BASEBALL
Foul ball creates foul mood
A Taiwanese baseball fan got himself in hot water with his wife when he dropped their young daughter into the stadium seats in front of him in a bungled attempt to catch a foul ball during a televised game. The man, identified only by his surname, Bai, reached for the foul pop from his upper deck seat while holding the toddler in one arm during last week’s game between the Brother Elephants and the Lamigo Monkeys at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium. The ball bounded off Bai’s other arm as he lurched forward and let go of his child. “I was going to catch the ball using one hand, but I ended up lifting both hands and dropped my daughter,” he said later. The girl was not badly hurt, but her mother was clearly not amused, as shown in TV coverage of the game that has generated tens of thousands of clicks online. She shot her husband a piercing look of anger and scolded him. Afterward, she made it clear to reporters that he’d be in trouble for a while. “I am still upset at him because I think he wanted to catch the ball so badly that he dropped his own daughter,” she said.
AUSSIE RULES
Geelong beat Magpies
Geelong kicked the first goal after 10 seconds and withheld numerous -Collingwood comeback attempts to beat the Magpies 18.11 (119) to 12.9 (81) in the Australian Football League championship in Melbourne yesterday. A sellout Australian rules football crowd of 100,000 was expected for the grand final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Despite intermittent rain, the prediction wasn’t far off — 99,537 watched as the Cats prevented Collingwood from winning their second consecutive title and tie Carlton and Essendon for league championship titles at 16. It was Geelong’s ninth title overall and third in five years, having won previous league “flags” in 2007 and 2009. Collingwood led by three points at halftime, but Geelong kicked five goals in the third quarter to lead by seven going into the fourth quarter, which it dominated to give Chris Scott a championship in his first season as coach. The loss was a disappointing end to Mick Malthouse’s 28-year career as an AFL coach. He led Collingwood to three previous grand finals before winning last year’s title with the Magpies. Geelong forward Steve Johnson kicked four goals, while forward Tom Hawkins and midfielder Jimmy Bartel, who was a member of the 2007 and 2009 Geelong championship sides, had three each. Travis Cloke kicked three early goals for Collingwood to keep the Magpies in the match early.
SOCCER
Stuttgart take fourth place
Dutchman Khalid Boulahrouz scored and set up another to help VfB Stuttgart win 2-0 at Kaiserslautern in Berlin on Friday and lift them up to fourth place in the Bundesliga. German forward Cacau tapped in Boulahrouz’s low cross seven minutes after the restart for his third goal of the season before the rugged defender added another with a deflected shot. The win took Bruno Labaddia’s team to 13 points from eight games, five behind leaders Bayern Munich. Kaiserslautern are just above the drop zone on five points. The hosts, who have won only once this season, came close in the first half with captain Christian Tiffert failing to beat Stuttgart keeper Sven Ulreich from close range and Richard Sukuta-Pasu firing wide. Israeli forward Itay Schechter then squandered three golden opportunities in the second half, missing from point blank range on each occasion.
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
Mathys Tel was hero and villain as Tottenham drew 1-1 at home to Leeds United on Monday — a result that leaves their English Premier League future hanging in the balance. The Frenchman broke the deadlock early in the second half to ease the tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but then gave away a penalty with a reckless attempted clearance. In the dying minutes, Spurs were grateful to Antonin Kinsky, who produced an astonishing save to deny the visitors a win. Tottenham are now two points clear of 18th-placed West Ham United with just two games left this season. The
FRUSTRATION: Gauff smacked herself on the head with her racket before storming down the tunnel, emerging afterward to have a heated discussion with her coach Elina Svitolina on Saturday won the Italian Open after beating Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 to claim her third Rome title, while Jannik Sinner set a date with Casper Ruud in the men’s final. Ukraine’s Svitolina had not claimed a WTA 1000 title since her last victory at the Foro Italico eight years ago, but prevailed over the ever-erratic Gauff to claim her 20th tournament triumph. Saturday’s win over Gauff was her third in a row against a player in the top four of the world rankings — including Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina — ahead of the French
‘DONE IT ALL’: LeBron James is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season as a free agent with uncertainty swirling around his future LeBron James on Monday said he would take time to consider his future after the Los Angeles Lakers were swept out of the NBA playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder in what could turn out to be the final game of his career. James, 41, delivered a typically defiant performance with 24 points and 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent the Lakers from falling 115-110 as the Thunder completed a 4-0 sweep in the Western Conference semi-finals series. The four-time NBA champion is now out of contract with the Lakers and would head into the off season
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