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Soon-to-be Hawks guard Crabbe cited for DUI

Published in Basketball
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 15:24

NBA guard Allen Crabbe was arrested early Wednesday in Los Angeles and cited for misdemeanor DUI.

According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department online records, Crabbe was arrested at 12:15 a.m. PT in West Hollywood and booked at 1 a.m. PT with a bond set at $5,000.

TMZ reported that Crabbe was pulled over after he was seen "straddling lanes" and blew a .08 on a Breathalyzer test.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this month that the Brooklyn Nets agreed to trade Crabbe to the Atlanta Hawks. The deal can't be finalized until July 6.

The Hawks declined comment to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when contacted about Crabbe's arrest because he isn't yet a member of the team.

Crabbe, 27, is scheduled to make $18.5 million in the 2019-20 season, which is the final year of his contract.

Sources: Rockets shop Capela, Gordon for space

Published in Basketball
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 14:05

The Houston Rockets are canvassing NBA teams with significant salary-cap space to individually offer center Clint Capela, guard Eric Gordon and forward P.J. Tucker as a prelude to their pursuit of a sign-and-trade deal for Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Jimmy Butler, league sources told ESPN.

The Rockets want to secure the best available first-round pick acquired for any one of three players as part of a larger deal with Philadelphia for Butler, league sources said. Redirecting salaries elsewhere for Butler could deliver the 76ers a large trade exception that it could use in acquiring a player over the course of the next year.

If Butler and the 76ers were open to the trade scenario -- and there has yet to be a formal indication the team or Butler are interested -- the Rockets would need to include two or three of those players in a deal to the Sixers or a third team to make the salaries match on a four-year, $140 million maximum contract for Butler.

Capela has four years, $66 million left on his contract, and Gordon has $14 million and Tucker $16 million over two years left on their contracts. Only $2.6 million of Tucker's second year is guaranteed.

Nevertheless, the Sixers have been expressing confidence throughout the NBA that they'll be able to sign Butler and free agent Tobias Harris to new deals, league sources said. Butler's level of interest in pursuing the Rockets' idea is unclear. League rules prohibit Butler and his agent, Bernie Lee, from discussing the deal prior to the start of free agency on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

Once free agency starts, however, the Rockets are determined to push the 76ers for a sign-and-trade deal that would allow the All-Star forward to join All-NBA guard James Harden and Chris Paul on the Rockets, league sources tell ESPN.

The Rockets don't have the salary-cap space to sign Butler, so they'd need the threat of the Sixers losing him for nothing to a team with the available room to motivate the Sixers into a trade.

The Sixers plan to be aggressive in signing Butler to a new deal, sources said, and could blunt a Rockets push with a full five-year, $190 million offer at the start of free agency on Sunday night. The Sixers could offer Butler a four-year, $146.5 million deal, too.

Butler would be eligible to sign a four-year, $140 million contract on the way to the Rockets. The 76ers acquired Butler in a trade with Minnesota for Dario Saric and Robert Covington in November.

The Sixers could redirect those Houston assets to third teams and create a large trade exception that it could use to absorb a player via trade.

Montreal group supports idea of sharing Rays

Published in Baseball
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 15:38

MONTREAL -- The son of former Montreal Expos owner Charles Bronfman believes the predominantly French-speaking city is ready and willing to support -- and share -- the Tampa Bay Rays.

Private equity investor Stephen Bronfman leads a group working on bringing baseball back to Montreal and said Wednesday the city can embrace the sport again. He called the idea of one team in two cities groundbreaking.

Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week the Rays have "broad permission to explore what's available." Tampa Bay is averaging 14,546 fans a game, lowest in the American League and well below the MLB average of 27,360. Only the Miami Marlins draw smaller crowds, averaging 9,378.

On Tuesday, Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg said it's unrealistic for his team to play full time in the Tampa Bay area, and said a shared season with Montreal is the best option.

Montreal has been without a big league team since the Expos left after the 2004 season for Washington and became the Nationals.

"We have always said we have a two-track approach," Bronfman said. "There has always been the possibility of a team being relocated, and then there is expansion. We don't know if expansion is in the cards in the decade to come, if at all. We have this possibility now to begin the work of having Major League Baseball here with an existing team that is really professional. It's not like starting from scratch. This is a team that is playing nearly .600 baseball."

An agreement between the Rays and St. Petersburg for Tropicana Field runs through 2027. St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman has said the city will not fund a new stadium for a part-time team.

"We're in a different world," Bronfman said. "Hats off to Major League Baseball for being so innovative in their thinking and their progressive nature of even considering a concept like this. It's very groundbreaking when you talk about sport."

Sternberg envisions open-air stadiums in both cities but noted there are no plans to pay for them. He said an ideal target date would have everything in place for the 2024 season.

Bronfman said he has no say in the timetable but hopes a deal can be reached soon, pointing out that his father, the original Expos owner, is 88 years old.

"We have an incredible city," Bronfman said. "We have a strong economy, we can support baseball and now we have a chance to support it in partnership with Tampa Bay. I think it's a very, very good opportunity for us and I think Major League Baseball believes this opportunity exists in Montreal and they are giving their support to our city. So for me that's a strong start and we will see how things develop."

The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their inception in 1998 and drew their smallest-ever home crowd of 5,786 against Toronto last month.

Sternberg said this week it's possible the Bronfman group could join the current Rays' ownership if the sister-city plans succeed, but he will keep controlling interest.

"I think even in a split scenario, it's a return of baseball permanently to Montreal," Bronfman said.

Family of 2-year-old hit by foul ball details injuries

Published in Baseball
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 14:10

The 2-year-old girl who was struck by a foul ball at Minute Maid Park on May 29 suffered a skull fracture and had a seizure, a spokesperson for the family said in a release issued Wednesday. The girl also had subdural bleeding, brain contusions, brain edema and an abnormal electroencephalogram, and is on medication to prevent further seizures.

The family has retained attorney Richard Mithoff to advise about the incident, according to the release. No lawsuit has been filed, but Mithoff detailed the injuries in a letter to the Houston Astros organization advising it that he and family attorney Steve Polotko had been retained.

"The Astros' risk management representative reached out to the family, and now that the family is represented by counsel, I wanted to let the other side know that I am involved so that they can get in touch with me," Mithoff told the Houston Chronicle. According to the release, the child was hospitalized for several days, and her progress will be reassessed in July. The family has requested privacy beyond that information, Mithoff said. The release Wednesday was the first time the extent of her injuries had been revealed.

The incident brought further attention to the issue of expanding safety netting at ballparks. In the past week, the Chicago White Sox, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers have announced plans to extend safety netting from foul pole to foul pole, with the Nationals saying the work will be done at their ballpark over the All-Star break next month.

According to a survey commissioned by ESPN last week, Major League Baseball fans support installation of more safety netting at ballparks by an overwhelming majority, 78 percent to 22 percent.

The survey was commissioned after the incident in Houston. The girl was injured when she was struck by a foul ball off the bat of Cubs outfielder Albert Almora Jr. during a game between Chicago and the Astros. On Sunday, a woman at Dodger Stadium was taken to a hospital for precautionary tests after being struck in the head by a foul ball.

Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle was one of many players who called for baseball to address the issue after the incident in Houston, saying fans' safety should be a top priority.

"I am glad the Washington Nationals have decided to lead the charge on this issue," Doolittle said. "Players want fans to be able to safely enjoy the game without fearing for their safety."

Since 1913, every ticket to a major league game has included a disclaimer saying the holder of the ticket assumes all the risks inherent to the game. Called the "Baseball Rule," it has made it nearly impossible for fans injured at games to successfully sue teams or MLB.

Following recommendations from MLB, by the start of the 2018 season all 30 teams had expanded their protective netting to at least the far ends of the dugouts after several fans were injured by foul balls in 2017.

Earlier this month, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, reacting to the incident in Houston, said he did not expect teams to make changes to the netting around ballparks during the season, but said he expected conversations to continue about whether the netting should be extended.

Yankees' Stanton back to IL with knee injury

Published in Baseball
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 15:26

NEW YORK -- Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton went back on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a sprained right knee, barely a week after returning from a series of setbacks that kept him out of action for almost three months.

New York manager Aaron Boone said it's likely Stanton will be sidelined for longer than 10 days.

"It'll be more than that," Boone said. "That's when the reevaluation kind of happens."

The oft-injured outfielder was hurt this time on a headfirst slide against Toronto on Tuesday night. The 2017 NL MVP was not in the lineup Wednesday.

Stanton has played only nine games this season, having missed significant time with a torn biceps and strains in his shoulder and calf. He is hitting .290 with 1 home run and 7 RBIs.

"Frustrated for him knowing how much he's worked to get back and kind of the couple of setbacks that he's had along the way in getting back," Boone said. "Felt like he was starting to get in the groove a little bit with us. You got to deal with it and hopefully get him right here to get back."

Two hours before Wednesday's game, Boone said there was "no new injury at all." He said he found out about the sprained posterior cruciate ligament after his pregame availability.

Outfielder Mike Tauchman was called up from Triple-A to replace Stanton on the 25-man roster and traveled with the Yankees to London for their two-game series against the Boston Red Sox that begins Saturday. Tauchman hit .212 with 4 home runs and 14 RBIs in 37 games for New York this season.

With the clubhouse filled with travel bags, stuffed with each player's belongings for the trip to England, Stanton's was left eerily empty on the floor in front of his locker.

Stanton is in the fifth season of a $325 million, 13-year contract he signed with Miami after the 2014 season. The Marlins traded him to the Yankees after he won the MVP award.

Teammate Aaron Judge just hopes that Stanton is healthy for the home stretch with the AL East leaders.

"The knee, that's a tough one," Judge said. "They're freak injuries that happen."

Martina Navratilova says the struggles faced by trans people are too often underestimated and wants sport to change its rules so trans athletes are not excluded.

The 18-time Grand Slam tennis champion was criticised earlier this year after using the word "cheating" when discussing whether trans women should be allowed to compete in women's sport.

She later apologised but was dropped as an ambassador by LGBT sport body Athlete Ally.

Now the 62-year-old has made a BBC documentary exploring the issue.

For the film, The Trans Women Athlete Dispute with Martina Navratilova, she meets and discusses trans women in sport with a range of athletes, trans women and scientists.

"What I have come to realise, the biggest thing for me, is just the level of difficulty trans people go through cannot be underestimated," she says.

"The fight for equality and recognition is just huge."

She tells Trans Media Watch founder Helen Belcher: "I hurt people with my comments - that bothers me. I campaigned all my life for LGBT rights."

Later she adds: "That being said, still for me the most important thing in sports - and we have to remember trans rights and elite sport are two different things, although of course they are connected - what's the right way to set the rules so that everybody feels like they have a fighting chance?"

As well as hearing the experiences of trans athletes, she explores the science to find out whether trans athletes have a competitive advantage in women's sport.

"It feels to me that it's impossible to come to any real conclusions or write any meaningful rules until more research is done," she says.

"But for now I think we need to include as many transgender athletes as possible within elite sports while keeping as level a playing field as possible."

Sociologist Ellis Cashmore tells Navratilova sport will have to change in the same way other parts of society are adapting to gender fluidity - but admits he has been struggling "to figure an alternative".

"I don't think women's sport will look the same in 10 years' time," he explains.

"I think a great many sports are going to have to come to terms with the fact they are going to have to mix sports - in other words, dissolve the binary completely and just say they're open."

"Society has changed so much. The rules certainly need to evolve," Navratilova agrees.

"If you don't adapt, you've got problems. So we'll keep adapting and try to find a happy way forward."

The Trans Women Athlete Dispute with Martina Navratilova will be shown on BBC One at 21:00 BST on Wednesday, 26 June and will then be available on BBC iPlayer.

Singer Alicia Keys pays tribute to her friend and "sister" Serena Williams for the BBC iPlayer series Legends, as part of BBC Sport's Change the Game campaign.

WATCH MORE: Legends on BBC iPlayer

BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame this summer to showcase female athletes in a way they never have been before. Through more live women's sport available to watch across the BBC this summer, complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women's sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.

British number one Johanna Konta's final tournament before Wimbledon ended in defeat by world number 62 Ons Jabeur in the third round at Eastbourne.

Konta had led by a break in the first set before the Tunisian fought back to win 6-3 6-2.

French Open semi-finalist Konta has failed to transfer this season's clay-court success on to grass, losing in the Birmingham second round last week.

Meanwhile, defending champion Caroline Wozniacki was also knocked out.

The Danish 11th seed was beaten 2-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) by eighth seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Konta lets match slip away on greasy court

The start of the match had been delayed by around half an hour because of rain at Eastbourne and, when they came back on, the players had a brief discussion at the net about whether the surface was playable.

Konta wiped her hand on the grass and asked Jabeur what she thought, with the Tunisian shrugging but raising no objection.

The Briton got off to a good start, holding to love in her first service game before breaking for 3-2. But Jabeur broke back in the next game and grew in confidence.

Konta seemed tentative on the surface - as if not quite trusting that the court was dry enough - and she was punished for it by the Tunisian.

The Briton's serving, which powered her through a clay-court season where she reached two WTA finals and the last four at Roland Garros, was below par - she won 60% of first-serve points and just 29% of second-serve points. That first figure had been well over 80% in recent weeks.

"I think the rain brought me luck and the win," said Jabeur, who will face Alize Cornet for a place in the semi-finals. Frenchwoman Cornet beat China's Zhang Shuai 6-2 6-2.

"I like the way I played. I like to make crazy shots. The crowd are very fair. Konta is a great player and has inspired me in the past. I hope the crowd can come with me now."

Konta will head to Wimbledon, which starts on Monday, having played five matches on grass this season.

Top seeds into quarter-finals

Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber booked her place in the last eight, coming through a tight first set before running away with the second in a 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 victory over Swedish world number 66 Rebecca Peterson.

The German fourth seed will face former world number one Simona Halep, who beat battling Slovenian Polona Hercog 6-1 4-6 6-3.

Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova took less than an hour to brush aside Elise Merten 6-1 6-2 and set up a quarter-final against Russian world number 52 Ekaterina Alexandrova, who went through after 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko retired when trailing 6-3 2-1.

But Wozniacki's pursuit of a third Eastbourne title was halted by Sabalenka, who lost to the Dane in last year's final.

Wozniacki had led 5-2 in the final set and had a match point but then crumbled as Sabalenka edged the final-set tie-break.

Sabalenka will face third seed Kiki Bertens in the quarter-finals after the Dutch player beat Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam 6-3 6-3.

World number two Nadal seeded third for Wimbledon

Published in Tennis
Wednesday, 26 June 2019 03:14

World number two Rafael Nadal has been seeded third for Wimbledon this year behind top-ranked Novak Djokovic and world number three Roger Federer.

The Spaniard now has a 50-50 chance of being in the same half as Djokovic and thus could meet him in the semi-finals.

Had he been second seed, rather than Federer, he could not have met the defending champion before the final.

The women's seedings reflect the world rankings, so Serena Williams is 11th and Britain's Johanna Konta 19th.

Wimbledon seeding is different from the other Grand Slams in that it does not always follow world rankings and is affected by grass-court performances.

Nadal said it "doesn't seem right" when asked about his likely seeding behind eight-time champion Federer for the championships, which begin on Monday.

Last year's finalist and world number eight Kevin Anderson is seeded fourth, and John Isner moves up to ninth after his run to the 2018 semi-finals.

Anderson's elevation to fourth seed means Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all drop down one position in the seedings compared to their world ranking.

Britain's Kyle Edmund, the world number 31, is the 30th seed while British duo Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski are seeded 10th in the men's doubles.

French Open champion Ashleigh Barty tops the ladies' seedings for the first time at a grand slam, with Naomi Osaka second and defending champion Angelique Kerber fifth.

The women's seedings follow the WTA ranking list but changes can be made for a 'balanced draw', which is the reason seven-time champion Serena Williams - ranked 183rd before last year's championship - was seeded 25th in 2018.

Analysis

BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller

It does not seem logical at first glance that men and women are seeded differently, but this is a result of separate agreements with the ATP and WTA Tours.

Employing a special formula has merit when you consider the short nature of the grass-court season, and the fact some players really struggle to live up to their ranking at Wimbledon.

But it can also throw up some interesting scenarios, such as Kevin Anderson's promotion to number four.

Last year's runner-up has the pedigree of a fourth seed, but has only been able to play two matches in three months owing to an elbow injury.

Kyle Edmund beat compatriot Cameron Norrie to set up an all-British encounter against Dan Evans in the Eastbourne quarter-finals.

The British number one beat the British number two 6-2 6-2 in a match suspended for around 50 minutes when a spectator fell ill.

Evans put in a determined display to beat Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3 7-5.

Top seed Guido Pella, the Argentine world number 26, lost 6-4 3-6 6-4 to American Taylor Fritz.

With Wimbledon starting on Monday, Edmund and Evans will be pleased to be getting more match time on grass.

Evans, in particular, heads to the grass-court Grand Slam in good form after winning titles at Surbiton and Nottingham on the surface this month.

Against Herbert - who will be British former world number one Andy Murray's doubles partner at Wimbledon - Evans fought back from a break down in the second set to win.

He shouted "that's woeful tennis" at himself before going on to celebrate victory with a loud roar.

Meanwhile, Edmund's victory against Norrie was never in doubt with the third seed dominating from the start, breaking in Norrie's second service game.

Play was suspended at 5-2 in the first set, with the players staying on court while a medical incident was tended to in the stands.

When the match resumed Edmund wasted no time taking the first set on Norrie's serve.

He broke again early in the second set, and did not face a single break point in that set on his way to victory.

In the men's doubles Briton Dom Inglot and his American partner Austin Krajicek reached the quarter-finals by coming from behind to beat Wesley Koolhof and Marcus Daniell 3-6 6-4 10-7.

But Evans' return to court soon after his singles victory ended with a 4-6 6-3 10-8 loss alongside Lloyd Glasspool to top-seeded Colombians Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal.

Broady & Murray one win from Wimbledon main draw

Elsewhere, Britain's Liam Broady is one win away from the Wimbledon main draw after beating Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 6-2.

He faces France's Gregoire Barrere, who is ranked 170 places higher at 117 in the world, in the final qualifying round on Thursday.

In women's qualifying, Samantha Murray advanced with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win over Spaniard Cristina Bucsa, but fellow Briton Gabriella Taylor lost 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to Belgium's Ysaline Bonaventure.

The Wimbledon draw takes place on Friday at 10:00 BST.

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