NFL
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said he has been fined $10,000 by the NFL for the pink “Beats by Dre” brand name headphones he wore around his neck after Sunday’s game.
While Kaepernick has an endorsement deal with Beats and has done a commercial, the league’s contract is with Bose. Wearing the pink version for October breast cancer awareness month, Kaepernick knew he could be subject to a fine after the 22-17 win Sunday.
Yet it’s more than the $8,286 fine the Broncos’ Julius Thomas faces for a chop block on Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell.
Kaepernick later took to Twitter to explain his decision and posted a photo of him with the headphones: “I support breast cancer awareness! My grandma is a survivor!”
He declined to say whether Beats would pick up the cost of his fine, saying, “we’ll let that be unanswered.”
SOCCER
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - While Jurgen Klinsmann says Landon Donovan heads into his U.S. national team finale Friday as “the poster boy of the game” in America, the coach feels the player didn’t completely fulfill his potential.
The exhibition against Ecuador in East Hartford, Connecticut, will be the 157th national team appearance for Donovan, the American career leader with 57 international goals and 58 assists. The 32-year-old forward, a veteran of three World Cups, was controversially cut by Klinsmann before this year’s tournament.
Donovan was scheduled to play the first 30 minutes Friday.
Klinsmann says Donovan “raised the awareness of the game to new dimensions.” Yet Donovan struggled during stints with Bayern Leverkusen and Klinsmann’s Bayern Munich before succeeding during a pair of winter loans to Everton.
Klinsmann said Thursday that “I wished in a certain way, ah, he could have done a bit more here and a bit more there.”
NASCAR
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) - Danica Patrick admits there are some occupational hazards to dating a fellow NASCAR driver.
In a column for Derek Jeter’s new sports website, The Players’ Tribune, Patrick wrote that racing against boyfriend Ricky Stenhouse Jr. can create “Montagues and the Capulets” moments - a reference to the feuding families of the star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
“If it’s crazy to want to go to sleep next to the person who ran your car off the road going 200 miles per hour earlier that day, then I’m certifiable,” she wrote.
Patrick and Stenhouse went public with their relationship in early 2013 and have had only a handful of scrapes on the track. After their most recent, at Chicago last month, she used profanity to discuss it with him after the race. Then they moved on.
Jeter launched his website at the beginning of the month after he retired from the New York Yankees. The site is devoted to delivering athletes’ “unfiltered” views to the fans, and The Players’ Tribune is being billed as a digital company that will offer unique access to top athletes in every sport.
BASEBALL
LITTLE FALLS, N.J. (AP) - Authorities say several of Yogi Berra’s World Series rings and two MVP plaques were stolen from a museum honoring the New York Yankees Hall of Famer.
The break-in occurred Wednesday morning at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center. Montclair State University Police Chief Paul Cell detailed the missing items Thursday.
The museum opened in the late 1990s. It is located on the university’s campus in the northern New Jersey community of Little Falls. In addition to the baseball exhibits and memorabilia, it offers children’s educational programs that focus on sportsmanship and social justice.
The Essex County Crimestoppers program is offering a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the burglary.
Berra won 10 World Series titles with the Yankees. He is now 89.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is expanding his lineup during the offseason, when he will become a father for the fourth time.
Mattingly said he and his wife, Lori, are expecting their first child together in December. The couple married nearly four years ago in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana, where they live in the offseason.
The 53-year-old manager has three grown sons from his first marriage. Mattingly says the new baby is a boy.
“Sleep-deprived,” Mattingly said, describing how new fatherhood will affect him.
The Dodgers lost to St. Louis in four games in the National League Division Series on Tuesday
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella said that Daisha Simmons has been cleared by the NCAA to immediately play basketball for the school.
Simmons’ ability to play immediately was held up by Alabama’s refusal to support a waiver that would have granted her the chance to compete this year. The school changed its mind Tuesday and wrote a letter of support to the NCAA for Simmons.
Simmons has graduated Alabama and will be pursuing a master’s degree at Seton Hall.
The New Jersey native says that illnesses in her immediate family contributed to her desire to transfer to Seton Hall. She wants to finish her collegiate career this season.
Her older brother, Chaz, has kidney disease. Her mother has health issues, as well, and works two jobs to support the family.
Had the NCAA not approved the waiver, Simmons would have had to sit out this season.
TENNIS
MADRID (AP) - Rafael Nadal will stay on antibiotics for appendicitis for at least five more days after seeing a Spanish tennis federation doctor on Thursday in Barcelona on his way home to Mallorca.
Nadal stopped by the clinic a day after losing in the first round of the Shanghai Masters.
A statement by Nadal’s spokesman said the 14-time grand slam winner will continue “antibiotic treatment for 4-5 days,” and his progress was “good.”
Nadal began feeling abdominal pain in Shanghai last Saturday, and the appendicitis was diagnosed at a hospital the following day. The pain left him bedridden and unable to eat, but antibiotics killed the pain, reduced inflammation, and encouraged him to practice and play.
He said in Shanghai that he hoped to put off surgery until after the ATP Finals from Nov. 9-16 in London.
GOLF
NAPA, Calif. (AP) - Andres Gonzales birdies his last two holes at Silverado Resort for a 6-under 66 and was tied with Bae Sang-moon in the season-opening Frys.com Open. Silverado has not hosted a PGA Tour event since 1980.
Gonzalez finished 11th on the Web.com Tour last year to earn his card for a third time. He has yet to finish among the top 125 to keep it.
The new season felt like an old one to a trio of Ryder Cup players. Hunter Mahan (70), Matt Kuchar (71) and Jimmy Walker (75) played in the same group just 10 days after the Ryder Cup.
VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) - Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium shot a brilliant 11-under 60 to take a three-shot lead of the Portugal Masters in the opening round.
Colsaerts came close to setting a European Tour record of 59 when his putt missed on the par-4 18th hole.
Colsaerts made eagles on the 15th and 17th after hitting seven birdies through a near flawless first day at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club.
It was the 19th time the score of 60 has been reached on the European Tour.
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