Sports briefs
Pirates’ Kramer out for 4-6 months
Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Kevin Kramer will miss four to six months months while recovering from surgery on his right hip.
The team announced Wednesday that Kramer underwent the procedure last week in Vail, Colorado. The 26-year-old Kramer had been dealing with what the club called “chronic symptoms” while attempting to stay ready for the potential start to the 2020 season.
Kramer was in the mix for a utility spot with the Pirates. He hit .149 with a home run and two RBIs in 29 appearances for the team in 2019 and batted .240 in 11 games during spring training before the Major League Baseball season went on hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
MLB is talking with players about plans to start the season, possibly in early July.
Stephen F. Austin gets postseason bans
Stephen F. Austin received postseason bans and agreed to several sanctions including probation, scholarship reductions and the forfeiture of wins Wednesday for having low scores on the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate.
The football team won’t be allowed to participate in the 2020 postseason, the men’s basketball team can’t participate in the 2021-22 postseason and the baseball team will be prohibited from participating in the postseason in the spring of 2021.
The three teams from the school in Nacogdoches, Texas, were on a nationwide list released Tuesday that faced bans for posting a four-year score below 930. The scores are based on academic eligibility, graduation and retention.
Stephen F. Austin’s men’s basketball team had the lowest score of any team in Division I at 810.
Along with the bans, the school agreed with the NCAA to several sanctions, the most severe of which includes three years of probation, a public reprimand and censure, and a fine of $5,000 plus half of 1% of the total budget for men’s basketball and football.
Stephen F. Austin also agreed to return 50% of its financial share earned from participating in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and forfeited 289 victories in four sports.
Body of WWE’s Gaspard found on beachThe body of former World Wrestling Entertainment pro Shad Gaspard was found early Wednesday on Los Angeles’ Venice Beach, after he was caught in a rip current last weekend, police said.
Patrol officers were flagged down around 1:25 a.m. by a person reporting that a body had washed ashore, a Police Department statement said.
He was identified as Gaspard and his family was notified, police said. Gaspard went missing last Sunday after he went swimming with his 10-year-old son, Aryeh.
Gaspard, 39, gained prominence in the WWE as one half of the tag-team group Cryme Time.
‘SNF’ continues as most-watched show
NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” will finish as prime time’s most-viewed series for the ninth consecutive year when the 2019-20 television season wraps up.
According to Nielsen, “Sunday Night Football” averaged 20.5 million viewers in 2019, which was a 5% increase over 2018. It also marked NBC’s best season since 2015.
“Sunday Night Football’s” nine-year streak on top is the longest-running streak according to Nielsen. “American Idol” had the previous record at six while “The Cosby Show” and “All in the Family” each had five-year runs on top.