Cowboys’ Bryant has knee fracture

Dez Bryant has a slight hairline fracture in a bone in his right knee, though Dallas coach Jason Garrett says the receiver might not miss a game.

Bryant didn’t practice Wednesday, three days after getting hurt in a win over Chicago, and the same day the team got back results of an MRI.

“We’ve had players with this kind of injury who missed no time in the past and other players who have missed up to a week or more than that,” Garrett said. “We’ll see how he does. When he comes in (Thursday), see how he feels and we’ll make our evaluations there as we go forward.”

Bryant injured the knee on his first catch on the opening series against the Bears, but came back in the first quarter. He caught his first touchdown of the season in the fourth quarter of the 31-17 win.

Bryant missed seven games last year after breaking his foot in the opener. He also dealt with knee and ankle injuries last season.

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts had dinner with president of baseball operations Theo Epstein in Arizona around the start of spring training.

If Epstein had any doubt about a contract extension, it ended right there. And on Wednesday, it became official.

Chicago announced a five-year extension, rewarding Epstein for an overhaul that has the long-suffering franchise eyeing its first championship since 1908.

“He started it off by saying some really nice things about me that might have hurt his leverage a little bit, and then I returned the favor by telling him that even if we couldn’t work out a contract it would get awkward because I would just keep showing up to work,” Epstein said. “As an employee, I will. I kept ruining my leverage.”

The deal comes with the Cubs wrapping up one of the greatest seasons in franchise history and their fans believing this just might be the team to end the 108-year World Series title drought.

Alabama coach Nick Saban says he doesn’t know if backup quarterback Blake Barnett remains with the team.

Saban says the redshirt freshman came to see him before Wednesday’s practice “with some concerns about his future.” He says he hasn’t received a final decision on Barnett’s plans.

A report by Alabama Media Group cited unidentified sources saying Barnett is transferring and has left the program.

Barnett started the Tide’s opener against Southern California, but lost the battle for the job to freshman Jalen Hurts after that for the topranked Crimson Tide.

Kareem AbdulJabbar’s next book will be a fond look back at his long friendship with John Wooden, the celebrated basketball coach at UCLA.

“Coach Wooden and Me” will be published next June and will combine personal memories and lessons learned from Abdul-Jabbar’s friend and mentor.