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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden welcomed Tom Brady and the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the White House on Tuesday, the first visit by the reigning NFL champions since 2017.

It was Brady’s first visit since 2005 with the New England Patriots when George W. Bush was in office. Brady has won the Super Bowl during four different administrations but skipped visits by the Patriots in 2015 with Barack Obama and 2017 with Donald Trump.

The Patriots as a team chose not to attend after winning in 2019.

Brady was front and center, accompanying Biden, coach Bruce Arians and owner Bryan Glazer into the ceremony, which included jokes about age and the election and a push from the president for players to get vaccinated against the coronavirus if they hadn’t already.

Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, put on quite the comedy routine, comparing the Buccaneers’ run to Biden’s election victory.

“Not a lot of people think that we could have won, and in fact I think about 40% of the people still don’t think we won,” Brady said with a big grin. “We had a game in Chicago where I forgot what down it was. I lost track of one down in 21 years of playing, and they started calling me ‘Sleepy Tom.’ Why they do that to me?”

Biden was presented the traditional gift of a No. 46 jersey — which Glazer said was appropriate since Tampa Bay is heading into its 46th season as a franchise.

Players Donovan Smith and Bradley Pinion from the team’s social justice committee met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday morning to talk about voting rights.

Talking about how nearly 200,000 vaccine doses were given out at Raymond James Stadium — the Buccaneers’ home and site where they won the Super Bowl — Biden turned to dozens of players behind him and said: “If you don’t have a shot, get one, OK? Get one, get one, get one. You’re saving lives, helping us get back to our lives and our loved ones.”

White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not directly answer when asked if the Buccaneers provided information on which team attendees were vaccinated. As of Friday, 10 NFL teams had reached the threshold of 85% of their traveling party fully vaccinated, though it was not immediately clear if Tampa Bay was one of them.

Before Brady took the microphone, Arians told Biden he wished the House and Senate would help the president fulfill “one goal” as a country, like his Buccaneers did last season.

Biden singled out receiver Chris Godwin, like himself Pennsylvania-born and Delaware-raised. Biden, 78, spoke with Godwin before the Super Bowl.

As the oldest person to become president, he compared himself to Brady being the oldest quarterback at 43 and Arians the oldest coach at 68 to win it all.

“You won’t hear any jokes about that from me,” Biden said. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing wrong with being the oldest guy to make it to the mountaintop.”

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Bellinger has rib fracture; Cubs add top prospect

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Bellinger has rib fracture; Cubs add top prospect

Chicago Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger has a fractured right rib and has been placed on the 10-day injured list, manager Craig Counsell told 670 The Score on Wednesday.

Bellinger, a two-time All-Star selection, collided with the center-field wall during Tuesday’s game while tracking a fly ball hit by Houston‘s Yainer Diaz that went for a double and scored Kyle Tucker. He left the game an inning later.

In a corresponding move, the Cubs called up Pete Crow-Armstrong, their top prospect.

Bellinger, in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, is batting .226 with five home runs and 17 RBIs this season.

Crow-Armstrong, 22, made his MLB debut last September and went 0-for-14 with three walks. He’s batting .203 with two home runs, five doubles and seven RBIs at Triple-A Iowa this season.

Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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Struggling Cards OF Walker demoted to minors

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Struggling Cards OF Walker demoted to minors

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker has been demoted to the minor leagues after a slow start to the season.

The Cardinals announced before Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks that Walker and left-handed pitcher Zack Thompson were optioned to Triple-A Memphis. Infielder Jose Fermin and left-hander John King were recalled from Memphis in corresponding moves.

Walker, 21, is batting .155 with no home runs, 4 RBIs and a .497 OPS in 20 games this season, his second with the Cardinals. The former top prospect had been mired in a 3-for-27 slump over his past 11 games.

The 6-foot-6 Walker is one of several players struggling offensively for the Cardinals (10-14), who entered Wednesday with just 16 homers as a team — second worst in the majors behind only the Chicago White Sox — and rank in the bottom five in MLB in most major categories, including batting average (.218), runs (82), slugging percentage (.336) and OPS (.637).

Walker entered 2023 as a consensus top-five overall prospect and delivered a solid rookie season, batting .276 with 16 homers, 51 RBIs and a .787 OPS.

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Giants’ Snell scratched from start, placed on IL

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Giants' Snell scratched from start, placed on IL

The San Francisco Giants scratched left-hander Blake Snell from his scheduled start Wednesday and placed the two-time Cy Young Award winner on the 15-day injured list with a left adductor strain.

Right-hander Landen Roupp was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento by the Giants, who tabbed right-hander Ryan Walker (2-2, 3.46 ERA) to make his first start of the season Wednesday against the visiting New York Mets.

Walker, 28, worked a scoreless inning of relief in San Francisco’s 5-2 win over New York on Monday.

Snell, 31, is 0-3 with an 11.57 ERA in three starts. He has yet to recapture the form that allowed him to secure his second Cy Young Award while pitching for the San Diego Padres in 2023.

Snell owns a 71-58 record with a 3.30 ERA in 194 career games (all starts) with the Tampa Bay Rays, Padres and Giants.

Roupp, 25, has registered a 4.35 ERA without recording a decision in eight relief appearances this season with San Francisco.

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