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Christopher Nolan’s "The Odyssey" isn’t the only long journey people are talking about, as a squirrel caused chaos at Comerica Park on Monday night.

During the bottom of the sixth inning of the Baltimore Orioles’ 8-5 win over the Detroit Tigers, a black squirrel got loose in the outfield.

The squirrel raced up and down the warning track, and play continued for a full inning while the critter made its way around the ballpark. At one point, the squirrel wasn’t too far away from a dove that was sitting on the warning track, also taking in the game.

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While the black squirrel's journey across the field may not have been as arduous as Odysseus', it was certainly entertaining.

During the top of the seventh inning, it made its way through the infield, but the game continued. The real fireworks began during the seventh-inning stretch as the grounds crew emerged to remove the squirrel.

The squirrel was making its way toward the right-field corner, and a security guard opened up the outfield gate, but the squirrel did not go through. About 15 members of the Tigers’ grounds crew, along with Orioles outfielder Leody Taveras, then tried to pick the squirrel up, but it proved elusive.

At one point, the squirrel’s shiftiness juked out one of the grounds crew so badly that it brought him to his knees.

The squirrel was chased into Taveras’ glove, but as he tried to snatch up the animal, the squirrel vaulted out of his glove and went flying before regaining his balance and continuing to flummox the grounds crew with its dexterity.

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"I just was trying to stop it. When it got into my glove, I don’t want to squeeze it, so I was just trying to bring it up. I wasn’t trying to do that. But they got it out," Taveras said, via MLB.com. "I hope it’s good."

After escaping Taveras’ glove, it seemed as if the squirrel was finally trapped in the right-field corner, but it was able to dodge the towels the grounds crew threw at it and keep moving.

At one point, one member of the grounds crew was able to grab the squirrel for a moment, but it once again broke free. The squirrel dodged two attempts from the grounds crew to smother it with a towel before finally being caught under a third towel.

The grounds crew member then picked up the squirrel, which was under a towel, and was booed off the field by a vociferous Tigers’ crowd.

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Play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti added some thrilling commentary as the scene unfolded.

"The chase for the squirrel is on, and the squirrel is in the corner and the squirrel is still eluding an entire horde of grounds crew members! And the squirrel is free once again, hemmed in? No! I won’t be hemmed in, I have freedom on my mind! Trying to go between the legs and eventually gets away again! And hops through the towel! And hops through another towel! The forcefield is activated, towels can’t stop him, or maybe they can," Benetti said as the squirrel was finally caught.

After the squirrel was caught, home plate umpire Bill Miller gave a shoutout to the grounds crew for their efforts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank the grounds crew. Let's give them a round of applause. The Detroit Tigers grounds crew, thank you," Miller said, via MLB.com.

Orioles manager Craig Albernaz aptly described the whole situation as "nuts."

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"The whole squirrel thing was nuts," Albernaz said, via MLB.com. "I mean, at one point, I thought he was going to go into the batter’s box, see what was going on. He had a great view of the game. I think Bill Miller, the home-plate umpire, really stole the show with getting everyone out there, and then I had no idea Leody tried to glove-flip it or catch it in right field. I didn’t see that video until after the game. Nice job, Leody."

The Orioles (52-55) will hope there aren’t any other squirrels running around Comerica Park when they take on the Tigers (50-57) in the middle game of a three-game series Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. ET.

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Kelly Ripa's painful dental surgery sidelined the daytime TV staple, forcing the famously chatty host into an unusual recovery that left husband Mark Consuelos revealing she couldn't even speak.

During Monday's show, Consuelos revealed Ripa had undergone gum graft surgery.

"Kelly sends her love," the "Live with Kelly and Mark" co-host told guest Nick Jonas. "Kelly had a little bit – well, it’s not a little – she had a gum graft surgery."

Gum graft surgery typically helps correct thinning or receding gums, according to Cleveland Clinic. Consuelos admitted Ripa had been recommended to have the surgery years ago.

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"Her dentist said five years ago, ‘You can do it in about five years,’" Consuelos recalled. "And she joked, ‘I didn’t think I’d still be on the air in five years!’"

Consuelos revealed her lengthy recovery process includes not talking.

"Wow. That’s got to be the hardest thing she’s ever done," Jonas joked.

Describing Ripa as "such a great conversationalist," Consuelos hinted he might be having trouble getting the talk show host to follow doctor's orders.

"I’m trying to keep her to follow the rules, follow the directions," he said.

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As Ripa recovered at home, Consuelos said the toughest part wasn't the pain – it was convincing the famously curious TV host to stop checking on her healing gums and let the procedure do its work.

"Last night she was like, ‘Can you look?’ I’m like, ‘I’m not pulling your lip down,’" Consuelos said. Ripa instead got into position so Consuelos could check without touching her lip. "So I’m down there like, ‘It looks great!’"

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The longtime actor said the surgery was especially alarming because Ripa rarely complains about pain, making this recovery stand out from any previous trip to the dentist.

"Yeah, it’s painful," he told Jonas. "But she famously doesn’t feel pain. When she goes into the dentist, she doesn’t use the novocaine. But this one hurts, so I know it’s bad."

Ripa's notoriously high pain tolerance led Jonas to marvel at just how much women can endure. He revealed his own wife, Danielle Jonas, has a similar ability to brush off pain.

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"I’ll be like, ‘Are you in pain?’ She’s like, ‘I’m fine!’ Come to find out her foot’s, like, falling off," Jonas joked.

"Well, they do have kids. They deliver kids," Consuelos added. "We’re not built for that."

Ripa is not expected to return to "Live" for the next week, a representative for the show confirmed to People.

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If you watched the Super Bowl last year, you were probably a bit disappointed. I’m sure you weren’t if you were a Seahawks fan, and I know that I was happy about some of the outcomes, but the game itself was a bit boring. That was a lot different than the NFC Championship game, which was a fantastic back-and-forth battle between the Seahawks and the team we break down here, the Rams.

Last Year

As mentioned, the Los Angeles Rams made it to the NFC Championship before falling short against the Seahawks. It was a good run, but the Rams did look vulnerable in each of their playoff games. They started against the Panthers and seemed like they were going to lose until they had some Matthew Stafford heroics. Speaking of Stafford, he ended up with one of the best seasons of his career and the MVP award. In the Divisional Playoffs, he capitalized on a bad route or bad throw (depending on who you ask) from the Bears and stole a 20-17 overtime win. He was great against the Seahawks, but the Rams defense couldn’t get a stop.

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Offseason additions and subtractions

That inability to get a stop may be part of the reason that Los Angeles went out and made a major splash this offseason. They traded for Myles Garrett, arguably the best defensive player on the planet at the moment. It was so big that even Aaron Donald is considering coming back to the team, and out of retirement. Stafford is coming back after contemplating retirement, so they shored up that concern. They added Trent McDuffie, one of the better cornerbacks in the league, and grabbed Jaylen Watson from free agency to address the other side of their secondary. Their defense should be even better.

Roster

If Donald comes out of retirement, he probably won’t be quite as elite as he was in the past, but I have to imagine he is still in shape and would be ready by the time the season starts. It doesn’t look like he is coming, though. Still, this defense, which was solid but not great last season, could be amazing this season. I don’t know that Stafford will lead the league in touchdowns and yards, but he still has Davante Adams and Puka Nacua. If his offensive line protects him and gives him time, he will carve up even the best defenses he faces.

Betting Outlook

I am all in on the Rams this year. I think they are the best team in the NFL and have very few exploitable weaknesses. They are in a tough division – the Seahawks will still be good, the 49ers are always a tough team – but I think 11.5 wins is an over for them. I have them at 13 wins for the year. I also like them to win the Super Bowl at +550. Maybe I’m overconfident in their defense with Garrett or a 38-year-old quarterback, but I think the Rams have all the pieces and will close the deal this season.

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For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024

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A federal appeals court ruled earlier this week that a now-fired Oregon school counselor’s display of books promoting binary gender views to students was not protected by the First Amendment.

The 2-1 decision handed down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld Roderick E. Theis II’s termination from Oregon’s InterMountain Education Service District (IMESD), according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

The court also rejected Theis’ appeal.

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According to the ruling, Theis, an education specialist who worked for the IMESD for more than 15 years, displayed books titled "He is He" and "She is She" in two separate offices on different campuses when meeting with middle school students.

He also displayed a children’s book penned by conservative commentator Matt Walsh titled "Johnny the Walrus" that "allegorically comments on transgender issues," court documents said.

Following an investigation into the incident, Theis told school administrators that he did not mean any harm by displaying the books and even considered putting them away when transgender-identifying students visited his office.

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However, IMESD concluded the display of the books was a "bias incident" and instructed the counselor to remove them from his school offices — or risk termination.

A federal judge later partially granted Theis’ request for a protective order that allowed him to continue displaying the books in his offices when students were not visiting, but his employment was ultimately terminated after a district investigation revealed Theis provided the books to middle school students who had requested to see them, according to the ruling.

Theis’ attorneys went on to argue that the counselor was protected from the injunction when meeting with students outside their official sessions, but a lower court later ruled that the partial injunction prohibited Theis from displaying the books when students were present in his office.

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The lower court, however, issued another ruling against Theis’ termination appeal.

The ruling was upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, with the majority opinion outlining longstanding precedents that an educators’ speech is considered government speech when interacting with students.

"As a government employee, Theis was assigned to work in school offices, meet with students, and carry out his duties in that setting," Circuit Judge John B. Owens wrote in the majority ruling. "His speech occurred in the course of those responsibilities and cannot be meaningfully separated from them. As such, Theis’s speech falls outside the First Amendment’s ambit."

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The sole dissenting opinion, written by Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke, sharply criticized the ruling. VanDyke argued that Theis’ books should be considered personal decorative items in his office, while questioning if a school could permit employees to hang pro-Palestinian banners while simultaneously banning the display of the Israeli flag.

"Could public school administrators establish a policy allowing office decoration with partisan political messages deemed sufficiently ‘compassionate,’ but prohibit — as inherently hostile — any political speech that did not align with the Democratic Socialists of America platform?" VanDyke wrote.

Fox News Digital reached out to Theis’ attorney and the IMESD for comment.

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The CJP protest has been the most visible expression of public anger against PM Narendra Modi's government in recent years.

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