List of All Articles with Tag 'eppersons'

Tom Brady is putting on a Delta Air Lines uniform, at least figuratively

Despite their previous battles in the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant still gives LeBron James credit for extending his career and performing at an elite level.

Rob Page says he wishes Wales were not playing a friendly against South Korea on Thursday. Wales are not in Euro 2024 action until Monday when they travel to Latvia for a crucial Group D qualifying clash. But UEFA regulations stipulate that nations in odd-numbered qualifying groups must fulfil blank dates in the calendar when group rivals are playing. Wales filled this date by arranging a Cardiff friendly with Jurgen Klinsmann’s South Korea, but the game has failed to capture the imagination of the Welsh public with only 11,500 tickets sold little more than 24 hours before kick-off. Page is expected to field a shadow side just four days before the Riga showdown with Latvia, and the under-fire Wales boss confirmed that skipper Aaron Ramsey would be absent while adding that Tottenham’s new £47.5million forward Brennan Johnson will be on the bench. But Page’s comments that he would rather not play the match will certainly do little to encourage fans who have paid for the privilege of watching it. “We have to take the friendly. I’d rather not play it, being completely honest with you,” Page said at his pre-match press conference. “We’ve had a couple of injuries anyway. The most important game for me is Monday and we’re having to manage players. “I’ve already got a plan in place, what players, what minutes they’ve played this season, who needs more minutes than others. “There will be plenty of substitutions. There will be some at half-time, some at the hour mark. We’ll be trying to get those players off the pitch unscathed and getting them ready for Monday.” Page has come under pressure following a run of only one win in 12 games either side of the 2022 World Cup when Wales finished bottom of their group and scored only one goal – a penalty from the now-retired Gareth Bale. Wales have picked up four points from as many Euro 2024 qualifiers and are seeking to recover from back-to-back June defeats to Armenia and Turkey. Qualifying for the tournament in Germany next summer through the play-offs now appears Wales’ best option. “Everybody in that changing room understands the difficulties involved,” Page said. We have to take the friendly. I’d rather not play it, being completely honest with you Rob Page “It’s not just about winning games of football now, it’s about the bigger picture. Everybody wants to win games of football but they understand, the senior players, that we have to start introducing younger players. “It’s nice to hear their backing (of the senior players). It means a lot, the world to me.” Joe Morrell and Kieffer Moore are suspended for the Latvia qualifier and set to start against South Korea. The pair became the latest Wales players to be sent off in June after Ethan Ampadu and Harry Wilson were red carded at Euro 2020 and Wayne Hennessey was shown his marching orders at the 2022 World Cup. Page said: “If we are going to compete at this level we need 11 players on the pitch. Both players regret the red cards. They were both disappointing. Kieffer’s red was a bit more disappointing because he rose to the bait. “They knew what they were doing and they are the masters of the dark arts at that level, and we fell for it. We are better than that and it will be addressed.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Matt Fagerson says being at World Cup with brother Zander ‘pretty special’ BBC’s director of sport Barbara Slater to retire after 40 years at broadcaster Sofyan Amrabat talks up importance of Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag on his career

In today's NBA rumors, the Lillard-Heat talks have gone quiet, Danny Green has a new home and Blake Griffin doesn't.

Chris Jericho has addressed the departure of CM Punk from All Elite Wrestling after the wrestler was fired earlier this week following a series of altercations. Punk, real name Phil Brooks, was fired from AEW by the promotion's co-founder Tony Khan following a confrontation with Jack Perry at Wembley Stadium during the record-breaking All In show on August 27th. Punk was also said to have 'lunged' at Khan following the incident which resulted in several monitors falling over. In a statement following Punk's firing, Khan said that he had never previously "feared for his life" at a wrestling show until that moment. The departure of the former world champion has cast an air of speculation and controversy around Punk, who still managed to open the show at Wembley with Samoa Joe in a widely praised match. Chris Jericho, one of AEW's other top names revealed that he spoke to Punk on the day to ask him about a spot in his match which ended in a joke about Punk's finishing move, the Go To Sleep (GTS), as reported by F4WOnline. Speaking on his Talk is Jericho podcast, the 52-year-old said: "I don't want to dwell on this or talk about it but I should address it. Of course, CM Punk no longer with AEW, and Wembley was his last match, what a way to go out. "I did talk to him briefly. I was going to do a Frankensteiner off the top and I know that he does that sometimes so I was just curious if he was doing it. I went and talked to him for a bit and asked him if he was doing it, he wasn't. Then I told him I was going to do the GTS with a straight face and I think for a second he thought that I was going to and I was joking, of course." Jericho continued by saying that it was a sad moment for the fledgling company but continued to praise Punk. "I did see him that day and once again, it's a regretful moment what happened but Tony Khan made his decision," Jericho added. "Like I said, CM Punk was a big part of AEW for the time he was here and if you're going to go out, he went out on top, for sure." Punk leaving AEW has sparked rumours that he could be returning to WWE, a promotion he left in 2014, also under controversial circumstances. However, resurfaced footage from Seth Rollins would suggest that not everyone in the WWE locker room would be too keen to see him return. After his match at Wembley, Punk also appeared to mouth the words 'goodbye' suggesting that he knew at that point his time in AEW was up. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Breaking down college football upsets picks for Week 2 of the 2023 season with three SEC teams and a Pac-12 team showing all kinds of Red Flags.

Daniel Dubois’s promoter Frank Warren has appealed the result of the British heavyweight’s fight with Oleksandr Usyk, while pushing for a rematch. Dubois was stopped by Usyk in Round 9 on Saturday 26 August, after the Briton floored the unified heavyweight champion in Round 5, only for his body-shot attempt to be ruled a low blow. Usyk was therefore granted five minutes to recover, and the Ukrainian used approximately three of those minutes before the bout in Wroclaw, Poland, resumed. Usyk, 36, then dropped Dubois, 25, in the eighth round and did the same in the ninth, with the Briton failing to beat the referee's count. With the result, Usyk remained unbeaten and retained the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles. Warren has now lobbied for a No Contest and a rematch, he told the BBC, while boxing journalist Dan Rafael took to X to post a screenshot of what appears to be the appeal. The appeal to the WBA (World Boxing Association) centres on the claim that Usyk would not have beaten a hypothetical referee’s count if Dubois’s punch in Round 5 had not been ruled a low blow. “Owing to what this appeal argues were errors in judgement made by the bout’s referee, Luis Pabon, Daniel Dubois was unjustly denied of his rightful status as unified world heavyweight champion,” read the apparent appeal shared by Rafael. It continued: “Approximately 20 seconds into the fifth round, Mr Dubois landed a body blow that dropped and severely hurt Mr Usyk and, seemingly, crowned Mr Dubois the heavyweight champion. However, the blow was incorrectly adjudicated as low by Mr Pabon. “Instead of being knocked out, Mr Usyk was given a substantial recovery period, which allowed him to regain his strength and continue the bout without impediment.” Usyk won the unified heavyweight titles with a decision victory over Anthony Joshua in 2021, before repeating the trick against “AJ” in 2022 to retain the belts. The southpaw has been linked with a fight against Tyson Fury for the best part of a year, though the WBC champion is due to fight ex-UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in October. Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos. Read More Chris Eubank Jr’s coach remanded in custody following airport arrest Oleksandr Usyk remains heavyweight champion but where does he go from here? Finally, Ricky Hatton has his happy ending

Kepa Arrizabalaga discusses his loan move to Real Madrid after being "close" to joining Bayern Munich and Mauricio Pochettino asking him to stay at Chelsea.

Barcelona are set to receive 50% of the profit that Aston Villa make from selling Philippe Coutinho to Qatari side Al Duhail.

According to an NBA insider, the Lakers have signed Christian Wood. How likely is Wood to crack the Lakers starting rotation?

An overhaul on Atlantic Coast Conference coaching staffs this offseason has left some teams struggling to adapt to to new systems

One Ohio State football fan has had it with Ryan Day. He wants him out of Columbus so that the Buckeyes can hire Deion Sanders before it is too late.