CNN
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Amid the ongoing protests across the country over the weekend and continued frustrations in Los Angeles over US Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, one singer decided to take a stand with her performance at a Dodgers game.

Nezza, whose full name is Vanessa Hernández, performed the song Saturday. She said she was first planning on singing the US National Anthem in Spanglish, but, with the ongoing immigration raids, she decided to do the song in Spanish only.

She says a team employee told her not to. That didn’t deter her, and she performed the song in Spanish anyway.

“I didn’t really see an issue with it and I wanted people to know that I’m with them and I’m standing by them,” Nezza told CNN on Tuesday.

An unidentified person, who Nezza says is a Dodgers employee, can be heard on a video saying to the singer, “We are going to do the song in English today, so I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed.”

That video, which Nezza shared on TikTok, now has over 12 million views.

CNN
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For the second year in a row, the Florida Panthers have conquered the Edmonton Oilers and lifted the Stanley Cup as kings of the NHL.

The Panthers’ back-to-back crowns have both come at the expense of the Oilers, this time in six games after last year’s seven-game classic series. With three consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup Final, Florida has officially achieved dynasty status.

With a 5-1 clinching win in Tuesday night’s Game 6, this year’s victory over the Oilers came 357 days after their last Cup-clinching win.

With a raucous home crowd chanting, “We want the Cup,” behind them and the prospect of a 2,500-mile trip back to Edmonton looming, the Panthers jumped at the opportunity to win the Cup on home ice.

The Panthers’ trio of veteran centers were the difference throughout the series.

After Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett – who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs after scoring a league-leading 15 goals in the playoffs and had 22 total points – took turns playing hero in the earlier games of the series, Tuesday was 11-year veteran Sam Reinhart’s night.

Reinhart got the scoring started in the first period with a sensational individual effort. The center took the puck away from an Oilers skater and swiftly cut behind defenseman Mattias Ekholm before going top shelf over the shoulder of Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner as Reinhart was falling down.

A long-range wrister from left winger Matthew Tkachuk with less than a minute remaining in the opening period doubled Florida’s lead to 2-0.

The second period was largely uneventful, but in the closing minutes, Reinhart struck again for the Panthers. The 29-year-old deftly used his skate to redirect the pass from Aleksander Barkov past Skinner for his second goal of the game.

But Reinhart was only halfway finished with his big night.

In the third period, with the game seemingly out of reach and in desperate need of a flurry of goals, Edmonton made a strategic decision to pull its goalie with seven minutes remaining in the game.

Reinhart took full advantage of the situation, scoring an empty-netter to complete his hat trick and adding a fourth goal for good measure to bring the Panthers’ lead to 5-0.

The offensive explosion brought Reinhart’s goal tally during the series to a team-high seven. Reinhart is the first player to net seven goals in a Stanley Cup Final since Wayne Gretzky 40 years ago.

Meanwhile, between the Florida pipes, a man affectionately known as “Bob” by his teammates and fans alike was steady while denying any hope of a score by the Oilers. Sergei Bobrovsky, who backstopped the Cup win last season and started every game this postseason, made 28 saves in the win. Edmonton’s lone tally came late in the game with no chance for a comeback as Vasily Podkolzin poked home a rebound with under five minutes remaining in the game.

The three-headed monster of Reinhart (7), Marchand (6) and Bennett (5) became just the second trio of teammates to each score five or more goals in a Stanley Cup Finals series. The 1955 Detroit Red Wings, anchored by the legendary Gordie Howe, are the only other team to achieve that feat seven decades ago.

The Conn Smythe Trophy, which is awarded to the most valuable player in the postseason, went to Bennett, who scored a league-leading 15 goals in the playoffs and had 22 total points.

Marchand, who won the Cup in 2011 with the Bruins and was acquired ahead of March’s trade deadline, was full of joy after being able to lift the NHL’s treasured chalice 14 years later.

“It’s a feeling you can’t really describe and seeing the family and everyone up there (in the stands) and everyone that supported me and helped me get to this point, there’s nothing. … Words can’t put this into reality how great it feels. And with such an incredible group,” the long-time former Bruin said with his voice trembling a bit on the TNT broadcast.

“Everybody wrote us off from the start of the playoffs. They had everybody beating us in every round and we just had that fire and knew we had something special. It’s incredible to be part of this group right now.”

After the game, Reinhart was asked about the remarkable accomplishment of winning back-to-back championships.

“It’s not easy coming back,” Reinhart told TNT. “You know how hard it is to do. Sometimes that benefits you and sometimes that doesn’t.

“We just stuck with it. A lot has to go your way to be standing here at the end, and we were up for the task again.”

Tkachuk noted the accomplishment was even bigger after playing and winning two of the last three finals. “We are a dynasty,” he said.

A second loss in as many years for Edmonton also extends another ignominious streak, as it has been 32 years since a team from Canada has won the championship in its own national winter sport. The Montreal Canadiens were the last franchise from north of the border to hoist the trophy named after Lord Stanley of Preston.

CNN
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It had been 663 days between pitching appearances, depriving baseball fans of the famed wicked four-seam fastball and splitter that they have marveled at from the sport’s most unique player. On Monday night in Los Angeles, with get-in ticket prices soaring, the time away from the mound reset to zero.

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani made his long-awaited return to the bump against division rivals San Diego Padres in front of his adoring home fans at Dodger Stadium.

The three-time MVP was welcomed back to the mound by not only cheering fans but two straight San Diego hits from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez to start the game. The Padres would score a run after a Manny Machado sacrifice fly.

Despite getting two strikes on the first four batters he faced, Ohtani struggled with control, needing 28 pitches to get through his one and only inning. He did hit 100 mph and show glimpses of why he previously dominated the position.

However, Ohtani didn’t waste any time continuing to show why he is essentially one of a kind at the bottom of the first inning. The Japanese star continued to be the focus of the game by immediately stepping up to the batter’s box to lead off the bottom of the inning. The crowd remained abuzz, knowing it was witnessing something special. Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease had other plans getting Ohtani to swing and miss on a slider for the out.

Dodgers relief pitcher Anthony Banda replaced Ohtani in the top of the second inning.

Ohtani did make an impact in the bottom of the third inning that got the crowd on its feet. With a runner on third, Ohtani smacked a double to left center field, driving in Andy Pages to tie the game at one. Ohtani did a little dance on second while his teammates celebrated the RBI.

With the Dodgers piling on Cease in the fourth frame, Ohtani added another RBI to his stat line after hitting a single to score Pages again to make it a 5-2 game.

From that point, the Dodgers would coast to a 6-3 victory.

Despite owning a division-leading 43-29 record, it has been a challenging season for Dodger pitchers.

Currently, 14 different LA pitchers are on the injured list, including Tyler Glasnow and newly signed Roki Sasaki and Blake Snell.

A month following Ohtani’s last game from the rubber in August 2023 as a member of the crosstown Angels, he underwent a procedure to repair the right ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. It was his second surgery on his right elbow. He then had a procedure on his left shoulder this past offseason, which made the Dodgers even more cautious with their record-breaking signing.

Every season seems to be a record season for Ohtani but 2024 really did take the cake. Before the season, he signed the then-reportedly largest contract in North American sports history when he penned a 10-year deal with the Dodgers. He then went on to become the first player to hit 50-plus home runs and steal 50-plus bases, set career-highs in batting average and home runs, was once again selected as an All-Star, won his first World Series ring and was unanimously voted the National League MVP (the third time he’s won unanimously). Ohtani remains the only player to win unanimously more than once.

This season has been no different at the plate, hitting .297 with 25 home runs and 41 RBI’s with 11 stolen bases coming into Monday’s game.

The right-handed pitcher had a career 3.01 ERA before his pitching layoff.