Sports briefs
In the NFL
Rookie Will Levis needed all of two starts to earn the starting quarterback job for the Tennessee Titans.
Coach Mike Vrabel announced Tuesday that the 33rd pick overall out of Kentucky will be the Titans starter moving forward and that he already told the team of the change, moving injured veteran Ryan Tannehill to the backup spot.
- The Cleveland Browns placed starting left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. on injured reserve, meaning quarterback Deshaun Watson’s blindside – and right shoulder – will be protected by someone else for at least the next four games, including Nov. 19 against the Steelers.
In college basketball
Kansas coach Bill Self signed a lifetime contract Tuesday that will pay him $53 million over the first five years, easily surpassing Kentucky coach John Calipari for the richest deal ever given to a college basketball coach at a public university.
Self will make more than $11 million this season in base pay, professional services and royalties along with a one-time signing bonus and retention payments, including some that were deferred amid the pandemic. At the conclusion of each year, another year is added to the deal, and Self will earn a one-time, $5 million retention bonus if he serves out the first five.
The deal includes a provision allowing the renegotiation of terms after the 2025-26 season. Calipari’s deal with the Wildcats pays him $8.5 million this season.
In baseball
The Oakland Athletics believe in Mark Kotsay’s leadership through all of the challenges and changes, picking up the manager’s contract option for the 2025 season.
The club made the announcement Tuesday about Kotsay’s future following a 50-112 season that came after Oakland went 60-102 in his first season last year.
- Baltimore Orioles general manager Mike Elias was voted Major League Baseball’s executive of the year after the team finished with the American League’s best record for the first time since 1997.
Baltimore went 101-61 with a $67 million payroll, 29th among the 30 teams and ahead of only Oakland. After their first 100-win season since 1980.
- If you think the World Series sped by, it did.
Nine-inning games averaged 3 hours, 1 minute, the fastest since 1996, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The first postseason of the pitch clock also included defensive shift limits and larger bases, leading to increased stolen bases and appearing to contribute to higher batting averages.
Postseason nine-inning games overall averaged 3:02, down from 3:23 last year and 3:37 in 2021. That mirrored a regular season with an average game time of 2:40, the lowest since 1985.
- A Nevada judge threw out a proposed ballot referendum backed by a statewide teachers union that would give voters the final say on whether to give $380 million in public funding for a proposed $1.5 billion Oakland Athletics stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
The ruling from Carson City District Court Judge James Russell sided with two lobbyists affiliated with trade unions that favor the public financing for the A’s stadium. Russell sent the teachers union-backed Schools over Stadiums political action committee back to the drawing board in their attempts to thwart the public funding that the state Legislature approved this year.