DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Already an accomplished mechanic, racer and podcaster, Ryan Eversley has expanded his role in motorsports to include sales.

Last month, he shared his appreciation for a 2022 Acura MDX A-Spec on Twitter, noting that he hopes it becomes his next company car. That tweet came a few months after another one about an Acura RDX A-Spec actually led to a sale.

Nothing like keeping your manufacturer happy.

“I realized that there are so many good drivers, especially in IMSA, that I’ve got to do something that sets me apart from being a fast, winning driver on track,” said Eversley, a factory Acura/Honda driver. “There are 100 guys who can do that. I’ve used my social media to build an audience, and then I’ve used that audience to help partners and sponsors like Acura and HPD (Honda Performance Development) see the value outside of the car.”

It’s working. Eversley will return to the No. 94 Atlanta Speedwerks Honda Civic FK7 TCR with teammates Todd Lamb and Greg Strelzoff for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race March 19 at Sebring International Raceway, the Alan Jay Automotive Network 120. His move to the team for 2021 reunited him with Lamb, Atlanta Speedwerks’ owner and Eversley’s longtime friend and former teammate.

“We already had a working relationship,” Eversley said. “We see each other all the time and we’re always racing against each other. There’s a level of respect that comes from guys that you know can do the job on and off the track. … We both have that scrappy, gritty kind of personality, so we always get along.”

After the second-place debut in the Touring Car (TCR) class in January at Daytona International Speedway, Eversley is ready to put his mechanical and racing skills back to work at Sebring. As a teenager, Eversley began wrenching. When he began driving, the knowledge of the internal workings of the cars helped.

“I think it was an advantage in years past when mechanical failures were more common,” Eversley said. “You could nurse something and you could diagnose a problem before it started happening. … Now that reliability is so good, I think the advantage it gives me is understanding what the crew is going through and knowing when and how to ask for things.”

Since his racing debut in 2004, Eversley has assembled a healthy collection of trophies, winning six times (all in a Honda Civic) in eight years in the Pilot Challenge and nine times in six years in the Pirelli World Challenge. In 2004, he scored American Le Mans Series podium finishes in a Le Mans Prototype 2 at Mid-Ohio, Lime Rock and Road Atlanta with Marshall Cooke Racing.

It all began with a set of wrenches and a desire to work his way into the seat. Eversley’s first race as a mechanic with Mike Johnson’s Archangel Motorsports was the SRP II class victory at the 2001 Rolex 24 At Daytona with drivers Andy Lally, Paul Macey, Martin Henderson and Peter Seldon.

“That gave me two very strong teachers in the sport to follow and learn and see how to go about it,” Eversley said of Johnson and Lally. “It clearly gave me an advantage.”

The side hustles, though, are nearly as profound. When he’s not racing, Eversley is co-hosting the “Dinner with Racers” podcast with Sean Heckman. He’s also a prolific tweeter, which leads to the occasional sale, whether intended or not.

In November, Eversley showed off the new ELS Studio audio system on an RDX via video on social media. That led to an email from a potential customer, which led to a purchase.

“I sold a car for them by posting a video of me blasting the radio,” Eversley said. “I filmed it on my cell phone and it was crystal clear. You could tell how good it would sound in real life. A guy watched it and said, ‘That’s pretty cool. I’m in the market.’

“He went to the dealership, drove the car and loved it. He turned to the dealer and said, ‘You’re probably not going to like this, but can I turn the stereo all the way up?’ Sure enough, the guy sent me an email saying he bought the car.”

In February, after tooling around California in a 2022 Acura MDX loaner, he took pics and did his best pitch on social media with a hint about its potential use as his next daily driver.

“That’s my goal,” Eversley said. “When I’m not in the car, how can I help justify my existence as a driver? It’s getting harder and harder to have these jobs and also harder and harder to justify big budgets for things.

“If I can say, ‘Hey, not only do I win races for you, but I also sold 10 to 15 cars last year.’ It’s a pretty common thing. They’re like, ‘Yeah, keep doing what you’re doing.’”

ATLANTA – Bill Lester will return to NASCAR competition when he competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20.

Lester, the first African American competitor to win a pole in the Truck Series, will drive the No. 17 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 in his first Truck Series start since 2007.

The 60-year-old racer will have sponsorship from Camping World, the Greater Atlanta Ford Dealers and Tommy’s Express Car Wash.

Lester is one of four African American drivers in the last 60 years to race in the NASCAR Cup Series and he was the first black driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 2011, Lester also became the first African American driver to win a race in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series.

Lester, who resides in the Atlanta area, is excited to make his return to the Camping World Truck Series.

“I’m excited to get back behind the wheel in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and I want to thank David Gilliland Racing for their help in making this happen,” Lester said. “It’s been more than a few years since my last race in the series, but to have strong partners like the Greater Atlanta Ford Dealers, Camping World, and Tommy’s Express Car Wash joining me for my return means a lot and I am honored to have them on-board. I look forward to competing at my home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and hope to make all those who are supporting me proud.”

BRANDON, S.D. – Memorial Day Weekend just got even better in the Midwest.

Huset’s Speedway has aligned with Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, for a special 410ci winged sprint car tripleheader.

The opening round at Knoxville Raceway, which is Saturday, May 29, pays $5,000 to win before Huset’s Speedway offers up a stout payout during the following two nights.

The high-banked dirt oval welcomes the Northern Outlaw Sprint Ass’n on Sunday, May 30, for a normal $3,000-to-win race. The weekend finale on Monday, May 31, pays $7,500 to win the NOSA show, $3,500 for second place and $2,500 for third.

Additionally, cars that make the A Main in each of the three nights will be eligible for a $200 bonus from Knoxville Raceway and Huset’s Speedway.

The two-day event at Huset’s Speedway caps a busy opening month that will feature five nights of racing for 410 sprint car drivers, including three NOSA races.

The season opener for Huset’s Speedway is slated for May 9.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday acquired defenseman Mikko Lehtonen from the Toronto Maple Leafs for goaltender Veini Vehvilainen.

Lehtonen, 27, skated in his first NHL game on Jan. 18 against Winnipeg and earned his first career assist on Jan. 30 at Edmonton. He will join Columbus' taxi squad after securing a work visa and clearing COVID-19 quarantine.

Vehvilainen, 24, made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets on March 4 at Dallas, stopping three of four shots in 10:40 before going back to the team's American Hockey League affiliate in Cleveland, where he has played in 34 games.

Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan didn't rule out goalie Henrik Lundqvist returning to the team this season after undergoing open-heart surgery in January.

"It would be pretty incredible if he was able to come back. I guess we'll see where he is at the end here," MacLellan said on Friday. "Probably unlikely, but I wouldn't rule it out with him."

Lundqvist, 39, signed a one-year deal with the Capitals last offseason after spending 15 seasons with the New York Rangers. But before he played a game with Washington, Lundqvist announced he was "unable to join the team this season" and would undergo aortic valve replacement, aortic root and ascending aortic replacement surgery.

Lundqvist shared videos recently showing him back on the ice and practicing in goal.

"I think it's impressive what he's doing. I see the videos like you guys see the videos," MacLellan said. "I don't know how likely or unlikely [a return] is. I mean, he had valve replacement surgery."

The Capitals' training staff has been in contact with Lundqvist since his surgery, monitoring his health.

The veteran goalie tweeted on Feb. 25 that going to the rink again was a rewarding experience.

"My health is obviously my No. 1 priority. It will be months before I can make any decisions regarding my future after more tests and conversations with doctors," he said. "The one thing I do know with 100 percent certainty is that I still love the game."

The Capitals' primary goalie this season has been rookie Vitek Vanecek (11-5-3), with expected starter Ilya Samsonov limited to six games after contracting COVID-19 in January. Samsonov has appeared in three games since returning and won both of his starts.

"They're young guys," MacLellan said of his goalies. "I think we need a bigger sample size from Samsonov to see where he's at. We'll monitor for the next month and see where he's at."

Phil Mickelson made six birdies in the second round of The Players Championship.

And shot even par.

Mickelson also had three bogeys and a triple bogey for a 72, which put him at 1 under par for the championship, good enough to make the cut.

The manic scorecard is more than just "Phil being Phil." It's, as Mickelson stated after his round,  for the umpteenth time, a lack of focus that is leading to round-wrecking numbers.

“I'm not focusing with the tunnel vision of seeing what I want to do and go do it and letting my body react and respond to it,” he said. “There's nothing physically holding me back. I feel as good and as strong and as healthy as I've ever been, and I have no reason why I cannot play at the highest level again, but I haven't been as sharp mentally, and I'm going to work on that.”

Beyond this weekend at TPC Sawgrass, Mickelson will have a few more PGA Tour rounds to fine-tune his mental approach ahead of the Masters. He said he expects to play next week’s Honda Classic and the Valero Texas Open.

Mickelson isn’t eligible for the event between those two, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, which is on offer to the top 64 on the Official World Golf Ranking. In the most recent edition of the OWGR, Mickelson dropped to No. 101, the first time since 1993 that he’s been outside the top 100.

The 50-year-old hasn’t finished better than T-44 in his last 10 Tour starts, dating back to last year, but he stated Friday afternoon that he’s seeing progress.

“I've got to start now shooting some numbers,” said the 2007 Players champion. “I feel like I'm able to do it. Like I feel like I've made enough progress to where I can start scoring again, and, quite honestly, the first two rounds I feel should have been quite a bit lower. But I have a chance to improve on that this weekend and the coming weeks, as well. So, I'm optimistic that I'm going to start playing to my expectations again.”

Bryson DeChambeau isn’t the only player who practices until dark. As the sun ducked behind the trees Friday evening at TPC Sawgrass, Sergio Garcia stood on the practice green and rolled putt after putt.

That’s what you do when you have the kind of day with the flatstick that Garcia did on Friday.

Garcia carded an even-par 72 and sits two shots back midway through The Players Championship, but he struggled mightily on the greens. After needing just 29 putts and ranking second in the field in strokes gained putting on Thursday, Garcia struck 34 putts on Friday while losing 2.890 shots on the greens, which ranked him No. 142 of 155 players left in the field.

Here were Garcia’s misses inside of 8 feet:

• 3 feet, 5 inches for birdie at No. 3

• 5 feet, 7 inches for par at No. 6

• 7 feet, 6 inches for birdie at No. 9

• 7 feet, 5 inches for par at No. 10

• 4 feet, 10 inches for par at No. 14

• 23 inches for par at No. 15

That last one was especially jarring.

“I wish I could explain it,” Garcia said. “It’s not like I rushed or anything. I was only like a foot away, and I don’t know – I just hit a putt and it just went way left.”

Of course, shooting even par while missing all of those putts means that Garcia had a few bright spots, too. He birdied two of his final three holes, including sticking his approach shot at No. 18 inside of 5 feet and draining the putt. He also nearly made a double eagle at the par-5 11^th hole, hitting his second shot to 4 inches to set up an eagle.

“It was a beautiful roller coaster, that's for sure,” Garcia said. “Yeah, there were a lot of good things. Unfortunately, [also] a lot of bad things. But more than anything there was a lot of fighting, and that's one of the things that I'm most proud of because when things are not really happening and you miss a couple putts here and there, it's easy to kind of let the round get away from you. Fortunately for me, I was able to keep it together and obviously had a great finish the last three holes, so very proud of that."

"The next day, at the airport on the way home, the captains got together with the coach and we told him we would do whatever was needed."

And what was needed?

Vicky Losada smiles. "Train more," the FC Barcelona Femeni captain says. "Train more. Work more. Have a more competitive mentality. Look after ourselves more. Be more ambitious. More... everything. To the point where I don't know if 'obsession' is the word, but where we know we have to live this, have to live for it. We told him we wanted to do whatever it took to be at that level. We've worked so hard. I'm in the dressing room and I can see it in the girls; the mentality now is to go out there and win. And we're ready."

Relentless, too. That team meeting took place in Budapest, Hungary, the morning after Barcelona lost the 2019 Women's Champions League final to Olympique Lyon, five-time winners of Europe's biggest competition.

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Two years later, Losada and her teammates are in Hjorring, Denmark, the night before Barcelona's Champions League last-16 tie against Fortuna Hjorring. She's looking back on her team's development, and forward to what comes next -- starting the following afternoon and a 5-0 win that completes a 9-0 aggregate win, setting up a quarterfinal tie with Manchester City. That follows an 8-2 win over PSV in the previous round. In the Spanish league, Barcelona they are top, having won all 18 games. They have scored 90 goals and conceded three.

Yes, 90. And, yes, three. You want a super team in Barcelona, one that's full of star players not named Lionel Messi and still in the Champions League? This is it.

There is, though, still a little way to go, and that objective that obsesses them. No-one knows it better than Losada. It's not just that she's the club captain who made her debut 15 years ago, or that she is in her fourth spell at Barcelona, spanning 13 seasons; it's that she has seen a transformation that's not yet complete, but is getting closer now. Maybe all the more so because three times she left -- for Espanyol, New York and Arsenal -- and three times she returned, the periods away providing a unique perspective on where Barcelona Femeni are and where they have come from. Where women's football is going, too.

"Women's football has grown and it has found itself a place in society, in the media, that means it won't take a step back now," she says. "I don't regret anything as it made me who I am, but if only I had had the chances girls have these days. When I started, I didn't even dream of playing in the Champions League. In fact, I didn't even dream of being a [professional] footballer. There was no one to look up to, no one to follow."

There is now.

It's been 50 years since Barcelona's women's team played their first game: Imaculada Cabecerán convinced the club's then-president, Agusti Montal, to start a women's team, although they weren't called Barcelona, weren't officially part of the club and only wore Barcelona's colours on their socks. The shirt was white and the shorts blue, but they did play at the Camp Nou when they beat UE Centelles on penalties on Christmas Day, 1970. The following year, they were set up as a Barcelona supporters' club team, only officially becoming part of Barcelona when women's football was incorporated into the Spanish football federation in 1980, and only officially turning professional in 2015.

As Club Femení Barcelona, Barcelona won their first Copa del Reina (the women's equivalent of the Spanish cup, or Copa del Rey) in 1994. They have won five league titles since; Losada was there for all of them. She was there too when the team was restructured under then-coach Xavi Llorens, the origins of the side there is now. "A key figure," Losada says. "He coached Lionel Messi as a 10-year-old, knows the club, how it works, and lived through all those changes. He's one of the pioneers."

"I made my debut in 2006 and we weren't professional," she continues. "No one knew us, we played half as many games as we do now, we trained at night, we used old kit. Some players received some money, but not enough to live off and on a structural level it was 100% ... erm ..."

There's a pause. Amateur? "We weren't professional in any sense," she says. "Any sense."

"When I went to the U.S. [Losada played one season for the now-defunct Western New York Flash in 2014] I had been playing for six or seven years in Spain. I'd won the league four times in a row with Barcelona and I was captain at 22, but I went because I wasn't professional; I couldn't make a living from football. I saw there that it could be different.

"In the United States, people [women] make a living from football -- they dedicate themselves fully to it. The stadiums are full, it's more of a show, there's more of a commitment to sport at a cultural level. There were sponsors, marketing, promotion -- not the slightest suggestion that football is only for men. It's seen as totally normally because culturally girls choose football as their first sport from a very young age."

"It's about education, and sport is a good way of changing that. You start to see things now that I saw in the U.S. and that were unthinkable here. It's cultural, educational, it's the country... I saw there that you can change things, saw how boys and girls are educated as equals. I think it's a question of learning, and in Spain bit by bit that is changing, although sadly our history is very different and there's a lot of work still to be done."

There is an economic component, too -- a financial reality driven by what sport generates, its popularity and interest from business and media. The way football was marketed in America is starting to happen a little in Spain too, an evolution apparent. "You could see the way businesses promote themselves, the shift in marketing, technology, social media," Losada says. "You see companies starting to look for role models in women's football here now: icons, women who are fighters, who can promote them; that idea has become attractive."

"When I came back from the U.S., Barcelona had just turned professional..." Losada continues. "...and we stopped winning."

She stops, pulls a face and laughs. "Which sounds a bit contradictory," she says, smiling. "But it was a big change. Bit by bit, the team adopted the habits of a professional team, routines we weren't really used to still. And we also started bringing in a lot of players, and that took us towards a period where we didn't really know where we were heading, what we were trying to do: lots of new players, five or six a year, with a style that was hard for some of them."

"And that's the point at which Atlético Madrid emerged as a really strong side," Losada adds.

Women's football in Spain was shifting through various phases, periods of domination by different clubs as levels of investment and development changed. The women's league had first begun in 1988, won by that initial Barcelona side -- still officially as a supporters' club. The league has been restructured three times since then, in 1996, 2001 and 2011, with another great leap in 2020 when the Spanish sports ministry declared that it would formalise women's football's status as a professional sport. By then, most clubs already were, Barcelona included.

Between them, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid Femeni have dominated the past decade, winning eight of the last nine league titles. Barcelona won four in a row between 2011 and 2015, but just at the point at which they officially turned professional, backed by a deal with hardware firm Stanley signed in 2014, Atlético pulled away, taking the title in 2017, 2018 and 2019, a rivalry emerging between the two teams.

"They became this opponent that we just couldn't beat; they found a style that counteracted ours, they had really good players, and it turned into a kind of clásico," she says.

Real Madrid vs. Barcelona, on the other hand, is not.

"There's an attempt to compare it with the men's game, and to link it to that," Losada says. "You can't call it a clásico when it's only been played a couple of times. But it's an attractive name, Madrid aren't going to disappear and with time it might become a clásico, bit by bit. They're in their first year and that's hard. For me, it's not a clásico but on a media level it helps that at last they're in our league. Those who don't follow women's football might think it's a clásico; those that do, know it's not. They still have to work; they're not going to be a historic team overnight, just because the men's team was.

All of which poses a difficult question. Is there a risk of appropriation? Are big men's clubs co-opting women's football, using their financial muscle to take the plaudits and take control, moving in where they see opportunity and potential benefit, while clubs that have genuinely worked to develop the women's game going back years get pushed aside?

"Well," Losada says, "but, who does that? The clubs? Or society?"

"I understand that concern perfectly. Teams like Espanyol and Rayo are historic, league and cup champions, and are lower down the table. Teams like Doncaster Rovers [in England], who were historic. And we have to appreciate those teams that have a history behind them, that have worked really hard. But you reach that point where economics play a central part in everything and some of the smaller teams sadly don't have that economic strength, some can't afford to pay players, even less so now after the COVID-19 pandemic."

"We were fortunate that we didn't have to face pay cuts. The [men's] first team did, and Barcelona B, but not us. But then our salaries are nowhere near theirs."

That's certainly true. Barcelona's best paid player, Lieke Martens -- winner of The Best FIFA Women's Player prize in 2017 -- reportedly earns around €200,000 a year. Messi makes more than that in a day. Figures from late 2019 showed the budget for Barcelona's entire women's team to be €3.5m, which is less than Jeison Murrillo alone was paid. He played two games as a loanee.

They are, though, decent salaries in the context in the women's game: Barcelona, Madrid and Levante are a case apart, with the players' union revealing that the average salaries of players at the rest of the league's clubs was €17,000 a year. Sixty of the 248 salaries were less than €1,000 a month.

"We have salaries you can live on, not just survive," Losada explains. "But half the teams in our league, lots of the girls playing just about survive on what they earn. Some have other jobs as well still -- that's the reality. Barcelona is the 'cara bonita' [the acceptable face, the pretty face] of the league, along with teams like Atlético and Levante, but that's not a reality at 100% of the clubs."

Barcelona femení have been the "cara bonita" within the club too, rising to the challenge from Atlético - by being themselves. "Our style is recognisably Barca," Losada says, citing an identity that runs across generations and across genders.

"Today, the basis of the team, the way we ensure the style doesn't change, are homegrown players, people who have grown up in Barcelona with the Barcelona style. They're not all Catalan, but there are players -- like [midfielder] Patricia Guijarro, [forward] Mariona Caldentey, [goalkeeper] Sandra Panos -- who have been here five years or more. This is a project with a lot of work behind it, years of it. And those players then help when new ones arrive from outside."

"The style of the club is sacred."

"We have all grown over the years, myself included. We have improved physically and tactically, but that idea will always be there underlying it all. You bring in players like Lieke [Martens], Asisat [Oshoala], Caroline [Hansen] who give you something extra, but they connect to that idea, they continue the style. There are fewer signings each year than there was before, three or four at most. That us gives stability. Our football is maintained."

Even when the club is faltering, too.

"Obviously, at a club as big as Barcelona, when the men's team is having a bad time of it, because all the money comes in there, it's not good for us," Losada says. "And look, most eyes are on the men's team, because of the money it moves, but we have earned a place in society that means that we have to continue to be supported, part of it all. The club was in a position where it was very broken, there was no happiness, but the femení has been there at the forefront, still fighting."

And still winning. Champions last season, the title awarded to them after the pandemic brought the campaign to an early end, Barcelona are top again. They seem unstoppable, which Losada admits may not be a good thing when it comes to their obsession: the Champions League. Two years ago, they lost 4-1 in their first-ever final against Lyon, already defeated within half an hour. They had been overwhelmed, their manager Lluis Cortés admitted, and such is Lyon's dominance that for some at the club, there was a sense that even getting there was a success. As if, in Losada's words: "in a final against Lyon, you have nothing to lose."

The following morning, though, came the meeting at the airport and that promise, a vow, to take one more step in a long journey.

"It's a process, a question of time," Losada explains. Good conditions, good facilities, fully professional coaching, money -- in these areas, Lyon stole a march on the rest, but the gap is narrowing. Not least because at Barcelona they are so determined that it should: Lyon provided a target, a level to aspire to, someone to shoot at. That defeat became determination, driving this Barcelona team to where they are now.

"If we were novices that first year, now we feel we're not. We have worked towards this for many years now: we have the talent and we have improved tactically and physically. This season maybe the [domestic] league hasn't worked in our favour, the standard has dropped a bit and that might take something away from us, but we're working to be at the best level in the Champions League. It's no longer reward enough to be in a final and you can see that in the mentality of the girls; that's why this team is where it is. The Champions League is very hard, but we're ready."

In the quarterfinals, Man City stand before them and after that there are some familiar, powerful faces. Bayern Munich play Rosenburg. PSG, semi-finalists last year, will play Lyon or Sparta Prague. And Chelsea meet Wolfsburg, finalists in five of the last eight years, and the team that edged past Barcelona 1-0 in last season's semifinal despite Losada's side dominating. Lyon, the richest, most powerful club will still be the favourites and yet Losada insists: "They have great players with the experience of lots of finals, but teams are getting closer."

It would be huge, the culmination of a journey - and yet also the start. For Losada, especially. "These last two years I had an injury that really hurt me emotionally: I got injured, went back, got injured again and I didn't feel right. But now I feel full of energy, so much enthusiasm to play. Thirty is the new twenty. People seem to want to retire me but I'm in one of the best moments of my career, and I see football differently now. I'll stay in the game for sure. I have a football school. And I would love to be linked to women's football: those of us who are here, who have lived all this, have to help build the future for girls. But first I want to keep playing for as long as my body will let me."

"I turned 30 the other day," Losada says, smiling. "I made my debut at 15. I started playing at seven. I've spent half my life at the highest level and more than half my life with a ball at my feet. It sounds like a cliché but football is my life. No one handed me anything on a plate, since I was a kid. Everything I know, everything I have learned comes from football."

Michigan coach Juwan Howard was ejected midway through the second half after getting into a shouting match with Maryland coach Mark Turgeon in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals Friday in Indianapolis.

The fourth-ranked and top-seeded Wolverines advanced to the semifinals with a 79-66 victory and will take on longtime rival No. 9 Ohio State in Saturday's first semifinal game.

Howard said all he intended to do when he started walking toward the baseline during a media timeout was question a call.

Turgeon, meanwhile, said tensions were already high between the teams after their two regular-season games, including a Dec. 31 meeting that featured four technical fouls and that Michigan won 84-73.

As Howard walked toward the baseline, Turgeon moved closer and told Howard not to speak to him, and a shouting match broke out. A tense situation quickly escalated, tempers flared and both teams gathered near midcourt, with officials rushing in to hold back each side.

The 6-foot-9 Howard had to be restrained, drew two technical fouls and was ejected with 10:44 left to play.

After the game, Howard apologized for his actions -- and also placed blame on the other bench.

"That's not how you handle things under adverse conditions," he said before explaining his version of what happened.

"He said, 'Juwan, I'm not going to let you talk to me. Don't talk to me ever again,'" Howard said of Turgeon. "Then he charged at me. I don't know how you were raised but the way I was raised is when someone charges you, you defend yourself."

Turgeon was called for a technical foul but not ejected.

"This has been going on for three games," Turgeon said. "I've been doing this for 34 years and I've called the conference office, I've called the commissioner and I said, 'I won't take it the third game.' So I stood up for myself and my team. All I said is, 'Don't talk to me, don't talk to me.'"

Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren said the conference reviewed Friday's incident and said no further action will be taken.

"Throughout my years here, Coach Turgeon has always fought for us," Maryland guard Eric Ayala said. "In an incident like today, I guess it's just two coaches competing. ... As a player, it makes it fun for me to see my coach fired up like that. It makes me want to go out there and compete for him."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An announcer for a livestream of an Oklahoma girls' high school basketball game cursed and called one team by a racial epithet as the players kneeled during the national anthem.

The incident occurred Thursday before the Norman High School-Midwest City quarterfinal game in Sapulpa as "The Star-Spangled Banner" began to play. The broadcasters told listeners on the NFHS Network stream they would return after a break and then one, apparently not realizing the audio was live, used an expletive and the epithet as the Norman players kneeled.

"They're kneeling? [Expletive] them," one of the men said. "I hope Norman gets their ass kicked ... [Expletive] [epithet]."

The incident was posted on Twitter. Neither man has been identified.

The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association and NFHS Network each issued statements apologizing for the comments.

"While we are currently investigating the incident, this crew will not be doing any more games for the remainder of our championships," OSSAA director David Jackson said. "This kind of behavior will never be tolerated by anyone representing the NFHS or OSSAA."

The NFHS Network said in a statement that it was "sickened" and "outraged" by the comments.

"We are aggressively investigating the incident and will ensure that any individuals responsible will have no relationship with the NFHS Network moving forward," the statement said.

The OSSAA and NFHS Network did not return phone calls to The Associated Press on Friday.

Kneeling during the anthem during U.S. sporting events has become a familiar way for athletes to express themselves, often in protest of racial or social injustice. Norman High School Superintendent Nick Migliorino said the school district supports the students' right to freely express themselves.

"We condemn and will not tolerate the disgusting words and attitudes of these announcers," Migliorino said. "We will do everything in our power to support and uplift our team and everyone affected by this incident."

Migliorino said the announcers were hired by the OSSAA and that the district would use another livestream service for the remainder of the state tournament.

State public schools Superintendent Joy Hofmeister also released a statement, saying the comments cannot be tolerated.

"The remarks made were sickening and vile," Hofmeister said. "My heart aches for the young female athletes who were subjected to this hateful and disgusting tirade."