Sergio Ramos may have moved to Liga MX side Monterrey, but the notorious former Real Madrid and Spain defender is still getting involved in all sorts of headline-grabbing antics.

The 39-year-old picked up red card No. 30 of his club career last month in only his fourth match in Mexico, and last weekend he was involved in a bizarre bout of mind games around his other great area of expertise: penalty kicks.

Early in the second half of Saturday's clash at Tigres, Monterrey were awarded a penalty, and with it a golden chance for their spot-kick expert to score the opening goal of the game. Ramos -- who had scored each of his last 21 penalties at club level -- stepped up, placed the ball on the spot and readied himself to shoot, only to be met by the sight of Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán attempting some utterly baffling diversionary tactics.

As Ramos carefully mapped out his run-up and visualized his shot from 12 yards, Guzmán stood on the goal line with his back to his opponent with his arms splayed out and simply refused to turn around. Cue more than a minute of confusion as Ramos flashed quizzical looks at the match officials.

Despite having made over 1,000 career appearances and winning just about all there is to win in professional football, Ramos had obviously never had to contend with Guzmán's particular brand of pre-penalty shenanigans before and had no idea what the correct protocol might be. After what felt like an eternity of forcing Ramos to stare bewilderedly at his shirt number, the Tigres keeper then changed things up and began prancing up and down his line, waving his arms in a further attempt to distract the Monterrey captain.

Ramos then decided to get involved in the pantomime himself and motioned to Guzmán that he was going to attempt a Panenka-style penalty, something at which he has proved adept over the years. Several more agonizing moments passed before Guzmán then turned his back once again in a final attempt to disrupt Ramos' preparations.

Unfortunately for Guzmán, his decision to delay the taking of the penalty for over 90 seconds proved to have little effect on Ramos, who calmly swept the ball into the bottom corner before charging off in celebration.

For all of his failed chicanery, Guzmán still managed to have the last laugh. Monterrey held their slim lead until stoppage time, at which point Tigres hit back with two late goals from Sebastián Córdova and Nicolás Ibáñez to pilfer a dramatic 2-1 victory.

Just to add to the drama, there were three players sent off in the second half at the Estadio Universitario. By some miracle, given his track record, Ramos was not one of them.

With just two rounds of games left in the Clausura championship, Monterrey are ninth with 22 points while Tigres are fourth with 29, four points behind leaders Toluca.

Las Vegas Raiders standout pass rusher Maxx Crosby has been named the assistant general manager for the Eastern Michigan football program, the university announced Monday.

Crosby is the first active NFL player to hold the position. He will help Eastern Michigan evaluate high school and portal prospects, manage its NIL budget and also serve as special assistant to the fundraising, alumni relations and student-athlete support.

"There is no place more important to my personal and athletic development than Eastern Michigan University," Crosby said in a statement released by the school. "It truly is an honor for me to not only be named the Assistant GM of the EMU, but together with my wife Rachel, make another donation aimed at creating opportunities for other athletes to be impacted by the EMU program, community, students and alumni."

Crosby is one of the best defensive players to ever come out of Eastern Michigan. In three seasons, he set the program record with 20 career sacks, and his 41 tackles for loss are the third most in school history.

Crosby, a fourth-round pick in 2019, has recorded 59.5 sacks in six seasons with the Raiders. He was rewarded by the Raiders this offseason, signing a three-year, $106.5 million contract extension in March.

In addition to his role as assistant general manager for EMU, Crosby also launched the "Maxx Match," which is a fundraising challenge in which he will personally match all donations to the Eastern Michigan football program, up to $100,000, made before the end of May.

In 2023, Crosby and his wife Rachel donated $1 million to the football program.

"Maxx Crosby's return to EMU in this leadership role is a transformative moment for our football program," athletic director Scott Wetherbee said in the release. "His passion, vision, and generosity are inspiring, and the Maxx Match is a powerful example of that. ... With him on board, we're building a better football program and a stronger future for EMU athletics."

While Crosby is the first NFL player to take an administrative job with an NCAA team, he is not the only athlete. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry became the assistant general manager at Davidson College, his alma mater, last month.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, is one of 17 players confirmed to attend the event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in two weeks, the NFL announced Monday.

Ward is one of three quarterbacks who will be in attendance, along with Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart and Alabama's Jalen Milroe. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, widely expected to be the second quarterback selected, was not among those announced to be in attendance.

Travis Hunter, Sanders' star two-way teammate, will be in attendance, however. Other wide receivers who will be in attendance are Texas' Matthew Golden and Arizona's Tetairoa McMillan.

Other prominent players to be in attendance include Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter, Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell and Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham. All four players are expected to be selected in the top 10 picks.

Alabama leads the way with three players confirmed to attend -- Milroe, guard Tyler Booker and linebacker Jihaad Campbell. Georgia (safety Malaki Starks and defensive end Mykel Williams) and Michigan (Graham and cornerback Will Johnson) will each have two players in attendance.

Rounding out the attendees are Ohio State offensive tackle Josh Simmons and Texas A&M defensive end Shemar Stewart.

The draft begins with the first round on Thursday, April 24 (8 p.m. ET), followed by the second and third rounds on Friday, April 25 (7 p.m. ET), and Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday, April 26 (noon ET).

NEW YORK -- UConn star and newly minted NCAA champion Paige Bueckers was selected No. 1 by the Dallas Wings in the 2025 WNBA draft on Monday night.

Bueckers, a three-time first-team All-American from Hopkins, Minnesota, becomes the sixth player, and first since Breanna Stewart in 2016, to be drafted first overall and win a national championship in the same year. Bueckers led the Huskies to their first NCAA title in nine years last Sunday in her final collegiate game.

The 2021 national player of the year, Bueckers is also the sixth UConn player to be drafted No. 1, joining a distinguished group of WNBA superstars that includes Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011) and Stewart (2016).

The selection marks a hopeful change of fortune for the Wings, who went 9-31 last season, missed the playoffs and changed coaches. Dallas was rewarded the top pick in November when it won the draft lottery for the first time in franchise history.

The Wings organization, which previously played in Detroit and Tulsa when it was known as the Shock, has made the postseason in five of its nine seasons since relocating to Dallas in 2016, but advanced past the first round only once, in 2023.

Even before the addition of Bueckers, the 2025 Wings -- headlined by four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale -- were already set to feature a slew of newcomers. Stars Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard moved on to different teams, while new coach Chris Koclanes and general manager Curt Miller brought in DiJonai Carrington, Tyasha Harris, NaLyssa Smith and Myisha Hines-Allen during free agency.

Now the Wings will look to channel the momentum of drafting Bueckers into supercharging their franchise on and off the court. The team had already announced a move in 2026 from Arlington to Dallas, where it will have a standalone practice facility and play in a larger and newly renovated arena.

Bueckers enters the pros boasting the top career scoring average in UConn history (19.8 PPG) on remarkable efficiency (53% from the field, 42% from 3, 85% from free throw line), while also shining as a facilitator. The 6-foot guard overcame a pair of knee injuries, including an ACL tear that sidelined her the entire 2022-23 campaign, to play the best basketball of her career over the past two seasons with the Huskies.

While she can play both on and off the ball, multiple WNBA talent evaluators told ESPN they see her as a point guard long-term in the league. Her pairing with Ogunbowale in the backcourt could soon emerge as one of the best guard duos in the league.

DENVER -- Nuggets vice chairman Josh Kroenke said Monday that he twice balked at firing the winningest coach in franchise history and the general manager who connected the final pieces of the team's only championship puzzle before finally canning them last week with just three games left in the season.

Kroenke held off in November to give the team time to jell and an eight-game winning streak heading into the All-Star break tempered his desire to part ways in February with coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth.

Kroenke finally fired both men last week in a move that stunned the league because the Nuggets were still in the mix for home court in the first round of the playoffs and less than two years removed from the city's first NBA championship parade.

"So, what would be crazier, me doing what I did last week or doing it on an eight-game winning streak?" Kroenke asked.

Only one of those eight wins leading into the All-Star break came against a team that would make the playoffs, the Orlando Magic, the No. 7 seed in the East.

"I think that those eight games masked a trend that was going on behind closed doors that ultimately started to really affect the end of our season," Kroenke said.

Kroenke said he also seriously considered a change around Thanksgiving with the Nuggets off to a so-so start and "I was really feeling like things weren't headed in the right direction." But he said he held off then to give the team time to settle in.

Despite leading Denver to its first title in 47 years, Malone and Booth long clashed over roster philosophies, a discord that led to a toxicity in the organization that began to affect the team's fortunes and which led Kroenke to fire them both.

Kroenke also addressed a report that he would not approve trading forward Michael Porter Jr. in part because of his ties to Porter's alma mater, Missouri, calling it "completely false."

"First of all I'll say, I'm incredibly proud of Michael," Kroenke said, referencing his journey back from multiple back surgeries earlier in his career. "... But I think that any kind of report saying that we're not open to trading everybody possible to improve the team is completely false.

"The other thing I'll say is ... I'm not going to be green-lighting any trades around here when I don't see complete organizational cohesion and we're not maximizing the group we got."

No players or club personnel requested the change in organizational structure, Kroenke added. He offered three-time MVP Nikola Jokic a chance to discuss a decision that had already been made, but Kroenke said Monday that Jokic's response was a head nod of "no."

"You have a responsibility when you have a player like that, especially, obviously, in his prime," Kroenke said of Jokic. "But I feel an even greater responsibility to the person. ... I'd be the dumbest guy in basketball if I wasn't asking him for his opinion on certain things. But it's my responsibility to make those decisions for the best of the organization and I think Jokic understands and respects that."

The Nuggets have won all three games under interim coach David Adelman to secure a third consecutive 50-win season and the fourth seed in the West, where they'll open at home Saturday against the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.

Kroenke said he'll commence a search for both positions after the season but he demurred when asked if he wanted to have a GM in place before hiring a head coach: "My thoughts aren't there because this season's not over."

Kroenke also announced he'd promoted Ben Tenzer to interim GM for the playoff run.

Kroenke began his nearly 30-minute news conference, his first since the firings, by praising Malone and Booth: "I want to start off by initially just staying thank you to both Calvin and Coach Malone ... And to be frank, neither one of them deserved it, so for that I apologize."

Kroenke said he ultimately made the decision to move on from both men "with the hope of kind of rejuvenating the energy of the group and re-establishing some positive thoughts before the playoffs. I think we did that over the last three games ... still have a long way to go."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

TORONTO -- Calling Canada his "second house," slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. signed his $500-million, 14-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

Guerrero, 26, was born in Montreal while his Hall of Famer father Vladimir Sr. was playing for the Expos. The younger Guerrero signed with the Blue Jays as a 16-year-old in 2015 and made his big league debut in 2019.

"I was born here and this is my second house," Guerrero said in English on Monday. "I've spent a lot of time here in Toronto and Canada. When a country gives you love, you've got to give the love back, you know? That's what I'm doing right now."

Guerrero typically speaks in Spanish and uses a translator when taking questions from reporters, but spoke only English on Monday.

Edward Rogers, executive chair of team owner Rogers Communications, called Guerrero "truly a historic franchise player," and said the contract represented "an historic deal for Canada and for this club."

"This was the right move for the Jays, and that's the way that we looked at it," Rogers said. "Vlad started his career here. We also considered him family and wanted him to stay, right from the start. It's a great long-term deal that will make the Blue Jays more competitive, increase our chances to win and be contenders."

Guerrero is a .288 career hitter with 160 homers and 514 RBIs. The four-time All-Star is batting .302 with no homers and seven RBIs in 16 games this season.

"He's demonstrated that he's among the most impressive offensive performers in the game," Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said.

A two-time Silver Slugger, Guerrero was the AL Gold Glove award winner at first base in 2022. He won the MLB Home Run Derby at the 2023 All-Star Game in Seattle, matching his father's 2007 achievement. They are the only father-son duo to win the derby.

Beyond offensive talent, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said Guerrero's enthusiastic and energetic personality is an attractive quality.

"He brings not only elite competitiveness but that signature smile that everyone wants to be around," Atkins said. "Certainly I do. I know his teammates embrace it and will continue to."

Blue Jays players George Springer, Anthony Santander, Andrés Giménez and José Berríos were on hand for Monday's event, and cheered loudly after Guerrero signed his new deal.

Also in the crowd were manager John Schneider, associate manager DeMarlo Hale, first base coach Mark Budzinski, as well as Guerrero's wife, daughter, and extended family.

Guerrero agreed in January to a $28.5 million, one-year contract that avoided arbitration, and had said he wouldn't negotiate after he reported to spring training in mid-February. Still, talks with his agent continued into the regular season before the deal was struck last week.

The Blue Jays announced the contract while on the road at Boston last Wednesday.

Guerrero's deal is the third-largest contract in total dollars behind outfielder Juan Soto's $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets that started this season and two-way star Shohei Ohtani's $700 million, 10-year agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers that began last year and is heavily deferred.

Guerrero's $35.71 million average annual value under the new deal ranks eighth among current contracts behind the agreements of Ohtani ($70 million), Soto ($51 million), Philadelphia pitcher Zack Wheeler ($42 million), Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge ($40 million), Texas pitcher Jacob deGrom ($37 million), Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell ($36.4 million) and Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole ($36 million).

Guerrero's deal includes a record $325 million signing bonus that protects the money from a possible work stoppage in 2027.

"It's just another mechanism that was a win-win for the team and the player," Atkins said of the hefty signing bonus. "He benefits from the guaranteed nature of it, there are some small accounting benefits to him and there are some small accounting benefits to the Blue Jays as well. It was just an avenue for us to find a way to get closer to the finish line."

Atkins declined to offer specifics on how those "accounting benefits" impact the Blue Jays. Guerrero's portion received as a signing bonus presumably will be exempt from state income tax in Florida, where he is a resident.

The signing bonus includes $20 million payable within 30 days of the agreement's approval by Major League Baseball. The remainder is due each June 30 from 2026-39: $13 million in 2026, $14 million in 2027, $16 million in 2028, $18 million in 2029, $20 million each in 2030, '31 and '32, $22 million apiece in 2033 and '34, $23 million in 2035, $24 million in 2036, $29 million in 2037, $31 million in 2038 and $33 million in 2039.

Guerrero gets salaries of $17 million each in 2026 and '27, $16 million in 2028, $15 million in 2029, $14.5 million apiece in 2030, '31 and '32, $12.5 million each in 2033 and '34, $11.5 million in 2035, $10.5 million in 2036, $7 million in 2037, $6.5 million in 2038 and $6 million in 2039.

He would earn a $150,000 bonus for winning an MVP award, $125,000 for finishing second in the voting, $100,000 for third, $75,000 for fourth and $50,000 for fifth. Guerrero would get $50,000 each for making the All-Star team or winning World Series MVP, a Gold Glove award or a Silver Slugger. He would get $25,000 for League Championship Series MVP.

In addition, Toronto will provide Guerrero with four seats for all regular-season home games and a luxury suite at a discounted rate, subject to availability, for all regular-season and postseason home games.

Guerrero was asked Monday about the future of teammate and shortstop Bo Bichette, who is eligible for free agency following the World Series. Both sons of former big leaguers, the two came up together through Toronto's minor leagues and debuted a few months apart in 2019.

"I can't control his destiny," Guerrero said. "I hope he stays here with me, from the bottom of my heart, but I can't control that."

TORONTO -- Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna is not with the team for its game in Toronto on Monday night after returning to Atlanta a day earlier to have an MRI on his sore hip.

Ozuna, who went back to Atlanta after Sunday's game in Tampa Bay, is day-to-day, Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

"We just wanted to make sure it wasn't anything big," Snitker said. "There's some inflammation in there. He's going to stay back and get treated up. We'll just see every day how it gets."

Ozuna, 34, is batting .306 with three home runs and eight RBIs in 15 games. He went hitless in three at-bats in Sunday's 8-3 loss to the Rays.

Snitker said he noticed "a couple of days ago" that Ozuna was struggling because of the hip while running the bases.

Bryan De La Cruz was the DH for Monday's game against the Blue Jays.

TORONTO -- Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer is still dealing with soreness in his right thumb and will make a second visit to a specialist in the U.S. later this week, manager John Schneider said Monday.

A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer received a cortisone injection in his troublesome thumb during a March 31 visit with Dr. Thomas Graham.

Schneider said the 40-year-old Scherzer played catch several times on Toronto's recent road trip, doing so most recently Friday at Baltimore.

"He threw for four or five days on the road, each day with some varying degree of good or bad," Schneider said. "He just wants to try to hammer it out."

Scherzer left his debut start with the Blue Jays against Baltimore on March 29 after three innings because of soreness in his right lat muscle. He said after the game that his thumb issue was to blame for that soreness.

Toronto put Scherzer on the 15-day injured list on March 30 because of right thumb inflammation. Earlier in March, Scherzer had a spring training start pushed back because of thumb pain.

"The longer he is out, the longer it will take to get him back," Schneider said. "But I think first and foremost, just want to get it right.

Scherzer signed a $15.5 million, one-year contract with the Blue Jays in February. He went 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA in nine starts for Texas last season, starting the year on the injured list while recovering from lower back surgery. He also had a stint on the IL with shoulder fatigue and didn't pitch after Sept. 14 because of a left hamstring strain.

Iyogun said he had relished the challenge of testing himself against two strong French packs in successive weeks.

"You're playing against the top of the top. In terms of our training standard and our level, we've never underestimated our opposition, we wanted to prove a point and have done a pretty decent job," he said.

"At the start of the season, I had a bit of blip, suffering an ankle injury and I've just tried to get on the park, get as many training sessions in as possible."

Iyogun, who played for England A against Australia A last year, has made 18 appearances for Saints this season, scored two tries, and has established himself as a favourite among supporters.

He said: "As a prop, you're sometimes in the shadows and it's nice to get some recognition for the hard work you're putting in.

"The world of the front row is changing and you're being forced to play in a way that is very free-flowing and flexible now, as opposed to walking from set-piece to set-piece."

The Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster will take place on 24 May so Northampton return to Premiership action on Friday as they travel north to face Newcastle Falcons.

They are eighth in the table, 13 points adrift of the top four with just five games remaining.