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At least one Dodgers player sees benefits to being in an NL West dogfight

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At least one Dodgers player sees benefits to being in an NL West dogfight

The journey is just as important as the destination in the eyes of Miguel Rojas, which is why the veteran shortstop isn’t fretting over the fact that the Dodgers are in a dogfight for the National League West for the first time since 2021, the only year they’ve failed to win the division in the last 11 years.

The Dodgers cruised to division titles the past two seasons, winning the NL West by 22 games in 2022 and 16 games in 2023, and what good did that do them?

Thrust into high-intensity games for the first time in weeks, the 100-win Dodgers were swept by 84-win Arizona in the NL Division Series last October, and their 111-win team lost to 89-win San Diego in a four-game NLDS in 2022. Arizona went on to reach the World Series in 2023, and San Diego reached the NL Championship Series in 2022.

Rojas believes the stress and intensity of a six-week tussle with the Padres and Diamondbacks for the division title and wild-card spots will make the Dodgers far more battle-tested for October than they were the past two seasons.

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“Those teams that have to win games down the stretch to get into the playoffs, like the Diamondbacks last year, they roll into the postseason knowing how to win and how to play in those do-or-die games,” Rojas said.

“I think they have the advantage because the pressure is off, the anxiety is gone, because you’ve been playing games like that and winning them. You have the confidence you can win them.”

Sunday’s nail-biter of a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium had that pennant-race feel, the Dodgers breaking a scoreless tie with two fifth-inning runs off ace Sonny Gray and Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw throwing six shutout innings in which he gave up four hits, struck out two and walked one.

Kershaw, in his fifth start back from shoulder surgery, did not allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth, when he gave up singles to Pedro Pages and Victor Scott II to open the inning.

Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw delivers during the first inning against the Cardinals on Sunday.

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(Jeff Le / Associated Press)

But he escaped the two-on, no-out jam by getting Masyn Winn to fly out to center field and Willson Contreras to ground to third, where Rojas turned an unassisted double play.

Kershaw’s pitch count was at just 70 when he was pulled in favor of right-hander Evan Phillips, who gave up one hit in a scoreless seventh. Daniel Hudson gave up a pinch-hit solo homer to Lars Nootbaar that pulled the Cardinals to within 2-1 in the eighth.

Michael Kopech then pitched around a one-out throwing error by catcher Austin Barnes in the ninth, getting Nolan Arenado to ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play for his second save of the series.

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There was no score in the fifth when Gray hung a first-pitch, 80-mph curve to Shohei Ohtani, who smashed a 113.5-mph line drive into the right-field bullpen for his 39th homer of the season and a 1-0 lead. Of Ohtani’s 12 hits in August, seven are home runs.

Mookie Betts walked, and Gavin Lux, who doubled in his first two at-bats, singled Betts to third. Teoscar Hernández struck out for the second out, but Rojas lined a clutch RBI single to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

The win gave the Dodgers a 4-3 record on their trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis and assured that they would remain at least two games ahead of the Padres, who were playing the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon.

The Dodgers rotation is still an injury-marred mess, with ace Tyler Glasnow (elbow tendonitis) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (rotator-cuff strain) on the shelf, and Walker Buehler, who has returned from a second Tommy John surgery and an inflamed right hip, and Bobby Miller, back form an inflamed shoulder, struggling to regain their form.

But the lineup is nearing full strength, having welcomed back right fielder Betts after a seven-week absence because of a left-hand fracture last week. Tommy Edman (ankle sprain) will be activated on Monday, and third baseman Max Muncy (oblique strain) will be activated Monday or Tuesday.

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And the bullpen received a huge shot in the arm with the acquisition of Kopech from the Chicago White Sox, right-hander Ryan Brasier returned on Saturday from a right-calf strain that sidelined him for 3 ½ months, and Blake Treinen (left-hip discomfort) will be activated on Tuesday.

The Dodgers will need all the manpower they can get to fend off the pesky Padres and Diamondbacks, who are nipping at their heels.

“They’ve been hot, but I feel like that gives us motivation to continue to play our game and win games, you know?” Rojas said. “We can’t really relax right now, even though we have the [second] best record in the NL. I think it’s good that we’re playing games we need to win, because that’s how we’re going to have to play in the playoffs.”

Manager Dave Roberts views the tight division race as something of a double-edged sword.

“I think you can look at it both ways,” Roberts said. “Being in a real pennant race, I think brings out the [best in] individuals, in teams, I think. The other side of the coin is, you don’t have the luxury of resting guys or kind of red-lining certain guys because every game is even more magnified. That’s not necessarily a good thing. … But you play this game for competition, and we’re in a competition for the next month.”

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Short hops

The jammed middle finger on Freddie Freeman’s throwing hand, injured when he was struck by a sixth-inning ground ball Saturday night, worsened Sunday, preventing the first baseman from playing against the Cardinals, the first time in his three years with the Dodgers he has missed a game because of injury. Freeman, who is listed as day to day, will undergo a CT scan on Monday. Though he could not grip a bat on Sunday, Roberts said the injury is “not too concerning at this point in time.” Muncy took some ground balls with triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday in case he is needed to fill in for Freeman this week. … The Dodgers called up right-hander Ben Casparious from triple A to add some length to the bullpen. Right-hander Brent Honeywell was designated for assignment.

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Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit

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Law firm fighting for women’s sports in SCOTUS battle comments on ruling possibly impacting SJSU trans lawsuit

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A law firm leading the charge in the ongoing Supreme Court case over trans athletes in women’s sports has responded after a federal judge suggested the case’s ruling could impact a separate case involving a similar issue. 

Colorado District Judge Kato Crews deferred ruling in motions to dismiss former San Jose State volleyball co-captain Brooke Slusser’s lawsuit against the California State University (CSU) system until after a ruling in the B.P.J. v. West Virginia Supreme Court case, which is expected to come in June. 

Slusser filed the lawsuit against representatives of her school and the Mountain West Conference in fall 2024 after she allegedly was made to share bedrooms and changing spaces with trans teammate Blaire Fleming for a whole season without being informed that Fleming is a biological male. 

 

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Meanwhile, the B.P.J. case went to the Supreme Court after a trans teen sued West Virginia to block the state’s law that prevents males from competing in girls’ high school sports. 

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is the primary law firm defending West Virginia in that case at the Supreme Court, and has now responded to news that Slusser’s lawsuit could be affected by the SCOTUS ruling. 

“We hope the ruling from the Supreme Court will affirm that Title IX was designed to guarantee equal opportunity for women, not to let male athletes displace women and girl in competition. It is crucial that sports be separated by sex for not only the equal opportunity of women but for safety and privacy. Title IX should protect women’s right to compete in their own sports. Allowing men to compete in the female category reverses 50 years of advancement for women,” ADF Vice President of Litigation Strategies Jonathan Scruggs said.

Slusser’s attorney, Bill Bock of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, expects a Supreme Court ruling in favor of the legal defense representing West Virginia, thus helping his case. 

(Left) Brooke Slusser (10) of the San Jose State Spartans serves the ball during the first set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Oct. 19, 2024. (Right) Blaire Fleming #3 of the San Jose State Spartans looks on during the third set against the Air Force Falcons at Falcon Court at East Gym on October 19, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. ( Andrew Wevers/Getty Images; Andrew Wevers/Getty Images)

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“We’re looking forward to the case going forward,” Bock told Fox News Digital. 

“I believe that the court is going to find that Title IX operates on the basis of biological sex, without regard to an assumed or professed gender, and so just like the congress and the members of congress that passed Title IX in 1972, allowed this specifically provided for in the regulations that there had to be separate men’s and women’s teams based on biological sex, I think the court is going to see that is the original meaning of the statute and apply it in that way, and I think it’s going to be a big win in women’s sports.”

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared prepared to rule in favor of West Virginia after oral arguments on Jan. 13. 

Slusser spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court on Jan. 13 while oral arguments took place inside, sharing her experience with a divided crowd of opposing protesters. 

With Fleming on its roster, SJSU reached the 2024 conference final by virtue of a forfeit by Boise State in the semifinal round. SJSU lost in the final to Colorado State.

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Slusser went on to develop an eating disorder due to the anxiety and trauma from the scandal and dropped out of her classes the following semester. The eating disorder became so severe, that Slusser said she lost her menstrual cycle for nine months. Her decision to drop her classes resulted in the loss of her scholarship, and her parents said they had to foot the bill out of pocket for an unfinished final semester of college. 

President Donald Trump’s Department of Education determined in January that SJSU violated Title IX in its handling of the situation involving Fleming, and has given the university an ultimatum to agree to a series of resolutions or face a referral to the Department of Justice. 

Among the department’s findings, it determined that a female athlete discovered that the trans student allegedly conspired to have a member of an opposing team spike her in the face during a match. ED claims that “SJSU did not investigate the conspiracy, but later subjected the female athlete to a Title IX complaint for ‘misgendering’ the male athlete in online videos and interviews.”

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SJSU trans player Blaire Fleming and teammate Brooke Slusser went to a magic show and had Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas despite an ongoing lawsuit over Fleming being transgender. (Thien-An Truong/San Jose State Athletics)

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SJSU Athletic Director Jeff Konya told Fox News Digital in a July interview that he was satisfied with how the university handled the situation involving Fleming.

“I think everybody acted in the best possible way they could, given the circumstances,” Konya said. 

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Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush

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Myles Garrett cited for speeding a ninth time, an elite pass rusher seemingly always in a rush

Myles Garrett is in a hurry to become the greatest pass rusher in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end set the single-season sack record in 2025 and has cracked the top 20 career leaders after only nine seasons.

“I’m going to take that down, and I prefer I take it down in the next five years,” Garrett told Casino Guru News last month.

Off the field, however, his urgency to get from point A to B is a problem. He’s accumulating speeding tickets at an alarming rate.

On Feb. 21, Garrett was handed his ninth speeding ticket since his NFL career began in 2017. He was cited for driving 94 mph in a 70-mph zone on Interstate 71 between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio.

The citation from the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office says Garrett was driving his green 2024 Porsche at 1:35 a.m., returning home after attending a Miami of Ohio basketball game in Oxford.

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Body cam footage shows the officer telling Garrett that she kept the charge under 100 mph so that a court appearance wouldn’t be mandatory. Garrett reportedly still holds a Texas driver’s license — he attended Texas A&M — and told the officer that he did not have an Ohio license.

Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett wears a jacket displaying his girlfriend Chloe Kim before the women’s snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy.

(Lindsey Wasson / AP)

The officer wrote that the famously affable Garrett was “kind and cooperative,” and that drugs and alcohol were not a factor.

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Garrett’s need for speed flies in the face of his persona. He has written poetry since high school, peppers social media with inspirational sayings and donates time and money to several charities.

His girlfriend is two-time gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic snowboarder Chloe Kim, for whom he wrote a poem he shared on social media: “You enrapture fools to kings, and exist without a peer, put on this Earth for many things, but our love is why you’re here.”

Verse hasn’t slowed his roll. On Aug. 9 he was cited for ticket No. 8, clocked at 100 mph in a 60-mph zone in a Cleveland suburb a day after the Browns returned home from a preseason game at Carolina.

Garrett’s seventh ticket followed a frightening crash in 2022. He flipped his gray 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S off State Road in Sharon Township and he and a female passenger were injured. He was cited for failing to control his vehicle due to unsafe speeds on what had been a slick roadway.

A witness told a responding police officer that Garrett’s vehicle went airborne, took out a fire hydrant and rolled three times. Garrett sustained shoulder and biceps sprains and was sidelined for the Browns’ game that week against the Atlanta Falcons. His companion was not seriously injured.

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Cleveland television station WKYC reported that in September 2021 Garrett was stopped twice in a 24-hour period — for driving 120 and 105 mph. The infractions occurred on Interstate 71 in Medina County, where the speed limit is 70 mph, and he paid fines of $267 and $287.

A year earlier, Garrett was cited for driving 100 mph in a 65-mph zone of Interstate 77 — again while driving a Porsche — and paid a $308 fine. He accumulated his first batch of speeding tickets in 2017 and 2018, and the police reports recite similar circumstances: Garrett driving well over the speed limit, cited without incident, paid a nominal fine.

The piddly fines certainly aren’t a deterrent. Garrett, 30, and the Browns agreed to a four-year contract extension in March 2025 that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history at the time. The deal pays the seven-time All-Pro more than $40 million a season and includes more than $123 million in guaranteed money.

He set the NFL single-season sack record with 23.0 last season, surpassing the 22.5 accumulated by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan. Garrett has 125.5 career sacks, averaging 14 a season, a pace that would enable him to break Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 in five years.

“That is definitely on my mind to go out there and get,” Garrett said. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now since college.”

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Garrett has declined to discuss his driving habits.

“I’d honestly prefer to talk about football and this team than anything I’m doing off the field other than the back-to-school event that I did the other day,” he told reporters after ticket No. 8 in August, referring to a charity appearance.

“I try to keep my personal life personal. And I’d rather focus on this team when I can.”

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Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death

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Keith Olbermann under fire for calling Lou Holtz a ‘scumbag’ after legendary coach’s death

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Former ESPN broadcaster Keith Olbermann once again incited backlash on social media Wednesday after he called late legendary college football coach Lou Holtz a “legendary scumbag” in an X post on the day Holtz was announced dead. 

“Legendary scumbag, yes,” Olbermann wrote in response to a clip of Holtz criticizing former President Joe Biden in 2020 for supporting abortion rights. 

Olbermann received scathing criticism in response to his post on X.

 

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“You’re a scumbag that needs mental help,” one X user wrote to Olbermann. 

One user echoed that sentiment, writing to Olbermann, “You’re the real scumbag here. Lou Holtz had more class, integrity, and genuine decency in his pinky finger than you’ll ever show in your lifetime.”

Another user wrote, “You’re a grumpy, lonely, Godless man. All the things Lou Holtz was not.”

Keith Olbermann speaks onstage during the Olbermann panel at the ESPN portion of the 2013 Summer Television Critics Association tour at the Beverly Hilton Hotel July 24, 2013, in Beverly Hills, Calif.  (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Olbermann has made it a pattern of sharing politically charged far-left statements that are often combative and ridiculed on social media, typically resulting in immense backlash.

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After the U.S. men’s hockey team’s gold medal win, Olbermann heavily criticized the team for accepting an invitation from President Trump to the State of the Union address. Olbermann wrote on X that any members of the men’s team who attended the event were “declaring their indelible stupidity and misogyny,” while praising the women’s team for declining the invitation.

In January, Olbermann attacked former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Kaitlynn Wheeler for celebrating a women’s rights rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court during oral arguments for two cases focused on the legality of biological male trans athletes in women’s sports.

Former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz listens before being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec, 3, 2020.  (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“It’s still about you trying to find an excuse for a lifetime wasted trying to succeed in sports without talent,” Olbermann wrote in response to Wheeler’s post. 

In 2025, Olbermann faced significant backlash after posting (and later deleting) a message on X aimed at CNN contributor Scott Jennings, that said, “You’re next motherf—–,” shortly after the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. 

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Holtz was a stern supporter of President Donald Trump, even saying in February 2024 that Trump needed to “coach America back to greatness!”

Near the end of Trump’s first term, shortly after former President Joe Biden defeated him in the 2020 election, Trump awarded Holtz with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States. 

After Holtz’s death was announced Wednesday, several top GOP figures paid tribute to the coach on social media. 

Those GOP lawmakers included senators Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala.; Todd Young, R-Ind.; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; representatives Greg Murphy, R-N.C.; David Rouzer, R-N.C.; Erin Houchin, R-Ind.; and Steve Womack, R-Ark.; and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Indiana Gov. Mike Braun; U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon; and Rudy Giuliani.

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Lou Holtz, former Notre Dame football coach, addresses the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit at the Marriott Marquis July 26, 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

At the time of publication, prominent Democrat leaders have appeared silent on Holtz’s passing, including prominent Democrats with a football background. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who worked as an assistant high school football coach; Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who was a recruiting target for Holtz in 1986 as a college prospect; Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, who played in the NFL; and Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Ill., who played football for the University of Illinois, have not posted acknowledging Holtz’s death. 

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