Gold’s time up with Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Longtime Alabama football radio announcer Eli Gold’s time with the Crimson Tide is up. The school announced Wednesday that Chris Stewart will replace Gold, 70, starting with the A-Day spring football game. Gold has been the voice of Alabama football for 36 years, calling seven national championship games, 11 Southeastern Conference championships and 35 bowl games. “Eli has been an invaluable member of our broadcast team,” Jim Carabin, vice president and general manager of the Crimson Tide Sports Network, said in a release announcing the change. “We are grateful for his years of service and wish him all the best in this next chapter. CTSN is fortunate to have someone as part of our existing broadcast team in Chris to step up and seamlessly transition into this role.” Stewart has been with the network in a variety of positions since 1998. He had filled in for Gold during the 2022 season, when the longtime broadcaster was battling cancer. Gold resumed partial duties last season, calling home games and the Iron Bowl rivalry matchup at Auburn to close the regular season. Gold told AL.com that he does not plan to retire. “Well, the university has chosen not to bring me back,” Gold said. “This is not, with a capital N-O-T, not at all health-related. I am very healthy. Everything is wonderful. I am healthy as a horse.” Gold’s exit comes in the same year Nick Saban retired as Alabama’s coach after 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa with six national championships. Kalen Deboer was hired by the Tide after leading the Washington Huskies to a national runner-up finish this past season.
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Eric Hosmer announced his retirement from baseball Wednesday after a 13-year career that included winning four Gold Gloves and helping lead the Kansas City Royals to the 2015 World Series championship. Hosmer, 34, was released by the Chicago Cubs last May 25 after hitting .234 with two home runs in 31 games. The first baseman decided not to pursue any other playing opportunities. “You have to be 110% committed and doing what is necessary both physically and mentally to play at the major league level, and I reached a point where I wasn’t there anymore,” Hosmer said. “I’m very satisfied with my career. I feel like I accomplished a lot, was around a lot of great people and have a lot of good stories to tell.” Hosmer will begin telling those stories on air after partnering with former minor league teammate Anthony Seratelli to form MoonBall Media, which is launching a podcast called “Diggin’ Deep.” Hosmer will be one of the show’s hosts. “Now that the playing days are over, I feel like I have so many fun stories that I want to give back,” Hosmer said. Kansas City selected Hosmer third overall in the 2008 amateur draft for Major League Baseball, and he made his MLB debut three years later. He spent seven seasons with the Royals before signing an eight-year, $144 million contract with the San Diego Padres before the 2018 season. Hosmer played five seasons for the Padres before being traded to the Boston Red Sox in 2022, then finishing up with the Cubs last year. He had a .276 career batting average and 198 home runs. Hosmer was named the MVP in his lone MLB All-Star Game appearance in 2016.
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HOBE SOUND, Fla. — The 15-yearold son of 15-time major champion Tiger Woods is taking the first step toward trying to play on the PGA Tour. Charlie Woods is entered in a pre-qualifier event for the Cognizant Classic. The pre-qualifier for Woods is Thursday at Lost Lake Golf Club. The top 25 and ties advance to the Monday qualifier, where four players earn a spot in the field. The PGA Tour said on its website Woods will play alongside Olin Browne Jr. and Ruaidhri McGee. Browne, whose father is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, played in the U.S. Open last year at Los Angeles Country Club. Woods is no stranger to the stage. He has played with his father — whose 82 PGA Tour career wins share the record with Sam Snead — four times in the PNC Championship, a 36-hole tournament held in December in Florida in which a major champion or a winner of The Players Championship teams up with a family member. Tiger, who withdrew from the Genesis Invitational last week with the flu in his first PGA Tour appearance this year, played four times in the Cognizant Classic — formerly known as the Honda Classic — but never won. He has not said when he will play next.