Hometown Broadcasting Sports Friday 7/24/20
24 July 2020 Sports
Thousands of Green Bay Packers owners tuned in to the annual shareholders meeting Thursday morning, held virtually for the first time. It’s an event Packers shareholders look forward to every year, getting filled in on what’s new with the team and what they can expect in the season ahead. The number of people watching the shareholders meeting fluctuated, at one point reaching nearly 3,000. The meeting typically draws thousands of shareholders from around the state and the country eager to once again be inside Lambeau Field. That wasn’t the case this year with the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the meeting was broadcast on an exclusive link for those people to watch from the comfort and safety of their homes. Even with no fans allowed at training camp practices this year and preseason games canceled, the Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy looks forward to a promising regular season for the team.
“I think our nation is ready for live sports,” Murphy said. Looking ahead to the season, the Packers expect to play at least 16 games. Murphy said if fans are allowed, capacity will be significantly reduced, possibly as low as 12,000 per game. As of right now, there’s no word yet if there will be any fans in the stadium. Currently, the first chance that fans will have to cheer on their favorite team in person at Lambeau will be September 20 against the Detroit Lions.
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Major League Baseball finally opened the season Thursday night with two games. In the first game, that was called after one out in the sixth inning, the New York Yankees beat the host team Washington Nationals, 4-1. The Yankees scored two runs right away in the first inning as Giancarlo Stanton slammed a two-run homer off Nationals ace Max Scherzer. Washington narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the first as Adam Eaton homered off New York’s Gerrit Cole. The Yankees would add single runs in the third and fifth innings. Cole went five innings, giving up one run on just one hit while striking out five and walking one. Scherzer pitched 5 1/3 innings giving up four runs, all earned, on six hits. He struck out 11 while walking four.
In the second game in Los Angeles, the Dodgers beat the Giants 8-1. The Giants pushed across the first run in the top of the third and the Dodgers tied it in the fourth. Los Angeles then erupted for five runs in the seventh and two in the eighth, on a two-run homer by Enrique Hernandez, to close out the scoring. Hernandez drove in five runs while going 4-for-5. Johnny Cueto started for San Francisco and went the first four innings, giving up one run on five hits while striking out three and walking one. Reliever Tyler Rogers only managed to get two outs in the seventh while giving up four runs and took the loss. Dodgers starter Dustin May also went four innings, giving up one run on seven hits while striking out four with no walks. Adam Kolarek picked up the win.
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The Milwaukee Brewers open up their season tonight at Wrigley Field in Chicago against the Cubs. The team’s will send a pair of right-handers to the mound. Brandon Woodruff starts for the Crew against the Cubs Kyle Hendricks. First pitch is at 6:10. The game can be heard on AM1100 and 98.3FM WISS with the pregame beginning at 5:35.
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High school sports for the fall will happen with a delayed start in 2020. The WIAA Board of Control held a special meeting Thursday morning to make a decision whether high school fall sports will happen in the midst of this pandemic. The board approved a new fall plan for high school student-athletes to participate in sports. Practice for the low-risk high school sports will begin on August 17 while high-risk sports including football were pushed back from August 24 and now will begin on September 7. Low-risk sports are low contact and may allow for more physical distancing, including boys and girls cross-country, girls tennis, girls golf, and girls swimming. High-risk sports include football, boys and girls volleyball and boys soccer. With the new start date of Sept. 7, the first football games won’t be until Sept. 24-25 as practice is not allowed until after Labor Day. For football, the plan now calls for a 6-week regular season and three weeks of playoffs. The WIAA Board of Control voted 8-3 to pass the motion. The board said if school districts opt not to participate, a spring opportunity will be provided. The WIAA has not yet released details on what that plan would look like. In the motion, there is language allowing for a fallback option to move fall sports to the spring. The Board of Control will meet again on August 14.
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The NFL team formerly known as the Redskins will go by the Washington Football Team for the 2020 season, giving the organization time to choose a new, full-time name. The club announced the placeholder name Thursday, ahead of the start of training camp next week. Washington will keep its burgundy and gold colors and replace the Indian head logo on helmets with a player’s jersey number. All references to the Redskins name and logo will be removed from the team’s headquarters in Ashburn, Virginia, and FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. Owner Dan Snyder recently dropped the Redskins name amid pressure from sponsors and after decades of criticism from Native American advocacy groups. On Monday, he hired Terry Bateman as executive vice president and chief marketing officer to oversee the name change and re-branding process.
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After a nearly two year wait, NHL Seattle on Thursday announced its new franchise team name is the Seattle Kraken. Officials unveiled the new monicker during an online announcement after releasing a teaser video on social media Wednesday that dropped some clues but still didn’t fully reveal the team’s name. There were rumors dating back to January that the team would be named the Seattle Kraken, an apparent nod to the region’s maritime history and the waters of the Puget Sound.
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The Milwaukee beat the San Antonio Spurs at home last night in a scrimmage, 113-92. Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 22 points. All 22 teams participating in the NBA Restart will play three scrimmages before game action officially tips off on July 30. The NBA will be using 10-minute quarters instead of the usual 12 minutes for each team’s first game. The second and third games for each team will feature regulation quarters of 12 minutes.
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