Bieber emotional discussing surgery

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This is a 2024 photo of pitcher Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians baseball team. This image reflects the Cleveland Guardians’ active roster as of Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, when this image was taken in Goodyear, Ariz. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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University of Kentucky head coach John Calipari meets with reporters before attending his NCAA college men’s basketball team practice at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Kentucky will face Oakland in a first round tournament game on Thursday. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Tottenham’s Harry Kane receives the Freedom of the City of London at the Guildhall in London, Thursday, May 25, 2023 in recognition of his outstanding sporting achievements. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

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Bieber emotional discussing surgery

Shane Bieber held it together Monday for as long as he could. The Guardians ace has spent the last few days trying to process his new reality — Tommy John surgery and not pitching again this season. It’s been harder than he imagined. His voice choked with emotion, Bieber paused while speaking to reporters for the first time since deciding to have the surgery. Bieber, who missed more than two months last season with elbow issues, gutted out two starts — 12 scoreless innings and 20 strikeouts against the A’s and Mariners — before succumbing to pain. He’s now suffering in a different way, and Bieber is still struggling to accept that he has to move forward. “Baseball will be there,” the 2020 Cy Young winner said, speaking softly. “... It’s just an injury that I’ll get past.” The 28-year-old Bieber’s future in Cleveland is cloudier than ever. He’d been reluctant to sign a long-term deal, in hopes of cashing in as a free agent. The Guardians considered trading him before his elbow flared up last season, and that seemed to be a possible scenario this year. Now, nothing is certain.

Calipari near deal to coach Arkansas

In what’s shaping up to be a significant SEC shift, John Calipari reportedly is finalizing a deal to become the men’s basketball coach at Arkansas following 15 seasons at Kentucky. ESPN reported that the contract is for five years and would pay the 65-year-old Calipari just under the $8.5 million he made annually at Kentucky, with the possibility to exceed that salary through incentives. Calipari, a 2015 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, would replace Eric Musselman. He left Arkansas for USC after five seasons with the Razorbacks. Calipari led Kentucky to four Final Four appearances and won the 2012 national championship with the Wildcats but hasn’t advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament since 2019. That dry spell includes first-round losses to No. 15 seed St. Peters in 2022 and No. 13 seed Oakland last month. The key connection between Calipari and Arkansas is reportedly his close relationship with billionaire John H. Tyson, the chairman of Tyson Foods and an Arkansas alumni and donor.

Arsenal stands in way of Kane, Bayern

Harry Kane moved to Bayern Munich in the hope — maybe even the expectation — of finally winning a first trophy of his career. Arsenal, the 30-year-old England captain’s old foe, could ensure that long wait goes on for at least another season. The Champions League remains Bayern’s last hope of silverware in a difficult season that has seen Germany’s grandest club dominated by Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and eliminated by third-division Saarbruecken in the second round of the German Cup. Bayern’s opponent in the Champions League quarterfinals is Arsenal, pitting Kane against a team he considered his fiercest rival during a 19-year stint with Tottenham that ended in August. The first leg is in London on Tuesday, when Kane will no doubt be the target of jeers from 60,000 Arsenal fans — there’ll be no Bayern supporters inside Emirates Stadium for disciplinary reasons. “It’ll be very enjoyable for Harry to be here against Arsenal in a Champions League quarterfinal,” Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said Monday. “... I feel him very motivated.” —News services