GOLF
Haas injured in car crash
PGA Tour golfer Bill Haas was injured in a car crash Tuesday night near Riviera Country Club, site of this week's Genesis Open in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Haas was the passenger in a Ferrari driven by Mark Gibello, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash also involved actor Luke Wilson, who was not seriously injured. Haas was released after a brief hospitalization and has withdrawn from the tournament, returning to his Greenville, S.C., home, according to a statement from the PGA Tour and Allen Hobbs, his manager. The accident, which occurred a few miles from Riviera, took place around 6:30 p.m. local time when the Ferrari clipped a Toyota SUV driven by Wilson in the 500 block of North Chautauqua Boulevard and collided with a BMW driven by a 50-year-old woman. Haas, 35, and the woman from the other vehicle were taken to a hospital in serious condition. Haas' father, former PGA Tour pro Jay Haas, told the Golf Channel on Wednesday morning that his son has no broken bones but was experiencing pain and swelling in his leg.
FOOTBALL
Janikowski won't return to Raiders
Veteran place kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who has played more games than any player in franchise history, won't return to the Raiders in 2018, according to an ESPN report. Janikowski, an 18-year veteran, missed the entire 2017 season on injured reserve with a back injury, with Giorgio Tavecchio taking over place kicking duties. His exit comes as no surprise, given the Raiders remained with Tavecchio all season and Janikowski was never brought off injured reserve. He made $3 million in salary in 2017, taking a $1 million pay cut late in the preseason before being injured. Tavecchio, who made $465,000 on a one-year deal, is an exclusive rights free agent who can be retained if the Raiders make a qualifying offer.
Gillespie out at Tennessee
Robert Gillespie is no longer part of Tennessee's coaching staff after serving as running backs coach for the last five seasons. Athletic Director Phillip Fulmer confirmed Gillespie's exit Wednesday while speaking to the Big Orange Tip Off Club and indicated the decision was made by new head Coach Jeremy Pruitt. Gillespie was the lone remaining holdover from former coach Butch Jones' staff. A replacement hasn't been named. Tennessee had announced Gillespie as the running backs coach on Pruitt's staff last week, but he was the only assistant whose contract expired in 2019 rather than 2020 or 2021.
Attendance at home games drops
Home attendance for college football games dropped for the fourth consecutive season, the biggest decline since 2014, according to the latest figures put out by the NCAA. More than 34 million spectators took in games at the 129 schools at the Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2017 with the average home attendance being at 42,108. That's down 2.2 percent from last season when the average home attendance at the FBS level was 43,070. The attendance at bowl games was also down for the seventh consecutive season with an average of 40,506 fans taking in games in 2017. That's down 1,200 people compared to last season's average of 41,718. The SEC saw its average attendance drop to its lowest since expanding from 12 teams to 14 in 2012 with SEC games averaging just over 75,074 in 2017, down from 77,507 in 2016. But the SEC didn't see the biggest decline. The American Athletic Conference saw its attendance from the previous season drop nearly 3,000 fans per game from 31,611 to 28,669. It was the second consecutive season in which the AAC saw a decline.
Sports on 02/15/2018