Player’s shoe didn’t have a warning label Second thoughts

Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Will Smith gave a whole new meaning to the term foot fault.

The Brewers will start the season without Smith, who tore a ligament in his right knee while taking his spikes off after a game.

Smith, who was set to share closer duties with Jeremy Jeffress, received the diagnosis Friday night.

Smith said he was getting ready to shower after pitching in a minor league game Thursday and was standing on one leg to take off his other shoe when he lost his balance and twisted the knee.

“I pulled hard [on the shoe] and it stayed on,” he said. “My knee just went up and popped. Everyone tells you there is nothing you can do about it, but you still feel like you are letting people down.”

Smith, a former Arkansas Travelers and Northwest Arkansas Naturals pitcher, tore his lateral collateral ligament, which is on the outside of the knee and connects the femur to the lower leg. The right leg is the plant leg for the left-hander and absorbs the most impact.

Manager Craig Counsell said Smith will miss “significant time,” and the Brewers are expected to find out exactly how long when he is examined by the team physician in the coming days.

“The recovery is a little longer with surgery,” said Counsell, who said it is not a season-ending injury. “It’s tough for us, it’s tough for Will. There is going to be somebody in [the clubhouse] that takes this opportunity and makes a lot of it.”

Smith, who was 7-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 76 appearances last season, was having an outstanding spring. He had allowed only 2 hits in 7 innings, striking out 5.

Bad reaction

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski issued an apology Saturday to Oregon’s Dillon Brooks for their conversation after the Ducks’ 82-68 victory in the Sweet 16 on Thursday.

After the game, Brooks said Krzyzewski talked to him about sportsmanship during their postgame handshake. When asked about the interaction, Krzyzewski would not confirm Brooks’ version of events, saying he told the Oregon star he was a “terrific player.”

CBS released footage of the interaction between Brooks and Krzyzewski late Friday, and it seemed to confirm Brooks’ description of the conversation. Saturday, Krzyzewski apologized to Brooks.

“Today, I spoke with Oregon Coach Dana Altman and apologized to him for my remarks to Dillon Brooks following our game,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “It is not my place to talk about another team’s player and doing so took the focus away from a terrific game Dillon played. In the postgame press conference, I reacted incorrectly to a reporter’s question about my comment to Dillon.”

Head case

Someone had a brain freeze. The NCAA’s official supplier of championship headgear apologized Thursday for putting the wrong Frozen Four logos on caps given to the Minnesota Gophers women’s ice hockey team after it won the national championship March 20.

Scott Shuler, president of Top of the World headwear in Norman, Okla., said the company was “extremely sorry” and “embarrassed” for the mix-up.

The caps distributed to Minnesota’s players and coaches after their 3-1 victory over Boston College in Durham, N.H., contained the men’s Frozen Four logo on the side instead of the women’s version. The two logos are similar in shape and color with slightly different wording; the men’s says “Tampa Bay” and the women’s says “Durham, N.H.”

AP/MORRY GASH Milwaukee Brewers reliever Will Smith will start the season on the disabled list after tearing a ligament in his right knee while taking his spikes off after a game.