Sports category, Page 1736
Alabama’s DeVonta Smith could set new standard for Heisman receiversVideo
DeVonta Smith would be a Heisman Trophy winner unlike any other. The Alabama star receiver is considered the favorite to win the award Tuesday night over three quarterbacks: Crimson Tide teammate Mac Jones, Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Florida’s Kyle Trask. Smith would be the fourth wide receiver to take home...
Different paths to CFP title game for Alabama, Ohio StateVideo
Alabama breezed through the regular season and college football’s semifinals, surviving a solitary scare in the SEC championship game to reach its expected destination. Ohio State wasn’t exactly a shoo-in with its abbreviated schedule but resoundingly proved it belonged in the College Football Playoffs with a semifinal thrashing of Clemson....
Time working against Penguins in preparation for new season
Sidney Crosby looked different Monday. When he held court with media after the first day of practice in training camp, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain wasn’t wearing a tattered, worn-out team-issued hat bleached with salty sweat stains that he dons, out of obsessive habit, before each and every session with reporters....
NFL sets draft order for nonplayoff teamsVideo
NEW YORK — The NFL confirmed the order for April’s draft picks for the 18 nonplayoff qualifiers Monday, with tiebreakers determined by the ease of a team’s schedule. Jacksonville (1-15), which won its opener and lost its next 15 games, has the top selection, which it clinched in Week 16....
NHL training camps open with sense of urgencyVideo
Peter Laviolette pulled the mask away from his face to bark out instructions while pointing every which way with his stick, then put the mask back on and skated around to show his new players what to do. It was the first day of training camp for Laviolette and the...
Patriots look toward future after regressingVideo
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots entered the 2020 season staring at an uncertain future. They ended it the same way. In their first season after Tom Brady’s departure in free agency to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Patriots regressed not just on offense but across the board. New...
Pitt’s Jeff Capel, other ACC coaches have no blueprint for coaching amid pandemic
Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim and Jeff Capel have been head basketball coaches for a combined 97 seasons, leading teams into gymnasiums all over the world. But they can draw on nothing from their pasts that would help them shepherd their teams — Duke, Syracuse and Pitt — through the covid-19...
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins officially opt in for 2020-21 season
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins officially opted in for the 2020-21 American Hockey League (AHL) season on Monday. They will be one of 28 AHL teams to begin play when the season starts on Feb. 5. Three teams, the Charlotte Checkers, Milwaukee Admirals and Springfield Thunderbirds, have opted out due to concerns...
Eagles face difficult decision regarding Carson WentzVideo
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles enter the offseason facing a major question they didn’t expect to have to answer this quickly. What will the team do with Carson Wentz? Three years after Wentz finished third in NFL MVP voting and the Eagles won the franchise’s only Super Bowl title behind...
Steelers offense boosted by resurgence of Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool
After a December that largely wasn’t one to remember, Chase Claypool and Diontae Johnson on the first Sunday of the new year turned back the clock to earlier in the 2020 season when it comes to their receiving production for the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I felt like myself again,” Johnson said...
Baker Mayfield’s scrambling presents another challenge for Steelers in playoff rematch with Browns
Needing 2 yards for a first down that would clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth in 18 years, the Cleveland Browns didn’t just put the outcome in quarterback Baker Mayfield’s hands. They put it in his feet, too. A designed keeper around the right edge gained 3 yards and enabled...
After Bengals limp to finish, coach Zac Taylor gets vote of confidenceVideo
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Less than 24 hours after Cincinnati fell flat in the final game of another frustrating season, Bengals president Mike Brown made it clear he still thinks coach Zac Taylor is the guy who can turn the ship around. So the 37-year-old Taylor, 6-25-1 in his first two...
Streaking Ravens look forward to ‘next challenge’ vs. TitansVideo
There might come a time when the Baltimore Ravens look back with pride at the late-season surge that got them into the playoffs for the third year in a row. For now, their scrutiny is on what happens next — with the objective of avoiding the one-and-done pattern that thus...
Baker Mayfield pushes Browns back into playoffs, rematch with SteelersVideo
CLEVELAND — Baker Mayfield forcefully planted his Browns flag Sunday. With the weight of a city’s football hopes riding on his back, Mayfield delivered for Cleveland and its long-suffering fans. Coming off an embarrassing performance a week earlier, Mayfield, who came into the NFL vowing to return a fallen franchise...
Burlsworth winner, Pitt center Jimmy Morrissey never cut corners on way to success
Jimmy Morrissey played center and was a two-year captain at Pitt. In those roles, he was expected to notice everything on and off the football field. It might be the way the middle linebacker shifts his weight before blitzing. Or, perhaps, the look in a teammate’s eyes when he might...
Penguins add PPG logo to helmets
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced Monday that PPG will display its logo on all players’ helmets for the 2021 season. It makes PPG the first sponsor to have its logo appear on Penguins game equipment. As part of PPG’s naming rights sponsorship with the Penguins, all players’ helmets will bear the...
Carlow men’s basketball making season debut on ESPN3
Swade Redman plans to graduate from Carlow in the spring. He longs to play one final basketball season with the Celtics. For now, he’ll settle for one game. Redman, a Jeannette graduate, will lead his teammates in their national television debut Monday night. The Celtics will visit Youngstown State in...
Men’s March Madness will be played entirely in IndianaVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA is giving Indiana an exclusive ticket to showcase March Madness, and the basketball-crazed state can’t wait to take center stage. The NCAA announced Monday its showcase event — the Division I men’s basketball tournament, all 67 games of it — will be played entirely in or...
Penguins’ television schedule released
The Penguins’ complete schedule with television broadcasts and start times for the 2020-21 campaign was released on Monday. AT&T Sportsnet, the team’s local rightsholder, is slated to carry 49 of the Penguins’ 56 regular season games. The other seven will be on either NBC or NBC Sportsnet within the U.S....
Westmoreland campus clippings: Norwin grad Wehner in giving mood; Butler finally healthy
Former Norwin standout Jayla Wehner was in a giving mood during the holiday season. The freshman point guard for the women’s basketball team at Marian (Ind.), a NAIA school in Indianapolis, put together a career day last week in a home victory. The floor leader dished out 10 assists in...
Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen’s status remains unclear
Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen was not present for the start of the Penguins’ training camp at PPG Paints Arena. That was expected as the native of Finland was still trying to secure a work visa to enter the U.S. What remains uncertain is if Kapanen will be able to suit...
Washington Wild Things announce retirement of manager Gregg Langbehn
The Washington Wild Things are searching for a new manager who will have big shoes to fill. After giving the Wild Things managerial stability since joining the organization in 2016, Washington announced the retirement of manager Gregg Langbehn on Monday. He was the second-winningest manager in team history behind former...
Gonzaga-Baylor remain 1-2 in AP Top 25; Texas rises to No. 4
While Gonzaga and Baylor remain firmly atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll, Shaka Smart and fourth-ranked Texas are making a push into the rankings’ top tier, too. The top-ranked Zags and second-ranked Bears remained 1-2 in Monday’s latest Top 25 as they have all season. But the Longhorns...
Browns lose DE Oliver Vernon for playoffs with torn Achilles tendon
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Browns starting defensive end Olivier Vernon ruptured his Achilles tendon during Sunday’s playoff-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and is done for the season. Coach Kevin Stefanski said Monday that Vernon, who has played well in his second year with Cleveland, will have surgery. “Obviously, I’m very...
NCAA to play all 67 March Madness games in Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA announced Monday that all 67 men’s basketball tournament games including the Final Four will be played entirely in Indiana in a bid to keep the marquee event from being called off for a second consecutive year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Games will be played on...
