NBA SAYING GOODBYE TO KEY ARENA
» He was a kid at the time,
S E A TTL E all of 19 years old, about to conclude his first NBA season. He stood on the court in green and gold, waving his arms up and down, asking for more noise from the home crowd begging for another chance to see the home team play.
That was more than 10 years ago. Kevin Durant was that kid. The Seattle SuperSonics were his team.
“Just that culture of the Sonics was really, really deep and so many people all around the world or all around the country enjoyed the Sonics,” Durant said recently.
A decade later, Durant will be back in that same building, again likely to be waving his arms toward what is expected to be a sold out sea of green and gold. KeyArena, the former home of the Sonics, will host its final event Friday night when Durant’s Golden State Warriors meet the Sacramento Kings in an NBA preseason game. It will then be shuttered and remodeled from top to bottom.
Birdies make Mickelson a contender.
NA P A , CALI F.
» Phil Mickelson had six straight birdies and shot a 7under 65 on Thursday to pull within two strokes of leader Sepp Straka in the PGA Tour’s seasonopening Safeway Open.
» Khabib Nurmagomedov wasn’t about to wait around for a tardy Conor McGregor, who arrived at what was supposed to be their final prefight press conference together to find the UFC lightweight champion already gone. No worries, they’ll meet soon enough.
Nurmagomedov and McGregor ended up answering questions separately Thursday, though it seemed to do little to dampen the excitement about their 155pound showdown Saturday night in what is expected to be the biggest fight in UFC history.
» Tim Tebow has a bronze statue outside Florida Field and his most memorable quote emblazoned on a plaque a couple hundred feet away. His AllAmerican brick rests nearby. On Saturday, the Gators will induct Tebow into the program’s Ring of Honor.
Capitals’ Wilson will appeal.
Washington Capitals right wing Tom Wilson will appeal his 20game suspension from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, according to coach Todd Reirden. Wilson received the supplemental discipline on Wednesday for an illegal check to the head of Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist in the teams’ preseason finale Sunday. Anderson, a genteel sports writer whose elegant, descriptive prose won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary as a columnist for The New York Times, died Thursday. He was 89.
He worked at the newspaper from 1966 to 2007. An expert on baseball, the NFL, boxing and golf, Anderson wrote 21 books, received the 1994 Red Smith Award for outstanding contributions to sports journalism from the Associated Press Sports Editors and was inducted into the National Sports Writers and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in 1990.
Golfer Hatton hits spectator.
SCOTLAND» Tyrrell HatST. ANDREWS, ton bounced back from a poor start, including a wayward tee shot that struck a female spectator on the head, to register a 2under 70 and move within two strokes of the firstround lead at the Dunhill Links Championship on Thursday.
CU women’s basketball team opens season with exhibition.
The Colorado women’s basketball team will host Southern Nazarene in an exhibition at CU Events Center on Oct. 29. Colorado will begin its regular season Nov. 6 with a home game against Northern Colorado. Pac12 Conference play will begin Dec. 30 when Utah visits Boulder.