LOS ANGELES -- Jackie Robinson was the first to break baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers 78 years ago Tuesday. His legacy continues to inspire people inside the major leagues -- and outside, too.

Players and staff from the Dodgers, including Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and rookie Roki Sasaki, and the Colorado Rockies surrounded Robinson's statue in Centerfield Plaza hours before game time at Dodger Stadium on Jackie Robinson Day around the major leagues.

They were joined by Basketball Hall of Fame player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who turns 78 on Wednesday. He recalled wearing a Brooklyn baseball cap while growing up in the neighboring borough of Manhattan.

"I'd get in fights with people from the Giants, the Yankees, pretty often," he said, "but I kept my cap on and nobody was able to knock it off. I was so tall."

Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, followed in Robinson's footsteps as a sports star at UCLA, where he won three national championships under Hall of Fame coach John Wooden.

Robinson has continued to be a lifelong inspiration for Abdul-Jabbar.

"He meant excellence, giving your all, giving your best," Abdul-Jabbar said, "and for all the detractors that are out there, just ignore them and keep on."

Every team playing Tuesday wore No. 42 jerseys. It's the only number universally retired in the majors.

"It's not just a one-off day," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "We understand what this man did for our world, our country. This is how you go about life. This is something for me, keeping his legacy burning."

Roberts and Ron Washington of the Los Angeles Angels are only Black managers currently in the majors.

"One of the things Jackie obviously nailed is he realized from an early time that life was going to be hard," Roberts said. "He was special and he was put in this certain position to rise above and know that it's not just about the game of baseball. It's bigger than him."

The Dodgers and Rockies were joined by Sonya Pankey Robinson, the oldest grandchild of Jackie and Rachel Robinson and the only child of Jackie Jr., who was killed in a car accident in 1971 at age 24. Granddaughter Ayo Robinson, whose father is David Robinson, was also on hand.

"He was so progressive in so many ways," Pankey Robinson said of her grandfather. "When I think about him fondly, I just think about all of his contributions to society and to us as a family. I feel a real responsibility to uphold his values and I take that job very seriously."

Robinson's 102-year-old widow marked the anniversary at the Jackie Robinson Museum in Brooklyn with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

"She is out looking great and greeting everyone," said Pankey Robinson, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday. "Not only did she instill the values that she knows my grandfather would expect us to uphold, but she had her own values and her own expectations of us early on to set goals for ourselves in life."

Pankey Robinson lives near her grandmother in New York, saying, "We keep it close and tight."

Jackie Robinson was in the news last month when a Defense Department page describing his military service was restored after being removed. The department has been removing content highlighting contributions by women and minority groups as part of a directive for President Donald Trump's administration to delete material promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

"Disheartening but not discouraged because I think what he's done is etched in history and it's not anyone else's place to remove that," Pankey Robinson said after the ceremony. "His impact is large and we feel good knowing, that while disappointed, what he did mattered."

The Angels' Washington learned about Robinson when he bought a book about him during a bus stop in Waterloo, Iowa, on a minor league trip in 1972.

"It impacted me tremendously to find out what he had to go through just to play the game of baseball," Washington said, "and then you look back and say, 'Wow, in this period could I have done that?' I want to think I could, but I don't know if I could."

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone called Robinson "one of the most important figures in American history."

"Obviously, he was part of integrating our sport, but part of further integrating America, and other sports. It's so cool what we get to do today, and everyone wearing 42, bringing attention to it and just honoring what's an amazing legacy."

Carlos Alcaraz was forced to work hard to beat underdog Ethan Quinn to reach the Barcelona Open last 16 on Tuesday.

The world number two was a break down in the second set against Quinn, ranked 126th in the world, before fighting back to win 6-2 7-6 (8-6).

After saving five break points and breaking Quinn twice in the opening set, Alcaraz was pushed much harder by the 21-year-old American in the second.

The players exchanged breaks on three occasions and Alcaraz, 21, had to save a set point in the tie-break before finally winning through.

"I made some mistakes, I found it hard to maintain my level, but I am happy to have solved the problems that came in the second set, and to end up winning in two sets," Alcaraz told TVE.

Squashs Olympic debut will take place at Courthouse Square for LA 2028 as the sport goes from stage to screen and World Squash hailing the organisers for their brilliant creative vision.

The venue at Universal Studios Lot in San Fernando Valley has played host to an array of iconic Hollywood movies, notably Back to The Future, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Nutty Professor.

With squash being played on a host of theatre stages on the PSA Tour, the move by LA organisers, as well as NBC executives, to put squash in a movie setting is an apt one.

World Squash president Zena Wooldridge said: On behalf of the global squash community, I would like to thank the teams from the IOC, LA28 and NBCUniversal for their brilliant creative vision in proposing squash for what will surely be one of the most iconic sporting venues in the world.

As one of the worlds most famous film studios, Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles will present a unique and spectacular Hollywood setting for squashs Olympic premiere, one which Im sure will excite squash fans across the world.

There was no further detail in Wednesdays release as to where the squash competition will held at Courthouse Square or if it will be an undercover event. With a 16-player draw, the schedule also lends itself to be played at night.

But US Squash president and CEO Kevin Klipstein added: For squash in the United States, there could not be a more ideal location for our sports Olympic debut than in Los Angeles and at Universal Studios.

Squash will be the only Olympic sport staged at Universal Studios.

LAs organising committee presented a final venues plan to the IOC last week.

The latest venues plan includes sites in Venice, downtown LA and Long Beach.

PSA CEO Alex Gough said: Squash has always prided itself on being played in remarkable, iconic locations.

By combining its world-class facilities, entertainment expertise, and strategic location, the Universal Studios Lot promises to create an unforgettable Olympic experience for our players, fans, and the sport. We are thrilled to be part of this historic moment and look forward to welcoming fans from across the globe to experience squash in such a unique and inspiring setting.

Newcastle Falcons consultant director of rugby Steve Diamond says the sport's disciplinary process "is flawed" as he begins a six-match ban against Northampton Saints on Friday.

Diamond, 56, was given the suspension for abusing match officials at the end of a 17-15 defeat at Exeter Chiefs on 29 March.

He was upset about Exeter's match-winning try in the last minute being awarded and angrily confronted the officials after the game.

Diamond admitted the charge, describing the incident as a "huge mistake", but says more experienced officials may be needed.

He said: "There's a problem with the disciplinary system, not a problem with the referees. There's only people like me prepared to say things about it, but it's not the first time these things have happened.

"I've got a six-week ban for saying an inappropriate comment - which I've apologised for - to a professional referee in complete privacy.

"If the ref can't pick it up, because he can't see everything and the assistant can't see everything, surely for goodness sake the TMO [television match official] should be seeing these things?

"The system is flawed. Maybe they need some more investment and more experienced people doing these jobs.

"There's no accountability. We understand we have to have regulation and understand I can't say what I said, but there's got to be some accountability otherwise people keep making mistakes."

Sidney Crosby remains the NHL's most complete player, according to his peers.

The annual NHL Players' Association poll was released on Tuesday, with 663 members chiming in on 12 hockey-related questions. It's the 10th edition of the players poll.

Crosby, the 37-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins star, was named the NHL's most complete player for the sixth straight season. But there's a challenger to his throne: Crosby earned 33.81% of the votes with Florida Panthers star Aleksander Barkov (30.95%) right behind him. Year over year, Barkov has cut Crosby's lead for the award from 140 votes to just 18 votes.

Crosby was also named the NHL's smartest player (27.02%) over Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov (24.71%), as well as the player his peers would most rely on to win a faceoff (20.39%) overtaking Nashville Predators center Ryan O'Reilly (9.95%), who won the category last season. Kucherov was named the NHL's best playmaker (48.25%).

Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid was also a multiple category winner, taking best overall forward in a romp (73.89%) over Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche (9.62%); and best overall skater (66.41%) over Cale Makar of the Avalanche (11.41%), who was named the NHL's best overall defenseman (71.78%) by a wide margin over Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks (7.44%).

The vote for best goaltender offered the poll's most surprising result. Connor Hellebuyck for the Winnipeg Jets, who is expected to win his second straight Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender, placed third in the vote (15.57%) behind Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy (31.13%) and Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers (23.58%).

In other superlatives, Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak and Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews tied for the player with the best fashion sense (15.75%), while Kevin Hayes of the Penguins was named the player who would make the best broadcaster after their playing career is done. Bell Centre in Montreal won for best ice (44.96%) for the seventh straight season.

Finally, the NHLPA members were asked what innovative rule from the Professional Women's Hockey League they'd like to see ported over to the NHL. The "Jailbreak Goal" rule won with 29.70% of the vote, in which a power play for a minor penalty ends if a short-handed goal is scored. Right behind it was the PWHL's standings format of three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout or overtime win, and one point for a shootout or overtime loss.

DENVER -- Gabriel Landeskog is rejoining the Colorado Avalanche after taking part in a two-game minor league rehab assignment.

The team said Tuesday that the captain's conditioning loan to the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles has been terminated. He played games for them Friday and Saturday in the latest progress toward a return from a knee injury that has led to two surgeries and caused him to miss the past two seasons.

Landeskog, 32, has not played in the NHL since hoisting the Stanley Cup in late June 2022. The Swedish forward could be activated as soon as the end of the regular season to play this weekend in Game 1 of the Avalanche's first-round playoff series against the Dallas Stars.

His return is a major boost for Colorado, especially given the difficult path through the Western Conference.