MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Southeastern Conference is ratcheting up penalties on schools whose fans storm the field or rush the court, doing away with an escalating fine system and now charging $500,000 per incident. “The motivation was ‘field rushing is field rushing, the first time or the 18th time,’” commissioner Greg Sankey said Thursday in announcing the decision. “The random nature of, if you’re the one getting rushed, it doesn’t feel good. It might be the first time (it happened) there, but it might be your sixth time in a row, literally.” The conference also has the authority…
Author: AP News
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Another college basketball season in the books means another offseason to reset, recruit and reassess the growing needs of the game. Following a yearlong experiment with a 20-game conference schedule, the Big 12 announced its intention to return to 18 games for the upcoming season. Vice President of Big 12 Men’s Basketball Brian Thornton said Wednesday there were multiple reasons for the change. “The schedule got very compressed and when you’re planning in a league as challenging as ours, understandably our coaches wanted a little bit of an opportunity during the course of conference play to…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Noah Cameron pitched into the seventh, scattering six singles as the Kansas City Royals beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 to salvage the final game of the series on Wednesday night. Cameron (2-1) allowed a run on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Maikel Garcia singled with one out in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 13 games, then scored from first on Drew Waters’ deflected single. In the fifth, John Rave doubled to right, collecting his first major league hit, and scored when Bobby Witt Jr. bounced a…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Elly De La Cruz hit two long home runs, Brady Singer pitched seven strong innings against his former team and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Kansas City Royals 7-2 on Tuesday night. De La Cruz hit a 436-foot shot to center in the fourth inning that tied the score at 2 against Jonathan Bowlan, then a go-ahead 451-foot drive into the right-center fountain in the sixth off Taylor Clarke (1-1). De La Cruz has 11 home runs this season. He tied Pete Rose’s team record for switch-hitters with five multihomer games, including two this year.…
The College Football Playoff will go to a more straightforward way of filling the bracket next season, announcing Thursday that it will place teams strictly on where they are ranked instead of moving pieces around to reward conference champions. Ten conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director came to the unanimous agreement they needed to shift the model that drew complaints last season. The new format will no longer guarantee an opening bye week for the four highest-ranked league champions, reserving that benefit for the four top-ranked teams in general. The change was widely expected after last season’s jumbled bracket…
EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — A proposed ban on the tush push failed on Wednesday at the NFL owners’ meetings, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The proposed prohibition of the polarizing short-yardage play failed on a 22-10 vote, which will allow quarterbacks to continue to be aided by teammates when plunging into the line. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because details of the discussions by the owners had not yet been made public. The Philadelphia Eagles brought former center Jason Kelce, one of the players who fueled the success of the…
By John Hanna TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A group that successfully defeated an anti-abortion ballot measure in Kansas has filed a federal lawsuit against a new state law aimed at curbing foreign influence in elections, saying it violates free speech rights and would keep the group from waging future campaigns. Kansans for Constitutional Freedom argues that the law taking effect July 1 is a direct response to the decisive August 2022 statewide vote against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution that would have allowed the Legislature to greatly restrict or ban abortion. The group led the “no” campaign, and its largest single donor was the…
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A Kansas City Chiefs superfan known as “ChiefsAholic” was sentenced Monday in an Oklahoma courtroom to serve 32 years in state prison for robbing a Tulsa-area bank, a sentence that will be carried out after he finishes serving time in federal prison. Xaviar Babudar, 30, appeared in a Tulsa courtroom and apologized to the court and to the victims of the December 2022 robbery of the Tulsa Teachers Credit Union in Bixby, Oklahoma, said Babudar’s attorney, Jay-Michael Swab. “He expressed sincere remorse and took full responsibility for his actions,” Swab said. Babudar already was serving more…
(AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs selected Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons with the final pick in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night, giving quarterback Patrick Mahomes the blindside protector he was so sorely lacking last season. Simmons missed most of last season after tearing a patellar tendon in his knee, and he didn’t work out at the scouting combine, which may have left some teams wary of using a high draft pick on him. But the Chiefs were comfortable with their medical checks and wound up using the No. 32 overall pick on him.…
Longtime Seattle Seahawks receiver Tyler Lockett announced on social media Wednesday night that he is joining the Tennessee Titans. In 10 NFL seasons, all with the Seahawks, Lockett had 661 catches for 8,594 yards and 61 touchdowns. ESPN reports that Lockett has agreed to a one-year deal with a base value of $4 million. Incentives could push that to $6 million. Seattle released Lockett last month. He was a first-team All-Pro pick in 2015 and a second-team choice in 2016 and 2017. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2016. Lockett will give the Titans an experienced target to fill…