Sports
Candace Parker's goodbye, without cheating the game, herself or her fans
Candace Parker never wanted to cheat the game.
Of a player molded by Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols’ legacy, one would expect nothing less. Through 10 surgeries. Her pregnancy and birth of her first child, Lailaa, after her rookie season. Through offseasons spent playing in Russia and China and Turkey, and later, offseasons behind the desk on TNT, NBATV and CBS. Through a career that spanned 16 seasons and three cities in the WNBA, four years at Tennessee and two Olympics, it can be said assuredly: Parker never cheated the game. Instead, it almost feels like the game should’ve given her even more than it did.
Parker, 38, announced Sunday on Instagram that she had retired from the WNBA. From her home or a hotel or a gym somewhere, Parker silently pushed send and let the world know that one of the greatest who has ever stepped foot on a basketball court would not play again.
There were no heads-ups or warnings to the WNBA community or the players against whom she has competed for years. And there will be no send-off season or monthslong march toward her retirement. It was swift and succinct. And it was exactly how she wanted it — entirely on her terms. After a career that was too often derailed by injury, she was owed that.
“I always wanted to walk off the court with no parade or tour,” her Instagram caption read. “Just privately with the ones I love.”
That Parker’s last WNBA game was a 2-point loss on the road to Dallas in 2023 is a footnote in her story. That might’ve been her last game on the floor, but her last WNBA game was a league championship. Her third one. She might’ve been on the end of the bench, not suited up, but she was crucial for the Las Vegas Aces every step of the way. Parker went out as she always was — a winner, an incredible teammate and an advocate for the game.
In reading Parker’s message, the first memory that comes to mind is not of her final season in Las Vegas, but of her final game in the 2021 season. She had come home to Chicagoland after 13 seasons in Los Angeles to bring a title to the city. It was the first offseason under a new CBA when free agency could thrive and she was — fittingly as one of the players who helped build the league — one of the first to deliver shocking free-agency news. Months later, in October, in a decisive WNBA Finals Game 4, with five seconds remaining, Parker pulled down the final rebound of the 2021 season and began to dribble up the court. As time expired, she picked up the ball and sprinted to the corner of the court, where her family awaited. She jumped into their arms.
She returned to center court to celebrate with teammates until she spotted Lailaa and motioned for her to come running. That was when the tears really started to fall. Parker played part of her rookie season pregnant with Lailaa and thus, Lailaa has been on Parker’s basketball journey since birth.
This moment with Lailaa💙@Candace_Parker | #skytown pic.twitter.com/6cQsv7QLrb
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) October 17, 2021
“Look at the city, man, they all showed up,” Parker said, looking up at the sold-out arena with her arm draped around her daughter. “They all showed up.”
But Parker had always been a player for whom people show up — fans, cities, her family, free agents. That season had its own harbingers of a swiftly changing league as viewership and attendance ticked up. In that final game, Chance the Rapper and Scottie Pippen sat courtside, but it was Lailaa to whom she held most tightly after the game.
Her basketball career spans the epic growth of this sport that has only hastened in the past few seasons. In 2003, she became the first women’s basketball player to ever announce her college commitment on ESPN. She would later become the first women’s player to dunk in an NCAA game. In the WNBA, she became the first (and still, only) player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. Then, she became the first player to win three league titles with three franchises.
She was one of the first women’s players who tested the limits of positionless basketball. Even in college, her unicorn-like skills were undeniable. In the national title game during her senior year, play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick said: “This is almost unfair — someone of her size with this kind of speed and this kind of ballhandling.”
But it wasn’t unfair. Parker was just different. Maybe ahead of her time. Maybe right on time. She pushed the boundaries of what people saw for women’s basketball players. And she would continue to do so as a player in the WNBA both on and off the court.
She became a broadcaster, investor, professional women’s soccer team owner, face of Adidas basketball, producer and mother (in addition to Lailaa, she and her wife, Anna Petrakov, are expecting their second child together). She did all of this while continuing to fight injuries that risked her career, but rehabbing so that she could continue to be one of the best players in the WNBA. Her commitment to the game never wavered. She refused to give less than her all. A memory of Summitt not hesitating to kick her out of college practice for not giving 100 percent sat fresh in the front of her mind even two decades later.
In the wake of her retirement announcement, social media was flooded with photos from people — WNBA players, NBA players, athletes and fans — who admire Parker, both the player and person.
“The biggest thing is she did it her way, always,” former teammate Courtney Vandersloot told The Athletic. “She was the type of player that changed the game. What we see now, Candace was doing that early.”
Candace Parker has retired from the WNBA.
I broke the news to her. Here’s her instant reaction ⬇️ https://t.co/t9CpY5wrnr pic.twitter.com/WD8unfrBdt
— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) April 28, 2024
Parker never cheated basketball. She changed it. And, if anything, it owed her a few more attempts at a title and more wins while being fully healthy or having a full complement around her. Regardless of her last game, her last win or her last title, Parker changed the expectations of a women’s basketball player and WNBA player by being 100 percent herself. She stood on the shoulders of giants while allowing others to stand on her shoulders simultaneously, too.
For 16 WNBA seasons, Parker played for her family, her city and her league. She proved she could be almost as effective at that on the bench as a motivator and coach, when life necessitated it far too often, as she was on the floor. Even in retirement, her impact will be felt through the sport she helped grow.
Now, the girl who fell in love with “a little orange ball at 13 years old” can relax in retirement knowing it bounces better for the next generation because of her.
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
Sports
Trump support drove wedge between former Mets star teammates, says sports radio star Mike Francesa
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New York sports radio icon Mike Francesa claims differing views on President Donald Trump created a divide within the Mets clubhouse.
Francesa said on his podcast Tuesday that a feud between shortstop Francisco Lindor and outfielder Brandon Nimmo, who was recently traded to the Texas Rangers, was ignited by politics. Francesa did not disclose which player supported Trump and which didn’t.
“The Nimmo-Lindor thing, my understanding, was political, had to do with Trump,” Francesa said. “One side liked Trump, one side didn’t like Trump.”
New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) gestures to teammates after hitting an RBI single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, July 23, 2025, in New York City. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)
Francesa added, “So, Trump splitting up between Nimmo and Lindor. That’s my understanding. It started over Trump… As crazy as that sounds, crazier things have happened.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Mets for a response.
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New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor (12) and Brandon Nimmo (9) celebrate after a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on June 27, 2023, in New York City. The Mets won 7-2. (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo)
Nimmo was traded to the Rangers on Nov. 23 after waiving the no-trade clause in his 8-year, $162 million contract earlier that month.
The trade of Nimmo has been just one domino in a turbulent offseason for the Mets, which has also seen the departure of two other fan-favorites, first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Edwin Diaz.
All three players had been staples in the Mets’ last two playoff teams in 2022 and 2024, playing together as the team’s core dating back to 2020.
Brandon Nimmo #9 of the New York Mets celebrates an RBI single against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in Game One of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 5, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Heather Barry/Getty Images)
In return for Nimmo, the Rangers sent second baseman Marcus Semien to the Mets. Nimmo is 32 years old and is coming off a year that saw him hit a career-high in home runs with 25, while Semien is 35 and hit just 15 homers in 2025.
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Many of the MLB’s high-profile free agents have already signed this offseason. The remaining players available include Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette and Framber Valdez.
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Sports
FIFA responds to fan outrage, establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices
FIFA announced an affordable admission pricing tier for every nation that’s qualified for the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The supporter entry tier will make tickets available at a fixed price of $60 for every match, including the final, for each nation’s participating members associations.
The new tier comes after supporters’ groups from Europe called out FIFA on the dynamic pricing of tickets, which changes the value based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.
“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”
FIFA will also waive the administrative fees for fans who secure participating member association tickets. But if their teams do not advance, they can seek refunds.
Tickets sales were rolled out by FIFA in phases, with a third of the tournament’s inventory claimed during the first two phases. The third phase started on Dec. 11 and will go through to Jan. 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate tickets for a match based on a random selection draw.
Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final in MetLife Stadium in New Jersey would cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices raised concerns among European supporters.
“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous, a step too far for many supporters who passionately and loyally follow their national sides at home and abroad,” the FSA, an organization of supporters for England and Wales, said in a statement posted on its website on Dec. 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed — Gianni Infantino only sees supporter loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”
FIFA previously stated it adopted the variable pricing because it was common practice for major North America sporting events.
“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA official said in the conference call. “It’s a reality in the U.S. and Canada that events are being priced as per the demand that is coming in for that event.”
A FIFA official told reporters before the first tickets went on sale that world soccer’s governing body expects to make more than $3 billion from hospitality and tickets sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men’s competition was held in the U.S.
That 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.
FIFA said it received 20 million requests during the random selection draw sales.
SoFi Stadium will host eight matches, beginning with the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will finish group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches — Iran versus New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 — also will be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this one featuring Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.
The teams for the three knockout-stage games to be played at SoFi Stadium — round-of-32 games on June 28 and July 2 and a quarterfinal on July 10 — haven’t been determined, but the possibilities include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.
Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.
Sports
Titans star Jeffery Simmons calls burglars ‘f—ing cowards’ after home break-in during game vs 49ers
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Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ripped into those who burglarized his home while he played against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
There were “at least six suspects” who burglarized Simmons’ Nashville home, which came shortly after 7 p.m., the Metro Nashville Police Department told ESPN.
That was the exact time frame the Titans were facing the 49ers in the Bay Area.
Jeffery Simmons of the Tennessee Titans looks on during halftime against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Nissan Stadium on Nov. 30, 2025 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jeff Dean/Getty Images)
“What if any of my family members was in my house??” Simmons wrote on social media while showing security camera footage of the burglars trying to enter his home. “All that materialistic s—- you can have but this is crazy!”
Simmons also called the burglars “f—ing cowards,” though he was complimentary of the Metro Nashville PD.
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“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Metro Nashville Police Department and the Titans’ security team for their professionalism and swift response,” Simmons said in a statement. “Their dedication to ensuring the safety of our entire Nashville community does not go unnoticed. I remain thankful for God’s protection and grace.”
The suspects were said to have gained entry to Simmons’ home “after smashing out window glass,” while “multiple items were taken” in the process.
It’s unclear exactly what was taken from Simmons’ home.
Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) reacts after sacking Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (not pictured) during the fourth quarter at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 7, 2025. (Scott Galvin/Imagn Images)
Meanwhile, Simmons was able to find the end zone despite the loss to the 49ers, so a good personal performance came to a screeching halt once he found out the news.
But unfortunately, Simmons isn’t the only NFL star who has been burglarized while playing a game.
Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce had it happen last season, as did Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All of those burglaries were in connection with a South American theft group that was specifically targeting NFL and NBA players.
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Cleveland Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders also saw $200,000 worth of property taken from his residence while they were playing the Baltimore Ravens earlier this season.
The Titans’ security team said it is “actively working” with local police to recover the stolen items.
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