Zarek Valentin held two boyhood dreams: play professional soccer and be an on-air anchor on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

The Lancaster, Pa., native checked the first box with Chivas USA in MLS in 2011, and 13 years later he continues to fulfill that aspiration with Minnesota United, his seventh pro club.

A recent leg injury sidelined Valentin for the short term, but it provided an opportunity for the 32-year-old to explore a possible post-playing career transition to the broadcast booth. Not SportsCenter, but a cousin.

Valentin has provided color commentary alongside play-by-play voice Dan Terhaar during ESPN 1500 radio broadcasts of the past two Loons matches, against Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo at Allianz Field.

“I find it fascinating,” Valentin told the Pioneer Press. “I think that you can really tell a story and draw fans into a game in which they may or may not be completely emotionally involved in. Take them on a little ride and go for a little adventure with them. That, to me, is exciting. It’s something I’d love to do.”

The Loons have provided this lab space for other players, most notably when ex-goalkeeper Tyler Miller was out injured for the season but helped out on Bally Sports North broadcasts in 2020.

Valentin wanted his first-ever broadcasts to be as organic as possible, so he pretty much winged it. Obviously, he has ultimate insider status with MNUFC, even going into the locker room at halftime between radio calls, and also holds a vast understanding of MLS.

So, he wasn’t going in blind, and it showed immediately.

During the start of the RSL match, Valentin fired a fastball down the middle with his first pitch, sharing how he grew up playing alongside RSL goalkeeper Zach MacMath with youth club Clearwater (Fla.) Chargers and on U.S. youth national teams. Valentin said MacMath used to play as a forward, so he’s good with the ball on his feet, but that skill might make him susceptible to the Loons’ pressing actions.

It was the type of anecdote and analysis that can be sorely lacking on some telecasts in the second year of MLS’ new media rights deal with Apple TV.

Former Loons TV presenter Callum Williams took notice of a new colleague and sent a direct message to Valentin with words of encouragement. “Heard you did well tonight, mate!” Williams wrote April 7. “Good stuff. Just the first step.”

Valentin replied: “Thanks for the message Cal! Had a blast on the call last night. Maybe one day we can join forces.”

The next Saturday, Valentin threw a changeup to open the Houston match. He jokingly called it the “Zarek Valentin Derby” because he had played three years with the Dynamo before joining Minnesota in 2023. That first-hand experience in Houston also helped Valentin understand the matchup on a deeper level.

For an admirer of the late SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott, Valentin on the mic appears to be “as cool as the other side of the pillow.”

But Valentin is also amped up. Before the Dynamo match, he was buzzing around the press box, being his typical loquacious self, chatting up everybody. It was clear he wouldn’t be at a loss for words on the air.

“Talking is natural,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of people do it. And I have my personal take on things I like, things I don’t like. So trying to implement that and get as comfortable as possible.”

Valentin is also serious about getting better, looking everywhere for possible tips and pointers. His wife suggested saying Loons players’ full names, in case they don’t know “Joe”, for instance, is a reference to fullback Joseph Rosales.

Valentin also pointed out elements on tactics and formation, and wasn’t shy to question what he felt were poor decisions by referees. If he does full-time announcing later, he vowed to do research on players and coaches to share anecdotes like the one he had on MacMath.

Valentin admires Fox Sports’ color commentator Stu Holden as one of the best in the profession; Valentin has spoken to Holden and others about “what makes them good.”

Valentin played college soccer at Akron during its heyday in 2009-10, winning an NCAA tournament championship as a sophomore after finishing runner-up as a freshman. But part of him wanted to attend Syracuse, a famed journalism school, to earn a communications degree and enter broadcasting world.

He was a communications major at Akron, but pro soccer called after his sophomore season, and he switched his major when taking online classes. “My last (in-person) classes were in a studio, reading off a teleprompter and things along those lines,” Valentin said. “You can’t do that when (you’re) Generation adidas or with Montreal or Chivas. But that was always something where I was sitting there going, ‘I think I’d really enjoy this. I like entertaining, I like talking and I like soccer.’ ”

Valentin is progressing in the rehab from a thigh injury this week and is itching to get back on the field, maybe as soon as Sunday’s game at Charlotte FC, but the recent hands-on broadcasting experience has fueled him for more of that side of the game. He cherished the opportunity to put together valuable recordings of him calling games. From the booth, he still felt a part of the game, even breaking a sweat during the first half of the RSL match.

“I think I have a decent eye for the game and also a decent personality — maybe those things combined might help push things in the right way,” Valentin said. “I don’t know. (To be determined). I’m just enjoying it one step at a time.”

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By Kimberly Palmer | NerdWallet

For college students, sending money to friends has never been easier thanks to peer-to-peer payment apps like Venmo, PayPal and Cash App. But that convenience poses risks, including vulnerability to errors, fraud and the tendency to overspend.

As a result, payment apps can contribute to financial stress at a time when young people are learning how to manage their finances on their own. “Peer-to-peer payment apps are cash on steroids because they’re a straw stuck into your bank account,” says Anne Lester, author of “Your Best Financial Life.”

Not only does that make spending easier and more “frictionless,” Lester explains, but it also means “if you trust the wrong person, then you’re in big trouble,” because it can be difficult or impossible to get the money back.

To keep young people safe while using payment apps, money experts suggest taking these extra steps to guard against scams and overspending.

Triple-check the recipient

One risk with peer-to-peer payment apps is sending the money to the wrong person by accident. “If you send money, make sure you are 100% certain you are sending it to the right person, because it’s very hard to get the money back,” says Nilton Porto, associate professor of consumer finance at the University of Rhode Island.

For college students living on tight budgets, Porto says, an incorrect payment could really impact their ability to pay for essentials like rent and food, even if they eventually get the funds returned.

Protect against fraud

Porto suggests being wary of unexpected requests, even those purportedly from a roommate, that claim to be urgent. “We don’t need to send money to almost anybody right away,” he says, explaining that scam artists often use urgency as a way to trick people into sending cash to them. Similarly, disregard any requests received through one of the apps containing a link that requests personal information, as it could also be a scam.

Erin Lowry, author of the “Broke Millennial Workbook,” warns against downloading any unfamiliar payment apps. “I would not be an early adopter to a payment app,” she cautions, given that it has access to your bank account.

As an additional precaution, Lowry suggests connecting payment apps to a bank account that you don’t keep the bulk of your money in. “My payment apps are connected to a bank account that’s not my primary account, so if something were to happen, it’s a low risk,” she says.

Update your privacy settings

“Default privacy settings are usually public,” notes Amanda Christensen, an accredited financial counselor and extension professor at Utah State University. That means a young adult’s payments to friends or funds received for a job could be visible to the public.

“The social part of the payment apps is where we get some of the best scammers out there because they can see what’s being regularly paid for,” Christensen says. To adjust who can see your activity in Venmo, for example, go into “settings” on the app and scroll to find the various “privacy” options, such as public, friends or private.

Earn a return elsewhere

Christensen suggests establishing a habit of transferring any balance out of payment apps once a week. “Set a note in your phone,” she says, cautioning against treating the app like a checking account, where you let money sit.

Not only is cash sitting in an app vulnerable to fraud, but it also doesn’t earn a return like it could in a savings account. Jake Cousineau, author of “How to Adult” and a high school teacher, says he sees many young people receiving payments for side jobs like tutoring through payment apps. Instead of quickly transferring the money into a savings account, they let it linger, which means losing out on interest that would otherwise be accumulating. Payment apps also generally lack the protections from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that come with bank accounts, he adds.

Don’t forget to budget

The convenience of payment apps makes it easy to overspend, Christensen notes. That’s why she suggests turning to cash at times for a week or so. “Reconnect yourself to the pain of spending,” she says.

Cousineau recommends not letting “these apps get in the way of having a detailed budget.” Just because you can easily send a friend $20 with a few taps doesn’t mean you should.

The apps might even be able to help. Porto says you can use the timeline of a payment app to help track your spending. Just as with a credit or debit card, you can scroll through your history to determine what changes you might want to make in the future. “You can see where all the money went, which can be very powerful for college students,” he says.

In other words, leverage the power of these payment apps to help you manage your money, instead of just spending it.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by The Associated Press.

 

The article What College Students Need to Know About Payment Apps originally appeared on NerdWallet.

A new study at Denver’s National Jewish Health found an unexpected potential culprit for lung disease in some combat veterans: silica, which is one of the most common elements in dust, soil and sand.

The study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, examined lung tissue from 65 people with unexplained shortness of breath and other respiratory symptoms after deploying to Afghanistan or Iraq. Deployed veterans were more likely to have silica in their lungs than people who weren’t in the armed forces, with combat veterans showing more damage than service members who worked in other jobs.

People with combat roles tended to have a variety of unhealthy respiratory exposures, including burn pits, sandstorms, diesel exhaust, tiny particles generated by explosions, dust from heavy equipment on dry soil, and pollution from local industries or trash burning, said Dr. Cecile Rose, an occupational and environmental pulmonologist at National Jewish Health.

She and the other researchers didn’t think silica would be the primary contaminant they’d find in veterans’ lungs.

“That was unexpected, but not surprising” when considering their exposure to dust and sandstorms, she said.

People who inhale large amounts of silica over a prolonged period can develop silicosis, a disease in which inflammation in the lungs causes scarring and difficulty breathing, Rose said. Silica inhalation is one factor in the increase in cases of black lung disease among coal miners in recent decades, because the miners have to cut through other rock types to reach narrow coal seams, she said.

“Silica dust is a powerful stimulant of lung inflammation,” she said.

Lung samples taken from people who died in accidents and hadn’t deployed overseas during their lifetimes showed small amounts of silica, but not comparable to what the combat veterans had, Rose said. Because the veterans were younger and less likely to have smoked, if anything, their lungs should have looked healthier, she said.

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People who inhale significant amounts of silica can reduce their likelihood of disease by limiting further exposures, but that may not be feasible for career soldiers, Rose said. They also would want to avoid civilian jobs that would increase their risks, like mining, stone cutting and certain construction trades, she said.

Not everyone who served in combat experienced the same hazards, and the country needs more research to determine who needs careful lung monitoring, Rose said. Combat veterans shouldn’t ignore lung symptoms, though, and might consider joining the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry to help with research, she said.

“We don’t really know how many people are at risk,” she said.

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The Twins walked off the field Wednesday in Baltimore with their heads down as Cedric Mullins rounded the bases and his Orioles teammates crowded around home plate waiting for him.

The fourth straight loss for the Twins plunged their record to 6-11 on the season. For a team that had high hopes of winning the American League Central for the second straight season, it certainly is not the start they envisioned.

It’s still early, but they’ve already dug themselves into a hole, currently sitting 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the division.

“It feels quite hard. It feels like no matter what you try, nothing is smooth, nothing is working like you want,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And it’s tough to play the game with confidence and with an air of anything when it’s so difficult. Even when we do things well, we’re not getting the results.”

Here’s a look at how they got to this point:

Injuries

After a relatively healthy spring, the injury bug came for the Twins bullpen in the days before they packed up and left Fort Myers, Fla.

Jhoan Duran strained an oblique, Caleb Thielbar a hamstring and Justin Topa was shut down with patellar tendinitis, a blow to a bullpen that was expected to be a strength of this team. Just one of them — Thielbar — has returned thus far. The Twins also found out that starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani would need surgery that would wipe out his entire season.

In the meantime, the position player group made it through spring training healthy, but once the season rolled around, it started to get dinged up, as well.

Royce Lewis looked every bit a star in his first two at-bats of the season, hitting a home run and a single. But while running the bases in the third inning on Opening Day, he suffered a quad injury that he’s not particularly close to returning from. In that same game, Max Kepler fouled a ball off his knee and exited early. Though he initially played through the pain, the Twins put him on the injured list, too.

And on their latest road trip, Carlos Correa, their most productive hitter at the time, strained his intercostal, taking him off the field as well.

“(We’re) missing our top three hitters in our lineup,” infielder Kyle Farmer said. “We’re in a tough stretch, but guys have got to step up.”

Offense

Correa said it multiple times early on: The Twins’ offense eventually figured it out last season after the all-star break, but they can’t afford to wait that long this time around.

“We don’t want to be here half a season trying to figure out when we know we’re capable of doing it a lot earlier,” Correa said earlier this month.

But save for a few hitters, Correa included, the beginning of the season has been a struggle and the team is collectively hitting .193, which is dead last in Major League Baseball entering Thursday’s games. They rank 27th in on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and 28th in OPS.

Simply put, it’s not good enough, and they’re well aware of it.

“Everyone right now has an adjustment to make,” hitting coach David Popkins said. “Some of that for some guys is just relaxing and believing in yourself and knowing you’ve done this before, you’ve done this many times throughout your career, and just takes — it’s very contagious when things get going.”

Kepler was hitting just .050 at the time he landed on the injured list. Left fielder Matt Wallner was striking out at such a high clip — 51.5 percent of his plate appearances — that the Twins demoted him to Triple-A for a physical and mental reset.

Byron Buxton (.193), Edouard Julien (.175) and Carlos Santana (.135) are among the starters off to slow starts.

“We have to get better, and we have to get better quickly, and that’s our goal, and we’ll continue to work until we do that,” Popkins said.

Pitching rotation

While the Twins’ rotation has been far from the biggest problem this season, the collective group has given up 56 runs, which was tied for third most in the majors as of Thursday morning. Their earned-run average as a group is 5.32, which is second-worst in the majors.

A big part of the reason why the Twins were able to remain competitive last season when the offense was off to a slow start was because of the rotation, led by Pablo López and Sonny Gray, who finished second in American League Cy Young voting.

But Gray walked in free agency, as did Kenta Maeda, and the Twins didn’t sink significant money into the rotation. The only move the Twins made to address the rotation from the outside was trading for DeSclafani, who needed flexor tendon surgery.

The Twins filled those holes with Chris Paddack, who returned to the rotation after spending most of last season rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, and Louie Varland. And while the Twins have high hopes for both pitchers, in the last series, the Twins saw Varland give up six runs (four earned) and Paddack allow nine. Those blowups ballooned each of their ERAs to 8.36.

“I’m letting the team down, and it’s a bad feeling,” Varland said after his last start.

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