(NEW YORK) — The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series on Wednesday.
Dodgers clinched their second World Series title in the last five years by beating the Yankees 7-6 during Game 5 at Yankee Stadium.
After a historic season, including setting a home run record, Freddie Freeman was named the series’ Most Valuable Player.
While dealing with an ankle injury from the National League Championship Series in September, Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history during Game 1, in the bottom of the 10th inning at Dodgers Stadium.
After rounding the bases following his grand slam, Freeman ran to his father, “He’s been throwing me batting practice since I can remember. My swing is because of him. My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him,” Freeman said in his post-game interview.
“If he didn’t throw me batting practice, if he didn’t love the game of baseball, I wouldn’t be here playing this game,” he said. “So that’s Fred Freeman’s moment right there.”
Adding to the list of records that were broken during the Fall Classic, the Dodgers became the first team to secure a World Series win after coming back from five or more runs.
Mookie Betts, Freeman and Teoscar Hernández managed to rally from the Yankees’ five-run lead, tying the score in the fifth inning.
Wednesday’s win marked the Dodgers’ eighth title in franchise history, the first since the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season and the first full-season win since 1988.
(NEW YORK) — Alex Morgan, one of the greatest U.S. soccer stars of all time, officially announced her retirement from professional soccer on Thursday.
“I’m gonna get to the point quickly: I’m retiring,” Morgan said in a video posted to Instagram. “And I have so much clarity about this decision, and I am so happy to be able to finally tell you. It has been a long time coming and this decision wasn’t easy, but at the beginning of 2024 I felt in my heart and soul that this was the last season that I would play soccer.”
“Soccer has been a part of me for 30 years and it was one of the first things that I ever loved. And I gave everything to this sport and what I got in return was more than I could have ever dreamed of,” she said.
The two-time Olympic medalist, who helped lead Team USA to gold at the 2012 London Games and bronze in the 2020 Tokyo Games, has been celebrated by teammates, coaches and competitors as one of the greatest goal scorers and winners in U.S. Women’s National Team history.
Morgan continued, “Success for me is defined by never giving up and giving your all. And I did just that. I’m giving my all every single day on the field, and I did that. Giving my all in the relentless push for global investment in women’s sports, because we deserve that.”
The 35-year-old also shared a sweet moment with her now-4-year-old daughter before revealing she is pregnant with a second child.
“Charlie came up to me the other day and said that when she grows up, she wants to be a soccer player. And it just made me, like immensely proud,” she said. “Not because I wish for her to become a — soccer player when she grows up, but because a pathway exists that even a 4-year-old can see now we’re changing lives and the impact we have on the next generation is irreversible, and I’m proud in the hand I had in making that happen.”
She continued, “This is not the retirement video I expected when I initially thought I was going to do this, because Charlie’s going to be a big sister.”
“I am pregnant. And as unexpected as this came, we are so overjoyed,” Morgan said of her growing family with professional men’s player Servando Carrasco, her college sweetheart at UC Berkeley and husband.
“To me, family means everything. I wouldn’t be here without my husband and my family uplifting and motivating and encouraging and supporting me and sacrificing for me for the last 15 years as a professional athlete,” she said.
Morgan has one final match for the San Diego Wave on Sunday.
“I just want to thank the fans for always supporting us, for always just using what we’re saying and making it magnified,” she said. “I also need to thank the team, my team behind the scenes — teammates, coaches, staff, everyone who has played a part in my career, has played some part that has made me where I am today and who I am today.”
“I am so shaped into me because of you, because of soccer, and I am forever grateful,” Morgan said. “I cannot wait to celebrate with you one last game. It’s been a ride. And thank you.”
Alex Morgan’s professional soccer career highlights and accolades
Morgan joined the U.S. Women’s National Team training camp in 2009 at 20 years old and has remained a fixture of the team both on and off the field for her legendary 15-year career.
The star striker scored her first goal against China in 2010 and racked up goals against 32 different countries.
Later that same year, Morgan scored in stoppage time against Italy during the Women’s World Cup playoff to give USA a 1-0 win to qualify for the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
She finishes her USWNT career with 123 goals, fifth all time, as well as 53 career assists, ninth in U.S. history.
In her 22 World Cup matches, Morgan scored nine goals. She played 16 matches in two different Olympics and scored six goals.
In matches Morgan played, the national team’s record was 177-15-32. She was the captain of the USWNT 23 times and scored in 86 of her 224 international appearances with 158 starts. Of those 86 matches she scored in, the USWNT never lost, notching 76 wins and 10 draws.
With 176 combined goals and assists, Morgan sits at fifth all time in USWNT history, behind only fellow legends Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly and Carli Lloyd.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Morgan notched three goals, four assists and scored on a header against Canada in the 123rd minute to give the USA a dramatic 4-3 win in the semifinals.
Morgan also had a historic 2012, scoring 28 goals and 21 assists. The only other American player to have a year with at least 20 goals and at least 20 assists was Mia Hamm in 1998.
Morgan’s final goal in a U.S. uniform came on Feb. 23 against Argentina in the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup.
Morgan also racked up numerous awards. She won U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year in 2012 and 2018; was named to the FIFA FIFPRO World XI six times; and was named CONCACAF Female Player of the Year four times.
She also made history during the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with her goal against Brazil on Feb. 22, 2023, to move her past Joy Fawcett to become the all-time leader in USWNT goals as a mother with 14.
The San Dimas, California, native has appeared on the cover of numerous magazines throughout her career, including Time, Adweek, Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids and Glamour.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James — the NBA’s all-time leading scorer — and his son Bronny James make NBA history Oct. 22, taking to the court together as the Lakers faced the Minnesota Timberwolves in their season opener.
As the father-son duo teamed up, the rest of the James family watched the game unfold at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, including mom Savannah James, son Bryce and daughter Zhuri.
“Going up to the scorer’s table with my dad and checking in for the first time was a crazy moment I will never forget,” Bronny James said after the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves.
“It’s always been family over everything, so to be able to have this moment where I’m working still and I could work alongside my son is one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever got from the man above and I’m going to take full advantage of it,” LeBron James added.
LeBron James had 16 points in 35 minutes, while Bronny James did not score in the three minutes he played in his NBA debut.
Earlier in October, the Jameses also made history when they became the first father and son to play in an NBA preseason game together.
Bronny James is a guard with the Lakers, having been selected by the team in the 2024 NBA Draft.
“For a father, it means everything,” the elder James, a forward, said following the Lakers’ Oct. 6 preseason game against the Phoenix Suns. “For someone who didn’t have that growing up, to be able to have that influence on your kids and have influence on your son, to be able to have moments with your son and then ultimately, to be able to work with your son, I think that’s one of the greatest things that a father could ever hope for or wish for.”
LeBron James’ family often cheers him on at games, including at the 2024 Paris Olympics earlier this year, as the U.S. men’s basketball team won gold.
The Akron, Ohio, native has said he takes fatherhood seriously, having grown up without his own dad present in his life, and he prioritizes being present with his kids.
Although two of his kids — sons Bronny and Bryce James — have followed him onto the basketball court, LeBron James has said he doesn’t pressure them to play the sport.
“I’ve always let them just see if they had a love for [basketball]. Because, at the end of the day, nothing is going to come to fruition if you’re just doing it because you feel like it’s what your parents are doing. Nah, it’s going to fizzle out too fast,” he told Sports Illustrated in a 2022 cover interview with his sons.
(NEW YORK) — Olympian Jordan Chiles opened up this week in her first interview since being stripped of her bronze medal from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The star gymnast, whose bronze medal in the women’s gymnastics floor exercise final was revoked in August, spoke on the subject at the 2024 Forbes Power Women’s Summit in New York City on Wednesday.
“The biggest thing that was taken from me was that it was the recognition of who I was,” said Chiles, pausing halfway through and becoming emotional. “Not just my sport, but the person I am.”
“To me, everything that has gone on, it’s not about the medal, it’s about my skin color, it’s about the fact that there were things that have led up to this position of being an athlete,” she said.
She added, “I felt like when I was back in 2018, where I did lose the love of this sport. I lost it again. I felt like I was really left in the dark.”
Chiles referenced a coach she said she had in 2018, who she claimed “emotionally and verbally abused” her, though she did not name them, and said losing her medal made her feel voiceless again.
“I wasn’t able to be heard,” she said.
She added, “I made history and I will always continue to make history, and something that I rightfully did, I followed the rules. My coach followed the rules. We did everything that was totally, completely right.”
Initially, Chiles finished fifth in the individual floor exercise final at the Paris Olympics, only to be moved up to the bronze medal spot after her coaches appealed the scoring of one of the elements in her routine. In moving from fifth to third, she leaped over two Romanian gymnasts — including Ana Barbosu, who had already begun celebrating bronze.
The International Gymnastics Federation has since awarded Barbosu third place, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport voided the appeal made by Chiles’ coach at the event, with CAS saying Chiles’ score was “raised after the conclusion of the one-minute deadline.” In stating the challenge came too late, the CAS reinstated Chiles’ incorrect 13.666 score.
CAS later said it would not hear Chiles’ appeal to keep her bronze medal from the Paris Olympics despite new evidence, according to USA Gymnastics.
Following the unsuccessful appeal, Chiles took to Instagram to share her feelings on losing the medal.
“I have no words. This decision feels unjust and comes as a significant blow, not just to me, but to everyone who has championed my journey,” she wrote in a statement at the time.
“To add to the heartbreak, the unprompted racially driven attacks on social media are wrong and extremely hurtful. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this sport and I am so proud to represent my culture and my country,” she continued.
Chiles took home one medal from the Olympics, helping Team USA secure gold in the women’s artistic team all-around event. She was also a part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.