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Draft is super-sized NFL carnival

By Ira Kaufman For the Mirror Last week I traveled to the Motor City to attend the NFL Draft. I had previously attended 15 NFL Drafts — all in New York City, at either Paramount Theater in Madison Square Garden or in Radio City Music Hall. When I first started going to the draft, it was easy to get cheap tickets, and the NFL handed out awesome gift bags to encourage people to show up. Before 1995, the draft was held, without fans, in various hotel conference rooms in NYC. In 1980, when ESPN asked the NFL for the rights to cover the draft, the NFL thought ESPN was ...

NIL continues to evolve in college sports

By Jessica Johnson Creators Syndicate When the Supreme Court ruled in favor of college athletes being compensated nearly three years ago, the era of name, image and likeness (NIL) began, and even though schools would have to revamp their fundraising and recruiting efforts for their athletic departments and teams, the longtime pay-for-play debate was settled. College athletes, especially stars in revenue-producing sports, were finally going to profit financially from their hard work. After the court’s ruling in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, the NIL path ...

Hershey deserves its bandwagon

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror Bandwagon fans get a bad rap. Sometimes there are very valid reasons for adopting a new rooting interest. It would be particularly hard to find fault with someone for jumping aboard the postseason express of a team from their home state. With the Penguins and Flyers sidelined for the postseason, their fans need not be ashamed of joining the cheering ranks of a team that still has aspirations of sipping champagne from the cup. That would be the Calder Cup. The Hershey Bears, an affiliate of the Washington Capitals, have won a record 12 ...

NHL’s Hart Award a toss-up right now

The Associated Press Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Toronto’s Auston Matthews are all in the running to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP. MacKinnon has carried the top-heavy Avalanche into the playoffs, Kucherov has played a role in half the Lightning’s goals, McDavid got the Oilers back in it after a horrid start and Matthews scored 69 goals, the most of any player in a season in nearly 30 years. McDavid and Kucherov also became just the fourth and fifth players to record 100 assists in a season. “There’s a ...

McConnell’s roots run deep at SFU

By Pat Farabaugh For the Mirror The NBA announced the finalists for the 2023-24 Twyman-Stokes Teammate-of-the-Year Award on April 2 and one name on the list is synonymous with basketball in Western Pennsylvania. And at Saint Francis. Indiana Pacers’ guard T.J. McConnell was named to the list last Tuesday. McConnell is currently in his fifth season with the Pacers and ninth year in the NBA. He has emerged as one of the top sixth men in the league while backing up all-star point guard Tyrese Haliburton. The Twyman-Stokes Award is presented annually to the player who best ...

As season winds down, time to reflect on Spurs’ sensational rookie

By Tim Reynolds The Associated Press Victor Wembanyama figured he might be getting into trouble. It was a rare moment of celebration for the San Antonio Spurs in this long season, a win over the New York Knicks last month that had another sold-out crowd stirred into a frenzy. He had just intercepted the game’s final pass as time expired. He high-fived a courtside fan, then tossed the ball to someone about 10 rows deep in the stands. Everyone loved it, except the NBA, which fined him $25,000 two days later. Money well spent, he figured. “I remember players being fined for ...