Sports 2
2C | LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD | WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 2014
THURSDAY AMERICAN FOOTBALL COMING CONFERENCE
TWO-DAY
• Coverage of Free State baseball and softball at regionals • A report on Kansas University baseball in the Big 12 tournament EAST
SPORTS CALENDAR
NORTH
AMERICAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
KANSAS UNIVERSITY TODAY
Ex-NFL players sue league over painkillers EAST
Washington (ap) — Opening another legal attack on the NFL over the long-term health of its athletes, a group of retired players accused the league in a lawsuit Tuesday of cynically supplying them with powerful painkillers and other drugs that kept them in the game but led to serious complications later in life. The lawsuit, which seeks
unspecified damages on behalf they were never told they of more than 500 ex-athletes, had broken bones and were charges the NFL with putting instead fed pills to mask the profits ahead of players’ health. pain. One said that instead of To speed injured athletes’ surgery, he was given antireturn to the field, team doc- inflammatory drugs and extors and trainers dispensed cused from practices so he drugs illegally, without obtain- could play in games. Others ing prescriptions or warning SOUTH said that after years of free of the possible side effects, the pills from the NFL, they replaintiffs contend. tired addicted to painkillers. Some football players said NFL spokesman Brian Mc-
SOUTH
Hernandez situation unsettling By Linda Robertson
Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma • Baseball vs. West Virginia at Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma City, 9 a.m. THURSDAY • Women’s golf at NCAA Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma • Baseball at Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma City
Carthy, in Atlanta for the league’s spring meetings, said: “We have not seen the lawsuit, and our attorneys have not had an opportunity to review it.” The case comes less than a year after the NFL agreed to pay $765 million to settle lawsuits from thousands of retired players who accused it of concealing the risks of concussions. AL EAST BALTIMORE ORIOLES
| SPORTS WRAP |
COMMENTARY
NORTH • Women’s golf at NCAA
FREE STATE HIGH TODAY WEST
BOSTON RED SOX
NEW YORK YANKEES
CLEVELAND INDIANS
DETROIT TIGERS
HIGH SCHOOLS HUB:
TAMPA BAY RAYS
AL CENTRAL
AL EAST CHICAGO WHITE SOX
AL WEST
BALTIMORE ORIOLES
BOSTON RED SOX
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
MINNESOTA TWINS
KANSAS CITY ROYALS
NEW YORK YANKEES
TAMPA BAY RAYS
AL CENTRAL
TORONTO BLUE JAYS
ROYALS LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
TODAY • vs. Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m.
SEATTLE MARINERS
TEXAS RANGERS
These logos are provided to you for KANSAS use in anCITY editorial news context only. MLB ALINDIANS LOGOS 032712: 2012 American DETROIT TIGERS ROYALS CLEVELAND
CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Other uses, including as a linking device on a Web site, or in an advertising or promotional piece, may violate this entity’s trademark or
League team logos; stand-alone; various
MINNESOTA TWINS
sizes; staff; ETA 4 p.m. AFC TEAM LOGOS 081312: Helmet and team logos for the AFC teams; various sizes; stand-alone; staff; ETA other intellectual property rights, and 5 mayp.m. violate your agreement with AP. AL WEST
SPORTS ON TV
The Miami Herald
Aaron Hernandez arrived at New England Patriots training camp in 2012 and told reporters how he had spent his mellow summer vacation “chilling.” A Boston prosecutor gave a different account last week, declaring that Hernandez began practicing for the football season a week after killing two men as they idled in their car at a stoplight in the city’s theater district. The following month, as police continued their search for the person who shot Daniel Abreu in the chest and Safiro Furtado in the head, Hernandez signed a $37 million contract extension with New England, promising that the “young and reckless Aaron” was in his past. The tight end went on to catch 51 passes that season with the Patriots, who were unaware they were sharing a locker room with an alleged cold-blooded killer. Hernandez had to protect his secret, which led to his alleged execution of friend Odin Lloyd in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez’s home in North Attleborough, Mass., a year after the double slaying. He got caught, and has been in jail since. Now Hernandez, 24, stands accused of being a triple murderer. Many people are shaking their heads, chief among them the owners and coach of a franchise that prides itself on adherence to the upstanding “Patriot Way,” NFL commissioner and “Sheriff” Roger Goodell, and Hernandez’s coach at the University of Florida, Urban Meyer. They are wondering — and being asked — how their character judgment could be so flawed. Or was the ascendance of Hernandez from high school to NFL star really a case of willful blindness? Talent, like a mink coat, has a way of hiding whatever ugliness lies underneath. Hernandez could go down as the worst criminal to wear an NFL jersey, and that includes some awful company. In hindsight, all the signs were blinking. Hernandez ran with a rough crowd in his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut, especially after his father, a former high school football star, died in 2006. His mother was involved in an illegal gambling ring, even taking bets on Patriots games. She was attacked with a knife by Hernandez’s stepfather, an ex-convict. Hernandez was a ticking time bomb, veering from one violent incident to another since he was 17 years old. He even has been indicted for assaulting another inmate in jail. No one at Florida could turn him around, nor could the “Patriot Way.” He played an entire season after allegedly gunning down two innocent men, yet no one had a clue about his accelerating selfdestruction. He was a great football player, and touchdowns trump platitudes about morality. Those closest to Hernandez couldn’t stop him. At least the police did.
• Baseball, regionals, vs. Topeka High at Topeka Hummer Sports Park, 4 p.m. (finals, 6 p.m., if FSHS advances) • Softball, regionals, vs. Olathe WEST North at Washburn Rural, 2 p.m. (finals, 5 p.m., if FSHS advances) THURSDAY • Girls soccer, regionals, at Topeka Washburn Rural, 6 p.m.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
OAKLAND ATHLETICS
SEATTLE MARINERS
TEXAS RANGERS
TODAY
Baseball
Time
Net Cable
Yankees v. Cubs 1 p.m. MLB 155,242 Dodgers v. Mets 6 p.m. ESPN 33, 233 AFC TEAM LOGOS 081312: Helmet and team logos for the AFC teams; various sizes; stand-alone; staff; ETA 5 p.m. Kansas City v. Wh. Sox 7 p.m. FSN 36, 236 MLB AL LOGOS 032712: 2012 American League team logos; stand-alone; various sizes; staff; ETA 4 p.m.
These logos are provided to you for use in an editorial news context only. Other uses, including as a linking device on a Web site, or in an advertising or promotional piece, may violate this entity’s trademark or other intellectual property rights, and may violate your agreement with AP.
Pro Basketball
Time
Net Cable
Okla. City v. San Antonio 8 p.m. TNT Pro Hockey
Time
45, 245
Net Cable
Los Angeles v. Chicago 7 p.m. NBCSP 38, 238 College Baseball AP Photo
THIS ARTIST’S RENDERING SHOWS the Minnesota Vikings stadium, which was selected Tuesday as the site of the 2018 Super Bowl.
Minneapolis awarded 2018 Super Bowl Atlanta — Build it and the Super Bowl will come. That message rang loud and clear Tuesday when Minneapolis was awarded the 2018 game after a vote by owners rewarded the city for its new stadium deal. The owners chose Minneapolis and the $1 billion stadium planned for the site of the old Metrodome to host the championship over New Orleans and Indianapolis. “In large part, it was due to recognition of the great work they’ve done on the stadium,” Commissioner Roger Goodell noted. “It’s been 10 years and we’ve always been driving to build a stadium,” Vikings owner Zygi Wilf said. “We can rejoice right now for being rewarded this, but the hard work comes now.” New Orleans bid committee members were certain the new Minneapolis stadium, set to open in 2016, swung the vote. The stadium will hold up to 72,000 for the Super Bowl. “The new stadium was absolutely the deciding factor,” Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation President Jay Cicero said. “Any time that there is so much public support for a $1 billion stadium, the NFL owners are impressed. “We did everything we were supposed to do, had a fantastic presentation. In the end we think the stadium did it.” The big game will be staged in the Twin Cities for the second time. It was there in 1992, when Washington beat Buffalo. Earlier at their spring meetings, NFL owners tabled any vote expanding the playoffs to 14 teams. There is strong sentiment among the owners to add a wild-card team in each conference to the postseason, most likely beginning in 2015. Under such a setup only the team with the best record in each conference will get a week off at the beginning of the playoffs. Goodell said it will be discussed again in October. “I do believe it will be approved for the 2015 season,” he said. New York Giants owner John Mara is against adding more playoff teams. “I don’t think it’s a sure thing at all,” Mara said. “It’s probably more likely than not, but nothing is set in stone. There was no straw poll taken. ... I think it’s good the way we have it.” The players’ union says it needs to be consulted on an expanded postseason, and Goodell said he spoke with NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith two weeks ago about it.
PRO FOOTBALL
LJWorld.com/highschool • Facebook.com/LJWorldpreps • Twitter.com/LJWpreps
Net Cable 145 36, 236 145 36, 236 145 147,237 145 147,237
THURSDAY
Chiefs sign Love, Cudjo
Baseball
Time
Net Cable
Kansas City, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs signed defensive tackles Kyle Love and Jermelle Cudjo and placed defensive tackle Cory Grissom and linebacker Ridge Wilson on waivers in a series of roster moves Tuesday. The Chiefs also signed defensive lineman Kona Schwenke, a rookie free agent. The 6-foot-1, 315-pound Love spent some time with the Chiefs last season, and has also played for New England and Jacksonville. The 6-2, 304-pound Cudjo spent his first four seasons with the Rams, starting four of the 38 games that he played. The Chiefs begin a three-day rookie minicamp this weekend. They begin full-squad organized team activities next week.
Texas v. Detroit
noon
MLB 155,242
Pro Hockey
Time
Net Cable
BASEBALL
Red Sox re-sign Drew Boston — The Boston Red Sox have resigned Stephen Drew after the shortstop had rejected a qualifying offer from the club following the World Series to become a free agent. Drew, who spent one season in Boston, turned down a $14.1 million offer from the Red Sox last year after helping the team capture their third title in 10 years.
Montreal v. N.Y, Rangers 7 p.m. NBCSP 38, 238 Golf
Time
BMW PGA Senior PGA Crowne Plaza
4 a.m. Golf 156,289 11 a.m. Golf 156,289 2 p.m. Golf 156,289
Net Cable
College Baseball
Time
Big 12 tournament SEC tournament Big 12 tournament SEC tournament Big 12 tournament Big Ten tournament SEC tournament Big 12 tournament Big Ten Tournament
9 a.m. FCSC 9:30a.m. FSN 12:30p.m. FCSC 1 p.m. FSN 4 p.m. FCSC 5 p.m. BTN 6 p.m. FSN 7:30p.m. FCSC 9 p.m. BTN
College Softball
Time
Net Cable 145 36, 236 145 36, 236 145 147,237 36, 236 145 147,237
Net Cable
NCAA super regional 6 p.m. ESPN2 34, 234 NCAA super regional 8 p.m. ESPN2 34, 234 Hockey
Time
Net Cable
World quarterfinal
noon
NBCSP 38, 238
COLLEGES
Pac-12 leaders back proposal Pac-12 university presidents have sent a letter to their colleagues at the other four major football conferences calling for sweeping changes to the NCAA model and autonomy for those leagues. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday night. It was sent last week to the other 53 university presidents from the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference.
TENNIS
USC tops Oklahoma for title Athens, Ga. — Yannick Hanfmann and Ray Sarmiento won their singles matches in straight sets, and Southern California earned its 21st NCAA championship with a 4-2 victory over Oklahoma on Tuesday night.
LATEST LINE MLB Favorite ................... Odds................ Underdog National League WASHINGTON .................... 6-7........................ Cincinnati MIAMI ................................... 6-7.................... Philadelphia ATLANTA ......................6 1/2-7 1/2................ Milwaukee LA Dodgers . ...................... 6-7........................... NY METS ST. LOUIS ......................7 1/2-8 1/2...................... Arizona COLORADO ......................Even-6............. San Francisco American League Detroit . .........................6 1/2-7 1/2.............. CLEVELAND TEXAS ............................5 1/2-6 1/2....................... Seattle
Time
Kansas v. West Virginia 9 a.m. FCSC SEC tournament 9:30a.m. FSN TCU v. Baylor 12:30p.m. FCSC SEC tournament 1 p.m. FSN Okla. St. v. Oklahoma 4 p.m. FCSC Big Ten tournament 5 p.m. BTN Texas Tech v. Texas 7:30p.m. FCSC Big Ten tournament 9 p.m. BTN
TAMPA BAY . ...................Even-6......................... Oakland BOSTON . ............................. 6-7............................ Toronto KANSAS CITY .............6-7.......... Chi White Sox LA ANGELS ..................9 1/2-10 1/2..................... Houston Interleague CHICAGO CUBS ..............Even-6.................. NY Yankees PITTSBURGH ...................Even-6...................... Baltimore SAN DIEGO ...................6 1/2-7 1/2................. Minnesota NBA PLAYOFFS Favorite ............. Points (O/U).......... Underdog San Antonio leads series 1-0 SAN ANTONIO .................6 (211)............ Oklahoma City
NHL PLAYOFFS Favorite ...................Goals............... Underdog Conference Finals Chicago leads series 1-0 CHICAGO ........................ Even-1/2............... Los Angeles Thursday NY Rangers lead series 2-0 NY RANGERS .................... 1/2-1.......................... Montreal Home Team in CAPS (c) TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC
THE QUOTE “There is no secret. Good food, good wine, good cigars and some exercise.” — Golfer Miguel Angel Jimenez, after winning a European Tour event at age 50
TODAY IN SPORTS 1881 — A small group of tennis club members meets at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to form the world’s first national governing body for tennis: the United States National Lawn Tennis Association. The new organization is created to standardize tennis rules and regulations and to encourage and develop the sport. 1977 — Heavily favored Seattle Slew, ridden by Jean Cruguet, wins the Preakness Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Iron Constitution, a 31-1 shot. 2001 — Barry Bonds ties the major-league record with his eighth home run in five games, but San Francisco loses to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-2. The homer, off Arizona’s Curt Schilling, equals the mark set by Frank Howard, who did it twice in 1968 with Washington. 2011 — Shackleford wins the Preakness, holding off a late charge from Animal Kingdom to win as a 12-1 underdog.
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