Ki’Lolo Westerlund knew she had a starring role in an NFL Flag 50 commercial promoting flag football that would air during Super Bowl LIX. She knew she’d be appearing alongside past and present NFL players such as Myles Garrett, Justin Jefferson and Marshawn Lynch. She just hadn’t seen it. It aired on millions of screens worldwide right after halftime, but the 17-year-old flag football star was actually at the game in New Orleans with her father.

Westerlund was a standout receiver and defensive back at Liberty High School in Las Vegas. She also helped the U.S. Girls’ Junior National Team win gold medals in the 15U and 17U groupings of USA Football’s Junior International Cup each year from 2022 to 2024. Last year, she became the first recipient of a Division I flag football scholarship, and before enrolling at Alabama State this fall, she’ll try out for the 2025 U.S. Women’s National Team later this month.

But while Westerlund’s phone blew up with notifications, she eagerly awaited the chance to witness the Super Bowl ad for herself. Once the third quarter ended, it played on the screens at the Caesars Superdome.

Essentially, Westerlund played herself, but with the clock wound back 40 years to 1985. She played a high schooler who, despite being doubted by her male counterparts, thrived on the gridiron, juking and dodging defenders. The climax was a scene in which she mimicked Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley’s gravity-defying backward hurdle to embarrass an opponent who questioned her skills.

Leave the past behind. Let’s make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states. #NFLFlag50 #SBLIXhttps://t.co/mWxpXJ0Ogy pic.twitter.com/I0yzbDYZGo

— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025

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Westerlund was sitting — well, standing — in the Eagles fan section at the Super Bowl when the ad played, and the Bird Gang faithful surrounding her, already ecstatic as they witnessed the Eagles’ beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs, went nuts.

“It was really an honor,” Westerlund said recently in a phone interview. “That’s kind of when it all hit me. I was emotional. And I was like, ‘Wow, this is actually happening. This is crazy.’ All the people around me were like, ‘Wait, that’s you!’”

NFL Flag 50 is a campaign that the league started to push for girls flag football to become a sanctioned varsity high school sport in all 50 states. There are currently 14 states that have sanctioned it, Louisiana recently gave it conditional approval and 18 additional states have started pilot programs. The NFL Flag program has provided opportunities for youths of all genders to learn and play the sport since the 1990s.

If you’re wondering why the NFL would put together a two-minute commercial to air during an event where a 30-second commercial reportedly cost around $8 million, the popularity of flag football — and the league’s investment in the sport — has exploded in recent years.

Flag football will debut as an Olympic sport in a five-on-five format at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The NFL changed the Pro Bowl to a flag football format in 2023. While it’s uncertain if NFL players will participate in the 2028 Games, it’s something league officials and USA Football (the governing body for American football in the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee) are discussing.

In the last five years, flag football has become a collegiate sport at the NAIA, NJCAA and the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. Earlier this month, the sport got a recommendation to join the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which would allow schools in all three NCAA divisions to make a deeper commitment to the sport and one day potentially submit it for consideration for championship status.

Alabama State, an FCS program, became the first DI school with a women’s flag football program in April 2024. This past offseason, it became the first DI school to hand out a scholarship in the sport. It went to Westerlund.

When Alabama State coach Jennifer Constuble received approval to offer a scholarship, she knew she wanted to use it on someone who would be not only a game changer on the field but a trailblazer off of it.

“It was honestly a no-brainer,” Constable said recently. “She was my No. 1 pick to do that. … She’s going to be that person that kids are going to look up to.”

Westerlund is excited to compete at the collegiate level, but her larger goal is to compete in the 2028 Olympics and, more broadly, to continue to grow the game.

“Absolutely,” Westerlund said when asked if she believes people are becoming more accepting of girls and women playing football. “They are coming around and trying to understand it.

“And for those that still don’t, they will soon.”

Ki’Lolo Westerlund was the star of NFL Flag 50’s two-minute Super Bowl commercial. (Courtesy of the NFL)

Boredom led Westerlund to flag football.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns worldwide, she was a volleyball and rugby player with no intention of playing flag football. But during a period of inactivity in 2020, she decided to try out for Apex Predators, a youth flag football club in Las Vegas.

“I was actually really bad,” Westerlund said, but she made the team alongside future U.S. Women’s Team member Maci Joncich and others. They started to play games against boys’ teams. And while Westerlund gradually improved, the team wasn’t faring well.

“We were constantly getting beat and whupped and made fun of, which I think brought us a lot closer as a team,” Westerlund said. “And it just pushed us to keep fighting.”

As the Apex Predators developed better chemistry, they began to talk about how they wanted to play against other girls at some point. So they worked to promote the game both locally and in other states as they traveled to play contests to garner interest.

Nevada had already sanctioned flag football as a varsity high school sport in 2016, so Westerlund was able to start playing when she enrolled at Liberty High in 2021. That was also the first year USA Football held tryouts for its national teams. The process of making the junior national team was an eye-opening experience for Westerlund.

“There were so many girls out there. And just before trials even started, seeing (all of the) like-minded people, it made me want to just keep going,” Westerlund said. “It made me realize that it’s bigger than just what we had in our little league in Vegas.”

Unlike her flag football predecessors, Westerlund had others she could look up to as role models. The biggest was Ashlea Klam, who at 19 became the youngest player to make the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2023. Her former teammate, Joncich, who broke Klam’s record in 2024, was another.

Meanwhile, Westerlund started to develop a reputation in her own right. While coaching a club team in the Los Angeles Open — a flag football tournament — several years ago, Constuble was short a player and found herself looking for an extra body.

Constuble happened to be friends with an aunt of Westerlund, who was in town and signed up for the squad. The team went on to win the tournament.

3x gold medalist Ki’Lolo Westerlund joins us after starring in the @NFLFLAG 50 commercial during #SuperBowlLIX and discusses becoming the 1st flag football player to receive a NCAA D1 flag football scholarship 🙌@TheRokuChannel | Check local listings pic.twitter.com/8Ke4RONxEG

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) February 10, 2025

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As much as Westerlund’s skills stood out, so did her infectious personality.

“Her personality, her presence, her leadership qualities — she blended with a group of girls she had never met before so instantaneously,” Constuble said. “They all became friends.

“Her play ability speaks for itself,” Constuble continued, “but beyond her play ability, it’s her work ethic and her genuine desire and determination to be better and uplift everyone around her. That (is) such a pivotal role as a true ambassador for the sport and really somebody that young girls can look up to. It goes beyond athleticism. She’s just a genuine person who is humble hearted and has a mindset of, ‘I can do this, you can do this and we can do this better together.’”

Westerlund was constantly dancing and couldn’t stop running her mouth — whether it was talking trash to the opposing teams, complaining to the referees about calls or encouraging her teammates. She backed it up with her athleticism and competitiveness.

“I think it’s just my confidence — that’s what makes me stand out,” Westerlund said. “My passion for this game is just so strong. It’s more than just football. It’s everything that goes into it. I always want to play for a bigger purpose and a bigger reason. I always want to set a great example for other players, young or older.”

As Westerlund prepared to transition into college, Alabama State became the easy choice. It’s an HBCU, which appealed to her with her Black and Samoan heritage. It would allow her to major in fire science, which she hopes to use to become a firefighter. Given the program just started last year, it provided her an opportunity to help build something.

“It meant the world to me,” Westerlund said. “Five years ago, I couldn’t see myself in this situation because I didn’t know anything about flag. I’m seeing the growth and knowing that I’m making an impact. And this is just a bigger step to open windows for so many young women.”

To Constuble, it isn’t even a question that Westerlund’s flag football career will extend far beyond Alabama State.

“I think she’s already been on that radar to make that Olympic team in 2028,” Constuble said. “If there went on to be a professional, NFL flag football program and it was all men, she’d probably make that, too. Her work ethic and her drive are far superior to most people her age — and even people older than her. She does everything with such a passionate heart that the only limitations are going to be the ones she gives herself.”

(Courtesy of USA Football)

Constuble began coaching flag football in 2003 when she and her husband at the time started an NFL Flag program in Victorville, Calif. She coached at the club and high school levels, then worked in the Los Angeles Rams’ youth engagement and football development program before she was hired as Alabama State’s coach last November. Across her long journey in flag football, the sport has made plenty of strides.

There are now over 100 countries where flag football is played. From 2014 to 2023, the number of children who played flag football in America increased by 38 percent (according to USA Football) to over 1.6 million. During that same time frame, the number of girls participating in flag football increased by 44 percent to upwards of 230,800.

GO DEEPER

NFL and flag football: Why the league has taken interest, invested heavily in it

“I’ve invested in this for over 20 years, so, to me, it’s been a long time coming,” Constuble said. “The sport has taken over the hearts of so many young ladies. And these young ladies who’ve probably grown up watching old highlight films of their dads or being on the sidelines watching their brothers or cheering on their cousins in the stands have developed a true love for the game. And now we’re seeing so many of those girls having an opportunity to actually play it for themselves.”

Still, there was grassroots-level work to be done when she started at Alabama State last November.

This January, Constuble held an open tryout for her inaugural team. She landed on a group of 26 women, none of whom intended on playing flag football when they enrolled at the school.

“Ninety percent of them have never played flag football,” Constuble said. “They just genuinely have a love for football and knew that they wanted to be a part of something special.”

Westerlund is expected to lead that charge moving forward. If she makes the 2025 U.S. Women’s National Team later this month, she’ll compete in the 2025 IFAF Americas Flag Football Championships, which decides who will qualify for the 2026 world championships and The World Games in August.

“And then I also strive to make the Olympic team, which would be amazing. I absolutely love representing my country,” Westerlund said. “After that, I just want to constantly make an impact, whether I’m coaching or playing. I do want to be a firefighter, but I would make time for football, of course.

“My goal is just to stay dedicated, stay consistent and inspire others.”

(Top photo courtesy of USA Football)

Country music singer-songwriter Ingrid Andress broke her silence for the first time on Thursday, nearly a year after she admitted herself to rehab following her admission that she had been “drunk” during her controversial national anthem performance at the 2024 MLB Home Run Derby.

Andress, 33, appeared on “The Viall Files” podcast this week to discuss the fallout from her performance and what transpired just before she took the field at Globe Life Field in Arlington in mid-July. 

“That day started as a very – what seemed like a normal day,” Andress recalled. “At that point, like that day, I knew that I was drinking, but I was really loving the numbing feeling that I was having, and so I just didn’t stop.”

The four-time Grammy nominee explained that a recent split with her first manager and a breakup had prompted her to begin drinking excessively in the months leading up to her performance. She admitted that in her state at the time, she had been unaware of the crowd and fan reaction at home and had believed that she had “kind of nailed it.” 

“It wasn’t until I woke up the next day where I was like ‘OK, this is so unlike me. This is not OK. I need help,’” Andress said. “I didn’t realize how much the video was going viral, because I had never experienced anything like that.”

Andress later admitted in a statement she shared on social media that she had been “drunk” while singing the national anthem. She said on Thursday that she had shared the statement while on plane to rehab. 

Ingrid Andress sings the national anthem prior to the 2024 T-Mobile Home Run Derby. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

INGRID ANDRESS ADMITS SHE WAS ‘DRUNK’ DURING MLB HOME RUN DERBY NATIONAL ANTHEM PERFORMANCE, CHECKS INTO REHAB​​

“I’m not gonna bulls— y’all, I was drunk last night,” her statement read. “I’m checking myself into a facility today to get the help I need. That was not me last night. I apologize to MLB, all the fans, and this country I love so much for that rendition. I’ll let y’all know how rehab is, I hear it’s super fun.” 

Andress said on Thursday that she had received an overwhelming amount of hatred and felt like “America’s punching bag.” She joked that because of the political climate at the time, she took some solace in knowing that she could at least unify people on one thing. 

“I will say, at the time, politics was really bubbling, and I just feel like there was a lot of angst in general during that time. So, if anything, I feel like – I’m fine with being America’s punching bag, because for one moment, everybody was united in the fact that that was awful. So I feel like I united America in a way.” 

Ingrid Andress performs onstage during day three of CMA Fest 2024 at the Chevy Riverfront stage on June 8, 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee.  (Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images.)

Last month, Andress had the opportunity to redeem herself and performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at an NHL game in Colorado. She also released a new single earlier this week. 

She said on Thursday that after her stint in rehab and time with her family at home in Colorado, she felt ready to return.

“I spent a lot of time with family, and then I was like, ‘I think it’s time to re-emerge.’” 

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INDIANAPOLIS — Lindsay Gottlieb had warned of this very possibility, that her team’s opener in the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament might have the feel of an NCAA tournament game given the conference’s slew of quality teams.

Never mind that USC was top-seeded, second-ranked nationally and riding a seven-game winning streak.

Nothing was going to be easy. Especially given the crowd.

Every time Indiana made the slightest run Friday afternoon inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, what amounted to a home crowd for the Hoosiers buoyed them with more noise.

The place was rocking early in the fourth quarter when Indiana’s Yarden Garzon rose for a three-pointer that pulled the heavy underdogs to within two points, raising the possibility of a cinematic “Hoosiers”-style upset.

Then the Trojans reminded everyone why they were top-seeded, second-ranked nationally and riding a seven-game winning streak.

With every smooth move by guard JuJu Watkins and fearless jumper by forward Kiki Iriafen, USC offered a rebuttal that affirmed its standing and quieted the fans. The Hoosiers were within three points when back-to-back three-pointers from Talia von Oelhoffen and Watkins gave the Trojans a nine-point lead with 2 minutes 42 seconds left that finally deflated the fans.

USC was finally on its way to an 84-79 quarterfinal victory that fulfilled its coach’s prediction for high drama.

Scoring on an array of moves heavy on floaters and driving layups, Watkins led her team with 31 points on 10-for-19 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and three steals. Iriafen added 21 points, 10 rebounds and three assists before fouling out with 54 seconds left.

The Trojans (27-2) advanced to a Saturday semifinal, where they will play the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Maryland and fifth-seeded Michigan.

Garzon scored 23 points for the Hoosiers (19-12), who shot 39.7% to USC’s 46.8% and were outrebounded by five.

The Trojans played without center-forward Rayah Marshall because of an unspecified illness, taking more than her averages of 7.4 points and 8.6 rebounds off the board. Her absence inside the paint allowed the Hoosiers to pile up plenty of early backdoor points.

After Indiana’s Lilly Meister found a clear path to the basket for a layup, the Hoosiers held a 14-11 lead that had their fans roaring and forced Gottlieb to call timeout. Needing their best player to step up, the Trojans got a boost when Watkins drove for a layup and later leaped to steal a pass that led to another layup. USC rolled off eight consecutive points to quiet the crowd. Only for the moment.

After one three-pointer by Garzon rattled out of the rim, causing her to bury her head in her hands in frustration as she ran back down the court, Garzon got her next one to bounce off the front of the rim and hit the backboard before falling through the net. The crowd was rocking again, the Hoosiers showing they would not be intimidated while trailing only 38-34 at halftime.

The Trojans had the answers needed for the Hoosiers and the crowd. In the final minute, a pack of USC fans behind the Trojans bench provided the soundtrack.

“We are SC!” they chanted.