June 6, 2020 3:59 am
NEW YORK (AP) – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said his league made a mistake. Goodell said the league was wrong for not listening to players fighting for racial equality and encouraged them to peacefully protest. He made his strongest statement on the issues many players passionately support, one day after 2018 NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes and several of his peers released a video demanding the league condemn racism. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem to take a stand against police brutality and racial injustice in 2016, he was mostly alone. Politicians, owners and fellow players criticized him, fans burned his jersey and he was booed even at home. Four years later, his protest is widely viewed as prescient. Global opinion has shifted so much that more people are vilifying those who attack Kaepernick or misrepresent his stance. George Floyd’s death, which ignited nationwide protests over racial injustice and police brutality, awakened many people to the root of the issues that led to Kaepernick’s demonstration. Now, Goodell said, “I personally protest with you and want to be part of the much-needed change in this country.”
June 6, 2020 3:58 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Major league players and owners continue to fire salvos instead of fastballs. Players accused teams of “depriving America of baseball games” as part of a money fight created by the coronavirus pandemic. They raised the possibility baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred might push ahead with a shortened season over the union’s objection. Union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer has sent a letter to Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem threatening that an attempt to play without an agreement could lead players to block any attempt to expand the playoffs and deny consent to neutral-site games in the postseason. Major League Baseball made its initial economic proposal on May 26, offering an 82-game regular season schedule and a sliding scale of cuts beyond the prorated shares of salaries the sides agreed to on March 26. Players responded on Sunday with a 114-game regular season schedule running through October and no additional cuts. Each player would get about 70% of his original salary under the union’s plan and roughly 22-47% under MLB’s proposal, including $200 million tied to the postseason being completed. Management quickly rejected the union plan and said it would not offer a counterproposal given the insistence of the players’ desire for a longer season that would spill into November. Among MLB’s objections concerns November baseball that could be canceled by a second wave of COVID-19.
June 5, 2020 3:47 am
UNDATED (AP) – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has told the 32 clubs in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that coaching staffs may work from team complexes starting Friday. Previously, only up to 75 people per day could be at the facilities, with coaches and players not seeking treatment for injuries barred. The maximum number of club employees in each facility will be increased to 100, subject to governmental regulations and implementation of health protocols developed by the NFL’s medical staff.
June 5, 2020 3:45 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Major League Baseball is no closer to framing an agreement for starting the season. Players have reaffirmed their stance for full prorated pay, leaving a huge gap with teams that could scuttle plans to start the coronavirus-delayed season around the Fourth of July and may leave owners focusing on a schedule as short as 50 games. More than 100 players, including the union’s executive board, held a two-hour digital meeting with officials of the Major League Baseball Players Association on Thursday, a day after the union’s offer was rejected by Major League Baseball.
June 4, 2020 2:57 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Chris Archer won’t pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2020 after the team announced the 31-year-old underwent surgery to relieve symptoms of thoracic outlet syndrome. The procedure was conducted in St. Louis. Archer will not be available this season if Major League Baseball finds a way to put together a truncated schedule. The Pirates were banking on a bounce back year by Archer, who is 6-12 with a 4.92 ERA in 33 starts for Pittsburgh since being acquired at the 2018 trade deadline from Tampa Bay. Archer is projected to return to full competition for the 2021 season.
June 4, 2020 2:02 am
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Johnny Majors, the coach of Pittsburgh’s 1976 national championship football team and a former coach and star player at Tennessee, has died. Majors died Wednesday at his home in Knoxville, according to his wife. He was 85. Majors compiled a 185-137-10 record in 29 seasons as a head coach at Iowa State, Pitt and Tennessee. In his playing days, he finished second to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung in the 1956 Heisman Trophy balloting. Majors was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
June 3, 2020 3:49 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner says he’s in the best shape of his life thanks in part to the quarantine surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Conner says the lockdown has given him time to cut out “distractions” and help him focus on bouncing back from an injury-riddled 2019. Conner played sporadically over the final eight games because of a nagging right shoulder injury, and the Steelers opted not to offer him a contract extension during the offseason. Conner says he isn’t concerned about his future and is trying to focus on the present.
June 2, 2020 3:49 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Baseball owners and players have reverted to form — the type displayed over the past half-century during eight work stoppages filled with salary squabbles. Players proposed to resume the sport in the coronavirus pandemic with a 114-game regular season and full prorated salaries, leaving each player with approximately 70% of what he had been slated to earn. That proposal was made Sunday, five days after Major League Baseball’s plan for an 82-game season with additional pay cuts that would leave each player taking in 23-47% of his original pay, with the highest earners accepting the biggest cuts. MLB claims an additional $640,000 would be lost with each extra regular-season game played. The union has said it doesn’t believe those calculations and asked MLB for more economic documents and data. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred discussed the next move with owners on Monday.
June 2, 2020 3:46 am
UNDATED (AP) – Tiger Woods is speaking out for the first time since George Floyd’s death, saying his heart goes out to Floyd, his family and everyone who is hurting right now. The 44-year-old golfer broke his silence with a statement on his Twitter account Monday night. Woods said, “I have always had the utmost respect for our law enforcement.” He said, “They train so diligently to understand how, when and where to use force. This shocking tragedy clearly crossed that line.” Floyd, a black man, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck while Floyd was handcuffed and saying that he couldn’t breathe. His death sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the country, some of which became violent. Woods’ statement came one day after former NBA star and current Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan made his first public remarks on Floyd and the killings of black people at the hands of police.
June 1, 2020 3:44 am
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) – Brad Keselowski came up with an accidental triumph on Sunday. Keselowski inherited his second NASCAR Cup win of the season when Chase Elliott and Joey Logano collided as they raced for the victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. Keselowski was in third with a lap and a turn remaining when he lucked into his second victory in three Cup races. Logano had cleared Elliott for the lead with three laps remaining but Elliott was stalking him while seeking his second win in three days. They made contact in the fourth turn and drifted into the wall. Keselowski slid past for the win. Clint Bowyer gave Ford a 1-2 finish with his best performance in a year. Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson was third in a Chevrolet and once again showed he’s close to snapping his 104-race losing streak. Kyle Busch and Erik Jones rounded out the top-five.
