The NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning have left Florida ahead of Hurricane Milton to practice the rest of the week.

The Bucs departed Tuesday, relocating to New Orleans, where they’ll face the Saints on Sunday. The Lightning left for Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday night to continue preparations for their season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

Milton, currently a Category 5 hurricane, is projected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area tonight.

The Lightning’s home opener against Carolina is set for Saturday night and is on as scheduled for now.

It’s third time in the past seven years the Bucs shifted operations to another area to avoid bad weather.

In 2020, they traveled to South Florida ahead of Hurricane Ian to practice at the Miami Dolphins’ training facility before returning home to play the Kansas City Chiefs. When Tampa Bay’s 2017 season opener against the Dolphins was postponed because of Hurricane Irma, the team chartered several planes to move players, coaches and families to Charlotte, North Carolina, to escape the storm.

This time, the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs, booked two planes for a traveling party of about 350 people and 31 pets that included players, coaches and staff who would normally travel to an away game. Staff also had the ability to include their immediate family members and pets.

At the college level, the American Athletic Conference announced that a football game between Memphis and South Florida at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa has been rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday. The conference plans to monitor conditions after Milton passes and adjust accordingly.

WNBA

Lynx beat Sun, advance to finals >> Napheesa Collier had 27 points and 11 rebounds and Courtney Williams contributed 24 points and both-ends-of-the-court energy to lead the Minnesota Lynx past the Connecticut Sun 88-77 and into the WNBA Finals for the first time in seven years.

Kayla McBride fueled a strong start with 10 of her 19 points in the first quarter for the Lynx, who advanced to face the top-seeded New York Liberty in Game 1 on Thursday night. The best-of-five series continues with Game 2 in New York on Sunday afternoon, before Minnesota hosts Game 3 on Oct. 16. The best-of-five series continues with Game 2 in New York on Sunday afternoon.

Tennis

Tiafoe yells a string of curses at umpire >> U.S. Open semifinalist Frances Tiafoe cursed repeatedly at a chair umpire after losing a match at the Shanghai Masters.

Tiafoe sent about 10 expletives in the direction of official Jimmy Pinoargote during a minute-long tirade after exiting 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5) against 61st-ranked Roman Safiullin in the third round.

Later, Tiafoe posted an apology on social media, calling his reaction “not acceptable behavior” and writing: “That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people. I let my frustration in the heat of the moment get the best of me and I’m extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation.”

The ATP rule book calls for fines of $60,000 at Masters 1000 tournaments for verbal abuse of an official.

The 17th-ranked Tiafoe was angered by being docked his first serve for a time violation at 5-5 in the decisive tiebreaker.

Pinoargote ruled that Tiafoe was not making a genuine attempt to serve when he tossed the ball in the air at the baseline as the serve clock was set to expire. Tiafoe initially protested before continuing to play; he lost that point and the next to close the match.

Tiafoe, a 26-year-old from Maryland, congratulated Safiullin at the net before turning toward the umpire and shouting the first expletives.

Safiullin advanced to face Novak Djokovic.

MLS

Fire hire ex-U.S. coach Berhalter >> The Chicago Fire have hired former U.S. national team coach Gregg Berhalter to be the club’s new head coach and director of football.

Berhalter was dismissed as U.S. coach in July, shortly after the team was eliminated in the group stage of the Copa America. It was his second stint with the national team.

He replaces current Fire coach Frank Klopas, who will step down after the team’s final regular-season game on Oct. 19 to assume a new role as the team’s vice president of football.

Berhalter, 51, was the first American to coach the national team after playing for the team at a World Cup. He was originally hired to coach the U.S. in December 2018. He led the United States to a 44-17-13 record.