AP National Sports

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer Part of the NFL’s safety experiments to reduce head injuries is the expanded use of the padded helmet caps NFL players have been seen wearing during training camps this summer. All offensive and defensive linemen, linebackers and tight ends are required to wear the Guardian Caps at practices

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer The mushroom-like padding players are wearing on their helmets during training camps this summer are called Guardian Caps. The NFL’s competition committee has mandated that all offensive and defensive linemen, tight ends and linebackers wear them up until the second preseason game. The caps feature a 12-ounce padded shell

LATROBE, Pa. (AP) — Diontae Johnson’s hold-in paid off. Literally. The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pro Bowl wide receiver have agreed to a three-year deal on Thursday that runs through the 2024 season. The deal will reportedly pay Johnson more than $39 million over the next three years. Johnson was entering the final season of

By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer Anthony Pettis is ready for a rematch against Stevie Ray when the Professional Fighters League playoffs open Friday night in New York. Ray made Pettis submit in a fight last month. Pettis is ready for a second chance with the 155-pound championship and $1 million on the line under

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball plans to return to London next year for the first time since 2019. The league says the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will play a two-game series on June 24 and 25, 2023, at London Stadium. The NL Central rivals were supposed to play in London in

By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — A judge on Thursday made it likely she’ll rule in weeks rather than months whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gets to decide the merits of racial discrimination claims made by Black coaches against the league and its teams, saying an effort to gather more evidence seems

By The Associated Press Brittney Griner has been freed from a Russia prison in a high-level prisoner exchange. Here’s a look at the WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist’s career on and off the basketball court.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The Denver Broncos have signed free agent receiver Darrius Shepherd, who played for the Green Bay Packers for two years and played this spring for the New Jersey Generals of the USFL. Shepherd takes the roster spot that opened up when the Broncos’ leading receiver, Tim Patrick, was placed on the

By JENNA FRYER AP Auto Racing Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Colton Herta returns to the second Music City Grand Prix coming off his own moment on the stage. The IndyCar driver played a gig with his punk rock band, The Zibs, at a historic Indianapolis bar last week. There’s no encore in Nashville. Herta

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — A judge in Russia convicted American basketball star Brittney Griner of drug possession and smuggling. She was sentenced to nine years in prison in a politically charged case that could lead to a high-stakes prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow. Griner showed little emotion to the

DALLAS (AP) — Former NBA player Iman Shumpert was arrested at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport last weekend for allegedly trying to bring six ounces of cannabis through security. The police report from the Dallas-Fort Worth Department of Public Safety shows police were called to a TSA checkpoint at about 3:40 p.m. on July

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner illegally brought drugs into Russia, the judge at her trial ruled Thursday at the conclusion of her case that reached the highest levels of U.S.-Russian diplomacy. The pronouncement by Judge Anna Sotnikova, prior to her announcing a verdict, appeared to herald

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida track and field coach Mike “Mouse” Holloway is getting a four-year extension that puts him under contract through 2032. He led the Gators to three national championships in the past season: the men’s and women’s outdoor titles and the women’s indoor title. Athletic director Scott Stricklin announced the extension on

By GRAHAM DUNBAR AP Sports Writer GENEVA (AP) — The world’s richest soccer league starts a new season in England on Friday as the rest of Europe looks for ways to catch up. The English Premier League is a commercial juggernaut off the field. Its broadcasting deals worldwide fuel player transfers and wages most others

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — An emotional Brittney Griner apologized in a Russian court Thursday as her drug possession trial drew to a close, and a prosecutor urged that the American basketball star be convicted and sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison in a case that reached the highest levels

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — An emotional Brittney Griner apologized in a Russian court Thursday as her drug possession trial drew to a close Thursday, and a prosecutor urged that the American basketball star be convicted and sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison in a case that reached the highest

By JIM HEINTZ Associated Press KHIMKI, Russia (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner apologized to her family and her team as a Russian court heard closing arguments in her drug possession trial said it expected to deliver a verdict Thursday. In her final remarks, Griner said she had no intent to break Russian law