MORNING ROUNDUP
Manziel traded to Montreal Alouettes
Johnny Manziel is headed to the Montreal Alouettes in a reunion with the coach who recruited him to Texas A&M.
The Canadian Football League team acquired the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a blockbuster trade Sunday.
“I look forward to reuniting with Johnny again and working with him,” first-year Montreal coach Mike Sherman, the former Green Bay coach and GM who lured Manziel to College Station, told the Montreal Gazette.
The Alouettes made the move a day after starting quarterback Drew Willy sustained his second injury of the season. Montreal backup Jeff Mathews also is out with a foot injury.
Montreal (1-4) hosts Edmonton on Thursday night.
Tony Sparano dies unexpectedly at 56
Minnesota Vikings offensive line coach Tony Sparano died unexpectedly Sunday at the age of 56, the team said.
The team announced Sparano’s death in a statement that did not provide a cause. Sparano had been the Vikings’ offensive line coach since 2016.
Sparano began his NFL coaching career in 1999 and had stints as a head coach with the Miami Dolphins and Oakland Raiders.
He was the Dolphins’ head coach from 2008-11 and went 29-32.
The most memorable moment in Sparano’s 19-year NFL coaching career came when he was a rookie head coach with the Dolphins, inheriting a team that had gone 1-15 the previous season. In Week 3 he surprised Bill Belichick with a single wing-style formation that the Dolphins called the wildcat, and they won at New England 38-13.
The wildcat became a fad around the league, and the stunning upset propelled Sparano’s team to 11 wins and the AFC East title.
Syndergaard on DL with hand, foot and mouth disease
New York Mets ace pitcher Noah Syndergaard is headed back to the 10-day disabled list after contracting hand, foot and mouth disease.
The team believes it’s likely Syndergaard caught the contagious virus when he made an appearance at a baseball camp for kids during the All-Star break last week.
Syndergaard just returned from the DL on July 13 after sitting out more than six weeks with a strained ligament in his right index finger.
Moscon expelled from Tour after hitting opponent
Team Sky rider Gianni Moscon was expelled from the Tour de France on Sunday after he appeared to deliberately hit a fellow cyclist during the race.
The Italian lashed out at French rider Elie Gesbert of Team Fortuneo while both were competing during Stage 15 from Millau to Carcassonne.
Magnus Cort Nielsen, who rides for Astana, won the stage.
Moscon’s expulsion leaves Sky with seven riders. Sky’s Geraint Thomas is leading the race ahead of teammate Chris Froome after 15 of 21 stages.
The 24-year-old Moscon was suspended by Sky for six weeks last year for using a racial slur against an opponent.