Today marks the first official day of football practice for Louisiana High School Athletic Association schools and temperatures continue to rise. Director of the Louisiana High School Coaches Association Terrence Williams says when possible, practice times are adjusted to avoid peak heat hours…

cut 13 (14) “times of the day”

The LHSAA has issued an extreme heat warning to remind parents, coaches and student athletes of the dangers of heat related illnesses.

In Major League Baseball, Danny Valencia drove in the winning run in a wild ninth inning to lift the A’s over the Astros 5-4. Houston remains atop the AL West. Seattle doubled up the Rangers 4-2 and the Miami Marlins end their 6-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Braves.

The NFL pre-season got underway last night with the annual Hall of Fame game. The Minnesota Vikings pulled out a 14-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Black & Gold open pre-season play this Thursday night when they travel to take on Baltimore, but several Saint players are not getting practice time because of injury. Defensive end Akiem Hicks, wide receiver Brandin Cooks, safety Kenny Phillips all missed practice Sunday due to injury. Safety Jarius Byrd is still missing practice while doing rehab on his injured knee.

The Arena Football League has announced that the New Orleans VooDoo have ceased operations. The league took over operations of the VooDoo last month as part of its plan to solidify its financial condition. The team ended its season Saturday with a 36-33 loss to Jacksonville. The VooDoo ranked near the bottom of the league in attendance, averaging just over 4,000 fans per game in nine home contests in 2015.