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MLB players won’t even pay to read this article: ‘You stay rich by being cheap’

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MLB players won’t even pay to read this article: ‘You stay rich by being cheap’

In 2009, Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke went viral after telling Yahoo Sports he was boycotting Chipotle’s guacamole.

“I mean, $1.50 is already pretty darn high. So they changed it to $1.80, and I’ll never again get guacamole,” Greinke said. “It’s not about the guacamole itself. I just don’t want to let them win.”

Fifteen years later, a (small) side of Chipotle’s guacamole is $2.65, and Greinke’s thoughts remain a common sentiment among MLB players.

“Greinke was on a kick for a while,” said Reds pitcher Scott Barlow, a former Greinke teammate. “It’s the principle.”

So what else are MLB players cheap about? Well, after The Athletic asked dozens of them the question over the past year, the answer is … pretty much everything.

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“It’s that old cliche,” said Cleveland’s Steven Kwan, “You stay rich by being cheap.”

Some players took issue with the framing of the question. “I don’t like the c-word,” A’s pitcher T.J. McFarland said. “I use frugal.”

You be the judge.

Whit Merrifield, free agent: It’s funny when music is playing in the clubhouse and someone has their phone hooked up and an ad comes on. Guys will yell, “You’re a big leaguer making millions of dollars and can’t pay $11.99 for Spotify?!”

Ryan McMahon, Rockies: My wife is on her cousin’s Spotify, so I use that.

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Jake Cronenworth, Padres: I don’t buy any music. It’s a pretty useless purchase. I like to drive in silence. Total silence.

Zach Neto, Angels: I use Apple Music but I’m still on my (cheaper) student account. Don’t tell Apple Music that. It’s the only app I pay for.

Hayden Birdsong, Giants: I’m not paying for any apps. I’m on my mom’s Spotify.

Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers: There’s something about (buying an app). I just don’t want to give them the $2.

Barlow: If I have a game app and it says you can upgrade for no ads, I won’t do that.

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Glasnow: It’s probably worth it, too. It’s just ingrained in my brain — like, no, I’m not doing it.

Despite being division rivals last season, former Yankees pitcher Lou Trivino was on Orioles reliever Cole Irvin’s Netflix account.

Tanner Scott, Dodgers: We are definitely still on my wife’s family’s Netflix.

Evan Carter, Rangers: I’m on my wife’s parents’ Netflix and my parents’ Hulu.

McMahon: If you’ve got someone else’s log-in, you’re all set.

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McFarland: Up until about two years ago I was on my family cellphone plan. And I wasn’t even paying my parents, it was free. Finally, my dad is like, “You are in the big leagues, time to get your own s—.”

Dansby Swanson, Cubs: I had that moment, too. I needed a new phone and it was a good time to switch my phone number. I was like, “All right, it’s time to get off my parents’ plan.”

Tristan Beck, Giants: That day is coming for me, too. But I’m going to try to avoid it as long as I can.


Matt Strahm, Phillies: I’m not going to just buy new clothes because I want to. I need to need clothes to buy clothes.

Joe Musgrove, Padres: You know how in elementary school you get to go back to school shopping and you get a few pairs of jeans and a couple T-shirts to last you the year? I’m still the same way.

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McFarland: I’m coming in with shoes literally coming apart — the sole was coming off. My wife was like, “That’s enough.” She took them and threw them out.

Derek Law, Nationals: My wife is like, “You need to get some new shirts,” and I’m like, “Ehh, I’m good.”

Ryan Mountcastle, Orioles: I never need new clothes.

Mike Yastrzemski, Giants: I don’t buy clothes, I don’t buy shoes. I get very weirdly indecisive about things. I’ll be like, “I want this,” and then I’ll turn around 10 minutes later and be like, “Well, what’s going to change if I buy this? Nothing.” So then I’m like, “I guess I don’t need this,” and I move on.

Strahm: I’m very simple and cheap with clothes. There is black, white and gray in my closet, just plain T-shirts.

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Craig Kimbrel, Braves: I’ll wear stuff out.

Kwan: Socks, undershirts, that stuff I will ride until the end.

Musgrove: I’ll wear it until I can’t wear it anymore.

Mountcastle: Until it literally has holes in it.

Kwan: I had a pillow for 10 years that my now-wife was totally disgusted by. She’s like “You can get a new one!” and I was like “Why? I don’t need a new one.” One day she took the cover off and said, “You need to look at this, it’s disgusting.” And it was. I did end up throwing it away my first year up here. It made it to the big leagues, though.

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Seth Lugo, Royals: I hate paying for shipping.

Austin Riley, Braves: There was something — it was a hunting gadget, it was like $6, and the shipping was $8. And I was like, “I’ll just go buy it somewhere.”

Jesse Chavez, Braves: And a “processing fee.”… Processing? Where did that come from?

McFarland: When you use DoorDash and it’s an extra couple bucks to have someone deliver the food to you, I tell my wife, “No way, we are picking it up.”

Lugo: Go get it yourself. I’m not ordering stuff (to get delivered).

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McFarland: Sure, it’s 15-20 minutes to go pick it up and you are probably spending that money on gas, but (delivery) is something I am not OK wasting money on.

Jesse Winker, Mets: I feel like Uber’s prices have gotten out of control, so if I can’t walk somewhere, I’ll rent a scooter for a fraction of the price.

Clay Holmes, Mets: I’m cheap about flights. You fly so much with the team you never even think about it, then you go to book flights in the offseason, and it’s like, “I got to pay this much to fly?”

Jameson Taillon, Cubs: I have a hard time paying for extra legroom. I can afford to fly first class or in an exit row, but I feel like I’m getting punished for being tall, so I refuse to upgrade my seat.

Triston McKenzie, Guardians: I look at first-class seats, but I don’t ever buy them.

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Matt Vierling, Tigers: I still drive my car from college. It’s a 2012 Ford Escape. It broke down on the highway on me (in September).

Birdsong: I’ve got a 2015 Ford Fusion.

Paul Sewald, Guardians: I had my first car, a Toyota 4Runner, for 13 years in the big leagues, and only upgraded in 2021 because we got pregnant and needed a bigger car.

Vierling: I was driving an even older car before. (The Escape) was used when I got it; it had like 65,000 miles on it. Now it’s got like 172,000, and we are still rolling. I am going to try to ride it out for another year. I got everybody in my family saying, It’s not safe, you should get another car. And I’m just like, “Not yet. I will ride it until it dies.”

Birdsong: I was a sixth-rounder, I’ll keep it till it breaks, and it’s pretty close. It’s got 140-150,000 miles on it.

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Sewald: I’ve got a Ford Expedition now. It’s not fancy. It’s pretty much a dad car.

Birdsong: Maybe I’ll get a Prius next.

Kwan: I still don’t own a car. I lease one and do some (promotional stuff) for the company, and they pay for it. That saves a lot of money.

Kyle Gibson, Orioles: When I was in college, my junior year (2009), I needed a 60-degree lob wedge. So I went to Walmart, and bought a $19.99 wedge. I still have that club, and I have yet to buy a new one because I love it. The grip is ripped badly, the shaft of the club is completely rusted out. Whenever I golf with somebody new, they see me pull it out of my bag and they go, “What are you doing?”

Yastrzemski: I have the same clubs I’ve had for four years that I got for free anyway. I called my agent because I cracked my driver face and said, “Hey, do you know anyone who can send me a driver? I don’t care what it is.” I didn’t want to buy it. … I did buy a new putter recently. It took me a year and a half to pull the trigger on it.

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Chavez stayed near a lake during the All-Star break with teammate A.J. Minter and their families. There were eight people total, and they filled up a cart, mainly with fruit and vegetables. It was $600.

Chavez: I’m also a big stickler at the grocery store. … Where did this (bill) come from?

Law: Groceries are crazy.

McFarland: I will look at the store, and it’s like, “OK, if it’s 60 cents less, I am getting the generic brand.”

Emilio Pagàn, Reds: Even if it’s 40 cents cheaper.

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McKenzie, Guardians: If I need medicine, I’m definitely getting Target brand ibuprofen.

Law: If the strawberries say they’re two for $7, I’m going to get two strawberries because I feel like I’m saving money. Am I? Probably not, because they made me buy two now.

Jake Diekman, free agent: The other day at self-checkout I was like, where are all the bags? And the lady said you have to buy them. It was wild. I only bought two, though.

Law: Most of the time you forget the bags that you’re supposed to bring. And it’s like, damn, I am not paying 10 cents.

Kwan: I don’t like paying for snacks. I have my little Lulu(lemon) bag and it’s like a trick-or-treat (in the clubhouse) every day. Usually it’s spilling out the brim. I’ve got free waters and these sweet Thai chili almonds I’ve been absolutely emptying out.

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Winker: The price of water has gone way too high. We get so used to just being able to grab water (in the clubhouse). Then in the offseason you go buy water and you’re like, “This water is this expensive?”

Dustin May, Dodgers: I’m not saying I don’t load up (on the free waters). I definitely do.

Neto: I won’t pay for water bottles. Before I leave here, I will take a couple home with me to drink.

McFarland: The same guys walking out of here with tons of free water bottles have no problem spending $25,000 on a Rolex.

Manny Machado, Padres: I won’t spend money on a wine (at a restaurant) that they charge you 800 percent (markup) on. I’ll just go home and drink my own wine or bring my own wine.

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Pagan: For the longest time, my diet included a lot of Taco Bell. Crunch Wrap Supreme is hard to beat. That helped my cheap mindset, but now I’m getting older and can’t eat that as much.

Machado: I like wine, but the value’s got to be there. I’m a value guy.

Diekman: You have to go to Costco, the No. 1 seller of wine in the world. I feel like everyone trying to save should go to Costco, grab yourself a hot dog and get some wine.

Kwan: You got to buy in bulk. I’m not playing around going to get toothpaste five or six times. I’m going to get the 10-pack and let that ride out.

Logan O’Hoppe, Angels: Don’t hate me, but even though it’s a dollar, I refuse to pay for The Athletic. Even if my name is in it, my ego gets in the way and I don’t want to pay for it.

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(Editor’s note: Subscribe now for just $1/week for four weeks, Logan.)

McKenzie: I did finally subscribe. (Guardians beat writer Zack) Meisel got me to. He was like, it’s only a dollar! But I did hold out for a little bit.

O’Hoppe: I am not paying that damn dollar. It’s the principle. I will read the first paragraph before the paywall. So, I guess I’m too cheap to read this article.

The Athletic’s Katie Woo, Dennis Lin, David O’Brien and Patrick Mooney contributed to this story.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)

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Packers’ head-coaching situation thrust into spotlight after playoff loss

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Packers’ head-coaching situation thrust into spotlight after playoff loss

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The Green Bay Packers’ playoff exit on Saturday immediately put added focus on what the organization will do with head coach Matt LaFleur.

The NFL coaching cycle has been the wildest in recent memory, with veteran coaches like John Harbaugh and Pete Carroll being shown the door. Packers fans seemingly put LaFleur on the hot seat following their crushing defeat to the Chicago Bears.

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur reacts during the wild-card playoff game against the Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter said Sunday that the Packers will have a major decision to make.

“The Green Bay Packers and their new president, Ed Policy, have a significant decision to make here in the coming days – and that is whether to extend Matt LaFleur’s contract. He’s currently got one year remaining, or to move on from him,” Schefter said. “If they moved on from him, he would automatically go near the top of coaches available and shakeup this current head-coaching cycle yet again.”

Schefter added that Harbaugh could be one of the names that would interest the Packers’ organization.

BEARS’ BEN JOHNSON GIVES FIERY MESSAGE TO TEAM AFTER PLAYOFF WIN: ‘F— THE PACKERS!’

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks after the playoff game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

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“Notice how we said this belongs to the Packers’ president, Ed Policy. Well, the Packers’ former president from the back in the day was a man by the name of Bob Harlan,” Schefter explained. “Bob Harlan’s son, Brian Harlan, represents John Harbaugh. John Harbaugh is a Midwestern guy, who has a home in the Upper Peninsula, and a lot of people around the league have been wondering if the Packers decide to go in a different direction, if all of a sudden the Green Bay Packers might fall to the top of John Harbaugh’s list as the top available choice for him.

“This has been a wild, crazy coaching cycle, and we may be just scratching the surface.”

Green Bay Packers’ Matthew Golden celebrates his touchdown against the Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

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Green Bay finished 9-7-1 this season. LaFleur is 76-40-1 as the Packers’ head coach with a 3-6 record in the playoffs.

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Crossroads students begin push to make pickleball a varsity sport

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Crossroads students begin push to make pickleball a varsity sport

For brothers Boone and Ford Casady, pickleball is more than just a game, it is a passion. The 16-year-old twins are among the top junior players on the planet, but more important to them than trophies and medals is a desire to spread the fastest-growing sport in America to high schools and colleges.

Their vision, combined with the persistence of fellow Crossroads sophomores Samantha Leeds and Hannah Carey, has birthed the L.A. High School Pickleball League, the first of its kind in California. The first match will be Jan. 24 at the Santa Monica Pickleball Center.

Teams from Crossroads, Brentwood, Windward, Palisades, Notre Dame and Santa Monica Pacifica Christian will participate, and possibly several more.

Matches will be biweekly with all schools competing at the same shared location. The match format is loosely based on high school tennis with three doubles lines, one singles line and “friendlies” — ensuring that beginners, alternates and developing players all get playing time. The season culminates with semifinals and a league championship.

“My brother and I grew up playing competitive tennis and baseball,” Boone said. “We’d been playing tennis since we were about 3 and in eighth grade we moved to Barcelona to train at the Emilio Sánchez Academy for tennis. We were first introduced to pickleball earlier while we were in Mexico playing with friends and we immediately fell in love with it. We entered our first tournament in Palm Springs and realized we’d found something special.

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“We noticed that so many juniors were training and competing individually but there wasn’t a school-based structure like you have in other varsity sports. We decided to change that. We wanted girls to be involved from the start — it was important to us that the league be coed and inclusive to reflect how competitive girls pickleball already is. We’re also co-founders of the Crossroads Pickleball Club along with Samantha and Hannah and we’re working to grow participation on campus and across L.A.”

The four founders of the L.A. High School Pickleball League play mixed doubles.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

Unlike most youth sports initiatives, the league was not created by adults or administrators, it was built entirely by students. Over the last two years they have coordinated with the Southern Section for recognition and guidance, worked with Crossroads administrators to establish pickleball as a school-sanctioned varsity sport, organized early intramural and inter-school tournaments, built communication networks among local high schools and helped other schools begin turning their club teams into varsity programs.

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“In high school sports, students usually join a system that already exists,” Leeds said. “With pickleball, we had to build the system ourselves.”

Boone defeated Ford to earn the No. 1 seed at the 2024 Junior PPA National Championships, but they met again for the gold medal and this time Ford won. They also took the gold in doubles and finished No. 1 and No. 2 in the country in the 14s division.

At the 2025 Junior PPA National Championships, the brothers took silver and bronze in the Boys U16 singles and partnered for silver in doubles. They were also presented the Community Assist Award to acknowledge their initiative in starting the Los Angeles High School Pickleball League. They are straight-A students and play shortstop and third base on the varsity baseball team.

So far, their toughest competition in pickleball has been each other.

“Boone and I practice together all the time and we play against each other constantly,” Ford said. “Boone knows the part of my game to attack and I know what to do against him so we always have great matches. No matter who wins, we hug it out at the end.”

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The siblings played in their first pro event of the year Saturday — the Masters Tournament in Palm Springs.

Leeds and Carey were introduced to pickleball in eighth grade.

“I remember leaving PE after playing pickleball, heading to soccer practice and honestly feeling kind of bored,” Leeds recalled. “All I wanted to do was keep playing pickleball.”

“Samantha and I got randomly paired to do pickleball in PE,” said Carey, who lost her home in the Palisades fire. “Most kids would sit out, look bored, or try to skip but as the pickleball nets went up our peers were engaged, exhilarated and connecting over their love of pickleball. So Samantha and I started making petitions to create a league.”

The girls, then 13, had a meeting with Anthony Locke, head of school at Crossroads, and made a pitch deck. Using her skills as a filmmaker Leeds created a short sizzle video to help show what pickleball could look like as a real school sport.

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“We were told that forming school-based teams and leagues is a necessary first step towards eventual CIF recognition,” she said. “I created a Varsity Team Starter Kit, outlining the steps we used to establish pickleball as a school-sanctioned varsity sport. Leaders at other schools are actively using it to establish their own teams.”

Added Carey: “We connected with Boone and Ford, which was such an honor considering their talent and passion for the sport. We decided to join forces and use our resources together to further our process of creating a league.”

The inaugural season runs from January to March but beginning in the 2026-27 school year the plan is to move to the traditional winter sports window, November through January.

“Pickleball has the potential to become a true varsity sport at both the high school and college levels,” Boone said. “We’re so excited to help push it forward.”

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US figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship

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US figure skating power couple makes history with record breaking seventh national championship

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U.S. figure skating stars Madison Chock and Evan Bates made history on Saturday with their record-setting seventh U.S. Figure Skating title in their final competition before the Milan Cortina Olympics.

The three-time reigning world champions, performing a flamenco-style dance to a version of the Rolling Stones hit “Paint It Black” from the dystopian sci-fi Western show “Westworld,” produced a season-best free skate and finished with 228.87 points.

“The feeling that we got from the audience today was unlike anything I’ve ever felt before,” Chock said.

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Madison Chock and Evan Bates of United States perform during ISU World Figure Skating Championships – Boston, at TD Garden,  on March 28, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts.  (Jurij Kodrun – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)

They’ll be the heavy favorites to win gold next month in Italy.

“I felt so much love and joy,” Chock continued, “and I’m so grateful for this moment.”

U.S. Figure Skating will announce its selections on Sunday.

Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik were second with 213.65 points and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko were third with 206.95, making those two pairs the likely choices to join Chock and Bates on the American squad for the upcoming Winter Games.

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The men’s medals also were to be decided on Saturday, though two-time world champion Ilia Malinin had built such a lead after his short program that the self-styled “Quad God” would have to stumble mightily to miss out on a fourth consecutive title.

The U.S. also has qualified the maximum of three men’s spots for the Winter Games, and competition is tight between second-place Tomoko Hiwatashi, fan favorite Jason Brown, Andrew Torgashev and Maxim Naumov to round out the nationals podium.

The last time Chock and Bates competed in the Olympics in 2022 in Beijing, they watched their gold initially go to an opponent who was later disqualified for doping violations.

Chock and Bates initially had to settle for team silver with their American teammates on the podium at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Team Russia and Kamila Valieva, who was 15 at the time, stood above them with their gold medals. 

It wasn’t until the end of January 2024, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found Valieva guilty of an anti-doping rule violation, when Chock, Bates and the U.S. were declared the rightful 2022 gold medalists. 

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UN URGES COUNTRIES TO HONOR TRUCE DURING WINTER OLYMPICS, NOT DENY VISAS TO ANY NATION’S ATHLETES

Madison Chock and Evan Bates compete in championship ice dance at the U.S. figure skating championships Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio.  (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, during an anti-doping test at the Russian Figure Skating Championships in December 2021. She was suspended for four years and stripped of all competitive results since that date.

Chock and Bates spoke about what their message to Valieva would be today during an interview at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee media summit in October. 

“It’s hard to, I think, imagine what a 15-year-old has gone through and under that kind of situation,” Bates said. “And I know how stressful it is, being an elite athlete as an adult, as a 36-year-old. And I think that grace should be given to humans across the board. And we can never really know the full situation, at least from our point of view. … I genuinely don’t know what I would say to her.”

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Chock added, “I would just wish her well like as I would. I think life is short. And, at the end of the day, we’re all human just going through our own human experience together. And regardless of what someone has or hasn’t done and how it has affected you, I think it’s important to remember we’re humans as a collective, and we’re all here for this, our one moment on earth, at the same time. And I just wish people to have healthy, happy lives, full of people that love them.”

Chock and Bates had to wait more than two years after the initial Olympics to get their rightful gold medals, and they were finally presented with them during a ceremony at the Paris Olympics last summer.

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Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the USA perform in the Gala Exhibition during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final Nagoya at IG Arena on December 07, 2025 in Nagoya, Japan.  (Atsushi Tomura – International Skating Union/International Skating Union via Getty Images)

Chock, Bates and teammates Karen Chen, Nathan Chen, Zachary Donohue, Brandon Frazier, Madison Hubbell, Alexa Knierim and Vincent Zhou were given a specialized gold medal ceremony to receive the medals in front of more than 13,000 fans. 

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Chock and Bates became the first ice dancers to win three consecutive world championships in nearly three decades in March when they defeated Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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