Dolphins in Depth: Miami's secondary gets revamped
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New York Times
16 minutes ago
- New York Times
Teddy Bridgewater, Bucs QB, opens up about ‘difficult' suspension from Florida high school
In his introductory press conference with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday, quarterback Teddy Bridgewater opened up about the suspension levied against him by Miami Northwestern Senior High School, his alma mater. Bridgewater served as the head football coach at the school for the 2024 season, leading his team to a Class 3A state title in his first year at the helm. Advertisement Bridgewater was suspended by the school amid an investigation by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) into alleged impermissible benefits provided by Bridgewater. The week before he was suspended, Bridgewater asked Northwestern fans on Facebook for donations for player expenses, including pregame meals and Uber fares. 'I think everyone knows that I'm a cheerful guy, a cheerful giver, as well,' Bridgewater said on Wednesday. 'And I'm a protector. I'm a father first, before anything. When I decided to coach, those players became my sons. I wanted to make sure that I just protect them in the best way that I can. I think that's what came about. 'Miami Northwestern is in a tough neighborhood and sometimes things can happen when kids are walking home and different things like that, so I just tried to protect them, give them a ride home instead of them having to take those dangerous walks.' According to US News and World Report, 75% of Miami Northwestern students are considered economically disadvantaged. 'It was very — it was difficult,' Bridgewater said. 'I have so many relationships with those young men down there in South Florida at Miami Northwestern… it's a great group of kids, man. They see so much hope when they look at me. I always said, it's food for my soul. It's the way I feed my soul and it allows me to stay young, being around those kids. 'I think now that I'm back in the league, it's actually going to be extra motivation for them as well because they'll get to play a game on Friday night and probably get to drive across the state and come watch the Bucs play and see Coach on the sideline.' Bridgewater, who was a star football player at Miami Northwestern in the late 2000s, said that there are 'a lot of changes' that he'd like to see within the Florida high school football landscape to help support the kids that need it. Bridgewater said he hopes that those changes happen in due time, but added that he couldn't wait for those things to be implemented. Advertisement 'I can't change who I am because of the rules,' Bridgewater said. 'I have a big heart. I get it from my mom. I always said that I was once those kids. I know what it's like to be in their shoes. I know what it's like to walk those halls at Miami Northwestern and to have your stomach growling and rumbling at 12 o'clock in the afternoon because you didn't have any lunch money or you don't get the free lunch. 'I can't change who I am. I'll still give to those kids because I know what it's like. When I say give, it's not even about money. It's about my time and my presence because a lot of time, you see your idol on TV and it's like, 'Man, I wonder what it's like to be that person.' But when they see me in the flesh and see how I'm an open-spirit person and I'm happy, I'm around them. They fit right in with me and I fit in with them.' For Bridgewater, 32, the Bucs are his eighth team in the NFL. Bridgewater provides Tampa Bay some veteran leadership and experience to pair with Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask. Michael Pratt, their No. 3 quarterback, is currently week-to-week with a back injury. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
MLB calling up first female umpire for Marlins-Braves games this weekend
Jen Pawol is set to become the first woman to umpire in Major League Baseball when she works games this weekend between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. Pawol will work the bases in Saturday's doubleheader at Truist Park and the plate on Sunday, an MLB spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday. She's also scheduled to have the plate on Sunday. Pawol, a 48-year-old from New Jersey. attended Hofstra University, where she played softball. She worked spring training games in 2024 and this year. "Once I started umpiring, I was like, 'this is for me,'" Pawol said last year while working the Florida Grapefruit League. "I can't explain it. It's just in my DNA." Pawol previously attended MLB's Umpire Camps, a developmental initiative held around the country for the league's prospective umpires, MLB spokesperson Mike Teevan told CBS News. After the camps, Pawol became a Minor League umpire in 2016, and she will be making history as the first female umpire to work a regular MLB season game. MLB's move comes 28 years after the gender barrier for game officials was broken in the NBA, 10 years after it ended the NFL and three years after the men's soccer World Cup employed a female referee. The NHL still has not had a woman referee. Pawol in 2024 became the first woman to umpire big league spring training games since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Cortesio spent nine years in the minor leagues, including the last five in the Double-A Southern League, then was released after the 2007 season. Pawol was an all-state softball and soccer player in New Jersey for three seasons in each sport at West Milford High School. She went to Hofstra on a softball scholarship and became a three-time all-conference pick and was on the USA Baseball women's national baseball team in 2001. Pawol got a master's degree and was living in the Binghamton area of New York and taking teacher certification classes at Elmira College while still playing on the side. "I wasn't really satisfied," she said last year. "Coming off of a huge competitive career, just playing locally, I wasn't getting my fix. And I remember looking at the umpire and being like, I think that's it. I got to go for that." After umpiring NCAA softball from 2010-16, she attended an MLB umpire tryout camp in 2015, was invited to the Umpire Training Academy at Vero Beach, Florida, and was offered a job in the Gulf Coast League in 2016. Violet Palmer became the NBA's first woman referee when she worked Dallas' opener at Vancouver on Oct. 31, 1997, and Sarah Thomas was the NFL's first woman on-field official when she served as line judge for Kansas City's game at Houston on Sept. 13, 2015. Stéphanie Frappart of France became the first woman to referee a men's World Cup game when she worked Germany's 4-2 group stage win over Costa Rica on Dec. 1, 2022, and Rebecca Walsh became the first to referee in England's Premier League when she officiated Burnley's 2-0 win at Fulham on Dec. 23, 2023. MLB has 76 full-time staff umpires and uses fill-ins on crews for openings created by injuries and vacations.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Jen Pawol will be Major League Baseball's first woman to umpire in a regular-season game this weekend
Baseball umpire Jen Pawol will make history this week as the first woman to work as an umpire in a Major League Baseball regular season game, crossing a historic gender barrier. Pawol has worked MLB games during spring training but her work on Saturday, when she will be in the crew for a doubleheader between the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins at Truist Park, will be her first time in the big leagues. The doubleheader required a fifth umpire to be added to the crew, according to a report on It'll be the latest history-making moment for Pawol, who became the first female umpire in 17 years to work a spring training game in 2024. She was the seventh woman to umpire in the minor leagues and made her pro debut in the Gulf Coast League in June 2016, according to MLB. Pawol got her start in 2015 at the MLB Umpire Camp in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was hooked from there, she said in an interview with in 2022. 'Someone told me about the MLB Umpire Camps program and even put it in my mind that what I had been kind of told or not told, for whatever reason, about professional baseball and how welcoming and amazing it is for women to work in, as soon as I heard that I went and checked it out for myself,' she said. 'And they were right. I think more women need to know that it's a safe environment, it's welcoming, it's incredible. I went in 2015 … I had an amazing time, I felt like it was going to be a great day, and it turned out to be amazing and it was going to change my life, actually.' Pawol played softball for Hofstra and is a native of New Jersey. She'll work the bases during Saturday's tilt between the Marlins and Braves before being behind the plate to call balls and strikes on Sunday, MLB said.
