Sports category, Page 997
UAB-Vandy value in NIT, Warriors-Mavericks total: Best bets for March 22
BY JIM DERRY | Home Field Sports Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer. Here are...
Transfer portal provided boost for most March Madness teams
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is not a big fan of the transfer portal, lamenting that it gives young athletes an easy out instead of an opportunity to overcome challenges. “I’ll say until the day I die, I do not see anything good for the players...
Penn State OC Mike Yurcich assesses QBs Drew Allar, Beau Pribula, Jaxon Smolik in spring camp
STATE COLLEGE — The last time Mike Yurcich met with reporters was in the postgame locker room at the Rose Bowl. Penn State’s offensive coordinator, all smiles after the win, spent time on Jan. 2 breaking down Sean Clifford’s final game. Things have changed quite a bit since. Days before...
After player input, MLB allows some pitch clock delays
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has clarified its new rules to allow umpires to delay the start of the pitch clock after big swings in which a hitter loses footing or when a pitcher covers first base, third or home, in addition to other clarifications announced Wednesday. The commissioner’s...
Once again, peers vote Sidney Crosby NHL’s ‘most complete player’
It has been nine years since Sidney Crosby was voted the NHL’s MVP in balloting by the NHLPA. But even if union membership doesn’t believe Crosby is any longer their brethren’s most valuable, it keeps on singling him out as its most complete. Crosby, for the fourth consecutive year, was...
Women’s NCAA tournament Sweet 16 and Elite Eight betting preview, see who is favored
BY ZOE COLLINS RATH | Home Field Sports After the first two rounds in the women’s NCAA tournament, there have been some changes in the national championship futures market. South Carolina is an even heavier favorite, now priced at -200 at FanDuel Sportsbook. Two No. 1 seeds were bounced over...
NCAA Sweet 16 odds preview: UCLA, Gonzaga, UConn give West Region three title contenders
BY ZACH EWING | Home Field Sports Three of the four men’s NCAA tournament regions have clear favorites as March Madness rounds into Sweet 16 weekend — top seeds Alabama and Houston are odds-on favorites in the South and Midwest, respectively, while Tennessee is close to that in the East....
Perseverance pays off for Penguins defenseman Taylor Fedun
Taylor Fedun smiled through the pain. And to be certain, the pain wasn’t related to a losing streak or the prospect of missing the playoffs. It was literal pain. From the stitches on the right side of his upper lip. On Monday morning, after he was recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton...
NCAA Sweet 16 odds preview: Missing top two seeds, chaotic East Region has surprise favorite
BY SHANE JACKSON | Home Field Sports Contributor Heading into the second weekend of the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, no region has been as unpredictable as the East. Both the No. 1 seed (Purdue) and No. 2 seed (Marquette) were bounced in the opening weekend. A pair of blue-blood...
Mark Madden: Fantasy camp brings back memories of Mario Lemieux’s 5-goal greatness
The Mario Lemieux Fantasy Hockey Camp wrapped up Wednesday. Once again, Lemieux’s team won the four-team competition. That’s happened every year since the camp debuted in 2012. But that’s because Lemieux plays for all the teams at least once. The founder of the feast works overtime. The camp is an...
Tim Benz: Sting of Ottawa loss provides perspective as Penguins face Stanley Cup champs in Colorado
As the Pittsburgh Penguins prepare to play Wednesday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, they’ll do so with Monday’s loss to the Ottawa Senators hanging over their heads. Unfortunately for the Pens, that checkmark in the loss column isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much the club feels like it...
What you need to know as Pa.’s trout season opener approaches
It may take place on April Fool’s Day this year, but it’s certainly no joke. Each year, thousands upon thousands of anglers across Pennsylvania eagerly look forward to the opening day of trout season. It’s a cherished time of the year when people get together with family and friends to...
World Baseball Classic interest keeps growing despite injury risks
MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani’s strikeout of Mike Trout, Trea Turner’s go-ahead, eighth-inning grand slam against Venezuela, Japan’s walk-off semifinal win and Mexico’s comeback from a four-run deficit against Puerto Rico will be replayed over and over. Edwin Díaz’s season-ending knee injury and Jose Altuve’s broken finger will be discussed all...
First Call: Ben Roethlisberger shares odd Super Bowl XLV injury, take on JuJu Smith-Schuster to New EnglandVideo
As if Ben Roethlisberger didn’t make enough news with his appearance on 105.9 The X on Tuesday, his latest “Footbahlin’” podcast made a lot more. The former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback discusses an odd injury that almost kept him out of Super Bowl XLV, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s fit in New England, and...
Ben Roethlisberger reveals talks with 49ers about NFL return, thoughts on Kenny Pickett
During a radio interview Tuesday afternoon, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger revealed that he had conversations with the San Francisco 49ers about coming out of retirement for at least a portion of the 2022 season. While speaking with TribLIVE’s Mark Madden during his afternoon show on 105.9 The X,...
Pirates counting on healthier, happier version of Wil Crowe to be ‘right in the middle’ of bullpen
Wil Crowe wanted to get back to being the pitcher he was at the start of last season instead of the one who finished it on the injured list. His offseason motivation came as much from a Halloween photo as it did stepping on the scale. By early October, the...
Japan shuts down Team USA bats to claim 3rd World Baseball Classic championshipVideo
MIAMI — Team USA manager Mark DeRosa felt confident in his team’s lineup no matter who would throw for Japan on Tuesday night. “It’s crazy deep and crazy good,” DeRosa said. It turns out so was Japan’s pitching staff. Japan used seven pitchers, starting with Shota Imanaga and finishing with...
March Madness allows Tennessee to showcase SEC’s rugged styleVideo
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee coach Rick Barnes once took a team to watch a rugby match in Australia and loved what he saw. Despite what Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May says, that sport isn’t the Tennessee coach’s guide for the rugged style his Volunteers bring to the basketball court. “I...
Deputies: Suspended Alabama player drove 141 mph to evade traffic stopVideo
BONIFAY, Fla. — Suspended Alabama freshman defensive back Tony Mitchell drove over 141 mph while trying to evade deputies before his arrest on drug charges in the Florida Panhandle last week, authorities said. Mitchell and another man, who was a passenger in Mitchell’s car, were arrested Wednesday and charged with...
MLB plans to announce rules tweaks on pitch clock before Opening DayVideo
MIAMI — MLB’s new pitch clock is going to undergo some timing adjustments before it is turned on for games that count. Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred called the changes “significant” but also described them as “clarifications” based on input from players. The alterations are likely to be announced Wednesday, eight...
College basketball staffs specialize to meet roster, NIL demandsVideo
Kelvin Sampson has been around college basketball long enough to remember when preseason practices started in October after a true offseason, teams remained largely intact for multiple seasons and players weren’t permitted to pursue endorsement deals. It might as well be a different planet now. The way Houston’s coach sees...
Keselowski finally seeing results from long rebuild at RFKVideo
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One of the best things to happen to rebranded RFK Racing came exactly one year ago when NASCAR found an illegal part on Brad Keselowski’s car. The illegal modification was found after just the fifth race of Keselowski’s first season as part owner of the once-proud organization...
Last Match Play, last chance for Kuchar at Tiger’s recordVideo
AUSTIN, Texas — Matt Kuchar has a chance to break at least one record belonging to Tiger Woods, and the Dell Technologies Match Play will be his last chance. That’s because this is the last edition of the Match Play. And for starters, Kuchar feels lucky just to be part...
Westmoreland campus clippings: Sowers, Little stand out for Bloomsburg softball
A local battery is powering the Bloomsburg softball team. Sophomore pitcher Callie Sowers (Hempfield) struck out 11 and scattered seven hits in a 7-0 shutout of IUP. She did not walk a batter. Sophomore catcher Emma Little (Penn-Trafford) had a hit and an RBI in the victory for the Huskies...
With new ‘shark’s teeth,’ Pitt defense hopes to thrive under familiar coaching staff
Brandon George called the process of changing the look of Pitt’s defense not unlike what happens when a shark loses a tooth. “Replace it after one falls out,” he said. A shark enjoys lifelong regeneration of its teeth, but a college football team only can hope to be as fortunate...
