Sports
American Dreams, Honed in Leeds
In a victory at Liverpool in October that almost certainly saved his supervisor’s job, for instance, Leeds not solely ran greater than any group had in any Premier League recreation this season, however Aaronson ran greater than anybody else. He registered 8.2 miles, greater than any participant has run in any league recreation this yr.
“Brenden Aaronson loves grass,” Daniel Chapman wrote earlier this season in “The Sq. Ball.” “Inexperienced grass. Yellow grass. Half artificial grass. All of the grass, he loves all of the grass, loves working in it, rolling in it, being on it, dancing throughout it, consuming it up metaphorically together with his working ft and maybe actually together with his hungry mouth.”
Marsch regards that characterization, whereas not incorrect, as a contact reductive. “He has extra high quality than folks suppose,” the coach stated. “He’s a great finisher, he’s actually intelligent with the right way to put passes collectively in tight areas. It’s a lot nearly his potential to make ultimate performs, and sluggish himself down somewhat bit within the ultimate third.”
Even Marsch, although, couldn’t fairly resist the lure of constructing a horticultural analogy. “He’s like a weed,” Marsch, a former M.L.S. coach with the Crimson Bulls, informed MLSsoccer.com’s “Extratime” podcast earlier this season. “You nearly see him develop earlier than your eyes.”
That’s what has endeared him, so rapidly, even to Leeds’s most hard-bitten, weather-beaten followers: not simply his effort, however his intent. It’s what has crammed American followers with optimism about his contributions heading into Monday’s World Cup opener in opposition to Wales.
That day in opposition to Fulham, Aaronson had no purpose to apologize. The defeat, most actually, had not been his fault. He had been Leeds’s greatest, and only, participant. Nonetheless, although, he made his method across the discipline, nonetheless shifting, even after the ultimate whistle, nonetheless believing he might have achieved extra.
Sports
Scottie Scheffler tees off for PGA Championship's 2nd round after arrest
Scottie Scheffler teed off from the 10th hole in the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Course in Kentucky just hours after he was arrested.
As his name was announced, and he stepped toward the tee box, Scheffler received a raucous round of applause. He would go on to birdie.
Scheffler got back to the course less than an hour before his tee time. He was tied for 12th at the start of the second round and released a statement. His first stroke hit just off the fairway.
“This morning, I was proceeding as directed by police officers. It was a very chaotic situation, understandably so considering the tragic accident that had occurred earlier, and there was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do,” he said. “I never intended to disregard any of the instructions. I’m hopeful to put this to the side and focus on golf today.
“Of course, all of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective.”
He was with Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman.
“Just a wild morning, man,” Harman told ESPN’s Marty Smith.
ESPN reported that Scheffler drove past a police officer in his SUV with markings on the door indicating it was a PGA Championship vehicle. The officer screamed at him to stop and then attached himself to the car until Scheffler stopped his vehicle about 10 yards later. ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington characterized it as a “misunderstanding with traffic flow” as authorities were investigating a traffic fatality earlier in the morning.
“Scheffler was then walked over to the police car, placed in the back, in handcuffs, very stunned about what was happening, looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said, ‘Please help me,’” Darlington said on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” “He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation. It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”
XANDER SCHAUFFELE’S 9-UNDER START MAKES PGA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
“Right now, he’s going to jail,” one officer at the scene told Darlington. “He’s going to jail and there ain’t nothing you can do about it.”
Scheffler was booked into the Louisville Department of Corrections later Friday. He was charged with second-degree assault of a police officer (a felony), criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic.
Scheffler was coming off of four victories in the last five tournaments, including a second Masters title. He was home in Dallas the last three weeks waiting for the birth of his first child, which occurred on May 8.
Xander Schauffele had the lead after the first round. He was 9-under par. Sahith Theegala, Tony Finau and Mark Hubbard were tied for second place at 6-under par.
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Sports
Column: Reds' Alon Leichman lives his dream with a heavy heart thinking of Israeli hostages
For Alon Leichman, the assistant pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, his job is at Dodger Stadium this weekend. His heart is in Israel.
His first coach, the one who taught him to play baseball, struggles to endure each day. The coach’s brother, kidnapped from his home by Hamas militants seven months ago, is believed to remain captive in the Gaza Strip.
“As of 10 days ago,” Leichman said Thursday, “he was still alive.” He had been shown on a hostage video.
One of Leichman’s former teammates on an Israeli national team also was kidnapped.
“I’m afraid,” Leichman said, “he is not alive.”
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack is to Israelis what the Sept. 11 Al Qaeda attack was to New Yorkers: Everyone knows someone who was killed.
Israel observed its Memorial Day this week. Leichman got a somber text from one of his friends there, apologetic in tone.
“I only got to four graves today,” the text read.
These should be days of celebration for Leichman, who was born and raised in Israel before playing college ball at Cypress College and UC San Diego. He worked as a minor league coach — briefly for the Dodgers, and for six years with the Seattle Mariners — and along the way pitched for Israel in the 2020 Olympics.
The Reds hired him last season. He had made the major leagues.
“I am living out my dream,” he said.
He reminds himself of a country’s tears wherever he goes, with the silver dog tag he wears around his neck. Embossed upon the dog tag, in English and Hebrew, is the national cry in support of the hostages: “Bring them home — now!”
In Israel last winter, Leichman participated in Saturday evening marches with that rallying cry. He did not wear the dog tag there.
“When I come to the States, I feel like this is when I need to wear this,” he said, cradling the tag in his hand, “because it creates conversation.”
He is not scared by the wave of protest against Israel. Where he grew up, a suicide bomber could lurk around any corner.
“Every bus I went on,” he said, “I had the thought that it might blow up.”
However, he does not mind having those conversations, if only to share what he personally knows. It can be difficult, he said, to persuade people that what they see on social media is different from his lived experience.
Leichman served in the Israeli army, where he said the training was stern: If you see a suspected terrorist near a civilian, you cannot shoot. His brother recently returned from serving two months in Gaza and said militants tossed grenades and shot at Israeli soldiers and then scattered down tunnels.
“I’m going to believe my brother,” Leichman said.
Leichman is not sure of how the war might end. He is not a general, nor a politician. He said the Israeli government is “shooting itself in the foot” and said that, while Hamas might be the problem, the people of Gaza are not.
“We want peace,” he said. “We have our disagreements on how we’re going to get there.”
The gloves Leichman has used this season include one stitched with “Bring Them Home Now!” and the Israeli flag, another with an image of the dog tag he wears and a Jewish star.
He took a picture with him wearing one of those gloves last week and sent it to his old coach in Israel, the one whose brother remains a hostage. It is a compassionate gesture and a helpless feeling rolled into one, when that is all you can do.
Sports
Shaun White admits itch to return to competitive snowboarding is 'always there'
Shaun White retired from competitive snowboarding following a fourth-place finish in the halfpipe event at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
White was only in his mid-30s when he decided to step away from the spot he dominated for so long. He won three gold medals at the Olympics dating back to 2006 in Italy, not to mention the 10 X Games gold medals he racked up during his illustrious career.
With the trend of great athletes possibly second-guessing retirement, White admitted in an interview with Fox News Digital that the itch to return to snowboarding is “always there.”
“It’s just kind of maintaining this sort of like, well, ‘you stopped for a reason.’ And I spoke to a lot of athletes and they were just like, ‘It never goes away,’” he said. “You’re like watching TV and (say) I could’ve made that catch. They’re just like that’s just embedded and ingrained in your for so many years of doing it. But there’s like this amazing life waiting for you outside of that.”
White said he picked the brains of some famous athletes about how they look at their careers when they are off the field or out of the pool.
EX-OLYMPICS STAR SHAUN WHITE RIDES WITH CVS FOR NEW SNACK AND BEVERAGE LINE: ‘THEY’VE REALLY UPPED THE GAME’
“Guys like Michael Strahan, Michael Phelps and I even ran into Tom Brady, which was actually great because he did the, ‘Hey I’m gonna come back’ and yeah it’s hard to let go of that feeling. And it was cool to talk to him about (it) like, ‘Man, we did it. We had our moment and we can celebrate that because the history books will show,’” White said.
He told Fox News Digital he is developing a solid career outside of competition but is still practicing tricks. While he may not be competing against other nations come 2026, he expects to be back in Italy to cheer on his friends.
“It’s definitely fun, and I’ve still been able to get back out on the mountain and work on tricks and have fun and ride. I have my own brand called White Space and we do boards and outerwear and all this stuff. I’m still involved in the sport through that. I was still testing products. We have now young riders that we sponsor. It’s been cool but yeah definitely, like, I’ll be there probably on the microphone or something for that Games. Definitely cheering my friends on.”
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