DS Talk » most part, players from both teams skirted que

NFLOpening day in the NFL saw Kansas City cornerback Marcus Peters raise a black-gloved fist during the national anthem, a protest amplified later when four Miami Dolphins kneeled on the sideline with hands on their hearts as The Star Spangled Banner played in Seattle.The protests were inspired by San Francisco backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick , the first NFL player who chose to sit and take a knee during the anthem in preseason games to call attention to what he termed the oppression of blacks and other minorities.Peters gesture was the only one visible throughout the early games as the anthems took on more significance because of the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks.GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Jimmy Garoppolo did just what Tom Brady always seems to do. Lead the New England Patriots to a late score and victory.But the Patriots needed a little help.Arizonas Chandler Catanzaro missed a 47-yard field goal with 41 seconds to play and the severely depleted Patriots escaped with a 23-21 victory Sunday night in the season opener.The miss came after Garoppolo, in his first NFL start, directed the Patriots from their own 19 to the Arizona 15 to set up Stephen Gostkowskis 23-yard field goal for what proved to be the winner with 3:44 to play.Garoppolo completed 24 of 33 passes for 264 yards with no interceptions. He never seemed rattled.TENNISNEW YORK -- Stan Wawrinka is the first to acknowledge he hasnt always been the most consistent player -- or the strongest mentally. Thats why, when he shows his mettle during a match, he likes to point his right index finger to his temple.That signature gesture got a lot of use in the U.S. Open final, when Wawrinka surprisingly managed to wear down Novak Djokovic and beat the defending champion 6-7 (1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 for his first U.S. Open title and third Grand Slam trophy overall.The 31-year-old Wawrinka is the oldest U.S. Open mens champion since Ken Rosewall was 35 in 1970.NEW YORK -- Angelique Kerber won her first U.S. Open title and the second Grand Slam trophy of her breakthrough season, beating Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on Saturday.The No. 2-seeded Kerber trailed by a break at 3-1 in the third set before taking five of the last six games against a fading Pliskova, who was seeded 10th and hadnt been past the third round at a major until this tournament.The left-handed Kerber already was assured of making her debut at No. 1 in the WTA rankings on Monday, ending Serena Williams record-tying 186-week stay at the top.Never a Grand Slam finalist before 2016, the German beat Williams for the Australian Open title in January, then lost to her in the Wimbledon final in July.COLLEGE FOOTBALLOklahoma State dropped out of The Associated college football poll after a controversial loss, and Georgia and Clemson fell after close calls against lightly regarded opposition.Alabama is still No. 1, receiving 56 out of 61 first-place votes. No. 2 Florida State, No. 3 Ohio State and No. 4 Michigan all moved up one spot. The Seminoles got four first-place votes and Michigan received one.Clemson fell from second to fifth after a four-point win against Troy. No. 16 Georgia dropped seven spots after beating FCS Nicholls by two.BASEBALLTORONTO -- David Ortiz hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Hanley Ramirez also connected, and the Boston Red Sox outslugged Toronto 11-8 to reclaim a two-game lead over the Blue Jays in the AL East.Ortiz put Boston up 10-8 with a drive off Joaquin Benoit. It was his 41st career home run at Rogers Centre, his highest total at any road stadium.With his 535th career homer, Ortiz moved past Jimmie Foxx into sole possession of 18th place on baseballs career list. He also increased his RBI total to 110, the most by a player age 40 or above since Dave Winfield had 108 for Toronto in 1992.Edwin Encarnacion homered twice and Troy Tulowitzki hit his third career grand slam for the Blue Jays, who are tied with Baltimore for the wild-card lead.HOUSTON -- Jorge Soler and Addison Russell homered to lead Chicago to a 9-5 win over the Houston Astros, moving the Cubs closer to clinching the NL Central.Soler hit a solo home run as part of Chicagos four-run third, and Russell hit a two-run shot -- his 20th of the season -- in the fourth as the Cubs built a 9-0 lead.Chicago extended its lead in the NL Central to 16 games over St. Louis.GOLFCARMEL, Ind. -- Powerful off the tee and relentless with the putter, Dustin Johnson didnt give anyone much of a chance by closing with a 5-under 67 to win the BMW Championship by three shots and move to the top of the FedEx Cup.Johnson won for the third time in his last eight tournaments dating to his first major at the U.S. Open, and this might have been his most complete performance.Paul Casey did just about everything he could, including two early birdies for two-shot swings that erased a four-shot deficit in two holes. Johnson answered with a pair of birdies and he was on his way. Casey made a 25-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole to get within one shot, but that lasted only as long as it took Johnson to make an 18-foot eagle putt on top of him to keep the margin at three shots.Casey was runner-up in his second straight FedEx Cup playoff event, losing to Rory McIlroy a week ago.AUTO RACINGRICHMOND, Va. -- It was yet another Denny Hamlin runaway for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday night in what turned out to be an anticlimactic end to NASCARs regular season.The fireworks came off the track at Richmond International Raceway, where Tony Stewart intentionally wrecked Ryan Newman before Newman angrily chided his former boss for the accident that officially ended Newmans chances to make the playoffs.The verbal beat down from Newman came with 37 laps left, before Hamlin finished off his third career Sprint Cup win at his home track while giving JGR its third consecutive victory at the track and ninth in the last 15 races.Newman called Stewart bipolar, said the retiring race car driver had anger issues, and all but outright referenced the 2014 incident in which Stewart fatally struck a sprint car driver. Dmitry Orlov Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. Dmitry Orlov Capitals Jersey . LOUIS -- St. http://www.officialcapitalsfanstore.com/authentic-mike-gartner-capitals-jersey/ . Now tied for second in the league in shootout goals, the 24-year-old likes to see what the opposing goaltender has in store before he ultimately lands on a move. Jakub Vrana Capitals Jersey .com) - Yankee Stadium is the home of the Bronx Bombers, but on Sunday afternoon it will open its gates to host the latest addition of the Hudson River Rivalry. Lars Eller Capitals Jersey . Traditional contenders Brazil, Greece and Turkey drew the other three spots to complete the 24-team field for this summers tournament in Spain, basketball governing body FIBA announced Saturday at its meeting in Barcelona. TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama and Auburn dispatched their usual pre-Iron Bowl FCS opponents as expected.Now, the top-ranked Crimson Tide and No. 16 Auburn can focus on what really matters in this state: The Iron Bowl. `Bama has moved on from a lackluster performance against Chattanooga (still a 31-3 victory), and the Tigers 55-0 win over Alabama A&M was hardly indicative of what theyll face Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.Ditto for Alabama, which shouldnt have any issues getting up for this one.Its pretty easy because its a rivalry game, the biggest one of the year, you could say, Tide defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson said. I still feel like some of my teammates who were here when we lost to Auburn a couple of years ago still feel the pain of losing to them. Its pretty easy to focus up just because we dont want to have that feeling again.Alabama (11-0, 7-0 Southeastern Conference, No. 1 CFP) has won the past two meetings and 23 games in a row. Auburn (8-3, 5-2) No. 15) is battling injuries to quarterback Sean White (throwing shoulder) and tailback Kamryn Pettway (left leg) that kept both out of the Alabama A&M game. Pettway also didnt play in a loss to Georgia that kept this from being a showdown for the SEC West title.Alabama has already clinched that and will face Florida in the SEC championship game.Senior Jeremy Johnson replaced White against Alabama A&M, passing for a touchdown and rushing for two more. Coach Gus Malzahn didnt offer any indication of Whites status for the Iron Bowl after the game.ddddddddddddI think at this point its just being able to officially practice probably more than anything, Malzahn said. Well see where thats at. Im not ready to predict how hes going to feel in a day or two, or how hes going to do.For the most part, players from both teams skirted questions about the Iron Bowl after their respective games.Not Tide receiver Gehrig Dieter, who will experience his first after transferring from Bowling Green.I feel like everyone in the country kind of watches that game growing up, said Dieter, who caught two 1-yard touchdown passes against Chattanooga. I always watched it growing up, and its exciting that I have the chance to play in it. Its pretty exciting, as a team, what weve been doing this year, so we will come out next game and have an intensity about us.The general consensus among coach Nick Saban and Alabama players was that that intensity wasnt up to par in the latest game. The Tide fell behind early and led by a modest 14-3 at halftime.Tomlinson said players had already addressed the issues in the locker room before Saban came in wanting to know, Do you believe me now?He was angry, because Sabans always angry, Tomlinson said. He just got on everybody and made sure we were all focused.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '