Means is Monday’s Curbstone speaker

Means is Monday’s Curbstone speaker

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

WBBW-AM 1240 sports director Marc Means is scheduled as the guest speaker at Monday’s luncheon meeting of The Curbstone Coaches at The Avion Banquet Center.

The event begins at noon and the public is welcome to attend.

Peppers joins Browns in minicamp workout

BEREA

Cleveland Browns defensive back Jabrill Peppers was on the field Saturday for a rookie minicamp after sitting out Friday when he followed the advice of his agent and didn’t sign a participation release.

Peppers begins his pro career in the league’s substance abuse program after having a diluted urine sample at the scouting combine. He said sitting out Friday had nothing to do with avoiding a drug test.

“I don’t know why you think of me like that, but everyone is entitled to an opinion,” he said. “What you think of me is no skin off my teeth. I’m not worried about anything but being the best football player and person I can be.”

Defensive back Howard Wilson, Cleveland’s fourth-round pick, will need surgery after breaking his kneecap. The team said he will miss time during the 2017 season but did not give a timeframe for his recovery.

“It’s disappointing but this a part of playing football,” said Wilson, who played at Houston. “It was kind of a freak thing. I was just running around and my knee just kind of locked up on me.” .

Warriors’ ailing Kerr returns to practice

OAKLAND, Calif.

Ailing Golden State coach Steve Kerr attended the Warriors’ practice Saturday morning, returning to the floor for the first time in more than three weeks.

Kerr sat down and chatted with acting coach Mike Brown for a long stint before calling it a day. The reigning NBA coach of the year is recovering from a procedure to alleviate debilitating symptoms stemming from two back surgeries in 2015.

It was unclear whether the 51-year-old Kerr would watch the Warriors from the arena for Sunday’s Game 1 or stay home.

He attended a meeting at team headquarters Friday, one week after his latest procedure to repair leaking spinal fluid. He was back Saturday for a game-planning session before practice.

The Warriors (8-0) open the Western Conference Finals at home today against San Antonio.

Nadal snaps winless streak against Djokovic

MADRID

Rafael Nadal ended his seven-match winless streak against Novak Djokovic with a 6-2, 6-4 win that put him in the Madrid Open final again on Saturday.

Nadal overpowered Djokovic, and converted on his third match point to earn his first victory against the second-ranked Serb since the 2014 French Open final. Nadal had lost 15 straight sets against Djokovic, and won only one of the last 12 matches against him in four years.

It was another categorical win in what has been a superb season for the fifth-ranked Nadal, who will be trying to win his third straight title today. He can also tie Djokovic with 30 titles in Masters 1000 events.

It was Nadal’s 14th straight victory, and his tour-leading 33rd for the year.

The four-time Madrid champion will play the title game against ninth-ranked Dominic Thiem of Austria, who ousted Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-4.

Truex finally wins at Kansas after restart

KANSAS CITY, Kan.

Martin Truex Jr. finally ended his string of rotten luck at Kansas Speedway, pulling away from Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick on a late restart Saturday night to win the NASCAR Cup Series race.

Truex dominated the same event a year ago before a fluke problem during a tire change forced him to make an unscheduled pit stop and cost him the race. He’s had plenty of other close calls at Kansas.

Brad Keselowski made a pass on the final lap to take second, followed by Harvick and Blaney. Kyle Busch finished fifth after winning the Truck Series race Friday night.

From staff and wire reports