Professional athletes of all sports attended Fanatics Fest at the Javits Center in New York City, including Kevin Durant, John Cena, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, Rob Gronkowski, Michael Chandler, Alex Rodriguez and many more. The event spanned three days and had games, interviews and more for sports fans to enjoy.

As is typically the case in the modern era, a big event such as this took social media by storm. While videos of some players on stage or during interviews at the event went viral, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow went viral for a much different reason at the event.

Taylor Lewan Teases Joe Burrow About Viral Fanatics Fest Video

Burrow participated in a pitching target game at the event, and it’s safe to say he struggled during it. Many would have expected Burrow to excel at that challenge as a professional quarterback, but that wasn’t the case.

As a result, many fans on social media ripped him for the performance. One of those to chime in and roast Burrow was former NFL offensive tackle and co-host of the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast, Taylor Lewan.

Lewan took to ‘X’ to say, “Thank you Joe Burrow, thank you.”

Thank you Joe Burrow, thank you.

pic.twitter.com/QQMF3wYU7D

— Taylor Lewan (@TaylorLewan77) June 21, 2025

While many may wonder why Lewan was thanking Burrow, it is likely due to Lewan’s public struggles in throwing a baseball.

In early June, Lewan threw out the first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game, and like the pitches Burrow was throwing during Fanatics Fest, the results were not ideal.

Taylor Lewan, First Pitch Mechanics pic.twitter.com/AxqzmESufM

— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 6, 2025

Lewan’s first pitch was eerily similar to an infamous first pitch at Citi Field by Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson. Both are lefties and threw pitches way wide of the plate in a hilariously embarrassing fashion.

“This is the worst day of my athletic career, and that includes the Chandler Jones game,” Lewan posted on social media after the wild first pitch. “I need redemption.”

Lewan and Burrow’s humorous failures to throw a baseball make it clear that just because they are some of the best in the world in one sport does not mean instant success in another. Fans had a great time poking fun at the players, but that doesn’t change anything for these two NFL stars.

Lewan’s legacy is cemented as a three-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle who has since moved on to a successful podcasting career in his post-NFL life. As for Burrow, the two-time Pro Bowler and two-time Comeback Player of the Year will look to lead the Bengals to another deep playoff run after back-to-back disappointing 9-8 seasons that resulted in missing the playoffs.

Leeds, Jun 22 (PTI) Swashbuckling India batter Rishabh Pant’s perfect somersault after smashing a breathtaking century in the first Test against England has caught the fancy of his legion of fans, while former players felt the acrobatic act that has since gone viral was a statement of his “unique” ways.

Pant hit an entertaining 178-ball 134, his seventh Test ton, as India amassed 471 against England under new skipper Shubman Gill on Day 2 of the opening Test here on Saturday.

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said Pant probably had been doing gymnastics from a very young age.

“Nothing wrong in that. That’s him. Let him be. You know, he’s different. At a very young age, he did a lot of gymnastics,” said the cricketer-turned-commentator.

“Even if I might have tried it, I think I might have… (but) it would have been to go into the pool,” Shastri joked in a video posted by BCCI.

Pant was involved in a horrific car accident in 2022, which left him grievously injured and his return to professional cricket is one of the most heartwarming stories in sport. To perform a somersault like that after undergoing several surgeries is indeed awe-inspiring.

“Rishabh being Rishabh, he does something unique. He does it really well. I think it was unique. No one expected him to do that. I’ve never tried it. I’ll need a lot of practice because that is something if you haven’t tried, you can’t do it,” said India batter Cheteshwar Pujara.

Former India cricketer Dinesh Karthik said he was in awe of Pant, as the wicketkeeper-batter was made of a different stuff.

“Neither could I do the somersault like him, nor can I bat like him. I think on both fronts (keeping and batting) he has exceeded expectations. It’s quite an effort to do that, actually. And he does it consistently,” said Karthik, himself a wicketkeeper-batter.

“When I was very young, my parents did make me participate in gymnastics and I did try and I was an utter failure at that. So, let’s just leave it there because he (Pant) is doing it so much nicer when he celebrates it,” added Karthik.

“I think I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. With pads on as well. Amazing,” said an English fan. PTI AM AM PDS

PDS

Fans of a brand new football video game are concerned that game may have already been ruined as a clip has gone viral online.

With almost every club in football currently taking a break during off-season, many fans have been wondering what to do with the spare time now granted to them until the 2025/26 season gets underway.

Thankfully for some, the itch for more football didn’t last long, as Rematch, a brand new online 5v5 multiplayer football video game launched on Playstation, Xbox and PC.

The fast-paced arcade-style game has been an instant success, boasting a stunning peak of 92,841 concurrent Steam players when it launched on June 19.

However, just days after the official launch, some fans have shared concerns that the game may have already been ruined after watching a viral clip online.

Similarly to the massively popular Rocket League, Rematch players are already trying to find new and unique ways to score goals and win matches.

For example, in a now-viral clip posted online, one player discovered that if he continued to head the ball into the back wall of the arena, it would allow his character to float above the pitch.

In doing so it extended the match, which would end once the ball touched the ground, and allowed him to do a nice overhead kick to end the match with a goal that put his team 5-1 ahead.

While many fans have responded positively to the clip seeing the funny side of the ridiculous, yet impressive, moment, others are not happy.

Reacting to the clip on X, one fan wrote: “Coming up with ways to ruin the game.”

Another agreed, adding: “Just play football. The players ruin every game.”

While one claimed: “The sweats have already taken over haha.”

Of course, to almost every player a moment like this would never happen, and it’s clearly not something that is worrying the 47,000+ people currently playing the game at the time of writing.

And overall, the game has been a massive success with critics and fans alike, boasting mostly positive reviews from the 11,915 posted Steam, while sitting with an impressive Metacritic score of 75%.

For fans looking to get involved in Rematch, the price will depend on the edition of the game, with the standard edition costs £19.99, according to Rematch, while the Pro Edition is priced at £29.99 and the the most lucrative Elite Edition costing £39.99.

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Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles has deleted her X account several days after she and former college swimmer Riley Gaines got into a heated online disagreement over transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, the New York Post reported. 

After Gaines, 25, became aware of Biles, 28, deleting her X account, the former said that it was “sad to see such a phenom go down like this.”

“Has an incredibly unpopular and morally indefensible take, gets rightfully ridiculed for it, issues a groveling public apology after unrelenting backlash, deletes account to pretend it never happened,” she added.

Biles’ other social media accounts are, however, still up and rinning. As previously reported by Face2Face Africa, Gaines has been a staunch advocate for the introduction of policies to control the involvement of transgender women in competitive female sports. Gaines embarked on that campaign in 2022 after she and former University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas both finished fifth in a 200m freestyle race. 

Transgender athletes being allowed to participate in competitive women’s sports has also been a hugely debated topic that has drawn divergent sentiments, and that was what sparked the initial online disagreement between Biles and Gaines. 

Biles deleting her X account also came after she rendered an apology to Gaines on the social media platform following their online feud. 

“I wanted to follow up from my last tweets. I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport. The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for,” Biles wrote in her post. 

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Biles also stated that the issues in question are “sensitive” as well as “complicated,” and she “truly” doesn’t have the “answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect.”

“I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports. My objection is to be singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful,” she added. 

“Individual athletes—especially kids—should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over. I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.”

The Olympic gold medalist’s statement came days after she called out Gaines when the former college swimmer responded to a post from a Minnesota high school softball team with a pitcher who is transgender. 

“To be expected when your star player is a boy,” Gaines quoted on the post to highlight the comments being turned off. 

But Biles took issue with her comments and also directly addressed her. “You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser,” Biles wrote. “You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”

Biles in another post also wrote, “Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

Gaines also fired back. “This is actually so disappointing,” she told Biles in her response. “It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform. Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest.”

Despite their initial online spat, Gaines accepted Biles’ apology. “I accept Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She’s still the greatest female gymnast of all time,” she wrote on Biles’ post.

Elsewhere in her long post, Gaines said that “women’s sports can’t be used as an excuse for girls to center the feelings and validation of men and boys.” She added: “I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had.”

READ ALSO: Nigeria: Popular female transgender celebrity Bobrisky serving sentence in male prison

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