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For the next week and a half, we’re going to hear a lot of names thrown around as the July 31 trade deadline approaches. It’s going to get tedious after a while — the same old names, the same old teams, mentioned over and over again until a trade actually happens.  But what if there were new names thrown into the mix? What if teams could queue up the best…

Mike Ashley insists that Sports Direct is on track to become the “Selfridges of sport” despite reporting a near 60% dive in annual profits. Underlying profits before tax at the sportswear chain slumped by 58.7% from £275.2m to £113.7m in the year to the end of April. Ashley, the company’s billionaire founder, chief executive and majority shareholder, blamed the fall in profits on the decline in the value of the…

HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel sent correspondent David Scott to Grozny, Chechnya to tell the story of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen warlord running his private fiefdom with an iron fist thanks in part to the strategic use of MMA and soccer. Kadyrov is the most powerful man in his small corner of Russia and has the support of Vladimir Putin as well as a small private army of battle-hardened…

Adam Silver, NBA commissioner Credit: The Paley Center for Media via YouTube In an unprecedented public gathering of the heads of the nation’s top sports leagues, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday made a bold prediction about a topic his colleagues would just as soon sweep under the nearest rug: He believes sports gambling will be legalized in the United States. Speaking at the Paley Center for Media’s “GameChangers” panel,…

The ReebokCrossFit Games is the highest level of workout competition, featuring some of the fittest athletes on the planet. CBS Sports and CrossFit Inc. just announced a multi-year television and digital partnership that will bring the competition to CBS, CBS Sports Network and CBS Digital. CrossFit training has caught the attention of many fitness enthusiasts over the past several years. The fitness regimen combines a unique exercise philosophy with the…

Plus a bookish pub quiz and Papa’s birthday. Here are a few cherry-picks from the literary web. Women in sports With a follow-up to the illustrated “Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World,” Rachel Ignotofsky is back with “Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win.” This graphic book covers more than 40 years of female athletes as well as historical and biographical information, pay…

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Image copyright PA Image caption Mike Ashley said Sports Direct was on course to become the “Selfridges of sport” Profits at Sports Direct have plummeted nearly 60%, which the retailer said was largely due to the weaker pound. The slide in sterling means the firm has had to pay more for its imported goods, and its underlying pre-tax profit fell to £113.7m from £275.2m. However, chief executive Mike Ashley said…

Sports Direct has reported a near-60% drop in annual profits but insisted it is still on track to become the “Selfridges of sport”. Underlying profits before tax at the sportswear chain slumped by 58.7% from £275.2m to £113.7m in the year to the end of April. The retailer also announced it has appointed a finance director for the first time since 2013. The company’s billionaire founder and chief executive, Mike…

AS Roma’s Lorenzo Pellegrini and Paris St. Germain’s Dani Alves (32) battle for a loose ball during the first half. The teams played in the International Champions Cup at Comerica Park.(Photo: Daniel Mears / Detroit News) Detroit — On a hot, sultry afternoon, a boy wore a Barcelona Neymar jersey accompanied by his parents riding the People Mover to Comerica Park ahead of the International Champions Cup match between soccer…

Omar Gonzalez celebrates his 41st-minute goal against El Salvador at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images) PHILADELPHIA — Several familiar faces rejoined the U.S. men’s national team lineup Wednesday, a fresh injection of experience and resolve for the final, week-long sprint toward the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer title. With a mix of newcomers and holdovers, the Americans needed almost one half to find their bearings before striking twice…

When Kyle Busch rolls into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, he will surely think back fondly on his visits to Victory Lane at the Brickyard. And he might start to wonder when he’ll be back in the winner’s circle, not just there but anywhere. Since the Chase era began in 2004, nobody has led as many laps as Kyle Busch has this year (953) in one…

Photo credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images NASCAR usually runs on relatively tidy paved ovals, but not tonight. It’s time for the Race I Will Always Call The Mudsummer Classic To Annoy Baseball Hosers where the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series runs on Eldora Speedway’s dirt oval. It’s a whole race of NAS-trucks sideways on dirt, and it is wonderful. There’s a certain spectacle when it comes to loud V8 trucks throwing…

When Kyle Busch rolls into Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, he will surely think back fondly on his visits to Victory Lane at the Brickyard. And he might start to wonder when he’ll be back in the winner’s circle, not just there but anywhere. Since the Chase era began in 2004, nobody has led as many laps as Kyle Busch has this year (953) in one…

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped the news that souvenir trailers would be back at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, it was just the first look at how the at-track merchandise landscape was changing. Earnhardt sells more hats and T-shirts than any other driver in the garage. So it was only appropriate for him to herald the return of the haulers. To his credit, Earnhardt clearly understands the pulse…

Fans cheer as the teams make their way onto the field at Comerica.(Photo: Daniel Mears / Detroit News) Detroit — This was good, two popular European soccer teams, a festive atmosphere at Comerica Park and around downtown Detroit. But it only wet the appetite for fans like Mike Bishop. As far as Bishop is concerned — as well as many other fans Wednesday around Comerica Park — it’s time to…

Photo credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images NASCAR usually runs on relatively tidy paved ovals, but not tonight. It’s time for the Race I Will Always Call The Mudsummer Classic To Annoy Baseball Hosers where the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series runs on Eldora Speedway’s dirt oval. It’s a whole race of NAS-trucks sideways on dirt, and it is wonderful. There’s a certain spectacle when it comes to loud V8 trucks throwing…

SERRE-CHEVALIER, France (Reuters) – The Col de l’Izoard, where the decisive battle in this year’s Tour de France will be waged on Thursday could, in the words of race founder Henri Desgrange, “make a mule whimper”. The devilishly steep 16km ribbon of tarmac snaking up to 2,360 meters in the French Alps awaits the peloton on stage 18 and represents the last major obstacle for leader Chris Froome. If the…

O.J. Simpson once thrilled crowds as he ran for touchdowns and hurdled airport seats in car rental ads to achieve Hollywood celebrity before he was acquitted of murder in the 1995 “trial of the century” in Los Angeles. Now, an aging Simpson will appear as inmate No. 1027820 in a starkly plain hearing room in a remote Nevada prison Thursday to plead for his freedom. He’s spent more than eight…

Photo credit: Musa Sadulayev/AP When Ramzan Kadyrov stepped into the Akhmat-Arena in Grozny on a brisk December morning in 2014, a sinister smile crept across his bearded face. Dressed in black, the longtime head of the Chechen Republic surveyed the scene within the country’s primary soccer stadium, where 20,000 soldiers dressed in fatigues stood in place of the sports fans who usually occupied the bleachers. Instead of the cheers and…