Sports
Deion Sanders attacked by anti-religion group for Colorado team chaplain – legal expert says he can have one
Colorado football coach and NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders came under fire by an anti-religion group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), over his use of a team chaplain. Sanders had Pastor Dewey Smith pray over the football team after its win against Baylor University on Sept. 22.
The FFRF released a scathing four-page letter condemning Sanders, making claims that having Smith do the prayer counted as “unconstitutional religious activities,” as he leads a football team at a public university.
“Coach Sanders’ team is full of young and impressionable student athletes who would not risk giving up their scholarship, giving up playing time, or losing a good recommendation from the coach by speaking out or voluntarily opting out of his unconstitutional religious activities – even if they strongly disagree with his beliefs,” the letter read.
“Coaches exert great influence and power over student athletes and those athletes will follow the lead of their coach. Using a coaching position to promote Christianity amounts to unconstitutional religious coercion.”
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders before the game against the North Dakota State Bison at Folsom Field. (Ron Chenoy-USA Today Sports)
It isn’t the first time the FFRF has targeted Sanders for his displays of honoring and practicing Christianity.
When Sanders first became the head coach at Colorado in 2023, the FFRF raised concerns about his previous open display of faith with his team. This resulted in the university giving him additional training on the boundaries of religious expression in public institutions. The university revealed in a statement that Sanders had received training on nondiscrimination policies and establishment clause requirements after his hiring.
But this time, an organization has stepped in to defend Sanders. The First Liberty Institute has issued a response to the FFRF’s letter, arguing that Sanders has the legal right to bring prayer into his team’s locker room.
Keisha Russell, a constitutional lawyer with First Liberty Institute who has worked as a federal law clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, told Fox News Digital that there is legal precedence for why Sanders has the right to bring a chaplain into the team’s locker room.
“FFRF’s letter is beyond inaccurate,” Russell said. “The cases that we do have about chaplains programs and the government providing chaplains in public life, there are a lot of cases about it, and it’s clearly allowed.”
While there have been no Supreme Court cases that focused specifically on a chaplain in a public school football locker room, Russell believes that if Sanders’ case was elevated to that level, he would win easily, with evidence from a previous case.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court sided with Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy after he was suspended and later fired because he prayed a brief, quiet prayer after football games. First Liberty Institute filed a lawsuit against the school district, arguing that banning coaches from quietly praying, just because they can be seen by the public, is wrong and violates the Constitution. On Sept. 1, 2023, Coach Kennedy returned to the field and knelt in prayer after the game.
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Colorado head coach Deion Sanders before the North Dakota State game, Aug. 29, 2024, in Boulder. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
“If you combine that with what the Supreme Court has recently said about religion and students, and particularly the last coach Kennedy case, I think it’s pretty clear that these students are old enough to kind of differentiate for themselves what they want to do in that situation, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their coach inviting one in for inspiration,” Russell said. “The practice is definitely constitutional, and it’s highly likely that they would uphold this practice as proper under the First Amendment.”
Sanders has said he devoted himself to Christianity shortly after his first divorce in 1998, from his ex-wife Carolyn Chambers, with whom he had his first two children, Deion Jr. and Deiondre. Sanders opened up about his devotion to Christ during an interview on “Running Wild” with Bear Grylls in November 2023.
Coach Deion Sanders points to the scoreboard from the sideline against CSU in the Rocky Mountain Showdown at Canvas Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024, in Fort Collins, Colorado. (Cris Tiller/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
“That’s when I went through my first divorce in which the only things that I knew that truly loved me were my two kids. Now they’re gone, now they’ve been taken away. It was devastating, and I went through suicidal thoughts, a suicidal period,” Sander said. “I ran this car off the side of the highway, and at the bottom, I thought this car would just flip, and it didn’t flip, and I was still there. Shortly after that, I just had to come to the Lord with my hands up and say, ‘I’m done. I can’t do it anymore. You got me. I give up. God, you take me.’”
During an introductory press conference last year commemorating his position as new head at UC, Sanders praised God.
“Out of all the persons in the world, God chose me,” Sanders said. “For that, I thank Him; for that, I love Him; for that, I magnify Him; for that, I glorify Him; for that, I praise Him; for that, I owe Him. Each and every day, I’m trying to please Him,”
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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.
Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.
“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.
Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.
He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.
After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.
“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”
MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME
Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.
He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.
Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.
He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.
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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.
Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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BOSTON — Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.
Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.
It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.
In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.
Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.
Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.
After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.
Sports
Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card
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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June.
But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract.
White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card.
Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City. ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))
“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”
White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it.
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The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan.
On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter.
UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready.
“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”
Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.
Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote.
The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion.
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