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No games were played in MLS or the NASL on Sunday. That’s too bad, because it would have been an appropriate day to commemorate a significant anniversary for North American soccer. Fifty years ago on Sunday, on 16 April 1967, professional soccer took its first bold steps on this continent as the National Professional Soccer League made its debut. Unlike today’s game, fans did not exactly swarm to the stadiums….

Americans are more willing than ever to try new sports, but less willing to fully commit to any one sport, especially with their wallet. That is, in part, the story told by the 2017 Sport and Fitness Industry Association Topline Participation Report which the group released Tuesday. The SFIA surveyed a representative sample of 24,134 Americans ages 6 and up to determine the activity levels and sports engagement of the…

A look at the top 25 high school baseball teams in the Southland: Rk. School (W-L) Next (last week’s ranking) 1. SOUTH HILLS (16-3) vs. Glendora, Wednesday (1) 2. ST. JOHN BOSCO (16-3) vs. Edison (DH), Friday (2) 3. CHATSWORTH (20-2) vs. Vista Murrieta at JSerra, Tuesday (3) 4. HUNTINGTON BEACH (15-3) vs. Damien at Mater Dei, Tuesday (4) 5. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (13-3) vs. Aliso Niguel at Mater…

While many NASCAR drivers are taking advantage of a rare off weekend by hitting the beach or relaxing at home, a select few chose a different route. While Kyle Larson picked up a victory at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, California, Kyle Busch competed in the Easter Bunny 150 — an annual super late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, North Carolina. Kasey Kahne was also busy…

Police in Panama say national team soccer player Amilcar Henriquez has been shot dead while leaving his home. The press chief for Panama’s National Police says the killing happened Saturday in the country’s Colon province. Authorities say a gunman shot the 33-year-old midfielder several times. Another two people were wounded. Henriquez died at a nearby hospital. President Juan Carlos Varela has condemned the killing on his Twitter account. He is…

Although it’s NASCAR’s first of just two weekends off this season, it’s also only April, so we’re nowhere near the end — or even the halfway point — of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule. But the first races of 2017 have not disappointed. Through seven races, there have been six winners, young standouts, surprising veteran victors, a new grandfather clock owner and a headline-grabbing fight. Within the extensive…

As NHL playoff hockey returns to Toronto for the first time since 2013, a local boy whose family couldn’t afford to attend many games when he was younger will be in the building. Ditching the Maple Leafs jerseys of his youth, Tom Wilson will try to beat his hometown team as his Washington Capitals attempt to rebound from a double-overtime loss that evened the first-round series at a game apiece….

What with inquiries, allegations, leaks, Jiffy bags and a sense of crisis after crisis, the months after Rio have not been a typical post‑Olympic period for British Cycling, and the world championships during the past week were not typical fare either, in spite of a haul of five medals. These included a gold for Elinor Barker on Sunday in the points race, the second after Katie Archibald’s triumph earlier in…

Everything is political to the overly sensitive mind of today’s leftist. When the Atlanta Braves unfurled a gigantic flag for the playing of the national anthem, it prompted an ultra sensitive member of the partisan media and his Twitter followers to express a whole host of ridiculous claims. In a Twitter post this weekend, NBC baseball writer Craig Calcaterra complained that the presentation of Old Glory evoked overly political tones….

Craig Calcaterra, lead baseball writer for NBC Sports, claimed that the image of the American flag is political — and was promptly ridiculed for the ridiculous assertion. Calcaterra tweeted out a picture Sunday morning of Suntrust Park in Atlanta with Old Glory covering the outfield grass and the Jumbotrons up above. “Will you keep politics out of sports, please. We like sports to be politics-free,” the tweet read. “Will you…

While many NASCAR drivers are taking advantage of a rare off weekend by hitting the beach or relaxing at home, a select few chose a different route. While Kyle Larson picked up a victory at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, California, Kyle Busch competed in the Easter Bunny 150 — an annual super late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, North Carolina. Kasey Kahne was also busy…

Ander Herrera becomes the latest name to be scrawled into Bobby Madley’s notepad. Any guesses who the United midfielder fouled? Yep, Eden Hazard. To be fair, there was little in it, just a clip of the heels near the halfway line. But he sees yellow, probably because that is one too many misdemeanours in the eyes of Senor Madley.

Breaking news: The Bulls won’t win the NBA championship. If they do, they will break the history book. No eighth seed ever has captured the Lawrence O’Brien trophy. In fact, since the NBA expanded the playoffs to 16 teams in 1984, No. 1 seeds are 61-5 against No. 8 seeds in the first-round series. Since 2003, when the NBA expanded the first round from best-of-five to best-of-seven, only three No….

Breaking news: The Bulls won’t win the NBA championship. If they do, they will break the history book. No eighth seed ever has captured the Lawrence O’Brien trophy. In fact, since the NBA expanded the playoffs to 16 teams in 1984, No. 1 seeds are 61-5 against No. 8 seeds in the first-round series. Since 2003, when the NBA expanded the first round from best-of-five to best-of-seven, only three No….

The Boston Globe As a writer, Mr. Madden didn’t flinch at taking on tough subjects. Any reader who thinks being a well-known sports columnist is all fun and games at the ballpark should consider what greeted Michael Madden in March 1985 when he raised the issue of race relations inside a Florida Elks Club that refused to admit blacks. An award-winning writer who didn’t flinch at taking on tough subjects,…

The show ended at 6:30 p.m. Friday. “Red Sox baseball is next,” Joe D’Ambrosio said. “Thanks for listening to Joe D and Gresh for the final time on WTIC NewsTalk 1080.” And with that, after two years, the show was gone. On a week when we marked the rebirth of minor-league baseball and the 20th anniversary of the death of major league sports in Hartford, the end of the afternoon…

Seven races into this Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, one thing is certain. Stage points and stage wins are so meaningful under NASCAR’s new race format that drivers are starting to ramp up the intensity when it comes time to put the pedal to the metal and go for them. You saw it on the short track at Martinsville, when Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. tangled at the…

For the first time in decades, the powerhouse that is women’s soccer in the United States finds itself at a crossroads. On the one hand: three World Cup trophies and four Olympic gold medals, the most hardware for any women’s national team. On the other: a jarring trend of America’s most accomplished and marketable star players being lured away to play professionally in the relative luxury of Europe. This year,…

The first modern Olympic Games started in Athens on May 25, 1896 under the old calendar, which is April 6 of today, thus marking the 121st Anniversary of the modern Olympics. The last successful tournament was in London in 2012. Today, the Olympics is in crisis and requires a major rethink to ensure a stellar future. Unlike the Football World Cups or Euro championships, which are multi-billion businesses sustained by…

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