A few weeks after lifestyle influencer Nara Smith revealed her daughter’s private cancer battle, the mom of four is sharing that Whimsy is in remission.
The content creator, well known for making elaborate meals from scratch while wearing glamorous ensembles, told her following of 12.6 million on TikTok and 4.9 million on Instagram on Friday that she and her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, have spent the last eight months processing their 2-year-old daughter’s health battle.
The parents debated whether they should share such a private part of their lives and decided to wait until Whimsy had finished her treatments and doctors had a better grasp on the likely outcome.
“Now that she’s finally in remission, it felt like I could find the words to share,” Nara Smith said. “The whole point of me sharing our experience was to shed light on what so many families go through and battle privately. Going through chemo treatments opened my eyes to how expensive medical care is, and what a toll it takes on families specifically.”
“Lucky and I have been trying to return to everyday life and taking it day by day,” she continued. “I don’t know whether life will ever feel normal again, but we’re trying to navigate this next chapter the best that we can.”
Smith, 24, said in an Instagram video earlier this month that Whimsy was diagnosed with cancer late last year.
“When we saw something suspicious on her, we took her to the ER, and they didn’t quite know what to make of it,” she said in the video. “So when we took her into our pediatrician, I just remember him going really quiet and calm and my heart dropped in that moment. I don’t know whether it was my gut telling me something or just a mom’s intuition, but the first thing that I felt was she has cancer.”
The content creator said her daughter underwent numerous X-rays, ultrasounds and a biopsy before the hospital team confirmed the cancer diagnosis. Smith did not specify the type of cancer but said that the illness had spread and that Whimsy needed chemotherapy.
In recent weeks, Smith has shared heartwrenching glimpses into the family’s battle, including photos of Whimsy’s curls being shaved and her bald head bedazzled with gems.
“Cancer has a way of taking things you never realized you’d grieve,” she wrote alongside a video of the parents shaving Whimsy’s head. “The day I ran my fingers through her hair, strands coating them, I realized I wouldn’t be brushing Whimsy’s hair much longer. It’s such a small thing, until it isn’t.
“It wasn’t just hair. It was the little curls I tucked behind her ears, the wispy strands that caught the sunlight, and all the ordinary moments I never imagined I’d miss.
“If sharing these pieces of our story helps even one family feel less alone, or encourages one person to learn more about childhood cancer, then this vulnerable part of our lives is worth opening,” Smith wrote. “Today her curls are returning.”
In Friday’s video, Smith said that she’s been researching charities and foundations to support and included links to GoFundMe pages for children who are battling cancer.
Nara and Lucky Blue Smith, 28, married in 2020 and share four children: Whimsy Lou, eldest daughter Rumble Honey, son Slim Easy, and infant Fawnie Golden. Lucky Blue also shares a daughter with his ex-girlfriend, social media star Stormi Bree.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
NEW YORK — Lost amid the headlines about Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers face this unexpected reality as the trade deadline looms: They would like to add a starting pitcher, but they need to add a catcher.
Will Smith has not played in six weeks. In a “best case” scenario, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday, Smith would miss another month.
That left Roberts to make a jolting admission, when I asked him if the team really can count on Smith returning this season.
“We don’t know,” Roberts said, “but we certainly are counting on it.”
Would it be nice for the Dodgers to get their three-time All-Star catcher back in time for October? Of course.
Should the Dodgers count on it? Of course not.
The Dodgers won’t know where Smith stands by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. That means now is the time to acquire a catching option they may or may not need later.
Dalton Rushing, the primary catcher in Smith’s absence, has a .799 OPS. Among the 24 major league catchers with at least 200 plate appearances entering play Friday, Rushing ranked fifth in OPS.
He is hitless in his last 13 at-bats. His batting average: .266 before Smith’s injury, .233 since then.
On defense, Rushing ranks next-to-last in defensive runs saved among major league catchers, ahead of only the Angels’ Logan O’Hoppe. On Friday, in the Dodgers’ 2-1 victory at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees scored their only run on Rushing’s passed ball.
In past Octobers, the Dodgers have prioritized defense at catcher. In the 2020 World Series, Austin Barnes caught ahead of Smith in four of the six games, including the final two.
In 2025, with Smith recovering from a hand injury, Ben Rortvedt started ahead of Rushing in the Dodgers’ first four postseason games. Rortvedt was a trade deadline acquisition last summer, picked up with pitcher Paul Gervase from the Tampa Bay Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia.
Will Smith bats for the Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants on April 22.
(Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
Rortvedt, currently playing in triple-A for the New York Mets, fits the profile of what the Dodgers need now: a defense-first catcher with major league readiness. With Smith injured, the Dodgers first tried and then cut minor league journeyman Chuckie Robinson at backup catcher. Their current backup, Eliezer Alfonso, made his major league debut in his ninth professional season; he is hitless in nine at-bats.
Could the Dodgers pursue an established catcher, say Ryan Jeffers of the Minnesota Twins or Francisco Alvarez or Luis Torrens of the New York Mets? Possible, but probably not necessary.
Rushing could be their guy. Smith could be back.
Smith has started and re-started baseball activities, only to find out that the inflamed disk in his neck flares up.
“He hasn’t been able to get over the hump,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers are trying another round of complete rest before asking him to try hitting or throwing again.
“We felt that, if he’s inactive, it gives it a good chance to get all the inflammation out, the soreness out, the pain, increase flexibility, all of it,” Roberts said. “Then he has a fighting chance to work his way back. Trying to do everything — even at a lesser dosage — just wasn’t feasible.”
Trying to trade for Skubal might not be feasible, at least so long as his Detroit Tigers remain in the American League wild-card race. The Tigers won seven of their final 10 games in the first half, and they face teams with losing records in 13 of their 16 second-half games ahead of the trade deadline, starting with the Angels this weekend in Anaheim.
The Dodgers do not need a depth starter. However, they might do well to find someone they would feel comfortable starting the third or fourth game of a playoff series, lest they count on Blake Snell (elbow) and Tyler Glasnow (back) and Shohei Ohtani (knee) all returning to the mound healthy and effective.
Important, yes. As important as another catcher, no.
For a team that will spend almost half a billion dollars on its player payroll and luxury tax this season, its most important trade deadline pickup could be a catcher making maybe $1 million.
Roger Hawes and Janey Smith are engaged, three years after they found fame, and love, on the first series of Davina McCall’s hit ITV dating series My Mum Your Dad
21:17, 17 Jul 2026Updated 21:18, 17 Jul 2026
Roger Hawes and Janey Smith have revealed they are engaged(Image: Instagram/Janeybombshell)
Roger Hawes and Janey Smith are engaged. The TV stars found fame when the signed up to appear on My Mum Your Dad, which follows Davina McCall as she oversees two single parents try to find love, have been one of the programme’s biggest success stories and appeared all the way back in the very first series when it aired in 2023.
On Friday, the couple took to Instagram to share the news that they are to wed after Roger popped the question just ahead of the weekend.
Roger became a widower when he lost his first wife and it was their daughter Jess who sent off his application off for the show, which was axed in early 2025, in the first place. Meanwhile, Janey went on the show with her son Will, and the happy news comes just weeks after Janey was rushed to hospital.
At the time, she explained in an Instagram post: “They did a CT scan straight away and found my appendix had blown and needed surgery asap. I was in hospital for a week as the infection had filled my stomach.”
After their romance blossomed, the pair made a joint appearance on Loose Women together in 2024, where Roger explained: “It didn’t show on the show itself but she just came in and I obviously liked what I saw straight away.”
“We just hit it off; she just said randomly, ‘What am I like?’ and I said, ‘I know what you’re like!’ And everybody else was just looking at us and we were just off in our own little world!”
At the time, Janey also admitted just how emotional it had been to see her love story play out on screen. She said: “When you see it, it’s like ‘oh no, don’t set me off.’ It was a very emotional time. There was anxiety, it was a big thing. It does take you back. It’s an outer body experience really.”
She also recounted the pivotal advice from her father as she explained: “We like Roger, don’t push him away,” which led her to tackle her personal issues head-on during a live TV appearance.
She added: “They said, ‘So why are you here?’ and I could feel it coming, I wasn’t going to say anything but I thought, ‘I’ve got to be honest here,’ I know I’ve pushed people away in the past. There’s some traits in me and adopted people that you carry and never address it.”
Reflecting on her candid moment, she expressed pride: “I felt for the first time in my life, ‘Well done Janey, you’ve just gone and said it on live TV.’ You don’t even tell people you meet but thank goodness I did.”
Janey previously admitted that she never worried Roger would leave her even though her son was concerned he might not be ready for another relationship after losing his wife.
She said: “It’s funny, I didn’t worry about that with him. With Roger what you see is what you get. He’s definitely a one-woman man and just not out to hurt me at all. I remembermy son [William] being a bit worried that Roger wasn’t quite ready to date yet, but I think because Roger had gone through his own form of grief, we helped each other.
“The only worry I had early on was similar to my son’s – I didn’t want to be an experiment for someone to dip their toe back in.
“I’ve admired Lewis for a long time and tried to sign him at previous clubs, but I wasn’t in a position to afford him.
“He’s consistently impressed us whenever we’ve watched him, but what really stood out was that the numbers backed up exactly what our eyes were telling us.”
Overall, Smith played 81 times for Livingston, scoring 12 goals, seven of them last season, and contributed 12 assists.
“Some of the performance data our recruitment department track placed him among the best wide players in the Premiership last season,” Robinson said.
“We can all overlook what’s right on the doorstep at times. Lewis has proved over several years that he can perform consistently in this league and we believe there is still plenty more to come from him.
“Dons fans can expect an energetic, attack-minded winger who is deceptively quick, works tirelessly for the team, is comfortable with either foot and carries a genuine goal threat.
“He finished as Livingston’s leading league goalscorer last season despite playing predominantly in the wide area, which tells you a lot about the attacking qualities he’ll bring.”
An “excited” Smith pointed out that he had made his Hamilton debut at Pittodrie and believes “I’ve got a lot more to give” for his new club.
Smith, who came through Accies’ youth ranks, signed a two-year contract when moving to West Lothian in 2024, but that was extended until summer 2027 after a season.
Livingston sporting director David Martindale said the sale proved their player trading model was working.
“We signed Lewis on a pre-contract when he was with Hamilton in League 1 and that’s a strategy we’d obviously like to continue going forward,” he told his club website.
“We’re in a good place at the moment and, subject to a Governing Body Endorsement, we’ll be announcing Smithy’s replacement very soon. He was identified early on in anticipation that Lewis could move.”
Smith’s arrival at Pittodrie comes on the same day Aberdeen sold striker Marko Lazetic to Armenian Premier League runners-up Noah for an undisclosed fee.
Popular lifestyle and fashion influencer Nara Smith spoke out about her daughter’s private health battle, revealing on Wednesday that the 2-year-old is battling cancer.
Smith, 24, said in an Instagram video that her daughter Whimsy was diagnosed late last year when she and husband model Lucky Blue Smith noticed “something suspicious” on the toddler’s body and sought immediate medical attention. The models first took their child to the emergency room and eventually to the pediatrician, who urged the parents to take their daughter to the nearest children’s hospital, she said.
“I just remember him going really quiet and calm, and my heart dropped in that moment,” Smith recalled of that pivotal visit with the pediatrician.
The content creator said her daughter underwent numerous X-rays, ultrasounds and a biopsy before the hospital team determined the cancer diagnosis. Smith did not specify the type of cancer, but said the illness had spread and Whimsy needed to begin chemotherapy. Smith, who went viral in late 2023 for her absurdly elaborate videos crafting processed snacks from scratch in fabulous outfits, said her daughter’s health battle is partially why she has taken a break from social media. She also spoke about finding comfort and community online via forums and social media and connecting with families who have loved ones also battling cancer.
“Processing this and navigating this as a family has been really hard,” she said. Smith added that in addition to Whimsy’s cancer battle, she found it challenging to balance caring for her other children, recovering from the fall 2025 birth of her youngest daughter and her social media work. “Some days are a little easier. Some days are really hard,” she said.
Nara and Lucky Blue Smith, 28, married in 2020 and share four children: eldest daughter Rumble Honey, son Slim Easy, Whimsy Lou and infant Fawnie Golden. Lucky Blue Smith also shares a daughter with his ex-girlfriend, social media star Stormi Bree.
Though Nara Smith kept most details about Whimsy’s cancer battle private, the thumbnail for Wednesday’s video appears to be her husband and a doctor next to an MRI machine. “Thankful for each and every nurse and doctor along our journey who helped us get through and out the other end,” she captioned the video.
MYLES Smith reveals he was physically abused by his father in his heartbreaking debut album My Mess, My Heart, My Life.
The Luton-born star, who was raised by his mother Deborah, recalls his difficult childhood in emotional tracks My Mess and Grandma’s House.
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Myles Smith’s debut album My Mess, My Heart, My Life, delivers a powerful and honest record inspired by pain and life’s struggleCredit: GettyHeaven is sure to become a live staple for Myles, who has more than proven he can go up against the greats when it comes to writing about love and lossCredit: Splash
Created over the past three years, as Myles’ career went stellar thanks to his 2024 runaway hit Stargazing, the star takes his fans back to his beginnings.
Lead track My Mess reduced me to tears as Myles regaled his relationship with his father against a backdrop of an upbeat, acoustic guitar.
He sings, “I was born into a fractured family, where a word can start a war.
“Lost my tongue, when I spoke my peace, yeah he grabbed my shirt and he bruised my cheek.
“Sad a man had to go toe to toe with a boy thirteen.”
Emotion-packed Grandma’s House, where Myles, 28, recalls finding his safe space as his mum Deborah worked to make ends meet, is packed with emotion and reflection.
On the track he sings: “Take me back to my Grandma’s place.
“I was 7 years old when I learnt how to cook, and 10 when I started to sing.
“Oh she’d bring me to church, and she’d cover my ears, when my Dad would scream horrible things.”
Myles’ signature acoustic guitar underpins every track, with Hate You untangling the realities of navigating love and Sertraline seeing Myles exploring mental health and complexities surrounding it.
This is an album for the brokenhearted and the hopeful, with the beautifully worded Lifetime and the dreamy vocals on Heaven – which is my favourite song on the record – seemingly bringing Myles’ the happy ending he’s been searching for.
Over the past two years, Myles has grown in prominence – winning the Brit Awards Rising Star gong as well as earning an Ivor Novello Award for Stargazing.
To date Myles has amassed over 4.7billion streams worldwide and is one of our country’s most exciting new stars.
Opening up about the record, Myles said the album was born out of “therapy notes, old memories, relationships, insecurities, heartbreaks, mistakes and all the moments that shaped me.”
The latter half of the album moves towards a positive note, with Nice To Meet You and Gold showing Myles coming out on the other side.
Myles said: “It was important to end the album, and particularly this project on a high.
“I feel like I always try to mirror my music with my live shows and my live shows are always about taking people on an emotional journey and then sending you home happy.
“It is that sense of hope which lingers on as Gold closes the album.
“Even though I may appear miserable for a lot of this album, I genuinely always walk with hope and I walk with joy at the end of the day.”
Heaven, mark my words, will become a live show staple for Myles, who with My Mess, My Heart, My Life has more than proven he can hold up against the greats when it comes to writing songs about love and loss.
★★★★★
Lotts of stars at V&A
It was all-white on the night for Pixie Lott at the V&A Museum’s summer partyCredit: GettyMaya Jama also chose white to impressCredit: GettyJessie Ware sang live at the bashCredit: Getty
It was all-white on the night for Maya Jama and Pixie Lott as they stood out in these dresses at the V&A Museum’s summer party.
They were joined at the bash by model Leomie Anderson, in an open white suit with gold jewellery, Ellie Goulding sporting a blazer dress, and Sir Mick Jagger with his fiancee Melanie Hamrick.
Once inside the museum, in London’s South Kensington, guests got the chance to schmooze around the exhibits, while Jessie Ware sang live in a sequin gown.
With tickets flying for her autumn tour, they were lucky to see her.
But access to the fundraiser, for those who did pay, cost £3,999. That is one expensive night out.
Ellie Goulding was sporting a blazer dressCredit: GettyModel Leomie Anderson wore an open white suit with gold jewelleryCredit: Getty
KAISER CHIEFS frontman Ricky Wilson will play Teen Angel in Grease: The Immersive Movie Musical.
The show is being put on by Secret Cinema from July to September at Evolution London in Battersea Park.
Singer Ricky Wilson will play Teen Angel in Grease: The Immersive Movie MusicalCredit: Getty
Ricky, left, said: “At school I was in Grease. I was not yet the pop sensation I am today and I only really wanted to do it because I fancied the girl who played Frenchie,
“I was Doody, so this is my chance to show everyone I should’ve got a bigger part.
“I don’t believe anyone from that production is now a professional singer – so in short, I win.”
Sian’s up for toy techover
Capital Breakfast’s Jordan North and Sian Welby, above, have landed roles in Toy Story 5Credit: Getty
You will hear some surprisingly familiar voices in Toy Story 5 if you head to the cinema this weekend – as Capital Breakfast’s Jordan North and Sian Welby have landed roles.
They voice a garden gnome and inflatable flamingo in the long-awaited Pixar sequel, and mum-of-one Sian has high hopes for its impact.
Speaking about the film, which is about tech replacing toys, Sian, right, said: “I do think it’s going to start a massive conversation about screen time.
“It made me want to smash every bit of tech in my house and just get out in the grass and play all the games that I did growing up.
“I think a lot of us are going to watch it and feel guilt. It’s sad we have to grow up so fast because there’s so much magic when you’re younger.”
Best-selling novel One Day is coming to the West End as a musical.
The David Nicholls love story – which has previously been adapted for both the big and small screen – will premiere at London’s Garrick Theatre on November 17, following shows in Edinburgh earlier this year.
Tissues and jazz hands at the ready.
MNEK is back in reverse
MNEK is releasing his first album for eight yearsCredit: Maja Smiejkowska
MNEK is returning with his first album in eight years.
The singer has today released the single Reverse!!, which samples Lethal Bizzle’s Pow! (Forward) and will be on his Bulldozer record this autumn.
Also out now is Jax Jones’ Pulling Me Back, Tiny Habits’ Anything He Was featuring Matty Healy from The 1975 and Grow Down by Luca George.
Ahead of his opening night in Jesus Christ Super-star in London, Sam Ryder has released What’s The Buzz.
And to support England’s World Cup efforts, Kerry Katona has re-recorded Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again as Home Again to raise cash for kids in care.
She said: “Even if you think it’s s***, please download it so we can give back.”
PITTSBURGH — Dodgers catcher Will Smith was out of the lineup for a third straight game on Tuesday against the Pirates, the stiffness in his neck still lingering. He’ll probably also be sidelined Wednesday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“Now the [injured list] is more of a possibility,” Roberts said, noting that the minimum for positions players is 10 days. “We’re starting to talk about that.”
Teams can backdate IL moves by up to three days. Smith’s neck issue cropped up Saturday, when he was scratched from the Dodgers’ lineup against the Angels. Though Roberts speculated then that Smith could have slept on it awkwardly, he said the cause of the injury is unclear.
Smith played catch Tuesday, Roberts said, which “went OK,” but Smith’s neck bothers him the most while swinging.
“It’s still a day-to-day situation,” Robers said. “But for me, just talking to him, talking to the trainers, I would like him to go through a full day (of work) before he plays. So that would probably take [Wednesday] off the table. And then we’ll kind of go from there.”
In Smith’s absence, 25-year-old Dalton Rushing has started three straight games behind the plate, including his four-hit performance in the series finale against the Angels, and six of the last nine games.
“This year my whole goal was to make sure, if there’s an opportunity [when] Will needs rest … make sure that I can provide just as much as he does with the bat as well as behind the plate,” Rushing said Saturday. “That’s something I’m obviously continuing to work toward. Whatever he needs, I’ll be here. He knows I’ll catch seven days a week. He knows I’ll catch every game if he can’t go back there.”
If the Dodgers were to put Smith on the IL, it’s unclear who would back up Rushing. After releasing Seby Zavala last week, the Dodgers’ triple-A catchers are Eliezer Alfonzo and Chuckie Robinson, both journeymen with only Robinson having some major-league experience.
Before the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte delivered the walk-off blow to the Dodgers — a towering home run off reliever Tanner Scott, punctuated by a bat flip — Roberts had to choose whether to send Shohei Ohtani to the plate as a pinch-hitter.
In a 3-2 loss, Ohtani, who didn’t start after two-way duties the day before, remained in the dugout.
“It has to be the right spot,” Roberts said.
The defensive picture complicated the calculus.
If Scott had thrown a scoreless inning and sent the game into the 10th, Roberts planned to have Ohtani pinch hit for Miguel Rojas, the third batter due up.
In the ninth, however, unless Ohtani replaced designated hitter Will Smith (who ended up hitting a two-out double), Roberts would have had to put in a defensive replacement for the bottom half of the inning.
“I didn’t want to go two innings trying to figure out how to play defense with Shohei then being out of the game,” Roberts said.
Roberts already had been forced to use the rest of his bench.
Third baseman Max Muncy exited in the fifth inning after a collision at first base, and Santiago Espinal replaced him. When rookie left fielder Ryan Ward walked in the seventh inning, the speedier and more defensively sound Alex Call replaced him on the bases. And in the eighth, the right-handed hitting Rojas pinch-hit for Alex Freeland against Diamondbacks left-hander Brandyn Garcia.
Arizona’s Ketel Marte, center, celebrates with teammates as he steps on home plate after hitting a walk-off home run against the Dodgers on Thursday.
(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
The Dodgers had Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker and Smith — none of whom were candidates to be pulled for a pinch-hitter — due up in the ninth. But after Smith hit a two-out double, leaving first base open, the Diamondbacks surely would have intentionally walked Ohtani if he pinch-hit for Espinal.
Then, the Dodgers would have had to reconfigure their defense, likely moving first baseman Freddie Freeman to third, catcher Dalton Rushing to first base and Smith behind the plate, forfeiting the designated hitter spot.
That would mean a shaky defensive lineup with the game still on the line in the ninth, with pitchers forced to hit if it went into extra innings.
So, instead, Roberts saved Ohtani.
“Once we get into extra innings, then I would fire that bullet,” Roberts said.
The Dodgers, however, didn’t get to extra innings. Scott struck out the first batter he faced. Then he threw a fastball down and in to Marte, who managed to get the barrel of his bat to it.
“You’ve got to tip your cap,” Scott said. “He’s a good hitter. Should I have gone up and in? Yeah. Or just a slider. I knew he was going to be aggressive.”
Ohtani dealing with blister
Ohtani has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, Roberts said.
“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said Thursday afternoon, the day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”
Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.
Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.
“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”
Will Smith crouched, his left knee on the ground and his mitt grazing the dirt as his Team USA teammate Mason Miller strode towards the plate.
From there, the only way for his glove to go was up and through the slider that fell out of the strike zone as the Dominican Republic’s Geraldo Perdomo stopped his swing. But, in a full count, home plate umpire Cory Blaser called it strike three.
“That’s the work we do in the cage, and off the machine, and drills, and all that coming to fruition, and being applied to in-game,” Smith said in a recent conversation with The Times.
He has a slim chance of replicating that moment during the season, with the ABS challenge system implemented in MLB. If it had been in play during the WBC — as long as the Dominican Republic had challenges left — Perdomo surely would have used one on the final pitch of that 2-1 game.
And yet, as counterintuitive as it may sound, Smith dedicated time and effort during spring training to improving his framing.
“It’s important because you only get two challenges a game, offensively and defensively,” Smith said. “The whole team only gets those two. So the harder I can make it on the other team to challenge pitches, the better. The more strikes I can get and not have to challenge, the better. I think overall, it almost makes it more important, in a way.”
United States pitcher Mason Miller and catcher Will Smith celebrate a WBC semifinal win over the Dominican Republic.
(Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)
Framing had been a weakness in Smith’s game in recent seasons, according to Statcast’s catching metrics. His best season was 2023, when he recorded four runs saved via pitch framing. But he slipped to minus-eight and minus-10 the next two seasons. Entering the Dodgers’ series against the Phillies this weekend, he was at an even zero after 43 games at catcher this season, including 39 starts.
And now, when Smith doesn’t get a call, he has ABS to fall back on. Entering Friday, he’s challenged 41 calls through the ABS system from behind the plate, the 10th-most of any catcher. And he had a 71% success rate, the ninth-best mark among catchers with at least 20 challenges.
Because the catcher has the best vantage point, teams across the majors have made their catchers, not their pitchers, the point men for ABS challenges on defense.
ABS as a skill, however, isn’t just about getting the challenges right. Knowing the right times to take a risk is also key.
“There’s so many games within the game,” Smith said, “and that’s just another one of them.”
As Smith alluded to, under the challenge system — as opposed to fulltime ABS, which MLB also tested in the minors — it’s still possible to steal strikes.
“I like the challenge system because you still have the human error element to the game,” Smith said. “…Everyone always talks about how it’s a game of life, dealing with failure and dealing with ups and downs — the umpire screwing you or catching a break, that’s part of the game.”
Dodgers catcher Will Smith walks to the dugout after the fifth inning of a Dodgers-Marlins game at Dodger Stadium on April 27.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Now, the players have recourse for the egregious calls and the biggest moments of the game.
The margins are so slim, however, that if a hitter isn’t convinced enough on a borderline strike call, and the situation dictates caution, he may not challenge.
The same goes for a catcher on a borderline ball call.
That’s where Smith’s work on framing comes in. He describes it as a change in philosophy.
“For me, it’s more just understanding the move,” Smith said. “I had to drill it in a little bit obviously, but more understanding the move of going farther out to get it, working through the ball, more like towards the pitcher, as opposed to letting the ball kind of come back to you. That was just not how I’d ever done it.”
That’s what he did on that last pitch of the WBC semifinals. Moving through the ball creates a more seamless motion, compared to pulling it into the strike zone, making the frame job more convincing. And catching it out in front also stops the ball’s own movement before it gets too far out of the zone.
That’s how Smith made a pitch that appeared to cross the plate below Perdomo’s knees look like a strike from Blaser’s vantage point.
The effect Smith’s spring training work behind the plate will have on the Dodgers’ season will be subtler. Instead of a singular game-defining moment, it’ll be an edge here and there.
But over the course of a long season, that adds up.
New Zealand took control against Ireland on the second day of the one-off Test with Nathan Smith claiming an international career best of 6-40 at Stormont.
After recovering from a poor start on the first day to reach 361-5, the Black Caps continued in a similar vein on the second day in the Belfast sun, reaching 490-8 before captain Tom Latham declared.
New Zealand enforced the follow-on and Ireland’s response was dealt an early blow when Stephen Doheny and Cade Carmichael were dismissed in the first over and they then lost four more in quick succession after lunch as Smith claimed his first five-wicket haul.
Mark Adair and Andy McBrine steadied the ship, but Ireland were 179 all out before performing much better in the second innings as they ended the day on 65-2, trailing New Zealand by 246 runs.
The tourists enjoyed a strong start in the morning session as Tom Blundell and Dean Foxcroft built on their 58-run partnership from day one.
Blundell surpassed 150, while Foxcroft brought up his first Test half-century as they went beyond the 100-runs mark as a pair.
Ireland eventually got moving and took three quick wickets, including Blundell for 186 and Foxcroft, who fell two short of a first Test century.
Heinrich Malan’s side endured a disastrous start to their chase however, with Doheny and Carmichael dismissed by Smith in the second and sixth balls of the first over.
After lunch, Smith continued his fine run as he took the wickets of Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher and Lorcan Tucker while Harry Tector also fell before Adair and McBrine got Ireland back on track, steering them through to tea.
They brought up a 100-run partnership before Adair exited for 40 as Smith got a sixth wicket of the day.
Tom Mayes and Liam McCarthy then fell as Ireland faltered to finish 179 all out.
They fared better in the opening of their second innings, led by Doheny, but they still have a mountain to climb heading into day three.
“You’d take 98, its obviously better than a duck, I was so close to the century, but at the end of the day the team is in a great position to win this game,” Foxcroft told BBC Sport NI.
“In terms of the match, I’m delighted where we are at the moment. We’ve got eight more wickets to go and looking ahead to tomorrow morning, we are hoping we can put Ireland under pressure.
“For us enforcing the follow-on was all about momentum. We will want to try and finish the game off and then we can think about England next week.”
Ireland batting coach Gary Wilson added: “It was a really good spell from Nathan Smith, it asked us a lot of questions and I think you could see it’s a new ball wicket and you could see that in both innings.”
Play will resume at Stormont at 11:00 BST on Friday.
Born in Leicestershire and educated at Stamford School, Smith represented his home county and Oxford University before joining Warwickshire.
He captained the Bears from 1957 to 1967 and scored 39,832 first-class runs in 637 matches during his county career, the 18th-highest total of all time.
Smith still holds the Warwickshire record for most runs in a single season after scoring 2,417 runs in 1959 and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1960.
He remained involved with cricket after his retirement as a player, as chairman of Warwickshire and also as an ICC match referee, officiating in four Tests and 17 ODIs.
A dual international, Smith played rugby union for Oxford University and Leicester and won a cap for England against Wales in January 1956.
Will Ferrell has done the Will Ferrell thing for so long — playing embarrassingly self-absorbed doofuses, both fictional and based on real people — that it’s easy to forget that when it counts, he can still serve as the glue on “Saturday Night Live.”
For his sixth time hosting the show since leaving the cast in 2002, Ferrell had plenty of those doofuses to portray, including a “Nudeman” dad whose underwear are exposed in the rear when he meets his daughter’s boyfriend. But in sketch after sketch on the show, he showed his usual 100% commitment to every character, even when he was playing himself in the monologue doing a bit about an identity mix-up with Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. (Smith stuck around for the whole show, sitting in with the “SNL” band and playing drums for Paul McCartney.)
Ferrell was an ideal closer for Season 51, which has largely been about developing relatively new talent in the cast, including rising stars Ashley Padilla, Jeremy Culhane and Marcello Hernández. Ferrell gelled with each of them and everybody else, doing the Will Ferrell thing, which still works tremendously well after all these years.
Musical guest Paul McCartney appeared in Ferrell’s monologue and in the mechanic sketch, and performed a new song, “Days We Left Behind,” as well as “Band on the Run” and “Coming Up” at the end of the show while the credits were shown.
After an absence of a few weeks, President Trump (James Austin Johnson) returned, sleepy from his trip to China. After a non-apology for not bringing Vice President J.D. Vance (Culhane) with him, Trump fell asleep on a gold bar from Switzerland before being visited by Epstein (Ferrell), who makes a series of jokes and insinuations about his association with Trump. When Trump bemoans his low approval rating in the 30s, Epstein responds, “The 30s? Gross, call me when it hits 17.” But Epstein, who claims Hell is “really, really hot” and includes Joseph Stalin and John Wayne Gacy, is there to show Trump the future, one in which former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (Padilla) is selling vacuum cleaners on the Home Shopping Network and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (Colin Jost) and FBI Director Kash Patel (a returning Aziz Ansari) are co-hosting a bro podcast while sharing a giant beer bong. Trump believes the podcast is a signal that by then, the war in Iran will be over. “We came in second,” Epstein assures him. The two then launched into a version of “Just the Two of Us” before almost kissing ahead of launching into “Live from New York… It’s ‘Saturday Night!’”
Even eagle-eyed viewers might have needed a full minute or so to realize that the person on stage delivering the monologue was not actually Will Ferrell but Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who has been doing an extended gag for more than a decade about their uncanny resemblance. Ferrell followed, wearing the same gray suit, claiming, “He pushed me down backstage. And I fell hard. Lorne (Michaels) had to give me mouth to mouth.” Ferrell tried to do a hard reset of the monologue but couldn’t get the vibe back. He turned to the audience for questions, but only found McCartney there, who still couldn’t tell the difference between the host and the drummer. Ferrell listed many of the songs that McCartney has written (which weren’t performed on the show this time out), but pointed out that there are a few great songs he didn’t write, including “Timber” featuring Pitbull.
Best sketch of the night: Did you at least check the sprog box on your Rav4?
In a piece that calls itself, “What It Feels Like Talking to a Mechanic,” Ferrell plays an auto expert telling a clueless couple (Day and Padilla) that their vehicle needs a lot of work. But he uses completely foreign terms including “dong rod gasket” and a “camber” that’s out of whack and rotting to describe what’s wrong. Another specialist (Hernández) arrives, who describes the car’s ailments in funny noises and partly in Spanish. “You need a new trans person,” he declares. He also expects them to return every six days and come to his private party. A third mechanic (McCartney) found the steering wheel is on the wrong side and that their “tipsy wispy” is all “dangly goodly.” The absurdity level keeps rising, but it will feel familiar to anyone who’s ever felt like their mechanic is speaking in an entirely different language. The only false step in the sketch is the ending, which goes on on a cheap joke.
Also good: That white flag he was carrying around should have been a tip-off
It’s been a bit shocking how good some of the pre-filmed pieces this season have looked, including this one, a “Lord of the Rings” Midnight Matinee sketch called “Bobbin’s Sacrifice.” It features, with quite good special effects and costumes, a full cast of orcs, elves and dwarves during a castle siege, as well as Ferrell as a little Hobbit-looking halfling named Bobbin who bravely volunteers to destroy a bridge that separates the heroes from the monsters. However, once outside the castle gates, Bobbin proudly declares in song that he’s switching sides. And not just switching, but offering the orcs blueprints of the castle and giving them magic items he stole from his friends. Things don’t end so well for Bobbin, but at least he goes out memorably and with a song in his heart.
‘Weekend Update’ winner: How does one apply to be a Blast Boy?
“Update” traditionally does a joke-off between co-hosts Jost and Michael Che in which each writes jokes the other has to read. This edition wasn’t too surprising: Jost was made to spew racist jokes about black vampires (in reference to “Sinners”) and using his Staten Island Ferry to ship Black people “back to the motherland.” Che was made to make light of molestation claims against Michael Jackson. The segment ended up being one of the weaker joke-offs, ending with the threat of Jost getting his hair cut off by a barber on live television (it didn’t happen). Surprisingly, the joke-off was not as funny as Culhane’s return as Mr. On Blast, a guy with takes that are far from hot. Example: “AI? More like P.U.” “Metaverse? Why don’t you go read a Bible verse?” Mr. On Blast punctuates his weak jokes with very entertaining dance moves punctuated with sound effects. This time out, the character deployed a new catch phrase, “Devout!” in reference to being both Christian and Jewish, and he brought out bearded backup dancers called Blast Boys. Culhane was on point and is a lock to return next season for more fun like this.
The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 5-2 on Thursday night, reclaiming first in the National League West after San Diego lost to Milwaukee. The Dodgers also escaped a third straight series loss at home ahead of their weekend road series against the Angels.
Designated hitter Will Smith, whom Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described earlier in the day as “unflappable,” hit from the leadoff spot and homered to right-center field in the first inning to set the tone for the series-splitting win.
The decision to put Smith in the leadoff spot allowed Roberts to maximize the 31-year-old’s plate appearances without moving other players after Shohei Ohtani was held out of the lineup.
The Dodgers (26-18) are trying to lighten Ohtani’s workload after his recent struggles at the plate. It’s the first time a healthy Ohtani has been out of back-to-back batting orders, except for the paternity list, since the universal designated hitter rule was implemented in 2022.
Though the Dodgers outlasted the Giants (18-26) without Ohtani’s help, the team’s compounded mistakes almost cost it a win.
In the second inning, the bottom of the lineup strung together two hits to score Max Muncy, who reached on a walk. However, after Miguel Rojas softly hit a ground ball to Giants starter Landen Roupp, Teoscar Hernández found himself stranded in no-man’s land after running toward home from third — there was no force play at the plate.
Rojas, who stood on the basepath, slammed his helmet down in frustration after Smith struck out to end the inning.
Will Smith gets a face full of sunflower seeds from teammate Andy Pages after hitting a leadoff home run in the first inning for the Dodgers on Thursday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Rojas wasn’t the only one upset. Dalton Rushing was shown on the game broadcast breaking his bat in the dugout and slamming his leg guard on the back bench after striking out in the fourth inning. Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan shared some words of encouragement with the catcher and patted him on the back.
Sheehan’s night was relatively uneventful before the fifth. He put together three hitless innings before San Francisco’s Rafael Devers hit a one-out single to left field.
From there, things got worse. In the fifth, Jung Hoo Lee hit an inside-the-park home run when Hernández misread the ball off the left-field wall in foul territory, allowing the ball to roll past him. Rojas’ relay throw was too high for Rushing to catch, and Lee slid into home to become the first Giants player to hit an inside-the-park homer at Dodger Stadium.
But the Dodgers responded in the sixth. After Max Muncy reached base on a force out at second and was moved over to third on a single from Hernández, Alex Call delivered a pinch-hit, two-run single to right field. Rojas then blooped a ball over the infield to drive in Call.
Sheehan finished his night after six innings, giving up two earned runs, two hits with six strikeouts and two walks. With combined efforts from relievers Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia and Edgardo Henriquez, the Dodgers shut down the Giants the rest of the way.
For Sarah Gorden, Mother’s Day is special because it’s not just a celebration of motherhood. For her, it’s also a celebration of perseverance, grit and survival.
Especially survival.
Gorden became pregnant during her junior year of college and for most of the next 12 years, she tried to balance her life as a professional soccer player with her responsibilities as a single mother. It wasn’t easy.
“I honestly look back and I have no idea how we got through that,” said Gorden, who made $8,000 as an NWSL rookie with the Chicago Red Stars in 2016, less than the city’s minimum wage. “We’re making no money. We were definitely using government assistance and government aid. And then the help of family and friends.
“I’m impressed and proud of the part of me that got through that. But it was no way to live.”
As the memories come flooding back, so do the tears.
Angel City midfielder Ariadina Alves Borges walks off the pitch with her son, Luca, at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“It’s so difficult to explain,” said Gorden, now 33 and the captain at Angel City, as she dabbed at the tears with a tissue. “Not having enough money, not having enough time, wondering if I’m being selfish, wondering if I’m making the right decision. Ultimately it came down to: I didn’t feel like I had another [choice].”
A decade later, the NWSL minimum wage is $50,500 and the league’s collective bargaining agreement guarantees mothers job protection, full salary and benefits for the duration of a pregnancy-related absence, stipends for child care and subsidized arrangements for women traveling with children up to age 14.
Angel City, founded by three mothers, has gone beyond what the league has mandated by supporting mothers with perks that include a well-stocked nursery at the team’s training facility on the campus of Cal Lutheran University.
“From the beginning, we always strive to support the whole player. Physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically,” said Julie Uhrman, one of Angel City’s founders and now a principal adviser to the team. “And then to support them if they came in as parents or became parents. That’s not just players. Staff too.”
Uhrman, who raised two children while building a successful career as a media and entertainment executive, speaks from experience.
“They can do both and they can excel at both,” she said of her players. “And we’re going to provide the support and the environment for them to do that.”
On its active roster of 25 players, Angel City has four mothers — the most in the NWSL. The work that went into the infrastructure now in place for them originated with Sarah Smith, the team’s former director of medical and performance.
Smith, who left the club in January and now advises elite athletes — primarily skiers — in Utah, said the support she got from Uhrman and others during her own pregnancy two and a half years ago inspired and informed her work with Angel City.
“Having the leadership of the club and the female leaders in the club, and then wanting to be able to support all of the players through their different journeys, through motherhood, I was really glad to be part of that,” she said. “But it really started with the fact that I had just gone through it, and I was able to share those experiences.”
Angel City forward Sydney Leroux’s 9-year-old son, Cassius, waits for his mom to leave a team huddle at BMO Stadium on May 2.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The first player she guided through that journey was Scottish forward Claire Emslie, who gave birth to a son in December.
“I’ll be honest. Having seen how much she wanted to do for moms in the game made me excited to become a mom,” Emslie said. “We weren’t even thinking about having a kid. But knowing what she wanted to do if there was a pregnant player made me want to have a kid because I knew that this is the best place I could possibly be.”
Emslie, 32, was cleared to suit up for Angel City’s game with San Diego on Saturday — the day before Mother’s Day — after missing the past 12 months on maternity leave. But she continued to train until just before giving birth and that, combined with the year off from the weekly pounding of professional soccer and the physiological changes her body went through during pregnancy, have made her better, she says.
“I feel better. I’m different,” she said. “I got a lot stronger and that’s something you can’t build while you’re in competition. My speed is back. I think I’m actually faster. And there’s also sort of an effect where you’ve got more red blood cells in your system now. So they say your cardio is actually better.”
The prime years for a women’s soccer player — between the ages of 25 and 29 — overlap with their prime reproductive years. Until recently, however, women had to make a choice between a family and a career. Now many are choosing to do both.
Sophia Wilson, a former NWSL scoring champion and MVP, and Mallory Swanson, her teammate on the U.S. Women’s National Team, both missed play in 2025 to give birth. They are among the 28 mothers in the league, and more are coming with the most recent NWSL availability report showing six teams missing players going on maternity leave.
Angel City player Claire Emslie, who is pregnant, tours a nursery the team built for players.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
Emslie’s own experiences tell her those numbers will continue to grow.
“I got to a point where I need[ed] to start thinking about life after football. And if I want to have a family, because of the biological clock, I need to start trying soon,” Emslie said. “It’s now kind of a normal thing to have a baby and come back.”
“Now I wish I’d done it younger,” she added. “Having a baby and continuing to play, they’re on the journey with you. So to have, say, five, six years professional football with a family, that’s amazing.”
Smith believes the willingness of star players such as Wilson and Swanson — and before them, Alex Morgan and Manchester United’s Hannah Blundell — has brought important focus to the issue of motherhood in soccer.
“That is where the game is going. I think you probably can see it across the league, the number of mothers,” Smith said. “And that’s a variety of circumstances. It may be mothers whose partners have carried children. It may be also players that are thinking about having children later and want to freeze their eggs. What I wanted to make sure is that we, we supported all of those different circumstances.”
That included designing and stocking the nursery at the training facility Angel City inherited from the NFL’s Rams in the fall of 2024.
“We put stuff in there for Caiden, for Sarah’s son, because it wasn’t just for Claire,” Smith said. “We wanted to make sure that all of the players and their partners felt good and comfortable. You just want to take a little bit of stress off of the players.”
Angel City captain Sarah Gorden with her oldest son, Caiden, during a photo shoot.
(Courtesy of Angel City FC)
When the club inherited the nine-acre practice facility in 2024 from the Rams, Angel City designated the largest of the offices for the nursery. The office belonged to head coach Sean McVay, and now it features walls painted pink and light blue and a crib, a changing table and a menagerie of stuffed animals.
“We want players to come to Angel City because we are the absolute best place for you to grow as an athlete, as a human,” Uhrman said. “And, you know, thinking about the fact that they might want to become mothers at some time or they’re coming in as mothers is really important.”
Gorden remembers a time not so long ago when that wasn’t the case. Early in her career in Chicago, she said she had to bring her son to a team meeting and was punished by being benched. Another time she couldn’t find child care on the day of a game — a Mother’s Day game.
“I just remember bawling all morning and just feeling so stressed,” she said.
Gorden has a fiance who is helping with parenting and her son Caiden, now in middle school, has grown into a sweet, empathetic boy.
“So yeah,” Gorden said, smiling through the tears, “a lot of progress. The league gets it now.”
Sam Smith is engaged to Christian Cowan, according to a “hotel lobby spy” who spilled the tea to Page Six.
“From what I understand, it was a private engagement,” the hotel lobby spy told the outlet after allegedly overhearing the couple discussing their betrothal. “They are over the moon, and from what I hear, so in love!”
We will not pause to consider whether the spy was a publicist, an assistant, a second assistant, a hotel employee or perhaps even a stray NYPD officer employed that night as a security guard, but Page Six says a second person confirmed the news.
The Times has reached out to Smith’s record label for independent confirmation, but has not heard back.
The two Brits were first spotted together in late 2022, when Smith sang at the White House to mark then-President Biden signing the Respect for Marriage Act guaranteeing federal protection for same-sex and interracial marriages. After numerous sightings of the couple out together and sharing kisses in 2023, they confirmed to the New York Times at the 2024 Met Gala that they were dating.
Back in May 2024, the couple made a small splash on the red carpet with Cowan in an ivory suit and Smith in a black one with a sheer suggestion of skirt laying over the pants. But on Monday night, with Cowan in an evocative-of-the-1920s black suit and tie flecked with beads, Smith pulled out the stops, donning a black Cowan-designed gown that weighed more than a fully loaded checked bag on the airline of your choice.
“This is the heaviest thing I’ve ever worn in my life. It’s a massive workout,” Smith told Vogue on the Met Gala red carpet.
“It’s 52 pounds,” Cowan chimed in quietly. “Fifty-two pounds. Sorry.”
Once the smiling designer was prompted to explain the collaboration, he said, “Sam was like, ‘Babe, please make something that’s lighter weight.’ And I didn’t do that. Sorry.” Smith noted that the outfit was “like a corset” on the shoulders.
“There’s no one who knows my body more than this man,” Smith said, which made it easy for them, sitting at home with their Pekingese pups Haggis and Pudding, to dream up what the singer would wear to the couple’s third Met Gala together.
With its mermaid-style skirt, full sleeves, furry collar and panache of tall black feathers on a crowning headpiece, the ensemble was a callback to the opulence of the 1920s, Cowan said, finished off with 255,000 crystals and beads. Two thousand hours of “artisanal hand sewing” got the job done, he said in a quote posted on Smith’s Instagram.
“I feel very lucky to be here and to wear your incredible talent like this, it’s amazing,” the 33-year-old “Stay With Me” vocalist told Cowan.
Can’t wait to see what Smith wears on the big day — hopefully it will be a tad less weighty. Here’s hoping a wedding reception spy is on the guest list.
The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation Monday into Smith College, an all-women’s institution in Massachusetts, for admitting transgender women.
The probe by the department’s Office of Civil Rights will look at whether the college violated Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education.
The move is the latest by the Trump administration — whose rhetoric has frequently included attacks on trans people — to limit transgender rights in the U.S. The administration has said that Title IX prevents trans women from participating in women’s sports, suing several states and launching investigations into schools for not complying.
Smith College, a private liberal arts school founded in 1871, has admitted trans women since 2015, along with many other elite women’s colleges.
The school’s admission policies drew attention and sparked on-campus activism in 2013, when a trans high school senior was denied acceptance because her gender identity did not match the one on her financial aid forms.
Its website now says that “any applicants who self-identify as women; cis, trans, and nonbinary women” are eligible to apply to the school. Advocates have supported the shift over the years, saying that women’s colleges were founded to educate those marginalized because of their gender.
The number of women’s colleges in the U.S. has declined from more than 200 to just 30 as of fall of 2023, according to the Women’s College Coalition.
A college spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
According to the Department of Education in a news release, Title IX contains an exception that allows colleges to be all-male or all-female, but it only applies “on the basis of biological sex difference, not subjective gender identity.”
The investigation into Smith College stems from a complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights in June 2025 by the conservative legal group Defending Education.
“DE and its members oppose, among other things, discrimination on the basis of sex in America’s K-12 schools and institutions of higher education,” the organization said in a news release.
During the Biden administration, new Title IX regulations were issued to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. However, those were struck down by a federal judge in January 2025 who decided the rules had legal shortcomings.
Skip Bayless is returning to ESPN’s “First Take” — but for a very limited time only.
Bayless will join Stephen A. Smith on Friday’s episode of the popular sports debate show in what the network describes as “a one-time reunion” between the two men who haven’t hosted the program together in nearly 10 years.
Bayless appeared on “First Take” from the show’s inception in 2007 until he left ESPN in 2016. Smith has remained on “First Take,” which he currently hosts with Shae Cornette.
It was Smith’s idea to bring back Bayless as a special guest, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to discuss it publicly.
After leaving ESPN, Bayless joined Fox Sports, where he co-hosted similarly formatted show “Undisputed” — for much of the time with co-host Shannon Sharpe — from 2016- to 2024. He currently hosts a podcast, “The Skip Bayless Show,” and is a regular contributor on the digital sports show “The Arena: Gridiron,” starring Gilbert Arenas.
In 2024, Smith addressed rumors of Bayless possibly re-joining “First Take.”
“Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith, together as partners, working across from each other on a debate show, is over,” Smith said on his podcast. “It’s been over. And this is not the first time I’ve said it. There’s no negativity or shade being thrown on Skip Bayless. I have moved on.”
Interim head coach D.J. Smith will be among the candidates for the Kings’ full-time job when general manager Ken Holland conducts his coaching search this month.
Smith took over March 1 when Holland fired Jim Hiller with the Kings at 24-21-14 and out of the playoff picture. The former Ottawa head coach rallied the Kings to an 11-6-6 finish to claim the last wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but the Kings were swept by the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche in their fifth consecutive first-round postseason exit.
“D.J. did a great job,” Holland said Friday. “The team responded to him, so he’s a candidate. … I don’t want to talk to 20 people. I’d like to talk to probably five to eight people, and then make a decision. Some with experience, some maybe assistants, and some who haven’t been a head coach.”
Holland will begin his coaching search next week, looking for a candidate who can get this team out of its first-round playoff exit rut. He reiterated his disinterest in a full-scale rebuild, but also hinted that the Kings might want to make adjustments to their longstanding defense-first philosophy.
The Kings have failed to advance beyond the first round in seven consecutive postseasons since winning the Stanley Cup in 2014, including six first-round exits since team president Luc Robitaille took ultimate charge of hockey operations in 2017. The current Kings had 15 fewer points than last season’s team.
“As I sit here today, I’m not happy,” Holland said. “Luc Robitaille isn’t happy. Our players aren’t happy. It was a disappointing season. Under .500 at home, 29th in the league in goals scored, squeaked into the playoffs, got swept up by a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team. So I’m not happy. We’ve got to make the team better.”
Holland, who replaced Rob Blake a year ago, identified the obvious reason the Kings weren’t a real Stanley Cup contender this season: Their long-standing offensive struggles. The Kings scored only 225 goals, fourth-worst in the NHL and 25 fewer than last season.
Holland attempted to address the problem by trading for Artemi Panarin before the Olympic break, but the high-scoring forward couldn’t make up for the Olympic injury loss of fellow high scorer Kevin Fiala. Holland revealed Fiala might have been ready to return from his broken leg if the Kings had advanced to the second round.
The Kings have prioritized defense for most of the past two decades, often playing a sticky, trapping style that doesn’t promote offensive creativity or attack. That’s tough to overcome against opponents that are more talented while equally committed to defense — such as the Avalanche, who allowed only five goals in their four-game sweep.
Defense won two Stanley Cups for the Kings, but Holland openly wondered whether the Kings need to think bigger.
“Are we too defensive-minded? I’ve got to sort that out,” Holland said. “You’ve got to be good defensively. … You can’t win four games 6-5 in the playoffs. But we’re 29th in the league in goals scored. We’ve got to find ways. Power play has got to be better. We’ve got to generate a little more attack from the back end.”
The Kings also had inept special teams, ranking 28th in the NHL on the power play and 30th in penalty-killing. The Kings were the league’s third-best team at five-on-five defense, but only seventh in total goals allowed thanks to its feckless special teams.
Holland’s coaching hire will have to fix those units without the help of two-time Selke Trophy-winning forward Anze Kopitar, who retired after a 20-year career with Los Angeles. The Kings will need a new captain to replace Kopitar in the dressing room and a high-usage center to take Kopitar’s minutes.
The Kings will be relying even more heavily on Quinton Byfield, the former No. 2 overall draft pick who has grown into a dependable two-way player with the potential to improve in a more open system.
“Obviously it’s going to be QB’s team up front,” Holland said. “Kopi [leaves] a massive hole. He’s the highest-scoring forward in the history of the franchise. He plays 200 feet. He’s big and he’s strong. He wins draws. In my opinion, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. I don’t think we’re just going to be able to go out and find a way to replace him with one person, and I don’t expect it.”
The Kings still have ample veteran talent next to Byfield, Fiala and Panarin, including top scorer Adrian Kempe, emerging forward Alex Laferriere and promising defenseman Brandt Clarke. Holland claims he is eager to add talent across the lineup after he settles on a coach.
“We have lots of good players,” Holland said. “I’ve got to build a better team.”
Crime thriller fans are heaping praise on a gripping new BBC series starring Sheridan Smith, as people say it’s the ‘show of the year’ and has some ‘unexpectedly’ funny moments
Sheridan Smith stars in the new BBC series(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC / Element Pictures)
A new BBC crime thriller series could be your next obsession. If you’re looking for a new series to sink your teeth into, then forget about Netflix and Amazon Prime Video – as a new series now available to watch on BBC One and BBCiPlayer has already been touted as one of the best shows of 2026.
The five-part series stars Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha, and according to people on social media, it is both gripping and “unexpectedly funny”. With only five episodes, it’s the perfect thing to binge this weekend – especially if you’re looking for a “high-stakes” show with tension and laughter.
TV and film reviewer Emily posted a video on TikTok in which she heaped praise on the new series, called The Cage, stating that fans of crime dramas should “get this one on your watch list” immediately.
She said: “We have a brand-new high-stakes crime thriller that the BBC have just dropped, starring Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha. So if you love a good crime thriller, then definitely get this one on your watch list.”
The Cage is set in a casino in Liverpool, where two casino workers named Leanne (Smith) and Matty (Socha) realise they have both plotted to steal from the same safe.
Emily explained: “It’s all about two employees who are both secretly stealing from the same safe without knowing that the other exists. What starts off as a quick way to make extra money turns into something far more dangerous when their lives collide, pulling them into a situation involving crime, pressure, and people that they really do not want to be involved with. From then on, everything just keeps spiralling.”
The TV reviewer said she hasn’t yet finished the series herself, but she’s already “hooked” after just two episodes.
She continued: “I have watched the first two episodes so far, and I am hooked. It’s really tense, gritty, unpredictable, and you have this constant sense that something could go wrong at any moment, which really raises the stakes. It also really leans into desperation and bad decisions, and how quickly things can spiral, even if you think you have a plan.”
The Cage was created by Tony Schumacher, who also created the BBC police drama The Responder, which starred Martin Freeman as a police officer who has been demoted from his position as an inspector and takes on a series of night shifts in Liverpool city centre.
Alongside Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha, The Cage also stars Barry Sloane, Geraldine James, and Sue Jenkins. The show was directed by Al Mackay and was filmed in Liverpool and Merseyside in early 2025.
Commenters on Emily’s video were split over the series. Some said they had already seen it and found it to be “slow”, while others said it was “unexpectedly” good.
One person said: “Watched it all over the past two nights, really, really good. Would recommend it.”
Someone else posted: “This is really good. Unexpectedly, it was quite funny in parts.”
But another wasn’t convinced, writing: “I’ve watched the first episode, [and] it needs to get better. I will try one more, but if it hasn’t grabbed me, that will be me done.”
A fourth shared: “Watching it now. [It’s] a bit slow.”
WASHINGTON — Making his first appearance before Congress since the Trump administration went to war in Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced withering questioning from skeptical Democrats Wednesday over a costly conflict being waged without congressional approval.
The war has cost $25 billion so far, according to Pentagon numbers presented to the House Armed Services Committee during the contentious hearing, ostensibly focused on the administration’s 2027 military budget proposal, which would boost defense spending to a historic $1.5 trillion.
While Republicans focused on the details of military budgeting and voiced support for the operation, Democrats pivoted to the ballooning costs of the war, the huge drawdown of critical U.S. munitions and the bombing of a school that killed children. Some lawmakers also questioned President Trump’s dealings with allies and his shifting justification for the conflict.
Hegseth dismissed the criticism as political and rebuked lawmakers who pushed him for answers.
“The biggest challenge, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless, feckless and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans,” Hegseth said.
Democrats press about reasons for war
Wednesday’s hearing stretched nearly six hours as Democrats and some Republicans questioned Hegseth over the war and his ouster of several top military leaders.
In one tense exchange, Hegseth told Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) that Iran’s nuclear facilities were obliterated in a 2025 attack by the U.S., prompting Smith to question the Trump administration’s reasoning for starting the Iran war less than a year later.
“We had to start this war, you just said 60 days ago, because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat,” said Smith, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “Now you’re saying that it was completely obliterated?”
Hegseth responded by saying that Iran “had not given up their nuclear ambitions” and still had thousands of missiles.
Smith said the war “left us at exactly the same place we were before.”
Democrats accused Hegseth of misleading Americans about the reasons for the conflict and said rising gas prices are now threatening the pocketbooks of millions of people in the U.S.
“Secretary Hegseth, you have been lying to the American public about this war from day one and so has the president,” said Rep. John Garamendi of Walnut Grove, who called the war “a geopolitical calamity,” a “strategic blunder” and a ”self-inflicted wound to America.”
Hegseth blasted Garamendi’s remarks.
“Who are you cheering for here?” he asked the lawmaker. ”Your hatred for President Trump blinds you” to the success of the war.
Hegseth defends firings of officers
The Defense secretary faced intense questions from Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) about his decision to oust the Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen. Randy George, one of several top military officers to be dismissed since Trump’s reelection.
Houlahan said George was deeply respected by both members of the military and Congress and asked why Hegseth fired him. Hegseth’s response that “new leadership” was needed failed to satisfy Houlahan.
“You have no way of explaining why you fired one of the most decorated and remarkable men —” Houlahan began before Hegseth interrupted her. “We needed new leadership,” he repeated.
The Pentagon announced this month that Navy Secretary John Phelan was stepping down. Hegseth previously removed Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the Navy’s top uniformed officer, and Gen. Jim Slife, the Air Force’s No. 2 leader, while Trump fired Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said that while Hegseth is empowered to make personnel changes, he shares what he called “bipartisan concern” about the firings.
“We had a huge bipartisan majority here that had confidence in the Army chief of staff and the secretary of the navy,” Bacon said. “And I would just point out it may be constitutionally right … but it doesn’t make it right or wise.”
Hegseth has said the changes are part of building a “warrior culture” at the Pentagon.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina defended Hegseth’s personnel moves, saying he is “trying to innovate and trying to change the way we do business.”
“I’m glad that you’re firing people,” Mace said. “There are people there that are getting in your way. They need to go.”
Republicans back Trump on Iran
During the extended hearing, Hegseth detailed plans to increase pay for service members and upgrade munitions while also announcing that, as of Tuesday, the Pentagon had authorized $400 million in military aid for Ukraine in its fight against Russia.
But the debate and the questions were dominated by the war in Iran.
While a fragile ceasefire is now in place, the U.S. and Israel launched the war Feb. 28 without congressional oversight. House and Senate Democrats have failed to pass multiple war power resolutions that would have required Trump to halt the conflict until Congress authorizes further action.
Republicans say they back Trump’s wartime leadership, for now, citing Iran’s nuclear program, the potential for talks to resume and the high stakes of withdrawal. Still, GOP lawmakers are eager for the conflict to end, and some are eyeing future votes that could become an important test for the president if the war drags on.
Democrats questioned Hegseth over the war’s economic impact and rising gasoline costs, noting Trump’s promise to lower consumer costs. Hegseth responded by citing the threat posed by Iran.
“What is the cost of Iran having a nuclear weapon that they wield?” he said.
Republicans expressed support for Trump’s decision to strike Iran, including Mace, who in late March had expressed concerns about the justification for the war. “The longer this war continues, the faster it will lose the support of Congress and the American people,” she wrote in a social media post.
On Wednesday, Mace noted her past concerns but said she is “impressed with where we are today.” She told Hegseth: “Everything I have seen, you have surpassed all of my expectations.”
Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor for the world’s oil, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing and posed problems for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections. The U.S. has imposed a naval blockade of Iranian shipping and three American aircraft carriers are in the Middle East for the first time in more than 20 years.
The countries appear locked in a stalemate. Trump told Axios on Wednesday that he is rejecting Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the U.S. blockade.
Finley, Groves, Klepper and Toropin write for the Associated Press.
Beau Greaves became the first woman to win a PDC ranking title by defeating Michael Smith 8-7 in the Players Championship 11 final in Milton Keynes.
The 22-year-old checked out with 142 in the deciding leg to seal victory against the former world champion, closing with a double 11.
Greaves enjoyed a strong run to her encounter with Smith, defeating Rob Cross 6-5 and Gary Anderson 7-1 on the way to the final.
It is the latest step in Greaves’ ascendant career, after she recorded a 114-match winning run in the PDC Women’s Series and became the first woman to hit a nine-dart finish on the PDC ProTour.
Elsewhere in the tournament, world number two Luke Humphries exited in the third round 6-5 to Max Hopp, while Premier League Darts players Stephen Bunting and Josh Rock fell in the first round.
The event did not feature world champion Luke Littler, who is yet to play in a Players Championship event this year, while Michael van Gerwen, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall were also not in the field.
Sheridan Smith has revealed she was once kicked off a flight for ‘being too drunk’Credit: Shutterstock EditorialSheridan revealed all to Alan Carr on his podcastCredit: Life’s a beach podcastThe star said cabin crew ‘left her in Florida’Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Talking on Alan Carr‘s Life’s a Beach podcast, the host asked the much-loved star: “Have you missed flights before and all that?”
Replying, Sheridan, who is currently starring in BBC One’s The Cage, said: “Yeah. I went to Florida to watch my mate boxing.
“And they wouldn’t let me on the flight Alan.”
The Chatty Man star then asked her: “Why? Too drunk. Oh, God.”
In the same chat with Alan, Sheridian admitted to having a fling with stuntsman Alex AnlosCredit: Instagram
The actress played Erin, a woman who goes to Fiji to investigate the disappearance of her sister Lori, in the 2023 drama that aired on Paramount+ and was filmed in Greece.
Spilling the tea, she told host Alan: “I did have a holiday romance actually. I was filming in Greece and the stuntman – I’m giving so much away – he taught me to swim, so he was holding me.
“And the next thing we did have a bit of a romance – it’s an exclusive!
“It’s so romantic and it’s the heat and the bodies are all out!”
At the time of filming, Sheridan posted a picture with Alex, which she shared on her Instagram stories.
In the cosy snap, the pair were all smiles as they posed for the behind the scenes picture.
She had penned over it: “Hanging out after stunt rehearsals with @that_stunt_dude Greece. This guy has made me look bad ass.”
Sheridan also shared another photo of them both on her feed as she captioned it: “Love filming here in Greece. With my set bff @that_stunt_dude. I was a non-swimmer till we met!”
