MIAMI (AP) - Meyers Leonard of the Miami Heat apologized Tuesday night for using an anti-Semitic slur while playing a video game that was being livestreamed.
Leonard acknowledged that he used the term Monday, and said he did not know what it meant at that time. In his apology, posted on social media, he said “my ignorance about its history and how offensive it is to the Jewish community is absolutely not an excuse and I was just wrong.”
Leonard also said he was apologizing to team managing general partner Micky Arison and his family, the team’s players, coaches and front office, his family and the Jewish community, among others.
NEW YORK (AP) - Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid will be unable to start the second half of the season with the Philadelphia 76ers, though neither All-Star will be missing from the Eastern Conference leaders’ lineup for long.
Both will miss Philadelphia’s game Thursday in Chicago, and Simmons will also miss the 76ers’ contest on Friday against Washington. Provided both continue to test negative for COVID-19, they would be cleared after those games, the 76ers said.
Simmons and Embiid both traveled to Atlanta for Sunday’s All-Star Game, only to learn the night before that they were flagged by contact tracing data.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce, “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers star Michael Cooper and 11-time NBA All-Star Chris Bosh lead a list of 14 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
The list announced Tuesday features six other first-time finalists: former NBA coach Rick Adelman, two-time NCAA champion and Villanova coach Jay Wright, two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda Griffith, three-time WNBA MVP Lauren Jackson and former WNBA coach of the year Marianne Stanley, plus Hall of Famer Bill Russell for inclusion as a coach.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Kansas athletic director Jeff Long said he pointedly asked his longtime friend, Les Miles, during the hiring process to be next football coach of the Jayhawks whether there was anything in his background that could potentially embarrass the university.
Miles, according to Long, replied, “No.”
Three years later, that answer has not only contributed to the sudden downfall of a popular coach who took LSU to two national title games and a championship, but also has thrown into disarray a Kansas program that hasn’t had a winning season since 2008 amid a succession of failed coaches, dwindling fan support and overall apathy.
The school and Miles agreed to a settlement late Monday, just days after he was placed on administrative leave amid sexual misconduct allegations from his tenure with the Tigers.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - The University of Texas’ long-awaited report on “The Eyes of Texas” has found that the school song has “no racist intent,” but the school president said athletes and band members will not be required to sing or participate when the song is played at games and campus events.
The 58-page report, released Tuesday, was commissioned last year by school President Jay Hartzell after a group of Texas athletes, most notably football players, demanded the school drop the song as part of racial injustice protests.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin has fired women’s basketball coach Jonathan Tsipis following a first-round loss in the Big Ten Tournament.
Tsipis went 50-99 in five seasons, including a 16-74 mark in Big Ten competition. The Badgers went 5-19 overall and 2-18 in the Big Ten this season.
Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez announced the coaching change Tuesday night. The Badgers had lost 67-42 to Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament earlier that day.
GOLF
TORONTO (AP) - The RBC Canadian Open, the fourth-oldest national championship in golf, has been canceled for the second straight year because of circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament, which dates to 1904, was to be played June 10-13 at St. George’s Golf & Country outside Toronto.
The PGA Tour said Tuesday it would stage another event in the United States in place of the Canadian Open, which falls a week before the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
SOCCER
BERLIN (AP) - Germany coach Joachim Löw will step down after this year’s European Championship, bringing forward his previous plan to quit after the next World Cup.
The German soccer federation said Tuesday that Löw asked to terminate his contract, which was to run through the 2022 World Cup, after this year’s European tournament.
Löw is the one of longest-serving coaches of a national team and has been in charge for 189 games. He took over after the 2006 World Cup and had been assistant coach to Jürgen Klinsmann for two years before that.
SPORTS BROADCASTING
The National Hockey League will be returning to ESPN beginning next season.
The two sides have reached agreement on a seven-year contract that includes four Stanley Cup Finals, people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been finalized.
ESPN and the NHL had no comment. The deal was first reported by SportsNet in Canada.
NBC is in the final season of a 10-year contract worth $2 billion that gives it national NHL rights, but the league will air on multiple networks in its next agreement.
- By AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy.
OLYMPICS
TOKYO (AP) - A gymnastics test event in Tokyo for the Olympics that would have included athletes from outside Japan was canceled on Tuesday.
The Japan Gymnastics Association and international governing body FIG said the All-Around World Cup scheduled for May 4 was off. It was to be the last of an artistic gymnastics series doubling as Olympic qualifiers, but the other two World Cups in Germany and Britain were also previously canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tokyo World Cup will be replaced by a local event with only Japanese gymnasts to test the venue for the Olympics.
COURTS
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge in California has ruled that Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa Bryant, can obtain the names of four Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who allegedly shared graphic photos from the site of the helicopter crash that killed her husband, their daughter Gianna and seven others.
An effort by Los Angeles County lawyers to keep the deputies’ names under seal was rejected Monday by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The ruling means the names and details from an internal affairs investigation of the deputies could be added to Vanessa Bryant’s lawsuit against the county and the Sheriff’s Department. The county, however, can appeal the decision.
OBITUARY
GENEVA (AP) - Roger Vonlanthen, the last surviving member of the Switzerland team that in 1954 played in the highest-scoring World Cup match, has died. He was 89.
The Swiss soccer federation said Tuesday that the former Inter Milan forward died in July at his home near Geneva. News of Vonlanthen’s death was not previously reported.
At the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, the host nation lost to Austria 7-5 in the quarterfinals in 40 degree Celsius (104 degree Fahrenheit) heat in Lausanne. The Swiss led 3-0 by the 19th minute but trailed 5-3 only 15 minutes later.
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