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The Los Angeles Dodgers have reversed course on the controversial decision to disinvite a group of self-described queer and trans “nuns” from being honored at the team’s 10th annual Pride Night. “After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence … the Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies,” the team said in a statement Monday afternoon after meeting with leaders of the group.

Former professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said Thursday on “CBS Mornings” that promoting the need for people to get the COVID vaccination was an extension of Black Lives Matter. Co-host Vladimir Duthiers said, “You’ve called for the NBA to insist that all players and staff be vaccinated. And if they refuse, you believe they should be removed from the team. Why do you feel so strongly about that?” Abdul-Jabbar said, “I think that when we ignore a pandemic that is killing people just because some people don’t feel like doing some research, I can’t go along with that. This COVID...

A newly unsealed court document in the ongoing federal defamation lawsuit brought by Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and retired Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard against Al Jazeera America and parent Al Jazeera Media Network raises questions about whether the two ballplayers used prohibited performance-enhancing substances. In a memorandum dated Jan. 28, attorneys for the media company asserted they are in possession of “sealed evidence” that “includes an invoice showing that, in autumn 2014, Howard paid for needles and an [MLB-banned] substance called human chronic gonadotrophin.” The memorandum also referred to “email exchanges between Zimmerman and Charlie Sly,...

No, the increased political activism in professional sports doesn’t explain the ratings decline. And no, the sports where that activism is the most pronounced, like the NBA, haven’t suffered more in comparison. [snip] Those were the findings of a new survey by the Marist Poll. (Disclosure: the author is a lecturer at Marist College.) A poll of 1,560 American adults, conducted in late September, suggested that a lot of the narratives surrounding the steep ratings decline in sports television are unfounded.

Gov. Tom Wolf announced a series of reopening guidelines for professional sports and their teams in Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Most professional sports leagues have been on hold since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. According to the announcement, professional sports are allowed to resume practices and events or games without spectators in counties in the yellow or green phase of reopening if the team or league has developed a coronavirus safety plan. The coronavirus safety plan must be approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and “include, among other requirements, testing or screening and monitoring of all on-venue players and...

Aaron Judge just made this young fan's night with a game of catch. During Monday night's Yankees-Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park, Judge played catch with 10-year-old James Payne, according to The New York Daily News. James was sitting with his father, Chris, in the front row in right field. They yelled at Judge in the game to try to get the slugger's attention, and Judge eventually obliged by throwing a ball to James during the fourth inning. Judge indicated that he wanted to toss the ball with James, but Chris had already put it in his bag. During the...

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has never been shy when it comes to criticizing President Donald Trump and he continued Monday, calling Trump a “soulless coward.” According to Dave Zirin of The Nation, Popovich called him Monday to vent after Trump attempted to defend his lack of public statements about the four United States soldiers who were killed in an ambush in Niger. Speaking Monday his press availability, Trump said: “President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I’m...

A drama class in Beginning Improvising and another in Social Dances of North America III were among dozens of classes on a closely guarded quarterly list distributed only to Stanford athletes to help them choose classes. The list, which has existed since at least 2001, was widely regarded by athletes as an easy class list. More than a quarter of the courses on the list did not fulfill university general education requirements. The classes on the list were "always chock-full of athletes and very easy A's," said Kira Maker, a soccer player who used the list her freshman year. Stanford...

The bill would allow people to carry a gun almost anywhere in Indiana. That means licensed gun owners would be able to bring their firearms into libraries, parks, and sports arenas, including Lucas Oil Stadium. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay held a news conference Thursday to voice his opposition to Senate Bill 292. The bill would allow people to carry a gun almost anywhere in Indiana. That means licensed gun owners would be able to bring their firearms into libraries, parks, and sports arenas, including Lucas Oil Stadium. "It's not taking an issue of bearing firearms or anything. It's about,...

Those guffaws floating over Colorado on Sunday morning didn’t come from the comic strips in the newspaper but from the Sports section. With stunning velocity, Denver Bronco Travis Henry is racking up statistics not usually charted in professional sports; he has scored nine illegitimate kids with nine different women. Henry is outdistanced, however, by former NBA Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy who had 14 out-of-wedlock children by nine women. Of course both are lapped by super-stud and premier athlete Seattle Slew, the Triple Crown winner who begat 1,066. But in contrast, Slew’s progeny were planned and a source of pride celebrated...

Those guffaws floating over Colorado last Sunday morning didn’t come from the comic strips in newspaper but from the Sports section. With stunning velocity, Denver Bronco Travis Henry is racking up statistics not usually charted in professional sports; he has scored nine illegitimate kids with nine different women. Henry is outdistanced, however, by former NBA Houston Rocket Calvin Murphy who had 14 out-of-wedlock children by nine women. Of course both are lapped by super-stud and premier athlete Seattle Slew, the Triple Crown winner who begat 1,066. But in contrast, Slew’s progeny were planned and a source of pride celebrated by...

RICHMOND, Va. - The difference between those sporting Michael Vick jerseys and those urging his swift conviction on dogfighting charges is glaring: Vick’s supporters are mostly black; his critics are mostly white. The racial divide emerged early in the case against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, apparent at rallies filled with cheering — and overwhelmingly black — Vick supporters and at anti-Vick protests that are noticeably white. Vick’s opponents say the evidence against him is overwhelming. For many black supporters, that judgment evokes uncomfortable questions about race and guilt in America. “White folks 'been grindin’ on an ax ... and that...

Former Falcon Hennings selected for College Football Hall of Fame http://www.gazette.com/display.php?id=1317476 May 17, 2006 AFA All-American picked for College Football Hall of Fame By DAN WOLKEN THE GAZETTE Chad Hennings, a two-time All-American at defensive tackle at Air Force, was chosen Tuesday for the College Football Hall of Fame. Hennings won the Outland Trophy as college football’s top interior lineman and collected three Super Bowl rings in his nine years with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Hennings, who played at Air Force from 1984-87, will be enshrined at a ceremony in South Bend, Ind., next summer. He’s the second Air Force...

Reggie Mathis wishes he could go back. Wishes he hadn’t squandered that last spring he was on the OU campus. Wishes he had been as partial to the library as he is now. Mathis has gone back. Back to the state he left in 1979. Back to the people who helped before and are willing to do it again. Back to school. Reggie Mathis awoke today with a new title. A new way to describe a man who in March turned 50 years old. College graduate. Twenty-eight years after Mathis finished his Sooner football career, he graduated from the University...

WASHINGTON (March 31) - The same Congressional committee that conducted hearings into steroids in baseball has asked NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue for information about how football regulates the performance-enhancing substances. The Government Reform Committee also said Thursday it will ask for similar data from the NBA, NHL, NCAA, U.S. Track and Field and Major League Soccer. "As the committee has stated publicly numerous times, its focus on the performance-enhancing drug use in sports is not limited to professional baseball," the committee said in a letter signed by committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis and ranking Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman. "As part...

<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Doc Rivers was fired as coach of the Orlando Magic late Monday night after the team got off to the worst start in its 15-year history.</p> <p>Rivers told The Associated Press early Tuesday that Magic general manager John Gabriel told him of the decision in a meeting at the team hotel after Orlando lost to Utah 90-88 on Monday night.</p>

Contrary to what Rush Limbaugh may think, the Philadelphia Enquirer does not call up Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid the night before a game to tell him who will start and who will sit. But Limbaugh is right about one thing: Donavan McNabb is given credit for Philadelphia's success because of prejudice and bias. It's an ugly bias that has been prevalent in the NFL and other sporting leagues for years. This bias has kept millions of hopefuls from getting a chance in pro sports over the years. Conversely, this form of prejudice has allowed many people, regardless of...

<p>Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was arrested Tuesday evening by Minneapolis police for assaulting a downtown traffic cop with his car and remains in custody, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis Police Department said.</p> <p>The MPD's traffic control agent suffered injuries in the 5:45 p.m. CST incident, but her injuries are not life-threatening, said Cyndi Barrington, public information officer for the MPD.</p>