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x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Brant James looks ahead to the Hollywood Casino 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend’s race. USA TODAY Sports Sprint has been the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series since 2004.(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports) KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sprint employees will convene at Kansas Speedway today for their final homecoming game. There…

CHICAGO—The World Series won’t begin for more than a week, but this postseason already looks historic: It appears to mark the end of the modern bullpen. On the teams still standing in the 2016 playoffs, the managers have smashed through baseball’s fossilized conviction in traditional bullpen roles. Instead of sticking to a rigid script, managers…

At the end of a college football season, nearly every national title contender can look back at those one or two weeks that made or broke their campaign. If a team finishes with 10-12 regular season wins, there is a very good chance that at some point, usually in conference play, those national title hopes were hanging in the balance. Champions find ways to win those games, and if a…

Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s new president, has ambitious plans. They are, however, easy to execute and may help further the goals of some of the soccer body’s major sponsors.  Planned total of teams in World Cup 48 For a start, Infantino is pledging to invest $4 billion to increase the number of football participants to 60 percent of the world’s population, from the current 45 percent. Guess what: He doesn’t have to…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Brant James looks ahead to the Hollywood Casino 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend’s race. USA TODAY Sports Sprint has been the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series since 2004.(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports) KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sprint employees will convene at Kansas Speedway today for their final homecoming game. There…

If you hadn’t heard of Javier Baez before this postseason, you surely have by now. The Cubs‘ electric second baseman is making headlines almost every single postseason game, and Sunday night was no exception. With Chicago trailing 1-0 in the top of the sixth of a tense Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers mounted a bit of a threat, with Adrian Gonzalez drawing a one-out walk…

CHICAGO—The World Series won’t begin for more than a week, but this postseason already looks historic: It appears to mark the end of the modern bullpen. On the teams still standing in the 2016 playoffs, the managers have smashed through baseball’s fossilized conviction in traditional bullpen roles. Instead of sticking to a rigid script, managers…

Buy Photo Several of these items, including three autographed baseballs from the Tigers 1935, 1968 and 1984 World Series, are owned by Bob Matthews.(Photo: Todd McInturf / The Detroit News)Buy Photo Forget Ernie Harwell, the baseball fan was saying. Not literally, of course; that’s impossible, and who’d want to? It was just a figure of speech. David Higer of Farmington Hills was talking about his sainted grandmother, the woman who…

Jessie Wardarski/ Tulsa World 2016-10-17 ne-buddybaseballJW01 Jenks baseball players Eli Bilgrien, Landis Morris, and Chris Spry, along with Ojan the Trojan (Peter Song), run to third base with their Baseball Buddy, David Steele (center), 7, during the 10th Annual Buddy Baseball game with the Jenks Trojans at Hinch Baseball Field in Jenks on Sunday.  JESSIE WARDARSKI/Tulsa World Jessie Wardarski/ Tulsa World 2016-10-17 ne-buddybaseballJW37 Jenks baseball players, AJ Potts and Liam…

Like the rest of you — well, not the rest of you but those who don’t work and those who prefer to sleep in — I have been watching MLB’s postseason in the middle of the day and the middle of the night. I don’t want to say the games are interminable, but my goal is to write this entire column during pitching changes alone. Here’s the thing: A baseball…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Brant James looks ahead to the Hollywood Casino 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend’s race. USA TODAY Sports Sprint has been the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series since 2004.(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports) KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sprint employees will convene at Kansas Speedway today for their final homecoming game. There…

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CHICAGO—The World Series won’t begin for more than a week, but this postseason already looks historic: It appears to mark the end of the modern bullpen. On the teams still standing in the 2016 playoffs, the managers have smashed through baseball’s fossilized conviction in traditional bullpen roles. Instead of sticking to a rigid script, managers…

    Nigel Hayes, star forward on the University of Wisconsin basketball team is my favorite collegiate athlete. Hayes perhaps first stole the affections of me and others during last year’s NCAA tournament when he and several teammates became fascinated with the stenographers attached to the press pool who produce the “rush” transcripts of all postgame commentary. In a challenge to the…

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Foley died in the Paris hotel where Munster were staying prior to Sunday’s scheduled game against Racing 92 Munster Rugby head coach Anthony Foley has died suddenly at their team hotel in Paris. Foley, 42, died overnight at the hotel, where the team were staying prior to Sunday’s game against Racing 92. The European Champions Cup game was postponed following the former Ireland international’s death. A statement by the Irish…

Cam Newton didn’t feel like talking following the Panthers’ 41–38 loss to the Saints on Sunday, deciding to cut his postgame press conference short after just over a minute. Newton replied to six questions with very brief answers before saying, “next question,” in response to a reporter asking about his frustration level. After one more, he was asked again about his level of frustration, and said, “next question” again…

Erik Jones is having a very good day. The 20-year-old driver just won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Chicagoland Speedway, branded the “Drive Safety 300” thanks to a deal with, as unlikely as it may sound for a sport based around the danger of high-speed driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Having survived 300 miles of racing, Jones stands atop his battle-scarred car in victory lane, with…

x Embed x Share USA TODAY Sports’ Brant James looks ahead to the Hollywood Casino 400 and the story lines that fans should keep an eye on leading up to this weekend’s race. USA TODAY Sports Sprint has been the sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series since 2004.(Photo: Jerome Miron, USA TODAY Sports) KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Sprint employees will convene at Kansas Speedway today for their final homecoming game. There…

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