President welcomes Cubs to White House
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump welcomed manager Joe Maddon and the Chicago Cubs into the Oval Office on Wednesday, their second visit to the White House in eight months since winning the World Series. Trump entertained the Cubs in an informal visit Maddon said was set up by the team’s owners, the Ricketts family, which donated millions of dollars to his campaign. The Cubs were honored as World Series champions by President Barack Obama in his last week in office in January. “This is a great team and they were actually here but they wanted to be here with Trump, right?” Trump said. “I just want to thank and I want to congratulate them.” Along with Maddon and Tom and Todd Ricketts, several players made the trip to the White House, including first baseman
Anthony Rizzo, pitcher
Jon Lester, third baseman Kris Bryant and outfielder Albert Almora Jr. Trump took photos with the World Series trophy and a Cubs jersey with his name and No. 45 — he is the 45th president — in gold on the back.
FOOTBALL
› NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason has indefinitely suspended the three Commodores football players who were involved in an incident that resulted in two of them getting shot. Mason announced Wednesday that the three players have been suspended “from all football activities.” Nashville police said defensive back Tae Daley suffered a noncritical gunshot wound to his leg and defensive back Frank Coppet received noncritical birdshot wounds to his arms Monday night in an “ill-conceived plan” to recover wide receiver Donaven Tennyson’s stolen cellphone. According to police, Tennyson had offered his phone for sale on an internet site and met with a prospective buyer at a Chili’s parking lot at 5 p.m. Monday. Tennyson told police his phone was stolen during the meeting and later that night was offered for sale on the same internet site. Tennyson said he arranged a meeting with the seller in a Target parking lot and arrived with Daley and Coppet. Police said the three players brought a pellet pistol, which one of them said was “to help get the phone back.” Police said Coppet got out of Daley’s Toyota with the pellet pistol in his hand when a man who pulled up next to them in a Buick got out and shot at the three players with an actual pistol. Police said another man in the Buick fired a shotgun at them.
› KNOXVILLE — Earl Hudson, who owned and trained Tennessee’s live canine “Smokey” mascots for over two decades, has died. He was 91. Bill Whedbee, funeral director at Stevens Mortuary, confirmed Wednesday that Hudson died Saturday at Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville. Since 1994, Hudson and his wife, Martha, owned and trained the bluetick coonhounds that serve as Tennessee’s live mascots. The Hudsons also owned a Knoxville drug store where Hudson worked as a pharmacist. Hudson additionally was a U.S. Army veteran of the Korean War. The responsibility of owning and training the Smokey mascots now falls to Hudson’s son and daughter-inlaw, Charles and Cindy Hudson.
BASKETBALL
› AMES, Iowa — Tennessee transfer Alexa Middleton will play her final season at Iowa State. The Cyclones announced Wednesday that Middleton, a former McDonald’s All-American, will sit out next year under transfer rules and play for the Cyclones in 2018-19. Middleton, a 5-foot-9 guard, averaged 4.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game in her career — scoring eight points a game as a junior. Middleton was ranked the No. 4 guard in the country coming out of high school in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
BASEBALL
› OMAHA, Neb. — Attendance at the College World Series was the highest in the 71-year history of the event. A total of 357,646 fans turned out for the 16 games at TD Ameritrade Park, surpassing the previous record of 353,378 for 16 games in 2015. Total attendance has not fallen below 300,000 since first hitting that mark in 2006. This year’s average attendance of 22,352 was highest since the record 24,392 in 2013. The CWS ended Tuesday with Florida defeating LSU 6-1 to win the national championship.