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President Donald Trump lauded NASCAR on Monday because no drivers, crew or team members protested during the national anthem before a weekend race at New Hampshire Motorspeedway. “So proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans. They won’t put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag – they said it loud and clear!” Trump tweeted Monday. The comments came one day after dozens of NFL players took a knee…

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The oldest track in NASCAR history got a modern makeover for its 70th anniversary. On Sept. 23, for the first time ever, cars turned left under permanent LED lights at Martinsville Speedway in front of thousands who came out to be a part of history — including Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez, who enjoyed the late-model stock car action as fans….

The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic medals during their unveiling at a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 21. (Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images) North Korea ramped up its vitriol on Monday, undoubtedly increasing concerns by athletes who are preparing for what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at next year’s 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The Games will not take place for another few months, scheduled for Feb. 9-25. However, concerning rhetoric continues…

Mr. Trump is seldom at a loss for motives in picking a public fight, and conflict seems to soothe him in the way that it unnerves others. He loved getting a rise from the players and owners who linked arms in solidarity before Sunday’s slate of football games, aides and associates said. His satisfaction was blighted only by the disapproval expressed by his friend Robert Kraft, the owner of the…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) Helped by New York Mets outfielder Tim Tebow, attendance increased by 12.4 percent this year in the Florida State League and by 2.1 percent in the South Atlantic League. The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues said Monday that the presence of the former NFL quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner led to an increase of over 225,000 fans in the two Class A leagues. Minor league…

Milwaukee Brewers announcer Brian Anderson has been with the club since 2007, calling games alongside Bill Schroeder on Fox Sports Wisconsin.(Photo: Scott Paulus , Milwaukee Brewers) The 2017 Milwaukee Brewers outperformed expectations and gave the town a playoff chase into the final week of the season. Get to know some of the driving forces of the organization as we go beyond the box score, with their top baseball memories and…

Starting next year, it may not just be peanuts and Cracker Jacks that go with America’s national pastime. It may also be augmented reality. In an attempt to woo new and younger viewers, Major League Baseball is building augmented reality into its live statistics application, which will overlay three-dimensional graphics on top of real-life views. Major League Baseball demonstrated its prototype at a San Francisco Giants game last week in front…

In the wake of President Trump’s recent criticism of the NFL and its players kneeling for the national anthem, Oakland A’s catcher Bruce Maxwell made waves by becoming the first baseball player to join in the national protest designed to bring awareness to police violence against people of color in America. Rays ace Chris Archer — another prominent black player in the game who is known for his thoughtfulness —…

DETROIT, MI – SEPTEMBER 24: Members of the Detroit Lions take a knee during the playing of the national anthem prior to the start of the game against the Atlanta Falcons at Ford Field on September 24, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) Attention was focused firmly on the NFL yesterday, as players, coaches and teams responded to President Trump’s comments about NFL players who kneel…

CAA CAA lands an incredible 11 agents on this year’s most powerful list, including, from left, No. 21 Jimmy Sexton, No. 9 Pat Brisson, No. 41 Aaron Mintz, No. 44 Steven Heumann and No. 16 Nez Balelo. With escalating media rights deals, rising salary caps and massive infusions of cash into professional sports leagues, athletes’ contracts are bigger than ever, and the sports agency business is booming. The firms featured in Forbes’…

I would say that white people clearly believed something like that and promoted that ideology around sports in the United States. I would say black people believed it too, but they believed it for different reasons. They believed it because OK, in sports, if I’m given the fair opportunity, I can show what I can do because it was the belief by both parties, for a long time, that sport…

While NFL players, coaches and owners largely banded together Sunday in support of peaceful protest during the national anthem, another weekend staple, NASCAR, took a much different approach. Two NASCAR team owners — Richard Childress and Richard Petty — warned employees that any anthem demonstration would result in discipline, while NASCAR itself released an ambiguous statement Monday trumpeting both the pre-race ceremony and “the right to peacefully express one’s opinion.” The full…

“Sports are a unifying influence in our society, bringing people of differing backgrounds and beliefs together. Our respect for the national anthem has always been a hallmark of our pre-race events. Thanks to the sacrifices of many, we live in a country of unparalleled freedoms and countless liberties, including the right to peacefully express one’s opinion.”

Olympic regulations could make it tough for U.S. athletes at the upcoming Winter Games to take on President Trump in the manner that NFL players did over the weekend. Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” U.S. Olympic Committee leaders — gathered in Park City, Utah, for a media summit…

Maybe you scored a seat right behind the backstop, hoping for nothing more than a pleasant evening at the ballpark. And maybe that outing with friends is interrupted by a foul ball hurtling your direction at 105 mph. Maybe the ball strikes a young girl who has to be taken to the hospital, while the batter — the New York Yankees’ prized rookie, Clint Frazier — watches in horror, thinking…

Last week, I slipped away from Disrupt for a couple of hours to watch a Giants game at nearby AT&T park — or, more precisely, watch a Giants game through an iPad. It was a small gathering hosted by Major League Baseball that points toward a possible future for fandom that’s exciting and fascinating, all while bringing out the crotchety old tech journalist in me that’s hidden not too far…

American gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos raise their fists in the air in a black power salute during the playing of the U.S. national anthem at the 1968 Olympics. Anonymous/AP hide caption toggle caption Anonymous/AP American gold medalist Tommie Smith (center) and bronze medalist John Carlos raise their fists in the air in a black power salute during the playing of the U.S. national anthem…

CAA CAA lands an incredible 11 agents on this year’s most powerful list, including, from left, No. 21 Jimmy Sexton, No. 9 Pat Brisson, No. 41 Aaron Mintz, No. 44 Steven Heumann and No. 16 Nez Balelo. With escalating media rights deals, rising salary caps and massive infusions of cash into professional sports leagues, athletes’ contracts are bigger than ever, and the sports agency business is booming. The firms featured in Forbes’…

Shutterstock In our daily lives, we are surrounded by incredible amounts of sports coverage, yet we often fixate on countless negative stories about collegiate and professional athletes, teams and leagues. Fan obsession with damaging topics versus positive headlines is troubling. Thankfully, there are many ways the sports industry amplifies feel-good stories that are key to building healthy communities. Public relations is a marketing vehicle that is underutilized in highlighting cheerful…

In the mid- to late 2000s, I remember going to games at old Yankee Stadium and feeling a sort of amorphous peer pressure during the pregame singing of the national anthem and seventh-inning renditions of “God Bless America.” Among fans, there was an almost belligerent tendency to self-police, to ensure all those in attendance rose and removed their caps. It always made me feel uncomfortable in the stands, even as…