Authorities handed down a lifetime ban to an Idaho high school wrestling coach for hitting an opposing wrestler during a match last weekend‚ the Idaho Statesman reported. But the circumstances are a bit unusual given that the coach's son was the other wrestler in the match‚ and the coach — Russell Brunson— said he was trying to protect his son from getting choked. What are the details? The Statesman said video of the incident shows Brunson — an assistant coach for Rocky Mountain High School — getting on the mat and hitting a freshman from Nyssa‚ Oregon‚ at least three times during the Jan. 20 Skyview Duals match in Nampa‚ Idaho. Officials had to stop the match to get Brunson off the mat‚ the paper said. Niki Scheppers‚ spokesperson for Idaho's West Ada School District‚ told the Statesman that Brunson wasn't ejected from the tournament. 'What would you if your kid was getting choked out?' Brunson penned a Jan. 22 letter to the District Three Board of Control‚ the local arm of the Idaho High School Activities Association‚ the Statesman said. Brunson said he thought his son was put into an illegal choke hold and feared he was about to pass out‚ the paper noted. “As a coach‚ the normal reaction would be to yell and point it out to the ref‚ but my reaction as a dad took it one step too far‚” Brunson wrote‚ according to the Statesman. “What would you do if your kid was getting choked out‚ just 2 feet in front of your face? If I had more time‚ I probably could have made a better decision. But it all happened‚ I panicked‚ and it was over in less than 3 seconds.” Scheppers told the paper that Brunson resigned Jan. 21 from his volunteer coaching position‚ and the board of control on Jan. 23 banned him from coaching any Idaho high school sport or activity for life. The board also barred Brunson from attending any state high school sporting event for the rest of this school year and the 2024-25 year‚ the Statesman reported. "The board felt the actions of coach Brunson were egregious and unacceptable‚” board president Craig Woods wrote in a letter Jan. 23 to Rocky Mountain‚ the paper said. “There is no place for this type of behavior in high school athletics‚ and it will not be tolerated.” Scheppers added to the Statesman that Brunson plans to appeal the ban on attending events. The paper said Brunson's son will finish his senior season next month. The Statesman said Brunson declined an interview request Jan. 24 but provided the paper with a statement. "There is no excuse for my actions on January 20th‚” he wrote in a text message‚ according to the Statesman. “I should not have stepped onto the mat and tried to break up the wrestling match. I saw my child in a potentially dangerous position and reacted rashly. I have reached out to the [Nyssa wrestler’s] family directly and sincerely apologized for my inappropriate reaction.” Criminal charges? The paper added that the Nyssa School District in Oregon has not ruled out seeking criminal charges. “We are collaborating with the family‚ athletic associations‚ school district officials and‚ if necessary‚ law enforcement to investigate this incident‚” Nyssa Athletic Director Joshua De Anda wrote in an email to the Statesman. “Both Nyssa High School and Nyssa School District are committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our students.” The West Ada School District also is investigating‚ Scheppers added to the paper. Nampa police opened an investigation as well‚ Big Country News reported. Brunson apologized in his letter to the board and wrote that his actions weren't premeditated‚ the Statesman said. “My initial reaction (as you’ll see from the video) was correct‚” Brunson wrote‚ according to the paper. “I yelled that he was getting choked and tried to show the ref. But in the last 2 seconds‚ I was wrong. I don’t know what happened. I was scared‚ and my instinct was to push the other kid off of him so the choking would stop and he could breathe. If I could go back and replay those 2 seconds of my life‚ I would. But unfortunately‚ it’s too late.” Anything else? The Statesman at the bottom of its story embedded Brunson's letter to the board‚ and in that letter was a link to a video of the incident Brunson said is from his phone "so you can see the angle and my point of view during the incident." The web address in the letter is www.RussellBrunson.com/thevideo. The main part of the internet address — minus the "thevideo" extension — goes to Brunson's marketing and sales website. Big Country News characterized Brunson as "a social media influencer and millionaire." However‚ the complete address — www.RussellBrunson.com/thevideo — goes to a Facebook post by marketer Marley Jaxx that advocates for Brunson and includes the secondary-angle video Brunson mentions in his letter to the board. While the YouTube video of the incident recorded from a high angle appears to show Brunson throwing his right hand three times at the opposing wrestler‚ the below clip from the floor angle shows Brunson slapping the wrestler once with an open right hand and then throwing his right hand a second time. Image source: Facebook video screenshot via Marley Jaxx However‚ the clip ends right in the middle of the second thrown hand — whether or not it comes in contact with the wrestler isn't clear. Image source: Facebook video screenshot via Marley Jaxx A third thrown hand apparently visible in the YouTube video isn't included in the floor-angle clip. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

The news of Sports Illustrated going under last month and laying off its entire staff should not have been surprising. Print media is in its death throes‚ after all. The magazine‚ once emblematic of sports journalism and gracing every newsstand‚ grocery checkout aisle‚ and dentist’s waiting room in the country‚ had already been reduced to a shell of its former glorious self. According to a statement on behalf of Manoj Bhargava‚ the firings “had absolutely nothing to do with the AI issue at all.” The layoffs came a mere five months after billionaire Manoj Bhargava‚ the 5-Hour Energy drink founder‚ purchased SI in the first place. But that isn’t all. In the ballgame of corporate-owned media‚ the publishers of Sports Illustrated have a hot new prospect. Artificial intelligence-driven journalism is warming up in the bullpen‚ set to replace dead-armed human reporters who have been faltering on the pitcher’s mound for decades. And the hits don’t stop comin’‚ and they won’t stop comin’. Other publications recently have also announced massive newsroom layoffs‚ including the Los Angeles Times‚ National Geographic‚ Time‚ and more. A preponderance of staffers getting canned are also members of a newspaper union. These well-paying gigs include benefits‚ health care‚ expense accounts‚ and so on. Personally‚ when these stories came out‚ I was prepared to do the typical “Go Woke‚ Go Broke” and “Learn to Code” trolling that everyone else in conservative media was content to roll with. Newsrooms nationwide have been racked with the “advocacy journalism” scourge by reporters‚ editors‚ and publishers who would rather push an agenda than stick to the facts. But digging deeper‚ something odd caught my eye. Sports Illustrated is ground zero‚ using AI to aid (or replace) human reporters. We shouldn’t be shocked when other publications follow suit. How legacy media dies Corporate consolidation has been the name of the game in mass media for a lifetime. Publications are bought out by other publications bought out by investment groups‚ then spun off to other corporate entities in a murky game of insider baseball. Take Sports Illustrated. It was first published in 1954 and was a subsidiary of the Time-Life magazine organization‚ which eventually merged and became Time Warner. Once famous for its titillating swimsuit editions and weekly sports coverage‚ the publication had been reduced to a thin flyer‚ with barely any articles‚ coming out once a month. Sports Illustrated is not really even a magazine any more. It’s a brand name. In 2018‚ SI and other Time Inc. media holdings were spun off and sold to the Meredith Corporation‚ which then sold SI to Authentic Brands Group for $110 million. ABG then leased the Sports Illustrated publishing rights to yet another media company called theMaven‚ which eventually changed its name to the Arena Group. In August 2023‚ Indian-born businessman and 5-Hour Energy drink magnate Manoj Bhargava bought controlling interest in the Arena Group. Maybe enough human editors will be kept aboard to prompt a journalism chatbot to produce 400 words about Taylor Swift or some similar TikTok trending topic? Bhargava in December fired Arena Group CEO Ross Levinsohn‚ a former vice president and interim CEO at Yahoo‚ along with several other executives amid an “AI scandal.” AI-generated news stories with fake authors and headshots were being used to fill editorial copy at Sports Illustrated. These stories were eventually taken down and a lame excuse given as to why they appeared in the first place. But the publishers had already bobbled the ball. According to a statement on behalf of Bhargava‚ the firings “had absolutely nothing to do with the AI issue at all.” None of this should have come as a surprise. On February 3‚ 2023‚ Arena Group and Levinsohn issued a gushing press release announcing a partnership with a pair of AI firms called Jasper and Nota to help editors use “AI technology to rapidly identify trending topics and relevant proprietary archival content and photos to produce trending and evergreen articles.” The Wall Street Journal produced a similarly gushing article on the same day‚ touting how the Arena Group’s suite of publications was using chatbot technology from ChatGPT creator OpenAI to generate content as well. What AI will replace Moving forward to January 19‚ 100 of Sports Illustrated’s editorial staffers — mostly union employees — were fired after Bhargava could not come up with the $3.75 million quarterly payment to Authentic Brand Group for its licensing fee. $3.75 million is chump change to billionaire Bhargava. According to the Associated Press‚ both corporate entities are negotiating a license renewal. It seems‚ however‚ there will be a “significant reduction” in the workforce at Sports Illustrated and perhaps its sister publications‚ regardless of the outcome. During a scandal about using AI-generated editorial content with fake sports reporters‚ it was highly convenient that the “mistake” of missing a quarterly licensing payment would result in most of Sports Illustrated’s staff being let go. How will the editorial hole be filled? How fortunate that Manoj Bhargava and the Arena Group‚ now facing an editorial hole in their flagship publication with a dearth of human reporters to fill it‚ have been pioneering artificial intelligence to produce content that already demonstrates “strong audience engagement.” It doesn’t take a genius to predict that someday‚ very soon‚ a corporate-owned legacy media outlet will pull the trigger and unapologetically go full AI. The profit motive is already there‚ as well as the novelty. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‚ owner of the Washington Post‚ declared recently that AI is “much more likely to help us and save us even than they are to unbalance‚ hurt us‚ and destroy us.” Maybe enough human editors will be kept aboard to prompt a journalism chatbot to produce 400 words of copy about Patrick Mahomes‚ Taylor Swift‚ or some similar TikTok trending topic? Maybe. Maybe not. The writing is already on the wall.

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