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A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

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A onetime standout Twin Cities high school hockey player was left paralyzed below the shoulders after falling at full speed and flying headfirst into the boards during a junior game in suburban Chicago while chasing his dream of a spot on a college roster. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who led Totino-Grace High School of Fridley to the state tournament in 2014 and graduated as the program’s iron man, was hurt…

i Venezuelan players celebrate after beating Cuba in the Dominican Republic on Feb. 4. More than 20 U.S. major league teams established baseball academies in Venezuela in the 1990s; currently, more than 60 Venezuelans are in the major leagues. But the turmoil in Venezuela has led most U.S. teams to close their academies. Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images Venezuelan players celebrate after beating Cuba in…

Now MLB’s Bowman is applying his digital expertise to an ambitious new venture: He’s bidding on a range of sports rights to build a new kind of digital version of ESPN, and he’s hoping to launch within a few months. “We’ve been trying to cobble together rights with an eye towards building an app, a first-class app, streaming high quality and putting it on the device (consumers) want best,” said…

Fred Segal says he’s always been fascinated by sports predictions. Growing up in North Miami Beach, Segal would sort through his attorney father Mike’s collection of thousands of sports books and magazines, some dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. “I used to look through them and laugh about the predictions that ended up being dead wrong,” said Segal, a Coral Springs, Fla., attorney who specializes in transactional…

With Tony Stewart still sidelined with a back injury, Ty Dillon has been named as his replacement for the upcoming race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. USA TODAY Sports

A Twin Cities hockey player fell in a race for the puck during a junior game in suburban Chicago over the weekend, hit his head on the boards and suffered a “very serious spinal injury” that has left him paralyzed below the shoulders, according to his family and the team. Defenseman Matt Olson, 20, who played in high school for Totino-Grace of Fridley and graduated in 2014, was hurt in…

http://c.espnradio.com/audio/2686653/hottakedown_2016-02-23-181253.64k.mp3?ad_params=zones%3DPreroll%2CPreroll2%2CMidroll%2CMidroll2%2CMidroll3%2CMidroll4%2CMidroll5%2CMidroll6%2CPostroll%2CPostroll2%7Cstation_id%3D2786 Subscribe: iTunes | Download | RSS | Video Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (Feb. 23, 2016),1 we ask why Canadian hockey teams have failed to win the Stanley Cup for the past 20-odd years and whether that makes them unlucky or just bad, we make our first foray into the world of Nascar and wonder why Daytona 500 finishes…

Ever since Robert “Red” Byron in 1948 drove his Ford over the sands of Daytona Beach, Fla., at 75 miles per hour for a $1,000 prize, Nascar has operated pretty much the same way. Teams showed up at the track with a car, a driver, and a crew and tried to win prize money; they had no larger stake in the enterprise. That all changed this year: When Denny Hamlin…

FC Barcelona, the current champion of European and world soccer, is seen as the gold standard in the game. And in the last decade, some of that success is due to players from Africa, such as Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o and Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure. Now, to facilitate the flow of talented young players from the continent, Barcelona is going to the source. The club is setting up a satellite of…

You better watch your backs, Sports Illustrated cover girls. The ladies of Archer are coming to take your thrones. The animated FX show made a spoof off the historic Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue by featuring some of their hottest spies — and Pam Poovey. The curvy Human Resources director got the coveted role of cover girl for the magazine and threatens to take plus-size model Ashley Graham’s crown. Though, now that we think about, co-cover girl and…

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee’s coaches held a rare joint press conference to say that an unfair picture of the athletic department is emerging amid a lawsuit that states the school mishandled sexual assault complaints against athletes. The federal suit filed Feb. 9 in Nashville by six unidentified women states Tennessee violated Title IX regulations and created a ”hostile sexual environment” through a policy of indifference toward assaults by athletes….

1. Games galore With 162 games played by each team in the regular season, there are opportunities to see baseball action nearly every night. Football comes around once a week, and basketball might have a couple games weekly, but baseball is here for you everyday. 2. The new dining experience From All-you-can-eat seats to $26, two-foot hotdogs dubbed ‘Boomsticks.’ Baseball games have it all when it comes to interesting food…

Baseball writer Dan Szymborkski just published an article for ESPN Insider that names the MLB’s Top 25 biggest albatrosses aka Worst Contract Ever Award. Now, you’ve probably already seen the headline of the article you’re currently reading, and you’re also probably a big Angels fan, so the fact that Albert Pujols comes out as the biggest contract loser of them all should be no surprise whatsoever. The only REALLY surprising thing…

Jose Reyes’ domestic violence case starts on the same day as the new MLB season Jose Reyes has become the first player to be suspended under new Major League Baseball rules brought in to address domestic violence issues. The Colorado Rockies shortstop, a four-time All-Star player who earns $22m (£15.7m) a year, has been placed on paid leave while he faces criminal proceedings. Reyes, 32, who was arrested at a…

Nonprofit groups are calling on the National Football League to stop offering fantasy sports competitions to children because they’re concerned the games could lead some young sports fans down the path of gambling addiction. In letters being sent to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday, the National Council on Problem Gambling and the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood complain the NFL “aggressively marketed” a fantasy sports game on “NFL Rush,”…

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