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1. I think these are my quick (and apolitical) thoughts of Week 3: a. I can’t imagine the all-22 tape exonerating the official who called the offensive pass interference against San Francisco’s Trent Taylor in the last seconds of Rams 41, Niners 39. Huge call. Mega-huge call. And I will wait before judging, but man, that looked like the ultimate marginal call, and you’ve only got 16 of these football…

Several owners of Nascar teams in America have warned that they will back Donald Trump’s suggestion that NFL players who protest during the playing of the country’s national anthem should be sacked. There were no signs of dissent on Sunday prior to a race at the New Hampshire Motorspeedway after the warnings, and Trump tweeted his support for the stance on Monday: “So proud of Nascar and its supporters and…

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…

CINCINNATI — Nobody on the Red Sox kneeled or sat during the national anthem yesterday. Nobody locked arms, either. If this news surprises or disappoints you, consider baseball players usually trail the pro sports pack when it comes to being outwardly vocal on divisive social issues. It’s as if Jackie Robinson in the ’40s and Curt Flood in the ’70s was enough outside of maintaining their formidable players’ union. For…

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Trump said Sunday the White House has “totally finalized” a tax plan, but the particulars are substantially different from what’s been reported about the proposal. The rates he cited seem low. The Supreme Court opens its new term Oct. 2. David G. Savage has a preview of the major questions before the court, involving Trump, immigration policy, religious liberty, gay rights and partisan gerrymandering. What’s a dotard, anyway? ABOUT THAT…

Trump tries to sack NFL, NBA Athletes, executives hit back at president Admit it: Wouldn’t you rather have Donald Trump hurling verbal grenades at football and basketball stars than a guy with nuclear weapons? I’m not minimizing the seriousness of the controversy. But Trump has an acute sense of when it’s in his interest to fight the culture war—and at least this is a war fought with words,…

Fox and CBS broadcast the national anthem live during football games Sunday — a notable shift away from the usual practice. NBC says it will do the same in prime time. ESPN, which also abandoned its usual pregame chatter to talk politics, will air the anthem live on Monday. And as photos of athletes kneeling and locking arms during the anthem streamed in, the news media quickly repurposed those images,…

Believe me, my friends, I wanted to “stick to sports” this weekend. After the prior week of ESPN madness, I was eager to get back to the goofy. You know: My usual, meaningless sports insanity, with a couple of spelling errors and grammatical mistakes sprinkled in for fun. Maybe, for a column, I’d take my kids to the annual meatball-eating contest at the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy….

Kyle Busch clinched a spot in the second round of the NASCAR playoffs with his win at New Hampshire on Sunday, but there are other implications from the race, too. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s race: 1. Busch presents himself as Truex’s biggest challenger – for now For most of the season, Martin Truex Jr. has been in control of the NASCAR standings. He won four races…

Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print comment BEIJING — Recovering from Thursday’s relatively moderate reception in Shanghai, the matchup Saturday night between the Los Angeles Kings and the Vancouver Canucks here — the second leg of the NHL’s first preseason games in China, resulting in a 4-3 shootout win for the Kings — witnessed a much stronger welcome from a city bracing for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The attendance…

GIF via NASCAR NASCAR playoffs contender Kevin Harvick spun while battling Austin Dillon for position during today’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Harvick lit up his rear tires trying to stay out of the wall, but the cloud of smoke from his big burnout kept other drivers from being able to see what was in front of him and caused a pile-up anyway. Screencap via NBC Sports The smokiest…

President Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Huntsville, Ala., on Sept. 22. (Brynn Anderson/Associated Press) Of all the National Football League franchise owners, Bob McNair is probably one of President Trump’s most generous donors. The Houston Texans owner donated $2 million in 2016 to a pro-Trump super PAC. He is also among the eight NFL franchise owners who collectively doled out millions of dollars for Trump’s inauguration, helping the New York billionaire…

x Embed x Share CLOSE After Donald Trump said NFL players should be fired for kneeling during the national anthem, NFL players, owners and coaches condemned Trump’s comments. USA TODAY Sports Team owner and seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty was adamant on standing for the national anthem.(Photo: Brian Spurlock, USA TODAY Sports) LOUDON, N.H. — NASCAR again proved to be an insular oddity in American sports culture on Sunday as Monster Energy…

Politics and sport have been bedfellows since at least the birth of the ancient Olympic Games some 28 centuries ago, when city states that vied year-round for finite resources came up with a venue of bloodless competition in which to keep themselves from killing each other. Even in antiquity the political intrigue that followed took on many forms. Tensions over hosting rights for the quadrennial festival were commonplace. And there…

Chip Ganassi, 59, has accomplished just about everything someone could in auto racing. He had a five-year career as a driver before launching his own CART team in 1990. As an owner, he has won the Indy 500, Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Le Mans and more. His teams claimed 18 championships and more than 190 checkered flags. Ganassi was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame last…

Arte Moreno, owner of the Los Angeles Angels, is a bad owner. All owners are bad, and Arte Moreno is bad even by those lowered standards. He has done some things that other owners could only dream of: namely, repeatedly failed to capitalize on the contributions of the best player of several generations and possibly all of baseball history, and forced his team to first carry one of the dumbest…

Harrison Browne, seen here playing for the Buffalo Beauts, says he feels lucky to be part of a league that accepts him and wants him to feel comfortable. Courtesy of the National Women’s Hockey League hide caption toggle caption Courtesy of the National Women’s Hockey League Harrison Browne, seen here playing for the Buffalo Beauts, says he feels lucky to be part of a league that accepts him and wants…

Seventeen years, 83 wins, seven championships and an eighth on his mind. Jimmie Johnson knows his way around NASCAR’s premier series. Such experience will be helpful when Johnson, 42, is the leader of what will be one of NASCAR’s youngest teams at Hendrick Motorsports next season. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is retiring and Kasey Kahne was not asked back for the final year of his contract. Kahne, 37, will drive…

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and outside linebacker Eli Harold kneel during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL game in 2016. John Bazemore/AP hide caption toggle caption John Bazemore/AP San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and outside linebacker Eli Harold kneel during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL game in 2016. John Bazemore/AP In the span of less than 24 hours, President Trump…