Five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby is heading to the Baltimore Ravens. Two people with knowledge of the trade confirmed it to The Associated Press on Friday night. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal can’t be announced until the NFL’s new year starts next week. The Las Vegas Raiders will receive two first-round picks from the Ravens, including the No. 14 overall pick in next month’s NFL draft. The 28-year-old Crosby had 10 sacks last season and has reached double digits four times in his seven seasons.
BOSTON (AP) — Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum’s belated birthday present to himself was a return to the game that was abruptly taken away from him last season. His homecoming at TD Garden on Friday night, a 120-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks marked his season debut almost 10 months after having surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Tatum had 15 points on 6-of-16 shooting, 12 rebounds and seven assists in a rust-filled 27 minutes. He played in five- and six-minute spurts in his first game since suffering the injury in during Game 4 of Boston’s Eastern Conference semifinal loss to New York in May.
Defense wins championships. That’s why NFL teams are becoming more willing to part with valuable draft picks for elite defenders. Trading two first-rounders for a player has been rare with fewer than 20 such deals over the past 40 years. However, three of those have occurred in the past 6 1/2 months and each was for a superstar defensive player. Five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby became the latest premier talent traded for two ones when the Baltimore Ravens acquired the 28-year-old star from the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday night, two people with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Friday night.
Michele Kang owns the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League, the London City Lionesses in England’s Women’s Super League and OL Lyonnes in the French Premier League. Multi-club owners are not unusual on the men’s side of the game. But on the women’s side, it’s more of a rarity, and it is certainly unusual to own three teams in three top-tier leagues. Kang’s influence on the women’s game extends beyond just team ownership. She’s upped the ante for big-name player signings by luring Swedish international Kosovare Asllani to London City before the team was promoted and helping to make sure U.S. star Trinity Rodman re-signed with the Spirit. She’s also funded projects with U.S. Soccer that include dedicated research on female athletes.
TOKYO (AP) — Defending champion Japan hit four home runs – two by Chicago Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki – to beat South Korea 8-6 and stay undefeated in Pool C of the World Baseball Classic. Shohei Ohtani and Masataka Yoshida also homered for Japan at the Tokyo Dome Japan and Australia are 2-0 in Pool C play and meet Sunday as the two favorites to advance to the quarterfinals. In Sunday’s other game, South Korea (1-1) faces Taiwan (1-2). Earlier, Stuart Fairchild’s second-inning grand slam powered Taiwan to a 14-0 victory over the winless Czech Republic.
President Donald Trump has predicted the destruction not just of college sports but the entire U.S. collegiate system unless the industry is fixed quickly. Sports leaders who joined Trump Friday at a White House summit agreed that fix could only happen by raising more money to pay players. Trump suggested he would write an “all-encompassing” executive order within a week in hopes it would spark action from Congress. He also said he expected the order to trigger a lawsuit. Many schools are drowning in red ink from paying players for their name, image and likeness while the rules for those payments keep evolving.
One of the biggest takeaways from the NHL trade deadline is that the chase for the Stanley Cup is wide open. The Colorado Avalanche did nothing to spoil their spot as the betting favorite after filling their need at center with trades for Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy. But plenty of other contenders made trades to take a run at hockey's hallowed trophy, including the Central Division rival Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild. The Eastern Conference-favorite Tampa Bay Lightning made a relatively minor addition but one that could help take them back to the final.
VAL DI FASSA, Italy (AP) — Lindsey Vonn finally lost her lead in the World Cup downhill standings when Laura Pirovano won by 0.01 seconds on back-to-back days at Val di Fassa. Vonn was the standout downhill racer through January. But her season-ending crash at the Olympics last month left her too few World Cup points in hand with four races left. Pirovano is now the surprise standings leader because of a career-defining weekend on home snow in the Italian Dolomites. Pirovano got her second career win by edging inside Cornelia Huetter’s time. The 2022 Olympics downhill champion Corinne Suter was third just 0.05 back.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors in a criminal case that arose immediately after he was fired for having an inappropriate relationship with his executive assistant. The deal was struck Friday, on the same day that a judge planned to hear a challenge to Moore’s arrest in December on three charges, including felony home invasion. Those charges were dropped in exchange for Moore pleading no contest to trespassing and malicious use of a telecom device.
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) — Miami of Ohio has finished the regular season as the only unbeaten team in Division I men’s basketball. The RedHawks beat Ohio 110-108 in overtime Friday night to run their record to 31-0. For Miami, Peter Suder scored five of his 13 points in overtime. Eian Elmer led the way with a career-high 32 points along with 12 rebounds. Trey Perry added 21 points and Brant Byers scored 15 for the RedHawks. Jackson Paveletzke led Ohio with a career-high 37 points, but he missed two shots in the final 5 seconds that could have given the Bobcats the lead.
FinalsMLB SPRING TRAINING
INTERLEAGUE
Final Houston 7 Washington 1
Final St. Louis 10 Baltimore 2
Final Toronto 9 Pittsburgh 2
Final Chicago White Sox 6 Arizona 0
Final Colorado 11 Athletics 6
Final Atlanta 4 Minnesota 1
Final L.A. Dodgers 6 Kansas City 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Detroit 11 Boston 3
Final Seattle 5 Texas 1
Final Cleveland 5 L.A. Angels 3
Final N.Y. Yankees 3 Tampa Bay 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 14 Pittsburgh 10
Final Milwaukee 6 Arizona 2
Final San Francisco 6 Cincinnati 3
Final Miami 2 N.Y. Mets 0
Final San Diego 3 Chicago Cubs 0
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Florida 3 Detroit 1
Final SO Colorado 5 Dallas 4
Final Vancouver 6 Chicago 3
Final Carolina 6 Edmonton 3
Final SO Anaheim 6 Montreal 5
Final OT St. Louis 3 San Jose 2
Final Minnesota 4 Vegas 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (18)St. John's 72 Seton Hall 65