Sports category, Page 1685
6-time All-Star Blake Griffin, Pistons agree to buyoutVideo
DETROIT — Blake Griffin and the Detroit Pistons agreed to a contract buyout, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the move was not yet official. The Pistons announced last month they would keep Griffin...
Duquesne bows out of Atlantic 10 Tournament in loss to St. Bonaventure
Unafraid to speak his mind and frustrated enough — at himself and his players — to not care what it sounds like, Keith Dambrot bared his soul Friday afternoon. Duquesne’s coach had just stood through — he never sits — his team’s final game of the season, a 75-59 loss...
After exploring college options, WPIAL to keep basketball finals in high school gyms
With gathering limits increased statewide, the WPIAL looked into renting a college venue for its basketball championships, but decided to use high school gyms as originally planned. Petersen Events Center had hosted the championship games since 2015, but Pitt isn’t allowing outside groups to rent its facilities because of covid-19...
P.O Joseph among 2 assigned to Penguins’ AHL affiliate
Two promising young players who made their NHL debuts this season for the Pittsburgh Penguins are headed back to the minors. Defenseman P.O Joseph and forward Drew O’Connor were reassigned to the organization’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday. Forwards Anthony Angello and Josh Currie were reassigned to the NHL...
Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook calls it a career because of injury
Longtime Chicago Blackhawks defenseman and three-time Stanley Cup winner Brent Seabrook announced Friday he is unable to continue playing hockey because of injury. After surgeries on his right shoulder and both hips, it’s a lingering right hip issue that’s keeping the 35-year-old Canadian from getting back on the ice. Seabrook...
Washington releases Comeback Player of the Year Alex Smith
Washington released AP Comeback Player of the Year Alex Smith on Friday, a move that was expected but still provides a cold ending to the veteran quarterback’s storybook tenure with the organization. Smith’s release clears just under $15 million in salary cap space for Washington, which is hoping to figure...
Mark Madden: On 30th anniversary of trade, Ulf Samuelsson remembered as Penguins X-factor
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jack Ham is arguably the greatest outside linebacker of all time, right there with Lawrence Taylor. Ham once told me if New Orleans had drafted him instead of Pittsburgh, no one would have ever heard of him. He’s right. For athletes, it’s about where you...
LeBron James going to All-Star with elections on his mind
LeBron James is going to Georgia this weekend for more than the NBA All-Star Game. He’s thinking about upcoming elections as well. The Los Angeles Lakers’ star, one of the organizers of the More Than A Vote organization that aims to stop Black voter suppression and which played a major...
New Tokyo Olympic president tries to assure Japan on safety
TOKYO — The new president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has begun holding weekly news conferences hoping to win over a doubting Japanese public with the postponed games opening in just under five months. Seiko Hashimoto is trying to assure everyone that the Olympics will be safe and secure,...
Football ‘March Madness’: Duquesne starts 4-game ‘spring season’ Sunday
It’s March Madness on the campus of Duquesne University. And I’m not just talking about the school’s upset win over Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday. Onto the next one ?#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/L0mDb1l6JU— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 4, 2021 I’m talking about the football team, too. Since the Northeast...
First Call: JuJu and J.J. together in Arizona?, Larry Fitzgerald’s future, Baker Mayfield saw a UFO
Friday’s “First Call” is stacked with news about JuJu Smith-Schuster, J.J. Watt, Larry Fitzgerald and Baker Mayfield. Also, UFOs and ice baths. I’ll let you guess the order. My turn! Now that Ben Roethlisberger’s contract is done, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster wants the Steelers to turn their attention to someone...
Tim Benz: Ben Roethlisberger’s new contract may not be the big picture fix some are anticipating
Let’s get the working of mechanics ironed out as we talk about Ben Roethlisberger’s new Pittsburgh Steelers contract. Then we’ll get to what all of this means. Because the words we use — and how we chose them — to describe Big Ben’s big decision are important to properly frame...
Empty Thoughts: Flyers 4, Penguins 3Video
Observations from the Penguins’ 4-3 loss to the Flyers: You don’t need to be all that steeped in the annals of hockey to know what the Penguins and Flyers rivalry is all about. It’s pretty simple really. The two base components of most great rivalries — history and geography —...
Walter Gretzky, father of NHL great Wayne Gretzky, dies at 82
TORONTO — Walter Gretzky, the father of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, has died. He was 82. Wayne Gretzky said in a social media post Thursday night that his father battled Parkinson’s disease and other health issues the past few years. “It’s with deep sadness that Janet and I share the...
This date in sports history: March 5Video
1924 — Frank Carauna, of Buffalo, N.Y., becomes the first to bowl two straight 300 games. Carauna throws five strikes to open his third game, giving him 29 straight strikes. 1931 — WGL radio broadcasts the first game of the American Basketball League championship series. The Brooklyn Visitations beat the...
Penguins stumble in late comeback win by Flyers
The Pittsburgh Penguins enjoyed something of a rare treat Thursday. They scored first. The first three times, in fact. In their first 21 games of the 2020-21 season, they have yielded the first goal 13 times and typically needed to mount some type of gutsy comeback in order to earn...
Pitt senior Nike Sibande says he’ll use bonus season of eligibility, return in 2021-22
A week after two players left the Pitt basketball program, coach Jeff Capel found one who could leave but wants to stay. Guard Nike Sibande, a senior transfer from Miami (Ohio), announced Thursday night on “The Jeff Capel Show” on 93.7 FM, that he plans to take advantage of the...
LeBron James, Kevin Durant choose All-Star teams
LeBron James has faced Giannis Antetokounmpo as an opponent in the last three All-Star Games. The Los Angeles Lakers star got him as a teammate this year. James used the No. 1 overall pick on Antetokounmpo — the NBA’s two-time reigning MVP from Milwaukee — in the draft for Sunday’s...
Bay Hill fans get to see show from Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeauVideo
ORLANDO, Fla. — Bay Hill was bustling Thursday, just like golf before the pandemic. The fans were limited in numbers, but they all wanted the same dose of entertainment provided by Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau. First it was McIlroy, slowly feeling better about his game, and with good reason....
LSU banned Les Miles from 1-on-1 contact with female students after 2013 investigationVideo
Kansas football coach Les Miles, during his tenure at LSU, was accused of kissing a female student and texting her and another from his personal phone, leading the school to bar him from being alone with women who were student employees, according to a 2013 LSU investigation that the school...
Sidney Crosby, Todd Reirden clear covid-19 protocol for Penguins
Penguins forward Sidney Crosby and assistant coach Todd Reirden have been given clearance to return to their team after clearing the NHL’s covid-19 protocol and will be available for Thursday’s home game against the rival Philadelphia Flyers at PPG Paints Arena. Crosby and Reirden were each absent for Tuesday’s 5-2...
Kevin Newman, Ke’Bryan Hayes stay hot, bullpen solid in Pirates’ spring win
Kevin Newman and Ke’Bryan continued to reach base and the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen continued to put up zeros Thursday. The Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-1, in a seven-inning game played at Bradenton’s LECOM Park. Hayes upped his spring on-base percentage to .556 with an RBI triple and single in...
Baker Mayfield ‘almost’ certain he saw a UFO flying over Texas
Count Baker Mayfield among those who “want to believe.” The Cleveland Browns quarterback decided to go to the one place all people seemingly go to after an encounter with the third kind — Twitter — to let the world know he is “almost” certain he saw a UFO on Wednesday...
Ali, Frazier and the Fight of the Century 50 years later
The money was huge — a cool $2.5 million apiece — and so was the stage for Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Their first fight at Madison Square Garden was so epic it was billed as the Fight of the Century, and 50 years later it reigns undefeated. Frazier was...
Boston Marathon plan to hand out 70,000 medals roils runners
BOSTON — Distance running, traditionally one of the world’s most genteel sports, has been roiled by an ugly mid-pandemic squabble over who should get a shot at a coveted Boston Marathon medal. Rival camps in the running world began snapping at each other’s heels this week. It began after the...
