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More and more information is coming out regarding Jordon Hudson and her influence on the North Carolina Tar Heels football program.
In late February, a report had stated that North Carolina would appear on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series. HBO was having difficulty finding NFL teams to appear on the show but seemed to have a great alternative with a North Carolina team led by Bill Belichick ready to be featured. However, a week later, further reports said the deal had fallen apart.
At the time, a report said the deal fell through because the sides had a disagreement over creative control. Now we’re learning more about those differences.
The Athletic published a report on Wednesday stating that Hudson played a big role in stopping the production. She reportedly represented herself as the Chief Operating Officer of “Belichick Productions” and wanted to be heavily involved in the project.
According to documents obtained by The Athletic, one of the producers for “Hard Knocks” wrote in an email that “the conversation took a turn we were not comfortable with.”
The information regarding Hudson interfering with the “Hard Knocks” deal is part of a trend that has emerged that shows her influence with North Carolina. Hudson has been part of headlines ever since an interview Belichick gave to CBS showed the 72-year-old coach’s girlfriend preventing him from answering a question. On Wednesday, Belichick issued a statement addressing his controversial interview. The statement sure seemed to be written by someone other than the coach.
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Bill Belichick, Michael Lombardi are invaluable assets for North Carolina in new era of college sports
There are questions surrounding Bill Belichick as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. Yes, he's a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, but the 73-year-old has never coached at the college level before. North Carolina is in an interesting position. In Belichick, the Tar Heels have a head coach who is well-versed in the business side of football as well as the Xs and Os. “Dealing with the revenue share the NIL packages, agents, if you will, representatives of players, all those kind of things — that’s the life we’ve lived,” Belichick said on Wednesday, according to Barkley Truax of On3. “We’re very comfortable with that.” College players are getting paid not just through NIL deals, but from the school directly via revenue sharing. NIL is one thing, but revenue sharing has essentially created a salary cap. Being able to pay student-athletes has allowed programs to recruit players and keep them out of the transfer portal. Each school at the Power Four level can now distribute $20.5 million a season to its student-athletes. At most schools, a majority of that will go to the football program. That essentially makes every offseason a bit like NFL free agency, and that's where Belichick's many years in professional football will pay off for North Carolina. He has qualified help as well: Michael Lombardi, who spent more than three decades in the NFL, first as a scout and then as a front-office member. He was the general manager of the New England Patriots from 2014 to 2016, and now he's Belichick's GM at North Carolina. It's a newer position cropping up in college football, but it's become essential. Coaches like Belichick focus on the football side of things, while the GMs have become responsible for team building, NIL, some recruiting and, now, revenue sharing. The NFL has a salary cap, and as Belichick explains it, college football programs will essentially have to operate in the same manner. “We don’t have an unlimited amount of money,” Belichick explained. “Which, we didn’t have in the NFL either. So, you have to figure out how to distribute it and how to, let’s say, negotiate, and also manage the assets and the resources that you have — which are good here at Carolina. But again, it’s not like we have a blank checkbook, nor does any other team. “So management of the team, the players, the salaries — or the payments that they get and so forth — are, again, something that we’ve we’ve dealt with for a long time. You have to value certain players in certain positions in order to afford to put together a good team.” When it comes to winning, few coaches have been better than Belichick. Throw in his ability to run a team, and the help he's getting from people like Lombardi, and North Carolina seems poised to thrive in this new era of college football.
Padres already demoting one of their trade-deadline acquisitions
The Padres announced they’ve optioned JP Sears to Triple-A El Paso. They recalled reliever Sean Reynolds and will go with a nine-man bullpen in the short term. Sears will spend at least 15 days in the minors unless he’s brought up to replace a player going on the injured list. San Diego acquired Sears alongside Mason Miller in last week’s massive deadline deal. The 29-year-old southpaw made his team debut Monday night. He allowed five runs in as many innings on 10 hits and a walk against the Diamondbacks. Sears took the loss in a 6-2 defeat. He’d carried a 4.95 earned run average over 22 starts with the A’s. Monday's performance pushed his ERA to 5.12 across 116 innings. It’s a bottom-10 mark among pitchers to log at least 100 frames. Sears had the highest home run rate among that group, offsetting his nearly league-average 20.3% strikeout rate and solid 6% walk percentage. This is the first time in two-and-a-half years that Sears heads to the minors. He broke camp with the A’s in 2023 and has been in the majors since then. Sears has also avoided the injured list for that entire time. As a result, he’s tied for fifth in MLB with 87 starts since the beginning of the ’23 season. The durability is the big selling point, as his production (4.62 ERA/4.56 SIERA) over that stretch is that of a fifth or sixth starter. The demotion shouldn’t have any impact on Sears’ service trajectory. He has already surpassed the three-year mark and will qualify for arbitration next winter. He’s under team control for three seasons beyond this one. While he’ll probably be back up at some point this year, it may require an injury elsewhere in the rotation. San Diego optioned Randy Vásquez over the weekend. They have a four-man rotation of Dylan Cease, Nick Pivetta, Yu Darvish and deadline acquisition Nestor Cortes. Darvish and Cortes will get the ball for the next two outings. San Diego is off Thursday and could turn back to Pivetta and Cease on extra rest for their first two games of the weekend series against the Red Sox. That’d point to the series finale on Aug. 10 as Michael King’s return date. King threw 61 pitches in what is expected to be his final rehab start on Sunday, via the MLB.com injury tracker. He’d be on six days' rest for his first MLB appearance since he went on the injured list in late May with a nerve problem in his throwing shoulder.
Blue Jays demolish MLB records with eye-popping Coors Field performance
DENVER — There's nothing like coming to Coors Field to fix what ails you. Just ask the Toronto Blue Jays. Losers of six of eight games before arriving in Denver, the Blue Jays posted an MLB-record 63 hits in a three-game series while easily sweeping a road series from the Colorado Rockies. By totaling 25 hits on Monday night, 14 on Tuesday and 24 in Wednesday's matinee, the Blue Jays set a new MLB standard for offensive prowess. Toronto passed the MLB record of 62 hits in a three-game series, set by the Boston Red Sox in a June 7-9, 1950 matchup against the St. Louis Browns. As part of the hit parade, Toronto smashed 13 home runs, the most ever surrendered by the Rockies in a three-game set. Included in that barrage were three hits by Bo Bichette, including a three-run shot on Wednesday afternoon that got the Blue Jays rolling in the third inning. Kyle Freeland, Wednesday's starter for Colorado, allowed seven hits in his 4.2 innings of work. That was the fewest amount of hits given up by a Rockies starter against Toronto, as Rockies starter Tanner Gordon allowed 11 in 2.2 frames on Monday, while Anthony Molina surrendered nine in 5.0 innings on Tuesday. "We need to pitch with confidence as starting pitchers. We need to command the baseball better in general," said Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer as his team slipped to 30-84 on the season. "We have to put hitters away when we have that opportunity." That was something Colorado couldn't do against the Blue Jays on Wednesday, as their first six runs of a 20-1 blowout win came with two outs in the frame. Wednesday's offensive explosion helped Toronto outscore the Rockies, 45-6, in the series. That run differential was the second-most in MLB's modern era and the most runs scored by an MLB team in a three-game series since the 2019 Chicago Cubs scored 47 runs against the Pittsburgh Pirates from Sept. 13-15, 2019. In all, the 45 runs, 63 hits and 13 home runs allowed in the series were each the most allowed by Colorado pitchers in a three-game set in franchise history. How bad did it get for Colorado at the end of the series? Down 12-1 entering the ninth inning on Wednesday, the Rockies put catcher Austin Nola on the mound for his first-ever pitching appearance. He was nothing like his younger brother, Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola, as he promptly gave up four consecutive doubles, including RBI shots from Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., as part of eight hits and eight runs posted by the Blue Jays against him. "It hurts when you get beat that bad for three games," Nola said. "We can compete with anybody. I know we can. We're all Major League players, so it definitely hurts. We're going to have to flush this one and get back out there on Friday in Arizona and have a new competitive attitude." All quotations obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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Yankees Pitchers Inching Toward Their Last Weeks in Pinstripes
Fate in the Bronx right now is thinning, as August settles in. The New York Yankees are on a slide, and the slumping is contagious throughout the roster. Yankees pitchers have been scary in a not-so-good way. Some of these pitchers are playing their way to unemployment. The Yankees are now six and a half games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East. Having once led the division by a healthy margin, they are now on the outside looking in. This is due to a combination of inability to score runs and make plays. In addition, quality in the pitching depth has not been present. Certain pitchers acquired as valuable pieces are not pulling their weight and do not appear likely to return in 2026. Yankees Pitchers Who Could Be Gone After This Season Brian Cashman and his office already said goodbye to one of their big-dollar pitchers, Marcus Stroman. Shortly after acquiring relief pitcher Jake Bird at the trade deadline, the Yankees instantly regretted their decision. Bird, one of Colorado’s relief pitchers, was demoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre due to an ugly first impression. There are a few more arms that the club would like to part with, but will have to wait for the offseason to make it official. Devin Williams Could Be Out of New York in 2026 Closer Devin Williams was acquired to be the Yankees’ established late-game door-shutter. The right-hander held high hopes as one of the league’s top closers. The 2025 season has brought him nothing but struggle and grief in the Big Apple. Williams has 43 innings of work this season for the Yankees. He currently holds a 5.44 ERA, allowing 26 runs on 33 hits. He currently ranks 18th of 30 MLB closers in saves. Williams has 17 saves, three blown saves, and a .208 batting average against. Although these numbers are not terrible, the Yankees reliever does not have what it takes to shut the door in the Bronx. He’s proven his reliability is thin and inconsistent. The remainder of the season is important for Williams, as he needs redemption. He’s set to be a free agent at the end of this season. Jonathan Loáisiga May Be in His Last Months in Pinstripes Jonathan Loáisiga was shut down due to injury, underwent surgery, and returned. The Yankees provided him an opportunity, in hopes that he’s able to come back stronger and elite. He was reactivated on March 16th. The right-hander has not had much to offer this season, with short stints totalling 29 2/3 innings. He holds a 4.25 ERA with a 2.1 HR/9 and a 1.483 WHIP. Loaisiga was in sight as a key part of the Yankees’ bullpen blueprint this season. On August 3rd, the right-hander re-entered the injured list on a 15-day sideline due to back tightness. Loaisiga has a club option of $5 million that the Yankees likely will not pick up. Luke Weaver May Be One of a Few Relief Pitchers to Go Luke Weaver was the trusted arm in the 2024 postseason and World Series. After Clay Holmes was re-purposed in the bullpen and departed the Bronx, Weaver could follow the same fate. Weaver has good stuff on the mound. However, multiple teams have figured him out. He was the set-up man after Williams was assigned to the closer role. After struggling, Weaver was placed back in the closer role while Williams joined the other relief pitchers. The right-handed started off elite in 2025 and slowly declined. He has an ERA over five since returning from injury on June 20th. His current overall ERA is 2.89 in 43 2/3 innings pitched with eight saves, 15 games finished, a 2-3 record, and 16 runs allowed on 25 hits. Weaver is currently on a club option and is set to be a free agent in 2026. The Yankees will likely re-think this option as one of their relief pitchers for next season.
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