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The State Department is investigating an impostor who reportedly pretended to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio with the help of AI. 

The mystery individual posing as one of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members reached out to foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress with AI-assisted voice and text messages that mimicked Rubio’s voice and writing style, the Washington Post reported, citing a senior U.S. official and State Department cable. 

‘The State Department, of course, is aware of this incident and is currently monitoring and addressing the matter. The department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously take steps to improve the department’s cybersecurity posture to prevent future incidents. For security reasons, we do not have any further details to provide at this time,’ State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday. 

When asked by Fox News about Rubio’s reaction to being impersonated, she said, ‘We’re not at a point here where I will discuss or portray what actions are being taken or his reaction.’ 

‘The secretary… is very transparent, quite transparent, and he’s direct with everyone. I think that any description of his reaction, of course, belongs to him. And I would suspect that at some point we’ll have that for you,’ Bruce added. 

She also said that ‘We live in a technological age that we are well enmeshed in.’ 

It’s unclear who is using AI to impersonate Rubio, but it’s suspected they are doing so in an attempt to manipulate government officials ‘with the goal of gaining access to information or accounts,’ the State Department cable said, according to the Washington Post. 

The cable reportedly said the impersonation act started in mid-June when someone created a Signal account with the display name Marco.Rubio@state.gov — which isn’t Rubio’s actual email address. 

The July 3 cable reportedly added that the fake Rubio ‘contacted at least five non-Department individuals, including three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor, and a U.S. member of Congress.’ 

‘The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,’ the Washington Post also cited the cable as saying. 

The impersonation attempt ultimately was unsuccessful and ‘not very sophisticated,’ a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press.

Fox News’ Nick Kalman contributed to this report.  

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

The Trump administration landed a legal victory on Monday after a federal judge allowed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rescind nearly $800 million dollars in grants for programs supporting violence reduction and crime victims.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied a preliminary injunction that five organizations sought against the DOJ’s cancellation of more than 360 grant awards and granted a motion to dismiss the case. 

Metha described the DOJ’s actions as ‘shameful’ in his ruling, though he ultimately declared that the court lacked jurisdiction and the organizations had failed to state a constitutional violation or protection.

‘Defendants’ rescinding of these awards is shameful. It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence,’ Mehta wrote. ‘But displeasure and sympathy are not enough in a court of law.’

The DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs canceled more than $800 million in grants in April as part of what it called a priority shift to include more direct support to certain law enforcement operations, combat violent crime and support American victims of trafficking and sexual assault.

Democracy Forward Foundation and the Perry Law firm filed the lawsuit, arguing the grant terminations did not allow due process, lacked sufficient clarity and violated the constitutional separation of powers clause that gives Congress appropriation powers.

The loss of the federal money triggered layoffs, program closures and loss of community partnerships, according to many of the organizations that had the grants rescinded.

The Justice Department argued in a court filing that there was ‘no legal basis for the Court to order DOJ to restore lawfully terminated grants and keep paying for programs that the Executive Branch views as inconsistent with the interests of the United States.’

Noting that it intended to redirect the grant funds, it called the suit a ‘run-of-the mill contract dispute’ and said it belonged in a different court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

How about a walk-off inside-the-park home run to cap off your baseball viewing for the day?

That’s exactly what the San Francisco Giants’ Patrick Bailey did late into the night on Tuesday, July 8. With his team trailing the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 in the bottom of the ninth inning, Bailey hit a long drive off Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano that struck the brick wall in right-center field. The ball did a crazy carom off the asymmetrical outfield wall at Oracle Park and rolled down the warning track as Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh frantically gave chase.

Take a look at this thrilling finish:

A leadoff double by Casey Schmitt followed by a single by Wilmer Flores set the stage for Bailey’s dramatic heroics, which delivered a 4-3 victory. The win was the Giants’ fourth straight, lifting the team’s record to 51-42, good for second in the NL West and just five games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have lost five straight.

Bailey’s walk-off inside-the-parker was reminiscent of one hit by the Giants’ Ángel Pagán in the same ballpark in 2013. Pagán hit his walk-off home run in the 10th inning against the Colorado Rockies. Pagán’s batted ball took a similar trajectory as Bailey’s hit, bouncing off the right-center field wall and rolling down the warning track as outfielders gave chase after the unexpected bounce.

The most recent walk-off inside-the-park home run happened on Aug. 19, 2016, when Cleveland’s Tyler Naquin hit one against the Toronto Blue Jays.

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In a blockbuster report, the CIA has belatedly exposed the rank corruption among top intelligence officials who connived to frame President Donald Trump and drive him from office during his first term.  

Their pernicious lie was that Trump colluded with Russia to rig the 2016 presidential election in his favor. The principal piece of so-called evidence was a document known infamously as the dossier.  

It was secretly financed by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and Democrats, conceived by a foreign agent with a checkered past in espionage, and then brokered to solicitous collaborators at the FBI, CIA, the Department of Justice and the Trump-hating media.  

The dossier was garbage, of course. The FBI largely debunked it before Trump was even sworn in and fired its author, Christopher Steele, for lying as a confidential human source. But the bureau concealed those inconvenient facts under then-Director James Comey and deftly exploited the document as a cudgel to bludgeon the newly elected president.  

Comey was aided and abetted by others in the intelligence community, including CIA Director John Brennan and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. This malignant force of unelected officials plotted to smear Trump with what is surely the dirtiest trick in political history.  

Recently, current CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified and released an internal agency review of the machinations that helped fuel the Russia hoax. In a statement posted on social media, Ratcliffe stated, ‘All the world can now see the truth: Brennan, Clapper and Comey manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.’ 

Citing previously hidden records, the review concluded that Brennan, in particular, pushed for the phony dossier to be included in the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) to catalyze a false narrative against Trump. Senior CIA experts on Russia objected but were sidelined and silenced.  

The CIA’s deputy director for analysis warned Brennan in writing that including the discredited dossier in any capacity jeopardized ‘the credibility of the entire paper.’ Brennan didn’t care. The fiction penned by the ex-British spy conformed to the director’s preconceived fable that Trump colluded with Russia.  

Putin says Russia is ‘ready’ for third round of peace talks with Ukraine as war continues

The ICA, which was ordered by President Barack Obama, was rushed to completion just days before Trump’s inauguration. Brennan directed its composition and handpicked the analysts who compiled the ersatz information. To stifle dissent, 13 other key intelligence agencies were deliberately excluded. To put it bluntly, Trump was set up.  

According to the new CIA review, Comey and Clapper were all in on the scheme. In an interview with the New York Post, Ratcliffe said, ‘This was Obama, Comey, Clapper and Brennan deciding ‘We’re going to screw Trump.’’ 

They knew the dossier was junk, which motivated them to prop it up as a reliable indictment of Trump. By incorporating it in the ICA they could leak and propagate both documents as mutual corroboration. It was a clever ruse. An illusion.  

Those of us who have long covered the bogus collusion story knew it long ago. In my 2019 book, ‘Witch Hunt,’ I recounted how Brennan ‘insisted that the dossier be included in the classified intelligence report,’ but then told Congress under oath that the dossier was ‘not in any way used as the basis for the intelligence community’s assessment.’ Clapper’s testimony was nearly identical.  

Here is what I wrote in chapter 2: 

‘Brennan and Clapper were spinning a deception. A prominent colleague contradicted them and produced documents as proof that they were not telling the truth. In a classified letter to Congress, National Security Agency director Michael Rogers disclosed that the uncorroborated document (the dossier) ‘did factor into the ICA’ report. Having been caught in a falsehood, Clapper then repudiated his earlier statement. Brennan continued to deny all of it, the contrary evidence notwithstanding.’  

Neither Brennan nor Clapper was ever prosecuted for perjury.  

None of that bothered news organizations. MSNBC promptly hired Brennan, while Clapper went to work for CNN. I described what they did from their media perches:  

Laura on radical lawfare and collusion: These officials are officially pathetic!

‘The two super spooks launched an all-out attack on Trump, exploiting their new television platforms to advance the toxic fiction that the president was a secret Russian asset who had ‘colluded’ with Putin. It didn’t matter to CNN that a House Intelligence Committee report determined that it had been Clapper who had leaked news of the phony dossier to the network before Trump had ever taken office.’  

The collusion narrative was a conspiracy itself. The collaborators knew it was a lie, but they manipulated the dossier and the ICA to peddle their fairy tale. With Hillary and her confederates, they engineered the hoax. Brennan even accused Trump of treason.  

Comey also knew the dossier was spurious, as I wrote in chapter 4:  

‘He knew exactly where the dossier came from and who paid for it. He used it as the primary basis for the warrants, used it as part of the nonpublic version of the intelligence community assessment, and used it to debrief President-elect Trump so that it could be leaked to the media in January 2017.’ 

They knew the dossier was junk, which motivated them to prop it up as a reliable indictment of Trump. By incorporating it in the ICA they could leak and propagate both documents as mutual corroboration. It was a clever ruse. An illusion.  

Comey’s decision to purloin and leak additional FBI documents triggered — just as he planned — the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his dilating investigation of Trump that hobbled his presidency for two years.  

On the day that Mueller issued his report concluding that there was no evidence of a Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy, the sheepish Brennan conceded, ‘I don’t know if I received bad information, but I think I suspected there was more than there actually was.’  

That’s quite the Jekyll-Hyde metamorphosis for a guy who enthusiastically endorsed the dossier and who kept claiming that ‘it was in line’ with his own CIA sources, in which he ‘had great confidence.’ That, too, was a fabrication, according to the newly released CIA review.  

What did Comey have to say?  In public, the master prevaricator dissembled and pleaded ignorance.  But before Congress, he was forced to admit that some of his actions would have been different had he known then what he knows now.  Not likely.  He was wedded to the artifice of collusion because he despised Trump. 

JD Vance blisters CNN’s Tapper for pushing Russian collusion narrative: Talked about it ‘nonstop’

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has vowed a reckoning. She told Fox News, ‘We are digging deep to find everything that has been related to this, and I guarantee you there are some U.S. attorneys who are eager to see what we are finding — in some cases are already working their own cases to bring about that necessary accountability.’  

Unless those who unscrupulously weaponized their immense power for political purposes are held to account, it will happen again. And again. The only remedy for lawlessness is justice.  

The reckoning awaits. 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Boeing delivered 60 airplanes last month, the most since December 2023, as the plane maker seeks to raise production of its bestselling 737 Max jets after a series of manufacturing and safety problems.

The tally was the highest since before a door plug from one of its new 737 Max 9 planes blew out midair in January 2024, sparking a new crisis for the company and slowing production and deliveries of aircraft. Of the monthly total, 42 were 737 Maxes, going to customers including Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job at Boeing last August, has said the company has made progress in improving production rates and quality on its factory lines.

For the three months ended June 30, Boeing handed over 150 airplanes, its best second quarter since 2018, before two crashes of Max planes five months apart grounded the jets and sparked a multiyear crisis at the top U.S. exporter. That was also the last year Boeing posted an annual profit. Its problems also gave rival Airbus a bigger lead over Boeing.

Boeing this spring had been producing about 38 Max aircraft a month and will need Federal Aviation Administration approval to go above that limit, which the agency set after the door plug accident. Ortberg said at a Bernstein investor conference in late May that he’s confident that the company could increase production to 42 of the jets a month.

The company booked 116 gross orders in June, or 70 net orders when including cancellations and accounting adjustments. Boeing often removes or adds orders to its backlog for a variety of reasons including customers’ financial health.

Boeing’s backlog stood at 5,953 as of June 30.

The manufacturer is set to report second-quarter financial results on July 29, when investors will be focused on Ortberg’s plan to increase production and aircraft deliveries.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

The Washington Commanders will have a Terry McLaurin problem on their hands if they don’t act soon.

As the team tries to build off a phenomenal 2024 season that saw it fall in the NFC championship game, the Commanders can’t afford to break up the band now. That is especially true regarding McLaurin, who has been a fixture in the lineup since entering the league in 2019.

That isn’t lost on Joe Theismann, the quarterback that led Washington to its first Super Bowl championship in the 1982 season. He joined Kay Adams on ‘Up & Adams’ on July 8, where he discussed McLaurin’s contract situation and why the Commanders need to get a deal done.

‘That would be a major problem for all of us that appreciate what the Commanders have done, what Terry has done,’ Theismann said of McLaurin’s contract situation and his potential departure. ‘His intangibles and his value to this football team are even more outweighed than his talent, which we know is extreme.’

The former quarterback didn’t hold back, insisting that the star receiver must be paid.

‘He needs to be paid,’ Theismann said. ‘He needs to be paid right away. We need to put this issue behind us as a football team. He is one of the leaders. And he’s a guy that you can always count on.’

McLaurin has been a model citizen for Washington since he was drafted in the third round with the 76th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. He has played four consecutive seasons without missing a game.

Until 2024, McLaurin hadn’t enjoyed great quarterback play during his time in the nation’s capital. Despite those challenges, McLaurin has notched at least 1,000 yards in five of his six seasons and found the end zone 13 times in 2024 with rookie Jayden Daniels taking over under center.

Theismann argued that ‘Scary Terry’ is the best receiver in the game, even comparing him to Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.

‘He’s faster than people think,’ Theismann said. ‘He sort of fits into that Jerry Rice category, where he’s not a burner, he doesn’t get all the publicity, he doesn’t get all the hype, but he’s as good as anybody that plays this game.’

Theismann added that the receiver is the piece that holds the team together and Washington can’t afford to be without him – pointing out that losing someone like McLaurin would only hurt Daniels.

McLaurin made headlines when he opted to skip mandatory minicamp in early June, bringing the contract issue to the forefront.

The 29-year-old, who will turn 30 in September, is entering the last year of his three-year, $68.3 million deal, according to Spotrac. With the receiver market trending up and his contract set to expire, McLaurin is looking to cash in.

In Theismann’s eyes, the Commanders don’t have a choice. As the regular season kickoff approaches, the team might begin to feel the same way.

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Maybe you’ve heard of Greg LeMond. Maybe you haven’t. 

And if his name doesn’t ring familiar, maybe it should.  

LeMond, 64, was the first American cyclist to win the Tour de France, one of the two or three most-watched sporting events in the world. And with the doping-era disqualifications of Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, LeMond is the only American who has won the Tour. 

On July 9, LeMond will visit the Capitol to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow, on par with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Congress approved the medal in 2020, but the pandemic forced a delay in awarding it.  

Since 1776, Congress has awarded only a few Gold Medals to athletes. Honorees include boxer Joe Louis, tennis giant Billie Jean King, Olympian Jesse Owens and golfer Jack Nicklaus. 

Why is Congress giving Greg LeMond a medal?

In the United States, cycling is mostly recreational. In Europe and much of the rest of the world, it is a major competitive sport, and LeMond is one of its legends.  

LeMond was a once-in-a-generation talent. Born in California in 1961, he entered competitive cycling in the 1970s amid a modest American cycling boom, an era lovingly captured in the classic 1979 film “Breaking Away.”  

In a sense, Greg LeMond’s story is a real-life “Breaking Away.”  

In the underground competitive cycling scene of his era, LeMond was so much better than everyone else that officials let him race against older boys. He beat them anyway. 

LeMond decamped to Europe in 1980 and soon proved himself the most talented young rider on that continent, against much stiffer competition. 

The rest of LeMond’s career unfolded with the sort of high drama you mostly see in movies. (In fact, actor Ben Stiller is said to be making a movie about LeMond’s 1986 Tour victory.) 

In the summer of ‘86, LeMond captivated the cycling world by claiming America’s first Tour win, an epic duel against another all-time great, Frenchman Bernard Hinault. 

All of France seemed set on denying LeMond his victory: Fans, journalists, fellow cyclists and even LeMond’s own teammates, not to mention Hinault himself. Not for nothing did Hinault earn the nickname “The Badger.” 

The late Richard Moore, a Scottish writer, recounted the 1986 Tour in a classic cycling book, “Slaying the Badger.”  

LeMond staged one of sport’s greatest comebacks 

LeMond should have gone on to win the Tour in 1987 and 1988: He was that much better than the rest of the peloton.  

But in April 1987, a few months before the next Tour, LeMond nearly died. He was turkey-hunting on a family ranch in rural California. A relative shot him by accident, piercing his body with dozens of shotgun pellets. By the time a helicopter delivered him to a hospital, LeMond had almost bled out. 

After the accident, LeMond could barely walk, let alone pedal. And yet, over the next two years, he staged a spectacular comeback. He entered races he could not finish, then finished races he could not win. By the summer of 1989, LeMond had regained his form. He entered the Tour that year and quickly proved he was capable of winning it again.  

The 1989 Tour pitted LeMond against another Frenchman: Laurent Fignon, a two-time Tour winner who was gunning for his third victory. 

The 1986 edition of cycling’s premier event had been a great Tour. The 1989 edition would be widely remembered as the greatest Tour of all time. 

The Tour de France plays out over 21 days of racing and covers more than 2,000 miles. Each cyclist’s time is recorded at the end of every stage. The rider with the shortest overall time at the end wins the race. By the finish, the victor often commands a lead of five or 10 minutes.  

And that’s why the 1989 Tour captivated the world: It was really, really close.  

After the second stage of racing, LeMond led Fignon by 51 seconds in cumulative time. After Stage 5, Fignon led by five seconds. After Stage 10, LeMond led by seven seconds. And so on. 

By the final day of racing, July 23, 1989, Fignon held a 50-second lead over LeMond. The last stage was an individual time trial: A race against the clock, each cyclist going all out for 15 miles, riding alone into Paris as the stopwatch ticked. 

The course was short and flat, and almost no one thought LeMond had a chance of riding it 50 seconds faster than Fignon to claim victory on the Champs-Élysées.  

The final moments of that time trial delivered some of the most exhilarating live sports ever broadcast. Both Fignon and LeMond rode the race of their lives, but LeMond rode faster. At the finish, he had beaten Fignon by a margin of eight seconds.  

In more than a century of racing, the 1989 Tour remains the closest ever. LeMond had staged one of the greatest comebacks in the history of American sports. 

‘The True King of American Cycling’

Many years later, I wrote a biography of LeMond, with the 1989 Tour as its centerpiece. It published in 2018 as “The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France.” 

I hoped LeMond might one day become as well-known as Lance Armstrong, the Texan cyclist who won a record seven Tours between 1999 and 2005. Armstrong was perhaps the most celebrated athlete in America until a doping investigation brought him down. 

Shortly after my book came out, I received an email from U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, a Democrat from California, LeMond’s birthplace.  

Thompson was a cyclist. He had read my book, and he wanted to honor LeMond.  

Some months later, Thompson introduced legislation to award LeMond the Congressional Gold Medal. It was an uphill battle, but Thompson collected the necessary support: a supermajority, two-thirds of the House and two-thirds of the Senate.  

On December 4, 2020, President Donald Trump signed the Greg LeMond Congressional Gold Medal Act into law.  

“More than any other cyclist in our history,” Thompson said on the House floor, “Greg LeMond was the epitome of the ‘Breaking Away’ culture: A young kid on a bike, trying to do things no American had ever done.” 

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Kirk Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million free-agent contract with the Atlanta Falcons ahead of the 2024 NFL season.

The veteran quarterback may not have agreed to the deal had he known the Falcons were going to select Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Cousins explained on Netflix’s ‘Quarterback’ series he felt ‘pretty surprised’ and ‘misled’ about the organization’s decision to draft Penix.

“I wasn’t expecting us to take a quarterback,” Cousins said. “At the time, it felt like I’d been a little bit misled — or certainly if I had the information around free agency, it certainly would have affected my decision. I had no reason to leave Minnesota with how much we loved it there, if both teams are gonna be drafting a quarterback high.”

‘But I’ve also learned in 12 years in this league that you’re not entitled to anything. It’s all about being able to earn your spot and prove yourself.’

Cousins had known the Vikings planned to draft a successor during the 2024 NFL Draft. The team still offered him a deal to return, but it didn’t come with the long-term security Cousins and his family desired.

‘We wanted to be in Minnesota. But, it became clear that we were going to be there year to year,’ Cousins said. ‘And that’s what we didn’t want. At that point, we said, ‘All right, we need to look elsewhere. If that’s our only option, then we’ll be back.”

Cousins did find interest elsewhere, as the Falcons were willing to pay him $45 million in average annual value (AAV) through his age-39 season. He was excited to ‘start fresh’ and try to bring Atlanta to the postseason for the first time since the 2017 NFL playoffs.

However, he had a tumultuous first season with the Falcons. The veteran got off to a fast start despite coming off a torn Achilles, but a midseason injury that impacted his throwing elbow and shoulder caused his performance to dip significantly.

Ultimately, it resulted in Cousins being benched in favor of Penix late in the season, something the four-time Pro Bowler was desperately trying to avoid, despite his injuries impacting his arm strength.

‘You also know that if you sit down Week 10 and take two or three weeks or more to let it heal, you may never get your job back,’ Cousins explained in the series’ final episode. ‘I remember reading Drew Brees’ book back in 2010 when he first wrote it, how he made the point that he tried to never let his backup see the field — even if it was somebody who was really no threat. He just felt like you should never do that. Doug Flutie taught him that.

‘So that was something I always was aware of, that in this league, if you give someone else the chance, if you want to be Wally Pipp and there’s Lou Gehrig behind you, that can happen. At the time, you gotta make the decision with the information you have then.’

Still, Cousins tried to remain engaged after being benched, despite worrying about what the future might hold for him and his family.

‘It hurts to go into work, but you got to be an adult,’ Cousins said of his benching. ‘You’ve got to be a grown man and handle it with maturity. I feel sorry for myself and it’s hard to do, but that’s what you got to do. And so that’s kind of where my focus went.’

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Update the Big Dumper dinger counter.

The Seattle Mariners might have lost 10-3 to the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Tuesday, July 8, but Cal Raleigh hit his 36th home run of the season.

Raleigh’s latest tater was noteworthy, particularly for Mariners fans. He passes Ken Griffey Jr. for the most home runs hit by a Mariners player before the All-Star break. Griffey hit 35 before the Midsummer Classic in 1998. Raleigh also continues to close in on Barry Bonds’ mark of 39 home runs before the 2001 All-Star break. Bonds finished with a record 73 home runs that season.

The record for most home runs hit by a catcher over a full season is 48, which the Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez accomplished in 2021.

MLB’s home run leaders

  1. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners – 36
  2. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees – 34
  3. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers – 31
  4. Eugenio Suárez, Arizona Diamondbacks – 28
  5. Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies – 27

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My book ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports,’ was published by Scribner on Tuesday. Much is being written and said about the book, but here are three stories in the book you might not have heard. 

Clark’s real reaction to the Olympic snub

During an interview session after the Indiana Fever practice on June 9, 2024, Caitlin Clark was asked about the Olympic team decision. ‘I’m excited for the girls that are on the team,” she said. ‘I know it’s the most competitive team in the world, and I knew it could’ve gone either way — me being on the team, me not being on the team. I’m excited for them, I’m going to be rooting them on to win gold.

‘Honestly, no disappointment,’ she added. ‘I think it just gives you something to work for. It’s a dream; hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation, you remember that, and hopefully, when four years comes back around I can be there.”

Fever coach Christie Sides said during her availability with the media that Sunday that she and Clark texted right after she got the call on the bus. ‘She texted me to let me know. I just tried to keep her spirits up. The thing she said was, ‘Hey, Coach, they woke a monster,’ which I thought was awesome.”

Although Clark took the high road in her public comments, Sides said in an interview for this book that the Olympic decision was ‘such a disappointing moment for her. Being an Olympian is a huge dream of hers, and when she realized it wasn’t going to happen, it just lit a fire under her.’

As the team landed in Indianapolis after a game in Washington earlier that evening and got off the plane late at night, Sides said she and Clark “were walking and talking about the decision. She could have gone to practice that night, I mean, that’s where she was, that’s the competitor she is. She didn’t really say much more after that.”

Clark’s ‘big sister’

As Clark’s name was called first in the 2024 WNBA Draft, veteran Fever point guard Erica Wheeler exploded from her courtside seat in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Giddy with anticipation at the news she knew was coming, Wheeler had placed one hand on the knee of Lexie Hull and the other on the knee of Maya Caldwell, both Fever teammates at the time, and waited to hear Engelbert’s words.

Wheeler—known as “EW” to her teammates—leaped for joy with Hull and Caldwell, then pulled a red Fever No. 22 jersey over her head and ran around the court as the fans stood and roared. “Let’s go!” Wheeler shouted to every corner of the arena.

Her happiness was predictable, but also admirable, for as she danced, she knew she was celebrating the moment that she had lost her starting job. Clark was going to be the starting point guard for the Fever, guaranteed. Wheeler would be her backup, a difficult role, but one she understood, and even relished.

‘You know when you go to a different school,” said the 33-year-old Wheeler, “the first day of school, you don’t know anybody, and you find that one person that says hi to you that becomes your best friend.”

Wheeler became that person for Clark.

‘For me as a big sister, I’m going to take the first step, to just let her know, ‘We’re here, we got you. Whatever you need from me as your vet, even in the same position, I got you.’ . . . She’s one of the biggest players in the world right now and she don’t act like that. She’s just like, ‘Help me, in any way you can,’ in a sweet way, there’s no ego at all, she’s not selfish. . . . She wants to learn, she wants to be a family, and I’m like a big sister to her.”

27 minutes — not one mention of Clark

Throughout the WNBA post- and off-season, the league found itself curiously out of step with the nation’s fondness for Clark. On Oct. 10, before Game One of the WNBA Finals in Brooklyn, commissioner Cathy Engelbert spoke for 27 minutes in a press conference about the historic developments in the 2024 season and never once mentioned Clark’s name.

Calling the season ‘the most transformational year in the WNBA’s history,’ Engelbert talked glowingly about the record or near-record levels of viewership, attendance, merchandise sales, and digital engagement. ‘You saw some teams upgrade . . . arenas for certain games this year, and I thought that was a sign and signal as attendance has grown across the league that we can play in bigger arenas. . . . We had our highest-attended game ever, over 20,000, in Washington this year.”

Clark, of course, was the reason for most of those moves to larger arenas, and her presence definitely was the only reason Washington had the biggest crowd in WNBA regular-season history on Sept. 19.

Engelbert sprinkled the names of various WNBA players throughout her press conference, among them: Napheesa Collier, Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Leonie Fiebich, Aliyah Boston, and A’ja Wilson. But no Clark.

Through her spokespeople, Engelbert was asked to be interviewed for this book several times in late 2024 and early 2025. Every request was declined. In March 2025, I asked again, specifically wondering why Engelbert, on Oct. 10, failed to mention Clark’s name when referring to the unprecedented season highlights that happened because of Clark.

On March 10, Engelbert replied in a text message sent through a spokesperson:

‘You’re asking me why I didn’t mention Caitlin Clark during my WNBA Finals press conference? I didn’t mention any players in that press conference other than some of those from the Liberty and the Lynx who were participating in the Finals.’

Engelbert did mention two players who were not participating in the Finals: Aliyah Boston and A’ja Wilson. She talked about them when mentioning WNBA players in commercials: ‘There’s virtually not a sporting event you can turn on where one of our players is not in an ad spot. That was not happening five years ago. Look at Aliyah Boston and Sabrina and A’ja and so many of our players in these ad spots.’

Engelbert’s March 10 text continued: ‘I have stated many times that Caitlin is a generational talent and there is no denying her impact — not only in the WNBA but beyond the world of sports. We have also always stood by the belief that our league is not about any one player but about the collective talent, teamwork, and dedication of all the athletes who continue to elevate the game and inspire generations. Just because Caitlin’s name is not mentioned in every interview or press conference does not mean we do not recognize, celebrate, and fully support her — both as an athlete and, even more importantly, as a person.”

A week and a half before the WNBA Finals, Engelbert, in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Jon Wertheim for a piece on Clark and the WNBA, was asked to describe ‘the Caitlin Clark phenomenon.” 

Engelbert replied, ‘She’s clearly an unbelievable player, came in with an unbelievable following, has brought a lot of new fans to the league. If you look at our historic season around our attendance, our viewership, Caitlin — Angel, too, Angel Reese, Rickea Jackson, Cameron Brink — this class of rookies, we will be talking about them a generation from now.’

Wertheim followed up. ‘I notice when you’re asked about Caitlin a lot, you bring up other rookies as well.’

‘No league’s ever about one player,’ Engelbert replied. ‘That player could get hurt or whatever, so I think it’s just to give recognition that in sports, people watch for compelling content and rivalries. And you can’t do that alone as one person.”

By practically any measure, Clark was that one person.

Adapted from ‘On Her Game: Caitlin Clark and the Revolution in Women’s Sports’ by Christine Brennan. Copyright © 2025 by Christine Brennan. Adapted for excerpt with permission from Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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