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The NFL said it will investigate whether the Oakland Raiders violated the ”Rooney Rule” when they hired Jon Gruden as coach.

The Fritz Pollard Alliance called for the investigation on Wednesday out of concern that Raiders owner Mark Davis came to an agreement with Gruden before the team interviewed any minority candidates as required by the NFL since 2003.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement that the NFL will ”look into this.”

The Fritz Pollard Alliance is dedicated to promoting diversity and equality of job opportunity in the coaching Bruce Smith Jersey , front office and scouting staffs of NFL teams.

Davis said Tuesday at the news conference introducing Gruden as the team’s new coach that he had been trying to make the move for six years and finally believed it would happen after a meeting in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve, the day before Gruden worked a game between the Raiders and Eagles on ESPN.

LONDON (AP) – The Oakland Raiders will host the Seattle Seahawks in the first NFL game at the new London stadium of English Premier League club Tottenham.

The game will be played in week six of the season on Oct. 14.

Tottenham, the Premier League runner-up last season, is building a new 60,000-plus capacity venue on the site of the White Hart Lane stadium that was recently demolished.

There will be three consecutive weeks of matches in London. The other two will take place at Wembley Stadium, English soccer’s national stadium, on Oct. 21 or 28. The Philadelphia Eagles will play the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Tennessee Titans will take on the Los Angeles Chargers.

HOCKEY

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – The U.S. Army has filed a challenge opposing the application of the NHL’s newest franchise to register the trademark ”Vegas Golden Knights.”

In a claim filed Wednesday with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in suburban Washington, the Army claims it will be damaged if the trademark is registered and says it has acquired exclusive rights to it that predate any rights claimed by the NHL team.

The Army says it has used the Golden Knights nickname since the late 1960s for its parachute team, public relations and recruiting, and claims it owns ”common law rights” for the color schemes that combine black and gold and yellow and white.

The challenge by the U.S. Army was first reported by Sportslogos.net.

The filing also says the NHL team’s choice of black-and-gold and yellow-and-white color schemes for its uniforms, advertising and marketing adds ”to the likelihood of confusion of the public” because the same colors are used on the uniforms worn by West Point’s hockey team and the paint scheme on the building where they play their home games, Tate Rink.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Dallas billionaire Tom Dundon has taken over as the majority owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes.

Team officials said the sale closed Thursday Daryl Johnston Jersey , about two months after Dundon signed a purchase agreement to buy a majority stake in the franchise from longtime owner Peter Karmanos Jr. The NHL says its Board of Governors has given its approval.

Karmanos will retain a minority ownership interest in the club he moved from Hartford, Connecticut, to North Carolina in 1997.

OLYMPICS

LONDON (AP) – A British bobsledder will miss the Winter Olympics after suffering a stroke.

Bruce Tasker, who was part of the British four-man team that finished in fifth place at the Sochi Games in 2014, was taken to the hospital after experiencing dizziness and sickness last week.

Team GB says the 30-year-old Tasker will have further assessments over the coming days and will not compete in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month on medical advice.

Tasker said in a statement that it was a ”completely freak occurrence,” adding ”I’m gutted not to be able to conclude the four-year cycle by going to the Olympics but I’m very grateful that I’m still fit and healthy.”

SOCCER

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Christian Pulisic was the runaway winner of soccer’s U.S. Player of the Year, the youngest choice in the award’s 27-year-history.

The 19-year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder received 81 first-place votes and 254 points in balloting conducted among 104 media by the radio network Futbol de Primera. Jozy Altidore was second with 95 points and captain Michael Bradley third with 75.

Pulisic won the U.S. Soccer Federation’s Male Player of the Year award last month.

A midfielder from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Pulisic had six goals and four assists in nine games for the national team last year and was involved in 13 of the 17 American goals in games he played. The U.S. failed to qualify for the World Cup, ending a streak of seven straight appearances.

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Indians are averaging a major league-best 5.9 runs per game at home, and that’s where they will be on Saturday, when they host the Detroit Tigers in the second game of their three-game series.

The Indians have won five games in a row and outscored their opponents 38-6 during the streak.

Cleveland’s offense is led by third baseman Jose Ramirez, who finished third in the MVP voting last season Sonny Jurgensen Jersey , and is having another monster year. Ramirez is in the top six in the American League in many of the key offensive categories.

Ramirez is third in home runs (22), fifth in on-base percentage (.398), fourth in slugging percentage (.609), sixth in RBIs (50), and fourth in walks (49).

“He wasn’t swinging the bat well in spring training, but once the season started — wow,” said Indians manager Terry Francona. “It’s his power. His consistent contact. He doesn’t strike out. He’s a good baserunner. It’s the whole package. He’s really exciting to watch.”

So is the Indians’ Saturday starter Trevor Bauer (6-5, 2.50 ERA), who had a career year last season, and seems intent on eclipsing it this year.

In his last start, a 6-2 win over the White Sox on Monday, Bauer pitched seven scoreless innings on three hits, with eight strikeouts and two walks. That’s the latest in a two-month hot streak for Bauer. In his last seven starts he is 4-2 with a 1.99 ERA, and a .199 opponents’ batting average, while averaging 13 strikeouts per nine innings (72 strikeouts in 49 2/3 innings).

Saturday will be Bauer’s fourth start against the Tigers this year. In his first three he is 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA. However Jonathan Bullard Jersey , Bauer’s career numbers against Detroit aren’t nearly as impressive: a 7-5 record and 5.95 ERA in 15 appearances, including 14 starts.

Indians pitchers have tossed an American League-high eight shutouts, including their last two games, 12-0 over the White Sox on Wednesday and 10-0 over the Tigers on Friday.

Although they are missing Miguel Cabrera, who is on the disabled list with a ruptured biceps tendon, the rebuilding Tigers are in second place in the AL Central, six games behind the division-leading Indians.

“It seems like they are playing with more energy,” Francona said. “Sometimes when a guy goes down, a team takes the mentality of ‘us against the world.’ You use whatever you can, and they are doing a good job using that.”

The Tigers on Saturday will start left-hander Francisco Liriano (3-2, 3.90 ERA), who will be activated off the disabled list, and will make his first major league start since May 26. The Tigers lost that game 8-4, to the White Sox.

Liriano, who took the loss that day Charles Leno Jersey , pitched five innings, allowing five runs on six hits, with eight strikeouts and three walks. Liriano was placed on the disabled list on May 30, with a right hamstring strain.

Saturday will be Liriano’s third start against Cleveland this year. The first two did not go well. In those two starts Liriano went 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA, having given up seven runs on 10 hits, three of them home runs, plus six walks in 10 1/3 innings.

In 22 career appearances (17 starts) against Cleveland, the 34-year-old Liriano is 5-7 with a 4.39 ERA.

The Tigers have struggled against the Indians in recent years. Detroit is 3-8 vs. Cleveland this year, and since June 24, 2015, the Tigers’ record against the Indians is 6-21.
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