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Packers expected to bounce back vs. Bears | More Football
The Packers suffered a tough loss to the Colts in Week 11 but are expected to rebound against their arch-rival Bears.
The Packers suffered a tough loss to the Colts in Week 11 but are expected to rebound against their arch-rival Bears.
The NFC Championship game features two Hall of Fame quarterbacks at different stages of their career, but there's massive intrigue outside of this QB showdown, too.
Matthew Stafford has likely played his last snap in a Lions uniform.
Dana White offered a blunt prediction for the upcoming exhibition between Logan Paul and Floyd Mayweather.
Social media detectives remain undefeated, and polarizing Rangers defenseman Tony DeAngelo may have just met their wrath.
The AFC's two best teams have arrived on a collision course in the championship game.
Watson reportedly wanted the Texans to interview the new Jets head coach. That didn't happen.
Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse disagreed with the idea that his team is a veteran squad. He also discusses how disappointed he was with his team’s effort last game and why it’s important to show up for every game in the NBA.
Hornets coach James Borrego thinks differently.
Raptors centre Chris Boucher is putting up some extraordinary offensive numbers, reminiscent of Pascal Siakam's breakout 2018-19 season.
There were a number of significant developments this week, both good and bad for fantasy hockey managers.
Bettors are expecting a lot of points on Sunday.
MIAMI — The Miami Heat are bringing back some fans, with help from some dogs. The Heat will use coronavirus-sniffing dogs at AmericanAirlines Arena to screen fans who want to attend their games. They’ve been working on the plan for months, and the highly trained dogs have been in place for some games this season where the team has allowed a handful of guests — mostly friends and family of players and staff. Starting this week, a limited number of ticket holders will be in the seats as well, provided they get past the dogs first. “If you think about it, detection dogs are not new,” said Matthew Jafarian, the Heat's executive vice-president for business strategy. “You’ve seen them in airports, they’ve been used in mission critical situations by the police and the military. We’ve used them at the arena for years to detect explosives." The first Heat game with ticket holders is set for Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Monday is the first day that season ticket holders will be able to start securing their seats. The Heat have sold out 451 consecutive games, the sixth-longest streak in NBA history. Sellouts, obviously, aren’t happening this year. The Heat will keep attendance under 2,000 for now, or less than 10% of the building’s typical capacity. “Please note that seating will be very limited, as we will be observing proper physical distancing,” the team said in its letter to season ticket holders. The coronavirus-sniffing dog idea has been put into place at airports in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Helsinki, Finland, in recent months. At Heat games, fans arriving for the game will be brought to a screening area and the detection dogs will walk past. If the dog keeps going, the fan is cleared; if the dog sits, that’s a sign its detect the virus and the fan will be denied entry. Other protocols the Heat will use: A health screening questionnaire will be mandatory for all guests, masks must be worn continually and only soda and water will be sold. All transactions will be cashless and if a fan feels ill during a game, isolation rooms will be available. And if a fan is allergic to or afraid of dogs, the Heat are offering an option to skip the dog screening and submit to a rapid antigen test instead. The Heat say those tests can be processed in less than 45 minutes. Dogs have a superior sense of smell, which is why they’re often used by law enforcement to find everything from drugs to bombs to missing people. Medical researchers have long reaped the benefit of canine sniffing, training some dogs to detect when a human is dealing with things like too much stress, too little blood sugar and even certain cancers. A German study last year found that dogs there were right 94% of the time when it came to coronavirus detection. “Researchers are finding that specially trained dogs can detect COVID on humans quickly and accurately," Jafarian said. ___ More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
Reece Howden made it back-to-back ski cross victories on the World Cup Tour in Sunday's big final at Idre Fjäll, Sweden. The 22-year-old from Cultus Lake, B.C., was back to his usual self, leading from start to finish after choosing to sit back and charge late in Saturday's win. "The draft wasn't as big of an issue today so as I got into the start gate one of my coaches said, '100 per cent from top to bottom,'" the six-foot-plus Howden told Alpine Canada of his third win in four races. "I skied as fast as I could today [and] it worked out. I'm so happy, this is unbelievable. "I'll keep trying my best. I'm super proud of these last few races, so I'll try to carry it through the rest of the season, stay safe, stay injury-free, and keep it going." WATCH | Reece Howden posts 3rd win in a little over a month: Howden's Canadian teammate, Marielle Thompson reached the podium for a fifth time this season, placing third in the women's race. The Whistler, B.C., skier fought poor visibility as blowing snow made conditions tough on the lower part of the track. "I'm a lot happier with how I skied today," the 28-year-old Thompson said. "I think I brought some good skiing to each heat and I'm happy to land on the podium." WATCH | Marielle Thompson happy with 5th podium finish of season: The Canadian squad will compete in Feldberg, Germany before returning to Idre Fjäll for the world championships in February. Sunday's other Canadian results: Men: Jared Schmidt (33rd), Kris Mahler (36th), Brady Leman (40th), Chris Del Bosco (48th) and Carson Cook (53rd). Women: Courtney Hoffos (7th), Hannah Schmidt (14th), Tiana Gairns (15th) and Zoe Chore (16th).
After Duke dropped its third straight game, Coach K belittled a student reporter for asking a totally reasonable question.
LONDON — Mesut Ozil has thanked Arsenal for an “amazing journey” after his departure to Fenerbahce was confirmed, saying he goes with no grudges despite not playing for nearly a year. Ozil said goodbye to his Arsenal teammates a week ago and his move to Turkey has now been wrapped up. “I’d like to thank the club for this amazing journey over the past seven-and-a-half years,” Ozil said Sunday. The former Germany international has not played for Arsenal since March and his contract was due to expire at the end of the current season. “The support I have felt from the team and fans during my time here has been truly incredible and something I will always be grateful for," Ozil said. “Together we won trophies for the first time in years and created memories that will last a lifetime. The Arsenal fans will forever remain in my heart. “I’d like to thank Edu Gaspar for helping bring about a professional and dignified solution in the past few days, and I wish everyone at the club the best in their attempt to continue to bring Arsenal back to the top, where we belong.” Having started the first 10 games under Mikel Arteta following his appointment in December 2019, Ozil has not featured since a 1-0 win over West Ham before the coronavirus pandemic saw football halted. He was omitted from Arsenal’s Premier League and Europa League squads. “As I said, the past few months haven’t been the easiest,” Ozil said. “Like every player, I want to play every minute of football for my team. In life, however, things don’t always play out how we want or expect them to. “But it is important to look for the positives in life and not negatives, which is why I try to live life with no regrets and holding no grudges. Being at Arsenal was more than just football, it was about community.” Manager Mikel Arteta said he would be remembered for playing in three of the four FA Cup finals Arsenal won during his time at the club. “Mesut’s achievements at Arsenal are undisputed,” Arteta said. “It was a privilege to play alongside him and, more recently, coach him. “His creativity and vision led to many goals during his time in the Arsenal shirt. Mesut was at the heart of many great moments for this club over the years, including those three FA Cup final wins. These successes will always be part of our history. We thank Mesut and wish him all the best with Fenerbahce.” ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports The Associated Press
LONDON — Tammy Abraham scored a hattrick as Chelsea beat second-tier side Luton 3-1 to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday. The striker took his tally on the season to 11 by netting twice in seven first-half minutes. Jordan Clark profited from the struggling Kepa Arrizabalaga’s latest goalkeeping error to reduce the deficit to 2-1 on the half-hour before Abraham struck again in the 74th minute. Timo Werner missed a late penalty in a frustrating end to his afternoon. Chelsea will play another lower-league club, Barnsley, in the round of 16. This victory was crucial for under-pressure manager Frank Lampard after five losses in eight Premier League games. A week after they drew in the Premier League, Manchester United and Liverpool meet again in the FA Cup with Juergen Klopp’s side struggling in its Premier League title defence. Also on Sunday, Leicester is at Brentford, Everton hosts Sheffield Wednesday and Fulham takes on Burnley. ___ More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports The Associated Press
BERLIN — Hertha Berlin fired coach Bruno Labbadia and general manager Michael Preetz on Sunday after a poor run of form left the big-spending club near the Bundesliga relegation zone. Labbadia spent nine months in charge and becomes the fourth permanent Hertha coach to leave the post in the last two years after Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Werder Bremen. Preetz departs after nearly 12 years as general manager, with former sporting director and former German national team player Arne Friedrich taking over his duties. Hertha is 14th in the Bundesliga, two points above the relegation playoff place, and has won only one of its last eight league games. “With 17 points from 18 games we are in a very serious situation,” chairman Carsten Schmidt said in a statement. “Therefore we have decided after due consideration to provide new impetus with a change of coach. We will clarify the successor for the coach position in the coming days.” Schmidt told broadcaster Sky that candidates to succeed Labbadia include Pal Dardai, who coached Hertha from 2015 to 2019. “We have a clear plan," Schmidt said. “We are not going into this task unprepared.” Labbadia was initially appointed in April 2020 to steady the ship after a turbulent 10-game spell under former Germany and United States national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann, but failed to make progress toward the top half of the table in his second season. The poor form comes despite Hertha being among Europe's biggest spenders on transfers in 2020. It is particularly troubling for Hertha given the club's stated aim of establishing itself as a Champions League regular and also the success of rival Union Berlin, eighth in the standings, on a much smaller budget. With funding from investor Lars Windhorst, Hertha spent large sums last year on signing forwards Krzysztof Piatek from Milan and Matheus Cunha from Leipzig, defensive midfielder Lucas Tousart from Lyon and midfielder Matteo Guendouzi on loan from Arsenal. None has consistently hit strong form in Berlin. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports The Associated Press
Most of the money on Saturday night's UFC main event came in on Conor McGregor.
No one knows for sure, though it’s highly unlikely he’ll walk away just yet.
The Winnipeg Jets got the better of the Ottawa Senators for a third consecutive game, capping off an eventful day for the franchise. Paul Stastny, Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler each had three-point nights in a 6-3 Winnipeg Jets win over the Ottawa Senators at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg late Saturday night. Stastny and Scheifele scored a goal and added two assists in the Jets' win (4-1-0), their third consecutive victory over the Senators (1-3-1). Winnipeg also beat Ottawa last Tuesday and Thursday. Meanwhile, Wheeler had three assists. The victory came at the end of a long day for the Jets. Earlier in the day, the Jets traded winger Patrik Laine and centre Jack Roslovic for centre Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third-round draft pick. "Clearly, we had an eventful morning here," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "And then you've got a 9:00 (Central time) game that just starts a half an hour before my bedtime. I don't know how the players feel about that." "We have a game to play," Wheeler said. "It's the most important thing. We're professionals. Unfortunately, it's part of this business. But at the end of the day, it's what we do for a living. This is bigger than anything else that happened today. I thought it was a good effort for our team and a big win." Andrew Copp also added a pair of goals. Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers also scored for Winnipeg. Evgenii Dadonov, Brady Tkachuk and Nick Paul each scored a goal for Ottawa, but they ultimately couldn't keep up with the Jets once they scored three goals with less than five minutes to go in the game. "They were coming out hard in the third period," Paul said. "I think we just got to keep making plays to break out and once we hit their blue line, get pucks deep." Senators forward Derek Stepan hopes his teammates can learn from tonight's game, specifically that they can continue to press their opponent through a 60-minute effort and not just through two periods of play. "With a younger group you want to continue to push and teach them that it's okay to continue just to play the way you did in the first two periods and you don't need to change anything. You don't need to sit back." Stepan said. Senators goalie Marcus Hogberg made 32 saves in the loss, while Connor Hellebuyck made 18 saves for the Jets. Ehlers opened the scoring with 5:57 left to play in the first period with a power play goal. Ehlers quickly fired a shot past Hogberg after receiving a pass from defenceman Neil Pionk. Adam Lowry also picked up an assist on the goal. The Senators' offence woke up in the second period with three goals, beginning with Dadonov tying the game a little over four minutes in. The forward drove to the net while trying to brush off a defenceman. While falling, Dadonov used his stick to push the puck through Connor Hellebuyck's pads. As the puck trickled into the net, Dadonov crashed into the boards. But, he soon raised himself up to celebrate with his teammates. It was the Russian's first as an Ottawa Senator. Connor would later give the Jets the lead once more, scoring his fourth of the season to make it 2-1. Scheifele and Wheeler each picked up an assist on the goal. Tkachuk then tied the game with 8:46 to go in the second. Tkachuk retrieved a backhand pass from Austin Watson with a Winnipeg Jet draped behind him. Tkachuk would then spin around and fire on net, beating Hellebuyck between his legs. Paul gave the Ottawa Senators their first lead of the game with over five minutes to play. Paul fired a shot into the top-right corner of the night for his second goal of the season. Copp then tied the game in the early stages of the third. Paul Stastny handled the puck in the offensive zone before passing the puck to Copp, who redirected the puck towards goal but hit the post. Copp would immediately bury the puck into the back of the net. The Jets would take the lead on a power play goal from Stastny with 4:15 left to play. Prior to the goal, Senators forward Derek Stepan lifted the puck out of play and was later called for a delay of game penalty. Stastny would soon take advantage with his first goal of the season. Copp added a fifth goal for the Jets seconds later as he whacked at the puck several times in front of Hogberg, eventually earning his second of the night. Stepan fired a puck from distance to put his team within one, but the goal was reviewed and eventually waved off after a Senators player was offside. The Jets would eventually put it out of reach thanks to an empty-net goal from Scheifele with 2:09 to play in the third. Winnipeg will be back in action Sunday night against the Edmonton Oilers. Ottawa will play the Vancouver Canucks Monday night. NOTES: Blake Wheeler's assist on Kyle Connor's second period goal was the 500th of his career. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2021. The Canadian Press