The German national soccer team is rebuilding after another early World Cup exit. Germany will host next year's European Championship and is desperate to avoid another failure at home. The rebuild starts with friendlies against Peru on Saturday and Belgium on Tuesday. The Germans don't have to participate in Euro 2024 qualifying because they are hosting the tournament. Germany coach Hansi Flick’s squad is a mix of regulars like Timo Werner and Joshua Kimmich and some more experimental picks. That includes six players who were called up for the first time.

UCLA freshman Kiki Rice is checking in periodically from the NCAA Tournament as told to AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg. In the second installment, Rice talks about playing in the tournament, the UCLA dance parties pregame, heading to South Carolina.

The National Hockey League's Pride nights are in the spotlight after some high-profile incidents. The events have been held annually for several years by NHL teams to show support for the LGBTQ community. A handful of players have objected to participating in recent months, most recently Florida's Eric and Marc Staal on Thursday night. That came on the heels of the Chicago Blackhawks deciding against having players wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys because the team thought an anti-gay law in Russia could endanger Russian players when they return home. Russian goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and others in recent weeks have worn Pride-themed jerseys since Ivan Provorov refused.

Trevor Bauer was apparently shunned by every major league team, so he’s signed a one-year deal with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars. On Friday before about 75 reporters in a Yokohoma hotel, he slipped on the BayStars uniform — No. 96 — and said all the right things. Not a single Japanese reporter asked about his suspension in the United States over domestic violence allegations or the reasons surrounding it. He said he hoped to strike out 200 and keep his average fastball velocity at 96 mph.