Sports shorts Browns players stand for anthem, some arm-to-arm NFL

About 30 Browns players stood arm-to-arm in a line during the national anthem before the Aug. 26 preseason game against the Buccaneers.

The long line of players stood together just in front of the Browns’ bench, behind the rest of the players and coaches standing closer to the field.

All players on both teams were standing during the anthem Aug. 26.

This came five days after a home preseason game against the Giants when more than a dozen Browns players formed a circle on the team’s sideline Monday night and prayed in silent protest during the national anthem.

That protest was the largest so far in a socialconsciousness movement started last season by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who became a polarizing figure for kneeling during the anthem and is currently out of the NFL.

Lufkin, Texas, came from five runs down Aug. 26 to take the United States bracket at the Little League World Series.

Its task may be even tougher on Aug. 27, when Lufkin takes on 10-time tournament winner Japan in the championship.

Japan has won four of the last seven Little League World Series, and Tokyo Kitasuna, the club representing Japan this year, has won the championship three times before. Its most recent title came in 2015, when it was led by current manager Junnji Hidaka.

A Texas team has won the Little League World Series twice before, and has appeared in the finals six times previously.

Jordan Spieth needed only three holes to leave a strong cast of challengers wondering what it’s going to take to catch him in The Northern Trust.

Spieth ran off three straight birdies on the back nine at Glen Oaks Club and finished with a pair of pars for a 6-under 64, matching the low score of the tournament and building a three-shot lead over Dustin Johnson.

It was the second straight day that Spieth filled his card with birdies on the easier back nine at Glen Oaks a 30 on Aug. 25, a 31 on Aug. 26.

Patriots star wide receiver Julian Edelman will miss the 2017 season after tearing the ACL in his right knee in a preseason game. The Patriots announced that Edelman would be sidelined all season after the non-contact injury in the first quarter of an Aug. 25 preseason game at Detroit.

The Chiefs could be without top running back Spencer Ware for the first portion of the season after he hurt his right knee in an Aug. 25 preseason game in Seattle. The initial diagnosis was a sprain but Ware was due for an MRI exam Aug. 26 amid reports he injured one of his ligaments.

The Jaguars are sticking with Blake Bortles because of his legs. Coach Doug Marrone selected Bortles as his starting quarterback for the season opener, a surprising turnabout that said more about the team’s offensive line than its signal callers..

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said he sees “no reason for any immediate concern” about tensions on the Korean Peninsula affecting next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Bach told The Associated Press in Beijing that the IOC was monitoring developments but was buoyed by the support of governments and national Olympic committees.

Security challenges posed by the escalating tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are expected to be assessed at an IOC meeting in Lima, Peru in September five months before the Winter Games are staged 80 kilometers (50 miles) across the border from the North.

Dallas Mavericks center Nerlens Noel has decided to wait a year to try to cash in as a free agent.

Two people with knowledge of the agreement said that Noel accepted a $4.1 million qualifying offer for one year, essentially betting on himself that he can get something closer to a max contract as an unrestricted free agent next summer.