Sacramento Kings broadcaster suspended after Twitter feud with DeMarcus Cousins
Some Tuesday links
Update: Sacramento Kings part ways with Grant Napear.
A Sacramento Kings’ announcer was suspended, reports the Sacramento Bee, after a Twitter exchange with former Kentucky forward DeMarcus Cousins. Grant Napear, the Kings’ play-by-play broadcaster, has been suspended from his job with 1140 KHTK for comments made about the Black Lives Matter protests. Cousins called Napear a “closet racist.”
Ten influential SEC transfers, from Robbie Andreu of the Gainesville Sun. “Joey Gatewood, QB, Kentucky — If he gets a special waiver from the NCAA making him eligible this season, this true dual-threat quarterback from Auburn has a chance to be the starter for the Wildcats in 2020.”
Auburn legend Pat Dye dies at 80, writes Bryan Matthews of AuburnSports. “When Pat Dye was hired as Auburn’s athletic director and football coach in January of 1981, he inherited a program that hadn’t beaten Alabama for eight consecutive seasons, hadn’t won an SEC Championship in nearly 25 years, had an average attendance of 61,760 for six home games the previous season and had to play the Iron Bowl in Birmingham every year.”
Dye lifted Auburn to Alabama’s level, writes Mark Bradley of the AJC. “Dye won the Iron Bowl four times in six seasons. Had he been a bit luckier — or a bit better tactician; the fourth-down try for a touchdown when a field goal would have put Auburn ahead with three minutes left in 1984 remains an all-time gaffe — his Tigers would have won all six. The 1989 game, the last of those six, changed Southern football forever. For the first time, imperial Alabama met Auburn not at Birmingham’s Legion Field but in the Loveliest Village.”
There’s an opportunity imbalance, writes Rick Bozich of WDRB. “The statements about the senseless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others have come from nearly every college coach, athletic director or program with a Twitter account. Some are a few sentences. Others are hundreds of words. Some crackle with emotion. Some read like verbal shrugs, somebody checking a box.”
Duke reportedly targeting Andrew Nembhard, according to the Duke Basketball Report. “Florida point guard Andrew Nembhard considered the NBA Draft after his sophomore season but has decided to enter the transfer portal instead. Nembhard is one of the many Canadian players to emerge recently from the greater Toronto area. He’s very highly regarded — he’s a member of the Canadian national team and is going to get a lot of NBA attention while he’s in college, wherever that happens to be.”
Clemson star Justyn Ross to miss season, reports Matt Connolly of The State. “Clemson star receiver Justyn Ross will miss the 2020 season, and his football career could be in jeopardy. Ross has a ‘congenital fusion’ in his spine that he’s had since birth, Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney told reporters Monday. Ross is slated to have surgery on Friday. The condition was discovered on an X-ray after Ross felt stinger-like symptoms during spring practice.”
Major League Baseball proposes shorter season, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. “Unable to yet reach a return-to-play agreement, Major League Baseball has discussed playing a shorter schedule in which it would pay members of the MLB Players Association their full prorated salaries, sources familiar with the situation told ESPN. Although MLB does not intend to propose this to the players, the possibility of implementing a schedule of around 50 games that would start in July has been considered by the league as a last resort in the event that the parties can’t come to a deal, sources said.”
Two Marshall players test positive for COVID-19, reports the Herald-Dispatch. “As part of the university’s COVID-19 testing protocols for student-athletes returning to campus for voluntary workouts, school officials announced Monday two Marshall University student-athletes and one employee tested positive for the virus over the weekend. All three are asymptomatic, and the cases are not believed to be related, the university announced in a release. University and public health officials do not believe any of the three contracted the virus on campus.”
Spurs coach rips Trump, reports Washington Post. “Gregg Popovich has sharply criticized President Trump in the past, calling him a ‘soulless coward’ and someone who ‘brings out the dark side of human beings for his own purpose.’ Even after all that, the San Antonio Spurs coach may have just used his most unsparing language yet to castigate Trump.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2020 at 8:06 AM.
