Sports
Lindsey Vonn's rehab progresses to stationary bike
Lindsey Vonn shared a video clip of riding a stationary bike on March 13, 2026 as she recovers from five surgeries on her left leg. Five weeks after an Olympics crash that nearly led to amputation of her left leg, Lindsey Vonn’s rehabilitation has progressed to riding a stationary bike.
Vonn, 41, has undergone five surgeries since suffering a complex left tibia fracture after clipping a gate and sailing off course 13 seconds into her Feb. 8 run in the women’s downhill at the Milan Cortina Olympics. After being hospitalized and undergoing four surgeries over nearly two weeks in Italy, Vonn returned to the United States and underwent a fifth surgery.
She posted earlier this month that she had finally returned home and faced “a hard and painful journey” ahead.
That journey has progressed to a stationary bike, with Vonn posting a short video to social media on Friday.
“Guys…. I’m biking!! Starting with 5 minutes… making progress one day at a time.”
Vonn previously said that the damage to her leg was so great that she might have had her leg amputated if not for Team USA’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett, quickly treating the resulting compartment syndrome from the crash by performing a fasciotomy.
With compartment syndrome, the excessive pressure building up inside a muscle from bleeding or swelling restricts blood flow and can lead to permanent injury if not treated quickly.
Friday was Vonn’s first social media update since March 8, when she shared a clip of moving from a wheelchair to a scooter at home.
Coming out of retirement with a partially rebuilt right knee, Vonn was considered a medal contender at the Olympics before her final World Cup race a week before. In that downhill, she tore her left ACL, though she said she still could ski in the Games.
Vonn was in search of her second gold medal in the downhill, having won in 2010 in Vancouver. She also has two bronze medals. She has 84 World Cup victories, including two this season.
In a lengthy social media post on March 6, Vonn said she had no regrets in making her downhill comeback.
“At the beginning of the season no one would have ever believed I would be even close to this position. And I bet people would have laughed if it was even suggested. But winning the title was my goal… and I came painfully close to achieving it,” she wrote.
“I’m not one to talk about things I’ve achieved but in this instance I feel I need to, maybe more to remind myself than anything else…
“I was on the podium of every single downhill race, including 2 wins. I clawed my way back to #1 in the world after being retired for 6 years with a partial knee replacement and that alone was an incredible achievement I won’t ever forget. Even though in a few days no one will remember that I almost won the season title, I will remember. I didn’t want to win the title to prove anything to anyone. I did it because I knew I could. I just wish I had a chance to fight until the end to try and get it…
“However, as I sit here I have to reflect and wonder; why does a title mean so much to me? Why am I crying over a crystal trophy?
“It’s because skiing has always been the thing I love to do most in this world. It has always brought me incredible joy, especially this season. But what I am realizing is that not having one more title doesn’t make this season less extraordinary. It doesn’t take away the joy I had standing in the starting gate or crossing the finish line and seeing #1 next to my name. It doesn’t take away from the incredible time I had with my team and teammates. Singing and dancing with fans and kids in the stadium. Those memories aren’t washed away because of a title. My tears just mean I care. I always have. That’s why I work so hard. Skiing is my passion. Whether I’ll ever be able to do it again is yet to be seen. But at least I have the memories, with or without a title, I feel privileged to have had this adventure.
“Wherever this path leads I will find my way. I always do. Skiing is what I love to do but it’s not who I am. There are so many reasons to be happy. So much to be thankful for.
“Thank you all for coming on this journey with me.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees to honor late broadcaster John Sterling with uniform patch
May 4, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees wear “JS” stitched on their hats honoring radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling during the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images The New York Yankees will honor longtime radio announcer John Sterling, who died on Monday at the age of 87, with a patch on their uniforms for the reminder of the season.
The Yankees will continue to wear caps with the initials “JS” on the back through May 17. The team will switch to the patch as their tribute to Sterling on May 18, when the Yankees’ next homestand begins.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone approves of the tribute.
“I think it’s appropriate, certainly,” Boone told the New York Times after the Yanks’ 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers. “(I’m) glad we’ll be able to honor his legacy throughout the rest of the season.”
The patch will feature Sterling’s name, as well as a microphone with the Yankee logo on a pinstriped background.
Sterling passed away from complications of heart failure on Monday, the Times reported. Sterling was honored prior to Monday’s game with a ceremony that featured a moment of silence and a video of some of Sterling’s most iconic radio calls.
After Monday’s game, Sterling’s signature call of “Thuuuuuuuuuuh Yankees WIN!” was played over the PA system at Yankee Stadium, followed by Frank Sinatra’s “Theme from New York, New York.”
Both manager Boone and Yankees captain Aaron Judge called for making that combo a permanent tradition. But Sterling’s call was not part of Tuesday’s post-game victory celebration, and it was unclear if the team intends to continue it, the Times reported.
Count Jazz Chisholm Jr. among those who feel the patch is a good way to honor Sterling this season.
“He was here for a long time,” said Chisholm. “He represented the Yankees well. We all, in our childhood, have that John Sterling call rising in our ears. I think it’s pretty cool that we, as a team and organization, get to recognize him for all the great things that he’s done here.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
MLB Panic Meter: Mets, Red Sox, Angels Among Biggest Early Concerns
The season isn’t one-fourth complete, meaning it’s relatively early by MLB standards.
But it’s also time for concern for a spate of underachieving teams and players to be calibrated against the potential for a rebound.
Here’s our look at some particularly worrisome slow starts around the game.
1. The New York Mets
David Stearns’ nonsensical off-season overhaul — dumping a spate of franchise icons all in the name of improving the defense by signing or moving a bunch of people to positions they’d never played — left the Mets in a much more vulnerable position than any team should be with a $352 million payroll. But it shouldn’t be going THIS badly, even with Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor playing just seven full games together due to their calf injuries.
At least the Mets no longer have the worst record in the bigs after winning three of four from the Los Angeles Angels and Colorado Rockies. But when you’ve got to win three of four from the Angels and Rockies just to escape the basement.
2. The Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies
The 2-for-1, you-both-got-your-managers-fired deal here. As with the Mets, the off-season should have provided more of a hint that the Red Sox (who didn’t re-sign valuable veteran leader Alex Bregman) and Phillies (who re-signed every aging veteran this side of Steve Jeltz) might stumble out of the gates. A 4-0 start under interim manager Don Mattingly served as a reminder the Phillies have an immeasurable edge of the Red Sox in terms of postseason-tested players and, especially, competent upper management. Boston’s geniuses apparently thought it’d be a good idea to toss Triple-A manager Chad Tracy into a locker room filled with angry players. Hard to believe “chief baseball officer” Craig Breslow actually played in the majors.
3. The Los Angeles Angels
We should all be immune to being disappointed by the Angels, who have the longest playoff drought in the majors as well as the longest streak of consecutive sub-.500 finishes despite employing both Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout from 2018 through 2023.
But the American League is a mashup of mediocrity and Trout is enjoying a renaissance season, so it wouldn’t take much for the Angels to at least hover around the fringes of contention. So of course they’ve lost 13 of 15 to fall to 13-23, which is the worst record in the bigs and puts the Angels on pace to lose 100 games for the first time ever. So there is that.
4. Willy Adames and Rafael Devers, San Francisco Giants SS/1B
Buster Posey’s weird plan to construct a contender around a bunch of singles hitters was always contingent on Adames, the one Giants position player star who chose to play in hitter-unfriendly Oracle Park, and Devers, a blockbuster trade addition last year, providing the token bit of power.
But the duo have combined for just five homers and rank 161st and 163rd, respectively, in OPS at .579 and .572 as the Giants have started 14-21. Adames’ poor strikeout-to-walk ratio — he’s struck out 45 times while drawing just six walks — is a big red flag after he increased his walk total each of the previous three seasons.
5. Andrew Abbott, Cincinnati Reds P
Abbott outperformed his peripherals (a 2.87 ERA but a 3.66 FIP) while making the All-Star team for the first time last season. But the market correction has been unforgiving for Abbott, whose 5.97 ERA is seventh-worst in the NL amongst pitchers who have thrown at least 30 innings. He is also striking out just 6.2 batters per nine innings, easily the lowest figure of his career and a concerning trend as the Reds bank on a bounce-back.
Sports
Should the Celtics Blow It Up? Analyzing Every Major Option
Everyone seems to have an opinion on how to “fix” the Celtics.
You’ll probably not be surprised to hear I have a few myself. OK, more than just a few.
Raising a 7-foot bar on a bunch of wishful thinking among Celtics fans and senseless knee-jerk reactions among the unfaithful, here’s where I stand on some of the more popular suggestions:
Fire Brad Stevens.
Let’s get the most ridiculous one out of the way.
Stevens was NBA Executive of the Year this year for a reason. He did the seemingly impossible (or so Golden State tells us) … He got rid of a bunch of overpaid veterans, remained competitive even without Jayson Tatum for the most part, and restructured a roster that should be able to compete for Eastern titles for most of the next decade.
Fire him? I say: Reward him.
Fire Joe Mazzulla.
He did such a great job during the regular season, he set himself up for a hard fall in the playoffs. And even at that, you have to wonder what might have happened had Tatum not contracted a case of Embiid-itis.
Did he mismanage the Philadelphia series? Sure. The Pistons would have fired their coach if he’d done that. Maybe even the Knicks and Cavaliers. But they haven’t won a title, made the Finals twice and been a perennial contender for the better part of a decade.
Based on the improbable regular season alone, Mazz deserves the benefit of the doubt. But don’t let it happen again.
Trade Derrick White.
On the surface, this one makes sense. As the 76ers series demonstrated, the Celtics could use a Robert Williams III type more than a White type. But that’s what Stevens, in a rare blunder, thought when he exchanged Anfernee Simons for Nikola Vucevic.
Look at the Eastern Conference. When Joel Embiid isn’t playing – which is most of the time – the top players are almost all guards: Cade Cunningham, Jalen Brunson, Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, Tyrese Haliburton … You need somebody to slow them down.
Yeah, the Celtics could move Jaylen Brown fulltime to the backcourt, but that likely would force Tatum to actually have to guard somebody. Giving Brown the tough frontcourt assignments allows Tatum to freelance, grab cheap rebounds and stay fresh for his late barrage of missed 3-pointers. Wait, that was supposed to be a positive.
Trading White maybe gets you Wendell Carter Jr., but does that make you better? I say: Just bigger.
Trade Jaylen Brown.
Let’s be honest: Breaking up the Brown/Tatum tandem would take a lot of guts. But after watching the Celtics play without Tatum for two-thirds of last season, it’s at least worth considering.
So which one gets shopped? That depends what type of team you want.
We’ve seen what the Celtics look like without Tatum – energetic, defensive-minded and all-inclusive on offense. And that’s without whatever high-level player or players you would get by trading Tatum.
You turn Brown into, say, Naz Reid and Terrence Shannon Jr., and you improve defensively on the interior and offensively on the perimeter. But you lose what made the Celtics so fun to watch this season – the team’s best defender and emotional leader.
I’d keep Brown.
Trade Jayson Tatum.
It might take just one call to turn the Celtics into the Eastern frontrunner again …
Stevens: If we give you Tatum for Giannis, how many first-round picks would you want?
Bucks GM Jon Horst: Let me get back to you on that.
If the response is anything you can count on one hand, the Celtics’ off-season is complete.
Tatum has done a lot of good things for this team, but he’s not in Giannis’ league. Few players are.
The Celtics would get their interior force, a runner who would allow the team to pick up the pace and another elite shot-blocker who would make Boston the most well-rounded defensive force in the league, with White shadowing star little guys, Brown locked onto mid-sized scorers and Giannis pitching a tent in the middle.
Stop dreaming? OK, then I’d settle for Domantas Sabonis and De’Andre Hunter.
Stand pat.
Stevens earned a nice, long vacation. Maybe he should take one.
No phones. See you in October with the same pieces that made the Celtics the favorite in the Eastern playoffs. Even with Tatum at less than 100 percent.
After all, it ain’t broke.
Unless, of course: Brad, this is Horstie getting back to you …
