All season long the talking heads whined about how the Dodgers were destroying baseball because they were able and willing to pay more for players than other teams. That because they played in a larger population and media market the team’s owners had an advantage over smaller market team owners.

The talking heads and others however could not explain why the Angels who play in the same Los Angeles market as the Dodgers and teams like the Mets who have a payroll similar to the Dodgers are at the bottom of their divisions. Why a team like the White Sox despite playing in big market Chicago for two consecutive years lost over 100 games.

However, facts are not something those pushing the supposed inequality and lack of parity argument have on their side. This year’s World Series will feature the Brewers against the winner of the Rays and Guardians American League championship.

For the average baseball fans, they would be hard pressed to name four of the players on all three remaining teams. Maybe the owners and their organization need to be more creative and innovative in marketing their players and teams instead of crying about the Dodgers.

But since we cannot expect the owners and talking heads to be creative and innovative in helping baseball to one again have some relevancy, how about we let a real baseball fan do that?

1. Return MLB back to eight teams in the National League and eight teams in the American League like it had been for many years until the 1960s. Let’s return back to 16 teams and only those teams that have a successful history of being able to host a team get a team.

That does not mean that an expansion team that came into MLB would be eliminated. The Mets for example would be allowed to remain in MLB because they clearly have been able to financially host a team. There are other teams who have been around since the early days of the 1900s who can’t and should no longer have a team.

Instead of having 30 teams, many of which are carrying mediocre players to fill playing rosters, having 16 teams should allow for greater parity between teams. Parity between teams is a common refrain heard over and over again by the owners and talking heads as to why there is a need for a player’s salary cap.

If MLB wants to add additional teams, then it should look to have teams in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Japan, Dominican Republic, Venezuela and South Korea. All places where baseball is huge and which currently are sending significant numbers of players to MLB. Not just numbers but quality players.

Granted with just 16 teams in MLB most teams probably would have very few American born players on these teams. However, the countries which are filling the ranks of MLB should not be faulted.

The reality is that baseball is no longer the national pastime of the US. Or to put it another way, American born youth are not playing baseball and have little to any interest in baseball. MLB needs to find some creative and innovative ways to market baseball to American youth. It has done a piss poor job so far.

MLB needs to eliminate its playoff format and return back to the team in the American League with the best record playing the team in the National league for the World Series. I know this idea will not be popular with media outlets and bettors, but the playoff format has made a mockery of the World Series.

The World Series used to mean something. It no longer does when you have a team with a regular season record at .500 or lower playing against another team with a similar season record in the World Series.

It is no longer the best versus the best, but a crap shoot between two teams that had a few lucky bounces during the playoffs. Similar to the NCAA March Madness tournament. Yes, the media outlets and the bettors like it, but how often does the unquestionably best team end up with the crown?

2. MLB has made certain changes which have not been helpful. One of them was interleague play. Interleague play takes away from the specialness of the World Series. Get rid of it.

Get rid of the pitch count. It was adopted by MLB to speed up the game as if shortening the length of the game would make it more attractive to a youthful market to follow the game. Not only has it not lent itself to bringing younger fans to the game, but it has also alienated older fans who remember the time when there was nothing better than a doubleheader that took all day.

A doubleheader to that fan was the equivalent of a follower of Judaism going to Jerusalem, a follower of Islam going to Mecca and a follower of Christianity going to Bethlehem all rounded up in one.

If a person is not interested or does not have the time to watch a game that is on them. Don’t have time, don’t watch, don’t attend.

The two throw over to a base with a runner. A terrible rule. Baseball is a game within a game within a game. That is its beauty. The stolen base. The steal of home. The hit and run. The sacrifice bunt and the suicide bunt. Signs and counter signs. The moves and counter moves. That is true baseball.

3. One-year contracts for all players with a base salary and cap of $1 million. Once a current player’s contract ends the player would be subject to a one-year contract worth a $1 million with incentives that could result in the players making upwards of $50 million for one year if the player met those incentives.

All teams would be limited to providing the same incentives in terms of objectives and money. For example, if a player won the MVP award for that year, the player would receive an additional $10 million. A player who came in second would receive $5 million, third $3 million. It would be the same for the CY Young award.

A person would be entitled to automate bonus money for playing 150 games each season. A player who played every game that season would receive a bonus.

A pitcher who pitched 25 or 30 games and/or a certain number of innings would receive bonus money for that. The league would develop an extensive list of incentives based on position and performance which would be the standard contract throughout the league.

Attractive incentive money for hits, runs scored, winning the triple crown, winning the batting crown, lowest earned run average and so on and so on.

There would be no more free agency. Send the agents packing. Teams could trade players, but no money would be included in such trades. Strictly player for player or player for players trades.

Return back to allowing players to play for one team their entire career. Fans want to be able to identify with players as if the player were family in good years and bad. The team might not have a great record, but there will be players on that team who fans of the team feel a special connection with year in and year. Nowadays it is hard keeping track as to who is on a team and who is not.

Return baseball back to the fans, not the agents, not the owners and the player’s union but back to the fans and the ball players.

Staff Writer; Al Alatunji

Question or comment regarding this article? Feel free to send a message to: Alatunji@ThyBlackMan.com.

Which leaves a bunch of us in the fall of 2026 scratching our heads over the same riddle Black men in barbershops from here to Shreveport have turned over for a decade. Why does he keep showing up for a figure like that?

You can’t answer it honestly without rewinding almost 40 years, back when both of them were cash machines wearing different uniforms. Through the late 1980s, while Donald stacked casinos along the Atlantic City boardwalk, the champ was demolishing grown men with a ferocity the boxing world had rarely witnessed. Trump Plaza became closely associated with the fighter’s biggest nights, including the famous 1988 showdown with Michael Spinks at the Atlantic City Convention Hall, right beside the hotel. Trump paid a record $11 million site fee to bring that fight to town. Those were sweaty weekend spectacles where big money, celebrity, and real violence all shared the spotlight. One of them needed packed arenas and headlines. The other wanted paydays and a glittering stage. They fed each other, and the bond was built on something older than ideology, which is plain mutual usefulness.

Then came the fall. Indiana, 1992, when Tyson was convicted of raping Desiree Washington, an 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant, and sentenced to six years in prison. The conviction shattered his career and permanently complicated his public legacy. Here’s where the relationship takes another turn, because the casino boss publicly defended him. Trump questioned the verdict, argued that Tyson had been railroaded, and even suggested allowing him to continue fighting while directing money toward Washington and other rape victims instead of sending him to prison. None of that changes what Tyson was convicted of doing or diminishes the harm Washington suffered. But from the fighter’s perspective, having a powerful friend defend him during the darkest chapter of his public life may have carried enormous weight. Loyalty like that, offered when a man’s reputation has collapsed, can create a sense of obligation that lasts for decades. Looking at their friendship today, I suspect Tyson has never forgotten who spoke up for him.

Jump to 2015, when a reality-TV blowhard rode an escalator into presidential politics, and guess who stepped up early? The champ offered his blessing, praising Trump’s business background and arguing the country ought to run more like a business where the gig goes to whoever can actually do it. Tyson wasn’t blind to every controversy surrounding his friend, either. He acknowledged that some of Trump’s comments about Latinos were crude, even as he defended the man making them. Critics winced. When Trump celebrated the endorsement during the 2016 Republican primary, Ted Cruz condemned him for embracing the support of a man convicted of rape, while Carly Fiorina questioned what that enthusiasm revealed about Trump’s character. None of that seemed to shake Tyson’s support. He had offered a political argument about business and leadership, sure, but I have always suspected something more personal was operating underneath it. He was vouching for somebody who had vouched for him first.

Push the clock to now and the picture only sharpens. Donald won again in 2024, securing a second, nonconsecutive term, and his political movement has reached into whole lanes of American life, wellness included. Back in February 2026, millions watched the former heavyweight appear in a Super Bowl advertisement for the Make America Healthy Again movement, urging Americans to eat real food instead of loading their bodies with heavily processed junk. The privately funded spot came from the nonprofit MAHA Center and drew on Tyson’s own struggles with unhealthy eating and the loss of his sister. Smart casting, honestly. Who better to preach about surviving your own worst appetites than a guy who once bit off part of a rival’s ear and has spent years trying to make peace with his own complicated history? That advertisement brought him into another corner of Trump’s political orbit, and his appearance in Syracuse this fall offered another reminder of just how long this friendship has endured.

So let me set the real question on the table, the one the headline keeps circling. Is this loyalty, shared values, or honest political agreement?

Strip it down and the policy piece looks thin, at least from where I sit. I’ve listened to this brother talk for 30 years, and not once have I heard him offer some sweeping breakdown of tax brackets, tariffs, or the fine print of Medicaid. Ask about a jab or a left hook and he’ll teach a master class. Raise congressional appropriations and I wouldn’t expect the same enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean Tyson has no political beliefs. His comments about running government like a business tell us he has considered at least some questions of leadership and economic opportunity. But treating his continued support as proof of some deep ideological alignment hands both figures more philosophical credit than the public record earns. There is a difference between believing somebody can lead and embracing every policy that person carries into office.

Values, though, that runs warmer. Each of these characters built an entire life on defiance, on telling polite society precisely where to stick its opinion, on outlasting scandals and setbacks that might have ended somebody else’s public career. Strength, dominance, refusing to surrender, those seem to be the shared scriptures. Two people who have been counted out, laughed at, written off, then found their way back into the spotlight might naturally recognize something familiar in each other. That recognition could explain more than any position paper ever would. Trump sees a former champion who still commands attention when he enters a room. Tyson sees a businessman turned president who has spent decades refusing to retreat when the world turns against him. Neither man has built his public identity around winning everybody’s approval, and that similarity counts for plenty.

Still, I believe loyalty is the engine. Everything else is just trim. When you’ve endured public disgrace and remember that one powerful person defended you while much of the country condemned you, that memory can outlive trophies, outlive presidencies, outlive whatever either of you thinks about the border or the budget. I cannot climb inside Tyson’s head and declare what drives every decision he makes. Nobody outside that friendship can. But watching him stand beside Trump nearly four decades after those Atlantic City nights, I see a man whose allegiance appears rooted in something more enduring than campaign promises. Maybe he agrees with the Republican agenda. Maybe he admires the president’s approach to leadership. My reading is that neither explanation carries quite the same emotional weight as remembering who stood up for him when his own world came crashing down.

I want to sit in the discomfort of it too, because it sits funny with me. That tension is fair, especially for Black men who adore the fighter and can’t stand the ticket he keeps boosting. A person can be grateful to someone who defended him personally and still find himself tangled in a politics that troubles people who once cheered his every victory. Pretending otherwise flattens a whole human being into a cartoon. Plenty of Brothers reading this feel some kind of way watching a Black icon prop up a figure so many of us distrust. Others may share Tyson’s support for Trump and see nothing troubling about the friendship at all. But personal loyalty and public accountability are two different things, and we ought to be grown enough to recognize both. Gratitude doesn’t check your voter registration. It rarely asks whether the friendship helps anybody outside the two people living in it. And defending somebody through a criminal conviction is not the same thing as proving that conviction was unjust.

So what does Tyson’s presence in Syracuse really tell us? From where I stand, he appears to be doing something he has done since those boardwalk days, showing up for a man whose relationship with him has survived extraordinary changes in fortune. His presence beside Trump doesn’t tell us everything about his political philosophy, and it certainly doesn’t require the rest of us to adopt it. What it does reveal is a bond that has endured long after the casinos, championship fights, prison sentence, and presidential campaigns changed both men’s lives. I suspect that personal history matters more to Tyson than most people on either side of the political aisle are willing to acknowledge. You can respect the fidelity while side-eyeing who benefits from it. That blend of admiration and unease might be the most truthful place to land.

Nearly forty years in, the picture speaks for itself, even if the motives behind it remain Tyson’s alone to explain. Whatever you make of the politics, nobody can seriously argue that he has turned his back on Donald Trump. In a culture that ghosts folks the second they stop trending, maybe that stubborn fidelity is the most Tyson thing about him.

Staff Writer; L.L. McKenna

Politics explained through the lens of justice and equity. Offering perspective that informs, challenges, and empowers.

One can contact this brother at; LLMcKenna@ThyBlackMan.com.

For families with a child in middle school, Score Academy Online is our top pick: it is Cognia accredited, its middle school program covers grades 6 to 8 within a wider K-12 private online school, and families can choose among three scheduling formats. These include live small-group classes, live lessons with recordings, and fully self-paced study, all with real teachers. Families who need K-12 continuity during international moves should look closely at Forest Trail Academy. Those who want self-paced study backed by a traditional school support team may find The Keystone School a particularly good fit.

The sections ahead include a quick comparison and guidance on what to look for, followed by detailed profiles of each school. Each profile covers strengths and trade-offs, and the closing questions address common concerns about schedules, support, and school records.

At a glance

What to look for

Choosing well matters in middle school. Grades 6 to 8 build the study habits your child will carry into high school, so scheduling flexibility needs to sit alongside dependable academic support. Look for legitimate credentials, a workable weekly schedule, access to teachers, and courses designed for the middle grades rather than a program that simply offers them on paper.

• Accreditation status: Look for recognition from a known body such as Cognia or WASC. It signals that credits and school transcripts are documented to a standard high schools understand.
• Scheduling options vary: some schools are fully self-paced, some offer live online classes with recordings, and some blend both. Consider whether your child needs to work around travel or benefits from regular live contact.
• Teacher and support access: A strong private online school gives you real educators, advisors, or counselors you can reach, not just videos and quizzes. Check how and when students and parents can get help.
• Grade-level fit matters even within a K-12 school. Make sure the middle school courses, workload, and support are built for ages 11 to 14 rather than adapted from high school without enough attention to younger students.

The 6 best online schools for flexible scheduling

These six schools aim to help families balance school with sports, travel, and everyday life, and each provides documented coursework and teacher or staff support. Their grade ranges and learning formats differ, as do the ways families get help. Number one is our top recommendation for most middle school families; the others may fit better when a particular scheduling or support need takes priority.

#1. Score Academy Online – best for accredited middle school program with multiple formats

Score Academy Online is a private K-12 online school with a middle school program for grades 6 to 8, designed for families who want structure without a rigid school day.

The program lets you get accredited education from home through three packages: live small-group classes, live group lessons with recordings you can review later, and fully self-paced study. Every path includes teacher involvement rather than automated lessons alone. Live packages offer real-time interaction and teacher chat; asynchronous study includes teacher grading and progress tracking, but not live lessons or teacher chat. If scheduling is your main concern, compare these packages against an ordinary training or travel week, including the time your child can realistically set aside for lessons and independent work.

For athletes and travelers, the live option with recordings can be a useful middle ground. Your child gets regular teacher contact and a class rhythm, with recordings available to review from a hotel or rink. Recordings provide replay access; review attendance requirements before planning travel during scheduled lessons. Fully self-paced study works well when schedules change from week to week, while the small-group live format suits students who focus better with peers and a set meeting time.

Strengths

• Cognia accredited private school background, which helps high schools understand your child’s records
• Three formats under one roof, with live small-group classes and recorded live lessons alongside self-paced online learning
• Real teachers in every package, not software only
• Middle grades focus means reading, writing, math, and study skills are pitched for grades 6 to 8
• Record keeping designed to produce a clear transcript for high school applications

Trade-offs

• Fully self-paced study requires a regular progress routine at home, particularly for students still learning to organize their work
• Private school tuition applies, so it is not a free public virtual school option
• Live formats still require some routine, which can be difficult during peak tournament or travel weeks

Best for: Families who want an accredited online middle school with a choice between live teacher contact and independent study with teacher grading.

#2. Sterling Academy – best for year-round rolling enrollment and part-time coursework

Sterling Academy’s Cognia/SACS-accredited program covers grades 6 through 12 and is built around self-paced study with round-the-clock access to coursework. The school also offers K-5, but its stated Cognia/SACS accreditation specifically covers the middle and high school grades.

You can enroll full-time or part-time, pursue a diploma pathway, or take individual courses to supplement homeschool or another program. Enrollment is open year-round. That means families do not have to wait for fall, and students get 24/7 access to online coursework plus opportunities for one-on-one assistance when they get stuck.

That setup fits competitive dancers, hockey players, equestrians, and families who travel for work. Your child can plan coursework for early mornings, evenings, or gaps between events while keeping course-completion deadlines in view. Part-time enrollment and single-course options are useful if you only need math and science online and plan to keep other subjects elsewhere.

Strengths

• Accredited 6 to 12 program with 24/7 coursework access, allowing students to choose when they study
• Full-time and part-time enrollment, plus individual courses for families supplementing another program
• Year-round start dates remove the September-only barrier
• One-on-one assistance available for tougher units
• Clear fit for athletes and performers with uneven weekly hours

Trade-offs

• Self-paced success depends on student motivation and parent check-ins, especially in grades 6 to 8
• Less daily live class community than a live small-group model, which some social learners miss
• A simple weekly plan for progress checks can help keep work from piling up before travel

Best for: Families who want to start any time of year, study part-time, or add single courses around sports and travel.

#3. The Keystone School – best for self-paced learning with traditional school support

The Keystone School is an accredited online school offering self-paced distance learning across elementary, middle, and high school, with full-time enrollment as well as part-time and homeschool routes.

The school-style support behind the self-paced courses is a key part of its appeal. Families have access to educators, administrators, and guidance services staff, and can reach faculty and staff by phone or email. Teachers are state certified, so instruction and feedback come from licensed professionals rather than an automated system alone.

If your child is leaving a brick-and-mortar school, this can feel familiar. There is grading, school structure, and someone to call when you have a question, while your child still controls when learning happens during the day. It suits families who want independent study with a school team available to help.

Strengths

• Self-paced courses across elementary, middle, and high school, available through full-time, part-time, and homeschool routes
• Dedicated faculty and administrators, with guidance staff available for academic and administrative questions
• Licensed teachers provide grading and support
• Reachable by phone or email, which helps parents who want clear accountability
• Good bridge for students moving from a traditional school to flexible online learning

Trade-offs

• Students still need to manage daily progress on their own, so parent oversight matters in middle school
• Fewer scheduled live peer classes than cohort-based models, which can feel quiet for social learners
• Families with very heavy travel may need to build their own weekly rhythm around deadlines

Best for: Students who want to work independently but keep the backing of a full school team.

#4. Forest Trail Academy – best for international families and K-12 breadth

Forest Trail Academy is an accredited international K-12 online school based in West Palm Beach, Florida, with toll-free and direct phone support.

The K-12 range is the draw here. You can keep siblings in one system and continue from middle school into high school without applying to a different school. Its international enrollment makes it relevant to families living abroad, moving often, or schooling across time zones. US-based administration also gives parents a point of contact for school records and questions.

For middle schoolers who travel internationally or split time between countries, staying in one continuous program through grades 6 to 8 and beyond can reduce paperwork and transcript gaps. That continuity is worth considering alongside the day-to-day task of finding study time while away from home.

Strengths

• Accredited K-12 online school, so your child can stay in one program as they grow
• Experience with international families and mobile lifestyles
• US-based office with phone support for admissions and records
• Useful continuity for siblings in different grades
• Documented coursework that supports applications to the next school

Trade-offs

• Keeping one school during travel does not remove the need to reserve consistent study time across changing time zones
• Younger middle schoolers still need a parent to help organize coursework and equipment, and find a suitable place to study

Best for: Families abroad, frequent movers, or parents who want one K-12 home for several years.

#5. Acellus Academy – best for structured platform-led learning

Acellus Academy is a structured online school serving grades K to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 12, known for its guided online course system with parent tools.

Students follow a clear course sequence using video-based instruction and practice, with checks for understanding along the way. Automated diagnostics help target missing concepts, and a parent monitoring account shows progress, attendance patterns, and grades. Families can enroll full-time or choose individual courses, and phone support is available Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Central Time from its Kansas City base. The school holds WASC accreditation.

This is a good fit if your middle schooler likes clear steps and predictable routines. Your child logs in and follows the lesson path, while you can review progress in the evening after practice without having to sit alongside every lesson.

Strengths

• Clear grade bands, including a dedicated 6 to 8 middle school segment
• Structured lesson path with built-in checks that help students fill gaps
• Parent account for monitoring pace and grades
• Full-time or individual course enrollment for flexible planning
• WASC accreditation supports record credibility

Trade-offs

• Platform-led style means less live teacher interaction than live class models
• Phone help is limited to weekday business hours, which can be tricky across time zones or on weekends
• Students who need discussion and peer interaction may find the format quiet

Best for: Independent middle schoolers who thrive with a structured, step-by-step online program and active parent monitoring.

#6. Obridge Academy – best for personalized support with counseling and advisement

Obridge Academy offers flexible online alternatives for middle school and high school with an emphasis on personalized attention.

Alongside subject teachers, the school has an education team that includes counseling and advisement professionals and a Director of Support Services. That team supports international students and those catching up after a tough year, as well as students planning next steps toward higher education pathways. Obridge Academy is Cognia accredited and offers both middle school and high school programs.

For parents, the appeal is access to several kinds of support. Your child can get academic instruction alongside help from an advisement team, a useful combination when a family wants guidance on coursework and the transition to high school.

Strengths

• Online middle school and high school options with flexible pacing
• Built-in counseling and advisement team alongside subject help
• Personalized attention aimed at nontraditional learners and international students
• Support leadership on staff for coordinating interventions
• Pathway guidance that looks ahead to high school and beyond

Trade-offs

• Counseling and advisement complement coursework but do not replace a student’s need for regular study time
• A personalized support approach works best when students communicate difficulties and families stay involved in academic planning

Best for: Middle schoolers who do best with extra adult guidance alongside academics, including students rebuilding momentum.

Frequently asked questions about flexible online middle schools

Which is best for families who want no Zoom and minimal live meetings?

If you want the least live time, compare fully self-paced options first. Sterling Academy, The Keystone School, and Acellus Academy let students progress without daily live attendance, with help available by message, email, or phone. Score Academy Online can also work if you choose its fully self-paced package rather than its live formats. Before enrolling, ask whether any specific course requires live sessions so you can judge the schedule against your family’s commitments.

Which is best for struggling students versus students who just need more time?

For students who are behind or have lost confidence, compare support depth rather than pace alone. Obridge Academy offers counseling and advisement alongside personalized attention, while The Keystone School has guidance staff and licensed teachers behind its self-paced courses. If your child is doing fine academically and mainly needs room for sports or travel, focus on how the schedule works in practice. Score Academy Online’s format choices and Sterling Academy’s self-paced access are worth comparing, with support needs considered separately from timing.

What is the difference between transcripts from flexible online schools and traditional schools for high school admissions?

The learning format matters less than documentation and accreditation. A strong accredited online school issues a transcript that includes courses, grades, credits, and school details high schools know how to read. Ask whether the school is Cognia accredited or WASC accredited, how grades are recorded, and what records you receive if you leave midyear. Keep report cards and course descriptions, along with contact details for the registrar, to make a transfer easier to manage. The receiving high school decides placement and whether any courses taken for high school credit meet its requirements.

What is the difference between a self-paced online school and a live virtual school?

Self-paced means your child controls when learning happens within broad deadlines, which helps around practices and flights. In a live virtual school, classes meet online at set times, adding routine and peer contact but allowing less day-to-day freedom. Some schools blend both approaches through live lessons with recordings. Match the choice to your child: independent workers often prefer self-paced study, while social or easily distracted learners often do better with regular live contact.

What is the difference between accredited and unaccredited online programs and how do you check?

Accreditation means an outside body has reviewed the school’s curriculum quality, teacher qualifications, and record keeping. An unaccredited program can still teach content, but future schools may question its credits. Look for the accreditor’s name on the school site, then find the school in the accreditor’s directory. You can also call the school to ask for its accreditation ID and details of the transcript you receive. Be wary of vague claims that do not name an accrediting body.

Which is best for full-time travel versus part-time supplement?

For full-time travel or a full course load around elite sports, compare Score Academy Online for its middle grade program and format choices, Sterling Academy for year-round starts and 24/7 access, and Forest Trail Academy for K-12 continuity abroad. For part-time needs, Sterling Academy and Acellus Academy offer individual courses, while The Keystone School has part-time and homeschool routes with school support. Choose full-time when you want one transcript source and part-time when you only need one or two subjects.

Your next step by scenario

If your priority is middle school with a choice of learning formats, start with Score Academy Online for its grades 6 to 8 program and real teachers. If you need to start midseason or add single courses, consider Sterling Academy’s rolling entry and part-time paths. If you want self-paced work with a familiar school team behind you, look at The Keystone School. For families living abroad or seeking one school from middle through high school, Forest Trail Academy is a practical option. Acellus Academy suits students who like a clear platform path with parent oversight, while Obridge Academy is worth considering for advisement alongside classes. As you compare options for 2026, use your actual family calendar to judge which schedule leaves room for schoolwork while keeping teacher support and records in place.

Staff Writer; Peter Washington

Women’s college basketball fans will be fortunate to be able to see both Strong and Watkins play in college this season because neither were eligible to enter the 2026 WNBA Draft as underclassmen. The WNBA is not like the NBA, where talented college freshmen, can leave for the NBA Draft, often called “one and done”. According to the collective bargaining agreement between the WNBA and its players’ union, all NCAA players who graduate from a four-year college within three months of the draft, or are four years removed from high school graduation, or turn at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place are eligible to renounce any remaining NCAA eligibility and opt in to the WNBA draft. However, International draftees must be at least 20 years old during the year in which the draft takes place. It is peculiar that the international draftees can be 2 years younger than those women’s basketball prospects in the U.S.

It is easy to forget about how men’ college basketball would have been affected if superstar high school basketball players like a LeBron James or a Kevin Garnett had been “forced” to attend college? That is not a question that could have been answered 2004 but in 2005, the NBA enacted a new age limit that requires “that an amateur player of American origin be at least nineteen-years-old on December 31 of the year of the NBA draft and that at least one NBA season must have passed when he graduated from high school, or would have graduated from high school, and the NBA draft”. There were many strong feelings about the NBA’s age limit from those who passionately follow college and professional basketball. During the 2000s and 2010s, some of the NBA’s best players were draftees who never played a minute of men’s college basketball including James, Tracy McGrady, and Dwight Howard who are all in the Basketball Hall of Fame or will be.

The growth of women’s basketball over the past decade has made this an even more legitimate question now. In the past two seasons, the league has added Golden State, Portland, and Toronto. By 2031, there will be new WNBA teams in Detroit, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. It is also important to point out the instant success of the Golden State Valkyries, who immediately established themselves as some of the better teams in the WNBA just two years since joining the league which is a sign of the greater women’s basketball talent pool. The major injury to USC’s Juju Watkins back in 2025 was a terrible thing for her but may have never happened if she could also have left for the WNBA after her freshman year like her male counterparts. NIL is an important incentive for the top women’s college basketball players to be paid in college but many would benefit from the choice of being able to start their WNBA professional careers early.

Staff Writer; Mark Hines

Let me lay out what we can confirm. Shannon claims a representative reached out and made it plain that certain clients would not be sitting across from him. To hear him tell it, that’s hypocrisy in plain sight, the same crowd that praises open speech right up until the moment it pinches them. His point was that people support freedom of speech until somebody says something they disagree with, and that argument deserves consideration whether or not the wider tale checks out. Ocho was part of the conversation, and the discussion raised questions about who gets to decide which athletes appear on the program. Social media, being what it is, had plenty to say about the accusation before anybody could establish exactly what happened behind the scenes.

Past the drama, here is where the whole thing turns worth studying. Strip away the mystery agency and the vague callout, and the former tight end stumbled onto a question this culture has circled for years. How much say does a man really hold over his own voice once he signs with a shop?

Because let’s not play. Managing image is the gig. It isn’t some conspiracy, it’s the literal job description. These offices exist to keep talent marketable, to smooth over messes, to whisper “maybe skip that one” when a room looks radioactive. The good ones build crisis plans and walk ballplayers through sitdowns so a bad soundbite doesn’t torch an endorsement. A young athlete with generational money on the table needs somebody watching the blind spots, and a sharp adviser earns that fee by seeing trouble three moves ahead. None of that reads as villainy. That reads as competence.

So a representative urging caution around a host who has faced his share of controversial headlines? Reasonable. Shannon faced a highly publicized civil lawsuit in 2025 involving sexual assault allegations he denied. The case was settled and dismissed that July, and ESPN subsequently parted ways with him. A careful representative might consider that history when weighing whether a multimillion dollar client belongs in that chair, though nobody has established that the lawsuit played any role in the guest restrictions Sharpe described. A family hiring somebody to protect an athlete’s reputation isn’t necessarily looking for a yes man. Sometimes the person earning that fee has to deliver advice the client doesn’t want to hear.

But a canyon sits between guidance and a flat “you cannot go.” One is counsel. The other is a leash.

That gap is the whole ballgame. Somebody online framed it perfectly, asking whether the agent works for the player or the player works for the agent. Sit with that. We’re talking about grown Black men. Fathers. Business owners. Guys who absorbed hits that’ll ache in the knees at fifty. And the notion floating around is that one phone call from a representative could potentially dictate which conversations get had at all. We don’t know whether any athlete actually wanted to appear on Nightcap and was prevented from doing so. That distinction matters. But if a player wants to sit down for an interview and somebody else can override his decision without his consent, it raises a serious question about who’s steering the ship.

Money explains plenty. Endorsement checks, appearance fees, and brand partnerships can give agents considerable influence over an athlete’s public image. A player who depends on that professional relationship might think twice before challenging a representative’s advice, even when the final decision remains his own. Rock the boat, ask one question too many, wander onto the wrong stage, and a man might start wondering whether those opportunities could dry up. That doesn’t mean the unnamed agency threatened anybody financially or interfered with endorsement deals. We have no evidence of that. Still, the possibility of losing valuable business relationships can influence which conversations an athlete chooses to have and which subjects he would rather leave alone.

Still, I’m not handing Shannon a clean pass either. He named nobody, and he provided no correspondence or other evidence that listeners could examine independently. A heavy charge deserves heavy backing, and “y’all know who you are” isn’t backing, it’s a public callout with a gold jacket behind it. Vagueness cuts both ways. It lets the man present himself as somebody being unfairly excluded while leaving the audience without enough information to determine what actually happened. It also lets folks pour whatever meaning they please into the empty space. Once speculation takes over, theories that have nothing to do with a ballplayer’s right to book his own calendar can quickly muddy the discussion.

Aim the lens where it belongs, though, and the core matter survives the noise. Grown professionals ought to pick which rooms to enter. A trainer can tell you to skip leg day. Chaining your ankles is another story entirely. An adviser can flag a risky booking and spell out the downside in plain English. Yanking the decision out of a man’s hands completely, without an agreement giving that representative such authority, crosses into something else. Black men who built a name with nothing but talent and a mouth shouldn’t need a hall pass to speak.

The counter deserves air, because it’s fair. Reputation is fragile, and one loose hour beside the wrong host can cost a guy a shoe deal he spent a decade building. When a client pays a shop to guard the brand, firm boundaries may be part of the arrangement. Tell your people “handle my press, I trust you,” and a refusal to approve an appearance can become that trust in motion, not a betrayal of it. Plenty of quiet stars are happy letting somebody else swallow these headaches. An athlete who voluntarily gives his representatives control over media bookings hasn’t necessarily surrendered his independence. He may simply have decided that managing those decisions is part of the service he’s paying for.

Both truths hold at once. That’s the messy part people want to skip. Protecting somebody can be the right thing to do. Silencing him against his wishes is another matter. Trouble is, from the cheap seats the two look nearly identical, and only the parties inside that arrangement know which one is really unfolding. Until the athletes themselves explain whether they wanted to appear on Nightcap, nobody outside those conversations can say for certain whether their representatives were carrying out their wishes or overriding them.

So who runs the conversation? Not the host, plainly, or there’d be no venting into a mic about empty guest chairs. Maybe the ballplayers made their own decisions and simply had no interest in appearing. Maybe their agents advised them against it, and they agreed. Or perhaps some wanted to participate and were told the booking would never happen. Those are different situations, and the distinction matters. The honest answer is that power in this business doesn’t always sit with the face we see. Sometimes it rests with the athlete, sometimes with the representative he hired, and sometimes with the terms of an agreement the public knows nothing about. Black men who have built careers through their own talent deserve a clear understanding of who controls their public appearances and how much authority they have handed over. Shannon’s complaint, whether he provides evidence or not, at least hauled that question into daylight. Now we find out whether anybody with skin in it has the nerve to answer.

Staff Writer; J.G. Lacour

Covering the NBA, NFL, college basketball, college football, and Major League Baseball from a Black man’s perspective. He loves the full world of sports, but the NFL remains his favorite.

Need to contact this bro, feel free to use this email address; JGLacour@ThyBlackMan.com.

Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds is a polarizing figure. He is a man who seemed to attract attention no matter what he was doing. Many people marveled at his physical gifts: his eye for identifying pitches, his prior prowess for stealing bases and stealing home runs from opposing players while on defense, his ability to hit home runs and line drives due to incredible bat speed on his swing, and other physical abilities. Other baseball fans looked at Bonds completely differently and wonder if he is cheating.

They observed that his body has gotten more muscular and larger during his late 30s and early 40s, noticed that his head had gotten noticeably bigger, and saw that he was setting all types of home run, hitting, and slugging records at an advanced age when most professional athletes are losing skills and diminishing in physical ability. For these reasons, numerous baseball fans wonder concluded that Bonds was on performance-enhancing drugs of different types.

Barry Bonds was also able to shatter numerous Major League Baseball records and gained more fame and notoriety for do so. He is not only the single season home run record holder; he is the single season and career leader in walks and intentional walks. But the breaking the legendary Hank Aaron’s career home run record of 755, is Barry Bonds’ biggest career accomplishment. As Bonds approached the epic record career home run record, people were puzzled about how to celebrate or treat his accomplishment. Should baseball fans boo Bonds or cheer him after every home run he hit? Should sports journalists write positively or negatively of Bonds? Even Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig was indecisive early in the season about whether he would be present when Bonds broke the record. (He would be present when Bonds passed Aaron for the record). It seems if a person is a baseball fan or sports fan then they have a strong opinion of Bonds, one way or the other.

Because of the controversy and the amount of publicity Bonds produced, it made an analysis on the perception of him a fascinating concept. With the analysis, one can gather how differently two groups (Black people and White people) perceive a controversial Black athlete. Peyton Bonds has the advantage of having the all-time home run leader to get advice from but one wonders if that advice should be searched for given the well-chronicled controversies around Barry Bonds.

Staff Writer; Mark Hines

Let me tell you where that feeling comes from, because it is not simple jealousy and it is not some cheap swipe at a legend. I grew up on this man. Half my generation did. Back when he cracked backboards in Orlando and later owned the paint out in Los Angeles, he felt like one of ours who escaped the maze without leaving his soul behind. Enormous, hilarious, unbothered, giving to a fault. A Newark boy raised partly on army bases who bloomed into the friendly colossus we wanted our sons to study. So watching him beam beside the FBI director, accepting an honorary badge from an institution with a complicated history in our communities, well, that touched a nerve I did not see coming.

Sit inside the picture a minute. A whole lot of us carry a tangled history with badges and bureaus, some of it fresh, much of it handed down through fathers and grandfathers who learned the lesson the hard way. Federal authority has not always treated people who look like me with the dignity they deserved. Ask the elders who remember what those three letters meant to Dr. King, to the Panthers, to organizers who woke up watched. That memory did not evaporate. It lives in the marrow. And here stands a hero we claimed, in a season this raw, smiling wide as he accepts a shield like it came with the party gift bag. Shaq has maintained ties with law enforcement for years, and maybe he intends nothing political by any of it. Still, from where I sit, the picture raises questions about whether men who reach that level of fame can fully appreciate how differently the rest of us experience the world. A gesture can look harmless from one vantage point and stir an entirely different feeling in somebody standing closer to the pavement.

Now let me play fair before anybody accuses me of hating on greatness. The Diesel has built a business empire worth an estimated half a billion dollars, with income flowing from endorsements, broadcasting, restaurant ventures and other investments. His business interests stretch across Papa John’s restaurants, the Big Chicken franchise, and Authentic Brands Group, which owns Reebok. He also serves as president of Reebok Basketball. Add a television contract worth millions annually, and the empire keeps humming long after the final buzzer. Barely a week back he was participating in a charity event in Manhattan, then spinning records as DJ Diesel before a college football crowd in Chapel Hill the very next morning. His calendar reads like a fever dream. On paper the whole arrangement looks like a bedtime story for any child raised on nothing.

The success is genuine, and I salute every brick of it. What gnaws at me lives elsewhere. It is not the size of the bank account. It is the distance.

Picture the average working cat clocking in at a warehouse outside Memphis or steering delivery routes through Atlanta before dawn breaks the trees. Rent climbed again this year, same as last. Groceries now cost what a car note used to run in the nineties. His daughter needs braces the dentist quoted at $4,000, his mother needs her blood pressure pills refilled, and one paycheck has to spread across every last inch of that arithmetic. Overtime is not a luxury. It is oxygen. He loved the Big Aristotle too, understand. Bought the sneakers, quoted the movies word for word, defended the fella in barbershop arguments whenever some youngblood dared call him overrated.

Now that same devoted fan scrolls past a clip of Superman buying a stranger 10 pairs of shoes or quietly covering somebody’s grocery bill at the register, and two feelings surface at once. Pride, no question. Sliding beneath it, a dull ache the brother cannot quite put a name to.

I know that ache. I have parked in those barber chairs my entire life. I have listened to grown men run the numbers of survival out loud, laughing to keep from weeping, splitting a Friday check between the landlord, the pharmacy counter, and the children’s growing feet. Nobody sitting in those rooms ever begged a hero to swoop down and save them. What they wanted was quieter and far harder to give. They wanted to trust that the ones who climbed out still knew their names, still felt the pull of the block, still remembered the smell of the neighborhood in late August. Presence, not a wire transfer. A canyon separates being helped from being known.

Question whether the big fella gives, and you would lose that debate fast. He hands out kindness like peppermints from a church usher. Back in 2020, a 17 year old Dallas student named Kylon Owens needed a suit sharp enough for prom, and Shaq teamed up with JCPenney to make it happen. Kids get shoes. Families get surprises they never asked for. His generosity has reached people who might otherwise have gone without, and I have no reason to doubt the sincerity behind those gestures. That habit of giving is a beautiful thing about him, and I refuse to spit on it for one line of this column.

Yet here sits the honest question I keep turning over in my hands. Is cutting a check the same as staying tied to a place? Dropping fresh Jordans on a wide eyed kid warms a heart for an afternoon, sure enough. But the shoes wear out, and the light bill still lands at the end of the month. A new pair does nothing for the woman pulling doubles just to keep the power on, or the family that watched one hospital trip erase a whole year of saving. Prices climb and the paycheck does not budge. No gift fixes that. Charity is one way to show love, but staying close asks something different. It means listening long enough to understand a struggle you no longer have to endure yourself.

The Newark kid himself has spoken about rejecting the celebrity label completely. He considers himself a regular dude who happens to be famous. I hear the sentiment, but regular dudes do not lose a potential $20 million business deal over a flat Earth joke and still have a fortune to fall back on. He has spoken openly about losing that opportunity. Most of us could not absorb even a fraction of a blow like that. We bite our tongues because the rent is real and the boss signs the check. One wrong sentence at work might leave a man wondering how he will feed his children next month. Shaq has financial security most working men will never know. He can weather a setback that would bury an ordinary household, and that is the whole point.

Here is what really worries me about all this. When the ones who break free stop feeling the grit under their old sneakers, representation turns into a show. We point up at the highlight reel and call it proof that we too can win the whole thing. Meanwhile the daily grind risks becoming invisible to the very champions we hoisted onto our shoulders in the first place. A famous face on a screen is not a hand a person can actually grip. Being proud of a figure rests lighter on the heart than being truly known by him. One costs nothing. The other asks him to keep coming back.

None of this crowns the gentle giant a villain, and I want that understood. Any human breathing has earned the right to enjoy the harvest of his own labor. He suffered through 19 bruising NBA seasons, built a remarkable business career, and established a level of financial security that few professional athletes ever reach. His charitable work has made a genuine difference in people’s lives. I would not swap my own compass for that ride, yet the Lord knows I grasp the appeal of never sweating a utility bill again as long as you live.

My hope stays simple and stubborn all at once. I want the ones we raise onto our shoulders to hold tight to the exact texture of the lives that raised them first. Not the airbrushed version fit for a documentary. The true grain of it. The overtime shift that steals the weekend. The side hustle worked in a cold garage. The whispered prayer over a skinny account balance the night before payday. Everyday Black men helped build this legend, roaring for him in living rooms and gyms and corner stores stretching from the Carolinas clear down to the Gulf. They handed him three decades and change of loyalty, buying his jerseys, cheering his victories, and defending his name whenever the basketball arguments got heated. Those Black men deserve more than a slice of his fortune tossed their way. They deserve his ear. Every so often, they deserve his honest company at the table.

Superman can afford to give forever without feeling the dent. I only wonder if he still hears us down here. And whether some part of him, every now and then, looks back at the young man who had to scratch for every dollar he made, and misses him.

Staff Writer; Lee Walker

This brother is a fitness trainer with 12 years of experience, focused on building strength, clarity, and real health within the Black community. Through his writing, Mr. Walker hopes to uplift younger Black men and men in general through honest conversations about fitness, financial pressure, fatherhood, discipline, mental wellness, and the importance of brotherhood.

Have questions? Reach me at LeeW@ThyBlackMan.com.

Right now, in September, Chuck is telling the world that the 2026–27 season could be his last on Inside the NBA. The way Chuck tells it, he and Ernie Johnson are now a package deal, with Barkley saying that if Ernie decides he is done after next season, he is done too. That kind of loyalty tells you something real about a person. This is not a man sounding desperate for one more contract or clinging to relevance. Chuck has made it clear that when the time comes, he intends to choose his own exit, on his own terms, without begging permission from a single executive.

Study Sir Charles track record and a pattern shows up that makes bosses nervous. Over the decades the brother has made just about everybody mad at one time or another. Republicans, Democrats, team owners, guys he used to bang bodies with, the suits running the networks. His politics wandered all over the map too. For years Barkley was widely identified with the Republican Party, and in 2006 he publicly broke with it. By 2007 he was calling himself an Independent, even while supporting Democratic candidates, including Barack Obama in 2008. Back in the day he called the whole political game a scam where the rich use the poor as chess pieces. Then came the fire aimed at the left, the charge that Democrats roll into our neighborhoods every election with big promises while too many schools, neighborhoods and poor communities remain stuck in the same problems.

Just last month Chuck waded into the fight over transgender athletes and argued plainly that transgender women should not compete in the WNBA. Plenty of people cheered him. Plenty of people cursed his name. Either way, out it came.

Now hold on. I am not writing this to argue that the man is always right. He is not. Some of his opinions I would fight about all night on my porch. Loose with his words, wrong on occasion, stubborn even after the facts turn against him. All Chuck. So let me be clear about the actual lesson, because it slips past most of us easily. The value is not in agreeing with him. The value sits in how the brother got rich, got powerful, got beloved, and yet protected the one thing most successful cats quietly surrender.

His own voice.

That surrender happens quietly, and it happens to too many of us. A young dude earns the promotion, the corner office, the blue check, the sponsorship, and slowly he starts editing himself. He starts laughing at jokes he hates. Little by little the lesson sinks in, which opinions get rewarded and which ones get you uninvited from the room. Nobody even makes a threat. A man simply weighs the cost of honesty and decides the bill runs too high. Ten years slide by and there is no recalling what he truly believes about anything, only what performs well.

Sir Charles refused that bargain. Ask yourself why this matters for us in particular. For generations, Black men have been handed a narrow script. Be grateful. Be quiet. Be easy to swallow. Do not frighten the ones holding the checkbook. The Round Mound of Rebound looked at that script, balled it up, and pitched it in the trash on live television, night after night, across a quarter century. That is a lesson a whole lot of young brothers need to witness for themselves. You can be difficult and still be wanted. You can challenge the powerful and still eat well.

There is a distinction here, though, and I want my people to catch it. Independence is not the same as clowning for applause. Some characters online spout wild nonsense purely to farm clicks, then call it free thinking. That is a different animal entirely. The Auburn legend speaks his mind because he believes it in the moment, and getting embarrassed later does not scare him. When he believes he crossed a line, he has shown himself capable of apologizing. When the thinking shifts, you hear about it out loud. That is not weakness. That is a grown person treating his opinions as things built by hand rather than things assigned to him.

I keep thinking about the fellas coming up now, glued to their phones, watching every public figure get punished for a single honest sentence. The message they soak in is brutal. Head down. Say nothing real. Protect the brand. And the fear makes sense to me. Bills are due and cancellation is not a myth. Yet a slow death lives inside that kind of safety, a hollowing out that no salary repairs. You can win every argument by dodging every one of them and lose yourself completely anyway.

What the figure from Alabama modeled is a middle path most of us were not taught. Speak your truth, absorb the heat, protect your relationships, and refuse to grovel. Chuck stayed tight with people who disagreed with him plenty. He openly criticized the very network signing his checks during the fight over NBA television rights and still kept speaking his mind. And the fortune built along the way never required him to become a puppet. That mix is rare, and agreeableness had nothing to do with it. It grew from a stubborn refusal to hand over the steering wheel of his mind.

So as this funny, exasperating, unforgettable presence starts talking seriously about stepping off the stage, I hope some of us are truly paying attention. Not to the hot takes. Those fade by summer. Pay attention to the posture instead. A working class kid out of small town Alabama walked into rooms that were never built for him and flat refused to make himself smaller to fit. When it is all said and done, the man kept his own mind. No boss ever got to hold the pen for him.

That is the inheritance worth claiming. Everything else is just noise between the highlights.

Staff Writer; Lee Walker

This brother is a fitness trainer with 12 years of experience, focused on building strength, clarity, and real health within the Black community. Through his writing, Mr. Walker hopes to uplift younger Black men and men in general through honest conversations about fitness, financial pressure, fatherhood, discipline, mental wellness, and the importance of brotherhood.

Have questions? Reach me at LeeW@ThyBlackMan.com.

Title IX legislation was passed in 1972 to provide more opportunities for girls and women and educational institutions and to address the problem of discrimination against female students. It covers academic programs as well as athletic programs and there is an evaluation criterion to confirm whether a university or college is complying. Title IX also has had an effect on the business side of college sports because it means that most institutions needed to add women athletes at a higher rate than men to their athletic programs in order to meet certain standards. Title IX means that new women’s non-revenue sport programs have started to reallocate funding to women’s teams. Also, sports programs that had football teams would have to add about four- or five more-women’s non-revenue teams to counteract the football participants. While people argue about Title IX’s equality in terms of eliminating men’s collegiate programs, it attempts to create equal opportunities for women in sport in terms of proportionality of the women attending the college.

Title IX has been effective in securing equal opportunities for women in sport as it has had an impact in the collegiate scholarship opportunities for women in sport. It has also increased the visibility of women in sport to a higher level than it was previously. Obviously, this has led to more sponsorships and media exposure for current women’s sports leagues such as the WNBA and the LPGA. The improved media coverage of other women’s sports including softball and women’s soccer has led to female athletes including soccer star Trinity Rodman becoming role models for young female athletes growing up today.

Understandably, a lot of the focus of the Protect College Sports Act centers on major college football, which is the most significant revenue generator of college sports. There is also concern with the Protect College Sports Act regarding how Title IX would be affected. The AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO Sports Council, which represents athlete workers across professional sports leagues, opposed the Protect College Sports Act with one of the issues being that “Title IX and the hard-fought progress for women athletes is undermined by locking in compliance standards at a level that does not sufficiently address gender discrimination.” The confluence of college sports and political meetings will continue.

Staff Writer; Mark Hines

Prosecutors allege Love, 35, spent more than four years pretending to be a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers. A second identity ran alongside it, that of a wealthy real estate investor. The scheme was not a solo act, either. Taylor Jamie Chan, who was 18 at the time of his arrest, allegedly posed as Love’s personal financial adviser. Together the two are accused of pulling roughly $1.3 million from at least 26 women, most of them met on dating apps. The FBI picked up both at the Boise Airport on August 24, 2026. They face charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, though neither man has been convicted, and both remain presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Read the affidavit anyway. What jumps out goes well past a lone accused hustler. You start to see how our culture got trained to skip the hard question.

Here is what I mean. Love did not walk into a bank and forge documents in front of a teller. According to the affidavit, he built a persona online. His Instagram bio reportedly read like the genuine article, undrafted wideout, team hashtag and all. His feed showed him in team gear, working out on a beach in a helmet, posing next to exotic cars. Somewhere out there sits footage from 2024 where he appears to sign what he called an NFL contract, and when somebody asked which team, he answered “Niners.” Representatives for both the league and the 49ers later told the FBI he had never worked a single day for either.

None of that stopped the story from spreading. Court papers note something that genuinely rattled me. Because Love pumped these false claims across social media, search engines and even artificial intelligence tools sometimes repeated the lies as fact. Sit with that. Put a lie in enough places, and the software folks lean on for straight answers starts parroting it back. In 2026, that is not a small footnote. That is the whole warning.

The tools he allegedly used were cheap and ordinary. Prosecutors point to a phone app called Fake Bank Account Pro, which he supposedly used to manufacture screenshots of enormous balances. One fabricated display reportedly topped thirty million dollars. Another put cash beside a fat stack of stocks. In early 2024, court documents note, he asked Chan to whip up a screenshot showing a $3.4 million balance, then returned the following month wanting a stock account that appeared to hold $11 million. These were not vault doors. These were fakes anybody with a smartphone could generate before breakfast.

That is the part I want my people to sit with. None of those images independently proved that the lifestyle, fortune, or professional status he advertised was real. Somebody rents a car for an afternoon and hands the keys back. A weekend in a friend’s condo fills a whole photo roll. Designer clothes are just a purchase. Even enormous account balances sit an app away. All those pictures prove is that he stood near nice things once. Visible wealth proves you have access to a camera and a moment. It does not prove a dime is yours.

The women in this case were not foolish. That framing lets everybody else off the hook. Prosecutors describe a layered operation designed to hand victims what resembled independent confirmation from several directions. There was the man himself, romancing them, talking about building a future together. Then came the supposed adviser vouching for the returns. The fake balances backed it up. Then came the group FaceTime calls where the two allegedly walked women through phony investment gains in real time. When you get the same story from what feels like a few sources, your guard drops. That is human. Con work has always relied on it.

The cruelest detail sits near the end. When some women ran out of cash, Love allegedly told them to take out personal loans, promising quick repayment. Some did. And once a woman had nothing left to give, or started asking too many questions, prosecutors say he simply blocked her and vanished with the money. Investigators interviewed victim after victim, and not one reported getting back a single return or even seeing a legitimate account statement.

So what do we do with a story such as this? We stop letting appearance stand in for proof. That is the whole lesson, and it costs nothing to apply. If a man says he plays pro ball, that is checkable in about ninety seconds. Rosters are public. If somebody is pushing an investment, the account belongs at a real institution you can call, not in a screenshot he controls. Anybody promising fast money with no verifiable trail is telling you exactly who he is, whether you want to hear it or not. Verification is not an insult to a person you care about. It is the baseline respect you owe your own money and your own peace.

I keep coming to how modern this whole thing feels. My generation grew up knowing you had to earn credibility over years, in your neighborhood, among people who watched you show and prove. Now a stranger can manufacture two decades of reputation in an afternoon and beam it to your phone. The platforms reward the flashiest version of somebody, not the truest. And when the algorithm and the search bar start agreeing with the fraud, the ground under all of us shifts.

The FBI believes there may be many more victims who have not yet been identified. If a piece of this rings familiar, the bureau is still taking calls. But the larger point outlives this one case. We are being conditioned, daily, to mistake performance for substance. The antidote is old and unglamorous. Ask the question. Check the receipt. Make the man prove it before you hand over anything that matters.

A lifestyle you can see is not a life you can trust. Somebody had to say it plain.

Staff Writer; J.G. Lacour

Covering the NBA, NFL, college basketball, college football, and Major League Baseball from a Black man’s perspective. He loves the full world of sports, but the NFL remains his favorite.

Need to contact this bro, feel free to use this email address; JGLacour@ThyBlackMan.com.