Winter Games not high on NHL owners’ list
PALM BEACH, Fla. — NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said there is significant opposition among team owners to continuing participation in the Winter Olympics, and the league is running out of time on negotiations to take part in the 2018 Games.
After a meeting of the league’s Board of Governors on Thursday, Bettman said no decision was made regarding Olympics participation in 2018 in South Korea.
“I think it’s fair to say that there is some strong negative sentiment in the room,” Bettman said.
NHL players have competed in the last five Winter Olympics dating to 1998 and want to continue taking part, but owners are concerned about the midseason interruption and injury risk.
The NHL also does not intend to reconsider the name or logo of the Las Vegas expansion franchise after U.S. patent authorities denied the club’s trademark request, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.
“It’s much ado about nothing,” Daly said. “The franchise will go forward with that name and that logo. We have every expectation we’ll ultimately get that registration.”
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office cited potential confusion with the team name for the College of Saint Rose in New York, which is also the Golden Knights.
Daly said the league will formally respond by a June 7 deadline outlining why it believes the name should be registered “in co-existence” with that of Saint Rose.
Earnhardt gets OK to race in ’17
NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr., who missed the final 18 Sprint Cup races of last season because of a concussion, has been medically cleared to return next year.
Hendrick Motorsports said Earnhardt will take part in the season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 26.
Dr. Micky Collins, medical director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program in Pittsburgh, in consultation with Charlotte neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry Petty, cleared the 42-year-old driver after a test session at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.
Earnhardt completed 185 laps during a nearly five-hour session at Darlington. In addition to the on-track test, which was observed by NASCAR, the driver has logged more than 15 hours in a racing simulator during his recovery.
Texas-Arlington tops Saint Mary’s
Kevin Hervey scored 15 points as Texas-Arlington upset No. 12 Saint Mary’s 65-51 at Morago, Calif., for the school’s first victory over a Top 25 team.
The Mavericks (8-3) had gone 0-28 against ranked opponents dating to February 1967 before their big upset at McKeon Pavilion, where the Gaels (6-1) had won eight in a row and 23-of-24.
Erick Neal added 13 points and eight assists in UTA’s seventh consecutive victory. In other news: • Danni Williams led the way with 19 points as the Texas A&M women defeated TCU 75-67 at Fort Worth. Khaalia Hillsman had 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, and Curtyce Knox had a career-high 16 points and eight assists for the Aggies (6-2).
Ex-Baylor coach Menefee dies
Bill Menefee, a former basketball coach and athletic director at Baylor, died Thursday in Waco. He 95.
Menefee, a native of Grandfalls, began his tenure at Baylor in 1947 as a physical education instructor and assistant basketball coach under Bill Henderson. Menefee was promoted to head coach in 1961 when Henderson retired and had a 12-year record of 149-144. He earned Southwest Conference coach-of-the-year honors three times.
Funeral services tentatively are scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 17 at Austin Avenue United Methodist Church in Waco.
Stricker, Kelly combine for lead
Steve Stricker returned from a long layoff to team with Jerry Kelly to take the first-round lead in the Franklin Templeton Shootout at Naples, Fla.
The Madison, Wis., duo shot a 16-under-par 56 in the scramble format for a one-stroke lead over Harris English and Matt Kuchar at Tiburon Golf Club. Stricker, 49, had not played since the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day. In other news: • Golf ’s governing bodies responded to Dustin Johnson’s penalty at the U.S. Open by introducing a local rule that will waive the one-shot penalty if a ball moves on the putting green by accident. The local rule, effective in January, applies only to accidental movement on the putting green of the golf ball and a ball marker. Johnson was lining up a par putt on the fifth hole of the final round at Oakmont when his ball moved slightly and he backed away. He said he didn’t make it move, but after the USGA studied video and consulted the rule book, he eventually was given a one-shot penalty because it was ruled that his actions caused the ball to move. Even with the penalty, he closed with a 69 and won by three shots.
Ring magazine awards Ali title
Ring magazine is making Muhammad Ali its 1966 Fighter of the Year, a half century after refusing to give him the award because of his disapproval of the draft for the Vietnam War and connection with the Nation of Islam.
The boxing magazine said it was righting a wrong by retroactively naming the late heavyweight great as the best fighter of 1966.
“The editors at that time obviously felt strongly that Ali, while succeeding in the ring, didn’t meet other criteria they deemed important,” said Michael Rosenthal, the magazine’s editorin-chief. “But we can see the injustice by today’s standards even if we take issue with some of things Ali said and did.”
Ali won all five of his fights in 1966 and did so in impressive fashion. He was at the peak of his career, which was soon to be interrupted for three years while he fought courts over his refusal to be drafted.