As Loretta and Todd Benjamin sat in a room full of strangers and watched the Detroit Lions win their first playoff game since the 1991 season on a projector screen, their thoughts returned to their corn maze.

The Benjamins were trying to pick their next design for their autumn corn maze. The theme had to be selected by February, so the Benjamins could pass their GPS coordinates to their designer. However, they couldn’t pinpoint what spoke to them.

Loretta and Todd eventually went on a business trip to Punta Cana in Dominican Republic while the Lions began their 2023 NFL playoff run. The Lions faced the Rams in a wild-card game, where they inched past Los Angeles with a 24-23 victory in January.

“It was like, ‘yeah, we’re legit now. … We’ve got to do a Lions theme for our corn maze,'” Loretta told ESPN.

The Benjamin took the proper steps to get their theme approved by reaching out to the Lions organization. Only one question remained: What design would they use?

Loretta and Todd, owners of Choice Farm Market in Webberville, Michigan, have been die-hard Lions fans for quite some time.

Todd owns a shirt that depicts a lion’s face with a matching hat that says “GRIT.” Detroit adopted the slogan when Dan Campbell became the franchise’s head coach in January 2021 with the intent to rebuild its culture. Campbell said the word means they’ll go a bit longer, push harder, think deeper and sharper. Campbell’s face is in the middle of the lion’s mane.

The design on Todd’s shirt caught Loretta’s eye, and its striking pattern became etched in her mind as the inspiration for the maze’s look. But she second-guessed it until the outline was presented to her.

“At first, I thought, ‘well, that’d be too creepy,’ and I was afraid it might be kind of weird. And then we got the sketch done and it was like, ‘oh, no, this is cool,'” Loretta said.

Selecting the corn for the maze is a process. Todd picks a variety of corn that takes a bit longer to mature so it can last through the end of October without drying out or breaking down. The Benjamins pick seeds that are resistant to certain diseases.

After selecting the corn, Todd cross plants it in rows running in both directions to create denser paths. They’ll then fertilize the crop with the proper nutrients to ensure it lasts through the season.

Loretta estimates the corn maze took about 10 hours to cut.

At the entrance of the maze, Choice Farm Market has a handful of interactive activities, such as 40-yard dashes and games that take up the open space inside. The inspiration came from the 2024 NFL draft in Detroit, where Loretta and Todd took their grandsons.

The maze takes about 15 to 20 minutes to walk through. Visitors can scan a QR code when they enter to time their duration inside the maze and find 10 checkpoints within.

Once the corn maze concludes at the end of October, the corn will be harvested and Todd will donate it to about 100 different customers to use as fuel for heating their homes.

South of Michigan, Indiana has a maze of its own in honor of the Fever’s playoff appearance and WNBA Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark.

Dana More, the chief operating officer of County Line Orchard in northwest Indiana, watched the WNBA draft with her nieces. After WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced Clark as the No. 1 pick, More instantly hopped online to purchase four Fever jerseys for herself and nieces before the site eventually sold out in an hour.

Like the Benjamin family, More was searching for ideas about what their fall corn maze theme would be. That was until her nieces advocated for it to be Clark.

“We were all excited and talking, [and] my nieces said, ‘that should be your corn maze this year.’ I was like ,’oh my gosh yes, this is perfect,'” More told ESPN.

More has been at the County Line Orchard for about 15 years and has built a strong relationship with the owners. After her nieces planted the thought of a Clark-themed corn maze, More texted the owner that night with the idea. He loved it.

“Sometimes, you just land on something like, this is just right,” More said. “This is the right move and it aligned with who we are.”

County Line Orchards began scouring the web immediately after the draft to find the perfect image of Clark to turn into the maze. The image came from the Fever’s media day.

The orchard composed the maze in what More describes as “reverse engineering.” They hired a third party in June to cut the maze before the seeds were planted, allowing the corn to grow into its shape.

The maze was ready by Aug. 28.

More says there are checkpoints to visit inside, similar to a scavenger hunt, along with basketball-related activities for customers, such as mini hoops. She estimates customers can spend about an hour in the maze.

Fever president Allison Barber took notice of the masterpiece and presented More and her twin nieces with exclusive tickets to watch the Fever take on the Las Vegas Aces, when A’ja Wilson broke the WNBA’s single-season points record after a 27-point performance earlier this month. Clark and Tamika Catchings signed More’s nieces’ jerseys.

Bruno Fernandes said he didn’t deserve to be sent off for a dangerous challenge on James Maddison in Manchester United’s 3-0 Premier League loss to Tottenham on Sunday.

The United captain was shown a straight red in the 42nd minute at Old Trafford.

“Nobody wants to be sent off, it’s not a good feeling,” said Fernandes, who took the unusual decision of stepping up for postmatch interviews following his dismissal. “I didn’t go with the studs. It’s never a red card. Even James Maddison when he gets up, he said it’s not a red card.”

Fernandes appeared to slip when attempting a tackle in Tottenham’s half — but then raised his foot and caught Maddison on the shin in a studs-up challenge.

Referee Christopher Kavanagh immediately brandished a red card.

“If this is a red card, we have to look at many other incidents,” Fernandes said. “It is a foul. There is not much contact. If [the referee] wants to give me a yellow, I agree. I don’t understand why VAR doesn’t call him to the screen.”

Fernandes became the fourth United captain to be sent off in a Premier League game at Old Trafford, joining Roy Keane, Nemanja Vidic and Wayne Rooney on that list.

“I want to say, I left my teammates one man down,” Fernandes said. “I do appreciate everything they did on the pitch, obviously was tougher for them. We didn’t start the game well when it was 11 vs. 11, then obviously the result is on their side and we get the situation with the red card and obviously I think they did … very well.

“They tried, obviously we conceded another two goals, but it was difficult to cover all the spaces. But I think [there are] many good things that we can take away from this, [the] resilience of the team was always there, and I’m really proud of the team.”

United trailed 1-0 at halftime after Brennan Johnson’s goal in the third minute.

It got worse for United after the break, when Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke also scored for Spurs.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

Minnesota Twins players backed manager Rocco Baldelli on Saturday after fans chanted for his firing amid the team’s late-season collapse.

The Twins, who had a five-game cushion in the American League wild-card race in mid-August, were eliminated from postseason contention with Friday’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles.

Minnesota was 70-53 at its high-water mark of the season on Aug. 17 but has gone 12-26 since, prompting fans at Target Field to chant “Fire Rocco” recently during the Twins’ September swoon.

“I don’t think it’s super fair to put everything on him,” pitcher Bailey Ober told reporters, according to The Athletic. “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. If the players hear [the chants], I don’t think anyone’s agreeing with that. It’s like, seriously, can’t you see what’s going on? He’s not the one at fault for this mishap that happened.”

Baldelli acknowledged before Saturday’s loss to the Orioles that he has heard the boos and “Fire Rocco” chants but said he respects Twins fans and added that they “have a right to feel almost any way they choose.”

“That’s part of managing a Major League Baseball team,” Baldelli said. “And I respect the fans. The Minnesota Twins fans showed me last year when we were in the playoffs amazing things, things that can change the outcome of a game in favor of their team. … You can’t have greater passion than what I saw. If I’m going to accept that and take that and enjoy that, then I’ll also take the criticism when things don’t go well.”

The Twins (82-79) will finish fourth in the AL Central after winning the division last season. Players cited several reasons for coming up short this season, including long-term injuries to key players such as shortstop Carlos Correa, outfielder Byron Buxton, ace pitcher Joe Ryan and third baseman Royce Lewis.

“If you have anybody to blame, blame me for going down for two months and not being a part of the team,” said Correa, who missed 53 games with a foot injury. “I think that’s one of the main reasons.”

“We’re the ones performing out there and didn’t get the job done,” Ober said. “He’s putting out the lineups, and we’re trying to do it. I feel like most of the blame should be on the players.”

Correa and catcher Ryan Jeffers agreed that offseason changes likely are coming for the Twins but supported Baldelli and his staff.

“Why we couldn’t be consistent? I don’t know if that’s any staff member’s responsibility or fault,” Jeffers said, according to MLB.com.

Baldelli, 43, enters Sunday’s season finale with a 457-412 record in six years with the Twins, who have won three division titles during that stretch. He emphasized his frustration over being unable to lead the Twins out of their downward spiral this season.

“Ultimately, we didn’t find it,” he said. “We did not find it. That’s probably the most frustrating part of it was that it’s not like we just ran this out and continued to try the same methods all the way down the stretch. We tried several methods, and that’s the part where, yeah, that will irk me.

“That will continue to irk me and bother me because you always believe that there is an answer. You always believe that there is a path that could work, and in six weeks, the several paths that we went down, they all ended in the same place. That’s frustrating.”

As for his future in Minnesota, Baldelli said Saturday that he is “never stressed” over his job security and that he is “fully motivated and enjoy what I do.”

Lahore: Star batsman Babar Azam announced on Tuesday that he is stepping down as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Babar shared, “I have decided to resign as captain of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, effective from my notification to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Team Management last month.”

He expressed pride in leading the team but said it was time to move on and focus solely on his role as a player. “It’s been an honour to lead this team, but it’s time for me to step down and focus on my playing role,” Babar stated.

While he described the captaincy as a “rewarding experience,” he admitted that it had added a “significant workload.”

“I want to prioritize my performance, enjoy my batting, and spend more time with my family, which brings me happiness,” he explained.

By resigning, Babar said he hopes to gain better clarity and channel more energy toward his game and personal growth.

He also thanked fans for their unwavering support throughout his captaincy, adding, “Your enthusiasm has meant the world to me. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved together and look forward to contributing as a player.”