Update on the latest sports
APNFL-NEWS
Watt, Texans agree to split in latest team upheaval
UNDATED (AP) — J.J. Watt says he and the Houston Texans have “mutually agreed to part ways,” ending the tenure of the face of the franchise. The star defensive end said in a video on social media Friday that he had asked for his release. Watt had one year remaining on a 6-year, $100 million contract.
The three-time Defensive Player of the Year and 2017 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year has spent his entire career with the Texans after being selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2011 draft.
Watt is the only player in NFL history to have 20 or more sacks and 10 or more passes defended in a single season after doing it in both 2012 and 2014. He’s tied for fifth among defensive lineman in league history with six touchdowns in the regular season, including three TD catches. The four-time Pro Bowler never missed a game until 2016, when he started struggling with a back injury that ended his season. He broke his leg in the fifth game of the 2017 but rebounded from his injuries to finish with 16 sacks in 2018 and earn All-Pro honors for the fifth time.
Watt, who will turn 32 next month, played just eight regular-season games in 2019 after tearing a pectoral muscle, but returned to help the Texans in the playoffs. He played every game in 2020 and had five sacks, 52 tackles and returned an interception for a touchdown.
Watt’s departure follows a 4-12 season that saw coach Bill O’Brien fired after an 0-4 start and quarterback Deshaun Watson requesting a trade.
In other NFL news:
—A group whose mission is to increase diversity in the NFL has strongly criticized the Jacksonville Jaguars and new coach Urban Meyer for hiring assistant Chris Doyle. The Fritz Pollard Alliance cited issues involving Doyle when he worked at the University of Iowa. The alliance said in a statement Friday that “at a time when the NFL has failed to solve its problem with racial hiring practices, it is simply unacceptable to welcome Chris Doyle into the ranks of NFL coaches. Iowa agreed to pay Doyle $1.1 million in a resignation agreement last June after more than a dozen former players said he bullied and discriminated against them. Doyle denied the allegations. An investigation by an outside law firm later found that the program’s rules “perpetuated racial and culture biases.
— Mike and Maurkice Pouncey came into the world together, and they’re leaving the NFL in the same way. The 31-year-old twin brothers have retired after spending a decade among the best centers in the league. The Pounceys made the announcement Friday on their respective Instagram pages. Maurkice Pouncey was a two-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler in Pittsburgh. Mike Pouncey reached four Pro Bowls while playing for Miami and the Los Angeles Chargers.
—Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor has finished making his offseason coaching changes. Taylor has hired former Tulsa assistant Justin Hill as running backs coach to replace Jemal Singleton, who coached Bengals running backs the last two seasons and left to take the same job at Kentucky. The team also announced that Troy Walters has been promoted to wide receivers coach. Walters worked as an assistant wide receivers coach last season and now replaces the fired Bob Bicknell. Those are among a flurry of coaching changes made by Taylor after the 4-11-1 season.
NBA-NEWS
Durant, Herro cleared to return
UNDATED (AP) — Kevin Durant has rejoined the Brooklyn Nets and will be able to play Saturday in his return to Golden State.
Durant missed three games for coronavirus health and safety protocol reasons and faced a mandatory seven-day quarantine after being a close contact of a team employee who tested positive for the virus. The star forward continued to test negative during his absence and was able to return to practice today.
Durant spent three seasons with the Warriors, winning NBA titles in the first two before rupturing his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Tyler Herro was also cleared Friday to resume basketball activities with the Miami Heat. He had missed one game while dealing with the NBA’s health and safety protocols related to the pandemic.
The second-year guard was flagged after a test result Thursday, then cleared after returning subsequent negative tests. Herro was not permitted to play in Miami’s win over Houston on Thursday night while the matter was sorted out, then was able to join the team for its flight to Salt Lake City after the game.
MLB-NEWS
AP source: Panik agrees to minor league deal with Blue Jays
UNDATED (AP) — A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that the busy Blue Jays have agreed to a minor league contract to keep second baseman Joe Panik.
The 30-year-old hit .225 with one homer and seven RBIs in 120 at-bats during the pandemic-shortened season, his first with Toronto. He earned $1,055,056 in prorated pay from a $2.85 million salary. He is a seven-year major league veteran who has a .269 average, 39 homers and 240 RBIs for San Francisco, the Mets and Blue Jays.
Panik was an All-Star in 2015 and won a Gold Glove in 2016.
In other baseball news:
—Outfielder Nomar Mazara and the Detroit Tigers have finalized a $1.75 million, one-year contract. Mazara, who turns 26 in April, hit .228 with one home run in 42 games during the shortened 2020 season. That was his first season with the Chicago White Sox after he spent four with the Texas Rangers. Mazara hit 20 home runs in each of his first three years with the Rangers, then hit 19 in 2019.
—Right-hander Ben Heller has been released by the New York Yankees, two days after he was designated for assignment to open a roster spot for reliever Darren O’Day. A 29-year-old right-hander, Heller had a 3.00 ERA in six innings over six relief appearances during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Heller is 2-0 with a 2.59 ERA in 31 relief appearances over four seasons. He agreed on Dec. 2 to a contract paying $625,000 while in the major leagues that included $225,000 in guaranteed money.
— Well-traveled right-handed reliever Dylan Floro was traded Friday by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Miami Marlins for left-handed reliever Alex Vesia and pitching prospect Kyle Hurt. Floro went 3-0 with a 2.59 ERA in 25 games last year. He has also pitched for the Rays, Cubs and Reds, and has a career ERA of 3.33 in five seasons. He agreed last month to $975,000, one-year contract, and is eligible for free agency after 2023 season. Vesia got rocked as a rookie for the Marlins last year, when he allowed nine earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.
— Free agent infielder Brock Holt has agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers that includes an invitation to big league spring training. Holt will get a $1.75 million, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster. He could then earn another $750,000 in performance bonuses. Holt split last season with Milwaukee and Washington after the previous seven years in Boston. He was an All-Star with the Red Sox in 2015, and was part of their Word Series championship team in 2018.
— Baseball’s Hall of Fame has canceled its traditional outdoor induction ceremony for the second straight summer because of the pandemic. Instead, there will be an indoor, televised event for Derek Jeter and others being honored. Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and late players’ association executive director Marvin Miller were to have been inducted last summer but the pandemic caused the ceremony to be called off for the first time since 1960. This year’s ceremony remains scheduled for July 25 but will look different. No new inductees were chosen for this year’s class.
— Major League Baseball has revamped its spring training exhibition schedule because of the pandemic, cutting travel for Florida-based teams in an effort to minimize virus risks. College baseball teams were dropped from the revised schedules because they are not subject to major league testing protocols. Also eliminated were split-squad games, which are traditionally used in the first half of the exhibition season to allow evaluation of more players. Pitchers and catchers start reporting for spring training on Wednesday, and the exhibition season starts Feb. 28, two days later than initially announced in September.
TOKYO OLYMPICS-MORI
Mori is gone but gender issues remain for Tokyo Olympics
TOKYO (AP) — Yoshiro Mori (yoh-shee-roh moh-ree) has resigned as the president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee after an outcry over comments he made last week in which he said women “talk too much.”
The resignation of the former Japanese prime minister at an executive board meeting comes just over five months before the postponed Olympics are to open in the middle of a pandemic with public sentiment overwhelmingly against the games. The pandemic is one reason, and the soaring costs are the other.
The executive board did not immediately choose a successor for Mori, which CEO Toshiro Muto said would come “as soon as possible” and will be made by a review committee. He called it a “single-digit body” made up equally of men and women, and he repeatedly declined to give a specific time frame.
Muto also declined to say if Mori’s replacement would be a woman, but Seiko Hashimoto might be the front runner. She is the current government Olympic minister and was also a bronze medalist in speedskating in the 1992 Albertville Games.
