SOCCER
Zaragoza, Getafe draw 1-1
Javier Aguirre’s third coaching stint in the Spanish league got off to a rocky start as Zaragoza remained last after a 1-1 draw at Getafe on Monday. Nicolas Bertolo opened the scoring on 34 minutes after picking up Getafe goalkeeper Jordi Codina’s poor clearance to score with his left foot from long-range. Getafe equalized through Adrian Colunga’s 49th-minute penalty and then saw Zaragoza defender Leonardo Ponzio sent off after he was shown a second yellow card in the 63rd minute. Getafe couldn’t net a winner, however, to stretch its winless streak to seven games. Aguirre, whose most recent coaching stint was with Mexico after Osasuna and Atletico Madrid, replaced Jose Aurelio Gay last week. His team is last in La Liga with eight points.
FOOTBALL
Vikings axe Childress
The Minnesota Vikings fired Brad Childress on Monday, cutting ties with a head coach who had come under increasing fire from quarterback Brett Favre and other players after a terrible start to the season. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the season. The Vikings fell to 3-7 after a 31-3 loss to rival Green Bay on Sunday, the final blow to Childress in his fifth season in charge of the team. Childress took over for the fired Mike Tice in 2006 after spending seven years with the Eagles, including four as the offensive coordinator. However, Childress stumbled in his first year and never fully gained the faith of the fans — or some of his players.
BASEBALL
Red’s Votto wins NL MVP
The Cincinnati Red’s Joey Votto is the overwhelming choice as the National League’s MVP. The Reds’ first baseman received 31 first-place votes and 443 points in voting announced on Monday by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. St Louis first baseman Albert Pujols was second with the remaining first-place vote and 279 points. Pujols won the award in 2005, 2008 and last year. Votto was a first-time All-Star. He finished second in the NL in average at .324 and third in homers (37) and RBIs (113). Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez was third in the vote with 240 points.
BASKETBALL
NBA strike ‘99%’ certain
The executive director of the NBA players’ union said on Monday he is “99 percent sure” the league is headed for a lockout next year. With the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement set to expire in July next year, negotiations for a new deal between owners and players have yet to materialize, leading Billy Hunter to believe the league will suspend play next year. “I’d be 99 percent sure as of today there will be a lockout,” Hunter told the New York Times. The NBA owners are looking to shorten player contracts and reduce salaries by nearly 40 percent, while Hunter has effectively rejected the notion.
FOOTBALL
Vince Young out for season
Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young will need surgery on his injured right thumb and will miss the rest of the season, head coach Jeff Fisher said on Monday. The injury comes after Young and Fisher had a row following Sunday’s 19-16 overtime loss to the Washington Redskins. Young threw his shoulder pads and jersey into the crowd after he was left on the sidelines following the injury and Fisher said he was no longer his starting quarterback. Then came the news on Monday that the injury to his throwing hand was season-ending.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB