Bucks rookie Parker out for season
Highly regarded Milwaukee Bucks rookie Jabari Parker will miss the rest of the season after the forward tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Parker suffered the injury, initially believed to be a sprain, when making a drive to the basket in Milwaukee’s win over the Phoenix Suns on Monday.
Parker, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, had been enjoying a strong rookie season, averaging 12.5 points and 5.6 rebounds entering the game against the Suns.
He had been a key part of his team’s resurgence as the Bucks (13-12) already have just two fewer wins than they managed all of last season.
Orioles’ Davis gets Adderall approval
Baltimore Orioles slugger Chris Davis has received approval from Major League Baseball to use Adderall for the 2015 season.
Davis, 28, was suspended 25 games in September for testing positive for amphetamines. He missed the final 17 games of the 2014 regular season and then sat out all seven of the Orioles’ playoff games due to the suspension. He has one more game left to serve and will miss opening day.
Davis was traded from the Texas Rangers to the Orioles in 2011. He led the majors with 53 home runs and 138 RBIs in 2013, but struggled in 2014. He hit .196 with 26 homers, 72 RBIs and 173 strikeouts in 127 games last season.
Markakis expected at spring training
Recently signed Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis underwent fusion surgery on a herniated disk in his neck but should ready to join the team for spring training in late February.
Recovery time from the surgery, which was performed Wednesday in Atlanta by Dr. Steven Wray, is projected to be eight weeks.
The Braves signed the 31-year-old Markakis to a four-year, $4 million contract knowing that he had the injury since before the 2013 season when he was with the Baltimore Orioles.
In nine years with the Orioles, Markis compiled a .290 career batting average with 141 home runs and 658 RBIs, including two 100-RBI seasons.
Ali’s ‘What’s My Name?’ opponent Terrell dies
Former heavyweight boxing champion Ernie Terrell, best known for his punishing loss to Muhammad Ali in the famed “What’s My Name?” fight in 1967, has died at the age of 75, the Chicago Sun-Times reported on Wednesday.
Terrell, a 6-foot 6-inch boxer with an 82-inch reach, had been suffering from dementia and died at his home in Chicago on Tuesday.
Born in Mississippi, Terrell beat Eddie Machen in 1965 to claim the vacant World Boxing Association heavyweight crown and successfully defended the title in his next two fights before losing it to Ali in a lopsided bout.
The pair slugged it out over 15 rounds at the Astrodome in Houston where Ali made Terrell pay for refusing to call him Ali, instead referring to his birth name of Cassius Clay.
Terrell retired from boxing in 1973 with a 46-9 record, including 21 knockouts.
Terrell, whose sister Jean replaced Diana Ross as lead singer for The Supremes in 1970, was also an accomplished singer and his group, Ernie Terrell and the Heavyweights, performed in Las Vegas and on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show.
West Virginia AD to join NCAA
West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck will resign to take a second-in-command position under NCAA president Mark Emmert.
Luck, the father of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, was named to the newly created position of executive vice president of regulatory affairs on Wednesday. He will report directly to Emmert.
Luck, 54, will oversee the day-to-day operations as he brings academic and membership affairs, the eligibility center and enforcement under one umbrella.
Luck had been West Virginia’s athletic director since August 2010. He oversaw the school’s move from the Big East to the Big 12 and hired Dana Holgorsen as head football coach.
Dayton dismisses two big men
Dayton lost the two tallest players on its active roster Wednesday when starting center Devon Scott and primary backup Jalen Robinson were removed from the team.
The 6-foot-9 juniors allegedly stole money while trespassing in the dorms and were dismissed from the program with no chance for reinstatement, ESPN.com reported.
The Flyers (7-2), who reached the Elite Eight last season, now have no eligible player taller than 6-6 on the roster.
Scott averaged 9.1 points and 7.4 rebounds while starting all nine games this season. Robinson, his backup, was averaging 3.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 15.3 minutes per game.