December 11, 2024 4:38 am
CLEVELAND (AP) — Rocky Colavito, a wildly popular outfielder who was involved in one of the most debated trades in Cleveland sports history, has died. He was 91. A nine-time All-Star, Colavito died at his home in Bernville, Pennsylvania. Team spokesman Bob DiBiasio said he was informed by the family and that there were family members by Colavito’s side. In eight seasons with the Indians, Colavito hit 190 homers and drove in 574 runs. He is 12th on the club’s career homers list. Colavito was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2006. In 1960, Cleveland traded him to Milwaukee for pitcher Harvey Keunn, a deal that was condemned by fans.
December 10, 2024 4:25 am
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joe Burrow threw a tiebreaking 40-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase after Dallas botched a blocked punt to give the ball back to Cincinnati in the final two minutes, and the Bengals beat the Cowboys 27-20. The Cowboys were about to get the ball back with the score tied on the first play after the two-minute warning when Nick Vigil blocked a punt by Ryan Rehkow. Amani Oruwariye tried to field the bouncing ball when leaving it alone would have given Dallas possession. Oruwariye couldn’t hold on, and the Bengals’ Maema Njongmeta recovered. Three plays later, Burrow threw to Chase for the lead with 1:01 to go.
December 10, 2024 4:28 am
Former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick says he had “a couple of good conversations” with North Carolina Chancellor Lee Roberts amid his discussions about the Tar Heels’ head-coaching job. Belichick appeared on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. He said he had spent the 11 months since his departure from the Patriots taking a “longer look” at the college level. He said he had learned a lot and had “a couple of good conversations” with Roberts. UNC fired the program’s all-time winningest coach in Mack Brown last month.
December 10, 2024 4:26 am
DALLAS (AP) — Juan Soto’s record $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets, the largest and longest deal in baseball history, has reverberated across the winter meetings. It stung the Yankees, who offered $760 million over 16 years to the All-Star outfielder. Soto’s deal sparked even greater expectations in a free agent market that includes pitchers Corbin Burnes and Max Fried, first basemen Pete Alonso and Christian Walker, third baseman Alex Bregman and outfielder Anthony Santander. Many small-market teams have long sought a salary cap but the consensus since the 1994-95 strike has been not to propose a hard limit.
December 9, 2024 2:07 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Russell Wilson threw for 158 yards and two touchdowns and the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled away from the mistake-prone Cleveland Browns 27-14. The Steelers beat Cleveland at home during the regular season for the 21st straight time even with leading receiver George Pickens missing the first game of his career due to a groin injury. Wilson connected with Van Jefferson and Pat Freiermuth for scores as the Steelers took a two-game lead over Baltimore in the AFC North. Jameis Winston threw for 211 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Browns, who fell to 3-10.
December 9, 2024 4:40 am
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Matthew Wright kicked a 31-yard field goal that banked off the left upright as time expired, and the Kansas City Chiefs survived another close game, beating the Los Angeles Chargers 19-17 to win their ninth straight AFC West title. Patrick Mahomes led the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs on a clock-killing 4 1/2-minute drive to set up Wright’s fourth field goal. It looked routine until the ball clanged off the upright in the latest narrow escape for Kansas City, which has won 10 games by a one-score margin. Justin Herbert and the Chargers scored on each of their three second-half drives.
December 9, 2024 2:31 am
SMU captured the last open spot in the College Football Playoff, edging Alabama to land in the first-ever 12-team bracket that placed undefeated Oregon at No. 1. The selection committee preferred the Mustangs (11-2), losers in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, who had a far less difficult schedule than Alabama (9-3) of the SEC but, ultimately, still one fewer loss. The expanded bracket marks a new era for college football, though the Alabama-SMU debate made clear that there is no perfect formula for identifying a champion. “We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chair of the selection committee. “But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams.” The tournament starts Dec. 20-21 with four first-round games involving teams seeded 5-12. It concludes Jan. 20 with the national title game in Atlanta.
Georgia, the SEC champion, was seeded second; Boise State, the Mountain West champion, earned the third seed; and Big 12 titlist Arizona State got the fourth seed and the fourth and final first-round bye. All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games on Dec. 31-Jan. 1. Clemson stole a bid and the 12th seed with its crazy win over SMU — the result that ultimately cost Alabama a spot in the field. The Tigers moved to No. 16 in the rankings, but got in as the fifth-best conference winner.
There was some tension around how the rest of the teams were seeded because that determined who gets home-field advantage in the first round, the committee ultimately choosing Texas Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State. The games are No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas; No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State; No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame; and No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State.
December 9, 2024 4:33 am
DALLAS (AP) — Having waited for the call from Cooperstown for nearly three decades, Dave Parker burst into tears Sunday when he was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame along with the late Dick Allen. “Yeah, I cried,” Parker said after receiving the news from Hall chair Jane Forbes Clark. “It only took a few minutes, because I don’t cry.” Parker received 14 of 16 votes from the classic era committee at the winter meetings, and Allen got 13. A vote of 75% or more was needed for election. They will be inducted into the Hall in Cooperstown, New York, on July 27 along with players voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 21.
Parker, who turned 73 in June, never got more 24.5% during 15 appearances on the BBWAA ballot from 1997-2011. Allen, who died in 2020 at age 78, received a high of 18.9% on the BBWAA ballot from 1983-97. Both also had fallen short in a series of prior committee votes. His body shaking during a Zoom news conference from Parkinson’s disease that was diagnosed in 2012, Parker flashed the quick wit he became known for during a 19-year career that ended in 1991 and included a pair of World Series titles. Asked whether he had thought of himself as a Hall of Famer, Parker responded with one of his often-said remarks. “Without a doubt. When the leaves turned brown, I’d be wearing the batting crown,” he said. “That was one of my sayings, so I always thought that I was going to be a major leaguer. I told my mother at 8 years old that I would be a baseball star and one day buy her a house. Well, I did that in ’78. I got that done.”
Nicknamed The Cobra, Parker hit .290 with 339 homers and 1,493 RBIs for Pittsburgh (1973-83), Cincinnati (1984-87), Oakland (1988-89), Milwaukee (1990), California (1991) and Toronto (1991). Since 2002, the Hall has made the decision on what team logo is used on a player’s cap. “I might have to split it up three ways,” Parker said. He won World Series titles in 1979 and ’89. He was the 1978 NL MVP, won the 1977 and ’78 NL batting titles, and was a seven-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove right fielder.
December 9, 2024 4:39 am
DALLAS (AP) — A person familiar with the deal tells The Associated Press that star outfielder Juan Soto and the New York Mets have agreed to a record $765 million, 15-year contract. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement, first reported by the New York Post, was subject to a successful physical. Soto’s deal is the largest and longest in Major League Baseball history, topping Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s $340 million, 14-year contract with San Diego. Soto’s deal does not include deferred money, the person said.
December 8, 2024 12:05 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dillon Gabriel threw four touchdown passes and No. 1 Oregon outlasted No. 3 Penn State 45-37 on Saturday night in the Big Ten championship, giving the Ducks a first-round bye and almost certainly the top seed in the College Football Playoff. The Ducks (13-0, No. 1 CFP) nearly blew a 15-point lead in the final four minutes, ending the Nittany Lions’ last gasp by picking off Drew Allar’s pass with 1:54 left. Jordan James ran for for two scores to help Oregon win its first league title since 2020 in the Pac-12, this one coming in its first year in the Big Ten. Penn State (11-2, No. 3 CFP) also is expected to make the playoff field.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Oregon and Penn State piled up seven touchdowns, 537 yards, 28 first downs and 55 points in the Big Ten title game. That was in the first half. The top-ranked Ducks headed into halftime with a 31-24 lead. The 55 points broke a first-half scoring record for the title game that had belonged to Nebraska and Wisconsin, who combined for 52 points in 2012.
