BASKETBALL
Allen denies stalking
Retired NBA star Ray Allen said he is a victim of "catfishing," and he has asked a court to throw out a case where he is accused of stalking someone he met online. Allen filed an emergency motion in Orange County, Fla., on Tuesday, one day after Bryant Coleman told the court he is being stalked by the 10-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion. Allen said Coleman is the one who is stalking. "Coleman pretended to be a number of attractive women interested in Ray Allen," read the motion filed on Allen's behalf. "Ray believed he was speaking with these women and communicated with them." Attorney David Oscar Markus released a statement saying Allen took legal action in an effort to put an end to threats against him and his family, and that Allen was the victim "of an online scheme to extract money and embarrass him by someone who appears to be troubled." In the filing, Allen said Coleman threatened to reveal details of their conversations, and that the sides eventually struck a deal to keep everything private. Allen said that deal has been violated and that Coleman has continued to harass him and his family through several social-media accounts.Allen asked the court to stop Coleman from "cyber-stalking." It was not clear if Coleman has an attorney, and a working phone number for him could not be found.
BASEBALL
Surgery for Judge
After insisting during a summer slump he was not ailing, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder. The operation was performed Monday by Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles. The Yankees said Tuesday the procedure involved a loose-body removal and cartilage cleanup, and Judge should be recovered ahead of spring training. The 25-year-old Judge hit .284 with 52 home runs and 114 RBI in 155 games this season, helping the Yankees advance to the AL Championship Series. He was a unanimous selection for AL Rookie of the Year and finished second to Houston infielder Jose Altuve in the AL MVP race. Judge was hitting .329 with 30 home runs and 66 RBI at the All-Star break, then batted .179 with 7 home runs and 16 RBI with 67 strikeouts in his next 44 games through the end of August. He made several crashes into outfield walls and often was seen with packs of ice on his shoulder. Although it looked as if an injury might be preventing him from swinging freely, the right fielder and Manager Joe Girardi repeatedly said his shoulder was fine. He rebounded to bat .311 with 15 home runs and 32 RBI in the final month of the season.
TENNIS
Back to 16 seeds
Grand Slam tournaments will return to seeding only 16 players, instead of 32, as of 2019, and now will give a player who is a late withdrawal because of an injury 50 percent of the first-round prize money. A player who retires from a first-round match or "performs below professional standards" also could face a fine as high as the entire prize money due a loser in that round. The four Grand Slam tournaments -- the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open -- doubled the number of seeded players to 32 in June 2001. The changes with regard to first-round withdrawals, retirements and lack of full effort appear to be in response to what happened at Wimbledon this year. Novak Djokovic's first-round match at Centre Court lasted all of 40 minutes, and Roger Federer's went 43, before their opponents stopped playing because of pre-existing injuries. Two other men also stopped midmatch that day, bringing the first-round retirement total to seven and sparking discussion about whether spectators were being shortchanged.
FOOTBALL
27 vying for Hall
First-year eligibles Ray Lewis and Randy Moss are among 27 semifinalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Hall said Tuesday that all ties for the 25th spot in the semifinals also advance. Others in their initial year of eligibility who made this cut are Brian Urlacher, Richard Seymour, Steve Hutchinson and Ronde Barber. Four previously eligible players made the semifinals for the first time: LeRoy Butler, Leslie O'Neal (Little Rock Hall), Simeon Rice and Everson Walls. All others on the 2018 list have reached the semifinals in previous years. The other semifinalists are Steve Atwater (Arkansas Razorbacks), Tony Boselli, Isaac Bruce, Don Coryell, Roger Craig, Brian Dawkins, Alan Faneca, Torry Holt, Joe Jacoby, Edgerrin James, Jimmy Johnson (Arkansas Razorbacks), Ty Law, John Lynch, Kevin Mawae, Karl Mecklenburg, Terrell Owens and Hines Ward. The election for the Class of 2018 is Feb. 3, the day before the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Induction ceremonies in Canton, Ohio, will be in August.
Raiders fire Norton
The Oakland Raiders fired defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. on Tuesday in a staff shake-up. Coach Jack Del Rio called the move a difficult decision and said that assistant head coach for defense John Pagano will take over as coordinator leading into this week's home game against the Denver Broncos. This marks the second coordinator change the Raiders have made since finishing last season 12-4 for the franchise's first playoff berth since 2002. Del Rio fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave last offseason and replaced him with quarterbacks coach Todd Downing and now has let go of Norton.
Jayhawks reprimanded
Baker Mayfield wasn't the only one to lose his captaincy after the Oklahoma quarterback's antics after last weekend's blowout victory over Kansas. Jayhawks Coach David Beaty announced Tuesday that his captains -- Dorance Armstrong Jr., Daniel Wise and Joe Dineen Jr. -- were also stripped of their status. The trio refused to shake Mayfield's hand during the pregame coin toss, which led to a game filled with vitriol. The Big 12 Conference later Tuesday announced separate public reprimands of Mayfield and the Jayhawks, saying their actions were in violation of the league's sportsmanship and ethical conduct rules. Mayfield was hit several times after the whistle, once earning a personal foul on Kansas, while the Heisman Trophy front-runner was caught grabbing his crotch and cursing at the Jayhawks' bench after a touchdown in the third quarter of Oklahoma's 41-3 victory.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Back surgery sidelines Porter for season
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Michael Porter Jr. insisted before the season that he was not necessarily a one-and-done player who would leave next year for the riches of the NBA.
The standout Missouri freshman will have plenty of downtime to consider his future after the school announced Tuesday he would miss the rest of the season after lower back surgery. The procedure, called a microdiscetomy, was scheduled in Dallas and the expected recovery time is three to four months.
The injury is a blow for last year's top high school recruit, just as it is for a Missouri program excited for the future after his arrival and the talented recruiting class that followed him to Columbia.
"I cannot wait to be completely healthy and playing the game I love once again," Porter said.
Porter signed with Missouri after originally being committed to Washington, doing so after former Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar was fired in March. His father, Michael Porter Sr., was an assistant coach at Washington at the time and was later hired by first-year Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin.
The 6-10 freshman averaged 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds per game as a senior in high school, and he was a McDonald's All-American. He showed how that potential might translate to the college game in an exhibition game against No. 3 Kansas before the season, scoring 21 points in 23 minutes -- and he was chosen as the co-Southeastern Conference preseason Player of the Year.
He played only two minutes of Missouri's season-opening victory over Iowa State before missing the last three games with the injury. The school said the surgery would involve two discs in his back, and that he's expected to make a complete recovery.
Sports on 11/22/2017