The Saints are signing Taysom Hill to a $21 million extension through 2021, a source said, on the same day it was reported that they are close to signing a deal with Jameis Winston.
A 2-year-old colt has died after what was called an accident at Santa Anita, making it the 12th fatality at the track since late December. Last Renegade, who had yet to make his racing debut, died Friday, according to information posted on the California Horse Racing Board website. Last Renegade was trained by Peter Eurton.
No one wanted a draft like this, but we were pleasantly surprised by the behind-the-scenes looks it provided. Here’s hoping it serves as a model for the future.
No one wanted a draft like this, but we were pleasantly surprised by the behind-the-scenes looks it provided. Here’s hoping it serves as a model for the future.
The New England Patriots selected Michigan offensive lineman Michael Onwenu in the sixth round of the NFL Draft, with pick No. 182. At U-M, Onwenu started 35 career games and was a two-time All-Big Ten performer. Onwenu is just the latest to go from Ann Arbor to New England.
Through 10 NFL drafts in the Brian Kelly era, a total of 45 Notre Dame players have been selected, notably a minimum of six in five of the last eight years and each of the last two.The high mark occurred in 2014 with eight (two of them as juniors).
uring the Yahoo Fantasy Football Podcast, Liz Loza and Matt Harmon look at how the addition of CeeDee Lamb catapults the league’s top offense in Dallas. Subscribe to the Yahoo Fantasy Football Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Wade Boggs knew how to use all fields. So much so that perhaps the best plan anyone ever came up with was to line up eight guys behind the pitcher and have them scatter as soon as the ball was released. They didn’t do that, but they should have.
This year’s event was a welcome tonic to fans deprived of live sports. But not every team covered themselves in glory over the weekendThe 2020 NFL draft wasn’t quite a live sporting event, but it was enough to distract fans from the global pandemic that has kept major leagues indefinitely suspended. Here are the teams that we think did the best and worst jobs of improving their future. Winners Baltimore Ravens: Baltimore didn’t have many needs after winning 14 games in 2019, but general manager Eric DeCosta and head coach John Harbaugh maximized their positioning during the draft’s first two days.After losing linebackers Patrick Onwuasor and Josh Bynes in free agency, the Ravens tapped rangy LSU linebacker Patrick Queen with their first pick (28th overall). Queen is undersized for the position, but possesses blistering sideline-to-sideline speed and strong pass coverage abilities. After Queen, Baltimore added Ohio State running back JK Dobbins, an exciting addition to Baltimore’s record-breaking rushing attack who should effectively spell 30-year-old starter Mark Ingram and backup Gus Edwards.Instead of Queen or Dobbins, it was third-round pick Justin Madubuike that excited draft analysts the most. Some experts thought the brawny Texas A&M defensive tackle would go early in the second round, but he instead fell to Baltimore at pick No 71. When asked what his favorite part of playing football is, Madubuike told USA Today “I love putting my hand in somebody’s throat and pushing them all the way backward.� Add in fellow third-round pick Devin Duvernay, who logged 106 catches and nine touchdown receptions last year at Texas, and the Ravens left the 2020 draft looking like the biggest winners.Dallas Cowboys: The question that vexes every team when drafting is whether you select the best player available or the player that fits your biggest need. The Cowboys entered the draft with one of the league’s most loaded offenses but still spent their first-round pick on Oklahoma wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, one of three standout receivers in the 2020 class. Dallas had more glaring needs at defensive back and defensive line, but wily owner and team president Jerry Jones decided on Lamb, who has the explosiveness, strength and route precision of a future superstar.The gamble on Lamb may be worth it after Dallas unexpectedly landed Alabama cornerback Trevon Diggs in the second round. Diggs is a former receiver who converted to defensive back and excelled in 2019 with three interceptions, 11 pass breakups and is a player many scouts considered a first-round talent. Third-round pick Neville Gallimore is a mammoth interior defensive lineman that Dallas may have lucked into at pick No82 and fourth-round cornerback Reggie Robinson gives them depth at one of their weakest positions.Indianapolis Colts: The Colts drafted some of the best players available and filled some of their biggest needs even without a first-round pick. Second-round pick Michael Pittman is one of the many stud receivers of this draft class; the USC product is a sturdy 6ft 4in with excellent hands and enough speed to become the Colts’ top receiver within the next few seasons. Running back Jonathan Taylor is one of the most successful college players of all-time – he became the first player in NCAA history to rush for over 6,000 yards in a three-year span – and possesses the strength and field vision consistent with the NFL’s most successful running backs. There is some concern about the amount of carries he took in college and whether that will hurt his durability, but his explosiveness and physicality give him one of the highest ceilings of any skill player in the draft.Fifth-round selection Jacob Eason certainly looks the part of a future NFL starting quarterback – the Washington product stands 6ft 6in and has excellent arm strength – but must overcome the streaky tendencies that affected his 2019 season. He won’t play next year, but head coach Frank Reich may work to groom him as Indianapolis’s future starting QB. LosersGreen Bay Packers: It’s impossible to anoint any true “losers� before the drafted players begin their NFL careers, but Green Bay’s selections were extremely confusing for a team looking to win a title while the 36-year-old Aaron Rodgers is still one of the game’s best players. Widely expected to pick one of the many elite receivers in the draft, general manager Brian Gutekunst instead traded up from pick No 30 to select Utah State QB Jordan Love, who the team presumably expect to replace Rodgers in two or three years. In the second round, Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur drafted bruising running back AJ Dillon even though the Packers already have two proven rushers in Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Perhaps the front office expects Jones and Williams to leave town once they become free agents after next season, but it was still odd to see Green Bay spend their top two picks on positions they didn’t need to address.Any angry Packers fan should read this 2012 assessment of the Seattle Seahawks draft– one that calls Russell Wilson “the worst pick in the entire draft� – before declaring this draft a failure. Even so, there doesn’t appear to be a player besides third-round tight end Josiah Deguara who looks primed to make an impact in 2020.Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders maintained their eccentric draft-day tendencies with a host of confusing selections despite holding two first-round picks. Speedy Alabama receiver Henry Ruggs was one of the three elite players at the position (along with Lamb and Jerry Jeudy) but considered the least polished of the three. It was a forgivable selection, but few thought that Ruggs would be the first of a historically deep receiver class off the board.It was eight picks after Ruggs when the Raiders stumped anybody who follows the draft: defensive back Damon Arnette was a strong defender on a loaded Ohio State defense, but most draftniks didn’t have him as a first-round player. Time will tell if Arnette becomes one of the better players on the Raiders secondary, but Mayock probably could have traded the 19th overall pick and stockpiled assets instead of spending it on a player nobody valued highly.While the Raiders are always one of the most entertaining teams to follow on draft day, their inconsistency remains the only consistent thing about them.Denver Broncos: Team president John Elway clearly wanted to supply new starting quarterback Drew Lock with weapons, which explains his selection of receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler with Denver’s first two picks. The problem is that he didn’t do much to assure that Lock will be properly protected and given adequate time to get the ball to his new studs. While Elway drafted his center of the future in LSU’s Lloyd Cushenberry, Denver didn’t select an offensive tackle. That means the inconsistent, penalty-prone Garett Bolles will likely be the starting left tackle in Week 1.
Editor’s note: This story was originally published on August 8, 2017. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — “Y’all mind if I come?â€� Michael Jordan was a junior at the University of North Carolina in 1984 when he posed the question to his roommate Buzz Peterson, who was also his teammate on the Tar Heels basketball team. There was another person in their room that day, a new friend that Peterson had recently met in a psychology class. The friend was Davis Love III. A few minutes earlier, Love and Peterson had just left their classroom and had been walking across campus to Granville Towers, where the basketball team lived. Love, then a sophomore, asked Peterson if he had ever played golf. Peterson shook his head no. Love then suggested they go out to Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill to hit some balls. Peterson was in. “So we got back to the room — this is an afternoon class now — and Michael was in there,â€� Peterson recalls, “and I said, Michael, meet my friend Davis, he plays on the golf team. I said, we’re going out to the golf course to hit balls.â€� Normally, the golf course would offer no interest to either Jordan or Peterson at this time. After all, it was late March and the roommates were supposed to be playing basketball. But the Tar Heels had just lost to Indiana in the 1984 East Regional semifinals. Jordan had scored 13 points before fouling out in what would ultimately be his last college game. Peterson played just four minutes and scored two points. Perhaps Jordan was just looking to fill the void left by the abrupt end of the season. Or perhaps it was his natural curiosity and competitive spirit kicking in. Either way, he was intrigued. And that’s when he posed the question. Obviously, neither Peterson nor Love were going to say no. So off they went to the UNC golf course – a journey that ultimately led to Jordan’s love affair with the sport. “He started off just tagging along and driving the cart or walking around with us, just because there were so many guys playing,â€� Love recalls. “He tried to come out and hack it around and hang out. “And then he wanted to hit a few, and every once in a while, he’d hit a putt or hit a drive or whatever, and then he got more and more interested, so I found just a bunch of shag balls and some old clubs and made him a bag and let him start playing.â€� Ultimately, it led to Jordan’s first round that spring. His playing partners were Al Wood, who had preceded Jordan as North Carolina’s basketball star, along with Love and fellow Tar Heels golf teammate John Simpkins. Jordan admits he was still learning the rules – and more so, just learning to use the right clubs. “When do I hit a 9-iron and when do I hit that 6-iron, blah, blah, blah,â€� Jordan says. He doesn’t remember the exact score he shot that day. But like most golfers just starting out, it’s not the totality of the round, but the brief glimmer of hope. The one sweet, memorable moment. On 17 holes, Jordan recorded a bogey or worse. But on one hole, he made par. “And I’ve been hooked ever since,â€� says the greatest basketball player who’s ever lived (argue at your own risk). Davis Love III wants to set the record straight. He did not teach Michael Jordan how to play golf. He did not school him on the grip or show him how to address the ball. He merely served as a conduit to helping Jordan find his way to the course. But the legend is much more fun to imagine. Love remembers a TV announcer approaching him on the range before the final round of the BellSouth Classic years ago. Love was in contention and the broadcaster wanted to know about his friendship with North Carolina’s most famous personality. “I knew him in college and I played one round of golf with him at Buzz’s wedding since,â€� Love recalls telling the announcer. “He’s the No. 1 player in basketball and I’ve been to two games and watched him and he happened to see me at one of them. But I said I don’t really know him. “Three hours later, on the telecast, it’s Davis and Michael Jordan are great friends. He taught him how to play golf. So, the legend just kept snowballing.â€� So if it wasn’t Love, who did shape Michael Jordan’s golf game? Say hello to Ed Ibarguen. The director of golf at nearby Duke University Golf Club since 1988, Ibarguen was the head pro at Finley at the time when Jordan became interested in the sport. Jordan wasn’t the first UNC athlete from another sport to show an interest in golf (after all, it is North Carolina. Pinehurst, anyone?). Ibarguen remembers Lawrence Taylor, a future NFL Hall of Famer, hitting balls on the range. Ditto for Wood, who became a single-digit handicapper on the verge of scratch, and other Tar Heel basketball players such as Brad Daugherty and Rich Yonakor. And Jordan wasn’t the only basketball player on his own team to take up the sport. Love, who spent several semesters living in a room at the Finley clubhouse – “That was probably good for my golf game and terrible for my grades,â€� he now says – remembers Dean Smith, the legendary basketball coach, calling to check up on his team. “One time, Coach Smith said, ‘All the players are down on the driving range,’â€� Love recalls. “Could you send them back up to the gym?â€� But Jordan’s interest was different. “Michael really got bit by the bug, though, a little more than the rest,â€� Ibarguen says. Peterson, a former college coach who was recently named the assistant general manager of Jordan’s Charlotte Hornets – interestingly enough, he was considered the top high school basketball out of North Carolina, ahead of his eventual roommate — says he and Jordan spent almost all of their free time at Finley. “I’ll tell you what, we’d wake up in the morning, we were out there,â€� he says. “It was stop at McDonald’s, get you an Egg McMuffin, on to the course, get a hot dog at the turn, and it was all day long.â€� Smith, who died in 2015, and his then-assistant, Roy Williams, who is now the Tar Heels’ head coach, were also keen golfers. Smith was taking lessons from Ibarugen, with an occasional check-up from Love’s father, and he eventually suggested Jordan do the same. “He came into the Finley golf shop and introduced himself,â€� Ibarguen recalls. “I obviously knew who he was. He clearly wasn’t the Michael Jordan he would become, but he was a good basketball player, and a nice young kid. “Actually kind of shy in those days.â€� Ibarguen ended up teaching Jordan until the NBA star moved to Florida several years ago. The two still play together frequently and are Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup stalwarts. “I asked him if he was really interested in learning and he said he was,â€� Ibarguen says. “We started out, we just hit it off. I mean, we ended up having a lifelong friendship. The first task was finding clubs that would enable Jordan to be successful. But it wasn’t his 6-foot-5 frame that poised the biggest challenge. Ibarguen was able to make him some extended clubs until Jordan could be fitted for a set. “The interesting thing about Michael is he’s got such long arms that I think we extended them maybe one inch,â€� Ibarguen says. “A lot of people would think 6-5, you might extend them more. “But the real problem was his grip size because his hands were so large. Even making the grips the size of baseball bats, they were still pretty small. So, it was a bit of a disadvantage for him initially.â€� Ibarguen, who is a master professional of the PGA of America, says Jordan was a “tremendousâ€� student. “Obviously, he had great hand-eye coordination,â€� he says. “He was really bright. He would observe very, very carefully. You would show him how to do a shot and he could do it in ten or 15 tries. “The hardest thing he had to learn was trying to be a little more stationary because his sport was basketball where he was shooting, moving to a stationary target.â€� Ibarguen says Jordan attacked golf like he did basketball. He wanted to master the game and consequently, he put the kind of time in on the range so he could. As Jordan progressed, he would come down to Durham (where Ibarguen now works) when the NBA finally closed up shop each season to get ready for a celebrity event at Lake Tahoe. “Of course, it’s North Carolina and it’s hot,â€� Ibarguen says. “I would work him out. He said my practice sessions were tougher than Phil Jackson’s twoadays. So, we’d work real hard and he’d go and try and play in the tournament, which was always nervewracking for him. “I remember they used to have big battles with the Detroit Pistons. He said, I would rather go five on one against those guys than have to stand on the tee and have to hit this tee shot with all these people lining up both sides of the fairway.â€� In 1990, Buzz Peterson got married. The wedding was in Asheville, North Carolina. Michael Jordan was the best man. Love and the man he calls his fellow “redneck,â€� Daughtery, a fishing buddy as well as a former UNC basketball player and budding golfer, were among the groomsmen. While the bride and her attendants were getting ready, the men went to play golf. It was six years after Jordan first took up the sport. “It’s just amazing that for a guy who couldn’t hold a club, didn’t know what he was doing, to being really, really good that fast,â€� says Love, who used to trade golf clubs for Kenny Smith’s basketball shoes. “It was pretty incredible. “He went from a beginner in ’83 or ’84 to (where) he was probably a 10 handicap. Holy cow. Whatever it was, baseball or whatever, he was pretty good at it. Competitive, and good hand-eye coordination.â€� Peterson, for his part, was just worried whether they would all make the early evening ceremony at the Grove Park Inn. “I almost got scared because I kept telling Michael, we’ve got to go, we’ve got to go,â€� Peterson says, chuckling at the memory. “We were playing probably 27 holes or whatever and the wedding was at 6. The only thing he wanted to do that day was outdrive Davis. “He said, I’ve got to outdrive him just one time. I said, Michael, you’re not going to do it. He’s not going to let you do it. Davis has got a little competitive nature in him that’s quiet. So, of course Michael never did, but we did make the wedding just in time.â€� Jordan had his chance earlier in the week, though, when the group was playing Reem’s Creek Golf Club in nearby Weaverville. Inexplicably, Love had all but topped his drive and Jordan was licking his chops. “(He’s like) oh, I got it,â€� Peterson recalls. “Of course, that time Michael just OBs it because he went too hard at it. But he wanted to hit it out there with him, and that’s the only thing he really cared about. Heck with the score, let’s outdrive him.â€� All this may be karma, though. Jordan broke one of Love’s persimmon drivers when they were in college. The group had just made the turn, and Love had run into his apartment at Finley to get something. “(Michael) said, hey, it may be his clubs (that let him hit it so far),â€� Peterson recalls. “We’ve got these old clubs because they were giving us scrap clubs they got and don’t use, and they’re like X500 shafts, like swinging a tree. That was the worst thing for us. “So he goes in there and grabs Davis’ driver, hits it on the hosel there halfway up, and the next thing I know, I see the ball barely going anywhere, but I see this club head just floating in the air to the lefthand side.â€� The same story was offered up, unsolicited, in recent interviews with Ibarguen, Williams and Love. And turns out, the club is among the memorabilia Love recently lent to the World Golf Hall of Fame for the exhibit to accompany his induction next month. “He will still tell you we set him up on it,â€� Love says. “… And actually he probably did me a favor because the driver that I replaced that one with through a friend of my dad’s is the one I used from 1985-1997. “Michael had a huge influence on my driving career. He broke the gamer, so I had to go get a new one.â€� Will Michael Jordan make his presence felt this week at the PGA Championship in his hometown of Charlotte? In a way, he already has. Jordan Spieth enters with a chance to complete the career Grand Slam. If he wins at Quail Hollow, he would become the youngest member of a club that currently includes five golfers. The current youngest is golf’s version of Michael Jordan – Tiger Woods. Twenty-four years ago, Jordan Spieth was born in Dallas, Texas. His dad Shawn picked out the first name. He named his son after his favorite athlete. Michael Jordan will never be able to accomplish what his namesake Jordan Spieth has on the golf course. But the basketball Jordan, who retired three times and had a second “careerâ€� as a minor league baseball player, did cause a bit of an uproar once when he suggested to talk-show host David Letterman that he might play the PGA TOUR Champions once he turned 50. Instead, the 54-year-old who has built his brand into a billion-dollar enterprise, is content to play nearly every morning with the likes of Luke Donald, Ernie Els and Keegan Bradley at home in south Florida. The father of five spends the afternoon with his twin daughters, who are 3 years old. Jordan lives about 5 minutes from the first tee at The Bear’s Club. He has two custom-made golf carts with extra length for his legs and a sound system so loud that “you can hear the base in your chest if you turn them up,â€� Ibarguen says. Els has been impressed with Jordan’s game, particularly around the greens. The four-time major winner says on a good day, the man who has six NBA championship rings can shoot around par and in the upper 70s on an average day. “When we play, we like to needle each other,â€� Els says. “He’s always playing music in his cart and I don’t always approve of his music. So, we have a lot of banter with that. “(I’m like) play some of my music. But he likes his music because he wants the kick-my-ass music. He’s a wonderful guy.â€� So wonderful that he put together a video for Love to show at the 2012 Ryder Cup, which was held in Chicago at Medinah, which is one of the two dozen or so clubs where Jordan is a member. (“I’m all over the 14-club rule,â€� he once said.) It was a collection of Michael Jordan highlights – although not what you might expect. “Never put the ball in the basket,â€� Love recalls. “It was passes or urging his team on or whatever. … It was about him being a supporting role to the team and making his teammates better. “It was a great message to our guys.â€� Unlike some athletes, who might take advantage of not having referees around, Ibarguen says Jordan is a stickler for the rules – even to the point of sometimes calling him to make sure he was doing it correctly. The way Ibarguen sees it, that’s due to the tremendous respect his friend has for the game. That said, Jordan is not above some trash-talking when he’s on the course. Ibarguen, who said the ribbing was “mercilessâ€� the first time he lost to his buddy, calls it the Michael Jordan edge. “And it’s funny when he’s playing with other people, everybody’s always wanting to gamble with (him),â€� Ibarguen says. “Well, you know, Michael’s happy betting a dollar; he’s happy just doing it for personal pride. But he gets all these people that come on up and say okay, how much are we going to play for? “Michael just basically came up with a standard, he said, I’ll play for whatever makes you nervous. Which was a great line.â€� And at the most inopportune times, Jordan’s particularly fond of mentioning the name of a tournament where Ibarguen missed the winning putt. Sometimes, though, Jordan gets as good as he gives. One year when Williams was coaching at Kansas, he remembers playing with his home pro, Randy Towner, and Jordan between breaks at the Jayhawk basketball camp. Jordan was lamenting how straight Towner was hitting the ball while his own drives were more erratic. “Randy just looked at him and pointed his finger at Michael and tapped him in the chest and said, ‘NBA,’ and then turned to himself, tapped his finger at his own chest and said, ‘PGA,’â€� says Williams, who once played with Jordan when he shot a 69. “He said, Michael, there’s a gap there that you’re not going to cross. … It was one of the few times that I’ve ever seen Michael Jordan speechless.â€� Ibarguen says Jordan’s lost some of his length off the tee of late because he is so focused on keeping the ball in play in order to be competitive in his daily games with the TOUR pros at The Bear’s Club. And when he gets a chance on the 18th green – watch out. “Maybe Jack Nicklaus has more birdies on the 18th hole, but Jordan is pretty close,â€� Ibarguen says. “He’ll be losing all the bets, he’ll press all the bets and somehow or another he will end up dropping a 16-foot putt for birdie on 18. “How many seconds were left when he hit that shot in ’82? 17 seconds? He says all the time when you’re playing with him and he makes a big putt, he’ll go 17 seconds. He loves the pressure of when it means something. He really, really takes joy in that. “It’s that sort of spark that he misses as an athlete in retirement — and golf has replaced that.â€�
