HOUSTON -- A third civil lawsuit filed against Deshaun Watson accuses the Houston Texans quarterback of sexually assaulting a massage therapist by allegedly forcing her to have oral sex with him in December 2020.

The lawsuit was filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee on Wednesday night and appeared on the Harris County district clerk's website Thursday morning.

This is the third civil case filed against Watson this week. The previous two lawsuits were related to two separate incidents during which he is accused of committing "civil assault" by touching a massage therapist with his penis.

Buzbee said on Instagram on Wednesday night that there are six total cases against Watson. So far, only three lawsuits have been filed.

"Watson's behavior is part of a disturbing pattern of preying on vulnerable women," the lawsuit reads.

Watson responded on Twitter on Tuesday night after Buzbee announced the filing of the first lawsuit, saying he rejected "a baseless six-figure settlement demand" and that this is "about clearing my name, and I look forward to doing that." At the time of his statement, Watson said he had not seen the first lawsuit.

"I have never treated any woman with anything other than the utmost respect," Watson said in his statement.

The third lawsuit alleges that Watson sent a direct message to the plaintiff over Instagram and then scheduled a massage for Dec. 28, 2020, at an office building in Houston.

After leaving the room, the massage therapist alleges she returned to find Watson lying on the massage table on his stomach with just a small towel covering his buttocks. She alleges that when Watson turned over midway through the massage, he "got more aggressive, forcefully telling her to move her hand down to his pubic area."

The plaintiff alleges that she felt "intimidated and threatened" and "she was afraid of what someone like Watson could do if she did not submit to his demands." She says in the lawsuit that Watson made it clear, repeatedly, that he could "help, or hurt, her career." The lawsuit alleges that Watson forced the woman to perform oral sex on him, and that she "did not consent."

Watson's Houston-based attorney, Rusty Hardin, told ESPN he first learned of the lawsuits involving the quarterback Tuesday evening. Hardin said he spoke with Watson on Wednesday and agreed to represent him.

"I'm real comfortable with the kind of person that Deshaun Watson is, and I don't like to publicly comment until I get all the facts," Hardin said after the first two lawsuits were filed. He added that "the allegations are really inconsistent with the kind of person he is."

The Texans and the NFL on Wednesday said they are aware of the matter.

"We became aware of a civil lawsuit involving Deshaun Watson through a social media post last night," the Texans' statement said. "This is the first time we heard of the matter, and we hope to learn more soon. We take accusations of this nature that involve anyone within the Houston Texans organization seriously. We will await further information before making any additional statements on this incident."

The NFL has declined further comment at this time.

ESPN reporter Sarah Barshop can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

SAN FRANCISCO -- NBA star Stephen Curry is drawing acclaim from civil rights leaders for his work campaigning for social justice, his support of women's causes and his interview with Dr. Anthony Fauci about the pandemic.

The NAACP has given him its Jackie Robinson Sports Award. And, for the first time, the nation's oldest civil rights organization is recognizing more than one person by honoring the Women's National Basketball Players Association.

"I would borrow a Maya Angelou quote to describe Steph and his leadership: 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,'" Warriors general manager Bob Myers said in an email.

"Steph has certainly made people in the Bay Area and all over the world feel joy. His commitment to social activism and support of women are another part of the fabric that makes up the person that he is. I'm honored to know him for what he does both on and off the court," Myers added. "And a much deserved congratulations to the women of the WNBA who continue to fearlessly pursue what is right."

Curry, 33, Golden State's two-time MVP, held a YouTube question-and-answer forum with Fauci last March near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jackie Robinson award -- named for the late Dodgers great who broke baseball's racial barrier -- recognizes athletes for their success as well as their commitment to social justice, civil rights and their communities.

"He has a strong platform and he utilizes it to the best of his ability," teammate Kelly Oubre Jr. said. "He's a great individual."

The WNBA players have been applauded for their activism in a unified movement that has featured kneeling for the national anthem, messages supporting Black Lives Matter and protesting the shooting of Jacob Blake in August by following the Bucks' lead in not playing.

WNBA players also notably called out former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican and former co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, for her criticism of the league's social justice efforts.

Some players sported T-shirts reading "Vote Warnock" in support of Atlanta pastor Raphael Warnock, a Democrat who defeated Loeffler in a runoff race in January. Warnock became Georgia's first African American senator.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr, outspoken on many issues himself, said he admires the WNBA players for their activism.

"I love what the WNBA players have done. They've really taken the lead with creativity and unity in a lot of important causes, political causes but social injustice issues," Kerr said. "They've made their voices heard. They've done it very creatively and powerfully."

The awards are to be presented during next week's NAACP Image Awards Virtual Experience.

LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Jim Brown, the Harlem Globetrotters, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Sugar Ray Leonard, Eddie Robinson are among prior recipients.

What is projected to happen in the 2021 NBA draft lottery?

This will be the third lottery since the NBA flattened the odds, which introduced more uncertainty at the top of the draft order. Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves won the lottery with the league's third-worst record and the Charlotte Hornets jumped up to No. 3 after finishing with the ninth-worst record.

There's a new wrinkle to the tank race this season: Teams that finish No. 9 or No. 10 in each conference will make the playoff play-in round. That gives more teams incentive to remain competitive through the end of the regular season rather than trying to help their lottery odds.

With some of the top prospects taking the court in the NCAA tournament and the NBA trade deadline approaching, here's what you need to know about the most likely lottery winners and the traded picks at stake. We'll use ESPN's revamped Basketball Power Index (BPI) for projections.

MORE: Top draft prospects in the NCAA tournament

This year's lottery odds

In 2019, the NBA began drawing the top four selections in the lottery with new odds for each slot. A full breakdown of those changes can be found here, but these are the key things to know:

• The teams with the three worst records have the same odds for both the No. 1 pick (14%) and staying in the top four (52%).

• The team with the worst record has a 47.9% chance to fall to No. 5.

• Teams in slots 9 through 6 have a 20-37% chance of jumping into the top five. Previously, that range was 6-22%.

Here are this season's current lottery odds via BPI, including each team's play-in chances.

Minnesota Timberwolves | Expected position: 3.8

• Top pick: 13.9%

• Top three: 40.0%

• Top five: 90.5%

• Make play-in: 0.1%

Houston Rockets | Expected position: 4.3

• Top pick: 12.6%

• Top three: 36.9%

• Top five: 66.0%

• Make play-in: 0.1%

Detroit Pistons | Expected position: 4.4

• Top pick: 12.8%

• Top three: 36.1%

• Top five: 62.6%

• Make play-in: 0.3%

Cleveland Cavaliers | Expected position: 4.4

• Top pick: 12.5%

• Top three: 36.5%

• Top five: 63.2%

• Make play-in: 0.4%

Orlando Magic | Expected position: 4.9

• Top pick: 11.1%

• Top three: 33.3%

• Top five: 52.9%

• Make play-in: 2.0%

Washington Wizards | Expected position: 6.6

• Top pick: 7.7%

• Top three: 23.3%

• Top five: 33.1%

• Make play-in: 17.7%

Oklahoma City Thunder | Expected position: 6.8

• Top pick: 7.2%

• Top three: 22.2%

• Top five: 31.5%

• Make play-in: 7.1%

Sacramento Kings | Expected position: 8.5

• Top pick: 5.1%

• Top three: 16.0%

• Top five: 22.4%

• Make play-in: 14.0%

New York Knicks | Expected position: 9.3

• Top pick: 4.0%

• Top three: 12.3%

• Top five: 17.2%

• Make play-in: 45.9%

Chicago Bulls | Expected position: 10.1

• Top pick: 3.3%

• Top three: 10.2%

• Top five: 14.2%

• Make play-in: 59.3%

Memphis Grizzlies | Expected position: 10.6

• Top pick: 2.9%

• Top three: 9.7%

• Top five: 13.6%

• Make play-in: 40.1%

Atlanta Hawks | Expected position: 12.5

• Top pick: 1.5%

• Top three: 5.1%

• Top five: 7.2%

• Make play-in: 78.4%

San Antonio Spurs | Expected position: 12.7

• Top pick: 1.7%

• Top three: 5.7%

• Top five: 7.9%

• Make play-in: 67.9%

New Orleans Pelicans | Expected position: 12.8

• Top pick: 1.6%

• Top three: 5.3%

• Top five: 7.4%

• Make play-in: 69.7%

Indiana Pacers | Expected position: 13.5

• Top pick: 1.2%

• Top three: 3.6%

• Top five: 5.0%

• Make play-in: 79.1%

The top prospects

This lottery is all about the top five -- a rare level of depth.

"The top five of this class is pretty spectacular -- definitely one of the best I've seen in my nearly 20 years of covering the draft," ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony wrote recently. "I have to think any team would be happy landing anywhere in this range."

Here are those top five prospects, per scouting and inside intel from Givony and Mike Schmitz:

• Oklahoma State guard Cade Cunningham: Establishing a tier of his own as the consensus No. 1 overall prospect, with Schmitz describing his game as a Luka Doncic-Jayson Tatum hybrid with shades of Khris Middleton.

• USC center Evan Mobley: His defensive versatility, shooting potential and ability to handle and pass at 7 feet give him a ceiling that resembles something between Anthony Davis and Chris Bosh.

• G League Ignite guard Jalen Green: An exciting perimeter shot-creator who could lead the league in scoring with his off-the-dribble shot-making and dynamic abilities at 6-foot-6.

• G League Ignite forward Jonathan Kuminga: The most physically impressive prospect in the draft -- strong, quick and explosive at 6-foot-8 and 225 pounds with a 7-foot wingspan -- with shot-creation potential.

• Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs: The best player on the best team in the country thanks to his toughness and all-around feel for the game.

No team will enter the lottery with a better than 14% chance to land the No. 1 pick and the opportunity to draft Cunningham, but -- pending trade obligations -- the team that finishes with the worst record in the league is guaranteed to have an opening to pick one of these five prospects. Every other franchise will be hoping on the pingpong balls.

The traded picks

This loaded draft also features some key traded first-round picks to monitor heading into the deadline and the rest of the season. Here's a rundown.

Wolves-Warriors

Minnesota will send its pick to Golden State if the selection falls outside of the top three. If the pick doesn't convey this season, it becomes unprotected next year.

The Wolves are currently projected to finish with the league's worst record, which would give them a 40% chance of staying in the top three and keeping their pick, but a 60% chance of sending the Warriors pick No. 4 or No. 5 and a chance to draft one of the star prospects.

Thunder-Rockets

OKC will receive the two most favorable first-rounders between its own pick, Houston's pick and Miami's pick, but the Houston pick is top-four protected. If Houston's pick falls within the top four, then OKC receives its own first-rounder as well as Miami's.

This one is going to be close. As long as the Rockets finish with a bottom-three record -- projected as a likely outcome at this point -- they will have a 52% chance of landing in the top four via the lottery drawing. A winning streak that vaults them out of the bottom three would start to hurt those odds.

In an unlikely yet plausible scenario, the rebuilding Thunder could end up with Cunningham at No. 1 via their own pick and the last remaining star prospect from the top five via the Rockets.

Mavs-Knicks

The Mavericks owe the Knicks their first-rounder unprotected this season. After a shaky start, Dallas has climbed up to No. 8 in the West with an 84.9% chance of making the playoffs, according to BPI projections.

It looks unlikely that this pick ends up in the lottery, but it's still one to monitor. Given the unpredictable nature of this season and the flattened odds, a losing streak or a play-in dud that drops the Mavericks down the standings could turn into a valuable high-lottery pick for New York.

NEW YORK -- The New York Yankees and Mets will be allowed to start the season with a maximum 20% capacity.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced at a news conference Thursday that the Yankees could have up to 10,850 fans for their April 1 opener against Toronto at Yankee Stadium and the Mets could have up to 8,384 for their April 8 home opener against Miami at Citi Field.

Attendees will have to provide proof of immunization against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test. That requirement will be reevaluated in mid-May.

"The numbers are coming down. We have to start moving forward," Cuomo said.

Infection rates in New York City started to fall in mid-January, but the rate has leveled. The city and its surrounding suburbs have among the highest infection rates in the U.S.

Cuomo began allowing fans back during the NFL playoffs with the Buffalo Bills, who drew 6,772 each, about 9.4% of capacity at Bills Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, for games on Jan. 9 and Jan. 16.

"We did testing. It worked extraordinarily well," Cuomo said. "It was a great demonstration. We're now going to move forward."

He announced in mid-February that indoor sports arenas could allow 10% capacity starting Feb. 23, which impacted NBA and NHL teams.

Performing arts will be allowed outdoors starting April 1 with capacities of 20% at venues of 2,500 or more.

Sports venues with 1,500 or more indoors will be allowed 10% capacity and with 2,500 or more outdoors will be allowed 20% capacity. Proof of a vaccine or a negative COVID-19 test will be required.

Contact tracing will be conducted to determine whether anyone who attended got infected.

"I think you're going to see the capacity increase and the testing requirements decrease as we get more evidence. But we want to start safe and smart," Cuomo said.

Former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia and former Mets and Yankees pitcher Al Leiter attended the news conference along with Yankees president Randy Levine and Mets vice chairman Andy Cohen.

No fans were allowed during the delayed 2020 regular season, which was reduced from 162 to 60 games per team because of the coronavirus.

Fans were allowed only during the postseason at Arlington, Texas, where 75,843 attended the Los Angeles Dodgers' win over Atlanta in the seven-game NL Championship Series and 68,622 attended the Dodgers' victory over Tampa Bay in a six-game World Series.

All teams are expected to have fans for the start of the regular season, and all but Detroit and Houston have made announcements, the baseball commissioner's office said. Only the Texas Rangers will be at 100% capacity.

Other announced capacities, according to MLB, are: Boston and Washington (12%); Seattle (18.9%); the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and San Francisco (20%); Arizona, Baltimore, Miami and Milwaukee (25%); Minnesota (25.9%); Cincinnati, Cleveland and Kansas City (30%); St. Louis (32%); Atlanta (33%); Tampa Bay (40%); and Colorado (42.6%).

Because of Canadian government restrictions, Toronto will play its first two homestands at TD Ballpark, its spring training home in Dunedin, Florida, where capacity will be 15%. The Blue Jays played home games last year at their Triple-A farm team's stadium in Buffalo, New York.

Frustration began to mount soon after the 2020 MLB season got underway last summer. Without in-game video available to major league hitters for the first time, many found themselves at a disadvantage at the plate.

They struggled.

And then they vented. Mostly, players chirped to their agents, and then those agents called the league office to complain.

What began as a potential tweak due to sign-stealing concerns became a ban on video altogether once the pandemic hit. Unlike those of us viewing from home, players could not watch a replay of their at-bat or a pitch they threw until after the game was over. It was a departure from past practices and a tough adjustment for some star players.

"We did hear from some people multiple times," MLB executive vice president Morgan Sword said last week. "We understood the frustration. It was one of many disruptions to normal [baseball] life last year."

As Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto said, "Video is so important, to have that immediate feedback. It helps pitchers, catchers, hitters, and lets you know if what you're seeing is right or wrong."

Before 2020 -- and the sign-stealing scandal ignited by the Houston Astros -- players were able to go back into the clubhouse into a video room and replay their last at-bat. They could analyze their swing or simply how they were seeing the strike zone that day in real time, and some players struggled with the abrupt change.

"It's a fine line," said Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who hit .222 last year. "You didn't want to make excuses, and there are no excuses, but for 10 years in the big leagues I've had access to video. I'm a huge in-game adjuster. Pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat."

For others, it wasn't a big deal.

"It's not going to change anything for me," Brewers star Christian Yelich said recently. "I'm not a big in-game-video guy. I just don't like it. I feel like whatever swing you have that day is the one you have."

But it's Rizzo's sentiments that echo what many players said when interviewed for this story: They didn't want to come across as excuse makers but were adamant about wanting in-game video to return.

The league was sympathetic to their arguments and struck a compromise with the players' union for 2021. A new system will be in place for Opening Day that should satisfy three needs: allowing players to watch previous at-bats, eliminating the possibility of stealing a catcher's signs and all of it happening in a safe environment during the pandemic.

"I think it's significant," Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell said of in-game video returning. "And when it's a tool you've been using for the bulk of your career, and it's gone, you feel empty a little bit. It's the right thing to do."

The new system

The league is revamping its iPad dugout program to include in-game video this season. iPads have been allowed in the dugout, but only with pre-uploaded materials. A player could look up a pitcher's or hitter's past tendencies but could not access anything that occurred during that game.

That's changing.

"We knew it was important to find a solution for this issue for 2021 and that we were likely in the same place regarding the pandemic," Sword said. "We don't want people in the video room."

The league developed software that would meet player concerns while keeping small groups from gathering in the video room. Beginning on Opening Day, a player's at-bat will be uploaded to the iPads in the dugout soon after his plate appearance. To prevent sign stealing, the video will be edited to begin as the pitcher is about to throw the ball.

"The clips don't start until after the catcher has given the signs," Sword said.

Each clip will contain a combination of broadcast and MLB-owned cameras that upload the play to the new software program. It is cut at the point after signs are exchanged between catcher and pitcher and sent to the iPad on a half-inning delay. There were discussions about blurring the signs, but this system eliminates them from the equation.

"That's great," Rizzo said when informed of the new technology. "The biggest thing with video for me, I need to see it to make sure I was right [seeing the strike zone], but if I'm wrong, I can make the adjustment right away."

Who benefits most?

There's little doubt that position players will get the most out of in-game video returning, especially when compared to starting pitchers. The latter group was less likely to run back into the clubhouse to analyze one or two pitches between innings, but the time between at-bats made it much easier for hitters to check in with their video guy.

"As a pitcher, I'm throwing 100-plus pitches, and I'm not really interested in going back and looking at that stuff," White Sox starter Lucas Giolito said. "I'll save that for after the game. A hitter has three to four at-bats. They're all hugely important."

One pitcher noted that he might sneak a peek more often now that he could do it from the dugout, and that managers might also prefer the new system.

"I think it's a plus because the negative was guys were going in to look at their at-bats, which means guys weren't out there to watch the game that half-inning," Giolito's skipper, Tony La Russa, said.

There have been stories of the video room being more crowded than the dugout during games, but that will end.

"The iPad in the dugout helps, for sure," Counsell said. "Players use the video room as a calibration, really. To know where pitches are in the strike zone. It's so useful for hitters. More than mechanical adjustments they are making by seeing video. It's that calibration they'll be allowed to make."

The biggest potential losers with the new program? Umpires. One noted how much less he heard from players last year after their at-bats because they couldn't watch them instantly. One pitcher jokingly said that 80% of in-game video was used to confirm an umpire got a call wrong. A hitter denied that accusation, but only by saying 80% was too high.

Either way, most parties are happy with the new system.

"The players have been great on this issue," Sword said. "We've tried hard to make it up to them by providing them a solid piece of technology. We're probably going to be working with them to make sure we nailed this."

However it's applied, an old saying became readily apparent for players last year: You don't know what you have until it's taken away. The pandemic season of 2020 was rough in so many ways. And 2021 will begin the same way 2020 ended, with players following a slew of health and safety protocols. But at least they have their in-game video back.

How much difference will it make?

"It was different for every hitter," Realmuto said. "For me, I was in the middle. I would rather have video. It wouldn't kill me not to have it, but I've had conversations with hitters, and it was pretty devastating for them not to have that immediate feedback."

How we got here

After the Astros scandal erupted, the league knew it had to curb ways in which teams were stealing signs. Houston, among other teams, showed how being able to see the catcher's signs in real time or soon after on video could have a major impact on the field. To stop the issue during the 2019-20 offseason, MLB went to work with the players' union on launching a video system that would eliminate electronic sign stealing. The talks stretched into spring training.

Then the pandemic hit.

"We were in the middle of working through that with the union, and it all screeched it to a halt," Sword said.

As talks on the subject resumed during baseball's shutdown, it became clear they had to start from scratch again, with going into the clubhouse to watch video no longer a possibility at all.

"The operations manual in 2020 prevented any coaches or players from going into the video room for any reason," Sword said. "We didn't want people in small enclosed spaces together."

Talks then shifted to how to make a system work in the dugout, but the software required a tech guy to be with the players throughout the game.

"Playing safely was our No. 1 priority," Sword said.

While it's impossible to prove just how much performance was affected by the lack of video, there's no arguing that career-long routines had been altered. By September, J.D. Martinez and Javier Baez were among the star players to go public with their frustrations.

Clint Frazier couldn't wait to show off his latest piece of lumber.

Featuring a colorful caricature of his face, his bright red curly locks, a face mask with his jersey number -- 77 -- a chain and sunglasses, his new bat was everything a typical brown, gray or black bat was not.

Frazier posted a short video of it on Twitter late last month, along with the now-classic Major League Baseball marketing slogan: "Let the kids playyy!"

The New York Yankees outfielder would show off the bat again later during BP, one of a growing number of artfully designed sticks seen at major league training camps this spring, wielded by some of the game's biggest names.

let the kids playyy! @VictusSports ? pic.twitter.com/pAKntBLc6K

— Clint Frazier (@clintfrazier) February 25, 2021

Two days before Frazier's post, the Philadelphia Phillies had tweeted a series of photos of six-time All-Star Bryce Harper using a similar bat, his adorned with a painting of the Phillie Phanatic.

Bryce made it to Clearwooder. pic.twitter.com/nS5WRbqxUR

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) February 23, 2021

San Diego Padres franchise player Fernando Tatis Jr. has been spotted with his own customized version, and Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson has an order on the way.

The eye-catching, custom-painted bats come from Victus Sports, a wood bat company based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Acquired by Marucci Sports, the most popular bat supplier in the major leagues, in 2017, Victus Sports has been making bats for big leaguers since 2012, but it took a leap forward last year when it hired artist Bruce Tatem.

"We'll get some feedback from players, things that they like, maybe something that represents where they're from, stuff along those lines," Tatem said of the design process. "Then I'll either start sketching or we'll be together in our design meeting and we'll go over the ideas and we'll throw ideas out there. I just take a collection of all that and then I put it into the computer and start mocking the bat design up. Sometimes, I'll just run with it."

Tatem, 44, spent more than 20 years airbrushing everything from motorcycles to hockey goalie masks before embarking on his projects with Victus Sports, with his first personalized bat going to former major leaguer Jonny Gomes. Tatem, a native of Biglerville, Pennsylvania, and a graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia, was initially skeptical of the baseball bat as a canvas.

"At first, it was like I'm working on a completely round surface, but I love that you can roll the bat and reveal the art," Tatem said. "It's not like the side of the motorcycle where you see everything at once. I love the way that the canvas works. I think I've figured out the puzzle with how to do that and make it look like an attractive piece of artwork."

Tatem works closely with designer Ryan Smith, better known as Diesel. Together, they can create a bat in as little as a few days or as much as a few weeks, depending on the project. The company, which made about 20% of the bats used on Opening Day last season, can produce 100 or more bats for special events like Players Weekend, the league's annual player personality showcase. That can create a time crunch, with artists working on bats for 72 straight hours without sleep.

"When Diesel was working on the Home Run Derby bats and the Players Weekend [bats], sometimes you don't know until the last minute who's going to be in the Derby," Tatem said. "So you have no choice but to pull the all-nighter to do that."

Among the group's most recent projects was Tatis' customized lumber, following his breakout campaign in 2020.

"We weren't necessarily a hundred percent sure how we wanted to convey it," Tatem said. "We just knew we wanted to do a bat. It was going to be a limited edition Tatis. So throwing the ideas out there, one of the guys was like, 'Well, can you do blond dreads on a bat?' and I didn't say anything, but it stuck in my head, and I went home that night, I said, 'You know what? I think I want to do a bat head of Tatis.'"

As usual, Tatem laid out the project on his computer, figuring out the proper dimensions for the portrait before he began a little bit of freehand airbrushing. Using an image of Tatis, he drew the player's likeness onto the bat, then printed stencils and airbrushed in the finer details. From there, the bat went to the paint team, who finished off the bat before sending the special project to the Padres shortstop.

"When [Tatem] first came on, that was when we first decided, hey, we have an opportunity now not to just do crazy colors and dipped bats, but now we can actually do art on the bats, and I think that's kind of the direction now that we're pushing and I think it's one of those things where we want to claim the trophy of being the best at it," said Victus Sports CEO Jared Smith. "We want to keep pushing the envelope so that nobody can catch up to us really because you start seeing other companies out there, more and more doing stuff like us, and we welcome it."

The company hopes to push forward bat design in the big leagues, but its work will be limited to social media posts, special events and batting practice -- for now.

Rule 3.02 (d) of the MLB rulebook states "no colored bats may be used in a professional game unless approved by the Rules Committee," but rules are meant to be broken -- even if the league is trying to cut off a trend before it even starts.

Case in point: Harper, who has used the company's more traditional line of bats in games for years. Five years ago, on the Fourth of July, Harper, then with the Washington Nationals, trotted to the plate with a custom bat, colored red, white and blue, and decorated with the stars and stripes and a silhouette of the Washington skyline. He promptly homered off San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

Harper got away with it, but a year later, his hopes of debuting a new patriotic bat for Independence Day -- this one bearing an image of the Statue of Liberty -- were dashed. On Instagram, he posted that MLB rules barred him from using it.

"One day I hope players in the @MLB can express the way they feel and give thanks to everybody that makes our lives possible and safe every single day through bats or cleats or anything to that point," Harper wrote. "And no I will not be using this bat today to respect the rules of @MLB!"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ｂｒｙｃｅ Ｈａｒｐｅｒ (@bryceharper3)

At the time, MLB issued a warning to Victus Sports, reminding the company that its license to provide game equipment could be suspended. The league has softened its stance a bit since then, at least for the Home Run Derby and Players Weekend, when MLB expands its limited color palette for bats and permits logos and lettering typically prohibited.

That set up the company's biggest moment in the spotlight so far, when Harper used a Victus Sports bat, decorated with "We The People" and an American flag, to win the Home Run Derby in 2019. "Ain't no company that shows my personality in my bats more than Victus," Harper said through a Victus Sports spokesman.

MLB began experimenting with nontraditional bat colors when the league introduced pink bats for Mother's Day games in 2006. The league didn't comment on whether there are any plans to further loosen restrictions on bat designs as it has in recent seasons by permitting customized cleats, but Victus envisions a future where colorful sticks are the norm.

"I can definitely imagine it. I would love that. Now, do I think MLB will do it? I hope so. I mean, I hope that they see the value in it. I think every sport you kind of go across the board, you see all the different things that are just expanding as far as customization and in the products," Smith said. "If nothing else, I think they'll continue to give us a platform to show the stuff off, at least in batting practice, hopefully with events like the Home Run Derby [and] Players Weekend.

"So now us being able to start doing some of this cool stuff for our players, the guys that we either have marketing deals with or just guys that have swung us for a long time that we really like, you're going to start seeing more and more stuff like that out there," Smith said, "at least unless MLB stops us."

AW promotion: Analysis by the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism concludes that tart cherries can aid muscle recovery and reduce soreness after hard exercise

Are you training hard this spring ahead of athletics competitions re-starting again this summer? If so, your body will benefit from good recovery techniques and new research suggests tart cherry juice can help in this area.

The International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism has analysed 14 previously published studies and has concluded that tart cherry supplementation – in the form of Montmorency tart cherry juice, powder or tablets – has a significant effect on improving the recovery of muscle strength and reducing reported muscle soreness after exercise.

Dr Jessica Hill at St Mary’s University and Professor Glyn Howatson and colleagues at Northumbria University pooled results of 14 recovery studies on tart cherries that included multiple measurements of muscle strength, muscle soreness, muscle power and several blood biomarkers of exercise induced muscle damage.

The studies involved 223 males and 71 females with an average age of 26 and tart cherry supplementation included one to two servings per day during the length of the study – ranging from 7-16 days, including pre-exercise, day of exercise and post-exercise. All of the studies used US-grown Montmorency tart cherry juice, concentrate, powder or supplements.

Howatson said: “In previous studies, we have found tart cherries to have significant benefits on recovery after strenuous exercise involving runners, cyclists and team sports players.

“However, there are some inconsistencies in the scientific literature and therefore we wanted to clarify the effectiveness and identify the factors most affected by tart cherry supplementation.”

The systematic review and meta-analysis concluded that tart cherry products consumed before and after strenuous exercise resulted in:

“Although the overall picture shows a generally positive response, the variations in the response to tart cherries in some published studies are likely due to the differences in study design, dietary control, the study participants and the type of exercise,” Howatson added.

“For instance, tart cherry products seem to be more beneficial for exercise that is more metabolically challenging,” he said.

“Even though the exact mechanisms are yet to be fully understood, our findings provide support that tart cherries can aid the recovery of muscle function and reduce reported soreness following strenuous exercise.”

Nearly all of the studies on cherries and exercise recovery or performance have been conducted with Montmorency tart cherries, the most common variety of tart cherries grown in the US.

These homegrown tart cherries are available year-round in dried, frozen, canned, juice and juice concentrate forms. Other varieties of tart cherries may be imported and not grown locally.

The Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) generally has been banned since November 2015 following the revelations of state-sponsored doping. But a maximum of 10 athletes will be able to compete now under the ANA scheme and, if they compete at the Games, under a neutral flag.

READ MORE: Top Russians banned after major fraud

Rune Andersen, chair of the World Athletics’ Russia taskforce, says Russian athletes can apply for ANA status right away and that this is dependent on RusAF continuing to satisfy the requirements agreed for their eventual return to the sport. “The doping review board will start accepting applications for ANA status immediately,” he said.

Andersen added that RusAF is now following a roadmap which should eventually lead to its reinstatement. “But this is just the start,” he emphasised. “It won’t mean anything unless RusAF carefully and consistently completes all of the enormous work that is required to implement the plan and to put in place the enduring change in culture which Russian athletics so desperately needs.”

So there will be Russians at the Tokyo Olympics in the shape of ANA competitors but will there be any spectators?

When tackled on the topic on Thursday (March 18), World Athletics president Seb Coe said: “Of course I’d like the stadiums to have people in… and I hope a decision is not made too early. But the most important thing is to get the athletes to the Games.”

Elsewhere, Coe says the World Athletics’ health and science department is talking to European Athletics about the alarming number of coronavirus positives that have emerged since the European Indoor Championships in Poland.

There is clearly a concern over safety at upcoming summer season meetings. Coe says World Athletics oversaw around 600 events in 2020 despite Covid, but that number is expected to roughly double in 2021 if competitions return to something close to ‘normal’.

As for this year’s competitions so far, Coe says there were 25 indoor meetings involving 1400 athletes from 85 countries from January to March and that he “cannot remember a better indoor season”.

This summer's Wimbledon championships will likely go ahead with a reduced capacity crowd, organisers said.

Tournament chiefs said they will react to changing circumstances which may result in an increase or decrease in numbers allowed in the grounds.

The overall attendance for the 2019 Wimbledon event - the last to be held - was 500,397 over the 13 days.

Organisers did not specify how many tickets will be initially available for the forthcoming competition.

A statement from Wimbledon added: "We want to ensure that we can leave decisions on public capacity as late as we can in order to welcome the maximum number of guests, and manage our ticket distribution accordingly."

Tickets for this summer's tournament will be made available online in June, however there will be no reselling within the grounds and therefore the familiar sight of the 'Wimbledon queue' will not be visible this year.

"Both the queue and ticket resale remain much-loved and important traditions and we look forward to their return in 2022," added the statement.