OSU’s Stroud deals with social media negativity

Published

2 years ago

December 29, 2022

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12:48 PM ET

ATLANTA — As hard as Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud tried to avoid the negativity on social media and elsewhere after losing to Michigan last month, it was unavoidable.

Stroud said during media day Thursday as the Buckeyes prepare for the College Football Playoff Semifinal Game at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl that, “I don’t really look, but people have the audacity to call me and tell me what people say. So, I do hear it, and it is what it is. It comes with the nature of the beast. You can’t accept the good and not accept the bad.”

This is not the first time Stroud has drawn the ire of fans and others on social media for what they perceive to be issues with the Buckeyes. Dating back to the start of last season, a quick search shows tweets expressing anger specifically directed at Stroud.

They grew more amplified after the 45-23 loss to Michigan because not only did it appear Ohio State lost its chance to play for a national championship. Stroud had also lost twice to Michigan. In the game, Stroud threw for 349 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Last month, Stroud said “people wouldn’t be proud if everybody in the world were able to see” what was being said about him.

His teammates understand. Multiple players told ESPN.com on Thursday they either saw hateful messages directed at them and their teammates, or stopped looking at social media altogether in the days after the game.

“As 18- to 22-year-olds, social media is a big part of our life, so it’s kind of hard to stay off of it so I definitely saw some of the comments, and that could be frustrating,” safety Tanner McCalister said. “People will comment in your DMs and say all types of things. I try not to look at that.

“When you play college football, that stuff comes, especially when you’re at a level like this. So you’ve got to expect it. I’m not saying it’s right. It’s not right at all. But I mean, you kind of expect it and push it to the side and keep chasing your dreams, and do what you got to do to help your team win games.”

Cornerback Cam Brown pointed out several of his teammates had just turned 18, believing some perspective is in order.

“People talk bad on people, they don’t understand we’re young,” Brown said. “Grown people are talking crazy about children because something didn’t go right. We tried not to look at our phones because it’s going to make us think bad about people we don’t want to.”

Defensive end Zach Harrison said coach Ryan Day has done a good job addressing what is out there on social media so he can be honest and upfront about what is being said about them.

“Everything that we see, he probably sees 10-fold,” Harrison said. “It’s made us stronger and it’s made us more together. As long as we stay together, we’ll be all right.”

“I think one of the things with social media or anything in general, you have to be steady in the boat and know who you are as a person, as a player, and that’s important to CJ,” said Ohio State quarterbacks coach Corey Dennis. “It was a hard week, and then all of a sudden, you get into the playoffs and you realize that we’re back in. You put that game behind you, and push forward.”

Indeed, Stroud has drawn praise from his coaches and teammates, who cite his resiliency and leadership during his time with the Buckeyes — but especially now that they have their long-anticipated opportunity to compete for a national championship.

“If you watch the tape, I think that I’ve really tried to do everything I could to win games in my career and if that means I didn’t get it done, it is what it is,” Stroud said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. I’m going to keep moving forward and learn from it. I really thank God for having a second chance, and I think we deserve to be here, regardless of what happened that day. But we’ve moved on. Our focus is on Georgia now. I’m just taking it as a lesson and try to learn from it.”

Sports

Ohtani’s blast caps 6-run 9th in wild Dodgers rally

Published

51 mins ago

May 10, 2025

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Ohtani's blast caps 6-run 9th in wild Dodgers rally

Associated Press

May 10, 2025, 01:23 AM ET

PHOENIX — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run ninth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a wild 14-11 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night.

The Dodgers trailed 11-8 entering the ninth inning after blowing an early five-run lead.

Andy Pages and Enrique Hernandez hit consecutive run-scoring doubles to open the ninth inning against Kevin Ginkel (0-1). Max Muncy tied it at 11-11 with a run-scoring single and Ryan Thompson replaced Ginkel to face Ohtani.

It didn’t go well for Arizona.

Ohtani, who doubled twice, fell into a 1-2 hole before launching his 12th homer near the pool deck in right to put the Dodgers up 14-11. He finished with four RBIs.

Tanner Scott worked a perfect ninth save in 11 chances.

The Dodgers roughed up Eduardo Rodriguez to take an 8-3 lead through three innings, but couldn’t hold it.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a tying grand slam in the fifth inning, then Ketel Marte and Randal Grichuk hit solo shots off Alex Vesia (1-0) in the eighth to put Arizona up 11-8.

Pages finished with three RBIs and Hernández extended the Dodgers’ homer streak to 13 straight games with a solo shot in the second inning.

Marte homered twice for the Diamondbacks. Rodriguez allowed eight runs on nine hits in 2⅔ innings.

Sports

Marchand’s OT score cuts Panthers’ deficit to 2-1

Published

4 hours ago

May 10, 2025

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Marchand's OT score cuts Panthers' deficit to 2-1

Associated Press

May 9, 2025, 10:56 PM ET

SUNRISE, Fla. — Brad Marchand scored on a deflected shot at 15:27 of overtime and the Florida Panthers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Friday night to cut their deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinal series to 2-1.

Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe and Jonah Gadjovich scored for Florida, which got 27 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Evan Rodrigues had two assists for the Panthers. They 13-2 in their last 15 playoff overtime games.

John Tavares scored twice, and Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly also scored for the Maple Leafs. Joseph Woll stopped 32 shots.

Game 4 will be in Sunrise on Sunday night.

Florida erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-1, and that’s been almost impossible to do against Toronto this season.

By the numbers, it was all looking good for the Maple Leafs.

They were 30-3-0 when leading after the first period, including playoffs, the second-best record in the league.
They were 38-8-2, the league’s third-best record when scoring first.
They had blown only 11 leads all season, none in the playoffs.
They were 44-3-1 in games where they led by two goals or more.

Combine all that with Toronto having won all 11 of its previous best-of-seven series when taking a 2-0 lead at home, Florida being 0-5 in series where it dropped both Games 1 and 2, and leaguewide, teams facing 0-2 deficits come back to win those series only about 14% of the time.

But Marchand — a longtime Toronto playoff nemesis from his days in Boston — got the biggest goal of Florida’s season, rendering all those numbers moot for now.

The Leafs got two goals that deflected in off of Panthers defensemen: Tavares’ second goal nicked the glove of Gustav Forsling on its way past Bobrovsky for a 3-1 lead, and Rielly’s goal redirected off Seth Jones’ leg to tie it with 9:04 left in the third.

Knies scored 23 seconds into the game, the second time Toronto had a 1-0 lead in the first minute of this series. Tavares made it 2-0 at 5:57 and just like that, the Panthers were in trouble.

A diving Barkov threw the puck at the night and saw it carom in off a Toronto stick to get Florida on the board — only for Tavares to score again early in the second for a 3-1 Leafs lead.

Florida needed a break. It came.

Reinhart was credited with a goal after Woll thought he covered up the puck following a scrum in front of the net. But after review, it was determined the puck had crossed the line. Florida had life, the building was loud again and about a minute later, Verhaeghe tied it at 3-3.

Gadjovich made it 4-3 late in the second, before Rielly tied it midway through the third.

Sports

Vegas’ Roy dodges suspension for G2 cross-check

Published

4 hours ago

May 10, 2025

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Vegas' Roy dodges suspension for G2 cross-check

ESPN News Services

May 9, 2025, 09:19 PM ET

NEW YORK — Vegas Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy was fined but not suspended Friday for cross-checking the Edmonton Oilers‘ Trent Frederic in the face in overtime of Game 2 of the teams’ second-round playoff series.

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced the fine of $7,813, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, after a disciplinary hearing with him.

Roy attempted to play the puck while it was airborne but made contact with Frederic’s head instead, resulting in a laceration for the Oilers forward.

Frederic briefly exited the game before making a quick return to the ice. Edmonton, however, failed to capitalize on the ensuing five-minute power play but won not long after on a goal by Leon Draisaitl from Connor McDavid.

Vegas trails the best-of-seven series 2-0 with Game 3 on Saturday night at Edmonton.

Information from The Associated Press and Field Level Media was used in this report.