Sports
Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding calls loss in airline collision ‘absolutely devastating’
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Two-time U.S. Olympian Tonya Harding joined many others in the figure skating community to speak out after it was revealed that several members of U.S. Figure Skating were among the victims feared dead following an American Airlines collision with an Army helicopter late Wednesday night.
Harding, who had joined X just a day earlier, posted a message in response to the “devastating” news that 67 people on board American Airlines Flight 5342 and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter were killed during a collision near Reagan Washington National Airport, near D.C., at around 9 p.m. local time.
Figure Skater Tonya Harding of the United States competes in a figure skating competition circa 1992. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) (Focus on Sport)
“The events that took place last night in Washington, DC are absolutely devastating,” Harding’s post read.
“I’m being told that several professional figure skaters were aboard the flight as well. Sending my love and prayers to all the victims and their families.”
First responders recovered at least 28 bodies from the icy waters of the Potomac River on Thursday. Officials said there were 64 people on board the commercial flight, including four crew members. Three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.
FIGURE SKATING COMMUNITY MOURNS VICTIMS OF DEADLY PLANE CRASH COLLISION: ‘AT A LOSS FOR WORDS’
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A U.S. Park Police helicopter flies over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)
“We don’t believe there are any survivors,” John Donnelly, the fire chief in the nation’s capital said. “We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”
U.S. Figure Skating released a statement confirming that “several members of our skating community” were aboard the flight. The organization said they were returning home from a development camp being held after the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas, which concluded on Sunday.
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FILE – U.S. figure skaters Tonya Harding (L) and Nancy Kerrigan avoid each other during a training session in Hamar, Norway, during the 1994 Winter Olympics. (Vincent Amalvy/AFP via Getty Images)
Harding’s post comes a day after she joined the popular social media platform, a move that was met by some controversy. Harding’s career was notably marred by her connection to the 1994 attack on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan, which was plotted by Harding’s ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sports
Tottenham are asking not to be called Tottenham
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Eagle-eyed viewers of Sky Sports’ coverage of Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 win against Manchester United last Sunday will have noticed a change.
When head coach Ange Postecoglou was interviewed before kick-off and asked about the lift of having players back from injury, he was described as “Tottenham Hotspur Head Coach”. When the Tottenham starting XI was displayed down the left-hand side of the screen, it said “Spurs” at the top. And when the graphics showed the team in their positions, starting with a cutout of Postecoglou, arms crossed, the word across his chest was “Spurs”.
Nothing too surprising about that, you might think. Tottenham Hotspur is the name of the club. Spurs is their common nickname.
But if you saw the Sky Sports coverage of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat at Everton on January 19, it looked subtly different. During Postecoglou’s pre-match interview, he was described as “Tottenham Head Coach”. The team graphic just had the word “Tottenham” at the top. And the cutout image of arms-crossed Postecoglou again had “Tottenham” written across his chest. When Sky Sports showed the current Premier League table, it was “Tottenham”. And the form table, in which they were 18th out of 20, “Tottenham” again.
Sky Sports’ form guide graphic on January 19 (Sky Sports)
So what changed? What happened to the word ‘Tottenham’ over the last few weeks?
The answer lies in an email that was circulated to Premier League broadcasters on February 10, that has been seen by The Athletic. Titled “Tottenham Hotspur Naming Update”, the email makes clear how the club wants to be referenced.
“Tottenham Hotspur have provided clarification regarding the club’s name. They have requested that the club are primarily known as Tottenham Hotspur, with Spurs being the preferred short version. The club have requested that they are not referred to as Tottenham.”
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GO DEEPER
What is Arsenal? Why are teams United? Uh, Hotspur? Clubs’ names explained
This guidance has gone out to Premier League broadcasters all around the world. The changes that Sky Sports made to their graphics have also been made by other networks that show Tottenham matches. The Premier League website is in line too. It is always “Tottenham Hotspur” or “Spurs” there, never “Tottenham”.
The club’s explanation for this is simple: Tottenham is the name of the area, but not the name of the club. It is long-standing club policy not to refer to themselves as ‘Tottenham’. There is nothing new about this, it has been the club’s position going back to 2011.
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Sky Sports’ league table graphic on February 16 (Sky Sports)
What specifically changed is that in November last year, the club unveiled a “remastered brand identity”, which was “rolled out across all the Club’s physical and digital touchpoints”. This came with a “Brand Playbook”, which explains in comprehensive detail what the new brand identity means. Towards the end of a section titled “Tone of voice” (“Defiant, Authentic, Rallying, Energetic”), there is a paragraph that makes very clear how the club wants to be described.
“In a world full of Uniteds, Citys and Rovers, there is only one Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur. When referring to the team or the brand, please use ‘Tottenham Hotspur’, ‘Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’ or ‘THFC’. Never refer to our Club as ‘Tottenham’, ‘Tottenham Hotspur FC’ or ‘TH’.”
This month’s fresh guidance to broadcasters is an apparent attempt to underline this, and to make sure that ‘Spurs’ rather than ‘Tottenham’ becomes the common shorthand when ‘Tottenham Hotspur’ does not fit.
On the one hand, there certainly is an argument to be made that ‘Tottenham’ is just the name of the local area, and not the name of the club itself. There are plenty of Premier League clubs for whom no one would just use the first geographical part of the name.
You would get some strange looks turning up at Villa Park saying you were looking forward to watching ‘Aston’ play. Very few would refer to the side who play at Molineux simply as ‘Wolverhampton’, or at the City Ground as ‘Nottingham’. And that is before we confront the thorny issue of places, including Manchester or Sheffield or Bristol, where two clubs share the same regional descriptor.
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Tottenham fans have long referred to their team as… Tottenham (Julian Finney/Getty Images)
But on the other hand, there are clubs where the first part of the name does the job. Everyone knows who Newcastle or Leeds or Leicester are. And for many Spurs fans, the name ‘Tottenham’ is perfectly serviceable in telling the world who they support. It has always been commonplace in the Spurs community in a way that ‘Aston’ never has been at Villa Park.
It does lead you to question why ‘Spurs’ might be preferable to ‘Tottenham’ as the shortened name of the club. ‘Spurs’ certainly is distinct “in a world full of Uniteds, Citys and Rovers”, although maybe less so in the global marketplace, given San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. Still, it is memorable and punchy and looks good emblazoned on merchandise.
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‘Hotspur’ is certainly unique and indispensable heritage. The name comes from when a new football club was established in the area in 1882, and two brothers, Hamilton and Lindsay Casey, were searching for a brand identity of their own. They named their club after Henry Percy, the box-office medieval knight who tried to overthrow Henry IV and was killed at the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. His nickname was ‘Hotspur’, hence the name of the club, and hence the club’s logo too. This is history worth clinging to.
But Tottenham is inseparable from Tottenham Hotspur too. It was on Tottenham Marshes where the Casey brothers started playing 143 years ago, Tottenham where the old White Hart Lane ground was opened in 1899, closing in 2017, and then Tottenham where the futuristic new stadium was opened in 2019. Other than their brief spell at Wembley while the new stadium was built, Tottenham Hotspur have always played in this very specific corner of north-east London. This is the club’s home, and their community, for whom they do so much good work.
For many fans, there is no distinction between the club and the area itself. They are synonymous. And they will continue to be ‘Tottenham’ regardless of what the guidance says.
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
Sports
Michigan State takes control of Big Ten with 75-62 win over Michigan
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Jase Richardson scored 21 points and Tre Holloman had 18, leading No. 14 Michigan State to a 75-62 win over No. 12 Michigan on Friday night to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
The Spartans (22-5, 13-3) have surged atop the highly competitive conference with their third straight win. The Wolverines (20-6, 12-3) fell out of first place with their first loss in seven games.
Michigan’s Vladislav Goldin scored 21 points, Danny Wolf had 11 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Nimari Burnett added 12 points. The Wolverines led 38-34 at halftime and the Spartans went ahead for good on Carson Cooper’s dunk early in the second half.
Michigan State’s Richardson earned his first start of the season on Feb. 8 against Oregon. He scored a season-high 29 points that night and has scored in double-digits in every game since then, including Friday.
Jaden Akins had 11 points, Jeremy Fears scored 10 and Michigan State was 9 of 22 on 3-pointers.
Takeaways
Michigan State: Tom Izzo’s team has put itself in a position to win a Big Ten title that wasn’t expected to be in reach when the season began. The Spartans have games remaining against conference contenders: No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 20 Maryland and Michigan at home on March 9 in the regular-season finale.
Michigan: The school agreed to a multiyear contract extension for coach Dusty May, announcing the move two hours before tip off. May, a Bob Knight protege, made it clear he is happy and had no interest in being the next coach at Indiana.
[Related: Michigan basketball, Dusty May agree to multi-year extension]
Key moment
Holloman made three 3-pointers in a 1:27 stretch midway through the second half, helping the Spartans take control.
Key stat
Michigan State’s depth was a difference, with its bench outscoring Michigan’s 31-13.
Up next
Michigan is at Nebraska on Monday night. Michigan State plays at Maryland on Wednesday night.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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Sports
Darcy Kuemper's stellar L.A. comeback doesn't surprise Kings
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The first time Darcy Kuemper played for the Kings, he played well. He just didn’t play often.
As the backup to Jonathan Quick, who became the winningest American-born goalie in NHL history, Kuemper saw less ice time than the Zamboni driver in the half-season he spent in L.A. Yet he lost just once in regulation in 15 starts and had a better save percentage and goals-against average than Quick.
Which is to say he played well enough to start. But he wasn’t going to do that with the Kings.
“Goalie’s a tough position,” Kuemper said. “Only one guy gets to play.”
So rather than let Kuemper, then 27, languish on the end of the bench, Rob Blake, the Kings’ first-year general manager, traded him to Arizona with 22 games left in the 2017-18 season. It was the move that redefined a career that has come full circle, with Kuemper returning to the Kings last summer to put together one of the best seasons in the NHL.
A backup in parts of six seasons in Minnesota and L.A., Kuemper became the No. 1 goalie for the Coyotes, trading the one-year, $650,000 contract he had with the Kings for a two-year, $3.7-million extension in Arizona, where he finished fifth in voting for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender.
“Basically what happened was an opportunity,” Kuemper said. “Blake met with me and I was like ‘I don’t want to leave but I want to play more. I want to be a No. 1 in this league.’ So the trade happened.”
It wasn’t a totally altruistic move on the Kings’ part. Kuemper’s contract would have ended when the season did, so by trading him, Blake assured the team it would get something in return.
Still, it’s the thought that counts, Kuemper said.
“I’m forever grateful for him providing me with that opportunity,” he said. “He definitely didn’t have to.”
Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper is shining in his stint in Los Angeles.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
“He knew our system, the way we like to play. He’s familiar with the organization. It made for a little bit more seamless transition.”
— Bill Ranford, Kings goaltending coach, on Darcy Kuemper
Now 35, he’s repaying that gratitude. After reuniting with the Kings in a trade primarily remembered for ridding the team of underperforming and overpaid center Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kuemper has a .919 save percentage that ranks third in the NHL among goalies with at least 30 starts while his GAA of 2.19 is second.
Plus he’s been getting better as the season has worn on. Since returning from a lower-body injury on Dec. 7, Kuemper had gone 12-4-3 heading into Saturday’s game with Utah, the Kings’ first after the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“He’s probably been our backbone,” Kings coach Jim Hiller said. “He’s just been very, very consistent. That’s really what you want in a goaltender: just to be pretty consistent.
“Stop the ones that we think he should stop, make a couple of great saves every once in a while and we’ll be good with that.”
Kuemper, a rangy 6-foot-5, butterfly-style goalie with good puck-handling skills, has done more than that. He’s turned a position that was a question mark, if not a liability, at the end of last season into a strength for a team with a defense-first mindset. None of that surprises Bill Ranford, the Kings’ director of goaltending, who had a say in the decision to bring Kuemper back.
“The numbers that he had the first time around were very good,” Ranford said of Kuemper, who was an All-Star in Arizona and won a Stanley Cup in Colorado before suffering through two injury-plagued seasons in Washington, where he lost more games than he won and registered the lowest save percentage and highest GAA of his 13-year career.
“He knew our system, the way we like to play. He’s familiar with the organization. It made for a little bit more seamless transition. And then, obviously, from my first time around with him, I felt I had an understanding of what he’s trying to do to get his game back on track.”
Kuemper, who learned of the trade when his wife, Sydney, knocked on the bathroom door with the news while he was showering, said the fact the Kings had the confidence to bring him back after two poor seasons meant a lot. So did the phone call from goalie coach Mike Buckley, who reached out to Kuemper immediately after the trade to offer some suggestions.
“There wasn’t any pushback,” Buckley said. “That was really a relief, that the changes that I thought would help him, he was totally in agreement.
“Credit to him for being open-minded.”
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Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper skates back to the net during a game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 1.
(Karl B DeBlaker / Associated Press)
Neither Kuemper nor Buckley would go into detail about those changes, but both said the goalie has been encouraged to use his instincts and play more freely.
“A big part of it too is just getting back to having fun,” Buckley said. “Taking that pressure off and enjoying what you do. Being present in the moment.”
Being present again in Southern California, a place Kuemper said he never wanted to leave, also has helped.
“You know there’s been a lot of good goalies stuck in a backup role. It’s hard to get that opportunity, to get the chance to be a No, 1 guy,” said Kuemper, who this month welcomed his and Sydney’s second child, a boy named Barrett.
“A lot of time it takes a trade or something. I’m very fortunate that I was able to get that chance.”
He and the Kings are making the most of it.
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