Retired NFL linebacker Brandon Spikes has had an interesting football journey.
The former five-star prospect from Shelby, North Carolina committed to Florida out of high school and was a part of the loaded 2006 recruiting class that featured himself as well as college football legends Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin.
After a decorated college career which included two All-American selections and two national championships, Spikes was drafted late in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, where he spent five of his seven seasons in the league.
The dream for every young man growing up playing football is to ultimately hear their name called by the commissioner of the NFL on draft day, but Spikes claims he had to make some personal (and financial) sacrifices before going pro.
As a guest on the popular "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast, the former Patriots linebacker revealed he wasn't exactly hurting for money while in college.
While his response elicited a laugh from both Will Compton and Taylor Lewan, who were high-level college players in their own right, Spikes was mostly being tongue-in-cheek with his answer.
He did, however, reveal the numbers were a lot closer when factoring in Uncle Sam, referring to Massachusetts as "Taxachusetts" due to the high income taxes he incurred while playing for New England.
"You played in Foxborough," Spikes asked. "That check looks a little bit different when you walk up out of there."
When asked by Compton whether he cleared seven-figures while wearing orange and blue, Spikes denied it, playing it coy before adding that the university found a way to move his mom down to Florida while he was playing for the Gators.
"Those same home-cooked meals I got my whole life, I got those right there in Gainesville," he joked.
If you are one of the few fans still believing kids weren't getting paid before the advent of NIL, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but players like Spikes were living large long before it was "legal" to do so.
Let's all give Spikes a hand for being so charitable to take a cut in pay to play for the Patriots.
The sky appears to be falling in Austin, Texas, with the Longhorns having suffered back-to-back losses. With Arch Manning being the starting quarterback for a Texas offense that ranks in the bottom half of the league, many are pointing at him as the lead culprit of the messy situation, but one former head coach is pointing the blame elsewhere.
Just two weeks ago, Texas was the No. 1 team in the country and appeared to be a real threat to win a national title. Now, the Longhorns are just one loss away from virtually being eliminated from College Football Playoff contention, but the big picture of it all is that head coach Steve Sarkisian has simply not pushed Manning to take a step in the right direction.
To put it simply, Manning has been average so far this season. He's 10th among SEC quarterbacks in completion percentage (63.9), 12th in passing yards (1,295), and ninth in touchdown passes (11). He has not been able to elevate his team's offense as much as many expected him to in what is now his fourth year in Austin.
In Brian Kelly's opinion, the offensive struggles seen at Texas this season fall on the shoulders of the man who calls the plays, Sarkisian.
"I think it’s on the play caller," Kelly told Danny Kanell on SiriusXM on Tuesday. "I think the play caller takes a lot of the responsibility. Look, he’s your quarterback. They’re not going back. I mean, they’re not going to bench him unless there’s just a total meltdown."
Kelly, like the majority of others in and around college football, complimented Sarkisian's offensive mind, but claimed it may be time to make the game plan a bit simpler for Manning moving forward.
"Coach Sarkisian is an outstanding play caller. He understands the game. He’s proven, seasoned, but sometimes there has to be that sit-down conversation," Kelly continued.
"Say, ‘Look, we’re going to do what you can do and execute.’ And to your point, Danny, this is about accuracy and higher completion percentage. If we can run the ball with more effectiveness, if you add those two things to the Texas offense, they’re going to win the rest of their football games."
Manning was only asked to throw the football 20 times during Texas' loss at home to Florida a week ago. He completed 14 of his passes, threw for one score, and didn't throw an interception in his team's 27-24 loss.
As Kelly alluded to, the Longhorns playing a more complementary style of offense could greatly benefit Manning. Texas rushed for just 99 yards against the Gators.
On the flip side of Kelly's opinion, if the recipe for success six games into the season is to dumb down the offense for Manning, the Longhorns could be in for a long second half of the year.
Texas takes on No. 7 Ole Miss this upcoming Saturday at home, with road contests against Missouri and LSU still looming as well.
After roughly two weeks of radio silence, New York Yankees brass delivered their official postmortem on Wednesday, and owner Hal Steinbrenner made it very clear who he blames for the team tying its longest championship drought since winning its first World Series in 1923.
Steinbrenner spoke alongside general manager Brian Cashman during a joint Zoom news conference from the team's spring training ballpark in Tampa, Florida, and manager Aaron Boone followed with a video news conference from Yankee Stadium.
With Boone and Cashman seemingly public enemies No. 1A and 1B among the Yankees fan base , making them available for the conferences all but confirmed Steinbrenner's loyalty to both of them, and he confirmed that fact.
"The bottom line is the players didn’t live up to their end of the bargain in the playoffs," Steinbrenner said.
Steinbrenner said that he felt the 2026 Yankees were a "world championship caliber team," yet for the second year in a row, they were eliminated by a division rival in the American League Division Series on their own home field.
Steinbrenner said Boone, who will return for his 10th season, "managed a good season" which included numerous injuries to several star players. However, the postseason proved practically impossible for the offense.
"I believe we absolutely had a team that was winning a championship. I was disappointed, quite frankly, with the offense throughout the course of the year as a whole," Steinbrenner said. "That is certainly one part of the organization that I will be looking at from top to bottom ... but this is twice now when the offense just hasn't lived up to their end of the bargain and got the deal done."
Cashman himself later broke the news that he had agreed to an extension - his current contract expires later this year, and he became the team's GM in 1998. When Cashman took over from Bob Watson in 1998, it was the 15th change at GM since George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in January 1973. Cashman has been the only GM under Hal Steinbrenner, who succeeded his father as controlling owner in November 2008.
"Well, look, Cash is great every season," Steinbrenner said. "I think the roster he put together, the team that we rolled out of spring training with, was as good as any in baseball, in my opinion. We had a lot of bumps and bruises along the way, but the team was fantastic, and it was a world championship-caliber team."
Boone finished his ninth season as manager and has one season left on a two-year contract extension agreed to in February 2025. The 53-year-old former third baseman has led New York to a 790-565 regular-season record and three first-place finishes in the AL East but a 27-30 postseason mark.
"At the end of the day, we haven’t won a championship with me at the helm," he said. "Ultimately that’s what has to happen to satisfy certainly myself — that's why I'm doing this — but to answer those questions ultimately."
The New York Giants are benching Jameis Winston and starting J.J. McCarthy on Sunday against the Houston Texans, according to ESPN.
Less than a month after acquiring McCarthy in a trade with the Minnesota Vikings, the Giants are turning to the 23-year-old quarterback to try to lead them to the playoffs in a weakened NFC East.
After being used in packages in the Giants’ 27-27 tie with the Washington Commanders in Week 5, McCarthy saw significant action during the fourth quarter of the Giants’ 34-27 loss to the New Orleans Saints and thrived.
McCarthy took over for Winston when the Giants were down 34-10 in the fourth quarter. He threw an interception on his first possession but then led a furious comeback attempt. McCarthy completed 11 of 21 passes for 243 yards and one touchdown.
McCarthy led three scoring drives, the first ending with a Tyrone Tracy Jr. rushing touchdown and a successful two-point conversion to make it 34-18. He then threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely, but the two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 34-24. He then led a field goal drive to cut the deficit to 34-27.
The No. 10 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft led the Giants down the field and gave them a chance to tie or win the game if coach John Harbaugh decided to go for two, but his fourth-down pass attempt from the Saints' 14-yard line sailed high.
While the comeback fell short, McCarthy impressed and made history in the process. His 243 yards are the most passing yards in the fourth quarter by any player this season and the second most by a quarterback who did not start the game over the past 25 seasons, according to NFL Network.
The Giants went 2-1-1 with Winston at quarterback, but the 32-year-old struggled against the Saints. He threw two costly interceptions as the Giants attempted to rally against his former team.
The Giants hope the more mobile McCarthy can spark a struggling running game that has faltered with Winston at quarterback. McCarthy was the team’s leading rusher with 26 yards in Sunday's loss.
Some believed an easier debut as the starter for McCarthy would come after the Giants’ bye week, which follows the Texans game, but the Giants decided otherwise.
The Giants are 3-2-1 and sit atop the NFC East, with the Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders all struggling and battling injuries, leaving New York with an opportunity to win the division.
Three-time national championship-winning head coach Urban Meyer knows what good quarterback play looks like, and he isn’t seeing it from Arch Manning right now.
Texas has lost two straight games, Manning has struggled in each of them, and the noise in Austin has only grown surrounding the 22-year-old. Meyer said during a recent appearance on OutKick’s "Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich" that during Texas’ thrilling comeback win against Ohio State last month, Manning looked like the guy everyone thought he was going to be, but he has since regressed.
"His second half against Ohio State, particularly the last two drives, that looked like the guy that everybody talked about. He was phenomenal. But he’s gone backwards."
Meyer said that last season, Texas didn’t have great wide receivers, which he believed was a viable excuse for Manning's struggles against tougher teams. This season, Manning has struggled despite having Cam Coleman and Ryan Wingo, two standout wide receivers, and Meyer thinks Manning should be benched.
He cited Michigan as an example of how benching a quarterback can work.
"You saw coach Kyle Whittingham make the change at quarterback. Instant spark. They beat Penn State. We all know if they don't make that change, they lose to Penn State. So, I think they're at that inflection point right now," Meyer said.
Longhorns backup quarterback KJ Lacey Jr. has taken more first-team reps, and Meyer said head coach Steve Sarkisian has to take reps away from Manning.
"You got to start giving that guy reps and then at (that) point, it's going to be a really really difficult decision if he's going to make that decision to make a change, because I'm really worried about Texas. They look awful."
After the Longhorns' loss to Florida on Saturday, they dropped from No. 12 to No. 19 in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Texas’ schedule does not get any easier, as the Longhorns face No. 7 Ole Miss on Saturday night.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark clearly needs better teammates, so she is officially teaming up with THE Cookie Monster.
In her latest off-court venture, the WNBA superstar debuted a new Xfinity commercial, joining forces with Sesame Street's most chaotic blue icon on a mission to bake the "Greatest Cookie of All Time."
Honestly, a frantic puppet addicted to baked goods would still provide more spacing on the floor than what Clark dealt with all season. Hard to blame the girl for looking outside the locker room.
WATCH:
It is easily the best sports crossover with a fuzzy mascot since Grimace saved the Mets' season. The commercial leans straight into the "two GOATs" dynamic: Clark, who shattered every TV rating in WNBA history, and Cookie Monster, hunting down pastry perfection.
While Angel Reese is grinding for a title in the WNBA Finals, Clark is clocking offseason commercial shifts. Between her $28 million Nike bag, a Wilson basketball line and spots for Gatorade and State Farm, corporate suits cannot get enough of her. Now she added Xfinity to the pile, playing baker next to a literal felt puppet. Electric.
Clark just wrapped up a frustrating postseason run that ended with the Fever getting eliminated by A'ja Wilson and the powerhouse Las Vegas Aces.
Advertisers know something the WNBA has yet to crack: anything Clark touches brings eyeballs. Now she's getting paid a fortune to hang out with a childhood icon. Not bad work if you can get it.
Dan Lanning said he was still gathering information about Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart’s arrest but the fifth-year Ducks' head coach vowed to take what he described as "appropriate action" once he had all the necessary details.
"There will be an appropriate action taken. Still gathering some details with what that situation looks like," Lanning said.
He added that the situation would be dealt with internally. "But that would be handled internally. I’m not gonna respond to any other questions about that. We’re gonna handle that with our guys."
Stewart was taken into custody early Sunday on charges of driving under the influence, hours after the Ducks rallied to defeat Nebraska on Saturday night. He was booked into the Springfield Municipal Jail, according to police records.
Lanning said the incident was unfortunate because it cast a shadow on the Ducks’ win.
Stewart did not play in the game against the Cornhuskers because of an undisclosed injury. He has 27 catches for 352 yards and four touchdowns this season after missing all of last season because of a right patellar tendon tear.
Moore has missed the Ducks’ past two games while recovering from a concussion.
Lanning said Moore participated in practice leading up to Oregon’s Week 6 matchup with UCLA, but Brock Thoman and Dylan Raiola ultimately saw action in the Ducks’ 17-15 loss to the Bruins. Both quarterbacks also played against Nebraska.
The first few weeks of the NFL season brought more lows than highs for the Tennessee Titans.
But Week 6 provided one of the team’s rare bright spots, as the Titans rallied for a 26-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, their first win of the season.
The celebratory mood at the Titans’ Nashville headquarters was likely short-lived, however, after the team made a surprising move involving one of its defensive linemen.
On Tuesday, the Titans announced they had released defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, citing an unspecified "incident" at the team’s facility.
Elliott played under then-San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh the past two seasons before following Saleh to Tennessee, where he is now the Titans’ head coach. Elliott appeared in five games this season with the Titans, recording 11 total tackles.
In a statement, the Titans said the incident happened last Thursday.
"On Thursday, Oct. 15, there was an incident at our team facility involving Jordan Elliott. Following our review of the incident, we have made the decision to release Elliott from our roster. We will have no further comment on the matter."
Details surrounding the incident were not immediately available.
Elsewhere on the Titans’ roster, defensive back Alontae Taylor did not suit up due to what was described as a coach’s decision. Saleh also did not provide details about Taylor’s status.
Taylor played nearly every defensive snap during the Titans’ first five games of the season. He signed a three-year, $58 million contract with Tennessee in March and had recorded 19 tackles and one sack through those five matchups.
Find yourself something or someone you love as much as Lane Kiffin loves making excuses for things that haven't even happened yet.
Kiffin's first season as head coach of the LSU Tigers has been a bit of a roller coaster. They've at times looked dominant, like the opening weekend demolition of Clemson, then struggled in a loss to what should have been an overmatched Kentucky team. The loss at Ole Miss, in a highly charged, emotional return to Oxford was understandable on the face of it, and yet was exactly the type of game Kiffin was hired to win.
Now, with two losses in the first seven games, LSU still has a tough schedule remaining. The Tigers have upcoming games against Auburn on the road this weekend, a home game against Alabama, followed by Texas in Baton Rouge, a road game against Tennessee, and a season-ending trip to Arkansas. For a program that entered the season with aspirations of reaching the College Football Playoff, Kiffin needs to win out to feel good about finishing in playoff position.
And he's already got his excuses ready for if they don't.
In a news conference this week, Kiffin explained to reporters that he opposed the SEC's new nine-game conference schedule, and detailed how the math guarantees the SEC an additional eight in-conference losses.
"And they kinda said when it was proposed, they said, 'Well, okay, you're going to take on eight more losses. I mean, that's going to be real, there's no way of changing the math, that's going to happen. So you see that, I think somebody said there's two SEC teams in the top-10 right now, and I said before it started, I said, 'Take away the first SEC game that you play because that's going to be brand new, the ninth one came early and got added and replaced an early win, you know where's that going to put you?'
"Look at this team [Auburn Tigers], if you took away their first SEC loss, and it was just a win versus a Group of Six team, they'd be a top-10 team right now. They'd have one loss, on the road at Tennessee to a really good team. And somehow now, because of adding an extra game, they're not even ranked and they just beat the number one team in the country."
He concluded the answer, "It's just where football is, and they can't see like they do in basketball or baseball, metrics, so it is what it is."
The reason Auburn isn't ranked is because they don't deserve to be, win over Georgia or not. And the reason the SEC has just two teams in the top 10 is because they keep losing. When asked a follow-up, whether there were any positives to the nine-game schedule, Kiffin was short: "No."
"You're ... just seeing teams with more losses, more beat up. And there's so much into it more than just the losses. You know, it's at a time when because of it, I'm not complaining, I'm saying what it is, because of the [transfer] portal that you can leave every year and NIL, you see players going from teams for more money, and they go to another team in conference.
"And that's fine, it is what it is, but at the same time that you see that, that it's so hard for teams to build depth after their top players ... don't add more conference games. Because now you've got what you got."
The problem with all of this is that it is exactly the argument other conferences were making when the SEC had the advantage of an eight-game schedule. You had programs that scheduled themselves four free non-conference wins, found themselves ranked because of their record, then provided "ranked" wins and losses in SEC play. That was a tremendous boon for the entire perceived strength of the conference and helped create the "depth" argument.
Now that the advantage has been removed, Kiffin is rushing to complain about it. Yes, the SEC is going to have eight extra losses this year, and it's going to show up in the standings and the polls. Just like it does for everyone else.
One other important point from his argument is that we don't have "metrics" in college football like we do in basketball or baseball. And he's right, there are no official NET ratings like there are in basketball. But we do have "metrics" in college football, they just don't always tell the story Kiffin and others like to tell.
According to ESPN's SP+ rankings, which evaluate team efficiency on offense, defense and special teams while adjusting for competition, the Big Ten has nine teams in the top 30, compared with seven for the SEC. Turns out, this season at least, the Big Ten's "depth" is better than the SEC. Seems unlikely that Kiffin would be adamant that the Big Ten's nine-game conference schedule is dragging down their results.
That Auburn team he referenced? They're No. 42. Because they're not actually at the level of a ranked team, it's just that the gaps between the best and the mediocre is smaller than it's ever been. Texas A&M is No. 33, Oklahoma No. 34, Florida No. 38, and Mississippi State No. 48. Yes, the SEC is getting a lot of benefit of the doubt when it comes to human poll voters relative to objective metrics.
Speaking of that preferential treatment, it's obvious when looking at just wins and losses too.
There are currently five teams from the SEC ranked despite having two losses. There isn't a single two-loss team in the top 25 poll that isn't from the SEC. That's correct; not one other conference has a ranked team with two losses. Just the SEC. They're already getting rewarded for their schedules, even if the "depth" in this year's SEC is not as strong as it's perceived to be.
The NFL made multiple officials available to reporters Tuesday during its fall league meeting to say that it was satisfied with how the Philadelphia Eagles handled quarterback Jalen Hurts' care related to his blood clots and to criticize reports that drew incorrect conclusions about what happened.
And, ready for this?
Then the NFL Players Association released a statement on the matter on Tuesday evening saying something quite different.
That NFLPA statement criticized the league for drawing conclusions about how the situation was handled and added that the union was told by the league it would not review the care Hurts received.
That last part calls into question how the NFL can defend how the Eagles handled the matter, because how could that assessment be made lacking a thorough review?
So, rather than allaying concerns and moving on from the Jalen Hurts blood clot matter, we actually have a new mystery and more questions.
"I'll just sum it up by saying that I have complete confidence in the Eagles medical staff and their handling of this situation and what characterize their work as very conservative, very patient-focused and appropriately guarded at every step," said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer.
Sills said that in a typical season, the league has been "in the low single digits" of players that suffered deep vein thrombosis like Hurts did over the course of the past decade and this:
"Every case gets reviewed and looked at," he said.
Sills later added that in the Hurts case, "everyone was incredibly conservative and incredibly vigilant and was very quick to make diagnoses of these conditions that might not have been diagnosed in a non-athlete.
"Quite frankly, you or I might have walked around with this condition without a diagnosis."
Sills said that all the timing and decision-making on when tests were performed and conclusions reached came with "state-of-the-art imaging that was done in London and as far as the timing and the decision-making ...
"I have great confidence in that and believe everyone acted with an abundance of caution and with a tremendous high degree of suspicion to try to identify and take care of these things as quickly as possible."
Sills then repeated that the NFL has a committee that looks at all these cases and does so with the Players Association to see what can be learned.
There's more: Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, was asked if there was an investigation into what the Eagles did or whether the league simply trusted what the Eagles said happened.
"Both talking to the Eagles staff and making sure from people on the ground, tracking the case, talking to the independent hospital and doctors involved that we have, I think, a complete understanding of the course of events," Miller said.
Taken in total, this represents a full-throated defense of the Philadelphia Eagles, their medical staff, and the doctors in London that treated Hurts.
And that sounded convincing until the NFLPA released its statement.
"The NFLPA is not aware of any NFL investigation into the medical care provided to Jalen Hurts," the statement provided to OutKick and Fox News Digital reads. "In fact, the league previously informed the union that it did not plan to review the care he received."
Wait, what?
That contradicts what an NFL vice president and the league's top doctor said. Because, how could the NFL be so confident about the care Hurts received and the decisions that were made without a review or investigation into the facts?
But the NFLPA was not finished blowing up the league. The NFL has apparently come to a conclusion that Hurts received great, professional care and called reporting suggesting something else "considerable and uninformed speculation."
But the second part of the NFLPA's statement suggests the NFL is engaging in speculation.
"Before conclusions are drawn about how this situation was handled, there must be a full investigation into what occurred," the union's statement read. "Determining the facts is essential to ensuring players receive the highest level of care and protection going forward."
The Pittsburgh Penguins turned their plane around after forward Ben Kindel had a "medical episode" during the team's flight.
Kindel, 19, received medical attention on the plane and is in stable condition.
"The Pittsburgh Penguins team plane returned to the Salt Lake City International Airport today shortly after takeoff due to a medical episode involving forward Ben Kindel. Team physician, Dr. Dharmesh Vyas of UPMC, as well as the team’s medical staff were on board and immediately attended to Ben. An ambulance was waiting upon arrival, and he was taken to the University of Utah Hospital for further evaluation. Ben is conscious, alert and in stable condition," the Penguins said in a statement.
"The health and safety of our players, as well as the privacy for their families, are our top priority. The team will provide further updates when appropriate."
The Penguins lost 5-4 to the Utah Mammoth on Monday but did not travel until Tuesday because their next game is not until Thursday.
The Penguins selected Kindel with the No. 11 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. The British Columbia native made his NHL debut last season, playing 86 games and scoring 19 goals and adding 20 assists for 39 points.
Through nine games this season, Kindel has two goals and two assists. In the team's Monday loss, he played 18 minutes and 53 seconds. Kindel is the youngest player on the team.
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day delivered bad news for his Buckeyes football program, as quarterback Julian Sayin will be out "indefinitely" because of a shoulder injury.
Day initially said that Sayin would miss "several weeks" after injury his throwing shoulder following Ohio State’s 19-15 win over Indiana this past weekend.
Several weeks have now turned into an indefinite amount of time away from the Buckeyes, and Day admitted the team is preparing as if Sayin won’t be available for the remainder of the regular season, and even worse, the College Football Playoff.
"First off, we’re not going to put any timeline on his recovery, but he is out indefinitely," he told reporters. "So, what we’re trying to do is give Julian and his family some privacy to go through this process. But based on the nature of the injury, we are putting together a plan for him not being available for the regular season and also him not being available for the postseason.
"Based on that, if he’s not able to return this fall, we’ll put a plan together for that as well. That’s really the update I have right now out of respect to him and his family."
Luke Fahey, the true freshman who took over after Sayin went down in the fourth quarter of last week’s victory, will remain the Buckeyes’ starter moving forward. The injury also comes with Ohio State on a bye this weekend before traveling to No. 16 USC for a Halloween matchup.
"When Luke's in there, we just may need to do things just a little bit differently, but the bye week gives us a chance to regroup on that and put our heads together," Day said on Saturday.
Sayin’s injury came after Hoosiers defender Mario Landino hit his throwing shoulder while sacking him. The hit forced Sayin to fumble, and he went to the locker room to look at his ailment. Sayin later returned to the sideline in a sling.
There has not been a specific injury for Sayin, but one can imply just how serious it could be if Day and his coaching staff are preparing as if he might not be available for the entire rest of the season.
Sayin, who was expected to be among the top NFL Draft prospects, threw for 1,772 yards thus far with 17 touchdowns to only two interceptions this season.
Now, all eyes will be looking at Fahey, a three-star recruit out of California, to see if he can keep the Buckeyes as the No. 3 team in college football, if not better.
"He's got confidence, he's got athletic ability, he's a competitive kid," Day said of Fahey. "I don't think the moment was too big for him."
Levi Kitchen just won the 2026 Monster Energy SMX 250 Class World Championship. But the 25-year-old already has his eye on another competitive pursuit for whenever he decides to hang up his helmet.
The Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider is an avid angler who spends much of his downtime on the water. And while he's got plenty left to accomplish on a dirt bike, Kitchen told OutKick OutDoors in an exclusive interview that he'd love to try his hand at tournament fishing someday.
In fact, he's already gotten a little taste of what that world looks like.
Earlier this year, Kitchen participated in the Bassmaster Classic Celebrity Pro-Am, where he teamed up with professional angler Tristan McCormick. The two didn't exactly dominate the leaderboard, but Kitchen came away with a few fish, a new friend and an even greater appreciation for the athletes who make their living chasing bass.
"It was amazing. Me and Tristan, we had a great time," Kitchen said. "I didn't know Tristan going into it. I'd just heard his name, but he's a great dude."
McCormick, who grew up near Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Tennessee, was already familiar with motocross thanks to the amateur racing held there. And Kitchen was pleased to discover that he could hold his own on the fishing side of things, too.
"He actually said I wasn't like, you know, sometimes he gets people that go to those events and they say they can fish a little bit and they really don't know what's going on," Kitchen recalled. "But I was proud to at least catch a few fish. We didn't do great, but it was a blast."
More importantly, the experience gave Kitchen a firsthand look at just how demanding professional bass fishing can be.
"It was an eye-opener, too," he admitted. "I've always said, when I'm done racing, I want to give that a shot. I really do. But I have so much more respect for those guys. If I ever wanted to do that, I'd have to really buckle down. You have to put so much time, so much time into it."
And it's not like Kitchen is a newcomer to fishing.
Growing up in Washington state, he developed a love for the outdoors thanks in part to his father. Around age 14 or 15, he discovered an old fly rod in his dad's shop, started practicing casts in the yard and quickly fell in love with fly fishing.
Watch Levi Kitchen's entire interview with OutKick OutDoors here:
These days, Kitchen lives in Florida, where bass fishing has become his primary obsession. But he still makes time to return home to Washington for an annual steelhead fishing trip with his father, friends and family — a tradition that has lasted roughly a decade.
"I still love it," Kitchen said. "When the racing's done down the road, you'll probably find me on a river fly fishing a lot, or on a bass boat. Just maybe not Florida in the summertime."
Fishing also provides a welcome contrast to the intensity of professional motocross.
Kitchen said he and fellow rider Malcolm Stewart frequently talk about fishing in Florida, and he suspects the sport appeals to motocross athletes because it's such a departure from their day jobs.
"We get to kind of calm down and be a little more present than when you're just wide open on a dirt bike," he explained.
But there's still a competitive element, even when championship points aren't on the line.
"It's another way to be, I guess, kind of competitive with yourself," Kitchen said. "You obviously don't want to go out there and not catch a fish, but sometimes that happens."
And as much as Kitchen enjoys catching fish, he also appreciates the atmosphere surrounding competitive bass fishing.
At the Bassmaster Classic Pro-Am, he found himself surrounded by athletes and celebrities from across the sports world, including NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss. Kitchen was particularly amused by Moss' impressive collection of fishing boats.
"First, Randy Moss, I'm like, who's this guy with two of the same specced-out, crazy sweet boats?" Kitchen recalled. "And they're like, 'Oh, that's Randy.'"
He also noticed something that set the fishing crowd apart from what he's accustomed to in motocross: Competitors were hanging out together at the hotel bar the night before the tournament.
"You do not see that in dirt bike racing," he said. "They put their game face on when it's time to fish, but just the whole event and weekend is pretty laid-back, which is kind of my style."
Of course, Kitchen isn't preparing to trade his Kawasaki for a bass boat just yet.
Levi Kitchen has big plans for 2027 season
The newly crowned 250 SMX World Champion, who helped end a seven-year championship drought for Pro Circuit Kawasaki, has made it clear that he wants a long career in motocross.
After recovering from a serious crash at Daytona in 2025, Kitchen said he's learned the importance of racing smarter and protecting his longevity in the sport.
"I want to race for a lot more years to come," he said.
And he's certainly not satisfied with one championship. His goals for 2027 include winning both a Supercross and a Pro Motocross title before eventually moving up from the 250 class.
So, no, Levi Kitchen isn't walking away from moto anytime soon.
But when the day finally comes to hang up the helmet, don't be surprised if The Chef trades his dirt bike for a bass boat.
Instead of quietly eating the reprint bill, the Knicks posted the evidence and let the internet have its way with them. Then again, misprints make fortunes in coin collecting. Maybe MSG didn't blow the giveaway so much as hand 20,000 fans a collector's item.
For good measure, they also hung their NBA Cup banner to crowd the rafters.
When that 2025-26 banner finally joins 1970 and 1973 to mark the franchise's third championship, it officially closes a miserable half-century drought, cementing this team into New York sports immortality.
Keeping that crown will be a nightmare. The East got a lot meaner over the summer, headlined by LeBron James taking his talents to Philadelphia. LeBron hunting one last ring with the Sixers feels cooked up specifically to ruin New York's party.
For now, the Knicks are on top of the basketball world.
Count Dani Watt as the lone voice in the NFL wilderness questioning the league's wisdom about playing Sunday's game in France amid civil unrest that has rocked Paris and other parts of the country.
Even as the league's march toward playing its first-ever game in France seems inexorable with no one else publicly questioning going into a riot-torn country, Watt asked one simple question on her Instagram story relating to how the game remains on schedule:
"Tell me how this one makes sense???" Watt posted.
Dani Watt is T.J. Watt's wife.
T.J. Watt is one of the Pittsburgh Steelers' best players and perhaps their best defensive player.
And as such, he's scheduled to board a charter flight with his teammates to France on Thursday in advance of the Steelers playing the New Orleans Saints at Stade de France, 20 miles or so from the center of Paris, where cars were burned and stores have been looted in recent days.
You know what else Dani Watt is?
She's the first person connected to the NFL to ask this fundamental and logical question. No one else has done that.
No one else – not any coach, player or even any politician in either Louisiana or Pennsylvania – has been so candid about what is about to happen.
And what is about to happen is that the NFL is sending two teams to a foreign country dealing with burning, looting, protesting, rioting, arrests and other violence, so the teams can play a football game within driving distance of the problems.
NFL executive vice president for Club Business, International and League Events Peter O'Reilly was asked Tuesday about the NFL's ongoing plans to play the game on Sunday.
And he went through the litany of precautions the NFL has been "vigilant" about in leading up to the game.
You know what the NFL hasn't been vigilant about? Stuff that hasn't happened. Stuff that might happen.
The situation on the ground is unpredictable because the students, communists, anarchists, anti-Israel and other protesters that have collaborated to make France a worse place to visit in recent days might do something no one expects.
The Smokin' Charley Hull that we all know and love almost became an unrecognizable forehead tattooed version of herself. The LPGA star and everyone else has a friend of hers to thank for not going the forehead tattoo route.
She revealed during a discussion with Golfweek that a night out drinking at a club in Ibiza at just 17 ended with her receiving a tattoo on her foot. It was a tattoo that read "hold tight" and it nearly ended up across her forehead.
When asked if she was to get a tattoo, what she would get, Charley revealed that she already had a few and told the story about her drunken night out.
"I’ve got three tattoos. I’ve got one on my foot. I got drunk when I was in Ibiza when I was 17 years old. Me and my friend James went out partying," she explained.
"I was coming back from the club, and I thought it would be a great idea to get a tattoo across my head, because me and my best mate, James, our favorite thing we always said to each other was 'Hold tight, hold tight.'"
She continued, "He wouldn’t let me get it on my forehead. Instead, I got it on my foot and it says, 'hold tight.' He got a matching one on his arm."
The next morning, Charley woke up hungover without any memory whatsoever of getting a tattoo, let alone trying to get one on her forehead.
"'Bloody hell, was I that drunk last night? I walked back with a plastic bag on my foot.' He said, 'No, Charley. That's the wrapping after you've had your tattoo,'" she said.
"I was like, 'What? I got a tattoo?' He said, 'Yeah, you were trying to get it on your forehead and we had to stop you there.'"
Charley's other two tattoos don't have quite the story that this one does. And neither of them ended up on her forehead.
She has her ex-husband's name on her wrist, which she says she's tried to have removed, and a lightning bolt on her finger to match a tattoo another of her friends has.
One out of three isn't a great average when it comes to tattoos. Two out of three is much better. Thankfully, she didn't end up with a forehead tattoo. Not many people can pull that look off.
Getting someone's name you're in a relationship with tattooed on your body is almost always a bad idea, but not as bad as an inked-up forehead is.
The helicopter that new 76ers superstar LeBron James uses to commute between New York and Philadelphia remains a topic of conversation in NBA circles. Just ahead of the league’s 2026-27 season, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver characterized the Fanatics-branded aircraft and the financial structure of the arrangement as "perfectly appropriate."
James played in the Sixers’ preseason finale Friday and was asked about the chatter surrounding his preferred method of travel on days when he needs to commute from the team’s facility to New York City.
"Yeah, I’ve done it before," and described the rotorcraft as "just another way of transportation."
Fanatics, which was founded by former 76ers minority owner Michael Rubin, is covering the costs associated with transporting James on the roughly 40-minute, one-way trip.
According to multiple reports, James’ estimated commute costs for Sixers home games are expected to total just under $1 million this season, depending on how often he uses the helicopter. The Athletic calculated that flying James to and from 41 home games at $4,000 per flight would create a $328,000 tab. That figure does not include trips for practices, though it also does not account for flight cancellations.
In 2022, Rubin said he decided to sell his stake to "ensure our new businesses don’t conflict with my responsibilities as part-owner of the Sixers."
Rubin said in June 2022 that he decided to sell his stake "to ensure our new businesses don’t conflict with my responsibilities as part-owner of the Sixers." Rubin was part of the ownership group that purchased the 76ers for an estimated $290 million in 2011. But as Fanatics expanded into sports betting and other business ventures, Rubin decided it was time to sell his estimated 10% stake in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
Rubin continues to be a self-described "life-long fan" of the team.
During an appearance on "The Pat McAfee Show," Silver made clear that there was no reason to be concerned about either the arrangement between James and Fanatics or potential salary-cap circumvention.
"He has a deal with Fanatics," Silver said just hours before the Detroit Pistons rallied for a comeback win over the Boston Celtics to tip off the new season. " . . . Part of his deal is they're going to supply a helicopter to him as long as it's just a deal between the Fanatics and LeBron and no team is involved; there's no rules issue there whatsoever."
After signing with the Sixers in free agency, James decided his primary residence would be in the country's largest city. He is not the first NBA player to do so while playing for Philadelphia. Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick also lived in New York during his two seasons with the Sixers. But James’ decision to make the routine trip by helicopter has drawn particular attention.
After 76ers practice has wrapped and news conferences are underway, James’ teammates have occasionally paused and laughed as the noise from his helicopter taking off from the roof of the team’s business center briefly drowns out their responses.
The 76ers visit Madison Square Garden to face the reigning champion New York Knicks Tuesday night.
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