Paul Westphal has been involved in hundreds of wins in the NBA as a coach and a player. That didn't take away from his excitement after his first with the Sacramento Kings. Kevin Martin scored 48 points and Beno Udrih hit a game-tying layup in the closing seconds of regulation to give the Kings a 127-116 overtime victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in their home opener Monday night.
Bob Sanders hopes to make his season debut Sunday at St. Louis. The 2007 NFL defensive player of the year, who has not played in a game since January, is expected to participate in most of the team's practice work this week. For the first time this season, Sanders was not listed on the team's injury report Wednesday.
Eddie Royal was running so fast that even his brown-and-white striped socks were a blur. Royal became the first player in Broncos history to return a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the same game, leading undefeated Denver to a wild 34-23 win over the San Diego Chargers on Monday night. Royal thinks one of the Chargers got a hand on him during his 93-yard kickoff return in the first quarter.
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu practiced only lightly for the third day in a row and is not expected to play Sunday in Detroit. Polamalu, a five-time Pro Bowl player, has not played since tearing the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Sept. 10 against Tennessee. He was on the field Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but did not take part in a full practice.
Rudy Gay listened as Grizzlies' teammate O.J. Mayo talked of the team's need to meld at practice and couldn't stop himself from piping in, "Practice?" Oh yes, the player who's been with the Memphis Grizzlies the longest has seen video of Allen Iverson's infamous 2002 rant during a feud with Larry Brown about missing practice and heard that word maybe 20 times in the…
Houston Texans rookie tight end Anthony Hill was hospitalized this week with swine flu in the first confirmed case in an NFL player this season. Hill is the only player on the team believed to have swine flu and other players are being monitored, Texans vice president of communications Tony Wyllie said Friday.
A high school football player is being hailed as a hero off the field for disarming a girl who brought a gun on a Mississippi school bus. On the way to Yazoo County High School on Tuesday, a girl pulled out a loaded gun and walked up and down the bus aisle, among 22 kids on board whose ages ranged from 5 to 18, authorities said. The 14-year-old girl ordered the bus driver to pull over and the driver did, they said.