Friday, July 28, 2017
Locals win openers in Colt 15-U tournament
STRUTHERS
Creekside and Baird Brothers easily won their opening games Thursday in the PONY Colt 15-U East Zone Championship at Bob Cene Park.
Creekside defeated the New York City Vipers 9-1 and Baird Brothers beat North Hills 10-0. Creekside then fell to Worthington-Kittanning 6-2. North Hills beat the Cleveland Longhorns 6-2 in the only other game of the day.
Today, Creekside will face North Hills in an elimination game at 5:30 p.m. Another elimination game at 5:30 p.m. has the Vipers facing North Hills. The winners of those games are set to meet at 8 p.m.
Baird Brothers and Worthingon-Kittanning also are set to meet at 8 p.m.
The tournament will conclude Saturday.
The Palomino 18-U East Zone Championship begins today — also at Bob Cene Park — and runs through Sunday.
Tennis star’s father accused of molestation
VISTA, Calif.
The father of retired tennis star Mark Philippoussis pleaded not guilty Thursday to molesting two 9-year-old girls while he was a private tennis instructor.
Nikolaos Philippoussis, 68, entered pleas Wednesday to 14 counts of committing lewd acts and sex acts with children. He could face life in prison if convicted.
Philippoussis is accused of molesting two of his tennis students for more than a year, beginning in June 2016.
Prosecutors say the encounters took place at his home, in his car and at a San Diego County country club.
Philippoussis was arrested Tuesday at his San Diego home. At the hearing Thursday, his bail was raised from $2.5 million to $9.2 million.
“It is quite a colossal amount,” defense attorney Ryan Tegnelia said.
Philippoussis, an Australian citizen, was ordered to surrender his passport if he does make bail, but his attorney told the San Diego Union-Tribune that was impossible.
LA Galaxy fire coach Onalfo, hire Schmid
CARSON, Calif.
The LA Galaxy have fired coach Curt Onalfo just 20 games into his first season in charge of the struggling club.
The Galaxy hired veteran MLS coach Sigi Schmid to return Thursday.
Onalfo went 6-10-4 after being promoted from their developmental squad when longtime Galaxy coach Bruce Arena went to the U.S. national team. Despite a high-priced roster of veteran talent, Onalfo never got consistent results out of the Galaxy, who sit ninth in the Western Conference.
The German-born Schmid grew up in the Los Angeles area and spent 28 years at UCLA as a player and coach, winning three national championships.
Schmid’s first tenure with the Galaxy began in 1999. His largely successful tenure included the Galaxy’s first MLS Cup title in 2002.
Osborne giving up his Nebraska skybox
OMAHA, Neb.
Tom Osborne is giving up his large skybox at Memorial Stadium, saying the Nebraska athletic department should sell it to someone else rather than have him continue to use it for free.
The 80-year-old College Football Hall of Famer coached the Cornhuskers for 25 years, retiring after the 1997 season with 255 wins and all or part of three national championships three of his last four years.
“I don’t know anyone who is a former administrator who keeps a large skybox,” Osborne said Thursday. “That thing seats 25-26 people. That’s worth money. I feel the athletic department should be the beneficiary of that box. My family and I have benefited from it, and it’s worth a fair amount of money, so I just felt it was time for it to go back to the athletic department and they be allowed to receive some compensation for it.”
The Lincoln Journal Star first reported that Osborne notified Nebraska officials that he would give up the box.
A suite such as the one occupied by Osborne leases for $90,000 this year.
Staff and wire reports