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B2 SPORTS East Oregonian Raiders WR Brown files grievance over helmet By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer ALAMEDA, Calif. — Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown has reportedly filed a grievance with the NFL over a league rule that pre- vents him from wearing his 10-year-old helmet. ESPN reported that Brown had a two-hour conference call Friday with an indepen- dent arbitrator to state his case for why he should be able to use a helmet that is no lon- ger certified by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equip- ment. League and union rep- resentatives were also on the call and ESPN reported a rul- ing could come as early as next week. Brown has not partici- pated in a full practice for the Raiders after starting train- ing camp on the non-football injury list with injuries to his feet that reportedly came from frostbite suffered while get- ting cryotherapy treatment in France. Brown was cleared to practice on July 28 and partic- ipated in part of two sessions but hasn’t been around the team the past few days. Brown’s Schutt Air Advan- tage helmet is not allowed to be AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown is shown during an NFL football minicamp June 11 in Alameda, Calif. worn because of a league pol- icy that players must wear hel- mets that are NOCSAE cer- tified, a person in the league said on condition of anonym- ity because the commission- er’s office was not talking publicly about the issue. NOC- SAE won’t recertify his hel- met because it is more than 10 years old. Schutt discontinued mak- ing the helmet three years ago because current technology had moved past it, according to the company. Brown was one of 32 play- ers using one of 11 helmets last season that are now banned by the league and players’ associ- ation. Those players, including Tom Brady, were able to use the helmets last season under a grace period but were required to make the change in 2019. Brown has been the game’s most prolific receiver the past six years but was able to be acquired from Pittsburgh for just a third- and fifth-round pick in March because of problems off the field. Brown had a messy divorce from the Steelers after averag- ing more than 100 catches and 1,500 yards receiving per sea- son over the last six years. He got in trouble for livestream- ing from the locker room after a playoff win over Kansas City in January 2017 and was pulled over for doing 100 mph in the northern Pittsburgh sub- urbs last fall. Saturday, August 10, 2019 Rodeo: Peebles 1 of only 3 to finish bareback with a legal ride Continued from Page B1 competed in Friday night’s event, and one of only three who finished with a legal ride. Blodgett rider Kirk St. Clair earned a 73, and Pendleton’s own Payton Wright was right behind him at 72. Kevin Lusk, an Ellensburg, Washington, native who stands in the Columbia River Circuit’s top five, failed to earn a score. “I had a nice horse,” Pee- bles said of Joker Poker, his Friday night ride. “I wish I could’ve broken a little ear- lier, but we set up nice and I got a good ride out of him.” Peebles currently holds the No. 19 position in the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Asso- ciation World Standings with $49,161.25. After Fri- day, he’ll be able to add a $100 bonus and a bottle of Chute Eight Whiskey to those earnings. “This is a great rodeo,” Peebles said. “The horses are phenomenal, and so are the crowds.” Team roping Only three teams posted qualifying rides during Fri- day’s team roping event, and in the end, there was no beating the local Staff photo by Ben Lonergan Steven Peebles holds on to Joker Poker to clinch the night’s high score in the bareback competition at the Farm-City Pro Rodeo Friday night. representation. Hermiston duo Andy Carlson and Tyler Smith lassoed their calf in 5.5 seconds to win the night’s event. Spencer Mitchell of Orange Cove, Califor- nia, and Cody Doescher of Webbers Falls, Okla- homa, initially finished at 5.3 seconds to take over the leader board’s top spot, but a crossfire penalty nullified the time. Smith recently moved to Hermiston while Carl- son owns Concrete North- west, making the victory in front of an arena packed with locals all the more satisfying. “It’s neat,” Carlson said. “We work with some of (Farm-City’s) bigger spon- sors on a daily basis. It’s good to do so well in front of them. I don’t know if this will be worth much money, but it is worth the whiskey and $100.” EOU: 16 players gone from last season Continued from Page B1 AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File In this October 27, 2018, file photo, Oregon State line- backer Shemar Smith celebrates a win against Colorado last season in Boulder, Colo. Beavers: Bigger, stronger, heavier Continued from Page B1 Oregon State. The coach- ing staff opted to ease him into camp, gradually increasing his practice reps. “Great size and athlet- icism,” linebackers coach Trent Bray said of the 6-4, 242-pound Gumbs. “Just another quality football player in there to add to that competition and add to that depth so we can play more people.” Added Tibesar: “I think he’s picked up the play- book very well. … He’s not getting every rep in prac- tice, but he’s getting pretty darn close.” Gumbs and Roberts are bonus pieces for a line- backing corps that was already one of the team’s deeper units. Returning safety Jalen Moore led the Beavers with 102 tackles last sea- son. Right behind him were linebackers Smith (85 tackles), Doug Taumoelau (54) and Rashed (52), all of whom are back. Matthew Tago, John McCartan, Isa- iah Tufaga and true fresh- man Omar Speights could also be significant contrib- utors this fall. “We’re bigger, we’re stronger,” Bray said. “We’ve got a little more weight to us on the edges, helps us set those edges better. And then the under- standing of where to drop, where to be in the pass rush. Being that it’s year two, I think that growth has happened at all levels for us.” from a year ago in former Southwest Mississippi Com- munity College teammates Felipe Madero and Patrick Larsen. Madero, who is from Argentina, is one of three South American athletes on the roster, which also features players from England, Mexico and South Africa. “What I look for is work ethic and attitude, and then after that we look at talent,” Mills said. “We knew what we needed. We saw the poten- tial, provided we have chem- istry. We search for those players who are going to be successful.” Mills said finding the right pieces to add was a challenge, but once they found the play- ers they wanted, selling them on EOU was easy. “It seems like everyone we showed interest in what we got,” he said, adding that what EOU offers — from new facilities, scenery and educa- tion to a program on the rise — shows the players some- thing they want to get on board with. “This place is going some- where. So when we bring recruits on campus, they see that as well,” Mills said. “(The) players who we bring in already have that attitude (to get better).” Mills also has high hopes for newcomers like Mike Dias and Alexander Zuluaga out of Cal State Dominguez Hills, and Javier Moran out of LA La Grande Observer Photo/Ronald Bond Carlos Solorio, right, and Oscar Munoz, center, battle for posses- sion during practice Wednesday while Joaquin Bermejillo looks on. The Eastern Oregon men’s soccer team is coming of an 11-4-4 season that saw it reach the CCC tournament semifinals. Mission College — the same school Solorio attended. “(There are) so many guys I could talk about,” he said. The talent level that’s been brought in is also pushing the returners to improve. “With players coming in like that, they up the inten- sity. They push each other to be their best,” Gutierrez said. Larsen said that’s because, at the end of the day, there are only 11 starting spots available. “You have to beat out who- ever is in that position, but we’re still a team. It’s really competitive, but it’s a friendly competitive,” he said. “To me as a newcomer, I think my best position is to lift other players up and challenge them more. Obviously you want to have the starting position, but the main thing is you want to make the team better as a whole.” And Mills believes that even though mainstays of the program for its first four years are gone, the players who are here now can lift Eastern to new heights. “That’s what we keep talking about. We’re thankful for the guys who made it pos- sible, but yes, we expect to be better than we’ve been in the past,” he said. On the field, Mills said, the emphasis will be on the defen- sive side of the ball. “We want to be sound and strong in the back,” he said. “We want to focus on shutting (our) opponents out, and we know with our talent up top (in the formation), we’re going to find the back of the net.” He also plans to outwork the opposition, adding, “We want them to feel like we’re swarming and overloading them at all angles.” Both Solorio and Gutier- rez pointed out that playing as a family — a vital component a year ago — will be a key for EOU if it wants to realize its potential this fall. Larsen said he’s already seeing that family feel build, and he noted another piece to the puzzle for success. “We need to be a unit and trust each other,” he said. “You can have 10 players in synch, but that one player not (in synch) can throw it off.” EOU will get a good gauge of where it stands early with a preseason slate that includes Vanguard and Marymount California — ranked 11th and 25th, respectively, in the final poll of 2018 — on a three- game California road trip that begins Sept. 2. “We’re going to really see what we’re made of, and then we’ll adjust,” Mills said of the nonconference schedule. The key CCC matches, the coach said, are at Corban Sept. 21, Southern Oregon Oct. 12 and Rocky Mountain Oct. 18. Those happen to be the three teams ahead of EOU in the CCC preseason coaches’ poll, and teams that were all in the top 15 following the 2018 season. “I believe the league has to be aware of us a little bit more,” Solorio said. “We’re going to come for those top three teams.” SCOREBOARD BASEBALL AMERICAN LEAGUE East W L Pct GB New York 76 40 .655 — Tampa Bay 66 50 .569 10 Boston 62 56 .525 15 Toronto 48 71 .403 29½ Baltimore 38 77 .330 37½ Central W L Pct GB Cleveland 70 46 .603 — Minnesota 70 46 .603 — Chicago 51 63 .447 18 Kansas City 41 76 .350 29½ Detroit 35 78 .310 33½ West W L Pct GB Houston 76 40 .655 — Oakland 66 50 .569 10 Texas 58 56 .509 17 Los Angeles 56 61 .479 20½ Seattle 48 68 .414 28 ——— Thursday’s Games N.Y. Yankees 12, Toronto 6 Boston 3, L.A. Angels 0 Detroit 10, Kansas City 8 Cleveland 7, Minnesota 5 Friday’s Games Oakland 7, Chicago White Sox 0 Houston 3, Baltimore 2 Toronto 8, N.Y. Yankees 2 Detroit 5, Kansas City 2 Boston 16, L.A. Angels 4 Cleveland 6, Minnesota 2 Texas at Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. Tampa Bay at Seattle, 7:10 p.m. Saturday’s Games N.Y. Yankees (TBD) at Toronto (Waguespack 3-1), 12:07 p.m. L.A. Angels (Heaney 1-3) at Boston (Por- cello 10-8), 1:05 p.m. Kansas City (Montgomery 1-5) at Detroit (Turnbull 3-9), 3:10 p.m. Houston (Sanchez 4-14) at Baltimore (Brooks 2-5), 4:05 p.m. Cleveland (Plutko 4-2) at Minnesota (Odorizzi 12-5), 4:10 p.m. Oakland (Roark 7-7) at Chicago White Sox (Lopez 6-9), 4:10 p.m. Texas (Payano 1-0) at Milwaukee (Houser 4-5), 4:10 p.m. Tampa Bay (Morton 12-4) at Seattle (Milone 1-6), 7:10 p.m. Sunday’s Games Houston at Baltimore, 10:05 a.m. L.A. Angels at Boston, 10:05 a.m. N.Y. Yankees at Toronto, 10:07 a.m. Kansas City at Detroit, 10:10 a.m. Cleveland at Minnesota, 11:10 a.m. Oakland at Chicago White Sox, 11:10 a.m. Texas at Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Seattle, 1:10 p.m. NATIONAL LEAGUE East W L Pct GB Atlanta 69 49 .585 — Washington 61 54 .530 6½ New York 60 56 .517 8 Philadelphia 59 56 .513 8½ Miami 43 72 .374 24½ Central W L Pct GB Chicago 63 53 .543 — St. Louis 59 55 .518 3 Milwaukee 60 56 .517 3 Cincinnati 55 59 .482 7 Pittsburgh 48 67 .417 14½ West W L Pct GB Los Angeles 77 40 .658 — Arizona 58 57 .504 18 San Francisco 57 59 .491 19½ San Diego 53 61 .465 22½ Colorado 52 63 .452 24 ——— Thursday’s Games Chicago Cubs 12, Cincinnati 5 Miami 9, Atlanta 2 San Francisco 5, Philadelphia 0 San Diego 9, Colorado 3 Friday’s Games Atlanta 8, Miami 4 Cincinnati 5, Chicago Cubs 2 N.Y. Mets 7, Washington 6 St. Louis 6, Pittsburgh 2 Texas at Milwaukee, 5:10 p.m. Arizona at L.A. Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. Colorado at San Diego, 7:10 p.m. Philadelphia at San Francisco, 7:15 p.m. Saturday’s Games Philadelphia (Velasquez 4-6) at San Fran- cisco (Samardzija 8-9), 1:05 p.m. Atlanta (Soroka 10-2) at Miami (Alcantara 4-10), 3:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 8-8) at Cincin- nati (Gray 6-6), 4:10 p.m. Texas (Payano 1-0) at Milwaukee (Houser 4-5), 4:10 p.m. Washington (Corbin 9-5) at N.Y. Mets (Syndergaard 8-5), 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (Musgrove 8-10) at St. Louis (Wainwright 7-8), 4:15 p.m. Colorado (Gonzalez 0-4) at San Diego (Paddack 7-5), 5:40 p.m. Arizona (Young 4-1) at L.A. Dodgers (Maeda 7-8), 6:10 p.m. Sunday’s Games Atlanta at Miami, 10:10 a.m. Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati, 10:10 a.m. Washington at N.Y. Mets, 10:10 a.m. Texas at Milwaukee, 11:10 a.m. Pittsburgh at St. Louis, 11:15 a.m. Colorado at San Diego, 12:40 p.m. Arizona at L.A. Dodgers, 1:10 p.m. Philadelphia at San Francisco, 4:05 p.m. SOCCER MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER EASTERN Philadelphia Atlanta New York City FC New York D.C. United Montreal New England Toronto FC Orlando City Chicago Columbus Cincinnati WESTERN Los Angeles FC Minnesota United San Jose Seattle LA Galaxy W L T Pts GF GA 12 7 6 42 46 37 12 9 3 39 41 29 10 4 8 38 40 29 11 9 4 37 41 34 9 7 9 36 32 31 10 12 3 33 34 44 9 9 6 33 34 41 9 10 5 32 38 40 8 11 5 29 32 33 6 10 9 27 35 35 7 14 4 25 25 37 5 17 2 17 23 55 W L T Pts GF GA 16 3 4 52 61 23 11 7 5 38 39 30 11 7 5 38 40 34 11 7 5 38 35 31 12 10 1 37 30 34 Real Salt Lake 10 9 4 34 33 31 FC Dallas 9 9 6 33 31 28 Portland 9 9 4 31 35 33 Houston 9 12 3 30 34 39 Sporting Kansas City 7 9 7 28 36 41 Vancouver 5 11 9 24 25 42 Colorado 6 12 5 23 39 48 NOTE: Three points for victory, one point for tie. ——— Thursday, August 8 New York City FC 3, Houston 2 Saturday, August 10 New England at Seattle, 1 p.m. Cincinnati at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. Orlando City at Toronto FC, 4:30 p.m. Minnesota United at FC Dallas, 5 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Sporting Kansas City, 5:30 p.m. Montreal at Chicago, 6 p.m. San Jose at Colorado, 6 p.m. Vancouver at Portland, 8 p.m. Sunday, August 11 New York City FC at Atlanta, 12:55 p.m. Houston at Philadelphia, 3 p.m. LA Galaxy at D.C. United, 4:30 p.m. New York at Los Angeles FC, 7 p.m. Wednesday, August 14 Sporting Kansas City at Orlando City, 4:30 p.m. Colorado at Minnesota United, 5 p.m. Seattle at Real Salt Lake, 7 p.m. FC Dallas at LA Galaxy, 7:30 p.m. Chicago at Portland, 8 p.m. Saturday, August 17 New England at New York, 4 p.m. FC Dallas at Montreal, 4:30 p.m. New York City FC at Cincinnati, 4:30 p.m. Toronto FC at Columbus, 4:30 p.m. Orlando City at Minnesota United, 5 p.m. Philadelphia at Chicago, 5 p.m. San Jose at Sporting Kansas City, 5:30 p.m. Colorado at Houston, 6 p.m. D.C. United at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Los Angeles FC at Real Salt Lake, 7 p.m. Seattle at LA Galaxy, 7 p.m. Sunday, August 18 Atlanta at Portland, 7 p.m. FOOTBALL NFL PRESEASON AMERICAN CONFERENCE East W L T Pct Buffalo 1 0 0 1.000 New England 1 0 0 1.000 Miami 1 0 0 1.000 N.Y. Jets 0 1 0 .000 South W L T Pct Tennessee 1 0 0 1.000 Houston 0 1 0 .000 Indianapolis 0 1 0 .000 Jacksonville 0 1 0 .000 North W L T Pct Baltimore 1 0 0 1.000 Cleveland 1 0 0 1.000 Pittsburgh 1 0 0 1.000 Cincinnati 0 0 0 .000 West W L T Pct Denver 1 1 0 .500 Kansas City 0 0 0 .000 Oakland 0 0 0 .000 L.A. Chargers 0 1 0 .000 NATIONAL CONFERENCE East W L T Pct N.Y. Giants 1 0 0 1.000 Dallas 0 0 0 .000 Philadelphia 0 1 0 .000 Washington 0 1 0 .000 South W L T Pct Carolina 1 0 0 1.000 Tampa Bay 0 1 0 .000 Atlanta 0 2 0 .000 New Orleans 0 1 0 .000 North W L T Pct Minnesota 1 0 0 1.000 Green Bay 1 0 0 1.000 Chicago 0 1 0 .000 Detroit 0 1 0 .000 West PF PA 24 16 31 3 34 27 22 31 PF PA 27 10 26 28 16 24 0 29 PF PA 29 0 30 10 30 28 0 0 PF PA 28 32 0 0 0 0 13 17 PF PA 31 22 0 0 10 27 10 30 PF PA 23 13 28 30 37 48 25 34 PF PA 34 25 28 26 13 23 3 31 W L T Pct PF PA Seattle 1 0 0 1.000 22 14 Arizona 1 0 0 1.000 17 13 L.A. Rams 0 0 0 .000 0 0 San Francisco 0 0 0 .000 0 0 ——— Thursday’s Games Buffalo 24, Indianapolis 16 Baltimore 29, Jacksonville 0 New England 31, Detroit 3 Cleveland 30, Washington 10 Tennessee 27, Philadelphia 10 Miami 34, Atlanta 27 N.Y. Giants 31, N.Y. Jets 22 Carolina 23, Chicago 13 Green Bay 28, Houston 26 Arizona 17, L.A. Chargers 13 Seattle 22, Denver 14 Friday’s Games Pittsburgh 30, Tampa Bay 28 Minnesota 34, New Orleans 25 Saturday’s Games L.A. Rams at Oakland, 5 p.m. Cincinnati at Kansas City, 5 p.m. Dallas at San Francisco, 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 15 Philadelphia at Jacksonville, 4 p.m. Green Bay at Baltimore, 4:30 p.m. N.Y. Jets at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Cincinnati at Washington, 4:30 p.m. Oakland at Arizona, 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 16 Buffalo at Carolina, 4 p.m. Chicago at N.Y. Giants, 4:30 p.m. Miami at Tampa Bay, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 Cleveland at Indianapolis, 1 p.m. New England at Tennessee, 4 p.m. Kansas City at Pittsburgh, 4:30 p.m. Detroit at Houston, 5 p.m. Dallas vs L.A. Rams at Honolulu, Hawaii, 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18 New Orleans at L.A. Chargers, 1 p.m. Seattle at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19 San Francisco at Denver, 5 p.m.