World Sports

Youth sports travel is scoring big as communities across the United States build multisport complexes crammed with state-of-the-art fields, rinks and courts in hopes of drawing not only tournaments for kids crazy about sports – but also parents who spend big on transportation, hotels, food and family entertainment. All across the country, communities are reinventing themselves as youth sports travel destinations, following a model that Disney helped launch 20 years…

The Vans U.S. Open of Surfing arrived on Huntington Beach this weekend, turning the seaside city into an extreme-sports fan paradise featuring some of the best surfers, skateboarders and BMX riders from across the globe. The festival, which runs through Aug. 6, kicked off early Saturday morning with the first round of heats in the junior men’s division. Though the summer months typically produce sporadic wave forecasts, many are excited…

It was before that, during her years with The Hartford Courant as a pioneering, full-time female baseball beat writer covering the Yankees, that Smith met the most resistance from players and officials. But not from that era’s tumultuous Yanks, she said with a laugh. “They hardly noticed me,” she said, “because they were holding on for dear life.” Instead, her greatest challenge came from the San Diego Padres during their…

Hard Rock Stadium was definitely the place to be in Miami on Saturday night. Among the 67,000 fans in the building were many familiar faces, including pregnant tennis star Serena Williams; NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Draymond Green and DaMarcus Cousins; rapper Drake; hip-hop artist French Montana; Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima; Brazilian pro skateboarder Leticia Bufoni; former NFL star Terrell Owens; and more than 40 Dolphins players. The Dolphins contingent included…

At 3pm next Saturday the world’s first and only vegan football club will make sporting history when they play in the Football League for the first time. Forest Green Rovers, who were founded in the 19th century by a man named Peach, and play in green at the appropriately named New Lawn, take on Barnet – the Bees – in their first fixture in League Two. They will use their…

Hardly a month seems to go by without high-profile US athletes speaking out on non-sporting causes. Increasingly, the most passionate voices belong to women. Take the recent basketball game between Seattle Storm and Chicago Sky. The team’s owners organised a pre-game rally in support of Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit that provides reproductive healthcare and whose funding is under perpetual attack from the Republican party and the Trump administration. Several players,…

BASEBALL NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge is all done with the tooth scary — at least for now. The New York Yankees slugger was back in the starting lineup, a day after he accidentally lost half of his front left tooth during a home-plate celebration . “I’m all good,” he said. “Got it fixed.” The AL home run leader saw a dentist earlier in…

Hardly a month seems to go by without high-profile US athletes speaking out on non-sporting causes. Increasingly, the most passionate voices belong to women. Take the recent basketball game between Seattle Storm and Chicago Sky. The team’s owners organised a pre-game rally in support of Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit that provides reproductive healthcare and whose funding is under perpetual attack from the Republican party and the Trump administration. Several players,…

Liverpool have posted an update on Divock Origi’s late withdrawal in Berlin. The forward was down to start before Dominic Solanke was promoted from the bench. “Divock Origi did not start Liverpool’s pre-season friendly with Hertha Berlin on Saturday as planned after feeling tightness in his hamstring,” reads a Liverpool statement. “The striker was due to begin the contest, but was withdrawn from the line-up during the warm up as…

COLLEGES: Men’s basketball: In dire need of immediate size, William and Mary’s basketball program announced the addition of Cole Harrison, a 6-foot-11 graduate transfer from Dartmouth. Harrison played in 51 games with the Ivy League team but missed the past season with an injury. For his career, he averaged 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds a game. Harrison played his high school ball at Montrose Christian (Md.) for Coach Stu Vetter.  Harrison…

The San Diego State women’s soccer team is scheduled to play at Texas Tech on Sept. 15. A week later, the men’s soccer team plays a pair of games at Texas-Rio Grande Valley. It might the last time an Aztecs team or athletic department personnel visit the state of Texas for a while. A California law enacted Jan. 1 prohibits most forms of state-funded travel to places with legislation deemed…

BASEBALL NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge is all done with the tooth scary — at least for now. The New York Yankees slugger was back in the starting lineup, a day after he accidentally lost half of his front left tooth during a home-plate celebration . “I’m all good,” he said. “Got it fixed.” The AL home run leader saw a dentist earlier in…

Hardly a month seems to go by without high-profile US athletes speaking out on non-sporting causes. Increasingly, the most passionate voices belong to women. Take the recent basketball game between Seattle Storm and Chicago Sky. The team’s owners organised a pre-game rally in support of Planned Parenthood, the nonprofit that provides reproductive healthcare and whose funding is under perpetual attack from the Republican party and the Trump administration. Several players,…

COLLEGES: Men’s basketball: In dire need of immediate size, William and Mary’s basketball program announced the addition of Cole Harrison, a 6-foot-11 graduate transfer from Dartmouth. Harrison played in 51 games with the Ivy League team but missed the past season with an injury. For his career, he averaged 1.4 points and 1.4 rebounds a game. Harrison played his high school ball at Montrose Christian (Md.) for Coach Stu Vetter.  Harrison…

I dislike the sport of boxing. I don’t like to see people punching each other with the goal of knocking their opponents out or down to the floor. Boxing often results in injuries, and it sometimes has adverse long-term effects, such as brain damage from repeated concussions. What do you think of boxing? Why do some people find it entertaining? —Charita Poe in Burke, Virginia I don’t like boxing, either,…

A vibrant sports hub awaits the region’s best athletes when Malaysia hosts the 2017 Southeast Asian Games from Aug. 19 to 30. Showcasing world-class infrastructure, the Kuala Lumpur Sports City boasts of a massive National Stadium at its heart. The multi-million project spearheaded by Malaysian Resources Corp. Berhad (MRCB) and Populous also features the refurbished National Aquatic Centre, the Axiata Arena, the National Hockey Stadium and a sprawling plaza. Photos…

When Deshaun Watson threw a championship-winning touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with one second left to lift Clemson over Alabama in January, one big question was impossible to avoid: Did we just witness the best college football game ever? We’re not content with merely deciding who’s No. 1. After ranking the top 100 college football coaches ever last summer, it’s time to rank the best 100 games in the 148-year history…

When players get political, it turns out that fans can get political right back. After months of speculation and piles of anecdotal evidence, market-research company J. D. Power has weighed in with real data. After surveying 9,200 fans, researchers found that “national anthem protests were the top reason that NFL fans watched fewer games last season.” The protests were never popular. A September 2016 Reuters poll indicated that a…

The BCS was a constant source of college football angst for most of its 16-season existence. Its methodology frustrated many fans, for whom it seemed too vague, too subjective, too reliant on computers. The fact that it was something of a moneymaking scheme for its bowl directors certainly didn’t help, either. The BCS fueled conference realignment and relegated wealth to the power conferences. No matter your politics, it was hard…

(Reuters Health) – – Just two out of 28 international sports federations focus on promoting physical activity as a way to reduce disease, according to a new study that surveyed the international organizations represented at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Only FIFA and FINA, the international soccer and aquatics governing bodies, make universal exercise messages a priority, researchers found. “The global epidemic of non-communicable diseases is an important public health…