U.S./World Sports category, Page 379
Duke stays at No. 1 in AP Top 25; Kentucky, Marquette rise
RALEIGH, N.C. — Duke remained firmly entrenched at No. 1 for a fourth straight week in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, which was enough to give its Hall of Fame coach another record. The Blue Devils led an unchanged top 10 in Monday’s AP Top 25 and spent...
On bad hip, Andy Murray bounced from Australian Open; Nadal finds form
MELBOURNE, Australia — If this was it for Andy Murray, if this truly was it, he gave himself — and an appreciative, raucous crowd that included his mother and brother — quite a gutsy goodbye, the type of never-give-in performance he’s famous for. What Murray could not quite do Monday...
Maria Sharapova opens Australian Open with easy win
MELBOURNE, Australia — Maria Sharapova has the second-best record among active players in first-round matches at the majors, and she gave an illustration of why that’s the case with a ruthless 6-0, 6-0 win over Harriet Dart at the Australian Open. The 2008 Australian Open champion got play started on...
Explosions bring down roof of Milwaukee Bucks’ former homeVideo
MILWAUKEE — Dozens of small, simultaneous explosions have brought down the steel roof of the Bradley Center, the former home of the Milwaukee Bucks. The controlled demolition Sunday morning left debris scattered in the street. The Bradley Center closed last summer and the Bucks moved next door to the $524...
Joe Gibbs’ eldest son dies at 49 from neurological disease
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — J.D. Gibbs, eldest son of Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, was remembered as the visionary behind the stellar career of several NASCAR stars following his death from complications a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease. He was 49. Joe Gibbs Racing announced Gibbs’...
Tide change: Top of golf now belongs to youth
HONOLULU — Leave it to the oldest rookie to best illustrate how the PGA Tour has become such a young man’s game. Chris Thompson tried for 19 years to reach the highest level of golf, and he finally earned a PGA Tour card when he was 42. With every year...
Nadal: Andy Murray will be big loss but show must go on
MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal knew it was inevitable that sooner or later the Big Four would become the Big Three. That Andy Murray is the first of the longtime leading four in men’s tennis to signal the end of his career is something Nadal has to keep in perspective....
Tearful Andy Murray says Australian Open could be his last tournament
MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Murray is still hoping to make it to one more Wimbledon tournament before his problematic hip forces him into retirement. For now, he’s only committing to the Australian Open. In an emotional news conference Friday, when a tearful Murray had to leave the room shortly after...
Lawyer: Vegas police seek Ronaldo DNA in rape investigation
LAS VEGAS — Cristiano Ronaldo is being asked by police in the U.S. to provide a DNA sample in an ongoing investigation of a Nevada woman’s allegation that he raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009, the soccer star’s lawyer in Las Vegas said Thursday. Attorney Peter...
Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman breaks elbow in fall on stairs
BOSTON — Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman says she is recovering from a broken elbow suffered in a fall on the stairs. Raisman in a Twitter post says “I survived two Olympic Games and 19 years of gymnastics without ever breaking a bone … the stairs got me … I fell...
Russia says WADA has started copying doping data
MOSCOW — Russia says World Anti-Doping Agency experts have started copying data from a Moscow laboratory which could implicate numerous Russian athletes in past drug cases. Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov says in televised comments that “work has started with the equipment, setting the equipment up and copying the database.” He...
90-year-old cyclist unfairly tainted by positive test
With each pedal-stroke of his 80- and now 90-year-old legs, Carl Grove sought to show his fellow Americans that old age can be rich and rewarding. His bike is his soapbox. As time caught up with many of his peers, the former United States Navy Band saxophonist, who played for...
Coaches push for changes to targeting rules, kickoffs and eliminating Friday night games
Looking to provide some clarification for the sometimes ambiguous targeting rule, coaches taking part in the annual American Football Coaches Association Convention this week have put forth a proposal that would create a two-fold penalty. The concept put forth by the group, which consists of college football coaches from every...
Former St. Francis (Pa.) standout Lorenzo Jerome signs with Calgary of CFL
Former St. Francis (Pa.) defensive back Lorenzo Jerome signed an entry-level contract with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, the reigning Grey Cup champions. Jerome made the San Francisco 49ers’ opening-day roster in 2017 and appeared in four games before being released. This past season, he spent time in camp with the...
Clemson coach Swinney already looking forward to defending national title
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Dabo Swinney won’t be celebrating for long. After leading Clemson to its second national title in three years, the coach is eager to get started on the next one. Swinney will be back in the office Friday — meeting with players, going over the schedule for...
Very early college football rankings: Ready for Alabama-Clemson, Part 5?
A perfectly reasonable ranking of any college football season in the late 2010s can be summed up as follows: No. 1. Alabama or Clemson No. 2. Alabama or Clemson Nos. 3-roughly 130. Cannon fodder But though the Crimson Tide and the Tigers have traded national titles and met in the...
Watch: Hulk Hogan, WWE honor ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund on Raw
WWE and Hulk Hogan paid tribute to the late “Mean” Gene Okerlund on the Jan. 7 edition of “Monday Night Raw.” The wrestling legend returned to WWE television for the first time since being fired in July 2015 after racist comments he made in 2006 leaked. Despite some pushback from...
Clemson is No. 1 for 3rd time in AP poll; ‘Bama 2, Ohio St 3
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Clemson finished No. 1 in The Associated Press poll for the third time after routing Alabama in the national championship game. The Tigers received all 61 first-place votes. The Crimson Tide, which was trying to become just the third team to go wire-to-wire as the No....
Alabama has plenty of work to do in offseason
Alabama coach Nick Saban is famously quick to start focusing on his postseason to-do list, whether the Crimson Tide just won a national championship or fell short. It’s how he’s wired, and there’s plenty of work to do this offseason. Saban needs to regroup from easily the worst beating of...
Clemson blows out top-ranked Alabama to win national title
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Dabo Swinney kissed the championship trophy and proclaimed this Clemson team the greatest of all time. He’s got a case. With stunning ease — and a freshman quarterback — Clemson toppled college football’s greatest dynasty again to become the first perfect playoff champion. Trevor Lawrence passed...
Troy Polamalu, Vince Young, Goodyear Blimp part of 2019 College Football Hall class
Texas quarterback Vince Young and Notre Dame speedster Raghib Ismail have been selected for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame, along with 11 other players and two coaches. Young was the Heisman Trophy runner-up and led the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship with a memorable performance in...
Soccer star Wayne Rooney charged with public intoxication
Soccer star Wayne Rooney was arrested last month on a public intoxication charge and taken to jail to sober up after he triggered a door alarm at a Washington-area airport, authorities said Sunday. Rooney was arrested Dec. 16 by police at Dulles International Airport in Virginia after he caused the...
Cal defensive back Bryce Turner dies after collapsing during workout
Nearly a week after he experienced a “medical emergency” during a non-team workout, 19-year-old California defensive back Bryce Turner died. The death of the redshirt sophomore from Lakewood, Calif., was announced Saturday by the school. “We are so deeply saddened by Bryce’s passing,” Justin Wilcox, the team’s football coach, said...
Alabama-Clemson IV: Can Nick Saban’s dynasty reach new heights?
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Alabama coach Nick Saban and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney went through the familiar routine Sunday. Joint news conference, during which Swinney does most of the talking. Saban compliments Swinney’s Tigers. Swinney compliments Saban’s unprecedented run with the Crimson Tide. Handshake. Pose for a picture with a...
Alabama tight end Irv Smith Jr. follows in steps of father, O.J. Howard
Alabama’s Irv Smith Jr. was determined to be a wide receiver in high school. Never mind that he’s the son and nephew of former NFL tight ends and is built for that position, too. He caved to the reality his junior year at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans...
