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Bill Madden: Buck Showalter isn’t to blame for the mess that is this $345M Mets team

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

Suffice it to say, Steve Cohen feels little consolation over dodging a $185 million bullet with Jacob deGrom needing Tommy John surgery.The bleak deGrom news out of Texas was announced Tuesday, but three days later Cohen’s $345 million Mets had been swept by the Braves in Atlanta and began the weekend three games under .500 in fourth place in the National League East.Naturally, the talk radio yahoos are screaming for Cohen to start shaking things up at Citi Field, but while mistakes and miscalculations have been made, fault for this pratfall in Queens lies other than in the manager’s office. For it’s not Buck Showalter’s fault that Daniel Vogelbach has been an absolute bust as the primary DH, and it’s not his fault that Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, his twin $40-plus million supposed aces, gave up 10 runs in a combined 8 2/3 innings against the Braves, and it’s certainly not his fault that Pete Alonso got hit on the wrist with an errant Charl...

Column: Chicago Bears need the Justin Fields fireworks shows to continue. But as a runner, he needs to be more selective.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

On his way to a record-breaking 2022 season, one in which he rushed for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns while creating a YouTube amusement park, Justin Fields made it perfectly clear. Those rushing exploits were fun and all. But his elevator to stardom as an NFL quarterback must be powered by his growth as a passer.Sure, Fields acknowledged a slight bit of disappointment in finishing 63 yards shy of Lamar Jackson’s single-season rushing record for a quarterback. “Of course,” he said the day after the Bears’ last-place season ended. “But that’s a rushing record. And I’m a quarterback. That would’ve been cool to have. But I’m not really into records like that. If there was one record I’d like to break, it’d be a passing record.“We’ll see if we can get that done in the near future.”Fields will get no arguments from his coaches, who day by day, practice by practice, meeting by meeting continue pushing h...

Bishop Fenwick stuns top-seeded St. Mary’s in nine-inning thriller

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

LYNN — A pair of Catholic Central League rivals locked horns in a Division 3 softball quarterfinal on Saturday that won’t soon be forgotten.No. 9 Bishop Fenwick (15-9) received a two-run single from Katie O’Brien in the top of the ninth inning to break a scoreless tie in pulling off a 2-0 shocker over No. 1 St. Mary’s (20-2) at Grace Rogato Field.The Crusaders, winners of 10 straight, move on to face Norton in the state semifinals.“That was just nuts,” Fenwick coach Brian Seabury said. “Katie did a great job of hitting the ball where it was pitched and got us the hit that we needed.”It felt like neither team was going to score as Spartans hurler Anna Fringuelli and her counterpart, Gigi Aupont, traded zeroes for over two hours. But in the ninth, it was Fringuelli and the Spartans who blinked first.Walks to Mia Mercurio and Aupont began the frame. After a sacrifice from Sophia Longo, O’Brien swung at the first pitch and dumped a single into short right to give her team the lead.The r...

Looking Glass: Sometimes I express my concern for kids through anger, officer

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

A man got out of his car and started yelling at children playing in the street, and then chased them with his car onto the sidewalk where he sped up behind them “almost striking them,” police said. He admitted to following the children in his vehicle, but only to “speak to their parents about them being in the roadway.” Officers were skeptical.AND THIS TIME WE REALLY MEAN IT: Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 34 months in jail for an 82-year-old man, who was convicted in a German court of drug dealing for the 25th time, but the judge gave him a suspended sentence, and told the defendant that this was his “very last warning.”LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE; YOU’RE NOT DEAD: A man barged into a home in Fort Myers, Fla., while the family was eating supper, and, when he was confronted by the man of the house, said he was a ghost, and expressed shock that the guy could see him. Mental health professionals have been alerted.HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE TWO WOMEN SCORNED: Two women — one of them sev...

Celtics report card: Grading a promising but ultimately disappointing 2022-23 season

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

By their own assessment, the Celtics submitted an F this season.“We failed,” Jaylen Brown said after the Celtics’ Game 7 loss to the Heat.“We failed,” agreed Al Horford. “Because we wanted to win a championship. That was our goal.”Certainly, the Celtics – with the most talented and deepest roster in the NBA, and the clear title favorites after their NBA Finals run a year ago – fell short of expectations. The season will be remembered as a huge missed opportunity after a path was cleared for them to return to the championship round only to fall to the eighth-seeded Heat. Fighting back from an 0-3 series deficit in the Eastern Conference will go down as a footnote.Just like their season, it was impressive, but just not good enough.As the Celtics continue to lick their wounds and watch the Finals from home, the final grades are in from a promising but ultimately disappointing year:Coaching/ManagementJoe MazzullaRegular season: B+Playoffs: CThrown into an impossible situation, promoted ...

Police activity in Oceanside ends; suspect arrested

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- A City of Oceanside emergency alert warned of police activity at Asilado Street and Calle De Casitas shortly after 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The Oceanside Police Department asked the public to avoid the area during that time. 7-Eleven clerk robbed at gunpoint OPD told FOX 5 they were assisting the San Diego County Sheriff's Department in an operation pertaining to this matter. The sheriff's department confirmed to FOX 5 that authorities were looking for a suspect with a felony warrant. The situation began when law enforcement attempted a "compliance check," the sheriff's department explained. Officials say the suspect then fled the area.At 12:48 p.m., OPD confirmed the suspect was arrested and police activity in the area had ended.The identity of the individual has not been released.

Brittney Griner, Mercury teammates confronted at airport by ‘provocateur,’ WNBA says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

DALLAS (AP) — Brittney Griner and her Phoenix Mercury teammates were confronted by a “provocateur” at a Dallas airport on Saturday, the WNBA said.The league said in a statement it was looking into the team’s run-in with a “social media figure” whose “actions were inappropriate and unfortunate.”“The safety of Brittney Griner and all WNBA players is our top priority,” the league said, without specifying what exactly happened.Griner and her supporters had lobbied for charter flights after she returned from detainment in Russia, saying the highly publicized case compromised her and others’ safety. The league granted Griner permission to book her own charter flights to road games.Mercury player Brianna Turner said in a tweet people at the airport followed the team with cameras “saying wild remarks.”“Excessive harassment,” Turner tweeted. “Our team nervously huddled in a corner unsure how to move about. We demand better.”A Twitter user posted a video th...

North Carolina GOP votes to censure Sen. Tillis for support of LGBTQ+ rights, immigration policies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Republicans delegates in North Carolina voted Saturday at their annual convention to censure Thom Tillis, the state’s senior U.S. senator, for supporting policies they said violate key tenets of the GOP platform.As Sen. Tillis has gained influence in Congress for his willingness to work across the aisle, his record on LGBTQ+ rights, immigration and gun violence has raised concerns among some state Republicans that the senator has strayed from conservative values.Several delegates in Greensboro criticized Tillis, who has held his seat in the Senate since 2015, for his work last year on the Respect For Marriage Act, which enshrined protections for same-sex and interracial marriages in federal law.Both the state and national GOP platforms oppose same-sex marriage. But Tillis, who had opposed it earlier in his political career, was among the early supporters of the law who lobbied his GOP colleagues in Congress to vote in favor of it.Others criticized him f...

Raptors to hire Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic as head coach

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

The Toronto Raptors have hired Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Darko Rajaković as their new head coach, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.From the beginning the Raptors were determined to walk their own path on their own schedule, and were more than willing to look beyond 'expected' candidates. Rajokovic was considered a promising prospect but somewhat off the radar, but resume fits. https://t.co/xe3al97qEV— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) June 10, 2023ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news. Rajaković, a 44-year-old native of Serbia, came to North America in 2012 to be head coach of Tulsa in the G League after several years as a European-based scout for the San Antonio Spurs.Since 2014, he has been an assistant coach in the NBA, with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns and Grizzlies.Rajaković was Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins’ top assistant this season, when Memphis finished second in the West.Wojnarowski said Gol...

9 people wounded in San Francisco mass shooting are expected to survive, police say

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:28:01 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nine people were wounded in a mass shooting in San Francisco’s Mission District on Friday night, but police said all were expected to survive.The shooting “appears to be targeted and isolated,” the San Francisco Police Department tweeted. No suspects or arrests were announced, but police said there was “no known threat to the public.”The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the shooting happened shortly after 9 p.m. during a party hosted by a clothing store near the intersection of 24th Street and Treat Avenue.Dying Breed, a clothing store located near the intersection where the shooting happened, was scheduled to celebrate its sixth anniversary Friday night with a block party, according to a post on the store’s Instagram account.A person who answered the phone at the store declined to comment.“Last night’s shooting in the Mission is under investigation,” Mayor London Breed said in a statement Saturday. “I know there are a lot of questions and...