Date: 05/16/2013 05:50 AM
NW–SportsMinute/368
Here is the latest Washington, Oregon and Alaska sports news from The Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) – The man behind the bid to return professional basketball to the Puget Sound region is sounding down, but not out, following the vote by the NBA Board of Governors against his proposal to relocate the Sacramento Kings to Seattle. A few hours after yesterday’s announcement of the 22-8 vote, Chris Hansen posted a statement to his SonicsArena.com website thanking fans for their support and saying, “Our day will come…and when it does it will just be that much sweeter for the struggle.”
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – With one victory already down, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is putting on a full-court press to win another contest – the ownership battle for the NBA’s Kings. The league’s Board of Governors voted yesterday against a proposal to relocate the franchise to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics name. Left unsettled was the issue of who will own the team. Johnson says the focus now is on an effort by a Sacramento-based group to acquire the Kings from the Maloofs.
NEW YORK (AP) – Raul Ibanez (rah-OOL’ ih-BAHN’-yehz) again treated Yankee Stadium as his personal playground, hitting a grand slam and two-run homer last night to help the Seattle Mariners rout New York 12-2. Ibanez’s slam came during a seven-run first. Yankees backup shortstop Alberto Gonzalez got the final out in the ninth in his first professional pitching appearance.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The final video of a man who was killed while attempting to dribble a soccer ball from Seattle to Brazil shows him smiling and happy on an Oregon beach on his planned 10,000-mile walk. Richard Swanson uploaded the video to his Facebook page on Tuesday, about an hour before he was fatally struck by a pickup truck on Oregon’s busy U.S. Highway 101.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – Tyler Farrar won the fourth stage of the Tour of California in a mass sprint yesterday and Colombia’s Janier Acevedo topped the overall standings for the third day. Farrar, the Garmin-Sharp rider from Wenatchee, Wash., completed the 83.6-mile stage from Santa Clarita to Santa Barbara in 3 hours, 14 minutes, 9 seconds.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.