In the lead-up to Saturday’s kickoff between Florida State and Georgia Tech, both schools spent 17 months making spreadsheets, filling out documents and triple-checking customs regulations to make sure they packed all the essentials for their transatlantic trip.
Uniforms? Check.
Cleats? Check.
Ranch dressing? Umm, check?
The Ramblin’ Wreck? Sadly, back in Atlanta.
Renegade, Osceola and their flaming spear? If only that pesky quarantine issue had been solved.
Even without their most iconic pregame traditions traveling with them to Dublin, Florida State and Georgia Tech will headline Week 0 with everything they need to play football thanks to an exhaustive behind-the-scenes effort that Georgia Tech director of football operations Josh Thompson describes as “not for the faint of heart.”
In all, the schools combined to bring 238 crates weighing more than 40,000 pounds — packed and shipped on cargo planes last week — filled with everything from game day equipment to sport medicine essentials, protein powder, snacks such as Goldfish and yes, condiments that are not available in Dublin.
“There is no room for error here,” said Jason Baisden, Florida State assistant athletic director for equipment operations. “Once we’re there, we’re there. We can’t come back or can’t call and say, ‘Hey, bring this with you.'”
Both schools started to get ready for this game in March 2023, shortly after it was announced. Florida State director of football operations Bruce Warwick had been part of several overseas games in his previous stops in the NFL, so he already had a good idea about what moving an entire team more than 4,000 miles away would entail.
Beyond packing up all the necessary equipment, passports would have to be secured, multiple in-person site visits to the team hotel would need to be made (including food tastings) and communication with officials in Ireland would have to be precise. Nothing — like assuming that an American biscuit and an Irish biscuit were the same — could be left to chance.
“I had to learn to speak their language,” Baisden said. “Like, it’s not a uniform to them, it’s a kit. It is the English language, but we had to make sure nothing was lost with the translation of what we are doing.” Baisden and Thompson made calls to people they knew at Notre Dame and Navy, two schools that had previously played in Ireland. Baisden asked for their carnet, a document that facilitates temporary international imports and exports. Essentially, the carnet lists every item that is brought into a foreign country line by line, with exact numbers.
Want to bring snacks for the team? No problem. But every snack, from applesauce to crackers, must be listed. The same goes for rolls of tape, gloves, protein powders. You want to bring it? You have to list it.
At Florida State, Baisden became the point person between departments. In January, he asked the sport nutrition, sport medicine, creative video, weight training, radio broadcast and sports information teams to start identifying what they absolutely had to bring with them.
He described the process as preparing for “an overseas bowl trip.” But the detail with which everything had to be itemized goes far beyond any bowl trip preparation, where schools can just load up their equipment trucks and be on their way. For this trip, Baisden labeled every crate with what it was for — hotel, practice, game.
International travel is why the Ramblin’ Wreck and Renegade and Osceola were left at home. Irish officials had inquired about their availability, and both schools had serious discussions about finding a way to do it.
Renegade, the legendary horse ridden by Osceola before every Florida State home game to plant a flaming spear at midfield, would have had to quarantine on the way back to Tallahassee as required by international regulations. As a result, the horse would have been unavailable for the home opener against Boston College on Sept. 2. Plus, this is technically a Georgia Tech home game.
A gold and white 1930 Ford Model A Sport Coupe known as the “Ramblin’ Wreck” has led the Yellow Jackets onto the field for every home game since 1961. The Wreck would have to travel on a ship to get to Ireland. The travel time home would have meant it, too, would have been unavailable for the home opener against Georgia State on Aug. 31. There had been discussion about using an Irish “cousin” of the Wreck, a Peugeot-type stand-in from Dublin, but the idea was nixed.
There was plenty more that had to be discussed to get to the finish line. Florida State ended up having to get 85 passports for its players; Georgia Tech had to get 70 in total between players and staff. Perhaps the most unexpected challenge the teams faced was making sure they would be able to use the new technology allowed starting this season — coach-to-helmet communication and iPads on the sideline.
The headset systems coaches use on the sideline in the United States do not work overseas because they use different radio frequencies. Both schools had to rent new systems, and that means a different belt pack for coaches to get used to. Florida State practiced with them during scrimmages so the coaches could start to get a feel for them.
Thompson said the schools had to secure multiple lines of frequency for the communication headsets to work. The iPads required coordination with Aviva Stadium and local vendors for specific fiber lines used to update video in real time. The schools have had weekly calls with the ACC and different vendors to make sure everything is ready to go. Everything will be tested Friday.
“The coaches don’t like change. I don’t like change,” Thompson said. “Everybody is a creature of of habit. I want to walk into the stadium when the team walks in and make sure everything is done. I don’t want to have to be running around panicking, ‘All right, how are we going to handle this?'”
The teams went through different airports to have their cargo flown over, all at the direction of Aer Lingus, the game’s title sponsor. Florida State packed up a truck last week that left for Orlando, where its crates were then placed on cargo aircraft pallets called “cookie sheets” for international travel and then flown to Dublin. Georgia Tech had its cargo go on a plane to Chicago, and then on to Dublin.
Everything flown over arrived before the teams got in Thursday morning. Each team sent an advance group early to open crates and begin sorting items for use at the hotel or stadium. Equipment managers set up their respective locker rooms for Thursday practice. In addition, both teams had hundreds of cases of Powerade and water bottles directly shipped to both the hotel and stadium.
The hotels were chosen for their similarities to normal road hotels. They had to have large enough spaces available for team meetings, but also food that tasted like home. Warwick said grits, for example, were a nonstarter because the chefs could not cook them to specification. Florida State players have an affinity for ranch dressing, A1 steak sauce and Tabasco, items unavailable in Ireland, so those specific condiments were packed.
“The food is the biggest challenge because they like what they like and they know what they know,” Warwick said. “We tried to keep it as Americanized as possible.”
The teams themselves left the United States on Wednesday evening, but even their departures looked different. For domestic game travel, both teams go through TSA security screening at their respective stadiums before boarding buses and heading to their charter flights.
But for an international trip, both teams must go through the regular security line at their respective airports. It is one thing for Florida State to go through its small regional airport in Tallahassee. But just imagine the 289-person Georgia Tech travel party pulling up to Concourse F at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta and going through security.
Aer Lingus, the title sponsor of the game, had to get special permission to secure a gate. Thompson said he has been assured there will be extra security lanes open to get Georgia Tech through efficiently. He plans to use a “pod system” where he separates the players into groups, with one designated the captain and responsible for making sure everyone has their passports.
Players will be reminded frequently about do’s and don’ts if they are bringing carry-ons, including the size of allowable liquids.
“I can’t wait to see when I’m the last person that goes through the TSA line what all was taken during that time,” Thompson said.
Now picture this upon arrival: Players standing around the baggage carousel, waiting for their player equipment bags. Those bags had to travel with them because both teams practiced all the way up to their departure day. So the bags get checked onto the plane upon airport arrival, for pickup in baggage claim, in addition to their own personal luggage. For this trip, Florida State got its players customized roller suitcases. Both teams will have a light practice at the stadium after they arrive, with the main goal to get everyone acclimated to the five-hour time change. Georgia Tech coach Brent Key, who went to Ireland for a game as a UCF assistant in 2014, said he does not want to make the trip any bigger than it has to be — drawing from his previous overseas experience.
“We overcoached those kids,” Key said, referring to UCF’s 26-24 loss to Penn State. “We tried to give them an experience. We took them to different places, took them on tours and it was just too much stuff when you’re going over there to play football game. Do you know what makes a great experience? Winning.”
To that end, Georgia Tech will fly home after the game as it has a tight turnaround to the following week. Because Florida State plays on a Monday night, coach Mike Norvell decided to have the team stay on Sunday for some sightseeing before returning to Tallahassee.
Though that approach is different, planning the logistics in the lead-up to the game has been identical. The schools have been in constant communication, but there will be anxiety upon arrival, during the game and postgame, too. Everything has to be repacked for travel back home, and at customs Saturday night. In both cases — travel to and from — both schools have to rely heavily on people they have never met to get the job done.
“Anytime and every time I travel, I worry if my bag is going to get there, so you definitely worry about that,” Thompson said. “You’re moving almost 300 people at one time. So you just have to make sure it is correct and right.”
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers owe $1.051 billion in deferred pay to eight players from 2028 to ’46 following Tanner Scott‘s $72 million, four-year contract and Teoscar Hernandez‘s $66 million, three-year deal.
Los Angeles’ high payment point is $100.95 million in both 2038 and ’39, according to details obtained by The Associated Press.
Major League Baseball proposed during collective bargaining on June 21, 2021, to put an end to the practice, but the players’ association rejected the change.
“The Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field and that’s a great thing for the game. That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see,” commissioner Rob Manfred said last week.
“By the same token,” he added, “it’s clear that we have fans in some markets that are concerned about the ability of the team in their market to compete with the financial resources of the Dodgers. And I think if we’ve been consistent on one point it is we try to listen to our fans on topics like this and I have heard people on this, believe me, I get a lot of emails about it.”
Scott’s contract includes $21 million in deferred money and Hernández’s $23.5 million.
Hernández is owed a total of $32 million in deferred pay from the team. He already was due $8.5 million as part of his $23.5 million, one-year deal for 2024, to be paid in 10 equal installments each July 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Los Angeles also owes deferred payments to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($680 million from 2034 to ’43), outfielder/infielder Mookie Betts ($115 million in salaries from 2033 to ’44 and the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033 to ’35), left-hander Blake Snell ($66 million from 2035 to ’46), first baseman Freddie Freeman ($57 million from 2028 to ’40), catcher Will Smith ($50 million from 2034 to ’43) and utilityman Tommy Edman ($25 million from 2037 to ’44).
“It’s just how you account for it,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when Snell was introduced. “We’re not going to wake up in 2035 and [say]: ‘Oh my god, that’s right. We have this money due.’ We’ll plan for it along the way.”
The Dodgers’ deferred obligations total $4 million each in 2028 and ’29, $7.2 million annually from 2030 to ’32, $17.2 million in 2033, $90.2 million in 2034, $98.95 million a year from 2035 to ’37, $100.95 million in 2038 and ’39, $98.75 million in 2040, $93.75 million annually from 2041 to ’43, $20.75 million in 2044 and $7.25 million a year in 2045 and ’46.
Los Angeles must fund the deferred money in an amount equal to its present-day value by the second July 1 following the season in which it is earned, according to MLB’s CBA.
Hernández received a $23 million signing bonus payable Feb. 1 as part of the deal announced by the World Series champions on Jan. 3.
His agreement includes salaries of $10 million this year, $12 million in 2026 and $14.5 million in 2027. The Dodgers will defer $7.5 million from this year and $8 million in each in 2026 and ’27, and that $23.5 million will be paid in 10 equal installments each Dec. 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Scott’s deferred money is due in a dozen $1.75 million payments each Dec. 1 from 2035 to ’46.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bryce Harper‘s love for the Phillie Phanatic runs skin deep. Literally.
The Philadelphia Phillies star arrived at spring training sporting a tattoo on his right arm of the team’s iconic mascot zooming around on an all-terrain vehicle.
Harper worked with Utah-based tattoo artist Hannah Matthews on the fine-line design. Matthews featured her session with Harper on her Instagram page and included a close-up of Harper’s latest ink, located on the outside of his right arm just above the wrist.
Bryce Harper loves Philly so much that he got a Phanatic tattoo
The two-time National League MVP and eight-time All-Star has regularly yucked it up with the Phanatic since signing with the Phillies in 2019. Harper has sported cleats and a headband featuring the large, furry green bird-type creature and wielded a Phanatic-themed bat while facing the New York Mets in London last summer.
Harper told MLB.com he had wanted to do something to honor the Phanatic for a while.
“I just love Philly,” Harper said. “I love the Phanatic. It’s just fun.”
The placement of the tattoo is intentional. Harper told MLB.com the idea is the Phanatic will be following the flight of the ball when it leaves the left-handed Harper’s bat.
“People can kind of see that as I swing,” Harper said. “Him driving off my arm, I thought it looked pretty cool.”
The Toronto Blue Jays‘ handling of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might best be summarized by Roman philosopher Cicero’s mantra: More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Step by step, the Jays have put themselves in a terrible position, with the player holding all of the leverage.
But Guerrero still wears their uniform with a season left until he reaches free agency, giving the Jays one last chance to build a beachhead into a future that is otherwise shrouded in murk. The team should meet with him, apologize for wasting his time and wave the white flag in the negotiations.
Last week, the deadline Guerrero set for a contract extension came and went without a deal in place. Assuming Guerrero isn’t asking the Blue Jays to match Juan Soto‘s $765 million contract, they should just say yes to whatever they said no to a week ago.
Allowing Guerrero to reach free agency makes no sense given the Jays’ handling of his career and his contract situation. Time after time, Toronto leadership put off a hard decision on Guerrero, and now the team has to pay the price. The only question is whether the cost comes in Guerrero’s departure, or in his retention.
The Blue Jays’ path to this point reminds me of another team who let indecision cloud the impending free agency of a star player: the Los Angeles Angels and Shohei Ohtani.
The Angels went 73-89 the season before the final year of Ohtani’s contract but still elected to hold on to Ohtani and try to make a run. The Jays went 74-88 in 2024, and their hope is to contend for a playoff spot this year with Guerrero. That’s hardly out of the question. With Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios, they could have a good rotation. If Daulton Varsho suitably recovers from rotator cuff surgery, and if Bo Bichette bounces back, and if Andres Gimenez continues to play elite defense, they could be strong up the middle. If whatever was in Jeff Hoffman‘s physical exam that prompted the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles to blow up agreements with him doesn’t slow him, he could be a solid closer.
Unfortunately for the Jays, part of what should be a hypercompetitive American League East this year, good and solid might not cut it. The New York Yankees are the defending AL champions; the Boston Red Sox are dramatically improved with the additions of Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler and Alex Bregman; the Orioles have their great young core of talent; and the Tampa Bay Rays are always better than expected. Toronto could also finish fifth again.
This 2025 Hail Mary attempt to contend instead of entering a rebuild defers, once again, Guerrero’s status. If the Jays are struggling in July, they could trade him. But with his impending free agency, they might get back only half of what his value might’ve been last summer. If they hold onto him throughout the season and he walks away to another team, they would receive only minimal draft pick compensation for a homegrown star.
How different this all could have been. Some players don’t want to play in Canada for one reason or another. Guerrero was born in Canada — the son of Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero Sr., who starred in Montreal — and signed with the Jays in 2015 for $3.9 million. The Jays’ front office delayed his promotion to the big leagues in 2019, costing him a full year of service time, but Guerrero demonstrated what everyone was so excited about, hitting 15 homers and showing great bat-to-ball skills. In his second full season, he clubbed 48 homers and finished second in the AL MVP race.
His production waned, however, in 2022 and 2023, and along the way there was concern about his conditioning. The Jays could’ve worked out a long-term deal with him years before he hit free agency, as the Kansas City Royals did with Bobby Witt Jr. and as the Cleveland Guardians did with Jose Ramirez. But the Jays waited, which is not surprising: A hallmark of the Jays’ front office in recent years is that it doesn’t often re-sign its own players. As research by Paul Hembekides shows, since 2019 the Jays re-signed Jose Berrios to a seven-year, $131 million deal and Randal Grichuk to a five-year, $52 million contract. Nobody else got more than three years.
After starting slowly last season, Guerrero rebounded — in a big way. From May 27 to July 30, he batted .321, with as many extra-base hits (32) as strikeouts (32). This was the Vladdy Jr. everyone in the industry seemed to be waiting for, and it provided another inflection point for the Jays. In July 2024, Toronto was in the same spot the Los Angeles Angels were with Shohei Ohtani in summer 2022, when the Angels could’ve traded Ohtani with another 15 months of team control and gotten a major haul in return.
And there was another factor for the Jays in July: Soto was headed into free agency and would inevitably raise the ceiling for sluggers. That left Toronto with a choice, in the middle of a lost season — either push to sign Guerrero to a long-term deal before the market was impacted by Soto, or trade him at his maximum value.
The Jays did what the Angels did with Ohtani. They waited.
Guerrero was even better in the last two months of the season, finishing the year with a .323 average and a .940 OPS, winning a Silver Slugger, and finishing sixth in the MVP race. With the Jays out of the playoffs, they had all of October and early November to pick a path. They could’ve pushed for a long-term deal, before Soto started meeting with teams, and if they determined that they couldn’t or didn’t want to sign him, they could’ve put him on the trade market. The feedback rival executives continued to get was: Vladdy wasn’t available.
But the Jays’ front office waited. Again.
And it began a dalliance with Soto, picking a fight against the most valuable franchise in the majors, the Yankees, and the richest owner, the New York Mets‘ Steve Cohen. Edward Rogers, the owner of the Jays, was among those to meet with Soto and his agent Scott Boras.
The Jays’ participation was probably doomed from the start — only Soto knows for sure — but in theory, this could’ve worked for them in this way: As bidders, the Jays had firsthand and early knowledge of how Soto’s contract might affect the market for other players — such as Guerrero. The bidding for Soto went through multiple rounds, over a few weeks, and it was as if the Jays were benefiting from insider trading, all aboveboard.
Once the numbers for Soto went over $600 million and zoomed toward infinity and beyond, the Jays had to know Guerrero’s ask would be enormous. The Jays had knowledge other teams did not, and once more, they had the option of pushing the talks to a resolution — deal or no deal — and if not, then trade him.
Instead, the Jays waited. Again.
Their doubts have been rational, given what the best first basemen have been paid in recent years. It has been more than a decade since any first baseman got $200 million, let alone $350 million or $450 million or $500 million.
But given the Jays’ participation in the Soto sweepstakes, the concern over Guerrero’s defensive position shouldn’t be a factor. Toronto was apparently willing to pay Soto something close to the monster deal he got with the Mets, and it’s not as if Soto is a good defender; there will probably be a time midway through his 15-year contract that he will shift into a designated hitter role. If the Jays had signed him, he would’ve been a DH at some point, and the Jays were OK with that.
“If you’re going to pay Soto or Vladdy, you’re paying for the bat,” one rival executive said. “You’re paying for the power and the contact with damage, for a player at a young age.”
Soto became a free agent at age 26. Guerrero turns 26 next month and will be a free agent in the fall. He might not be the hitter Soto is, but he is one of the game’s best hitters, and for now, he is a Blue Jay. Right now, it’s a one-bidder negotiation.
When the Jays pursued Ohtani, meeting with him in Florida, they were going against the Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams. When they talked to Soto a few months ago, they had to vie with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and other teams for his attention.
In the Ohtani negotiations, the Jays never had a take-down price, a number at which they were assured they would sign him. They bid into a negotiation silo, not knowing for sure what other teams had offered, and Ohtani picked the Dodgers. With Soto, the Jays kept upping their ante, not knowing where the numbers would end, never sure whether Soto would actually seriously consider their offer or whether there even was a number that would get them the slugger.
With Guerrero, there is no question whether he would sign to play in Toronto, as there was with Ohtani and Soto; Guerrero has played with the Jays his entire career, and he says he wants to continue playing in Toronto. In Guerrero’s case, there is a take-down number. As he said last week after the negotiations stalled, “I have my number.” The Jays know that number, in a way they didn’t know it with Ohtani and Soto and many other stars who’ve refused to take their money in recent winters.
For the Jays, desperately in need of a franchise face, knowledge of the take-down number is worth everything.