LeBron James' homecoming to Ohio draws crowd of about 25000

Originally published Friday, August 8, 2014 at 10:29 PM

NBA James has homecoming party

LeBron James is home and the four-time league most valuable player said Friday he is not leaving again.

James, 29, said he intends to play the rest of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team he returned to last month after four seasons in Miami.

When he signed a two-year, $41 million contract with the Cavaliers that included an option to leave after one season, there was speculation he would one day test free agency again.

'I don't plan on going nowhere,' James said. 'I don't have the energy to do it again.'

James, who returned to Northeast Ohio after winning two NBA titles with the Heat, was welcomed back with a homecoming event fit for a King. Nearly 25,000 people were on hand at InfoCision Stadium on the University of Akron campus.

The event coincided with James' annual 'I Promise' campaign for area children sponsored by his family foundation.

Sterling seeks to block sale

Donald Sterling, deposed Los Angeles Clippers owner, asked an appellate court to block the $2 billion sale of the team to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Ballmer's lawyer, Adam Streisand, said in a statement: 'We won this trial because Donald Sterling is on an egotistical crusade to destroy the Clippers if he can't keep the team, and he can't. We will win the appeal for the very same reason.'

Track and field Sept. 11 is Pistorius verdict date

As Oscar Pistorius' lawyer, Barry Roux, put it, the murder trial of the double-amputee athlete comes down to a sliver of time - the seconds before he fired four gunshots through a closed toilet door at his home and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Feb. 14, 2013.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said at the end of two days of final arguments in Pretoria, South Africa, she will give a verdict Sept. 11.

Pistorius, 27, has said he mistakenly shot Steenkamp, thinking there was an intruder in his home. The prosecution alleges Pistorius intentionally killed her after an argument. Pistorius has been free on bail.

Suhr suffers injury in practice

Olympic pole-vault champion Jenn Suhr injured her hand, torso and neck after her pole snapped during a practice session Wednesday at her training facility in Riga, N.Y. The 32-year-old Suhr is expected to miss at least three meets.

Swimming Shields edges Phelps in 100 fly

Tom Shields beat Michael Phelps by a hundredth of a second to win the 100-meter butterfly at the national championships in Irvine, Calif.

Shields touched in 51.29 seconds.

In the preliminaries, Phelps - winner of 18 Olympic gold medals - had a time of 51.17, fastest in the world this year.

College football Nebraska DB is suspended

Nebraska sophomore safety LeRoy Alexander has been suspended for the 2014 season. The announcement by the athletic department did not give a reason for the suspension.

Illini's Svetina has broken foot

Illinois junior linebacker Mike Svetina is expected to miss at least eight weeks because of a broken left foot.

Svetina, fifth on the team in tackles last season with 57, suffered the injury Tuesday in practice. The Illini play their third game of the season at Washington on Sept. 13.

Tennis All-Williams semifinal is set

Sisters Serena and Venus set up an all-Williams semifinal for Saturday in the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

In the quarterfinals, Serena defeated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 and Venus beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Serena, 32, has won five in a row against Venus, 34, for a 15-10 advantage in their matches.

In the other semifinal, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland will face Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

Meanwhile, in Rogers Cup men's semifinals in Toronto, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France will play Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and Roger Federer of Switzerland will meet Feliciano Lopez of Spain.

ELSEWHERE

* In international basketball, the U.S. men's team added forward Rudy Gay of the Sacramento Kings after Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant pulled out.

Durant said he needs to take the time off to get ready for the NBA season. The U.S. roster of 16 players will be cut to 12 in time for the World Cup, which starts Aug. 30 in Spain.

* Diana Taurasi, 32, signed a multiyear contract extension with the WNBA Phoenix Mercury. She has led the league in scoring five times.

Terms were not disclosed.

In WNBA games Friday, Los Angeles beat Atlanta 80-77 in overtime; Washington beat Indiana 74-61; New York defeated Connecticut 71-66; and Tulsa downed San Antonio 79-62.

* Gyasi Zardes scored his sixth goal in his last six Major League Soccer games and the host Los Angeles Galaxy tied the San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 in the California Clasico.

* Cyclist Kiel Reijnen, who grew up on Bainbridge Island, finished third in the fifth stage of the Tour of Utah. Reijnen competes for the UnitedHealthcare team.

Eric Young of the Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies team won the 101.4 mile stage from Evanston to Kamas in 3 hours, 49 minutes, 29 seconds and Reijnen was credited with the same time.

Garmin-Sharp rider Tom Danielson has the overall lead.

* Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham was fired by Tony Frank, university president. Frank said the two had irreconcilable differences of opinion over the direction of the department.

Seattle Times news services

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