FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick says he admired the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who sent him personal notes and congratulations on the team’s successes. Belichick said Wednesday that Kennedy’s “leadership and his courage were certainly something I personally always looked up to” and also “meant a lot” to people in Massachusetts […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville coach Rick Pitino said Wednesday a sex scandal involving a woman accused of trying to extort millions from him has been “pure hell” for his family, fuming that newly released video of her police interview revived her “total fabrication.” Pitino spoke at a hastily called news conference hours after Louisville […]

No doubt A-Rod feels a lot better now. Big Papi and Manny, too. Somewhere, Sammy Sosa must be smiling, even as he plots his latest baseball comeback. They were wronged, and now everyone knows. A bunch of judges got together Wednesday and told us so. No one was ever supposed to know they were juiced […]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Hard-serving Sam Querrey won the U.S. Open Series championship Wednesday by moving into the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Bjorn Phau of Germany. The series ranks players using a points system based on their play in 10 selected tournaments throughout the year. […]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chase Elliott’s favorite toy as a young boy was his Matchbox race car. He didn’t crash it into walls or run it off tables. No, he turned that little car in circles. Now Elliott is doing that with much bigger cars, even though at 13 he’s still three years away from […]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Chase Austin caught a flash of blue and orange out of the corner of his eye right before he drove into the side of the race car. He wasn’t sure whom he had hit until he heard the crowd roar with delight. Austin cringed. He’d just wrecked Kyle Busch. While Busch […]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Now that they’ve been separated for five months, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has high praise for Broncos rookie coach Josh McDaniels, whom he’ll see in a preseason game at Invesco Field this weekend. Cutler says in the brief time he spent with McDaniels he could tell Bill Belichick’s latest disciple was […]

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — The future is now for the new face of the New York Jets, Mark Sanchez. Sanchez was selected as the team’s starting quarterback by coach Rex Ryan on Wednesday, making him the first rookie slated to open a season under center for the Jets. “This comes with a lot of […]

NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal concedes he probably isn’t in peak condition heading into the U.S. Open. The Spanish star returned to competition this month after taking off more than two months because of tendinitis in both knees. Now he’s seeking the one major title he hasn’t won. “Well, I am No. 3 in […]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Philadelphia Flyers forward Simon Gagne has a mild groin strain and should be ready for training camp next month. Gagne injured his groin Monday night while practicing with Team Canada and returned to Philadelphia to be examined by team doctor Peter DeLuca. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Wednesday that Gagne received […]