Tag: covid

Big Ten opponents Notre Dame should play annually if it ever joins

Just picture at least some of these games happening annually.

The Big Ten has unveiled its “Flex Protect Plus” scheduling model, which will take effect when USC and UCLA join the conference in 2024. Eleven particular matchups will be protected and thus played every year, and every school will play every school at least twice over a four-year period. There will be both annual and rotating matchups over each team’s nine-game league schedule.

Which brings us to Notre Dame. We all know about the Irish being denied entry into the Big Ten in the 20th century’s early years, but times areMidw changing. With college football’s landscape radically changing soon, questions about the feasibility of the Irish’s longtime independence are being raised. Plus, with their next athletic director currently heading NBC Sports Group and the Big Ten about to start a long-term TV deal with NBC, the Irish almost seem destined for full-time Big Ten membership.

Now, before you Irish traditionalists hang me from the top of the Golden Dome, really think about this. Many of the Irish’s most frequent opponents in their history are based in the Midwest. This would revive annual or semi-annual rivalries that largely have been discarded to fulfill obligations to the East Coast-centeric ACC. Nothing against that conference, but Wake Forest, North Carolina and Georgia Tech just seem to be awkwardly forced upon the fan base by the arrangement and don’t exactly rile anyone up.

In the event of a Big Ten membership, certain parameters will have to be set for the Irish. They definitely would need to keep Navy as one of its nonconference opponents because any season not completely compromised by COVID that doesn’t have the Midshipmen just seems wrong. Other than that, there are some opponents that need to be scheduled every year or at least merit consideration for that. Here are the ones most worth considering:

Rising star Linn Grant likely to miss first major of season due to U.S. vaccine travel restrictions

Grant played a limited LPGA schedule last year for the same reason as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Linn Grant will begin her 2023 season in Morocco next week on the Ladies European Tour. One of the most promising young players in the game, Grant was forced to play a limited LPGA schedule last year because U.S. travel restrictions won’t let her in the country as she is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Grant, who is currently No. 28 in the Rolex Rankings, will be able to compete in the LPGA’s upcoming Asian swing, but her agent, Pelle Krüger said they’re not optimistic that she’ll be able to compete in the year’s first major, the Chevron Championship.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic was not able to compete in the U.S. Open last summer for the same reason.

In January, the U.S. government extended its existing COVID-19 restrictions, which require international visitors to be fully vaccinated against the virus, to April 10. Kruger told Golfweek that while they’re still trying to obtain a pass for special circumstances, they don’t foresee things opening up until at least early May. The Chevron is slated for April 20-23.

On Monday, the Biden administration announced plans to end both the national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.

2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed
Linn Grant poses with the trophy after winning the 2022 Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed Hosted by Henrik & Annika at Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden. (Photo: Naomi Baker/Getty Images)

Grant won four times on the LET in 2022, including the history-making Scandinavian Mixed, in which she beat the men on the DP World Tour. She also topped the season-long Race to Costa del Sol.

In six LPGA starts last season, Grant carded four top-eight finishes and a T-19 at the AIG Women’s British Open.

Worst-case scenario, Grant will play in all the LPGA events held outside the U.S. (around 10 or 11) and add in the same number of LET events in between.

Sweden is one of eight countries that qualified for the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown, which will be played May 4-7 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. The top four Swedish players in the Rolex Rankings as of April 3 will qualify for the event. Grant is currently the second-highest ranked Swede, behind Madelene Sagstrom (25th).

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Notre Dame to participate in 2023 Legends Classic

Pack your bags for Brooklyn.

If you still are stinging over Notre Dame’s loss to St. Bonaventure this season, a shot at revenge could come next season. The Irish and Bonnies are two of four teams that have been selected to take part in the 2023 Legends Classic at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Those two programs will be familiar with each other, but the Irish never have faced Auburn or Oklahoma State, the other participants in this tournament.

The Irish are no strangers to the Legends Classic. Their only previous appearance came when they won the whole thing in 2016 with [autotag]Matt Farrell[/autotag] earning tournament MVP honors. They originally were scheduled to take part in the COVID-revamped 2020 event, which became a showcase instead of a tournament, but they pulled out and were replaced by BYU.

With so many familiar names figuring to be gone a year from now, the Irish in the 2023 tournament will have a vastly different look from now. Whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

 

Pat Connaughton NBA Tracker: Nov. 21-27

Pat’s back.

After missing the entire first month of the NBA season, Notre Dame alumnus [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] finally made his 2022-23 debut. A calf injury kept the Milwaukee Bucks guard out of action. He returns to a Bucks team that is contending for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

His first game was Nov. 21 in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers. In 15-and-a-half minutes, he scored seven points, grabbed two rebounds and had one steal. When the Bucks lost to the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 23, he made a single 3-pointer on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and had three more rebounds in addition to one more steal. He missed the Nov. 25 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a non-COVID illness but returned Nov. 27 to make one more 3-pointer to help beat the Dallas Mavericks.

Through three games, Connaughton is averaging 4.3 points and 2.0 rebounds a game while shooting 4 of 14 from the field (28.6%). Here’s hoping he finds a rhythm soon as he continues to shake the rust off.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods ‘both had COVID going into the Open’ at St. Andrews

“The whole week of the Open I didn’t have any taste, and everything smelled like vinegar to me. Everything.”

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have been attached at the headline hip over this past year.

The pair have been active in their side of the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle and started a new company and tech-driven competition. They’ll team up in the latest edition of The Match in December and also finished Nos. 1 and 2 in the PGA Tour’s Player Impact Program for 2022.

In a recent interview with the Independent, McIlroy revealed he and Woods both had COVID-19 a week ahead of the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews. McIlroy said the pair began to feel symptoms on Thursday, July 7, after they played in the JP McManus Pro-Am at Adare Manor in Ireland ahead of the Open.

“So we both had COVID going into the Open,” said McIlroy.

“We had played two days of golf at Adare and the plan was to play Ballybunion on Thursday. I woke up that morning feeling a bit achy but didn’t really think anything of it. JP gave us his chopper and we went down with (McIlroy’s manager, Sean O’Flaherty) and (Woods’ manager, Rob McNamara). We got around fine, flew back to Adare for lunch, and as I’m getting up from the table, I’m sore and stiff and super tired,” McIlroy explained. “I said to (wife Erica ), ‘I’m feeling a bit weird. I’m just going upstairs to lie down for a bit.’ I slept for maybe two hours, and the sweat was just pouring off me, then Erica took my temperature and it was sky high. I rang Tiger: ‘I’m not feeling so good here.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, I feel OK.’ But he texted me at 10 o’clock that night, chills, fever, and I’m like, ‘(expletive) hell, I’ve just given Tiger COVID! This is horrendous!’ (laughing).”

McIlroy finished third that week at the Old Course, while Woods missed the cut.

He further explained in the interview that he planned to arrive at the Open early but instead quarantined at Adare Manor.

“The whole week of the Open I didn’t have any taste, and everything smelled like vinegar to me. Everything,” said McIlroy. “It was really strange.”

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FIW Exclusive: Interview with Notre Dame guard Robby Carmody

Here’s hoping the guard can get back to playing sometime this year.

We already have mentioned how we were in South Bend to be part of an interview session with Notre Dame coach [autotag]Mike Brey[/autotag]. However, that was far from the only interview we got. After Brey’s departure, many of his players were made available to the media, and we got some good ones. Over the next few days, we’ll be releasing each of those interviews one at a time.

The first player we interviewed was injured guard [autotag]Robby Carmody[/autotag], who hasn’t played a lot over the past few years. If you take out his brief cameo in a win over Pittsburgh last last season, he hasn’t played in a game since before the term “COVID” became part of our everyday vocabulary. Hopefully before this season ends, he’ll be able to make a complete comeback from the ACL injury and broken knee cap that have dogged him for three years now.

Here’s what Carmody said when he sat down with us:

Virginia Tech’s Emily Mahar reunites with Australian family after two-plus years at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Family reunions are fun, especially when they take place in Augusta.

EVANS, Ga. — Unlike most of the field, Emily Mahar didn’t know she’d be competing in this week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur until about a week ago.

The Virginia Tech senior was getting ready with her team for their practice round before the recent Clemson Invitational when her phone started to ring. It was one of the ANWA directors.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, we have a spot. Do you want to play?’ I think (head coach Carol Robertson) kind of knew,” said Mahar after her practice round earlier this week at Champions Retreat Golf Club, host of the first two rounds of play. “She hadn’t told me officially, but she was like, ‘There are alternate spots. Maybe you have one of them.’ I looked at her, and she looked at me, and I shook my head. Everyone kind of knew. It was really cool to share that moment with the team.”

Fast forward to Wednesday’s first round, where she got to share the real thing with her family. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the native of Brisbane, Australia, hadn’t seen her family in two and a half years. The 14-hour time difference made it difficult for her to break the big news, but as soon as her family got the call they booked plane tickets.

Social media and FaceTime have been helpful for the Mahar’s to stay in touch, but nothing beats a face-to-face reunion, let alone before the first round of one of the biggest women’s golf events in the world. For the Mahar’s, that dream reunion became a reality. Not only that, they were able to watch Emily shoot a respectable 4-over 76 in windy conditions to finish the day T-39, just outside the top-30 cut for Saturday’s final round down the road at Augusta National Golf Club.

“We’ve all been golf fans, so we know a lot about the Masters and Augusta and now to share that moment with them is super special,” said Mahar.

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Los jugadores de los Mets y Yankees que no estén vacunados no podrán jugar en casa

La oficina del alcalde de New York confirmó hoy a USA TODAY Sports que los jugadores de los Yankees y de los Mets están sujetos al mandato de vacunas de los empleadores privados de la ciudad, es decir, que los Yankees y los Mets que no estén …

La oficina del alcalde de New York confirmó hoy a USA TODAY Sports que los jugadores de los Yankees y de los Mets están sujetos al mandato de vacunas de los empleadores privados de la ciudad, es decir, que los Yankees y los Mets que no estén vacunados no podrán jugar los partidos como locales.

El martes, la estrella de los Yankees Aaron Judge se sacudió la pregunta sobre las vacunas durante el entrenamiento de primavera en Florida.

Judge le dijo a los reporteros, “Estoy muy enfocado en llegar al primer juego del entrenamiento de primavera, así que creo que enfrentaremos ese tema cuando llegue el momento. Justo ahora pueden pasar tantas cosas así que ahora no estoy realmente preocupado por eso.”.

Más específicamente, la estrella de los Brooklyn Nets Kyrie Irving, quien no está vacunado, no ha podido jugar los juegos en casa en el Barclays Center de Brooklyn ni en los juegos como visitante en el Madison Square Garden de los New York Knicks.

El lunes, la NBA multó a los Nets con $50,000 por “violar la ley local de la ciudad de New York y los protocolos de salud y seguridad de la liga” cuando “le permitieron a Kyrie Irving, quien asistió al juego, entrar a los vestidores del equipo”, según dijo la liga.

La política fue criticada porque sí permite jugar en la ciudad de New York a los oponentes que no se han vacunado, la estrella de los Nets Kevin Durant lanzó un llamado al alcalde de New York Eric Adams después de la victoria del domingo de Brooklyn contra New York.

Durant le dijo a los reporteros, “Ya hay personas sin vacunar en el edificio. Tenemos a una persona que puede entrar al edificio. ¿Temen por nuestra seguridad? No lo entiendo. Todos estamos confundidos. Casi todos en el mundo están confundidos a estas alturas. A principios de la temporada la gente no entendía qué estaba pasando, pero ahora ya esto se ve como algo tonto. Así que, Eric, ojalá puedas resolver esto.”.

Pero el lunes, Durant le dio la vuelta a sus comentarios con una declaración: “Los últimos dos años han sido difíciles para los neoyorquinos, también ha sido muy confuso con todos los cambios en las reglas y mandatos. Aprecio la tarea que el alcalde tiene frente a él con todo lo que la ciudad ha vivido. Mi frustración con la situación no cambia el hecho de que siempre estaré comprometido a ayudar a las comunidades y a las ciudades en las que vivo y en las que juego.”.

Adams ha alabado el mandato, diciendo que ha ayudado a reducir las tasas de COVID en la ciudad, y no parece que la presión pública lo convencerá de dejar la política.

Aún hay esperanzas para que la organización de los Nets abandone la política para cuando empiece la postemporada de la NBA, dentro de un mes, que coincide con el arranque de la temporada regular de la MLB.

 

Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo

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Steph Curry soprendió a la fan que quedó devastada porque no pudo verlo jugar

¡Steph Curry tiene mucha clase! El jueves, antes del juego de los Golden State Warriors contra los Nuggets, Curry le hizo una hermosa visita a una fan en las gradas. Los Warriors ya habían jugado esta semana contra los Nuggets, pero para tristeza de …

¡Steph Curry tiene mucha clase!

El jueves, antes del juego de los Golden State Warriors contra los Nuggets, Curry le hizo una hermosa visita a una fan en las gradas. Los Warriors ya habían jugado esta semana contra los Nuggets, pero para tristeza de una joven fan de los Warriors, Curry se perdió ese partido.

La fan se hizo viral este lunes por su reacción en la que se le vio completamente devastada ante la noticia de que Curry no iba a jugar. ¡Pero hay buenas noticias! Los Warriors estuvieron de vuelta en la ciudad para reponer un partido que se había pospuesto por COVID ¡y el equipo le regaló a toda su familia boletos para el evento!

Aquí les dejamos su reacción de este lunes, cuando supo que Curry no jugaría el partido.

Traducción: Esta joven fan estaba muy afectada porque Steph no jugaría esta noche.

 

¡Y aquí está Curry dándole una maravillosa sorpresa al ir a verla!

Traducción: ¿Se acuerdan de esa niña que quedó devastada porque Curry se perdió el último partido en Denver? Steph Curry acaba de hacerle el año.

 

Y por último, ¡aquí el equipo de los Nuggets le está dando un jersey!

Traducción: ¿Se acuerdan de esa niña que estaba triste porque Steph se perdió ese último partido contra nosotros? Bueno, los @warriors se esforzaron al máximo y le dieron boletos INCREÍBLES a toda la familia. Así que ya saben que nosotros tuvimos que hacer nuestra parte y les regalamos unos jerseys de MVP!
Esto es más grande que el basquetbol.

 

Qué historia tan increíble. Curry hizo que este año fuera el mejor año de la niña al darle un recuerdo que nunca olvidará.

 

Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo

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COVID forced Louis Oosthuizen to spend seven weeks in South Africa, but he’s back at the WM Phoenix Open (and off to a hot start)

The rowdy behavior at TPC Scottsdale isn’t fazing Louis Oosthuizen.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The rowdy behavior at TPC Scottsdale isn’t fazing Louis Oosthuizen, who’s simply happy to be outside, playing golf, and in contention at a PGA Tour event.

It had been almost two years since Oosthuizen and his family had been back to their native South Africa, and the group planned a trip around the holidays to get re-acquainted with friends and family. Unfortunately, what was expected to last a few weeks became almost two months.

“We went there in December and actually got stuck 20 days longer because we got COVID,” he said on Thursday after the opening round of the WM Phoenix Open. Oosthuizen fired a 67 and sat just two strokes behind the early leaders. “And so we were there for seven weeks, I didn’t even take my golf clubs. So I had a good break away from golf and came back and I’m ready for the season.”

Phoenix Open: Leaderboard | PGA Tour Live streaming on ESPN+

Although the extended stay could have sidetracked the opening of his season, the veteran Oosthuizen — who finished in the top three during four of the last five majors, but let each of them slip away — said he appreciated the extra time away from the game.

“It just sort of resets everything, you know, like especially I was quite tired at the end there, going into major weeks having chances to win and not pulling it off, that sort of drains you quite a bit. And I needed the break,” he said. “And four weeks would have been the trick for me, but seven weeks was nice.”

As for the chaos, Oosthuizen said he understands that fans have been pent up and looking for a release. He felt the same during his lengthy time overseas.

“Everyone is hungry and thirsty to be at any sporting event and have fun and watch some golf, so it’s really great to have fans back,” he said. “The first six months playing on Tour without any fans felt so weird, I felt like we were back in the juniors tournaments again and no one is really supporting you. It’s good fun just to see everyone here.”

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