Curbstone to honor state champs

On Monday at the Avion Banquet Center on Western Reserve Road in Beaver Township, The Curbstone Coaches will honor the following 2025 Ohio high school state champions:

¯ Beaver Local’s Savannah Nign, Division II track & field girls 400-meter dash

¯ Division III McDonald boys track & field team

¯ McDonald’s Drew Zajack, track & field discus

¯ Chalker’s Ethan Bosch, Division III track & field boys 100-meter dash

The event begins at noon and coaches, parents, fans and general public are welcome to attend.

The buffet lines will open at 11:45 a.m.

Note: This will be the final meeting of the season for the Curbstone Coaches.

They will recess for the summer and reconvene a new season on Sept. 8.

Badgers sue Miami for tampering

The University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective VC Connect filed a joint lawsuit on Friday against the University of Miami alleging it knowingly induced one of the Badgers’ football players to abandon a lucrative name, image and likeness contract to play for the Florida school this upcoming season.

Allegations of tampering rarely get to this level and the 23-page lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Wisconsin and obtained by The Associated Press, is unusual. Depending on its resolution, it could have a a wider impact on future NIL deals across college athletics.

The player in question in the filing is referred to only as “Student-Athlete A.” But the case summary describes facts that line up with the situation involving cornerback Xavier Lucas, who last December announced his plans to enter the transfer portal.

Shortly afterward, Darren Heitner, who has been representing Lucas, indicated that Wisconsin was refusing to put Lucas’ name in the portal and that it was hindering his ability to talk with other schools. In January, Heitner announced that Lucas would be playing for Miami this fall.

“Indeed, student-athletes’ newfound NIL rights will be rendered meaningless if third parties are allowed to induce student-athletes to abandon their contractual commitments,” a portion of the lawsuit reads.

Wisconsin said in January that it had credible information that Miami and Lucas made impermissible contact with each other before the former Badgers cornerback decided to transfer.

Wisconsin and VC Connect allege that the inducement for Lucas to attend Miami happened within days of him entering his NIL agreement to play for the Badgers, and that they incurred substantial monetary and reputational harm. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and “a declaration that Miami’s conduct directed towards Student-Athlete A constituted tampering.”

A message left with the University of Miami seeking comment was not immediately returned. In a text message Friday, Heitner declined to comment on the lawsuit but he said that Lucas still plans to attend Miami and play football.

Lucas, who is from Pompano Beach, Florida, had 12 tackles, an interception and a sack as a freshman for Wisconsin last season.

Heitner said that Lucas hasn’t received any money from Wisconsin and therefore owes no money to the school. Heitner also argued that Wisconsin had violated an NCAA bylaw by not entering Lucas into the transfer database within two business days of the player’s request.

Clark, Collier lead All-Star voting

Indiana star Caitlin Clark has an early lead in the fan voting for next month’s WNBA All-Star Game, the league announced Friday.

The guard received 515,993 votes and was followed by Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, who garnered 484,758 votes. There were three other Indiana players in the top 10 with Aliyah Boston third, Kelsey Mitchell seventh and Lexie Hull ninth.

This year’s game will be played in Indiana on July 19.

A’ja Wilson of Las Vegas and Breanna Stewart of New York were fourth and fifth in the balloting, respectively. The two were the captains for the All-Star Game in 2022 and 2023.

Sabrina Ionescu, Stewart’s teammate, was eighth, while rookies Paige Bueckers of Dallas, in sixth, and Kiki Iriafen of Washington, in 10th, rounded out the top 10.

Fan voting ends on June 28 and accounts for 50% of the overall vote. Current players and a media panel each account for 25%. The top four guards and six frontcourt players with the best overall score between the three groups are honored as starters for the All-Star Game.

The league’s coaches choose the 12 reserve players.

The two starters who receive the most fan votes will be the captains of the game and choose their All-Star teams with the results announced on July 8.

This year’s contest will have the traditional format of two teams playing against each other. Last season was a matchup of the USA Olympic team playing against an All-Star team.

Stanley Cup Finals rating drop

U.S. television ratings for the Stanley Cup Final rematch between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers declined from their first matchup a year ago.

An average of 2.5 million viewers watched on TNT, with 2.8 million tuning in for the Panthers’ series-clinching Game 6 victory. The overall number on cable is down from 4.17 million last year when the final was on over-the-air TV on ABC and the lowest since Tampa Bay versus Montreal in 2021.

The share of viewers increased 15% from TNT’s first Cup final in 2023 when Vegas defeated Florida. Social media engagements on NHL content were up 32% over the course of the playoffs.

An average of 3.8 million viewers watched the final in Canada on Sportsnet, with Connor McDavid looking for his first championship. The 1.8 million on average for the playoffs, which included five out of the 16 teams involved being based in Canada, is a 6% increase from a year ago.

Ratings for the Cup final were significantly lower than the 4 Nations Face-Off in February, the return of international competition featuring the NHL’s best players. The final between the U.S. and Canada was watched by 9.3 million people in the U.S. and 10.7 million in Canada, after the six round-robin games averaged 4.6 million in North America.