Sports category, Page 1909
Boston College QB Phil Jurkovec displays confidence from Pine-Richland days
Jeff Hafley could have sent anyone to the airport to pick up the quarterback and his family. Surely, there was other important business on Chestnut Hill that needed the attention of Boston College’s new head coach. But Hafley wanted to greet this visitor himself. This was Phil Jurkovec, one of...
Big Apple rotten with Jets, Giants off to 0-4 startsVideo
NEW YORK — No wins, eight losses and lots of frustrated fans. The Big Apple is pretty rotten when it comes to its professional football teams, and it’s tough to imagine things getting better any time soon. The Jets and Giants are 0-4 for the first time since 1976 —...
Novak Djokovic’s body acts up at French Open; faces Stefanos Tsitsipas next
PARIS — The first obvious sign of trouble for Novak Djokovic came when he stepped out into Court Philippe Chatrier with a rather large square of beige athletic tape on the back of his neck. The next indication came on the very first point of his French Open quarterfinal against...
Penguins draft forward Raivis Ansons in fifth roundVideo
The Penguins drafted forward Raivis Ansons in the fifth round of the NHL Draft. A native of Riga, Latvia, Ansons spent last season with Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Hockey League. Teammates with forward Nathan Legare, the Penguins’ third-round selection in 2019, Ansons, 18, appeared in 60 QMJHL games...
Washington benches QB Dwayne Haskins for Kyle Allen
Dwayne Haskins is going from starting quarterback to out of uniform. Ron Rivera benched Haskins for Washington’s next game Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams and turned to Kyle Allen as the new starter with the team 1-3 and at what the coach believes is a crucial moment of the...
Pirates make international splash by signing Taiwanese pitcher Po-Yu Chen
The Pittsburgh Pirates made a splash in the international market with the signing of Po-Yu Chen, a 19-year-old right-handed pitcher from Tawain’s world champion under-18 national team. The 6-foot-2, 187-pound Chen is a former two-way player who is now focusing on pitching and has a low-90s fastball, slider and curveball...
Penguins select forward Lukas Svejkovsky in 4th roundVideo
The Pittsburgh Penguins selected forward Lukas Svejkovsky with the 108th overall pick in the fourth round of the NHL Draft on Wednesday. A native of Point Roberts, Wash., Svejkovsky appeared in 52 Western Hockey League (WHL) games between the Vancouver Giants and Medicine Hat Tigers and recorded 38 points (18...
Derek Watt, Marcus Allen remain out of Steelers practice with injuries
The first practice report of Week 5 looks a lot like the past few weeks for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Special teamers Derek Watt (hamstring) and Marcus Allen (foot) did not participate in Wednesday’s practice, leaving their statuses in doubt for Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. But the six other...
Salary-shedding Predators trade Nick Bonino to WildVideo
The Nashville Predators traded center Nick Bonino to the Minnesota Wild for forward Luke Kunin on Wednesday, a swap on the second day of the NHL Draft that sent two picks to the Wild and one back to the Predators. The 32-year-old Bonino, a former Pittsburgh Penguin, will carry a...
Riverhounds goalkeeper Danny Vitiello wins USL Championship Golden Gloves award
At the beginning of the season, Riverhounds goalie Danny Vitiello was sitting on Pittsburgh’s bench. But Wednesday afternoon, Vitiello was named the USL Championship Golden Gloves award winner, which honors the league goalkeeper with the lowest goals-against average during the regular season. It is Vitiello’s first USL Championship season. Hands...
Joe Flacco to start for Jets as Sam Darnold listed out
NEW YORK — New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold will sit out against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday with his sprained right shoulder. Coach Adam Gase said Wednesday that veteran Joe Flacco will get the start at home in Darnold’s place. “We’re just making sure we do the right thing,...
ACC QBs throwing interceptions at alarming rateVideo
The touchdown passes to interceptions ratio is raising eyebrows around the ACC, and some coaches point to the coronavirus as the culprit. Unlike last season, when not one ACC team threw as many interceptions as touchdowns, three — No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 8 North Carolina and Syracuse — are...
Former Pitt CB Avonte Maddox returns to Heinz Field to play Steelers
Only two of the other 66 players on the Philadelphia Eagles’ active roster or injured lists are shorter than Avonte Maddox. Just three weigh less. But that doesn’t mean the “little” former Pitt standout hasn’t made a big impression on the only NFL team he has known over the past...
JuJu Smith-Schuster OK shifting to more of possession receiver for Steelers
He broke the Pittsburgh Steelers’ record for longest touchdown reception. Then, he broke it again before his 22nd birthday. So, it might be odd to affix a label to JuJu Smith-Schuster as … possession receiver? Yet, to this point of the 2020 season, the Steelers appear to be using Smith-Schuster...
Penguins select Swedish goaltender Calle Clang in 3rd round
The Pittsburgh Penguins are going heavy on goaltenders with their early picks in the NHL Draft. After selecting Finnish-born Joel Blomqvist in the second round, the team chose Calle Clang, a native of Olofstrom, Sweden, in the third round with the No. 77 overall pick. Clang, 18, spent most of...
Daryn Freedman named basketball coach at Penn State Greater Allegheny
Daryn Freedman is a well-traveled man. In 25-plus years, basketball has given him a tour of the eastern part of the country and provided coaching opportunities at several levels. But with his family here, Western Pennsylvania has become his landing spot for jobs. His latest one will be in the...
Penguins select Finnish goaltender Joel Blomqvist in 2nd round
Using the pick they acquired from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Matt Murray, the Pittsburgh Penguins selected another goaltender. With the 52nd overall selection in the second round, the Penguins chose Joel Blomqvist of Karpat in Finland’s Liiga. During 2019-20, while playing for Karpat’s junior team in the...
Penguins trade 2-time Cup champion Matt Murray to Senators
The Matt Murray era has come to an end in Pittsburgh. On Wednesday, the Penguins traded the goaltender who led them to two Stanley Cup titles to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a second-round pick (No. 52 overall) and forward prospect Jonathan Gruden. Murray, 26, is a pending restricted...
Ben Roethlisberger thinks Steelers got ‘short end of the stick’ in Titans postponement
Still smarting over the Pittsburgh Steelers having an unexpected bye thrust on them in the fourth week of the season, Ben Roethlisberger took a few shots Wednesday at the NFL’s decision to postpone their game against the Tennessee Titans until later in the season. “Of course, we got the short...
Patriots cancel practice amid reports of new positive coronavirus test
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots have canceled practice amid reports that a third player has tested positive for the coronavirus. Sports Illustrated reported that reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore tested positive for the virus on Wednesday and was added to the team’s reserve/covid-19 list....
Mark Madden: Let’s play the Jack Johnson blame game
Defenseman Jack Johnson will no longer play for the Penguins. His contract got bought out. That solves all their problems. The Penguins would have won the last two Stanley Cups if Johnson wasn’t on the team. That’s what social media thinks. That’s what analytics geeks think. Johnson was the root...
AP source: 2 more positives stop Titans’ return to facility
NASHVILLE — Tennessee will not be returning to the team’s facility Wednesday after two more players tested positive in the NFL’s first covid-19 outbreak, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press. The Titans had no positive tests Monday or Tuesday for the first time after six consecutive...
This Date in Sports History: Oct. 7
1916 — Georgia Tech, coached by John Heisman, beats Cumberland, 222-0, in the most lopsided college football game in history. 1945 — The Green Bay Packers score 41 points in the first quarter in a 57-21 win against the Detroit Lions. 1962 — Judy Kimball wins the LPGA championship with...
First Call: Steelers pass rush facing banged up Eagles O-line. Vegas struggling to trade Marc-Andre Fleury.
Wednesday’s “First Call” outlines some offensive line problems in Philadelphia as the Eagles get ready to face a fearsome Steelers pass rush. The Vegas Golden Knights are struggling to trade Marc-Andre Fleury. And Ex-Pirates aplenty put their stamp on last night’s Yankees-Rays playoff game. More problems up front In advance...
Tim Benz: Mike Tomlin noncommittal on NFL forfeit question. That’s smart. For many reasons.
This 2020 NFL season has to be a special kind of torture for Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Almost all coaches from pee-wee football to the NFL pound a message of “controlling the controllables.” In other words, focus only on your team. Your own job within that team. On that given...
