Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate during an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Oct. 12, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. (Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kansas City, Missouri, will be on full display in Hallmark’s new Chiefs-themed movie: Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.
According to a release announcing the film, the story centers around a member of a Kansas City Chiefs super-fan family, Alana Higman, who develops a connection with the Chiefs fan-engagement director, while the director assesses the family for a “Fan of the Year” contest. Hallmark, NFL, the Chiefs, and Skydance Sports teamed up to produce the film, according to the release.
“The movie begins production next month and will film entirely in Kansas City, Missouri locations, including the iconic GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, marking the first time the loudest stadium in the world has been used as a filming location in a Hallmark movie,” according to the release.
The film will star Tyler Hynes as the engagement coordinator, Hunter King as a super fan, and Ed Begley Jr. as King’s character’s grandfather.
“We are honored to partner with Hallmark on a project as unique as this,” said Mark Donovan, Chiefs president in a statement included in the release. “As a club, we pride ourselves on exploring new ways to grow our brand, as well as connect with new audiences. This partnership unites two passionate fanbases and gives us an opportunity to show Chiefs Kingdom’s energy and tradition on one of the most-watched channels during the holiday season.”
Hallmark, a Kansas City-based brand, will be working with the Chiefs to promote the film which is slated to premiere during their 15th annual Countdown to Christmas programming event.
“This film marks the ultimate celebration of a longstanding collaboration between the two pioneering KC-based brands, officially uniting the Hallmarkies and Chiefs Kingdom like never before,” read the release.
The release also announced that the Kansas City skyline would be lit up purple and red on Tuesday starting at sunset in recognition of the two Kansas City brands’ cooperation.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Detroit Tigers 4, Philadelphia Phillies 1 N.Y. Mets 9, N.Y. Yankees 7 Milwaukee Brewers 3, Texas Rangers 1 Miami Marlins 2, Kansas City Royals 1 Houston Astros 5, Colorado Rockies 2 L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago White Sox 3 Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Minnesota Twins 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 10, Baltimore Orioles 8 Tampa Bay Rays 11, Seattle Mariners 3 Toronto Blue Jays 9, Boston Red Sox 4 L.A. Angels 7, Oakland Athletics 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE Pittsburgh Pirates 9, Cincinnati Reds 5 San Diego Padres 9, Washington Nationals 7 San Francisco Giants 5, Chicago Cubs 1
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Minnesota Lynx 94, New York Liberty 89
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Philadelphia Phillies 8, Detroit Tigers 1 Los Angeles Dodgers 3, Chicago White Sox 0 Kansas City Royals 4, Miami Marlins 1 Milwaukee Brewers 6, Texas Rangers 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland Guardians 3, Baltimore Orioles 2 Tampa Bay Rays 4, Seattle Mariners 3 Boston Red Sox 7, Toronto Blue Jays 6 Los Angeles Angels 5, Oakland Athletics 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati Reds 11, Pittsburgh Pirates 5 St. Louis Cardinals 4, Atlanta Braves 3 San Diego Padres 7, Washington Nationals 6 San Francisco Giants 5, Chicago Cubs 4
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS Florida Panthers 2, Edmonton Oilers 1
Sha’Carri Richardson crosses the finish line of the women’s 100 meter dash semi-final on Day Two of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Track & Field Trials Eugene, OR, June 22, 2024. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Sha’Carri Richardson is officially heading to Paris to compete in the Olympic Games for the first time.
The 24-year-old track and field sprinter qualified for the event on Saturday night with a 10.71-second 100-meter run.
Richardson’s feat, which she clocked at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, registered as the fastest women’s time in the competition by any woman this year, according to World Athletics.
Immediately following Richardson’s speedy feat, the runner dropped to her knees before embracing and celebrating alongside Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry, who both qualified for the Paris Olympics alongside Richardson with times of 10.80 and 10.89 seconds, respectively.
Richardson will start her Olympic journey on Aug. 2 in Paris, when the women’s 100-meter run preliminary round kicks off.
In August last year, Richardson notched a 10.65-second 100-meter time in Budapest, Hungary, at the World Athletics Championships.
In 2021, Richardson won the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials, making her the fastest woman in America and positioning her to compete for gold in the Tokyo Olympics. However, her chances of participating in the 100 meters at the Olympics were erased after it was announced she had tested positive for THC, a chemical found in marijuana.
Richardson told reporters at the time that she used marijuana during the Olympic trials in Oregon, which has legalized the substance for recreational use, as a way to cope with the loss of her birth mother. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency suspended her for 30 days, citing the World Anti-Doping Agency’s ban on cannabis.
(NEW YORK) — Being back at Alabama’s Rickwood Field brought back painful memories for MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who detailed the racism he experienced there in an appearance on a Fox Sports pregame show.
Jackson played at Rickwood Field in the minor leagues in the late 1960s. He said coming back to the area was “not easy.”
“The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled … I wouldn’t wish it on anybody,” he said.
He said that he was not allowed to enter restaurants and hotels, threatened with arson and called slurs at the time.
“I walked into restaurants, and they would point at me and say, ‘The n—– can’t eat here.’ I would go to a hotel, and they would say, ‘The n—– can’t stay here,’” said Jackson. “We went to [Kansas City Athletics owner] Charlie Finley’s country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word: ‘He can’t come in here.’ Finley marched the whole team out.”
Jackson thanked his team that stood by him despite the discrimination: “Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that, if I couldn’t eat in the place, nobody would eat. We’d get food to travel. If I couldn’t stay in a hotel, they’d drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay.”
He also recalled the Baptist Street Church bombing in 1963 in Birmingham, in which KKK members bombed a Black church and killed four Black girls, according to the FBI. No federal charges were filed at the time.
“I was ready to physically fight some — I would have got killed here because I would have beat someone’s a–, and you would have saw me in an oak tree somewhere,” he said, referring to the racist lynchings used to terrorize the Black community in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Jackson was attending the MLB’s tribute to the Negro Leagues, which was created due to segregation and racism in the sport, on Thursday when he shared his experiences.
The MLB tribute also honored Willie Mays, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game.
Mays got his start in the Negro Leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field in the 1940s. He died shortly before the tribute at 93.
Coco Gauff is participating in the ecotrans Ladies Open, a WTA 500 tournament, in Berlin, Germany, on June 20, 2024. (Photo by Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Tennis Association has announced its full lineup of American talent set to hit the clay courts of Roland Garros at the 2024 Paris Olympics, led by superstar Coco Gauff.
With just over one month before the Games get underway in France, Team USA tennis has locked in its final roster for singles and doubles, which includes six first-time Olympians.
Team USA Tennis roster set for Paris Olympics
Gauff previously made the team in 2020 but missed out on the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19 days before the start in July 2021.
The current World No. 2 will make her Olympics debut alongside No. 5 Jessica Pegula — who missed the French Open this season due to a neck injury — No. 11 Danielle Collins in her final season, and No. 17 Emma Navarro.
The women will be led by coach and USTA Head of Women’s Tennis Kathy Rinaldi, with doubles teams featuring Gauff and Pegula, plus Collins and doubles No. 11 Desirae Krawczyk.
The clay of Roland Garros will be a familiar surface and stadium for the American women, particularly Gauff, who reached the singles semifinals and notched her first Grand Slam doubles title at the French Open earlier this month.
While the 20-year-old from Delray Beach, Florida, is the reigning U.S. Open women’s singles champion, she has won five of her nine WTA doubles titles with Pegula and reached the world No.1 doubles ranking for the first time in the summer of 2022.
The U.S. men’s team headed to Paris includes world singles No. 12 Taylor Fritz making his Olympics debut, as well as No. 13 Tommy Paul, No. 44 Chris Eubanks, and No. 53 Marcos Giron.
There will be two men’s doubles teams representing Team USA including Fritz and Paul, plus world doubles No. 6 Rajeev Ram making his third Olympic appearance and No. 14 Austin Krajicek, coached by 2012 Olympic doubles gold medalist and Davis Cup captain Bob Bryan.
Ram, 40, has four major doubles titles and also won silver in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games alongside Venus Williams.
The USTA said this week that it would announce the mixed doubles team for Paris, which “will be taken from the qualified players,” at a later date.
The U.S. has won 24 Olympic medals, 14 gold, in men’s and women’s tennis since it returned as a full medal sport in 1988, which is more than any other nation, according to the USTA.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland Guardians 6, Seattle Mariners 3 Tampa Bay Rays 7, Minnesota Twins 6 Houston Astros 5 Chicago White Sox 3 Kansas City Royals 3, Oakland Athletics 2 Baltimore Orioles 17, N.Y. Yankees 5
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona Diamondbacks 5, Washington Nationals 2 L.A. Dodgers 5, Colorado Rockies 3 St. Louis Cardinals 6, San Francisco Giants 5 Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres (TBD)
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE Atlanta Braves 7, Detroit Tigers 0 New York Mets 3, Texas Rangers 5 Milwaukee Brewers 2, Los Angeles Angels 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE Seattle Mariners 0, Cleveland Guardians 8 New York Yankees 6, Baltimore Orioles 7 Boston Red Sox 7, Toronto Blue Jays 3 Chicago White Sox 1, Houston Astros 4 Minnesota Twins 2, Tampa Bay Rays 3 Oakland Athletics 5, Kansas City Royals 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE Cincinnati Reds 0, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 Arizona Diamondbacks 1, Washington Nationals 3 Miami Marlins 4, St. Louis Cardinals 3 Philadelphia Phillies 2, San Diego Padres 5 Chicago Cubs 6, San Francisco Giants 5 Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Colorado Rockies 7
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION Washington Mystics 81, Indiana Fever 88 Atlanta Dream 55, Minnesota Lynx 68 Seattle Storm 83, Las Vegas Aces 94
San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds (L) laughs with godfather and Giants legend Willie Mays as Mays was introduced during the Giants Opening Day against the San Diego Padres on April 5, 2002 ,in San Francisco, California. (JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The baseball world is in mourning following the death of Willie Mays at 93.
Major League teams across the U.S. expressed their condolences as they remembered the iconic athlete of their sport, who played 22 seasons and had 660 home runs.
The San Francisco Giants, the team Mays spent the most time on, announced the news of his death Tuesday night, going on to share the outpouring of love from across the baseball community.
“He leaves us with a lasting reminder: to work hard and find joy in this great game and this extraordinary life,” the Giants posted Tuesday evening on X. “Say Hey, Willie Mays. The best there ever was.”
Some of the biggest athletes in sports, legends in their own right, also turned to social media to share memories of the former San Francisco Giants player.
Read on to see how the baseball community and notable figures are remembering Mays:
“We join the baseball world in mourning the passing of Willie Mays,” read a post on the Mets’ X page.
Barry Bonds, Mays’ godson and whose father played with Mays on the Giants, shared his heartfelt emotions on Instagram.
“I am beyond devastated and overcome with emotion,” Bonds, also a Giants legend, wrote. “I have no words to describe what you mean to me- you helped shape me to be who I am today. Thank you for being my Godfather and always being there. Give my dad a hug for me. Rest in peace Willie, I love you forever. #SayHey”
New York Yankees alum Derek Jeter called Mays, “One of the best to ever play the game and even a better person.”
“Thoughts and prayers are with Willie’s family and loved ones,” he added on X.
The Seattle Mariners called Mays, “an icon of the sport.”
“Our hearts break at the news of Willie Mays’ passing, and we send our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones,” the team’s statement continued. “His impact on and off the field will live on forever.”
Jose Canseco wrote on X, “One of the best to ever play the game. Rest in Peace Willie Mays.”
“We join the baseball community in mourning the passing of the legendary Willie Mays.Our hearts go out to the @SFGiants and all of Willie’s family and friends,” read a post on the St. Louis Cardinals’ X page.
Former President Barack Obama posted on Threads, writing, “Willie Mays wasn’t just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power. He was also a wonderfully warm and generous person – and an inspiration to an entire generation. I’m lucky to have spent time with him over the years, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family.”
Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson shared condolences on behalf of himself and wife Cookie Johnson.
“I’m devastated to hear about the passing of the legendary Hall of Famer Willie Mays, one of the main reasons I fell in love with baseball. Cookie and I are praying for his family, friends, and fans during this difficult time,” Johnson wrote.
Former MLB pitcher CC Sabathia wrote on X, “I’ll never forget this day when I walked in and heard, ‘that’s that boy who wears his hat like this.’ RIP Willie Mays. You changed the game forever and inspired kids like me to chase our dream. Thank you for everything that you did on and off the field. Always in our hearts.”
Tennis legend Billie Jean King wrote on X, “He was a 24-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glover, a 2-time MVP, World Series champion, and a Hall of Famer.”
“The great Willie Mays has passed away. It was a privilege to know him. We were both honored by @MLB in 2010 with the Beacon Award, given to civil rights pioneers,” her post continued.
“He was a such a kind soul, who gifted my brother Randy a new glove and a television during his rookie year with the @SFGiants,” she wrote, adding, “My deepest condolences to his family. He will be missed.”
Actor and comedian Billy Crystal wrote on X, “The great @Willie Mays has passed away. Had the honor of talking with him several times. He loved that we mentioned his ‘54 World Series catch in @CitySlickers.The man who hit the ball and the “ Giant” who caught it signed this ball. RIP #24.. a thrill to watch you play.”
“Willie Mays was more than just a baseball icon. He broke barriers and inspired millions of Americans — setting records, bringing joy to countless fans, and becoming a role model for a generation of future athletes. The ‘Say Hey Kid’ will be dearly missed — and never forgotten,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement on X.
The mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, shared a lengthy post commenting on Mays’ legacy.
“To a native San Franciscan, some things just go without question: it’s foggy in the summer, cable cars go halfway to the stars, and Willie Mays is the best there ever was. It was an unbelievable opportunity of a lifetime to meet someone like Willie Mays. I remember hearing about the struggles that he endured because he was black, and what he overcame to become an icon on the field and the greatest baseball player of all time. He was from a generation who faced segregation and racism, a generation that paved the way so that many of us could have the freedom to thrive. Willie Mays meant so much to this city as a player, but also as a leader, staying involved in San Francisco and the Giants organization long after he retired from the game he loved. Willie Mays will forever be the greatest of giants in the story of San Francisco,” she wrote on X.
The Philadelphia Phillies posted, “We join the Giants and all of baseball in mourning the loss of Hall of Famer Willie Mays.Our hearts go out to his family and loved ones.”
