World Sports

Even through the years of NCAA sanctions, Southern California Trojans had a talented roster with future pros. And throughout the last decade, it has usually finished the year in the neighborhood of 10 wins. It’s been the unfulfilled expectations (2012) and falling short in big-time conference contests that frustrates fans and has left college football pundits wary of declaring that USC is “back.”  So when the Trojans started the year…

The Crossover is proud to offer our list of the Top 100 NBA players of 2018, an exhaustive exercise that seeks to define who will be the league’s best players in the 2017-18 season. Given the wide variety of candidates involved and the deep analytical resources available, no single, definitive criterion was used to form this list. Instead, rankings were assigned based on a fluid combination of subjective assessment and…

News & Observer ACC sports writers Andrew Carter and Joe Giglio will talk about UNC and N.C. State when the Raleigh Sports Club meets from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday in Bradley Hall at Highland United Methodist Church, 1901 Ridge Road, Raleigh. During the weekly meeting, Carter, who covers the Tar Heels, and Giglio, who covers the Wolfpack, will offer an inside look at the football teams and their mixed…

Don Ohlmeyer, one of television’s most successful and honored innovators as a producer and programmer in both sports and entertainment and one of the original producers of Monday Night Football, has died at the age of 72. “It is with heavy hearts we share that Don Ohlmeyer, our beloved husband, father and grandfather, has passed away at age of 72 due to cancer,” Ohlmeyer’s family said in a statement. “Surrounded…

Statues, mute but eloquent, have been upsetting people lately. In some respects it’s surprising many of these grand historical markers have escaped widespread challenge for so long. But while debate rages over the appropriateness of honoring military and political figures associated with divisiveness and racial discrimination, relatively little is offered as a positive alternative for our public spaces beyond a series of empty pedestals and enhanced museum displays. That’s where…

While much of the attention Sunday was on the season-opening debut of former Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo as analyst on the top NFL broadcast team at CBS, a smaller story about the network’s football coverage has gone less noticed. CBS Sports has done a good job of deepening its bench and bringing younger and more enthusiastic play-by-play announcers and analysts to weekly lineups of five and six games — especially…

Melissa Cook and Zach Leonsis. (Aaron Delesie) Knot, tied in style: Zach Leonsis, the son of sports-team owner Ted Leonsis and wife Lynn, married Melissa Cook on Saturday in a ceremony in his parents’ Potomac, Md., back yard. Though obviously, since we’re talking about Washington sports royalty, this was no burgers-and-dogs affair. There were VIP guests aplenty, including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, celebrity chef José Andrés, BET co-founder and Washington Mystics…

Hurricane Irma is west of Miami and now projected to rake the Gulf Coast of Florida, but Electronic Arts, whose EA Tiburon studio outside of Orlando makes Madden NFL and NBA Live, is taking no chances. The studio is “taking cover,” Karen Stevens of Electronic Arts’ EA Accessible Twitter feed, said earlier this week, and hopes to be back to normal on Tuesday. Madden Ultimate Team’s twitter feed said yesterday…

Speaking of sports, maybe pro sports teams do not need to hire investment banks to get record sale prices for their clubs. In recent weeks, Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter agreed to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team for $1.2 billion, a price better than many expected, and Tilman Fertitta agreed to buy the Houston Rockets basketball team for $2.2 billion, a record sale price for…

Melissa Cook and Zach Leonsis. (Aaron Delesie) Knot, tied in style: Zach Leonsis, the son of sports-team owner Ted Leonsis and wife Lynn, married Melissa Cook on Saturday in a ceremony in his parents’ Potomac, Md., back yard. Though obviously, since we’re talking about Washington sports royalty, this was no burgers-and-dogs affair. There were VIP guests aplenty, including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, celebrity chef José Andrés, BET co-founder and Washington Mystics…

Speaking of sports, maybe pro sports teams do not need to hire investment banks to get record sale prices for their clubs. In recent weeks, Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter agreed to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team for $1.2 billion, a price better than many expected, and Tilman Fertitta agreed to buy the Houston Rockets basketball team for $2.2 billion, a record sale price for…

Speaking of sports, maybe pro sports teams do not need to hire investment banks to get record sale prices for their clubs. In recent weeks, Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter agreed to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team for $1.2 billion, a price better than many expected, and Tilman Fertitta agreed to buy the Houston Rockets basketball team for $2.2 billion, a record sale price for…

Pope Francis lost his balance while riding in the popemobile through a crowd in Cartagena, Colombia, on Sunday, bruising his left cheekbone and eyelid, but he was not seriously hurt. The Vatican said he received ice treatment and was fine to continue on his trip. Video images showed the pope hitting the left side of his face against a vertical bar of the popemobile, a specially designed open-top vehicle that allows the pontiff to stand…

Colts star quarterback Andrew Luck has not yet entered the intensive throwing portion of his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, but is nearing completion of a program to rebuild strength in his throwing shoulder, according to sources with knowledge of the situation. The Colts are avoiding putting any pressure on the franchise player, and do not even have a timetable for a full return even to the practice field, though…

Media playback is not supported on this device Pint-sized TMS: England win series as Blofeld says goodbye After England hammered West Indies by an innings in the first Test at Edgbaston, I wrote that the series would not be any sort of Ashes preparation for Joe Root’s men. That did not turn out to be the case, mainly because of what we saw in the remarkable second Test at Headingley….

CYCLING Froome on verge of winning Spanish Vuelta Chris Froome is poised to break his streak of runner-up finishes at the Spanish Vuelta after the Tour de France champion maintained his overall lead on the final competitive stage of the grand tour on Saturday. Froome increased his advantage over Vincenzo Nibali through the rainy 73-mile mountainous ride in Stage 20 from Corvera de Asturias to a grueling summit finish at…

Speaking of sports, maybe pro sports teams do not need to hire investment banks to get record sale prices for their clubs. In recent weeks, Bruce Sherman and New York Yankees legend Derek Jeter agreed to buy the Miami Marlins baseball team for $1.2 billion, a price better than many expected, and Tilman Fertitta agreed to buy the Houston Rockets basketball team for $2.2 billion, a record sale price for…

COLUMBUS, Ohio – With his trademark headband soaked in sweat, eye-black melting into his beard and a halogen smile visible from Enid, Baker Mayfield sprinted to Ohio Stadium’s north end zone. Mayfield saluted the rowdy throng of Oklahoma fans and executed his most memorable play on a night filled with them. He snagged an oversized crimson-and-cream flag, paraded it down the Ohio State sideline and delivered the final salvo to No….

There has been heavy rain in Rome and Genoa Lazio’s Serie A game against AC Milan has been delayed by an hour and will kick off at 15:00 BST after flash floods in Rome. Roads were inundated following heavy rainfall, while Metro lines in the Italian capital were closed down. The Stadio Olimpico pitch itself is not an issue as the surface was covered by sheets on Saturday. Sampdoria’s league…

Known for oversized TV’s and decor decked out to represent the favorite team or players, the Man Cave has grown in lore over the years. They have been equipped with poker tables, golf putting greens, seats salvaged from sports stadiums and, of course, stocked bars.