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‘Mbappé gave me a hug:’ These two soccer hopefuls from Kensington got the full World Cup experience

It’s hard for Cesar Castellanos to dream of a better way to celebrate his 12th birthday.

After celebrating his actual birthday with a few friends last Friday, Castellanos, a student at Juniata Park Academy, traveled to Lincoln Financial Field for Philly’s final World Cup match, the round of 16 game between France and Paraguay.

But Castellanos wasn’t just there to watch.

The soccer-loving middle schooler walked onto the field with the players as a part of FIFA’s player escort program.

Cesar Castellanos (left), 12, walks on to the field with France forward Ousmane Dembélé before they play Paraguay in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match in Philadelphia on July 4.

Castellanos is a regular participant at Safe-Hub Philadelphia, a soccer-centric nonprofit that opened a campus in the Harrowgate section of Kensington in 2022.

Safe-Hub is one of four community organizations Quaker Oats partnered with in Philadelphia to send children from underprivileged areas to World Cup matches. Safe-Hub hosted two nutritional clinics for its participants, and children who attended both were given a chance to be selected as player escorts.

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Castellanos attended both sessions, one on Martin Luther King Day and the other on Presidents’ Day. A few months later, he found out he had been selected for the round of 16 match on July 4.

“I was really going crazy when I realized I got the chance,” Castellanos said before the match.

Cesar Castellanos got the opportunity to walk out for the World Cup’s final game in Philly, with the reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé.

Castellanos has played soccer at Safe-Hub for almost three years, starting in early elementary school. The aspiring midfielder follows international soccer closely and intends to continue playing through high school and beyond.

As such, Castellanos was elated at the opportunity to be up close and personal with some of the game’s best players. After the tournament’s group stage, when it became clear that a star-studded French team could advance to the round of 16 match in Philadelphia, he began rooting hard for Les Bleus to return.

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He got his wish, with France meeting Paraguay for a matchup at the Linc on July 4. Castellanos did not know which team he would be paired with beforehand, though he hoped for one of France’s international superstars. As a native Spanish speaker, he could handle walking out with the Paraguayans, but he started learning some basic French, just in case.

Sure enough, once he got into the tunnel before the match, Castellanos got paired with Ousmane Dembélé. Aside from being a star player for France, Dembélé is a forward for France’s biggest club team, Paris Saint-Germain, and the reigning winner of the Ballon d’Or, an award given to the top player worldwide.

Castellanos couldn’t contain his excitement. He started to cry tears of joy, which led to some extra affection from the French side.

“I had to keep my cool,” Castellanos said. “I couldn’t go crazy. But I was so excited … I was crying. Mbappé gave me a hug. Dembélé gave me a hug.”

Castellanos was not the only Safe-Hub participant on the field for the match. Isaac Oquendo was a flag bearer for the match, holding Paraguay’s flag on the pitch as the national anthems of each country played inside the stadium.

Isaac Oquendo is a Kensington-area youth who received an opportunity to be a part of the matchday activities during Philly’s final game of the FIFA World Cup.

Oquendo, 16, is a student at Roman Catholic and has been playing soccer at Safe-Hub for a year. Oquendo is part of the nonprofit’s PlayMakers program, which offers higher-intensity soccer training as well as off-field life skill workshops. As part of the program, Oquendo traveled to Boston for Festival 26, a youth soccer summit featuring delegations from across the world.

Oquendo said the opportunity to get on the pitch with the players was an “amazing experience.”

“I had a lot of fun,” Oquendo said. “It was great being with people who love the sport as much as I do, and seeing the players right behind me.”

Watch: Biggest takeaways from the U.S.’s World Cup run

Oquendo said he received a brief lesson from World Cup organizers on how to hold the flag and where to stand on the field before he walked out. After the pre-match festivities ended, both Castellanos and Oquendo got to watch France’s win over Paraguay from the 100-level.

“It was nerve-wracking,” Oquendo said. “It was a great experience, but it’s so nerve-wracking, going on the field and seeing the players walk past you. It was something else.”

July 9, 2026
The first week of July is typically Philly’s most violent. This year, the holiday weekend was markedly calmer.

The first week of July has typically been one of Philadelphia’s most violent, with recent Independence Day weekends marked by mass shootings, police officers shot, and bursts of violence that left a dozen dead.

But this year, amid a dramatic decline in violence and a flood of visitors to the city, the holiday weekend was noticeably calmer than in years past, offering another encouraging sign that the dramatic decline in shootings held through one of its toughest tests.

Twenty-three people were shot from July 1 through July 7 — a slightly higher total than most weeks in 2026, but nearly half the average number of shooting victims during the same period over the last decade, according to city data. In 2021, at the height of the city’s gun violence crisis, more than 70 people were shot in that week alone.

If the current pace continues, Philadelphia is on track to record fewer than 200 homicides for the first time since the 1960s, a remarkable turnaround from just five years ago, when nearly three times as many people were killed.

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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in an interview that the July Fourth weekend is historically one of the most challenging for urban police departments.

In each of the last four years, Philadelphia’s celebrations were overshadowed by violence: Last year, 13 people were shot in South Philadelphia; nine people were struck by bullets at a teen party in Southwest Philadelphia in 2024; five people were killed at random by an armored gunman in Kingsessing the year before; and in 2022, two officers were grazed by bullets on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, sparking a stampede of fireworks spectators.

Bethel said he and other city, state, and federal law enforcement officials spent about two years planning for this holiday weekend, preparing for potential crises that never came.

Anticipating hundreds of thousands of visitors for FIFA Club World Cup events and the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations, the department canceled many officers’ vacation requests over the last month and, on the Fourth, deployed more than 2,000 members of local and state law enforcement across the city, he said.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel, speaks at a press conference on the details for the Roots Picnic in May 2026.

Reinforcements from the Pennsylvania State Police and neighboring municipalities helped the city maintain staffing levels in neighborhoods that have historically seen more violence, Bethel said. Officers worked in the record-breaking heat, he said, with some starting their shifts at 7 a.m. and clocking out only after the concert on the Parkway ended at 3 a.m.

The FBI took the lead on monitoring the skies, Bethel said, intercepting several drones that were flying illegally. (None of the drones, he said, was flying with “nefarious” intent.)

He called the weekend a validation of the city’s planning and broader work that has contributed to the decline in gun violence.

“I can’t tell you how many people grabbed me and said they felt welcomed and felt safe,” he said of the events over the last month. “Let’s own the win. Let’s not hide from it.”

Bethel also said there had been no acts of violence around the approximately two dozen bars that were approved to stay open until 4 a.m. from June 11 to July 19 to accommodate crowds attending the FIFA, July Fourth, and MLB All-Star celebrations.

“We’re seeing zero issues,” he said.

Soccer fans gather to watch Mexico play South Africa on a giant screen during the opening day of the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill on Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Philadelphia.

The reduction in violence over the holiday weekend fits a broader pattern. Shootings and homicides in the city began to decline in 2023, mirroring a national trend, and have continued to fall. So far this year, 90 people have been killed in homicides — less than a third of the number recorded at the same time three years ago, according to police data.

Just as there was no clear explanation for the spike in crime that began in 2019, criminologists and law enforcement officials say, it is similarly difficult to pinpoint the reasons for its decline. But there are theories: an overall return to normal life after the pandemic, expanded community-based violence prevention programs, more arrests in shootings and homicides, and targeted prosecutions of some of the city’s most violent gangs.

One measurable change has been the police department’s improved clearance rates, which researchers have long viewed as a potential deterrent to future violence.

The homicide clearance rate — the share of killings solved, including arrests made this year in both new and older cases — has climbed to nearly 99%, up from about 47% in 2022. The clearance rate for nonfatal shootings has risen to about 41%, roughly double what it was in 2021.

Bethel said those arrests take would-be shooters and victims off the streets and interrupt cycles of violence.

“We’re impacting retaliation, we’re impacting somebody being shot again, we’re impacting someone who may shoot and kill somebody,” he said.

Jeff Asher, a New Orleans-based national crime analyst, said because the decline is likely driven by many programs and societal changes, it is hard to know what will sustain the progress.

“I keep expecting [the crime rate] to stop falling, and it’s just not,” he said in an interview. “So, maybe this is the new normal. We just can’t say with a ton of confidence.”

Still, the quieter weekend was not wholly peaceful.

Three men were killed between Friday and Monday morning, leaving families and neighbors to mourn loved ones even as the city showed signs of sustained progress.

On Monday morning, Shawn Caddell, 32, was killed during a robbery inside a Logan beer deli, police said. And on Sunday, two men were slain in areas that have long been hot spots for shootings: Emanuel Aguirre, 27, was fatally shot in the Hunting Park section of North Philadelphia, and Donald McPhaul, 51, was gunned down on Salford Street in West Philadelphia.

A 16-year-old in South Philadelphia was among more than a dozen people who were shot and survived.

Philadelphia police examine a car with a bullet hole after a man was fatally shot along the 500 block of East Wyoming Avenue on July 5, 2026.

Bethel said the pockets of the city that have long experienced higher rates of violence — and that continue to see shootings, albeit fewer, today — remain a priority.

“We are never going to give up in those communities,” he said. “We are going to keep working in those areas.”

Recent polls have found that a majority of Philadelphians have noticed the decline and feel safer. But for residents on blocks where shootings remain a recurring threat, a citywide trend line can feel distant from daily life.

Chantay Love, president of the victim-advocacy organization EMIR Healing Center, said the communities seeing recurring violence are still grappling with “the trauma and collateral damage that is left behind” from the last six years.

Along the stretch of Market Street near where McPhaul was killed, more than 100 bullets were fired into a party on July 4, 2021, leaving two men dead. Earlier this year, 20-year-old Imani Ringgold was walking down the block with a slice of pizza when she was caught in the crossfire of an escalating gang feud and killed.

Linda Days, 72, who lives in the area, said the shooting that killed McPhaul was another reminder of the violence she has come to expect since moving there seven years ago from Olney.

Standing in her doorway on Tuesday, Days said it feels as if gunfire has become part of the soundtrack outside her home. But during the Fourth of July weekend, she said, she is especially careful to stay inside.

“I don’t even come out to watch the fireworks,” she said.

July 9, 2026
South Jersey track star Natalie Dumas proves it’s never too late to reach full stride

When Eastern Regional’s track and field coach Mike Tangeman is asked about star senior runner Natalie Dumas, he will not call attention to the more than 20 program records she’s broken. Instead, he will mention that she does not own any of the program’s freshman records.

Before becoming one of the most accomplished runners in New Jersey history, Dumas first got involved with the sport as a freshman to bond with her sister, Kadence, who was then a senior.

As a junior, at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions, Natalie became the first girl in state history to place first in three events — the 400 meters, 400-meter hurdles, and 800 meters. A few weeks later, she placed first in the same three events at the New Balance Nationals held at Penn’s Franklin Field. Her accomplishment at both meets made Dumas a prominent name in national track circles and won the attention of the University of Arkansas, where she will be running next year.

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This past year was no different. At June’s Meet of Champions in Pennsauken, Dumas placed first again in three events to cap her outdoor scholastic season. She clocked in at 57.04 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, 52.14 in the 400 meter, and 2 minutes, 03.46 seconds in the 800 meter.

“With track, you have to trust the process because you work up into becoming better time wise,” Dumas said. “Obviously, you’re really out of shape at the beginning, and then you get better and better.

“At the end of the day I’m not afraid to lose.”

A ‘minor celebrity’

Last month, Dumas flew to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the USATF U20s and the Nike Nationals. To combat potential jetlag and the difference in climate, she arrived on the West Coast a few days before she was slated to race at University of Oregon’s Hayward Field.

In the U20s, she won a spot on the U.S. World team after a first-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, running a season-best 56.13. The next day, she returned to the same track to compete in the 400-meter dash at the Nike Nationals and placed first at 52.21 to claim her eighth national title.

“It was a lot of races,” Dumas said. “But honestly, I didn’t even mind racing that much.”

Dumas’ participation in the Nike Nationals was possible because of the event’s intentional geography and calendar proximity to the U20s. It was also a sign of the ever-evolving nature of high school sports. Dumas is one of 20 female high school track and field athletes signed to Nike Elite. The program, which includes a coveted name, image, and likeness deal with the world’s largest supplier of athletic attire, has increased Dumas’ national appeal. It has also improved her performance on the track.

Natalie Dumas started running track as a freshman at Eastern Regional.

The partnership offers support from Nike’s team of trainers. Since signing with the company, Dumas has revamped her strength training regimen in line with Nike’s guidance and learned more about injury management. Through the program, she also connected with other Nike athletes and Nike Elite’s personal training staff.

“It’s just great overall,” Dumas said. “I feel like high school athletes tend to be more on the lazy side than everyone else, because they kind of don’t have anyone like kicking their butt into gear.”

“Sometimes being called out is embarrassing. [The Nike trainers] will say something like, ‘Hey, you didn’t finish this last set, go do it.’ But they definitely stay on top of you. … They all help us push to be our greatest.”

NIL is not the only change in Dumas’ life. After coming onto the national scene last year, Dumas’ popularity in the track world skyrocketed. The 17-year old currently has nearly 14,000 followers on Instagram.

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“Coming into this year, she was a minor celebrity,” Tangeman said. “Dealing with all the attention and everyone knowing her. Other athletes from other schools saying hi to her, wanting to take pictures at meets and just all that other stuff. It was definitely a lot different.”

Dumas had to get used to the constant noise around her — which she admits has been “hard to handle” at times.

“At the end of the day, you shouldn’t worry about making sure everyone’s responded to and everyone’s answered to,” Dumas said. “If they’re closest to you and if they know you, they’ll kind of understand. [They will] be like, ‘Well, I know Natalie. I know the type of person she is, and she wouldn’t do that to me.’ It’s kind of just hard to keep up with it.”

‘Shape me into a better runner’

As one of the top talents in the country, Dumas had her pick of the upper-echelon of college programs, which was a blessing and a curse.

“It’s kind of like when you go to a restaurant and there’s a huge menu,” said Tangeman, laughing.

Dumas spent most of this past year scheduling and taking recruitment visits. In order to woo her, she said several programs pulled out all the stops. One treated her to an outing at Topgolf. Another pitched their school to her on a boat. Ultimately, it was the last school she visited that won her over.

Natalie Dumas runs the 400 meters, 800 meters, and 400-meter hurdles.

“[Arkansas] just set my goals in front of me,” Dumas recalled. “They said, ‘These are your goals, this is what you want to do. If that’s what you want to do, we will make an attempt to reach them.’

Arkansas has won three NCAA women’s outdoor track and field team titles since 2015, and another five in indoor track over that span.

“There’s not too much to be said about Arkansas. You look at the program, you look at the athletes that they have produced, and you see what they have done. I put my trust in them. I’m not afraid to run the workouts that they’re running, lift the workouts that they’re lifting. I’m not afraid to go out there and try something new, and I’m definitely excited for them to kind of just shape me into a better runner.”

While Dumas is looking forward to running at one of the best collegiate programs in the country, she is also mourning the end of her high school career. She graduated last month, cutting her Nike Nationals appearance a day early to make the ceremony. In the weeks since, she has found it “weird” to have a summer away from the track where she first learned to run.

“She brought a lot of positive attention our way,” Tangeman said. “Going forward, the kids coming up throughout our school system will say, ‘Hey, you know this Natalie Dumas? She ran track and field at Eastern, maybe that’s something I want to do too.’”

July 9, 2026
A group of Philadelphia men decided to get fit and started a ballclub in 1833. Here’s how they paved the way for the Phillies.

During the early 19th century, gentleman did not play games, at least not outdoors.

Outdoor frolicking was for children.

But the yellow fever epidemic of 1822 and the cholera epidemic a decade later started Philly’s men of means on a health kick. It became cool for grown men to play outside, breathe fresh air, stretch limbs, and build their muscles.

In 1833, a few of them formed a social club to play a fairly new outdoor game called Townball in which a player goes to bat at “home,” and gets three tries to hit a ball. If he manages to hit it, he runs a course, stopping at three bases along the way before returning home, safely.

Every time a player returned home, his team scored a point.

Artist David McShane illustrated three three ball players from the early- and mid-1800s to represent the Olympic Ball Club.

Sounds familiar? John Thorn, the official historian for MLB Baseball agrees.

Townball, Thorn said, caught on because it was a different kind of sport. “It wasn’t not gymnastic. It wasn’t pugilistic. It wasn’t mere combat…It was more than exercise. It was camaraderie. That was nice.”

The recreational athletes referred to themselves as the Olympic Ball Club and are considered America’s first baseball team. As MLB All-Star Week 2026 gets underway in Philly this weekend at Citizens Bank Park, that first ballclub will be feted at the park for the Philadelphia Historic District’s 28th firstival.

Firstivals are weekly day parties honoring events that happened in Philadelphia before anywhere else in the world, part of the city’s yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday.

The Olympic Ball clup pictured in 1883, 50 years after the organization was founded.

The Olympic Ball Club played early games in Camden. In those days the club split themselves into two teams and played against each other. There was no foul territory, the ball was smaller, yet softer. And sometimes they even swung the bat with one arm.

“Runners would be declared out if the ball was thrown at them between the bases,” Thorn said. In other words, you didn’t have to tag people out.

In the 1860s, the Olympic Ball Club adopted the same rules as the New York Knickerbockers. In the same decade, they also moved the club’s home to North Philadelphia, a field between Master and 27th Streets. Back then, this area was known as Camac’s Woods, an estate and public park owned by 19th century Philadelphia gentleman Turner Camac.

The first professional base ball team — it was originally spelled with two words — the Cincinnati Red Stockings, were formed in 1869. Their salaries were paid by an organization of local businessmen.

By 1876 — the year the National League was founded — Philadelphia had a second base ball team, the Athletics. On April 22 of that year, the Athletics played the Boston Red Caps in America’s first professional league baseball game. That game was played in North Philadelphia at 25th and Jefferson, and Boston beat Philadelphia 6 to 5.

Pittsburgh Pirates’ Esmerlyn Valdez hits a run-scoring single against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Tim Mayza during the fifth inning of a baseball game Thursday, July 2, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

In the early 20th century, baseball started to be spelled as one word, Thorn said. And its play mirrors that of today. The Philadelphia Phillies, originally called the Quakers, were founded in 1883, making them the oldest, one name, one-city, franchise of professional sports.

Why are there so many baseball firsts in Philadelphia?

“Philadelphia was the home to organization and structure,” Thorn said. “This was the seat of government, the place where American politics and innovation started. Philadelphia is a town of invention.”

This week’s Firstival is Saturday, June 11, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Citizens Bank Park, 1 Citizens Bank Way, Philadelphia, PA

The Inquirer is highlighting a “first” from the Philadelphia Historic District’s 52 Weeks of Firsts program each week. A “52 Weeks of Firsts” podcast, produced by All That’s Good Productions, drops every Tuesday.

July 9, 2026
Can you name the seven Phillies who have competed in the Home Run Derby? | Quiz
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Seven Phillies have competed in the Home Run Derby. Can you name them all?

We’ll give you a clue for each player. All you have to do is give us their names.

By

Charmaine Runes

Published Jul 9, 2026

The highlight of All-Star week, the Home Run Derby is taking place on Monday night. Eight sluggers will step up to the plate in a slightly modified derby. Before then, however, we took a look through the archives and found that seven Phillies players have competed in past slugfests – can you name them all?

To make it a little easier, we’ll give you a clue for each player. All you have to do is tell us their name. Good luck!

Score: 0 / 7

Correct

Wrong

Already Guessed

TK Guess

Jim Thome

0% readers got this right

The first Phillies player to ever compete in the Derby

Bobby Abreu

0% readers got this right

Won the 2005 Derby with 41 home runs at Detroit’s Comerica Park

Ryan Howard

0% readers got this right

Competed in the Derby three times, and gave the Phillies back-to-back winners

Chase Utley

0% readers got this right

Famous for booing back at New York hecklers

Rhys Hoskins

0% readers got this right

2018 representative was the first Phillies player to compete in nearly a decade

Kyle Schwarber

0% readers got this right

Runner-up to Bryce Harper in the 2018 Derby

Alec Bohm

0% readers got this right

Hit 21 homers in 2024, but was eliminated in the semifinals

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Staff Contributors

Design, development, and reporting: Charmaine Runes

Editing: Sam Morris

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July 9, 2026
FanDuel sent a personal message from Phillies star Bryce Harper to a customer with a gambling addiction

As the 2020 NFL season kicked off, Terry Thompson picked up his phone and placed a wager with FanDuel Sportsbook on his favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

It was his first time gambling through an app, and he soon started placing microbets, which are in-game wagers on something as small as whether the next play would be a pass or run.

He grew addicted to the effortless, rapid-fire action. Every game, every quarter, every play — click, click, click. Thompson would ultimately wager $18.5 million with FanDuel, earning him VIP status with the company. That meant exclusive perks, from champagne to Super Bowl tickets, which made him feel important and enticed him to continue gambling.

By late November 2024, Thompson had incurred steep losses and resorted to desperate measures to fund his addiction. Then, one afternoon, he flicked open his phone and received a FanDuel reward that momentarily distracted him from his debts: a personalized video message from Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper.

The Inquirer obtained a copy of the 21-second video. In it, Harper addresses Thompson by name and acknowledges Thompson’s young son. Harper ends by thanking Thompson for his support.

Harper is not wearing any FanDuel merchandise, but the video is marked with the company’s logo, and Harper mentions that he was reaching out at the request of Thompson’s VIP manager, “your host Bryttanni at FanDuel,” who wanted to ensure that Thompson had an “extra special Thanksgiving.”

Professional sports leaders had long recoiled at having any association with gambling. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that states could legalize sports betting, and each league now has lucrative partnerships with sportsbook companies, whose advertisements can be easily found in stadiums and arenas, and during game broadcasts.

Still, league officials preach about the importance of protecting the integrity of their games and have rules that are designed to maintain distance between professional athletes and bettors. Although Major League Baseball’s policy does not explicitly reference interactions with VIP gamblers, Harper’s personal message to a bettor — apparently arranged by an employee of a major sportsbook — is a unique test of how cozy the league will allow players to get with gambling companies.

There is no evidence that Harper has an official partnership with FanDuel, or was aware that Thompson had an addiction.

The Inquirer could find no other examples of an active athlete recording a personal message to a sportsbook VIP customer who, by definition, had to be regularly betting large sums of money.

The Inquirer shared the video with Scott Boras, Harper’s longtime agent, and asked if he or Harper would discuss how FanDuel had obtained the video.

Boras declined to comment.

The Inquirer also shared the video with the Phillies and MLB. Both declined to comment, and the players union did not respond to a request for comment.

Multiple experts familiar with the fraught intersection of professional sports and the gambling industry said that while Harper does not explicitly encourage gambling in the video, it still raises concerns.

Danny Funt, who researched sportsbook VIP programs for his 2026 book, Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling, said in an email that VIP bettors sometimes get to hang out with former athletes. He cited former San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson, who worked in retirement for DraftKings, as one example.

But the Harper video is entirely different, he said.

Harper, a nine-time All-Star and two-time MVP, has been one of baseball’s most marketable stars throughout his 15-year career.

“I’ve never heard of an active player, let alone a former MVP, doing something like this,” Funt said.

Leigh Steinberg — an agent who represents Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and whose past clients included MLB All-Stars Manny Ramirez and Will Clark — called the Harper video “bad for sports.”

Steinberg said if one of his clients approached him about doing promotional work of any kind for a sportsbook company, he would advise them to walk away.

“It’s not good for your brand,” he said. “It’s exploitative and it’s not the sort of activity you want to be associated with.”

MLB’s collective bargaining agreement, which is set to expire in December, allows athletes to appear in advertisements or make personal appearances for casinos, racetracks, or sportsbook companies, so long as the ballplayers do not encourage betting on baseball.

NFL players are prohibited from marketing or promoting “any form of gambling” under the league’s current collective bargaining agreement.

The NBA, meanwhile, allows its players to own a passive ownership stake — less than 1% — in sportsbook and prediction market companies, and engage in promotional work for gambling companies, provided they do not encourage betting on basketball. As a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James appeared in advertisements for DraftKings.

Harper, 33, has been one of baseball’s most marketable players throughout his 15-year career. He has had endorsement deals with many companies, including Under Armour, Gatorade, Dairy Queen, and Blind Barber, a chain of barbershops and lounges of which Harper owns an equity stake.

He has also been famously unafraid of the spotlight, openly discussing everything from his Mormon faith — which prohibits gambling and alcohol use — to perceived criticism from his boss.

Professional sports leagues that once vehemently opposed any association with gambling enterprises have now embraced lucrative partnerships with sportsbook operators.

Jodi Balsam, a former NFL attorney who is now a sports law professor at Brooklyn Law School, said even if Harper’s video does not violate baseball policy, it raises ethical questions about the league’s relationship with gambling companies, whose business practices are facing increasing scrutiny from state and federal lawmakers.

“The first question I would have is, was [the Harper video] done by the sportsbook company precisely because they know they have an addicted gambler on their hands, and they’re trying to wring every cent out of him that they can?” Balsam asked.

FanDuel did not respond to a request for comment.

Balsam’s question is at the center of a lawsuit that attorneys for the nonprofit Public Health Advocacy Institute filed in March in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia on behalf of Thompson and another plaintiff. The suit alleges that FanDuel and DraftKings, another sportsbook company, use their products and VIP services to intentionally maximize addiction.

Harper is not named in the lawsuit.

Thompson, whose attorneys declined to make him available for this story, details the depths of his gambling addiction in his lawsuit.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was sentenced in 2025 to 57 months in federal prison for illegally transferring nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank accounts to pay off gambling debts.

He alleges that he covered his losses by taking out second and third mortgages on his home, which later fell into foreclosure, and then sold his shares of an investment company that he had run for two decades.

By late February, Thompson’s suit claims, he wagered and lost his last $10,000 on a DraftKings parlay bet.

His losses totaled nearly $2 million, according to the lawsuit. Desperate and feeling like he could not confess the scope of his financial ruin to his family, Thompson texted his therapist, who then contacted the police. Officers raced to Thompson’s home and prevented him from harming himself.

Balsam said Thompson’s tragic story should give sports leagues and its players pause.

“Is this the kind of activity that either the union or the league want their players to be associated with,” Balsam said, “if it leads to addictive and self-destructive behaviors by a fan?”

How MLB’s betting stance changed

“People know gambling is deadly,” Allan H. “Bud” Selig said. “I don’t have to conduct focus groups.”

It was November 2012, and Selig, then MLB’s commissioner, was being deposed for nearly three hours in Milwaukee. A lawsuit instigated by then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie sought to overturn a longstanding federal law that restricted legal sports betting to just four states.

Major League Baseball longtime commissioner Bud Selig (center) argued in a 2012 deposition that widespread legalized sports gambling would be harmful to baseball. He was later succeeded by Rob Manfred (left), who has overseen partnerships between the league and sportsbook companies.

Baseball’s leaders had sought for decades to avoid recurrences of past gambling scandals that had threatened the integrity of the sport. Selig had maintained the hard line of his predecessors, perhaps most notably by upholding the league’s 1989 lifetime ban of former Phillies first baseman Pete Rose, who was found to have bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Selig said he understood why state lawmakers would welcome the tax revenue that widespread legalized sports gambling could generate. But he argued such a development could only increase the odds of new baseball betting crises, which would be “the end of your sport.”

“I’m just — guess I have to say to you that I’m appalled,” Selig said in the deposition. “I’m really appalled.”

In 2019, MLB — led by a new commissioner, Rob Manfred — entered into its first partnership agreement with FanDuel.

Manfred sent a memo to players outlining the league’s gambling policy. At that time, it prohibited players from performing services “in any capacity involving sports betting for any third party,” a categorization that included “promoting or endorsing sports betting products or services.”

A new collective bargaining agreement, reached in 2022, allowed players to do promotional work for sportsbooks. Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon soon became the first professional baseball player to secure a deal as a brand ambassador for a sportsbook company.

Not everyone affiliated with MLB has welcomed the new relationships between the league and gambling entities.

“We’re entering a very delicate and, dare I say, dangerous world here,” Tony Clark, then president of the players union, told reporters in 2022.

MLB gave a lifetime ban in 1989 to former Phillie Pete Rose for betting on baseball while he was the manager of the Reds.

Two years later, MLB Players Inc. — a licensing and marketing subsidiary of the players union — filed a lawsuit that accused DraftKings of using without permission or compensation photos of MLB stars on its betting app and in social media posts. FanDuel and Bet365 were also named as defendants in the suit.

Harper figured prominently in the lawsuit. The complaint against DraftKings, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, included images of Harper’s face on the DraftKings app and a reference to a hypothetical wager on Harper hitting two home runs in a game. Attorneys also mentioned Harper in later courtroom arguments.

Being able to control how their names, images, and likenesses are used is a “crucial return on their substantial career investment,” the players’ attorneys wrote in the complaint. “It also enables athletes to avoid being associated with companies, commercial products, and industries that they do not wish to be perceived as supporting and endorsing.”

(The union ultimately dropped its case against FanDuel, and the lawsuit was settled earlier this year for undisclosed terms.)

In May 2024 — five months before FanDuel sent Harper’s video message to Terry Thompson — Manfred fired umpire Pat Hoberg for sharing a sportsbook account with a professional poker player who placed bets on baseball.

An investigation found no evidence that Hoberg himself had bet on baseball, Manfred later said. But the existence of the shared account — and the fact the umpire had deleted Telegram messages between himself and the poker player — created the “appearance of impropriety that warrants imposing the most severe discipline.” Hoberg appealed his dismissal but lost.

A year later, Bud Selig’s stark warning materialized.

Former Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase has been accused by federal investigators of conspiring with bettors in exchange for financial kickbacks.

Federal authorities indicted Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis L. Ortiz, and accused each of conspiring with bettors.

Clase and Ortiz “agreed to throw specific types and speeds of pitches” prior to games, and bettors wagered on those pitches, the indictment states. In exchange, the bettors wired thousands of dollars to the pitchers through a third party in the Dominican Republic. Clase and Ortiz have each pleaded not guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and related charges and are awaiting trial. MLB has placed them on paid nondisciplinary leave.

That same year, Ippei Mizuhara, a former translator for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for illegally transferring nearly $17 million from Ohtani’s bank account to pay Mizuhara’s gambling debts.

Those episodes have not resulted in baseball’s demise, as Selig had once imagined. But they also did not rupture MLB’s relationship with gambling entities, which collected a record $165 billion in sports wagers in 2025.

As part of negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement with MLB, the players union recently asked the league for to grant players more freedom to seek endorsements from sportsbook operators and prediction markets, ESPN reported.

The VIP treatment

FanDuel awards five points for every dollar that a bettor pays on a contest entry fee. To achieve VIP status, bettors must amass 600,000 points, which expire after a year of inactivity.

“But don’t worry,” the company explains on its website, “it’s easy to stay active.”

Terry Thompson earned a FanDuel VIP manager, Bryttanni Morgan, in 2021, court records show.

Morgan texted Thompson often about the fortunes of the Eagles, commiserating over the team’s ups and downs. Their conversations also veered into more personal terrain — favorite restaurants, travel plans, and family.

A FanDuel VIP manager allegedly offered tickets to Super Bowl LVII to bettor Terry Thompson, an Eagles fan who had a gambling addiction.

FanDuel’s intention, Thompson’s attorneys allege, was for Thompson to believe that Morgan was his friend.

Their exchanges often returned to Thompson’s betting activity. Morgan encouraged him to place more wagers, even when he showed signs of financial strain, the lawsuit states.

Morgan is named as a defendant in Thompson’s lawsuit. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

In late December 2022, after Thompson had suffered more losses, Morgan texted him: “Are we gonna take a little break and start fresh in the New Year?”

“I’ll try,” Thompson wrote back, adding a smiley face symbol.

A few weeks later, on Jan. 13, 2023, Morgan offered a FanDuel VIP perk: two tickets to Super Bowl LVII in Arizona — where Thompson’s beloved Eagles would face the Kansas City Chiefs — along with free transportation, and tickets to Sports Illustrated and FanDuel parties.

On other occasions, Morgan provided Thompson with tickets to Eagles, Flyers, and Sixers games. FanDuel also flew Thompson and his son to Super Bowl LVI in California, with pregame access to the playing field and celebrities like Chris Rock.

Funt, the author, said he has major concerns about how the VIP programs are used to ensnare gamblers.

“They exist to egg on a reckless and potentially dangerous style of betting, using perks and other incentives that would be borderline irresistible for many sports fans,” he said. “I can only imagine how someone who loves Bryce Harper would feel indebted (no pun intended) to a sportsbook that facilitated a personalized video from him.”

Leigh Steinberg said he had not heard of other instances of sportsbook companies using active athletes to send greetings to a bettor.

“Because it’s not public, it’s hard to understand whether it’s ubiquitous or an exception,” he said.

Leigh Steinberg has represented numerous NFL stars, from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to NFL Hall of Famers Troy Aikman and Steve Young.

But Steinberg, who publicly struggled with an addiction to alcohol, argues that interactions between athletes and bettors who wager heavily on sports are inherently problematic.

“Getting a phone call or a zoom or a Cameo from a highly placed player is so flattering,” he said. “It’s stacking the deck unfairly in favor of continuing addicting behavior.”

The glamour of Thompson’s Super Bowl trips and brushes with celebrities had long since faded when he reached the nadir of his gambling earlier this year.

There were no more offers of free betting credits to be had, or microbets to chase.

Broke and broken, Thompson entered a psychiatric facility to undergo treatment for gambling addiction.

The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction — among teens and adults — across Pennsylvania. If you, or someone you know, wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com and wbender@inquirer.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the university where Jodi Balsam works as a law professor. She works at Brooklyn Law School.

July 9, 2026
Letters to the Editor | July 9, 2026

Red herring

Donald Trump has turned a questionable red card call in a soccer game into a red herring in international sports — just by using his position, as a humble fan, to give the FIFA president a quick call. He is laughing at the whole world now, not just us Americans, at the simplicity of shocking heads around the world. His shamelessness is costly, and we Americans pay dearly for it. In our domestic politics, GOP politicians no longer speak of deficits, small government, law and order, or even family values. In foreign relations, with Trump’s leadership, the “shining city upon a hill” is fading. Coming to America is less attractive to those yearning to be free, and our nation’s version of diplomacy is doing little more than showing the rest of the world that America is an unreliable gadabout.

Wayne Williams, Malvern

. . .

Last week, after a FIFA World Cup referee issued a harsh, game-disqualifying red card to the U.S.’s star player, Folarin Balogun, President Donald Trump quickly stepped in. After his complaints to FIFA leadership, the call was shockingly reversed. As is almost always the case with his gratuitous intrusions, every possible ill-considered outcome occurred. A joyous, global festival of sport became contentious, and the underdog U.S. team was diminished and tainted. This was a lose-lose situation for the U.S. team — regardless of the outcome. Think about it: If the U.S. won with Balogun on the pitch, the soccer world could say: ”Of course they won. The bully Trump got them their best player back.” If they lost, the response would be, “They couldn’t even win after Trump unfairly put his hand on the scale for them.” On Monday night, they did lose to Belgium, their exciting, unifying 2026 FIFA World Cup run now only a footnote to the Trump-generated red card debacle. As usual, with his reflexive, unwarranted interference in any situation, everyone loses.

Joseph B. Baker, Honey Brook

. . .

The mob boss tried to rig the game, but it backfired — and he gave the opposition all the motivation they needed. Plus, he put his favored team in an untenable situation, making it a game they couldn’t win, regardless of the outcome. They played like they knew it. Karma is tough to overcome.

Bill Maginnis, North Wales

The people prevail

It is refreshing to witness the way Americans have embraced the international soccer community in our cities and towns. Coming together to welcome visitors from all over the world for this event is the kind of civic engagement we are capable of if left to our own instincts. When compared with the divisive rhetoric, the self-dealing, and the self-aggrandizing fiascos of our current president, it becomes evident that things work out better for us as long as Donald Trump is not involved. It is sad to think that the president of the United States — who holds a position long regarded as the most respected in the world — must now be prevented from ruining what’s left of the White House and the grand democratic experiment that it represents. But at the same time, it is truly amazing to experience the spirit of friendship and generosity of the actual people of this republic.

Patrick J. Ream, Millville

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

July 9, 2026
I’m a sleep doctor. These are the signs you have a real sleep problem. | Expert Opinion
Q: I’m always tired. I try to prioritize sleep but always end up exhausted despite my best efforts. Why don’t I ever feel well rested?

A: For millions of people, poor sleep has become so normalized that they no longer recognize it as a potential medical issue. Feeling tired all the time gets blamed on stress. Freight train snoring becomes a family joke at the dinner table. Trying not to doze off during that weekly meeting means your job is boring.

These signs all point to a possible sleep disorder. Yet, most people push through and ignore them.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and sleep researchers estimate that between 50 million and 70 million Americans have an active sleep disorder, and most people don’t know they do.

As a sleep specialist who primarily treats people with chronic insomnia, I can say with confidence that even common sleep disorders remain underrecognized, underdiagnosed, and undertreated.

Sleep disorders deserve medical attention — and often are highly treatable. Here are the most common (there are more than 80 clinical sleep disorders, by the way), and the signs you might have one.

Insomnia

Insomnia disorder is defined as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early at least three nights per week for at least three months. It causes real impairment in daily life.

Sleep onset insomnia is the inability to fall asleep within a reasonable time frame (30 minutes) after getting into bed, while sleep maintenance insomnia involves waking up during the night and having trouble returning to sleep (for 30 minutes or more) or waking up much earlier than desired.

Insomnia can be acute, lasting days to weeks, usually triggered by an identifiable stressor and often resolving on its own, or chronic, persisting three months or longer and typically requiring intervention.

Decades of epidemiological research suggests that 10 to 15% of the general population meets the criteria for chronic insomnia disorder, with higher rates among women, older adults, and people with co-occurring mental health conditions.

Additional signs of insomnia disorder:
- Feeling exhausted, even after a full night of sleep
- Regularly experiencing irritability, low mood, mood changes, difficulty concentrating or paying attention, or memory problems
- Dread or anxiety as bedtime approaches
- Feeling exhausted getting into bed, but the moment your head hits the pillow, you’re wide-awake (“tired but wired”).
The gold standard treatment is cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia, also known as CBT-I, though other forms of sleep therapy as well as certain medications may also be appropriate.

Obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition in which the muscles in the throat relax during sleep, causing the airway to narrow or close entirely — which often manifests as snoring, though you don’t have to snore to have OSA. As the airway collapses, breathing stops — sometimes for a few seconds, sometimes longer — until the brain partially wakes the body to restore airflow. This cycle can repeat hundreds of times a night, fragmenting sleep so often that most people wake up exhausted.

OSA is estimated to affect more than 30 million Americans. Yet, according to multiple analyses, 80 to 90% of OSA cases in the United States go undiagnosed every year. Women are overwhelmingly underdiagnosed because their symptoms often present differently — fatigue, mood changes, insomnia, morning headaches — compared with men, who are more likely to snore loudly or gasp/choke.

I hear this all the time from women in my practice. They didn’t fit the typical OSA stereotype, and instead their symptoms were attributed to depression, thyroid problems, stress or another sleep disorder.

Additional signs of OSA:
- Waking up with a dry mouth, sore throat, or headaches
- Excessive daytime sleepiness
- Waking frequently to use the bathroom during the night (known as nocturia; this happens when apneas strain the heart and the body releases more of a hormone that increases urination)
- Difficulty concentrating, memory problems, or cognitive slowing
- Increased irritability, mood changes, anxiety, or depression that don’t fully resolve with treatment
- A history of chronic insomnia, particularly difficulty staying asleep
- High blood pressure or cardiac issues that are difficult to control.
Sleep apnea is often treated with continuous positive airway pressure therapy, which involves wearing a breathing machine that keeps airways open while sleeping, though other therapies and even surgery may be helpful for some. Lifestyle changes, such as weight loss and avoiding alcohol use, could also help.

Restless legs syndrome

Restless legs syndrome, also known as Willis-Ekbom disease, is characterized by an irresistible urge to move the legs (and/or arms), usually accompanied by uncomfortable sensations: crawling, tingling, pulling, aching, burning, itching, or an indescribable inner restlessness.

Symptoms emerge or worsen at rest, and moving around, stretching, or walking usually brings temporary relief. It is deeply uncomfortable in a way that makes staying still feel impossible and falling asleep extraordinarily challenging.

Research published in the Journal of Global Health estimates that RLS affects between 7.2% and 11.5% of the general population, though data suggests it’s largely undiagnosed or not diagnosed until years after symptom onset.

Because RLS cannot be visually detected on standard tests, and the sensation is difficult to explain, it was long dismissed as psychological or simply as “growing pains.”

Additional signs of RLS:
- Your bed partner complains that you kick or jerk your legs (and/or arms) repeatedly during sleep.
- Excessive daytime sleepiness, mood changes, cognitive slowing, and increased anxiety or depression.
Antiseizure medications and prescription-strength iron supplements may help, as can treating other health conditions and lifestyle interventions such as regular exercise, eating well, avoiding stimulants, massage, compression wear, hot/cold packs, and magnesium supplementation.

Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders

Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, or CRSWDs, occur when a person’s internal biological clock — which governs the timing of sleep, hormone release, body temperature, and dozens of other physiological functions — is misaligned with the external environment or the person’s desired sleep schedule. These are not disorders of sleep quality per se but of sleep timing.

This can result in a sleep-wake schedule that’s much different from typical social norms, whether that means you can’t fall asleep until extremely late at night no matter how early you try, or you get sleepy in the early evening and wake up very early in the morning.

A research review published in the Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology found that up to 3% of the adult population has a CRSWD, with rates reaching 7 to 16% among adolescents and young adults. The review also noted that CRSWDs are commonly misdiagnosed as other sleep disorders.

Additional signs of circadian rhythm disorders:
- You identify as an “extreme night owl” or “extreme early bird.”
- When allowed to sleep freely on vacation or nonwork days, you shift to a dramatically different schedule.
- You work rotating shifts and struggle to sleep when you have the opportunity, despite feeling exhausted.
- You have been told you have insomnia, but sleep medications or standard sleep hygiene advice have not helped.
- Your “insomnia” or “fatigue” has never fully responded to treatment.
The best “treatment” is to adapt your lifestyle so you can sleep in your natural, biological sleep-wake window. When that’s not possible, circadian rhythm management (e.g., microdosing melatonin, bright light therapy) or behavioral strategies, such as CBT-I, may be appropriate.

What to do if you suspect a sleep disorder

If any of the signs described above sound familiar, and especially if they’ve been going on for more than a few weeks, the first step is to talk to your doctor and specifically ask about sleep disorders.

Don’t just say you’re tired or can’t sleep. Be specific: Describe when the problems occur, how long they’ve lasted, how they affect your daytime functioning and whether your bed partner has noticed anything unusual.

From there, your doctor may refer you to a sleep specialist (or you may need to ask directly for a referral), who can conduct a thorough sleep evaluation and, when appropriate, a sleep study. The list above is not exhaustive; other sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and idiopathic hypersomnia, are less common but can also cause excessive daytime sleepiness despite your having logged plenty of hours in bed, and require proper diagnosis and treatment.

If you’ve been exhausted for months or years, and standard sleep hygiene advice hasn’t helped improve your sleep, you are not failing at sleep. Your sleep problems are probably not “just stress” or “just how you are,” and your exhaustion is not a badge of honor. Your sleep struggles deserve more attention.

Sarah Silverman, PsyD, is a sleep psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine specialist in private practice specializing in women’s sleep health and insomnia.
July 9, 2026
Dear Abby | Elderly father is keen to hit the open road

DEAR ABBY: At 82, my father continues to live alone and unassisted. He’s generally in good health but is starting to recognize that he won’t be forever. One thing he really wants to do while he still can (or thinks he can) is take a road trip — by himself — to visit his sister on the other side of the country.

He regularly does shorter drives (two to three hours) and figures if he takes his time, he can make the 2,000-mile journey by doing many short stretches over a few days. I think it is a colossally bad idea. He is underestimating the fatigue he’s going to experience after a long day of driving and is forgetting how much extra energy it takes to navigate in an unfamiliar place. I’m worried he’s going to get in an accident or get lost.

After telling him all that, and that he’s got better options, I offered to pay for a plane ticket. But he doesn’t like the idea of trying to navigate an airport (which makes no sense to me compared to driving), or trying to drive an unfamiliar rental car when he arrives. I’ve suggested going with him, but he wants to stay for a long visit, and there isn’t room for me at my aunt’s.

Dad has got his mind set on this trip, and I’m worried he’s going to leave without telling anyone he’s going. If I can’t reason with him, what can I do? We don’t live close to each other, and I don’t have any right to take his keys, but this is nuts, right?

— SEES A DISASTER IN OHIO

DEAR SEES: Whether you or I think your father’s plan is nuts is beside the point. He is going to make the trip. However, this does not mean you cannot have some input and assurances.

Help your father plan and map out his trip. Note what hotels or motels there are along the way and help him make reservations. Then get his promise to call you every evening when he checks in so you can know he is all right. It may take some work on your part, but the reassurance of being able to track his progress would be priceless.

** ** **

DEAR ABBY: My youngest child (early teens) has a hard time making and keeping friends, but he made a new friend three weeks ago. I have met the mom once, briefly, and mostly texted to discuss timing for plans with my kid and hers.

The mom keeps asking me for money. Our stories are similar, and I’ve filled her in — divorced, single mom, no contact with ex, no support. Most recently, she texted me asking for gas money and additional money to help fund a trip out of state for a funeral. I may live in a nice house, but I have no help in paying for it plus all the other life expenses. I’ve told her as much, but I still get these requests.

I don’t want to be rude to her, but I feel like my next step is to be blunt. However, I don’t want to risk hurting the friendship between the kids. How do I make it clear without doing damage?

— DOLLARS AND SENSE

DEAR D & S: Resist the urge to be blunt. Simply tell the woman nicely that you don’t have funds to give her at this time. When she asks again, repeat as necessary.

July 9, 2026
Horoscopes: Thursday, July 9, 2026

ARIES (March 21-April 19). Someone drops the ball — inconvenient but understandable. You could turn it into a larger statement about their character, or you could chalk it up to being human. Giving people the room to be imperfect is a keystone of social grace.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Today requires a measure of courage. Were you not so brave, you could stay home, watch a show, live vicariously. But that’s not you. So up and out into the world you go, and you return home tonight better for the effort.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’re quick to help when someone asks. Look beyond the request itself. A person’s sense of urgency does not always reflect the reality of the situation. Before offering your time, energy or resources, make sure they’re truly needed.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You have many kinds of love to give and you’re generous with it. Whether it’s compassion, friendship, fandom, romance or something else, you give freely without requiring they love you back, pay it forward or even be gracious receivers. That’s true love.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Someone responds to you as the person you’ve become, not the person you used to be. It’s a subtle moment, but a meaningful one. The effort you’ve invested in yourself is beginning to show.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). With Venus now in your realm, affection is purposeful. Love and follow-through go hand in hand. Your timely responses and practical support are received as a message: “I like you.” You’ll complete a task for someone; is this you flirting?

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). You saw the missing piece. Now the tricky part: How do you bring it up to the others without making them feel like you’re showing off, or they’re underperforming or being unobservant? A question may accomplish more than a declaration.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You’re so thoughtful today, remembering what people like, checking back on what matters to them, anticipating their needs… how do you know how to do all this? Practice. You have practiced being not just the server, but the served.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Fun facts and trivia are fodder for small talk, but your favorite is learning something that serves a practical purpose. Today’s nugget becomes useful almost immediately, giving you one of those satisfying moments when knowledge turns into capability.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Your name comes up in a room you’re not even in. Someone needs a capable person and someone else recommends you. But of course. It’s not you consciously building a reputation. It’s the natural goodness of you being you.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). You’re warm. This we know. Now comes the part where warmth becomes stewardship. You follow through. You make sure that, in the weeks to come, resources, talents and relationships flourish on your watch.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You know someone likes you because they care to return your calls, show up where they said they will and do what they said they’d do — plus a little extra. Notice what they make easier for you. Your appreciation encourages more of the same.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAY (July 9). It’s your Year of the Cowrie Shell. For centuries, cowrie shells served as currency across parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific and became symbols of wealth, fertility and protection. The treasure of small things collect into substantial abundance. More highlights: Love notes, applauding audiences, and affirmations that your work moves people. Perfect financial partners. You’ll seize learning and travel opportunities. Gemini and Sagittarius adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 8, 19, 20, 1 and 17.

July 9, 2026