Goodell is ‘fine’ with Trump bashing Kap
Brazil taking control of World Cup qualifying group
President Trump slammed free agent Colin Kaepernick’s employment status at a rally in Kentucky on Tuesday, saying NFL owners may not want to sign the ex-49er quarterback because they do not want a “nasty tweet” from the president for signing a player who refused to stand during the national anthem.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday was asked on ESPN’s “Mike & Mike” show about Trump’s comment and said Trump is entitled to his views and is fine with it.
“That’s a comment that he’s going to make and that’s fine,” he said.
However, the commissioner went on to explain that teams would evaluate free agents such as Kaepernick for their on-field abilities and not necessarily their political views.
The commissioner was unsure when asked if comments from influential non-sports figures might dissuade teams from signing players. But he had no doubt that every team was looking for a competitive edge.
“I can’t speculate on that,” he said. “The 32 owners, I think their major focus is on winning and whatever it takes to win and they think reflects well on their team, that’s what they’re going to do.”
Kaepernick, 29, became a free agent earlier in the month after a six-year stint in San Francisco which included a 2012 NFC title and Super Bowl appearance. He drew particular attention last season for not standing for the national anthem, although he did indicate this season he would stand.
Soccer
Brazil were not intimidated by more than 60,000 raucous fans at the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo, beating second-place Uruguay 4-1 in South America’s World Cup qualifying group to retain the lead in the standings after 13 matches.
Midfielder Paulinho scored a surprising hat trick, with Barcelona star Neymar adding another, to keep their team firmly on course for football’s main event in Russia next year.
Brazil is still to lose a point under coach Tite, who took over in September and secured on Thursday his seventh straight win in the South American qualifiers. Now the fivetime World Cup champions total 30 points, seven more than Uruguay and 10 above the lowest place that guarantees a berth in the next World Cup.
Argentina beat Chile 1-0 thanks to a penalty scored by Lionel Messi and managed to stay in the chase for a spot in the tournament, going third with 22 points. Chile is in sixth, outside the qualification zone.
Baseball
The Seattle Mariners have optioned first baseman Daniel Vogelbach to Triple-A Tacoma, meaning former A’s infielder Danny Valencia will be the everyday first baseman when the regular season begins.
Seattle made the surpris- ing roster move Thursday. Vogelbach, a left-handed hitter, and Valencia, who bats right-handed, had been expected to split time at first depending on pitching matchups. But Vogelbach has struggled in spring training, hitting just .228 and will now start the season in the minors.
Women’s hockey
USA Hockey is beginning to reach out to potential replacement players in case the women’s national team boycotts the upcoming world championships over an ongoing wage dispute.
Jurisprudence
An appeals court overturned the conviction of a former Baylor football player whose sexual assault case helped ignite a scandal that engulfed the nation’s largest Baptist school.
The Texas 10th Court of Appeals said in a ruling Wednesday that text messages between the accuser and friend should not have been excluded from the testimony in Sam Ukwuachu’s 2015 trial in Waco. The court ordered that a new trial be held for the former standout defensive end for the Bears.
The accuser exchanged text messages with a friend before and after the offense. But the trial court two years ago allowed testimony based only on the texts that came afterward, in which the accuser told her friend that Ukwuachu raped her. But Ukwuachu argued that the earlier texts showed the woman had consented to sex.