Mother’s Day revised: A new gen of athletes (Drake Maye, Yaxel) and some hard-working parents straightening them along the way. An extra day needed to clean up yesterday’s forgetfulness as I grow older. My suggestion: Treat them to a free meal or gift certificate. open.spotify.com/track/2fCapA...

"Sometimes the agency she works with placed as many as six teenage girls in her house at the same time."

Neal: "I went back and looked at my life, looked at my nieces' and nephews' lives, and I knew I could make a difference."

Daughter: "Over the first few months, I grew to love her more and more. After a while, she became my mom, my comfort place. God gave me a good match."

"Still, single mom Donna Neal persisted, taking in a total of 91 teens over the past 15 years." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"She eventually ran track and played basketball at McGavock High School in Donelson, but dropped out after ninth grade when she got pregnant at 16." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"Several of her foster children — most call her 'Mom' — said she mixes tough love, a big heart and Big Macs to launch some of the state's most challenging foster kids into living independently." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"So Neal started using a combination of firm boundaries and genuine curiosity to guide her approach to fostering teen girls — 90 more times in 15 years." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"Neal has done that w two secret weapons. First, her backstory includes growing up in public housing and getting pregnant at 16, a story many girls connect with." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"Her other secret sauce: Neal, a fast-food worker and manager her whole life, gets most of the girls jobs at the Hendersonville McDonald's she runs." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

"Neal, 60, stopped working full time for McDonald's last year. She now is turning her attention toward fulfilling a dream to build a 10-bedroom foster home, w a lounge, prayer room, recreation room and a big yard." www.tennessean.com/story/news/l...

Mack Brown coached Drake Maye for three years at North Carolina. He claims Maye’s edge isn’t just talent, it’s the competitiveness and humility that showed up every day.

COLUMN: Drake Maye is the former Tar Heel in the NFL getting the most publicity, but ten of his teammates at Carolina are also in the league this season. Art Chansky looks at some of their recent achievements on Tuesday’s sports notebook:

Youth league defensive coordinator: “Mark was really careful ab that. He wanted everyone to share.”

Former Drake teammate: “Coach Maye wld say, ‘OK, who wants to score a TD?’ And maybe one of our guards wld raise his hand. Coach Maye wld line him up at running back, usually w Drake as a blocking back, and get him a score.” Drake's father: “Yeah, it’s good to spread the wealth as much as you can.”

"Because he had so many sons playing in the league and was a former college QB himself at UNC, he usually coached a team in both the older (grades 5-6) and younger (grades 3-4) leagues."

North Carolina coach: “It sounds kind of corny, but it’s true. He dates his seventh-grade girlfriend, which is unusual. He’s not going to cuss, he’s not going to drink, he’s not going to be out — but he can lead a room.”

🧐🤨: Read enough articles ab Drake May, North Carolina kid, and there's the same message: He's a sharer who prioritizes his teammates. None of the articles explicitly states why a premier athlete grows up that way but my hunch after reading this article is the father is responsible. Makes you smile.

"Mark Maye tried to keep all of his boys from running too roughshod, however. When Drake wld break off a 60-yd run but get stopped at the 5, Mark wld purposely call a play to allow somebody else to score." www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/a...

"They still remember it today. Everyone who saw Drake Maye on a football field on Saturday mornings in Huntersville, N.C., year after year from age 6 until age 12, has a story to tell." www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/a...

"The hard part for Maye’s coaches, at least initially, was getting him to be more aggressive. Even at 6-feet-5, he was a distributor. At the high school level, conversations usually go the opposite way. But with Maye, his coaches actually wanted him to shoot more." www.nytimes.com/athletic/696...

Basketball coach: “He’s coming in and facilitating, and that’s who he is. He’s getting everyone involved and was like, ‘I don’t want to come in and feel like I’m taking over,. 'And we were like, ‘No, dude, we actually need you to score and score early.’” www.nytimes.com/athletic/696...

"Maye’s midrange shot was impressive, coaches said, but he really stood out as a passer." www.nytimes.com/athletic/696...

"That night, Maye went for 25 points and 18 rebounds. 'And had some big dunks,' Farris added." www.nytimes.com/athletic/696...

"Maye had another rule that season as firms sought his endorsement. If you wanted him for an NIL deal, you had to include the offensive linemen, too." www.nytimes.com/athletic/569...

"As a kid, he was often in the backseat of the family car being whisked off to another brother’s game or practice, shooting hoops with other kids his age during halftime or playing pickup football in foul territory." www.nytimes.com/athletic/569...

Breaking news: Michigan beats UConn to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship Monday night, 69-63. It's the first national championship in men's basketball for the Wolverines since 1989. https://wapo.st/3Qp6F9G

Yaxel Lendeborg (27 points) led five players in double figures as the Wolverines dominated the Volunteers. 🔗: tinyurl.com/3k7f6zbb 📷: Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images , sportslogos.net

"All that I do, anything I have or will accomplish, I owe it all to her. She is my guardian angel. My hero."

"These days, my mom isn’t able to make it out to our games as often as she used to. It’s been a long, hard process. As I’m sitting here writing this, she’s finished up her ninth session of chemo. Three more to go."

"Just doing her Dominican mom thing and hustling to find a way for everything to pay off for me. Making phone calls. Sending emails. Trying to get me tryouts with coaches. Telling anyone who’d listen that her son was a great player."

"One thing I can control, though, is I can do everything in my power to make sure my mom knows how much she means to me.... And that all I’ve ever wanted was to be someone who my mom could be proud of, someone she is proud to call her son."

"Then she proceeds to tell me there’s no more time to mess around. In order to graduate, I would need to complete 10 courses at a local community college. In one year. So that’s what it’s gonna be." www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"... I went from yelling and arguing and fighting tooth and nail ab not having to take all these community college classes to being like…. 'You know what, Mom, you’re completely right. I need to be better. And I promise you I will be. I get it. For real.'" www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"I’m not gonna lie, taking all those classes at once … it sucked. It really, really did." www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"Mom somehow got me into this basketball camp near NY for Dominican kids... they make this announcement, the list of 'top performers,' and they call my name. I’m like: Oh, cool. That’s great! Let’s get back home so I can get up on some Call of Duty." www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"But mom … she’s not having it. She’s over on the bleachers meeting w these JUCO coaches, these NAIA dudes, anyone who was willing to talk to her, basically. Next thing I know, she comes into my room and is like, 'You’re going to Arizona!'" www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"No lie, I’m crying hearing this. Bawling. Like: 'How could you do this? I don’t want to go to Arizona!!!!' Real tears like…. 'You can’t just make me do this. All my friends are here.'" www.theplayerstribune.com/yaxel-lendeb...

"His mother then successfully lobbied to land him a spot at Arizona Western. And after three years at the junior college, including a COVID-shortened season, he transferred to UAB and flourished." apnews.com/article/marc...

Mom: “Yaxel never believed in himself growing up. I always talked to him in a positive way, telling him he was talented and he could make it in basketball." apnews.com/article/marc...

Titans cornerback (via 2020): 'She was cancer-free, so she got to spend the whole season watching me play. I felt like that whole journey, having that moment, it was more just embracing and enjoying the times we would have left." www.tennessean.com/story/life/f...

"That year was a dedication and a time to make good on my promises and everything that I had talked ab w my mom. When I think of that picture, I think of the transition of going from uncertainty in life, and now trying to make everything come true." www.tennessean.com/story/life/f...

Councilman: "No matter how challenging or rewarding my life has been, my mom was always there to laugh or cry with me." www.tennessean.com/story/life/f...

Comedian: "The greatest thing I inherited from my mother is her unrelenting faith and positivity... She lost two daughters, had had a difficult divorce and was battling stage 4 breast cancer." www.tennessean.com/story/life/f...

"Perhaps the humiliation of her grandkids seeing her bald head? Nope. She was laughing so hard that she struggled to catch her breath. There she was, wheezing w asthma, fighting cancer and chasing a wig over the tombstone of her children." www.tennessean.com/story/life/f...

New cases of dementia are estimated to double by 2060, but the good news is that about 45 percent of those cases may be preventable. Here are a few steps to take that may help keep your memory and cognitive abilities in good shape as you age:

Exercise can strengthen a leaky blood-brain barrier, which may improve brain health and potentially fight dementia, according to an ambitious new mouse study of exercise and neurodegeneration.