COLORADO RAPIDS ADD EXPERIENCED FORWARD BARNES
The Colorado Rapids acquired forward Giles Barnes from Liga MX side Club León to a six-month deal, the club announced Friday.
Barnes, 29, has MLS experience with Houston, Vancouver and Orlando City, scoring 36 goals with 17 assists in 157 career games. He also has 16 international appearances with Jamaica, and scored the game-winning goal against the United States in the 2015 Gold Cup semifinal.
The Rapids have a club option with Barnes for 2019.
Murray calls it a career.
DeMarco Murray is retiring from the NFL.
The 2014 Offensive Player of the Year made the announcement on ESPN on Friday, four months after being released by the Tennessee Titans.
Murray, 30, lost his job to Derrick Henry last season and was due to make $6.25 million in 2018 when the Titans let him go. He ran for 659 yards and six touchdowns last season, dealt with a knee injury late in the year, and missed the Titans’ final regular-season game and two playoff contests.
“I think you just wake up,” Murray said. “I’ve always heard the saying when you know, you know, and one day that day will come, and for me it was the last year or two . ... I’ve been constantly thinking about this. Working out still, in great shape, feel great and it’s time.
“I just woke up a couple weeks ago and it started to burn and burn and trigger and it got deeper, so this morning I decided to call it a career.”
The Titans acquired Murray in a March 2016 trade with the Eagles. Murray had spent one year with Philadelphia after playing four seasons with the Cowboys. Murray was playing for Dallas in 2014 when he won the NFL rushing title and Offensive Player of the Year honors.
He was a dominant force that season for the Cowboys, who went 12-4 to win the NFC East. Murray ran for a league-best 1,845 yards, then signed a five-year, $40 million deal as a free agent with Philadelphia in 2015.
CFP agrees to bowl games through 2026.
TEXAS» The College IRVING,
Football Playoff agreements for the Cotton Bowl Classic, Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl have been extended six years through 2026.
Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, made the announcement Friday.
“The communities of greater Dallas, Phoenix and Atlanta have fully embraced the opportunity to be a part of this very popular event and to showcase the unique opportunities they offer to visitors,” Hancock said.
The three bowl games will host a CFP game every year during the sixyear period: the semifinals twice, and other non-playoff games assigned by the CFP selection committee four times.
The Orange, Rose and Sugar Bowls were previously announced as semifinals hosts on a rotating basis through 2026.
Sign removed from stadium.
KY.» The University of LOUISVILLE,
Louisville is removing Papa John’s from its football stadium’s name after a report the pizza chain’s founder used a racial slur.
The company’s logo has been on Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium since it was built 20 years ago.
John Schnatter, who also resigned from the university’s board of trustees, apologized this week for using the racial slur during a company conference call in May.
University of Louisville President Neeli Bendapudi said the “community has been fractured” by Schnatter’s comments. The school is also removing Schnatter’s name from its Center for Free Enterprise at the business school.
“Anything I say or do that hurts the people I care about ... is upsetting, it’s not right,” Schnatter said in an interview with WHAS-AM, a Louisville station. The interview was recorded before the name change announcement. — The Associated Press