Sports

Rizzo shut down with post-concussion syndrome

Published

1 year ago

September 6, 2023

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Associated Press

Sep 5, 2023, 06:33 PM ET

NEW YORK — Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo will miss the remainder of the season with post-concussion syndrome.

“Anthony is going to be shut down for the year,” New York manager Aaron Boone said before Tuesday night’s game against Detroit. “I would say everything is going well. His most recent checkup was all of the things we’re looking for as far as there’s improvements and where he is, but still hadn’t been cleared yet to play.

“So they want to do at least another checkup in probably another couple of weeks. So we were just kind of up against the clock, but he’s continuing to work out. He’s continuing to make all the right cognitive improvements.”

Rizzo was placed on the injured list Aug. 3, more than two months after getting hurt May 28 when he collided with San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. on a pickoff play.

New York initially said Rizzo had a stiff neck. He sat out a three-game series in Seattle before returning to the lineup June 2 at Dodger Stadium, but the three-time All-Star then went into an extended tailspin at the plate.

When he finally landed on the injured list early last month, Boone said Rizzo had recently told the club’s training staff he was feeling foggy. He then underwent neurological testing that revealed cognitive impairment.

Rizzo and Boone both said they believed his concussion issues stemmed from the May collision with Tatis at Yankee Stadium. Rizzo passed Major League Baseball’s concussion testing, but batted only .172 with one homer in 169 at-bats afterward.

Prior to the game against the Padres, he was hitting .304 with 11 home runs in 204 at-bats for a Yankees team that’s fallen out of the playoff race since and into last place in the American League East.

“I think you have regret if something doesn’t get diagnosed right away,” Boone said. “So yeah, you always want everything to be [diagnosed], but that’s not the reality sometimes. I think all the right things, the right steps were happening. So you can’t go back. But sure, you would have liked right away [to have] been able to know exactly what he was going to start dealing with.”

When he went on the injured list, Rizzo was considered week to week. He was given three supplements designed to treat concussions and permitted to participate in physical activity.

“I think he’s in a good place and I think the doctors and he have seen the progress they wanted to see,” Boone said. “So I feel like he’s encouraged by where’s at. We’ll probably throttle back on some of the baseball activity just because there’s no need now. But I was in the gym with him earlier and he’s getting after it. He’s doing well.”

Boone is optimistic Rizzo’s concussion issues won’t linger for the rest of his career. The 34-year-old signed a $40 million, two-year contract with the Yankees last November that includes a $17 million team option for 2025 with a $6 million buyout.

“I don’t want to speak out of turn, especially when we’re talking the seriousness of head injuries and whatnot,” Boone said. “But my understanding is the last month as he’s seen the specialist and the things they’re asking him to do, I think everyone’s been really encouraged by how he’s done, and he continues to improve. So hopefully that’s not the case.”

A four-time Gold Glove winner, Rizzo helped the Chicago Cubs to a World Series title in 2016 that ended their 108-year championship drought.

He finishes this season batting .244 with 12 homers, 41 RBIs and a .706 OPS, by far his worst numbers since compiling a .523 OPS in his first 49 major league games with San Diego in 2011.

“He’s been kind of a model of consistency in what’s been a really good career,” Boone said. “So I think the fact that we can trace it I think obviously got everyone’s attention that, you know, initially is alarming — but also like, OK, there’s probably a reason here now that you weren’t the player you’ve been really your entire career. Now I think the things that he’s doing and the tools that we now have that I think help guys that have been through something like this should put him in good footing moving forward, is the hope.”

Sports

Ex-Buckeyes coach Tressel now Ohio lt. governor

Published

1 hour ago

February 12, 2025

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Ex-Buckeyes coach Tressel now Ohio lt. governor

Associated Press

Feb 12, 2025, 03:25 PM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel was confirmed Wednesday as Ohio’s next lieutenant governor.

State senators and representatives affirmed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Monday nomination of Tressel in separate floor votes Wednesday: 31-1 in the Senate, 68-27 in the House.

Tressel, 72, succeeds Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed last month to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance.

Tressel retired in 2023 as president of Youngstown State University, a position he had held since 2014. He previously spent nearly a decade as head coach of Ohio State University’s football team, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002 and six Big Ten championships.

He was pressured to resign in May 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal rocked the team.

After Tressel left Ohio State, he served as executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron before returning to Youngstown State as president.

DeWine has said that Tressel will remain involved in education and workforce development as lieutenant governor.

Sports

UNLV football player found dead in apartment

Published

1 hour ago

February 12, 2025

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UNLV football player found dead in apartment

Associated Press

Feb 12, 2025, 02:02 PM ET

LAS VEGAS — UNLV senior offensive lineman Ben Christman, who transferred after last season from Kentucky, has died, the university announced. He was 21.

Christman was found dead in an off-campus apartment Tuesday morning. The university said it didn’t have other details and that a cause of death would be determined by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.

UNLV said Christman’s family and the team have been informed and that counseling services would be provided.

“Our team’s heart is broken to hear of Ben’s passing,” UNLV coach Dan Mullen said in a statement. “Since the day Ben set foot on our campus a month ago, he made the Rebels a better program.

“Ben was an easy choice for our leadership committee as he had earned the immediate respect, admiration and friendship of all his teammates. Our prayers go out to his family and all who knew him. Ben made the world a better place and he will be missed.”

Christman began his college career at Ohio State as a highly ranked prospect in the 2021 recruiting class. He redshirted that season and played in one game in 2022 before transferring to Kentucky. Christman did not play in 2023 because of a knee injury, but he appeared in all 12 games last season on special teams before transferring to UNLV.

“There is little that can be said to lessen the pain of suddenly losing a member of our university family at such a young age, and my heart breaks for all who knew and loved him,” UNLV president Keith Whitfield said in a statement.

Sports

Sources: Ex-NFL coach Patricia to be OSU’s DC

Published

1 hour ago

February 12, 2025

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Sources: Ex-NFL coach Patricia to be OSU's DC

Ohio State is finalizing a deal to make veteran NFL coach Matt Patricia the school’s new defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The move to bring in Patricia comes with the corresponding internal promotion of secondary coach Tim Walton to the co-defensive coordinator role, sources said. Ohio State will also be promoting safeties coach Matt Guerrieri to pass-game coordinator, per sources.

Patricia comes to Ohio State to replace Jim Knowles, who left for Penn State‘s defensive coordinator job in the wake of the Buckeyes’ 2024 national title.

In Patricia, the Buckeyes get a veteran defensive playcaller who worked as the New England Patriots‘ defensive coordinator for six seasons from 2012 to 2017. He began calling defensive plays without the official title in 2010, which was a device Bill Belichick used to break in new coordinators and keep pressure off them.

He was the defensive coordinator for two of New England’s Super Bowl wins and was on staff as an offensive assistant for the Patriots’ 2004 Super Bowl title.

Patricia spent three seasons as the head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2018 to 2020, getting fired with a 13-29-1 record in his third season there.

Walton’s promotion comes after coming to Ohio State in 2022 from the NFL, where he coached for four teams from 2009 to 2021. That included a job as the Rams‘ defensive coordinator in 2013.

His new title is a nod to the strong secondary play at Ohio State under his watch, as the Buckeyes finished No. 3 in the country in passing yards allowed in 2024 and No. 1 in that category in 2023.

Guerrieri is a former co-defensive coordinator at Duke from 2018 to 2021 and was the co-defensive coordinator at Indiana in 2023.

They will all be charged with taking over an Ohio State defense that returns just three starters from a unit that finished No. 1 nationally in total defense and scoring defense. The eight departing starters, including the entire defensive line, project to get picked in the NFL draft this spring.

Ohio State does return high-end talent, including safety Caleb Downs, who projects as one of the top players in college football next year. Junior linebacker Sonny Styles will be another top prospect, and senior cornerback Davison Igbinosun earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors.