Quick Hitters
State court suit over ‘nocall’ can proceed vs. NFL
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana judge ruled Thursday that a damage lawsuit can continue against the NFL over the playoff “no-call” that helped the Los Angeles Rams beat the New Orleans Saints and advance to the Super Bowl.
State Civil District Court Judge Nicole Sheppard also ruled that attorney Antonio “Tony” LeMon can request documents and ask questions of NFL officials. LeMon said that means he will be able to question Commissioner Roger Goodell and three game officials in depositions about the lack of a penalty — pass interference or roughness — against Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman for his helmet-to-helmet hit on receiver Tommylee Lewis well before a pass arrived. The play came during a crucial point in January’s NFC title game.
Attorneys representing the NFL in the case didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. LeMon said he was informed Thursday that NFL attorneys, whose bid to stop the suit was rejected, would seek relief at a state appeal court.
LeMon says money isn’t the object of the February suit he and three others filed, which alleges fraud by NFL officials. It seeks only $75,000, which LeMon said would go to charity.
UNLV: Rebels assistant waiting for heart transplant
LAS VEGAS — UNLV offensive coordinator Barney Cotton is awaiting a heart transplant and will not coach on the field this season.
Rebels coach Tony Sanchez said Thursday in a news release from the school that the 62-year-old Cotton is in Omaha, Nebraska, and on a waiting list to receive a heart. Cotton is an Omaha native and former University of Nebraska player and assistant coach. He served as interim head coach for the Cornhuskers in 2014 after Bo Pelini was fired at the end of the regular season.
Cotton joined Sanchez’s staff in 2015 as tight ends coach and offensive coordinator.
“Barney has unfortunately been forced to be away from football and his Rebel family and we are all keeping him in our thoughts and prayers,” Sanchez said. “He is a tremendous coach, teacher, person and a great friend.”
Cotton was an all-Big Eight defensive lineman for Nebraska in 1978 and played three seasons in the NFL with Cincinnati and the St. Louis Cardinals. He returned to Nebraska as offensive coordinator in 2003, Frank Solich’s last season as head coach of the Huskers. Cotton rejoined Nebraska under Pelini in 2008.
Sanchez said offensive line coach and run game coordinator Garin Justice will replace Cotton as offensive coordinator and primary play caller. A new tight ends coach will be hired before the team reports to camp Aug. 1.
Justice is in his second season with UNLV. He was head coach at Division II Concordia in West Virginia from 2011-15 and an assistant at FAU for two years before joining the Rebels.
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — An emotional opening shot by Darren Clarke. A shocking one by Rory McIlroy. Tiger Woods had his worst score to start a British Open. Brooks Koepka quickly got into contention again.
Emiliano Grillo made a 1. David Duval made a 14.
The Open returned to Royal Portrush after a 68year absence and made up for lost time with an unusual amount of theater Thursday. When more than 15 hours of golf before a robust, sellout crowd finally ended, J.B. Holmes was atop the leaderboard at a major for the first time in 11 years.
Even that might have been fitting. The big hitter from a small town in Kentucky had his first taste of links golf at Royal Portrush during a college trip, and he recalled how the caddies kept giving him the wrong lines off the tee because they had never seen anyone hit it that far.
Holmes drove the downwind 374-yard fifth hole to 12 feet for a two-putt birdie, and he ended with a 5-iron into the wind to 15 feet for a final birdie and a 5-under 66.
“You just have to accept the conditions over here and not get too greedy,” Holmes said.
He had a one-shot lead over Shane Lowry of Ireland, who didn’t have the level of expectations or the connection to Royal Portrush like McIlroy, Clarke or native son Graeme McDowell, all of whom grew up in Northern Ireland and never imagined golf’s oldest championship returning to their tiny country.
“I feel like for me I can come here a little more under the radar than the other guys,” Lowry said.
That wasn’t the case for McIlroy.
He was the betting favorite who as a 16-year-old stunned Irish golf with a 61 to set the course record at Royal Portrush in the North of Ireland Amateur. The throaty cheers went silent when his tee shot went left and out of bounds. He went into a bush and had to take a penalty to take it out, and he walked off the first green with a quadruple-bogey 8. McIlroy finished with a triple bogey for a 79.
“I’m going to go back and see my family, see my friends, and hopefully they don’t think any less of me after a performance like that today,” McIlroy said. “And I’ll dust myself off and come back out tomorrow and try to do better.”
Woods didn’t seem quite as optimistic.
That magical Masters victory in April is quickly turning into a memory as Woods struggles to find the balance between playing and making sure his back holds up. He has played only