Sports category, Page 1117
Penn Township’s Brian Sakowski ready to officiate national championship game
Sixteen years ago, as Brian Sakowski remembers, he worked his first varsity football game, a WPIAL rivalry between Trinity and Canon-McMillan. That game almost was his last, he says now, with a laugh. “There was a blocked punt, and I called this absolutely horrible holding call when the ball was...
Stars matter? Georgia, TCU both excel in player developmentVideo
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Based solely on the recruiting rankings, this national championship game between No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 TCU is the most lopsided in the nine-year history of the College Football Playoff. The Bulldogs are a recruiting juggernaut, brimming with four- and five-star high school players. The...
Steelers will head to Buffalo for wild-card round if they get AFC’s No. 7 seed
The Pittsburgh Steelers don’t know yet whether they will earn the No. 7 seed in the AFC playoffs. They do know where they will be playing if they get there. The Steelers will travel to Buffalo and face the Bills if everything breaks their way Sunday. Based on Kansas City’s...
Pitt shows love for hospitalized alum Damar Hamlin with shirts, banner for Bills safety
The Pitt Panthers showed some love for Damar Hamlin, wearing their hearts on their chest against Clemson. While fans signed well wishes on a banner for the former Pitt safety who went into cardiac arrest during a game for the Buffalo Bills on “Monday Night Football” in Cincinnati, Panthers players...
Penguins notebook: Team seeks more top-6 scoring
For the Pittsburgh Penguins, Thursday’s 5-2 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights was nothing out of the ordinary, especially because it was their sixth consecutive loss. What was different was how they generated their offense. Each goal came by way of their top line. In their five previous games,...
Clemson rallies in 2nd half to hand Pitt its 1st ACC defeat
Pitt was predicted to finish next-to-last in the 15-team conference in an ACC preseason poll, so Jeff Capel never talked to the Panthers about what was on the line against Clemson. After back-to-back wins over nationally ranked North Carolina and Virginia, Capel was more concerned with Pitt making the most...
Steelers hope Kenny Pickett’s growth carries into season finale against Browns
Coach Mike Tomlin said the Pittsburgh Steelers offense, and by extension rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett, grew up during that last-minute touchdown drive against the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Eve. If that’s the case, then Tomlin was hardly surprised when Pickett led the offense to another last-minute touchdown the following...
Damar Hamlin: ‘Keep praying for me!’Video
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Doctors described Damar Hamlin’s neurological function as “excellent” Saturday, as the Buffalo Bills safety continued making progress in his recovery after having to be resuscitated on the field in a game at Cincinnati on Monday. In providing their daily update on Hamlin, the Bills said the...
Steelers 4 Downs: run of .500-or-better records isn’t the only streak on the line Sunday
1. Plenty of streaks The Pittsburgh Steelers seemingly have become as well known for their run of finishing with a non-losing record (since 2004) as they have for their six Super Bowl championships, which is tied for the NFL record. The .500-or-better streak run of 18 consecutive seasons — dating...
Penguins forward prospect Filip Hallander released from hospitalVideo
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Filip Hallander was released from the hospital after appearing to be seriously injured Friday during a 4-2 home loss to the Charlotte Checkers at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre. Late in regulation, Hallander was hit into the left corner boards of the Checkers’ zone and fell to...
Mark Madden’s Hot Take: Steelers season full of contradictory occurrences, opinions
The AFC championship game might be headed to Pittsburgh. The Steelers are just extremely unlikely to play in it. It’s been that kind of a year. Lots of contradictory occurrences and opinions. Coach Mike Tomlin is getting praise for navigating the Steelers from 2-6 to 8-8, as if he had...
Steelers again try to buck long odds, earn improbable playoff berth
The odds of the Pittsburgh Steelers making the playoffs a month ago were so infinitesimal that the sportsbooks would have laughed off such a wager. A loss to the Baltimore Ravens had dropped the Steelers’ record to 5-8 and left no margin for error. The Steelers needed to win their...
Minor league report: Nailers top KometsVideo
Goaltender Bailey Brkin made 36 saves on 38 shots and led the Wheeling Nailers to a 4-2 home win against the Fort Wayne Komets at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W.Va. on Friday. Forward Samuel Tremblay recorded two assists for Wheeling (15-14-1-0) while forwards Cédric Desruisseaux, Gianluca Esteves, Brooklyn Kalmikov and...
Penguins forward prospect Filip Hallander suffers potentially serious injuryVideo
Pittsburgh Penguins forward prospect Filip Hallander suffered a serious but still undisclosed injury on Friday while playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. In the late stages of a home game against the Charlotte Checkers at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Hallander was checked into the left...
If Ravens beat Bengals, Baltimore could host playoff gameVideo
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Baltimore’s path to a playoff home game is complicated, but it still exists after a few days of uncertainty. If the Ravens win at Cincinnati this weekend and the Los Angeles Chargers beat Denver, then Baltimore and the Bengals would meet in the first round of...
Tua Tagovailoa out; rookie Skylar Thompson to start for Dolphins vs. JetsVideo
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will miss his second straight game with a concussion, and rookie Skylar Thompson is expected to start Sunday against the New York Jets, Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Friday. The Dolphins also are hoping that Teddy Bridgewater, who dislocated the pinky...
Dodgers cut pitcher Trevor Bauer after suspension reducedVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are cutting ties with pitcher Trevor Bauer, whose unprecedented 324-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations was reduced two weeks ago, allowing him to resume his career with the start of the new season. A person familiar with the situation said Friday the 31-year-old...
3-3-5: Atypical defense takes TCU to national title gameVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — Sonny Dykes needed only about five minutes with Joe Gillespie to know that he wanted the defensive coordinator who wields an atypical 3-3-5 base scheme on his staff at TCU. While utilizing the unorthodox lineup with three linemen, three linebackers and five defensive backs, the Horned...
Bills uplifted by Hamlin’s recovery, place focus on PatriotsVideo
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Whatever happens Sunday, when the Bills close the regular season hosting New England and beyond once the NFL playoffs begin, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane won’t feel disappointed. During a year in which the Bills have endured a snowstorms that disrupted their schedule, mourned the sudden...
NFL INT co-leader Minkah Fitzpatrick joins Hall of Famers as safeties voted Steelers MVP
In the rich era of Pittsburgh Steelers history since the franchise won its first Super Bowl in January 1975, only two safeties had been named team MVP until Friday. Each ended up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Time will tell if Minkah Fitzpatrick might join Donnie Shell and...
Steelers loose, in light mood after what (maybe) was final practice of their season
More than five dozen times since training camp at Saint Vincent broke in mid-August, Pittsburgh Steelers have filed off a practice field at their UPMC Rooney Sports Complex headquarters. Friday, perhaps, was the final time the group known as the 2022 Steelers did so. Their regular-season finale set for Sunday...
Mark Madden: Reyna-Berhalter saga makes U.S. Soccer an international laughingstock
U.S. Soccer is a nonstop PR nightmare. The U.S. women’s team went from being arguably America’s most beloved athletes to being disliked by half the country via over-politicizing that resulted in polarizing (but did get them paid more). Now Claudio and Danielle Reyna are treating the U.S. Soccer Federation like...
Could Steelers CB Ahkello Witherspoon be activated off IR for regular-season finale?
When Pittsburgh Steelers starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon took the field for the first meeting this season with the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 22, few could have believed that by the time the teams would play again that he would not have played in a full game since. But as Sunday’s...
WWE’s Vince McMahon is back after misconduct investigation
Vince McMahon is rejoining the board of WWE several months after he retired from the sports entertainment company during an investigation into alleged misconduct. WWE said Friday that McMahon, the founder and majority shareholder of WWE, would return as executive chairman. It also announced a board shakeup. Shares surged more...
NFL owners approve playoff plan after Bills-Bengals canceled
NFL owners approved a resolution that could lead to a neutral site for the AFC championship in response to the cancellation of Monday night’s Bills-Bengals game after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. The league held a special meeting Friday to consider the recommendation of commissioner Roger Goodell...
