McDaniels keeps mum on Kap workout for Raiders
LAS VEGAS >> The Las Vegas Raiders concluded organized team practices Thursday with all four quarterbacks on the roster participating, but the buzz surrounding the franchise was about Colin Kaepernick, who has gotten a workout with the club.
First-year coach Josh McDaniels wasn't entertaining any conversation about Kaepernick's potential future with the team, however.
“Just by a standard procedure, we will only talk about the people on our team,” McDaniels said. “Dave (Ziegler, general manager) and his staff have worked out tons of guys this spring, and we really don't make comments about the evaluations that we made or what they looked like, what they didn't look like, strengths and weaknesses, those kind of things.
“They're kind of private obviously for us as we look at things to try to make decisions to make the team better.”
Kaepernick got his first chance to work out for an NFL team Wednesday since last playing in the league in 2016, when he started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
McDaniels said there will be “a lot of people that are going to come in and out of” the facility with an opportunity to make an impression, and each evaluation will remain private.
Kaepernick hasn't played since the end of the 2016 season when he was cut by San Francisco when the new regime led by coach Kyle Shanahan wanted to go in a different direction at quarterback.
Baseball
DONALDSON APOLOGIZES TO ROBINSON'S FAMILY >> Josh Donaldson has apologized to the wife and family of Jackie Robinson for referencing the pioneering Black baseball player in remarks that led to a confrontation with Chicago White Sox star Tim Anderson.
The New York Yankees third baseman was suspended for one game and fined on Monday by Major League Baseball. The league said Donaldson's comment on Saturday was “disrespectful and in poor judgment.” Donaldson has appealed the discipline.
College football
GEORGIA `CLOSE TO FINALIZING' EXTENSION FOR COACH SMART >> Georgia football coach Kirby Smart is about to get a new deal, and it's going to be among the highest-paying in college athletics.
Everybody knew that already, but UGA President Jere Morehead put a timeline on it during the Georgia Athletic Association's board of directors meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge. Morehead asked for the board to move into “executive session” to discuss undisclosed “personnel matters.” After emeritus board members, athletic department personnel and media were dismissed from the room, he advised the full board that a new deal — “commensurate to other championship coaches” — is in the works and should be finalized in the “coming weeks.”
Smart currently makes $7.1 million annually in a contract that was reworked in 2018 and extended through the 2024 football season. Smart's peers in the coaching business — that is, those who have won national championships or were hired by elite Power 5 football programs in the last year — have received 10-year deals that pay them upward of $10 million a year.
SUGAR BOWL MOVED TO DEC. 31 >> The Sugar Bowl has been moved off its usual primetime spot to noon EST Dec. 31 to avoid a conflict with a Monday night NFL game.
The games begin on Dec. 16 with the Bahamas
Bowl and the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida, and end with College Football Playoff championship on Jan. 9 at the NFL stadium in Inglewood.
The CFP semifinals will be held Dec. 31, a Saturday, at the Peach and Fiesta bowls.
With Jan. 1 falling on Sunday, the games usually played on New Year's Day were moved to Jan. 2, when the national holiday is observed. The move to Monday, Jan. 2, is common in college football to avoid conflicting with the NFL.
Pro basketball
PELICANS' WILLIAMSON CLEARED TO PLAY >> The New Orleans Pelicans announced that forward Zion Williamson has been cleared to play this offseason without any restrictions after recent imaging on the fifth metatarsal in his right foot showed continued improvement.
Barring any setbacks, that should pave the way for Williamson's return next season after missing all of 2021-22.
Gymnastics
CANADIAN GYMNAST TELLS OF SEXUAL, EMOTIONAL ABUSE BY COACH >> A former member of the Canadian national gymnastics team wrote a public letter accusing the country's 2016 Olympic coach of inappropriate and unwanted touching.
The letter by Abby Pearson Spadafora, 38, revealed the latest in a long series of allegations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse by coaches Dave and Elizabeth
Brubaker, who have been banned by Gymnastics Canada. Spadafora accused the coach of climbing into bed with her and of reaching his hand underneath her shirt.
A group of 11 gymnasts, including Spadafora, have come forward to detail abuses at the Bluewater Gymnastics Club in Ontario. They took part in an investigation by Gymnastics Canada that led to the Brubakers' bans.
Golf
SCHEFFLER PART OF CROWDED COLONIAL LEADERBOARD >> Scottie Scheffler did something last weekend that he rarely does, watching a golf tournament at home after missing a cut. The world's No. 1 player is back on the course, and tied atop a crowded leaderboard at Colonial.
Scheffler was among eight players who shot 4-under 66 in the Charles Schwab Classic. Cam Davis, Beau Hossler, Chris Kirk, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Nick Taylor and Harold Varner III also shot 66s. Seven others were a shot back.
ALKER, ESTES SHARE SENIOR PGA LEAD >> On a day when birdies were flying around Harbor Shores in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship, Steven Alker began soaring with an eagle.
The 50-year-old New Zealander, who already has won twice and leads the PGA Tour Champions money list with almost $1.2 million, started his round with a 25-foot downhill eagle putt on the 539yard, par-5 10th hole after a 240-yard approach with a 5-wood.