U.S./World Sports category, Page 333

We’ve seen the occasional pie in the face, and who can forget James Harden’s eye-roll and slide away from the mic? Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwayne Wade used to photo (video) bomb each other and try to make one another laugh during their teammate’s time with reporters after victories....

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bob Baffert times three. In a Kentucky Derby lacking a dominant favorite, the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer saddles the top three choices. On what could be a wet day at Churchill Downs, Game Winner is the pre-race favorite, albeit a tepid one at 9-2. Improbable and Roadster...

Triple Crown-winning jockey Mike Smith will ride in the Kentucky Derby after all. He picked up the mount on 30-1 shot Cutting Humor, trained by Todd Pletcher, race officials said Friday. The 53-year-old rider had been on the early 4-1 favorite, Omaha Beach, until the colt was scratched because of...

DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott took a solo run on the track for qualifying and was alone atop the Dover speed chart. Elliott followed his first win of the season with a pole at Dover International Speedway, topping the speed chart on a blistering day at the track with a...

The Arkansas Derby winner was the 4-1 morning-line favorite and the pick of many horse racing experts after beating the Bob Baffert-trained Game Winner and Improbable in back-to-back races at Oaklawn Park. Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, who teamed up with Baffert to win the Triple Crown last year...

The 145th running of the Kentucky Derby will take place Saturday at the hallowed grounds of Churchill Downs in Louisville, where a field of 20 horses will race a mile and a quarter for eternal glory. The Derby is quite obviously the biggest day on horse racing’s calendar - the...

Saying that an AAU basketball coach in Iowa “exploited, manipulated and abused children for almost two decades,” a judge sentenced him to 180 years in prison Thursday. Greg Stephen, 43, had pleaded guilty to multiple counts related to child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors, after prosecutors accused him of...

As he prepares for the second major tournament of the golf season, Tiger Woods is planning to squeeze in a visit to one of his golfing partners next week, heading to see President Trump in the White House. Woods, who is tentatively scheduled for a Monday visit, is not likely...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory McIlroy looked every bit like a player who has won twice at the Wells Fargo Championship. He just didn’t feel like one. Twice when he was out of position off the tee, he managed to make birdies. He missed a 4-foot birdie putt after his most...

Hilary Knight would rather risk missing a year of playing meaningful hockey than settle for the status quo. The star American forward is among more than 200 of the world’s top female players who announced Thursday they will not play professional hockey in North America this year in a bold...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Bob Baffert is feeling the pressure now. The five-time Kentucky Derby winner finds himself with new favorite Game Winner since Omaha Beach was scratched with a breathing problem. “Oh boy. Here we go,” the white-haired trainer said Thursday to a throng outside his Churchill Downs barn. “I...

BOSTON — Boston Celtics president Danny Ainge had a mild heart attack and is expected to fully recover. The 60-year-old executive received immediate medical attention Tuesday night in Milwaukee, the team said in a statement Thursday. The Celtics were facing the Bucks in the second round of the playoffs. Ainge,...

Former Penn State players Ali Krieger and Alyssa Naeher were among the 23 players named to the U.S. soccer roster that will compete in the Women’s World Cup this summer in France. Krieger, a 34-year-old right back, will be playing in her third World Cup and helped the 2015 team...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR abandoned its yearslong bid to add excitement to qualifying and announced Wednesday it will return to single-car laps after the current format became a laughingstock. All three national series will make the change at all oval tracks, starting this weekend at Dover. NASCAR for more than...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Suddenly, the Kentucky Derby is wide open. Favorite Omaha Beach was scratched because of a breathing problem Wednesday night, leaving a pair of Hall of Famers on the sideline: trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Mike Smith. Churchill Downs oddsmaker Mike Battaglia revised the morning line to make...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The pain of seeing Cavonnier get beat by a nose in his first Kentucky Derby nearly kept trainer Bob Baffert from returning to Churchill Downs. He figured he would never again have a horse good enough to win on the first Saturday in May. A year later,...

No, the runners did not have to eat them, but they could. The golf ball-sized pouches made from seaweed and filled with a sports drink were handed out to thousands of runners for the London marathon on April 28. The marathon offered “race organizers and company officials a mass experiment...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Harold Varner III worked up the courage to ask a favor of Tiger Woods for a close friend with colon cancer. The timing made it surreal. Woods made a videotaped message for Daniel Meggs on the Wednesday before the Masters, encouraging the former Wake Forest golfer to...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Knowing their favored horses won’t start the Kentucky Derby on the rail left Richard Mandella and Bob Baffert more relieved than happy. What matters for the Hall of Fame trainers is turning workable starting spots into victory and a long-sought celebration for Mandella. Omaha Beach is the...

The Masters in his rearview mirror, Justin Rose is excited about what he calls the next stage of the golf year. Except in this case, objects might be closer than they appear. Because while the next major is in two weeks, the first one ended only two weeks ago. Still...

The price tag on the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is now $6.88 billion, a $1.36 billion increase that comes mainly because of accounting measures designed to better reflect inflation over the long lead-up to those games. Most key numbers the organizing committee released Tuesday are essentially the same as those...

CARLSBAD, N.M. — A softball pitcher and baseball pitcher from the same New Mexico high school threw a perfect game and no-hitter, respectively, within 90 minutes of each other. The Carlsbad Current-Argus reports Carlsbad High School softball pitcher Ashley Hernandez and baseball pitcher T.J. Ruiz tossed their gems on April...

Linda Gaudet can’t watch the replays. Even after 47 years in horse racing, she turns away from any video showing one of the 23 fatalities over three months at Santa Anita Park. “It was just devastating,” Gaudet said. “I still can’t stomach it.” Neither can many others around horse racing....