The Indiana Pacers officially introduced new coach Rick Carlisle Wednesday afternoon. Carlisle said that he likes the roster and called the Pacers his kind of team. The 61-year-old said his mandate is to get Indiana back in the playoffs and win once there. It will be Carlisle’s third stint with the Blue and Gold, and second as the head coach. He led the Pacers from 2003 through 2007 before spending the past 13 seasons as the Mavericks head man, including winning a title in 2011. The Pacers fired coach Nate Bjorkgren after one season in which the team went 34-38 and failed to make the playoffs.
The Chicago White Sox had six home runs from five different players in a 13-3 drubbing of the Minnesota Twins. Yasmani Grandal homered twice and drove in five runs, and Gavin Sheets connected for his first Major League long ball in his second career game. Chicago’s lead over Cleveland in the American League Central is now at four games after Detroit swept a doubleheader with the Indians. The Tigers took Game 1 9-4 and won Game 2 7-1.
The Milwaukee Brewers used an eight run fourth inning to come back and beat the Chicago Cubs 15-7 for their eighth win in a row. The Cubs took a 7-0 lead in the top of the first, but starter Jake Arrieta only recorded five outs and left the game with just a one run lead. The Brew Crew piled on with an eight-run fourth to hand Chicago its sixth straight loss and extend the lead in the NL Central to six games. The San Diego Padres defeated the Cincinnati Reds 7-5 in a game that was called in the sixth inning due to rain. The Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks with a 7-4 win in St. Louis.
The NCAA officially suspended their policy banning college athletes from earning money for their name, image and likeness. Student athletes can now receive money for things like commercial endorsements, sponsorships, autographs, coaching lessons, and paid social media posts, but schools still cannot pay players directly. The interim policy took effect at midnight, and came the same day that 12 states had laws go into effect that would have made the previous NCAA rules illegal. Players can hire agents to help broker deals, but cannot use school trademarks such as logos in their endorsements.
One of the most successful IndyCar owners has sold his NASCAR team. Chip Ganassi sold all of his NASCAR assets to Trackhouse Racing and will be exiting the Cup Series at the end of the season. Ganassi will continue to operate his IndyCar team out of its Indianapolis-based headquarters. Trackhouse will field two cars next season, one will be driven by current driver Daniel Suarez, with a second driver to be determined. Trackhouse is owned by Justin Marks, with co-ownership from rapper Pitbull. Ganassi said he was not planning to sell the team, but that Marks made him an offer he had to consider.
