Category: Sports

DETROIT (AP) — Detroit Lions safety Morice Norris was at the team’s training facility with teammates on Sunday, two days after he was taken off the field in an ambulance late in a preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the details, said Norris was released from an Atlanta hospital and returned home on Saturday.

Norris shared a social media post the day after he was injured, saying he’s OK and thanking people for their support.

“I’m all good man don’t stress,” he said, adding he appreciates all of the check-ins and support.

Norris was in stable condition late Friday night after he was attended to for about 20 minutes by medical personnel and taken to an Atlanta hospital.

The 24-year-old Norris was hurt with 14:50 left in the preseason game after hitting Falcons running back Nathan Carter. He hit Carter with his facemask facing the running back’s midsection and his head snapped back after assisting on the tackle.

When play resumed, Atlanta quarterback Emory Jones snapped the ball and players on both teams held hands and bowed their heads in payer.

Detroit coach Dan Campbell and Atlanta coach Raheem Morris made the decision to not finish the game.

Norris, a former Fresno State standout, played in two regular-season games and one in the playoffs as a rookie in 2024 after earning a spot on the team as an undrafted free agent.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The NFL is banning the use of “smelling salts” during games, saying the products aren’t proven to be safe and also could mask signs of a concussion.

The league sent a memo to teams on Tuesday explaining the decision to ban smelling salts and any other ammonia inhalant during pregame activities, games and halftime on the sideline or locker rooms.

“In 2024, the FDA issued a warning to companies that produce commercially available ammonia inhalants (AIs), as well as to consumers about the purchase and use of AIs, regarding the lack of evidence supporting the safety or efficacy of AIs marketed for improving mental alertness or boosting energy,” according to the memo obtained by The Associated Press. “The FDA noted potential negative effects from AI use. AIs also have the potential to mask certain neurologic signs and symptoms, including some potential signs of concussion. As a result, the NFL Head, Neck, and Spine Committee recommended prohibiting the use of AIs for any purpose during play in the NFL.”

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle first disclosed the ban during an interview with NFL Network on Tuesday, adding that he hoped the league would relent and “figure out a middle ground.”

That won’t happen, according to the memo, which explicitly prohibits any club personnel from providing or supplying products such as ammonia capsules, inhalers, ammonia in a cup, and any form of “smelling salts.”

Smelling salts and other similar products have been a staple on NFL sidelines for years with many players believing they can provide a sudden jolt of energy or alertness.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Reigning 100-meter world champion Sha’Carri Richardson was arrested last weekend for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Richardson was arrested Sunday on a fourth-degree domestic violence offense, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. On Thursday, she ran in the opening round of the women’s 100 meters at U.S. track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon. She has an automatic bye to the world championships in September in Tokyo as the defending champion.

The 25-year-old Richardson was booked into the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) in Des Moines, Washington, at 6:54 p.m. last Sunday and released Monday at 1:13 p.m.

“USATF is aware of the reports and is not commenting on this matter,” USA Track and Field said in a statement.

Richardson’s agent did not immediately reply to an email request for comment.

The police report said an officer at the airport was notified by a Transportation Security Administration supervisor of a disturbance between Richardson and her boyfriend, sprinter Christian Coleman.

The officer reviewed camera footage and observed Richardson reach out with her left arm and grab Coleman’s backpack and yank it away. Richardson then appeared to get in Coleman’s way with Coleman trying to step around her. Coleman was shoved into a wall.

The report later said Richardson appeared to throw an item at Coleman, which the TSA indicated may have been headphones.

In the police report, the officer said: “I was told Coleman did not want to participate any further in the investigation and declined to be a victim.”

Richardson won the 100 at the 2023 world championships in Budapest and finished with the silver at the Paris Games last summer. She also helped the 4×100 relay to an Olympic gold.

She had a positive marijuana test at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials and didn’t compete at the Tokyo Olympics.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Bristol Motor Speedway is ready to make history by hosting the first Major League Baseball game in Tennessee.

The stage, or in this case the racetrack, has been set for the biggest crowd for a regular season baseball game at Saturday night’s MLB Speedway Classic between the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.

“The way the venue looks really is something that you can put on paper, but you really can’t get a true vision of it until you actually put grandstands on the infield of the track, and you put 3,500 seats in the middle of 87,000 seats,” Jeremiah Yolkut, MLB’s senior vice president of global events, said Friday.

“Those things just don’t become a reality until you actually see them.”

What fans will see Saturday is a baseball diamond tucked inside the infield of the half-mile bullring at Bristol. A temporary grandstand wraps around both sidelines with a press box at the top. The track’s Colossus videoboard hovers over foul territory along the third base line. Any balls hit off Colossus will be foul.

Three-time All-Star Sean Casey played in a March 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers with 115,300 at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the largest crowd ever to see a baseball game. Casey said Friday that the energy from the fans that day was “incredible.”

“I think the Reds and the Braves taking this field with 90,000-plus people at Bristol Motor Speedway, the energy for this game is going to be off the charts,” Casey said after spending time on this field broadcasting with MLB Network.

MLB didn’t try to top that 2008 mark for attendance, blocking off seats in Turns 3 and 4 at the track with a racing capacity of 146,000. Officials announced Monday that more than 85,000 tickets had been sold to top the previous paid attendance of 84,587 set Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.

Yolkut said a difference between now and the 2008 game is this is a regular-season game and not an exhibition. This game wasn’t about simply packing people in to set a record and telling some fans to just watch the game on the videoboard.

“We thought it was important to have as minimal obstruction seats as possible and to make sure that the fans coming were going to have a great experience,” Yolkut said.

The Reds held off the Braves 3-2 in Cincinnati on Friday afternoon.

That gave everyone at Bristol time to prepare for Saturday’s spectacle. The teams have separate clubhouses, with the Reds behind the baseball field’s grandstand and the Braves just past the right field fence next to the track wall.

A few miles away, the Braves threw a watch party at the Bristol Paramount Theater for Friday’s game. Admission was free with souvenirs available and the concession stand open with the big screen view.

To make sure fans arrive early Saturday, MLB also has a plan.

The MLB Fan Zone just outside the speedway’s towering walls features a 110-foot Ferris wheel, food trucks, pitching tunnels and batting cages and team mascots. Tim McGraw and Pitbull will headline a big pre-game concert inside Bristol.

A flyover is planned, and Chipper Jones and Johnny Bench will handle the first pitch.

The chance to see history had fans arriving Thursday to take advantage of Bristol’s campgrounds. A group of Braves’ fans came from Charleston, South Carolina, and set up tents. Rich Lorenzo, 40, has been watching the Braves since he grew up in Columbus, Georgia.

“I’m super excited because here I’ve actually run Bristol in two different cars here, and it’s kind of cool to come for something other than racing,” Lorenzo said as he sat next to his tent. “So it’s a really, really amazing event to be a part of. Plus, the first Major League Baseball game in Tennessee.”

The 124,000 square feet of AstroTurf will be donated after the game to East Tennessee State University as part of MLB ‘s Better Together social responsibility initiative. ETSU has had 45 players taken in the MLB draft.

That program also held a STEM event in the infield Friday. About 60 members of the local Boys and Girls Club got to show the science and math behind hitting a baseball, running the bases or the quick reactions needed for players and NASCAR drivers.

“We also get the opportunity to invest in the community that’s hosting us,” said April Brown, MLB’s senior vice president of social responsibility. “So this is incredibly important to our MLB Together pillars because education and partnerships are key to what we want to invest in.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

CINCINNATI (AP) — Trey Hendrickson is ending his holdout and will report to the Cincinnati Bengals on Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday night.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had not been announced.

The All-Pro defensive end missed the first five days of training camp and accumulated $250,000 in fines. Hendrickson left Cincinnati before the start of camp and was working out in Jacksonville, Florida. The Bengals held position meetings on Tuesday but did not practice.

Hendrickson is seeking a long-term extension with guaranteed money that matches what the league’s top pass rushers are earning. He is scheduled to earn $15.8 million in base salary this season and has a cap number of $18.7 million.

Even though Hendrickson will be in the team complex and attending meetings, it is unlikely he would practice until a new deal is reached.

Hendrickson — who led the league with 17 1/2 sacks last season — also did not attend June’s mandatory minicamp, but he did make an appearance during an offseason workout in May to vent his frustrations about negotiations.

“I’m not looking to offend Trey by saying something, and I’m not looking to try to justify where we are. I think we’re in a good spot,” owner Mike Brown said on July 21, the day before Bengals veterans reported to camp. “I hope this thing comes together soon, and I’m just going to leave it at that.”

Hendrickson is a valuable part of a defense looking to improve with Al Golden in his first season as coordinator. The Bengals (9-8 last season) finished 25th in the league in total defense (348.3 yards allowed per game) last season and lost four games in which they scored at least 30 points.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — The Speedway Classic will break Major League Baseball’s single-game, regular-season attendance record.

The game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves, which will be played Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway, already has sold more than 85,000 tickets. The first American or National League game ever played in Tennessee will eclipse the previous paid attendance record of 84,587, set on Sept. 12, 1954, when Cleveland Stadium hosted the New York Yankees.

The Speedway Classic will feature pregame pageantry from the U.S. Navy and a ceremonial first pitch between two Hall of Famers: Chipper Jones (Braves) to Johnny Bench (Reds).

The game also will include a full day of musical performances, with Tim McGraw, Pitbull and Jake Owen taking the stage for their concerts.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Workers still have some finishing touches to put on the field inside the racetrack at Bristol Motor Speedway, and officials are expecting a record crowd in a week to watch the Cincinnati Reds play the Atlanta Braves in the MLB Speedway Classic on Aug. 2.

“We can’t wait for next Saturday night … when that first pitch is thrown out and the stands are full,” Jerry Caldwell, Bristol’s president and general manager, said Friday. “We’ll be setting records, we’ll be having attendance records. We’ll announcing all those details later on, but we’ll be there, I know we will.”

The largest crowd ever to see a baseball game was 115,300 for a March 2008 exhibition between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Coliseum. Bristol packed in 156,990 for the Battle of Bristol college football game in 2016.

Officials showed off the work Friday with a baseball field now sitting on top of the infield inside the half-mile bullring where cars and a building once sat for NASCAR races.

Murray Cook, an MLB field and stadium consultant with BrightView, said he’s excited to be at this point in the process of building a ballpark. Final touches still remain for the clay along with all the padding and branding, which should be in place by Wednesday at the latest.

Crews also held a light check Thursday night to make sure the Musco lights meet MLB standards.

“We’ve had a blast building this,” Cook said.

Even though the Braves play the Reds in Cincinnati on Aug. 1, the day before the Bristol game, fans are being encouraged to settle in for the big party planned both outside and then inside the racetrack for game day.

Caldwell said fans should show up by noon on game day to enjoy the attractions outside the track, including music, a 110-foot Ferris wheel, a food truck row, pitching tunnels and batting cages and team mascots. Once fans head inside, Tim McGraw and Pitbull are scheduled to perform.

Demolition started in early June with heavy construction now in high gear to transform Bristol Motor Speedway into a ballpark for the first MLB game in Tennessee.

This game features grandstand seating for fans along both baselines. Both teams will be wearing NASCAR-inspired uniforms with details like flames on the brim of the Braves’ caps and a finish-line checkerboard for the Reds’ caps.

The MLB Speedway Classic also will be included in the “MLB The Show 25” video game after an update scheduled for Tuesday.

Caldwell said the project has been long in the works.

“We’re … thrilled to be able to welcome everyone to Bristol and partner with Major League Baseball, the state of Tennessee and so many others to be able to pull this off,” he said.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Aaron Glenn has been mapping out exactly how he wants to lead an NFL team for a few years.

Before he was hired as the New York Jets’ head coach in January, Glenn spent four seasons as the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator and was empowered by coach Dan Campbell to make some crucial calls for the team off the field.

“He allowed me to actually act in the position of being the head coach,” Glenn said. “To be able to do the calendar for the offseason, plan training camp out, be able to make decisions that he was supposed to make.

“But he allowed me to make those decisions to get me ready to be in this position.”

Glenn, a three-time Pro Bowl cornerback during a 15-year playing career, is charged with trying to turn around the fortunes of a Jets franchise that has the NFL’s longest playoff drought at 14 seasons.

He opened training camp this week as one of five first-time head coaches in the league, joining Jacksonville’s Liam Coen, Chicago’s Ben Johnson, New Orleans’ Kellen Moore and Dallas’ Brian Schottenheimer.

All five are long-time assistants who now each face distinct challenges and must balance the responsibilities of managing an entire roster and staff instead of focusing on one particular side of the football.

Aaron Glenn, Jets

Age: 53

Background: Jets’ first-round pick (No. 12 overall) in 1994 out of Texas A&M. Played eight seasons for New York before three with Houston, two with Dallas and one each with Jacksonville and New Orleans. After retiring from playing, Glenn served as the general manager of the Houston Stallions of the indoor Texas Lone Star Football League in 2012 before being hired as a personnel scout with the Jets later that year. He then had stints as an assistant with Cleveland, New Orleans and Detroit.

Task: He and new GM Darren Mougey focused on making the Jets’ roster younger, parting ways with veterans such as QB Aaron Rodgers, WR Davante Adams, LB C.J. Mosley, K Greg Zuerlein and P Thomas Morstead. Glenn, who considers his former coach Bill Parcells a mentor, spoke often during the offseason about changing the Jets’ culture. Ending their long postseason drought will help and there’s key foundational talent — WR Garrett Wilson, CB Sauce Gardner, RB Breece Hall, DT Quinnen Williams, edge rusher Jermaine Johnson — but the youth movement could temper some first-year expectations.

Liam Coen, Jaguars

Age: 39

Background: Played quarterback at UMass. Spent last season as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator before being hired by Jacksonville in January to replace the fired Doug Pederson. Coen had two stints with the Los Angeles Rams, including serving as Sean McVay’s offensive coordinator in 2022. He also had college stops as an assistant at Brown, Rhode Island, UMass, Maine and Kentucky.

Task: His awkward Jaguars intro — “Duuuval” — went viral, but Coen was hired for his offensive prowess after he helped Baker Mayfield to the best season of his career with the Buccaneers. Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in 2021, has not yet fully lived up to expectations and that will be the focus for Coen, who’ll call the plays, and offensive coordinator Grant Udinski. Adding versatile No. 2 pick Travis Hunter to the offense (and defense) should help Lawrence and a franchise that has just one playoff appearance in the past seven seasons.

Ben Johnson, Bears

Age: 39

Background: A former backup QB at North Carolina, Johnson was Detroit’s offensive coordinator the past three years and helped Jared Goff and the Lions lead the league in scoring last season. Johnson’s path to the NFL began as an assistant at Boston College before seven seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He joined the Lions in 2019 as an offensive quality control coach and was retained by Campbell when he took over as coach in 2020, serving as the tight ends coach and then passing game coordinator before becoming the OC in 2022.

Task: The Bears drafted Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft and Chicago is hoping Johnson will be able to develop the quarterback into a playmaking star. Williams showed promise while starting all 17 games, throwing for a franchise rookie-record 3,541 yard with 20 touchdown passes and six interceptions, but his 68 sacks led the league. Getting Williams to get rid of the ball faster and improve on his accuracy should help, so should GM Ryan Poles’ trade acquisitions of guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson to bolster the offensive line.

Kellen Moore, Saints

Age: 37

Background: A former backup quarterback with Detroit and Dallas over six NFL seasons, Moore was long considered a head coaching candidate during his stops as an offensive coordinator with the Cowboys, Chargers and Eagles. In his only season in Philadelphia, he guided a high-scoring offense that powered the Eagles to the Super Bowl behind quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley.

Task: Moore doesn’t have the talent-rich roster he had last season. He also isn’t quite sure who his quarterback will be after Derek Carr unexpectedly retired in May with a shoulder injury. The Saints drafted Tyler Shough in the second round and also have Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener, who each started games last season. The offense has some talent with WR Chris Olave and RB Alvin Kamara, but the defense needs to improve after allowing the second-most yards rushing in the NFL.

Brian Schottenheimer, Cowboys

Age: 51

Background: The son of the late Marty Schottenheimer was a bit of a surprise pick by Jerry Jones to replace Mike McCarthy as Dallas’ coach. But the younger Schottenheimer has a lengthy resume in both the pros and at the college level, with stints as an offensive coordinator with the Cowboys, Seahawks, Rams and Jets among them.

Task: Schottenheimer will need to build an even better rapport with quarterback Dak Prescott, who played in only eight games last season because of a hamstring injury. The coach also made some headlines during the offseason when he said Prescott is still “in the developmental phase” of his career and the team is tweaking some things with him. With Philadelphia still among the NFL’s elite teams and Washington one of the league’s most promising squads, Schottenheimer and the Cowboys will have a tough road to make the playoffs out of the NFC East. That’s despite Jones saying he’s ”excited about our team’s ability to compete right now.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl