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NCAA prez: It's time to decentralize college sports
NCAA President Mark Emmert said Thursday the time is right to consider a decentralized and deregulated version of college sports, shifting power to conferences and campuses and reconsidering how schools are aligned.
Emmert said the recent Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA along with the lifting of restrictions on athletes monetizing their fame should be a catalyst to "rethink" what college sports has been about.
In a 30-minute interview with a small group of reporters, Emmert stressed he was not putting forth a mandate or even a recommendation. But he laid out a vision for the future of college sports that puts fewer limitations on athletes and de-emphasizes the role of a national governing body like the NCAA, which was founded 115 years ago and oversees more than 450,000 athletes.
"When you have an environment like that it just forces us to think more about what constraints should be put in place ever on college athletes. And it should be the bare minimum," Emmert said.
Emmert said the NCAA's more than 1,100 member schools should consider a less homogenous approach to the way sports are governed and rethink the current three division structure, which includes 355 Division I colleges. The NCAA's rules and regulations have long been criticized and court challenges have been mounting in recent years.
"We need to be ready to say, 'Yeah, you know, for field hockey, field hockey is different than football. Wrestling is different than lacrosse,' and not get so hung up on having everything be the same," said Emmert, who was president of the University of Washington before taking the NCAA job in 2010.
NFL funding study on hamstrings
(AP) -- The NFL is funding a study that will investigate the prevention and treatment of hamstring injuries.
They are the most common NFL injuries and nearly 75% of them result in missed time.
The league's Scientific Advisory Board on Thursday announced a four-year, $4 million award to a team of medical researchers led by the University of Wisconsin. The study is part of the NFL's effort to better understand and prevent lower-extremity injuries, including soft tissue strains such as hamstrings.
"When you look at the burden of injury overall, lower-extremity injuries and strains are the No. 1 time-loss injury in the NFL. It's a huge problem that keeps our players off the field, so it's become a priority of ours," NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills told The Associated Press before the announcement.
Leigh Weiss, the New York Giants director of rehab and chair of the NFL's soft tissue injury task force, hopes the research leads to a better understanding of "who gets hurt, how do they get hurt and what's their recovery time look like."
"Can we learn more about each individual injury to help drive better treatment, better rehabilitation and ultimately reduce injuries because these injuries have a 20-25% recurrence rate?" he said. " These are questions we're trying to answer with science."
Hamstring injuries typically occur more among skill players who run at higher speeds, but players at other positions are also susceptible.
"Different types of players, different types of exposures, it's complex," Sills said.
Added Weiss: "We've taken early findings and gone back to coaches, medical staffs and players and talked about the importance of gradual ramp up in injury prevention."
Research will be led by Bryan Heiderscheit of the University of Wisconsin Orthopedics and Badger Athletic Performance in partnership with David Opar of Australian Catholic University SPRINT Centre and Silvia Blemker, co-founder of Springbok Analytics.
3rd Fury-Wilder fight postponed to Oct. 9
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Tyson Fury's third heavyweight title fight with Deontay Wilder has been postponed to Oct. 9 after Fury tested positive for COVID-19.
The promoters announced the new date for the pay-per-view show Thursday. Fury and Wilder will still fight at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and tickets already purchased for the show will be honored on the new date.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) and Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) had been scheduled to meet July 24 to complete their entertaining fight trilogy.
Fury, the English champion considered the pound-for-pound best heavyweight in the world, tested positive earlier this month along with several members of his camp. Fury was already in the U.S. to complete his final preparations for the bout.
Fury and Wilder fought to a thrilling draw in Los Angeles in December 2018. Although Fury largely outboxed his powerful American challenger, Wilder knocked down Fury twice to split the scorecards.
Fury then trounced Wilder in their rematch in Vegas in February 2020, knocking down Wilder twice and finally forcing Wilder's corner to stop the bout.
Wilder, who is from Alabama, exercised the rematch clause in his contract even after Fury's emphatic victory. After an arbitration judge ruled in Wilder's favor, Fury resignedly agreed to the matchup.
Yankees-Red Sox ppd after New York tests
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Yankees' post-All-Star break opener against the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night was postponed because of positive COVID-19 tests within New York's organization.
Major League Baseball said the postponement was to allow for more testing and contact tracing.
New York was among the first major league teams to reach the 85% vaccination threshold to lessen coronavirus protocols such as dropping mask use in dugouts and bullpens.
The Yankees placed left-handers Nestor Cortes and Wandy Peralta on the COVID-19 injured list Thursday around midday.
New York players were on the field taking early batting practice about 3 1/2 hours before the scheduled start when the Yankees asked media to leave the field while the team conducted COVID testing.
Boston came onto the field as the postponment was announced to take batting practice.
Blue Jackets goalie remembered as friend, hero
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (AP) -- Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks was hailed as a friend and hero during a memorial service held Thursday for the player who died on the Fourth of July from an errant fireworks mortar blast.
Authorities have said the firework at a private home northwest of Detroit tilted slightly and started to fire toward people nearby. Kivlenieks was in a hot tub and was trying to move out of the way of the firework when he was struck.
He suffered chest trauma and was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Fellow Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins, a close friend of the 24-year-old Kivlenieks, told the mourners at the Schoedinger Funeral Home in Upper Arlington that his teammate saved him and his pregnant wife the night he was killed.
Merzlikins said he and his wife were roughly 20 to 30 feet behind Kivlenieks when he was struck, telling the crowd: "He saved not just many lives … He saved my (unborn) son, he saved my wife, and he saved me."
To honor his fallen friend, Merzlikins said his son's middle name will be Matiss.
Police in Novi, Michigan, have not requested charges in Kivlenieks' death, saying it still is considered accidental. However, they have asked the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to review the matter, citing the "high-profile nature" of the death.