FOOTBALL
Sam Bradford rookie finalist
St Louis Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was named a finalist for the NFL’s Rookie of the Year award on Friday after a record-setting season where he helped turn around one of the league’s worst teams. Bradford, the first pick in last year’s NFL Draft, set league rookie records for completions (354) and attempts (590), and his 3,512 passing yards were the second most ever by a rookie. The Rams, who finished with a league-worst 1-15 record last season, improved to 7-9 with Bradford, but fell one win short of making the playoffs after losing to the Seattle Seahawks on the last day of the regular season. Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who was taken with the second draft pick last year, was also named a finalist after he led his team and all rookies with 10 sacks.
FOOTBALL
49ers name Harbaugh coach
The San Francisco 49ers have dipped into the US college system to find their new coach, hiring Stanford University’s Jim Harbaugh on Friday. Former NFL quarterback Harbaugh takes over a San Francisco team that underachieved this season missing the post-season for the eighth consecutive season. The 49-year-old Harbaugh, who gets to stay in the San Francisco area, replaces fired coach Mike Singletary. His Cardinal’s collegiate team finished with a 12-1 record in the just-completed NCAA season. Harbaugh compiled a 29-21 record in four seasons at Stanford.
FOOTBALL
LSU takes Cotton Bowl
Louisiana State (LSU) shook off talk about the departure of coach Les Miles and beat Texas A&M 41-24 in college football’s Cotton Bowl on Friday. Miles is likely a leading candidate for the coaching vacancy at Michigan, where he played and was an assistant coach. In the days leading up to the Cotton Bowl, Miles said his focus was on his Tigers and that he enjoyed where he was. LSU (11-2) has now completed its fourth season with at least 11 wins in Miles’ six years. The Tigers had only two 11-win seasons in their history before that. It was the 50th game between the border-state schools, but the first since the 1995 opener. Texas A&M had won the last five games in a series.
HOCKEY
Langenbrunner back to Stars
The struggling New Jersey Devils have traded their captain Jamie Langenbrunner to the Dallas Stars, returning the right-winger to the city where his NHL career began. The Stars will receive a conditional third-round draft pick as part of the deal, the Devils said on their Web site (devils.nhl.com). Langenbrunner, 35, made his NHL debut with the Stars during the 1994-1995 season and played with them until 2002 when he was traded to the Devils. He won Stanley Cups with both teams, the Stars in 1999 and the Devils in 2003, and captained the US team that won the silver medal at last year’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
GOLF
Lincicome to face men
Three-time LPGA winner Brittany Lincicome is starting another round in golf’s battle of the sexes, as she plans to tee off against the men at a Hooters Tour tournament in Florida. The 25-year-old Lincicome will compete against a field of men at an NGA Hooters Tour event next week at the Deer Island Golf Club. Lincicome says she has a modest goal in her first tournament against the men. “A small goal would be to make the cut,” Lincicome said. Lincicome is considered one of the longest hitters on the LPGA Tour.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later