NFL
Christmas cleats bring fine
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara has been fined US$5,000 by the league for wearing red and green cleats during their Christmas Day win. Although it allowed Kamara to wear the cleats for the duration of the game, he was fined for non-conforming footwear. Kamara made history in the cleats, becoming the first player to score six touchdowns in a game since Gale Sayers did it for the Chicago Bears in 1965. He anticipated the penalty. “Oh, they’re probably going to fine me,” Kamara said after the Saints’ 52-33 win over the Minnesota Vikings. “If they fine me, whatever it is, I’ll just match it and donate it to charity. You know that the Grinch always tries to steal Christmas.”
NBA
First woman directs a team
Former WNBA player Becky Hammon has become the first woman to direct a team in an NBA contest, describing the experience as “a big deal, it’s a substantial moment.” Hammon made history on Wednesday in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 121-107 win over the San Antonio Spurs, taking over the Spurs’ bench duties when head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected in the first half. Popovich received a technical foul and was thrown out of the game with 3 minutes, 56 seconds remaining in the second quarter for arguing with a referee as his team trailed the Lakers 52-41. “He officially pointed at me. That was it,” Hammon said. “Said: ‘You got ’em,’ and that was it — very Pop’-like.”
NHL
Two outside games planned
The league is planning to have two regular season outdoor games without fans at Lake Tahoe in Nevada, multiple reports said on Friday. The Vegas Golden Knights are to face the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 20 at the picturesque Edgewood Tahoe Resort, followed by a Feb. 21 clash between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, the reports said. The games would be played around the final three holes the resort’s golf course, which is home to a popular celebrity golf tournament. The league has said that it wants something different in a season where fan involvement will be limited due to COVID-19, so it has scouted several locations for outdoor games, including Lake Louise, Alberta, and Park City, Utah.
CRICKET
Umesh Yadav to miss Tests
Umesh Yadav is to miss the final two Tests against Australia, further damaging India’s pace bowling attack. India team officials on Friday said that Yadav injured a calf muscle during India’s series-leveling eight-wicket victory over Australia in the Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Board of Control for Cricket in India said that the 33-year-old Yadav, who is the most experienced member of India’s pace attack, would return home for rehabilitation and miss the remaining two Tests — at the Sydney Cricket Ground beginning on Thursday and in Brisbane starting on Jan. 15.
DARTS
Past champ whitewashed
Three-time winner Michael Van Gerwen on Friday crashed out of the world darts championship, suffering a 5-0 whitewash at the hands of Dave Chisnall. A superb quarter-final display from England’s Chisnall at Alexandra Palace saw him hit 14 maximum 180s, as he moved into the semi-finals for the first time. Chisnall’s last-four opponent is to be two-time winner Gary Anderson. Van Gerwen wrote on Twitter: “I didn’t show up at all this evening and let myself down. For some reason it just never happened up there.”
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