World Sports

(CNN)You can see why they would want to get past Borat. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s portrayal of the unapologetically bigoted character has dogged Kazakhstan for a decade. Why? There are two reasons: one, many people think Borat is funny. And two, most don’t know much else about Kazakhstan. Borat fills the void. Small wonder Kazakhstan, and other former Soviet republics, are desperate to redefine themselves with something big. What could…

Britain’s top sportswomen have the medals to show for their talent and dedication. But who were the inspirational people they looked up to in their fledgling careers? The inaugural Women’s Sport Week,  which runs from 1-7 June, aims to celebrate, raise awareness and increase the profile of women’s sport. BBC Sport kicks off the week by asking some of Britain’s highest-profile sports women…

“We don’t give a shit about times on a test track.” That’s what Mazda’s engineering guru Dave Coleman told me. And that’s not only what makes the 2016 Mazda Miata an amazing car, but also a great Miata. The definitive lightweight sports car is back and it’s bringing a renaissance along with it. (Full Disclosure: Mazda sent us a pre-production Miata Club for a few days which we took to…

FOX Sports is eliminating its roster of sports reporters whose work appears on regional web sites. At FSNorth, writers Tyler Mason and Brian Hall acknowledged via Twitter over the weekend that they are being let go, responding to fans who were wishing them well. The move does not have an impact on the FOX regional baseball telecasts, the network said in a statement. “We’re shifting our digital strategy away from…

Britain’s top sportswomen have the medals to show for their talent and dedication. But who were the inspirational people they looked up to in their fledgling careers? The inaugural Women’s Sport Week,  which runs from 1-7 June, aims to celebrate, raise awareness and increase the profile of women’s sport. BBC Sport kicks off the week by asking some of Britain’s highest-profile sports women…

Is Our Dusty Old Cowtown the worst major professional sports market in the country at this exact moment? A lot of candidates, a litany of criteria and a legion of critics make the Most Awful Major League Sports City debate tempting. What about Cleveland, which hasn’t won any championship in pro sports since 1964 (NFL, pre-Super Bowl)? Or Buffalo, which lost four consecutive Super Bowls, didn’t rattle its Sabres to…

The arrangement eloquently illustrated the state of women’s college athletics. When the University of North Carolina volleyball season ended in the fall, player uniforms were not placed in storage. Instead they were passed along with travel bags and warm-ups for immediate use by members of the Tar Heel women’s basketball squad. In today’s world of multimillion dollar contracts between apparel companies and major-college athletic departments, with uniforms carefully tailored to…

Sprint Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin is part of a newly-formed NASCAR drivers’ council.(Photo: Marvin Gentry, USA TODAY Sports) DOVER, Del. — NASCAR drivers have formed a small drivers’ council that will meet with NASCAR officials on a regular basis, drivers and NASCAR confirmed Sunday morning at Dover International Speedway. Approximately six to eight drivers met with NASCAR on Saturday night at the Dover Downs Casino adjacent to the racetrack, speaking…

Secretary of State John Kerry broke his femur on Sunday when the bicycle he was riding struck a curb near Scionzier, France. Kerry, a life-long pusher of physical boundaries who has partaken in everything from stunt-flying to windsurfing, is no stranger to sports injuries, as these brutal-looking shiners and broken nose from an ice hockey game in 2012 remind us. Kerry attributed his 2009 hip surgery and 2005 knee surgery to…

Many sports fans in Chicago were facing a dilemma on Saturday with the Chicago Cubs scheduled to face the Kansas City Royals about an hour before their Chicago Blackhawks take the ice against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. Mother Nature solved that, sending a mix of rain, wind, cold and all around miserable weather to Chicago, resulting in the Cubs game being postponed and…

As part of wide-reaching cutbacks on a national scale at Fox Sports, Fox Sports Detroit’s entire roster of sportswriters is being let go on June 30, two sources confirmed to The Detroit News on Saturday night. The list includes veteran baseball writer Tom Gage, who joined FSD’s website in March after more than three decades at The Detroit News. Gage is set to be inducted into the writers’ wing of…

Is Our Dusty Old Cowtown the worst major professional sports market in the country at this exact moment? A lot of candidates, a litany of criteria and a legion of critics make the Most Awful Major League Sports City debate tempting. What about Cleveland, which hasn’t won any championship in pro sports since 1964 (NFL, pre-Super Bowl)? Or Buffalo, which lost four consecutive Super Bowls, didn’t rattle its Sabres to…

ShareTweet On Friday news began leaking out on Twitter that Fox Sports was laying off its regional writers.  While Fox has launched two national networks recently in Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2, it still contains a robust network of 18 regional channels (plus YES) that span coast to coast.  The regional networks are a significant aspect of Fox’s sporting empire as they house local sports rights from the NBA,…

74:56 Alan Hutton (Aston Villa) wins a free kick on the left wing. 70:17 Substitution Substitution Substitution, Aston Villa. Carlos Sánchez replaces Ashley Westwood. 69:39 Offside, Arsenal. Mesut Özil tries a through ball, but Theo Walcott is caught offside. 67:35 Substitution Substitution Substitution, Aston Villa. Leandro Bacuna replaces Kieran Richardson. 63:05 Foul by Nacho Monreal (Arsenal). 63:05 Alan Hutton (Aston Villa) wins a free kick on the right wing. 61:32…

England would back a European boycott of the 2018 World Cup in protest at the re-election of Sepp Blatter as Fifa president, says Greg Dyke. A boycott will be considered by European football’s governing body Uefa when it meets next week in Berlin. Football Association chairman Dyke said: “There’s no point boycotting on our own, but if the rest of Europe decided to…

As over 20 major universities descend on Philadelphia this weekend to participate in the 6th Annual Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC), the game’s popularity in the United States has never been stronger. Spurred in part by the growth of the game on both the amateur and collegiate levels, as well as the development of a number of professional properties, there is ample indication that rugby is ready to become…

The NBA playoffs and Steph Curry’s daughter joining in on press conferences weren’t the only things happening in the sports world this week. In fact, a handful of athletes with Las Vegas ties made sports headlines this week — all in the baseball world. Las Vegans Bryce Harper and Kris Bryant faced off in the major leagues for the first time this week when the Washington Nationals paid a visit…

From the moment he made a century on his England Test debut, it appeared Alastair Cook was destined for greatness. During the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley on Saturday, England captain Cook, 30, overtook Graham Gooch’s tally of 8,900 runs to become his country’s most prolific batsman in Test cricket. BBC Sport looks at the different sides of Cook and how they shaped…

From the moment he made a century on his England Test debut, it appeared Alastair Cook was destined for greatness. During the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley on Saturday, England captain Cook, 30, overtook Graham Gooch’s tally of 8,900 runs to become his country’s most prolific batsman in Test cricket. BBC Sport looks at the different sides of Cook and how they shaped…

As over 20 major universities descend on Philadelphia this weekend to participate in the 6th Annual Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC), the game’s popularity in the United States has never been stronger. Spurred in part by the growth of the game on both the amateur and collegiate levels, as well as the development of a number of professional properties, there is ample indication that rugby is ready to become…