COLLEGE FOOTBALL
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Former Baylor football coach Art Briles sued three school regents and a vice president for libel and slander, accusing them of falsely stating he knew of reported assaults and alleged gang rapes by players and didn’t report them.
The lawsuit also asserts that Baylor officials conspired to damage his reputation and keep him from getting another coaching job. It also seeks damages for emotional distress and likely ending his career as a coach “on any level.”
The lawsuit was filed in Llano County in central Texas. It names Baylor regents Chairman Ronald Murff, board members J. Cary Gray and David Harper, and Baylor Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Reagan Ramsower.
Baylor officials declined immediate comment.
ATLANTA (AP) - Lamar Jackson picked up another trophy for his marvelous season.
The Louisville quarterback got a glimpse of the one he really wants.
On a red-carpet night in Atlanta, Jackson captured the Maxwell Award as the nation’s top college player and signaled himself as the clear favorite for the Heisman Trophy. Jackson already won the Walter Camp Award, also given to the best player.
In an interesting twist, Clemson’s Deshaun Watson claimed the Davey O’Brien award as the nation’s top quarterback for the second year in a row - beating out Jackson.
Now it’s on to New York, where they’re both finalists for college football’s most prestigious individual award.
PRO BASKETBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - A lawyer for a couple who claim Sacramento Kings players Matt Barnes and DeMarcus Cousins assaulted them at a nightclub said they’ll rely on videotapes, medical reports and the testimony of witnesses to prove they were attacked.
The lawyer, Michael S. Lamonsoff, spoke at a news conference as the couple, Jasmine Besiso and Myrone Powell, held hands nearby a day after their federal lawsuit alleged Barnes choked and knocked Besiso unconscious before both players attacked Powell with punches and kicks inside a Manhattan nightclub on Monday.
Lamonsoff said Barnes attacked Besiso, a hairstylist, after trying to choke another woman earlier in the night. He said he hopes the other woman comes forward to authorities. He said Besiso and Powell didn’t know the players before the altercation.
He said the players were “using their celebrity status and vast resources to distort the truth.”
BASEBALL
ST. LOUIS (AP) - The St. Louis Cardinals have scheduled a news conference for Friday morning amid reports they’ve reached an agreement with free agent center fielder Dexter Fowler on a multiyear deal.
KSDK-TV in St. Louis first reported the deal. The conference is scheduled for 10 a.m. CST.
Fowler is a free agent for a second consecutive offseason after returning to the Chicago Cubs in February on a one-year contract worth $13 million. He broke out in his second season on Chicago’s North Side, making his first All-Star Game while batting .276 with 13 home runs and a career-best .393 on-base percentage. He had a pair of home runs during the World Series, helping the Cubs end a 108-year title drought.
The lanky 30-year-old from Atlanta is a .268 career hitter over nine seasons with Colorado, Houston and the Cubs. He would likely to slot into the Cardinals’ leadoff spot, giving St. Louis a switch-hitter ahead of lefty-hitting Matt Carpenter and righties Aledmys Diaz, Stephen Piscotty and Yadier Molina.
HOCKEY
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has denied the Vegas Golden Knights’ trademark application a little more than two weeks after the new NHL franchise unveiled its name and logo.
The office cites potential confusion with the team name for the College of Saint Rose in New York, which is also the Golden Knights. The Las Vegas franchise is set to take the ice next season.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league will formally respond by a June 7 deadline outlining why it believes the name should be registered “in co-existence” with that of Saint Rose “just as a number of other nicknames currently co-exist in professional and college sports (particularly where there is no overlap as to the sport for which the nickname is being used).”
OLYMPICS
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) - Signaling a potential radical change in the way Olympic host cities are chosen, IOC President Thomas Bach wants to revise the bidding process because it “produces too many losers.”
He wouldn’t rule out the possibility of awarding two games at the same time.
Bach’s comments came the same day the IOC executive board cleared all three candidate cities for the 2024 Olympics - Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest, Hungary - to advance to the next stage of the race.
It was the first time Bach has publicly spoken about further changes to the bidding process, which has suffered in recent years as voters rejected bids in referendums, and cities dropped out because of concerns over the costs of the games.
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