Author: Mr Bang

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce is determined to lead his team back to glory in the fiercely competitive AFC West division, and he’s eyeing a unique strategy to do so.

 

 

 

 

Inspired by the iconic “Jordan rules” employed by the Detroit Pistons to contain basketball legend Michael Jordan, Pierce is considering implementing “Mahomes rules” to tackle the reigning Super Bowl champions, theIn a recent press conference, defensive standout Maxx Crosby openly discussed the team’s approach under the proposed “Mahomes rules.” Unapologetically embracing an aggressive strategy, Crosby asserted that this game plan wouldn’t be limited to their clashes with the Chiefs but would extend to all teams facing the formidable quarterback.At the end of the day, if we want to win, we got to take him down,” Crosby said.

“So we’re not shy about that. He knows every time I play him, and every time I see him, I’m trying to ruin his day. So that goes for everybody.

“So yeah, you know, people can take that whatever they want, whatever, but he knows I’m coming for him.

 

“It’s the same. I’m on that energy every time and I know my teammates are as well. It’s not malicious or whatever… But we play with ill intent sign and we play violent and fast and we plan on doing that for the years to come.

‘Jason, you’ve come to the end of the road baby,’ Sanders started. But guess what? You don’t have to train no more. You don’t have to eat right any more.’

‘You can just let all that go,’ Sanders said pointing to Kelce’s stomach. ‘And I want you to be as controversial as you ever wanted to be on your podcast. I love you, I appreciate you. But baby, it’s time to really be you.’The cutout used of Kelce is from the Kansas City Chiefs vs Buffalo Bills AFC Divisional round playoff game, where he was in a luxury box with Taylor Swift and others.

Sanders advice to Clark was along the same lines, but he wanted to make sure she finished her college career strong instead of starting to focus on the WNBA.

Three weeks before his in-ring return to professional wrestling, Sanders’ advice to The Rock did not have anything to do with Hollywood or the WWE.

‘It’s time for you to step up to the plate and take it to the next level,’ Sanders said. ‘I need you to run for office. I need you to be the President of the United States of America.’

Sanders’ led Colorado to a 4-8 record in his first season in charge of the Buffaloes.

As Colorado heads back to the Big 12, Sanders will look to lead it to bowl eligibility in a full season for the first time since 2016.

WWE legend Dwayne Johnson shared a picture dressed up as David Beckham for Halloween before the former England star offered a hilarious response.

Given it is the spooky season, some of sport’s biggest stars have recently shared their brilliant costumes and outfits for parties, gatherings and the like.

From Man United‘s Casemiro and Garnacho looking like superheroes to NBA star Victor Wembanyama’s ‘Slender Man’ outfit, there’s been some great costumes.

 

But they may have all been topped by Johnson, who’s hilarious Halloween costume has gone viral on social media.

Taking to his Instagram, Johnson shared a picture of himself wearing a blonde wig and a Manchester United top with ‘Beckham 7’ on the back.

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson dressed up as Man United legend David Beckham for Halloween

Beckham, pictured back in 2002, used to sport blonde highlights – which ‘the Rock’ recreated

Shortly afterwards, Beckham took to the comments to say: ‘I mean I thought I was looking in the mirror. Looking good man you might need a bigger jersey’.

The WWE-star-turned-actor also shared a hilarious video in the full costume, where he controls a ball before staring intensely into the camera.

Beckham has been all the rage in recent weeks after the release of the four-part Netflix documentary focused on his career – both on and off the pitch.

On Monday, the former England and Manchester United star was on hand to present Inter Miami star Lionel Messi with his eighth Ballon d’Or title on.

It was somewhat of a full-circle moment for the duo, with Beckham – now an Inter Miami co-owner – being the first who opened the floodgates into America, after he joined the LA Galaxy from Real Madrid in 2007.

The Inter Miami owner was quick to respond to Johnson’s hilarious Halloween costume

Beckham pictured in a navy-blue cross-jacket at the Ballon d’Or ceremony on Monday night

The former Manchester United and England star gushed over Messi, who led Miami to a Leagues Cup title shortly after joining the club.

‘It’s very special to say he’s a Miami player and he’s in our city. He’ll celebrate this with his team-mates and his family in his way.

‘We’ll do our best to celebrate it in the Miami way. I’m sure we can do a good party.’

Messi was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Antonella Roccuzzo, and their three sons, Mateo, Thiago and Ciro.

Mookie Betts to start the season at a new position that he’s played before

Mookie Betts during spring training / LAPRESSE

The Dodgers are moving pieces within the team, including positions. Los Angeles has the strongest lineup in all of MLB heading into the 2024 MLB season, at least on paper with big names like Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, and Mookie Betts, among others.

Dave Roberts trusts in Betts’ versatility since it was initially mentioned that he would move from right field to second base for next season; however, Mookie will now have to adapt again to another position.

What did Dave Roberts say about the position change?

Roberts announced to MLB.com’s Juan Toribio that Betts will be the starting SS ‘permanently, for now,’ with an eye on him being the Dodgers’ Opening Day bullpen for the Opening Day game against the Padres in South Korea on March 20, after Gavin Lux, who was supposed to be the starting shortstop, struggled this Spring Training.

Mookie has played 16 total games as a shortstop in his career, all last season, committing three errors and posting a 0 DRS.

Making this move now is something that the entire organization feels is the right thing to do, to give us the best chance to prevent runs and win baseball games. I think, specifically for Gavin, it allows him to get to the other side of the diamond and he’s played more second base than he has as a bullpen player in recent years.

Dave Roberts

Dodgers can’t find their permanent shortstop

Following the departure of Corey Seager at the end of the 2021 season, the Dodgers have not had a permanent player for the position, having their third different SS to start a season, with Trea Turner and Miguel Rojas being the starting shortstops for the last two Opening Days, with Mookie being the last one on the roster.

Gavin Lux was initially expected to be the Dodgers’ permanent SS entering the 2023 season, but after tearing the ACL in his right knee in Spring Training last year, he missed the entire season, now he is being chosen to start 2024 at 2B.

Several times over the past few days, Aaron Boone had acknowledged the gravity of the moment.

“It’s Gerrit Cole,” the Yankees manager had said twice, no further explanation needed.

The spring nightmare has nearly passed, and Gerrit Cole is still expected to be the team’s ace this season.

After Cole visited with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Thursday, the belief is the reigning Cy Young award winner ace can avoid Tommy John surgery, The Post has learned.
Gerrit Cole is believed to avoid Tommy John surgery.AP

The initial recommendation for Cole’s troubled right elbow is rest, rehab and some conservative, non-surgical treatments. The belief is he will miss one to two months or perhaps just a bit more.

Cole met with ElAttrache in Los Angeles for further testing on an elbow that was not bouncing back from his outings as Cole wanted. ElAttrache apparently has agreed with team doctors that there is no tear in his UCL.

The 33-year-old workhorse will miss some time, but at this point the Yankees are expecting to get the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner back for a season in which he is needed.

Cole set off alarms around the Yankees in undergoing an MRI exam Monday after a three-inning, 37-pitch live batting-practice session on March 7. A CT scan and X-rays followed, and still more tests and a new pair of eyes were needed, so Cole flew to see one of the world’s best-known sports orthopedic surgeons.

Visits to ElAttrache often end in dread, but Thursday night was cause for celebration around the Yankees.

There might not be a more valuable pitcher in all of baseball than Cole, who is routinely excellent and rarely strays from his routine. Cole has logged at least 30 starts in each of the past six 162-game seasons. In an era of fragile elbows and shoulders, Cole has been a rare constant who has pitched more innings than anyone in MLB since joining the Yankees for the 2020 season.
Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (45) throws a pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first inning at George M. Steinbrenner Field.Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Behind Cole in the Yankees’ rotation is plenty of upside but plenty of unknowns. Marcus Stroman could not stay healthy with the Cubs last season. Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes could not stay healthy (or perform) with the Yankees last year. Clarke Schmidt is looking to build upon a solid but not spectacular first full season in the rotation.

In a season in which the Yankees have added Juan Soto — but have not extended the outfielder who can be a free agent at season’s end — their surest path to a World Series lies with Cole’s arm.

The Yankees still are not sure who their Opening Day starter will be, and the first month or two of the season might have to be stitched together.

But the feeling after a critical doctor’s appointment is Cole will be back for a substantial portion of the 2024 season, which means the Yankees’ season hopes are intact.

Jim McAndrew, who lost his major league debut to Bob Gibson in a 1968 spot start for the New York Mets when Nolan Ryan was called away to military duty, then beat Steve Carlton a month later for his first win, has died. He was 80.

McAndrew died Thursday at HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center in Arizona after a brief illness, Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said Friday.

A right-hander at the back end of the Mets rotation from 1968-73, McAndrew started one of the most significant games in franchise history: a win over Montreal in September 1969 that put the long downtrodden team into first place for the first time in the franchise’s eight seasons.

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Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew is shown in St. Petersburg, Fla., March 1970.AP
Pitching for the Mets during a seven-year major league career, McAndrew didn’t appear in the postseason for the 1969 World Series champions or 1973 NL pennant winners.

He was 36-49 with four saves and a 3.65 ERA for the Mets in 105 starts and 41 relief appearances, then was traded to San Diego and went 1-4 with a 5.62 ERA in two starts and 13 relief appearances.

That left his final big league record 37-53 with a 3.65 ERA.

McAndrew made his major league debut in a doubleheader opener at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on July 21, 1968, when Ryan — a future Hall of Famer — was fulfilling his duty as a member of the Army reserve.

McAndrew’s first batter was future Hall of Famer Lou Brock, who singled, and McAndrew pitched around Roger Maris’ leadoff double in the fourth.

The game was scoreless when Bobby Tolan led off the sixth with a drive against the wall that landed between center fielder Cleon Jones and right fielder Larry Stahl.

Tolan raced around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. That was the only run off McAndrews in a 2-0 loss as Gibson pitched a seven-hitter to win his 10th straight start and get his seventh shutout in a span of nine starts.

With Ryan due to rejoin the team the next day, McAndrews was sent back to Triple-A Jacksonville. McAndrews was taken out after five perfect innings in his next start and rejoined the Mets when Ryan again reported for Army duty.

The Mets didn’t score a run while McAndrew was on the mound as he lost his first four big league starts, and he dropped to 0-5 with a 13-3 loss to San Francisco and future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.

McAndew finally got his first win on Aug. 26 at St. Louis, pitching a five-hit shutout to beat Carlton, yet another future Hall of Famer, 1-0 with the help of Jones’ eighth-inning sacrifice fly that followed Tommy Agee’s leadoff single.

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Jim McAndrew of the New York Mets pitches circa March, 1972.Sporting News via Getty Images
McAndrew was on the mound against Montreal at Shea Stadium on Sept. 10, 1969.

He pitched 11 innings without a decision in a 3-2 win that ended with Ken Boswell’s 12th-inning single. The Mets went ahead ahead 6-1 after three innings in the second game when the Chicago Cubs finished a loss at Philadelphia, moving the Mets into first place for the very first time in eight major league seasons.

What became known as the Miracle Mets went on to beat Baltimore in the World Series.

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Jim McAndrew at a Miracle Mets autograph signing in 2019.Edmund J Coppa
McAndrew was born in Lost Nation, Iowa, on Jan. 11, 1944. He played baseball and basketball at the University of Iowa but stopped basketball after a knee injury during his sophomore season.

He missed his junior season because of an arm injury, then returned for his senior season and was selected by the Mets in the 11th round of the first amateur draft in 1965 — one round before the team selected Ryan.

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McAndrew pitched at rookie level Marion, Virginia, and Class A Auburn that summer, went to the Florida Instructional League and completed his psychology degree at Iowa during the offseason. He returned to Auburn in 1966, reached Double-A Williamsport in 1967 and Triple-A with Jacksonville in 1968.

After his baseball career, McAndrew worked in coal industry sales and management.

He is survived by wife Lyn, daughter Jana and sons Jamie, Jeff and Jon.

Jamie, also a right-handed pitcher, was the 28th overall pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers and went 3-4 with a 5.98 ERA for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1995 and ’97.

Maybe keep that just for the family group text.

Aroldis Chapman had fans bewildered after a video of him groping an older woman’s breasts appeared on his Instagram Stories on Tuesday night.

Jason Mackey, the Pirates beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, reported that the “woman in the video is his mom. Was an ‘innocent family moment’ where they joked Aroldis was a ‘mommy’s boy,’ and she couldn’t ween him from breastfeeding. In the video, he’s seen acting like an infant.”

Mackey cited a source with “direct knowledge” of the situation.

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Aroldis Chapman posted a strange video to social media of him groping an older woman._thecubanmissile54/Instagram

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The woman in the video is reportedly Chapman’s mother._thecubanmissile54/Instagram
The video features Chapman, who pitched with the Yankees from 2016-22, and his mom on the couch as another man speaks in Spanish behind the camera.

The video mercifully disappeared from Chapman’s Instagram page, though it’s unclear if he took it down or if it expired after 24 hours.

“My own $0.02 is that it still comes across as very weird. Cultural differences or not, tough for anybody online or anywhere to make that connection,” Mackey said.

And few people did, as commenters across social media described how creeped out they were by the clip.

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Aroldis Chapman pitching for the Pirates on March 9, 2024.AP
Chapman, 36, is in his first year with the Pirates after signing a one-year, $3.75 million contract this offseason.

The Cuban native started last season with the Royals before a deadline deal sent him to the Rangers and he helped Texas win the team’s first World Series in franchise history.

Chapman could follow a similar path this season, starting the season with a team that has low expectations and eventually being traded to a contender to add a hard-throwing lefty arm to its bullpen.

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Aroldis Chapman posted the video as a joke, according to reports._thecubanmissile54/Instagram
Chapman’s time with the Yankees came to an unceremonious end when he no-showed a workout before the 2022 postseason with a playoff roster spot already in jeopardy.

Chapman, who was also a member of the Cubs’ 2016 World Series team, has not directly addressed the video.

 

The Pirates pitcher was allegedly groping his mother’s breats

Aroldis Chapman signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates last offseasonAP

Aroldis Chapman‘s career can be boiled down to strikeouts and controversy. And on Wednesday, the former New York Yankees and Texas Rangers star closer was not trending for his blistering fastball.

He posted an inexplicable video with no caption to his Instagram story, which showed him snuggled up with an older woman on a couch – later presumed to be his mother – before he repeatedly began touching her breasts. Watch the video at your discretion.

Aroldis Chapman’s previous domestic violence case and suspension

The 36-year-old, who signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in January, was famously suspended 30 games by MLB in 2016 over a domestic violence incident. Chapman was accused of pushing and choking his girlfriend and firing eight gunshots in October 2015, but police never filed charges.

On the mound, the southpaw closer is best known for his record-breaking fastball. He threw the fastest recorded pitch in MLB history at 105.8 miles per hour.

A handful of internet detectives found photos of Chapman’s mother that appeared to match the woman in the video, but the woman’s identity is still unconfirmed. It is also unknown why the fireballer posted the video in the first place.

It’s hard to say if that would make it better or worse if the woman was family, but no matter what, the Cuban Missile‘s actions were unacceptable.

The video remained up for several hours on Instagram, but has since been deleted. As of Wednesday afternoon, there has been no official comment on the incident from Chapman or the Pirates.

The mystery surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s wife has finally been resolved

 

Shohei Ohtani, who inked a monumental 10-year, 700-million-dollar contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December, took to his Instagram Story on Thursday to share a photo with his new spouse, as reported by Fox Sports.

“Shohei Ohtani and his wife, basketball player Mamiko Tanaka, are heading to the Seoul Series!” Fox on MLB announced on X, along with a screenshot of the image.

Shohei Ohtani’s wife Mamiko Tanaka true identity revealed as Japanese basketball star

While Ohtani, the reigning American League MVP, had previously mentioned tying the knot with “someone from my Native country Japan” in a February Instagram post, he had not disclosed her identity.

“She is a Japanese woman, and I don’t really feel comfortable talking about when I got married, the exact date and stuff,” Ohtani, known for his guardedness regarding his personal life, stated through interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.

“But she’s a normal Japanese woman.”

Tanaka plays basketball and is an athlete herself

Tanaka, 27, stands at 5 feet 11 inches and has played as a center for the Fujitsu Red Wave from 2019 to 2023 following a collegiate career at Waseda University and Tokyo Seitoku University, according to reports.

Ohtani, 29, who was at the Dodgers‘ spring training facility in Arizona at the time, revealed that he has known his wife for three to four years and opted to make their relationship public to preempt any future distractions.

The two-time unanimous MVP clarified that his marital status had “absolutely nothing to do” with his decision to sign with the Dodgers and asserted that his wife was supportive of his choice, as reported by the LA Times.

Ohtani spent the first six seasons of his MLB career with the crosstown Angels.

He had previously disclosed that he met his wife during a training session, according to Essentially Sports. The Dodgers‘ upcoming trip to South Korea will feature two exhibition games in the Seoul Series before they kick off the regular season against the San Diego Padres on March 20.

Ohtani, who will celebrate his 30th birthday on July 5, sealed the biggest deal in sports history in December, committing to the Dodgers until 2033, when he turns 39. However, he will not be available to pitch in 2024 as he recuperates from surgery to repair his right ACL, which took place in October 2023.

Reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani is gearing up for the upcoming Seoul Series, set to take place on March 20 and 21. The two-way star is known for his exploits at the plate, leaving fans amazed with his hitting.

Recently, renowned magician Shlomo Levinger made his way to the Dodgers locker room. He played a card deck trick with Ohtani that eventually left the slugger in awe.

The magician initially asked Shohei to pick any card in his mind. Ohtani picked ‘seven of diamonds,’ after which the magician started to open the deck.

The magician had four aces holding up, but much to the surprise of Ohtani, the back of the four cards combined read, “The Seven of Diamonds,” as if the magician already knew which card Ohtani would pick.

This left Shohei and the entire Dodgers clubhouse cheering for the magician.

Check out this video:

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Shohei Ohtani is in for a long haul and says he ‘loves baseball’

Shohei Ohtani headlined much of the winter, coming off an MVP season with the LA Angels. He went on to sign with the LA Dodgers on a whopping 10-year, $700 million deal that shattered many professional sports contract records.

This also led the Dodgers to sign his fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another sensational pitcher coming from Japan, to a 12-year, $325 million deal.

However, before he signed the contract with the Dodgers, he appeared for an interview with GQ Japan, which wasn’t published until recently. In the interaction, Ohtani mentioned that he loves baseball and would like to play until he is 39–40 years old.
“I want to still be playing baseball when I’m 39 or 40 years old. If possible, I’d like to stay active (laughs),” Ohtani said. “Of course, the day will come when I will retire, but when that time comes, I want to continue to love baseball. Ideally, I would love baseball and not feel like I hate it or want to quit.” [via Fort Worth Star-Telegram].
Shohei Ohtani’s contract is deferred, which will allow the Dodgers to spend more elsewhere and make the team more competitive. With this clause, the Dodgers will only pay $2 million annually to Ohtani for the next decade. After his tenure ends, the Dodgers will pay the remaining amount.