AP Sports

Familiar foes: Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty set for WNBA Finals rematch in playoff semifinals

NEW YORK (AP) — The stage is set for A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces to take on Breanna Stewart and the New York Liberty in a star-studded rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals. This time it’s a round sooner. The Liberty and Aces swept their first-round opponents and will meet Sunday in a semifinal showdown. New York has been on a mission all season to get back to the Finals and capture the franchise’s first WNBA championship. To accomplish that goal they’ll have to beat the two-time defending champion Aces. They’ll meet in the semifinals best-of-five series that begins in New York on Sunday.

As an era ends, the city that was home to the Oakland A’s comes to grips with their departure

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Athletics already have carved out Jekyll-and-Hyde legacy as one of Major League Baseball’s most successful and sad-sack franchises with nine World Series titles and 19 seasons of futility punctuated by 100 or more losses. Now, legions of A’s fans view the team as the sport’s most treacherous under the ownership of billionaire John Fisher, an heir of the family that founded The Gap in 1969 — one year after the A’s moved to Oakland, California, from Kansas City, Missouri. As the A’s close out 57 seasons in Oakland before moving to Sacramento and then Las Vegas, it’s heralding the end of an era that’s crushing a community’s soul.

UNLV QB to sit out season after agent says $100,000 promised for transfer has not been paid

UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka has decided to sit out the rest of the undefeated team’s season because of a dispute over a $100,000 NIL payment that was promised but never paid after he agreed to transfer to the Rebels last winter, Sluka’s agent told The Associated Press. Sluka’s announcement came in a social media post. The Rebels are 3-0 led by the Holy Cross transfer, who can preserve his last year of college eligibility by not playing in any more games.

‘We’re not robots:’ Son Heung-min is the latest top soccer player to raise concerns over schedule

LONDON (AP) — Tottenham forward Son Heung-min is the latest soccer star to publicly raise concerns over the number of games players are being asked to play. The South Korea international says there is a “massive” risk of injury to players in the face of the demands being placed on them. His comments come after Manchester City midfielder Rodri said last week that players were close to taking strike action. Days later, Rodri sustained knee ligament damage. Rodri has ligament damage in his right knee, City say, but has not given a time frame for his potential absence.

Man City confirms Rodri injury as Guardiola bemoans loss of ‘irreplaceable’ star

Manchester City says midfielder Rodri has ligament damage in his right knee but hasn’t given a time frame for his potential absence. The Spain international is among the favorites to win this year’s Ballon d’Or award for the best player in the world. He limped off after 20 minutes of the 2-2 draw against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday. City confirmed in a statement that the 28-year-old Rodri “suffered a ligament injury,” having traveled to Spain to seek specialist consultation on the problem.

Aaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer

Aaron Hernandez’s story of football glory and his eventual downfall with a murder conviction has been told many times, but “American Sports Story” dramatizes his life in a way designed to build empathy for him. Josh Andrés Rivera plays Hernandez in the new FX series that chronicles the late football pro’s high school, college and NFL days. Rivera says in an interview with The Associated Press he approached the role with “sensitivity,” and wanted viewers to have a more nuanced understanding of Hernandez’s life. The series is the first sports-focused installment of the “American Story” franchise.

Flyers turn to Russian teen sensation Matvei Michkov to lift them into the playoffs

VOORHEES, N.J. (AP) — Russian prospect and 2023 NHL first-round draft pick Matvei Michkov could be the rookie star who helps lead the Philadelphia Flyers into the playoffs. SKA St. Petersburg let Michkov out of his contract over the summer, paving the way for the playmaking forward to arrive in Philadelphia ahead of schedule. The Flyers selected Michkov with the seventh pick in the 2023 draft knowing he had three years left on his KHL contract. The Flyers believe the 19-year-old Russian has the potential to help change the fortunes of a franchise that has missed the playoffs each of the past four seasons.

For ACC teams, adding an NFL-like front office is the new norm for transfer-portal recruiting

Teams across the Atlantic Coast Conference are expanding staffs to help deal with the challenges of recruiting during the transfer-portal era. That’s meant creating what amounts to their own NFL-like front offices. Those growing personnel staffs are charged with tracking the national landscape in terms of players who are potential candidates to transfer and might be a good fit. The challenge is being ready to move quickly when the transfer-portal window opens in December. California coach Justin Wilcox said he thinks personnel and recruiting areas are places “where you’re going to see teams continue to grow.”

Rossi lands seat with Ed Carpenter Racing as team owner Carpenter scales back to Indy 500 only

Alexander Rossi has been signed as the newest driver at Ed Carpenter Racing, which will be the third team in four years for the former Indianapolis 500 winner. Rossi won the 100th running of the Indy 500 as a rookie in 2016. The California native will join Christian Rasmussen in the two-car lineup. Carpenter had already scaled back to racing just ovals and will only run the Indy 500 next year in a third ECR entry. Rasmussen and Rossi were both given multi-year contracts that were announced on Rossi’s 33rd birthday.

Women’s only track meet in NYC features Olympic champs, musicians and lucrative prize money

A New York City track meet will be unlike any other, featuring lucrative prize money, big-name entertainers, silver crowns instead of gold medals for the winners and an all-female field. It’s another win for women’s sports. Recently crowned Olympic 200-meter champion Gabby Thomas and company are helping the sport take a big step forward by racing Thursday in the inaugural Athlos track meet, which has assembled some of the fastest women in the world. The competition will dole out more than $500,000 in total prize money and split 10% of all proceeds among the athletes. There’s also a performance by Grammy Award-winning singer Megan Thee Stallion.