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Chicherova also won gold at the 2012 Games in London Olympic medallist Anna Chicherova has vowed to clear her name after learning she is one of 14 Russian athletes to have failed a doping retest. The high jumper won bronze in 2008 but that result is now in doubt after 454 samples from those Games were retested. “It’s the most complete shock,” said Chicherova, who went on to win gold…

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Six volleyball courts or four full-sized basketball courts will replace the roller skating rink at the Woodland Skating Center, according to an announcement by CDV5 Properties LLC, a sports academy owned by Amway Corp. heir Cheri DeVos. The 105,000-square-foot facility at 2100 28th St. SE, will offer indoor turf for lacrosse and soccer. The 10-acre site also will have an outdoor sand volleyball league and outdoor…

Today at 12:30 p.m., the NASCAR Hall of Fame voting panel will meet in the Charlotte Convention Center to pick five individuals who will comprise the hall’s class of 2017.   As one of the voting panel members, it is both an awesome responsibility and a tremendous challenge to take part in the process. All 20 nominees are worthy to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame and chances are…

When masses of people from around the world descend on a city for the Olympics, public health experts get a bit jittery. It’s easy to understand why: Thousands of tourists cramped into stadiums and bars inevitably swap bacteria and viruses. In the past, this has led to outbreaks of measles and norovirus. This year, there’s an extra layer of anxiety shrouding the upcoming Summer Games in August in Rio…

Former New York Yankees great Derek Jeter told CNBC on Wednesday his “ultimate goal” is to own a Major League Baseball team. “In my mind, this is the greatest sport in the world,” Jeter told “Squawk Box,” saying a key motivation for owning a team would be help the game grow. “I think baseball is taking somewhat of a back seat to some of the other sports,” said the ex-Yankees…

Genoa-Kingston High School baseball coach Roger Butler triggered a blast of Internet scorn last month with a managerial decision so provocative that an ESPN writer tweeted, “Fire this coach.” His offense? He allowed Brady Huffman, a right-handed fastballer and Illinois State University recruit, to throw 167 pitches in a game — more than any major leaguer has thrown in almost two decades, and far more than the maximum recommended for…

The SEC Network’s Twitter account sent out a juicy little nugget Wednesday morning. There are eight teams playing in the first double-elimination round of the SEC Baseball Tournament today at the Hoover Met. Seven of them are ranked in the top 10 in at least one national poll. Seven. Out of eight. That’s stronger than Bo Jackson. Depending on which poll you check, Vanderbilt vs. Texas A&M, Ole Miss vs. South…

KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson held onto a gloved gifted to him by his little league coach for 30 years. (Flickr, Sean Winters) With the Mariners sitting in first place AL West, we are asking 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio hosts about their favorite baseball memories. Leave your own unforgettable moment in the comments. Dori Monson had never jumped so high as when he received a call-up from the minors….

ANALYSIS/OPINION: Here’s what you won’t see in any legal briefs filed by Major League Baseball or the Washington Nationals in the fight with the Baltimore Orioles over the split between the two teams for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network money. “When we made this deal in 2004, we really didn’t think we would be dealing with Peter Angelos at this point.” In other words, when baseball officials made the deal with…

Unlike many of my esteemed peers in the sport media industry, Tuesday’s column by Michael Wilbon on ESPN’s The Undefeated made my heart soar with joy. You see, I finally had an excuse for why I can’t seem to understand or appreciate advanced sports analytics: I’m black. Thank God, for a second I thought I was just stupid, lazy, or both. No, it’s truly nothing more than a quirk of…

Chicherova also won gold at the 2012 Games in London Olympic medallist Anna Chicherova has vowed to clear her name after learning she is one of 14 Russian athletes to have failed a doping retest. The high jumper won bronze in 2008 but that result is now in doubt after 454 samples from those Games were retested. “It’s the most complete shock,” said Chicherova, who went on to win gold…

Two seemingly contradictory pieces of information came out of Sony’s recent unveiling of Gran Turismo Sport at a lavish event in London. First, this definitely isn’t Gran Turismo 7. In a similar vein to the ‘offshoot’ Prologue series it’s an update, adding new vehicles and tracks to a framework that is, essentially, 2013’s Gran Turismo 6. However, one key addition – the new Sport Mode – could well make this…

If you’ve been waiting for that next big sale to pick up that new bike, camping supplies for the summer or the trampoline you’ve been promising the kids, you are in luck.  Sports Authority is starting to hang “Closing Sale” signs outside its stores this week, advertising the fire sale of its remaining stock, according to bankruptcy documents filed in Delaware court Tuesday.  The going-out-of-business sale was approved to run through the end of August.  The…

A judge has cleared the way for Sports Authority to start going-out-of business sales at all of its stores, including the SportsCastle, 1000 Broadway in Denver. A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday afternoon signed off on Sports Authority’s plan to have liquidators start going-out-of business sales at all of the Englewood-based retailer’s more than 460 stores. The store-closing sales will start Thursday, the trio of liquidators said in a statement released following the filing of the order in…

Russia has cleaned up its act ahead of a decision by the international anti-doping body next month on whether to lift a ban on Russian track and field athletes in time for the Rio Olympics, the Russian Sports Minister said Tuesday. “I don’t see any strong reason to keep our sportsmen from competing in the Olympic Games,” Vitaly Mutko told reporters at the palatial Ministry of Sports in central Moscow….

Wednesday night the NASCAR Hall of Fame is going to announce five new members who will be joining the Hall as the class of 2017. Every single one of these 20 names that were nominated are truly worthy. There are several on that list that I have worked for and worked with, so I can speak from first-hand experience as to why they deserve NASCAR’s highest honor. I’ll admit I…

MOSCOW – Ten medalists from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, including 2012 high jump champion Anna Chicherova, were among 14 Russians that tested positive in the reanalysis of their doping samples, state television reported Tuesday. Match TV said 11 of the 14 athletes on its retest list are from track and field, including 4×100-meter relay gold medalist Yulia Chermoshanskaya. The others are two weightlifters and a rower. CBS Evening News New…

Oh, to be Kris Bryant. He’s handsome, hits the ball a mile and has his face plastered around Chicago as a brand ambassador for Express. And if the Cubs can finally win a World Series — just 108 years and counting — he’ll be part of history. We caught up with him in the backroom of an Express store, where he was busy helping hype the store’s latest line of…

This is an opinion column, but this next sentence is not an opinion. It’s a four-seam, dead-red fact. The SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover has been a smashing success. In hardball terms, it’s become an annual walk-off, tape-measure grand slam. It’s the best baseball event this side of the College World Series played by the best teams in the best conference in the country, part celebration, part proving ground. If…