SPORTS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018
1B
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Mariners
drop into
wild-card
standoff
By TIM BOOTH
AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE — When the Seattle Mar-
iners were rolling in the middle of June,
it appeared unlikely anyone in their own
division would be contending with them
for one of the wild card spots in the Amer-
ican League.
On Wednesday, the Mariners were
knocked from the lead for the second
wild-card in the AL,
caught by division
MLB
rival Oakland.
Marwin
Gonza-
lez hit two of Hous-
Astros
ton’s four home runs,
and the Astros beat the
Mariners 8-3, dropping
Seattle into a tie with
the Athletics in the
wild-card race. Seattle
Mariners
led the A’s by 11 games
in the middle of June,
but has seen the entire
lead disappear over the past six weeks.
“I’m not worried really about any-
body else right now. We need to get back
to playing like we’re capable of playing.
It just hasn’t happened here recently,”
Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
“We’ll have a good game here or there.
But like I said, start putting together
some streaks together, just quality game
after game, good pitching, more impor-
tantly on offense, we’ve got to do more
offensively.”
The Mariners were 21 games over .500
at 46-25 after a 1-0 win on June 16, while
Oakland was just below .500 at 35-36.
Seattle hasn’t played terribly in the fol-
lowing six weeks, but its 17-20 record is
pedestrian compared to Oakland’s 29-10
mark and why the A’s have caught up so
quickly.
“We have to get back to playing really
good baseball and then we’ll worry about
the other guys,” Servais said.
Both the Mariners and A’s are still
8
3
See MARINERS/2B
AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File
In this Nov. 5, 2016, file photo, Oregon State quarterback Marcus McMaryion throws from the end zone under pressure
from Stanford defensive tackle Harrison Phillips during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Stanford,
Calif. Stanford coach David Shaw said in 2014 the coaches had decided to redshirt Phillips, who turned into one of the
most productive defensive linemen in school history. Injuries forced them to reconsider. The injured veterans returned
after two games, but Phillips kept playing rather than returning to the practice squad.
New redshirt rule
is a game-changer
By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
or years college football coaches have
labored, even agonized, over whether
to play a freshman who might be able
contribute immediately or hold him out of
games to preserve a year of eligibility and
hopefully cash in greater rewards down
the road.
Those decisions are about to get a
whole lot easier.
Rarely does the NCAA pass legislation
that is both wholeheartedly endorsed by
coaches and beneficial to players, but the
F
new redshirt rule appears to be that kind
of smash hit. Players will now be allowed
to play in up to four games and still qual-
ify for a redshirt season, maintaining four
years of eligibility. In the past, playing just
one game could cost a player an entire sea-
son of eligibility. Coaches say the change
will provide needed roster depth, improve
player development and avoid many of
those damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-
don’t situations where the choice becomes:
Short-term need or long-term goals?
“Brilliant. Love it. Greatest rule the
NCAA has ever put in in the last 20 years,”
Minnesota coach PJ Fleck said.
Bookies go from pariahs to partners in NBA deal
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Columnist
L
AS VEGAS — As
revenue goes it barely
registers on the books.
The NBA probably gets more
from the contract with its
frozen daiquiri vendor than it
does the new deal it inked with
casino giant MGM Resorts
International.
With good reason. The deal
announced with such fanfare
Tuesday is arguably little more
than a branding exercise — at
least for now — and a chance
to take baby steps into a sports
betting partnership that would
have been almost scandalous
only a few years ago.
Still, the NBA is now
officially all in on sports
betting. Other leagues will
soon, undoubtedly, follow.
And sports may never be
the same again.
Forget the image of a
shadowy figure in a back
room somewhere taking bets
over the phone. Indeed, if the
bookie you’ve used to make
illegal bets over the years
AP Photo/Wayne Parry
Frank Sinatra impersonator Brian Duprey, left, and Elvis
Presley impersonator Kevin Mills, right, show off a ticket for
a bet they placed on the New York Yankees moments after
Harrah’s casino in Atlantic City N.J. began accepting sports
bets on Wednesday.
hasn’t made plans yet to get
into another profession, you
might suggest that it’s time.
Things figure to change in
Las Vegas, too, if not all that
much. Books in this gambling
city have already expanded
their offerings in recent years
to include the in-game betting
that the NBA believes will
prove the need for its official
data.
But the official seal of
approval apparently means
something, at least to MGM.
So, too, might the official data
the league provides at some
point in the future.
And now that MGM has
a deal with the NBA, surely
the NFL and Major League
Baseball are going to want in
on the action.
Credit NBA commissioner
Adam Silver for inking a deal
he called “a leap of faith on
both sides.” Silver realized
early on that legalized sports
betting was an opportunity for
the league, not something to
fear.
And when his idea of an
“integrity fee” paid to the
leagues out of sports betting
revenue failed to gain traction
in the early adopting states,
Silver pivoted to find another
way to get a piece of what
figures to be a huge revenue
stream.
He quickly found the
perfect partner in MGM,
which might have some
ulterior motives of its own.
The company wants an NBA
team for its new arena on the
Las Vegas Strip, and there’s no
See NBA/2B
It’s a game-changer. But how, exactly?
“I don’t know if people on the outside
or even maybe us on the inside understand
how different that rule is. How much the
game is going to be different, the strategy
behind it,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley
said. “I think it’s going to be fun.”
All players, no matter their class year,
can be redshirted. Medical redshirts are
common in college football, giving a
player back a season of eligibility that was
mostly lost to injury.
But it is with the freshman class that
See REDSHIRT/2B
Oregon Senior Open
Hanson grabs lead
with 7-birdie round
at Wildhorse Resort
East Oregonian
PENDLETON — Erik Hanson shot
7-under-par on the second day of the Oregon
Senior Open Invitational at Wildhorse Resort
on Wednesday, moving into first place with a
cumulative 12-under on two rounds.
Hanson, an amateur from the Sahalee
Country Club in Sammamish, Washington,
has a three stroke lead over Jeff Coston of
Blaine, Washington and Mike Kerns of Kent,
Washington. Coston is a professional and
Kerns is an amateur.
The championship round tees off Thursday
at 9:30 a.m.
Kerns was also part of the winning four-
some in the team portion of the invite, which
concluded Wednesday. The team included
professional Billy Bomar and amateurs Dave
Steinbach and Lloyd Dresser, and ended two
rounds at 44-under-par.
Hanson’s team, which included Jim
Pike, Greg Steed and Paul Cooke, fin-
ished second in the team competition with
a 38-under-par.
For more results from the invitational, see
the Scoreboard on Page 2B.
Sports shorts
Manziel to make CFL
debut against Hamilton
(AP) — Johnny Manziel will
make his CFL debut against his
former team on Friday night.
The Montreal Alouettes
announced that Manziel will be
their starter when they host the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The 2012 Heisman Trophy
winner began the season with
Hamilton and was dealt to
Montreal on July 22 in a five-
player deal that also included two
first-round draft picks.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
Ohio State’s Meyer put on paid leave
(AP) – Ohio State has placed
coach Urban Meyer on paid
administrative leave while it
investigates claims that his wife
knew about allegations of domestic
violence against an assistant coach
years before he was fired last week.
Courtney Smith gave an
interview to Stadium and provided
text messages to former ESPN
reporter Brett McMurphy between
her and Shelley Meyer in 2015 and
with the wives of other Buckeyes
coaches. Courtney Smith also
provided threatening texts
she said came from her
ex-husband, former assistant
Zach Smith.
“Shelley said she was
going to have to tell
Urban,” Courtney Smith
told Stadium. “I said:
‘That’s fine, you should
tell Urban.’”
Zach Smith was fired
last week.
1967 — The New Orleans
Saints play their first preseason
game and lose to the Los Angeles
Rams, 77-16.
1979 — New York Yankees
catcher Thurman Munson is killed
in a plane crash practicing takeoffs
and landings near his Ohio home.
2012 — Gabby Douglas
becomes the third straight Amer-
ican to win gymnastics’ biggest
prize when she wins the all-around
Olympic title.
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