Update on the latest sports
APNBA FINALS
Bucks look to even series in Game 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Phoenix Suns got by LeBron James in the first round and Nikola Jokic (nih-KOH’-lah YOH’-kihch) in the second, so they know how to beat an NBA MVP. Now they need to do it against Giannis Antetokounmpo (YAH’-nihs an-teh-toh-KOON’-poh).
The Milwaukee star is coming off two straight 40-point performances as the Bucks head into Game 4 of the finals tonight at home.
The Suns won the first two games in Phoenix and the Bucks won Game 3 in Milwaukee.
DOCTOR SEXUAL ASSAULT-FBI
Watchdog: FBI greatly mishandled Nassar-USA Gymnastics case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made significant errors in investigating sexual abuse allegations against former USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar and didn’t treat the case with the “utmost seriousness.”
That’s according to a Justice Department’s inspector general report. More athletes said they were molested before the the FBI swung into action.
The FBI is acknowledging conduct that was “inexcusable and a discredit.”
The long-awaited watchdog report highlights missteps at the FBI between the time the allegations were first reported and Nassar’s arrest.
USA Gymnastics contacted the FBI about the allegations in July 2015. It took months before the agency opened a formal investigation.
NFL-NEWS
Richard Sherman jailed on domestic violence allegation
UNDATED (AP) — Former Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers star Richard Sherman has been arrested after authorities said he tried to force his way into a family member’s home in suburban Seattle and fought with officers.
Online records say Sherman was booked into a jail early Wednesday on suspicion of so-called burglary domestic violence. Authorities say they also are investigating allegations that Sherman crashed a vehicle on a highway and ran away. The NFL said it investigates any incident involving law enforcement.
Sherman played seven seasons with Seahawks, three with the 49ers and is now a free agent. The NFL says it investigates any incident involving law enforcement.
In other NFL news:
— The Jacksonville Jaguars say coach Urban Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke were both subpoenaed as part of a federal lawsuit filed in Iowa. Attorneys for Black former players are pursuing a discrimination case. One of the defendants is former Iowa strength coach Chris Doyle, who was hired and quickly fired by the Jaguars earlier this year. The lawsuit accuses Hawkeyes staff of demeaning Black players with racial slurs and other actions.
— Bum Phillips and Jeff Fisher and former general manager Floyd Reese will be the newest members of the Tennessee Titans’ ring of honor. The trio will be inducted this season. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk gave Fisher, Reese and Phillips’ family the news. Phillips coached the then-Houston Oilers to back-to-back AFC championship games, while Fisher and Reese took the Titans to two AFC championship games and the team’s lone Super Bowl.
NHL-NEWS
Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller retires
UNDATED (AP) — Boston Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller announced his retirement on Wednesday in an Instagram post that he signed “Forever a Bruin.”
The 33-year-old has played in just 28 games since breaking his kneecap in 2019. Miller wrote that his “spirit for the game is there, unfortunately my body isn’t.”
Miller played in 352 games over eight seasons with the Bruins, scoring 13 goals with 58 assists. He was injured in April 2019, and was rehabbing the knee during the Eastern Conference finals when he broke it again. He missed all of the 2019-20 season.
In other NHL news:
— Teddy Blueger (BLOO’-gur) is sticking with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team signed the 26-year-old forward to a two-year contract with an average salary of $2.2 million. Blueger, who worked on Pittsburgh’s fourth line, tied a career-high with 22 points —seven goals and 15 assists —in 43 games for the Metropolitan Division champions.
— The Boston Bruins signed defenseman Brandon Carlo to a six-year contract extension that will pay him an average of $4.1 million per year. The 24-year-old had three goals and one assist in 27 games and averaged 18:43 in ice time this season, his fifth in Boston. But he missed most of March with an oblique muscle injury and then was knocked out of the postseason in Game 3 of the second round after a hard hit against the boards by Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck. The 6-foot-4, 227-pound Colorado native was a second-round draft pick in 2015.
— Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner has agreed to waive his no-movement clause, freeing the team from having to protect him during the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft next week. The Sabres initiated the move, knowing it’s unlikely Skinner will be selected by the Kraken given the under-performing winger has six years left on an eight-year, $72 million contract. What the move does is allow Buffalo to keep an additional forward or defenseman upon submitting its protected list of players on Saturday. Teams have the option to submit a protected list of either eight skaters and a goalie, or seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie in advance of the draft on July 21.
OLYMPICS-NEWS
Olympic athletes to put on own medals at Tokyo ceremonies
TOKYO (AP) — Athletes at the Tokyo Olympics will put their medals around their own necks to protect against spreading the coronavirus.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach says it’s a “very significant change” to traditional medal ceremonies. Medals will be placed on a tray by a person wearing disinfected gloves and presented to the athletes, who will take them from the tray and place them around their necks. The tray will be presented to and athletes will take their medals from the tray. Medalists and ceremony officials will have to wear masks.
In other news related to the Olympics:
— Tokyo has reported its highest number of new COVID-19 cases in almost six months. The new numbers came out as IOC President Thomas Bach paid a courtesy call to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. Bach and Suga both pledged that the Tokyo Olympics opening in just over a week would be “safe and secure” despite the games opening with Tokyo and neighboring prefectures under a national government-imposed state of emergency. Tokyo has reported 1,149 new cases. That’s the highest number since January. It also marks the 25th straight day that cases were higher than they were a week earlier.
— Two Russian swimmers set to compete at the Tokyo Olympics were provisionally suspended on Wednesday for anti-doping violations by world governing body FINA. Alexandr Kudashev and Veronika Popova Andrusenko were suspended based on evidence supplied by the World Anti-Doping Agency, according to FINA. They were set to compete for the non-federation Russians. The Russian federation is barred from competing as a country in Tokyo because of ongoing doping issues found by WADA.
— The Team USA flag bearers in steamy Tokyo will likely be the coolest members of their packs. Ralph Lauren has built a personal air conditioning system into a roomy white jacket to be worn by the yet-unannounced athletes who will have that honor during opening ceremonies for the Olympics and Paralympics. The company says the technology disperses heat from the wearer’s skin through a fan device at the back of the neck, with a lightweight personal battery controller stashed inside. It’s akin to how large computers are kept cool. The rest of the team will walk in tailored navy blazers made of U.S.-grown wool, a red Olympic patch on one breast and the company’s Polo Pony emblem on the other.
— Olympic medals dating to 1896, relay torches from several eras, and other Olympic memorabilia are among the items being auctioned by Boston’s RR Auction, just days before the start of the Tokyo games. One of the centerpieces of the auction that opens Thursday is a silver medal from the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. In those games, silver went to the winners. Given its rarity, it is expected to sell for about $75,000. Another high-profile item is a gold medal from the 1984 U.S. men’s basketball team, which could sell for about $70,000.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL-NEWS
Ohio coach Frank Solich stepping down
UNDATED (AP) — Ohio University says football coach Frank Solich is retiring after leading the program through 16 seasons of unprecedented success to “focus on his health.”
The school announced that Solich was stepping down less than two months before the start of the season and his 77th birthday. Offensive coordinator Tim Albin was promoted to head coach.
Solich is the winningest head coach in the history of the Mid-American Conference with 115 victories. Including a stint as coach at Nebraska, his alma mater, Solich is 173-101 as a major college football head coach. Under Solich, Ohio went to 11 bowl games after going to only two before he arrived. All five of the Bobcats’ bowl victories came during his tenure.
In other college football-related news:
— Big 12 coaches say they like the proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams. They feel the conference would never be left out of the playoff again. Oklahoma and Iowa State missed the four-team playoff last season. But under a 12-team format, the Sooners would have made it for the sixth year in a row. The Cyclones would have become the first league team other than the Sooners to make it. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley says the proposed expansion plan is a great start. Any playoff changes are still at least a couple of years away.
— Nebraska has hired former star linebacker Trev Alberts as its new athletic director. Alberts has been the athletic director at the University of Nebraska-Omaha since 2009. He will fill the job that opened with the retirement of Bill Moos. Alberts earned All-American honors when he played at Nebraska from 1990 to 1993. He later played for the Indianapolis Colts after he was the fifth overall pick in the 1994 draft. After leaving professional football, Alberts became a television and print college football commentator and worked at ESPN.
RACING-BAFFERT
Judge nullifies horse trainer Bob Baffert’s NY suspension
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York federal judge has nullified the suspension of horse trainer Bob Baffert, finding that the New York Racing Association acted unconstitutionally by failing to let him adequately respond to claims made against him. The ruling came Wednesday from Brooklyn Judge Carol Bagley Amon.
She ruled after a hearing on Monday attended by Baffert, who was suspended by the racing association after Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test.
Amon said a prompt post-suspension hearing where Baffert could refute the claims was required to meet constitutional muster.
PARKER-NBA2K COVER
Candace Parker to be first woman on cover of NBA 2K game
NEW YORK (AP) — Candace Parker grew up playing video games, and now she’ll be the first female basketball player on the cover of one. The Chicago Sky star will appear on the NBA 2K22 cover for the WNBA 25th Anniversary special edition when it’s released Sept. 10.
Parker joins Luka Dončić (DAHN’-chihch), who was named cover athlete for the game’s regular edition, and Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki (noh-VIHT’-skee) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who were recognized as cover athletes for the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition.
TENNIS-OBIT-FRY IRVIN
Tennis Hall of Famer Shirley Fry Irvin dies at 94
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Tennis Hall of Famer Shirley Fry Irvin has died at 94. Fry won three consecutive major titles in the 1950s to complete a career Grand Slam.
Her death Tuesday was confirmed by the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where she was a 1970 inductee.
She came out of retirement in 1956 when she was invited to represent the United States in the Wightman Cup. She then won three consecutive major titles — Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships that year, and the Australian Championships in 1957 before retiring for good.
