Sports
‘Meal Ticket’ doc goes deep into the real history of the incomparable McDonald’s All-American Games
Long before he became an NBA Hall of Famer, Paul Pierce was a senior at Inglewood High School thrilled to be chosen to play in the 1995 McDonald’s All-American Game, a nationally televised showcase that has brought together 24 of the best prep players in the country every year since 1978.
The McDonald’s all-time scoring record of 30 points had been set in 1981 by (who else?) Michael Jordan a month after his 18th birthday. Fourteen years later, Pierce scored at a blistering pace, yet because someone had stolen his jersey, he played a portion of the game with the name “McCoy” on the back.
Broadcasters credited “McCoy” with several baskets and apparently the scorekeeper couldn’t keep track either. In the box score, Pierce was credited with 28 points. In his mind, he was certain he had more than 30.
He painstakingly watched the game tape and, sure enough, he had scored 31 points. Yet the official McDonald’s record book didn’t recognize it, and Jordan continued to hold the record until Jonathan Bender put up 31 in 1999.
That is just one of the delightful, insightful stories included in the feature-length documentary “Meal Ticket,” an exhaustively researched labor of love by co-directors Corey Colvin and Carlton Gerard Sabbs of production company Stony & Yates. The film will premiere Thursday on Prime Video.
Meanwhile, Jordan had his own beef with McDonald’s — or at least his mother did. He was not given the John R. Wooden Award as Most Valuable Player in that 1981 game even though he set the scoring record and made shots during the East team’s last five possessions, including the winning basket in a 96-95 victory.
Chase Budinger, left, and Kevin Durant, co-MVPs of the 2006 McDonald’s All-American High School basketball game, hold the MVP trophy in front of legendary coach John Wooden, center.
(Denis Poroy / Associated Press)
Deloris Jordan was not happy. On the elevator leaving the arena, she told broadcaster Billy Packer, “Poor Michael. My poor son Michael. He never gets any recognition. He never gets any respect.”
Soon, of course, her son would get his due, first for leading North Carolina to the NCAA title as a freshman — again sinking the winning shot — then for leading the Chicago Bulls to a record six NBA titles in eight years while winning 10 scoring titles. Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time.
Produced by Roc Nation, Known Originals and Creative Control, “Meal Ticket” chronicles the 49-year history of the McDonald’s All-American Games. Nearly 50 Naismith Hall of Famers were participants, and many reminisce for the documentary.
For most, the showcase was their first time on national television. At 17 or 18 years old, they were fresh-faced, eager and ultra-competitive. Colvin, 41, and Sabbs, 39, dug deep into archives of games and surrounding activities provided by McDonald’s and ESPN, and the result is a balanced blend of action footage and fond memories.
“We tried to illustrate the parallel between the McDonald’s game and the growth of the sport,” Colvin said. “I honestly feel it’s a power hidden within the McDonald’s game that people haven’t paid attention to. If you want to know where basketball is going, watch the McDonald’s game.”
Among the key developments was founder Bob Geoghan expanding the event to include girls’ basketball, launching a doubleheader format with the boys beginning in 2002 that proved immensely popular.
Two years later, Candace Parker won the annual Slam Dunk Contest, defeating, among others, JR Smith and Josh Smith, both of whom would be NBA first-round picks within months. Parker’s achievement was so unlikely that her own brother hung up on her when she called to tell the family, according to the documentary. Just another nugget unearthed by Colvin and Sabbs.
The creative careers of the Chicago South Side products began with directing branded content, and their mentors, directors Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah, helped them make a pitch to McDonald’s in 2022 for an independent documentary.
Early fears that the fast-food colossus would be overly brand conscious and dictate content were allayed. Mickey D’s not only gave the directors the rights to tell the story, but also provided game footage while steering clear of editorial meddling.
Bronny James of the West team talks to his dad, LeBron James of the Lakers, at the 2003 McDonald’s All-American Game in Houston, Texas.
(Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images)
“You’d think with McDonald’s, they’d be very hands-on to position and push the brand,” Sabbs said. “But they were good partners. We were even concerned about the name, ‘Meal Ticket,’ because it’s kind of edgy, a quadruple entendre. Would McDonald’s approve it? They stood by us. Nobody micromanaged us. And when they were around, we knew we’d be getting some french fries.”
The closest Sabbs and Colvin came to deviating from McDonald’s sanitized version of events came when the directors recognized the role Geoghan played in launching the Games. Amateur basketball luminaries Wooden — the legendary former UCLA coach with 10 national championships — Sonny Vaccaro and Sonny Hill were drawn into promoting the Games largely because Geoghan earmarked profits for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The documentary team immersed itself in the 2022 McDonald’s All-American Games, shadowing two boys and two girls throughout the weekend. Part of that story was the outpouring of emotion for Geoghan, who died at 87 in February 2022 and was honored at the Games a month later.
“When we were filming in 2022 we saw how deeply everyone respected Bob,” Sabbs said. “They did a tribute on the Jumbotron before the game and put a Bob Geoghan jersey and a dozen roses on the seat where he watched games.
“Bob never wanted to get rich off the McDonald’s Games. He was a humble guy who some said died penniless. I hope this film helps him and his family get some recognition for what he contributed to basketball. He really ought to be in the Naismith Hall of Fame and I hope that happens.”
All indications point to Geoghan redirecting attention to the court and the sheer number of precocious youngsters who went on from the showcase to legendary professional careers. California has produced the most McDonald’s players on both the boys’ and the girls’ teams. And simply considering those who eventually made their marks with the Lakers is staggering.
Magic Johnson starred in the first McDonald’s game in 1978. James Worthy played alongside Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins and Ralph Sampson the next year. Shaquille O’Neal was MVP in 1989. Kobe Bryant made highlight reel plays in 1996. JJ Redick was 2002 MVP and won the three-point shootout. LeBron James was MVP in 2003.
Bryant and James, of course, were among the elite players to jump straight from the showcase to the NBA, skipping college. Another player who did so, Amar’e Stoudemire, was physically dominant even when sharing the court with other future greats.
“I was a different kind of beast, man,” Stoudemire says in the documentary. “I’m not doing a finger roll off the glass move. I’m attacking the basket and I’m shaking the whole backboard. I think from that point on, everyone knew, ‘Stoud, he’s going to the NBA. He ain’t going to college.’ By the time we left, I’m sure there were a few screws and hinges that had left the rim.”
JR Smith also realized he was going to skip college for the NBA after dominating the McDonald’s Game in 2004, scoring 25 points on an assortment of dunks and long-range jumpers. He was committed to North Carolina but had made no secret that he didn’t want to go there.
Upon returning to the hotel after the game, Smith began running through the halls, yelling, “I’m going to the league!”
This year’s Games will take place March 31 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The West boys’ roster will include Southern California products Brandon McCoy Jr. and Maximo Adams from Sierra Canyon, Christian Collins from St. John Bosco and Jason Crowe Jr. from Inglewood. Jerzy Robinson from Sierra Canyon and Cydnee Bryant from Corona Centennial will play in the girls’ game.
Even with NIL money seeping into players’ bank accounts, Sabbs and Colvin haven’t noticed a change in how the best of the best approach the McDonald’s All-American Games.
“All you hear are these stories from all-star games that the players don’t care anymore because there’s too much easy money,” Colvin said. “But these guys are competing, playing defense, diving on the floor. The McDonald’s Games are still a precursor for where the game is going, from elevating the girls to NIL, and we hope that comes across in the film.”
Alex Palou’s 2025 season was the best for an IndyCar driver in nearly 20 years.
He won a career-high eight races, including the Indianapolis 500. He won his third straight series title and his fourth championship overall. He made the podium 13 times in 17 races.
Yet if you ask Palou, he’ll tell you he’s going into Saturday’s qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach needing to prove himself all over again.
“Who cares about what we did last year?” he said. “It’s cool to have four championships, but the only important year is 2026. Everybody started with zero points on the board and we need to do it all over again.”
That’s far easier said than done, although Palou is off to a fast start in his quest for a fifth championship having won two of the first four races on the IndyCar schedule to stand second in the driver standings, two points behind defending Long Beach champion Kyle Kirkwood.
“Last year was magical,” said Palou, who has captured 10 of the last 21 checkered flags, dating to 2024. “As an athlete you always want to keep on improving, but I need to be realistic and understand that to win eight races in IndyCar in the same year, it’s pretty tough to beat.
“So although I want to achieve that, we just need to take 2026 separately and just try our best, try to win as many races as possible and then obviously fight for the [Indy] 500 and the championship.”
Winning Long Beach, one of the few prizes on the IndyCar circuit that has eluded him, would be a big step in that drive for five. But that won’t be easy since passing on the tight 1.968-mile street course, with its 11 turns, is difficult. That makes track position important, putting a premium on Saturday’s qualifying and on pit stops in Sunday’s race.
“It’s always super tough to be competitive there,” Palou said of Long Beach, where he finished second last April, giving him three straight podium finishes. “One of the only bad things about street racing [is] that it’s really tough for us to overtake with how tight the tracks are and all the bumps.
“It just makes it super challenging.”
Alex Palou competes during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Florida on March 1.
(David Jensen / Getty Images)
Not as challenging as the race Palou, the most successful Spanish driver in IndyCar history, had to run just to get into a race car.
As a boy growing up in the tiny Catalan village of Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Palou started kart racing about the same time he started grade school. He was 15 when he finished second in the 2012 European karting championship yet he didn’t see much of a future beyond that.
Lewis Hamilton had finished in the same spot 13 years earlier, then went on to become the most successful Formula One driver in history. But England has a long-established history with open-wheel racing and Spain did not.
“He came from nothing, showing up at a carting track and then having these big dreams and aspirations. And here he is,” said Barry Wanser, the senior manager of IndyCar operations for Chip Ganassi Racing.
“I know he’s very proud he’s the first Spaniard to win the Indianapolis 500. That’s just absolutely incredible.”
But that was never the goal.
“Honestly,” Palou said, “my goal was just to have fun. When we started, I never wanted to be a race car driver for a living. I never thought that it would be possible.”
Before Palou, Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion, was Spain’s most successful open-wheel driver. After Alonso is Carlos Sainz Jr., who has won four F1 races; Pedro de la Rosa, who made more than 100 F1 starts but climbed the podium just once; and Oriol Servià, who ran 79 IndyCar races in nine years but never placed higher than fourth before retiring in 2019, one year before Palou made his debut in the series.
Aside from Alonso, those drivers were good but not great, leaving the road from Spain to success in open-wheel racing a narrow one. That’s a path Palou is now widening.
“I would say that for sure it’s helping future generations that I’m here and that I had success,” he said, “just because they can know that with a normal European background you can come to the U.S. and fight for wins and championships.”
Alex Palou celebrates after winning the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 1.
(David Jensen / Getty Images)
Wanser said what makes Palou so good is his feel for both the car and the track and his ability to communicate with his team.
“He has a very unique ability to understand what he needs the car to do to maximize performance on the tires,” said Wanser, the race strategist for Ganassi’s No. 10 car who has sometimes been called Palou’s indispensable partner. “You’re talking about road courses, street courses, for the primary [tires] — the hards and the softs — and understanding what he needs for qualifying and also what the car needs for reducing tire deg[redation] during the race.”
For now Palou, who turned 29 earlier this month, appears content with mastering those skills in IndyCar rather that following the natural progression into an F1 ride.
He said he went “all in” to win an F1 seat following his first IndyCar title in 2021, but doubts about whether he’d be given a competitive car led him to back out. Rumors linking him to Red Bull’s F1 team surfaced after last year’s Indy 500, but Palou shot those down too, saying he was staying with Ganassi.
Wanser, obviously, is happy with that decision and hopes it will pay off Sunday in Long Beach.
“Alex is very young, right?” he said. “IndyCar is so competitive that we could never, ever think about being complacent. If we start heading down that road, we will get beat and get beat often.
“It’s nonstop trying to constantly improve, knowing every weekend we show up to the racetrack it’s going to be difficult to win.”
Sports
Mike Trout’s torrid Angels series vs Yankees ends in historic fashion after he blasts fifth home run
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Mike Trout couldn’t stop rounding the bases at Yankee Stadium during the Los Angeles Angels’ four-game series, and he made history doing so.
The future Hall of Famer crushed five home runs, including a blast in the Angels’ 11-4 win Thursday afternoon, and tallied nine RBIs in the series, which Los Angeles split with New York.
The 34-year-old Trout entered the series with only two home runs and seven RBIs on the season, but he’s heading back home this weekend looking like his prime self after what transpired in the Bronx.
Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels before a game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y., April 13, 2025. (Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire)
He also heads back with some history as the first visiting player to hit a home run four straight days at Yankee Stadium, according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Trout’s five homers are also tied for the most in a single series against the Yankees. Only three others — George Bell, Darrell Evans and Jimmie Foxx — have done so in past seasons.
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The latest home run from Trout was a solo blast that traveled 446 feet off Yankees reliever Angel Chivilli in the top of the seventh inning Thursday to make it a 7-4 game. Jo Adell’s grand slam later in the game blew it open for Los Angeles to even the series in the end.
Before that, Trout kicked off the series with two home runs and five RBIs in a wild Monday night contest that ended with the Yankees walking it off. Aaron Judge also belted two home runs in the game, as did Trent Grisham, whose game-tying two-run blast in the ninth inning kept the Yankees’ hopes alive.
Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels hits a two-run home run during the fifth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium April 15, 2026, in New York City. (Dustin Satloff/Getty Images)
But Trout and the Angels got the job done Tuesday night, and the veteran outfielder’s only hit was a solo homer. Then, in Wednesday night’s loss, Trout went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs.
Yankee Stadium in general has been a pleasant place for Trout, a South New Jersey native, as he’s hitting .346 with 13 homers in his career there. He also homered in five straight games against the Yankees if you include the Angels’ last meeting in 2025. That also took place in Yankee Stadium.
“He’s the greatest, the greatest of all time,” Judge said of Trout after Monday’s game. “I know he’s had some tough injuries over the years, but to see himself back in a better spot this year – every time he comes to the Bronx, man, he puts on a show. I hate to see it, but it’s fun competing against a guy like that.”
As Judge mentioned, the Angels are just happy Trout is playing injury-free to start the season, and perhaps this Yankees series has him hitting his stride.
Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels hits a three-run home run in the sixth inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York City on April 13, 2026. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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The three-time league MVP is heading to Cooperstown one day, but there is always the thought among baseball fans about what could’ve been for his career had injuries not gotten in the way. Trout played 130 games last season for the first time since 2019.
Now 10-10, the Angels are hoping they can get that output from Trout once more in 2026. They’re looking to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
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A member of Alabama’s 2009 national championship team has been accused of impersonating NFL players as part of a scheme to fraudulently obtain nearly $20 million in loans to purchase real estate, vehicles and jewelry.
Luther Davis, a Crimson Tide defensive lineman from 2007-10, faces felony counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to court documents filed last month by the U.S. attorney in the the Northern District of Georgia. An alleged co-conspirator, CJ Evins, also faces the same counts.
The documents mention the initials of three players — X.M, D.N. and M.P. — that were impersonated during the alleged scheme. The Guardian is reporting that those players are Green Bay Packers safety Xavier McKinney, Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Prosecutors in the court filings said the NFL players were not involved in the alleged scheme.
The documents describe an elaborate hoax in which the defendants allegedly created fake companies and fraudulent email accounts and driver’s licenses to help fool lenders into loaning them huge sums of money.
Davis attended virtual loan-closing meetings wearing wigs, makeup and/or a head covering to disguise himself as players seeking loans, according to court documents.
Both men entered pleas of not guilty at their arraignments but have indicated to the court they will enter guilty pleas at hearings set for April 27, according to court records.
In 45 games over four seasons with Alabama, Davis registered 21 solo tackles, 26 assists and eight tackles for loss. A 2013 Yahoo report alleged that Davis broke NCAA rules by paying five prospective draft picks from the Southeastern Conference as an intermediary for sports agents and financial advisers.
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