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The SEC’s prize for taking over the Texas-Oklahoma game: TV ratings, and corny dogs

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The SEC’s prize for taking over the Texas-Oklahoma game: TV ratings, and corny dogs

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables has seen it all in his 15 trips to the Cotton Bowl for the Oklahoma-Texas rivalry game, long known as the Red River Shootout.

He remembers losing his first as a Sooners assistant 38-28 in 1999 but dominating the Longhorns 63-14 the next year en route to a national championship. There was Oklahoma 65, Texas 13 in 2003, the 12-0 “Red River Shutout” in 2004, and plenty of unpredictable swings and wild finishes since. The emotions, the big plays, the bus rides through the State Fair of Texas to the Cotton Bowl all make it special to him.

“It feels like time stands still,” Venables said.

But there’s one thing Venables has yet to do in this one-of-a-kind rivalry game: eat a Fletcher’s Corny Dog.

“I have never eaten anything at the fair other than what they bring me on the bus afterward,” he said.

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To some Oklahoma and Texas fans, this revelation could qualify as heresy. Fletcher’s Corny Dogs, a staple of Texas’ state fair for more than 80 years, have become almost synonymous with the rivalry game. On Saturday morning, when the gates open at Dallas’ Fair Park and tens of thousands of crimson- or burnt-orange-clad fans wander onto the fairgrounds, many of them will make a beeline for a Fletcher’s stand.

Saturday will be the 120th meeting of the Sooners and Longhorns but their first as SEC members, more than three years after their shocking decision to leave the Big 12 went public. The series began in 1900, and Dallas became the game’s permanent home in 1929. After decades as a Big Eight-Southwest Conference clash followed by 28 years together in the Big 12, the spectacle of Red River, with the fried goodness of Fletcher’s in tow, is now part of the SEC’s portfolio.

“It’s part of the tradition for us,” said Nichole Williamson, a Texas alumnus and fan who has attended the game consistently since 2010. “I’m convinced if we don’t go have our corny dog before (the game) we’re going to lose, even though I’ve had it when they’ve lost and I’ve had it when they’ve won.”

“It goes along with the game,” said Trae Anderson, former president of the OU Club of Dallas. “It’s the first thing I’ve always done. You get your corny dog and a wax cup with the beverage of your choice, and that’s how you start. I don’t know of anybody that does anything else.”

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Thousands of fans hit a Fletcher’s stand before entering the Cotton Bowl for the Red River rivalry’s renewal. (Courtesy of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs)

The launch of Fletcher’s Corny Dogs was not an immediate success.

According to the company’s origin story, the first version of their corny dogs sold for 15 cents at a small stand at the 1942 State Fair of Texas. Neil and Carl Fletcher, brothers who were former Vaudeville performers, developed the concept four years earlier after seeing a local baker serve hot dogs baked in cornmeal in the shape of an ear of corn. The Fletchers decided to put a stick in the hot dogs and fry them to shorten the cooking process and make it easier to consume.

But when they opened their first stand at Fair Park, they had to cut the corny dogs in half and give away samples to convince fairgoers to try them. Forty-one years after their debut, Neil Fletcher told the New York Times that people would approach the stand, ask what it was and then walk away. “We didn’t make much money,” he said then.

Neil and Carl experimented with the cornmeal batter for more than a decade before coming up with the recipe that stuck. Once it did, it became a rousing success.

When Neil died in 1988, he left the business to his two sons, Neil Jr. and Bill Fletcher. Neil Jr., known as Skip, became “the Corny Dog King,” further elevating an already successful enterprise. In 1983, Fletcher’s sold an estimated 350,000 corny dogs at the State Fair of Texas. At the 2023 state fair, it sold 550,000.

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But is a Fletcher’s Corny Dog really that different and special from a traditional corn dog? Red River attendees swear it is.

“It’s one of the staples of going to OU-Texas,” said former Oklahoma offensive lineman Gabe Ikard. “People buy them because they’re delicious. … The lines are absurd; don’t care. Gotta wait in it or recruit somebody who will wait in it for you.”

Count Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione as a Fletcher’s fan. When several vendors showed an interest in selling corn dogs at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, he knew there was only one that deserved to be there. So he instructed his staff to get in touch with the company.

“Someone with OU reached out to us several years ago and said their athletic director loves Fletcher’s and ‘What do I need to do to get Fletcher’s here?’” said Amber Fletcher, who now runs the company with her brother Aaron and cousin William. The partnership with Oklahoma began in 2021, and Fletcher’s has been sold at Sooners games ever since.

“I’m sure (the other corn dog vendors) were fine, but they weren’t Fletcher’s corn dogs,” Castiglione said.

The cooking process is simple. Hand-stick a traditional hot dog — Fletcher’s gets dogs made with custom spices — and dip it in the batter, which is made on-site from a proprietary, secret mix. Stick it in the fryer at 365 degrees for three minutes until it has the right texture and color. Then six inches of hot, crunchy, corn dog heaven are ready to eat.

“Everything is the same way my grandfather did it,” Amber Fletcher said.


Texas and Oklahoma fans have their traditions. Although Fletcher’s has seven locations on the fairgrounds, many fans have a preferred source: the Fletcher’s stand at Big Tex circle.

A 55-foot-tall cowboy figure, sporting a Dickie’s shirt and jeans with a 95-gallon hat and size 96 boots, Big Tex is known as the “official greeter” of the State Fair of Texas and has been a fixture at the fair since 1952. It’s customary to see fairgoers consuming their fried goods while sitting next to Big Tex or taking selfies with him in the background.

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The Fletcher’s stand that is steps away from Big Tex will be staffed with 60 to 80 employees on Saturday to get the hordes of Sooners and Longhorns their corny dogs as quickly as possible.

Grant Pinkerton, a Texas alum and superfan who owns the renowned Texas barbecue joint Pinkerton’s Barbecue, makes it his first stop every year.

“We beeline it for that very Fletcher’s stand,” said Pinkerton, who went to his first Red River at 9 years old. “We all get at least one corn dog pregame. … Then I have a rule that if Texas wins, you have to go back and get a victory corn dog after the game. It doesn’t matter how hot or soaking wet you are.

“And if they don’t win, no friggin’ dogs after the game.”

Ikard has the same order every year: a Fletcher’s Corny Dog, a funnel cake and three wax cup beers. When he played, he’d have his parents get him one, though he said former coach Bob Stoops would let the players hang out at the fair for an hour if the Sooners won. Now Ikard, who calls Oklahoma games on the Sooner Sports Radio Network, has his wife secure his refreshments while he does the postgame show.

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Cade McCrary, who played 51 games for the Longhorns from 2009 to ’13, said that after Texas beat Oklahoma in ’13, Mack Brown allowed players to stay in Dallas and enjoy the fair with their friends and families.

McCrary, who was the holder for Justin Tucker’s game-winning kick in Texas’ 2011 win over Texas A&M, said his victory corny dog was “the greatest taste in the world.”

“It’s the most unique rivalry game in college football,” McCrary said. “There may be others that are as big, but they’re not at the Texas state fair. There’s 100,000 people in the stadium and 200,000 people outside the stadium.”

Of the 550,000 corny dogs that were sold at least year’s state fair, which ran more than three weeks, 124,000 were sold on Red River weekend and 45,000 on game day alone.

Texas has joined Oklahoma in installing a Fletcher’s stand at home games. Drew Martin, Texas’ executive senior associate athletic director for external affairs, said he’s learned a lot about the culture of the game since first attending in 2018. Because less than half of a standard Texas home crowd can attend the game — the 92,000-seat Cotton Bowl is split evenly at the 50-yard line between Texas and Oklahoma fans — he wanted to bring part of the Red River experience to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. This year, for the first time, there’s a Fletcher’s Corny Dog stand at the “Smokey’s Midway” fan experience area outside of DKR and also a permanent stand inside the stadium.

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“That’s a tried-and-true tradition for that game,” Martin said. “They can get a Fletcher’s Corny Dog just like they do at the state fair.”



The football game is only part of the State Fair of Texas festivities for many fans who descend on Dallas every fall. (Bryan Terry / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

It’s not just about the corny dogs. The attachment is borne out of good times shared with family and friends at the fair, rooting for the Longhorns or Sooners.

Williamson said her dad turned her on to Fletcher’s and she cherishes every trip to Red River with her father and husband. “He’s why I’m a Longhorn today,” she said.

Pinkerton’s parents met at the 1977 Red River Shootout as freshmen and later had their first date the night Earl Campbell won the Heisman Trophy. Pinkerton’s first trip was in 1998, as a 9-year-old. He still has a photo from it and remembers the T-shirt his dad bought him and the cooler temperatures. “I burned my mouth on some hot chocolate,” he said.

Anderson joked that he’s trying to teach his son about corny dogs to perpetuate the unhealthy tradition. “You’re in the middle of the fair, you’re not going to get sushi,” he said. Fletcher’s stands become meeting points before or after the game. “Every year you show up and see your friends you went to school with … and it’s something you end up sharing.”

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Amber Fletcher and at least of a dozen of her family members plus 200 employees will have their hands full. “It’s the most incredible day,” she said. Amber, 37, has been going to the fair all her life. She has been part of the family business as long as she can remember, sticking dogs and serving up smiles. After Skip’s death in 2017, Amber has emerged as the face of Fletcher’s.

But she has never seen the game.

“I go to the game every year, but I’ve never seen the game,” she said. “I’ve been in the press boxes delivering corny dogs, and I may peek out to try to see the field, but then I’ve got to get back to work.

“Maybe one day when I retire, I’ll get a ticket and go watch the game. But we’re out doing what our family’s always done, which is serve corny dogs to the fairgoers.”

While fans gobble up the dogs outside the Cotton Bowl, the Longhorns and Sooners meet with plenty on the line. No. 1 Texas, which leads the all-time series 63-51-5, is one of just three teams unbeaten in SEC play entering Week 7. No. 18 Oklahoma, which made a quarterback change from Jackson Arnold to freshman Michael Hawkins Jr., would love to win its second straight over the Longhorns and remain in College Football Playoff contention.

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Neither head coach has had a Fletcher’s Corny Dog. Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said Wednesday that in his three years coaching the Longhorns, he hasn’t had a chance to enjoy the state fair and all its trimmings. “Maybe if we win, I’ll try to find a corny dog or something,” he said.

Venables, who was seen running stadium steps in 99-degree heat this summer, said “my body might shut down if I eat one of those fried corn dogs” when encouraged by a reporter to try one.

But, Venables said, “If we get a W, I’m gonna have one.”

(Top photo courtesy of Fletcher’s Original Corny Dogs)

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Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

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Former NFL Players Of Iranian Descent Speak Up For Freedom From Islamic Regime

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Ali Haji-Sheikh and Shar Pourdanesh share the fact they are retired NFL players living beyond the glow of the NFL spotlight. But they also share another distinction tying them to current events: They are part of the Iranian diaspora hoping for the downfall of the Islamic revolution.

They make up part of a small group of men who played in the NFL – along with David Bakhtiari, his brother Eric Bakhtiari and T.J. Housmandzadeh – who are decedents of Iranians.

Washington Redskins kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) talks to reporters at Jack Murphy Stadium during media day prior to Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos. San Diego, California, on Jan. 26, 1988.(Darr Beiser/USA TODAY Sports)

Haji-Sheikh: Self-Determination For Iranians

Haji-Sheikh, 65, played in the 1980s for the New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins. He was a first-team All-Pro, made the Pro Bowl and was on the NFL All-Rookie team in 1983 for the Giants and, in his final season, won a Super Bowl XXII ring playing for the Washington Redskins and kicking six extra points in a 42-10 blowout of the Denver Broncos.

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Now, Haji-Sheikh is the general manager at a Michigan Porsche-Audi dealership and is like the rest of us: Keeping up with world events when time permits. 

Except the war the United States is currently waging against the Islamic Republic of Iran is kind of different because Haji-Sheikh’s dad emigrated from Iran to the United States in the 1950s and built a life here.

And his son would like to see freedom come to a country he’s never visited but has a kinship to.

“It’s a world event,” Haji-Sheikh said on Monday. “I am not a big fan of the Islamic revolution because I am not Islamic. I would like to see the people of Iran be able to determine their own future rather than it be determined by a few people. It would be nice to see them having a stable government where the people can actually decide how they want it to go.

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Green Bay Packers kicker Al Del Greco (10) talks with New York Giants kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh (6) on Sept. 15, 1985, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers defeated the Giants 23-20.

Iranians Celebrating And Americans Protesting

Haji-Sheikh hasn’t taken to the streets of his native Michigan to celebrate a liberation that hasn’t fully manifested mere days after the American and Israeli bombing and elimination of the Ayatollah. 

“I’m so far removed from that,” Haji-Sheikh said. “My mom is from Michigan and of Eastern European background. My dad is from Iran. But it’s like, he hasn’t been back since I was in eighth grade, so that’s a long time ago. That was when the Shah was still in power, mid-70s, ‘74 or ’75, because if he ever went back after that he never would have left. They would have held him, so there was no intention of going back.

“But if things change he might want to go, you never know.”

Despite being removed from any activism about what is happening in Iran Haji-Sheikh is an astute observer.

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“My favorite thing I’m seeing right now on TV is the Iranians in America celebrating because there’s a chance, a glimpse, maybe a hope for freedom,” Haji-Sheikh said. “And you have these people in New York protesting. What are you protesting?”

Pourdanesh Thanks America, Israel

Pourdanesh retired from the NFL in 2000 after a seven-year career with the Redskins and Steelers. The six-foot-six and 312-pound offensive tackle was born in Tehran. He proudly tells people he was the NFL’s first Iranian-born player.

Pourdanesh is much more visible and open about his feelings about his country than others. And, bottom line, he loves that President Donald Trump is bombing the Islamic regime.

“This is a great day for all Iranians across the world,” Pourdanesh posted on his Instagram account on Saturday when the war began. “Thank you, President Trump, thank you to the nation of Israel. Thank you for everybody that has been standing up for my people, my brothers and sisters in Iran across the world. This is a great day.

“The infamous dictator is dead – the one person who has contributed to deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and other people around the world, if not more. So, congratulations to my Iranian brothers and sisters. Now, go and take back the country.”

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This message was not a one-off. Pourdanesh has been posting about what has been happening in Iran since January, when people in Iran took to the streets demanding liberty and the government’s thugs began killing them, with some estimates rising to 36,500 deaths.

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh (68) of the Pittsburgh Steelers blocks against defensive lineman Jevon Kearse (90) of the Tennessee Titans during a game at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 24, 2000, in Pittsburgh. The Titans defeated the Steelers 23-20. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

‘Islam Does Not Represent The Iranian People’

“[The] Islamic Republic does not represent the Iranian people,” Pourdanesh said in another post. “Islam does not represent the Iranian people. For almost 50 years, the Iranian people and our country of Iran has been taken hostage by a terrorist regime, and it’s time to take that regime down.”

Pourdanesh was not available for comment on Monday. I did speak to a handful of other Iranian-Americans on Monday. They didn’t play in the NFL, but their opinions are no less valuable than those of former NFL players.

And these people, some of them participating in rallies on behalf of a free Iran, do not understand the thinking of some Americans and mainstream media.

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One complained that media that reports on reparations for black Americans based on slavery in the 1800s dismisses the Islamic takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 as an old grievance.

Another said his brother lives in England, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately called the American and Israeli attacks on the Ayatollah’s regime “illegal” but, as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service took years to do the same of Muslim rape (grooming) gangs in the country.

(Starmer announced a national “statutory inquiry” in June 2025). 

Offensive lineman Shar Pourdanesh of the Washington Redskins looks on from the sideline during a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium on Sept. 7, 1997, in Pittsburgh. The Steelers defeated the Redskins 14-13. (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)

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Pourdanesh Calls Out NFL Silence

And finally, Pourdanesh put the NFL on blast. He said in yet another post that during his career, the NFL asked him to honor black history, asked him to stand for women’s rights, asked him to fight for equality for those who cannot defend themselves.

“I did everything they asked, and now I ask the NFL this: Where are you now? Why haven’t we heard a single word out of the NFL? NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell, all the NFL teams out there, all the players who say they stand for social justice, where are you now?

“Why haven’t we heard a single word out of you with regard to the people who have been killed as of today? The very values you claim to espouse are being trampled right now. Why haven’t we heard a single word?”

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Commentary: Will Klein isn’t surprised he saved the Dodgers’ World Series dynasty

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Commentary: Will Klein isn’t surprised he saved the Dodgers’ World Series dynasty

The day after he saved the Dodgers’ season, Will Klein was hungry. He ordered from Mod Pizza.

He drove over to pick up his order. The guy that handed him the pizza told him he looked just like Will Klein.

“You should just look at the name on the order,” Klein told him.

Chaos ensued.

“He actually started screaming,” Klein said. “He just started flipping out, which was funny.”

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Thing is, if it were two days earlier, the guy would have had no idea what Klein looked like. Neither would you.

On Oct. 26, Klein was the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen, a wild thing on his fourth organization in two years, a last-minute addition to the World Series roster.

On Oct. 27, the Dodgers played 18 innings, and the last man in the Dodgers’ bullpen delivered the game of his life: four shutout innings, holding the Toronto Blue Jays at bay until Freddie Freeman hit a walk-off home run.

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein celebrates during the 16th inning of Game 3 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 27.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

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When Klein returned to the clubhouse, Sandy Koufax walked over to shake hands and congratulate him.

That was Game 3 of the World Series. The Dodgers, the significantly older team, slogged through the next two games, batting .164 and losing both.

If not for Klein, that would have been the end. The Blue Jays would have won the series in five games, and there would have been no Kiké Hernández launching a game-ending double play on the run in Game 6, no Miguel Rojas tying home run and game-saving throw in Game 7, no Andy Pages game-saving catch and Will Smith winning home run in Game 7, no Yoshinobu Yamamoto winning Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever.

There would have been no parade.

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When Klein rescued the Dodgers, he had pitched one inning in the previous 30 days.

“You can never take your mind out of it,” he said. “You’ve got to stay prepared. Something might come up, and you don’t want to be the guy that gets thrown in the fire and just burns.”

The Dodgers are not shy about grabbing a minor league pitcher, telling him what he can do better and what he should stop doing, and seeing what sticks. If nothing sticks, the Dodgers are also not shy about spitting out the pitcher and designating him for assignment.

In his minor league career, Klein struck out 13 batters every nine innings, which is tremendous. He walked seven batters every nine innings, which is hideous.

The Dodgers scrapped his slider, mixed in a sweeper, and told him his arm was so good that he should stop trying to make perfect pitches and just let fly.

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“A lot of times, pitchers are guilty of giving hitters too much credit, and hitters are guilty of giving pitchers too much credit,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations.

“Part of our job is to show them information that helps instill some confidence. I think that really landed with Will.”

In his four September appearances with the Dodgers — after a minor-league stint to apply the team’s advice — he faced 17 batters, walked one, and did not give up a run. That’s why he isn’t buying the suggestion that something suddenly clicked in the World Series.

“Things were incrementally getting better,” he said, “and then you add that to the atmosphere. It amplifies it to 100. All the prep work and mental stuff that I had been doing, I finally got a chance to shine.”

Said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts: “He’s done it in the highest of leverage. You can’t manufacture that. You’ve got to live it and do it. So, since he’s done it, I think he’s got a real confidence.”

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Dodgers pitcher Will Klein speaks during DodgerFest at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 31.

Dodgers pitcher Will Klein speaks during DodgerFest at Dodger Stadium on Jan. 31.

(John McCoy / Getty Images)

Klein last started a game three years ago, at triple A. After making 72 pitches in those four innings of Game 3, did he entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, he was meant to be a starter after all?

“No,” he said abruptly. “I hate waiting four or five days to pitch and knowing exactly when I’m going to pitch.

“When I did, the anxiety just built. I want to go pitch. I hate sitting there and waiting. That kind of eats at you. I like being able to go out to the bullpen and have a chance to pitch every day.”

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The Dodgers are so deep that Klein might not make the team out of spring training. Whatever happens, he’ll always have Game 3.

In the wake of that game, a fan wanted to buy a Klein jersey but could not find one. So the fan made one himself before Game 4, using white electrical tape on the back of a Dodger blue jersey. I showed Klein a picture.

“That’s cool,” Klein said. “That’s pretty funny.”

Dave Wong, a Dodgers fan living in San Francisco Giants territory, also wanted to buy a Klein jersey.

“They didn’t have a jersey for him,” Wong said.

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He settled for the Dodger blue T-shirt he found online and wore it to last Friday’s Cactus League game against the Giants, with these words in white letters: “Will Klein Appreciation Shirt.”

This, then, would be a Will Klein Appreciation Column.

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NBA player calls for Hawks to cancel their ‘Magic City’ strip club promotional night out of respect for women

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NBA player calls for Hawks to cancel their ‘Magic City’ strip club promotional night out of respect for women

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An NBA player has taken exception to an Atlanta Hawks promotional night, which is a nod to a famed strip club in the city. 

The Hawks have “Magic City Night” scheduled for March 16 against the Orlando Magic, but a player for neither team isn’t too fond of paying tribute to a strip club, which has been famed for its late-night stories involving athletes, celebrities and more. 

While the Hawks call it an ode to a “cultural institution,” San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet shared his displeasure in a letter posted on Medium. 

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Luke Kornet of the San Antonio Spurs reaches for the ball during the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Feb. 26, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.  (Ishika Samant/Getty Images)

Kornet, a nine-year veteran and 2024 NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, called for the Hawks’ promotional night to be canceled later this month, saying that it is disrespectful to women to honor the strip club. 

“In its press release, the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, “Atlanta’s premier strip club.” Given this fact, I would like to respectfully ask that the Atlanta Hawks cancel this promotional night with Magic City,” Kornet wrote in his post.

“The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world. We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love.”

The Hawks boasted about the theme night in its press release, including a live performance by famous Atlanta rapper T.I., a co-branded, limited-edition hoodie and even the establishment’s “World Famous” lemon-pepper chicken wings in the arena. 

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A general view of signage with the State Farm Arena logo on Nov. 14, 2025, outside State Farm Arena, in Atlanta, GA. (Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire)

“This collaboration and theme night is very meaningful to me after all the work that we did to put together ’Magic City: An American Fantasy’,” said Hawks principal owner, filmmaker and actor, Jami Gertz, said in a press release. “The iconic Atlanta institution has made such an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture.”

Kornet wrote that allowing the night to continue “without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, “specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”

Kornet wrote that “others throughout the league” were surprised by the Hawks’ decision to have this promotional night. 

“We desire to provide an environment where fans of all ages can safely come and enjoy the game of basketball and where we can celebrate the history and culture of communities in good conscience. The celebration of a strip club is not conduct aligned with that vision,” he wrote. 

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Luke Kornet of the San Antonio Spurs defends against the Charlotte Hornets during their game at Spectrum Center on Jan. 31, 2026 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

The Hawks have seen good reception for the promotional night, as Tick Pick reported a get-in price was initially $10 for the game and has since skyrocketed to $94. 

Kornet is in his first season with the Spurs, his sixth NBA team, where he has played mainly in a bench role. He averages 7.1 points and 6.5 rebounds per game across 50 contests.

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