U.S./World Sports category, Page 2
Indiana stuns Ohio State to end Big Ten title drought, stake claim to top playoff seed
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza made all the big plays Saturday night. Then his Hoosiers teammates and their fans celebrated like it was 1967. Mendoza’s neatly tucked 17-yard pass to Elijah Sarratt gave the No. 2 Hoosiers the lead they needed and the defense shut down No. 1 Ohio...
Messi and Inter Miami win MLS Cup, topping Vancouver, 3-1
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lionel Messi ‘s legacy was long secured when he came to Inter Miami and joined Major League Soccer. He’d won a World Cup, won dozens of trophies, was generally considered the greatest player in the sport’s history. He didn’t need an MLS Cup. But he wanted...
Michael Annett, who made 436 combined starts in NASCAR’s 3 national touring series, dies at 39
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Michael Annett, a former racecar driver who made 436 combined starts in NASCAR’s three national touring series, has died. He was 39. JR Motorsports, one of Annett’s former teams, posted the news on social media on Friday. No cause of death was announced. “Our thoughts and prayers...
Michael Jordan testifies in NASCAR antitrust trial, says he had no choice but to sue ‘the entity’
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Retired NBA great Michael Jordan took the stand at the landmark NASCAR antitrust case Friday and testified that he has been a fan of the stock car series since he was a child but felt he had little choice but to sue to force changes in a...
Argentina and Messi to open World Cup against Algeria, US starts against Paraguay
WASHINGTON — With eyes across the globe focused on 48 balls being plucked from four bowls, next year’s World Cup came into focus Friday when a draw determined Argentina and Lionel Messi will start their title defense against Algeria, and the U.S. will open against Paraguay. Teams from five-time champion...
Supersized World Cup field begins taking shape at Friday’s draw
WASHINGTON — FIFA has invited more teams than ever for a World Cup priced largely for fans in the 1%. The process of figuring out which teams in the expanded 48-nation field will play where begins with Friday’s draw at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Cape Verde, Curaçao,...
Ralph Lauren unveils Team USA’s Olympic uniformsVideo
NEW YORK — Ralph Lauren revealed Team USA’s Milan Cortina Winter Olympics looks Thursday, complete with Americana knit sweaters and plenty of vintage call-backs. The formal opening ceremony look pairs a patterned red, white and blue knit sweater with tailored cream trousers and a matching wool coat. Moving sportier, the...
Serena Williams has taken the 1st step toward a comeback to tennis by registering for drug tests
Serena Williams has taken the first step that would be required ahead of a comeback to tennis, registering with the sport’s drug-testing body, a spokesman for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said Tuesday. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, one of the greats of the game, has not competed since...
Denny Hamlin breaks down in tears as the first witness testifying at NASCAR antitrust trial
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The landmark federal antitrust trial against NASCAR opened Monday with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin breaking down in tears minutes into his testimony as the first witness in a case that could upend the venerable stock car series. Hamlin’s 23XI Racing, which he co-owns with Michael...
Kentucky fires SEC’s longest-tenured coach in Mark Stoops in his 13th season
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky has fired the Southeastern Conference’s longest-tenured coach, ending Mark Stoops’ tenure in his 13th season with the Wildcats after back-to-back losing records. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement Monday morning that he informed Stoops they decided to go in a new direction and started...
Michael Jordan’s fight against NASCAR heads to court, could shake up motorsports
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Michael Jordan’s bitter fight against NASCAR heads to federal court Monday in a jury trial that could rip apart the top motorsports series in the United States. The antitrust allegations leveled by Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports has exposed salacious personal communications, NASCAR’s finances and...
Shiffrin wins slalom on home Colorado snow to remain perfect in the Olympic seasonVideo
COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — American standout Mikaela Shiffrin dominated a World Cup slalom Sunday on home Colorado snow to remain perfect in the discipline during the Olympic season. Shiffrin extended her winning streak in slalom to four races after also claiming the opening two races this season and the final...
Fuzzy Zoeller, 2-time major champion haunted by racist joke about Tiger Woods, dies at 74
Fuzzy Zoeller, a two-time major champion and one of golf’s most gregarious characters whose career was tainted by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods, has died, according to a longtime colleague. He was 74. A cause of death was not immediately available. Brian Naugle, the tournament director of the...
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups pleads not guilty in rigged poker games case
NEW YORK — Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other ex-NBA player. Billups, a five-time All Star who won a championship with...
U.S. ski star Shiffrin wins 2nd straight World Cup slalom of Olympic season
GURGL, Austria — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin is heading into her home races in Colorado next weekend as the overall World Cup leader on a two-event winning streak. Shiffrin dominated another slalom Sunday as she made it two convincing wins from two races in the discipline to start the...
UAB football player accused of stabbing 2 teammates before game
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A University of Alabama at Birmingham football player stabbed two teammates Saturday morning hours before the team’s game against the University of South Florida, the university said in a statement. The two wounded players were in stable condition, interim head coach Alex Mortensen said at the postgame...
Two more 40-and-over U.S. women are aiming for Olympic medals in Cortina
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn won’t be the only 40-and-over American woman aiming for a medal in Cortina during the upcoming Olympics. The U.S. bobsled team boasts 40-year-old Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, who has won three Olympic golds, and Elana Meyers Taylor, a 41-year-old who has collected five Olympic medals....
Lionel Messi and Inter Miami to play 1st MLS regular-season match in new stadium April 4
MIAMI — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will play a Major League Soccer match in their new stadium for the first time on April 4, one of the highlights of the league’s schedule that was revealed Thursday. The 2026 MLS regular season starts Feb. 21 and runs through Nov. 7....
Cortina’s controversial Olympic sliding track to host test races without fans
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — There won’t be any spectators for the opening test races at the controversial sliding venue for the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. That’s because while the track itself is mostly complete, the surrounding area remains a massive construction site. Still, the upcoming World Cup bobsled and skeleton...
Alex Freeman scores twice as U.S. routs Uruguay, heads into World Cup year with 5-game unbeaten streak
TAMPA, Fla. — Alex Freeman scored twice and Sebastian Berhalter and Diego Luna had one goal each as the United States overwhelmed Uruguay with a four-goal first half in a 5-1 win on Tuesday night to head into a World Cup year with a five-game unbeaten streak. Tanner Tessmann added...
Roughriders force late fumble at goal line, beat Alouettes for 5th Grey Cup title
WINNIPEG, Manitoba — Tevaughn Campbell forced Montreal quarterback Shea Patterson’s fumble at the goal line and Marcus Sayles recovered it in the end zone with 3:05 left to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the Alouettes 25-17 on Sunday night for their fifth Grey Cup title. Saskatchewan also won Canadian Football...
Hempfield grad Jasmine Jones joins list of former track athletes competing in bobsled, eyes 2026 Winter Games
A bathtub going down a roller coaster. Getting inside a trash can and rolling down a hill. Those are just a couple of metaphors Hempfield grad Jasmine Jones uses to describe riding in a bobsled. This winter, Jones has her sights set on riding at the 2026 Winter Olympics in...
Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, the godfather of Seattle basketball, dies at 88
SEATTLE — Lenny Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame who was enshrined as both a player and a coach, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 88. The family said Wilkens was surrounded by loved ones when he died and did not immediately release a...
A rollercoaster season with Manning has No. 10 Texas back in SEC title hunt and playoff picture
AUSTIN, Texas — A month ago, preseason No. 1 Texas had fallen to 3-2, was unranked and star quarterback Arch Manning was being mocked as a bust. Look at them now: A four-game winning streak, including two victories over opponents who were in the top 10 at the time, and...
Texas returns to top 10, ACC has 5 teams ranked in the Top 25 and there is Group of Five intrigue
Texas returned to the top 10 of The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday, the Atlantic Coast Conference has five teams ranked for the first time this season and two Group of Five conferences are now represented in the Top 25 a month before the playoff bracekt is set....
