49ers star DE Nick Bosa aggravates hip, injures other hip
(Field Level Media) — San Francisco 49ers All-Pro defensive end Nick Bosa aggravated a hip injury and hurt his other hip in the process during Sunday’s 20-17 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Bosa, 27, had dealt with a hip issue leading up to the game and was listed as questionable, but suited up and finished with 1 1/2 sacks, four tackles and two tackles for loss.
After a sack of Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith in the third quarter, Bosa limped off the field and was unable to return.
“I guess I was compensating, pushed through last week,” he told reporters. “And the same thing happened to my other oblique. So, see what I’m feeling like (Monday).”
Asked about how concerned he is about possibly missing time as the Niners chase a playoff spot, Bosa said, “It’s definitely there. I don’t know, I gotta see.”
Hornets star LaMelo Ball fined $100K for anti-gay phrase
(Field Level Media) — The NBA fined Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball $100,000 Sunday for using “offensive and derogatory” language during a postgame TV interview.
At issue was an anti-gay phrase Ball used when answering a sideline interviewer’s question about defending the last shot against Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo in Charlotte’s 115-114 win over the Bucks on Saturday.
Hornets coach Charles Lee addressed Ball’s remark in his postgame press conference and said Ball was “very apologetic.”
“As an organization, that is obviously not something we condone,” said Lee, who is in his first season as Charlotte’s coach. “Our standards and what is required of our players in the environment we create is really important to us.”
Ball, 23, is averaging 29.6 points through 12 games for the Hornets, ranking fifth in the NBA.
Wings win No. 1 pick in WNBA draft lottery
(Field Level Media) — The Dallas Wings will pick first in the 2025 WNBA Draft after winning the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history.
Sunday’s lottery awarded the No. 1 overall selection to Dallas, which had 227 chances out of 1,000 to have its number called.
The Los Angeles Sparks, who had the best odds for the No. 1 pick, will draft second for the second straight year. The Chicago Sky will pick third and the Washington Mystics will be fourth.
The four teams to miss the 2024 postseason were assigned number combinations based on their combined records from the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Los Angeles (25-55) had the most assigned combinations (442 out of 1,000), while Chicago was tied with Dallas after having identical 31-49 records since 2023.
The Wings are currently in the market for a new head coach after they parted ways with Latricia Trammell following a 9-31 campaign this past season. The team hired former Sparks and Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller as its new general manager earlier this month, and he will lead the search for a new coach.
UConn star guard Paige Bueckers is atop WNBA draft boards as the college season gets in motion. Other options for the Wings could include Southern California forward Kiki Iriafen and Notre Dame guard Olivia Miles.
Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator Phil Longo
(Field Level Media) — Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Phil Longo on Sunday, one day after a 16-13 home loss to top-ranked Oregon.
The Badgers are tied for 97th nationally in scoring offense at 23.9 points per game and 91st in total offense (363.1 yards per game).
“This morning, I informed Phil Longo that he will no longer serve as our offensive coordinator,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said in a news release. “After continuing to evaluate the program, I decided we are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.
“I appreciate Phil’s commitment to helping us build our program over the past two seasons and wish him well moving forward. This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success.”
Longo, 56, served as offensive coordinator for 23 games after spending four seasons (2019-22) in the same position at North Carolina. He also spent two seasons (2017-18) as offensive coordinator at Ole Miss.
Fickell didn’t immediately announce a new offensive coordinator.
Bela Karolyi, a gymnastics coach who was revered then repudiated, dies at 82
Bela Karolyi, a charismatic taskmaster of a gymnastics coach who with his wife, Martha, developed generations of the sport’s leading athletes, but whose reputation was tainted by accusations of an abusive style and blindness to the sexual crimes of Dr. Larry Nassar, died Friday. He was 82.
His death was announced Saturday by USA Gymnastics, the national governing body for the sport. The statement did not provide further details.
Karolyi helped usher in an exciting and more challenging era of women’s gymnastics as the Romanian coach who turned Nadia Comaneci into an Olympic champion in 1976. Under his tutelage, Comaneci, then 14, also scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic competition.
In 1981, Karolyi and his wife defected from Romania and attempted to make a name for themselves in the United States. He took on a young gymnast named Mary Lou Retton as a pupil. In 1984, she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in gymnastics.
Girls everywhere aspired to be the next Comaneci or Retton, and Karolyi himself started to become a star of the sport. He leaned into the spotlight. He had a twitching gunslinger’s mustache, a habit of bear-hugging his gymnasts and a Transylvanian accent that charmed American journalists. Television broadcasters outfitted him with a microphone so that viewers at home could hear his every word.
As early as the 1980s, some said that Karolyi’s insatiable drive to win fostered a culture of abuse. Yet accusations about unhealthy diets, unsafe treatment of injuries and even physical attacks did not halt his rise. When, amid fighting with fellow coaches, he stepped down as national coordinator of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, he was replaced by his wife, who ran the program for another 15 years.