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USA baseball star Naomi Ryan is having her best week ever at the World Series

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LOS ANGELES — What do Jennifer Hudson and Clayton Kershaw have in common? Not much until Friday. But now each can say that they had the pleasure of meeting someone who, depending on who you ask, represents an enormous a part of the sport’s future.

Naomi Ryan (17) is the youngest player to ever play on the USA Baseball women’s team, which was founded in 2004, and is having her best week ever. But how she went from the national stage to the biggest stage of national entertainment is the form of experience that only comes with a bit of luck, quite a lot of ingenuity and quite a lot of support.

“I work for the Commonwealth of Virginia and we provide training on phishing emails and how to target them. They really know you,” Cornelia Ryan explained with fun from the Loge level at Dodger Stadium, where she and her daughter attended the first game of the World Series on Oct. 25. “So I receive this email and it’s from someone claiming to be J. Hud’s producer. They also want to contemplate Naomi for some MLB promotional materials. I feel to myself, “I’ve been scammed.” They warned me about this during the training I attended last week. “

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But she didn’t quit, using the age-old axiom all of us tell ourselves to be sure that we do not make the most evident mistake in the world. “So I reply to the email and say, ‘Sure.’ Let’s see how far this can go, how far this deception will go. I won’t give them my bank card.”

Turns out it was all very real, and the next thing you recognize, you are on a plane to Los Angeles, responsibilities be damned. When Hudson—former American Idol star, Dreamgirls star, and EGOT winner—calls to assist your daughter pursue her dream, you take a risk.

So she sent an email.

“Sorry, work. I do know we’re sorting things out. I understand it sucks, but yes, I’m gone. I’ll be in Los Angeles. I sent the same email to her school: “Listen, I know she’s taking physics, but…” Cornelia Ryan described, still unable to imagine that something like this even happened.

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When they arrived on set, a whirlwind of pleasure and mild confusion meant that although Naomi thought she was going to do something cool with J. Hud, neither she nor her mother had any idea what to anticipate or when.

Exactly as the show wanted it, with the big reveal.

“After the show, they told me we were doing something. So I thought, “Oh, we’ll just watch it.” And then they surprised me,” said Naomi Ryan, who was wearing a blue USA baseball jersey that day, different from the white one she wore on the show. “I couldn’t think at all. I thought to myself, “Oh my God.” What’s happening now? We were both shocked.”

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“I used to be proud, but I used to be nervous. I say, “Please don’t let me fall.” That’s the only thing that involves my mind. And then the super sweet Jennifer Hudson. She said, “Hey, come on, give me a hug.” I say, ‘I hugged an EGOT’” Cornelia Ryan boasted with the form of pride sisters exude after they can share their stories and glories in protected spaces. “I’m one step away from Beyonce. No, but seriously, it was amazing.

Major League Baseball donated tickets to the show, and Ryan was chosen by MLB’s Baseball and Softball Development Department. She was named to the national team as a part of the MLB Develops girls baseball program. Competing in the Trailblazer Series, Elite Development Invitational and Breakthrough Series under this umbrella, she made the squad. Otherwise it would not have happened.

Her manager, Veronica Alvarez, loves the teen game. Ryan finished third in the lineup and earned first base in all tournaments at the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup in August, where he won silver. That does not imply Alvarez is not still interested by it.

“Naomi is an exceptional player, isn’t she? We have a lot of exceptional players throughout our team, full of really strong, resilient and athletic women who are kind of breaking down the resistance of women in baseball. But Naomi fit into it perfectly,” Alvarez said. “She is our youngest player in the national team. It’s amazing that physically and mentally she was in a position to jump right in and be on their level. It’s amazing that she represents all of us.

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“I think our team is the best in the world. We just played in the World Cup and won silver. So technically the results weren’t the best in the world,” she continued. “The level of play that the women bring on a daily basis has been a step up from the U.S. Women’s National Team, which hasn’t won a medal since 2014. In 2016 and 2018 we had a World Cup where we didn’t win a medal. I became manager in 2019 and we revamped the program a bit.”

U.S. baseball player Naomi Ryan (right) shakes hands with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (left) before Game 1 of the World Series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees on Oct. 25 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers

The overall state of girls’s baseball is difficult to find out. Most persons are still in some form or simply cannot grasp that it is not softball. The path that girls’s baseball has traveled is one which must be avoided and infrequently despised.

“It’s legit baseball, these are some of the best athletes I’ve ever been able to coach and ever see. It’s just phenomenal to watch. “I think if people saw this product, if people saw women playing at this level, they would understand and buy,” Alvarez explained. “This isn’t softball.”

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A women’s baseball documentary airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network. Coach Veronica, as Naomi calls her, is definitely in the movie.

“It showed our women’s national team and other national teams. But someone just wrote about it and someone in the comments said, “Women’s softball is the best.” And it’s like, ‘Oh my God,’” Alvarez said with a laugh. “It’s amazing for women that people can see the word baseball, see baseball, see women throwing overhand, and still associate it with the game of softball. And I have nothing against the game, we can just both exist. We both can coexist. Both are great sports, but this particular group of women, Naomi Ryan, wants to play baseball. I don’t want to play softball because they are two different sports. And it’s okay.”

One reason she doesn’t wish to play softball is obvious: she’s a rattling good baseball player. Do you recognize who told her that? Her highschool head coach. Yes, she plays with boys, like many others in her position. But at the Miller School in Albermarle, Virginia, the person running the program is not only any person. This is Billy Wagner.

Yes, this one. Billy the Kid. The one who, body-wise, looks like just one other guy walking down the street, but lasted 16 seasons in the major league as a pitcher. He is a seven-time All-Star, is one in every of only eight big league players to record 400 profession saves, and is on a LONG list of individuals related to Cooperstown (he is in the Houston Astros Hall of Fame). Yes, he’s a somewhat random name in the pantheon of people that have graced the league with their presence, but he’s the style of one who has seen the pinnacle and is used to overcoming greater obstacles.

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As the story goes, after a comparatively tumultuous upbringing and breaking his right arm twice while playing football, he simply… began throwing left. And that led him to leading roles. So if anyone understands foresight, Wagner does.

“When I took over as a highschool coach, I coached against her brother. Anyway, he was going to Pitt and he was killing us all the time. He was so amazing. So I knew about the family. I didn’t learn about her,” Wagner noted. “I got a call asking if I would meet with her about coming to Miller. So she comes in and it’s really quiet. She’s sitting at the table and you’ve got our athletic director, me, her parents, and I’m just sitting there listening to the talk. And then I look at her and ask: what do you want from this? What is this end game for you? Because I don’t know what she’s looking for. She says, “I want to be the first female major league baseball player. I said, “Someone once told me it was possible, and I’m not going to be the person to say it is not.”

“When you concentrate on girls having fun, it is not typical. It throws 79 to 81 (mph), giving it 82 tops. Then he’s good with the curve ball. She knows keep a runner going.

Naomi Ryan (left) speaks with MLB commissioner ambassadors Adam Jones (center) and Justin Upton (right) before Game 1 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on October 25 in Los Angeles.

Photos by Daniel Shirey/MLB via Getty Images

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Being the girl on the highschool baseball team is one thing. Honestly, it is not that rare anymore and it’s great. But being a member of the national team is different and impressive.

For Naomi, leadership has quite a bit to do with it.

“It’s easiest to train her in a team. Because I don’t have to worry about him worrying about home runs or getting out of Velo. She really competes in throwing strikes, pitches, getting on base and laying down a bunt – to do everything she can to win,” Wagner beamed on Friday. “It reflects quite a bit on our team because our team knows how I feel about doing the little things, and she or he is an actual example of what it’s wish to be that style of player.

“It wasn’t an enormous deal for our team because I feel quite a lot of our guys had heard of Naomi. And so it only took some time for them to go, “Oh, well, she could act.” And they selected her as the captain of our team. I mean, she’s the only returning captain now we have, and I’ve never had a captain, let alone a lady, captain in my sophomore yr.

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As for meeting Kershaw, her favorite player, this time Naomi’s mom tried to sneak a curveball past her.

“We walked into the stadium and I thought, ‘Am I dating Clayton?’ And she said, “No, you recognize I might have told you.” We had many surprises; I would tell you. And I could tell she was lying because she was smiling so much,” Naomi Ryan said, recalling a few hours earlier that day. “We’re walking and then I see him behind the batting cage and I’m like… my friends wanted me to blog, so I’m taking a video of him. I thought, “Guys, I feel I’m going to fulfill Clayton Kershaw soon.” I soon met him, and thru my coach and his contacts, I used to be in a position to meet Clayton.

Wagner did the league a favor by making his player’s already incredible journey much more memorable.

“When I first met him, I told him my dream. I told him I desired to play in the MLB and he said he would give me the hat and a probability,” Naomi Ryan said of Wagner. “I think he kind of found a connection with me because he was also the underdog in some situations. It was something like, “I’ll help and discover a way for her to realize her goal.” I mean, he did it.

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“No matter what, even once I was playing basketball, I used to be still calm, but I feel he (Wagner) really helped me gain more confidence on and off the court. I also get messages from parents on Instagram telling me how inspiring I’m to their daughter. This is a full circle moment for me since it wasn’t that way back that I used to be of their shoes.

As for the game, mom and daughter are Yankees fans, and pop and brother, who weren’t on the trip, are Mets fans. It was still iconic although their favorite team lost.

After Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a ball deep to right field that sent Chavez Ravine right into a frenzy and took the lead in the series, she spoke plainly. “It was the best baseball game I’ve ever seen.”

Considering what the entire day had to supply, it is easy to see why.

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Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes – in that order.

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Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

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Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.


Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.

The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.

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The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.

The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.

But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.

Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.

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“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “

Alabama, Jalen Milroe, talks to the media during the NFL mix at the Lucas Oil stadium on February 28 at Indianapolis.

Justin Casterline/Getty Images

Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.

But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.

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Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.

In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.

He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.

Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.

“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.

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“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”

Jalen Milroe warms up during seniors training at the Hancock Whitney stadium on January 29 at Mobile, Alabama.

Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images

Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.

“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.

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But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.

“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.

“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “

The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.

But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.

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Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “

“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.

Martenzie Johnson is an older author for Andcape. His favorite film moment is that Django said: “You all want to see something?”

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Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

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I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.

Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.

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One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.

Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.

I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.

When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.

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History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.

The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.

That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

Teenage students of Stax Music Academy Mark 25th anniversary, black history month with a concert

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:

“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.

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Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”

I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”

I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.

They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

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Panama Jackson Thegrio.com

(Tagstranslate) @Ap

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Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

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Morgan State University, Sterling Steward


Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.

No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.

Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.

“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “

While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.

Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.

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He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.

(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry

This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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