Page 23 - Florida Sentinel 4-24-20

Sports
Bucs OJ Howard
Browns Return To Classic Uniforms After Taking
NASCAR Driver
Kyle Larson
Fired After
Using N-Word
Kyle Larson used the n-word during a racing stream Sunday night, and he was suspended by both his team and NASCAR over it. Chip Ganassi Racing said that he is now fired.
Larson released an apology last week, and re- porters stated they are sure Chip Ganassi Racing might have stuck with Larson ex- cept that by last Monday night sponsors began bail- ing, including main sponsors Credit One Bank and Mc- Donald’s.
Larson, 27, is the first driver of Japanese descent to ever win a NASCAR race. His firing quickens an exit from Chip Ganassi Racing that many assumed might happen anyway with his contract expiring after this season.
KYLE LARSON
Should Larson be able to find another team, he will still have to be reinstated by NASCAR, which has sus- pended him indefinitely and will require sensitivity train- ing before reinstatement, if he ever does try to come back.
In any case, Larson knows he messed up, and he probably assumed the worst, even after the suspension.
Could Be Traded
Five Years Off
During NFL Draft
The Tampa Bay Bucca- neers may be changing their mind regarding tight end O. J. Howard’s trade sta-
tus.The Athletic’s Michael Lombardi told “The GM Shuffle with Michael Lom- bardi and Adnan Virk” that the Buccaneers have some sort of “instinctive issue” with Howard and could trade him next week.
Howard caught 34 passes for 459 yards last sea- son. His one touchdown was a significant drop in produc- tion from his first two NFL seasons.
O. J. HOWARD
This is a shift from last year. The New England Patri- ots tried to land Howard, but were reportedly rebuffed last October. It sounds like they might have a chance if they go back in for him now.
The Cleveland Browns have had one of the most clas- sic uniform designs in the NFL throughout much of their team’s history, but they got away from that a bit in recent years. The team unveiled its “new” jerseys on Wednesday, and let’s just say they will look very familiar to Browns fans.
The Browns’ new uniforms for 2020 are basically a varia- tion of the same ones they had in 2014 and for years before that. The numbers look more vintage, and they went back to their old stripe pattern and re- moved the word “Cleveland” from the front of the jerseys.
Cam Newton
Could Wait Until
NFL Officials Have Discussed Possible Shortened Season, Games Without Fans
Though the sched- uled start of the NFL regular sea- son is still roughly five
months away, contingency plans are already being devel- oped for if the coronavirus pandemic is still impacting sports in September.
Various scenarios are being looked at by league officials for the 2020 season. Everything is on the table, from playing games in front of full stadiums to games without fans to a po- tentially shortened schedule.
“I don’t know if it’ll be a one-third-filled stadium, a half-filled stadium or what- ever,” one individual familiar with the league’s planning said Wednesday. “The NFL is plan- ning for everything from play- ing without fans to playing with full stadiums. We know there will be a push from the [federal] government to open things up. I think we’re going to have fans in the stands.”
Training Camp To
Sign With Team
Cam Newton’s NFL fu- ture is up in the air, and it seems that it could stay that way for a while.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday that Newton wants to start, and could be willing to wait for a training camp injury for a job to open up so he can sign.
“Cam wants to be a starter — at least the chance to compete for a starting quarterback job,” Rapoport said on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “I don’t see one out there right now. So my sense is Cam is gonna wait until there is one. He’s got money obviously, it’s not like he needs it. I would not be sur- prised to see Cam waiting and it’s August and there is a quarterback injury and there
CAM NEWTON
is Cam available.”
We know Newton is will-
ing to wait to sign, but this is even longer than previously thought. As long as Newton has some money saved up, this makes sense. It’s under- standable that he wouldn’t want to wait for a backup role, but this is a rather risky proposition if nobody actu- ally gets hurt.
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-B