Stephen A. Smith publicly APOLOGIZES to Kyrie Irving after calling him "selfish" for refusing the COVID jab. "Hindsight-wise, it didn’t make him stubborn or selfish. It made him BRAVE." "I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday, and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving." “Kyrie Irving stood out in my mind because of the heat that he was taking... He refused the vaccine. New York City's mandate made him ineligible for home games, and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates." “In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn't make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave. His willingness to stand up and say, ‘Nah, I'm not doing that.’ “It's just a time for reflection — to look at things differently.” Kyrie gave up $11,400,000 in game checks during the 21-22 NBA season and a $100,000,000 extension with the Nets to be unvaccinated. That cements his holdout as the largest financial sacrifice any athlete has ever made over an issue in history.

The Seattle Storm have apologized for the conduct of a co-owner toward to young girls who were supporting Sophie Cunningham on Tuesday night. But footage and testimony shows a further storm of chaos the two girls endured that the team has not addressed. foxnews.com/outkick-sports/s…

Hypothetical: You’re the owner of an MLB team. I offer to take $0 salary and sign a minor league contract and go to Low A. If the “he sucks now” crowd is right and I get lit up, you cut me, lose $0 and there’s no risk to the big league club. If the “clubhouse cancer” crowd is right, you see it immediately at Low A and cut me. You lose $0 and there’s no risk to the big league club. If there’s massive negative PR, which we already know there won’t be, you just cut me and move on. The story is dead in a couple days, you lose $0, and there’s no risk to the big league club. But, assuming none of those things happen, which they obviously wouldn’t, if you like what you see, you can promote me to AA and re evaluate me there. Then AAA. Then the big leagues. If I earn it, which you’d be 100% in control of deciding. If you don’t think I’m good enough, you lose $0 and there’s no risk to the big league club. You could take away my “antics”. You could take away my social media. You could ask anything of me. If I don’t comply, you cut me, lose $0, and there’s no risk to the big league club. What logical reason is there to not do this? At worst, you cut me and there’s no risk to the big league club. At best, you get a Cy Young winner for $0 who you know can still pitch and could help the big league team if and when you see fit.