BASEBALL=
All MLB training camps will temporarily close for COVID-19 cleaning
after several teams were forced to shut down following positive
tests from players and staff members. Five unidentified Phillies
players and three staff members working at the team’s spring
training facility in Clearwater, Florida tested positive for the
coronavirus. The Blue Jays shut down their training complex in
Dunedin, Florida after a player showed symptoms of the coronavirus.
The Giants’ facility in Scottsdale, Arizona, was shut after one
person who had been to the site and one family member exhibited
symptoms Thursday. The Rangers closed their camp in Surprise,
saying no one had tested positive but that it wanted to expand
testing protocols. Also, the Astros said a player working out at
their camp in West Palm Beach, Florida, tested positive several
days ago and was recovering.
The players’ association was told by Major League Baseball that
teams will not agree to more than 60 games in the pandemic-delayed
season. After Commissioner Rob Manfred said the sides has reached a
framework for a 60-game regular season, union head Tony Clark
refused to call it a framework and said his eight-player executive
subcommittee rejected it. The union countered with a 70-game
schedule as part of a proposal that left the sides about $275
million apart. A meeting of the players’ executive board is likely
to take place Saturday.
On the day the United States commemorated the liberation of slaves
following the American civil war, the Twins removed a monument of
Calvin Griffin from the grounds of their home stadium of Target
Field as a response to insensitive remarks he made about
African-Americans during a speech in 1978. The statue’s removal
comes on the same day that officials with the NFL’s Washington
Redskins ordered the removal of a statue of George Preston Marshall
that stood outside the their onetime home of RFK Stadium. Marshall
had a longstanding policy of refusing to sign black players for the
majority of his ownership of the Redskins, which lasted from the
franchise’s inception in Boston in 1932 until his death in 1969.
COLLEGE SPORTS=
Clemson announced that 28 of its athletes and staff members have
tested positive for the coronavirus since returning to campus on
June 8. The school has administered 315 tests in that time frame.
Athletic spokesman Jeff Kallin said most of those who tested
positive have been asymptomatic, and none have required
hospitalization. The number includes 23 football players, two
members of Clemson’s football staff and three student-athletes from
other sports. The news comes on the same day South Carolina
announced a new high-water mark of 1,081 new coronavirus cases.
The NCAA has expanded its ban on Confederate imagery by blocking
any national championship events in states with flags that feature
a Confederate symbol – currently just Mississippi. Since 2001, the
NCAA has banned using Mississippi venues as neutral sites – as with
the men’s NCAA basketball tournament – for championship events. The
new rule also prevents Mississippi schools from hosting events in
sports such as baseball, women’s basketball and softball. The news
comes a day after the SEC said it is considering barring league
championship events in the state until Mississippi changes its
Confederate-based flag.
NHL=
The Lightning have temporarily closed their training facility after
three players and two staff members tested positive for the
coronavirus. General manager Julien Brisebois announced in a
statement that the players are self-isolating and are mostly
asymptomatic, other than a few experiencing low-grade fevers. The
NHL announced that 11 of the 200 players tested since training
facilities were allowed to open on June 8 have tested positive.
NFL=
An unidentified 49ers player has tested positive for the
coronavirus after participating in an informal workout with
teammates in Tennessee. The other players in the workout are now
getting tested to see if the virus spread. Quarterbacks Jimmy
Garoppolo, Nick Mullens and C.J. Beathard, tight end George Kittle,
fullback Kyle Juszczyk, and receivers Kendrick Bourne, Deebo
Samuel, Trent Taylor, Dante Pettis and Brandon Aiyuk are among the
players who were on hand.
GOLF=
Nick Watney is the first PGA golfer to test positive for the
coronavirus since the tour resumed its schedule last week. The
five-time PGA Tour winner immediately withdrew from the RBC
Heritage in Hilton Head and must self-isolate for at least 10 days.
He missed the cut in last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas,
and his test upon arrival in South Carolina was negative. Before
arriving for his second round, he reported symptoms consistent with
COVD-19, and tested positive.
AUTO RACING=
Former CART series champion Alex Zanardi, who famously lost both of
his legs in a horrific auto racing accident 20 years ago, has been
seriously injured in a handbike accident. Zanardi suffered serious
head injuries near the Tuscan town of Pienza during a national race
for Paralympic athletes when he was hit by a truck. Zanardi won
four gold medals in handbike at the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics after
his accident. He is a two-time CART champion and also raced two
stints with Formula One.
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