Jul 2, 2020 4 min read

Riverhounds schedule set

The USL Championship released its regular-season schedule Thursday and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC will play a 16-game season.

Placed in Group F, the Hounds will face division opponents Hartford Athletic, Loudoun United FC, New York Red Bulls II and Philadelphia Union II three times each. In addition, Pittsburgh will play Louisville City FC and Saint Louis FC once each, as well as Indy Eleven twice.

The top two teams in each group will make the USL Championship playoffs.

Earlier this week, it was announced the Riverhounds will have two matches televised on ESPN2, their season opener at Louisville City FC on July 12 and their home opener against Indy Eleven July 22. Pittsburgh is the only USL Championship team to have multiple nationally televised games.

Fans will not be in attendance for the Riverhounds’ July home games at Highmark Stadium.

Source: NFL to play Black anthem

“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” will be performed live or played before “The Star-Spangled Banner” prior to each NFL game during Week 1 and the league is considering putting names of victims of police brutality on helmet decals or jersey patches, a person familiar with the discussions told the Associated Press.

The person said the league is working collaboratively with players to recognize victims of systemic racism throughout the season in a variety of ways. The person spoke to the AP Thursday on condition of anonymity because discussions between the league and the NFL Players Association are ongoing.

Additional plans include the use of educational programs and storytelling about the victims and their families similar to the league’s PSA on Botham Jean released in January and the Super Bowl commercial on Corey Jones featuring his cousin, former NFL star Anquan Boldin.

“Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” is traditionally known as the Black anthem. It’ll be played first when the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans to kick off the NFL regular season on Sept. 10.

Recruiting penalties for Fisher, Texas A&MTexas A&M’s football program was placed on probation and coach Jimbo Fisher given a six-month show cause order by the NCAA on Thursday after the Aggies were found to have violated recruiting and other rules beginning in January 2018.

Fisher, who had just been hired by Texas A&M, and an assistant coach had impermissible contact with a recruit, the NCAA said without identifying the coaches by name. The assistant, Jay Graham, is now a member of Jeremy Pruitt’s staff at Tennessee.

“While I am disappointed in the violations, including an unintended one that resulted from a conversation with a high school athlete, it is still my responsibility to ensure we are adhering to each and every rule,” Fisher said in a statement issued by the school. “I am pleased to have this matter completely behind our program and look forward to continuing our efforts to make every aspect of our program one all Aggies can continue to be proud of.”

Fisher is 17-9 with two bowl victories in his first two seasons in College Station. Texas A&M signed Fisher to a 10-year, $75 million contract after he won a national title and three ACC championships in eight seasons at Florida State.

The negotiated resolution with the NCAA came after it found Fisher “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.” As part of his punishments, Fisher was banned from phone calls, emails and texts with prospects for nine days in January.

The program itself was fined $5,000 and given several other recruiting restrictions after the NCAA found that several players exceeded activity limits on multiple occasions during the 2018 offseason. Among the restrictions are a reduction of official visits by 17 days during the current academic year; a seven-day off-campus recruiting ban during this past spring’s recruiting period; and a 10-day ban for off-campus recruiting for the entire staff during this fall’s recruiting period.