Nashville prospect comes out as gay in NHL milestone
A Nashville Predators prospect has come out as gay, a milestone moment for the sport of hockey as the first player signed to an NHL contract to make that declaration publicly.
Luke Prokop said he was proud to say he is gay. The 19-year-old Canadian who was a third-round pick in the 2020 draft last fall, posted his announcement to Twitter on Monday.
“It has been quite the journey to get to this point in my life, but I cannot be happier with my decision to come out,” he said. “From a young age I have dreamed of being an NHL player, and I believe that living my authentic life will allow me to bring my whole self to the rink improve my chances for filling my dreams.”
No active NHL player has come out as gay. Prokop said he hopes his example shows that gay people are welcome in the hockey community.
This comes on the heels of Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib becoming the first active NFL player to come out in June.
NFL
MANNING TEAMS UP WITH
BROTHER, ESPN FOR MNF MEGACAST >> ESPN has finally landed Peyton Manning as a “Monday Night Football” commentator. It’s just not in a way anyone expected, and it won’t be for the full season.
Walt Disney Company announced a partnership with Manning and his Omaha Productions company in which Peyton and Eli Manning will be part of a “Monday Night Football” MegaCast for 10 games a year the next three seasons.
Manning, who will be enshrined in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame next month, has long been rumored as a “Monday Night Football” commentator since he retired after the 2015 season, but the sides were never able to reach an agreement. Now fans will be able to get his views, albeit in a different format and with his brother, who retired last year after leading the New York Giants to two Super Bowl championships.
RAIDERS PRESIDENT BADAIN RESIGNS >> Raiders team president Marc Badain has resigned just before the start of training camp after helping orchestrate the team’s move to Las Vegas.
Owner Mark Davis announced that Badain is leaving the organization and that executive vice president and general counsel Dan Ventrelle will take over on an interim basis.
Badain went from being a ball boy for the team to a 30-year career with the organization. He eventually became the chief financial officer for the team and was an assistant to former CEO Amy Trask.
He took over as interim president in 2013 when Trask resigned and got the full-time job in 2015. He helped put together the
stadium deal in Las Vegas that led to the team’s move from Oakland last year into sparkling Allegiant Stadium.
Badain leaves before the stadium hosts a game with fans with the team playing before empty seats during the pandemic last year.
Colleges
SANKEY JOINS CALL FOR CHANGE IN OVERSIGHT >> Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey echoed the NCAA president’s call for potential changes in how college athletics are governed Monday, though he did not endose a breakaway by the five most powerful leagues.
Sankey spoke about the need for change to open SEC Media Days, less than a week after NCAA President Mark Emmert said it’s time to consider decentralizing and deregulating college sports in a shifting of the traditional power structure.
Emmert’s stance, Sankey said, “does speak to we’re going to have to administer this differently” but not necessarily formally separating Power Five conferences from the pack.
“Yet I think people are going to be asking that question of me,” Sankey said. “I think within our programs people will ask that question of me. I think nationally people will ask that question of me. But it doesn’t predict that kind of outcome at this point.”
The powerhouse SEC and the rest of the college football are preparing for a fall season amid one of the most tulmultuous periods in college sports. Aside from the heavy impacts of the pandemic, the landscape has clearly changed with a Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA last month in an antitrust case related to caps on education-related compensation.
Olympics
POSITIVE TESTS KNOCK ATHLETES OUT OF GAMES>> Kara Eaker, an alternate on the United States women’s gymnastics team, has tested positive for COVID-19 in an Olympic training camp in Japan.
Al Fong, the personal coach for both Eaker and fellow Olympic alternate Leanne Wong, confirmed the positive test in an email to the Associated Press. The coach said Eaker, 18, was vaccinated against the novel coronavirus two months ago.
Eaker and Wong have been placed in isolation.
USA Gymnastics did not identify Eaker or Wong but said in a statement the athlete who tested positive and another alternate would be subject to additional quarantine restrictions.
• Katie Lou Samuelson is out of 3-on-3 basketball after contracting COVID-19 while training in Las Vegas.
Samuelson, who plays for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, flew home to get vaccinated during her European season so that she would be ready to help the U.S. qualify for the Olympics in May.