NBA ref diagnosed with cancer, will miss rest of season

NEW YORK — Veteran referee Tony Brown, who worked his first NBA Finals last season, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will miss the rest of the season.

The NBA announced Monday that the 54-year-old has been undergoing treat

ment since his diagnosis last month.

Brown has officiated 1,109 regular-season games, 35 playoff games and the 2018 All-Star Game in Los Angeles in his 19 seasons as an NBA official.

Before moving to the NBA, Brown worked for four seasons in both the NBA G League and CBA and three seasons in the WNBA. During that time, he refereed the 2002 WNBA Finals, the 2002 WNBA All-Star Game and the 2001 CBA Finals.

“Tony is a beloved member of the NBA family, and in particular, our officiating family,” said Monty McCutchen, NBA senior vice president for referee development and training. “In addition to exemplifying what it means to be a world class referee on the court, Tony also touches so many lives off the court.”

Report: Tebow-Meyer reunion on verge of becoming official

Tim Tebow and Urban Meyer are apparently getting back together, this time in the NFL.

The former Florida star and 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback is expected to team up with his college coach by signing a one-year contract to play for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL Network reported Monday.

The league-owned network said the deal “could be official in the next week or so.”

The 33-year-old Tebow would be returning to the NFL after four years (2016-19) in the New York Mets’ organization and he’d be playing for Meyer for the first time since his senior year in 2009.

This reunion would come with a twist, though.

Tebow would be joining the Jaguars as a tight end. He switched positions after retiring from baseball in February. He worked out for Jacksonville a week later.

Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke are seemingly waiting until after this weekend’s rookie minicamp to get the deal done.

Tebow, who grew up in Jacksonville, could fill a huge hole with his hometown team. The Jaguars decided not to pick up a team option in veteran Tyler Eifert’s contract and traded oft-injured 2019 draft pick Josh Oliver to Baltimore. They signed run-blocking specialist Chris Manhertz in free agency, brought back James O’Shaughnessy and drafted Ohio State’s Luke Farrell in the fifth round.

Those were considered minor moves after Meyer vowed to completely revamp the position group. Tebow, at the very least, would provide a splash.

Islanders to have fully vaccinated fan section

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that Nassau Coliseum will have a fully vaccinated fan section when the New York Islanders open the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Half of the arena will be used as a fully vaccinated fan section with attendees spaced approximately 3 feet apart with an unoccupied seat between each party. Individuals seated in those sections will have to prove they’ve been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Young adults and children under age 16 not yet eligible for the vaccine may be seated with a vaccinated adult so long as they’ve received a recent negative COVID-19 test result.

Appropriate social distancing, masks and other health protocols will still apply throughout the Coliseum, which seats 14,500.

Entering this week, 66% of Long Island’s adults had received at least one vaccine dose and 53% had completed their vaccine series.

No US men in Top 30 for 1st time in computer tennis rankings

There are no American men in the ATP’s Top 30 for the first time in the nearly half-century of computerized tennis rankings.

The highest-ranked man from the U.S., Taylor Fritz, slid one place to No. 31 on Monday after a first-round loss at last week’s Madrid Masters.

Next is John Isner, who made it to the quarterfinals on the red clay in Spain and rose five spots to No. 34.

There always has been at least one man from the United States ranked in the Top 30 each week since the inception of the computer-calculated standings on Aug. 23, 1973. That includes No. 1s such as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and, most recently, Andy Roddick, who held the top spot for 13 weeks from Nov. 30, 2003, to Feb. 1, 2004.

That was shortly after Roddick won the 2003 U.S. Open, the last time an American man won a Grand Slam singles title.

There are currently 10 players from the country in the Top 100, the same number that Italy has, although there are three Italians in the Top 30: No. 9 Matteo Berrettini, No. 18 Jannik Sinner and No. 28 Fabio Fognini.

Novak Djokovic remained at No. 1 on Monday, extending his record for most weeks leading the ATP to 320, 10 more than the previous mark set by Roger Federer.

There’s a new No. 2, however: Daniil Medvedev overtook that slot from Rafael Nadal, who lost in the quarterfinals in Madrid.

IOC’s Thomas Bach cancels Japan trip because of virus cases

TOKYO — IOC President Thomas Bach has canceled a trip to Japan because of surging cases of COVID-19 in the country, the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee said Monday in a statement.

Bach was to visit Hiroshima next Monday and meet the torch relay and then probably travel to Tokyo.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said last week that the trip would be “tough” for Bach to make, which was interpreted in Japan as meaning it was canceled.

The trip was made impossible because of a state of emergency in Tokyo and other parts of the country that has been extended until May 31. The state of emergency was to have ended on Tuesday.

The statement said Bach’s visit would be made “as soon a possible.”

The postponement is an embarrassment to the IOC and local organizers with the Olympics opening in just over 10 weeks. Organizers and the IOC have repeatedly said the Olympics will not be canceled, and will be “safe and secure.”

Japan has attributed 11,000 deaths to COVID-19, better than many countries, but poor for Asia. Variants of the virus are spreading with reports of public health systems coming under pressure.

Public sentiment in Japan continues to run against holding the Olympics in the middle of a pandemic. Between 60-80% of Japanese people in polls have said the Olympics should be canceled or postponed.

Mets to put deGrom on injured list with right side tightness

NEW YORK — Jacob deGrom will be placed on the injured list by the New York Mets with tightness in his right side, a move that will keep the ace from taking the mound until May 20 at the earliest.