Simone Biles wins two ESPYS, beating out Stephen Curry, Freddie Freeman and Rory McIlroy
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Simone Biles won two trophies at the ESPYS on Wednesday night, including the women's best athlete award.
The 11-time Olympic medalist claimed the night's first award, best championship performance for her efforts at the Paris Games. She won three golds and a silver while helping the U.S. women's gymnasts win their first team title since 2016.
'That was very unexpected, especially in a category of all men,' Biles said after kissing husband, Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens.
She beat out Stephen Curry, Freddie Freeman and Rory McIlroy. Host Shane Gillis' awkward monologue
Comedian Shane Gillis ' opening monologue as host of the show that honors the past year's top athletes and sports moments went over awkwardly.
Early on, he called out various famous faces in the Dolby Theatre crowd, including retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi, who shared the Icon Award. Gillis said, 'Give it up for her' after calling her 'Deanna.' The camera showed an unsmiling Taurasi shaking her head. Gillis quickly caught his mistake, saying, 'My bad on that.'
Gillis moved on to WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark, who wasn't on hand.
'When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she's going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most: fist fighting Black women,' he joked.
While some in the audience laughed, others appeared uncomfortable.
Gillis plowed on for 10 minutes, with jokes about President Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, whose sex trafficking investigation has roiled the Justice Department and FBI.
Gillis' performance drew mixed reviews on social media, with some calling him 'hilarious' and others 'cringey.'
Gillis' initial joke about North Carolina coach Bill Belichick and his 24-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson drew a lot of laughs.
"A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bed time,' he said. 'They read 'The Very Horny Caterpillar,' 'The Little Engine That Could But Needed a Pill First' and of course the classic 'Goodnight Boobs.''
But the reaction was mixed as Gillis continued.
"He won six Super Bowls. He's dating a hot 24 year old. Maybe if you guys won six Super Bowls you wouldn't be sitting next to a fat ugly dog wife.'
Gillis admitted he should have cut that part of the joke.
NBA Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander smiled when Gillis said, 'SGA is here. Everybody sitting around him is in foul trouble.'
Gillis retold what he called 'a dumb joke' that he said he loved from former 'Saturday Night Live' comic Norm MacDonald's stint as ESPYS host in 1998.
Gillis congratulated Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter for winning the Heisman Trophy.
'That's something they can never take away from you unless you kill your wife and a waiter,' he said, referring to the late O.J. Simpson.
Before closing it out, a smiling Gillis said, "I see a lot of you don't like me and that's OK. That's it for me. That went about exactly how we all thought it was going to go. I don't know why this happened.' Jimmy V Award
An emotional Katie Schumacher-Cawley accepted the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance with her husband and children looking on. The Penn State women's volleyball coach was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in September. She continued coaching without missing a practice and became the first woman to guide a team to the NCAA national championship.
'Cancer changed my life but it didn't take it. It didn't take my belief, it didn't take my spirit and it didn't take my team,' she said. Sports Humanitarian Awards
The Indianapolis Colts and former U.S. Open tennis champion Sloane Stephens were among the winners at the 11th annual Sports Humanitarian Awards.
The Colts were honored as the team of the year for their Kicking the Stigma campaign to raise mental health awareness and expand access to treatment.
Stephens received the Muhammad Ali award for her namesake foundation that works to make tennis more inclusive through access, representation and support for kids on and off the court. She beat out Washington Wizards guard CJ McCollum and Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.
Michele Kang, the billionaire owner of the NWSL's Washington Spirit, was chosen as the Sports Philanthropist of the Year. Billy Bean, former MLB player and executive, was honored with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award.
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Ledecky wins 22nd world title as Popovici savours 'scary' gold
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Fox Sports
13 minutes ago
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Black Sox, Ohtani's interpreter and more: A look at prominent sports betting scandals
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Although a jury returned a not guilty verdict on all charges against the eight, their ban from baseball remains in place. — In 1946, Hockey Hall of Famer Babe Pratt was suspended for gambling before being reinstated weeks later, with the NHL Board of Governors issuing a warning that any further instances of gambling would lead to a player's lifetime suspension. — In 1948, Billy Taylor and Don Gallinger were issued lifetime bans from the NHL for betting on hockey games. — In 1951, 35 active and former players were accused of fixing at least 86 games between 1947 and 1951. Among those implicated were four members of the Adolph Rupp-coached Kentucky Wildcats, accused of taking bribes from gamblers ahead of an NIT game against Loyola during the 1948-49 season. An NCAA investigation found several violations, which led to the cancellation of Kentucky's 1952-53 season. — In 1980, two Italian soccer teams were relegated and five others penalized for their involvement in a match-fixing scandal that was dubbed 'Totonero.' Most notably, Paolo Rossi was banned for two years for his involvement while playing for Perugia. — In 1981, former Boston College basketball player Rick Kuhn and four others, including New York mobster Jimmy Burke, were convicted of conspiring to fix basketball games in the 1978-79 season. — In 1985, Tulane suspended its basketball program in the wake of point-shaving and other allegations. The school resumed basketball for the 1989-90 season. — In 1989, Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team. Now 82, baseball's all-time leader with 4,256 hits remains ineligible for induction into Cooperstown, and has numerous requests for reinstatement denied. — In 1996, 13 Boston College football players were suspended for gambling, including two who bet against B.C. in a 45-17 loss to Syracuse. Coach Dan Henning, who informed school officials upon hearing allegations of players placing bets with bookies, resigned. No evidence of point-shaving was found. — In 2007, current Vancouver Canucks coach Rick Tocchet was placed on two years probation after pleading guilty to conspiracy and promoting gambling while serving as an assistant coach with the Coyotes. He was reinstated by the NHL the following year. Also initially implicated in a gambling scheme titled 'Operation Slapshot' involving a New Jersey-based ring were several players, Wayne Gretzky's wife, Janet Jones, and Gretzky's former agent and then Coyotes GM Michael Barnett. — In 2008, NBA referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to wire fraud and transmitting betting information for taking thousands of dollars from a gambler for inside tips on games, including games he worked. He was sentenced by a federal judge to 15 months behind bars. — In 2019, former Wales men's rugby team captain Rob Howley was sent home on the eve of the Rugby World Cup, where he was to work as an assistant coach. Howley had made 363 bets, including on Wales' 2019 Six Nations Grand Slam decider against Ireland. He was suspended from rugby for 18 months. — In 2021, England defender Kieran Trippier was banned for 10 weeks after providing insider information on his potential transfer to friends who were then betting on the outcome. — In the NFL, at least 15 players have been suspended by the league for gambling violations. The list dates to 1963, when two eventual hall of famers, Green Bay halfback Paul Hornung and Detroit defensive tackle Alex Karras, were suspended for the season for betting on league games. In 2022, the NFL suspended then Atlanta receiver Calvin Ridley for the entire season for gambling on NFL games a year earlier while away from the Falcons addressing mental health concerns. — In May 2023, Brazil's lower house of Congress opened a probe into a soccer match-fixing scandal. 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Italian player Tonali was banned for 10 months last year for betting on teams he played for. -- In October 2023, the NHL issued a 41-game suspension to Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto for sports gambling. The NHL would only say there was no evidence of Pinto betting on hockey. Pinto declined to reveal any details upon rejoining the Senators in January. — In March 2024, the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and close friend of newly acquired two-way star Shohei Ohtani following reports regarding his ties to an illegal bookmaker. Three months later, Mizuhara pled guilty in federal court to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly $17 million from Ohtani's bank account. He spent the money to cover his growing gambling bets and debts with an illegal bookmaker, plus $325,000 worth of baseball cards and his own medical bills. Mizuhara capitalized on the language barrier to keep Ohtani's financial advisers from understanding their client, and at times, Mizuhara even impersonated the player to the bank to prolong the fraud. — In April 2024, Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA after a league probe found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors and wagered on games, even betting on the Raptors to lose. In making the announcement, Commissioner Adam Silver called Porter's actions 'blatant.' The investigation started once the league learned from 'licensed sports betting operators and an organization that monitors legal betting markets' about unusual gambling patterns surrounding Porter's performance in a game on March 20 against Sacramento. The league determined that Porter gave a bettor information about his own health status prior to that game and said that another individual — known to be an NBA bettor — placed an $80,000 bet that Porter would not hit the numbers set for him in parlays through an online sports book. That bet would have won $1.1 million. — In June 2024, San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano was banned for life by MLB for betting on baseball. MLB said Marcano placed 387 baseball bets totaling more than $150,000 with a legal sportsbook in 2022 and 2023. The 24-year-old Venezuelan with 149 games of major league experience became the first active player in a century banned for life because of gambling. Oakland Athletics pitcher Michael Kelly was also suspended for one year for betting on baseball while in the minor leagues, and three minor leaguers also were banned for one year for betting on big league games: pitchers Jay Groome of San Diego and Andrew Saalfrank of Arizona, and infielder Jose Rodriguez of Philadelphia. Each of those four players wagered under $1,000. Saalfrank and Rodríguez played previously in the majors. — In February 2025, umpire Pat Hoberg was fired by MLB for sharing his legal sports gambling accounts with a friend who bet on baseball games and for intentionally deleting electronic messages pertinent to the league's investigation. While MLB said the probe did not uncover evidence Hoberg personally bet on baseball or manipulated games, MLB senior vice president of on-field operations Michael Hill recommended on May 24, 2024 that Hoberg be fired. Commissioner Rob Manfred he upheld Hill's decision. Among the highest-rated umpires at judging the strike zone, Hoberg could apply for reinstatement no earlier than 2026 spring training. MLB said the friend made 141 baseball bets between April 2, 2021, and Nov. 1, 2023, totaling almost $214,000 with an overall win of nearly $35,000. That included eight bets involving games where Hoberg was working. — In June/July 2025, MLB placed Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase on paid leave as part of a sports betting investigation. The Ortiz probe is related to in-game prop bets on two pitches thrown by the right-hander that received higher activity than usual during his starts at Seattle on June 15 and against St. Louis on June 27. The gambling activity on the pitches was flagged by a betting-integrity firm and forwarded to MLB. Clase was placed on leave more than three weeks after Ortiz. It's not clear if Clase was sidelined as part of the same investigation, and he hasn't been formally accused of wrongdoing. ___ AP sports: recommended Item 1 of 3
Fox Sports
13 minutes ago
- Fox Sports
Max Homa and Sahith Theegala played in the Presidents Cup. Now both might miss PGA Tour postseason
Associated Press The Wyndham Championship is the last chance for players to qualify for the PGA Tour's postseason. It's also a reminder that so much in golf still must be earned. Sahith Theegala and Max Homa are two examples, both of them part of the winning American team at the Presidents Cup last year in Montreal. Theegala, who finished at No. 3 in the FedEx Cup last year and picked up a $7.5 million bonus, had not finished in the top 10 until running into neck trouble in May. He withdrew from three tournaments, including the PGA Championship, to rest it. He returned at the British Open and missed two straight cuts. Now he is No. 144 and needs nothing short of a victory at the Wyndham Championship to qualifying for the postseason. Homa has been in a slump for 15 months, and he started this year with a new coach and new equipment. He feels progress in his swing, but not his results. Now he's at No. 106, and likely needs a runner-up finish to have any hope of extending his season. Adding to the stress for Homa is his wife is due with their second child next week. He was not eligible for the U.S. Open or British Open. He is still grinding. 'My wife is very, very pregnant right now so really like to win one of the next two so I could skip an event coming up just so I could keep the stress level low in our household,' he said at the Barracuda Championship, held opposite the British Open. He tied for 45th at the Barracuda, and he tied for 39th in Minnesota. Three players from the International team in the Presidents Cup are outside the top 70 going into the final regular-season event — Adam Scott, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Tom Kim. The FedEx Cup standings going into the Wyndham Championship show some 20 players who were in the playoffs a year ago now outside the top 70. That includes Billy Horschel and Will Zalatoris, both out with injuries. Among the players in the top 70 who missed the postseason last year are U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, two-time winner Brian Campbell and Chris Gotterup. They are among nine players who have won on the PGA Tour this year and are inside the top 70. Winning always helps. Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, will pick up $18 million without playing this week. The PGA Tour has redistributed the FedEx Cup bonus money so the leader of the FedEx Cup after the regular season gets $10 million, along with $8 million from the Comcast Business Top 10. He is assured of both. LIV to South Africa The Saudi-backed LIV Golf League is making it increasingly clear it is going to markets around the world. Its biggest draw is in Adelaide, Australia. Now it is adding South Africa. LIV has announced LIV Golf South Africa has part of its 2026 schedule in a multi-year commitment. It will be the first time the fledgling league goes to South Africa, the fifth continent on which it has been played since LIV launched in 2022. Steyn City in Johannesburg will host the new event on March 20-22, one week after The Players Championship. Steyn City most recently held the Jonsson Workwear Open in 2023, which was co-sanctioned by the European Tour and Sunshine Tour. Meanwhile, Sports Business Journal reported this week the total prize fund for LIV events will be increasing by $5 million to $30 million, with $10 million devoted to team competition. There would still be a $20 million purse ($4 million to the winner) for the individuals. Hall of Fame to St. Andrews St. Andrews will be hosting the British Open for the 31st time in 2027, a week that will include another World Golf Hall of Fame induction. The shrine is now located at Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, where the USGA has a second headquarters. Padraig Harrington led the induction class at Pinehurst in 2024. The next induction will be at St. Andrews, which previously held a Hall of Fame ceremony in 2015 when Mark O'Meara, Laura Davies and David Graham were among those inducted. Davies missed out when her flight from the U.S. Women's Open was delayed. She at least arrived in time for the reception. 'There is no better connection to golf's rich history and the origins of the game than at St. Andrews,' said Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame. 'We are thrilled to celebrate the next class of golf's greatest figures at the home of golf and are grateful for the collaboration with our partners at The R&A.' The Hall of Fame induction is now every two years. It will return to Pinehurst in 2029, when the USGA has the U.S. Open and U.S. Women's Open in consecutive weeks. Magic number Golf's magic number is starting to lose some of its magic. Brett White became the latest player with to shoot 59, doing so in dramatic fashion by making a 50-foot eagle putt on the last hole. That got him into a three-way playoff that he won in the Commissionaires Ottawa Open on the PGA Tour Americas. This was one day after Philip Barbaree Jr. shot 59 in Ottawa. It was the second time two players shot 59 or lower in the same tournament. Cristobal Del Solar (57) and Aldrich Potgieter (59) did it at the Astara Golf Championship in Colombia on the Korn Ferry Tour last year. Yes, it's still a big deal to have any sub-60 score in tournament golf. But it's happening with greater frequency. White had the fifth sub-60 round this year on tours around the world. There were nine such scores a year ago. The last time no score of 59 or lower was recorded on any tour was 2012. On The Move The Constellation Furyk & Friends tournament on the PGA Tour Champions was quickly established as a popular spot being held at Timuquana in Jacksonville, Florida, a Donald Ross design along the St. Johns River. That ends this year, and the tournament is moving in 2026 some 60 miles south to Ocean Course at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast, a Jack Nicklaus signature design where Michelle Wie in 2003 won the Women's Amateur Public Links at age 13. It also hosted PGA Tour Champions events in 2007 and 2008. 'We are incredibly grateful to Timuquana Country Club and the entire Jacksonville community for an unforgettable five years,' said Jim Furyk, host of a tournament that has raised more than $5 million for charity since 2021. 'We're proud of what we've built and excited for the opportunity to continue growing at Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa.' Divots The Senior British Open will return to Gleneagles next year for the second time. Darren Clarke won in 2022 when it was last held at course that hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup. ... Rio Takeda and Ayaka Furue have played 18 of the 19 tournaments on the LPGA schedule this year. Both missed only the LPGA Match Play at Shadow Creek. ... Three players who won opposite-field events this year are not among the top 70 in the FedEx Cup — Karl Vilips, William Mouw and Garrick Higgo. Stat of the week Joaquin Niemann has five wins in the LIV Golf League this year. He has not finished in the top 10 in his other six LIV events. Final word 'It's the first time I think I've ever cried happy tears on the golf course." — Mia Hammond, the 17-year-old from Ohio after winning the Greater Toledo Classic. She is the second-youngest winner on the Epson Tour. ___ AP golf:
