Aug 22, 2019 4 min read

Adios winner returns to Meadows

Southwind Ozzi, whose eye-popping 1:48 victory in this year’s Delvin Miller Adios Pace for the Orchids was the second fastest in the 53-year history of the race, will return to the scene of his greatest triumph for Friday’s $170,058 Pennsylvania Sires Stake at The Meadows.

The event for 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers, known as the Tarport Effrat, goes as races 2 and 4, with ‘Ozzi’ leaving from post 7, race 4, with Brian Sears in the sulky. First post for the special twilight card is 5:30 p.m.

Friday’s PASS will be an Adios reunion of sorts, as 10 of the 14 scheduled combatants raced in the Pace for the Orchids

Former PSU QB to be Miss.State’s starterPenn State graduate transfer Tommy Stevens has won the starting quarterback job at Mississippi State.

Stevens beat out junior Keytaon Thompson and will start Aug. 31 in New Orleans when the Bulldogs’ meet Louisiana-Lafayette in their season opener.

Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead is very familiar with Stevens from their shared history at Penn State. Moorhead was Penn State’s offensive coordinator from 2016-17, while Stevens was a reserve quarterback for the Nittany Lions from 2016-18.

“It was a great, great competition,” Moorhead said Thursday. “Both guys are similar in size and provide equal threats in the run game. We said the decision making was going to come down to who could create explosive plays, who could minimize turnovers and who can throw the ball with the best accuracy on a consistent manner. So we informed the team that Tommy Stevens has earned the right to be the starting quarterback for this year.”

The 6-foot-5 Stevens went 24 of 41 for 304 yards with four touchdown passes and one interception in 23 games at Penn State. Stevens also rushed for 506 yards and eight touchdowns, and he caught 14 passes for 62 yards and two scores.

Cousy receives Medal of Freedom

President Donald Trump presented 91-year-old basketball legend Bob Cousy with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Thursday, praising the Boston Celtics star as “one of the all-time greats in the history of sports.”

Cousy played for the Celtics from 1950 to 1963, winning six league championships and the 1957 MVP title. The Bob Cousy Award, given to the country’s best point guard in men’s college basketball, is named for him. He is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and played a pivotal role in founding the NBA Player’s Association.

After hanging up his No. 14 jersey, the 13-time NBA All-Star went on to coach basketball at Boston College.

In the NFL

Daniel Jones completed a difficult week with an encouraging performance Thursday night, leading the New York Giants to a touchdown during a 25-23 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Zac Taylor’s first home game as head coach.

In a GQ article published Tuesday , Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield said he was stunned the Giants drafted the Duke quarterback in the first round. Mayfield tried to tamp down the comment and texted Jones to explain his remarks.

Jones got into the game on the Giants’ second series and went 9 of 11 for 141 yards the rest of the half. He had completions of 35 yards to Brittan Golden and 27 yards to Darius Slayton on a seven-play touchdown drive, a solid all-around showing for Eli Manning’s eventual replacement.

Manning led an opening 15-play series that ended in a field goal and included five plays that gained at least 9 yards. Manning was 4 of 8 for 41 yards. In three preseason games, Manning is 9 of 13 for 86 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.