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Slap fighting: The next big thing, or unsporting stupidity?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

By MARK ANDERSON | AP Sports WriterLAS VEGAS — The competitors stand rigidly upright with their hands behind their backs, waiting to absorb a brutal slap to the face.When the open-handed blow is delivered, there’s a sharp report — and the reaction can be dramatic. Some fighters barely move, while others stumble backward or fall to the floor. Some are knocked out.UFC President Dana White is selling slap fighting as the next big thing in combat sports, putting his money and the resources of one of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts organizations behind the Power Slap League. The Nevada Athletic Commission has sanctioned the league for competitions in Las Vegas.Azael Rodriguez slaps Jesus Gaspar at a Power Slap event in Rio De Janiero, Brazil on Nov. 30, 2022. (Mike Roach/Sciaffo LLC via AP)“It’s a home run,” said White, who is among several UFC officials involved in the league.Some slap-fighting beatdowns have gone viral, including a video from eastern Europe showing a man who co...

After Breonna Taylor shooting, feds find pattern of violations

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

By DYLAN LOVAN (Associated Press)LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has found Louisville police have engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights following an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor.The announcement was made Wednesday by Attorney General Merrick Garland. A Justice Department report found the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government and Louisville Metro Police Department “engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights under the Constitution and federal law.”The report said the Louisville police department “discriminates against Black people in its enforcement activities,” uses excessive force and conducts searches based on invalid warrants. It also said the department violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, like the street protests in the city in the summer of 2020.“This conduct is unacceptable, it is heartbreaking,” Garland said.The sweeping probe announc...

Chris Perkins: These are the free agents the Dolphins should re-sign

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Decision time begins next week for the Miami Dolphins when it comes to re-signing their own free agents.It won’t be easy.From my perspective, this Dolphins locker room was among the most entertaining and media-friendly groups I’ve covered in more than 20 years of pro sports. They were absolutely great. So from a personal working standpoint, I’d be happy to see almost all of them return.But obviously you can’t expect significant improvement when you return a ton of players from a crew that went 9-8.Tough choices must be made, but here are my top choices of free agents that should be brought back.I’d like to see quarterback Teddy Bridgewater return to the Dolphins.I’d also like to see linebacker Elandon Roberts back as well as offensive tackle Brandon Shell and cornerback Nik Needham.That foursome of Bridgewater, Roberts, Shell and Needham are the top four free agents that I think the Dolphins should re-sign.After that there’s running back Jef...

Jimmy Butler uses day off between Heat games to jet to L.A. for Pau Gasol jersey retirement

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Amid what already is a hectic schedule for the Miami Heat, forward Jimmy Butler finds himself in the midst of a three-games-in-three-days stretch, after a crosscourt side trip on Tuesday.In the wake of going for 26 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Monday night’s victory over the Atlanta Hawks at Miami-Dade Arena, Butler traveled to Los Angeles to be a Crypto.com Arena for Tuesday night’s Lakers’ retirement of Pau Gasol’s jersey. Butler and Gasol spent two seasons as teammates with the Chicago Bulls.Butler then jetted back to South Florida for Wednesday night’s game against the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers, the start of a run of three games in four nights for the Heat, who host the Cavaliers again Friday night before playing Saturday night on the road against the Orlando Magic.Holding up a Gasol Lakers jersey, Butler was asked by the NBA’s promotional wing about the appearance.“What’s this guy’s name? Pau?” Butler s...

Harry and Meghan invoke princess title for Lilibet amid royal feud

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

With the apparent consent of King Charles III, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have settled one issue in their ongoing feud with the British royal family by announcing that they christened their daughter “Princess Lilibet Diana” in a small, intimate ceremony held at their Montecito mansion last Friday.For the Anglican ceremony, conducted by the Rev John Taylor, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex extended an invitation to Charles, as well as to Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate Middleton, People reported. But it’s well known that Harry and Meghan are estranged from his relatives and are undecided about whether they will attend Charles’s coronation in May. That’s no doubt one reason why Charles, Camilla, William and Kate didn’t fly over from the U.K. to attend the christening, the 20 to 30 guests for which included Lilibet’s grandmother, Doria Ragland, and the 1-year-old’s godfather, producer and actor Tyle...

Pac-12 media rights: How sports gambling and the sale of statistics could fuel revenue growth

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

A year ago this week, Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff sketched a strategy for developing future revenue streams during a news conference at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.He had no idea that USC and UCLA would announce their departures to the Big Ten a few months later, undermining Kliavkoff’s pursuit of a media rights deal that could secure the future of the 108-year-old league.But one component hasn’t changed an iota: The potential impact of gambling in general, and the sale of statistical data specifically, on college sports.“Data is part of media rights, and media rights is one of the issues at the top of our agenda,” Kliavkoff said last year. “We will certainly discuss data rights as part of that package.”A few days later, the Pac-12 partnered with Tempus Ex Machina, a data technology company based in San Francisco. The agreement created a foundation from which the conference could sell its data and statistics to media, gaming or technology companies.“This is all ...

How Heat can avoid harrowing postseason play-in round

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

What had stood as a complex equation for the Miami Heat at the NBA All-Star break has turned into basic math for the final month of the season.Within reach of possibly moving as high as No. 4 in mid-February, Erik Spoelstra’s team effectively stands in a now-or-never spot when it comes to the Nos. 5-6 playoff seeds in the Eastern Conference, the final postseason berths that do not require participating in the harrowing play-in round.Entering Wednesday, the Heat stood 2 1/2 games behind the 37-28 No. 6 Brooklyn Nets.Because Brooklyn already has won the first two games of the three-game season series against the Heat, that head-to-head tiebreaker already has been secured by the Nets, regardless of the outcome of the Heat’s March 25 home game against Brooklyn.In essence, it means if the Nets go 9-8 the rest of the way, then to pass Brooklyn and secure No. 6 over Brooklyn, it would require a 12-4 finish for the Heat starting with Wednesday’s game against the visiting C...

ASK IRA: Is Kevin Love in starting lineup in Heat’s best interests?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Q: Move Kevin Love to the bench. It’s too late to change the scheme of what has gotten them to two Eastern Conference finals and a Finals berth. – David.A: But often when a player is added from the buyout market, it is with certain assurances. While Kevin Love said he did not make starting a prerequisite of joining the Heat, there assuredly were commitments made about playing time (he did not leave a playoff contender in Cleveland to sit on the bench for a play-in contender). If such commitments aren’t honored then opposing teams will use that against you the next time there is competition for such a player on the buyout market. So if Kevin doesn’t start, and if Caleb Martin remains in the second unit, then the only viable role for Keven would be as backup center, which is basically a role that maxes out at about 14 to 16 minutes a game behind Bam Adebayo. And that also would mean losing the size Cody Zeller brings to that second unit.Q: Hello Ira, do you thi...

Why the Chicago Bears helped launch the first intramural girls flag football league in the UK

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

The Chicago Bears — in partnership with Chicago Public Schools — launched the first high school girls flag football league in Illinois in 2021.In its first year the league was composed of 22 teams strictly within Chicago. The next year it expanded to more than 50 teams in the city, and conferences were formed from other Illinois towns such as Rockford and Oak Park.And now it’s going global.The Bears, along with the New York Jets, are launching the first intramural girls secondary school flag football league in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the league Wednesday comes on International Women’s Day. Teams from 12 schools will compete over a six-week season in the borough of Ealing in West London, with no charge for schools or players to participate.Chase Claypool, a Bears wide receiver and NFL Global Flag Ambassador, called it an opportunity to expand the sport internationally.”The Bears reached out to me and asked me if I want to be a part of thi...

Paris Hilton says she made sex tape after being given an ultimatum, and taking quaaludes

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:00:00 GMT

Paris Hilton was in Australia when her manager called and broke the news that there was a 37-second video clip of the then-19-year-old having sex circulating the internet. Now Hilton writes that she gave in to pressure when she made the infamous sex tape with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon. He was 31.In an excerpt from “Paris: The Memoir,” the heiress reveals details about what led to the 2003 sex tape.After her boyfriend, the American poker player Salomon, repeatedly broached the idea of filming the two having sex, Hilton finally gave in.“I don’t remember that much about the night he wanted to make a videotape while we made love,” she wrote in an excerpt published by the London Times.“He had often said it was something he did with other women, but I felt weird and uncomfortable about it. I always told him, ‘I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.'”“He kept pushing,” she continued. “I kept making excuses.”He pr...