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Watch World Cup luge from Germany
Click on the video player below to watch action from the luge World Cup in Königssee, Germany.
WATCH | Luge World Cup Team Relay event:
Click on the video player below to watch action from the luge World Cup in Königssee, Germany.
WATCH | Luge World Cup Team Relay event:
Monday night's game was called off at the last minute, as neither the Spurs nor the Pelicans have enough players to compete.
Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin has hit on all his acquisitions — at least so far.
The CFL team with no name now doesn't have a head coach.
Cole Beasley missed Week 17, but played in all three Bills playoff games.
The Yankees are sending reliever Adam Ottavino to the Red Sox in the clubs' second deal of the millennium.
It's not clear when Leonard and George will be able to return to the court.
“We’re just representative of 25 million Americans who have had this stuff so far."
Budweiser, Coke and Pepsi are among the major companies not running Super Bowl ads this year.
Anthony Davis was miserable during his final months with the Pelicans, but playing for the Lakers helped him find both joy and balance.
The Kirill Kaprizov Show is here to stay, but there are also several other rookies worth monitoring in fantasy hockey.
The Toronto Argonauts have signed former Pittsburgh Steelers and Oakland Raiders wide receiver Martavis Bryant.
A player with the Kamloops Blazers has suffered what the league describes as "life-altering injuries" following a weekend snowboarding accident in Saskatchewan.
Alex Len was sent packing less than a month into the season, joining a legendary list of players who dropped by and put on a Raptors uniform for fewer than 15 games.
DETROIT — Delon Wright scored a career-high 28 points and Wayne Ellington had another impressive shooting night for Detroit, leading the Pistons to a 119-104 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Jerami Grant scored 25 points for the Pistons (4-13), who still have the NBA's worst record but took advantage of Joel Embiid's absence. The Philadelphia star was out with back tightness. Detroit acquitted itself well in this two-game mini-series with the 76ers. Philadelphia needed a big game from Embiid to prevail 114-110 on Saturday night. The Pistons never trailed in the rematch. Ellington scored 20 points, shooting 6 of 9 from 3-point range. It was his fifth straight game with at least four 3s, tying a team record set by Joe Dumars in 1998-99. Ellington is 30 of 50 from beyond the arc in his last six games. Tobias Harris led Philadelphia with 25 points, but the 76ers (12-6) never made much of a run after the Pistons controlled the early going. Detroit's Josh Jackson was ejected in the fourth quarter, but Philadelphia couldn't take advantage. There were five technical fouls in the game. Detroit took an early 17-4 lead and was still ahead 64-50 at halftime. The third quarter came and went without the lead getting any tighter than seven, and it was never closer than nine in the fourth. TIP-INS 76ers: Coach Doc Rivers and C Dwight Howard received technical fouls in the second quarter. Pistons: Derrick Rose (left knee) missed the game. ... Detroit came in averaging a league-high 44.1 bench points per game. The Pistons had only 29 on Monday. UP NEXT 76ers: Host the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night in what could be a matchup between conference leaders. Pistons: Visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. Detroit lost to Cleveland 128-119 in double overtime Dec. 26. ___ Follow Noah Trister at https://twitter.com/noahtrister ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Noah Trister, The Associated Press
A "coalition" of Michigan athletes pushed back against the decision to shut down athletic activities due to a "super-spreader strain" of COVID-19 on campus.
With more female referees now in the NBA than ever before, it was only a matter of time before two women would be scheduled to work the same game. And Monday was that day. Natalie Sago and Jenna Schroeder make up two-thirds of the crew assigned to the Charlotte at Orlando game, the first time in NBA history that two women were assigned to work a regular-season contest together. Sean Wright was picked to be crew chief, Sago the referee and Schroeder the umpire. Sago and Schroeder have worked games together before; they were part of three-woman crews in the G League. But at the NBA level, it’s a first — and it’s a game they’ve been looking forward to since they saw it on the internally distributed schedule a month ago. The crews for games are not announced publicly until 9 a.m. Eastern on game days. “This is a big deal,” Schroeder said. “It’s like my feminist dreams come true, that like my personal values are colliding with my professional values and it’s awesome.” The NBA has used 76 officials so far this season; seven are women, already the most to work games during any season in league history. Lauren Holtkamp-Sterling, Ashley Moyer-Gleich, Simone Jelks, Danielle Scott, Dannica Mosher, Sago and Schroeder are all working games this season; Scott and Mosher are non-staff, the other five are members of the full-time NBA officiating roster. “It's so cool," Sago said. “All of us, we're so happy and excited to work together. We just have a good group of females, we're all close, we have great relationships and we share these moments." The original schedule called for another crew with two women for a game later this week. That lineup has since been switched, but Sago is certain this game won't be the NBA's last with multiple female refs. “It’s amazing,” Sago said. “I’m just proud to be part of an organization that promotes people to do the job based on our abilities, not on our gender, race, ethnicity, those types of things.” It’s not lost on Sago or Schroeder that this game comes amid a flurry of historic days for women, in the sports world and otherwise. Kamala Harris was sworn in last week as the first female Vice-President of the United States. Sarah Thomas will be the first woman to be on a Super Bowl officiating crew when she works the Tampa Bay-Kansas City game in Tampa next month. Sarah Fuller made headlines this past college football season as a kicker for Vanderbilt. “I wish my daughter was here to see this," Schroeder said. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
Sabrina Ionescu said after Kobe's death she was going to live out his legacy.
Major League Soccer has provided the when for its 2021 season. The where for Canadian teams remains unanswered, however. The regular season will run April 3 through Nov. 7 with the MLS Cup final scheduled for Dec. 11, the league announced Monday. The league had previously said it was targeting a mid-March start to the 2021 campaign. In 2020, the regular season opened Feb. 29. Matches continued for two weeks before the league halted play due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. It resumed in July with the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando with Columbus Crew SC eventually winning the MLS Cup final — originally slated for Nov. 7 — on Dec. 12 after an on-again, off-again season. In announcing the 2021 dates, the league said it is continuing to work with CF Montreal, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps on the issue of travel restrictions between Canada and the U.S. due to the pandemic. MLS said more details on the Canadian teams will be announced in the "near future."' Last season, Toronto made its pandemic home away from home in East Hartford, Conn. Montreal played out of Harrison, N.J., while Vancouver was based out of Portland. Toronto played just four of its 23 regular-season games at BMO Field — and none after Sept. 1. The Whitecaps had four games at B.C. Place Stadium while Montreal had one at Olympic Stadium and three at Stade Saputo. Toronto president Bill Manning confirmed that his club is looking at options south of the border in the event it can't host U.S. teams at BMO Field. The 2021 calendar already looks to be a busy one with World Cup and Olympic qualifying set to begin in March for Canada with the Gold Cup to follow in July. Should Canadian internationals on Canadian MLS teams have to relocate south of the border again for league play, it will make for another extended absence from family and friends. While the pandemic continues to hang over the sports scene, another cloud has emerged over the MLS future — a labour impasse resulting from the league's decision to invoke a "force majeure" clause that obligates the league and the MLS Players Association to negotiate modifications to the existing Collective bargaining agreement in good faith for 30 days. The MLSPA says it won't be rushed into a decision on proposed changes to the CBA. "Although no agreement has been reached, MLS is committed to meet as many times as necessary with the MLSPA in the coming days to finalize an agreement," the league said in its statement Monday. Each of the 27 teams — the league is up a club with the addition of expansion Austin FC — will play a 34-match regular-season schedule before the playoffs kick off Nov. 19. The league is planning an all-star game for late summer. Clubs can open pre-season training on Feb. 22, six weeks ahead of the season's opening weekend. The league says players will have to quarantine and conduct individual training upon reporting back to their clubs. During the regular season, all players, technical staff and essential club staff will be tested for COVID-19 every other day, including the day before each match day. Clubs will take chartered flights for all road trips. NOTES: The Seattle Sounders have signed head coach Brian Schmetzer to a multi-year contract extension. The Seattle native has led the Sounders to four MLS Cup appearances and two titles — both in wins over Toronto — since taking over in the summer of 2016, amassing a record of 67-37-34 in the regular season and 15-4-2 in the playoffs ... D.C. United has signed former Montreal and Vancouver midfielder Felipe Martins to a one-year contract extension. The deal contains an option for the 2022 season. KEY DATES — MLS 2021 SEASON Feb. 22: Pre-season training begins (6 weeks) Apr. 3-4: Opening Weekend 2021 Nov. 7: Regular season finale Nov. 19: MLS Cup playoffs begin Dec. 11: MLS Cup final --- Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2021 Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
San Antonio’s game in New Orleans was called off Monday night in the latest virus-related postponement for the NBA, one that came when the league determined that neither team would have enough players available. As has been the case with most of the other games that have been postponed, contact tracing was cited as the cause. But instead of it involving just one team — as has been the case with each of the season’s previous 21 postponements prior to Monday — this one involved both clubs. “Because of ongoing contact tracing within both the Spurs and Pelicans, neither team has the league-required eight available players to proceed with the scheduled game,” the NBA said, sending that announcement less than two hours before the planned tip-off time. San Antonio became the 24th team to have at least one game postponed so far this season because of the virus. The Spurs played Washington — a team that went 13 days between games because of six players testing positive for COVID-19 and three others missing time because contact tracing suggested they may have been exposed to the virus — on Sunday night. Of the 22 postponements this season, 21 have been made since Jan. 10. The Spurs-Pelicans game being called off wasn’t the only bad news for the NBA on Monday on the virus front. The Los Angeles Clippers ruled out Kawhi Leonard and Paul George for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta in accordance with the league’s health and safety protocols. A person with knowledge of the situation said Leonard and George may be able to return at some point during the Clippers’ four-game road trip, depending on what the NBA decides with regard to their situations. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the team nor the league spoke about those cases publicly. Also Monday, the Boston Celtics said Jayson Tatum would play for the first time since Jan. 8 in their game at Chicago. The Celtics are scheduled to visit San Antonio on Wednesday. The uncertainty surrounding the Spurs now obviously puts that game in some jeopardy. “My thought would be we should not fly there until we know,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “That’s the bottom line. That’s my only thought going through my mind with all the travel we have coming up.” Memphis’ home game against Sacramento, scheduled for Monday, was postponed last week, and the Grizzlies’ Wednesday game in Chicago was called off as well. The Grizzlies are up to six postponements, matching Washington for the most in the NBA. Depending on the Spurs’ situation, Memphis’ layoff may get longer. The Grizzlies are supposed to play in San Antonio on Saturday. The Pelicans have upcoming home games against Washington on Wednesday, Milwaukee on Friday and Houston on Saturday. ___ AP Sports Writers Andrew Seligman in Chicago and Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Wanting to slash salary to avoid paying luxury tax, the New York Yankees opted to make a rare trade with the Boston Red Sox. Boston acquired struggling reliever Adam Ottavino along with minor league right-hander Frank German from the Yankees on Monday for a player to be named or cash. As part of the trade, the Yankees agreed to send Boston $850,000 on July 1 to cover part of the $8 million owed to Ottavino, a 35-year-old right-hander entering the final season of a $27 million, three-year contract. New York remains responsible for Ottavino’s $3 million signing bonus, due next Jan. 15. "I know it’s the Yankees and I understand what that means and it’s the most storied rivalry in sports,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said. "But if we’re not willing to do something that helps us because it also helps them, or worse, if we’re worried that it might not go as we expect and it blows up in our faces and we looked at it, well, then, we’re just playing scared, and we're not going to play scared." This was just the second trade since 1987 between the rivals. When New York obtained infielder Stephen Drew from Boston on 2014 for infielder/outfielder Kelly Johnson, it was the first Yankees-Red Sox trade since Boston dealt first baseman/catcher Mike Stanley to New York for pitcher Tony Armas Jr. and a player to be named, who became pitcher Jim Mecir. "I was a little surprised today when I got the news but all things considered, Boston’s always a place I want to play," Ottavino said, speaking in front of a painting of jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, made by his mother-in-law. “I feel like I’m going to end up a trivia question now.” A Brooklyn native who attended college in Boston at Northeastern, Ottavino signed with the Yankees before the 2019 season and took No. 0, the Yankees' last available single digit. He had a successful first season that included a 6-5 record and 1.90 ERA as he became a key setup man for closer Aroldis Chapman along with Zack Britton, Chad Green and Tommy Kahnle. But he slumped to a 5.89 ERA during pandemic-shortened 2020, the highest of his nine full big league seasons, and manager Aaron Boone did not use him with a lead in the late innings of close games in the final week of the season or during the playoffs. Ottavino's low point was when he allowed six runs against Toronto on Sept. 7 without getting any outs. “2020 was a tough year,” he said. “Didn't throw the way I wanted to overall and then had probably the worst game of my career right there in the middle that made it that much harder to deal with and then didn’t really get much of a chance in the playoffs. So it was tough. ... .” He walked nine in 18 1/3 innings last year and 40 in 66 1/3 innings in 2019. Still, he struck out 25 last season, 88 in 2019 and 112 over 77 2/3 innings in 2018. “There are guys who miss a lot of bats and also walk people because a lot of what they miss bats with are pitches that are running out of the strike zone, and people swing at them.” Bloom said. “So sometimes you have to take the good with the bad, but there’s always ways on the margins to improve guys.” Ottavino's cutter velocity dropped from an average of 91 mph in 2017 to 86.5 mph last year. “I’ve been working on some different things with my breaking balls, trying to expand some of the directions I can make the ball break,” he said. “The cutter, as good as it had been for me previous years in setting things up, it also resulted in some home runs, so too many in my opinion.” New York wants to stay under the $210 million luxury tax payroll threshold. Ottavino figures to count as $924,956 toward the tax payroll for his discounted signing bonus rather than the $8,924,956 entire 2021 figure for his contract, and his departure cuts the Yankees’ projected tax payroll to $203 million. That includes $26 million for pending contracts with second baseman DJ LeMahieu and right-hander Corey Kluber plus $2 million for the rest of their 40-man roster and $7 million for estimated in-season moves, including replacing injured players. New York’s bullpen already had lost Kahnle, who had Tommy John surgery in August, then became a free agent after the season and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. German, 22, was 4-4 with a 3.79 ERA in 2019 in 15 starts and one relief appearance for Class A Tampa of the Florida State League. Boston had no 2020 scouting on German because minor league seasons were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Yankees did not hold an instructional league. “Frankly, one of the more uncomfortable aspects of a trade like this,” Bloom said. “This required a lot of legwork from a lot of different people in our organization." Ottavino joins a bullpen that includes Matt Barnes, who had nine saves last season. “We think we just acquired someone who is really capable of pitching in any kind of late-inning situation," Bloom said. “How that shakes out as far as who closes, that’s something we’re still going to discuss.” Boston is retooling after finishing last in the AL East at 24-36. The Red Sox have pending agreements to add free agent second baseman Enrique Hernández and right-hander Garrett Richards and to retain left-hander Martín Pérez. Bloom said the Red Sox remain in contact with outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who became a free agent. ___ More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Ronald Blum, The Associated Press