Sport

New asphalt and a new configuration will greet NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams Monday and Tuesday, June 13-14 when they arrive at Kentucky Speedway for the season’s first organizational test. The Speedway Motorsports, Inc.-owned facility will host all three NASCAR national series, Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck, the weekend of July 7-9. The track recently completed a comprehensive renovation that included repaving the entire 1.5-mile layout and increasing the banking in Turns 1…

PORTLAND, Ore. –  Thirteen-year-old Mohamed Abdullahi already has big plans for the summer. The gregarious youngster is going to be meeting up twice a week with a group that helps welcome and acclimate refugee and immigrant children to Portland through soccer. The organization, 4 Worlds United Soccer Alliance, is getting support from the local pro teams, the Timbers and the Thorns. Two of the kids have even gone…

In NASCAR as in life, be careful what you ask for. You just might get it. If you don’t believe it, just look at NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series penalty reports for the last two weekends. Following the Coca-Cola 600, Randall Burnett, the crew chief for AJ Allmendinger, and Kurt Busch’s crew chief, Tony Gibson, were each suspended for one race because of lug nut violations. This week, Kyle Larson will…

One month ago, Shoykrylah Kasimi played soccer for the first time in his life. Kasimi, who is from Afghanistan but lives at an asylum center in Denmark, now plays four times a week. “It’s very exciting,” he told ABC News. “Everything is new for me. Everyone who comes here at the asylum center goes to school and sleeps. It’s nice to go outside and play soccer.” Kasimi fled Afghanistan about…

VIRGINIA BEACH Dena Soter-Reardon always loved field hockey. But as a former player and coach who now manages Virginia Beach Field Hockey, she was looking for a way to explore the fun of the sport for the legion of players who have experienced the highly-competitive nature of field hockey. Her solution: take it to the beach. Soter-Reardon discovered sand hockey, a transformation of the sport similar to…

Photo via AP We’re all familiar with the heat-check guy in basketball. That is a guy, usually a yappy wing player tasked with the sole responsibility of getting buckets from off the bench, who exhibits such outsized confidence in his jumper that, when he gets it going with a few consecutive Js, he’s prone to throw up all manner of nonsense at the hoop from any spot on the floor,…

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RIO DE JANEIRO—Most hockey fans are fixated on the ongoing Stanley Cup finals between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins. But at another competition a bit farther south, the members of Team Brazil—a group of misfits and weekend warriors mostly plucked from the country’s in-line roller-skating leagues—are focused on some of the simpler aspects of ice hockey. Like, for instance, skating. “They all really struggle,” said Jens Hinderlie, Brazil’s…

RIO DE JANEIRO—Most hockey fans are fixated on the ongoing Stanley Cup finals between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins. But at another competition a bit farther south, the members of Team Brazil—a group of misfits and weekend warriors mostly plucked from the country’s in-line roller-skating leagues—are focused on some of the simpler aspects of ice hockey. Like, for instance, skating. “They all really struggle,” said Jens Hinderlie, Brazil’s…

Only 5-feet-7-inches tall, Lionel Andrés “Leo” Messi towers above all rivals on the world’s soccer fields. Just as Michael Jordan soared higher and farther than anybody on a basketball court in his Chicago Bulls career, Messi draws comparison to the greatest competitors in team sports history. “I think he’s the best player that’s ever played,” says retired U.S. World Cup star and northwest suburban native Brian McBride. “He’s changed the…

Another week brings another crew chief being suspended by NASCAR after violating the revised policy stating all lug nuts must be securely fastened to a car. The latest penalty issued by NASCAR came Wednesday, when Kyle Larson’s crew chief Chad Johnston was suspended one race and fined $20,000 after Larson’s No. 42 car was found to have missing lug nuts following Monday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Chip Ganassi…

RIO DE JANEIRO—Most hockey fans are fixated on the ongoing Stanley Cup finals between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins. But at another competition a bit farther south, the members of Team Brazil—a group of misfits and weekend warriors mostly plucked from the country’s in-line roller-skating leagues—are focused on some of the simpler aspects of ice hockey. Like, for instance, skating. “They all really struggle,” said Jens Hinderlie, Brazil’s…

Another week brings another crew chief being suspended by NASCAR after violating the revised policy stating all lug nuts must be securely fastened to a car. The latest penalty issued by NASCAR came Wednesday, when Kyle Larson’s crew chief Chad Johnston was suspended one race and fined $20,000 after Larson’s No. 42 car was found to have missing lug nuts following Monday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Chip Ganassi…

The crowd was tiny at first, just a handful of soccer fans and a TV cameraman perched outside a Magnificent Mile hotel, waiting for the arrival of the Argentina national soccer team. But again and again, passers-by asked who the people had gathered to see, only to stop abruptly. “Argentina’s coming? Messi’s going to be here?” Lionel Messi is a household name across most of the globe, a diminutive forward…

RIO DE JANEIRO—Most hockey fans are fixated on the ongoing Stanley Cup finals between the San Jose Sharks and Pittsburgh Penguins. But at another competition a bit farther south, the members of Team Brazil—a group of misfits and weekend warriors mostly plucked from the country’s in-line roller-skating leagues—are focused on some of the simpler aspects of ice hockey. Like, for instance, skating. “They all really struggle.” said Jens Hinderlie, Brazil’s…

What if you had the perfect excuse to watch the UEFA Champions League Final at an epic Heineken party … without your girlfriend? That’s the setup in Heineken’s latest stunt for soccer fans. One week before the UEFA Champions League Final in Milan, Heineken targeted a handful of guys out at dinner in São Paulo with their girlfriends. When the guys opened the menus, they were met with…

NASCAR has dropped the hammer once again when it comes to lug nuts. Kyle Larson’s crew chief Chad Johnston has been suspended by NASCAR through June 15 after lug nuts were not properly installed after Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. According to the NASCAR rule book, Johnston and the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing team violated sections 12-1; 10.11.3.4 a; 12.5.3.4.1 p for lug nuts not…

A Red Wings fan cheers on his team against Tampa Bay during the third period of Game 3 of the NHL playoffs between the Detroit Red Wings and the Tampa Bay Lightning at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday, April 17, 2016.(Photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell DFP) Pittsburgh may be one win away from winning the Stanley Cup this season, but it’s not the best hockey city in America. That’s…

I love the Olympics. I live for the Olympics. I’ve been excited about Rio since an hour before the London Closing Ceremony began. I love the big events (swimming, track, gymnastics) as much as the minor-leaguers (shooting, archery, racewalking). Shoot, I’ll even willingly watch diving – only in bits and pieces and, to be honest, on the few nights when NBC leads off primetime coverage with the sport, I might…