Update on the latest sports
APNFL-NEWS
NFL teams face potential forfeits for COVID-19 outbreaks
UNDATED (AP) — The NFL had to reschedule several games last season due to COVID-19 outbreaks within teams. The league won’t be as willing to do that this year.
The NFL has informed teams they could potentially forfeit a game due to an outbreak among non-vaccinated players and that players on both teams wouldn’t get paid that week.
In a memo sent to clubs that was obtained by The Associated Press, Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league doesn’t anticipate adding a 19th week to accommodate games that can’t be rescheduled within the 18-week regular season. However, forfeits are among the consequences. For purposes of playoff seeding, the forfeiting team will be credited with a loss and the other team will be credited with a win.
The league says more than half its teams have COVID-19 vaccination rates greater than 80% of their players, and more than 75% of players are in the process of being vaccinated.
In other NFL news:
— All-Pro middle linebacker Fred Warner has signed a five-year extension with the San Francisco 49ers taking him through the 2026 season. The 24-year-old Warner has started all 48 games in his three seasons with San Francisco, making 79 tackles last season with a sack, forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
— Running back Saquon (SAY’-kwahn) Barkley is starting training camp for the Giants on the active/physically unable to perform list. The NFL’s 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year suffered a torn ACL during the Giants’ second game last season and underwent surgery in October. Players on the Active/PUP list can be activated at any time during training camp.
— Jets assistant coach Greg Knapp has died at age 58 of injuries suffered in a bicycle accident near his home in California last Saturday. The family said in the statement that Knapp was struck by a car while riding his bicycle in the city of San Ramon in the San Francisco Bay Area and never regained consciousness.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Tigers win again
UNDATED (AP) — The Detroit Tigers have pulled themselves out of the AL Central cellar with their longest winning streak in five years.
Eric Haase hit a three-run homer in the first inning of the Tigers’ seventh consecutive win, 7-5 over the stumbling Rangers. Zack Short and Victor Reyes also homered for the Tigers, who completed a four-game sweep and a perfect post-All-Star break homestand.
Texas has lost nine straight, equaling its longest slide this season.
MLB-UNDATED
Rays get Nelson Cruz…Mercedes unretires
UNDATED (AP) — Nelson Cruz will spend the rest of the major league season chasing a playoff berth.
The Rays have acquired the slugging designated hitter in a four-player trade with the Twins. Tampa Bay also receives minor leaguer Calvin Faucher from Minnesota for minor league right-handers Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman.
The 41-year-old Cruz has 436 career homers and 1,202 RBIs. He’s batting .294 with 19 homers and 50 RBIs this season.
Also around the majors:
— Yermín (yehr-MEEN’) Mercedes has changed his mind and is back with the White Sox’s Triple-A affiliate, one day after posting that he was retiring from baseball. Mercedes apologized for his decision to leave the sport and was in the lineup Thursday for the Charlotte Knights against the Durham Bulls. The surprising rookie carried the team with his booming bat early in the season and was sent to the minors following a prolonged slump.
NBA-NEWS
Pelicans hire Suns assistant Willie Green as new head coach
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Phoenix Suns assistant Willie Green as their new head coach. Green is a first-time head coach after serving as an NBA assistant coach the past five years with Golden State and the Suns. He was a member of two NBA title-winning staffs with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.
In other NBA news:
— Thousands of fans lined the streets of downtown Milwaukee Thursday to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city’s first NBA championship in half a century. Open-air buses and flatbed trucks carried Bucks stars including Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (YAH’-nihs an-teh-toh-KOON’-poh) and Jrue (jroo) Holiday, as well as the trophy they captured Tuesday night with a Game 6 victory over Phoenix.
NHL-NEWS
Rangers ink Goodrow
UNDATED (AP) — Forward Barkley Goodrow has signed a six-year contract with the New York Rangers after helping the Tampa Bay Lightning win consecutive Stanley Cups,
The signing comes less than a week after acquiring the rights to the unrestricted free agent from the Lightning for a seventh-round draft pick in 2022.
Goodrow skated in 55 games with Tampa Bay this past season, collecting six goals and 20 points. He led the team with 111 hits and a plus-16 rating.
In other NHL news:
— The Sharks have re-signed forward Rudolfs Balcers (BAL’-surs) to a two-year contract before he hit the market as a restricted free agent. The 24-year-old Balcers had eight goals and nine assists in 41 games last season after being brought back for a second stint with the Sharks.
— The Flyers have sent one-time cornerstone defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (GAHS’-tihs-behr) to the Coyotes along with second- and seventh-round picks in next year’s draft. Moving on from Gostisbehere gives the Flyers about $4.5 million in salary cap relief over the next two seasons, setting them up to continue a roster overhaul. The 28-year-old had a strong rookie season in 2015-16 but his play tailed off dramatically after that.
— The league has sent teams two versions of the schedule for the 2021-22 season. One includes an Olympic break to pause the season so NHL players can go to Beijing. The other is what the season would look like if the league, players and international officials cannot reach an Olympic agreement.
OLYMPICS-NEWS
Crabb out of Olympics due to coronavirus
TOKYO (AP) — American beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb is out of the Olympics after four positive COVID-19 tests. Tri Bourne will take his place as the partner of four-time Olympian Jake Gibb when the competition begins this weekend. Crabb confirmed his withdrawal Thursday in a statement to The Associated Press, noting that he was vaccinated and tested negative before he left the United States but tested positive when he arrived in Japan.
In other Olympics news:
— The West African country of Guinea has reversed an earlier decision to pull out of the Olympics and will send a delegation of five athletes. The country’s Minister of Sports made the announcement Thursday after national and international outcries that followed an earlier declaration that Guinea would not send athletes to Tokyo, blaming the coronavirus and its variants.
— U.S. gymnast Kara Eaker is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, while teammate Leanne Wong is in quarantine. Both are alternates for the U.S. team. The U.S. delegation of Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Grace McCallum, Jade Carey and MyKayla Skinner worked out on each event during podium training on Thursday. They’re staying in a hotel near the venue rather than the Olympic village, a decision made before they arrived.
— Tokyo hit another six-month high in new COVID-19 cases a day before the Olympics begin. Thursday’s 1,979 new cases are the highest since 2,044 were recorded on Jan. 15. Japan’s prime minister placed Tokyo under a state of emergency on July 12, but daily cases have sharply increased since then.
— Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Gwen Berry are among more than 150 educators, activists and athletes who signed a letter Thursday urging the IOC not to punish participants who demonstrate at the Tokyo Games. The five-page letter asks the IOC not to sanction athletes for kneeling or raising a fist, the way Smith and Carlos did at the 1968 Mexico City Games. That move that got them kicked out of the Olympics.
— The IOC says it will now include images of Olympic athletes taking a knee in its official highlight reels and social media channels. Players from five women’s soccer teams kneeled in support of racial justice before their games Wednesday. Those images were excluded from highlights package provided by the IOC to media that could not broadcast the games live.
OLYMPICS-MEN’S SOCCER
Australia stuns Argentina 2-0
TOKYO (AP) — Two-time Olympic men’s soccer champion Argentina was stunned 2-0 by Australia.
Lachlan Wales and Marco Tilio did the scoring in Australia’s first Olympic match since 2008.
The Argentines won Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008.
Romania made a winning return to Olympic men’s soccer after 57 years with a 1-0 victory over Honduras that was clinched by Elvin Oliva’s own goal.
Japan beat South Africa 1-0, France lost to Mexico 4-1, Ivory Coast beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 and New Zealand beat South Korea 1-0.
SENIOR BRITISH OPEN
Darren Clarke, James Kingston share Senior British Open lead
BERKSHIRE, England (AP) — Darren Clarke shot a 5-under 65 for a share of the Senior British Open lead with James Kingston at Sunningdale.
Clarke had six birdies and a bogey on the Old Course in the final senior major championship of the year, while Kingston played a bogey-free round.
Defending champion Bernhard Langer was a stroke back with Ricardo Gonzalez and Stephen Dodd.
