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College sports programs evolve during their offseason, with attrition often part of the process. LSU baseball is no different and on Wednesday, a prominent part of a ballyhooed 2014 recruiting class exited the flock. Sophomore pitcher Jake Godfrey is headed to the junior-college level, after a roller-coaster freshman season. He told the coaches of his decision Wednesday and confirmed his plans to transfer on Thursday. The big right-hander from New Lenox,…

Reuters/David MoirChina’s Vice-President Xi Jinping kicks a football during a visit to Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland February 19, 2012. Over the summer the Chinese market experienced a major hiccup, causing concern that many Asian industries would be slow, or unable to recover. Since the June collapse, however, there is one sector that continues to score with investors, both here and overseas – sportswear. The Great Soccer Revival Back in…

(Photo: The Associated Press) PARIS (AP) — Another day, another reason to think that professional sports no longer deserve the adoration of their fans. With police in Switzerland hauling away yet more soccer officials suspected of taking bribes and prosecutors in France investigating track and field administrators alleged to have hushed up doping, fans would be right to think they’ve been mugged. Much of 2015 has felt like a long,…

WASHINGTON/ZURICH Soccer bosses from across South and Central America were among 16 people charged on Thursday with multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights, in a dismantling of a Latin American soccer network by U.S. prosecutors. Court documents showed that the heads of the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF associations that run soccer in the Western Hemisphere and others with top jobs in the world governing body FIFA were charged along…

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Inside Groove: Racing with an attitude NASCAR drivers convened in Las Vegas on Fremont Street to play a rousing round of ‘Jeopardy’ on Wednesday as part of Champion’s Week. Here’s what we learned.   1.) KYLE BUSCH RECEIVES MANY AWARDS AND PROCLAMATIONS FROM HIS HOMETOWN OF LAS VEGAS FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF SENATORS AND MAYORS WHO COULD NOT BE THERE.   Lest we forget that Kyle and his brother Kurt and…

By VeloNews.com Published 7 hours ago Mapei sponsored one of cycling’s top teams in the late 1990s but has been absent from the WorldTour for 14 years. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com (File). After 14 years away, Mapei Sport, an Italian research center based in Milan, is returning to the top echelon of pro cycling, partnering with Trek Factory Racing. “I’m very happy with this partnership,” said…

It’s just as well the Portland Timbers have North American soccer’s most fervent and unwavering support behind them, because there’s certainly no shortage of haters. Sure, their magnificent tifos are a bona fide work-of-art – and their attendance figures are mightily impressive, too – but that hasn’t bought them much favour in MLS circles. The Columbus Crew will be getting plenty of neutral support in Sunday’s MLS Cup final. “Timbers…

Joe Torre and Dave Winfield will be leading a baseball goodwill tour of Cuba this month. Major League Baseball and the Players Association said Thursday the Dec. 15-18 trip will include children’s clinics and a charity event. This is Major League Baseball’s first visit to Cuba since the Baltimore Orioles played an exhibition game…

Scott Boras sounded an alarm last month. As major league general managers met in a ritzy Florida hotel, one of baseball’s most prominent agents stood in a hallway and told the assembled media that owners were grabbing an increasingly large share of the sport’s revenue. Boras offered numbers. The owners took home 57% of revenue, the players 43%. That ratio, Boras said, should be 50-50. That appeared to present a significant…

Houston slugger Chris Carter, Pittsburgh first baseman Pedro Alvarez and injured Kansas City closer Greg Holland were among 43 players who became free agents when they weren’t offered 2016 contracts by Wednesday night’s deadline. Carter, who hit .199 with 24 homers and 64 RBIs this season, made $4,175,000 in 2015 in his first year of arbitration and would likely have been paid at least $5 million next year. “It’s a…

ZURICH/NEW YORK Swiss police arrested the two top soccer bosses in the Americas on Thursday on suspicion of taking millions of dollars in bribes linked to television rights, widening a graft probe into world soccer’s governing body. Switzerland’s Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) named the men as Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the CONCACAF region and a FIFA vice president, and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, head of…

USA Hockey will announce its selection to host the 2018 world junior championships on Friday and it’s apparent they haven’t chosen St. Louis. The group announced on Thursday morning that it would make an unspecified “major announcement” on Friday – at Ralph Wilson Stadium in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park. USA Hockey had already indicated that a decision on the site for the juniors would be announced this week….

The NASCAR community is converging on Las Vegas for Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Awards. However, before the party gets started in Sin City, Jimmy Fallon has a few awards of his own to hand out. Enjoy “The Tonight Show” NASCAR superlatives. 

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The Salt Lake Bees have become a model of consistency. SALT LAKE CITY—If baseball is a game of inches, then running a successful minor league baseball franchise is an enterprise of details. Marc Amicone, who has been the vice president and general manager of the Salt Lake Bees (Pacific Coast) for more than a decade, knows this. That’s why the most important questions he asks in meetings he holds with…

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Houston slugger Chris Carter, Pittsburgh first baseman Pedro Alvarez and injured Kansas City closer Greg Holland were among 43 players who became free agents when they weren’t offered 2016 contracts by Wednesday night’s deadline. Carter, who hit .199 with 24 homers and 64 RBIs this season, made $4,175,000 in 2015 in his first year of arbitration and would likely have been paid at least $5 million next year. “It’s a…

During July of 2014, Fox Sports launched an affinity site called Just A Bit Outside, centered around baseball and their new MLB digital writer, Rob Neyer. Just A Bit Outside, nicknamed JABO, ran content from Neyer and several of Fox’s other baseball writers, including Ken Rosenthal, Jon Paul Morosi, CJ Nitkowski, and Fox personality turned Dodgers coach Gabe Kapler. But JABO lasted for barely more than one regular season before…

Before clashing in Washington, Jim Bunning clashed with Robert Cannon over the MLBPA. (via GLMS) Marvin Miller advised Curt Flood not to sue. It would end his career, he told him. Even if he won, the court would never award damages. Flood had nothing to gain by taking baseball to court. “But if we win,” Flood replied, “it would help my teammates, wouldn’t it? And it would help all the…