By Adam Roberts – 8/9/2021

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Devin Funchess is apologizing for using an anti-Asian slur when talking to the media Saturday night.

He said in a tweet he has deep personal and business relationships in the Asian community and he meant no harm. He said it was not OK, and he will learn from this and continue to grow as a person. Funchess was talking about the difficulty of knowing when someone was smiling while wearing masks and made a reference to Asians while pointing to his eyes to demonstrate how he knows when someone is smiling.

General manager Brian Gutekunst said on Sunday he had spoken to Funchess about the incident, and that the team has no plans to cut Funchess “at the moment”.

The Packers will kick off the preseason at home this Saturday as the Pack play host to the Houston Texans. It’s not clear yet which stars will suit up for the Packers, but it will be the first chance for fans to see rookies in action. Lambeau Field is expected to be open at full capacity with COVID protocols in place at the stadium.

By Adam Roberts – 8/6/2021

Justin Jefferson could be seen at Vikings’ practice today in visible pain at times, falling down on a number of targets. The final rep of practice for Jefferson saw him walk off the field holding his left wrist after Bashaud Breeland landed on him.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Jefferson is dealing with a sprained AC joint. In good news for Minnesota the injury doesn’t appear to be overly serious, although there will be further testing done on the wrist area this weekend. The testing will determine how long one of the more prolific Minnesota offensive weapons will be out of commission.

The Vikings can ill afford many injuries at practice, even if their starting quarterback Kirk Cousins is back off the COVID reserve list.

Minnesota opens the preseason August 14th against Denver at US Bank Stadium.

By Adam Roberts – 8/6/2021

It’s the final countdown for Tokyo 2020 this weekend, as the US makes one final push for medals to pad their solid lead at the top of the medal leaderboard. Here’s your daily Olympic update:

• In the semifinal of the 97kg division of men’s freestyle wrestling, Pennsylvania’s Kyle Frederick Snyder got the best of Turkey’s Suleyman Karadeniz 5-0. Snyder improved his record at this year’s Summer Games to a perfect 3-0 as the 25-year-old goes for a second consecutive gold medal after winning during the 2016 Olympics in Rio. The men’s freestyle 97kg final is set for tomorrow.
• Jacarra Gwenisha Winchester of Colorado missed out on winning a bronze medal for the U.S. after she was bested by Vanesa Kaladzinskaya of Belarus in the 53kg division of women’s freestyle wrestling. Mayu Mukaida of Japan won the gold medal and Qianyu Pang of China won the silver. Mongolia’s Bolortuya Bat Ochir of Mongolia also took home a bronze medal.
• California native Allyson Felix collected her 10th Olympic medal after she finished in third place in the women’s 400m to win bronze. Felix set a season best with a time of 49.46 seconds. Fellow American Quanera Hayes finished in seventh place with a time of 50.88 seconds. Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas won the gold and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic took home the silver.
• Gable Steveson of Minnesota defeated Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili in the final of the men’s freestyle wrestling 125kg division to win the gold medal for the U.S. It was the first time in four matches that Steveson surrendered any points as he picked up the 10-8 win. The gold is the first Olympic medal won by the 21-year-old Steveson.

Coming up this evening, the USA men’s basketball team will play for the gold medal against France. We’re sending good vibes to Jrue, Khris, and the rest of Team USA!

By Adam Roberts – 8/5/2021

After a quiet quarterfinal against Spain, Khris Middleton re-emerged last night as an important bench piece for the USA men’s basketball team. Couple that with a fine contribution from Jrue Holiday plus a big third quarter for the team in general, and the Americans are one win away from silencing all the doubt they faced ahead of the Olympics.

Holiday and Middleton each scored 11 points, with Jrue adding eight rebounds and eight assists, while Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Devin Booker chipped in with 20 as Team USA knocked off Australia, 97-to-78 in the semifinals. The Americans overcame a 15-point deficit to advance to Friday night’s gold medal game against France.

The French outlasted Slovenia, 90-to-89, in the other semifinal. Evan Fournier had 23 points and four threes for the French while Luka Doncic had a triple double with 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 18 assists for the Slovenian unit.

By Adam Roberts – 8/4/2021

Former Badger coach and player Alando Tucker has responded to a report written in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that details events that reportedly went on during a difficult stretch of the 2019-20 season for the Badger men’s basketball team.

Tucker was hired by the program as an interim assistant after Howard Moore suffered a heart attack following the loss of his wife and daughter in a car crash. The Journal article reached out to a number of unnamed sources, who said Tucker had a plot to turn players against head coach Greg Gard, going so far as to tell then-AD Barry Alvarez he would be ready to take over the program and hoping that if Northern Illinois AD John Frazier was hired to replace Alvarez instead of Chris McIntosh that he would fire Gard and hire himself.

“For months…I have been the target of slanderous articles, conversations, tweets and messages concerning my exit from UW-Madison, most of which have been based upon falsehoods, mistaken assumptions and misguided opinions.” Tucker said in his statement. “At this moment, I can no longer remain silent. I wish to state categorically that I have not done any of the things that I have been accused of. Those who know me and have worked with me know that is not my character.”

You can view the whole Tucker statement here.