4:39 AM GMT ESPNcricinfo staff On this day in 2008, the IPL kicked off and a 26-year old Brendon McCullum lit up the opener with a breathtaking 73-ball 158 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The ferocity of the assault was such that his score has been bettered only once –
8:31 PM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Nippon Professional Baseball’s season openers will not take place in May due to the coronavirus pandemic, with no firm date set for the start. Representatives of the 12 teams decided Friday to also scrap interleague play. The removal of 18 interleague games from each team’s calendar would make
7:57 PM ET Associated Press COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets signed All-Star goaltender Joonas Korpisalo to a two-year contract Friday worth a reported $5.6 million. Korpisalo, who turns 26 on April 28, set single-season career records in multiple categories — including games played, wins and goals-against average — after taking over as the
7:55 PM ET Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA remains committed to resuming the season but that there is still no timetable for a possible return or even a deadline for canceling the 2019-20 suspended season. Following the NBA’s Board of Governors meeting held via video conference Friday, Silver said the league is still not
7:00 AM ET Steve Spurrier turns 75 today. And for the record, that’s his number, not his age. In Spurrier-speak, your age is only a number. Anyway (as Spurrier is fond of saying), we’ll celebrate No. 75 for the Head Ball Coach with a few classic stories — some you’ve heard, some you probably haven’t.
6:09 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scott Dixon, five-time IndyCar champion and relatively new iRacing competitor, received a brief set of instructions from boss Chip Ganassi about the world of virtual racing. “I did get a text from him that said, ‘Just lay low,”’ Dixon said Friday. What started out as a fun
5:18 PM ET Tony Ferguson will not fight Khabib Nurmagomedov or Justin Gaethje on Saturday night, as was originally planned. But the UFC lightweight star says he still did a full weight cut and stepped on a scale Friday morning. Ferguson made championship weight — 155 pounds — and showed the footage on his Instagram.
4:21 PM ET Minnesota got a big boost to its 2021 recruiting class Friday when ESPN Junior 300 cornerback Avante Dickerson announced his commitment to the Golden Gophers. Dickerson is the No. 46 recruit overall and is Minnesota’s highest-ranked commitment since ESPN started its rankings in 2009. The next-highest-ranked prospects to commit to Minnesota were
4:55 PM ET When coach Mack Brown said he wanted to keep the best players from the state of North Carolina home, he wasn’t playing around. On Friday, Brown and his staff got two commitments from ESPN Junior 300 prospects out of North Carolina, giving the Tar Heels 11 in-state recruits in the top 300.
5:42 AM ET Jonathan Taylor had never heard of Zoom before March 13. But when the NFL banned in-person visits due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Taylor — like the rest of the country — got a crash course in video chat platforms. The former Wisconsin running back was already five minutes late to a 2020
3:58 PM ET Calling it an “unbelievable tragedy,” coach Dave Tippett remembered Edmonton Oilers forward Colby Cave, who died April 11 after suffering a brain bleed earlier that week. “Just an outstanding young man that I really feel for,” Tippett said of the 25-year-old Cave on Friday during an NHL media call. “He grew up
3:03 PM ET ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller, who is now quarantined in his Denver-area home with the COVID-19 virus, said Friday that he’s “proof anybody can get it.” The 31-year-old Miller, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, told ESPN’s NFL Live on Friday that he had tried to take every precaution over
3:23 PM ET The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are finalizing a plan to withhold 25% of each player’s paycheck beginning May 15, sources told ESPN. A formal ratification of the plan was underway Friday, but details are in place to deliver a gradual reduction in player salaries should the force majeure provision
1:17 PM ET Associated Press NASCAR has suspended its May 9 race at Martinsville Speedway and did not give an indication on when the season will resume. When NASCAR suspended racing four events into the season, it listed the event in Virginia as its return date. But Virginia is under a stay-at-home order until June
12:06 PM ET The NCAA Eligibility Center is waiving the standardized test score requirement for incoming freshman student-athletes in both Division I and Division II for the 2020-21 academic year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the governing body announced Friday. Students who expect to graduate from high school in time to enroll in a Division
12:18 PM ET Ted Leonsis — the CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, WNBA’s Mystics and NHL’s Capitals — said he’s committed to paying his 1,500 part-time employees through April. “I felt that it was the right thing to do, to pay our part-time employees that signed up to
12:23 PM ET The Winnipeg Jets and Dustin Byfuglien have mutually agreed to terminate the defenseman’s contract, the NHL and NHLPA announced on Friday. The move also resolves Byfuglien’s grievance against the club. The 35-year-old Byfuglien is now an unrestricted free agent. Byfuglien was suspended by the Jets after failing to report to training camp
12:10 PM ET Steve KimESPN Longtime boxing referee Eddie Cotton died Friday morning after being hospitalized due to the coronavirus, the International Boxing Federation announced. He was 72. According to his wife, Ruby, Cotton was hospitalized two weeks ago with pneumonia. He was then diagnosed with COVID-19 at the hospital. The resident of Paterson, New