Sports
NBA legend Dwyane Wade opens up about kidney surgery, cancer diagnosis: 'Weakest point I've ever felt'
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During the latest episode of his podcast, three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade revealed some details about a health scare he faced more than a year ago.
Wade underwent surgery in December 2023 that removed 40% of a kidney. The surgery was followed by what Wade described as a “shocking” cancer diagnosis.
A full body scan confirmed the presence of a “cyst/tumor” on one of Wade’s kidneys.
“And the doctor was like, ‘You need to have kidney surgery,’” the 43-year-old retired basketball star noted on Thursday’s edition of “The Why with Dwyane Wade” podcast.
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Dwyane Wade at a men’s basketball quarterfinal game between France and Canada during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. (Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports)
Wade admitted he largely avoided seeing a doctor over the years for a physical, but he eventually made an appointment once he began experiencing stomach issues, cramps and trouble urinating.
NBA LEGEND DWYANE WADE REACTS TO BOTCHED STATUE OF HIMSELF: ‘A COMPLICATED PROCESS’
“On the process of checking, like, ‘Why is my [urine] coming out slow, why is my stream ain’t powerful? Why is it a little weak?’ ” Wade recalled. After removing a considerable portion of his left kidney, doctors concluded the tumor was cancerous, Wade said.
Wade said the health scare left him weakened.
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Miami Heat great Dwyane Wade at Kaseya Center. (Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports)
“I think it was the first time my family, my dad, my kids, they saw me weak,” he said. “That moment was probably the weakest point I’ve ever felt in my life. … I was struggling, dog. Struggling.
“And one thing you never want to do as a man is you never want your family to see you as weak. You don’t want to be perceived weak, and you don’t want to be seen in your weak moments. But I had to.”
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Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi. (Tubi)
Wade’s father, Dwyane Wade Sr., also had a battle with prostate cancer. The former Miami Heat star said experiencing the health scare helped him realize the importance of family.
“What I saw in the midst of me going through my illness, I saw my family that may not always talk, may not always agree. I saw everybody show up for me and be there for me and in that process, in my weakness, I found strength in my family.”
Wade did not reveal details about his current health.
Wade retired from the NBA after the 2018-19 season. He is the Heat’s all-time leader in points, assists and steals. He was named the NBA Finals MVP in 2006.
He bought an ownership stake in the Utah Jazz in 2021. Wade also joined the Chicago Sky ownership group in 2023 when he became one of the WNBA franchise’s minority investors.
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Sports
With Rubiales gone (and guilty of sexual assault), is Spanish football rethinking how it treats women?
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Last Friday night, Spain’s women’s team played their first game since Luis Rubiales was found guilty of sexual assault for kissing Jenni Hermoso after the 2023 Women’s World Cup final.
Spain came from 2-0 down against Belgium in Valencia with 20 minutes left to win a thrilling game 3-2. Hermoso was not involved, having again been left out of the squad by coach Montse Tome. But she was on the minds of many.
Today during Spain – Belgium. A woman and her daughter went to the match to give support to Jennifer Hermoso even if she was not in the call-up. pic.twitter.com/7jQnW530OW
— Laia Cervelló Herrero (@Laia_Cervello) February 21, 2025
A day earlier, judge Jose Manuel Clemente Fernandez-Prieto found Rubiales, the former president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), guilty of sexual assault and issued him with a fine of more than €10,000 (£8,300; $11,400) for the kiss on Hermoso as she received her World Cup winners’ medal. The judge found Rubiales and his three co-defendants — former women’s coach Jorge Vilda, ex-Spain men’s team sporting director Albert Luque and former Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) marketing director Ruben Rivera — not guilty of coercion for their efforts to persuade Hermoso to publicly say she had consented to the kiss. Rubiales intends to appeal the decision.
The two-week trial at Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, the country’s high court, in San Fernando de Henares near Madrid demonstrated the RFEF’s lack of respect for Hermoso and her team-mates, going back long before the World Cup.
GO DEEPER
The Rubiales-Hermoso court case revealed so much – and the story is not complete yet
Spain were far from their best in Friday’s UEFA Nations League game. Belgium’s opening goal followed a mistake by team captain Irene Paredes, who was among the national team players called as witnesses to the trial in Madrid. But they showed impressive collective effort in staging a fightback.
“What we want is to win games,” Arsenal’s Mariona Caldentey said in the stadium’s mixed zone afterward. “It’s been a difficult few months for everyone. Now the sentence is out, everything’s been said and done, we’ve come out to win — and in the end, we’ve done it.”
Recently elected RFEF president Rafael Louzan attended the game in Valencia and has spoken about a new era of openness and inclusivity.
But, for many of those within women’s football in Spain, the feeling is that the battle for full respect and equality goes on.
After the World Cup final in Sydney, many in Spanish society and football spoke about an urgent need for reform. At a moment of intense global focus, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and other government ministers quickly called for action and change.
Once FIFA suspended Rubiales and the eyes of the world drifted away, the impetus for real change and modernisation at the federation’s Las Rozas headquarters also started to stall.
Rubiales’ handpicked successor Pedro Rocha quickly fired Vilda as coach, but replaced him with his assistant, Tome, who had been in that role at the 2023 World Cup. Hermoso was not called up in her first squad, with Tome claiming she wanted to “protect the player”, which she was asked about when she gave testimony in the Rubiales trial. Tome told the court Hermoso was not selected for “sporting” reasons and that “protecting her came into that because of the situation we were experiencing”.
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Vilda’s former assistant and current Spain women’s coach, Tome (Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto)
It was Hermoso and her colleagues who helped force the first real changes. Eighty-one national team players said they would not play for the team until serious reforms were made to end structural sexism at the federation.
After an awkward stand-off — which required mediation from players’ union FUTPRO and government intervention — interim president Rocha agreed to some measures. He fired figures deemed part of Rubiales’ inner circle when he was at the RFEF — former general secretary Andreu Camps, integrity director Miguel Garcia Caba and communications director Pablo Garcia Cuervo.
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GO DEEPER
The Rubiales-Hermoso court case revealed so much – and the story is not complete yet
More of Rubiales’ closest associates were forced out in March 2024, including legal adviser Tomas Gonzalez Cueto, when Spanish police raided the federation’s headquarters as part of an investigation into alleged corruption during Rubiales’ time in charge that is still in the evidence-gathering phase. Rubiales and Cueto have both denied any wrongdoing.
Rocha himself was investigated as part of that operation — and the Spanish government tried to force him out too but he denied being involved in any corruption and clung on to power. As the political and legal struggles continued, attempts to implement better structures for women’s football were stymied.
“We could hardly do anything,” FUTPRO president Amanda Gutierrez tells The Athletic of her organisation’s lobbying on behalf of its members, including Hermoso. “There were many situations we wanted to talk about and negotiate, but it was not possible. They could not take significant decisions as Rocha was not a permanent president.”
A lack of professionalism and concern for the team was again shown in November 2023, when Paredes, Ivana Andres, Esther Gonzalez and Caldentey missed a key Nations League game against Switzerland due to mistakes in submitting the official squad to UEFA and then the teamsheet on the day of the game.
The federation did hire Markel Zubizarreta as sporting director of women’s football in November 2023, filling a role Vilda had occupied alongside his coaching role.
Zubizarreta was the architect of Barcelona’s all-conquering women’s team — who won 16 trophies, including four league titles and two Champions League trophies — and was respected by the players. But less than 12 months later he left to become global sporting director at Michele Kang’s Kynisca Sports group, which runs U.S. side Washington Spirit, Lyon in France and London City Lionesses.
“One of the changes we asked for was to have a proper selection process for hiring staff, not just placing friends or contacts in roles,” Gutierrez says. “Markel was perfectly qualified, with wide experience in the sector. But we had the bad luck that Kang came and made him an offer he could not refuse.”
During the recent trial, the prosecution pointed out that, before the World Cup, the federation had in place a “protocol of action against sexual violence”, under which Rubiales’ actions after the final should have been punishable.
Rubiales admitted while giving evidence to having ratified this protocol “in a hurry” just before the World Cup, under pressure from the government, but claimed not to know its contents. Hermoso and Tome testified they were not aware it existed.
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Rubiales during his trial in Madrid (Thomas Coex/AFP via Getty Images)
In the weeks after Sydney, FUTPRO made a formal complaint to a Spanish government body, which in March 2024 mandated the federation update this protocol and make sure everyone at the RFEF know about it.
Asked whether these changes had been made, an RFEF spokesperson replied: “The problem here before was not the regulations that existed, it is that they were not applied. This is a new era, Rubiales and his people are all gone now, the difference with the past is like night and day.”
The trial also showed how Hermoso was left completely alone after events in Sydney, as the entire federation apparatus was put in place to protect Rubiales — actions that led to the prosecution charge of coercion against the four accused at the trial.
Most of the staff involved in that operation no longer work at the RFEF. Some of those who still do — such as women’s team press officer Patricia Perez — were fully supportive of Hermoso as they gave evidence at the trial.
Other figures still at the federation were not so clear. Tome appeared to try to steer a neutral course. Luis de la Fuente, the European Championship-winning men’s national team coach, appeared more concerned with protecting his reputation than securing justice for Hermoso. He made multiple attempts to distance himself from any of the discussions about Hermoso and how the RFEF dealt with the fallout from the sexual assault by Rubiales.
“If a player came out today and made an official complaint, the federation would respond,” Arantxa Uria, vice president of Spain’s Association for Women in Professional Sport, tells The Athletic. “There is now more media attention, which offers protection. We still have the doubt about whether — if it was not made public — how they would act. Jennifer was always very alone, and remains very alone.”
At all international tournaments, FIFA mandates that teams nominate a ‘safeguarding officer’, responsible for protecting all those taking part from harm or abuse. For Spain at the World Cup, this was team psychologist Javier Lopez Vallejo, who said in court he had no formal training in this area, and added that he saw nothing during the tournament that he should have been concerned about. The RFEF did not respond when asked if any current staff had taken any of FIFA’s official safeguarding courses.
While the Rubiales trial took 18 months to be investigated and tried, the regional barons who have long dominated the federation successfully headed off the government’s talk of electoral reform.
Last December, Galician regional president Louzan was elected the new permanent president of the RFEF, despite being found guilty in May 2022 of misuse of public funds during his former job as governor of the city of Pontevedra. That decision was overturned by Spain’s supreme court in February, clearing him to continue in his role at the football federation.
Gutierrez says the idea of a complete outsider — perhaps even a woman — coming in with a clean broom to sweep up the federation was always unlikely.
She argues that some progress has been made. FUTPRO’s lobbying led to Spain internationals Ona Batlle and Patri Guijarro, plus two female referees and two coaches, becoming members of the 142-strong ‘general assembly’, which ultimately controls the federation and elects its president. “That it took until (November) 2024 to have any women’s players in the assembly is crazy, but shows where we are coming from,” Gutierrez says.
In January, a new ‘convention agreement’ was signed between the top division of women’s football in Spain (Liga F) and FUTPRO. That included a strengthening of the league’s own sexual abuse protocol and initiatives to protect mental health — but the minimum wage in Spain’s top division is still just €22,500 a year.
Another high-profile incident took place in Spanish women’s football during the trial. Video footage circulated on social media appearing to show Barcelona defender Mapi Leon inappropriately touching Espanyol player Daniela Caracas during a Liga F clash.
Espanyol released a statement expressing their “total discontent and condemnation” of an action that they said “violated the privacy” of Caracas. Leon said, “At no time did I violate, nor did I have the intention to violate, the privacy of my professional colleague Daniela Caracas.”
Liga F has not made an official statement on the incident. FUTPRO offered its support to both players to “clarify what happened and help in any relevant way”.
No official action has yet been taken, and Leon — who has not represented Spain since stepping away in protest at problems with Vilda and the RFEF in July 2022 — has continued to play for Barcelona.
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Espanyol call for action after ‘unacceptable’ Leon incident with Caracas during Liga F game
There are other ways the convention agreement does not appear to have made a significant difference.
“The new agreement signed recently for the women’s players was promoted as a great step forward,” says Uria. “But the players still earn the minimum salary of any Spaniard. There was no real advance.”
Just before the trial started, the federation named a new director of women’s football — Reyes Bellver, a lawyer who has respect among players and others within the game.
“They are talking about wanting to change things, a lot,” says Uria. “We will have to wait and see what job (Bellver) does, what measures she can take within the federation structure. Just hiring a woman for a certain role is not enough. We want to see real changes made, not just nice words.”
Louzan’s new board of 30 directors features 15 women, as mandated by Spanish law. These include Liga F president Beatriz Alvarez Mesa and Maria Jose Rienda, a former head of the government’s Superior Sports Council (CSD). Although Alvarez is the only female among the eight vice presidents, RFEF sources — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to speak freely — maintain the new regime is serious about having women in senior positions of power. Other reforms at the federation since Rubiales left include changes made to its government mandated ‘Equality Plan’, a new equality strategy and a new department of equality.
“We’re going to continue in the line of unity, consensus, hard work and absolute transparency,” Louzan told an assembly meeting that took place during the trial. “The moment has come to do everything that could not be done until now. We’ve initiated a transformation process for this institution, which needs to modernise and adapt to new trends.”
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Spain celebrate their late winner against Belgium last week (Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto.)
Those words have been welcomed, but everyone involved also knows Louzan was a vice president throughout Rubiales’ presidency. The Galician met with the Spanish government on Monday and issues known to be on the agenda included Spain’s hosting of the 2030 men’s World Cup. There have been very few specific reforms implemented that directly help the women’s team.
Louzan has announced that Liga F will receive €2.5million from the RFEF to develop women’s football. The federation declined to specify how much of its €379.6million budget for 2025 would go towards the women’s game, but said it spent significantly more on women’s football than it earned.
This argument is not accepted by Gutierrez, who pointed to Zubizarreta’s role as women’s sporting director remaining currently vacant.
“The players are not asking for the same salary as the men, they’re asking for the same resources — the same installations, hours, transport, equipment, staff,” she says. “This is our battle. Have we achieved that yet? Obviously not. Hopefully, someday, we will have this equality of conditions, and the players will be free to perform to their best level.”
As Caldentey said last Friday, Spain’s women’s team are focused on winning games on the pitch. The issue remains whether their undoubted talent is backed up by structures and support from the federation.
The word from the RFEF is that this is a new era, that the guilty verdict should allow all involved to draw a line and move on. It is not so simple.
“The guilty verdict for sexual assault seems correct, but it’s strange there was no guilty verdict for coercion,” Paredes said at a press conference from the team camp last week. “That sums up what the dressing room feels.”
Tome said last week that “each person can have their own thoughts about something” when asked about the effect of the case on the squad. The coach’s own testimony at the trial did not convince everyone that she fully backed Hermoso and it remains strange to see Spain play without their record all-time goalscorer involved.
“The players are professionals, and they have shown (in the past) they are capable of handling anything,” Gutierrez says. “But it’s true that it would be better if these bad feelings did not exist, and that they could just perform to their best level. The space for improvement is so huge. There is still a long way to go.”
(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Sports
Ex-Patriots running back recalls Bill Belichick putting him in 'fat camp' after he was drafted
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Bill Belichick has always asked a lot of his players while coaching the New England Patriots, whether it was a Super Bowl, a regular-season game or just a training camp practice.
One former Patriot said he witnessed Belichick’s stern coaching almost immediately after getting drafted.
“I guess we’ll start with how Bill put me in fat camp,” ex-Pats running back Stevan Ridley, a third-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft by New England, said on the “Games with Names” podcast with Julian Edelman.
New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley (22) runs the ball against Cincinnati Bengals outside linebacker Vincent Rey (57) at Gillette Stadium. (David Butler II/USA Today Sports)
Ridley said Belichick put him in “fat camp” because he was “overweight” for an NFL running back coming out of LSU.
So, how much weight did Belichick want Ridley to cut?
“You have that meeting where you come in there, and you’re a rookie. And he gives you your playing weight. And he brought me into the office because I go into the weight room, and [former Patriots strength coach Harold] Nash said, ‘Hop on the scale, Ridley,’” Ridley told Edelman.
“I hopped on the scale, and I’m about 235, 238 pounds. I played at LSU around 230 as a running back. Eight pounds is a lot, bro.”
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Ridley said the Patriots obviously knew he was a bigger running back, and he clearly did something to be drafted in the third round.
But Ridley claims Belichick told him he had to get his playing weight down to 220 pounds.
“How? I said, ‘You’re tripping, bro.’ I said, ‘Nah,’” Ridley recalled. “[Nash] said, ‘Don’t ask me. I’m telling you what the boss man said.’”
Ridley went to Belichick’s office to hear from the head coach himself.
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New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick during a practice Sept. 18, 2019, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
“I walked in and said, ‘Coach, I need to talk to you about this weight. And he said, ‘What’s the number? I can’t really remember what I had.’ Two-twenty, that’s impossible. And he looked at me, and he said, ‘Well, Rid, I mean, really, I think it’s only about $563 per pound per day that you’re overweight. So, it’s really up to you.’
“I can do quick math. I’m a third-round draft pick, I ain’t got money like that. So, fat camp I went.”
Ridley got to working on his weight, and it paid dividends after he made it to Belichick’s preferred playing weight of 220.
Despite what Ridley thought at first, it worked out for him.
“Quick as a cat, man,” he said, laughing, when Edelman asked how he felt. “Freaking nasty, dude. Once I got to that playing weight, I was like, ‘Hey, Bill knows what the hell he’s talking about.’”
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New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley runs against the Oakland Raiders at Gillette Stadium. (Winslow Townson/USA Today Sports)
Ridley played four years in New England, running for 2,817 yards, including 1,263 his sophomore campaign during the 2012 season, which included 12 of his 22 career rushing touchdowns with the Patriots. Ridley was a part of the 2014 Patriots squad that shockingly defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the 2015 Super Bowl thanks to Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception.
Ridley then played for the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons and Pittsburgh Steelers after his Super Bowl-winning final season in New England.
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Sports
USC men's tournament hopes are almost gone after loss to Ohio State
There was no hiding the desperation any longer. Not with the clock ticking on USC’s narrow tournament hopes. Not with three straight losses in the rearview mirror and only four games left in the regular season.
The chances to state their postseason case were dwindling fast in Eric Musselman’s first season as coach, slipping away amid a stiff Big Ten slate. The cut line for the conference tournament now loomed just below them in the standings.
Time was running out on the Trojans. Desmond Claude seemed to sense as much as he careened into the lane late Wednesday against Ohio State, with USC having clawed its way back from a staggering deficit to within striking distance.
As Claude fell toward the baseline and sunk a floater, a stunning, comeback victory — and a late February turnaround — seemed within reach.
But with 28 seconds left, Claude brought the ball up the court, only to have it poked away. Just as quickly as they’d appeared, the Trojans’ hopes of stemming the tide slipped away in an 87-82 defeat.
The loss — USC’s sixth in its last seven games — left the Trojans at 14-14, their first time without a winning record under Musselman.
But the bigger picture was perhaps more bleak. Any chance of USC making the NCAA tournament probably hinges on making a run in the Big Ten tournament. And as of Wednesday, the Trojans weren’t yet officially invited to it.
Missing the conference tournament would be a particularly disappointing conclusion at the end of Musselman’s first season, which at times appeared to have promise. But that’s since faded.
Wesley Yates III did his best to keep that faith alive as he scored 27 points to lead the Trojans (6-11 Big Ten).
Claude was kept almost entirely in check. He’d hit just a single shot from the field before he came knifing through the lane in transition with just over four minutes remaining. His lay-in drew the Trojans to within a point.
But USC couldn’t capitalize, clinging on until the final seconds, when Yates tried a three at the top of the key to tie. He missed it, and Saint Thomas pulled down the rebound, only to step out of bounds.
Ohio State unleashed an offensive torrent from the opening tip, burying one three-pointer after another in the face of a flustered Trojans defense that had given up 93 points in its last outing.
It had no answer for the Buckeyes knocking down eight in a row from three-point range to start the game. Through the first 15 minutes, Ohio State missed just three shots (14 for 17) as USC struggled to string together stops.
The game already was threatening to slip away when a furious Musselman called a timeout with USC down 15. The Trojans had just turned the ball over on three straight possessions. Ohio State was in the middle of a 9-0 run.
USC was able to stem the tide briefly, only for Ohio State to come roaring back. It sank an eighth straight three-pointer. On the next possession, a loose ball careened off Yates and out of bounds.
His frustration boiling over, Musselman was called for a technical foul.
Those feelings abated some in the second half, as the Trojans turned up their efforts on defense. USC held Ohio State to just 33% shooting in the half.
But the hole it dug was already too deep.
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