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BOULDER, Colo. — Rain pelted Deion Sanders as he walked out of the tunnel onto Folsom Field for his second spring game as head coach. Fans in the lower bowl cheered and clamored for him to get a little closer. Sanders waved hello before walking out to the water-logged field to check out the drills his players were running.

Last year, a sold-out record crowd of 47,277 braved snow and frigid temperatures for their first glimpse of Coach Prime, a man whose presence alone made Colorado football relevant again and the talk of the college football world. This year, the stadium is not filled, with vast open spaces in the end zones and upper decks. But replicating Sanders’ debut last spring would have been hard to do, even if it had been a clear day in Boulder.

This spring, off a 4-8 season, some of that hype has died down. Sanders remains an outsized celebrity presence, with his own dedicated team of videographers and media and marketing representatives, deliberate in their every move. He has a new shoe line coming out later this year and joked Saturday he wants his own jet ski line. They would be called Prime Mobiles, he said.

But when it comes to football, the play on the field last year drew more questions than answers — particularly after a 3-0 start ended with losses in eight of nine games, including a 46-43 loss to Stanford in which the Buffs blew a 29-0 halftime lead. With a roster overhaul underway, perhaps the hype invites more skepticism than enthusiasm.

Yet it is hard to say enthusiasm has completely disappeared considering 28,424 people — the second-largest crowd in Colorado spring game history — bought tickets and stood in cold, soaking rain to see Coach Prime and his new team.

Mareon Chapman and his high school friends Janyissa Bannister and Layla Goshorn loaded up their car with a snack-filled cooler and drove 30 minutes from their hometown of Aurora, pulling into a garage across the football stadium at 3 a.m., thinking the entire area would be packed. Instead, they were the first fans to the stadium. They decided to eat pancakes and then come back, standing in line to go through metal detectors two hours before kickoff.

Chapman, wearing a gold cowboy hat and CU poncho, said the three decided to come check out Colorado football for the first time, thanks in part to the Lil Wayne concert being held later that night that was part of a Black & Gold weekend Sanders arranged to drum up excitement across the entire campus.

Still, Chapman was in line wet and cold, his teeth chattering, wanting mostly to see Sanders.

“His history, his legacy and his coaching — I like how he runs things,” he said. “I was already excited last year. That was the first year of the program being rebuilt. But in the future, the program’s going to be really successful because we’re getting a lot of transfers and top recruits.”

Behind them in line, Michael Shelton flew in from St. Louis with Kennetha Paris and her daughter, Mariah, for the second spring game in a row. Shelton, who said he has followed Sanders since his NFL career, believed the excitement is still there.

“I know this year is going to be much better,” he said. “We’re in a fast-paced world. Everybody wants it to happen right now. People want to see him fail. I see what people say about him. He knows, too. He keeps receipts.”

Spoken just like Sanders.

Last year, everyone — both in the crowd and on the team — seemed happy to just be a part of what felt like a historical moment. This year? Those in attendance, on the field and in the stands, made an effort to show they were putting in the work.

That goes for quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who practiced and played this spring after fracturing his back at the end of last season. He also is spearheading a new offense under coordinator Pat Shurmur, one Shedeur describes as “quarterback friendly.”

It goes for two-way player Travis Hunter, who has practiced at the inside nickel slot this spring in addition to receiver and his usual cornerback positions. It goes for the new transfers who have arrived since January, starting with receiver LaJohntay Wester, a player Shedeur said he approached himself on social media.

“We’re in a way better place both mentally and physically than last year,” Shedeur said. “I feel like we’re getting quality guys now, and they’re doing full background checks on everybody and we’re getting exactly who we want. I watched LaJohntay Wester and I went after him, so we just collectively know what type of players we’re getting overall and then we just play them to their strengths.”

Deion made headlines a year ago for the way he overhauled his team in his first year. Only 10 scholarship players returned from the 2022 team; 53 players signed from the transfer portal for 2023, the most any team had ever added in one offseason.

Again this offseason, there has been significant turnover. Since the spring portal window opened April 16, 22 players have left, including former five-star recruit Cormani McClain and leading rusher Dylan Edwards. Running backs Alton McCaskill and Sy’veon Wilkerson also left, leaving cornerback Isaiah Hardge to start at running back in the spring game Saturday.

But there is one key difference between this year and last year when it comes to the portal. Last year, Colorado was trying to improve the talent level after fielding a 1-11 team in 2022; this year, the Buffs are being much more selective about who they add. That includes fixing their offensive line, which had five new starters Saturday but still lacks depth. Expect more additions to that group through the portal in the coming weeks.

“Even with the portal going on, I feel like we got all the negative energy out of the building,” Shedeur said. “So now it’s just a positive vibe. No one’s really complaining. I just want to win this year.”

So does Deion. In his postgame press conference, he expressed confidence that this would be a much better year. He seemed happy and jovial, fielding questions about the way Shedeur has handled the new offensive system, what becoming even more versatile has done for Hunter and what his message is to recruits and portal players. He, obviously, sprinkled in a few one-liners along the way. The best one may have been, “I don’t really fly fish, but I’ve been known to be fly when I fish.”

There is, of course, a sense of urgency — beyond living up to the hype that has surrounded him and his program. With Shedeur and Hunter likely playing their final collegiate seasons, there is pressure to surround them with players that can help them win.

Deion does have a methodical plan to get there, based in large part on the lessons he learned under Bobby Bowden and his defensive coordinator, Mickey Andrews, at Florida State. Deion may be flashy, but his practices are far from it. Players are starting to understand that.

“These young men want to practice, they want to have each other’s back, they want the physicality, they want all the smoke, so to speak,” Deion said. “I love what we’re building in this locker room, and if you’re not a part of that thought process or that desire, you don’t fit.”

Those comments echo what Deion said several weeks ago, after the departures of the spring portal window. He noted most of the players in the portal were not significant contributors, and asked reporters then, “Please have some faith in me.”

At least outside the program, there are enough questions — whether it’s about the 4-8 record in Year 1, revolving roster door, Deion’s recruiting style and how he’s gone about using the portal. There also has been rampant speculation about whether Deion will still be interested in coaching Colorado after Shedeur and Shilo, who plays safety, leave. It has become enough of a question that he was asked about it during his post-spring news conference. Deion tamped that down, saying, “I do not plan on following my kids to the NFL.”

Plans always change, of course. The plan for this season, as Shedeur said, is to win. Armed with lessons learned during Year 1, Deion promised as much when he took the microphone to greet the crowd before the game kicked off. He thanked them for showing up despite the inclement weather and called them awesome. The crowd roared its approval.

Then he asked, “Where’s Miss Peggy?” referring to 99-year-old superfan Peggy Coppom, who has been going to Colorado games since the 1940s. The two struck up a friendship shortly after Deion arrived in Boulder, when he learned about her fandom and went to her house to introduce himself. She handled the ceremonial kickoff at the spring game last year. But in the pouring rain Saturday, Miss Peggy was safely sheltered far from the elements. That did not stop Deion from delivering a message directly to her.

“We’re going to get you to a bowl game, lady.”

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

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Giants sell 10% stake to private equity firm

The San Francisco Giants have sold a reported 10% stake in the team to private equity firm Sixth Street.

The team confirmed the deal Tuesday but not the amount of the investment, which was first reported Monday by the New York Times.

Sportico places the value of the franchise and its team-related holdings at $4.2 billion.

Sixth Street’s investment, reportedly approved by Major League Baseball on Monday, will go toward upgrades to Oracle Park and the Giants’ training facilities in Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as Mission Rock, the team’s real estate development project located across McCovey Cove from the ballpark.

Giants president and CEO Larry Baer called it the “first significant investment in three decades” and said the money would not be spent on players.

“This is not about a stockpile for the next Aaron Judge,” Baer told the New York Times. “This is about improvements to the ballpark, making big bets on San Francisco and the community around us, and having the firepower to take us into the next generation.”

Sixth Street is the primary owner of National Women’s Soccer League franchise Bay FC. It also has investments in the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and Spanish soccer powers Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

“We believe in the future of San Francisco, and our sports franchises like the Giants are critical ambassadors for our city of innovation, showcasing to the world what’s only made possible here,” Sixth Street co-founder and CEO Alan Waxman said in the news release. “We believe in Larry and the leadership team’s vision for this exciting new era, and we’re proud to be partnering with them as they execute the next chapter of San Francisco Giants success.”

Founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco, Sixth Street has assets totaling $75 billion, according to Front Office Sports.

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Ohtani ‘nervous’ in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

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Ohtani 'nervous' in Tokyo but gets 2 hits, runs

TOKYO — Shohei Ohtani seems impervious to a variety of conditions that afflict most humans — nerves, anxiety, distraction — but it took playing a regular-season big-league game in his home country to change all of that.

After the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ Opening Day 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in the Tokyo Dome, Ohtani made a surprising admission. “It’s been a while since I felt this nervous playing a game,” he said. “It took me four or five innings.”

Ohtani had two hits and scored twice, and one of his outs was a hard liner that left his bat at more than 96 mph, so the nerves weren’t obvious from the outside. But clearly the moment, and its weeklong buildup, altered his usually stoic demeanor.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shohei nervous,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But one thing I did notice was how emotional he got during the Japanese national anthem. I thought that was telling.”

As the Dodgers began the defense of last year’s World Series win, it became a night to showcase the five Japanese players on the two teams. For the first time in league history, two Japanese pitchers — the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Cubs’ Shota Imanaga — faced each other on Opening Day. Both pitched well, with Imanaga throwing four hitless innings before being removed after 69 pitches.

“Seventy was kind of the number we had for Shota,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “It was the right time to take him out.”

The Dodgers agreed, scoring three in the fifth inning off reliever Ben Brown. Imanaga kept the Dodgers off balance, but his career-high four walks created two stressful innings that ran up his pitch count.

Yamamoto rode the adrenaline of pitching in his home country, routinely hitting 98 with his fastball and vexing the Cubs with a diving splitter over the course of five three-hit innings. He threw with a kind of abandon, finding a freedom that often eluded him last year in his first year in America.

“I think last year to this year, the confidence and conviction he has throwing the fastball in the strike zone is night and day,” Roberts said. “If he can continue to do that, I see no reason he won’t be in the Cy Young conversation this season.”

Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki went hitless in four at bats — the Cubs had only three hits, none in the final four innings against four relievers out of the Dodgers’ loaded bullpen — and rookie Roki Sasaki will make his first start of his Dodger career in the second and final game of the series Wednesday.

“I don’t think there was a Japanese baseball player in this country who wasn’t watching tonight,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers were without Mookie Betts, who left Japan on Monday after it was decided his illness would not allow him to play in this series. And less than an hour before game time, first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched with what the team termed “left rib discomfort,” a recurrence of an injury he first sustained during last year’s playoffs.

The night started with a pregame celebration that felt like an Olympic opening ceremony in a lesser key. There were Pikachus on the field and a vaguely threatening video depicting the Dodgers and Cubs as Monster vs. Monster. World home-run king Saduharu Oh was on the field before the game, and Roberts called meeting Oh “a dream come true.”

For the most part, the crowd was subdued, as if it couldn’t decide who or what to root for, other than Ohtani. It was admittedly confounding: throughout the first five innings, if fans rooted for the Dodgers they were rooting against Imanaga, but rooting for the Cubs meant rooting against Yamamoto. Ohtani, whose every movement is treated with a rare sense of wonder, presented no such conflict.

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

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Cardinals shortstop Winn out with wrist soreness

JUPITER, Fla. — St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn was scratched from the lineup for their exhibition game on Tuesday because of soreness in his right wrist.

Winn was replaced by Jose Barrero in the Grapefruit League matchup with the Miami Marlins, with the regular-season opener nine days away. Winn, who was a 2020 second-round draft pick by the Cardinals, emerged as a productive everyday player during his rookie year in 2024. He batted .267 with 15 home runs, 11 stolen bases and 57 RBIs in 150 games and was named as one of three finalists for the National League Gold Glove Award that went to Ezequiel Tovar of the Colorado Rockies.

Winn had minor surgery after the season to remove a cyst from his hand. In 14 spring training games, he’s batting .098 (4 for 41) with 12 strikeouts.

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