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Midwest Sports Headlines: 12/8/20

Sports

December 8th, 2020 by Ric Hanson

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has won the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually by Major League Baseball for community involvement and philanthropy. Wainwright’s Big League Impact foundation and recording artist Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation teamed for a Home Plate Project with Texas pitcher Kyle Gibson, and donated about $5.8 million donated to 94 charities. The effort provided more than 4 million meals to prevent childhood hunger during the coronavirus pandemic and nearly 8 million meals in all.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — It’s a good thing that Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce doesn’t spend much time dwelling on gaudy individual statistics. Looking at his own wouldn’t give Kelce much time for anything else. With a game-high eight catches for 136 yards and a touchdown in their 22-16 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night the two-time All-Pro eclipsed 1,000 yards for the fifth consecutive season. He became the 26th player in NFL history with a streak that long, and the only tight end. Eight of those players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

UNDATED (AP) — Gonzaga and Baylor remain atop the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after their hotly anticipated game in Indianapolis was called off about 90 minutes before tipoff last week because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the Bulldogs program. Gonzaga received 54 of 61 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Bears had the other seven. Iowa remained third after Luka Garza’s monster week powered the Hawkeyes to a pair of easy victories, Michigan State climbed four spots to No. 4 and Kansas jumped two spots to round out the top 5.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The National Women’s Soccer League is returning to Kansas City. An expansion franchise has been awarded to an ownership group led by local businesspeople that includes the fiancee of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The group is led by the husband-and-wife team of Angie and Chris Long. It will assume all player rights, draft picks and other assets from Utah Royals FC as that club winds down operations. Included in the ownership group is Mahomes’ future wife, Brittany Matthews, a former professional soccer player and fitness entrepreneur.

UNDATED (AP) — A top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll with Indiana and Iowa State is something never before seen. The eighth-ranked Hoosiers and No. 10 Cyclones both moved up two spots in the rankings Sunday, heights those programs have not reached in decades. One of the reasons the AP poll is still relevant in a college football landscape where the champion is crowned through a playoff is that nothing else records the history of the sport so well. Neither Indiana nor Iowa State will win the national championship this season, but their special seasons will forever be honored through the AP Top 25.