Sports briefs
XFL to provide viewers more audio
The XFL’s greatest contribution to football the first time around was the skycam. When the league returns Saturday, the focus will be on bringing fans further inside the game.
ABC/ESPN and Fox will have access to the coach-player communication systems and can go live with the audio at any time. They will also be able to go into the replay booth as plays are being reviewed.
“To hear a play call and the verbiage, is the biggest thing that people will be talking about,” Fox analyst Joel Klatt said. “How often can you see a coach call plays? When you are able to hear the play calls, you can see the philosophy of a team and coach.”
Bill Bonnell, who is ABC/ESPN’s coordinating producer for XFL, oversaw production of the XFL for NBC in 2001. He said the biggest difference this time is the games will be presented as games, instead of feeling like a WWE show. The first XFL used mostly WWE announcers and cameramen.
Weddle retires from NFL
Six-time Pro Bowl safety Eric Weddle says he is done with his 13-year NFL career.
Weddle played nine seasons for the San Diego Chargers and three more for the Baltimore Ravens before spending last season with the Los Angeles Rams. The native of the far-flung LA suburbs started all 16 games for the Rams, but said in December that he didn’t expect to return for the second season of his contract with the club.
The 35-year-old Weddle became one of the NFL’s toughest and most durable safeties after San Diego drafted him out of Utah in the second round in 2007. He became a starter for the Bolts in 2008, and he only missed six games over the next 12 seasons while making 29 interceptions in the regular season and one more in the playoffs.
NBA All-Star teams picked
Anthony Davis is LeBron James’ teammate in Los Angeles, and they’ll be teammates at the All-Star Game in Chicago as well.
James took his fellow Lakers All-Star with the No. 1 overall pick of the Feb. 16 game’s draft on Thursday, as he matched wits with fellow captain Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks for the second consecutive year.
James is looking to go 3-0 as an All-Star captain, after his team beat the one picked by Golden State’s Stephen Curry in 2018 and topped the one Antetokounmpo selected last year as well. James had the No. 1 overall pick for this year’s first round, the starters’ round – since he received the most overall votes from fans.
And Davis, predictably, was the pick.
Antetokounmpo made Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid his first pick. James stayed with the LA theme by taking the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard with the third overall pick, and Antetokounmpo stayed with African-born players by selecting Toronto’s Pascal Siakam – like Embiid, a native of Cameroon – with the next selection.
James went with a risk next, taking Dallas’ Luka Doncic – who is currently dealing with an ankle injury. Antetokounmpo chose Boston’s Kemba Walker sixth, James then took Houston’s James Harden seventh, and that left Atlanta’s Trae Young as the last remaining starter and automatically going to Team Giannis.
The reserves were next, with Antetokounmpo choosing Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton with the first selection of the second round. Portland’s Damian Lillard was James’ first reserve selection, and they were off and running