Alabama on top as AP releases its preseason poll
Defending national champion Alabama will open the 2021 season in the same position it ended last year — at No. 1.
The Crimson Tide are the favorites to repeat, receiving 47 first-place votes in the Associated Press preseason poll released Monday.
Oklahoma is No. 2 with six votes, and Clemson is third, also with six first-places votes. No. 4 Ohio State (one vote) and Georgia (three) round out the top five.
Alabama opens the season Sept. 4 against No. 14 Miami in Atlanta as the Tide seek a seventh national championship under coach Nick Saban.
Clemson and Georgia will meet that day, as well, in Charlotte, N.C.
Texas A&M, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Notre Dame and North Carolina round out the top 10. The Cyclones match their highest national ranking ever. The Aggies and Fighting Irish finished 4-5 in the final poll of2020.
The poll features five teams each from the Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Pac-12, three from the Atlantic Coast Conference and three from the Big 12.
Oregon, at No. 11, is the highestranked Pac-12 team, followed by USC (No. 15), Washington (No. 20), Utah (No. 24) and Arizona State (No. 25).
Soccer
U.S. STANDOUT CARLI LLOYD ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT » Carli Lloyd made it official and announced her retirement from soccer.
The 39-year-old forward for the U.S. national team had long hinted she would step away from the game following the Tokyo Olympics after a 16-year international career.
Lloyd scored a pair of goals in the U.S team’s 4-3 victory over Australia in the bronze medal game in Japan.
Lloyd was the first American to score in four different Olympics, and her 10 total goals in the event set a new record among U.S. players.
She has appeared in 312 matches for the national team, second on the all-time list, and has scored 128 goals.
Lloyd is probably best known for her three goals to lead the U.S. to a 5-2 win over Japan in the 2015 World Cup final.
She plans to play for the national team in a series of matches this fall, as well as finish out the season with her professional team, Gotham FC.
Tennis
OSAKA TO DONATE CINCINNATI PRIZE
MONEY TO HAITI » In addition to donating prize money to relief efforts in Haiti following a deadly earthquake, tennis star Naomi Osaka said she plans to do more.
“I feel like I’m not really doing that much,” Osaka said. “I’m trying to figure out what I can do. The prize money thing was the first thing I thought I could do that would raise the most awareness. I guess that is the reason I announced it.”
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the region on Saturday, with an estimated death toll of 1,400.
On Saturday, Osaka tweeted her decision to donate her prize money from this week’s U.S. Open tune-up tournament in Ohio.
Osaka, who has a Haitian father and Japanese mother, has an opening-round bye in Cincinnati. She will face the winner of today’s match between Coco Gauff and qualifier Hsieh Su-Wei.
TSITSIPAS REFUSES TO TAKE VACCINE UNLESS MANDATORY » World No. 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas said he would only get the COVID-19 vaccine if it became mandatory to compete in tennis.
While the men’s ATP Tour has publicly encouraged players to get vaccinated, the 23-year-old Greek is among those who still have reservations.
“No one has told me anything. No one has made it a mandatory thing to be vaccinated,” he told reporters, when asked if he would seek a vaccine while competing in the U.S.
“At some point I will have to, I’m pretty sure about it, but so far it hasn’t been mandatory to compete, so I haven’t done it, no,” added Tsitsipas, who received a first-round bye in the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.
He reached the French Open final in June but suffered a shocking firstround exit at Wimbledon.
Basketball
REPORTS: CELTICS SIGN SMART TO $77M EXTENSION » Marcus Smart has spent his entire seven-year career with the Boston Celtics, and it does not appear as if he’ll be leaving any time soon.
The Celtics signed their backcourt fixture to a four-year, $77 million extension, according to ESPN and The Athletic.
Arena football
OAKLAND PANTHERS MOVING TO SAN JOSE » The Oakland Panthers, an Indoor Football League team co-owned by former NFL star and Oakland legend Marshawn Lynch, have become the second professional football team to leave the city in the past two years.
The Panthers, who have yet to play a game in the indoor league because of the pandemic, have re-branded as the Bay Area Panthers and will play their games at SAP Center beginning in March, 2022.