Tony Dungy out at NBC after 17 years — Jason Whitlock believes his faith played a role



Former NFL coach Tony Dungy says he’s looking ahead in faith after learning he will not return to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” this fall following 17 years on the broadcast.

“I have been informed by NBC that I won’t be back with FNIA this fall and it has given me time to reflect and also to look ahead. It’s disappointing news but I want to thank my NBC family for making the last 17 years so special. I’ll have lasting memories of my time there, especially with Rodney Harrison who has become a tremendous friend,” Dungy posted on X.

“God has always directed me in these moments and while I’m not sure what the next step will be for me — whether it will be in football, in broadcasting, or getting more involved in church and community outreach — I know God has plans for my life and I can’t wait to see them unfold,” he continued.


“And I am reminded of one of my favorite verses in the Bible — Romans 8:28. ‘God works all things for His good for those who love the Lord,’” he added.

“Seventeen years on NBC always shocked me. NBC is probably the most secular television network we have in America. I think they used Tony Dungy and the NFL used Tony Dungy to try to signal that ‘hey, we’re not anti-Christian,’” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says on “Jason Whitlock Harmony.”

“And now NBC and the NFL, I think, are kind of done with the biblical worldview — the Christian worldview — and so they have removed Tony Dungy,” he adds.

“I was surprised, just because, as you pointed out, he’s been there 17 years,” Anthony Walker tells Whitlock.

“I think it was a few years ago he started becoming even more vocal about his stance against abortion, about, you know, saving unborn children and went to a few rallies, public speeches, and faced a lot of criticism because of that,” Walker explains.

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Team USA and Team Canada to face off AGAIN — this time at already controversial World Baseball Classic



Team USA is set for another rivalry game against Team Canada, this time on Friday night in the World Baseball Classic, after significant controversy has already rattled American fans.

The matchup comes after the Americans were almost eliminated from the tournament, which would have been under the most embarrassing circumstances.

'This man belongs nowhere near Team USA in the future.'

Before the American side lost to Italy 8-6 on Tuesday, Team USA manager Mark DeRosa sparked headlines by appearing not to know the rules of the World Baseball Classic.

During an interview with the MLB Network's "Hot Stove," DeRosa said his team's "ticket" was already "punched to the quarterfinals."

However, that was not true. If Mexico had won its next game against Italy while scoring fewer than five runs in nine innings, Team USA would have been eliminated.

While there is no telling if DeRosa's alleged lack of knowledge around tournament rules affected his coaching strategy during the team's loss to the Italians, the team's tournament future was out of their hands when Italy played Mexico on Wednesday.

Luckily for the Americans — and DeRosa — the Italians clubbed their way to a 9-1 win, ensuring that Team USA would advance.

RELATED: NBA turns Atlanta Hawks strip-club night on its head: 'Canceling ... is the right decision'

DeRosa told reporters after the Tuesday loss that he had simply misspoken and was not unaware of the way teams are ranked in the standings.

"Yeah, I misspoke. I was on 'Hot Stove' with a couple buddies today and completely misread the calculations," DeRosa claimed. "We knew that Mexico was going to play Italy and then running all the numbers with, if we lost tonight, with the runs allowed and runs scored and outs. So I just misspoke."

Fans did not exactly believe DeRosa, with one New York Yankees fan saying he couldn't "fathom" how unbelievable it was that the Team USA manager "made the lineup today not knowing how the tournament works."

Another fan on X wrote, "This man belongs nowhere near Team USA in the future."

"This might be the biggest instance of coaching malpractice in the history of international USA sports," another viewer said in reaction to DeRosa's original comments.

RELATED: Charles Barkley defends Team USA White House visit — but says Trump needs to stop doing one thing

Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images

With those hijinks now in the rearview mirror, Team USA will play Team Canada Friday night in the quarterfinals at 8 p.m. ET in Daikin Park in Houston. The game marks the latest in an ongoing and inflamed rivalry between the two nations, which exploded during the Olympics in the men's and women's ice hockey events.

The United States beat Canada for the gold medal in both categories, which subsequently caused rage when the men's hockey team received a phone call from President Trump that contained a joke at the expense of the women's team.

Canadian media melted down and repeatedly questioned American players who play for Canadian teams about the phone call, asking them to apologize.

South Korea will begin the quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday from LoanDepot Park in Miami. On Saturday, Puerto Rico plays Italy at 3 p.m. ET in Houston, then Venezuela plays Japan at 9 p.m. ET in Miami.

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Have youth sports replaced church? Jason Whitlock sounds the alarm on America’s Sunday problem.



Are youth sports quietly replacing church in American life?

Sports analyst Danny Kanell recently shined a light on this question when he suggested that youth games shouldn’t start before 9 a.m. on Sundays — and maybe shouldn’t be occurring on Sundays at all.

“He’s got two young daughters that are potential volleyball stars. And Sunday morning, Danny put out a video over X that complained about, ‘Man, what am I doing at 7:30 in the morning?’” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments, before playing the clip.

“We need to save youth sports. We need to save parents from youth sports, because I’m here at a volleyball tournament and it is 7:40 on a Sunday. We need to enforce some laws that you cannot start youth sports games on the weekends before 9:00 a.m.,” Kanell began.


“And how about no sports on Sundays? How about that one? Let’s put those laws into effect,” he added.

“I’m in full agreement with Danny,” Anthony Walker tells Whitlock. “I have seen, over my lifetime, sports just invade family life. And when I look at the scriptures … the scriptures tell us in Acts chapter 2 that they all who believe were together. They had all things in common. They fellowshipped together. They broke bread from house to house together. They were real community together.”

“And that was what was primary, you know, their families and the church community was primary, and everything else is secondary. We now live in a situation where we’re trying to squeeze in the family time. We’re trying to squeeze in the fellowship and worship time,” he continues.

“I actually think that's the attitude we should all take,” T.J. Moe agrees.

“In fact, America used to take this as a whole. You know, going back ... from the beginning of our founding till about 1960, we had something called blue laws, where you couldn’t go in and go shopping for anything that was nonessential because we believed in the Lord’s day,” Moe explains.

And when it comes to sports, it’s not just parents and their kids whose Sundays are being hijacked.

“Sunday is now NFL day. It is not the Lord’s day in America, and I think that is destructive and awful,” Moe adds.

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Jalen Rose claims NBA and NFL salary restrictions are a ‘residue of slavery’



Former NBA player Jalen Rose has made some bold claims — that salary caps in professional sports and restrictions preventing athletes from entering leagues straight out of high school are a “residue of slavery.”

“The only sports that have salary caps are black led, first off. So that’s basketball and football. Those [are] the only sports with salary caps. Baseball, golf, NASCAR, tennis, you can keep naming. ... That’s the first thing,” Rose explained on “Joe and Jada Unfiltered.”

“The second thing is they have no after-high-school restriction. And so that’s a residue of slavery, is because we’re going to get money off of you for multiple years for free,” he adds.


“A residue of slavery is probably Jalen Rose’s IQ at this point. That’s probably the residue of slavery that he’s referring to here,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock tells Steve Kim and Jay Skapinac on “Fearless.”

“It just drives me crazy that sports conversation is this stupid, this racialized. The National Hockey League has the harshest salary cap in all of sports. The top players probably making $7, $8, $9 million dollars. NFL players making $40, $50, $60 million dollars,” he adds.

“So here’s the other thing. When he brings up tennis and golf, guys, if I’m not mistaken, aren’t those guys’ winnings really their salary cap? Like if you win 10 tournaments, you’re probably going to get more than a guy that finishes in 18th place. That’s just the last time I checked,” Kim chimes in.

“It’s probably my whiteness, guys, coming through here, but I just really resent the implications that slavery is somehow tied into guys making multimillion-dollar generational wealth to play a game for a couple months a year for like 10 years of their life,” Skapinac adds.

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NBA turns Atlanta Hawks strip-club night on its head: 'Canceling ... is the right decision'



The NBA's Atlanta Hawks will not be permitted to celebrate a strip club at an upcoming home game.

The team's "Magic City Monday" game against the Orlando Magic was set for March 16 in an effort to celebrate local nude dancing venue Magic City with wings, musical performances, and podcasts.

'Can we just not be tied to a strip club?'

While multiple Hawks executives promoted the night — and the strip club — as a celebration of Atlanta's cultural fabric, the promotion drew ire from at least a couple of NBA players, including San Antonio Spurs player Luke Kornet, who asked the league to protect women, not denigrate them.

Despite the Hawks telling the New York Post that the event will go on as planned and Magic City telling TMZ there would be no nudity at the arena, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Monday the league was canceling the event.

"When we became aware of the Atlanta Hawks' scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks leadership to better understand their plans and rationale," Silver wrote, per NBA Communications.

Silver went on, "While we appreciate the team's perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners, and employees."

"I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community," the commissioner concluded.

RELATED: 'A form of art': NBA star Draymond Green defends strip-club night at Hawks game as 'inclusive' promotion

Photo by Prince Williams/WireImage

The Hawks told TMZ in response that they are "very disappointed in the NBA's decision to cancel our Magic City Night promotion."

Although they respect the league's decision, the team added that they remain committed to "celebrating the best of Atlanta — with authenticity — in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together."

The team will still move forward with a performance by rapper T.I. on the night in question, though.

Magic City, on the other hand, did not complain, said it was "hyped to team up with the Hawks," and that it was "an honor just getting picked" by the team for a celebration.

RELATED: Atlanta Hawks strip club promotion called out by Catholic NBA player: 'Protect and esteem women'

Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Fox Sports Radio personality Rob Parker said on Monday that he disagreed with the decision to cancel the promotion and asked why the themed night would be announced in the first place if the NBA was going to cancel it.

"Horrible public relations by the NBA to cave; 100%. Never should have got to the stage of this without the league at least signing off on something of this magnitude. I don't believe that people are doing their own thing and the NBA doesn't know anything is going on," Parker said on "The Odd Couple" show.

Parker said that he largely disagreed with the cancellation because people had already bought their tickets and because the Hawks were planning to celebrate a legal establishment.

"The league probably had no real position on it until all the pushback started, and then that's when the league got involved," he added.

Co-host Kelvin Washington disagreed, saying, "The NBA is a massive corporation, billions and billions of dollars that's tied to other massive corporations."

"I'm not shocked the Hawks wanted to do this and went ahead. I kept telling you I was shocked the NBA was OK with them doing this," Washington said.

"Magic City, for you to say 'this institution' — and actually it is in Atlanta — but it is also, at the end of the day, a strip club," Washington put it bluntly.

"Like, that's what it is," Washington concluded.

"The NBA may want to say, and their sponsors say, 'Eh, can we just not be tied to a strip club?'"

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Logan Paul issues $1 million challenge to any NFL player



On the “Impaulsive” podcast, Logan Paul declared he would wager $1 million against any NFL player willing to face him in a boxing match — claiming that no player is capable of beating him.

"Not a single football player could beat me in a boxing match," Paul said proudly, adding that he would “throttle Myles Garrett.”

“A million dollars. You come to the gym, we put on boxing gloves, we see how it goes,” he added.


“This started with, ‘I can beat any NFL player in a fight.’ Which is an outright lie. There are a bunch of guys in the National Football League right now that will whoop Logan Paul’s ass,” “Fearless” guest Shaun King tells BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock.

“Then he fixed it, though, when he came back around to it, and he specified it had to be boxing and inside the ring with gloves on. … That is a conditioning thing, and it’s a technique thing, and no matter how good you might be fighting on the street, if you aren’t learned in that specific line of combat, then you probably have no chance,” he continues.

“Probably in a boxing match, something that he’s been training at forever with gloves, three-minute rounds, he has a sizeable advantage. But don’t get it twisted, Logan. In a regular street fight, there are a whole bunch of NFL guys that’ll get on your top,” he adds.

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Actor Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham AFC — the world's 3rd-oldest soccer team — to play its biggest game of all time



Ryan Reynolds has made an almost 50X return on a tiny Welsh soccer team.

When Reynolds and fellow actor Rob McElhenney, best known for "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," bought Wrexham AFC in 2021 for about $2.6 million, it played in England's fifth-tier soccer league and placed eighth. Now, it is knocking on the door of the country's top league and is worth around $130 million.

'Home! Chelsea! Yes!'

It did not take long for the Hollywood owners to bring the team out of obscurity, even though Wrexham is known as being the third-oldest existing professional soccer team in the world. Wrexham was founded over 161 years ago, in October 1864.

Five years of success after success has brought the stars' team to the fifth round of the FA Cup, the final 16 teams of England's biggest tournament and the oldest national soccer competition in the world.

Wrexham plays Chelsea FC, a team from England's top-flight English Premier League, on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET. Chelsea is one of the wealthiest teams in the world and would typically crush lower-tiered teams. However, Wrexham has had magic surrounding it lately.

RELATED: Chicago Bears GM calls NFL's race-based hiring 'strange' as league struggles with DEI incentive

Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images

It already defeated Premier League team Nottingham Forest in the third round of the FA Cup (3-3, won on penalties) and Ipswich Town, a team ahead of Wrexham in its own division, in the fourth round (1-0).

"Home! Chelsea! Yes!" Reynolds said in an X video after learning about his team's opponent.

While Wrexham has played both Chelsea and world-famous Manchester United in exhibition games, this is by far the biggest team it has played in real competition since Reynolds took the helm. His time as owner has been nothing short of a fairy tale for supporters over the last five years.

In 2022-2023, Wrexham won the National League, gaining promotion to the fourth tier, English League Two. Finishing in second place in consecutive years has garnered Wrexham a promotion to the EFL Championship, England's second-highest league, where the team currently sits.

RELATED: Michael Jordan shocks NASCAR by doing something no one has done in 77 years

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

After Saturday's match, Wrexham will continue its push to make the Premier League. As it stands, the team is in sixth place with 11 games remaining. The top two teams in the league will gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, while third through sixth will play in a four-team, single-elimination tournament with the winner getting promoted.

Wrexham would likely have to beat other giant clubs after Chelsea to win the FA Cup, though, which seems an unlikely outcome.

However, a win against the Blues would still be the biggest in its history in a year in which bigger upsets have happened. In January, Macclesfield FC shocked Crystal Palace 2-1. Macclesfield is a sixth-tier team with part-time players, while Crystal Palace was the defending champion and is in the Premier League.

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'A form of art': NBA star Draymond Green defends strip-club night at Hawks game as 'inclusive' promotion



NBA player Draymond Green has come out in defense of stripping as "art" and says a strip club is part of Atlanta's culture.

The statements stem from controversy over the NBA's Atlanta Hawks hosting a "Magic City Monday" game on March 16 against the Orlando Magic. Magic City is a famous strip club in Atlanta.

'It's actually a form of art that some choose to indulge in and some choose not to indulge in.'

Following the team's announcement of the celebration — which includes music, wings, and podcasts — San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet condemned the promotion and said it denigrates women.

"The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women. ... We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love," Kornet wrote. His sentiment was shared by Golden State Warriors veteran Al Horford.

However, Horford's teammate Green had a much different view, stating on his podcast that he objects to Kornet's remarks, despite having daughters.

"I object to what Luke Kornet is saying. ... As a man with a wife, as a man with daughters, as a man with sisters, and as a man with an amazing mother and an amazing grandmother and incredible aunts and nieces," Green began.

The 36-year-old then described Magic City as an extremely successful business that simply has "an option for females to work there."

When it came to directly addressing Kornet's remarks, Green first mentioned that it is entirely optional for anyone to visit the strip club. He then took issue with Kornet condemning stripping as a job, describing it as one would a regular profession.

"I think to point out that they have esteem issues because that's the line of work they chose, I actually think is less protective of women because you're condemning something as if — it's actually an art," Green claimed. "I don't know if you've ever been, but like, if you see it in action, it's actually a form of art that some choose to indulge in and some choose not to indulge in."

RELATED: Atlanta Hawks strip club promotion called out by Catholic NBA player: 'Protect and esteem women'

Green went into a further defense of strippers and said that "because a woman decides that that's the art that they want to partake in and that the customer wants to take in," it is "reflective on society's thoughts and how they once viewed things."

"I don't necessarily think it's a hit on the esteem of women," he added.

Green then cited rapper Cardi B as a former stripper who does not appear to have "esteem issues," because she has a successful music career. He also claimed that the reason the NBA is allowing the event to happen is because "the NBA as a community is a very inclusive community."

Echoing Hawks ownership and staff, Green then described Magic City as part of Atlanta's culture.

For example, Jami Gertz, an owner of the Hawks, said last week, "The iconic Atlanta institution has made such an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture."

RELATED: Whitlock: The REAL reason LeBron James won’t let his daughter join the WNBA

Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

Former NBA player Lou Williams, who had a pair of two-year stints with the Hawks, was far more impartial on the matter than Green was.

"Everybody won't be happy about everything," he told TMZ. "I think it's an opportunity for everybody to be educated on things that they agree with and things that they don't agree with."

The Hawks have remained steadfast, though, telling the New York Post that the event will go on as planned.

In a separate statement to TMZ, Magic City manager JuJu Barney said, "There will be no nudity whatsoever, at all" at the event. He added, "There will be no signs of nudity. There will be no nudity at all. It's strictly just wings and music and people having a good time."

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Jasmine Crockett crashes out in Senate bid — but is Talarico the Democrats' ‘silent but deadly’ weapon?



Jasmine Crockett’s run for Senate has come to an end, with Democrat James Talarico handily beating the congresswoman and advancing to the general election — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is not surprised.

“She didn’t campaign against her number-one opponent. She campaigned against Donald Trump,” Whitlock says, pointing out that her campaign ad featured a shot of Crockett staring straight ahead while a voice-over of Donald Trump insulting her played.

“Who told her that was going to work? Letting Trump talk accurately about you on camera for 30 seconds — that somehow was going to win you [the] election?” Whitlock asks.

However, Chad O. Jackson doesn’t believe it’s the time to be running any victory laps.



“Her opponent, James Talarico, is far worse than Jasmine Crockett is, in terms of his effectiveness in pushing the agenda that they’re pushing. It’s interesting because Jasmine Crockett has become this kind of household name in a negative way for a lot of Republicans and conservatives, for the very reason that she’s very boisterous and she’s very out there and what many people would call ‘ghetto,’” Jackson tells Whitlock.

“James Talarico is much more silent, but he’s much more deadly. Talarico represents a lot of what’s wrong, but he also is a heretic and he’s a fraud. He is a proponent of the social gospel, the, you know, liberation theology,” he explains.

“He has this so-called faith-forward agenda, where he adheres to a kind of progressive theology, and he’s been effective in terms of pushing leftist secularist policies here in the state of Texas,” he continues.

“Somebody like a Jasmine Crockett or an AOC — they’re easy to point at and say, ‘Oh, these people shouldn’t be in Congress; they shouldn’t be in politics,’ and I fully agree with that. But … it’s really easy to defeat their policies. These more silent and yet deadly people are more effective — and therefore more dangerous,” he adds.

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Whitlock: The REAL reason LeBron James won’t let his daughter join the WNBA



When LeBron James opened up about cherishing time with his children during the NBA season, the conversation took an unexpected turn. After quickly correcting an interviewer that his daughter plays volleyball, not basketball, James joked that his wife is “done with this basketball s**t.”

And BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock is curious as to why that is.

“I miss a lot of moments, you know, spending time with my kids because of my career, and, you know, any time I get over the course of my career, any time I got moments with them either individually, two of them, three of them all together, whatever the case may be, is always special for me,” James said.

“So, to have my daughter want to come on the road and be with me and spend a lot of time — yesterday we went to Alcatraz,” he continued.


When an interviewer interjected and commented on her playing basketball, James quickly responded, “She’s a volleyball player. Don’t get my wife mad. My wife is done with this basketball s**t.”

“I think LeBron very cleverly is protecting his wife and protecting them from the truth, is LeBron James and Savannah James want no part of sending their daughter into that LGBTQIA+ silent P women’s basketball world,” Whitlock speculates.

“They’re not raising a lesbian, and they want her in volleyball,” he adds.

Dre Baldwin believes it could be a different reason, explaining that it seems to him like “he just doesn’t want to even put that spotlight on his daughter the way it was on his sons.”

“And maybe his daughter might be better at volleyball than she is at basketball. And another kid who he doesn’t want feeling the pressure of having to quote, unquote ‘make it’ in a highly competitive space like basketball,” Baldwin continues.

“But, now that you bring that up, I hadn’t thought of that. That is an interesting angle, and I wouldn’t be mad at LeBron and Savannah if that is indeed their reason,” he adds.

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