NFL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce promised thousands of fans celebrating the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl championship that the team will be back for more.

During a boisterous victory rally at downtown’s Union Station after a parade, Mahomes and Kelce joked about ”experts” who predicted the just-concluded NFL season would be a rebuilding year for the Chiefs, who defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Sunday.

Kelce noted that some ”haters” predicted the Chiefs wouldn’t even make the playoffs.

The rally festivites wrapped up a day that began with some fans who slept overnight – and others arriving before sunrise -to get a prime spot downtown to celebrate the Chiefs’ second Super Bowl championship in four NFL seasons.

Players, coaches, team officials, family members and others rode double-decker buses past legions of fans, sometimes standing up to 10 people deep, as the parade rolled down a main downtown street on the way to the Union Station rally.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Zakai Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi each scored 15 points and No. 10 Tennessee took down newly minted No. 1 Alabama 68-59.

Playing its first game as the top-ranked team since the 2002-03 season, the Crimson Tide (22-4, 12-1 SEC) led just once in the early going and committed 19 turnovers.

Unlike football, when Tennessee fans stormed their home field after beating No. 3 Alabama 52-49 in October, this sellout crowd stayed in the seats when it was over. ”Rocky Top” loudly blared as the Volunteers (20-6, 9-5) ended a two-game skid.

Alabama became the last Power 5 men’s team to lose a conference game this season. The Tide reached No. 1 in the latest poll by The Associated Press on Monday, but its only lead in this game came at 12-11.

Jonas Aidoo had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Tennessee. Brandon Miller led Alabama with 15 points, Jaden Bradley added 14 and Nimari Burnett had 11.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – A Texas prosecutor moved to dismiss a felony domestic violence case against former Texas basketball coach Chris Beard, in part because of the alleged victim’s wishes not to prosecute.

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza said that ”after a careful and thorough review of the evidence” and considering the wishes of Randi Trew, Beard’s fiancee, his office determined the charge of assault by strangulation/suffocation-family violence could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Beard was arrested Dec. 12 after Trew called 911 and told officers that Beard strangled, bit and hit her during a confrontation in his home. She later said Beard didn’t choke her, and that he defended himself from her. She added that she never intended him to be arrested and prosecuted.

NBA

NEW YORK (AP) – Mikal Bridges scored a career-high 45 points, including 15 in a row for Brooklyn to break open a game that had been close for 3 1/2 quarters, and the Nets beat the Miami Heat 116-105.

In his third game since coming from Phoenix in the trade for Kevin Durant, Bridges had an electrifying scoring stretch that could even match Durant. The Nets led only 90-89 before he went to work with an array of drives, 3-pointers and jumpers over the next three minutes.

That pushed the lead to nine and when another Nets player finally scored, it was a 3-pointer by fellow newcomer Cam Johnson that pushed it to 108-96.

Bridges scored 17 points in the final quarter to blow by his previous career best of 34 points. He was 17 of 24 from the field, 4 of 6 on 3s and 7 of 7 at the line, and also had eight rebounds and five assists.

Bam Adebayo had 24 points, 13 rebounds and six assists for the Heat, who fell behind New York into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, out of guaranteed playoff position.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – LeBron James had 21 points in his first game since becoming the NBA’s career scoring leader, and Anthony Davis had 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the new-look Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-102 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.

D’Angelo Russell had 21 points and seven assists during his warm welcome home to the Lakers, who won for just the second time in six games. Los Angeles’ five new players all made their home debuts after the club’s busy trade deadline, and the Lakers never trailed.

James took three games off to rest his perpetually sore left ankle and foot immediately after he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record Feb. 7. He returned for the final game before the All-Star weekend in another season that’s threatening to get away from the Lakers, who hit the break in 13th place in the 15-team Western Conference at 27-32.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – LaMelo Ball had 28 points, 10 assists and a season-high 12 rebounds and the Charlotte Hornets beat San Antonio 120-110 to send the Spurs into the NBA All-Star break with a franchise-record 14-game losing streak.

The 21-year-old Ball became the second-youngest player in NBA history to reach 1,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists in his career. It was his third triple-double of the season and franchise-leading ninth overall.

The Hornets got another solid contribution from P.J. Washington, who had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and rookie Mark Williams added 12 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as Charlotte won its second straight game. The Hornets had 12 blocks in all, including five by backup center Nick Richards.

AUTO RACING

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Alex Bowman won his third career Daytona 500 pole and will be joined by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson on the front row for NASCAR’s season opener.

Bowman, who missed five races late last season because of a concussion, is on the Daytona 500 front row for the the sixth straight time, and the organization has produced a pole winner in eight of the last nine years.

Jimmie Johnson made a triumphant return to NASCAR and qualified for the Daytona 500, a tremendous start for the the seven-time champion as he heads into his first Cup race since 2020. The 47-year-old Johnson returned from a two-year dalliance in IndyCar for an ownership stake in Legacy Motor Club – and he quickly added to his own, joining the 40-driver field in his No. 84 Chevrolet.

OLYMPICS

GENEVA (AP) – Sweden emerging as the front-runner in a troubled search for a 2030 Olympics host is as much a surprise in Stockholm as elsewhere.

The year started with Sweden not on the radar of a Winter Games race where longtime favorite Sapporo faded during a criminal investigation of alleged bribery linked to the recent Tokyo Olympics. Salt Lake City is targeting 2034.

In Sweden, memories are also fresh of a bruising loss for Stockholm-Are against Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo in the 2026 Olympics vote – the Nordic country’s eighth beaten candidate for the Winter Games.

The picture changed when Swedish officials met last month in Switzerland with International Olympic Committee leaders who faced uncertainty and time running out to find a 2030 host.