College Football
Washington State head coach Mike Leach complained that police in Pullman and members of the media are unfairly focusing on alleged misdeeds by his players.
Leach read a prepared statement after practice on Tuesday night in which he complained about three recent incidents that led to assault investigations by police. Leach said he was concerned that the only people being accused of crimes in the incidents are football players.
On Monday, police arrested one Washington State player on suspicion of assault, and recommended that assault charges be filed against another player in a separate incident.
Police are also investigating a large fight earlier in the summer allegedly involving multiple unnamed football players and students.
Pullman Police Chief Gary Jenkins denied his officers are picking on players.
Cycling
MILAN – The 100th Giro d’Italia next year will start with three stages in Sardinia.
It will be the third time the Italian grand tour has started on the island, although it will be the first time in 10 years.
Fabio Aru, who became the first Sardinian to wear the Giro leader’s pink jersey last year, was present at the announcement Wednesday in Milan.
The rest of the route will be unveiled on Oct. 25. It is expected the Giro will visit as many of Italy’s 20 regions as possible to mark its 100th edition.
NBA
MIAMI – Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat said he’s “ready to play” and that he expects to be with his team when training camp opens Sept. 27 in the Bahamas.
Bosh has seen his last two seasons cut short at the All-Star break by blood clots, but has released video snippets of his workouts in recent weeks. The comments released Wednesday on the “Open Run” podcast – part of LeBron James’ digital platform called Uninterrupted – were the most in-depth he has offered about the coming season.
Bosh says that he’s in shape and that he has no reason to believe that he won’t be able to participate in camp. He also cited a recent tweet from Heat managing general partner Micky Arison as an indicator that he’ll be welcomed back.
Television
In its latest foray into non-athletic sports, ESPN has reached an agreement to broadcast the Drone Racing League (DRL) season. An introduction to drone racing will air Thursday night on ESPN2 and competition begins Oct. 23.
“It’s must-watch TV,” Matt Volk, director, programming and acquisitions at ESPN, said Wednesday. “We’re always exploring ways to deliver quality and exciting content. We see this as being an emerging sport with an emerging audience. We’re excited to see how it does, but we feel good about its growth potential.”
Sky, which broadcasts to the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 7Sports, a sports business cluster in Germany, also will air 10 one-hour episodes of the five-race 2016 DRL season, including a winner-take-all world championship Nov. 20.
Drone racing is simply the latest so-called extreme sport in this digital age, and ESPN and the DRL are banking on the rising popularity of the craft worldwide.
The tiny craft used by the DSL will be unlike the more than one million consumer drones out there buzzing around. They will be custom built by the DRL so that all are identical with the same power output.
Associated Press
