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Why the Knicks, disrespected but clawing back, touched a raw nerve in New York City and ultimately the country
This is about a game, about overcoming adversity, about beating the odds, and about a city that is at once great and glamorous, yet oppressively hard to live in.
But the Knicks, in winning their first championship in 53 years, are not just a New York story. Their teamwork, discipline and dedication became a national story, a Cinderella story. They touched hearts in a very cynical culture.
Imagine if politicians acted like this. If they put aside their hyper-partisanship and ideological agendas for the good of the country. If their default setting was cooperation and compromise rather than grabbing credit and demonizing opponents. Okay, you’re right. It’s too hard to imagine.
It’s not about how many points Jalen Brunson scored (45 in Game 5, when he single-handedly carried the Knicks to victory). It’s about how he was long dismissed as weak and undersized (by NBA standards). The 6-foot-2 Brunson, who wasn’t drafted until the second round, had something to prove. Think of all the folks who feel underrated or misunderstood at their job, and how deeply they want to be recognized for their value.
It’s about the greatest city on earth, which is also the most frustrating city on earth. I once wrote that New Yorkers live under conditions that would cause riots in any other city, and I haven’t changed that view. Everybody is squeezed together. It’s absurdly overcrowded.
As a guy from Brooklyn, who played in a league and in the asphalt jungle, where if you lost you had to sit on the sidelines for a good long time, I don’t pretend to be unbiased. We played touch football in the street and had to stop every time a car came. That was before we got on the grass field because someone cut a hole in the chain-link fence. Very Noo Yawk.
Every day more than 4 million people pack themselves into subways, mostly at the bottom of deep tunnels, and at rush hours must stand through stop and go service. Homelessness is a problem both in the subways and on the streets.
CHAOS UNFOLDS IN NEW YORK CITY AFTER KNICKS WIN FIRST NBA CHAMPIONSHIP IN DECADES
Many folks live in tiny apartments, with small dens having to double as bedrooms, and pay mightily for the privilege.
And yet, as street crowds gathered across the five boroughs, they broke into a rendition of the Frank Sinatra song: "I want to be a part of it, New York, New York…"
Other cities, of course, have similar problems, so New York is just urban America writ large: Taller buildings, dirtier streets, piled-up garbage, more panhandlers, struggling schools, odious smells.
KNICKS FANS SEND NYC INTO CHAOS AFTER FRANCHISE REACHES FIRST NBA FINALS SINCE 1999
And the traffic is horrendous. Only Los Angeles is worse. Don’t show me any surveys, I know. Try getting into the Lincoln Tunnel.
That’s why authorities slapped a $9 entrance fee on anyone driving into Manhattan below 60th Street. And parking: Fugeddaboudit!
Unfortunately, some thugs turned violent after the Knicks’ victory. There were 63 arrests, 10 cops injured, four people stabbed and a 17-year-old boy shot in the foot. That’s the dark side of New York, which coexists with places like Broadway and Fifth Avenue.
When I was based in New York, the biggest stories involved crime. Race riots. Murders. The Central Park Five. The Zodiac Killer. Al Sharpton got stabbed.
Things are nowhere near as bad these days in the Apple and other cities, but there are still plenty of neighborhoods where you cross the street to avoid trouble.
When I was leaving in 1990 to return to Washington, I wrote a magazine piece with Donald Trump on the cover. The hotel-builder’s tabloid exploits, breathlessly chronicled by the New York Post — this was even before "The Apprentice" – symbolized a culture in which readers thrive on celebrity gossip to distract them from the daily dreariness of their lives. He always called me back. I figured, well, I’ll never have to deal with this guy again.
STEPHEN A SMITH ELECTS NOT TO DUNK ON TRUMP FOLLOWING KNICKS NBA FINALS VICTORY
I was at Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals when Willis Reed limped onto the court for their first championship. I watched on TV in 1973 when the team, now with Earl the Pearl, won again. Little did I know there would be a half-century wait till the next one, so many years of so many awful teams.
There’s also a heartwarming father-son tale, with Jalen’s dad, a journeyman player with the 1999 Knicks who lost the Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, being avenged — and the normally stoic younger Brunson dissolving into tears as they hugged.
If you look at the history of movies and television shows, everyone loves a good comeback. And the Knickerbockers provided just that in this series.
WNBA COACH DOUBLES DOWN ON JALEN BRUNSON DOUBTS DESPITE KNICKS REACHING NBA FINALS
In every win, the team fell behind by double digits and clawed their way back — especially in Game 4, when the New Yorkers, despite a record-breaking 29-point deficit, won it in the final second with that now-famous tip-in by OG Anunoby. Saturday night’s clincher was also won in the final seconds.
Doesn’t that stir every youngster or former youngster who dreamed of hitting the last-inning homer or catching the winning touchdown pass?
It was also nice to see the immature, 7-foot-5 Victor Wembanyama, who acted like a creepy villain, miss the last shot in each of the last two contests.
KNICKS SURVIVE TO TAKE 2-0 NBA FINALS LEAD AFTER JALEN BRUNSON'S CLUTCH SHOT SINKS SPURS
I know, it’s only a game. There will be other games, other sports, other heroes.
But this one touched a raw nerve because the Knicks, who won 13 straight, were always coming from behind, fueled by a beautiful passing offense, and were written off as lucky overachievers who would wilt like fading flowers when facing a "real" tough team.
Haven’t all of us, at some time or another, felt disrespected and disregarded by clueless bosses?
Start spreading the news…
Current WWE NXT roster
The WWE NXT roster features up-and-coming professional wrestlers who are getting ready to make an impact on the main roster one day.
Tony D’Angelo, Myles Borne, Lola Vice and Zaria are some of the top champions on the roster right now.
Read below for the full list of the roster as of June 2026.
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Current AEW roster
The All Elite Wrestling (AEW) roster features some of the best professional wrestlers from around the world with an influx of talent from Europe, Mexico, Japan and elsewhere all in one place.
MJF, Konosuke Takeshita, Kevin Knight, Jon Moxley, Thekla, Megan Bayne and Lena Kross are some of the top champions on the roster.
Read below for the full list of the roster as of June 2026.
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Current WWE main roster
The WWE roster features some of the best professional wrestlers in the world.
Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan are just some of the superstars the WWE has to offer.
Read below for the full list of the roster as of June 2026.
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Current TNA roster
The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) roster features some of the top-tier professional wrestlers in the industry with company putting on innovative matches since its inception.
Mike Santana, Cedric Alexander, Lei Ying Lee, Bear Bronson and Brian Myers are some of the top champions on the roster.
Read below for the full list of the roster as of June 2026.
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Jelly Roll files for divorce from wife Bunnie Xo after almost a decade of marriage
Jelly Roll has filed for divorce from his wife Bunnie Xo.
The country star filed the paperwork on May 18 in Williamson County, Tennessee, according to court records viewed by Fox News Digital.
Jelly Roll listed the date of separation as May 9, and cited irreconcilable differences.
Bunnie, whose real name is Alisa DeFord, and Jelly Roll tied the knot in August 2016 during a whirlwind Las Vegas ceremony, after meeting the year prior.
Fox News Digital has reached out to representatives for Jelly Roll for comment.
JELLY ROLL'S WIFE SLAMS TROLLS WHO CRITICIZED HER FOR TRASHING COUNTRY MUSIC SCENE
She became a stepmom to the country singer’s daughter, Bailee, and son, Noah.
Just months prior, during the 2026 Grammys — which took place in February — Jelly Roll, 41, and Bunnie Xo, 46, showed PDA.
The couple were affectionate while walking the red carpet together as well as while inside the venue.
JELLY ROLL ADMITS 'DUMB REDNECK' STATUS WHEN PUSHED ON POLITICS AFTER BRINGING GOD TO GRAMMYS STAGE
Jelly Roll also gave her a shoutout on stage after he won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Country Album.
Bunnie has previously opened up about their up-and-down relationship, in her memoir "Stripped Down: Unfiltered and Unapologetic."
The "Dumb Blonde" podcast host laid bare her chaotic upbringing and the emotional highs and lows that defined the early years of her relationship with the singer-songwriter.
Long before they became one of country music’s closely watched couples, the pair weathered difficult truths — including the night Bunnie learned Jelly Roll's ex-fling was waiting for him "in a hotel room down the street."
"When I found out about it, I was devastated," she told Fox News Digital in February. "I was hurt because I didn’t think he would be the one person to do that. I thought he was different. And at that moment, my heart was broken. But instead of getting mad at him, I asked myself, ‘Why do I keep attracting these kinds of men?’"
Bunnie admitted she hadn’t envisioned a conventional marriage.
JELLY ROLL’S EX-FLING WAITED IN ‘HOTEL DOWN THE STREET’ DURING MARRIAGE CRISIS, BUNNIE XO SAYS
"I think a lot of people need to realize that coming into this marriage, we weren’t a traditional bride and groom," she explained.
"I was a working girl, and he was an ex-drug dealer — a gangster-turned-struggling artist. There’s a different set of rules on the street than there are in what I’d call traditional marriages. If you’ve never lived that lifestyle, you’re not going to understand. But of course, cheating is wrong across the board — it doesn’t matter."
In the memoir, Bunnie also recalled learning about the alleged ex-fling.
"Are you f---ing kidding me?" she wrote. "We had an agreement.... Folks started DM'ing me on social media, telling me that J was with his ex-fling. The pieces started to fit together, and it became easier to disconnect from him.... I went completely silent and didn't reach out to J or answer any calls."
Shortly after, Bunnie wrote, Jelly Roll released his 2018 album, "Waylon & Willie II."
"Have you ever listened to those songs?" she wrote. "Go give it a listen, and you'll clearly hear a man smack-dab in the middle of an affair, pouring his guilt into lyrics.... To this day, I still hate most of the songs on that album, and I can't listen to it all the way through."
Looking back, Bunnie told Fox News Digital there were many reasons her initial "fairy tale" had become a nightmare.
"It’s not so much what was going on in our marriage," she said. "It was more of my husband had a hard time letting go of the past. I had a hard time letting go of the past. We also didn’t really think the relationship was going to work.
"I think a lot of it boiled down to self-worth on both parts. My husband didn't think he'd ever meet a woman who really loved him for him and just wanted to see him succeed without some of them wanting to change him.... And I had brought so much baggage into the relationship."
"I had come out of a really abusive relationship," she reflected. "The first man I ever saw cheat was my father. So I just didn’t really believe in traditional marriage at the same time either. There were just so many factors of why things happened the way they did."
Still, Bunnie said she was "ready for a change." So was Jelly Roll.
The two sought couples’ therapy to save their marriage. A "screaming match" broke out instead.
RACHAEL RAY SAYS MARITAL BLISS COMES FROM 'SCREAMING MATCHES,' NO-APOLOGY RULE WITH HUSBAND
"If I could just paint the scene for you, it’s a husband-and-wife marriage counseling couple," Bunnie told Fox News Digital.
"We’re like, ‘OK, we’re going to come in here, we’re going to learn so much, we’re going to get the tools to have a real relationship.’ We were never taught on either side of our families how to love properly. And we’re like, ‘We’re going to go in here and do this.’ That’s why we got a guy and a girl, because nobody’s going to be able to side with the other person. It’s going to be an equal opportunity employment moment."
"We went in there, and this poor couple had no idea what they had stepped into," she continued. "It was stepping on a grenade. We were just screaming at each other. There was just so much anger, so much hurt, so much pain from both ends. We left that therapy session that day, and I was like, 'This is it. We’re never going to be together again.’ And I think he felt the same way too."
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"We ended up coming back together," said Bunnie. "We were like, ‘I want to grow. I don’t want to be this person. I choose you. I’m going to become everything that you’ve ever wanted me to be.’"
"I’m going to be a wife, and he’s going to become everything I ever wanted him to be; a husband and a father to the kids," she shared. "We just made that decision from then on to just be better humans and to break every generational curse that we had ever inherited. I was ready for a change. So was he. So we set out together to heal and grow together."
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"We learned that marriage is not one-size-fits-all," Bunnie reflected. "Each person and each relationship is completely different than the next person’s. But you do have to wake up and choose that person even on days that you don’t like them."
In 2023, the couple renewed their vows at the same Las Vegas chapel where they were married. Bunnie said she and her husband make the choice every day to stay dedicated to each other. At the time, she described their devotion to each other as strong.
"I’ve seen 10 different versions of my husband in 10 years, and he’s seen probably four different versions of me," said Bunnie. "I’ve improved on things that I have wanted to improve personally, but I also think we just love each other for who we are — the good, the bad, the ugly."
"We don’t judge each other," she said. "There’s no judgment in this house. I know everything about my husband, and he knows everything about me. No matter how hard it gets, we face things head-on. We call it ‘getting into the foxhole.’ When it’s time, we hunker down and get through life — together."
Fox News Digital's Christina Dugan Ramirez and Larry Fink contributed to this post.
JD Vance reveals details of US-Iran deal, addresses whether taxpayer money will go to Tehran
Vice President JD Vance said that the proposed U.S.-Iran deal will usher in a "new day" for the Middle East, while addressing whether U.S. taxpayer funds would be used to finance Iran’s potential $300 billion reconstruction fund in an interview Monday on "Hannity"
Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity that Iran could have access to the multibillion-dollar fund if the nation fulfills the obligations outlined in its deal with the United States.
"The agreement says they are not getting a single dime of American money," he said.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN DEAL ‘LARGELY NEGOTIATED’ AS 84-DAY WAR NEARS POSSIBLE END
"What the agreement does say, Sean, is if the Iranians behave and if there are sanctions relief and if the Iranians are integrated into the world economy, we would invite other countries, not us, but other countries to invest in their country."
U.S. and Iranian officials reached an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, cease hostilities and address Tehran’s nuclear weapons program. The deal, known as a memorandum of understanding, is set to be signed on Friday in Switzerland.
A proposed $300 billion fund under consideration by the Trump administration for Iran would be financed by private companies looking to invest in the country, not American taxpayers.
LISA DAFTARI: HORMUZ WHIPLASH PROVES TEHRAN CAN'T HONOR ANY DEAL IT SIGNS
While the full terms of the U.S.-Iran peace agreement have not been released, Vance emphasized that the deal is performance-based and said Iran will have access to the reconstruction fund only if it complies with the deal’s conditions.
"The Iranians don't get a dime unless they behave and change their behavior," he said on "Hannity."
"If they show verifiable commitment, and that means a real inspections regime, then they can get the benefits of the bargain."
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said, according to Tasnim News Agency, "This memorandum does not mean trusting the enemy; it has been written with active distrust."
The vice president insisted that Iran has a "real opportunity" to transform the regime’s strained relationship with the United States, saying that action will be rewarded instead of words.
"I think that they see there's a real opportunity here to turn over a new leaf so long as they do the right thing," Vance declared.
"If the Iranians are willing to change their ways. If they're willing to behave like a normal country, stop trying to build a nuclear weapon, stop trying fund terrorism all over the Middle East, then we are willing to actually fundamentally transform our relationship with them."
The vice president, who said the deal "absolutely" includes a nuclear-disarmed Iran, addressed how the administration plans to eliminate the nation’s enriched uranium stockpile.
"What we're going to do, Sean, is destroy the highly enriched material, the nuclear dust, and we're gonna do it with the Iranians," he told "Hannity."
"[Trump] wants us to work with the Iranians, with the international organizations to destroy that stockpile of enriched material."
Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei played a direct role in shaping Iran's memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the U.S., according to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
Vance, who has taken a leading role in peace talks, revealed that some Iranian hardliners have begun questioning decades of hostility toward the United States.
"You talk about hardliners and moderates. What's fascinating to me about their system is that we're seeing even people that I would have assumed are hardliners who are kind of saying, ‘Maybe it was a mistake for us to do the things that we've done over the last 40 years. Maybe we should turn over a new leaf in the relationship with the United States of America,’" he said.
"We've never had this level of direct communication with the Iranian leadership."
Vance said that if Iran fails to uphold its commitments, relations between the two countries will revert to their previous state.
"The reason why our Arab allies, our Gulf allies, are so excited about this is because they think this is a new day in the Middle East," he told Fox News. "But again, if it's not, then it's not. If the Iranians don't comply, then we're gonna go back to the same relationship that we had before, where we have all the cards."
"We have the cards, and if they don't honor the commitment, we'll figure out what to do when we get there."
Warriors vet Draymond Green offers NBA Finals sore loser Victor Wembanyama a lesson in ethics
After the 2026 NBA Finals wrapped up a Knicks-led gentleman's sweep of the San Antonio Spurs, much of the conversation has shifted to evaluating Victor Wembanyama after a self-destructive postseason debut.
When the final buzzer sounded in Game 5, the 7-foot-4 French phenom skipped the traditional handshake line and headed straight for the locker room.
It capped off a rough Finals from a PR standpoint.
Earlier in the series, Wembanyama drew criticism for a dangerously hard foul on Brunson and was later caught on camera laughing in Mitchell Robinson's direction during a heated moment.
When the reality of the loss finally set in, Wembanyama chose not to face the Knicks on the court. His postgame comments did little to clear things up, as he largely sidestepped questions about the walk-off.
CHARLES BARKLEY 'ANNOYED' WITH VICTOR WEMBANYAMA BEING GIVEN 'FACE OF THE LEAGUE' TITLE
The decision opened the door for one of the NBA's most ironic critics: notorious enforcer Draymond Green.
The same Draymond Green who has spent much of his career blurring the line between basketball and mixed martial arts is now handing out lessons on sportsmanship.
It's not so much Green's lack of self-awareness that is astonishing; it's that he actually has something to offer the young Wemby when it comes to proper conduct.
On the latest episode of "The Draymond Green Show,", the Warriors veteran didn't hold back when discussing Wembanyama's decision to skip the handshake line.
DRAYMOND GREEN UPSET WITH 'AGENDA' THAT HE IS AN 'ANGRY BLACK MAN'
"Look your killer in the face," Green advised Wembanyama.
"You gotta look them in the face. By the way, if you leave the court and you don't look me in my face and I just beat you, I actually know that I own you forever because you couldn't look me in the face."
As strange as it sounds coming from Green, he's got a point.
Win or lose, part of being a professional is facing the outcome.
By leaving the floor immediately, Wembanyama gave critics an easy target and allowed the story to become about his temperament rather than the Knicks' championship celebration.
Wembanyama remains one of the league's brightest young stars. For him, handling defeat is part of the job.
As the presumed next face of the NBA, Wemby's lack of maturity after a crushing loss turned off many fans who were starting to buy into his hype.
His appeal is now fair game for discussion.
Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela
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A practical guide to not getting mauled by a bear while hiking or camping this summer
If it feels like you've seen a lot of bear attack headlines lately, you're not imagining it.
Over the past several weeks, a string of high-profile incidents has put bears back in the national conversation. A hiker was killed in Glacier National Park — the park's first fatal bear attack in nearly three decades. Another hiker survived a grizzly mauling on the popular Grinnell Glacier Trail just weeks later. Yellowstone visitors also found themselves on the wrong end of an encounter with a protective mother bear and her cubs near Old Faithful.
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Frightening, yes. But before you swear off hiking forever, let's add some perspective.
Millions of people recreate in bear country every year without incident. Most bears want nothing to do with humans, and most negative interactions are the result of surprise encounters, improperly stored food or people who are wildly unprepared for the environment they're entering.
But a little knowledge goes a long way.
So before you lace up your boots and head into bear country, here are a few things every hiker and camper should know.
Most bear encounters happen because neither party knew the other was there until it was too late.
That's why the No. 1 rule of hiking in bear country is simple: make noise.
You don't need a bear bell. In fact, many wildlife experts will tell you they're largely ineffective because they aren't loud enough to alert a bear until it's already nearby.
Instead, use your voice. Your outside voice, as they taught us in kindergarten.
GRIZZLY BEAR MAULS HIKER, DRAGS HIM DOZENS OF FEET ON GLACIER NATIONAL PARK TRAIL
Call out "Hey bear!" from time to time. Chat with your hiking partner about where you’ll get beers afterward. Complain loudly about the incline. Whatever. The goal is to let the bear know you're coming so it has plenty of time to leave the area before you arrive.
This is especially important near rushing water, around blind corners and in dense vegetation where sound and visibility are limited. In fact, one of the common threads in several recent bear encounters — including Daniel Crago's grizzly attack in Glacier National Park — was that environmental conditions made it difficult for either the bear or the hiker to hear the other approaching.
Bears generally prefer easy problems and low-risk situations.
A group of hikers is bigger, louder and more intimidating than a lone person walking through the woods.
While there's no magic number, hiking with three or more people is often recommended in bear country. If you're heading deep into the backcountry, this is one of the simplest ways to reduce your chances of a negative encounter.
I don't know how many videos of bears breaking into cars have to go viral before people accept that these animals have phenomenal sniffers.
Bears aren't just smelling your hot dogs and hamburgers. They're smelling the toothpaste, deodorant, lip balm, sunscreen, beef jerky wrapper you forgot about and the shirt you wore while cooking bacon.
In camp, keep your sleeping area, cooking area and food storage area separate. Use bear-resistant canisters or bear boxes whenever they're available. If you can hang the grub, do it.
And for the love of all things holy, do not store food in your tent.
A clean camp is a safe camp.
Wash dishes promptly. Dispose of trash properly. Don't leave food scraps sitting around. And if you're in serious grizzly country, some experts even recommend changing clothes after cooking before climbing into your sleeping bag.
I promise being too careful beats a hungry middle-of-the-night visitor every single time.
Notice I said "carry" it. Not "own" it. Not "pack" it. Carry it.
If your bear spray is buried beneath a rain jacket, two bags of trail mix, a first-aid kit and three layers of backpack zippers, it might as well not exist.
Keep it in a chest holster or on your hip where you can access it at a moment's notice. Practice removing the safety clip before your trip so you're not trying to read the instructions during a high-stress encounter.
Bear spray isn't something you deploy every time you see a bear in the distance. If a bear is calmly minding its own business 100 yards away, leave it alone and continue creating distance.
Bear spray is intended for situations where a bear is approaching aggressively or charging.
If that happens, remove the safety clip, hold the can with both hands, and prepare to spray when the bear is roughly 30 to 40 feet away. Aim slightly downward to create a cloud between you and the animal.
Think of it less like aiming a water gun and more like building a wall the bear has to run through.
I know. This is antithetical to every survival instinct in your body. And it’s easy for me to say from behind a laptop — while not being stared down by a grizzly. But do not run from a bear.
Bears can sprint up to 35 miles per hour. Usain Bolt’s human sprint speed record is 27.78 mph. You’re not Usain Bolt, and you don’t need me to do that math for you.
If the bear hasn't noticed you, quietly back away and give it space.
If it sees you, remain calm. Stand your ground. Speak in a calm, firm voice and slowly make yourself appear larger by raising your arms.
Most bears will leave if given the opportunity.
Your dog may be friendly. The bear does not care.
One of the more common ways bear encounters escalate is when an off-leash dog runs toward a bear, annoys it, and then comes sprinting back to its owner with an angry predator in pursuit.
Keep dogs leashed in bear country, and maintain control of them at all times.
If you spot a bear cub, congratulations. You are almost certainly much closer to its mother than you'd ever like to be.
Never approach cubs. Never position yourself between a mother and her cubs. And never stop for a photo — no matter how awestruck you are by the adorable danger puppies.
An otherwise peaceful mother bear will f--- you up if she thinks you pose a threat to her babies.
The good news is that most bear encounters never escalate to an attack.
But if things do go sideways, the type of bear you're dealing with can influence how wildlife experts recommend responding.
Black bears are often more timid and more likely to retreat if you stand your ground, make yourself look large and fight back if attacked. In the rare event of a predatory black bear attack, experts generally advise fighting with everything you've got.
Grizzlies, on the other hand, are more likely to attack defensively — particularly when surprised or protecting cubs. In those situations, playing dead may be the recommended response if physical contact occurs and bear spray fails to stop the attack. The National Park Service guidance is to lie flat on your stomach, hands clasped behind your neck, legs spread to make it harder for the bear to flip you.
God, that sounds terrifying. But it’s very good information to have.
Of course, the goal is to never find yourself in this position in the first place. That's why making noise, storing food properly and carrying accessible bear spray remain your best defenses.
The recent string of bear encounters is a good reminder that when we head into the wilderness, we're guests.
Bears don't know we come in peace. They don't understand we're just there to get our steps in, snap a few photos and then head home for burgers and a shower. They're simply being bears.
Most of the time, that's not a problem. But a little preparation and a healthy respect for wildlife can make all the difference between a great story to tell and a story that ends up on the evening news.
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After Threats, lawsuits and chaos, Brendan Sorsby and Texas Tech going their separate ways
After a seven-day battle that spanned multiple courtrooms, Brendan Sorsby has decided that he will not play college football this season at Texas Tech.
The decision comes on the same day that the Big 12 filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court that was aimed at being provided the power to sanction Texas Tech for playing the quarterback this season, even with the NCAA ruling him ineligible to play.
Over the past three months, Sorsby had been embroiled in an NCAA investigation tied to thousands of bets placed during his college career, with a number of them coming while he was on the roster at Indiana. These bets were flagged by law enforcement officials, who then turned them over to the NCAA.
During these last few weeks, Sorsby filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in Lubbock district court, where an injunction was granted that would have allowed him to suit up this season for the Red Raiders. Then came the backlash from across college athletics, with the Big 12 conference searching for ways in which it could possibly punish Texas Tech.
That lawsuit from Sorsby is expected to be dropped on Tuesday morning, sources tell OutKick. The school will also continue to support the quarterback in his battle off the field with an addiction to gambling.
Also, Texas Tech officials are not going to be seeking a return of money already paid to Sorsby, with sources noting that the quarterback had already taken home a significant amount of earnings.
Board of Regents chair, Cody Campbell, released a statement on Monday night, confirming these details.
"Texas Tech will not seek return of any amounts already paid to Brendan through his NIL agreements with the University," Campbell noted.
The unfortunate part for all involved was how far Texas Tech was going in its route to potentially get him on the field this season. Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to Big 12 officials, warning them that if the conference were to punish the school for playing Sorsby, the state would take them to court in return.
Then came a scathing letter from Sorsby's attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, who also threatened to sue the Big 12 conference, on behalf of Texas Tech, if there were any punishments handed down by the conference.
To make the situation even messier, Texas Tech officials released a 21-minute video last week, where they went over certain guardrails that were put into place for Sorsby once he was granted an injunction.
The video was obviously not received well, and officials at Texas Tech were enduring a tremendous amount of backlash from opposing conference leaders from across the Big 12.
Over the last 24 hours, the conversation shifted within Lubbock, as the school knew that Big 12 officials were preparing to file a federal lawsuit regarding Sorsby.
Those within Sorsby's inner circle were starting to feel the pressure to go ahead and enter his name into the NFL Supplemental draft, and not have to deal with the immense pressure that was not going away any time soon.
"I have no idea why they would try to justify this over the past week, it just made zero sense. The amount of heat that young man was getting, along with what was still to come, was not worth the hassle," one Power Four athletic director told OutKIck. "Texas Tech should’ve made this decision on their own when he was first confronted by the NCAA. This is the reason why we have language in rev-share and NIL contracts that also correlate with NCAA rules.
"Once the school knew rules had been broken, this should have been the end of the conversation."
BRENDAN SORSBY ADMITS WAGERING NEARLY $90,000 DURING COLLEGE CAREER AS NCAA FIGHT HEATS UP
In reality, Texas Tech overplayed its hand in this one, and the past few days that included Cody Campbell making an appearance on the Dan Dakich show and trying to compare the situation to the fallout at Penn State with Jerry Sandusky only made this worse.
Now, for all of the damage this has done over the past few weeks, Sorsby will move on to a professional career. In the meantime, Texas Tech will do whatever is needed to repair any type of fractured relationships within the Big 12 this has caused.
For Brendan Sorsby, the focus will be on his continued battle with a gambling addiction, while he also prepares himself for life outside of college football.