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Sports Direct has been forced to clarify its profit expectations for the year after its founder, Mike Ashley, admitted in a newspaper interview that the retailer was “not trading very well”. In a statement to the stock exchange on Wednesday morning, Sports Direct said it expected annual earnings to be near the bottom of the £380m to £420m range it published when it blamed warm weather for poor trading over…

The Big Ten Conference will add a boost of brand-name power and massive national reach to its fledgling hockey conference by welcoming Notre Dame as a single-sport affiliate member after next season. The three-year-old hockey conference has endured sagging ticket sales and mediocre results and support throughout its infancy. Conference deputy commissioner Brad Traviolia told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that adding the Fighting Irish in 2017 will inaugurate a…

Oregon State tallied 14 hits and five walks in a 13-6 victory over Portland at Joe Etzel Field on Tuesday. The win moved the Beavers to 16-2 heading into their three-game series in Berkeley against California from Thursday to Saturday. Left fielder Christian Donahue went 3 for 6 with the team’s lone triple and centerfielder Kyle Nobach went 2 for 4 with a team-high three runs batted in.  Freshman second baseman…

It’s the championship series of the 2010-11 Cuban baseball season, and beside the Industriales — the Havana-based team everybody compares to the Yankees — I might be the only person in Santa Clara’s stadium not wearing orange. Our government-mandated tour guide lied to get us in here. He told the security guards we were Canadian baseball tourists and that we’d only stay an inning. To be fair, we lied…

The proactive addition of Notre Dame means Big Ten hockey has yet another historically successful program with national appeal, and one with Big Ten ties, as longtime head coach Jeff Jackson played at Michigan State. Beyond its coach, Notre Dame has previously shared a conference with five of the six Big Ten hockey programs, the lone exception being Penn State, which made hockey a varsity sport in the 2012-13 season….

He helped re-create “Smokey and the Bandit” and brought the phrase “soda cookies” into the NASCAR vernacular. Both with the help of sponsor Mobil 1.   Now, as Tony Stewart prepares to ride off into the sunset, he and the folks from one of his longtime sponsors are at it again.   “Tony’s Last Chapter,” a digital video series consisting of four 30-second pieces, debuted March 3 with the three-time NASCAR…

It’s the championship series of the 2010-11 Cuban baseball season, and beside the Industriales — the Havana-based team everybody compares to the Yankees — I might be the only person in Santa Clara’s stadium not wearing orange. Our government-mandated tour guide lied to get us in here. He told the security guards we were Canadian baseball tourists and that we’d only stay an inning. To be fair, we lied…

Notre Dame will join the Big Ten hockey conference in 2017. Big Ten conference officials told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that it will expand to seven teams for men’s hockey, and Notre Dame later confirmed it would join as an affiliate member. Notre Dame will play a final season in the Hockey East conference where it landed after the formation of the Big Ten in 2013. The program will…

He helped re-create “Smokey and the Bandit” and brought the phrase “soda cookies” into the NASCAR vernacular. Both with the help of sponsor Mobil 1.   Now, as Tony Stewart prepares to ride off into the sunset, he and the folks from one of his longtime sponsors are at it again.   “Tony’s Last Chapter,” a digital video series consisting of four 30-second pieces, debuted March 3 with the three-time NASCAR…

Socially speaking Twitter has been an important outlet for Harvick, and she has gained about 280,000 followers since creating her account in 2009. “My whole thing with social media is just to keep it real,” Harvick said. “I don’t have time to make up a persona or be fake. What you see is what you get. Sometimes it’s not pretty. But I’m not afraid to say what I think, and…

Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro enjoyed the much-anticipated exhibition baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball and the Cuban national team in Havana Tuesday afternoon. (March 22) AP President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro attend a baseball game in Havana, Cuba, on March 22, 2016.(Photo: Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency) HAVANA —  ¡Pleibol! President Obama capped off his 48-hour visit to Cuba…

If there’s one thing President Obama will concede about his eight years as president, it’s that he never quite nailed the ceremonial first pitch. “We do a lot of tough stuff as president. And by definition you don’t end up being president if you don’t handle stress well. [But] nothing is more stressful than throwing a first pitch,” he told ESPN during the broadcast of an exhibition game between the…

Some left everything they knew and loved, risking it all, including their lives, just for the chance to play baseball in the U.S.  Now, the next generation of Cuban baseball players hoping to make it in the big leagues will have a much safer route there.  As of mid-March, Cuban citizens can now work and earn salaries from U.S. companies. That means Cuban baseball players can negotiate and sign with MLB…

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6:40 PM ET print Copy, paste, done: Value is relative. Need custom rankings and values for your auction draft? Plug your league’s settings into the custom dollar value generator. Only ESPN Insiders have access, so sign up today! Dollar Value Generator My annual column selecting my preferred draft-day targets always begins the same way, and it’s with good reason: Value differs depending upon one’s perspective, and it’s always context-driven. To…

Following a nearly 20-year battle, New York finally has lifted the ban on mixed martial arts, joining the other 49 states that already allow and regulate the sport. The vote went down on Tuesday with the New York State Assembly approving the measure by a vote of 113-25 It’s been a long fight to finally see MMA take place in New York after former governor George Pataki first banned the…

The British Olympic Association is discussing holding a multi-sport Olympic trials event prior to future Games. The BOA believes that following the US model, where selection for the major sports is decided at one event, could help generate more excitement among the public in the build-up to the Games. Currently, each sport sets its own qualification criteria, with individual competitions acting as Olympic trials. The BOA said in a joint…

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, center, reacts after scoring against FC Barcelona during a Spanish Supercup, first leg soccer match at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez) COLUMBUS (WCMH)– Columbus will be getting a taste of international soccer when teams Real Madrid, along with star Cristiano Ronaldo, and Paris Saint Germain come to town for a match at Ohio Stadium. The…

Swim for fitness. That sounded easy: I already knew how to swim. So one day I stood on the pool deck looking at all the other happy lap swimmers, from speedy athletes to the portly old lady, swimming slow and steady. I was about to join their ranks, but I was woefully unprepared. When I pushed off the wall to swim my first length, I began to sink. I flailed…