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President Trump is hearing crickets from a trio of UCLA basketball players, despite his successful full-court press to get China to drop shoplifting charges against them. The three players, LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, were arrested after being accused of stealing designer sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou. Trump, while on a tour of Asia, urged his Chinese counterpart to let them go, and may have been looking for some credit Wednesday. *snip* “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for...

UCLA’s basketball team returned from Shanghai after its season-opening victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday without the three players ensnared in a legal imbroglio over the alleged theft of designer sunglasses.

UCLA and Georgia Tech finally played their season-opening college basketball game in China after nearly a week of drama surrounding an alleged shoplifting incident involving three Bruins players. UCLA great Bill Walton, who was doing color commentary for the ESPN broadcast, wants everyone to know that the school and everyone associated with it is very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very sorry for all of this. Very. “I am sad, disappointed and embarrassed. This is a very big deal,” Walton said as the game tipped off late Friday night on the U.S. East Coast. “The noble purpose...

Shalane Flanagan became the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday since 1977, pulling away from Mary Keitany in the last three miles of the race for her first major marathon victory. Keitany had won three straight New York marathons, but Flanagan pulled away from the Kenyan great with about three miles to go and finished with an unofficial time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 53 seconds, about a minute faster than Keitany. The last American woman to win New York was Miki Gorman, who won consecutive titles in 1976-77.

<p>SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.— Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell has been arrested after a female food delivery person alleged he pointed a gun at her.</p> <p>Maxwell was the only player in Major League Baseball this year to take a knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.</p>

Tennessee Titans player Rishard Matthews tweeted Thursday that he’ll quit the NFL if the league implements a rule forcing players to stand during the anthem.“No I will be done playing football,” Matthews tweeted and ultimately deleted when asked if he would be willing to face punishment for not standing if a new rule is implemented.This is a very dumb tweet, for multiple reasons. Matthews is forcing himself into a corner. What will he do if a new rule is passed, and the Titans call his bluff? He’s going to be out of a job that pays millions simply because he...

The aftermath of the NFL national anthem protest has not been good for the football league. Disgruntled fans, low ratings, and very public fights have lowered the public opinion of the NFL to record lows. Now the owners in the league are attempting to take control. Multiple reports from teams across the league indicate that team owners and management are cracking down on anthem protesters. The Miami Dolphins head coach has ordered his team to stand, according to IJR reporting ... (long story, worth the read)The report indicates that many players are “scared” to protest, especially if they are not...

Yelberton Abraham Tittle, the Hall of Fame quarterback whose career spanned 17 professional season, has died at the age of 90. Tittle may be best remembered for the iconic photograph of him by Morris Berman of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, showing him as he attempted recover from being beaten and bloodied by a brutal hit by John Baker of the Steelers in 1964, his final season. The 38-year-old Tittle suffered a concussion and broken sternum on the play, but played through his injuries and didn’t miss a game that season. An All-SEC quarterback at LSU and MVP of the 1947 Cotton...

Known as “The Bald Eagle” as much for his sturdy leadership as his prematurely receding hairline, Tittle played 17 seasons of pro football. He began with the All-America Football Conference’s Baltimore Colts in 1948 and finished with the NFL’s New York Giants. He played 10 years in between with the San Francisco 49ers, but had his greatest success in New York, leading the Giants to three division titles in four years in a remarkable late-career surge.

Tim Tebow thinks the guys are going to a Halloween party costumed as "Star Wars" characters. But his "Heisman House" buddies are all dressed as Tim Tebow - except Derrick Henry. He's going as a baseball player. Alabama's 2015 Heisman Trophy winner pokes fun at the baseball career of Florida's 2007 Heisman Trophy winner in the latest installment of Toyota's "Heisman House" commercials. (It's really Nissan) In the ad, Henry is dressed in a No. 15 baseball uniform with "Bugs" written on the front. Tebow spent the first half of the 2017 baseball season playing for the Columbia Fireflies of...

Los Angeles Rams defensive end Ethan Westbrooks was arrested Friday night on suspicion of carrying a loaded stolen firearm, according to California Highway Patrol records obtained by NFL.com. Westbrooks was arrested on five felony charges of receiving stolen property, carrying a loaded firearm, carrying a stolen loaded firearm, grand theft of a firearm and possession of a high capacity magazine, according to police records. Westbrooks was arrested without incident following a traffic stop on Interstate 5 west of Bakersfield, California. According to the police report, the arresting officer stopped Westbrooks after he noticed him driving at a high rate of...

To cleanse the palate, I think he means “education” in terms of civic education, i.e. familiarity with policy and the candidates’ backgrounds, not grade-level achieved. It’d be weird if he didn’t since James himself famously skipped college after being drafted number one out of high school. Still, how often do you get to watch a mega-star athlete call the voters of his home state ignorant? This’ll be an interesting test to see if there’s anything Ohio’s favorite son can say or do to piss off his fans. Besides committing to play for another team at the end of a...

Matt Light, who was on the Gillette Stadium field for countless victory formations, has never been so incensed to see a Patriot take a knee. The former longtime left tackle, the decade-long blind-side protector of Tom Brady, pushed back against New England joining the national anthem protest like the players were an incoming rusher. “If you think that it’s OK to take a knee during our national anthem and disrespect openly the national anthem, you are wrong,” Light told the Boston Herald in an impassioned interview. “I don’t care if you have a ‘but what about’ or a ‘it’s because...

OAKLAND — In exit interviews on Wednesday afternoon, available Warriors reiterated that the team hasn’t had an official discussion about whether or not they will go to the White House, if invited, as is custom for championship-winning sports teams. But perhaps the face of the franchise, Stephen Curry, made it pretty clear that he doesn’t have an interest in visiting Donald Trump. “Somebody asked me about it a couple months ago, a hypothetical, if a championship were to happen: ‘What would I do?'” Curry said. “I think I answered that I wouldn’t go. I still feel like that today.”

Before Patriots quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots to a comeback win over the Texans, he stood for the national anthem with one arm intertwined with wide receiver Phillip Dorsett and the other over his heart. Brady was asked about that after the game and said his message was “there’s just a great love for my teammates.” Brady was also asked about the boos heard at Gillette Stadium as a number of his teammates took a knee during the anthem. Brady didn’t say whether he agreed with President Donald Trump’s feeling that kneeling is unacceptable and reiterated his strong feelings...

“Turn off the NFL,” reads a digital ad produced by the nonprofit America First Policies, which planned to begin spreading the message on social media Sunday afternoon. A political group with close ties to President Donald Trump is amplifying his attack on professional athletes who kneel during the national anthem as a form of protest. “Turn off the NFL,” reads a digital ad produced by the nonprofit America First Policies, which planned to begin spreading the message on social media Sunday afternoon. The ad includes a photo with Trump, hand over his heart, and a #TakeAStandNotAKnee hashtag. It follows Trump’s...

All of these NFL players and now MLB players who are protesting the symbols and institutions of the United States are at best hypocrites and at worst liars. They have every right to protest any perceived insult or unfairness that they think exists, and I have the right to call the liars and hypocrites for it…It is after all my opinion…and it appears that opinion is all that counts nowadays. If you’re wondering why I use the specific term hypocrite or liar, let me explain. They say they are protesting because of injustice, institutionalized racism and inequality. But let’s look...

On Saturday night, Oakland Athletics catcher Bruce Maxwell became the first Major League Baseball player to kneel during the national anthem before his home game versus the Texas Rangers. Before the game, Maxwell had posted a photo on Instagram with the following caption:

Alejandro Villanueva was the lone Steelers player to come out during the national anthem

President Donald Trump tweeted this morning – "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!" The great basketball player Curry has expressed concerns about going to the White House since winning the NBA Championship.