U.S./World Sports category, Page 112
Ganassi vs. McLaren headlines Indianapolis 500 title fight, some 300,000 fans expectedVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Four custom McLaren GTs lined the curb in front of St. Elmo’s Steak House, the see-and-be-seen spot in downtown Indianapolis, in a massive flex by the race team trying to win the Indianapolis 500. The rebuilt, rebranded and rebounded Arrow McLaren organization has turned the buildup to the...
‘Block’ party over at Colonial for PGA Championship sensation club proVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — Michael Block walked out after signing his scorecard Friday afternoon at Colonial with his cap turned backward, his shirt untucked and still with a smile after a grueling 36 holes and being at the bottom of the 120-player field. A week after the club pro from...
Column: Remembering Georgia Tech’s Clint Castleberry, who paid ultimate price of warVideo
ATLANTA — Clint Castleberry had one glorious season at Georgia Tech, a whirlwind of a player whose star burned bright. A newspaper scribe dubbed him “Jackrabbit” — a testimonial to his blinding speed on the gridiron. In an era when players lined up on both offense and defense, Castleberry seemed...
Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina lead women entering French OpenVideo
PARIS — All of those questions about who would step to the fore once Serena Williams walked away from the tennis tour — joining more recent No. 1 Ash Barty in retirement — seem to be getting answered with three names: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. As the...
NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon on life, secret talents and duels with Dale Earnhardt
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In 1994, Jeff Gordon won his first race in NASCAR’s signature series, taking the checkered flag at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway at age 22. Gordon would win 92 more times after that, becoming racing royalty and a NASCAR Hall of Famer. Now he’s our...
Mark Madden: Nikola Jokic showed dominance, but LeBron grabs headlines
LeBron James got his backside handed to him by Nikola Jokic in the NBA playoffs. Denver eliminated the Los Angeles Lakers in four straight games. James, 38, was very good. Jokic, 28, was utterly dominant. But, in the immediate aftermath, James pondered whether he’d retire. The media swarmed like piranha....
Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic on same half of French Open draw; Iga Swiatek-Coco Gauff could be in quarterfinals
PARIS — Carlos Alcaraz and the man he just replaced atop the rankings, 22-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, were placed in the same half of the French Open field in Thursday’s draw and could face each other in the semifinals. Alcaraz is seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam...
Harry Hall crashes the ‘Block’ party at Colonial with 62 as club pro shoots 81Video
FORT WORTH, Texas — California club pro Michael Block was living the dream at the PGA Championship. Thursday at Colonial brought him back to reality. A sensation at Oak Hill when he tied for 15th against the strongest field in golf, Block opened with three straight bogeys and finished with...
4 years after missing Indy 500 with Alonso, McLaren Racing very much a contenderVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — It is hard to be an introvert among the bodacious characters of Arrow McLaren Racing. But Felix Rosenqvist, who readily admits he “was closed as a shell” when he joined McLaren for the start of the 2021 season, is having a blast with firecracker teammate Pato O’Ward and...
Sports no sure respite from politics when title-winning athletes visit the White HouseVideo
WASHINGTON — President Calvin Coolidge wasn’t as big a baseball fan as his wife, Grace. But even Silent Cal got swept up in the excitement of the Washington Senators’ unexpectedly successful season in 1924. After the team clinched the American League pennant, the players swung by the White House to...
In transfer recruiting, NFL-style personnel departments try to get out in front of the portalVideo
The NCAA transfer portal is basically just a list of names, with athletes sorted by sport along with school names and some contact information. Not even a position is given for the hundreds of players who go in and out. “It kind of just leaves you blank,” said AK Mogulla,...
Dixon aims for 2nd Indy 500 win while rueing so many close callsVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Scott Dixon started on the pole for the Indianapolis 500 a year ago, quickly went to the front and led 95 laps, and there was every reason to believe he finally would kiss the bricks for the second time after 14 years of trying. Then one of the...
Nuggets make Denver hoops town with 1st trip to NBA Finals in 47 yearsVideo
DENVER — It took 3,787 regular-season games and 29 trips to the playoffs, countless ripoffs of rainbow uniforms and even more ‘yeah, buts’ than any city should have to stomach. Finally, 47 seasons into an entertaining, often frustrating and almost always overlooked journey in the NBA, Denver is at the...
PGA Tour’s ‘Block party’ moves to Colonial along with local favoritesVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — Michael Block entered the gates at Colonial Country Club for the first time this week to the screams of “Block Party!” and that was on a day of practice rounds when most of the people around were players and tournament volunteers. Block’s surreal journey is still...
Death-defying A.J. Foyt returns to the Indy 500
WALLER, Texas — A.J. Foyt was 15 when a boat he and two friends were riding in capsized in a storm. The young Foyt clung tightly to a buoy until a fishing vessel found him, too late for one of the other boys who already had drowned. Not long afterward,...
Alex Bowman cleared to return to NASCAR competition at Charlotte
Alex Bowman has been cleared to return to racing this weekend for the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after missing four events with a fractured vertebra. Bowman was injured April 25 while competing in a sprint car race in Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson’s new racing series in West...
Nadal’s absence changes complexion of Roland Garros
There’s a reason a statue of Rafael Nadal stands outside Court Philippe Chatrier on the southwest outskirts of Paris. No player ever lorded over any Grand Slam tennis tournament the way Nadal has ruled the French Open, winning it year after year after year for a read-it-again-to-make-sure total of 14...
Lakers hoping LeBron James decides to continue career after playoff eliminationVideo
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Lakers hope LeBron James will decide to continue his career after he recovers from the difficult end to their season. James didn’t meet with the media on the day after the top scorer in NBA history said he needed time to think about his...
Indy 500 win could rocket popular driver Pato O’Ward to the top of IndyCar on and off the trackVideo
INDIANAPOLIS — Pato O’Ward was supposed to arrive in front of the hotel at 8:15 a.m. the first day he could get his car on the track for Indianapolis 500 practice. He texted he was 15 minutes late but would try to make up time on the road. He did,...
Column: Masters showed golf can get along, even in Ryder CupVideo
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Unless Brooks Koepka goes on to win the U.S. Open and British Open — it’s hard to bet against him at this rate — the Masters should be remembered as the most meaningful major this year. Jon Rahm in a green jacket was special on its own....
Fans need to pre-register for free tickets to Paris’ 2024 Olympic opening ceremony
PARIS — To pull off the most audacious opening ceremony in Olympic history, French organizers are now — literally — on the same page. France’s government, the organizing committee president for the 2024 Paris Games and the French capital’s mayor signed an 11-page security protocol Tuesday that for the first...
Golden State’s Stephen Curry wins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice awardVideo
NEW YORK — Golden State’s Stephen Curry was selected as this season’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion, the NBA announced Tuesday. The league will donate $100,000 on Curry’s behalf to the University of San Francisco Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice. He is the third winner of the award, after...
LeBron James questions retirement after Lakers are eliminated from playoffs
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James questioned retirement after his Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets despite the highest-scoring postseason half of James’ matchless NBA career. James set a personal record with 31 points in the first half of Game 4 on Monday night, but he missed two potential tying...
Jockey suicides bring attention to stress and mental health of the job
BALTIMORE — Eurico Rosa da Silva was in a dark place. On the track, the jockey in his early 30s was winning races and making money. At home, he was fighting suicidal thoughts every day. “I got to the point where I have no more choice but to go for...
Jokic leads Denver Nuggets past LeBron’s Lakers, into their first NBA FinalsVideo
LOS ANGELES — Nikola Jokic had 30 points, 14 rebounds and 13 assists, and the Denver Nuggets advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in team history Monday night, sweeping the Western Conference finals with a 113-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Jamal Murray scored 25 points...
