Horse Racing
California Chrome favored to claim the Triple Crown
NEW YORK – California Chrome is the 3-5 early favorite to win the Belmont Stakes and become horse racing’s 12th Triple Crown champion.
The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner will break from the No. 2 post under Victor Espinoza on Saturday at Belmont Park. Eleven Belmont winners have come out of that post, the last being Tabasco Cat in 1994.
Wicked Strong was the 6-1 second choice and drew post No. 9 on Wednesday. The colt finished fourth after an unlucky trip in the Derby and sat out the Preakness.
Eleven horses were entered to take on California Chrome in his bid to win the Triple Crown for the first time since Affirmed swept the Belmont, Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1978.
MLB
Baseball fixture and former Rockies bench coach dies
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Don Zimmer, a popular fixture in professional baseball for 66 years as a coach, executive, manager and player died Wednesday. He was 83.
Zimmer still was working for the Tampa Bay Rays as a senior adviser.
Zimmer had been in a rehabilitation center in Florida since having heart surgery in mid-April.
After starting as a minor league infielder in 1949, Zimmer went on to have one of the longest-lasting careers in baseball history.
Zimmer played for the only Brooklyn Dodgers team to win the World Series and the original New York Mets, nearly managed the Boston Red Sox to a championship in the 1970s and was Joe Torre’s right-hand man with the New York Yankees’ most recent dynasty.
Astros ready to start the first-year player draft
HOUSTON – The Houston Astros have the top overall pick for the third consecutive season in Thursday’s major league draft.
They’re excited about the talent they’ve acquired with their past two No. 1 picks. But they’re hoping that this is the last time they’ll get their pick of the draft.
The Astros have finished with 100-plus losses in each of the past three seasons to get the No. 1 pick.
NBA
Kevin Durant, LeBron James lead All-NBA selections
NEW YORK – Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant has capped his MVP season by being the lone unanimous choice to the All-NBA first team.
Durant was a first-teamer on all 125 ballots and made the top squad for the fifth time. Miami’s LeBron James got 124 first-team votes on the way to being selected for the eighth time, while the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul earned his fourth first-team selection.
Houston’s James Harden and Chicago’s Joakim Noah were first-time first-team choices.
NFL
Kaepernick sees gold with 49ers contract extension
SANTA CLARA, Calif.– San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick received a new six-year contract extension through the 2020 season.
The sides had made it a top priority to get a deal done before the start of training camp for one of the best young quarterbacks.
Since taking over the starting job from Alex Smith midway through the 2011 season, Kaepernick led the 49ers to their first Super Bowl in 18 years after the 2012 season – losing by three points to Baltimore – and then to the NFC championship game last year.
Largest event ditching the ‘L’ from upcoming Super Bowl
NEW YORK – The Super Bowl will scrap the Roman numerals for a year.
The 50th edition of the game will be played in February 2016 in Santa Clara, California. The NFL said Wednesday it will be called “Super Bowl 50” instead of “Super Bowl L.”
In 2017, the league will revert to Roman numerals, referring to the 51st edition as “Super Bowl LI.”
The NFL first started using Roman numerals for the fifth Super Bowl in 1971.
Associated Press
