The Sports Report: A look at the NFL’s new kickoff rules

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. Let’s get right to the news.

From Sam Farmer: To get up to speed on the dramatic change to NFL kickoffs this season, everyone is in for an education — players, coaches, officials and millions of fans.

With that in mind, “Thursday Night Football” executive producer Fred Gaudelli has gone back to campus.

In advance of an Aug. 22 preseason game between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Gaudelli has arranged for a high school football team to walk through the various formations and possibilities of the new kickoff in order to get the best camera angles.

“We sat down and drew up a coverage plan,” said Gaudelli, who was working with director Pierre Moossa and producer Mark Teitelman. “We had one way of covering conventional kickoffs. So we’re going to have a totally different way of covering this kickoff. We’re trying to plan for all eventualities. So we’re bringing in a high school team to mimic the kickoffs so we can shoot it and see what works and what doesn’t.”

No ordinary rules tweak, these new kickoffs might be the biggest on-field rules change since the advent of the forward pass.

The new rules put the majority of opposing players much closer together for kickoffs, so they won’t be able to build up a head of steam for those explosive collisions. The ball is kicked from the 35-yard line with 10 kick coverage players assembled on the opposing 40, five on each side of the field.

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RAMS

During Thursday’s joint practice with the Dallas Cowboys, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford scrambled to his left and threw a low pass near the goal line that was tipped twice.

“Stop!” coach Sean McVay said he thought to himself when he saw Stafford pursue the airborne loose ball.

McVay no doubt harked to last season at Dallas, when Stafford’s right thumb hit the turf after catching a two-point conversion pass in the end zone, aggravating an injury he suffered earlier in the game.

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ANGELS

Jo Adell hit a bases-clearing double with two outs in a six-run fifth inning, Tyler Anderson retired Aaron Judge three times in six strong innings pitched and the Angels withstood rainy conditions for a 9-4 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday night.

With the rain varying in intensity, Anderson (9-10) gave up one run and three hits for his first win since July 6. The veteran left-hander struck out Judge swinging in the first, got a called third strike on the slugger in the third and retired him on a groundout in the sixth.

“He doesn’t throw with velocity but he reads bats well and he was able to get into an area where Judge couldn’t get to it,” Angels manager Ron Washington said.

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Angels box score

MLB scores

MLB standings

UCLA GYMNASTICS

From Chuck Schilken: A lot has changed for Jordan Chiles this summer.

The gymnast won her first Olympic gold medal, helping the U.S. win. the team competition at the Paris Games last week.

She also claimed her first individual Olympic medal, bringing home the bronze Monday in the floor competition.

But, Chiles confirmed Thursday, she is still a Bruin.

The two-time NCAA national champion made the announcement in video with NBC’s “Today” show host Hoda Kotb.

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CROSSFIT GAMES

From Chuck Schilken: An athlete died Thursday while swimming in a lake on the first day of competition at the CrossFit Games in Fort Worth, Texas, organizers of the international event said.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office identified a body recovered from Marine Creek Lake as Lazar Dukic, 28, of Serbia. No cause of death was given.

“CrossFit is deeply saddened by the death of a CrossFit Games competitor during the swimming portion of Individual Event 1 at the 2024 CrossFit Games,” the organization said in a statement. “We are fully cooperating with authorities and doing everything we can to support the family at this time. The remainder of today’s events have been suspended. The well-being of competitors is our first priority and we are heartbroken by this tragic event.”

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OLYMPICS POLL

We asked you what Olympic sport you would like to eliminate, and in a shocker, it was 3 X 3 basketball getting 42% of the votes. It was what we would call a low turnout election with only 900 respondents. You were allowed to vote to for two sports.

Here is the breakdown:

3 X 3 basketball 42%

Rhythmic gymnastics 39%

Trampoline 31%

Golf 30%

Artistic swimming (synchro) 28%

Modern pentathlon 18%

Boxing 17%

Something else 14%

Tennis 12%

Basketball 5%

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1936 — Jesse Owens becomes the first American to win four Olympic gold medals as the United States sets a world record in the 4x100 relay at the Berlin Games. The record time of 39.8 seconds lasts for 20 years.

1981 — Larry Nelson beats Fuzzy Zoeller by three strokes to take the PGA Championship.

1984 — Britain’s Daley Thompson wins his second Olympic decathlon with a record 8,797 points and Valerie Brisco-Hooks sets her second Olympic record with a 21.81 time in the 200-meter run.

1987 — Larry Nelson sinks a 6-foot putt in the first hole of a playoff to beat Lanny Wadkins in the PGA Championship.

1988 — Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky to the Kings.

1992 — The Summer Olympics ends with the Unified Team holding a 112-108 lead in medals over the United States, the closest race since America won 90-86 in 1964 at Tokyo.

1995 — John Godina becomes the first American to win the shot put event at the World Championships with a toss of 70 feet, 5¼ inches.

2007 — David Beckham makes his long-awaited Major League Soccer debut, entering in the 72nd minute of the Galaxy’s 1-0 loss to D.C. United.

2008 — Mariel Zagunis leads a U.S. sweep of the women’s saber fencing for the first American medals of the Beijing Games. Zagunis, the 2004 gold Olympic champion, beats Sada Jacobson 15-8 for the gold medal. Becca Ward takes the bronze.

2009 — Jennifer Song becomes the second woman to win two U.S. Golf Assn. championships in the same year, beating Jennifer Johnson 3 and 1 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur final at Old Warson. The 19-year-old Song, coming off her freshman year at USC, won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links in June. Pearl Sinn is the only other woman to win two USGA titles in a year, taking the 1988 Amateur and Public Links.

2010 — No American player appears in the top 10 for the first time since the men’s tennis computer rankings began in 1973. Andy Roddick drops from No. 9 to No. 11 in the latest ATP rankings.

2012 — Usain Bolt wins the 200 meters in 19.32 seconds, making him the only man with two Olympic titles in that event. He adds it to the 100 gold he won Aug. 5, duplicating the 100-200 double he produced at the Beijing Games four years ago. This time, Bolt leads a Jamaican sweep, with his training partner and pal Yohan Blake getting the silver in 19.44, and Warren Weir taking the bronze in 19.84. The American men take the top two spots in the men’s decathlon (Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee) and triple jump (Christian Taylor and Will Claye), raising the U.S. track and field total with three days to go to 24 medals.

2012 — The U.S. women’s soccer team wins the Olympic gold medal, avenging one of its most painful defeats with a 2-1 victory over Japan. Carli Lloyd scores in the eighth and 54th minutes for the Americans, who lost to the Japanese in penalty kicks at last year’s World Cup final.

2012 — Maggie Steffens scored five times and the U.S. women’s water polo team beat Spain 8-5 to take the Olympic tournament for the first time. U.S. middleweight Claressa Shields caps her swift rise to the top of women’s Olympic boxing with a 19-12 victory over Russia’s Nadezda Torlopova. The 17-year-old Shields dances and slugs her way past her 33-year-old opponent.

2014 — Nick Rimando breaks the MLS record with his 113th shutout in Real Salt Lake’s 3-0 victory over D.C. United. Rimando broke a tie with Kevin Hartman for the record.

2016 — Michael Phelps adds to his Olympic record medal haul twice. He avenges his London 2012 loss to South African rival Chad le Clos with a 200-meter butterfly victory and his 20th career gold. Then, he anchors the 4x200 freestyle relay team for his 21st gold.

2016 — American swimmer Katie Ledecky wins her second gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 1:53.73 in the women’s 200m freestyle ahead of Sarah Sjöström of Sweden and Australian Emma McKeon.

2022 — Tennis superstar Serena Williams announces her intention to retire in an interview with “Vogue”.

Compiled by the Associated Press