U.S./World Sports category, Page 18

INDIANAPOLIS — All of the attention ahead of qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 is squarely on Team Penske. Not because Josef Newgarden is the defending race winner. Or because Will Power and Scott McLaughlin have been fast all week. Or because team owner Roger Penske, who also owns the series...

BALTIMORE — His father was a mudder. His mother was a mudder. Yes, this horse loves the slop. No, Mystik Dan doesn’t need a sloppy track — or “Seinfeld” character Cosmo Kramer’s comedic endorsement — in the Preakness on Saturday because the Kentucky Derby winner has raced and thrived in...

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jake Paul and Mike Tyson traded insults and expletives as they previewed their fight just a few football fields from the site of the planned summer bout, the 80,000-seat home of the Dallas Cowboys. As for substance, there wasn’t much Thursday night. Paul downplayed the suggestion that...

SPRING, Texas — Simone Biles is not “cured.” A cure implies finality. An ultimate and decisive victory. If the gymnastics superstar has learned anything in the three years since those strange, uncertain days in Tokyo when she put her mental health and personal safety ahead of her pursuit of more...

NEW YORK — Lionel Messi’s annualized pay from his Major League Soccer contract with Inter Miami is just over $20.4 million in his first full season, exceeding the payrolls of all but three other teams in the league. Messi joined Inter Miami last summer and has a base salary of...

NEW YORK — ESPN’s broadcast of the Connecticut Sun’s game against Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever had the highest viewership for a WNBA game on the network. The Sun’s 92-71 win over the Fever in Clark’s WNBA debut on the league’s opening night on Tuesday drew an average of...

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — With the future of the Atlantic Coast Conference in question, commissioner Jim Phillips expressed optimism Wednesday that the league can still be salvaged. The path forward is unclear but not without hope. “You have to stay optimistic, and you work through these things,” Phillips said at...

This space predicted three months ago that women’s basketball would blow it with phenom Caitlin Clark. That’s already started. Her first WNBA game wasn’t played on the big stage of, say, New York City. It was played Tuesday night at an arena in a Connecticut casino. Clark’s Indiana Fever lost...

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Caitlin Clark struggled early in her WNBA debut before finishing with 20 points and 10 turnovers as the Indiana Fever fell to the Connecticut Sun 92-71 on Tuesday night. Alyssa Thomas led the Sun with 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, registering the 12th triple-double of...

GENEVA — FIFA moved Wednesday toward ending decades of soccer tradition by ordering a review of its policy that currently blocks domestic league games being played in other countries. Fans are likely to object to their teams’ home matches potentially being moved thousands of miles away, though it has become...

The countdown is on for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500, when a field of 33 cars will cross the famed yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Memorial Day weekend for what is regarded as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Josef Newgarden is the defending champion after...

BALTIMORE — Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan drew the No. 5 post position in the Preakness on Monday looking to sweep the first two legs of horse racing’s Triple Crown, though he’s not favored to do so. Bob Baffert-trained Muth, just inside Mystik Dan in the No. 4 post, opened...

NBA teams were told Monday that Bronny James, the son of the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James, has been medically cleared to play in the league, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press. Teams were told of the clearance in a memo sent Monday morning, according...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory McIlroy has a full head of steam heading into the PGA Championship. McIlroy won the Wells Fargo Championship for a record fourth time Sunday with another dominating performance at Quail Hollow, easily overcoming a two-stroke deficit to beat Xander Schauffele by five shots. No other player...

DARLINGTON, S.C. — Brad Keselowski moved to the front when leaders Chris Buescher and Tyler Reddick hit battling for first with nine laps left and held on to win the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday for his first NASCAR win in three years. It was Keselowski’s 36th career...

CHICAGO — The Atlanta Hawks won the NBA Draft lottery Sunday, landing the No. 1 pick and a potential cornerstone player in a year where there’s no clear-cut choice. The Hawks hit the jackpot despite just 3% odds after finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference at 36-46. They dropped their...