O.J. has ‘good chance’
at his parole hearing
LAS VEGAS (AP) — O.J. Simpson, the former football star, TV pitchman and now Nevada prison inmate No. 1027820, will have a lot going for him when he asks state parole board members this week to release him after serving more than eight years for an ill-fated bid to retrieve sports memorabilia.
Now 70, Simpson will have history in his favor and a clean record behind bars as he approaches the nine-year minimum of his 33-year sentence for armed robbery and assault with a weapon. Plus, the parole board sided with him once before.
No one at his Thursday hearing is expected to oppose releasing him in October — not his victim, not even the former prosecutor who persuaded a jury in Las Vegas to convict Simpson in 2008.

Pierce signs contract;
will retire as a Celtic
BOSTON (AP) — The Truth is retiring as a member of the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics announced Monday that they have signed Paul Pierce to a contract so the 10-time All-Star can retire with the team he spent his best 15 seasons in the NBA with. Pierce helped bring a championship in 2008 as part the “Big Three” of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
The 39-year-old retires atop the franchise’s lists in 3-point field goals (1,823), free throws (6,434) and steals (1,583). He is also is Boston’s second all-time leading scorer with 24,021 career points, trailing only John Havlicek.

UK Hall of Famer Bird
dead at age 83
CORBIN, Ky. (AP) — Former Kentucky basketball player Jerry Bird, who was a member of the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame and had his No. 22 jersey retired to the Rupp Arena rafters, has died.
An obituary posted by O’Neil-Lawson Funeral Home says Bird died Sunday at a hospital in Corbin. He was 83.
Media report Bird played for Kentucky from 1954 to 1956 and helped the school attain two Southeastern Conference titles in 1954 and 1955. He was part of the 1954 team crowned national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation after a 25-0 season.
Bird scored 713 career points and had 589 career rebounds under coach Adolph Rupp.

Redskins’ Cousins will
play under franchise tag
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — Kirk Cousins will be the first quarterback in NFL history to play consecutive seasons on the franchise tag.
Cousins and the Washington Redskins didn’t sign a long-term deal by the deadline Monday. He will make $23.94 million on the franchise tag in 2017 after earning $19.95 million last year.
Team president Bruce Allen said in a prepared statement that the Redskins’ goal was to sign Cousins to a long-term contract and offered him $53 million guaranteed or $72 million in the event of injury. That would have been the second-most fully guaranteed money given to a QB behind Aaron Rodgers’ $54 million.
Cousins and executives called negotiations positive, and they may go through this again next spring. If Washington uses the franchise tag again for 2018, Cousins would get a 44 percent raise to $34.47 million, or they could use the transition tag on him at a cost of $28.78 million.

Houston Rockets owner
puts team up for sale
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Rockets CEO Tad Brown announced Monday, hours after owner Leslie Alexander made the decision, that the franchise was for sale.
Alexander took over as owner on July 30, 1993, and the Rockets went on to win back-to-back titles in 1994-95 behind the likes of Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler. In 24 seasons under Alexander, the Rockets have won 56.9 percent of their games, fifth-highest in the league.
Brown said the 74-year-old Alexander had been approached over the years by potential buyers, but never considered it until very recently.