Mitch McGary gets drug suspension increased from 5 games to 15

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Mitch McGary’s offseason just went from bad to worse.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder big man has been suspended for an additional ten games to go along with his original five-game suspension for violating the league’s drug policy back in July. He will now serve a 15-game ban without pay to begin the 2016-17 season.

This latest violation isn’t reportedly believed to be another positive test, but instead a failure to live up to the guidelines set forth in the NBA’s anti-drug program. Wojnarowski also adds that, if Oklahoma City get their way, McGary has played his final game in a Thunder uniform.

The 24-year-old has struggled with drugs since his time in college at Michigan, when he was forced to declare for the NBA Draft early after getting a one-year suspension from the NCAA due to a positive test for marijuana.

McGary has only played in 52 games for the Thunder, mostly because of injuries, since they drafted him in the first round in 2014. He has become an unnecessary piece in the OKC frontcourt, especially considering how Steven Adams and Enes Kanter have blossomed and how the team traded for Ersan Ilyasova, Domantas Sabonis, and Joffrey Lauvergne this summer. Throw in McGary’s 15-game ban and the greater character concerns that come with it, and it’s probably safe to close the book on his tenure in Oklahoma City.

Image Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Basketball – Larry Brown Sports
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#Drug, #From, #Games, #Gets, #Increased, #McGary, #Mitch, #Suspension - #Basketball

NCAA to Pull Championship Games From North Carolina Over Controversial ‘Bathroom Law’

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NCAA has pulled seven championship events from North Carolina, including opening-weekend men’s basketball tournament games, for the coming year due to a state law that some say can lead to discrimination against LGBT people.

In a news release Monday, the NCAA says the decision by its board of governors came “because of the cumulative actions taken by the state concerning civil rights protections.”

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

“This decision is consistent with the NCAA’s long-standing core values of inclusion, student-athlete well-being and creating a culture of fairness,” said Georgia Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson, the chair of the board of governors.

The law — known as HB2 — requires transgender people to use restrooms at schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from local and statewide antidiscrimination protections.

HB2 was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory earlier this year.

The NCAA’s release also noted that five states and several cities prohibit travel to the state for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include athletes and staffs. The only championship events that can be hosted in the state are ones determined when a team earns the right to play on their own campus.

The men’s basketball first- and second-round games were scheduled for March 17 and 19 in Greensboro. The NCAA will also relocate:

— the Division I women’s soccer championship scheduled for Dec. 2 and 4 in Cary, just outside the capital city of Raleigh;

— the Division III men’s and women’s soccer championships set for Dec. 2 and 3 in Greensboro;

— the Division I women’s golf regional championships set for May 8-10 in Greenville;

— the Division III men’s and women’s tennis championships set for May 22-27 in Cary;

— the Division I women’s lacrosse championship set for May 26 and 28 in Cary;

— and the Division II baseball championship from May 27 to June 3 in Cary.

The law has created a public and business backlash, which includes the NBA moving the 2017 All-Star Game to New Orleans instead of hosting it in Charlotte as originally scheduled because of the law. Duke lost a men’s basketball game from its schedule when Albany backed out due to that state’s travel ban, while the Vermont women’s basketball team has canceled a December trip to play North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Entertainers like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Ringo Starr have canceled plans to play in North Carolina. And PayPal reversed plans to open a 400-employee operation center in Charlotte.

—

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#Bathroom, #Carolina, #Championship, #Controversial, #From, #Games, #Law, #NCAA, #North, #Over, #Pull - #CollegeBasketball

How to watch 2016 college football, Week 2: TV schedule, streaming, and the "best" games

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Good morning! This is the Read Option, your daily college football newsletter. Sign up for this in your inbox! Below, you"ll find TV/streaming info for every FBS game of this weekend, in a chart showing you what to watch when.

College football"s opening weekend was great, wasn"t it? Five or seven days, depending on your calculations, with a handful of games we"ll all remember all the way through the end of the season. Four matchups between ranked teams, the highest Week 1 total in more than a decade! What could possibly go wrong?

Week 2 is what could go wrong. All the bad games were shoved into this weekend in order to make the opening to-do a real spectacle.  The NFL also starts up this weekend, meaning college football retreats into a corner for a few days.

There are good games, interesting games, and games that will go so sideways they"ll be watchable. There just aren"t very many of them. That"s OK, though, because if you follow the plan below, you"ll enjoy the whole thing just fine. And as always, something completely bonkers will happen.

In each time slot, I"ve forced myself to pick at least one WATCH THIS game. Otherwise, games are sorted based on a subjective assessment of stakes, competitiveness, and entertainment value ... and this week, everything"s graded on a curve.

Thursday

Mercifully, Week 2 will give you time to prepare yourself. There are no FBS games and no games on national TV, and the NFL is starting anyway.

Friday

UofL vs. Cuse should be pretty fun. Lamar Jackson vs. a Dino Babers offense, with the stronger team having to go on the road? That might be one of the best Friday games of the year, and might be the best chance all week for a ranked team to lose. Or the Orange might get rocked.

Elsewhere, Maryland"s on Extremely Weird Road Game Upset Alert.

Saturday

	WATCH THIS	Maybe watch this	This is a football game
8 p.m. ET	#13 Louisville at Syracuse ESPN2, WatchESPN	Maryland at FIU CBSSN

Lemme explain the MUST-WATCH picks:

• Penn State and Pitt are decent Power 5 teams that hate each other and don"t get to play all that often these days. That"s the only storyline of national interest in the entire early block.


• Western Kentucky-Alabama gets top billing over similar-sounding games in a desperate middle shift -- I have to pick something -- because Conference USA favorite WKU can ball, especially on offense. The Hilltoppers will have a better final margin against Alabama than USC did, and you tuned in for that game without complaining.


• Business picks up, relatively, later. Arkansas-TCU is one of the season"s best non-conference games, tempered quite a bit by both teams struggling against weak competition in Week 1. According to Vegas, this is the best ranked game of the week, as the Frogs are only favored by six points.


• Georgia Southern-South Alabama could be one of the Sun Belt"s biggest and best games of the year, considering USA beat Mississippi State last week. Or maybe MSU is just very bad.


• Here"s why you should watch ¡El Assico!, and it"s the same article as last year and next year.


• Here"s why you should watch BYU-Utah. This is an actual story that does not insult an entire state.


• Here"s why you should watch Tennessee-Virginia Tech:

• TTU-ASU should be one of the most combustible night games of the year, pairing the most stereotypically all-offense, no-defense Big 12 team with one of #Pac12AfterDark"s repeat offenders. They should"ve been rivals all along.


• Finally, Washington State at Boise State will be good, based on the precedent of Wazzu being extra dangerous against competent teams after it"s lost an FCS game.

Enjoy the many good moments sure to arise, and then we get a much, much better Week 3. We can do this.

CFB in your inbox, everyday, for free!

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#2016, #Best, #College, #Football, #Games, #Schedule, #Streaming, #Watch, #Week - #CollegeFootball

	WATCH THIS	Maybe watch this	This is a football game
Noon ET	Penn State at Pitt ESPN, WatchESPN	Rice at Army CBSSN	UCF at #5 Michigan ABC, WatchESPN
						NC State at East Carolina ESPNU, WatchESPN	Lamar at #6 Houston WatchESPN
		Wyoming at Nebraska ESPN2, WatchESPN	Nicholls at #9 Georgia SEC Network, WatchESPN
						Cincinnati at Purdue ESPN, WatchESPN (Yeah, it"s that rough)	Prairie View A&M at #20 Texas A&M SEC Network, WatchESPN
			CMU at #22 Oklahoma State FS1, FOX Sports GO
							Indiana State at Minnesota ESPNews, WatchESPN
			Howard at Rutgers BTN, BTN2GO
							Boston College at UMass WatchESPN
12:30 p.m. ET			Troy at #2 Clemson ACC Network, WatchESPN
							Charleston SU at #3 Florida State ACC Network, WatchESPN
1 p.m. ET			Stony Brook at Temple WatchESPN
				2 p.m. ET		Georgia State at Air Force CampusInsiders.com (Because of these clothes)	Youngstown State at West Virginia ROOT Sports Pittsburgh
		Utah State at USC Pac-12 Networks, P12N Live
				2:30 p.m. ET		Ohio at Kansas FSN, FOX Sports Go (What? KU is favored!)
3 p.m.			Mercer at Georgia Tech ACC Network, WatchESPN
				3:30 p.m.	WKU at #1 Alabama ESPN2, WatchESPN	Tulsa at #4 Ohio State ABC, WatchESPN	Akron at #10 Wisconsin BTN, BTN2GO
		SMU at #23 Baylor FS1, FOX Sports Go	Nevada at #18 Notre Dame NBC, NBCSports.com
						Kentucky at Florida CBS, CBSSports.com (Very high Debacle Factor)	ODU at Appalachian State WatchESPN
		UConn at Navy CBSSN	North Dakota at Bowling Green WatchESPN
							Wake Forest at Duke ESPNU, WatchESPN
			Eastern Illinois at Miami (Ohio) WatchESPN
							Illinois State at Northwestern BTN, BTN2GO
4 p.m. ET		Ball State at Indiana ESPNews, WatchESPN	Wofford at #19 Ole Miss SEC Network, Watch ESPN
							UTSA at Colorado State CampusInsiders.com
			MTSU at Vanderbilt SEC Network, WatchESPN
				5 p.m. ET			Idaho at #8 Washington Pac-12 Network, P12N Live
5:30 p.m. ET			Idaho State at Colorado Pac-12 Network, P12N Live
				6 p.m. ET		FAU at #25 Miami ACC Network, WatchESPN	Elon at Charlotte ConferenceUSA.com
			NC A&T at Kent State WatchESPN
							Morgan State at Marshall beIN Sports
7 p.m. ET	Arkansas at #15 TCU ESPN, WatchESPN	South Carolina at Mississippi State ESPN2, WatchESPN	UTEP at #11 Texas Longhorn Network, WatchESPN
					Georgia Southern-South Alabama WatchESPN	NIU at USF CBSSN	ULM at #14 Oklahoma SoonerSports.com
			McNeese State at UL Lafayette WatchESPN
							SCSU at Louisiana Tech ConferenceUSA.com
			Bethune-Cookman at North Texas ConferenceUSA.com
							Savannah State at Southern Miss TBA
			Maine at Toledo WatchESPN
							NC Central at Western Michigan WatchESPN
7:30 p.m. ET	¡El Assico! (ISU at #16 Iowa) BTN, BTN2GO	Arkansas State at Auburn SEC Network, WatchESPN	EMU at Missouri SEC Network, WatchESPN
					BYU at Utah FOX, FOX Sports Go	North Carolina at Illinois BTN, BTN2GO	Jacksonville State at #21 LSU ESPNU, WatchESPN
8 p.m. ET	#17 Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech ABC, WatchESPN	New Mexico at New Mexico State WatchESPN (Yes, I will overrate any rivalry)	Southern at Tulane WatchESPN
							UNLV at UCLA Pac-12 Network, P12N Live
10 p.m. ET	Texas Tech at Arizona State FS1, FOX Sports Go		Sac State at Fresno State TBA
				10:15 p.m. ET	Washington State at Boise State ESPN2, WatchESPN
10:30 p.m. ET		Cal at San Diego State CBSSN	Virginia at #24 Oregon ESPN, WatchESPN
				10:45 p.m. ET			Grambling State at Arizona Pac-12 Network, P12N Live
Midnight ET			UT Martin at Hawaii Oceanic PPV

Ben Roethlisberger warns Antonio Brown about Josh Norman’s ‘mind games’

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In addition to being one of the best defensive backs in football last season, Josh Norman also had one of the biggest mouths. On Monday night, Norman will kick things off with his new team by trying to cover Antonio Brown.

Ben Roethlisberger has seen how Norman can get into an opponent’s head, and the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback plans to warn Brown about that.

“The big thing for both — they might try to play mind games with each other — I’ll talk to my guy and make sure he keeps a level head and just plays football,” Roethlisberger said this week, via Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Ultimately, Roethlisberger believes Brown can win the matchup against Norman if Big Ben does his job.

“AB is one of the best in the business, and so is Josh, so I think it’s a prime-time matchup,” he said. “Everyone will tune in to see that matchup. I think it’ll come down to if AB’s quarterback is good enough to get him the ball when he needs to.”

Norman has a lot to prove this season, as many believe he was a product of a dominant Carolina Panthers defense last year and a front seven that got after the quarterback. In addition, we know one star receiver who is very familiar with Norman’s ability to get under your skin. If Brown can ignore all that, there’s no reason he shouldn’t get the best of Norman.

H/T Pro Football Talk

Football – Larry Brown Sports
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#About, #Antonio, #Brown, #Games, #Josh, #Mind, #NormanS, #Roethlisberger, #Warns - #Football

Santa Clara police union threatens boycott of Niners games

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As a result of Colin Kaepernick’s recent actions and comments, it’s possible the Niners may have less of a presence by the Santa Clara Police Department during their home games.

The Niners quarterback has, of course, been in the news recently for making a political statement by refusing to stand during the playing of the national anthem prior to preseason games. You can see the reason behind his protest here. He has also worn socks that featured a cartoon pig wearing a police hat during practice.

Now, as reported by Ian Cull of NBC Bay Area, the Santa Clara police union has threatened to stop working Niners games.

BREAKING: Santa Clara Police Union sends letter to #49ers, saying they may stop working events unless changes are made w/ #Kaepernick.

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) September 3, 2016

Letter focuses more on #Kaepernick’s post-game comments, than kneeling/sitting during anthem.

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) September 3, 2016

cont"d: Union letter, in part: "Unfortunately, some recent actions by a 49ers employee have threatened our harmonious working relationship."

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) September 3, 2016

Also worth noting…other officers work #49er games from different Bay Area departments as well. The games would still have security.

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) September 3, 2016

After speculation Kaepernick may be released, the 28-year-old is now expected to make the final roster

This is just the latest in the wave of backlash in what has been an eventful week for Kaepernick and the Niners. Numerous athletes, both former and current, have made their feelings known on the subject. A few league executives have as well.

While Kaepernick has support from atleast one teammate for his stance, several are against it. That group apparently includes members of the Santa Clara police force.

Football – Larry Brown Sports
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#Boycott, #Clara, #Games, #Niners, #Police, #Santa, #Threatens, #Union - #Football

Baylor WR Ishmael Zamora suspended 3 games for beating his dog

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Baylor announced on Tuesday that redshirt sophomore wide receiver Ishmael Zamora has been suspended for the first three games of the season after a video surfaced showing him abusing his dog.

The school said in a press release that Zamora will sit out while completing 40 hours of community service “in a manner that will teach him kindness and respect toward animals.” Zamora has also been ordered to enter a counseling program and give the dog up.

“Our football program does not condone this behavior by anyone,” acting head coach Jim Grobe said. “We are deeply saddened by it and have worked together with the university to hold Ishmael accountable for his actions.”

The video, which was obtained by KXXV in Waco earlier this month, showed Zamora kicking and hitting his dog with a belt. The footage was discovered after it was shared on Snapchat by one of Zamora’s teammates back in June. A former Baylor student reported it to Animal Control and the Baylor Police Department.

Zamora told authorities he was only trying to discipline the animal, not hurt it. He issued an apology on Tuesday.

“I am sorry that I took out my frustration on my dog and accept the punishment that comes with it. This incident will never, ever, happen again,” Zamora said. “I truly love my dog, however, I know that my actions showed differently and I know that I made a big mistake. I apologize to my family, teammates, Baylor University and our fans for my actions.

“Eventually, I hope that everyone can see who I really am and that I am not a terrible person. This incident does not and will not define me, and I know that I am the one who will have to prove that to others in the days ahead.”

Zamora had nine receptions for 132 yards and two touchdowns last season. He is expected to be one of Baylor’s top receivers this season.

Already dealing with a major sexual assault scandal, Baylor’s reputation is getting worse by the day.

H/T Dr. Saturday
Photo: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

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#Baylor, #Beating, #Games, #Ishmael, #Suspended, #Zamora - #CollegeFootball