Saints’ Fairley advised to retire from football
New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Nick Fairley is seeing multiple heart specialists after one physician advised Fairley to stop playing football, Saints coach Sean Payton said.
“Obviously, there’s concern,” Payton said. “But there isn’t a final answer.”
Payton said he hopes that Fairley, who has been absent during recent voluntary offseason practices, can return to the Saints. But the coach said the 29-year-old defensive lineman also should be certain that continuing to play won’t worsen a heart condition that he’s had throughout his six-year NFL career.
Fairley, a former Auburn star and 2011 first-round draft choice by Detroit, was one of New Orleans’ top defensive performers last season.
This offseason, Fairley signed a four-year extension worth up to $28 million but has not participated in any of the club’s voluntary offseason practices that began three weeks ago.
Payton said NFL teams have been aware that the 6-foot-4, 308-pound Fairley had an enlarged heart since before he was drafted.
The NFL has suspended Buffalo Bills backup receiver Walt Powell for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Without revealing the substance, Powell issued a statement through the team saying he mistakenly used a product that led to the positive test.
Authorities said former NFL wide receiver James Hardy has been found dead in a river in northeast Indiana.
The Allen County Coroner’s Office said the 31-year-old’s body was identified Thursday, but that the cause and manner of death were still being investigated. His body was discovered Wednesday in the Maumee River in Fort Wayne. The coroner said the former Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens player was reported missing a few weeks ago by relatives.
Rose Lavelle scored in the second half, lifting the U.S. women to a 1-0 victory over Sweden in a friendly in Goteborg, Sweden.
A perfectly timed run from the midfield by Crystal Dunn led to a through-ball for Lavelle inside the 18yard box. Lavelle, 22, put it home in the 56th minute for her second international goal. Alyssa Naeher got the shutout.
The Americans will play Norway on Sunday to finish a two-game trip.
The mystery surrounding the Japanese horse that is the early 4-1 second choice to win the Belmont Stakes has gotten deeper.
Epicharis didn’t train Thursday, hours after the 3-year-old dark brown colt was treated with an anti-inflammatory for lameness in his right front hoof, calling into question whether he will be fit to run in Saturday’s final leg of the Triple Crown.
The Belmont already lost expected favorite Classic Empire on Wednesday because of an abscess in his right front hoof.
Emirates Team New Zealand rebounded nicely from a heart-stopping capsize two days earlier on Bermuda’s Great Sound to clinch a spot in the America’s Cup challenger finals.
Britain, meanwhile, still hasn’t bounced back from its loss in 1851 to the schooner America.
Led by 26-year-old helmsman and 39-year-old skipper-wing trimmer Glenn Ashby, Emirates Team New Zealand won two of three races Thursday against British sailing star Sir Ben Ainslie to win its semifinal series 5-2.
Except for a few hiccups, the Kiwis quickly got back up to speed after Tuesday’s dramatic capsize, which extensively damaged their 50-foot foiling catamaran.
They advance to face the winner between Sweden’s Artemis Racing and SoftBank Team Japan. Artemis, led by Olympic gold medalists Nathan Outteridge of Australia and Iain Percy of Britain, beat Team Japan three straight races to take a 4-3 lead in the best-of-nine series, which ends Friday. Team Japan is skippered by Dean Barker, who was sacked after Team New Zealand blew an 8-1 lead in the 2013 America’s Cup and lost to Oracle Team USA.
The winner of the challenger finals, which start Saturday, will face twotime defending champion Oracle Team USA in the 35th America’s Cup match starting June 17.