AP Sports

NFL offseason priorities include health and safety, kickoff evaluation and expanding replay assist

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The NFL offseason won’t last long. By the time the Philadelphia Eagles complete their victory parade Friday, it’ll be less than two weeks until the scouting combine kicks off in Indianapolis. Free agency follows on March 10 with the two-day negotiating period. The annual league meeting starts March 30. The seven teams with new head coaches may open offseason workout programs on April 7 and the remaining 25 teams can follow two weeks later. Then, it’s time for the NFL draft on April 24 in Green Bay. Some of the league’s offseason priorities include player health and safety and conversations about potential new rules, including reviewing kickoffs following a one-year experiment with dynamic changes.

Jalen Hurts’ rocky road leads to a Super Bowl MVP award

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Jalen Hurts smiled as he held the Lombardi Trophy in his right hand and the Super Bowl MVP trophy in his left hand, reflecting on all he has gone through to reach the pinnacle of success. The hurdles he faced along the way helped lead to where he stood Monday morning as a Super Bowl champion and MVP. Hurts says he is always focused on the journey more than the results, but his performance in the win over the Kansas City Chiefs should quiet his critics.

Track’s proposed eligibility, transgender rules would completely ban Semenya and others

Track and field moved toward adopting rules that would place athletes assigned female at birth but have higher testosterone levels, like Caster Semenya, under the same set of rules as transgender athletes who were born male and transitioned to female. World Athletics announced recommendations that would apply strict transgender rules to people like Semenya, who was born female but has what the organization describes as naturally occurring testosterone levels in the typical male range.

Senator opens inquiry into US Center for SafeSport’s hiring of investigator charged with sex crimes

DENVER (AP) — The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is looking into how a former police officer landed an investigator’s job at the U.S. Center for SafeSport despite sex-crime allegations that littered his past, while also asking if the center knew he had been accused of newer crimes when working there last year. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a letter to the sex-abuse watchdog’s CEO with 13 questions related to how the center missed red flags about former Allentown, Pennsylvania, vice officer Jason Krasley. Krasley has been arrested multiple times over the past three months for crimes he allegedly committed between 2015 and 2024. The center fired Krasley in November after learning of his initial arrests.

Shiffrin says she’s dealing with PTSD after crash and won’t defend giant slalom title at ski worlds

SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin says she is dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder following a crash in November and will not defend her gold medal in giant slalom at the Alpine skiing world championships. The American holder of a record 99 World Cup wins suffered a deep puncture wound when she fell in a giant slalom race on Nov. 30 in Killington. Shiffrin says on Instagram that “I really didn’t anticipate experiencing so much of this kind of mental/PTSD struggle in GS from my injury in Killington.”

NBA adds Atlanta’s Trae Young to All-Star Game as injury replacement

Atlanta guard Trae Young is headed to the NBA All-Star Game after all. Commissioner Adam Silver announced Monday that he has added Young to the All-Star roster as an injury replacement for Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will not be able to play because of a calf injury. Young was originally displeased when he was not picked for the game through the balloting for the starters or the coaches’ selections of reserve players.

Auburn edges Alabama atop AP Top 25 despite loss, Duke and Florida tied at No. 3; UConn drops out

Auburn is still No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll despite a loss to Florida. The Tigers received 34 first-place votes from a 61-person media panel. No. 2 Alabama moved up a spot and received 23 first-place votes. Florida and Duke are tied at No. 3 and Tennessee rounds out the top five. No. 9 St. John’s has moved into the top 10 for the first time since finishing the 1999-2000 season at No. 9. UConn, the two-time defending national champion, has dropped out of the poll after being ranked at 53 weeks.

No. 2 Notre Dame women have best ranking in 6 years behind UCLA, South Carolina drops to 4th

Notre Dame has moved up to No. 2 in the Associated Press women’s basketball Top 25 for its best ranking since 2019. The Fighting Irish replaced South Carolina in the second spot behind UCLA after the Gamecocks lost 66-62 to Texas. The Longhorns climbed to third with the victory. South Carolina dropped to fourth. This is Notre Dame’s best ranking since the Irish were No. 1 on Jan. 21, 2019. The Bruins remained the unanimous No. 1 choice. LSU and USC followed the Gamecocks, each moving up one spot while UConn fell two places to seventh.

NASCAR heads into 2025 with plenty of storylines, none bigger than a lawsuit filed by Michael Jordan

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — NASCAR has no shortage of storylines headed into its 76th season. The biggest one is the federal lawsuit NASCAR is embroiled in with NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. This year also marks the start of a new seven-year television package that welcomes Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery to a multi-network deal. NASCAR will also take the Cup Series outside the United States for a race that counts for the first time since 1958 with a June race in Mexico City. The season opens Sunday with the Daytona 500.

Reds will wear No. 14 patch on jersey sleeve to honor Pete Rose, who died last year

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds will wear a No. 14 patch on the sleeve of their jersey this season to honor hometown star and career hits leader Pete Rose. The Reds posted a photo of the patch on X. Rose died in September at the age of 83. He played 19 of his 24 major league seasons with the Reds. He finished his playing career in 1986 with 4,256 hits. Major League Baseball banished him in 1989 and he has been kept out of the Hall of Fame for gambling on the sport.