The Pro Bowl got a major makeover.
The NFL has eliminated its full-contact all-star game and is replacing it with weeklong skills competitions and a flag football game.
The new event will be renamed “The Pro Bowl Games” and will feature AFC and NFC players showcasing their football and non-football skills in challenges over several days.
Kawhi Leonard was in the Los Angeles Clippers’ facility on Monday. That wasn’t exactly a surprise development.
The news was his attire. He was wearing a basketball uniform. Finally.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson is retiring from full-time racing and will turn his focus toward spending time with family.
He figures his future schedule will include no more than 10 bucket-list events, but the 47-year-old had no idea Monday what that will look like in 2023.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — There is a scene in Jimmie Johnson's coffee table book “One More Lap” in which the seven-time NASCAR champion and future Hall of Famer gives a dramatic reading of an excerpt from a biography of the late journalist Hunter S.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will relocate football operations to the Miami area in preparation for next weekend’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs ahead of the potential impact of Hurricane Ian on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
ATLANTA (AP) — Geoff Collins is out as Georgia Tech’s football coach, fired Monday in the midst of his fourth season after failing to make headway with a brash plan to turn the Yellow Jackets into a national powerhouse through branding and promoting Atlanta’s big-city culture.
SYDNEY (AP) — It's been 28 years since China last won a medal at the World Cup, finishing second in the 1994 games.
With a dominant inside presence, led by Han Xu and Li Yueru, plus talented shooters and quick guards, the Chinese team has gotten off to a strong start in Australia and could find its way onto the podium.
When Shohei Ohtani is pitching impressively and hitting over 30 homers, he might always be the MVP favorite unless another player in his league comes up with something awfully special.
CANTON, Mass. (AP) — The Celtics were supposed to enter the preseason as one of the favorites to emerge from the Eastern Conference on the heels of their surprise run to the NBA Finals under rookie head coach Ime Udoka.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Miles Bridges’ future with the Charlotte Hornets remains uncertain as the team prepares to open training camp on Tuesday.
Bridges, the team’s leading scorer last season, was charged with three counts of felony domestic violence in June.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bryce Elder threw a six-hit shutout for his first career complete game, and the Atlanta Braves defeated Washington 8-0 Monday night to close within one game of the first-place New York Mets in the NL East and hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bryce Elder threw a six-hit shutout for his first career complete game, and the Atlanta Braves defeated Washington 8-0 Monday night to close within one game of the first-place New York Mets in the NL East and hand the Nationals their 100th loss of the season.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Mike Brown has history with De’Aaron Fox.
The first-year Sacramento Kings coach, who spent the last six seasons with the Golden State Warriors as an assistant, first got a glimpse of Fox while helping at an Adidas Nations Camp.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett remains in hospital care with unspecified injuries after he flipped his Porsche in a one-car accident following practice Monday.
SYDNEY (AP) — FIBA has opened an investigation into an altercation between two Mali players in the mixed zone following their team's loss to Serbia on Monday at the women's World Cup.
The scuffle between Salimatou Kourouma and Kamite Elisabeth Dabou happened while they were walking through the postgame media area and was caught on film by Serbian media.
First-year Saints coach Dennis Allen might have liked to keep his focus on defense, an area he built into a strength of the club as a coordinator the past six-plus seasons.
But while the unit he primarily oversees continues to perform well, costly breakdowns on offense and special teams are demanding more attention.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers right-handed starter Dane Dunning underwent arthroscopic hip surgery Monday and the team said his availability to pitch in spring training will be determined by the progress of his rehab.
IRVING, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech was fined $50,000 and reprimanded Monday by the Big 12 Conference because fans stormed the field following an overtime victory against rival Texas, a celebration during which a video showed one of them shoving a Longhorns player.
SEATTLE (AP) — In the middle of putting the finishing touches on the largest and most complex contract in franchise history, the Seattle Mariners began discussions about another impact deal.
Would newly acquired right-hander Luis Castillo be interested in talking about calling Seattle home for the long haul?
GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — It is a new day for the New York Knicks.
That was the collective message by the Knicks on Monday during media day at the team's training center.
Coming off a 2020-21 season in which New York compiled a 41-31 record and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012-13, the Knicks stumbled to a 37-45 mark last season and missed the playoffs.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams almost certainly wouldn't be such consistent winners if this team hadn't stayed relatively healthy over the past half-decade.
The Rams' overall health is much worse than normal this September after a spate of early season injuries, yet it hasn't stopped Sean McVay's team from recording back-to-back victories.
PHOENIX (AP) — All-Stars Devin Booker and Chris Paul, along with freshly paid Deandre Ayton and coach Monty Williams, are back together for another run at an elusive NBA title.
One man who apparently won't be along on the journey — team owner Robert Sarver.
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — It’s early but there is some clear frustration starting to show with the Seattle Seahawks.
It's evident from the head coach. It's obvious from some veteran players. And none of it has to do with what most outsiders expected to be Seattle’s biggest weakness entering the season — the quarterback.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Seven punts, three turnovers and an inexplicable play when Jimmy Garoppolo stepped out of bounds in the end zone for a safety summed up the night for the San Francisco 49ers offense.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — While injuries have been a factor, there’s more to Tampa Bay’s scoring woes than a young offensive line and the absence of Tom Brady’s top receivers.
“I’m not going to sit here and blame it on the rookies,” coach Todd Bowles said Monday, reflecting on the Buccaneers (2-1) being limited to three offensive touchdowns through three games after averaging 29.9 points per game last season.
DETROIT (AP) — Dan Campbell still hadn’t forgiven himself 24 hours later for the Detroit Lions' 28-24 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
The coach decided to have his kicker try a 54-yard field goal with 1:14 left.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Trail Blazers' new starting duo of Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons has been years in the making.
Even though Portland had a long-established backcourt with Lillard and CJ McCollum, behind the scenes Lillard helped guide Simons' development.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Andre Iguodala rode his Peloton bike a couple of times last week and took note that “I ain't in that bad of shape.”
Now, he will see how that translates back onto the basketball court again.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After opening with a decisive win against the Green Bay Packers, the Minnesota Vikings have been tested the past two weeks.
A Minnesota offense looking to make a jump under new coach Kevin O’Connell is still a work in progress.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nothing put a bigger smile on Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer's face than seeing a healthy Kawhi Leonard walking around the team's practice facility.
Ballmer hopes to be feeling even better when the Clippers open training camp Tuesday in Las Vegas and Leonard is testing out his surgically repaired knee.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona center back Ronald Araujo has defended his decision to undergo thigh surgery on Wednesday at the likely expense of missing the World Cup.
Araujo was injured on Uruguay duty against Iran last Friday.
CLEVELAND (AP) — When Darius Garland learned about Cleveland's stunning trade, the Cavaliers' All-Star point guard first promised to keep it a secret and then ran around a basketball court in Nashville screaming.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Pelicans power forward Zion Williamson said little to temper the expectations of those eagerly anticipating his return to an NBA court.
The 2019 first overall draft choice out of Duke — who has missed more games than he's played in his first three pro seasons because of knee and foot injuries — didn't request patience as he re-integrates his unusual combination of size, explosiveness and skill back into New Orleans' lineup for the first time in more than a year.
Reeling and wounded are two descriptions no team likes to have three weeks into the season. Yet that is the position the Los Angeles Chargers find themselves in after their worst loss in Brandon Staley's two-year tenure.
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos went three-and-out nine times against the San Francisco 49ers, the most in Russell Wilson's 11-year career. And only once did they get anywhere near the end zone.
“In the fourth quarter, when it mattered most, we clicked,” Wilson said after leading the lone long touchdown drive that powered the Broncos past the 49ers 11-10 Sunday night.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Arizona Cardinals are playing the first half of football games as if they just rolled out of bed.
The good news is they do eventually wake up. The problem is it's usually too late.
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — If not for running the football, the Chicago Bears would have very little offense.
The Bears have been able to run it throughout quarterback Justin Fields’ struggles in the passing game and Sunday had their biggest day on the ground since Walter Payton was their starting running back in 1984 with 281 total team rushing yards.
CANTON, Mass. (AP) — As the longest-tenured player on the Celtics, Marcus Smart has been in Boston long enough to appreciate what Bill Russell meant to the team, the city and the country.
“We’ve heard things like ‘pioneer,’ ‘trailblazer,’” Smart said Monday while wearing a patch honoring the Celtics Hall of Famer who died this summer.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards said he's “willing to do whatever it takes to make it right” with the LBGTQ community and Minnesota Timberwolves fans following the homophobic remarks he recently made on social media.
CHICAGO (AP) — Zach LaVine had quite the offseason.
The Chicago Bulls' two-time All-Star and Olympic gold medalist landed the richest contract in franchise history when he agreed to a $215 million, five-year contract.
Whether the Green Bay Packers will continue rotating David Bakhtiari and Yosh Nijman at left tackle remains uncertain.
The Packers are just happy they have the option of using Bakhtiari in any fashion now that the 2018 and 2020 All-Pro finally has returned from a severe knee injury that required three surgeries.