AP Sports Summary for Wednesday, July 19th, 2023
Northwestern hazing scandal puts school in company with schools such as Penn State
Northwestern has been added to a long list of American universities to face a scandal in athletics and may eventually join the trend of making large payouts following allegations of sexual abuse. A former Wildcats football player filed the first lawsuit against Pat Fitzgerald and members of the school's leadership on Tuesday, seeking damages stemming from a hazing scandal that cost the former football coach his job. More lawsuits are expected to follow from former football and baseball players as well as from student-athletes who played other sports for the private school.
12 MLB teams score in double digits for 1st time since 1894, when record 13 accomplished feat
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball had a night of offense not seen in 129 years, with 12 teams scoring double-digit runs. Three games ended 11-10 on the same day for the first time Twelve teams tied May 30, 1884, for the second-most with double-digit runs in one day, trailing only 13 on July 4, 1894, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Chicago Cubs topped the scoring by routing Washington 17-3 and Arizona outlasted Atlanta 16-13. San Francisco beat Cincinnati, the New York Mets topped the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City edged Detroit, all by 11-10.
FIFA can't guarantee federations will pay promised $30,000 per player at Women's World Cup
FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he is engaging with member federations to make sure that the $30,000 payments designated for every player at the Women's World Cup reach the athletes. The payments will go to the national federations, which are in turn expected to pay the players. But there is no mechanism to directly pay the players the sum. FIFA had previously confirmed that the 732 players participating in the World Cup will be paid at least $30,000 each. The paycheck rises if teams do well, with each player for the winning team earning $270,000.
Lionel Messi takes to the practice field for 1st time since signing with Inter Miami
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Lionel Messi jogged a lap with his new teammates, took part in a warmup drill of players making short passes in a tight circle and before long tapped his left foot at a ball that wound up in the back of an open net. Inter Miami's new star wasted no time fitting right in. The World Cup winner and seven-time Ballon d'Or recipient took part in a training session Tuesday with his new Major League Soccer club for the first time. It came three days after he signed a 2 1/2 year contract that'll pay him between $50 million and $60 million a year. Messi's first match is expected to be Friday, a Leagues Cup contest at home against Cruz Azul.
Women's World Cup spotlight shining on Australia as co-host New Zealand seeks its own attention
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's Football Ferns are aiming to win fans as well as matches at the Women's World Cup. New Zealand kicks off the Women's World Cup on Thursday night local time with a game against Norway. The Ferns got the nod for the tournament opener just an hour ahead of co-host Australia's match against Ireland in Sydney. New Zealand Football announced that the opener at Auckland's Eden Park will have the biggest crowd for a soccer match in the country's history, some 50,000. That's a big crowd for a country known more for its love of rugby.
Diamondbacks outlast the Braves 16-13 to snap 4-game losing streak
ATLANTA (AP) — Geraldo Perdomo gave Arizona the lead with a two-run double in the ninth inning and the Diamondbacks took advantage of Atlanta's worst pitching effort of the season to beat the Braves 16-13. It was Arizona's first game in which each team had at least 13 runs and the first in the majors since the Chicago White Sox beat the Cubs 17-13 on Aug. 27, 2021. The NL East-leading Braves have lost three straight. Arizona snapped a four-game losing streak. Christian Walker homered twice and had three hits and five RBIs for Arizona. Corbin Carroll had two hits, scored three runs and drove in two. Miguel Castro (5-3) pitched a scoreless eighth and Kevin Ginkel struck out the side in the ninth for his first save.
Rory McIlroy is laying low ahead of the British Open as he tries to end his major drought
HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Rory McIlroy is laying low in his quest to end nine years without winning a major. He canceled his news conference for the second straight major. Everything is lining up for him at Royal Liverpool for the British Open. He's coming off a win at the Scottish Open. He won the British Open the last time it was on these Hoylake links. Still to be determined is whether he fits that model of players who win all their majors in a short period of time. Padraig Harrington is one of those players. He says McIlroy needs to be patient.
Column: PGA Tour's Monahan returns to work and the clock is ticking on definitive agreement for LIV
HOYLAKE, England (AP) — Jay Monahan is back to work as PGA Tour commissioner. And the clock is ticking. Along with working toward a definitive agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf, he has to look his players in the eye and do some explaining. Monahan stepped away from the tour for five weeks with a medical situation. He had said he expected to be called a hypocrite for doing a deal with the Saudis. It's tougher to overcome the label as a traitor. The question is whether he can survive this. That depends on whether top players accept answers and accept them coming from Monahan.
NFL teams are refusing to pay running backs. That reflects the pass-first direction of the league
NFL teams are refusing to give running backs lucrative long-term contracts, leaving the best players at the position feeling angry and underappreciated. It's no surprise the league has reached this point considering recent trends. The days of three yards and a cloud of dust are long gone. The NFL has become a pass-first, quarterback-driven league built around explosive offenses. League rules have changed over the past two decades to enhance scoring. QBs have more protection. Wide receivers have more freedom to roam the field. Defensive players have to be concerned about getting penalized for illegal hits. They can't go too low. They can't hit the helmet. They can't hold. They can't tug jerseys.
Georgia's Kirby Smart says complacency is the biggest threat to the Bulldogs' three-peat hopes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kirby Smart says complacency is the biggest challenge his Georgia Bulldogs face while trying to add a third straight national football championship. Smart and his Bulldogs also don't have history on their side. Winning back-to-back national championships is tough enough. No Division I program has strung together three consecutive college football titles since Minnesota between 1934 and 1936. Smart said Tuesday at Southeastern Conference Media Days that he and his staff have not talked with the Bulldogs about having a chance to do something not done in nearly 90 years. He says they have looked at how the Chicago Bulls strung together three straight NBA titles and other teams his Bulldogs may have heard about.
AP-Scorecard
Here are the scores from yesterday's sports events:
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INTERLEAGUE
Final Cleveland 10 Pittsburgh 1
Final San Diego 9 Toronto 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 10 Baltimore 3
Final N.Y. Mets 11 Chicago White Sox 10
Final Colorado 4 Houston 3
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AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Kansas City 11 Detroit 10
Final Texas 5 Tampa Bay 3
Final L.A. Angels 5 N.Y. Yankees 1
Final Oakland 3 Boston 0
Final Minnesota 10 Seattle 3
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final San Francisco 4 Cincinnati 2
Final Philadelphia 4 Milwaukee 3
Final Arizona 16 Atlanta 13
Final St. Louis 5 Miami 2
Final San Francisco 11 Cincinnati 10
Final Chicago Cubs 17 Washington 3
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WOMEN'S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Atlanta 82 Minnesota 73
Final Phoenix 72 Connecticut 66
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TODAY'S SPORTS SCHEDULE
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INTERLEAGUE
Cleveland at Pittsburgh 12:35 p.m.
L-A Dodgers at Baltimore 1:05 p.m.
Houston at Colorado 3:10 p.m.
San Diego at Toronto 7:07 p.m.
Chi White Sox at N-Y Mets 7:10 p.m.
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AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tampa Bay at Texas 2:05 p.m.
Boston at Oakland 3:37 p.m.
N-Y Yankees at L-A Angels 7:07 p.m.
Detroit at Kansas City 8:10 p.m.
Minnesota at Seattle 9:40 p.m.
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Miami at St. Louis 2:15 p.m.
Milwaukee at Philadelphia 6:40 p.m.
San Francisco at Cincinnati 7:10 p.m.
Arizona at Atlanta 7:20 p.m.
Washington at Chi Cubs 8:05 p.m.
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WOMEN'S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Indiana at Washington 11:30 a.m.
Dallas at New York 1 p.m.
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