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Sports Direct is an extraordinary company. In three decades it has shot from nothing to the largest sports retailer in the UK. It owns the grand Piccadilly store Lillywhites and the boxing-kit manufacturer Lonsdale, and has made its founder, Mike Ashley, a billionaire. It has also become a byword for a kind of discount shopping: pile ’em high, sell ’em cheap, and don’t fret about making the experience too pleasant for…

Follow Andy Gray on Twitter | Email Andy | Extra Mustard on Facebook Stephen Colbert and Sports Stephen Colbert’s new late-night talk show debuts on CBS Tuesday night and we asked our NBA writers which player would make the best talk-show host. Sadly, no one picked Marcin Gortat, even though he’s endlessly entertaining. As you prepare for tonight’s show, be sure to check out the above gallery of Stephen Colbert and Sports (click here for…

Coaches’ Poll: Alabama up to No. 2 | Dodd: Power Rankings With Cardale Jones as the starting quarterback and Braxton Miller emerging as the most dangerous offensive weapon in the country, Ohio State holds a firm grasp on the No. 1 spot in the CBS Sports 128 heading into the second week of the season. There was shuffling in the top five, with Alabama (No. 2) and TCU (No. 4)…

A quarter-century ago, the Toronto Blue Jays were an economic and competitive force in Major League Baseball. Over the past six weeks, the Jays have shown the potential to regain that lost identity. It’s widely known that the Jays lead the American League East and are on the verge of qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1993. But the story among the blue seats at Rogers Centre…

Players think about baseball differently than you do. It’s a hard thing to accept about being a fan, but it’s true: their mindset just isn’t the same as yours. As fans, we think about the long run. “WheRE are they drafting next year?” or “When does their window close?” or “How can I be as negative as humanly possible in order to stand out from a merely kinda negative crowd?”…

All 30 MLB teams are in action Tuesday night, allowing DraftKings daily fantasy players a wide array of big names to choose from.  Deciding on a few stars like Clayton Kershaw and Josh Donaldson is the easy part—the challenge lies in filling out the rest of your roster with more affordable options who can still produce. Below are rankings for the top three players at each position, followed by five…

The Twins held a locker room Labor Day celebration on Monday with the team’s bat boy providing the entertainment with a very impressive dance set to iHeartMemphis’s “Hit The Quan”. Instagram Jan 1, 2015 at 6:47pm PST • Grumpy Cat stops by Diamondbacks game to help with first pitch Torii Hunter posted a clip of the dance and said the team is trying to learn the steps to mimic the bat boy’s…

In the decade or so since baseball found itself in the throes of omnipresent Tommy John surgery dread, almost nothing has changed. Buck-passing rules the landscape. Competing interests married with a paucity of facts leads to ruinous consequences. And this entire Matt Harvey debacle – so easy to telegraph, so difficult to prevent – highlights how baseball not only fostered this sort of environment but isn’t doing enough to prevent…

The story of how Petr Svancara mobilised a group of football fans into rebuilding their club’s stadium says a lot about the emotive power of old stadiums. The ground literally fell apart when FC Zbrojovka Brno were moved away from their home. The ground crumbled, the pitch became overgrown with vegetation and a pheasant moved in to take the place of the supporters on the terraces. But the supporters have…

A quarter-century ago, the Toronto Blue Jays were an economic and competitive force in Major League Baseball. Over the past six weeks, the Jays have shown the potential to regain that lost identity. It’s widely known that the Jays lead the American League East and are on the verge of qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1993. But the story among the blue seats at Rogers Centre…

Monday was a good day across two major fronts for the LSU baseball program. At the highest level, former Tiger star Louis Coleman was recalled from Triple-A by the Kansas City Royals after spending the entire season with the Omaha Storm Chasers. That makes 10 LSU alums currently in the big leagues as the September stretch run commences: D.J. LeMahieu (Colorado), Kevin Gausman (Baltimore), Aaron Nola (Philadelphia), Nick Goody and Nick…

Let’s get those daily fantasy baseball lineups ready with our starting pitcher rankings, closer news and weather reports below. As usual, we’ll also have hitter matchups and daily fantasy baseball picks to help you win some cash. Today’s action starts with three games at 7:05 p.m. ET and seven total games starting by 7:10. There are also five games starting at 9:40 or later, so there are plenty of options if you want to play in an early…

Mixing wonderful pageantry and reverence with NASCAR’s rich history, Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway wasn’t just an ode to the past but a blueprint of what the sport should look like going forward. A racy low-downforce aerodynamic rules package that puts the control in the hands of the driver combined with an aging surface that chews up tires like Cookie Monster does cookies to craft the most memorable…

The theme for this weekend at Darlington Raceway has been hard to ignore. From paint schemes, to firesuits, to facial hair and uniforms, most of the NASCAR garage has gone retro for the Southern 500’s return to Labor Day weekend. The retro movement was a massive undertaking by NASCAR, the track, teams and sponsors. But why is a throwback weekend so important for the sport? “We have such a new…

Editor’s Note: Clinching scenarios courtesy of NASCAR statistical services RELATED: Updated standings | Chase Grid   There is just one race left before the 16-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set. Here are the scenarios for clinching a Chase berth at Richmond International Raceway in the Federated Auto Parts 400 (Sat. Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Below is the complete list of drivers currently in the Chase Grid.   Drivers…

A quarter-century ago, the Toronto Blue Jays were an economic and competitive force in Major League Baseball. Over the past six weeks, the Jays have shown the potential to regain that lost identity. It’s widely known that the Jays lead the American League East and are on the verge of qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 1993. But the story among the blue seats at Rogers Centre…

The theme for this weekend at Darlington Raceway has been hard to ignore. From paint schemes, to firesuits, to facial hair and uniforms, most of the NASCAR garage has gone retro for the Southern 500’s return to Labor Day weekend. The retro movement was a massive undertaking by NASCAR, the track, teams and sponsors. But why is a throwback weekend so important for the sport? “We have such a new…

Many of you may remember “Mean” Joe Greene shed his moniker for one iconic commercial in 1979. In case you don’t remember it or have never seen it, here is your refresher: According to AdWeek, “the 60-second spot will air during the NASCAR Darlington Southern 500 race in South Carolina.”  Greene spoke with FOX Sports NFL Insider Alex Marvez about the commercial on Monday. “I get a little emotional when…

A viewing and Funeral Mass are scheduled for Saturday morning for the 14-year-old soccer player who died at a team sleepover in Sewell over the weekend. By Monday afternoon, donors had raised more than $30,000 for the family of Kara Lemanowicz, a freshman at Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees Township, where classes start Tuesday. “It really just shows how much support there is in our…

DARLINGTON, S.C.—NASCAR billed Sunday’s Bojangles Southern 500 as a “throwback” weekend, and virtually every race team responded in kind. Retro-paint-scheme cars evoking memories of Richard Petty’s classic red-and-blue STP ride, Ricky Craven’s orange Tide car, and the Days of Thunder Mello Yello, among others—28 of the 43 Cup cars in all—decorated the track and NASCAR’s social media, drawing universal acclaim. Oh, but those were not the only colors not forgotten….