Denver Nuggets mascot Rocky the Mountain Lion files lawsuit against NBA team
Article content
The man who played the character for several years, Drake Solomon, is suing the team's owners — Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE) – and seeking unspecified damages for an alleged violation of disability protection laws.
Article content
The Colorado Sun reported on Wednesday that Solomon, 31, had been diagnosed with avascular necrosis, a bone tissue condition, during the 2022-23 season, eventually leading to multiple surgeries — including a hip replacement procedure during the following season.
Article content
When Solomon allegedly told his supervisors about the impending surgery, he claims the team opted to hold tryouts for a Rocky replacement 'due to his record of impairment and their lack of confidence in his health.'
Article content
Solomon was quick to recover from his hip replacement and returned to work during the 2023-24 season.
Article content
However, the lawsuit claims that when he did come back, it was a 'hostile work environment' and that the team decided to hold tryouts for a new Rocky because Solomon 'burned them last time.'
Article content
Article content
He was fired shortly after the tryouts in August 2024, which he claims violated his rights under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act.
Article content
Solomon actually took over the role of Rocky in 2021 from his father, who donned the costume for more than 30 years. The younger Solomon began his time with the team in 2012 as a 'trampoline dunk artist' before his eventual promotion, which was sealed at a private, closed-door tryout.
Article content
'It was not easy to go ahead with this because I love the Nuggets,' Solomon said. 'They've been my whole life and my family. For things to end the way they did, it was pretty heartbreaking.'
Article content
Solomon was part of the team in 2023, when the Nuggets captured the franchise's lone NBA championship behind the play of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler on injured list with blood clot in right arm
The Philadelphia Phillies placed ace Zack Wheeler on the 15-day injured list Saturday with a blood clot in his right arm. Dave Dombrowski, the team's president of baseball operations, said following Saturday's 2-0 loss to the hometown Washington Nationals that Wheeler had been diagnosed with a "right upper extremity blood clot." "There's not a lot that we can say on it at this time," said Dombrowski, who commended doctors for finding the clot. "It could have been a much more trying situation than it is." Phillies head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit said Wheeler had been feeling better after some right shoulder soreness caused him to push back a start earlier this month. But that changed Friday. "He felt a little heaviness," Buchheit said. "So, the doctors here were great in helping to diagnose and expedite that diagnosis this morning." Buchheit said he didn't think Wheeler's present condition had anything to do with his previous stiffness. He said there is a wide variety of treatments available but declined to get into specifics. Dombrowski said Wheeler would be evaluated further in Philadelphia. Wheeler pitched for the National League East leaders on Friday and was limited to five innings for the second consecutive start. The right-hander allowed two runs and four hits at Washington. 'Scary situation' The 35-year-old Wheeler, who made his third all-star team last month, is 10-5 with a 2.71 earned-run average in 24 starts this season. He has a major league-high 195 strikeouts in 149 2/3 innings. He has thrown at least 192 innings in three of the previous four seasons. Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said it was most important to get Wheeler back healthy. "It's a scary situation, right? … Just want to get him back in here and hear from him," Schwarber said. "Hopefully it's not going to be too serious. Get him in here and get him healthy. "You know, baseball is baseball, and when it comes to someone's health like that, we need him healthy first. You know, he's got a family, so we want to get him feeling good for them and get him back to speed whenever we can." The Phillies will activate right-hander Aaron Nola from the injured list to start Sunday against the Nationals. Philadelphia planned to go to a six-man rotation with Nola's return, but instead will stick with a conventional five-man approach. "Because we're adding Nola tomorrow, everybody's getting sort of getting an extra day," manager Rob Thomson said. "Then we have an off day [Thursday], and we get another extra day. We're in good shape and that's why you have depth." "We don't know the timeline," Thomson said. "I'm thinking a lot about Zack and his family, because it's not a hamstring injury or something like that. But I feel good about the depth that we have. If we have to go to a sixth, it could be [prospect Andrew] Painter. It could be somebody else. We just have to carry on."
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Chimaev wins UFC middleweight belt by unanimous decision
CHICAGO (AP) — Khamzat Chimaev continued his dominance in the UFC, capturing the middleweight belt on Saturday night by defeating Dricus Du Plessis by unanimous decision at UFC 319. Article content With a smile on his face, Chimaev (15-0) shot out of his corner in the first round with a takedown of Du Plessis (23-3) in the opening seconds and had Du Plessis on his back for almost the entire first round. Article content Article content Article content Despite the ground control by Chimaev, Du Plessis avoided significant damage in the first round. Article content Chimaev continued with takedowns in the second and third rounds, and Chimaev's grappling skills took their toll on Du Plessis in the third round, where Chimaev landed a series of blows while Du Plessis was on his back. Article content Chimaev continued the ground game on Du Plessis in the fourth round. Article content Chimaev, who has alluded a championship fight since joining the UFC in 2020, gave credit to Du Plessis for challenging him. Article content 'That guy is tough to finish. Respect that guy. (Du Plessis) was the only champion to say 'I'm in.' This guy has a big heart,' said Chimaev. Article content Du Plessis showed life late in the fifth round with a takedown and attempted a guillotine, but it was too little too late. Article content For most of the fight, it was a complete domination of the former champ. Article content 'Nobody wants to be in a crucifix getting punched in the head like that. It's got to be the most frustrating, suck the heart and soul out of you. Just getting dominated on the ground like the way he did is no fun for everybody,' UFC president Dana White said. Article content Article content All three judges scored the fight 50-44. Article content 'At the end, I went for it, had the back. I can almost taste the victory. He beat me fair and square tonight; he was the better man tonight. I'll be back,' said Du Plessis. Article content The UFC returned to Chicago for the first time in six years, making it the highest-grossing event at the United Center. Article content The main card featured two spinning elbow first-round finishes by Carlos Prates and Lerone Murphy. Article content In the co-main event, Murphy (17-0-1), who took the fight on three weeks' notice, held off an early rush from Aaron Pico (13-5) with a right spinning elbow to end Pico's night with a loss in his UFC debut in the featherweight division. Murphy, with his brilliant finish, put himself in a position to face Alex Volkanovski for the featherweight belt. Article content Prates (22-7) won spectacularly in the first round with the ninth spinning elbow finish in UFC history by knocking out Geoff Neal (16-7), rebounding from his loss to Ian Machado Garry in April.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
College football 2025: What you need to know about the new season
College football stayed very much in the news throughout the offseason, with details emerging almost weekly about changes in the way the sport works, both on and off the field. With the kickoff of the 2025 campaign less than a week away, here's a quick cheat sheet on all that's changed (and also what hasn't): How come players are getting paid now? This has been developing for decades. It's rooted in a handful of lawsuits in which players sued to be able to profit from their name, image and likenesses — say, for instance, on the covers of a video game or the back of a team jerseys. Starting this season, the schools themselves will be able to pay the players directly for using their NIL, which further blurs the line between amateur and professionalism. What still isn't allowed is 'pay for play' — where a school simply signs a player to play for them — though many people argue these NIL deals are simply pay for play in disguise under the term 'revenue sharing.' There have been, however, persistent calls for players to be treated more like employees — for instance, through collective bargaining — and that figures to be the next big debate to play out. How much money do the players make? And who pays? Contracts range from several million dollars for top quarterbacks such as Arch Manning of Texas to four-digit deals for players far down on the depth chart. Schools are allowed to share 22% of a portion of their revenue this school year, which amounts to $20.5 million that has to be split among all sports, but mostly goes to football and men's basketball. Who pays? Well, often it's us, the fans, one way or another. Some schools are increasing the cost of tickets and ticket licenses; others are upping concession prices and a few more have added athletic surcharges to tuition bills. Most every big school has been hitting up boosters to fill in the gaps that the $20.5 million and added scholarship costs will create. Some sports departments are getting extra funding from government. Did Deion Sanders stay at Colorado? He did. Though there was speculation wide and far that Sanders might follow his sons Shedeur and Shilo out the door after two years, the coach insisted he was with the Buffs for the long-haul. Just as preseason camp was warming up, Sanders disclosed he'd been diagnosed with bladder cancer, which he said had been treated. 'I'm healthy, I'm vibrant,' Sanders said. His team? Who knows? Replacing a star quarterback and a Heisman Trophy winner in Travis Hunter is never a sure thing. The over/under on the CU win total this year is 6.5 according to the MGM Sportsbook. Why is Bill Belichick coaching in college? The 73-year-old, six-time Super Bowl winner with the New England Patriots said he was looking for a new challenge and a place to build a program the way he wanted, instead of the way NFL teams he interviewed with were telling him. He also cited the close connection he had to his new school, North Carolina, where his father served as an assistant coach in the 1950s. What about Alabama? The Crimson Tide's four losses in coach Kalen DeBoer's first season were the most since Nick Saban's debut in 2007. The Tide's hopes for a turnaround rest on quarterback Ty Simpson, who won the starting job this month after sitting on the sideline for his first three seasons in Tuscaloosa. Simpson is a rarity — a five-star recruit who didn't bail on his school in search of more playing time and potentially more money. Alabama's opener is Aug. 30 at Florida State. When do the games start? Things kick off Saturday, with Big 12 rivals Kansas State and Iowa State meeting in Ireland. Big games next weekend include No. 1 Texas at No. 3 Ohio State, No. 9 LSU at No. 4 Clemson and No. 6 Notre Dame at No. 10 Miami. Anything new about the College Football Playoff? This is the second year of the 12-team playoff. There will be four rounds of games, starting Dec. 19 and ending exactly a month later at Hard Rock Stadium near Miami. The five best conference champions will earn automatic bids into the tournament, but in a tweak from last year, the four best among them will not be guaranteed a top-four seed and a first-round bye. Instead, they'll be slotted in by how the 13-person selection committee ranks them. So, for instance, if Texas and Alabama are CFP No. 1 and 2 heading into the SEC title game and Texas wins a close one, but Alabama only falls to No. 4, the Tide would still get the 4 seed and a first-round bye. How to keep track of who's good and not good After Labor Day, the AP releases its weekly Top 25 poll every Sunday. The CFP selection committee starts releasing its weekly rankings the first week of November. Its last poll, on Dec. 8, will slot the teams into the playoff bracket. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: and
