Blog

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings Breaking down the full field for the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway: 1. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske. Keselowski stayed out of trouble all day, and that was the difference in picking up his second win of the year and fourth at Talladega. Big pushes from Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch helped, too. Keselowski led a race-high 46 laps, including the final 17. Grade: A+ 2. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing. The No….

Caption Close ROUND ROCK – Katy senior infielder Hayden Baker stood in the middle of the Austin Marriott North lobby disappointed once again. A last-ditch effort to save the Tigers’ baseball season was unsuccessful. The University Interscholastic League state executive committee denied the school’s appeal Monday, so the baseball team still has to forfeit 20 games and miss the playoffs after Baker and Grant Jackman violated the amateur…

Note: Don’t whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing. Try FanDuel now! We’re going to find out Monday night just how much park factors and matchups matter. Not definitively, but for tonight at least. Jon Gray has had a pretty rough start to his career, but most of the damage he has surrendered has been at…

Note: Don’t whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing. Try FanDuel now! We’re starting to get to the point where even the most patient, cerebral, Spock-like player in your Fantasy baseball league might be starting to get impatient. That team that looked like a world beater before the season is sitting in last place after the…

Mason High School product Connor McVey leads the resurgent Cincinnati Bearcats in hitting.(Photo: Provided/University of Cincinnati) Look who leads the American Athletic Conference baseball standings. Yes, the Cincinnati Bearcats. After a 1-11 start to the regular season, the Bearcats since have gone 20-11-1. After being voted to finish last in the AAC by league coaches, UC leads the conference with a 9-5-1 record. “I was embarrassed that we were 1-11, as…

Since we’re roughly a month into the 2016 season, let’s revisit our preseason rundown of top 100 players. This time, though, the criteria are different. When we did this coming into the season, the rankings were based upon reasonable expectations — using things like age and recent performance history — to make educated guesses at which players would provide the most value in 2016. Now, though, it’s all about the…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

Heads up, ESPN: Amazon wants to get into sports on the web. The giant retailer, which tried but failed to land a deal to stream live NFL games, wants to stream other sports via its growing web video operation. That’s why it has hired an executive to head up a new sports group: James DeLorenzo started working at the company as head of sports in March, per his LinkedIn bio….

Monday, Leicester City just clinched what might be the most improbable championship in sports history: We watch sports for improbable things, but things as unlikely as Leicester City’s win almost never happen. I’m not being hyperbolic. This is one of the most ridiculous things ever to happen in sports. Leicester City faced ridiculous odds Leicester City faced the longest odds ever to pay off at a…

(AP Photo/John Bazemore) NASCAR made its return to Talladega on Sunday, and to the surprise of exactly no one, there were big crashes. And bigger crashes. This is nothing new at Talladega, the treacherous 2.66-mile tri-oval at which speeds of 200-plus mph are attainable, or at least would be if NASCAR didn’t mandate the use of restrictor plates — which limit engine power by cutting down on air and fuel intake. And…

Joe Bernal, most recently the coach of a swim club that had his name attached to it, has been banned for life by USA Swimming. Earlier this year we reported on the sale of the club, and the subsequent scrubbing of Bernal’s name. Now Bernal has been judged by USA Swimming to have violated the following pieces of the code of conduct: 304.3.5 Any sexual contact or advance or other inappropriate…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

Karishma Kapoor, 20, is a business student, and a fan of soccer — or football, as the game is known outside the U.S. She’s also a betting woman. One day last August, she was at her grandmother’s house. “We just all sat ’round just talking, and then football came up. And we thought, ‘Why not?’” Kapoor recalls. “It’s only a pound, so we put 2 pounds on, at 5,000-to-one odds.”…

International soccer academies are looking to expand into the United States. (Photo: Arsenal Soccer Schools USA) The British are coming, the British are coming! And so are the Spanish and Germans! No, this isn’t a historical recreation in Boston’s North End. It’s the evolution of elite-level soccer training for young American athletes. A growing number of elite European clubs are bringing their brand to the United States and attaching it…

Note: Don’t whiff on this special FanDuel offer. Win your first contest or get your money back (up to $10) to keep playing. Try FanDuel now! We’re going to find out Monday night just how much park factors and matchups matter. Not definitively, but for tonight at least. Jon Gray has had a pretty rough start to his career, but most of the damage he has surrendered has been at…

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — It soon could be the end of the road for Sports Authority. Instead of cutting back or restructuring, the company will sell off its assets and could close all of its stores across the country, including the three in Denver, according to Forbes. A decision to close more than 450 stores nationwide has not been made. The sporting goods giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

ATTENTION! The following is not about politics. It’s about sports ignorance. Signed, the management. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump took to Twitter on Monday to show his appreciation for Bobby Knight’s campaign support. One problem: He misspelled the Basketball Hall of Fame coach’s name: “I will be campaigning in Indiana all day. Things are looking great, and the support of Bobby Night has been so amazing.’’ A possible typo might…

By USA TODAY Fantasy Sports 4 hours ago Follow @USATODAYfantasy