s a testimony without a test of faith?"
Lenee went over her relationship with Hunter from the beginning and addressed each moment of criticism she received from clips posted online.
She explained that after Colorado’s last win over Oklahoma State, security was afraid of fans storming the field and would not let fans, or even family, go down with the players. Lenee said that was what she was upset about then.
"It was not deeper than anyone made it out to be," she said.
At the Adidas event where she was accused of saying, "What am I supposed to do just sit here?," she said she was asking Hunter whether she should stay with him or go with his family. She said the clips that surfaced online were of Hunter taking photos with Adidas reps for social posts.
"The things that I see people make up is truly crazy because that’s not what happened. I just think people are finding every single little thing and making it something it’s not," she said of the criticism. "Bird-brained individuals are just accepting what they see online."
Finally, she addressed the negativity around her response to Hunter winning the Heisman Trophy in the frazzled moment his name was called. Lenee got teary-eyed as she said that Hunter was "perfect" in her eyes.
"When his name was called, I instantly was going to get up — if you watch the video, his mom didn’t get up, so I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I don’t get up, I just sit here,’" she said. "… As soon as I seen Travis get up, then I thought it was appropriate to stand up, greet him, congratulate him.
"But then, there was a camera right in front of Coach Prime and I knew they were going to film that moment and, because of how people are online, I was like, I don’t want to be in that shot, so I sat down.
"I got out of the camera, purposefully, so they can have their moment. That’s all it was. No one told me to stand up, no one had to tell me to celebrate with him. I was just sitting there crying, I wanted to take it in — I was super excited for him. But I wanted the moment to be about him and his family."
"You ain’t never had no girl so why are y’all talking about me," he said. "Find someone else to talk about. … Go talk about your girl. Go find a girl. Go find a life. Stop worrying about what I got going on. I know what I got.
"My girl been with me for five years. y’all are just now starting to talk about me… y’all go do something else with y’all life. Clickbait pages stop, y’all better stop I’m telling y’all. Something bad is gonna happen to y’all [if you] keep doing that. Y’all better stop that. I ain’t playing."
