• Slug: Sports-Arizona Football McMillan, 620 words.
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By Saleh Awwad
Cronkite News

TUCSON – For a half Saturday, it appeared Arizona wasn’t quite ready for the Big 12 Conference as the Wildcats struggled against New Mexico in the debut of coach Brent Brennan.

Before the night was over, however, the Wildcats demonstrated that the offensive firepower of sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita and junior wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will be all that the team’s new conference can handle as the Wildcats gave Brennan his first victory at the helm.

With a handful of NFL scouts in attendance, McMillan – affectionately known to his teammates and UA football fans as “T-Mac” – hauled in 10 passes for a school-record 304 yards, scoring four touchdowns as the Wildcats trounced the Lobos, 61-39. Continue reading “304 yards for receiver Tetairoa McMillan casts attention on Arizona football, new coach Brent Brennan”

• Slug: Sports-ASU Quarterback Follow, 600 words.
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By Tucker Sennett
Cronkite News

TEMPE – In an era when some college quarterbacks are as old as 25 – hello, Utah’s Cam Rising – Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt is just a young pup. However, in his first collegiate start against the University of Wyoming, the native of West Linn, Oregon, proved age is just a number.

“I wasn’t too nervous going into this game,” the 19-year-old redshirt freshman said after Saturday’s 48-7 victory over the Cowboys. “That’s a testament to the coaching staff and the team.”

The Sun Devils as a whole showed few nerves while pummeling Wyoming 48-7 in their season opener at Mountain America Stadium. Continue reading “‘Be yourself’: Quarterback Sam Leavitt proves experience isn’t everything in strong ASU debut against Wyoming”

• Slug: Sports-Grass League Golf, 1,540 words.
• 4 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Jack Reeves
Cronkite News

TEMPE – The World Series, Super Bowl, World Cup, Olympics, and the Rose Bowl all have something in common. Yes, they are among the world’s most famous sporting events, but one unique feature ties them together: each event is played under the lights.

While that may seem obvious, not all sporting events benefit from playing under the lights, especially in golf. Countless golf tournaments have been postponed due to darkness, requiring an early morning finish. But what if there was a way to play not just a few extra holes, but an entire round during primetime hours?

Enter the Grass League. Established in February, the startup league has brought a new vision to the game loved worldwide. Continue reading “Golf after dark: Grass League ushers in new era with primetime professional, amateur tournaments under the lights”

• Slug: Sports-Paralympic Archer Bennett, 750 words.
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By Sydney Lovan
Special for Cronkite News

PARIS – Full-time teacher by morning, Paralympic athlete by afternoon and a father always, Team USA archer Eric Bennett is embarking on his fifth Paralympic Games with his sights set on a prize bigger than the gold medal: his family in attendance to watch him shoot.

Bennett, a Surprise native and graduate of Northern Arizona University, began practicing archery when he was 7 and quickly found a passion for the sport until he lost his right arm at 15, when a drunk driver hit the car in which he was a passenger. It wasn’t until about 10 years later that he started shooting again, this time with help from his father.

“When I realized that I could shoot again, that’s when a fire was lit, and I had gotten my love back,” said Bennett, who is set to compete in the recurve Para Archery event beginning Thursday in Paris. Continue reading “Arizona archer Eric Bennett prepares for fifth Paralympics, this time with family by his side”

• Slug: Sports-WNBA Salary Minimum, 1,400 words.
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By Joshua Heron
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – On June 27, Liz Dixon sat on a furniture top in the Verizon 5G Performance Center hallway, discussed the difficulties of living on a WNBA minimum contract and knew she was vulnerable on the one-year, $64,154 deal that offered little to no security and stability.

Five days later, the Phoenix Mercury waived the forward.

“One of the hardships is teams can get anybody under minimal contracts,” Dixon said. “You’re already paying me less than everybody else, but what if one day they don’t need you? They’ll want somebody else they can get. They can get another vet at the exact same price as a rookie. So it’s more like, ‘Hey, even though I am making the minimum payment, am I still needed? Am I still an asset to them?” Continue reading “Minimum salaries, max effort: The unseen financial hardships of Phoenix Mercury and WNBA players”

• Slug: Sports-Olympic Pins Paris, 730 words.
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By Tyler Bednar
Cronkite News

PARIS – From Snoop Dogg blowing Olympic-looking smoke rings to a heart with gymnast Simone Biles’ name in it, the pins of the Paris Games are still creating a buzz even weeks after the competitions ended.

Pin trading at the Olympics is popular for athletes and spectators. Some fans travel across the world specifically to collect and trade them.

The tradition can be traced to the first modern Games in 1896, when the pins were used to identify athletes, officials and media members. In the Athens Olympics, only 241 athletes – compared to the more than 10,000 in Paris – competed for 14 teams in 43 events.

Continue reading “From Snoop Dogg blowing Olympic-like rings to Simone Biles’ heart, pins remain the talk post-Paris Games”

• Slug: Sports-Olympics Sports Courts Paris, 1,900 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Zach Bradshaw and Doyal D’angelo
Cronkite News

PARIS – The enhancement of sports facilities at the Paris Games wasn’t limited to Olympic venues.

The City of Paris also reinvigorated community sports courts, a vital component of any neighborhood’s urban culture.

This isn’t a new concept. When Phoenix has hosted big events, professional leagues and local organizing committees often contribute money to improve youth fields and and athletic structures. But it was particularly important in Paris, where updating the sports landscape requires a deft touch in a city knows for its one-of-kind architecture. Continue reading “Olympics bring vibrant sports courts to Paris’ often forgotten neighborhoods”

• Slug–Sports: Paris Street Sports, 880 words.
• Photo, video available.

By Scott Sandulli
Cronkite News

PARIS – Hosting the Olympics gives any city a chance to show itself off to the world. Paris, with the Eiffel Tower lit up at night among several glamorous visuals, hardly needed any introduction when the world converged upon the City of Light for the 33rd Olympiad.

Even in such a picturesque atmosphere, the distinct street culture survives the millions of tourists that flock to Paris every year. Graffiti lines many public spaces and is embraced as part of a cultural identity. Among the arrondissements, it might as well be their screaming crowd backdrop as they play against their friends and foes in a little-known, tight-knit community of Paris street sports. Continue reading “From skateboarding to basketball, Paris showcased its street sport culture during Olympics”

• Slug–Sports: Olympians Mental Heath, 840 words.
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By Walker Smith
Cronkite News

PARIS – Even though the Paris Games are over, a commitment to the mental health of athletes is not.

While it’s the pinnacle of sporting achievement, the Olympics create a pressure-filled environment for athletes that almost no other competition can mimic. The weight of a nation, the expectations of greatness and the knowledge that this may be the only chance at gold all take a toll on an Olympian’s mental health.

The IOC and Team USA are proactive in protecting the athletes’ mental health as well as finding ways to help block out social media attacks. The Paris Olympics highlighted that mental health awareness continues to grow through therapy, high-tech relaxation and AI.

Continue reading “IOC, Team USA use new technology to promote athlete mental wellness, even after Olympics are over”

• Slug: Sports–Paris Women Equity, 760 words.
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By Melanie Hogue
Cronkite News

PARIS – From this year’s Paralympics’ mascot proudly displaying a disability to the introduction of the first nursery in the Olympic Village, the Paris Games inspired conversations about inclusivity.

Although the Games are coming to a close, the discussion is far from over. Paris has long been a site of historic milestones for women, from Joan of Arc to Marie Curie. This year’s Olympics, the first to achieve full gender parity – an equal number of male and female athletes represented – marks significant progress since women were first allowed to compete in 1900, in Paris.

At the time, women only represented 2.2% of athletes and were limited to competing in tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrianism and golf. Today, that has expanded to 20 mixed gender events and 152 female competitions at this year’s Games, including triathlon, which has been put in the spotlight recently due to the controversy over swimming in the Seine River. Continue reading “As Paris Olympics comes to a close, gender equity, inclusivity discussions continue”

• Slug: Sports-Paris Movie Popularity, 1,000 words.
• 3 photos available.

By Walker Smith
Cronkite News

PARIS – Hollywood may be the cinematic capital of the world, but few cities are featured more in film than the City Of Light. From American favorite such as “The Da Vinci Code,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Mission Impossible: Fallout” and “Taken” to French hits like “Amélie,” Paris has provided the backdrop for some of cinema’s best projects.

Paris’ flexibility as a film-making city has no bounds. The city has countless iconic scenes from movies. With its rich film history, more and more directors requested to shoot in Paris following the COVID-19 shutdown.

“The thing with Paris is its beauty,” said Juliette Dubois, founder and director of Ciné-Balade. “You can project what you want to project. This is part of the magic, and also there is all the history, all the heart which has inspired the movie makers.” Continue reading “Action! Paris’ beauty translates to a city that serves as a backdrop to endless movies”

• Slug: Sports-Delaney Schnell Tucson Olympics, 900 words.
• Photo available.

By Tyler Bednar
Cronkite News

PARIS — It was clear early on that diver Delaney Schnell had the right personality to become an Olympian.

Her mother, Cindy Feaman, who was her middle school cross country coach, recalls Schnell not wanting to run one day. All of a sudden, something clicked in her as she walked to the trophy table.

“She walked over to the award table, and there was this horse trophy,” Feaman said. “I saw her eyes, she’s staring at it, I saw her eyes, and I knew she was going to run that race hard. She came in second, but she gave it her all to try and get that trophy.”

Continue reading “A plunge into greatness: Arizona diver Delaney Schnell wraps up second Olympics”

• Slug: Sports–Arizona Swimmer Sheikhalizadehkhanghah, 800 words.
• Photo available.

By Lux Butler
Cronkite News

PARIS – Weeks before starting her sophomore year of college at the University of Arizona, Maryam Sheikhalizadehkhanghah made her second appearance on the Olympic stage in Paris, swimming the 50-meter freestyle for team Azerbaijan.

At just 20, Sheikhalizadehkhanghah has made a name for herself in multiple countries. Born in Iran, she immigrated to Azerbaijan at a young age to pursue her swimming dreams and then made another pivotal choice to move to the U.S. to attend and compete for the University of Arizona.

“It’s a really good feeling and I’m really glad that I could represent my country for a second time and I’m also really proud of myself because it’s a lot of challenges and a lot of hard working to be able to stay at this place,” Sheikhalizadehkhanghah said. “I’m also really proud that I also represent my university as a Wildcat here.” Continue reading “University of Arizona swimmer Sheikhalizadehkhanghah represents Azerbaijan in Paris Olympics”

• Slug: Sports–Paris Olympics Security, 1,470 words.
• Photo available.

By Walker Smith
Cronkite News

PARIS – Walking down the canals and streets of Paris, the Summer Olympics’ presence is felt everywhere. Multi-colored signs say “Paris 2024,” fan festivals buzz with thousands of people and stadiums at the feet of iconic Parisian architecture highlight the energy of the Games.

But that might not be the first thing visitors notice. Instead, it’s the walls of metal fences built to guide traffic and block trespassers from event sites, or the sirens from a line of police vehicles rushing through the narrow streets. They’ll for sure see the lines of officers around the city armed with assault rifles. Continue reading “Keeping the Olympics safe: Paris finds success securing city but can L.A. do the same in 2028?”