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Maxx Crosby has advice for Fernando Mendoza

NEED TO KNOW

• The Las Vegas Raiders defensive end offered some insight about transitioning to the NFL, while on his podcast

• Mendoza was selected first by the Raiders in the 2026 NFL Draft

Maxx Crosbyis offeringFernando Mendozaa little advice on the eve of the quarterback’s rookie season.

“It's a whole another game, coming to the NFL, it's the highest level — there's no other level higher,” the Las Vegas Raiders defensive end, 28, said on the Tuesday, April 28 edition of his podcastThe Rush. “And you have to realize that you're there for a reason. You can't let that be intimidating. It's easy to say, but harder to do.”

He continued, “And you just got to be 100% bought in on the process because your time, it's not on your timing. ... You don't know when it's going to be, your name's going to be called. And that's one of the toughest things in this league, you know what I mean? I've seen it break a lot of people.”For Crosby, his name was called after a tradenearly sent him to the Baltimore Ravenslast month.

Three days later, the Ravens canceled the deal after Crosby failed his physical, sending the Texas native back to Vegas — and setting the table for him to have Mendoza, 22, as a teammate.

All of which has him seemingly understanding where the Heisman Trophy winner is coming from.

“With Fernando, he didn't have the easiest road. He started at Cal, and then he transferred," Crosby said. "He wasn't considered the No. 1 pick going into this past season, but he handled the adversity incredibly. He goes and wins every single game, wins a natty, wins a Heisman and now look at what it's done for his life, you know what I mean? So anytime you get an opportunity to go out there and just compete and just put your best foot forward, that's what it all comes down to and that's where you earn respect from the guys.”As far as the former Indiana Hoosiers signal-caller is concerned, consider that a message already received.

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"Whatever everyone is ranking me, I don’t know those specifics, but I’m at the bottom of the totem pole right now, and I’ve got to first earn the respect to my teammates, earn that equity, and I’ve also just got to immerse,”Mendoza told reportersafter he was drafted No. 1 on Thursday, April 23. “And I’m just ready to do whatever the team needs and calls me to do to help them win.”

As the Raiders aim to pick up the pieces after last season's 3-14 campaign, Mendoza is poised to make an impact, but how much so is currently unknown.

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With veteran quarterbackKirk Cousinson the roster, the franchise could choose, at least initially, to let the Miami native watch and get acclimated to league.

“I think for him, just come in and just be himself. That's what I told him. Just just be yourself. Come in and do what you do,” Crosby said, sharing that Mendoza should “carry” himself like he’s the starter.He added, “Don't wait until you're out there on the field to go and lead. Like even if you're the second-string guy, if you're the third-string guy, whatever it is, still be 100% yourself and let your personality show and just be authentic. I think that's the most important thing.”

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GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss court on Tuesday dismissed a trial against the daughter of a former president of Uzbekistan on charges including money laundering and bribery, noting that she is in prison at home and has not been allowed to take part in the proceedings.

The Swiss case againstGulnara Karimova, the daughter of former President Islam Karimov, was abandoned one day after the trial opened in the southern city of Bellinzona. It had been set to run through May 22.

The presiding judge said Uzbek authorities had indicated that Karimova, 53, would not be released until after her full sentence is completed in December 2028 on convictions in Uzbekistan including embezzlement. The judge said the charges in Switzerland will have elapsed under the statute of limitations.

Karimova was first convicted in Uzbekistan in 2015. She was initially ordered to serve her sentence at her daughter’s home, but a 2019 court ruling placed her behind bars for violating the terms of her confinement.

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She is now serving a 13-year sentence for organizing a criminal group, extortion and embezzlement. Uzbek news outlet Podrobno reported Monday that Karimova has been held in a women’s penal colony in outskirts of the capital, Tashkent, since early last year.

The Swiss case centered onalleged bribery and money launderinginvolving assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars and a crime ring known as “The Office," which involved several dozen people and multiple companies.

The trial will continue against Swiss private bank Lombard Odier and a former employee over allegations from Swiss prosecutors that they had a “decisive role" in hiding the proceeds of the crime ring's activities.

Lombard Odier has said the charges against it — which it contests and will defend against — center on “organizational shortcomings in prevention measures,” not allegations of involvement in money laundering.

CLEVELAND (AP) — Tampa Bay third baseman Junior Caminero is day-to-day with a bruised jaw after getting struck with a foul tip during the first inning of Tuesday night's game against Cleveland.

Caminero was injured when he fouled a cutter from Cleveland's Tanner Bibee off the plate. The ball bounced off the plate and hit him in the area of the right jaw. Caminero fell to the ground and was face down for a couple minutes as Tampa Bay's trainer came out.

Caminero was examined for a couple minutes before deciding to remain in for the at-bat. He grounded out to Bibee before being replaced by Ben Williamson.

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The 22-year old Caminero — who spent three years in Cleveland's organization — leads the Rays with eight home runs and had hit safely in 12 of his last 14 games before Tuesday night.

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

In her ideal world, Olivia Pichardo would just play ball and not take attention away from her teammates.

Brown Woman Pitcher

“Sometimes it feels a little ridiculous,” she told The Associated Press, “but it’s something I understand is going to happen. That's not what my primary focus is ever on.”

Pichardo has grown accustomed to being the only girl on her baseball team during her years in Little League, high school and travel ball. Four years ago she tried out for the Brown University team, made it and early in her freshman season became thefirst woman to appear in a Division I gamewhen she pinch-hit against Bryant.

On her senior day last Saturday, she became the first woman to pitch in a Division I game when she got the final out in a key win over Cornell.

“I feel like sometimes it might distract a bit too much from the success of our team,” Pichardo said. “We just made the playoffs for the first time since 2007, so that’s a huge accomplishment, and I wouldn’t want to take away from that."

Pichardo was listed as an outfielder and pitcher her first three years and focused only on pitching this season. The fact she stuck it out four years might seem surprising. Brown has played 151 games since Pichardo arrived, and she has appeared in only six. She pinch-hit once as a freshman, once as a sophomore and three times as a junior, when she also played right field for an inning and caught two flies.

Until Saturday, she hadn't appeared in a game this season, let alone warmed up in the bullpen. With Brown leading Cornell 16-3 in the ninth inning, coach Frank Holbrook's plan was to have little-used reliever Ty Harris get the first two outs and have Pichardo finish.

The 5-foot-7, 165-pound Pichardo has a four-pitch repertoire that includes a low-80s four-seam fastball to go with a sinker, changeup and curve. She entered with the bases loaded and threw two fastballs to Tyler Beaulieu, who grounded out to short to end Brown's 16-4 win.

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Pichardo said she has never had any problem melding with her teammates. She prefers just being one of the guys and not taking spotlight away from the team. She does, however, understand the magnitude of what she’s accomplished, not just in college but also in summer ball. In 2023, she became the first woman to hit a home run in a summer league,connecting for Sag Harborin the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League.

“It’s important for inspiring the younger generation of female baseball players, give them some kind of hope, I guess, that if they want to play at the collegiate level, no matter what division, that door is open for them and it is possible,” she said.

Pichardo, who graduates this spring with a degree in business economics, has been able to capitalize on name, image and likeness opportunities as the most visible woman in college baseball. She's in her third year as an endorser for the baseball equipment and apparel company Warstic Sports and she has a deal with Topps Allen & Ginter baseball cards.

Once Brown's season ends, she'll turn her attention to trying out for the U.S. women's team that will play in the group stage of the 2027 World Cup. She has been a regular on Team USA since 2022 and pitched against Japan in the 2024 World Cup in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Pichardo said she's been grateful for every baseball opportunity since her father signed her up for a league in her hometown of Queens, New York, when she was 6.

“He didn't have any sons, so I like to say I was his designated son,” she said. “I've always been able to play at every level that I've progressed to, so there was never any reason for me to stop playing baseball just because I didn't see other women in the same space as me. It was my first sport, my first love and I knew I wanted to try and play at the highest level possible.”

AP college sports:https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

New photos ofthe Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Poolshow the latest mark that PresidentDonald Trump is havingon some of themost iconic spacesin the nation’s capital.

Officials insist that a new ocean-blue swimming pool coating beingapplied to the base of the Reflecting Poolwill make for a cleaner, more picturesque scene for the thousands of tourists and D.C. locals who walk by the spot every day.

The renovations come afterTrump complained that the 2,030-foot by 167-foot pool, which was built in 1922 between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, “never looked great” because the stone on the bottom of the pool was “not really meant to be a stone that's underwater for that much of a period of time.”

Trump told reporters last week that to sort the situation, he was hiring a contractor he’d used to build pools at his Trump hotels and residential towers. “I have a guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools up the road,” the president said.

For now, the entire pool is fenced off, drained, and covered with construction equipment, including port-a-potties, as D.C.’s peak tourism season begins. On Monday, college graduates were taking photos in front of the empty cement basin, where a small blue square of sprayed-on coating is beginning to take shape at one end.

Tourists took photos at the Lincoln Memorial steps and with the backdrop of the Washington Monument but a handful of others peered through the fences, wondering what was going on. No signage indicates what the pool’s eventual appearance will look like for the families walking by or overlooking the project on the Lincoln Memorial’s steps.

Workers weren’t present at the site Monday, but a handful of tools were strewn around. National Park Service personnel could be seen performing other repair and beautification work nearby at the Vietnam War Memorial, where fence poles were being replaced and repainted by staff.

Photos taken byThe Independentshow the sheer scale of the project, which will likely take weeks or even months to complete, depending on the pace of progress. Only a few hundred square feet appeared to be covered by Monday afternoon. The pool itself is more than 330,000 square feet in area.

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For Washington D.C. officials, it’s one more headache caused by a president who made a physical transformation of the nation’s capital one of his top priorities upon his return to the White House. Preservationistsalso fear that the new look will be tacky and artificial,compared to the solemn feeling meant to be evoked by the old design.

Even as his legislative agenda has been stalled by slim GOP majorities in the House and Senate, the president has focused a large portion of his energy on construction and beautification projects at the White House and across the District of Columbia.

Inside the White House, gold filigree and lettering have appeared across the West Wing, which has also evolved to suit Trump’s decorative tastes in other ways. The complex’s historic East Wingwas demolished last year,stunning preservationists and city residents, to make roomfor a planned ballroomand other renovations, like a secure bunker for the president and his staff.

Across the city, the changes are just as apparent.

Parks and public edifices from one end of D.C. to the other are undergoing renovations, refurbishments and more as the president directed the Parks Service to repair fountains and conduct other beautification work to improve the scenery and encourage tourism. That’s hardly the half of it, though: Trump’s “takeover” of the nation’s capital last year involved an effort to federalize the city’s police force and deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops around D.C., many of whom remain in place at transit stations and are conducting foot patrols downtown. Federal law enforcement also swarmed the city, conducting a massive wave of immigration-related arrests and providing a visible, militarized presence on city streets.

The initial pressure on D.C.’s leaders and population was heavily resisted by residents, who engaged in verbal and sometimes physical confrontations with members of federal law enforcement during immigration-related stings and raids. A man was charged after throwing a sandwich at one agent, but a juryrefused to convict him.

One year later, that law enforcement presence has disappeared, but has spread around the country to places like Minneapolis, where two Americans were killed protesting ICE and DHS operations. The National Guard remains, largely milling about and occasionally intervening in incidents that take place in their vicinity. Two Guardsmen were shot, one fatally, last year outside a Metro station near the White House. A memorial is now on the spot.

Other aspects of Trump’s efforts to assert his presence and control across the city remain, however, as many federal buildings and headquarters still bear massive banners depicting his face.

Beautification projects like the one at the Reflecting Pool also bear small signs indicating that they are part of the administration’s overall efforts to make the nation’s capital “safe and beautiful”.