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Charles Barkley not retiring, staying with TNT Sports long term

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Charles Barkley not retiring, staying with TNT Sports long term

Charles Barkley will not retire and instead remain with TNT Sports even after it loses the NBA following this upcoming season, TNT announced Tuesday.

Barkley will continue on his 10-year, $210 million contract. He is in the third season of the deal.

“I love my TNT Sports family,” Barkley, 61, said in a statement. “My #1 priority has been and always will be our people and keeping everyone together for as long as possible.”

“We have the most amazing people, and they are the best at what they do,” his statement continued. “I’m looking forward to continuing to work with them both on the shows we currently have and new ones we develop together in the future. This is the only place for me.”

Barkley had been a target for ESPN, Amazon Prime Video and NBC, which will begin their 11-year, $77 billion agreements after next season. TNT Sports is trying to stay in business with the NBA by suing the league after the NBA rejected TNT Sports’ offer to match one of the league’s new television deals with Amazon Prime Video.

A week and a half ago, Barkley told The Athletic he was open to staying with TNT Sports if it paid him in full.

“My deal is 10 years, $210 million,” Barkley said in a phone interview at the time. “Turner has to come to me ASAP and they have to guarantee my whole thing or they can offer me a pay cut, which there is no chance of that happening and I’ll be a free agent.”

The two sides now agree that Barkley will not be going anywhere. While TNT Sports is trying its Hail Mary attempt to hold onto the NBA, Barkley will still be utilized on its NCAA Tournament coverage that TNT Sports combines with CBS, while it could explore opportunities with its other properties, including the NHL.

The network is also trying to expand its programming on TNT Sports so it doesn’t seem out of the question that it could either build a new studio program around Barkley or try to keep its iconic “Inside The NBA” together even after next year.

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“Charles is one of the best and most beloved sportscasters in the history of television,” TNT Sports chairman Luis Silberwasser said. “I know I speak for all the members of the TNT Sports family when I say we are incredibly thrilled to share this mutual commitment to continue showcasing Charles’ one-of-a-kind talents and entertain fans well into the future.

“We continue to add to the breadth and depth of our sports portfolio — including new properties in the College Football Playoffs, Roland-Garros, NASCAR, BIG EAST college basketball, Mountain West football, among others — and it’s fantastic to have Charles for this journey as we develop new content ideas and shows for our fans.”

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(Photo: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)

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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif dominates Thai opponent to advance to gold medal bout

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Algerian boxer Imane Khelif dominates Thai opponent to advance to gold medal bout

Algerian Imane Khelif will fight for a gold medal after defeating Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng in a unanimous decision Tuesday.

Khelif dominated Suwannapheng throughout the match, winning the first three rounds on points. In the final round, Khelif nailed Suwannapheng in the face, and the referee backed the Algerian to the corner and counted to eight. 

Now, the fighter will get to contend for a gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Algeria’s Imane Khelif (left) in action Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, against Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng during the women’s 66-kilogram semifinal at Roland Garros Stadium on the 11th day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France.  (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

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The crowd at Arena Paris Nord cheered Khelif throughout the fight. Khelif and Suwannapheng embraced in the middle of the ring after the third round.

The referee raised Khelif’s arm as the winner.

Khelif breezed through the first two fights of the Olympics, defeating Hungarian Luca Anna Hamori via unanimous decision and picking up a victory over Italian Angela Carini.

SOPHIA SMITH LEADS USWNT TO OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL MATCH IN EXTRA-TIME WIN OVER GERMANY

Imane Khelif fans

Fans of Algeria’s Imane Khelif cheer her on during the women’s 66-kilogram semifinal boxing match during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris Aug. 6, 2024. (Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images)

The boxer had been under the microscope over a gender eligibility controversy that started with a disqualification at the 2023 International Boxing Association World Championships.

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Khelif and the International Olympic Committee have maintained that the Algerian Olympian is eligible to compete. Khelif declared after the win over Hamori, “I am a woman.”

Suwannapheng will receive a bronze medal with the loss. It’s the first Olympic medal of her career.

There is no fight for the third-place spot.

Imane Khelif throws a hook

Imane Khelif of Algeria punches Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand during the women’s 66-kilogam semifinal round match on day 11 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Roland Garros Aug. 6, 2024, in Paris. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

The 66-kilogram final is scheduled for Friday.

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Brusdar Graterol's season likely over after suffering injury during Dodgers' loss

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Brusdar Graterol's season likely over after suffering injury during Dodgers' loss

A game that began with a promising start from Clayton Kershaw took a sharp downward turn in the sixth inning Tuesday night, the Dodgers losing reliever Brusdar Graterol to a right-hamstring strain just eight pitches into his season debut and the Philadelphia Phillies rallying for three runs in an eventual 6-2 victory.

Manager Dave Roberts said after the game that Graterol was diagnosed with a Grade 3 (most severe) strain and likely is out for the season. He will be placed on the injured list Wednesday and replaced on the roster by right-hander Michael Grove.

A crowd of 47,150 in Chavez Ravine saw the National League East-leading Phillies win for only the third time in 12 games, while the Dodgers had their three-game win streak snapped and their NL West lead over San Diego reduced to four games.

Kershaw, in his third start back from November shoulder surgery, gave up one earned run and five hits in 4⅔ innings, striking out five and walking none, the Phillies scoring their only run off the 36-year-old left-hander on Kyle Schwarber’s fifth-inning single.

Graterol, who missed the first four months of the season because of a shoulder injury, took the mound to start the sixth with a 1-0 deficit and got Bryce Harper to pop out to third before giving up a single to Alec Bohm.

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But as he delivered a 2-and-1 sinker to J.T. Realmuto, Graterol clutched his right hamstring and crumpled on the front of the mound in pain. Graterol had to be helped off the field, his teammates consoling the distraught reliever as he reached the dugout.

Brent Honeywell replaced Graterol and completed a walk to Realmuto before giving up an RBI single to Nick Castellanos, a one-out walk to Brandon Marsh and a two-out, two-run single to Edmundo Sosa for a 4-0 Philadelphia lead.

The Dodgers cut the deficit to 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Teoscar Hernández doubled and scored on Will Smith’s groundout. They put two on with one out in the seventh, but Phillies All-Star left-hander Matt Strahm struck out pinch-hitter Austin Barnes and got Shohei Ohtani to fly out to right.

Hernández’s 25th homer of the season, a 424-foot shot to center off right-hander Jeff Hoffman in the eighth, pulled the Dodgers to within 4-2, but Sosa and Schwarber hit back-to-back solo homers off Honeywell in the ninth for a 6-2 lead.

Kershaw had a solid season debut against San Francisco on July 25, giving up two runs and six hits, striking out six and walking two in four innings of a 6-4 win, but he regressed badly in his second start at San Diego on July 31, giving up seven runs (three earned) and six hits in 3⅓ innings of an 8-1 loss.

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Kershaw failed to record a strikeout for the first time in his 424 regular-season starts over 17 years. He averaged less than 90 mph on his fastball, a drop from his season debut, and induced only two swinging strikes on the 41 pitches the Padres swung at.

“The first one, I thought, was really good, the stuff was crisp, sharp,” Roberts said before the game. “The second one, not as crisp across the board.”

The third one — against one of baseball’s best lineups — erased the sour taste of the second one from Kershaw’s mouth and was much better than the first, Kershaw facing the minimum nine batters through three innings and yielding only a broken-bat single to Austin Hays, who was thrown out at second base to end the third.

Kershaw gave up one-out singles to Trea Turner and Harper to put runners on first and third in the fourth, but escaped the jam by striking out Bohm with a 74-mph curve in the dirt and getting Realmuto to ground out to third.

The Phillies created more traffic in the fifth when Hays doubled to left with one out and Marsh was hit by a pitch. Kershaw won a nine-pitch duel with Sosa, striking out the second baseman with an 83-mph split-changeup.

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But Schwarber, who struck out in his first two at-bats, lofted a full-count slider that dropped in front of center fielder Kevin Kiermaier for a single and a 1-0 Phillies lead. Right-hander Joe Kelly replaced Kershaw and got Turner to fly out to center.

Kershaw threw 81 pitches, 55 for strikes, and induced 10 swinging strikes. His four-seam fastball averaged 90.4 mph and he did a better job of mixing his 86.2-mph sliders and 73.1-mph curves.

“As a competitor you want to be great, you want to be perfect, every time out, but I just don’t think that’s a realistic expectation,” Roberts said. “Let’s just try to build on the positives from each outing and keep on building.”

Short hops

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, out since June 16 because of a rotator cuff strain, threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Tuesday. The right-hander will travel with the team and throw to hitters in Milwaukee next week, “and hopefully, if that goes well, we’ll keep building from there,” Roberts said, adding that the Dodgers remain “hopeful” that Yamamoto, who went 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 14 starts, will return in September.

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What’s in a name (change)? For Josh Hines-Allen, it was about roots and recognition

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What’s in a name (change)? For Josh Hines-Allen, it was about roots and recognition

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With a 17 1/2-sack season, a second Pro Bowl appearance and a new contract that made him football’s highest-paid outside linebacker, Josh Allen indisputably had become a big name in the NFL. But not exactly like he wanted.

He often was referred to as “the other Josh Allen,” with the more famous one quarterbacking the Buffalo Bills.

The Jacksonville Jaguars pass rusher and his wife, Kaitlyn, watched highlights of this year’s Pro Bowl Games and listened to a commentator refer to “Aidan Hutchinson and Josh … Allen?”

“It was almost like she was confused about who I was,” he says.

She wasn’t the only one. Kaitlyn wanted to know where her husband’s jerseys were being sold and learned they were as difficult to find as disinfecting wipes during the pandemic. The 27-year-old, five-year NFL veteran and father of three had considered changing his name for a couple of years. Now his wife started pushing for it.

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His four older sisters have a different last name, Hines-Allen, incorporating their mother Kim’s maiden name. When Josh and twin brother Isaiah were born, their father, Robert, wanted the boys to be Allens. Kim and Robert divorced when Josh was a baby, and his dad wasn’t around much, so the boys were raised and shaped by Hineses. In his New Jersey neighborhood, Josh was known as “Little Hines.”

So in the offseason, Josh hired a marketing agent and a lawyer. He waited in lines at the courthouse that serves Duval County. There were stacks of forms to fill out. He had to verify the addresses of every place he lived from birth to the present. He was required to identify all his family members, as well as their residences and ages. Changes had to be made to his driver’s license, Social Security information and tax returns.

In July, his marketing team released a video announcing the change, and a new teal nameplate was placed above his locker. It was then that Josh Hines-Allen became who he was intended to be.


A former pro basketball player, uncle Greg “Dunkin’” Hines (left) is a towering figure in Josh Hines-Allen’s life. (Courtesy of Greg Hines)

The new name is about how he hopes to elevate. And it’s about what grounds him.

Morris Hines was a force. Considered a hoops legend on the streets of their New Jersey neighborhood, Morris founded a basketball team at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark and instilled a love of sports in his descendants, including his grandson Josh. Morris taught Josh to shadowbox. He used to say, “Cut them deep and let them bleed.” Josh has it tattooed on his inner arm. Josh learned to tie a tie from Morris. In fact, he has tied teammates’ ties and taught them the way Morris did it.

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“He’s one of the biggest reasons why I am the way I am mentally and competitively,” Josh says.

Morris’ oldest son, Greg, was more father figure for Josh than uncle. He was also a legendary basketball player and an example of how sports could change a life. “Dunkin’ Hines” was a dominating big man at Hampton University and an inaugural member of the Hampton Athletics Hall of Fame. A fifth-round pick of the Golden State Warriors, Hines never made the NBA but played professionally for 12 years.

At 12, Josh was the only man in the house with Isaiah living in Alabama with relatives. His sisters were driving him crazy by “momming” him.

“It was just pitiful,” he says. “I was already going to school, and then at home they made me go to ‘class’ with them as my teachers. It was just because they wanted to. We had math, science and recess.”

Desperate to get out of his house, Josh moved in with Dunkin’ Hines, who took Josh and his dirty clothes to the laundromat and taught him how to wash, dry and fold them. Josh learned to count the coins they saved in a jar and convert them to cash at an exchange machine. Hines made him feed and clean up after Blazer, his white boxer.

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Josh and Hines imitated the WWE wrestlers Josh watched on “SmackDown” and “Raw,” trying to make the other tap out. At 6-foot-9, 280 pounds, Hines had a significant advantage, which taught Josh to use leverage and his quick, strong hands.

“Those nights were so awesome,” Josh says.

Hines schooled Josh on the basketball court, where he remembers his nephew as an average ballhandler but strong and very athletic for his size, with a knack for rebounds, loose balls and defense. When Josh got frustrated with basketball, Hines signed him up for football for the first time.

When Josh moved in, Hines was a bachelor enjoying the privileges of freedom and fame. He thought Josh needed some religion, so every Sunday morning, they walked to Rising Mount Zion Baptist Church in Montclair, where together, they experienced amazing grace.

“I had no structure, no responsibilities in my life,” Hines says. “That grounding, keeping God in the center of our lives, helped us both out.”

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Josh also looked up to Keith Hines, Greg’s brother and Kim’s twin. Nieces and nephews called Keith “The General” because he didn’t mess around. Basketball was in his blood, too, as The General once scored 59 points in a high school game and then played at Montclair State before becoming a high school coach.

It wasn’t just the men of the family who paved the way for Josh.

Josh’s appreciation for the pageantry of sport grew while sitting in the bleachers at Montclair High watching his sister Torri, who would go on to play at Virginia Tech and Towson. He got chills every time the lights dimmed and Torri and her teammates broke through a poster to dazzling strobes.

“I thought it was the coolest thing, and it kind of made me fall in love with that part of sports,” he says.

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Sister Kyra played basketball at Cheyney University the way Josh plays football. “You didn’t want to mess with her, you know what I mean?” he says. “She was the shortest one of my sisters but the toughest, and I just loved the way she played.”

Myisha, one year older than Josh, played against sixth-grade boys when she was in fourth grade. In high school, she was a McDonald’s All-American. At Louisville, she was first-team All-ACC three times and played on a Final Four team. She won a WNBA championship with the Washington Mystics in 2019 and was voted second-team all-league a year later.

Josh’s entire athletic experience has been about trying to keep pace with Myisha, with whom he could never compete on the basketball court. A year after she was taken 19th in the WNBA draft, he wanted to be drafted higher, which he was (seventh). Now he is determined to win a championship like she did — and to one-up her by being voted first-team all-league.

Myisha and Josh weren’t close when they were young, but their relationship has grown as professional athletes.

“I try to give her motivation, lead her down a good path and help keep her mind right,” Josh says. “She does the same for me.”

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Myisha Hines-Allen (left) won a WNBA championship in 2019 as a member of the Washington Mystics. (Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Shortly before the Jaguars play the Bills in September, Josh plans to offer fans an opportunity to swap old “Allen” jerseys for new “Hines-Allen” ones at a discounted price. It’s a good week to do it because the game is on a Monday night and the players have a little extra time — plus his opponent is the other Josh Allen.

They’ve never swapped jerseys with one another. They haven’t exchanged phone numbers either or even pleasantries.

“I don’t think he likes me,” Hines-Allen says. “After the first time we played them, he walked right by me, never said anything. By the second time, I didn’t really care.”

If the quarterback is resentful, he has reason. Hines-Allen has helped prevent him from winning both games they’ve played against one another. In the first game, a 9-6 victory in 2021, the Jaguars linebacker sacked and intercepted the Bills quarterback as well as recovered his fumble. And the Jaguars prevailed in the second “Josh Allen Bowl” by a 25-20 score.

Those games weren’t just any games to Hines-Allen.

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“It was kind of like a respect thing — you have to earn the respect,” says Hines-Allen, who vows never to lose to the Bills QB. “I feel like I did, but if we didn’t win, it would have been like, ‘Oh, and you lose to him?’ It definitely brought out a little extra in me because my name is my name. I respect all and want the same thing given to me.”

If Hines-Allen breaks the NFL sack record of 22 1/2 — which he intends to do — more respect will come. He rushes the passer with extreme dynamism and unpredictable gusts, making him about as easy to hold back as a twister. He had 17 sacks in 13 games at Kentucky and 22 1/2 in 12 games at Montclair High. Getting 5 1/2 more than he did in 2023 does not seem unreasonable to him.

His pursuit of the record will be abetted, he believes, by dropping less and rushing more in the scheme run by new Jaguars defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen. Head coach Doug Pederson envisions Hines-Allen “pushing that 20-plus sack range” with more support from his team.

“He’s one of those guys who shows up early and stays late,” says Pederson, who recently became Hines-Allen’s neighbor when the linebacker bought a house near his coach’s. “He has the determination to be great.”

He hired a chef to prepare his meals and sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber for about five hours every night. He brings the device to road games, along with a specialist to administer intravenous fluids, and his personal physical therapist.

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During his pregame routine, he makes himself the only person in a crowd of thousands by wearing noise-canceling headphones and listening to nothing but silence. He is normally gregarious, with an easy smile and hugs all around. But there is a dark side.

“I’m angry,” he says. “I had a great season last year, but the only thing I got was a Pro Bowl. I’m pissed because y’all think I’m supposed to be happy. I’m pissed because I wasn’t All-Pro. I’m pissed because I wasn’t a nominee for defensive player of the year. I’m pissed because my team didn’t make the playoffs.”

So now there are quarterbacks to pound, honors to earn, triumphs to be had, a legacy to uphold and another to create. And opponents who studied 2023 tape will realize the linebacker across from them is not the same one who wore No. 41 last year.

This is Josh Hines-Allen.

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photo: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)

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