BASKETBALL
Cavs fire Brown — again
Mike Brown was fired as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers for a second time on Monday after the team finished 10th in the Eastern Conference and missed the NBA playoffs. Brown rejoined the struggling Cavs at the start of the season after previously being released from the Los Angeles Lakers. It was his second stint in charge at Cleveland. He served as head coach between 2005 and 2010, when the Cavs made the playoffs each time and LeBron James was playing for the franchise. However, the Cavs have not qualified for the postseason since James left in 2010 and went 33-49 under Brown this season.
SOCCER
Liverpool’s Rodgers honored
Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers was named the League Managers Association’s (LMA) Manager of the Year on Monday after he helped lift the Merseyside club out of the doldrums and took them to the brink of the Premier League championship. The LMA also honored Crystal Palace boss Tony Pulis with the Premier League Manager of the Year award for an impressive six months in which he replaced Ian Holloway mid-season and pulled the club out of relegation danger. Liverpool, after finishing seventh a year ago in Rodgers’ first season in charge, had been in pole position to win the title before late slip-ups to Chelsea and Crystal Palace saw them finish second, two points behind Manchester City. “There can be no greater tribute to a manager and his work than a tribute awarded by his matchday foes and peers,” LMA chairman Howard Wilkinson said of the award, voted on by all coaches in England’s four professional leagues.
SOCCER
Atalanta fined for banana
Serie A club Atalanta BC were fined 40,000 euros (US$55,000) on Monday after a banana was thrown onto the pitch during Sunday’s 2-1 win at home to AC Milan. Serie A’s disciplinary tribunal also ordered that their Curva Nord stand be closed for one game, but suspended the sanction for one year. A statement said the sanction will only be implemented if a similar offense is committed during that period. The banana landed near Milan’s Guinean defender Kevin Constant who picked it up, showed it to the referee and handed it to teammate Nigel de Jong, who threw it off the field. Milan players sarcastically applauded the section of the Atalanta fans where the banana was thrown from. Atalanta said in a statement on their Web site that club president Antonio Percassi had telephoned Milan’s chief executive Adriano Galliani to personally apologize.
CRICKET
Ahmed leaves England
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says Mushtaq Ahmed has been hired as the new spin-bowling coach of the national team, ending his six-year spell in the England coaching set-up. The PCB made the announcement on Monday, saying Mushtaq was preferred to another former Pakistan spinner — Saqlain Mushtaq. The move has yet to be confirmed by England. Mushtaq Ahmed played 52 Tests for Pakistan from 1990 to 2003, claiming 185 wickets. Since the 5-0 defeat to Australia in the Ashes series Down Under, Andy Flower has been replaced as England head coach by Peter Moores and batting coach Graham Gooch has also left. England has allowed Mushtaq to explore other possible employment opportunities in recent weeks. He was hired by England in 2008 after knee injuries forced him to end his playing career.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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