Brief Sports News
PRO FOOTBALL
METAIRIE, La. (AP) — Wearing black and gold jerseys and bowing their heads, fans of slain former New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith paid homage almost a week after he was shot and killed during a traffic dispute. Hundreds of fans, friends and members of the Saints team streamed into a visitation at the Saints’ practice facility at a suburb of New Orleans.
Smith, 34, was shot and killed by 28-year-old Cardell Hayes last Saturday, police said. Smith was shot seven times in the back and once along his side, the coroner said. His wife, Racquel, was shot twice in the legs but survived. In a wheelchair and wearing sunglasses, she attended the visitation but did not talk to reporters.
Hayes’ lawyer has said his client was not the aggressor and that he’ll be vindicated when the true story is known. An attorney for Smith has described Hayes as ”enraged” at the time of the shooting and portrayed the Smiths as the victims. Hayes was arrested and is currently being held on $1 million bond.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Percy Harvin’s tumultuous career has come to an abrupt end. The 27-year-old wide receiver is retiring after seven NFL seasons, Harvin’s agent, Joel Segal, confirmed to The Associated Press on Friday.
Harvin played five games for the Buffalo Bills last season before being placed on injured reserve with lingering hip and knee injuries.
BASEBALL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – As cities across the country honored Jackie Robinson‘s pioneering baseball career, one also apologized for its racist treatment of Major League Baseball’s first black player nearly 70 years ago.
When Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodgers played the Philadelphia Phillies in 1947, he was told to ”go back to the cotton fields” by the Phillies’ manager, refused service at a local hotel and taunted by players with racial slurs when he came to bat. On Friday, Philadelphia’s city council publicly acknowledged the incident as a dark chapter in the city’s history.
April 15 is recognized nationally as Jackie Robinson Day, and ballparks around the country are also celebrating the 69th anniversary of the day he broke the league’s color barrier in 1947. Robinson played for the Dodgers until 1956. All MLB players, managers, coaches and umpires wore his No. 42 for games.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers have reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension through the 2018 season.
The Rangers announced the extension after their 11-5 loss to Baltimore on Friday night, and scheduled a news conference for Saturday with the 37-year-old Beltre, general manager Jon Daniels and manager Jeff Banister. A person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press that the extension is worth $36 million. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team didn’t not reveal the financial terms.
PRO BASKETBALL
NEW YORK (AP) – The NBA will begin putting sponsorship logos on player uniforms in 2017-18, a move that could generate at least $100 million annually and a step that the NFL, Major League Baseball and NHL have yet to take.
The three-year trial was approved by NBA owners and will take effect when the league’s contract with Nike begins. The patches will appear on the front left of the jersey, opposite Nike’s logo, and measure about 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. Logos appear on international and MLS soccer jerseys, and many athletes in individual sports wear their sponsors’ attire in competition.
NEW YORK (AP) – NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said a North Carolina law that limits anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people remains ”problematic” for the league, but he said there is no decision on moving next year’s All-Star Game out of Charlotte.
Owners discussed the law during their two-day meetings and Silver said the league wants to be involved in helping protect those the law discriminates against. He believes that is better done with dialogue than by making threats.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – Less than two weeks after accepting the job at UNLV, Chris Beard is heading home to Texas. Back to Texas Tech, specifically.
After a night of uncertainty surrounding Beard’s future, Texas Tech announced it has hired the coach who was previously an assistant there for 10 seasons. He will replace Tubby Smith, who took the coaching job in Memphis.
Beard returns to Lubbock after leading Arkansas-Little Rock to a school-record 30 wins and a first-round upset of Purdue in the NCAA Tournament this season. He also comes after having his contract at UNLV approved a week ago, the same day he changed his Twitter account to reflect his position as coach of the Runnin’ Rebels.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Jennifer Rizzotti was there for the start of Connecticut’s women’s basketball dynasty, and now she hopes to bring some of that experience to George Washington.
Rizzotti was named GW’s coach Friday after 17 seasons at Hartford. As a player, she led UConn to its first national title in 1995 and was the player of the year in 1996 when the Huskies first became a dominant force.
SWIMMING
MESA, Ariz. (AP) – Michael Phelps won the 200-meter butterfly at the Arena Pro Swim meet, where wind gusts up to 30 mph whipped up the water and created challenging conditions. Phelps touched first in 1 minute, 58.14 seconds. Clark Pace finished second in 1:58.71.
Katie Ledecky won the 400 freestyle by a whopping 5.93 seconds. The world record holder cruised through the water in 4:02.15, undeterred by the cool temperatures and buffeting wind that had swimmers bundling up after their races.
HOCKEY
MONTREAL (AP) – Former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is getting better every day and has begun eating after a recent stroke, his doctors said.
The 71-year-old Demers, now a Canadian senator, still has some weakness on the right side and difficulty with speech, but is alert, said Dr. Angela Genge of the Montreal Neurological Institute.
Demers, who coached the Canadiens to their 1993 Stanley Cup victory, was rushed to hospital April 6.
SOCCER
BASEL, Switzerland (AP) – Sepp Blatter says it was ”not acceptable” to be accused at a public event that he stayed silent while likely knowing that senior FIFA officials were corrupt.
”I am not guilty,” the visibly angry former FIFA president later told reporters at the University of Basel in his native Switzerland.
Blatter had been the key speaker in a two-hour debate with a mostly student audience on problems facing world soccer’s scandal-hit governing body. Two protesters briefly disturbed the event with an anti-FIFA banner, chants and a whistle. After Blatter again blamed officials in the North and South American soccer bodies for corruption, the session closed with the claim made by former International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.
