NFL
CLEVELAND (AP) - Kareem Hunt will have to spend his NFL suspension isolated from his team.
The suspended Browns running back, who must serve an eight-game ban for physical altercations, will not be permitted inside the team’s facility starting Saturday at 4 p.m., league spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday in an email to The Associated Press.
The team had asked Commissioner Roger Goodell to allow Hunt to be around his teammates, arguing he could use the extra support. But to this point, Hunt will not be able to interact with his teammates or staff inside the team’s building in Berea, Ohio, until his punishment ends in November.
It’s not impossible the league could adjust its policy and amend its stance on Hunt, who was signed as a free agent by Cleveland in March, three months after being released by the Kansas City Chiefs. But to this point, he’s going to be on his own.
Hunt was suspended for two violent off-field incidents, one in which he shoved and kicked a woman during a dispute in a hotel hallway. He’s eligible to return to the team in November.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - San Francisco 49ers running back Jerick McKinnon had another setback in his return from a knee injury.
General manager John Lynch told flagship radio station KNBR on Wednesday that McKinnon’s return to practice the previous day was “not encouraging.” Lynch said McKinnon’s recovery regressed for the third time this summer as he has tried to get back on the field.
McKinnon tore his right ACL a week before the start of last season. He had a flare-up right before the start of training camp and began on the physically unable to perform list. McKinnon was activated on Aug. 6 and went through two light practices before another setback sidelined him for three weeks.
McKinnon returned to practice again Tuesday but had another setback.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) - The New England Patriots have acquired offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor from the Baltimore Ravens for an undisclosed draft pick.
Eluemunor was competing to be Baltimore’s starting left guard, but evidently didn’t make enough of an impression to keep around.
So the Patriots grabbed the former fifth-round pick to provide depth in the middle of the line.
The 6-foot-4, 335-pound Eluemunor played in eight games as a rookie in 2017 and in nine games last year, making one start.
NEW YORK (AP) - The Jets and Colts have agreed to a trade that sends Indianapolis cornerback Nate Hairston to New York for a sixth-round pick in next year’s NFL draft.
The deal Wednesday is pending a physical.
Hairston was a fifth-rounder out of Temple in 2017 and played in 27 games with the Colts, including 11 starts. He has one career interception and two sacks.
Hairston also dealt with various injuries during his first two NFL seasons.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee has received a major boost on each side of the line of scrimmage just in time for the start of the season.
Volunteers coach Jeremy Pruitt has announced that offensive tackle Trey Smith has gained medical clearance to play this year and that defensive lineman Aubrey Solomon has received an NCAA waiver enabling the Michigan transfer to play for his new team immediately.
Both players should be available Saturday when Tennessee hosts Georgia State.
NBA
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA say they’re investigating a claim that center DeMarcus Cousins threatened violence against a former girlfriend.
TMZ released an audio recording Tuesday in which it says Cousins threatens to shoot Christy West, the mother of their 7-year-old child.
The Lakers issued a statement saying they “take this claim seriously.” The team and the NBA both say they’re gathering information and looking into the allegations.
Cousins got married to another woman last weekend in Atlanta.
TENNIS
NEW YORK (AP) - The ATP is considering whether to punish Nick Kyrgios for a “major offense” after he called the men’s tennis tour “corrupt” because it fined him more than $100,000 for his behavior during a match last month.
A tour spokesman issued a statement Wednesday saying that Gayle Bradshaw, the ATP’s executive vice president for rules and competition, would determine what to do about Kyrgios’ comments made at the U.S. Open.
The 2019 ATP Rule Book says a “major offense” may be punished by a fine of up to the amount of prize money won at a tournament and a suspension of up to a year.
About a half-hour after the tour’s statement, Kyrgios sent out a Tweet in an effort “to clarify my comment around the ATP being corrupt,” saying “it was not the correct choice of words” and explaining the “intention was to address what I see as double standards rather than corruption.”
HOCKEY
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Goalie Cam Ward signed a one-day contract with the Carolina Hurricanes and retired as a member of the team he helped lead to a Stanley Cup.
General manager Don Waddell announced the signing and retirement Wednesday, calling Ward “a cornerstone for this organization for more than a decade.”
The 35-year-old Ward won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the 2006 playoffs, capping his rookie season by hoisting the Cup, and led Carolina to the Eastern Conference final three years later.
He retires after 14 seasons with a career record of 334-256-88, a save percentage of .908 and a goals-against average of 2.74.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Buffalo Sabres defenseman Matt Hunwick is expected to miss this season due to a neck condition that bothered the 12-year veteran for much of last season.
General manager Jason Botterill based Hunwick’s prognosis on offseason medical evaluations in making the announcement Wednesday, about two weeks before the Sabres report to training camp.
Hunwick was initially hurt last summer and the injury forced him to miss the first two months of the season. He was limited to playing 14 games.
SOCCER
This year’s MLS Cup will be shown on ABC, marking the first time since 2008 that Major League Soccer’s championship game will air on the network.
The league announced Wednesday that the Nov. 10 final will start at 3 p.m. EST. It will also air on Univision.
The MLS Cup was on ABC from 1996-2008 before moving to ESPN for eight of the last 10 seasons.
This is the third time in four years that the MLS Cup will air on network television. Fox broadcast the 2016 and ’18 finals.
MLS has a new playoff format that is single elimination in all rounds. Seven teams in each conference qualify, with the top seed receiving a bye. The first round will take place Oct. 19-20, followed by the semifinals on Oct. 23-24 and conference finals Oct. 29-30.
SPORTS GAMBLING
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Sports betting is days away from becoming legal in Indiana and the state’s casinos are lining up to start collecting wagers.
Indiana will become the 12th state - and the first in the midst of major Midwest markets - with sports betting when a new state law takes effect Sunday.
At least three casinos - ones near Indianapolis, Chicago and Cincinnati - plan to open on-site sports wagering areas that day. Some others plan similar openings before the NFL season kicks off on Sept. 5.
The Indiana Gaming Commission voted Wednesday to approve sports wagering regulations. Eleven of the 13 state-regulated casinos and all three of its off-track betting parlors have received temporary sports betting licenses. The casinos are still working to launch mobile betting apps in the state.
LAW
CHATHAM, Va. (AP) - The brother-in-law of a minor league baseball pitcher killed the athlete’s wife, toddler son and mother-in-law before he was captured naked during a manhunt in a tiny southern Virginia community, authorities said Wednesday.
Matthew Thomas Bernard, 18, was arrested after police warned of a dangerous gunman on the loose upon finding the bodies Tuesday morning at a home in Keeling.
Bernard’s sister, one of the victims, was married to Blake Bivens, a 24-year-old pitcher for Alabama’s Montgomery Biscuits, a Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
News of the slayings had prompted the Biscuits to cancel their scheduled doubleheader Tuesday.
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