U.S./World Sports category, Page 345
Harvick wins NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Kevin Harvick won a NASCAR Cup race at Michigan International Speedway for the second straight year, giving him two victories this year and 47 in his career. With just three races before the playoffs, Harvick is hopeful the timing of his strong performance helps him win a...
Tensions heat up as NASCAR regular season heads into home stretch
BROOKLYN, Mich. — NASCAR Cup Series drivers are pushing limits on the track and pointing fingers off it as tensions rise with four races left before the playoffs. Kyle Busch was summoned to the NASCAR hauler at Michigan International Speedway to talk with officials along with William Byron and Bubba...
Georgia Southern quarterback cleared after S.C. cops mistake bird poop for cocaine
Charges of cocaine possession were dropped against Georgia Southern University’s starting quarterback Shai Werts this week after lab results show what police thought was drugs more than likely was bird poop, according to the Savannah Morning News. Officers in Clinton, S.C. mistook bird poop on the hood of Werts’ 2016...
Tennessee receivers say they want to follow Tee Martin’s example
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s wide receivers savor the opportunity to play for their new position coach because they appreciate what Tee Martin accomplished during his playing career. Martin was the starting quarterback on Tennessee’s 1998 national championship team and is back at his alma mater coaching wideouts as the Volunteers...
Rosie Ruiz, infamous Boston Marathon course-cutter, dies at 66
BOSTON — Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in the 1980 race and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports, has died. She was 66. Ruiz, who was also known as Rosie Vivas, died in Florida of cancer on July...
Veteran quarterbacks abound in SEC, led by Tua Tagovailoa, Jake Fromm
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — It is the year of the veteran quarterback in the SEC. Tua Tagovailoa and Jake Fromm are the headliners, but the league is loaded with experienced passers with double-digit starts under their belts at their current school or elsewhere. The SEC has eight returning starters at quarterback...
Simone Biles on USA Gymnastics’ failures: ‘You couldn’t protect us’
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The mix of rage, disappointment and grief are still there. Just under the surface. And while Simone Biles tries to stay focused on the healing process more than 18 months after the Olympic gymnastics champion revealed she was among the hundreds of athletes abused by disgraced...
Offensive continuity could have Chiefs flying high againVideo
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The day Patrick Mahomes checked into Scanlon Hall on the campus of Missouri Western for the start of training camp, he was greeted by Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka. That’s the same trio that guided the...
Ex-Nittany Lion in Mississippi State QB competition
STARKVILLE, Miss. — The first question for Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead after the Bulldogs’ initial preseason practice was a tongue-in-cheek inquiry about whether the much-anticipated quarterback battle had been settled after just one session. The second-year coach grinned and played along. “Right after stretch we picked one,” Moorhead quipped....
Basketball player banned after drug test shows he’s pregnant
Maybe basketball players shouldn’t play while pregnant. It’s just best to play it safe for the baby’s sake. That’s good advice for point guard D.J. Cooper. Seems he’s pregnant. Well, at least that’s what his drug test showed, Eurohoops.net reports. Cooper was a standout at Ohio University from 2009-13. After...
J.T. Poston bogey-free for 4 rounds to win PGA Tour’s Wyndham ChampionshipVideo
GREENSBORO, N.C. — J.T. Poston kept racking up birdies and pars — but no bogeys — at the Wyndham Championship. They added up to his first PGA Tour victory and a first-time-in-decades achievement. Poston shot an 8-under-par 62 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory at the tour’s regular-season finale. He...
NASCAR’s Chase Elliott goes back-to-back at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Chase Elliott put an emphatic end to his summer-long struggle, making a statement with a dominating win on the road course at Watkins Glen International. A year after racing to his first career NASCAR Cup victory at The Glen, Elliott won a second time in the...
Sensational debut for Hinako Shibuno at Women’s British Open
MILTON KEYNES, England — Hinako Shibuno of Japan finished with a birdie to win the Women’s British Open by one shot over Lizette Salas as she wrapped up a stunning major championship debut Sunday. The 20-year-old Shibuno, a rookie on the Japan LPGA Tour who was making her LPGA Tour...
Chase Elliott looks for NASCAR repeat at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Chase Elliott is back at Watkins Glen International, where he won for the first time at NASCAR’s top level. Rest assured last year’s victory on the speedy road course in New York’s Finger Lakes region is not on his mind. “Everybody wants to talk about last...
Q&A with ‘Jeopardy!’ champ James Holzhauer on working for Cubs, changing how game is played
CHICAGO — “Jeopardy!” sensation and longtime Cubs fan James Holzhauer threw out a ceremonial first pitch Saturday before the Cubs-Brewers game at Wrigley Field. Holzhauer, a professional gambler from Naperville, Ill., who lives in Las Vegas, won 32 straight contests and earned $2,462,216 — both figures second in show history...
Phillies sue to block Phanatic from becoming ‘free agent’
The Philadelphia Phillies have sued the New York company that created the Phanatic mascot to prevent the green furry fan favorite from becoming a free agent. In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the team alleged Harrison/Erickson threatened to terminate the Phillies’ rights to the Phanatic...
Franklin Regional grad Jackson finishes tied for 7th in Boys Junior PGA Championship
HARTFORD, Conn. — Jack Heath made a 40-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-4 18th hole for an 8-under-par 62 and a one-stroke victory Friday in the Boys Junior PGA Championship. “I knew if it went in, I would most likely win, and it went in,” Heath said....
Ohio State training camp opens with new coach, new QB
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Sporting several weeks of beard growth, Ryan Day looked calm for a new guy leading a storied college football program where the unrelenting pressure helped push his legendary predecessor into early retirement. The 40-year-old Day opened his first training camp as Ohio State coach Friday, the hand-picked...
Mark Madden: Throwback wrestler Harley Race’s death both sad, symbolic
Hulk Hogan’s real name is Terry Bollea. Steve Austin is Steve Williams. Richard Fliehr stylized his name to Ric Flair. But Harley Race was born to be a wrestler. Harley Race was his real name. Harley, like the motorcycle. Race, as in “who’s fastest?” It’s a dangerous, exciting name. You...
Ex-Olympian Ashley Wagner says she was sexually assaulted
Former Olympian Ashley Wagner says she was sexually assaulted by another figure skater in 2008 when she 17. The three-time national champion wrote in USA Today on Thursday that John Coughlin climbed into her bed after a party at a skating camp and began kissing and groping her. Coughlin was...
Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster to step down after season
BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech’s Bud Foster says the upcoming football season will be his final as an assistant coach. Foster has been the Hokies’ defensive coordinator since 1995. His 33 years on staff makes him the longest tenured assistant coach in the country at the same school. His teams...
Jill Ellis stepping down as U.S. women’s national soccer team coach
National team coach Jill Ellis is stepping down after leading the United States to back-to-back Women’s World Cup titles. Ellis has been coach of the team since 2014 and has led it to eight overall tournament titles, including victories at the World Cup in 2015 in Canada and earlier this...
Zion Williamson embraces his new normal
The past few weeks have been a blur to Zion Williamson. Picked No. 1 in the NBA draft by the New Orleans Pelicans. Signed his first pro contract that could be worth as much as $45 million over the next four years. Went to summer league and got hurt after...
Brazilian police dismiss rape claim against soccer star Neymar
SAO PAULO — Brazilian police said Tuesday they’ve decided there are no grounds to bring rape charges against soccer star Neymar. And they’re investigating whether his accuser filed a false report. “We checked all the possibilities. I did not see enough elements to indict,” Sao Paulo police investigator Juliana Lopes...
First Call: Le’Veon Bell’s apology; weird trick pitch; odd NFL rule enforcement
You’ll like the fact that Le’Veon Bell apologized — until you find out who he is referencing. Also, a weird hidden ball trick. And an under-the-radar rules enforcement in the NFL. All that and more in “First Call” for Tuesday. An apology … to whom? Le’Veon Bell has finally apologized....
