PRO FOOTBALL
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) The Denver Broncos have upped their offer to Von Miller by offering to guarantee the Super Bowl MVP a record $70 million of the six-year deal, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to share candid details of the blockbuster offer that also was reported by ESPN and the NFL Network. The sides have until 4 p.m. EDT Friday to get a signed deal into NFL headquarters.
Miller’s agent, Joby Branion, and the Broncos agreed to the parameters of a six-year, $114.5 million deal last month but Miller’s camp held out for more guaranteed money.
The June offer included $38.5 million in guarantees over the first two years, another $1.3 million in workout bonuses, plus the chance to earn another $19.5 million in guaranteed money in 2018.
BASEBALL
BOSTON (AP) – The Boston Red Sox acquired All-Star Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres, adding a third left-hander to the rotation as they push to return to the playoffs after consecutive last-place finishes.
Boston sent righty Anderson Espinoza to San Diego. The 18-year-old righty was ranked the No. 15 prospect in the country by Baseball America.
Pomeranz, 27, who will make his Boston debut Wednesday, is 8-7 with a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts for San Diego this season. He pitched a scoreless inning in Tuesday night in the All-Star game.
PHOENIX (AP) – The Arizona Diamondbacks have sent pitcher Shelby Miller to Triple-A Reno.
Miller has been a major disappointment after the Diamondbacks got him in an offseason trade with Atlanta for outfielder Ender Inciarte, 2015 No. 1 overall draft pick Dansby Swanson and top pitching prospect Aaron Blair.
The right-hander is 2-9 with a 7.14 ERA. He was on the disabled list with a finger injury and worked in the minors to find his form. After some progress in is return, Miller had another rough night last week in a 13-6 home loss to San Diego. After blanking the Padres for three innings, he gave up five runs in the fourth when Arizona had a 4-0 lead.
NEW YORK (AP) – The owner of a training and sports medicine clinic sued Major League Baseball and several of its employees, claiming they caused the company’s social media accounts to be illegally hacked during the sport’s Biogenesis investigation.
Neiman Nix, a 29th-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds in 1998, and his DNA Sports Performance Lab, claimed an MLB investigator misrepresented herself as law enforcement and MLB intimidated the company’s clients and hacked accounts on YouTube, Facebook and PayPal. The allegations are similar to those filed in a suit two years ago that was dismissed.
Vincent White, Nix’s new lawyer, said former MLB investigator Ed Dominguez is cooperating and will testify MLB employees ”illegally gained access to electronic accounts of individuals they investigated through various exploits and phishing schemes. We believe these tactics may have extended to players, team staff and ownership groups.”
AUTO RACING
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. has dropped out of the Sprint Cup race Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway because of symptoms of a concussion.
Earnhardt was evaluated in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week and doctors did not clear him to race. Hendrick Motorsports said it had no timetable for his return. Alex Bowman will drive in his place.
NASCAR’s most popular driver, Earnhardt was involved in a 22-car wreck in Daytona this month and also wrecked last month at Michigan International Speedway. He says he was feeling fine last week and thought the problem was allergies. When that didn’t help, he met with a neurologist.
PRO BASKETBALL
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – The San Antonio Spurs signed Pau Gasol, beefing up a front line that will be without Tim Duncan next season for the first time in 19 years. They brought back guard Manu Ginobili, too.
The 7-foot Gasol has won two NBA titles and is a six-time All-Star. Gasol is one of six players in NBA history to reach 19,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocks, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Hakeem Olajuwon, Shaquille O’Neal, Kevin Garnett and Duncan, who retired earlier this week.
Ginobili, a four-time champion with the Spurs, will return for his 15th season. He has averaged 14.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.37 steals in 923 games.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The Memphis Grizzlies wanted to keep Mike Conley so much that they gave their veteran point guard the richest contract in NBA history. For Conley, the basketball – and pressure – is in his court after signing a five-year, $153 million deal.
Conley’s play will be closely monitored during an upcoming season in which he will earn more than new Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant, a seven-time All-Star with four league scoring titles and an NBA Most Valuable Player award. Durant signed a two-year, $54.3 million deal.
NEW YORK (AP) – Former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett is getting another chance in the NBA.
The Brooklyn Nets signed Bennett. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bennett averaged 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 19 games last season for Toronto, his third team since Cleveland surprisingly took him with the top pick of the 2013 draft. Bennett, 23, has averaged 4.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 12.8 minutes as a pro.
PAT SUMMITT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Pat Summitt was remembered as a loving mother, a loyal friend and a tireless fighter as well as a champion coach in a public ceremony honoring the person who built the Tennessee women’s basketball dynasty.
”She was the epitome of what being great is all about,” said Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, one of the dozens of former Lady Volunteers who paid respects to Summitt at a ”Celebration of Life” ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Catchings later added that ”this is not a goodbye, but until we meet again.”
The ceremony at Thompson-Boling Arena gave the public a chance to honor Summitt, who won eight national titles and a Division I record 1,098 games in her 38-year coaching tenure. A private funeral was held June 30, two days after Summitt died at the age of 64.
CYCLING
MONT VENTOUX, France (AP) – Fans celebrating Bastille Day created dramas at the Tour de France, causing a crash involving race leader Chris Froome that ensured it wasn’t until hours after the 12th stage concluded that organizers decided the British rider could keep the yellow jersey.
The problems at cycling’s most prestigious race were overshadowed in France hours later, when a truck drove on to the sidewalk and plowed through a crowd of revelers celebrating the national day who’d gathered to watch fireworks in the French resort city of Nice.
The race’s first time trial comes Friday with a hilly 23-mile leg from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-D’Arc, where Froome will be looking to add to his lead in calmer circumstances.
In Thursday’s racing drama, Richie Porte crashed headfirst into a motorbike carrying a TV camera, and Froome, who was right behind his former teammate, also hit the pavement in the final kilometer on the wind-shortened climb up legendary Mont Ventoux.
