NFL On CBS Reporter Melanie Collins Models Bikinis In St. Lucia, Middle Fingers Fly & 12U Baseball Drama!

Middle Hump Day of April. We're smack-dab at the halfway point. Shockingly enough, we're only five weeks away from Memorial Day weekend. 

Five. Think about that for a second. Five weeks from the unofficial start of summer. Does that get the juices FLOWING on this Tax Day, or what? Some folks are miserable today because the government has officially taken all your money. I get it. It's a natural anger. 

But at least we're only 35(ish) days away from summer. If all else fails today and the Turbo Tax craps the bed when you're 98% done, at least you have that to fall back on. 

You're welcome. Let's roll!

Welcome to a Hump Day Nightcaps — the one where Melanie Collins ditches her NFL on CBS uniform to model bikinis on the beach. While Dianna is resigning, Melanie is relaxing. 

Choose your fighter, America. 

What else? I've got a 12U baseball player hitting a nuke and then BEGGING to get drilled in the earhole, Jarren Duran getting angry at another fan, and The Athletic is still pumping out insanely dumb content while dealing with the Dianna Russini fallout. 

Kudos to them for this one, too — it's a humdinger. 

Grab you a color barrier if you have one lying around at the house, and then BREAK it as we dive into a Jackie Robinson Day 'Cap!

It's A Baseball-Heavy Class, So Let's Start Off With An F-U!

That's right. It's JRD around Major League Baseball, so everyone will be wearing 42 all day long, and it'll be confusing as hell. 

I've actually got a special place in my heart for Jackie given I'm from Vero Beach, the former (and longtime) spring training home of the LA Dodgers. What used to be called Dodgertown is now the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. There's one minor league game a year there now, and it's tonight. 

Growing up, going to Dodgers spring training games was just the best. You used to walk around town and see Sandy Koufax all over the place. February and March were just insane months. 

One of the last games I went to was a Red Sox-Dodgers game when Daisuke Matsuzaka was making one of his first starts in America. I believe it was 2007. 

For those who don't remember Daisuke, he was Shohei Ohtani before Shohei Ohtani. Dodgertown was SLAMMED that day. The whole town was in gridlock. The Japanese media must've been 100 people deep. I skipped school to go see it. Evidently, so did everyone else. 

Those were the days. 

Anyway, another fun story from the Dodgers spring training days was the one time I ran into Albert Pujols on his way back from the batting cages, asked for his autograph, and he told me to piss off. True story. 

Good times. Simpler times. 

OK, let's get class started with Jarren Duran flipping off a fan in Minnesota last night!

Where Do We Stand On This 12U Demon?

So, I wrote about this earlier being OutKick's unofficial Red Sox guy, and — shockingly — I somewhat disagreed with the narrative. Weird, I know. 

For starters, I think players should absolutely be allowed to clap back at fans. I've been to games at Fenway where folks literally just bought tickets with the sole purpose of seeing how fast they could get kicked out. Seriously. If fans get to say things, so do the players. 

That being said, Jarren Duran has now done this three times. Last year, he got into it with a fan in Cleveland who allegedly said something similar. Two years ago, he said the VERY NASTY F-WORD during an actual at-bat. 

And now, this. At some point, you have to stop letting fans get to you, right? You play in BOSTON. Nobody has ever worn thin skin, and survived BOSTON. I've been a Sox fan for my whole life. I've seen Boston chew up players (Carl Crawford, Carl Everett, David Price, Alex Verdugo) and spit them out. 

The first instance? That was kinda funny. Last year's incident was understandable. This time around? It's a little exhausting. Thoughts? 

And when you're done thinking about THAT, I'd also like to know your thoughts on THIS:

The Texas RANGERS & Melanie's R&R

I know Joe has been on a crusade against youth baseball for a while now, so I assume he'll touch on this if he hasn't already. This one is fairly simple for me. 

This kid gets one in the earhole the next AB. First pitch. Don't even try to hide it. The situation will resolve itself naturally. 

Fine. Maybe that's harsh given he's 12. The shoulder then. The ribs. Aim a little lower, but make it count. That's how you fix this. 

I've told this story before, but one time in middle school baseball, our coach told me and the pitcher to drill some kid "in the earhole" when he got up next time. I think we had a similar situation. Maybe he was stealing signs? I can't remember exactly what prompted it, but we did. We never had a problem again. 

Now, did our coach earn himself a visit to the AD's office the next day? Sure. But we also finished the season 13-2 and won the county championship, so I'd say it was a worthwhile visit. 

OK, let's rapid-fire this Hump Day class into a big night of humping! First up? Let's check in with The Athletic as they continue to investigate Dianna Russini's very harmless girls trip:

The Athletic contacted numerous high-ranking Rangers officials, to ask for their perspective on the statue. Executive VP of public affairs Rob Matwick did not respond to an interview request. Neither did president of baseball operations Chris Young, who later declined through a team spokesman. Team historian and longtime VP for communications John Blake declined to comment.

Manager Skip Schumaker also declined comment. And Karin Morris, the team’s senior VP for community impact, didn’t respond to questions about whether or not the team did any outreach ahead of the statue’s implementation.

Imagine how annoyed all those staffers must've been when the insufferable virtue-signalers at THE ATHLETIC kept flooding their inboxes to ask about a statue. A STATUE!

For those wondering, the very controversial statue is of a… Texas Ranger. There, hope that clears up any confusion for the dummies in the New York Times offices! 

Some folks believe the statue depicts one Ranger in particular, Capt. Jay Banks, who helped block black students from integrating back in the 1950s. Other folks say it doesn't depict one specific ranger, but all Texas Rangers. The name of the statue, after all, is "One Riot, One Ranger."

It stood at the Dallas Love Field airport for decades until, of course, it was taken down after the Summer of 2020. Remember that miserable summer? Goodness. 

Anyway, it's now back at Globe Park, and The Athletic is pissed about it. Perhaps they should send Dianna to investigate!? She's free, I hear. 

OK, that's it for today. Good Hump Day. We're halfway to May. Let's keep the momentum going. 

Take us home, Melanie Collins!

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).

Thoughts on Duran? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.