SPORTS DIGEST || Steelers release tight end Matt Spaeth

Steelers release tight end Matt Spaeth

PITTSBURGH

The Pittsburgh Steelers released tight end Matt Spaeth on Thursday after the veteran tight end failed a physical.

The 32-year-old is recovering from offseason knee surgery and did not recover in time to be ready for training camp, which opens next week. Spaeth spent seven of his nine seasons in the NFL with the Steelers, who selected him in the third round of the 2007 draft.

Utilized mostly as a blocking tight end and backup to Heath Miller, Spaeth has 55 receptions for 420 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career and helped the Steelers to the 2009 Super Bowl.

The Steelers have plenty of options at tight end even with Miller’s retirement and Spaeth’s departure. Pittsburgh signed Ladarius Green as a free agent in March and second-year tight end Jesse James improved steadily during his rookie season.

Oklahoma State player dies after collapsing

STILLWATER, Okla.

Oklahoma State forward Tyrek Coger has died after collapsing during a team workout.

The school said Thursday that the 21-year-old junior college transfer was pronounced dead at Stillwater Medical Center.

Coger, from Raleigh, N.C., played last season for Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, N.C. The 6-foot-8 player arrived at Oklahoma State on July 5.

“Tyrek was excited to be at Oklahoma State and had such passion for the game and was looking forward to being an OSU Cowboy,” coach Brad Underwood said. “Losing a member of the team is like losing a member of the family. But we know our loss pales in comparison to the pain his family is going through.”

Ali’s training camp sold to Madden’s son

DEER LAKE, PA.

The son of NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden is buying Muhammad Ali’s former training camp in Pennsylvania.

The camp’s longtime owner, renowned martial arts instructor George Dillman, sold the rustic hilltop camp in Deer Lake to Mike Madden.

The purchase price was not disclosed.

“It’s sinking in. I’ll be heartbroken, but it’s time to move on,” Dillman told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Mike Madden, a real estate developer, has no immediate plans for the property beyond making sure its history is preserved, said Sandy Montag, John Madden’s longtime agent.

“He’s a huge Muhammad Ali fan. Huge,” Montag said. “He will preserve the history that is there and supplement that. Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time and a place like this should be preserved.”

Ali who died last month, bought the wooded 5-acre tract in 1972 and installed 18 primarily log buildings, including a gym, a dining hall, a mosque, visitors cabins and a horse barn.

WNBA fines for shirts in wake of shootings

new york

The WNBA has fined the Indiana Fever, New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury and their players for wearing black warm up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers.

All three teams were fined $5,000 and each player was fined $500 as the shirts violated the league’s uniform policy. While the shirts were the Adidas brand — the official outfitter of the league — WNBA rules state that uniforms may not be altered in any way.

“What’s most upsetting is the way it was handled,” Indiana Fever player rep Briann January said. “You have a league that is 90 — if not above 90 percent African American — and you have an issue that is directly affecting them and the people they know and you have a league that isn’t willing to side with them.

“It’s not a race issue, not an anti-police issue, not a black or white issue. It’s a right or wrong issue.”

WNBA President Lisa Borders said Wednesday night in a statement to The Associated Press the fines were not about the players speaking out on a social issue.

Wire reports