Kyrie Irving gave up over $100 million because he refused to take the COVID vaccine.
The media called him selfish, irresponsible, and crazy.
Stephen A. Smith was one of his loudest critics.
After watching Fauci’s Senate hearing, he’s now publicly apologizing.
“Hindsight-wise… it didn’t make him selfish. It made him brave.”
@BennettKicks@liz_churchill10 Trump didn’t mandate the vaccine, he gave you a choice. Fauci’s diary indicates that the data for 18 year olds did not outweigh the risk but he said nothing. Urged kids to still get vaccinated knowing they helped little, it was “modest coverage at best”. Read the diary.
Novak, Aaron, and Kyrie risked everything by refusing the advice of ‘Dr. Fauci’ and were ridiculed for doing so. They proved that the best role models for children are those brave enough to stand alone when the world demanded obedience…
@JenniferSey The only conversation I had when wearing this shirt was “aren’t you scared if you should get covid”, I’ve never gotten the flu shot so I’ll see if my body could fight it. People were scared, it was an ugly time.
Wow. This is pretty remarkable. Stephen A. Smith apologizes to Kyrie Irving.
Irving refused the Covid vaccine and lost millions for it.
Smith says, in hindsight it wasn’t stubborn or selfish, it was brave.
Respect.
Stephen A. Smith publicly APOLOGIZES to Kyrie Irving after calling him "selfish" for refusing the COVID jab.
"Hindsight-wise, it didn’t make him stubborn or selfish. It made him BRAVE."
"I watched Dr. Fauci on Capitol Hill yesterday, and the person I thought about most was Kyrie Irving."
“Kyrie Irving stood out in my mind because of the heat that he was taking... He refused the vaccine. New York City's mandate made him ineligible for home games, and he linked his stance to people losing jobs over vaccine mandates."
“In my opinion, particularly hindsight-wise, it didn't make him stubborn or selfish. It made him brave. His willingness to stand up and say, ‘Nah, I'm not doing that.’
“It's just a time for reflection — to look at things differently.”
Kyrie gave up $11,400,000 in game checks during the 21-22 NBA season and a $100,000,000 extension with the Nets to be unvaccinated.
That cements his holdout as the largest financial sacrifice any athlete has ever made over an issue in history.
@USConcubine I got sick with Covid 3 times during the pandemic. Only the first time was it really noticeable. I have literally not been sick a day since. Almost like my body actually used the event to build up a stronger natural immune system. Like nature intended.
Dear unvaccinated Fauci haters:
He is 80 something years old. If he wanted to inflict damage on people for fame he has the ability to unleash a bioweapon now & all you unvaccinated would be deader than doornails because you left yourself dumb and unprotected.
Just sayin 😁
I emailed Dr. Tony Fauci today to tell him how disgusted and sad I was with how he has been being treated. I told him he is a hero and has my support and my admiration.
I reminded him who I was: the “aerosol activist.” During COVID I pushed him — and pushed him, and would not let it go — until he said out loud that the SARS-2 virus travels through the air. He graciously heard me out in a Zoom meeting. He changed what he said. That is not a small thing in a man with that much on his shoulders.
So today I sent a note of thanks, and shared our latest work on the Tijuana River at the US-Mexico border. I almost didn’t send it. He is flooded right now, and I figured it might never reach him.
He wrote back within the hour. Thanked me, and told me to keep up the great work.
A man under relentless attack still made time to answer someone he owed nothing to — and to encourage her work while he’s fighting for his own name. Gracious, ethical, kind. Exactly the qualities the people going after him are trying to strip out of our society.
I stand with Dr. Fauci. He is a hero. Sad times in America continue.
@rightasrand@lilafowlerOC@IrwinRedlenerMD I’m going down the rabbit hole with Fauci and HIV now. The timing of all these outbreaks with him researching the immune system is odd. We will never know the truth.
@Me37424806@lilafowlerOC@IrwinRedlenerMD Nothing about it was unknown. Fauci and his cohorts created it and knew exactly what it was, how it acted and what it would do.
Shame on Rand Paul for conducting this ignorant witch hunt in an attempt to prove made up misdeeds he attributes to Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of America’s most heroic public health scientists who has saved countless lives over his long career.
I spoke with Tony Fauci countless times during the worst years of Covid. He was always a meticulous communicator of science based information & recommendations.
But we were facing a lethal virus that we had never seen before. It was a new, deadly threat - & we were all in “learning as we go” mode.
Of course mistakes were made. This was science on the run & experts were making their best recommendations based on the information they had at that very moment.
And then there was the “Trump factor”. Every day, Fauci and his colleagues had to contend with inane/ dangerous commenters and suggestions from the most ignorant president in American history.
So, Rand Paul: what’s the hell are you doing?
@lilafowlerOC@rightasrand@IrwinRedlenerMD It’s similar to the SARS outbreak in 2003 which is a novel virus but SARS has a higher fatality rate.The transmission was unknown.Fauci taking the 5th is a bad look, these new novel strains are on his watch. Unless his job was to leak these deadly viruses, in that case well done.
@rightasrand@IrwinRedlenerMD Well, no, only the ignorant think that. The rest of us understand it was a novel virus that we didn't have information about how to contain and had to act quickly based upon the information available.
Thank you to every fan who has kept this album alive for three decades. What started in Long Beach has become something bigger than we could’ve ever imagined. Long live Bradley Nowell. #SUBLIME30
@DrSuneelDhand They are just practicing medicine, only you can truly know what’s best for you. The 2 doctors I know opened wellness centers to practice independently.
Do you know what should terrify you?
Today thousands of people with MD after their name went to work across America.
Percentage of those who were bothered by Fauci’s silence yesterday, or even remotely intellectually curious about the origins of the biggest medical event of their lifetime?
Likely under 5%
Almost all doctors have no interest in this whatsoever, or even any outrage about what Fauci likely knew from the beginning.
You can be upset all you like about Fauci, but what you must realize is that he is emblematic of a completely lost and captured profession.
The medical establishment continues to prop Fauci up and hold him in high regard.
And that my friends, is the crux of the problem. Medicine (and science) is broken and occupied by followers, not leaders
@83KCesena@EliManning Just watched Ruthless People. When he answers the phone and it's the wrong number, "she can't come to the phone right now, my d**k is in her mouth" - hilarious!
@AndrewKolvet@MattWalshBlog Unfortunately, the accountability of releasing a deadly virus takes a back seat to TDS. On NextDoor it just turned political, I’m in CA so majority of people think Fauci can walk on water.
@MattWalshBlog What happened today was important, if incomplete. It was a high profile opportunity to humiliate a corrupt scumbag. Remember these are federal politicians up against a federal pardon. Limited options. The states should prosecute him. Florida may well be activated.
I’m not impressed with these hearings where Republicans traipse some corrupt scumbag out and yell at him for three hours. Yeah, he’s a corrupt scumbag. I agree. So why isn’t he under arrest? Why isn’t he facing any real consequences? Why aren’t you actually doing anything?
@JManthrow@markvalorian Just tried to watch LA Galaxy vs LAFC, I heard Tillman, Shaffelburg, Son played for LA. Had no clue which team but figured I’ll see them either way. You need a rivalry, a gimmick and better team names for sure. I’m in the Bay Area and Oakland has the Roots - just a lame name.
@markvalorian Exactly. The best way to improve everything is increase the quality of play on the pitch, and unfortunately the best way to do that is appeal to European players, but there would be more revenue in focusing on US marketing. Tricky balancing for sure
The MLS has room to grow in a few ways, but 1 major thing sticks out:
The team naming conventions.
I’m watching a game between “San Diego FC” and “FC Dallas.”
We are not in Europe. We don’t call our soccer teams “football clubs.” Why the hell are we integrating foreign nomenclature into the top level branding of a team? It reads like we are trying to be someone else.
Beyond that, “FC Dallas” doesn’t even make sense in English. “Football Club Dallas” puts the modifier “Dallas” after the head noun “Football Club.” That is Romance language construction—grammatically common in Spanish or French, but not in English.
So not only are we using foreign terminology, we are also forcing foreign grammar into our brands.
And then the core of the issue: bucking a ubiquitous trend in all other American sports. Literally every other American team uses the same nomenclature:
City + Mascot/Nickname
The Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Red Sox, Washington Capitals…
It’s the city and a thing. It tells you where they are from and gives you some semblance of a brand to assign to the idea of the team.
“FC Dallas” gives you nothing. No imagery, no brand, just a bland technical “name” to use to refer to the team.
This is just one of the many “foreign” things about US soccer that just make it hard to get into as an American fan.
If you want to take over the American market, you have to be authentically American. The MLS simply does not present that way in its current form. If anything, they come across as wannabe Europeans.
Until the MLS manages to own its American nature, they will struggle.
@mitchellvii@K2Campy I thought it was fantastic!! If you get into the strategy and formation of it, the match-ups, I thought the final at 0-0 was a nail biter-lol! I watch Premier League and the 18 weeks of NFL is no comparison at all, both are great to watch but apples to oranges.
Watching the World Cup finale was like watching a Super Bowl where the final score was 3-0 on the final field goal of the game.
That's why Americans don't like soccer.
@chunky_bear_@Braylon_Breeze Strong / Holden — “oh shut up already’ - 300 times.
They didn’t bother me as much as the rest of my family. Best part was Strong’s 45 down, 45 to go!! We didn’t miss a game, Darke/Donovan were my favorite.
2026 FIFA World Cup Match Appearances by Each Fox Commentary Pairing:
Strong / Holden — 21
Fletcher / Hargreaves — 16
Darke / Donovan — 14
Rae / Green — 12
Oatley / Barton — 11
Dellacamera / Lindsey — 10
Crocker / Higginbotham — 9
Terens / Edu — 6
Scott / Jones — 5
@Clarissima5@pgangm@MatthewBetley You and your friend go shopping and there is a security guard in front of the register to pay, you send her to pay but tell her she cannot pass the guard when you throw her your credit card to pay, if she passed the guard when you throw her your credit card then she's offside.
@pgangm@MatthewBetley I know, oops. It's a kind of running joke that women cannot understand the offside rule!
Wait, it might be that other line, the one outside the penalty box?
The World Cup was fantastic, and I watched more soccer in the last month than I have in my entire life. It was a huge success for the game and for America. Having said that, I still don’t know what offsides is.
@MicahhParsons11 We know and it’s been going on for years, just enjoy the moment. Too much gambling in general, horse racing to football, it’s all controlled, it’s a business. You can bet on everything and it is an addiction that includes athletes, coaches, refs. Sad but true.