World Sports

x Embed x Share CLOSE Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze found himself in hot water after it was revealed he made a one-minute call to an escort service. Freeze has since resigned. USA TODAY Sports Ole Miss Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze.(Photo: Adam Hagy, USA TODAY Sports) A one-minute call made from the University-issued phone of Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze to a number associated with a female…

When the idea of the NHL coming was still a punchline to jokes about ice existing here only in drinks, an exploratory ticket drive for a possible team rang up 9,000 season-ticket deposits in a month. Last September, three months after the NHL granted its 31st franchise to a group led by businessman Bill Foley, the new Las Vegas team decided to cap season tickets at 16,000 to leave some…

What is great and, at times, grating about golf is Spieth had no one to blame but himself for the miss at 18 – or, for that matter, the five missed fairways on the first seven holes. Since Spieth turned professional at the end of 2012, he has largely controlled his fate. Much is made of how cruel golf can be on days when one’s biorhythms, swing or both are…

Mike Ashley insists that Sports Direct is on track to become the “Selfridges of sport” despite reporting a near 60% dive in annual profits. Underlying profits before tax at the sportswear chain slumped by 58.7% from £275.2m to £113.7m in the year to the end of April. Ashley, the company’s billionaire founder, chief executive and majority shareholder, blamed the fall in profits on the decline in the value of the…

HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel sent correspondent David Scott to Grozny, Chechnya to tell the story of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen warlord running his private fiefdom with an iron fist thanks in part to the strategic use of MMA and soccer. Kadyrov is the most powerful man in his small corner of Russia and has the support of Vladimir Putin as well as a small private army of battle-hardened…

Adam Silver, NBA commissioner Credit: The Paley Center for Media via YouTube In an unprecedented public gathering of the heads of the nation’s top sports leagues, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday made a bold prediction about a topic his colleagues would just as soon sweep under the nearest rug: He believes sports gambling will be legalized in the United States. Speaking at the Paley Center for Media’s “GameChangers” panel,…

The ReebokCrossFit Games is the highest level of workout competition, featuring some of the fittest athletes on the planet. CBS Sports and CrossFit Inc. just announced a multi-year television and digital partnership that will bring the competition to CBS, CBS Sports Network and CBS Digital. CrossFit training has caught the attention of many fitness enthusiasts over the past several years. The fitness regimen combines a unique exercise philosophy with the…

Plus a bookish pub quiz and Papa’s birthday. Here are a few cherry-picks from the literary web. Women in sports With a follow-up to the illustrated “Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World,” Rachel Ignotofsky is back with “Women in Sports: 50 Fearless Athletes Who Played to Win.” This graphic book covers more than 40 years of female athletes as well as historical and biographical information, pay…

Image copyright PA Image caption Mike Ashley said Sports Direct was on course to become the “Selfridges of sport” Profits at Sports Direct have plummeted nearly 60%, which the retailer said was largely due to the weaker pound. The slide in sterling means the firm has had to pay more for its imported goods, and its underlying pre-tax profit fell to £113.7m from £275.2m. However, chief executive Mike Ashley said…

Sports Direct has reported a near-60% drop in annual profits but insisted it is still on track to become the “Selfridges of sport”. Underlying profits before tax at the sportswear chain slumped by 58.7% from £275.2m to £113.7m in the year to the end of April. The retailer also announced it has appointed a finance director for the first time since 2013. The company’s billionaire founder and chief executive, Mike…

O.J. Simpson once thrilled crowds as he ran for touchdowns and hurdled airport seats in car rental ads to achieve Hollywood celebrity before he was acquitted of murder in the 1995 “trial of the century” in Los Angeles. Now, an aging Simpson will appear as inmate No. 1027820 in a starkly plain hearing room in a remote Nevada prison Thursday to plead for his freedom. He’s spent more than eight…

Photo credit: Musa Sadulayev/AP When Ramzan Kadyrov stepped into the Akhmat-Arena in Grozny on a brisk December morning in 2014, a sinister smile crept across his bearded face. Dressed in black, the longtime head of the Chechen Republic surveyed the scene within the country’s primary soccer stadium, where 20,000 soldiers dressed in fatigues stood in place of the sports fans who usually occupied the bleachers. Instead of the cheers and…

The No. 1 rule of CrossFit is the opposite of Fight Club: Tell everyone about CrossFit. The workout sensation founded by Greg Glassman in 2000 has, over the past several years, become well-known for the feats of strength that it requires. Now, CBS Sports is proud to announce that the CrossFit Games will be broadcast through 2017 and 2018 on CBS, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Digital. The CrossFit…

Sport accounted for 12 of the 96 best paid BBC stars, with viewers reacting with particular shock at how several male presenters were so much better remunerated than their highest-paid female colleagues. Although Gary Lineker’s place near the top of the list on a salary of between £1.75 million and £1.8 million was expected, the huge gap to some of his most accomplished female colleagues was striking. Lineker is on…

“Golf looks like a generic game from the outside and, sure, you have to have the fundamentals but there are huge differences. I am five foot seven so, while I admired his mental game, I never looked at Nick Faldo. I looked at Ian Woosnam.” By getting in a variety of pros, amateurs players of all shapes and sizes (plus, of course, fatal flaws) will be able to learn, as…

Sport accounted for 12 of the 96 best paid BBC stars, with viewers reacting with particular shock at how several male presenters were so much better remunerated than their highest-paid female colleagues. Although Gary Lineker’s place near the top of the list on a salary of between £1.75 million and £1.8 million was expected, the huge gap to some of his most accomplished female colleagues was striking. Lineker is on…

At the moment, only Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana allow sports betting. However, Adam Silver said that won’t be the case for much longer. The NBA commissioner said it won’t be too long before more and more states will allow sports betting, which gives good interaction for the fans. “My sense is the law will change in the next few years in the United States,” Silver said, via ESPN.com. “People want to bet…

Time Inc. is mulling a move to cut the frequency of Sports Illustrated again — from its current 38 issues a year. At the same time, the company is looking to diversify its base and recently announced plans to introduce a line of bathing suits — clearly trading on its most profitable franchise, the SI Swimsuit edition. It has teamed up with RAJ Swim in the premium apparel space….

The federal government has given Foxtel a $30m handout to boost its sports broadcasting but has declined to explain why the News Corp-owned pay TV company was singled out for largesse – or exactly how or where the money will be used. In the May budget, Foxtel was gifted $30m over four years to “support the broadcast of underrepresented sports on subscription television, including women’s sports, niche sports, and sports…

“Golf looks like a generic game from the outside and, sure, you have to have the fundamentals but there are huge differences. I am five foot seven so, while I admired his mental game, I never looked at Nick Faldo. I looked at Ian Woosnam.” By getting in a variety of pros, amateurs players of all shapes and sizes (plus, of course, fatal flaws) will be able to learn, as…