Sammy Sosa appeared to acknowledge using performance enhancing drugs during a career in which he hit more than 600 home runs, and the Chicago Cubs said they were ready to welcome back their former star.

In a statement released Thursday through Aurora Global Consulting, Sosa said he is sorry for mistakes.

“There were times I did whatever I could to recover from injuries in an effort to keep my strength up to perform over 162 games,” he said. “I never broke any laws. But in hindsight, I made mistakes and I apologize.”

Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said the team is “ready to move forward together” with Sosa and plans to invite Sosa to the annual fan convention Jan. 17-19 in Chicago.

“We appreciate Sammy releasing his statement and for reaching out,” Ricketts said. “No one played harder or wanted to win more. Nobody’s perfect but we never doubted his passion for the game and the Cubs. It is an understatement to say that Sammy is a fan favorite.”

Soccer

Trinity Rodman says relationship with father is strained >> U.S. women’s national team forward Trinity Rodman has opened up about her strained relationship with father, Dennis Rodman, saying he is largely absent from her life.

“He’s not a dad. Maybe by blood, but nothing else,” Trinity Rodman told host Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

Rodman said that growing up, her mother tried to shield her two children from the chaotic lifestyle of the former NBA star. Rodman’s mother, Michelle Moyer, divorced Dennis Rodman in 2012.

Trinity Rodman, who won a gold medal with the United States this summer at the Paris Olympics, has a brother, DJ Rodman, who currently plays in the NBA’s G League.

Dennis Rodman responded to his daughter on Instagram, saying he is sorry he “wasn’t the dad you wanted me to be” and said he tried to be a father and will keep trying.

“I will try even when it’s difficult and if it takes a long time. I’m always here And tell you all the time rather it’s your voice or voicemail how proud I am. I always had one wish and it was I wish my kids would call me and come see me. Hopefully one day I can get that,” he wrote in the post.

Friedkin Group completes purchase of Everton >> Half of the Premier League is under majority American ownership after Texas-based Friedkin Group completed its 98.8% purchase of Everton on Thursday.

The takeover ended Farhad Moshiri’s turbulent eight-year tenure at the storied English club, which joins the Friedkins’ wide-ranging portfolio of investments that includes Italian team Roma. The size of the deal was undisclosed but the BBC and other British media valued it in excess of 400 million pounds ($500 million).

Fronted by Dan Friedkin — who has a net worth of $6.4 billion, according to Forbes — and his son Ryan, the group has investments in the automotive industry, entertainment, hospitality and sports. The Friedkins made a fortune distributing Toyotas in Texas.

“I take immense pride in welcoming one of England’s most historic football clubs to our global family,” Dan Friedkin said. “Everton represents a proud legacy, and we are honored to become custodians of this great institution.”

Skiing

Vonn responds to critics >> Lindsey Vonn didn’t just pop into the hospital one day, get a new titanium knee and then decide on the way out that she wanted to return to downhill ski racing.

It’s been a long, calculated process involving several minor and some major knee surgeries, careful vetting of the medical issues involved and then months of on-snow testing in New Zealand, Austria and Colorado to see how her body and new knee would react at age 40.

So now that she’s preparing to step into a World Cup starting gate this weekend for the first time in nearly six years for super-G races in St. Moritz on Saturday and Sunday, she’s getting fed up with how several of her fellow skiing champions are questioning why she would return to the sport’s most dangerous disciplines at such an advanced age.

“I’ve been thinking about getting a replacement for several years. I did a lot of research. I know people think that I’m insane. But I am actually kind of smart. I have done a few operations, so I know a few doctors. I talked to a lot of them,” Vonn said. “I talked to (extreme skier) Chris Davenport, who also had a partial knee replacement and he skis like 150 days a year. … So that gave me a lot of confidence.”

Vonn got most of her medical advice from Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, who has operated on her knees and arm and is affiliated with the U.S. Ski Team.