Pro Sports News

1. New York Jets schedule 2024: Takeaways, predictions  ESPN
2. Five Teams That Got Screwed by the 2024 NFL Schedule  Sports Illustrated
3. Jets have seven standalone games in 11 weeks and two Sunday-to-Thursday turnarounds  NBC Sports
4. Rodgers, Jets to visit Niners on MNF in Week 1  ESPN
5. Jets 2024 NFL schedule: Dates and opponents for Weeks 1-18  New York Post

1. Nikki Glaser On Tom Brady Regretting Roast: “I Feel He Didn’t Consider The Backlash From His Family”  Deadline
2. Tom Brady vows to be 'better parent' after Netflix roast tore into divorce  Sky News
3. Tom Brady Says Netflix Roast Jokes ‘Affected My Kids’ and ‘I Wouldn’t Do That Again’: ‘I’m Going to Be a Better Parent as I Go Forward Because of It’  Variety
4. Tom Brady admits he ‘didn’t like’ how Netflix roast ‘affected’ his children, would never do it again  The Boston Globe
5. Tom Brady on Netflix roast: 'I didn't like how it affected my kids'  The New York Times

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1. Ronel Blanco suspended: Houston Astros starting pitcher gets 10-game ban after ejection based on foreign substance check  KTRK-TV
2. Astros' Ronel Blanco suspended for foreign substance in glove  ESPN
3. Houston Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco receives 10-game suspension after ‘sticky stuff’ found on gloves  CNN
4. Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco receives 10-game suspension after foreign-substance ejection in win over A's  Yahoo Sports
5. Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco suspended for 10 games after being ejected over foreign-substance check vs. A's  CBS Sports

Bronny James and Four Players Who Emerged During NBA Draft Combine  Sports IllustratedView Full Coverage on Google News

CHICAGO — A consultant the Chicago Blackhawks hired to improve relationships with American Indian tribes has filed a lawsuit accusing the team, its charity foundation and its CEO of fraud, breach of contract and sexual harassment.

Nina Sanders filed the civil action late Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court. She alleges in the lawsuit that the Blackhawks were facing intense public pressure to change their name and logo in 2020. The team’s CEO, Dan Wirtz, hired her that year to serve as a tribal liaison.

Wirtz promised that he would create positions for American Indians, buy land to give to the Sac and Fox Nation and change the team’s logo if she decided to accept the job, according to the lawsuit. She took the job based on those promises, but Wirtz never followed through on any of it, the lawsuit alleges.

Sanders goes on to allege that she told her immediate boss that an employee had been sexually harassing her and tried to force her into his hotel room in 2021. The harassment continued into 2022, but nothing was ever done about it, according to the lawsuit. Sanders also maintains that she reported two other incidents of male employees groping women, but nothing was done.

Wirtz ended Sanders’ contract last summer, according to the lawsuit.

A Blackhawks spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon seeking comment.

The team said in a statement to WBBM-TV that the organization noted “operational issues” in Sanders’ work, and external partners told the team that they didn’t want to work with her. The team still extended her a new contract in 2023, but Sanders chose not to renew it. The team said it investigated Sanders’ sexual harassment allegations and couldn’t find enough evidence to substantiate them.

Man Utd manager Eric Ten Hag said the club want to keep Bruno Fernandes after the midfielder was vague on his future.

1. Adley Rutschman's walk-off homer lifts Orioles  MLB.com
2. Adley Rutschman's walkoff blast saves O's streak of no sweeps  ESPN
3. Orioles rally past Blue Jays with Adley Rutschman walk-off to keep 105-series sweepless streak alive  Yahoo Sports
4. Jordan Romano serves up walk-off homer as Blue Jays suffer devastating loss to Orioles  Toronto Sun
5. Rutschman walk-off home run in ninth keeps Orioles' sweepless streak alive (updated)  MASNsports.com

1. Donovan Mitchell among Cavs ruled out for Game 5 vs. Celtics  ESPN
2. Cavaliers' Donovan Mitchell reportedly expected to miss Game 5 vs. Celtics with calf strain  Yahoo Sports
3. Cavs' Donovan Mitchell (calf), Caris LeVert (knee) out for Game 5  NBA.com
4. Ric Flair rips Cavaliers star for sitting out with injury in must-win playoffs: 'So disappointed!'  Fox News
5. Donovan Mitchell injury: Cavaliers star expected to miss Game 5 vs. Celtics with calf strain, per report  CBS Sports

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says his team wanted to "pay back" the fans, who have stuck by the players this season, after beating Newcastle 3-2.

1. North Wilkesboro Turning Point: RFK enters title picture, and which All-Star will get their game on?  NASCAR
2. NASCAR, moonshine's historic ties rekindle before All-Star Race  ESPN
3. Your guide for NASCAR All-Star Week at North Wilkesboro Speedway  WGHP FOX8 Greensboro
4. Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of All-Star Race  NBC Sports
5. NASCAR All-Star Race: Everything to know for this weekend's event  FOX Sports

1. Lakers' coaching search could be a lengthy process  Yahoo Sports
2. Report: Lakers have been using Mike Krzyzewski as a respected unofficial resource during head coaching search  Yahoo Sports
3. Lakers coaching search: L.A. gets permission to interview Sam Cassell, Micah Nori and others, per report  CBS Sports
4. Lakers Rumors: JJ Redick Eyed by Insiders as HC Front-Runner, Job Is 'His to Lose'  Bleacher Report
5. Sam Cassell Among NBA Assistant Coaches Lakers Likely to Interview, per Report  Sports Illustrated

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Watch highlights as Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 to go top of Women's Super League and take the title race in to the final day.

Toronto’s Troy Ryan, Montréal’s Kori Cheverie and Boston’s Courtney Kessel are the three finalists for the 2024 PWHL Coach of the Year award, the league announced Wednesday.

Ryan led Toronto to a 13-4-0-7 (W-OTW-OTL-L) record, which was good for a league-high 47 points. Cheverie guided Montréal to a 10-3-5-6 record, good for second in the PWHL. Kessel coached Boston to an 8-4-3-9 record, securing the team the third seed heading into the PWHL Playoffs.

The PWHL Coach of the Year award, and all PWHL awards, are chosen by an 18-member selection committee after the regular season ends and before the playoffs start. Winners of all PWHL Awards are to be announced in June.

1. Kyle Larson bringing added buzz to this year’s Indy 500  NASCAR
2. Kyle Larson earning respect from IndyCar field despite rain-shortened practices  NASCAR
3. How Arrow McLaren teammates have welcomed Kyle Larson to the Indy 500  IndyStar
4. Paddock Buzz: No Panic for Larson despite Short Day  INDYCAR
5. Kanaan only an option for Indy 500 if Larson is forced to withdraw  Motorsport.com

HOUSTON — Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco received a 10-game suspension Wednesday for violating Major League Baseball rules prohibiting foreign substances.

Blanco was ejected from Tuesday night’s start against the Oakland Athletics. His penalty, which also included an undisclosed fine, was announced by MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill.

Houston general manager Dana Brown said Blanco will not appeal the suspension, which was set to begin Wednesday night against Oakland.

“Initially, he was thinking about appealing, and then him and his agent said, ‘Look, I want to get back out there. I’m not going to appeal this.’ And he’s going to move forward,” Brown said.

Blanco threw a no-hitter in his season debut and is 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA this season. With the Astros using a six-man rotation, Brown said the right-hander will probably only miss one turn.

“Ronel Blanco is a good human being,” Brown said. “He’s a good dude. He’s worked his butt off to get into the starting rotation. I think he sees it as, look, I don’t want to be out. I don’t want to extend this any longer. I want to get back to the business of pitching.”

Blanco was ejected at the start of the fourth inning during a 2-1 win over Oakland after umpires found a foreign substance that first base umpire Erich Bacchus said was “the stickiest stuff” he’s felt on a glove.

Third base umpire and crew chief Laz Diaz ejected Blanco after a check of his glove before he threw a pitch in the fourth. The umpires, Blanco and Houston manager Joe Espada stood at the mound for a couple of minutes discussing the issue before the pitcher was tossed.

Bacchus said there was nothing on Blanco’s glove when he checked it in the middle of the first, but he discovered the substance when he did his second check before the fourth.

“I felt something inside the glove,” Bacchus said. “It was the stickiest stuff I’ve felt on a glove since we’ve been doing this for a few years now.”

After Bacchus discovered the substance, he called in the rest of the crew to confer.

“Everybody checked the glove to make sure we all had the same thing and he had to get ejected because he had a foreign substance on his glove,” Diaz said.

Brown said the ejection is “an umpire’s judgement where he felt like he felt some sticky stuff, so they don’t get into what it actually was. They said he was suspended because of that.”

However, Brown did point out that Blanco has “massive sweat.”

“I would think that they thought it was more than rosin, but from our perspective, I know if you guys notice that Ronel sweats profusely,” Brown said. “And I think it was a combination of the rosin and the sweat, and it’s an umpire’s call. He made the judgement that he thought it was sticky substance, so we are at the mercy of what his judgement is. From our perspective, this is a guy who sweats a ton, and when you combine the sweat and the rosin, we felt like maybe that’s what they felt is sticky.”

After the game Tuesday, Blanco denied using an illegal substance.

“Just probably rosin I put on my left arm,” he said in Spanish through a translator. “Maybe because of the sweat it got into the glove and that’s maybe what they found.”

Espada added that when he went to the mound he saw “white powder” inside Blanco’s glove.

“It looked to me when I grabbed the glove (that) there was some rosin,” Espada said. “You’re not allowed to use rosin on your non-pitching hand and that’s what it looked like to me. It was a little bit sticky with the moisture and the sweat but that’s what it looked like to me.”

Blanco allowed four hits and struck out one in three scoreless innings Tuesday.

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“Leave the mothers out of this, all right? It’s unnecessary.” – Ron Burgundy

Joaquin Buckley and Daniel Cormier have exchanged heated words online in the days following Buckley’s co-main event victory in front of his hometown fans in St. Louis at the most recent UFC Fight Night event.

The welterweight extended his winning streak to four with an impressive unanimous decision win over the touted, albeit unranked, Nursulton Ruziboev. However, an untimely and unsuccessful call-out of Conor McGregor during his post-fight interview was not well received by most fight fans and pundits.

Cormier, Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, who was on the broadcast team for the event and who interviewed Buckley following his win, were a handful of fighters-turned-commentators who were vocal about not liking Buckley’s attempt at a spotlight grab. Buckley accused them of “trying to twist up my words” in a post Wednesday morning and Cormier was having none of it.

The former two-weight champion, from the top rope, did not hold back when replying to Buckley’s post that referenced the “mommas” of Cormier, Bisping and Sonnen.

“Shut up, (expletive)! Maybe listen. You had a dumb-ass call-out. You’re getting talked about by three of the biggest voices in the game. Maybe listen. It was the worst call-out in history. Don’t let winning at few fights at 170lbs get you too excited bruh. Don’t mention Audrey!”

“Dorothy Mantooth is a Saint!”

In a vacuum, could Buckley vs. McGregor theoretically be a fun matchup at 170 pounds? Stylistically, sure, but neither fighter has a heated history with the other, Buckley has nowhere near the star power as the Irish superstar, and McGregor has an upcoming bout with Michael Chandler at UFC 303 for which he’s preparing.

Dana White immediately threw cold water on the idea by simply saying, “No,” when asked if the UFC would entertain a McGregor vs. Buckley matchup.

Buckley should be calling out the Michael “Venom” Pages, Ian Machado Garrys, Sean Bradys and Gilbert Burnses of the world instead. And, in fairness to Buckley, after acknowledging that he’s unlikely to ever land that blockbuster McGregor matchup, he said he thinks a scrap with one-time title challenger Gilbert Burns would be “a beautiful fight.”

That one makes much more sense with Buckley sitting at No. 11 in the rankings and Burns at No. 6 and coming off a loss to Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 in February.

CHANGES TO FIGHT NIGHT: BARBOZA VS. MURPHY

A 205-pound matchup scheduled for Saturday’s preliminary card at the UFC Apex has undergone a facelift. 

Rodolfo Bellato was removed from his matchup with Oumar Sy due to injury. It was briefly thought that Antonio Trocoli would be the replacement, although the organization announced Road To UFC veteran Tuco Tokkos would instead step in to face Sy. Tokkos is 10-3 as a pro and went 3-0 in 2023; Sy is 9-0 and also making his UFC debut.

UFC Fight Night

Watch UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Murphy on SN360 and Sportsnet+, with coverage beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on Saturday.

UFC Fight Night on Sportsnet

RDA DONE WITH CUTTING DOWN TO LIGHTWEIGHT

Rafael dos Anjos appears done with the division he once ruled. The former lightweight champion is coming off a unanimous-decision loss to Mateusz Gamrot, the No. 5-ranked contender at 155 pounds, in March and dos Anjos isn’t keen on sticking around in the weight class despite still being ranked at No. 14.

The respected 39-year-old Brazilian asked to be removed from the rankings late Tuesday, explaining he walks around in the 195-pound range and thinks there’s lots of fights that make sense to him at 170 pounds.

The UFC’s all-time leader for most total fight time (8:41:49) has been jumping between 155 and 170 pounds since 2020 but has lost three of his past four outings, two of which were against top-10 lightweights. 

Dos Anjos won the UFC lightweight title and defended it once in 2015. After losing his belt and then his next fight, he moved up to welterweight, where he competed exclusively from 2017 to 2020, fighting top competition Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards before they became champions and RDA also picked up a win over former champion Robbie Lawler in the weight class. 

UFC 302 LINEUP FINALIZED PLUS OTHER UPCOMING BOUTS

The UFC has finalized the bout order for UFC 302 after recently announcing a fan-friendly middleweight matchup has been added to the main card for the upcoming June 1 event in New Jersey. 

Kevin Holland vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk will precede the co-main event between Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa in the middle of the pay-per-view portion of the card. Holland is coming off back-to-back decision losses to 170-pound standout Michael Page and Jack Della Maddalena, and has not competed at 185 pounds since 2021. Oleksiejczuk is 3-2 over his past five fights but has lost two of three and is looking to bounce back from a 61-second submission loss to Michel Pereira at UFC 299 two months ago, the same card on which Holland lost to Page.

Here is the official UFC 302 bout order, less than three weeks out from the event.

MAIN CARD
— Islam Makhache vs. Dustin Poirier (five rounds for LW title)
— Sean Strickland vs. Paulo Costa (five rounds non-title)
— Kevin Holland vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
— Jailton Almeida vs. Alexander Romanov
— Randy Brown vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos

PRELIMINARY CARD
— César Almeida vs. Roman Kopylov
— Grant Dawson vs. Joe Solecki    
— Philip Rowe vs. Jake Matthew
— Niko Price vs. Alex Morono
— Mickey Gall vs. Bassil Hafez
— Ailín Pérez vs. Joselyne Edwards
— Nyamjargal Tumendemberel vs. André Lima

MMA reporter Marcel Dorff had a few updates this week, including that Alex Perez vs. Tatsuro Taira will headline a June 15 Fight Night card in Las Vegas in a five-round flyweight scrap. Perez was initially scheduled to fight Tagir Ulanbekov at the June 15 event before stepping in and defeating top-10-ranked Matheus Nicolau on short notice in April. Taira was expected to meet Joshua Van at the June event, but the UFC shuffled the matchups and with Perez fresh off a highlight knockout win, his matchup with the 15-0 Taira is a compelling main event for a UFC Apex card. Ulanbekov and Van will instead compete against one another in a 125-pound matchup expected to be featured on the main card.

Middleweights Cody Brundage and Abdul Razak Alhassan are expected to meet at the July 13 card in Denver, per Dorff, and Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs. Melquizael Costa will happen June 15; both fighters are coming off losses to Steve Garcia. 

Strawweight star Molly McCann will face Bruna Brasil at UFC 304 in front of the England crowd July 27, as first reported by Brazilian outlet Ag Fight, while Shauna Bannon and Ravena Oliveira are expected to meet on the prelims in Manchester in another 115-pound showdown, according to Dorff. 

MMA Melotto out of Brazil is reporting a bout between top strawweights Virna Jandiroba and Amanda Lemos is expected to go down July 20; Miranda Maverick and Tracy Cortez will also fight that day at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas with Maverick herself confirming her matchup.

Chris Presnell of MMA Ecosystem reported middleweights Park Jun Yong and Brad Tavares will also meet on the July 20 card, according to First Round management, plus the “Korean Super Boy” Doo Ho Choi will return against Bill Algeo July 20, per Nolan King of MMAJunkie. Choi has fought only once since 2019 and has not won a fight in the UFC since 2016.

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