Missing Athletes May Have Defected

The Colorado Rapids attacked their off-week by not attacking anything. Winger Omir Fernández went home to New York to see his family. Coach Chris Armas, when he wasn’t watching soccer, spent time with his dog. Returning to training this week after a week away, both of their tanks are full. With the rejuvenated energy, the week of training leading up to Saturday’s home match against Austin FC will be dedicated to righting the wrongs that led to a four-game winless streak heading into the international break. The main focus: Shoring up play in the penalty box on both ends of the field.

As I watched the Lakers whiff on UConn’s Dan Hurley last weekend in the latest chapter of a coaching search melodramatic enough to warrant a Hollywood screenplay, I kept wondering: What about David Adelman? Hurley’s candidacy emerged abruptly and escalated hastily. A cross-country flight to Los Angeles. A reported six-year, $70 million contract offer.

The Broncos quarterback rotation continued on Day 1 of the team’s mandatory minicamp Tuesday. Head coach Sean Payton indicated it may go this way well into training camp, as well. The first day of Denver’s three-day minicamp saw Jarrett Stidham run the first-team reps, Zach Wilson the second-team and Bo Nix the third-team. That’s in keeping with how Payton and the offensive staff ran the three weeks of organized team activities, too, with each quarterback getting a day each week with the top group. “Every day we’re rolling them different with the ones, twos and threes and we’re kind of doing the same thing with a lot of the position groups,” Payton said Tuesday.

Short-track world champion Christopher Blevins, who has become a mainstay on the mountain bike World Cup podium over the past three years, and Haley Batten will lead a U. S. team with medal ambitions into the Paris Olympics next month. USA Cycling announced its four-person lineup Tuesday. Riley Amos and Savilia Blunk also made the American team. The U.

Two animal rights protestors vandalized the new portrait of King Charles III on Tuesday at the Philip Mould Gallery in London, placing a cartoon picture over the painting. Advocates plastered posters on the original painting with a printed picture of Wallace, a popular British character from the 1989 claymation film A Grand Day Out.