Tigers set 2017 baseball schedule
Headlined by an opening-weekend series against Tennessee at FedExPark, the 2017 University of Memphis baseball schedule will feature 34 home games. The Tigers’ season begins Feb. 17-19, with the first visit from the Volunteers since 2012.
The baseball team will be on Tiger Lane greeting fans and signing autographs before today’s 7 p.m. football game against Bowling Green.
The opening series against Tennessee will be the first three-game matchup between the Tigers and Volunteers played in Memphis since 1981. Memphis swept that series and is 13-1 against Tennessee at home. Memphis plays 14 of its first 16 games at FedExPark.
The first midweek game of the season will also be the first road trip, as the Tigers head to Oxford, Mississippi, to play Ole Miss at 1 p.m. Feb. 28.
The Tigers will host two games at AutoZone Park, the first against Ole Miss on March 21 and the second against Mississippi State on March 28.
American Athletic Conference play will begin with a pair of road series, first at Cincinnati (March 31-April 2) and then at UConn (April 7-9). League foes Houston (April 13-15), USF (April 21-23), Cincinnati (May 5-7) and Tulane (May 18-20) will visit FedExPark in 2017. The other conference road trips for Memphis will be at UCF and East Carolina.
Memphis will make its first trip to Fayetteville since 1994 to play the Arkansas Razorbacks on April 18. The next night, the teams will play in North Little Rock at Dickey Stephens Park, the home of the Arkansas Travelers, Double A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.
“I like the Arkansas series because of the close proximity and because it gets you in environments where you are playing in front of big crowds. It is good to have the team face the challenges that those SEC schools present because it gets us ready for conference play,” Tigers head coach said.
Chris Bosh’s plan to resume playing is in jeopardy, after recent medical tests convinced the Miami Heat that he is not healthy enough to return to the court.
The Heat announced Friday that they still cannot clear Bosh for a resumption of basketball activities, based on the result of his preseason physical. Their announcement came two days after Bosh revealed in the first chapter of a documentary series about his saga that he had multiple clots in February.
“The Miami Heat regret that it remains unable to clear Chris to return to basketball activities, and there is no timetable for his return,” the team said Friday.
Bosh did not comment, though the video that he released through LeBron James’ digital platform called Uninterrupted earlier this week offered a hint at the problem. He said a small clot was found in his leg this past February when he was in Toronto for the All-Star break, and that a CT scan later found the existence of at least one other clot.
Typically, CT scans are administered when clots are expected of having traveled to a lung, a very serious condition called a pulmonary embolism, which Bosh also had in February 2015 in his first bout against the problem.
“I wouldn’t be a friend if I didn’t express to him my concerns,” former Heat guard Dwyane Wade, now a member of the Chicago Bulls, told The Associated Press. “To me, the biggest thing is Chris has five kids and a wife and a family that depends on him being there. To me, that’s always most important. I told him, ‘Make sure you focus on that first.’ ”
The next step for Bosh is unclear. The Heat’s media day is Monday and they will have their first practice of the post-Wade era in the Bahamas when training camp opens Tuesday.
Bosh, the Heat’s highestpaid player at $76 million in the next three years, won’t be on the floor for that practice, and likely not anytime soon.
DevelOPmentS
Kevin Garnett has decided to retire after 21 seasons in the NBA, leaving a legacy as one of the best defensive players in league history and one of the game’s most influential and intense competitors.
Garnett posted a video on his Instagram account on Friday, saying “farewell” and “thank you for the journey.”
Garnett, 40, told the Timberwolves of his decision Friday. The team will waive the franchise icon, which will allow him to collect his entire $8 million salary for next season. That is the same approach the San Antonio Spurs took with Tim Duncan.
Garnett departs as one of the league’s elder statesman. He won the MVP in 2004 after leading the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals and later teamed with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to revive the Boston Celtics as an Eastern Conference power. He spent a forgettable season and a half with the Brooklyn Nets before the late Flip Saunders convinced Garnett to agree to a trade to return to Minnesota at the deadline in 2015.
During his second stint with the Wolves, he was a mentor to youngsters KarlAnthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng and Zach LaVine, instilling in them a sense of intensity and professionalism that the team hopes will lead to long-term success.
Blake Griffin apologized again to Los Angeles Clippers fans for punching the team’s assistant equipment manager last season, an incident he says was “100 percent my fault.” He was suspended four games and docked nearly $860,000 in pay for the altercation in January at a Toronto restaurant. Griffin broke his right hand, and Matias Testi’s face was severely swollen. Testi no longer works for the team. “I don’t want to dwell on it, but I think I owe it to Clippers fans to say it once again before the season begins: I’m sorry,” the 27-yearold forward wrote on The Players’ Tribune website. ... The Los Angeles Lakers re-signed veteran forward Metta World Peace, who will attempt to win a roster spot for his 17th NBA season. The 36-year-old World Peace returned to the Lakers last season after winning a title during his first four years with the franchise from 2009-13. He appeared in 35 games last year, largely serving as a veteran leader and mentor during the worst season in Lakers history.