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CDP 0626 UVAbaseball178.JPG Virginia head baseball coach Brian O’Connor holds up the NCAA championship trophy during the Virginia baseball Championship Celebration Wednesday at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va. Virginia defeated Vanderbilt after a 3-game series to win their first ever College World Series. Photo/The Daily Progress/Andrew Shurtleff Posted: Saturday, January 16, 2016 10:56 pm Catching up with UVa baseball coach Brian O’Connor By Andrew Ramspacher The Daily…

Jan. 16 may be a strange date to discuss baseball, but when it’s 50 degrees outside and Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia is on Long Island, you discuss baseball. Scioscia was the guest of honor Saturday at Ward Melville, where a panel of sports doctors discussed injury prevention. One doctor likened the overuse of young pitching arms to abuse. …

Major League Baseball fans are already the winners in a lawsuit scheduled for trial next week after the league agreed to let consumers buy single-team television packages for the first time. MLB lawyers have told a Manhattan federal court judge that fans will be able to buy the new packages this season if they don’t live in their favorite team’s market. In the past, consumers were forced to buy the…

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Just when you thought these NFL playoffs had filled up their quota of crazy endings, the Cardinals and Packers went and outdid ’em all. Wild-card weekend already gifted us a contentious thriller between the Bengals and Steelers and the infamous Blair Walsh Game between the Seahawks and Vikings. Those were both fantastically compelling endings, with heroes and goats and first-graders writing pick-me-up letters to NFL players. It wasn’t going to…

Fox Sports is, as a whole, garbage, so it’s hardly surprising to learn that the UFC partner’s preview of this weekend’s Fight Night bout between TJ Dillashaw and Dominick Cruz contained material stolen word-for-word from another fight writer. Kenny Florian, the plagiarist in question, is both an on-air analyst and, of course, a former UFC fighter himself; readers might expect him to bring unique insight. But several readers of his…

Kenny Florian FOX Sports has suspended former UFC fighter and current analyst Kenny Florian following his recent apology for plagiarism. Officials today announced the suspension via Twitter. It’s effective immediately, though a term wasn’t disclosed. Via @FOXSportsPR pic.twitter.com/CglDeRLAfe — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) January 16, 2016 Earlier this week, Florian, who serves as a color commentator for UFC events and hosts FOX Sports 1’s weekly “UFC Tonight” news program, issued an…

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Bill Belichick was 22 years old in 1975, fresh out of Wesleyan with an economics degree and lots of experience playing lacrosse and squash. There was no earthly reason for him to believe he should join an NFL coaching staff, which is why 250 or so letters he sent out went mostly unreturned. A friend of his father’s called in a favor and swore on his work…

A baseball league in Fremont is in need of help after suspects allegedly vandalized a snack bar run by a non-profit. Photos showed red paint splattered throughout the baseball field’s snack bar. The suspects are also accused of burglarizing it. The damage was discovered on Saturday. The Fremont Cal Ripken Baseball league is asking for donations to help pay for repairs.

Essendon coach James Hird was banned for 12 months and later resigned More than 30 players associated with Australian rules team Essendon FC have been banned after being injected with a drug to improve performance. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) appeal after 34 past and present players were initially cleared. The players, including 12 currently registered with Essendon, are suspended for…

SANTA CLARA — More than 1,000 youth soccer players who were kicked off their fields by the National Football League may have found a pretty cool replacement: a professional soccer stadium. The San Jose Earthquakes have pledged to open two fields at Avaya Stadium to young Santa Clara players displaced by Super Bowl 50, a gesture that could end nearly two weeks of bitter litigation and finger-pointing between the Santa…

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SAN JOSE — It was a no-nonsense face-off in court Monday between the NFL, the city of Santa Clara and a youth soccer league — and for the first time, new arguments came to light in the legal dispute over whether the NFL can use a soccer park next to Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl 50. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Joseph H. Huber said he wouldn’t rule until…

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 11, 2016) — NASCAR announced today the 25 eligible drivers and the format for the season-opening 75-lap Sprint Unlimited at the new Daytona International Speedway motorsports stadium on Saturday, Feb. 13. The event, which will be broadcast live on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM, marks the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race following the completion of DAYTONA Rising, the $400 million frontstretch redevelopment project that has transformed Daytona International Speedway into the…

General manager Matt Klentak previously worked with new Phillies assistant GM Ned Rice in the Baltimore Orioles’ front office. (USA Today Images)

Last year we showed you multiple cities claiming to have hosted baseball’s first night game. It’s time for a new investigation. At least five different home runs have been defined as the longest in professional baseball history. Which story is correct? A conclusive answer seems far away. Carlsbad, N.M. – On a hot August night in 1959, former heavyweight boxer Gil Carter smashed a pitch through Carlsbad’s high-elevated air and out of Montgomery Field. The ball carried over the left field…

Steve Sotir knows he’ll miss Fort Wayne, but his love of baseball is leading him to Texas. Sotir, the successful Homestead High School baseball coach and key contributor to the Fort Wayne-based World Baseball Academy, will move to El Paso, Texas, in February to take a position running a baseball academy and four-field complex. “The thought of returning to a full-time baseball job and helping build this facility…

  Luzerne County’s lawsuit aiming to gain half of the $14.6 million sale of the Moosic-based Triple-A minor league baseball franchise might be moving closer to a settlement. Attorney Frank J. Tunis Jr., the lawyer representing the Lackawanna County Stadium Authority, said he and lawyers for Lackawanna and Luzerne counties will likely meet soon again for another mediation session to attempt a resolution. …

The Kansas City Chiefs won their first playoff game in 22 years on Saturday, toppling the Houston Texans by the score of 30-0. It was a totally one-sided affair, as the Chiefs returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and never looked back. .@Chiefs are now chanting: “JUST LIKE BASEBALL.” pic.twitter.com/dtA24kNLbV — ESPN Monday Night (@ESPNMondayNight) January 10, 2016 Toward the end of the game, some particularly vocal…