College Football
Air Force Academy will return to the Big House in 2017
AIR FORCE ACADEMY – The Air Force Academy will return to Michigan in 2017 under a deal that also has the men’s basketball team visiting the Wolverines at an undetermined date.
The Falcons’ football team lost at Ann Arbor last season 31-25 in front of the largest crowd – 112,522 – Air Force ever has played in front of.
Their Sept. 16, 2017, game will be the third between the schools. Michigan also beat Air Force 24-7 in Ann Arbor in 1964, when Air Force superintendent Paul Stein was the Falcons’ quarterback.
Four female officials will work a Division II football game
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Four female officials will work a football game between Division II Miles and Lane.
The crew includes Yvonda Lewis, Tangela Mitchell, Sabrina Brunson and Krystle Apellaniz. All four, who will work with former NFL player umpire Terry Killens, have risen through the NFL Officiating Development Program.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference bills Thursday night’s game as the first time a mostly female officiating crew has worked any NCAA game.
Cycling
Tour de France sets its course for a climber-friendly 2014
PARIS – Tracing a route that could limit the strengths of defending champion Chris Froome, the 2014 Tour de France will rattle over bone-jarring cobblestones, pay homage to World War I battlefields, climb unfamiliar ascents in eastern France and have only one time trial.
Starting in Leeds, England, on July 5, the 101st Tour will end 22 days later, as is traditional, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. With 25 ascents, the 2014 should suit strong climbers.
There will be only 33 miles of time-trialing in 2014 – all on a penultimate stage through foie gras country in southwest France on July 26.
After two days in northern England – the northernmost point ever visited by the Tour – the riders will go south from Cambridge to London before crossing over to France and then to Ypres in Belgium.
Instead of just climbing the Alps and Pyrenees, riders in 2014 also will have to negotiate tricky ascents in the Vosges range on France’s eastern border with Germany. There also will be two stages in the Alps followed by a crescendo of climbing over three days in the Pyrenees. In all, five of the 21 stages in 2014 will have mountain-top finishes.
In all, the riders will cover 2,271 miles.
Golf
New Zealand teenager tweets her LPGA pro confirmation
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Amateur golfer Lydia Ko is turning pro at the age of 16 after previously foregoing more than $1 million in potential prize money.
Ko, ranked No. 4 in the world, tweeted her decision Wednesday, saying she made up her mind after taking advice from rugby player Israel Dagg.
New Zealand Golf chief executive Dean Murphy confirmed Ko’s decision, saying the golfer “was reluctant to hold a traditional press conference” because she “didn’t want to make a big fuss about news that had already been reported in the media in recent weeks.”
The LPGA Tour confirmed Oct. 10 that it received a petition from Ko asking that it waive its minimum age requirement of 18.
Ko was the youngest winner of an LPGA tournament at 15 when she won the 2012 Canadian Open, a title she defended this year. She has yet to miss a cut in 23 professional tournaments.
NBA
NBA Finals format changed to 2-2-1-1-1 this season
NEW YORK – NBA owners unanimously voted to change the NBA Finals format from 2-3-2 to 2-2-1-1-1.
The change was approved Wednesday during the preseason board of governors meetings. It will take effect with this season’s finals.
Associated Press
