King James ruled decade
He left Cleveland for Miami, finally became a champion, went back to his beloved northeast Ohio, delivered on another title promise, then left for the Los Angeles Lakers and the next challenge. He played in eight straight finals. No NBA player won more games or more MVP awards over the last 10 years than he did. He started a school. He married his high school sweetheart.
“That’s all?” LeBron James asked, feigning disbelief.
No, that’s not all. Those were just some highlights of the last 10 years. There were many more, as the man called “King” spent the last decade reigning over all others – with no signs of slowing down.
James is The Associated Press male athlete of the decade, adding his name to a list that includes Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky and Arnold Palmer. He was a runaway winner in a vote of AP member sports editors and AP beat writers, easily outpacing runner-up Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica was third for dominating the sprints at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, soccer superstar Lionel Messi was fourth and Michael Phelps – the U.S. swimmer who retired as history’s most decorated Olympian with 28 medals, 23 gold – was fifth.
SKIING
Mikaela Shiffrin maintained her unbeaten streak in slalom with her third win of the season on Sunday and matched Lindsey Vonn’s record for most women’s World Cup victories in a single discipline.
Shiffrin earned her 43rd career slalom win by dominating the race in Lienz, Austria, posting the fastest times in both runs to beat her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova by 0.61 seconds. Vonn had 43 downhill wins when she retired after the world championships last February.
Sunday’s victory left Shiffrin three short of the overall record for most wins in a discipline held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark, who won 46 giant slaloms between 1975-’89.
However, the American three-time overall champion did set another record as she became the first skier, male or female, with a podium finish in 14 consecutive slalom races.
Men: Alexis Pinturault used his slalom skills to come from behind and win a men’s World Cup Alpine combined event in Bormio, Italy.
The world champion was only in 12th place and 0.97 seconds behind leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway following the super-G portion of the event, but the Frenchman had the fastest time in the slalom part.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Lexi Held scored 22 points, Chante Stonewall scored 13 of her 20 points in a turnaround second quarter and the 16th-ranked DePaul women’s team turned back Marquette, 89-71, in Chicago.
Lauren Van Kleunen scored a season-high 19 points for Marquette (9-3).
HOCKEY
The American Hockey League announced that Milwaukee Admirals coach Karl Taylor will be one of four coaches at the 2020 AHL All-Star Classic on Jan. 27 in Ontario, California.
Joining Taylor will be Kris Knoblauch of the Hartford Wolf Pack, Chris Taylor of the Rochester Americans and Jay Varady of the Tucson Roadrunners.
Admirals 3, Wolves 2: Frederick Gaudreau’s shootout tally was the difference as Milwaukee edged host Chicago.
Gaudreau also had a goal and an assist for the Admirals (24-5-3-2).
BASEBALL
Leftfielder Corey Dickerson agreed to terms on a $17.5 million, two-year contract with the Miami Marlins.
Dickerson battled injuries last season but batted .304 with 12 homers, 59 RBI in 78 games for the Phillies and Pirates. He’s a nine-year veteran and a career .286 hitter from the left side who made the American League All-Star team with the Rays in 2017, when he hit a career-best 27 homers.