This was Newcastle’s first European campaign since 1977.
It was also their first since the ban on English clubs playing on the continent after the Heysel Stadium disaster had been lifted in 1990.
There was still a reasonable police presence in Bilbao on what was a national holiday.
Supporter Karl Pedley recalled how Newcastle fans were accompanied into San Mames by “full riot police, some of whom were armed”.
However, just a few minutes into the game, he noticed how “a number of them had sat down with their helmets and pads off, and were enjoying what we were doing”.
There was no edge, even after Newcastle were defeated 1-0, and Athletic fans invaded the pitch and sprinted towards the away end to applaud the travelling support.
Newcastle supporters responded by chanting “Athletic! Athletic! Athletic!” – but that was not the end of the matter.
“The police held us back for a short while and took us down a long concrete staircase into the main road,” Pedley said. “All we could see at the bottom was this mass of red and white.
“They brought us down in single file and let us go. We thought ‘oh, here we go.’ But all the Athletic fans wanted to do was shake your hand, pat you on the back and take you to a bar. It was as if they were like ‘adopt a Geordie’.
“I don’t think there was anyone in a Newcastle United shirt who didn’t get fed and watered that night. They were just really appreciative that we were enjoying their city.”
Chants were exchanged as Newcastle fans taught Athletic supporters – among others – “walking in a Keegan wonderland” and “he gets the ball and scores a goal, Andy, Andy Cole”.
Shirts and scarves were even swapped and this remains, possibly, the only occasion where a number of Newcastle supporters wore red and white, which are also the colours of bitter rivals Sunderland.
One such Athletic shirt remains a cherished memento from an away day that Newcastle fan Philip Long will never forget.
“It’s still in the wardrobe with a couple hundred of my Newcastle tops,” he said. “I’ll never let go of it.”
For those high schools in California that still don’t have an athletic trainer, what happened last week at San Clemente High was another reason why they are so valuable for the safety reasons. And also proven was the requirement that coaches be certified in CPR every two years.
As a soccer class was ending last Thursday, an assistant coach fell to the ground. Head coach Chris Murray thought he tripped. Then he looked into his eyes, which appeared dilated, and saw that his face was purple. While a football coach nearby was calling 911, Murray began chest compressions.
Athletic trainer Amber Anaya received a text in her office that said, “Emergency.” She got into her golf cart that contained her automated external defibrilator (AED) machine and raced to the field within two minutes. She determined the coach was in cardiac arrest.
While Anaya hooked up her AED machine to the coach, Murray continued chest compressions. The AED machine evaluated the patient and recommended one shock. This went on for some seven minutes until paramedics arrived. Another shock was given after the paramedics took over.
The coach was transported to a hospital and survived. He would receive a pacemaker. It was a happy ending thanks to people who knew what to do in case of an emergency.
Murray said what he did was based on instincts and adrenaline. As soon as the ambulance left, he said he collapsed to his knee exhausted.
“His ribs are sore but not broken,” Murray said, “so I guess I did good.”
All the preparation in case of an emergency was put to good use by the coach trained in CPR and the athletic trainer who knew how to use an AED machine.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Martinelli has been a key player for Arteta during his time as Arsenal manager but the winger’s drop in form meant he had become the topic of fan debate about his place in the team.
The Brazil international was aware of that talk and his confidence suffered.
He scored 10 goals in all competitions last season, with a memorable strike coming in their quarter-final second-leg win at Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Arteta has always trusted Martinelli in big games and the manager was delighted for the 24-year-old to play such a big part in this Arsenal win.
“He fully deserves it,” said Arteta. “I adore Gabi. His attitude, his commitment, his positivity, what he is willing to do for the team.
“We certainly value all of the quality he has and brings to the team – I am so happy he has decided the game for us in the two actions.”
The Arsenal players ran to celebrate with Martinelli after his goal, with Riccardo Calafiori pointing at the player’s name on the back of his shirt in front of the supporters.
“That’s the spirit,” added Arteta. “That’s why I really enjoy every single day working with them and being part of this team.
“The way they look after each other is genuine. They really want the best for each other and they recognise someone that works every single day in the manner that Gabi does. You can go through struggles or through moments, and recognising that and having that capacity to connect with him, I think it will mean a lot to him.”
“I was sure that Gabi was going to react like that. You raise the level to Gabi and he was going to do that.
“They are the moments that hopefully are going to give him the confidence again to go, as he is an outstanding player.”
More details are emerging about a company that allegedly paid Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard millions to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap, including that the team came close in 2021 to granting naming rights for its Inglewood arena to Aspiration Partners.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer nearly granted naming rights to the company, but ended up choosing financial services firm Intuit to grace the $2-billion venue, a source familiar with the matter said. Intuit, which has a $186-billion net worth and developed TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks, ended up paying a reported $500 million over 23 years for the naming rights.
Four years later, Aspiration, a sustainability firm that also generated and sold carbon credits, is out of business. Co-founder Joseph Sanberg has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding multiple investors and lenders. Listed among creditors in Aspiration’s bankruptcy documents is Leonard, raising questions about whether his $28-million endorsement deal with the company skirted NBA salary cap rules.
One of the investors Sanberg defrauded was Ballmer, listed by Fortune magazine as the sixth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $157 billion. The Clippers owner invested $50 million in Aspiration, which in turn entered into a $330-million sponsorship agreement with the team.
This week, the Athletic reported allegations that Aspiration agreed to pay Leonard $28 million for a job with no responsibilities, in an effort to circumvent the NBA salary cap. Ballmer was interviewed Thursday night by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and denied involvement in Leonard’s deal with Aspiration, but the NBA has launched an investigation.
Ballmer said he was “conned” by the company and that the Clippers did not circumvent NBA salary cap rules, which the team was accused of doing in a podcast report by Pablo Torre of the Athletic.
A plane flies over the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Ballmer told Shelburne that Aspiration offered more than Intuit for dome naming rights, and a Clippers spokesman confirmed that account. However, Ballmer insisted that the Clippers did not violate NBA rules against skirting the salary cap, and the team had agreed to a contract extension with Leonard and the sponsorship deal with Aspiration before the player and the company met.
“We were done with Kawhi, we were done with Aspiration,” Ballmer said. “The deals were all locked and loaded. Then, they did request to be introduced to Kawhi, and under the rules, we can introduce our sponsors to our athletes. We just can’t be involved.”
The Clippers signed Leonard to a four-year, $176-million contract in August 2021 even though he was recovering from a partially torn ACL in his right knee that kept him sidelined the entire 2021-22 season. Ballmer said the sponsorship deal with Aspiration was completed in September 2021 and that the Clippers introduced Leonard to Aspiration two months later.
“As part of our cooperation with the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission, we produced texts and emails,” Ballmer said. “It was part of the document production in their investigation. We even found the email that made the first introduction [between Aspiration and Leonard]. It was early in November.
“Where could any of this circumvention happened? It couldn’t have, it didn’t. The introduction got made and they were off to the races on their own. We weren’t involved.”
The Boston Sports Journal reported that Leonard did not appear in promotional material as other endorsers did because Aspiration executives “saw no brand synergy with Leonard and chose not to use his services. They instead preferred to partner with climate-focused influencers.”
Ballmer couldn’t explain why Leonard did no marketing or endorsement work for Aspiration, telling Shelburne that he never spoke with the player about his deal with the company.
“I don’t know why they did what they did and I don’t know how different it is, I really don’t,” he said. “And, frankly, any speculation would be crazy. These were guys who committed fraud. Look, they conned me. I made an investment in these guys thinking it was on the up-and-up and they conned me. At this stage, I have no ability to predict why they did anything they did.”
The salary cap is a dollar amount that limits what teams can spend on player payroll. The purpose of the cap is to ensure parity, preventing the wealthiest teams from outspending smaller markets to acquire the best players.
Circumventing the cap by paying a player outside of his contract is strictly prohibited. Teams that exceed the cap must pay luxury tax penalties that grow increasingly severe. Revenues from the tax penalties are then distributed in part to smaller-market teams and in part to teams that do not exceed the salary cap.
The NBA said it will investigate the allegations laid out by Torre. Ballmer said he welcomes the probe. If allegations were made against a team other than the Clippers, “I’d want the league to investigate, to take it seriously,” he said.
“We know the rules, and if anything is not clear, we remind ourselves what the rules are. And we make it absolutely clear we will abide by those rules.”
The cap was implemented before the 1984-85 season at a mere $3.6 million. Ten years later, it was $15.9 million, and 10 years after that it had risen to $43.9 million. By the 2014-15 season it was $63.1 million.
The biggest spike came before the 2016-2017 season when it jumped to $94 million because of an influx of revenue from a new nine-year, $24-billion media rights deal with ESPN and TNT.
Salary cap rules negotiated between the NBA and the players’ union are spelled out in the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Proven incidents of teams circumventing the cap are few, with a violation by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2000 serving as the most egregious.
The Timberwolves made a secret agreement with free agent and former No. 1 overall draft pick Joe Smith, signing him to a succession of below-market one-year deals in order to enable the team to go over the cap with a huge contract ahead of the 2001-02 season.
The NBA voided his contract, fined the Timberwolves $3.5 million, and stripped them of five first-round draft picks — two of which were later returned. Also, owner Glen Taylor and general manager Kevin McHale were suspended.
Then-NBA commissioner David Stern told the Minnesota Star Tribune at the time: “What was done here was a fraud of major proportions. There were no fewer than five undisclosed contracts tightly tucked away, in the hope that they would never see the light of day. … The magnitude of this offense was shocking.”
According to Article 13 of the CBA, if the Clippers were found to have circumvented the cap, it would be a first offense punishable by a $4.5-million fine, the loss of one first-round draft pick, and voiding of Leonard’s contract. However, the Clippers don’t have a first-round pick until 2027.
With the high school sports season resuming, it can’t be stressed enough about the importance of schools having athletic trainers to help keep athletes safe when emergencies happen.
That was never more evident than last spring during a track and field meet at Culver City High.
At the end of a 400-meters freshman race, a runner dropped to the ground on his chest near the finish line. The initial impression by most observers was just another exhausted athlete from a grueling race.
Culver City first-year athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas, fresh out of graduating from Cal State Northridge, was immediately on the scene to evaluate. That’s when things got serious.
“He didn’t have a pulse,” Rivas said.
He determined the athlete from Inglewood High was in full cardiac arrest.
He instructed one of his assistants to call 911 and the other to retrieve the AED defibrillator. He started compressions. He hooked up the unresponsive athlete to the automatic defibrillator. It advised one shock. Rivas pushed the button. It worked. The shock brought the athlete back.
Paramedics arrived within five minutes to take over and transport him to the hospital. The athlete would learn he needed a pacemaker. The quick action by the athletic trainer helped save him.
Athletic trainer Jonathan Rivas of Culver City.
(George Laase)
“This was my first cardiac arrest,” the 28-year-old Rivas said. “I was super stressful. Honestly, I went on auto pilot. My main goal was to get this kid help as fast as possible.”
The majority of high schools don’t have athletic trainers. In the City Section, there’s only 12 out of 71 that have 11-man football teams.
Adam Cady, an athletic trainer for Kaiser Permanente, has started a nonprofit trying to help athletes gain access to trainers.
“It’s super important,” Rivas said of schools having an athletic trainer.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
May 17 (UPI) — A man with a long gun entered a Las Vegas Athletic Club gym Friday afternoon and killed an employee and injured three others before police shot and killed him.
The shooting occurred at about 1:30 p.m. PDT at the LVAC location on Lake Mead and Rainbow Blvd. in northwest Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Athletic club officials on Saturday identified the deceased shooting victim as longtime employee Edgar Quinonez.
“Edgar was a beloved part of the LVAC family for 15 years,” the LVAC said Saturday in an Instagram post.
“In that time he became so much more than a colleague. He was a source of kindness, dedication and positivity,” the LVAC said. “His presence touched the lives of so many members and teammates, and his impact will never be forgotten.
“We are praying for Edgar’s family, friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him. He will be deeply missed.
Local police responded to the scene within minutes of the shooting and shot the suspect, who was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.
The three surviving shooting victims were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Police have not revealed the shooter’s name or a possible motive for the attack.
