ron James and his brand of basketball have become synonymous with many things. Amazing dunks, beautiful passes to open shooters exactly where they need it, chase-down blocks and tough shots to quiet down opposing crowds. But another thing that LeBron’s teams have always been known for is his intricate and expressive handshakes that are individualized to almost every teammate he’s had over the years.
Ever since his first stint in Cleveland, LeBron and several teammates have had special handshakes that he executes down the line before each game. However, the coronavirus pandemic and its ability to spread amongst people is leading to LeBron Handshake Reform. James told the Road Trippin’ podcast that he will no longer do high-fives and that his teammates will have some new handshakes that will presumably include social distancing.
The WNBA draft will go on. The league has let its teams know that the 2020 draft will be held, as scheduled, on April 17 – but it will be done virtually, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. There will be no players, guests or media in attendance; instead, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert will…
A message of support and encouragement in the wake of the coronavirus came from John Tavares via social media on Wednesday night.
“To all hockey fans in Toronto & beyond,” the note on Twitter from the Maple Leafs captain started, “let’s all play inside & play for each other.
“With this challenge comes great opportunity to enjoy quality time with family and loved ones. Let’s take care of each other by washing our hands frequently and practicing social distancing.
“To all the healthcare & frontline workers, thank you! Thank you for your courage, determination and hard work to fight this crisis. We are all extremely grateful.
“To Leafs nation, my teammates and I can’t wait until we get the opportunity again to put on our skates, and wear the Maple Leaf on our chest.
“Until then, let’s do everything we can to help each other by staying safe and healthy!”
Tavares’ message was accompanied by a photo of him holding son Jace, who was born last September.
With the 25th season of Toronto Raptors basketball on hold indefinitely, Postmedia is turning back the clock to examine the preceding 24 years, which culminated with a championship many thought the franchise would never deliver for its loyal fans. Read More
[ad_1] Ronald Blum, Ap Baseball Writer Updated 7:24 pm CDT, Wednesday, March 25, 2020 NEW YORK (AP) — Mookie Betts and all the players set to be free agents after the 2020 season would still get that chance if there is no baseball this year, part of a broad deal being negotiated by the commissioner’s officer […]
NEW YORK (AP) — Mookie Betts and all the players set to be free agents after the 2020 season would still get that chance if there is no baseball this year, part of a broad deal being negotiated by the commissioner’s officer and the players’ association.
If there’s no season because of the new coronavirus, the agreement would credit major leaguers with the same service time this year that they earned in 2019, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because talks were ongoing.
Trevor Bauer, Marcus Stroman, George Springer, JT Realmuto also would be eligible for free agency, even if the season is canceled.
Betts, the 2018 AL MVP, was acquired by the Dodgers from Boston last month for outfielder Alex Verdugo and two prospects. In a pair of deals at last July’s trade deadline contemplating they would get a top pitcher for 1 1/3 seasons, Cincinnati obtained Bauer from Cleveland and the Mets received Stroman from Toronto.
Service time affects a player’s status for free agency, salary arbitration and the pension plan. The likely service time agreement was first reported by The Athletic.
Major League Baseball and the union would agree to try to play as many regular season games as possible, the person said. They also would agree to explore one-time changes to the postseason, which would create the possibility of expanded playoffs this year.
They would consider multiple schedule options that would take into account player health and safety, economics and ballpark availability. Possible changes might include increased doubleheaders, extending the regular season into October and even November and using neutral sites with warm weather and roofs if needed for the postseason.
“A World Series week would allow for a great trial to open up an avenue of sponsorship,” said agent Scott Boras, a longtime proponent of a neutral-site World Series. “It would give players the ability to be in one place for seven games and lessen the travel after what is going to be a very difficult schedule to get to the World Series.”
If less than a full regular season takes place, a player would receive only a proportional share of his salary.
Management would have the right to delay the amateur draft from its scheduled June 10 start and to shorten it from its current 40 rounds. Teams also could push back the start of the international amateur signing period, which usually is July 2.
As part of a deal, management would advance money that would be given to players on the lower-end of the salary scale.
Opening day was scheduled for Thursday but has been pushed back to mid-May at the earliest due to the new coronavirus. A full service year usually is 172 days, and the season was set to be 186 days long. No matter how many games are played this season, a player on the active roster or injured list for the entire season would receive a full season of service.
Players need six years of big league service to become free agents, and they did not want their eligibility to be pushed back in the event the entire season is canceled. Service time also determines when players become eligible for salary arbitration, which is about 2 years, 120 days.
Formats for the regular season and postseason will be decided later, when it becomes more clear when the season can start. Management already has made proposals for changing the postseason format in 2022, including one plan that would expand the playoffs from 10 teams to 14.
“It is an opportunity probably to be creative or to try some things that people think could stick a little bit or could be kind of a segue to something different down the line,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “But it’s certainly probably an opportunity to try some things that you wouldn’t otherwise try in a normal 162-game setting where everything’s kind of going off according to plan.”
You can hear the strain in Jim Lawson’s voice as the Woodbine Entertainment CEO struggles to come to grips with what is happening to his industry as the COVID-19 pandemic creates havoc across the world. Read More
You can hear the strain in Jim Lawson’s voice as the Woodbine Entertainment CEO struggles to come to grips with what is happening to his industry as the COVID-19 pandemic creates havoc across the world.
Mohawk Raceway has recently been shut down, putting hundreds of standardbred track workers out of work. And now the thoroughbred season at Woodbine, originally slated to begin on April 18, has been postponed indefinitely, putting even more track workers — many of whom have little means — in a jobless situation. Lawson is worried about the future of his industry if the shutdown and postponement goes on for too long.
“There’s just no money right now and that’s the problem,” Lawson told the Toronto Sun on Wednesday. “We’re working with the government on a relief fund, but we’re putting so many grooms and hot workers and everyone else out of work. And despite the perception that horse owners are wealthy, they really aren’t. There’s a very small handful of owners that are wealthy and the rest of them are hard-working people. And they can’t make this work without any sort of funding. And the longer this goes on, the bigger threat it is to this entire industry.
“Hopefully we can get it under a control a little bit because I don’t think, like a lot of industries, the horse racing industry is going to be able to tolerate (a shut down) for that long,” added Kevin Attard, one of Woodbine’s leading trainers, pointing out that many of the track workers live pay cheque to pay cheque and many of the owners are small-time business people who would probably would walk away from the sport if they face financial insecurity.
“It comes down to feeding your family or feeding your hobby,” Attard. “Right now, you can see the writing on the wall.”
Keeping 17 NBA bodies finely tuned and chiselled is no easy feat at the best of times.
But try doing it without being able to take any of those 17 into the gym, or even see them face to face for what looks like it will be at least a month and probably longer, and the job becomes infinitely tougher.
That is the task that falls to Raptors strength and conditioning coach Jon Lee.
But instead of tough, Lee is finding he has a lot of help from within these days, most of it coming from various veterans on the team.
In fact, Lee’s biggest concern right now is that the condo building floors of Serge Ibaka’s Toronto abode are sufficiently reinforced to withstand all the weights and equipment he’s having sent in.
“He was on the phone to me two days after (the Raptors’) self-isolation period began,” Lee said of the veteran big man. “I was packing up stuff from OVO (the Raptors’ practice facility) and getting it delivered to him. Today, I just had more stuff delivered over to him. I won’t be surprised if I have to send over more stuff in two days.”
It’s to the point now where Lee is only half-joking when he says he is concerned about the building Ibaka lives in, and whether it can take all that weight and equipment without causing some sort of cave-in.
But Ibaka is not the only Raptor pushing himself at home while the rest of us work on those worn-in marks on our collective couches.
Ibaka might be the extreme when it comes to wanting to maintain his fitness level while the world works on overcoming this coronavirus pandemic, but he’s not alone in a desire to stay at or as near as possible playing form.
Lee has another player — he chooses not to name him — who not only updates him daily with his workouts, but sends him screenshots of said workout complete with heart rates at particular intervals of said workout.
“This player is so highly motivated he went out and (purchased and had delivered) his own (equipment),” Lee said. “His own weights, his own bench, a monitoring system … That’s one area I am truly lucky in. We have real professional guys and when it comes down to our veteran guys, I really don’t have to worry.”
Even the young guys, who might not be as diligent in their daily workouts, hear from the veterans. Lee knows because they tell him.
The message is always a variation of the same truth: “We got that championship last year and we’re not happy with that,” Lee says. “We’re getting another one. We’re going to fight until we get the second one. We are in a position this year where we have a great chance.”
All that, of course, is contingent on this season actually being completed. Lee though says the work must go on and he has had absolutely zero pushback when he delivers that message.
“Be ready,” he tells them. “Be ready. We could be starting in one month, we could be starting in two months but you better be ready for us.”
The COVID-19 outbreak has millions of Americans staying home in an effort to curb the virus. That said, some people haven’t exactly been abiding by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendation to limit social exposure as the coronavirus spreads. And that does not sit well with Enes Kanter whatsoever. The Boston Celtics big…
There’s no clear answer as to if, and when, the NHL will return to action after the league paused its season March 12 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The playoffs were slated to start in April. But it’s unknown if the regular season will pick up where it left off or if the league will…
The playoffs were slated to start in April. But it’s unknown if the regular season will pick up where it left off or if the league will go into an altered playoff format. For what it’s worth, commissioner Gary Bettman is optimistic a 2019-20 Stanley Cup champion will be crowned. But could the league be looking at playing games late into the summer?
TSN’s Bob McKenzie on Tuesday alluded to such on “Insider Trading.” “Earlier (Tuesday), the National Hockey League did request from each of its 31 member clubs to provide available home dates for the month of August,” McKenzie said. Of course, teams would need to figure out how to handle players who contracts expire June 30 if games were to be played well into the summer. The NHL also reportedly asked its players to continue self-quarantining until April 6 — an additional 10 days than the original March 27 plan. Even if games go into August and beyond, the NHL still plans to have a full 2020-21 season.
Mets ace Noah Syndergaard has a torn UCL and will likely undergo Tommy John surgery. The procedure will keep him out until at earliest April 2021 and likely into the summer months.
Mets General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen said moments ago that Syndergaard experienced the discomfort in his elbow before Spring Training was suspended and that he had, quietly, been getting examinations and second opinions. He also said that Syndergaard will have the surgery on Thursday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Which is a bit odd given that elective surgeries are currently prohibited in New York under governor’s orders due to the pandemic, but I suppose whether this is “elective” is a matter of nuance. It would be for you or me, but maybe not for a professional athlete. Just throw that onto the pile of things about which we are uncertain in the current situation.
Syndergaard, who is under team control through 2021, had a down year in 2019, posting a 4.28 ERA, but his peripherals were still strong. There was speculation last season and heading into this past offseason that the team would trade him, but the club shot those rumors down and said they had no intention of dealing him.
Now, no matter their intentions, he is not an option available to them for any reason at all for over a year.
The Astros suggest they sincerely apologized for their sign-stealing operation in recent court filings. They are being sued by some season-ticket holders.
The Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan reports that, in recent court filings pertaining to a lawsuit filed against the team, the Astros claim they sincerely apologized for their elaborate sign-stealing operation. It is the team’s first official response to the litigation.
Astros lawyers wrote, “The ‘sign-stealing’ controversy has been a source of great disappointment to Astros fans as well as to the Astros organization. On several occasions, members of the Astros organization – including individual players and its Owner, Jim Crane – have expressed their sincere apologies and remorse for the events described in the report by the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.”
Crane didn’t really apologize. At a press conference last month, Crane said, “Our opinion is this didn’t impact the game. We had a good team. We won the World Series and we’ll leave it at that.”
In extremely brief statements to the media, both Alex Bregman and José Altuve spoke in the passive voice in an attempt to shirk responsibility. As if the whole cheating scheme was something that just happened to occur as opposed to being a concerted effort by players that went unchecked by several levels of management.
The Astros have a history of not apologizing when caught with their pants around their ankles. When they have had their arm twisted into giving an apology, their apologies have been weak. Consider that it took the Astros nearly a week to rescind a statement in which it accused Sports Illustrated journalist Stephanie Apstein of a “misleading and completely irresponsible” report about then-assistant GM Brandon Taubman taunting female reporters about Roberto Osuna — arrested for domestic violence in 2018 — when the Astros defeated the Yankees in the ALCS. The report turned out to be entirely accurate and Taubman was fired not long thereafter.
An apology should be heartfelt, acknowledge the bad behavior as well as those negatively impacted by it, and state what corrected actions will be taken in the future. None of the Astros’ apologies — if you can call them that — for any of their nefarious behavior in recent years, has passed muster.
Don’t just take my word for it, though. After hearing Crane, Bregman, and Altuve last month, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryantsaid, “There’s no sincerity, there’s no genuineness when it comes to it.”
Alex Rodriguez, who was wrapped up in a cheating scandal of his own back in 2013-14, acknowledged on ESPN during a spring training telecast that he handled his situation poorly. He offered the Astros an opportunity to learn from his mistakes, saying, “People want to see remorse, they want a real, authentic apology, and they have not received that thus far.”
This is all mostly immaterial as the lawsuit is about whether or not the Astros owe season ticket holders recompense. That being said, the Astros wanting official credit for apologizing is to want credit for doing the absolute bare minimum. And they didn’t even do that well, if one can say they did it at all.
The view from left field 