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SCRAPPERS CALL OFF ANOTHER GAME
NILES -- The Mahoning Valley Scrappers canceled their second straight game on Friday due to air quality concerns caused by the Canadian wildfires.
Friday’s game with the State College Spikes was sold out for 717 Credit Union Financial Wellness Night. The promotion was called off at 11:20 a.m. Friday due to concerns for patrons attending, but the baseball game was not decided upon until 4:30 p.m.
The sold out 717 Credit Union Financial Wellness Night will go ahead on July 24. Tickets for Friday’s game can be used for entry on July 24 and do not need to be exchanged. The drone and fireworks show will go ahead on July 24 as well.
ANOTHER ACE AT VALLEY
COLUMBIANA -- Ryan Schmidt of Columbiana aced Valley Golf Club’s 140-yard No. 2 on Thursday with a 9 iron.
His playing partners were Mitch Cyrus of New Waterford, Zach Hull of Youngstown and Oliver Aeschbacher of Lisbon. The foursome was playing in the Thirsty Night Men’s League.
WORLD CUP RINGS COMING
NEW YORK (AP) -- Argentina and Spain are playing for more than the World Cup trophy on Sunday. They’re playing for rings as well.
For the first time, FIFA is awarding rings to commemorate a championship. Title-winning teams receiving rings is a tradition in North American sports that dates back to the late 19th century, but something that isn’t commonplace in other parts of the world.
With this final in the U.S., the move by FIFA seems to be a nod to that tradition. Players on the World Cup-winning team will get gold medals, as usual, and the captain and coach of the winning team will get temporary rings as well shortly after the title match.
Eventually, the winning team will get 30 customized rings. The World Cup trophy will be on one side, while the other side will be created “to reflect the identity of the winning team,” FIFA said.
Only 2,026 rings -- a nod to the year -- will be made, and each will be individually numbered, custom-fitted and delivered with its own certificate of authenticity. The 1,996 rings that will not go to the winning team will be on sale to the public.
FIFA has not said how much those rings will cost.
The tradition of championship rings is believed to go back to at least 1893 when the Montreal Hockey Club was awarded the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the precursor to what is now called the Stanley Cup. That team also commissioned simple bands with tiny hockey sticks attached at the top.
IPADS LIMITED DUE TO AI CONCERNS
NEW YORK (AP) -- Major League Baseball is restricting iPad usage in dugouts to prevent the tablets from running artificial intelligence to help make decisions.
The tablets have access to video and league-provided data, and also included a custom tab where teams could access other programs. MLB made the custom tabs inaccessible to teams starting Wednesday night, when the second half of the season started.
“In many cases, the custom tab had expanded the use of the dugout iPads beyond their originally intended purpose to include recommendations regarding substitutions, pitch calling, and other in-game decisions traditionally made by players and coaches,” MLB executive vice president of baseball operations Morgan Sword wrote in a June 11 memo to general managers, assistant GMs and video coordinators.
The memo, first reported by The Athletic, was obtained by The Associated Press.
A review by the competition committee found clubs had been compliant with the regulations.
BRIT GOES FOR MILE RECORD
LONDON (AP) -- The storied men’s mile record in track that has stood for 27 years will come under attack Saturday from Britain’s Josh Kerr.
Kerr, the 2023 world champion over the 1,500 meters metric mile, has called it “Project 222” -- for each second he aims to take in breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s mark of 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds.
“It’s in my favor,” Kerr said Friday at a news conference at London Stadium that staged track and field at the 2012 Olympics. “My body is capable of the mark and so my job tomorrow is to have my mind to be available to let my body do its job.”
The 28-year-old Kerr has targeted the mile race at the Diamond League meeting as a main goal in a track season with neither Olympics nor world championships.
“I’m very excited. It’s been on my mind, my team’s mind, for a long time,” said the 1,500 silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The mile is not a championships event yet has iconic status in track history, with the four-minute barrier finally broken in 1954 by another British runner, Roger Bannister.
El Guerrouj’s record set in 1999 is more than 16 seconds faster than Bannister, and Kerr is the sixth-fastest athlete on the all-time list. One of his rivals Saturday is No. 4 in that list.
Yared Nuguse set a United States record three years ago, 0.84 slower than El Guerrouj, in a race won by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at Eugene, Oregon.
While Bannister’s feat running 3:59.4 is remembered in track lore, he held the record just a few weeks before Australian John Landy lowered it by 1.4 seconds.
Jim Ryun of the U.S. later held the record for nine years until Filbert Bayi of Tanzania took it in 1975.
A stellar 10 days in August 1981 saw a British rivalry play out: Sebastian Coe took Steve Ovett’s mile record, Ovett got it back then Coe beat it again clocking 3:47.33.
In the 45 years since, the mile record was held only by Steve Cram, Noureddine Morceli and El Guerrouj.
OHTANI GETS KNEE LUBE
NEW YORK (AP) -- Shohei Ohtani had a lubricant injected into his left knee, but the Dodgers two-way star did not have fluid drained, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Friday.
Ohtani was in the starting lineup leading off as the designated hitter in Friday’s second-half opener against the New York Yankees. The four-time MVP is not slated to pitch this weekend and likely will make his next start Wednesday at Philadelphia.
Roberts said Ohtani had the procedure after Sunday’s game against Arizona. Ohtani last pitched on July 3.
“It gives him some relief in his knee, which we were hoping to get, and then the four days off from activity, which gets it all to kind of settle in,” Roberts said. “I think we are certainly more prepared to back off on the workload if it calls for it, but Shohei wants to be out there as much as he possibly can.”
Ohtani is batting .293 with 22 homers and 58 RBIs while going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings over 14 starts on the mound. The four-time MVP skipped Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.
“Part of his wear and tear, just part of being an athlete, being a baseball player, the running, the pitching, the swinging of the bat, all that stuff has effects on the body,” Roberts said.
He will try to give Ohtani days off after his pitching starts if possible.