Fox News Latest Headlines
Cowboys star Brandon Aubrey details journey from soccer player to software engineer to Pro Bowl kicker
Brandon Aubrey has become one of the best kickers in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, but his road to stardom has been far from linear.
Aubrey, 31, first played professional soccer in Major League Soccer (MLS) and then the United Soccer League (USL) before hanging up the spikes.
"I wasn't ready to retire from soccer, but when I looked around at the environment, I didn't perform as well as I needed to stick on a roster and I got cut a couple of times. And at that point, there wasn't a whole lot of money in soccer at the second tier. So, I slipped from the MLS into the USL," Aubrey told OutKick in a recent interview.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE
"I had to really take a long, hard look at it, see if it was worth pursuing, and I could make triple the money I was making in that league as a software engineer, which my degree was in."
Aubrey said he had just gotten married to his wife, Jenn, and didn’t want to set his family back , so into software engineering he went. However, working as a software engineer wasn’t very fun for Aubrey.
Aubrey said that Jenn had a good, stable job and pushed him to pursue a career as an NFL kicker.
"With that support and a lot of hard work and commitment we were able to shift over towards being a kicker, and got a job in the USFL and eventually got noticed at the NFL level and was able to get a job here," Aubrey said.
Aubrey is in his fourth season with the Cowboys and has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. He has made 127 of his 146 field-goal attempts with a long of 65 yards, while nailing 146 of 151 extra points.
THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!
One of his 127 made field goals stands out more than the rest.
The New York Giants had gone up 37-34 in Week 2 of the 2025 season with just 25 seconds left in the game. It looked like the Cowboys were going to go 0-2 to start the year.
"They just put the dagger in us where they scored a long touchdown. to Nabers and he did the night-night celebration," Aubrey said. "We had like 12 seconds to go get 10 yards, got it and then we were in field-goal position and that's still a pretty coin-flippy field goal, maybe even less than a coin flip for historical statistics."
While a 64-yard field goal to tie the game might seem like less than a coin flip for Aubrey, he made it look easy. He nailed the kick to force overtime.
"To be able to go and hit that one through the uprights was awesome," Aubrey said.
However, his day wasn’t done there. Aubrey made a 46-yard field goal as the clock expired in overtime to give the Cowboys a thrilling 40-37 win.
In the chaos of life, and in Aubrey’s case, multiple career changes, sometimes your smile can suffer. The Pro Bowl kicker said he didn’t take good care of his smile as an adult and credited Invisalign for helping him restore his confidence.
"If you smile, I think that shows a lot of your personality. And for me, I put a lot of time and effort into my smile as a as a young kid. I guess I could say my parents put that time and effort into it and it was in a good spot and then shift happens. I didn't take good enough care of it as a college athlete and a young adult and my smile shifted as well. I think Invisalign clear liners are a fantastic fit for me as I try to invest in my smile, my overall health, my confidence," Aubrey, who spoke on behalf of Invisalign, said.
"You look good, you feel good, you play good."
ELAINE PARKER: Democrat win is a wake-up call for Republicans, not a vote for socialism
The American people sent a clear message in Tuesday's midterm elections. But Democrats would be making a serious mistake if they interpreted their victories as an endorsement of socialism.
Voters weren't demanding bigger government. They wanted relief from the affordability crisis.
Republicans shouldn't dismiss the results as a typical midterm setback either. The coalition that delivered President Donald Trump the White House and Republican control of Congress in 2024 expected results.
MEHEK COOKE: REPUBLICANS FAILED THE AFFORDABILITY TEST. THIS IS HOW TO WIN VOTERS BACK
The voters who hired Republicans to fix the affordability crisis are now holding them accountable for failing to deliver.
Americans were tired of inflation, unaffordable housing and watching their paychecks buy less. They believed Republicans would make their lives better.
FOX NEWS POLL: SQUEEZED BY COSTS, FRUSTRATED VOTERS TURN TO THE DEMOCRATS
But somewhere between winning and governing, Republicans lost control of that message.
Trump had a legitimate argument for tariffs: rebuilding American manufacturing and bringing back jobs lost under decades of trade policies, including NAFTA, signed by President Bill Clinton. But Republicans never adequately explained the long-term benefits. Voters heard about tariffs while worrying about higher prices.
The same communications failure plagued the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Republicans made lower individual tax rates permanent, restored immediate expensing for qualifying business investments and prevented trillions in scheduled tax increases. Yet how many Americans could explain what that legislation actually did for them?
What good is passing legislation that helps working families and small businesses if you can't explain how it makes their lives better?
Healthcare was another squandered opportunity.
When enhanced COVID-19-era Obamacare subsidies expired, Republicans could have offered a serious affordability alternative built around price transparency, competition and consumer choice. Instead, they surrendered the conversation.
Healthcare is part of the affordability crisis. Families don't separate their mortgage, groceries, insurance premiums and deductibles into political categories. It all comes from the same paycheck.
Perhaps the biggest warning came from Hispanic voters.
Trump made historic gains in 2024 by speaking to their economic aspirations, entrepreneurial spirit and desire for safe communities.
Following Trump's 2024 victory, his pollster, John McLaughlin, observed that Republicans had rented the Hispanic vote and warned they needed to work to keep it.
Unfortunately, they acted as though they owned it.
Economic frustration drove much of the erosion in support, but immigration enforcement contributed. Trump promised to secure the border and prioritize dangerous criminals. Instead, broader enforcement created fear in Hispanic communities, including among those who supported stronger border security.
Republicans worked hard to win those voters in 2024 and then seemingly forgot what brought them into the Republican column. They failed to maintain that trust, much less expand it.
My home state of Florida should be a wake-up call.
Republicans can celebrate electing Byron Donalds as Florida's first Black governor and holding major statewide offices. But Donalds narrowly defeated David Jolly despite a roughly 1.5-million Republican voter-registration advantage.
That advantage provided a cushion against the national Democratic swing, not immunity from it. Those margins should concern Republican leaders.
Then there's the war with Iran.
Whatever the administration's strategic justification, it failed to make a compelling case to Americans already struggling financially. Voters saw higher gasoline prices without a clearly articulated reason for the conflict.
None of this gives Democrats a mandate to push socialist policies.
A vote against Republican performance isn't necessarily a vote for higher taxes, more government spending or expanded bureaucracy. Many of these same voters supported Trump just two years ago because they wanted a different economic direction.
Democrats have earned an opportunity to address affordability, not a blank check for an ideological agenda.
Republicans, meanwhile, need to reconnect their policies to the people they're supposed to serve. Lower taxes, stronger small businesses, affordable healthcare and greater economic opportunity remain a compelling agenda. But voters need to see and feel the benefits.
Tuesday's election was not a mandate for socialism. It was a demand for affordability, accountability and results.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Americans did not suddenly change what they wanted. They changed whom they trusted to deliver it.
And unless both parties understand that distinction, they risk learning the same lesson all over again.
High school athlete cursed out by Seattle Storm owner runs against trans athlete at state championship
It was a cross-country course filled with twists, turns, hills and switchbacks. There was nothing round about it. But for Eastmont High junior Ahnaleigh Wilson, this was a case of things coming full circle.
More than two years ago, Wilson finished second to a trans athlete in a Junior Olympic track race. That set her on a path of speaking out against biological boys competing in girls' sports. If her name looks familiar, it's because she's the one Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton cursed out at a WNBA game in July for holding a sign reading, "Thank You Sophie (Cunningham) For Speaking Up For Girls!"
It brought a high school girl to tears, but as you'll learn, it takes a lot more than that to stop Ahnaleigh.
Since Keaton's tirade, quite a bit has happened in the world of Washington state transgender athletes. For the last month and a half, a male runner from Camas High who switched to the girls team midseason has dominated the headlines. After opening the season 76th in a boys' JV race, he crossed over to win a varsity girls' meet and knock female runners out of regional and state qualifying spots.
Well, guess who was lined up against him in Saturday's 4A girls state finals at Sun Willows Golf Course? That's right — one Ahnaleigh Wilson.
Wilson racing was no guarantee. Not just because she'd considered taking a stand against having to compete against a boy, but because she had a bone stress injury in her right fibula she feared might develop into a fracture. Her parents encouraged her not for health reasons. She didn't listen.
"I worked really hard this season, and I mean, I like running. So I wanted to run. I wanted to try at least," Wilson said.
It might have been good social-media material for activists had Wilson walked off in protest, but that wasn't going to happen. Plus, she'd already done enough in that department — regularly speaking in defense of girls and women despite her relatively shy nature.
She'd survived all the emotional abuse her detractors had thrown her way. Saturday was about surviving the physical.
A healthy Wilson likely would have finished somewhere in the top third of Saturday's 155-girl field. Her usual time of 19:30 would have been good for 49th place. But this was not a healthy Wilson. This was a high school junior slogging through a 5000-meter course with searing pain every other step.
Ahnaleigh said she thought about quitting multiple times mid-race. But the cheers from the crowd kept her going. And we aren't talking about the ones from her parents, friends or coaches. We're talking about random supporters who knew her name because of everything she'd fought for.
"There were a few times I didn't know if I was going to finish, and I heard people I didn't recognize their voices, but there were people cheering for me, and that was really cool," she said.
Wilson's final time? 22:58.30 — which placed her 150th. The Camas male, meanwhile, finished 23rd, which wasn't fast enough to put him on the podium reserved for the top 16 runners.
This was his first race since Tuesday's election, when Washington voters decisively passed Initiative 638, which will enforce the separation of biological boys and girls in K-12 sports once it takes effect. And even though many runners at Saturday's race were relieved the measure got through, they were still motivated to outrun the boy in the girls race.
One was Skyview High runner Charlie Garrett, who, alongside teammate Sierra Retzlaff, walked off the start line in protest of the Camas runner last month. She'd heard that the boy told his teammates that his goal was to beat them every time since that act, and while he was successful in doing so Saturday (Garrett and Retzlaff finished 39th and 92nd, respectively), Garrett took solace in the fact that she wouldn't have to face him again.
"I guess the motivation (to beat him) is just that I don't want my spot to be taken away by someone who shouldn't be in my race. That's my main motivation" said Garrett, a junior. "I didn't do it this season — and I won't have to this season. But I mean, me and my mom are very competitive people, so I think it just runs in the blood to try and do better than the person who's causing us stress."
Echoing that sentiment was Kamiakin High sophomore Lauren Baumann.
THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!
"My goal was to beat the guy from Camas because I don't think he should be racing in a girls race," said Baumann, who finished 11 spots behind him. "When he passed me at the 800 and I tried to stay with him but couldn't, it made me feel really really mad and just that I couldn't do anything to stop it. But I'm glad that he won't be able to run next year."
I-638 could go into effect as soon as December 3, although there may be legal challenges delaying its implementation. But girls such as Wilson, Garrett and Retzlaff — all of whom played critical roles in getting it passed — are taking their metaphorical victory laps.
That said, perhaps nobody was as emotional Saturday as Ahnaleigh's mom, Elizabeth, who broke down in tears after her daughter's race.
"I can't believe she went out and did that with a bone stress...that's just heart," Elizabeth said. "She started this journey racing a boy, and she ended it, and hopefully this will be the last time a boy competes against girls."
X-rays will reveal whether Ahnaleigh — who was limping after the race — has a stress fracture. But she proved something Saturday. Whether it's a state cross country race or a ballot initiative — no matter how painful, she is going to finish what she started.
Gulf War veteran left homeless after heart surgery details how he rebuilt his life from 'square one'
Gulf War veteran Thomas Garrett Jr. returned home to celebratory parades, but years later, he found himself homeless after undergoing heart surgery.
Garrett’s efforts to rebuild his life after becoming homeless are highlighted in Fox Corporation’s sixth annual "Make Camo Your Cause" campaign with U.S.VETS, a nationwide initiative ahead of Veterans Day aimed at helping end veteran homelessness.
"The homecoming was a phenomenal event," Garrett said Saturday on "Fox News Live."
"I became homeless after having heart surgery. So that changed everything about my dynamic in life," he added.
AMERICA'S WOUNDED, STRUGGLING VETERANS GET BRAND-NEW HOMES BUILT BY FLORIDA TEENS
U.S.VETS, a national nonprofit dedicated to ending veteran homelessness, provides housing, food and career help to service members in need. According to the organization, it assists more than 20,000 veterans and their families each year. To date, U.S.VETS has served over 500,000 meals, provided 418,000 nights of shelter and placed 3,000 veterans into permanent housing.
Quandrea Patterson, executive director of U.S.VETS, explained that Garrett’s experience reflects a broader challenge facing veterans as they transition from military to civilian life.
NEW YORK JETS OWNER WOODY JOHNSON TO BE HONORED AT TUNNEL TO TOWERS GALA FOR DECADE-LONG PARTNERSHIP
"A lot of times when veterans are in service, they're told, and they know exactly what to do because they're mission-focused," Patterson said. "And then during that transition from active service to civilian service or veteran status, a lot of the information, a lot of the things to expect are unknown."
The uncertainty surrounding that transition can leave veterans vulnerable to homelessness, Patterson said.
For Garrett, U.S.VETS offered the structure and support he needed to move forward.
"U.S.VETS is a new starting point for veterans," Garrett said. "It's a square one to where you can build up your life the way the veteran themselves need it. It gives us good structure. It gives us a good routine to begin and to build from there."
TRUMP PROMOTES FREEDOM HAULERS INITIATIVE TO FAST-TRACK MILITARY VETERANS INTO TRUCKING JOBS
Ahead of Veterans Day, Patterson stressed that honoring those who served requires more than celebrating them once a year.
"Freedom isn’t free, and for the freedom that we're experiencing, that, there is somebody out there volunteering to put their life on the line and to navigate the unknown," Patterson said. "When they get out, we should wrap our arms around them to make sure that they know that that service was appreciated in more than just words, but in deed as well."
FOX is the founding media sponsor of the campaign, which aims to bring visibility and awareness to the tragic issue in the United States while transforming what it means to wear camo here at home.
Over the past five years, the campaign has driven significant donations to U.S.VETS and greater awareness of the critical work it does.
Viewers can "Make Camo Your Cause" by donating or shopping online at the link.
Blue Angels pilot removed from team for 'failing to uphold' standards, Navy says
A Blue Angels pilot was removed from the Navy’s flight demonstration team for "failing to uphold" its standards, leaving squadron with a five-jet show on Friday.
The dismissal comes just months after a controversial low Pensacola Beach flyover in July that sent debris flying, raising concern for public safety.
Maj. Scott Laux, a second-year member of the elite team, was identified as Blue Angel No. 6. The Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) confirmed his removal to the Pensacola News Journal, saying the decision was announced Friday before the season finale at home in Pensacola.
NAVY SAYS NO REPRIMANDS OR FIRINGS AFTER BLUE ANGELS’ LOW PASS OVER BEACHGOERS
"Blue Angel #6 was removed from the team for failing to uphold the standards expected of members of the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron and will not participate in the team’s remaining performance this season," CNATRA’s public affairs office wrote in a statement Friday.
Fox News Digital reached out for further information Sunday morning and has not yet heard back.
Laux previously defended the team’s low-flying displays after the July flyover over Pensacola Beach sent tents, beach chairs and umbrellas flying as sand swept across the shoreline.
"We appreciate the trust in support and it’s our privilege to be able to perform in that way," Laux told Rolling with Madrina after the incident. "We’re gonna keep bringing the heat and continue doing it safely."
VIRAL VIDEO OF JETS BUZZING DHL STADIUM IN CAPE TOWN PROMPTS AVIATION SAFETY INVESTIGATION
Navy and War Department leaders had previously defended the low flyovers.
"Flight debrief complete. No reprimands. No firings. No problem," Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao wrote on X in July. "That’s the sound of Freedom! Semper fi and Hooyah."
War Secretary Pete Hegseth had vowed more support.
"The flyovers will continue until morale improves," Hegseth wrote on X.
The White House posted a photo meme of the controversial flyover from its official X account.
"It's okay to love America," the post read.
The Navy has not said when Laux was dismissed or what conduct prompted the decision. His photo and biography are no longer featured on the Blue Angels’ website's team page
Laux was absent from the squadron’s NAS Pensacola Homecoming Air Show on Friday and Saturday, where the team performed with five jets instead of its usual six. Laux's role was the opposing solo, which flies with lead solo #5 in the head-on crossing passes and mirror-image maneuvers that fill the gaps between the four-jet Diamond’s routines.
The routines were adjusted to account for the missing jet, according to reports.
The 2026 narrator, Lt. Commander Ronny Hafeza, might replace Laux on the 2027 team. The Blue Angels officers serve three-year terms, one as a narrator as Laux did.
Laux, a native of Chantilly, Va., graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2012 with a degree in Chinese and earned his wings in 2015, according to his bio, which as of Sunday morning could still be accessed on the site despite no longer being listed with the rest of the team. He flew F/A-18 Hornets with Marine Corps squadrons, deployed to Japan and aboard the USS Nimitz and supported three operations during the 2020 carrier deployment: Resolute Support, Inherent Resolve and Octave Quartz.
He later transitioned to the F-35C Lightning II and served as an instructor pilot before joining the Blue Angels in September 2024. Before becoming Blue Angels #6, he served as the show's narrator.
Laux has more than 1,300 flight hours and 169 aircraft carrier landings. His awards include two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals and multiple unit awards.
DAVID MARCUS: How Ashley Moody survived the blue tsunami and emerged as a GOP star.
Even in the face of massive losses in last week’s Midterm elections, Republicans had a few winners, and none may have longer-lasting effects than Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida who defied national trends for a GOP hold in the Sunshine State.
Going into Tuesday’s contests, holding a Senate seat in Florida may have seemed like the least Republicans could do, but it turned out to be a night where the least they could do was the most they did, and those who did win should be learned from.
"I fought tooth and nail this election to make sure Floridians know that what we have here is special, and it can be dismantled in one cycle," Moody told Fox News Digital in the wake of the blue tsunami, and while that message faltered in states like Texas, in Florida it stuck.
Moody said her campaign held to two basic messages.
"Talking to folks on the ground and meeting them where they were was vital, and I heard many people from all political backgrounds present a consistent message – they want a government that is accountable and a government that protects their pursuit of the American Dream. I put that front and center in my campaign and Floridians backed me for it."
Accountability and the American dream: These are two very good places to start as the GOP licks its wounds and seeks a path back to power on Capitol Hill having squandered both houses in this cycle.
DESANTIS CALLS GOP MIDTERM LOSSES 'EXTINCTION-LEVEL EVENT' — AND EXPLAINS WHY FLORIDA SURVIVED
Many have been tempted to dismiss Moody’s victory by saying, "but it's red Florida." But red Texas turned bluer than the Gulf of America. So no, Florida did not carry Ashley Moody. Ashley Moody helped carry Florida.
Moody was twice elected statewide as attorney general, first in 2018 by low single digits, then in 2022 by a whopping 21% of the vote, and unlike Ken Paxton, the Texas AG who lost his Senate bid last week, Moody did not have a long resume of scandal to bog her down.
Moody also outperformed South Carolina Sen. Darlene Graham, who took over the seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham after he died earlier this year, a decision driven by President Donald Trump that many believe cost Republicans the Palmetto state seat.
Now, in the new Congress, Republicans will end up having lost between seven and nine seats. What this means for Moody is a fast track to seniority. With GOP Senate stalwarts like John Cornyn of Texas and Susan Collins of Maine having lost this cycle, Moody has jumped significantly ahead in line.
MASSIVE UPSET: ANDREWS DOWNS TRUMP-BACKED GRAHAM IN RUBY-RED SOUTH CAROLINA
Although Moody is just as much responsible for Republican success in Florida - which also included the election of Rep. Byron Donalds as governor - as Republican success in Florida is for Moody, one would be remiss not to mention current Gov. Ron DeSantis, the architect of the so-called ‘free state of Florida."
DeSantis has built a GOP brand in Florida that is laser focused on the two issues Moody credited for her victory, government accountability and saving the American dream for the next generation.
DeSantis made his state a beacon for conservatives across America who came in droves from places like New York City, now, it may become a lighthouse, guiding a national Republican Party adrift at sea back to the shores of electoral victory.
Of the GOP wipeout, DeSantis said, "A lot of our voters who stayed home, they stayed home because they were frustrated with the lack of productivity from Republicans in the House and Senate. That’s just a fact. They were promised big things, and they didn’t deliver it."
This is noticeably at odds with Vice President JD Vance’s theory of the loss, which states that GOP voters did in fact come out, but voted for Democrats, mainly because of the war in Iran and our nation’s relationship with Israel.
Figuring out which of these theories is true, or at least dominant, is the first order of business for Republicans looking to regroup, and it is worth noting that while the GOP lost Vance’s old Senate seat in Ohio, Moody held Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Florida seat intact.
Vance and DeSantis may get the chance to pitch their visions of the GOP to Americans over the next two years in a presidential primary race, but in the meantime, the biggest Republican winner of the Midterm debacle is Ashley Moody, who suddenly looks like a force in American politics that we should all get used to.
Houston Texans and Los Angeles Chargers meet in a matchup of two surprisingly struggling NFL teams
Being an NFL schedule maker can’t possibly be an easy job. Obviously, the logistics will be a challenge no matter what season you’re trying to prepare. Stadiums are used for a lot of things, and planning for events and games can’t be easy. Sometimes they provide flex schedule games so that they can put bigger and better games in prime spots.
However, things also sometimes happen when two expectedly good teams end up bad, like today’s game between the Houston Texans and the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Houston Texans come into this game with a 2-5 record, but if you’re going to pick either of these two teams to make the postseason, it is hard to pick against Houston. The Texans came in with a defense that was expected to be one of the best in the league. Houston has a young defense, but they are allowing 24.3 points per game. Their passing defense has been awful this season, allowing 244.0 yards per game. To make it even worse, they’ve faced about half good and half bad quarterbacks.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE OUTKICK SPORTS COVERAGE
Sure, they faced Josh Allen and Joe Burrow in the first two weeks. They also faced Dak Prescott in Week 4 of the season. However, they’ve also faced Daniel Jones, Cam Ward, and JJ McCarthy. They played Trevor Lawrence in London as well. It just doesn’t seem to add up why they are struggling so much this season. The offense isn’t giving them much to work with. They have the fourth-worst running game in football, but they have one of the best passing offenses.
The Los Angeles Chargers are not going to make the postseason, and honestly, they are probably closer to blowing up the team than they are to anything else. This has been the biggest disaster, and, arguably, the most confusing team of the entire season. The Chargers are 0-7 to start the season, and even a Bye Week didn’t help them get ready enough for last week. Their offense has been terrible; their defense hasn’t been impressive.
Justin Herbert, a guy that people expected to be among the best in the league with new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniels, has regressed significantly. Herbert has five touchdown passes and 10 interceptions this season. He hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass in the past two games, but has completed three passes to the other team. The Chargers are going on 10 straight quarters without a touchdown. They’ve only scored a touchdown in one of the past 12 quarters they’ve played. It has been embarrassing.
THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!
I think this game is likely to be a bit higher scoring than what we see on the total of 40.5. The Texans can put up 20+ points against the Chargers. Los Angeles hasn’t scored, but for whatever reason, the Texans can’t really stop anyone. I think Los Angeles might even win this game, but backing them is scary. I’m going to take the over 40.5 here. Eventually, we will see something out of the offense, and I think the Texans will do enough. Give me the over.
SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY OUTKICK NEWSLETTER
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
Chicago Bears favored by six as Tampa Bay Buccaneers try to keep their division hopes alive
Primetime games almost always have better match-ups. I’m fairly certain every NFL team is given at least one primetime game each season. However, some teams have significantly more games in the Primetime window than others. The Bears, who play tonight on Sunday Night Football, are one of those teams, and they are playing in their third straight primetime slot. The Buccaneers haven’t had as many primetime games, but this could be a good one either way.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers come into this game with a 3-5 record and are coming off one of the most interesting wins of the entire season. They shut out the Falcons and won 16-0, but that isn’t even the most unique part of the victory. It was that they won the game without completing a pass. It was very rainy, but the team only attempted three passes all game. The team ran the ball 56 times – 52 if you only include the running backs. Bucky Irving and Kenny Gainwell combined for 310 rushing yards.
The rest of the season hasn’t been overly impressive, but they have won three of the past four games. They beat Dallas by eight points behind their backup quarterback. They lost to the Steelers in overtime, and it was unfortunate because they were winning almost the entire game. They destroyed the Panthers, and then they beat the Falcons. It was a rough start to the season, but their division isn’t very good, so maybe they still have a chance to win it.
I guess I should start with an apology to the Chicago Bears. They are better than I expected and better than I gave them credit for. I had a lot of questions about if their team had actually won any impressive games. My conclusion was… not really. Last week, they played a great game against a very good Seattle team. Their offense was strong behind a great running game and timely passes. Best of all, a delay-of-game penalty actually saved the Bears. They had the penalty and then threw a 30+ yards screen pass the next play that set up a touchdown.
BEARS PROVE THEY ARE NFC NORTH'S MOST COMPLETE TEAM WITH COMMANDING WIN OVER SEAHAWKS
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
The Bears kind of went all in last week. They traded for Jeffery Simmons to shore up their defense, and he was instantly an impact on the team. He had six tackles and a sack. What it really did was open up some other guys to get in on the action and give more pressure. Simmons was doubled most of the night, and he looked great. It was impressive that Simmons was putting that much energy and effort into the game. I think he can be a real difference maker, and if he keeps it up, Chicago won’t miss the picks it gave up for him.
I’ve always thought draft picks were a bit overrated in football, but because of the salary cap, I do understand the extra value. The Bears are playing good football, and the Buccaneers are starting to turn it around. The weather won’t be great for the game, but it should be good enough for the teams to score. I like the over, but I prefer to take the Bears -6. I think Tampa will struggle against Simmons and Montez Sweat. Give me the Bears, but I would also advise taking them in a teaser.
For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024
MICHAEL GUILLEN: Science's fantastic discoveries are making religion more credible
I’ll never forget the time I received my very own microscope for Christmas; suddenly, a drop of pond water became a teeming cosmos of strange, wriggling creatures. Nor will I ever forget peering through my first telescope; suddenly, the moon’s eerie, cratered surface exploded to life and looked close enough for me to touch.
Those two boyhood experiences tell the entire, exciting, unexpected story of science in a nutshell. With every new, more powerful imaging device, scientists have gradually, spectacularly brought to light the once-shrouded secrets of the microscopic and macroscopic cosmos.
Throughout this long, impressive eye-opening drama, scientists have justifiably boasted about how their discoveries are systematically ridding our species of its hoary, benighted superstitions, religion included. This conceit is displayed in the title of Carl Sagan’s book The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark. For Carl — a professor of mine at Cornell — science was indeed the great, bright hope for a terribly dim-witted world.
NASA'S CHANDRA TELESCOPE REVEALS MILKY WAY'S OUTER REACHES MAY STRETCH FARTHER THAN PREVIOUSLY KNOWN
But, the story of science hasn’t turned out as the optimists prophesied, not by a long shot. That’s because modern science is discovering there’s far, far more to reality than meets the eye, than even our most sensitive instruments can see. That we live in a demon-haunted cosmos after all — one infested with invisible, inscrutable spirits with such names as dark matter and dark energy.
As a grad student at Cornell, I recall learning about what my astronomy professors called the "missing mass problem," a mystery dating back to 1933, when Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky used data from Mount Wilson Observatory’s powerful Hooker telescope to study clusters of galaxies. To his astonishment, Zwicky discovered that galaxies are swarming within each cluster like bees in a hive at a much faster clip than conventional physics can explain.
In class, I learned that these clustered galaxies would need to have roughly ten times more mass to explain their unusual swiftness. This means that most of the galaxies’ collective mass is "missing" — is invisible to us. Zwicky called this ghostly mass "dunkle materie," German for dark matter.
Scientists today offer many fanciful, high-brow explanations for dark matter, but the plain truth is that, nearly a century after Zwicky’s discovery, we still have no idea whatsoever what it is. For now, the consensus is that, like conventional matter, dunkle materie is gravitational in nature — which is why it can tug on and speed up the clustered galaxies. But, very unlike conventional matter, dunkle materie does not radiate or reflect light — which is why it’s invisible.
FROM COCKROACH MILK TO STEPPING ON SNAKES, IG NOBEL AWARDS CELEBRATES SCIENCE AT ITS ODDEST
It wasn’t the first time data from the powerful Hooker telescope near Pasadena, California, delivered a scientific bombshell. Back in 1929 American lawyer-turned-astronomer Edwin Hubble used that very same instrument to discover that the universe is expanding. Thereafter, astronomers simply assumed the expansion was slowing down, owing to the universe’s collective gravity putting the brakes on it.
But, in 1998, the story of science took yet another startling turn to the dark side, when two separate teams of astronomers discovered that the expansion of our universe is actually speeding up, not slowing down. This implies the existence of an invisible, inscrutable, repulsive "something" that permeates the whole of our universe.
At a 1998 symposium at the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra, University of Chicago cosmologist Michael Turner gave the "something" a name: dark energy. But giving the phantom material a name doesn’t explain it. To this day, as with dark matter, dark energy remains a complete mystery — notwithstanding the countless published but unsupported attempts to explain it.
The discoveries of dark matter and dark energy would rate little more than a sensational footnote in the impressive story arc of science were it not for one very inconvenient truth. Today, scientists reckon that, all told, the two shadowy spirits account for ninety-five percent of the observable cosmos (never mind the existence of the totally unobservable cosmos beyond the Cosmic Horizon). Ninety-five percent!
DR MARC SIEGEL: I WENT LOOKING FOR MIRACLES AFTER OCT. 7. I FOUND ANGELS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
It means that what we see — even with our most powerful, most sophisticated imaging devices — is only five percent of what’s actually "out there." Which means the whole of science — all its experiments, all its theories, the entirety of what it claims to understand about our demon-haunted world — is based on a measly five percent of what’s real. The other ninety-five percent of what exists remains a complete mystery.
This, in turn, means that, far from demystifying the universe, the twisting, turning story of science is actually mystifying the universe in ways that make religion more credible, not less.
The more secrets of the macroscopic and microscopic cosmos science brings to light, the more we discover how very, very, very little we understand about reality.
The more brightly Sagan’s "candle in the dark" burns, the more it reveals the truth of the Apostle Paul’s words, stated nearly 2,000 years ago: "For now we see through a glass, darkly."
Restaurants bring back old-school hospitality as nostalgia takes hold across America
After years of modernization, restaurant chains are rediscovering the appeal of the past.
Pizza Hut has revisited its classic red-roof dining experience, while Cracker Barrel faced backlash over efforts to modernize its familiar image.
Across the industry, nostalgia has become a way to reconnect with consumers who still have an affinity for the restaurants they remember. But as chains revisit vintage decor, familiar branding and throwback menus, some restaurant operators see an opportunity to revive something less tangible: old-fashioned hospitality.
DISCONTINUED CRACKER BARREL FOODS THAT FANS ARE BEGGING TO GET BACK
At Ford's Garage, a 36-unit casual-dining chain modeled after a 1920s service station, Billy Downs has turned to an unlikely source of inspiration for the company's hospitality training program: his grandmother.
"We designed a training program that was designed after what a 'Greatest Generation' grandma would have served their family," the Michigan-based Ford's Garage president told Fox News Digital.
The program, dubbed the "hospitality wheel," draws on the warmth and personal attention Downs remembers from visiting his grandmother, an approach the company hopes to replicate across its growing restaurant footprint.
"I'll tell you this, she made you feel special, and that's what we want people to come out of this is feel special when they go to a Ford's Garage," Downs said.
KFC UNVEILS RADICALLY DIFFERENT RESTAURANT IN MAJOR COMEBACK PUSH
That philosophy extends beyond the training program. Downs said the chain places considerable emphasis on making guests feel welcome and fostering personal connections.
"We also know that we have a unique dining experience in terms of the environment, but we want to have that hospitality be really important and we want people to get connected when they come on in," he said.
That emphasis on personal connection comes as the restaurant industry increasingly embraces technology and automation, raising questions about the role of human interaction in the dining experience.
Chef Joe Isidori, owner of Arthur & Sons, which has locations in New York and Florida, believes that as technology becomes more prevalent, the human element of hospitality could become an increasingly valuable commodity.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
A third-generation New York City chef, Isidori told Fox News Digital that younger diners are already showing an appreciation for restaurants with authentic histories and experiences that can't easily be replicated.
"What they'll never be able to replace is the nostalgic real-life experiences," he said.
For Isidori, the stakes extend beyond nostalgia. As consumers become more selective about where they spend their dining dollars, he argues that restaurants must offer something beyond food and convenience to justify the expense of eating out.
"If they're going to spend money, it's got to have an experience to it," Isidori said.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE NEWS
Isidori sees a potentially bigger challenge ahead as automation advances: ensuring that restaurants don't lose the personal connections that distinguish hospitality from a purely transactional experience.
"Restaurants are really going to have a problem in 10 years," Isidori said. "I mean, the robots are coming."
TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ
But while technology may transform how restaurants operate, Isidori believes the personal connections and memorable experiences that define hospitality will become even more valuable.
"A robot can't do what Joe Isidori does," he said. "He can't walk, talk and act like me and actually cook like me."