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Sports fans — the group of consumers least likely to be cord cutters — just got a new temptation to drop cable or satellite TV. PlayStation Vue, a streaming service similar to Sling or on-demand services such as Hulu and Netflix, started service in the Twin Cities area with several popular sports offerings — Fox Sports Network, Fox North, and several ESPN channels. Sports fans have been reluctant to cut…

NASCAR will decide this week whether or not to take action against Danica Patrick for getting out of her car and gesturing toward Kasey Kahne after he wrecked her during Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. That’s the word from NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer Steve O’Donnell, who appeared Monday morning on Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio to discuss the Kahne-Patrick incident. Asked if Patrick’s post-incident…

Professional soccer will return to Ohio Stadium in a big way this summer, The Dispatch has learned. The 105,000-seat venue will play host to an International Champions Cup exhibition game, likely in July or early August. It is expected to pit one of the world’s super-clubs against another top team, most likely French giant Paris St.-Germain. Full details, including matchups, times and dates of the annual ICC North American exhibition…

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each…

LSU dropped three, five and six places, respectively, in the D1Baseball.com, Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America national rankings this week. The Tigers’ slide follows a 1-2 start to SEC play this weekend against unranked Alabama (13-6, 2-1) after dropping both ends of a Saturday doubleheader to the Crimson Tide, 6-0 and 4-3. LSU (14-5, 1-2) rebounded with a 7-5 victory Sunday behind the strength of a six-run eighth inning. But…

Xavier fans can barely watch as the game is tied during the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis Sunday, March 20, 2016. Xavier lost 66-63.(Photo: Cara Owsley) We need a witch doctor and fast. Someone call Father Merrin. Cincinnati sports is Linda Blair, the bed is levitating, the head is doing a 360. Mother, make it stop. We are cursed. This is plain….

Relations between the United States and Cuba continue to thaw after more than a half century of acrimony, and baseball is helping to facilitate this transition. On Tuesday, the Rays will play an exhibition game against the Cuban National Team. Among the spectators will be President Barack Obama, a truly historic moment that will once again shine a light on the island nation’s love for baseball. Cuba is a land full…

The Twitter account for ESPN’s SportsCenter sent out a tweet Sunday about Fidel Castro’s love of sports that was criticized for painting the Cuban dictator in a positive light. “Savior and scourge, Fidel Castro was many things to many people,” the now-deleted tweet read. “One thing all can agree on: He loved his sports.” Shockingly, a lot of people on Twitter didn’t appreciate SportCenter‘s humanization of a brutal despot. So…

Novak Djokovic has sparked controversy by claiming that men should be awarded more prize money than women after similar comments from the chief executive of Indian Wells, Raymond Moore. Related: Novak Djokovic the slick diplomat gets equality debate horribly wrong | Kevin Mitchell The world No1 and 11-time grand slam winner said women deserved the money they got, but men should be rewarded with more because their game attracted more…

Four Russian track-and-field athletes have tested positive for the banned drug meldonium, Russia’s athletics chief said on Monday, a disclosure that further undermines Moscow’s efforts to overturn a doping ban in time for the Rio Olympics. At least 16 Russian sportsmen and women, including the world tennis star Maria Sharapova and the speed skating Olympic gold-medallist Semion Elistratov, have been caught using meldonium since it was banned by the World…

Bruce Springsteen looked out on Saturday’s sold-out crowd at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. They were all witnesses for the last show to be performed there. “This is it!” he shouted. “They’re expecting us to tear it down tonight.” The 56-year-old arena will indeed be torn down to make way for a soccer stadium in Exposition Park. But for one last night, the place that Springsteen nicknamed “The Dump…

Plenty of Bruce Springsteen songs are about destruction — of towns, dreams, loves and hopes. But few other tunes seemed as appropriate for the occasion on Saturday as when The Boss introduced “Wrecking Ball.” “We gotta play this one for the old building,” Springsteen said during the final show at the soon-to-be-demolished L.A. Memorial Sports Arena. “We’re gonna miss this place, it’s a great place to play rock ‘n’ roll.”…

10:39 PM ET print FONTANA, Calif. — Jimmie Johnson doesn’t wear the colors and the cape of Superman every day. But to his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competitors, it must seem that way. With his car and his firesuit bearing the “S” of the legendary superhero, the six-time Cup Series champion and his Hendrick Motorsports team were at their relentless best on Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson was seemingly…

The Twitter account for ESPN’s SportsCenter sent out a tweet Sunday about Fidel Castro’s love of sports that was criticized for painting the Cuban dictator in a positive light. “Savior and scourge, Fidel Castro was many things to many people,” the now-deleted tweet read. “One thing all can agree on: He loved his sports.” Shockingly, a lot of people on Twitter didn’t appreciate SportCenter‘s humanization of a brutal despot. So…

Plenty of Bruce Springsteen songs are about destruction — of towns, dreams, loves and hopes. But few other tunes seemed as appropriate for the occasion on Saturday as when The Boss introduced “Wrecking Ball.” “We gotta play this one for the old building,” Springsteen said during the final show at the soon-to-be-demolished L.A. Memorial Sports Arena. “We’re gonna miss this place, it’s a great place to play rock ‘n’ roll.”…

Jimmie Johnson made it a Super Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. Johnson, whose No. 48 Chevy was adorned with Superman’s colors and logo to help promote an upcoming movie, won NASCAR’s Auto Club 400 Sprint Cup race in a green-white-checkered finish, ahead of hard-luck Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. The victory was the 77th of Johnson’s career, moving him into sole possession of seventh on NASCAR’s all-time list ahead of…

Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each…

How good a baseball player was Fidel Castro? Fidel Castro throws a baseball before the start of a game between the Cuban military and the police on July 24, 1959. (Associated Press) Before turning to politics, Cuba’s revolutionary leader was said to be a right-handed pitcher with a fastball so good he was scouted by several big-league teams. Not so. Many of Castro’s biographers say the future dictator played for…

ASU’s Colby Woodmansee (37) throws out a Washington State runner at first base at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Phoenix, AZ on May 14, 2015.(Photo: Patrick Breen/azcentral sports) No. 5 Oregon State baseball won 7-3 over No. 25 Arizona State on Sunday, sweeping the Pac-12 opening series in Corvallis. The Beavers jumped on top 2-0 in the first, knocking out ASU starter Reagan Todd after two-thirds of an inning. ASU scored…

HAVANA — Hector Guindo bounced his black, 1952 Dodge four-door sedan through the rain Sunday afternoon and gestured wildly as he talked about Tuesday’s game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban national baseball team. He spoke quickly and in Spanish. Every so often you could make out the name Dayron Verona, who was born in Cuba and defected three years ago with his mother….