Sport

Team GB officials say they are “bullish” that next year’s Winter Olympics will be the most successful in their history – and have identified 10 to 12 realistic medal prospects. With only 101 days to go before the Games get under way, the British Olympic Association has confirmed it expects to name a 60-strong squad for Pyeongchang and believes it will surpass the four medals the team won in Sochi…

Almost every team, though, saw the value of a player like that, a squad member capable of adapting to any and every position. They had their own place in soccer’s lexicon: the prosaic “utility player” in English, and the more poetic tuttofare (“does everything”) in Italian, or todoterreno (“all terrain”) in Spanish. Photo On a 1990s Barcelona team filled with stars, Manager Bobby Robson reserved special praise for Luis Enrique,…

Before multiple cameras filmed skiers flying through the sky at enormous heights and snowboarders flipping in the air, Nordic skier Thorleif Haugh sped down the slopes and earned three gold medals. That was in 1924, at the first official Winter Olympic games in Chamonix, France, where 16 countries gathered to compete in sports like figure skating, speed skating, hockey, curling and more. While that was nearly a century ago, the…

Before multiple cameras filmed skiers flying through the sky at enormous heights and snowboarders flipping in the air, Nordic skier Thorleif Haugh sped down the slopes and earned three gold medals. That was in 1924, at the first official Winter Olympic games in Chamonix, France, where 16 countries gathered to compete in sports like figure skating, speed skating, hockey, curling and more. While that was nearly a century ago, the…

Before multiple cameras filmed skiers flying through the sky at enormous heights and snowboarders flipping in the air, Nordic skier Thorleif Haugh sped down the slopes and earned three gold medals. That was in 1924, at the first official Winter Olympic games in Chamonix, France, where 16 countries gathered to compete in sports like figure skating, speed skating, hockey, curling and more. While that was nearly a century ago, the…

Allie Brodie died from a soccer injury that left her in a coma for three weeks.  (GoFundMe) A University of Alabama freshman will be remembered during a prayer vigil on Wednesday, days after she died from complications stemming from a soccer injury that left her in a coma for three weeks. Allie Brodie, a freshman member of Christian sorority Alpha Delta Chi, was hit in the head by a…

Things got a little heated during the NASCAR Cup Series race this weekend. It was the first of three races in the playoffs Round of 8, with the winning driver – Kyle Busch in this case – automatically advancing to the final four. With three laps left in the First Data 500, Denny Hamlin wrecked then-race leader Chase Elliott – both drivers are in the playoffs – and the two heatedly argued…

NEW YORK –  A former aide to the president of the North American professional soccer federation was sentenced on Tuesday to 15 months in prison in the bribery scandal engulfing FIFA, the sport’s governing body. Costas Takkas will serve five months behind bars after being given credit for 10 months already served in Switzerland. The British citizen also faces deportation. “I should have known better than to…

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — South Korea’s sleepy skiing destination of Pyeongchang is finally looking like a Winter Olympics host city after more than a decade of work, two failed bids, and chapters of controversy over venue locations, construction delays and costs. With a little more than three months until the opening ceremony, workers are putting finishing touches on scenic skiing and sliding venues and high-rise athletes’ villages. Restaurants have popped…

Before multiple cameras filmed skiers flying through the sky at enormous heights and snowboarders flipping in the air, Nordic skier Thorleif Haugh sped down the slopes and earned three gold medals. That was in 1924, at the first official Winter Olympic games in Chamonix, France, where 16 countries gathered to compete in sports like figure skating, speed skating, hockey, curling and more. While that was nearly a century ago, the…

NBC Universal is going small for what might be the broadest and most universally appealing TV event. The peacock is targeting its marketing approach to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea to different pscyhographics. The peacock is putting Olympic viewers into six such segments—including those drawn to the games for the athletes’ heartfelt stories and those who only watch the highlights—and is creating content specifically geared toward each type…

On Sunday night at Martinsville Speedway, the NASCAR community collectively learned something it always knew: We need more short tracks. And honestly, to hell with the excuses, NASCAR. We’re all sick of hearing about the five-year sanctioning agreements, the lack of hospitality space, nearby casinos or whatever reason big league stock-car racing has evolved into weekly cookie-cutter slot-car events. The people have spoken. It’s been awhile since a…

NBC expects ad revenue in its upcoming coverage of the 2018 Winter Olympics to surpass the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi by a low double-digit percentage, and says commercial time in the Super Bowl is “extraordinarily well sold.” “Our marketplace is healthy and sales for both Super Bowl and Winter Olympics games is brisk,” Dan Lovinger, executive VP of advertising sales at NBC Universal Sports Group, said during a press…

Chase Elliott wrecked late in a NASCAR Monster Energy Cup playoff race in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images) NASCAR now has a template for regenerating some of the interest in stock-car racing that had faded away: Put on more shows like the First Data 500, Sunday’s race at Martinsville, Va., which ended with a frenzied finish, a pile of crumpled cars and four seething drivers hollering in one…

Discovery and Eurosport will shun traditional TV ratings and use a broader metric to gauge the success of its coverage of next year’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics and possibly of programming beyond that, the company said as it unveiled plans for coverage of the event. Discovery, which owns Eurosport, scooped up European rights to the Summer and Winter Olympics in a $1.4 billion deal inked in 2015. The PyeongChang Games will be…

Kyle Busch advanced to the championship race for the third consecutive year with his win on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, but there are other implications from the race as well. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s First Data 500 race: 1. One golden ticket down has been punched For all the drama that went down on Sunday, the easiest takeaway is that Kyle Busch won and in doing…

Kyle Busch advanced to the championship race for the third consecutive year with his win on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, but there are other implications from the race as well. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Sunday’s First Data 500 race: 1. One golden ticket down has been punched For all the drama that went down on Sunday, the easiest takeaway is that Kyle Busch won and in doing…

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — South Korea is preparing to welcome the world, with Wednesday marking 100 days until the start of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. Here are 18 things to know about the Games: 1. The Olympic flame will begin making its way around South Korea this week. The relay’s theme is “Let Everyone Shine,” and about 7,500 torchbearers will participate. Along its path to PyeongChang, the torch will…

INDIANAPOLIS — As the 2017 college soccer regular season winds down and with conference tournaments approaching, the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Committee announced its top 10 ranking during the ESPNU telecast of Indiana vs. Michigan State on Sunday, Oct. 29. Using the selection criteria and results through games played on Oct. 22, Wake Forest is the top-ranked team in the nation with a record of 15-1-0. The…

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the first race in the playoffs Round of 8. Point values have been reset as Martin Truex Jr. leads the way. Not far behind Truex is Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick above the cutline for the Championship 4. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott round out the remaining playoff contenders. On Sunday, Keselowski will…