GEAR MAG

Drake Maye says he will not need offseason surgery on the right shoulder that drew lots of attention ahead ofSunday's Super Bowl LX loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

"Just get some time off. Time's the best healer," Maye told reporters on Tuesday. "Definitely just need time off. Nothing that needs anything to be done. Just some time away and time to get some rest and time away from football."

Maye said after the gamethat he received shoulder injectionsand that he "was good to go" and "it felt all right."

Heading into the Super Bowl, Maye waslimited in practice with a shoulder injuryhe suffered in the AFC championship game win over the Denver Broncos. On the team's initial injury report, the 23-year-old quarterback was listed as questionable with a shoulder injury and an illness thatcaused him to miss a practice.

Despite being removed from the injury report and telling reporters he felt well heading into the game, Maye struggled against Seattle. He completed 27-of-43 passes for 295 yards, 2 touchdowns,2 interceptions and a fumble,with most of his passing yards coming in the fourth quarter. Maye's second interception was returned for a touchdown and all but closed the game.

"I think it's a case of having one hit in the AFC championship game that was just kind of unfortunate," Maye said. "Unfortunate timing, the two weeks (before the Super Bowl) was great to have off to have a chance to be out there for my guys. You can't blame things on injuries. Things happen like this all the time in the league. ... You can't (blame) it on one little thing, the shoulder. ... I was feeling like I was able to make throws in the game and was myself."

Maye had a strong second NFL season, making his second Pro Bowl and being named a second-team All-Pro while also finishing second in the MVP race. The Patriots ended their three-season playoff drought and flipped their record from the 4-13 finishes from the past two seasons to 14-3 and AFC East champions in 2025.

The 2025 season just concluded, but Maye is already eager to begin preparing for 2026.

"Ten weeks until we're back here," Maye said in a final message to Patriots fans. "That don't sound too far away. It turns around quickly on you. I'm looking forward to it."

Several LIV Golf members enjoyed a surge in the world rankings this week following the season-opening tournament in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) announced last week that players in the Saudi-backed circuit would start receiving rankings points for the first time, although the benefits are limited to each event's top-10 finishers.

LIV Golf rookie Elvis Smylie of Australia jumped from 133rd in the rankings to 77th after winning his LIV debut in Riyadh.

"It's a by-product of the great work I'm doing with my team and the good golf that I'm playing," said Smylie, 23. "If I continue to do that, then all that stuff will take care of itself. But it's definitely motivating for me to try to get into the Masters."

Riyadh runner-up and former World No. 1 Jon Rahm of Spain climbed from 93rd to 67th. Also seeing significant rises were Sebastian Munoz of Colombia (767th to 566th), Abraham Ancer (616th to 449th) and Thomas Pieters of Belgium (564th to 419th).

The lone exception was LIV rookie Thomas Detry, who finished seventh in Riyadh. He fell form 62nd to 63rd while not defending his maiden PGA Tour victory at the WM Phoenix Open.

OWGR points are critical for earning entries into the season's four major tournaments. The top 50 the week before the Masters (rankings released March 30) will earn entries to Augusta, as will the top 60 ahead of the U.S. Open (May 18) and the top 50 for The Open Championship (May 25). The OWGR does not have an official exemption for the PGA Championship, where the top 100 typically are invited.

LIV Golf has been seeking OWGR points since its debut season in 2022. However, Rahm and CEO Scott O'Neil were among those who were highly critical of the league only receiving points for top-10 finishers.

"Yeah, it's fantastic that we're getting points," Rahm said on LIV's broadcast after the first round in Riyadh. "It's fantastic that we're being recognized in a way. With that said, I don't like how we're not being treated the same as every other tour.

"It seems like the rules that have been in place aren't really applied to us, with only 10 of us getting points, it doesn't seem fair. There are small fields out there throughout the course of the year that get full points, or full players get points, right? So, there's work to be done."

LIV moved from a 54-hole format to 72 holes this season in an effort to obtain OWGR points, but issued a statement making the league's discontent with the depth of points available clear.

"We acknowledge this long-overdue moment of recognition, which affirms the fundamental principle that performance on the course should matter, regardless of where the competition takes place," LIV Golf said in a statement last week.

"However, this outcome is unprecedented. Under these rules, a player finishing 11th in a LIV Golf event is treated the same as a player finishing 57th. Limiting points to only the top 10 finishers disproportionately harms players who consistently perform at a high level but finish just outside that threshold, as well as emerging talent working to establish themselves on the world stage-precisely the players a fair and meritocratic ranking system is designed to recognize.

"No other competitive tour or league in OWGR history has been subjected to such a restriction. We expect this is merely a first step toward a structure that fully and fairly serves the players, the fans, and the future of the sport.

"We entered this process in good faith and will continue to advocate for a ranking system that reflects performance over affiliation. The game deserves transparency. The fans deserve credibility. And the players deserve a system that treats them equally."

--Field Level Media

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Tony Vitello walked up the dugout stairs to meet with reporters about 15 minutes later than he was expecting because of a team meeting that went longer than planned.

The new San Francisco Giants manager had a lot to say on the first day of spring training.

He also knows he's got a lot to learn.

"I rambled today," Vitello said, grinning. "The guys might ban me from any more meetings before this thing is over, but you want to set a vibe for what you want your team to be. We can throw out a T-shirt or put something on the locker room door, but it's also going to require some daily interactions."

The 47-year-old Vitello is one of the more fascinating stories in baseball this spring, with the manager making therare jump straight from a college dugout to Major League Baseball. Before coming to the Bay Area, he built the Tennessee Volunteers into a national powerhouse in the vaunted Southeastern Conference.

Vitello's college credentials are nearly impeccable: He went 341-131 over eight seasons, reaching the College World Series three times and leading the Vols to the program's first national championship in 2024.

Now it's time to find out if that translates to MLB success. Vitello said he has no excuses.

"There are so many people who are willing to help," Vitello said. "The biggest thing is our guys need to use these resources. You have everything you need. That reflects on my situation, too."

Vitello's coaching staff has a few people that should help with the transition, including former Padres manager Jayce Tingler and former Rangers and Angels skipper Ron Washington.

Tingler will be the bench coach while the 73-year-old Washington is the infield coach.

The two coaching veterans are helping Vitello adjust during his crash course on adjusting to MLB life. San Francisco has multiple position competitions to sort out over the next six weeks while preparing for the regular season, including a potential role for star first base prospect Bryce Eldridge.

"I think, at the root of it, there's definitely some boxes that need to be checked," Vitello said. "You'd like to see guys do well. If you're keeping score, you want to win. But I'll rely on Coach Tingler and Wash about what boxes we need to check before this thing is over with."

Advertisement

The Giants fired manager Bob Melvinin September after they went 81-81 in his second season and missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year. San Francisco hasn't reached the postseason since winning the NL West with a franchise-record 107 victories to edge the rival Dodgers by one game in 2021 under Gabe Kapler.

Buster Posey — the Giants' president of baseball operations — made the surprise move to target a college coach to become the franchise's next leader. While very successful, Vitello had a colorful and combustible reputation.

The NCAA suspended Vitello twice during his Tennessee tenure, first for spending too much time arguing a call in 2018. During that two-game suspension, he raised money for charity with apizza and lemonade standwhile the Vols played.

Chest-bumping an umpirein 2022 led to a four-game suspension, and Vitello spent that time working with aTennessee fraternityoffering achest bumpto anyone donating $2 to the Wounded Warriors Project.

It remains to be seen how Vitello's style will translate to the long professional baseball schedule. The college regular season is 56 games while MLB's slate is a marathon with 162 contests stretching from late March to late September.

Five-time Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman — who played in college at Cal State Fullerton from 2012 to 2014 — said he was looking forward to Vitello's energy.

"He was handling NIL money and things like that, so the college game is probably a lot closer to professional baseball than when I was playing," Chapman said. "Winning baseball looks the same. It's pitching and defense, knowing how to run the bases, managing personalities and managing guys.

"He has a lot of experience doing that. There's going to be a learning curve in some areas. You can't fully know how to run a major league clubhouse unless you've been in one, but I don't think it'll be foreign to him. He's a baseball guy, he's done things at a high level, so I think the transition will be smooth."

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley in San Francisco contributed to this report.

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

The final two of nearly 30 civil lawsuits that Cleveland Browns quarterbackDeshaun Watsonhad faced from women accusing him of sexual misconduct have been dismissed, according to court records.

The dismissal of these two lawsuits clears Watson of legal problems he had been facing since 2021 after 27 women came forward and accused him in court filings in Texas of exposing himself, touching them with his genitals or kissing them against their will, mostly during massage appointments.

Some of the women alleged Watson, 30, forced them to perform oral sex and one woman accused him of sexually assaulting her.

In one of the lastcasesfiled, a woman brought a civil lawsuit against Watson in September 2024, which alleged that he forced himself on her four years earlier while he was playing for Houston. That lawsuit, which was filed in Texas, sued Watson for $1 million in damages.

The two dismissals this week come as both of those lawsuits had been set to go to trial in the next few weeks. The accusations against Watson were made when he played for the Houston Texans.

It is believed that Watson has no other lawsuits pending in connection with the sexual misconduct allegations.

One of the lawsuits that was dismissed on Friday has been settled, said Tony Buzbee, the attorney for the woman who had filed it. Buzbee declined to comment further, citing confidentiality of the settlement agreement. Buzbee's client alleged Watson touched her with his penis multiple times during a massage session.

It was not immediately known if the other dismissed lawsuit had also been settled. Anissah Nguyen, an attorney for the woman who filed the lawsuit, didn't immediately respond to an email or call seeking comment. Nguyen's client had accused Watson of pressuring her to perform oral sex during a massage.

Watson's attorneys declined to comment.

Watson, who was traded to the Browns in March 2022, has long denied any wrongdoing, and two separate Texas grand juries declined to indict him. One of his attorneys, Rusty Hardin, had previously said the allegations against Watson were "meritless."

"I don't remember or recall any sexual encounters with her," Watson said in a 2023 deposition he gave while being questioned about the woman represented by Nguyen.

Advertisement

The woman represented by Nguyen had also sued the Houston Texans, alleging Watson had assaulted women with the help and resources of the team. The lawsuit against the Texans was also dismissed last week.

A spokesperson for the Texans didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

In July 2022, 30 women who had accused the Texans of turning a blind eye to allegations against their former star quarterback settled their legal claims against the team.

It was not unusual that all the cases against Watson were settled, said David Ring, a California-based attorney who is not connected to the lawsuits and who has represented victims of sexual assault. He said the majority of civil lawsuits are typically resolved before going to trial and that high-profile defendants typically don't want cases to play out in a public courtroom.

"He's trying to put all of this behind him," Ring said.

Watson's legal problems began after dozens of women claimed to have been the victims of sexual misconduct or assault between 2017 and 2020.

Most of the lawsuits against Watson were settled in 2022.

Following the allegations,Watson was suspendedfor the first 11 games in 2022 forviolating the league's personal conduct policy.

Watson was also fined $5 million and underwent a mandatory evaluation before being reinstated by the league. He has played in only 19 games for the Browns due to the NFL suspension and injuries.

Shock over Lindsey Vonn's Olympic crash; Trump calls Hunter Hess a loser for comments on politics

More details emerge on whistleblower complaint against Tulsi Gabbard

Trump criticizes Super Bowl halftime show, calling it "one of the worst"

This is the kind of chaos that has you glued to the screen … insanity!

In the third quarter of theDetroit Pistons-Charlotte Hornets game Monday night, a brawl ended up breaking out and the scene is pure bananas. A total offour players were ejectedas a result of the fight.

ForwardMoussa Diabateand forwardMiles Bridgeswere ejected on the Hornets' side, while the Pistons saw centerJalen Durenand forwardIsaiah Stewarttossed. Charles Lee, the head coach of Charlotte, was later ejected during fourth quarter action after being restrained from charging toward a referee regarding a call.

Advertisement

With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Duren was fouled by Diabate while driving into the paint. After the former turned around, the two then got face-to-face, seemingly butting heads in the process. Eventually, Duren pushed Diabate's head, and from there, all hell broke loose. It was so crazy that the police even had to get involved.(RELATED: Olympic Athletes Are Being Warned Not To Celebrate With Their Medals Too Much Because They're Breaking)

While Diabate was being held back byDetroitforwardTobias Harris, Diabate tried to punch Duren, who walked away from the scene. However, Bridges ran after him and tossed a punch, with Duren retaliating with his own. Diabate tried to charge once again at Duren, but was held back.

To make the scene even wackier, Stewart got involved by exiting the bench for a confrontation with Bridges, with the latter throwing a punch at his opponent. From there, the two wrestled. In one portion of the chaos, Stewart had Bridges headlocked and punched him over and over again on the head.

It was chaos, absolutely beautiful chaos.

If theNBAcould be like this every night, sign me up for season tickets!

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A single-engine plane made an emergency landing on a busy road in Georgia, striking three vehicles and leaving two people with minor injuries, authorities said, after one of the two pilots on board told air traffic controllers to let his wife and parents know he loved them.

The Hawker Beechcraft Bonanza landed Monday on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta. It was headed to Cherokee County Regional Airport in Canton from Gainesville's Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport. The plane turned back after experiencing problems with the engine just after departure, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement.

The plane didn't have enough power to make it to the airport. It landed on the road, the NTSB said.

"I think we're not going to make it," air traffic audio recorded by LiveATC.net said. "Please tell my wife, Molly, I love her, and my parents. I love them so much."

More than 10 minutes later, "We're going to be fine" is heard on the recording.

"We lost our engine taking off out of Gainesville," pilot Thomas Rogers toldWAGA-TV. "We tried to glide back, did everything by the book, but realized we weren't going to make it back with how far out we were, so we came down on the road."

The plane struck three cars, dislodging a fuel tank into one of them, Gainesville police Capt. Kevin Holbrook said. Two people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, he said.

"The fact that they were able to land in the middle of hundreds of vehicles and only hit three of them, no power lines is very remarkable," Holbrook said, noting that the road is one of the main arteries through northeast Georgia. "The fact that no one was seriously injured or killed is just astonishing."

By Jana Choukeir and Elwely Elwelly

DUBAI, Feb 10 - A top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader discussed ways to reach a "balanced and just" agreement with the United States during talks in Oman on Tuesday, as Washington and Tehran prepare to resume ​negotiations aimed at averting a new conflict.

Oman facilitated talks between Iran and the U.S. last week, which a spokesperson for Iran's ‌foreign ministry said had allowed Tehran to gauge Washington's seriousness and showed enough consensus for diplomacy to continue.

The talks came after U.S. President Donald Trump positioned a naval flotilla in ‌the region, raising fears of new military action. Trump, who joined an Israeli bombing campaign last year and hit Iranian nuclear sites, had threatened last month to intervene militarily during a bloody government crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran, but ultimately held off.

"After the talks, we felt there was understanding and consensus to continue the diplomatic process," said the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baghaei.

Baghaei said Tuesday's trip to Oman by Ali Larijani, an adviser to Supreme ⁠Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had been pre-planned, and that ‌Larijani would travel next to Qatar, which has also mediated in several Middle East crises.

Oil prices eased on Tuesday as traders remained focused on Iran-U.S. tensions.

DIFFERENCE OVER WHETHER TO DISCUSS MISSILE STOCKPILE

Oman's state news agency said Larijani and ‍Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq discussed ways to reach a "balanced and just" agreement between Iran and the U.S., stressing the importance of returning to dialogue to bridge differences and promote regional and global peace and security.

Iranian state media said the meeting lasted nearly three hours.

The date and venue of the next round of U.S.-Iran talks ​have yet to be announced.

The U.S. is seeking to expand the scope of negotiations with Iran beyond the nuclear issue to curb Iran's ‌ballistic missile programme, one of the biggest in the Middle East.

Tehran says its missile arsenal has been rebuilt since last year's 12-day bombing campaign by Israel and the U.S., and that its stockpile is non-negotiable.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to use a meeting with Trump in Washington on Wednesday to push for any U.S.-Iran deal to include limitations on Tehran's missiles.

Baghaei said the U.S. "must act independently of foreign pressures, especially Israeli pressures that ignore the interests of the region and even the U.S."

In any negotiations, Iran would continue to demand the lifting of financial sanctions and ⁠insist on its nuclear rights including enrichment, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said.

Washington has ​demanded Iran relinquish its stockpile of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, a ​small step away from the 90% that is considered weapons grade.

VANCE SAYS TRUMP WILL DECIDE RED LINES

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohammad Eslami, said on Monday: "The possibility of diluting 60% enriched uranium ... depends on whether, in return, ‍all sanctions are lifted or not".

Asked whether ⁠the U.S. would allow limited uranium enrichment by Iran, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said during a visit to Armenia on Monday: "I think President Trump is going to make the ultimate determination about where we draw the red lines in the negotiations."

Iran and the ⁠U.S. held five rounds of talks last year on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme, with the process breaking down mainly due to disputes over uranium enrichment inside Iran.

Since Trump struck ‌Iran's facilities, Tehran has said it has halted enrichment activity. It has always said its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful ‌purposes.

(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Aidan Lewis)