Black Immigrant Daily News

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. July 25, 2022: A Caribbean immigrant and star baseball player has been inducted into the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame.

David “Big Papi” Ortiz, the Dominican Republic born player, is the first career designated hitter to be selected on first ballot into the Hall of Fame when this year’s round of results was announced in January. Ortiz is now the fourth Dominican-born player to be enshrined at the Hall of Fame, joining his longtime friend Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and Juan Marichal.

“Wow! Cooperstown!,” Ortiz began his speech to the crowd sprawled across the grounds at the Clark Sports Complex.

He thanked the baseball writers for the honor in his typically high-energy fashion, saying, “You guys got it going on.”

Delivering his remarks in both English and Spanish, Ortiz said, “This is a such incredible day. An incredible honor.”

The gathering was heavily flavored with Red Sox gear sporting Ortiz’s No. 34 and numerous flags representing the Dominican Republic.

Ortiz, who has dual citizenship, also thanked America before offering up a travel promo for his original home, saying, “To all of my American friends, consider this as an open invitation to visit my island. The Dominican Republic has a special flavor. We have a lot of good and happy people, beautiful beaches where you guys can go when you guys are freezing here.”

During his 20-season MLB career, Ortiz bashed 541 homers while finishing the top five of AL MVP balloting five straight seasons over a period ending in 2007. In 2016, he enjoyed one of the great final seasons in history, hitting 38 homers with a league-leading 127 RBIs while also pacing the circuit in doubles, slugging percentage and OPS.

When Ortiz joined Boston in 2003, the Red Sox were still laboring under the Curse of the Bambino, the label given to Boston’s title drought that began after their 1918 World Series win. The Red Sox snapped that streak in Ortiz’s second season with the club. By the time he retired, Boston had added two more championships.

In 2013, Ortiz was named MVP of the World Series win against St. Louis, going 11-for-16 at the plate with eight walks over six games.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

NEWS AMERICAS, NEW YORK, NY, Mon. July 18, 2022: Call it an early ‘Jamaica 60th’ celebration. Jamaica’s top Olympic athletes swept the women’s 100m podium at the 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on July 17, 2022, weeks ahead of the 60th independence celebration of Jamaica on August 6th.

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, 35, bagged gold in a time of 10.67 – far ahead of her compatriots Shericka Jackson, who took silver in 10.73, and Tokyo Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who claimed bronze in 10.81. It was Fraser-Pryce’s fifth world 100 metres title.

Gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica celebrates after the Women’s 100m Final during the 18th edition of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States on July 17, 2022. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica celebrates after winning gold in the women’s 100m finals during day three of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA. (Photo By Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica celebrates after the Women’s 100m Final during the 18th edition of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States on July 17, 2022. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Women’s 100m medallists, from left, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and Shericka Jackson, all of Jamaica, celebrate after the women’s 100m final during day three of the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, USA. (Photo By Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Fraser-Pryce now has five 100m world titles and two Olympic 100m golds and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down as Sunday’s mark was the fastest winning time of all those seven global victories.

“I hope it shows that age doesn’t change anything,” she said afterwards. “You can be in your 20s, you can be in your 30s, and you can still accomplish greatness. You just have to compete and trust yourself and your instinct and your gut. I feel blessed to have this talent and to continue to do it at 35, having a baby, still going, and hopefully inspiring women that they can make their own journey.”

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News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. May 4, 2022: Three Jamaicans currently play in the English Premier League, but there is no shortage of Jamaicans plying their trade in English football as the total, including for all four English divisions, is now at 24. Let’s take a look at some of the Jamaican players currently having the biggest impact in the English Premier League.

Michail Antonio

Michail Antonio was born in Wandsworth, London, and initially hoped to play for England at an international level, but crucially remained on the bench when called up in 2016. This meant he could still represent Jamaica after obtaining his Jamaican passport. The 32-year-old made his debut for Jamaica in the 3-0 defeat against Panama in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification fixture on September 5th, 2021. He plays for West Ham United in the Premier League and is the club’s all-time Premier League goalscorer. Antonio is now a regular for Jamaica, although his three goals in the World Cup qualifying campaign were not enough to help the nation finish higher than sixth position in the table.

Ethan Pinnock

Ethan Pinnock was born in Lambeth, England, and represents Jamaica by virtue of his father being Jamaican. The 28-year-old defender plays for Premier League Brentford. He made his debut for Jamaica in 2021 in a friendly international against the United States, which the Reggae Boyz lost 4-1.

Kingston-born winger Leon Bailey began his career at the Phoenix All Stars Academy. The 24-year-old played in Austria and Slovakia before starting his professional career with Genk, followed by Bayer Leverkusen. He plays for Aston Villa in the Premier League and made his debut for Jamaica against Honduras in 2019.

The popularity of soccer in Jamaica

Soccer is highly popular in Jamaica, though it does have to compete with cricket. The popularity of soccer in Jamaica reached fever pitch when the Reggae Boyz qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1998 with Deon Burton, who played in the Premier League with Derby County at the time, contributing five goals. Jamaica was eliminated from the World Cup after finishing third in their group following defeats against Croatia and Argentina, but they did manage to win their final group game against Japan.

Nevertheless, the exploits of the Jamaica team won over soccer fans all over the world and increased the popularity of the game in Jamaica. The game has inspired a wide range of soccer-themed slots on online casinos, such as Football Star, which is available to play at the top casino apps reviewed by the review site CasinoSmash.

Jamaican-born players who have represented England

Of course, some of the greatest Jamaican-born footballers have also represented England at the international level. Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and is an England regular. Sterling recently met with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William, and Kate, on a trip to Trench Town, Kingston and took part in a football match with William.

Another Kingston-born winger is John Barnes, who was capped 79 times by the Three Lions, scoring 11 goals. His most memorable goal was in a friendly against Brazil at the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro in 1984, when he danced around the Brazil defense to score a legendary goal in a 2-0 victory.

Jamaicans in the EFL Championship

It is also worth noting that two prominent Jamaicans playing in the EFL Championship in the form of Andre Gray, striker for Queens Park Rangers, currently on loan from Watford, and Bobby Decordova-Reid of Fulham, who will be plying his trade in the Premier League next season after the London club secured promotion to the top flight.

Jamaica has produced some impressive players who have contributed to the top flight of the English game and Jamaican-born players such as Sterling and Barnes represent two of the most talented players to ever represent the English national team.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. May 20, 2022: The NBA has wanted to expand the game globally for quite some time now, and they have done so by taking baby steps in Latin America which we will discuss in this article. Since 2014, the league has been trying to build its popularity among the Spanish-speaking masses living in the United States, Latin America, and Spain. The NBA is a major name even when it comes to online sports betting, so its evolving nature is definitely something you should know about.

Steps Taken By the NBA for the Expansion

The NBA has definitely not been alone in this expansion. There are several major corporations that are backing up the league in this decision. Back in 2010, BBVA, a big bank in Spain and a company with a significant presence in Latin America, signed a four-year deal with the NBA, amounting to 100 million dollars, that pledged that the bank would become the official bank of the league. Moreover, point guard Steve Nash even did an advertisement for Wonder bread where he spoke a few words in Spanish. Currently, the product is produced in the U.S. by Flowers Foods and in Mexico by Grupo Bimbo. 

The NBA expansion in Latin America is still evolving. Several league exhibition games have been scheduled several times on that side of the border during the past two decades. Let’s take you back to 2000 and 2002. In both these years, the NBA held its pre-season games in Mexico, and Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets were brought to Mexico City for the purpose. In 2002, another pre-season game was played outside of the U.S. in the Dominican Republic, and this was between the Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. There are more examples such as this in the later years as well. These games being held in Mexico are now a regular plan of the NBA schedule and also a crucial part of Latin American expansion.

The NBA is also getting more attention in Latin America for another reason; more players from this region are joining the teams in the U.S. In fact, you will find players from Argentina and Brazil. If you see the overall numbers, Brazil will prove to be the biggest feeder in terms of the number of players.

So, it’s safe to say that the general interest is continually growing in the Latin American region. Consider the 2012-2013 season, for example; a total of 17.6 million viewers from the area tuned in to watch the games in the league. And this number was a whopping jump from what it used to be even a year before that.

Did you hear about the latest NBA 2K Mexican Franchise? It was announced in 2021 as part of the Innovation Summit of the league, and the franchise was declared with DUX Gaming. It was decided that this new team would start playing in the spring of 2022. The expansion team’s general manager was named as Rafael Tobias Garcera Rodrigo, and as per what has come to light from the sources, the purchase price for this franchise is $25 million.

The NBA also launched an 11-day program titled NBA Week Mexico City 2021, the aim of which was to celebrate the 75th season of the NBA. The level of commitment that the NBA has shown towards Latin America over the years has definitely risen sharply. This has led to roughly 20 million people watching the games almost every day – so that’s definitely a win!

Conclusion

Now that you have reached the end of this article, you probably understand that the NBA has worked steadily and consistently to increase its presence and fan base in Latin America. This was a part of their overall plan to globalize the game of basketball, and their effort has definitely been successful to a great extent. Even before the NBA did all of this, Latin America had people who were interested in basketball, and there was talent but what they didn’t have was infrastructure, and the NBA made it possible for them. Fans all over the world are really optimistic about Latin America’s performance in the sport in the long term, but only time will tell how the region will fare after all the time and investment that the NBA has put into this.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. June 7, 2022: The online gaming world is huge. Every year, things keep getting bigger and better. We are talking about the iGaming market value being over $59 billion. In particular, in New Jersey, things are going from strength to strength. So, how is the latter half of 2022 looking for the iGaming market in New Jersey? We can drop a spoiler and say that things are looking good. But, let’s take a closer look at what is going on in the state and what you need to know.

Some Background

First of all, let’s set the scene. iGaming is a term that refers to online gambling and betting. So, while there are still brick-and-mortar casinos in New Jersey and other states, iGaming is taking over and becoming more popular. You can play anything from poker to slot machines from home. Technology is getting better by the day too, which creates a fun and realistic gambling experience.

One thing that changed the game in New Jersey was when the court battle ensued several years ago. In particular, the state made sure that PASPA or The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned. This meant that sports wagering became legal in New Jersey and this really has made a difference to iGaming in the state, as well as across the country. In particular, every year since then, New Jersey has seen a rise in revenue.

Rising Revenue

As mentioned, the revenue has been rising ever since the PASPA was overturned. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers since this can help predict how the iGaming market in New Jersey is going to develop in the latter half of 2022.

First of all, if we go back to June 2018, the revenue was $3,458,668. Then, if you jump to August 2019, there was a huge increase to $25,210,341. Fast-forwarding to January 2022 and it was an amazing $60,195,902.

So, what can we expect from New Jersey online casinos in the latter half of 2022? Well, it is fair to say that we are likely to see more of the same. In other words, revenue will continue to roll in as people enjoy iGaming and all that it offers. The market does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon, which means the rest of 2022 is not going to be any different.

There are many who thought iGaming would slow down in New Jersey since people are set to move on from the pandemic. Indeed, this was a huge factor that made people gamble at home. The brick-and-mortar casinos had to close. The only thing you could do was gamble at home. Plus, since people were not working, this was something they did for entertainment. But, despite life starting to go back to normal, people still have the same habits. They now release that they do not have to leave the house when it comes to gaming.

What’s more, technology continues to get better and better. This means that the online experience truly rivals what you can experience in a land casino. Since there are a lot of new casino and gambling websites appearing online, there is competition. Every website wants to make sure that they are able to get customers. So, they do this by offering the best technology. This is good news for players and it means that games keep improving all the time. In addition, this means games are more adaptive and optimized for mobile. There has been a huge increase in people playing games on the move. Everyone takes their smartphone everywhere and looks to their device for entertainment. As a consequence, more websites are becoming suitable for this type of gaming.

Therefore, iGaming is set to be huge in the latter half of 2022. In particular, it is estimated that the market will be worth almost $93 billion by 2023. Indeed, New Jersey is going to get a huge amount of this and even more people are going to be enjoying the online casinos and games on offer. The state has had an important role to play in the emergence of iGaming and it continues to lead the way. How often do you gamble online?

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