March 10, 2021 4:03 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NHL will be returning to ESPN beginning next season. People familiar with the deal told The Associated Press the two sides have reached agreement on a seven-year contract that includes four Stanley Cup Finals. The deal was first reported by SportsNet in Canada. NBC is in the final season of a 10-year contract worth $2 billion that gives it national NHL rights, but the league will air on multiple networks in its next agreement. NBC has aired games since 2005 and is still among the bidders for the other part of the deal, which includes three Stanley Cup Finals.
March 10, 2021 4:00 am
UNDATED (AP) – Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers star Michael Cooper and 11-time NBA All-Star Chris Bosh lead a list of 14 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021. The list features six other first-time finalists: former NBA coach Rick Adelman, Villanova coach Jay Wright, two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith, three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson and former WNBA coach of the year Marianne Stanley, plus Hall of Famer Bill Russell as a coach. The other finalists are high school coaching great Leta Andrews, Michigan “Fab Five” member Chris Webber, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Tim Hardaway, five-time NBA All-Star Marques Johnson and four-time NBA defensive player of the year Ben Wallace. The Class of 2021 will be announced May 16.
March 10, 2021 2:55 am
CALIFORNIA, PA – The California University of Pennsylvania athletic department hosted dedication and ribbon cutting ceremonies at renovated Lilley Field Tuesday prior to the season-opening softball doubleheader against Gannon. Following the ceremonies, the Vulcans started their first home contest at Lilley Field since April 30, 2017 – a span of 1,409 days. Cal U played the entirety of its schedule on the road in both 2018 and 2019. Lilley Field was ready to debut in the spring of 2020 before the season was halted prior to league play due to the COVD-19 pandemic. The updates to the facility were extensive with Lilley Field now featuring new dugouts, bullpen and batting cages, fencing and warning track.
March 9, 2021 3:57 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott have finally agreed on the richest contract in club history two years after negotiations began with the star quarterback. A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press it is a $160 million, four-year deal with a record $66 million signing bonus. The deal comes a day before a deadline to put the franchise tag on Prescott for a second straight year at a salary cap charge of $37.7 million. Prescott’s 2020 season was cut short by a compound fracture of his right ankle.
March 9, 2021 3:53 am
UNDATED (AP) – Les Miles is out as Kansas’ head football coach just days after he was placed on administrative leave amid sexual misconduct allegations from his tenure at LSU. Last week, LSU released a 148-page review by a law firm about the university’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints. It described how Miles “tried to sexualize the staff of student workers in the football program by, for instance, allegedly demanding that he wanted blondes with big breasts, and ‘pretty girls.”‘ Kansas announced Miles’ departure Monday night, describing it as a mutual agreement to part ways. Miles has three years left on his original five-year contract with Kansas.
March 9, 2021 3:55 am
UNDATED (AP) – Right-hander Jake Odorizzi and the Houston Astros have finalized a $20.25 million, two-year contract that includes a player option for 2023 and could be worth at least $33.25 million over three seasons. Odorizzi enhances a Houston rotation that lost Framber Valdez indefinitely to a broken finger this spring. Astros ace Justin Verlander also is sidelined while recovering from Tommy John surgery. An All-Star with Minnesota in 2019, Odorizzi was limited to four starts last season because of injuries. He was 0-1 with a 6.59 ERA for the Twins during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
March 8, 2021 4:01 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sidney Crosby capped Pittsburgh’s three-goal outburst in the first period, and the Penguins beat the New York Rangers 5-1. Crosby scored his eighth of the season, Kasperi Kapanen netted his sixth and John Marino his first as Pittsburgh scored three times on six shots. Evgeni Malkin and Zach Aston-Reese scored in the third period as the Penguins won for the ninth time 13 games. Casey DeSmith had 22 saves in his second start since Feb. 11. Mika Zibanejad scored the Rangers, who had their season-best three-game winning streak halted.
March 8, 2021 4:02 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates have acquired right-hander Duane Underwood Jr. in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. Underwood went 1-0 with a 5.66 ERA in 17 games with Chicago during the pandemic-shortened season. He was designated for assignment on Tuesday. Underwood, a second-round pick in the 2012 amateur draft, is 1-1 with a 5.20 ERA in 30 career games. The Cubs received minor league first baseman Shendrik Apostel in the deal. The 20-year-old Apostel was signed by the Pirates out of Curacao in July 2017.
March 8, 2021 4:04 am
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – The long ball helped Bryson DeChambeau outlast Lee Westwood to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, only the key shots were more with his putter than his driver. DeChambeau holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the front nine and a 50-foot par putt early on the back nine. He closed it out with a nervy 5-foot par putt for a 1-under 71 and a one-shot victory over the 47-year-old Westwood. It matched the low score of the day, one of only three rounds under par in the toughest final round at Bay Hill in 41 years. DeChambeau and Westwood were never separated by more than one shot over the final 15 holes, a fascinating duel of generations that came down to the last shot.
March 7, 2021 7:05 am
PITTSBURGH — Jared McCann has always possessed the skills required to be a difference-maker at both ends of the ice. The trouble for the Pittsburgh Penguins versatile forward is consistency. Sometimes he looks like one of the better 200-foot players in the NHL. Sometimes he can disappear for long stretches. Not so much at the moment, however. McCann pounced on a rebound and knocked it past Bryan Elliott with less than 10 minutes to go and the Pittsburgh Penguins slipped past the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 on Saturday. McCann’s fifth goal of the season and third in five games since a two-week absence due to a lower-body injury helped the Penguins beat the Flyers for the second time in five days and draw even with their cross-state rivals in the highly competitive East Division. McCann certainly looked confident while racing through the slot during a rush, and found the game-winner on his stick after Brandon Tanev’s shot smacked off Elliott’s pad. McCann fired it into the net, then went skates over skull after tripping over Elliott. Zach Aston-Reese, Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin also scored for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry finished with 19 saves as the Penguins responded after letting an early three-goal lead slip away in a loss to the Flyers on Thursday night. Pittsburgh hosts the New York Rangers Sunday night.
