INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Of all the rules in football, Jim Harbaugh considers the obscure fair-catch kick to be his favorite. The Los Angeles Chargers coach had the opportunity to try one Thursday night for only the second time in his career. This time, his kicker got three points from one of the most unusual plays in the sport. Cameron Dicker made the first successful fair-catch kick in the NFL since 1976, connecting from 57 yards right before halftime against the Denver Broncos. “I’ve been trying to get one of those every game. Cam Dicker stepped up and made it. It was huge and got the momentum back,” Harbaugh said. Those points began the Chargers’ comeback as they rallied for a 34-27 victory, finishing the game on a 24-6 run. For football obsessives like Harbaugh who relish oddities and unprecedented feats, Dicker’s kick was delightful.
CHICAGO (AP) — Sammy Sosa appeared to acknowledge using performance enhancing drugs during a career in which he hit more than 600 home runs, and the Chicago Cubs said they were ready to welcome back their former star. In a statement released Thursday through Aurora Global Consulting, Sosa said he is sorry for mistakes. “There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games,” he said. “I never broke any laws. But in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize.” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said the team is “ready to move forward together” with Sosa and plans to invite Sosa to the annual fan convention Jan. 17-19 in Chicago. “We appreciate Sammy releasing his statement and for reaching out,” Ricketts said. “No one played harder or wanted to win more. Nobody’s perfect but we never doubted his passion for the game and the Cubs. It is an understatement to say that Sammy is a fan favorite. Sosa, the franchise’s record-holder with 545 home runs, was traded to Baltimore after he showed up late for the 2004 finale at Wrigley Field and left early.
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Australian breaker Rachael “Raygun” Gunn has tried to be a good sport about the jokes and criticism that poured in from around the globe after her controversial performance at the Paris Olympics. But maybe “Raygun: the Musical” was a bridge too far. Comedian Stephanie Broadbridge called off the show just hours before it was set to premiere in Sydney, after Gunn’s lawyers contacted its comedy club venue and threatened legal action. Broadbridge told her social media followers that the lawyers had trademarked the poster for the musical and told the comedian she could not do Gunn’s notorious kangaroo dance because the Olympian who went viral for her performance in Paris owns it. Gunn, a 37-year-old Sydney university lecturer, has said the fallout from her gig at the August debut of Olympic breaking left her “devastated” and forced her to retire from competition. Still, she said she appreciated the attention from famous comedians like late-night host Jimmy Fallon.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Stephen Curry had a game like none other in his career. It was part of an awful night for the Golden State Warriors. Curry didn’t make a shot from the field in his 24 minutes — the first time he’s played that many minutes without a basket in his 16-year career — and the Warriors fell behind by 57 points in what became a 144-93 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night. “We ran into a buzz saw,” Curry said. “We obviously know we are better than that. I’ve got to be better than that.” The 51-point final margin and 57-point deficit were both the largest in the NBA this season. “You lose by 51, that’s humbling,” coach Steve Kerr said after his team, which started the season 12-3, lost for the ninth time in its last 11 games. Curry was 0 for 7, missing all six of his tries from 3-point range. It was only the fifth time in Curry’s career that he’d taken a shot in a game and not registered a field goal — he was 0 for 1 once, 0 for 2 once, 0 for 3 once and 0 for 4 once.
THURSDAY SCORES
NCAA WOMEN TOP 25
No. 2 South Carolina 82, Charleston Southern 46
No. 5 LSU 91, UIC 73
No. 8 Maryland 107, William & Mary 57
No. 15 Michigan State 69, Montana 38
No. 21 NC State 61, James Madison 47