Anthem behavior topic for owners
ATLANTA — In the span of a few hours Tuesday, the NFL approved a new owner for the Carolina Panthers, passed a rule to eject players who hit with their helmets and took more steps to change kickoffs. Still to be resolved is a much more contentious issue: What to do, if anything, about players who kneel during the national anthem? During their annual spring meetings, league owners welcomed David Tepper to their ranks by signing off on his record $2.2 billion deal to purchase the Panthers from disgraced team founder Jerry Richardson. During a brief news conference in which he took only a handful of questions, Tepper immediately made a bit of news by seeming to imply he would be willing to listen to offers for a new stadium from other cities in North Carolina and South Carolina. (The team has made no secret of its desire to replace 22-year-old Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, and its lease runs only through the upcoming season.) However, Tepper also reiterated several times his belief the largest city in the Carolinas is the best place for the team. The vote for Tepper was unanimous, but anthem protests are a much thornier issue. The owners began discussing the issue and will talk more about the matter today before wrapping up.
› GREEN BAY, Wis. — Retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre said he made three trips to rehabilitation centers during his Hall of Fame career to fight his dependence on painkillers and alcohol. Favre told Sports Illustrated he took as many as 14 Vicodin at one time during the Green Bay Packers’ 1995 season, when he won the first of his three consecutive MVP awards. Favre said his problems with pills caused him to spend 28 days at a center in Rayville, Louisiana, in the early 1990s and 28 days there “strictly for drinking” in 1998. The story also mentions a previously reported 72-day stint at a Kansas City rehab center in the mid-1990s because of Vicodin use.
BASKETBALL
› NEW YORK — Donovan Mitchell ( Utah Jazz) and
Ben Simmons ( Philadelphia 76ers) were unanimous selections to the NBA All- Rookie team announced Tuesday. The guards, who helped their teams reach the second round of the playoffs, received all 100 firstplace votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. The Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum also was selected to the first team, falling one vote short of unanimous. Mitchell, Simmons and Tatum are the three finalists for rookie of the year. Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma ( 93 firstteam votes) and Chicago Bulls forward Lauri Markkanen (76) rounded out the first team. On the second team were guards Lonzo Ball ( Lakers), Bogdan Bogdanovic ( Sacramento Kings) and Dennis Smith Jr. ( Dallas Mavericks), plus forwards John Collins ( Atlanta Hawks) and Josh Jackson (Phoenix Suns).
› NEW YORK — Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo will receive the Sager Strong Award at this year’s NBA awards show. The award is named for longtime Turner Sports sideline reporter
Craig Sager, who died of leukemia in 2016. it’s presented annually to an individual who has been a trailblazer while exemplifying courage, faith, compassion and grace. A four-time defensive player of the year, Mutombo created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve conditions for people in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital has treated nearly a quarter of a million people since opening in 2007.