NFL
Opening day in the NFL saw Kansas City cornerback Marcus Peters raise a black-gloved fist during the national anthem, a protest amplified later when four Miami Dolphins kneeled on the sideline with hands on their hearts as ”The Star Spangled Banner” played in Seattle.
The protests were inspired by San Francisco backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick , the first NFL player who chose to sit and take a knee during the anthem in preseason games to call attention to what he termed the oppression of blacks and other minorities.
Peters’ gesture was the only one visible throughout the early games as the anthems took on more significance because of the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) Jimmy Garoppolo did just what Tom Brady always seems to do. Lead the New England Patriots to a late score and victory.
But the Patriots needed a little help.
Arizona’s Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yard field goal with 41 seconds to play and the severely depleted Patriots escaped with a 23-21 victory Sunday night in the season opener.
The miss came after Garoppolo, in his first NFL start, directed the Patriots from their own 19 to the Arizona 15 to set up Stephen Gostkowski’s 23-yard field goal for what proved to be the winner with 3:44 to play.
Garoppolo completed 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards with no interceptions. He never seemed rattled.
TENNIS
NEW YORK (AP) – Stan Wawrinka is the first to acknowledge he hasn’t always been the most consistent player – or the strongest mentally. That’s why, when he shows his mettle during a match, he likes to point his right index finger to his temple.
That signature gesture got a lot of use in the U.S. Open final, when Wawrinka surprisingly managed to wear down Novak Djokovic and beat the defending champion 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 for his first U.S. Open title and third Grand Slam trophy overall.
The 31-year-old Wawrinka is the oldest U.S. Open men’s champion since Ken Rosewall was 35 in 1970.
NEW YORK (AP) – Angelique Kerber won her first U.S. Open title and the second Grand Slam trophy of her breakthrough season, beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.
The No. 2-seeded Kerber trailed by a break at 3-1 in the third set before taking five of the last six games against a fading Pliskova, who was seeded 10th and hadn’t been past the third round at a major until this tournament.
The left-handed Kerber already was assured of making her debut at No. 1 in the WTA rankings on Monday, ending Serena Williams’ record-tying 186-week stay at the top.
Never a Grand Slam finalist before 2016, the German beat Williams for the Australian Open title in January, then lost to her in the Wimbledon final in July.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Oklahoma State dropped out of The Associated college football poll after a controversial loss, and Georgia and Clemson fell after close calls against lightly regarded opposition.
Alabama is still No. 1, receiving 56 out of 61 first-place votes. No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan all moved up one spot. The Seminoles got four first-place votes and Michigan received one.
Clemson fell from second to fifth after a four-point win against Troy. No. 16 Georgia dropped seven spots after beating FCS Nicholls by two.
BASEBALL
TORONTO (AP) – David Ortiz hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez also connected, and the Boston Red Sox outslugged Toronto 11-8 to reclaim a two-game lead over the Blue Jays in the AL East.
Ortiz put Boston up 10-8 with a drive off Joaquin Benoit. It was his 41st career home run at Rogers Centre, his highest total at any road stadium.
With his 535th career homer, Ortiz moved past Jimmie Foxx into sole possession of 18th place on baseball’s career list. He also increased his RBI total to 110, the most by a player age 40 or above since Dave Winfield had 108 for Toronto in 1992.
Edwin Encarnacion homered twice and Troy Tulowitzki hit his third career grand slam for the Blue Jays, who are tied with Baltimore for the wild-card lead.
HOUSTON (AP) – Jorge Soler and Addison Russell homered to lead Chicago to a 9-5 win over the Houston Astros, moving the Cubs closer to clinching the NL Central.
Soler hit a solo home run as part of Chicago’s four-run third, and Russell hit a two-run shot – his 20th of the season – in the fourth as the Cubs built a 9-0 lead.
Chicago extended its lead in the NL Central to 16 games over St. Louis.
GOLF
CARMEL, Ind. (AP) – Powerful off the tee and relentless with the putter, Dustin Johnson didn’t give anyone much of a chance by closing with a 5-under 67 to win the BMW Championship by three shots and move to the top of the FedEx Cup.
Johnson won for the third time in his last eight tournaments dating to his first major at the U.S. Open, and this might have been his most complete performance.
Paul Casey did just about everything he could, including two early birdies for two-shot swings that erased a four-shot deficit in two holes. Johnson answered with a pair of birdies and he was on his way. Casey made a 25-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole to get within one shot, but that lasted only as long as it took Johnson to make an 18-foot eagle putt on top of him to keep the margin at three shots.
Casey was runner-up in his second straight FedEx Cup playoff event, losing to Rory McIlroy a week ago.
AUTO RACING
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – It was yet another Denny Hamlin runaway for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday night in what turned out to be an anticlimactic end to NASCAR’s regular season.
The fireworks came off the track at Richmond International Raceway, where Tony Stewart intentionally wrecked Ryan Newman before Newman angrily chided his former boss for the accident that officially ended Newman’s chances to make the playoffs.
The verbal beat down from Newman came with 37 laps left, before Hamlin finished off his third career Sprint Cup win at his home track while giving JGR its third consecutive victory at the track and ninth in the last 15 races.
Newman called Stewart ”bipolar,” said the retiring race car driver had anger issues, and all but outright referenced the 2014 incident in which Stewart fatally struck a sprint car driver.
