Blog

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s foreign ministry stressed the Pyeongchang Olympics will be safe from North Korean provocations in a briefing to diplomats and executives at foreign companies in the country on Friday, as concerns persist over tensions with the North. Officials and executives from around 120 embassies and companies in South Korea were hosted by the ministry to explain the government’s efforts for a safe Olympic Games scheduled for…

The doctor at the centre of the Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins Jiffy bag scandal has resigned from his position at British Cycling with the chief executive, Julie Harrington, admitting she was concerned his failings could come back to haunt the organisation in the future. Doctor Richard Freeman, who worked for both Team Sky and British Cycling between 2009 and 2015, has walked away from his position without a pay-off….

Photo Marc Bamuthi Joseph, left, and Amara Tabor-Smith in “/peh-LO-tah/” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Credit Rebecca Greenfield A line in the dance-theater show “/peh-LO-tah/” hits a timely raw nerve: “The Defender explains why Americans suck at soccer.” When these words flash on the back wall of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater, they are a biting reminder that the U.S. recently failed to qualify for the next…

So far, more than 140 women, including athletes who competed at the highest levels of gymnastics, have come forward to say that Nassar had touched them inappropriately during medical appointments. Unlike Weinstein, Nassar is in jail, awaiting trial on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct. He already has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges — he denies the many accusations of sexual assault — and faces decades of prison time….

Photo Marc Bamuthi Joseph, left, and Amara Tabor-Smith in “/peh-LO-tah/” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Credit Rebecca Greenfield A line in the dance-theater show “/peh-LO-tah/” hits a timely raw nerve: “The Defender explains why Americans suck at soccer.” When these words flash on the back wall of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater, they are a biting reminder that the U.S. recently failed to qualify for the next…

CONCORD, N.C. – What will be the impact of next year’s Playoff race on the road course at Charlotte Motor Speedway? “I’m going to put this right there with Talladega,” Martin Truex Jr. said Wednesday during a break in testing at CMS. “I’m going to be hoping I win one of the first two (races) of that round.” Talladega, of course, is madness and mayhem. The Bank of America 500,…

The doctor at the centre of the Team Sky and Bradley Wiggins Jiffy bag scandal has resigned from his position at British Cycling with the chief executive, Julie Harrington, admitting she was concerned his failings could come back to haunt the organisation in the future. Doctor Richard Freeman, who worked for both Team Sky and British Cycling between 2009 and 2015, has walked away from his position without a pay-off….

An illustration of the pitch, from The English Cricketers’ Trip to Canada and the United States, 1860. Internet Archive/ Public Domain In early summer 1859, St. George’s Cricket Club found itself at an existential crossroads. Established in 1838, the Manhattan-based organization had for decades worked assiduously to, in the words of an 1859 club pamphlet, “see Cricket more generally established, better understood, and more regularly practiced” in America. In this…

“Homer at the Bat,” an episode of “The Simpsons” that has been enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame and featured names like Ken Griffey Jr., Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs aired Feb. 20, 1992. Since then, it has been recognized as a key point in the series’ history, and it’s now getting memorialized again — this time by the “The Simpsons” itself — in a mockumentary called “Springfield of…

“They call me ‘Mr. Baseball,’ not because I love the game, but because of all the stitches in my head.” — Emo Philips If you were raised to love baseball and to recognize the smart, winning kind from everything less, the Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig is insufferable. As the sport is diminished by professionals who disregard the basic act of running to first base as a matter of style, Puig, an…

So far, more than 140 women, including athletes who competed at the highest levels of gymnastics, have come forward to say that Nassar had touched them inappropriately during medical appointments. Unlike Weinstein, Nassar is in jail, awaiting trial on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct. He already has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges — he denies the many accusations of sexual assault — and faces decades of prison time….

With nine NHL games, three NBA games, an NFL game and an MLB playoff game — made possible by the Chicago Cubs’ victory in Game 4 of the NLCS on Wednesday — Thursday is your (first) sports equinox of 2017. What’s a sports equinox? As my former colleague Reuben Fischer-Baum wrote on a couple of occasions, it’s when all four major U.S. sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, NHL and…

An Italian soccer player is being punished this week for leaving a little too much on the field. Giovanni Liberti, who plays for the lower-tier squad Turris, has been ordered to sit out the next five matches after he “urinated in the direction of the away section, making obscene and vulgar gestures, while showing his genital organ,” Serie D’s disciplinary committee said in a statement on Wednesday. The incident occurred…

Photo Marc Bamuthi Joseph, left, and Amara Tabor-Smith in “/peh-LO-tah/” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Credit Rebecca Greenfield A line in the dance-theater show “/peh-LO-tah/” hits a timely raw nerve: “The Defender explains why Americans suck at soccer.” When these words flash on the back wall of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theater, they are a biting reminder that the U.S. recently failed to qualify for the next…

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads back to Kansas Speedway for the final playoff race in the Round of 12. When the checkered flag flies on Sunday, four drivers will be eliminated from championship contention. As it stands, two former champions — Matt Kenseth (2003) and Kyle Busch (2015) — are below the cutline. Kenseth began the round in 11th and has since moved up to 10th while Busch…

Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press After the United States men’s national team failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Bleacher Report surveyed American soccer experts to plot out a solution.  Here’s a truth: If the United States doesn’t score an unlucky own goal. Or give up a stupendous rip from distance. Or Clint Dempsey‘s late shot doesn’t ping off the post and instead equalizes against Trinidad and Tobago. Or…

United States’ Christian Pulisic, left, fights for control of the ball with Trinidad and Tobago’s Joevin Jones, right, during a 2018 World Cup qualifying soccer match this month in Couva, Trinidad. (Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press) Afshin Molavi is co-director of the emerge85 Lab and a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. You may have never heard of Paul Caligiuri — unless, of course,…

With nine NHL games, three NBA games, an NFL game and an MLB playoff game — made possible by the Chicago Cubs’ victory in Game 4 of the NLCS on Wednesday — Thursday is your (first) sports equinox of 2017. What’s a sports equinox? As my former colleague Reuben Fischer-Baum wrote on a couple of occasions, it’s when all four major U.S. sports leagues — the NFL, NBA, NHL and…

So far, more than 140 women, including athletes who competed at the highest levels of gymnastics, have come forward to say that Nassar had touched them inappropriately during medical appointments. Unlike Weinstein, Nassar is in jail, awaiting trial on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct. He already has pleaded guilty to child pornography charges — he denies the many accusations of sexual assault — and faces decades of prison time….

Image via ESPN This week, ESPN premiered a new show on ESPN 2 called Barstool Van Talk, hosted by Barstool Sports personalities and Pardon My Take podcast co-hosts PFT Commenter and Dan Katz. According to sources familiar with the situation, ESPN originally did not want the Barstool Sports name and logo associated with the new show, but caved after Barstool president Dave Portnoy insisted on the branding. Given that Barstool…