Golf

Birdies galore at Hilton Head, and Spieth needed them badly

The RBC Heritage began two month later than usual with a little rain, a little sunshine and a lot of birdies, most of them from Jordan Spieth to turn a rough start into a furious...

MLB

Players at 70 games, MLB at 60, Manfred says deadline near

NEW YORK — Baseball players proposed a 70-game regular-season schedule Thursday, a plan immediately rejected by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred with the sides 10 games and about $275...

Alejandro Villanueva

Steelers’ Heyward: team will be united if it opts to protest

PITTSBURGH — Cam Heyward is well-versed in the sometimes messy optics associated with taking a stand against social injustice.

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball

The Latest: 1 Michigan St, 2 Michigan athletes test positive

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

Football

LA Story: Rams, Chargers to appear on ‘Hard Knocks’

LOS ANGELES — It will be lights, cameras, Los Angeles again for “Hard Knocks” but for the first time the show will feature two franchises.

NFL

NFL GMs, coaches striving for more balance in life and work

First in, last out.

Lamine Diack

Trial of Diacks exposes dark backdrop of track golden era

PARIS — As Usain Bolt set the world ablaze, making athletics the hottest ticket at the Olympic Games, the sport was also being eaten from within.

Tokyo

Call to cancel Tokyo Olympics enters race for Tokyo governor

TOKYO — The contentious issue of the billions being spent on the postponed Tokyo Olympics has entered the debate in the race for governor of Japan's capital.

MLB

MLB thinks Manfred has framework with Clark, union stays mum

NEW YORK — After days of angry exchanges over money between Major League Baseball and the players' association, Commissioner Rob Manfred started to doubt whether there would be a 2020 season...

Los Angeles

Probe: Kobe Bryant pilot may have become disoriented in fog

LOS ANGELES — The pilot of the helicopter that crashed in thick fog, killing Kobe Bryant and seven other passengers, reported the aircraft was ascending when it actually was heading for the...

General News

After 100-day wait, English soccer returns and takes a knee

MANCHESTER, England — Players kneeled in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and victims of the coronavirus were remembered as the Premier League made a somber return on Wednesday from...

College Sports

The Latest: AVP shifts beach volleyball season to tournament

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

MLB

Debate on racism renews calls for Redskins to change name

The recent national debate over racism has renewed calls for the NFL’s Washington Redskins to change their name, with Native American advocates believing the climate is right for action despite no...

Sports

World TeamTennis changes policies for COVID-positive players

World TeamTennis is changing two key policies related to players who test positive for COVID-19, including giving full salaries — instead of its original plan to only offer a prorated portion — to...

NFL

Subject of race a challenge for coach in isolated town

PAHOKEE, Fla. — A wide spot in the road running alongside Lake Okeechobee, Pahokee is a low-income, predominantly black town with two traffic lights and no chain restaurants, 40 miles and a...

Virus Outbreak

Prepping on a new court, Serena Williams will enter US Open

Here’s how all-in Serena Williams is on participating in the 2020 U.S. Open: She set up a practice area at her home with the new brand of hard courts being used at Flushing Meadows this...

Race and ethnicity

Discussions about race unsettle rarified equestrian world

Of all the athletes in all the sports who have been pressing for change in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, a pair of 17-year-old girls in the cash-soaked world of show jumping have...

Football

Lynn: Kaepernick fits Chargers style but no workouts planned

COSTA MESA, Calif. — Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said Wednesday that Colin Kaepernick is on the team’s workout list because he is the style of quarterback Los Angeles is looking for, but the...

Belmont Stakes

Tiz the Law draws No. 8 post as early 6-5 Belmont favorite

It wasn’t quite the post position trainer Barclay Tagg wanted for Tiz the Law. Still, it wasn’t far off for the colt who on Wednesday was made the early 6-5 favorite for the Belmont...

General News

2020 US Open: Fewer line judges, ball people, events in plan

Electronic line-calling will be used instead of line judges for U.S. Open matches at all courts except the two largest arenas and singles qualifying, mixed doubles, junior and wheelchair...

NHL

Puck woes: NHL’s bottom line facing short-term blow

With so much uncertainty, Larry Quinn can't predict just how severe the NHL's financial losses might be due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Basketball

As Florida virus test numbers rise, NBA prepares for Disney

The rate of positive coronavirus tests in the Orlando, Florida, area has been soaring in recent days. The NBA hopes that doesn’t matter.

General News

World’s fastest man suspended for missing doping tests

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — The fastest man in the world has been sidelined for a string of missed doping tests.

Champions League

Champions League to be played at mini-tournament in Lisbon

NYON, Switzerland — The Champions League will finish with a 12-day mini-tournament in Lisbon, restarting in August after a five-month suspension caused by the coronavirus...

Basketball

VIRUS DIARY: Learning his way around a kitchen, finally

NEW YORK — This is not the plan I cooked up.

Sports - General

Sabres fire GM Botterill in series of cost-cutting moves

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula reversed course by firing general manager Jason Botterill on Tuesday as part of a drastic cost-cutting purge of front-office staff...

Soccer

Premier League back with doubleheader after 100-day shutdown

MANCHESTER, England — Exactly 100 days after the last game, the Premier League is back.

Football

Superdome renovation crew has 32 COVID-19 cases

NEW ORLEANS — Superdome officials say positive COVID-19 tests have come back for 32 workers contracted to perform stadium renovations.

College football

The Latest: 32 positive virus tests for Superdome workers

The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:

College football

Oklahoma St. coach Gundy apologizes for wearing OAN T-shirt

OKLAHOMA CITY — One day after Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard lashed out at coach Mike Gundy on social media for wearing a T-shirt promoting a far-right news channel, Gundy...

Daytona 500

Earnhardt Jr. headlines NASCAR’s 2021 Hall of Fame class

All Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed was a chance to prove he could win in stock cars.

Wisconsin

Column: Cranberries and a ticking clock for Ryder Cup fate

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — The final weekend in September in Wisconsin was expected to be bustling with good times and gigantic crowds, upward of 45,000 people and some 1,300 vendors taking...

Albany

‘Watch it on TV’: Gov. Cuomo OKs no-fan US Open tennis in NY

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave the go-ahead Tuesday for the U.S. Open tennis tournament to be held in his state starting in late August — but without spectators — as part of the reopening from...

MLB

Former Cy Young winner Mike McCormick dies at age 81

CORNELIUS, N.C. — Longtime Giants pitcher Mike McCormick, who won the Cy Young Award in 1967, has died. He was 81.

New York

Tiz the Law is class of Belmont field, Triple Crown favorite

While there won’t be school buses of fans hoping to see a New York-bred horse make Belmont history, there is a busload of Triple Crown expectations heading into Saturday's...

MLB

Yankees president Levine calls for MLB talks to resume

NEW YORK — Yankees President Randy Levine called on the players' association to resume negotiations with Major League Baseball to start the pandemic-delayed season.

Chicago Bears

Coaches, players make best of NFL’s 1st virtual offseason

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Turns out there’s only so much that can be done virtually.

Georgia

Bailey, Freeney debut on college Hall of Fame ballot

Georgia cornerback Champ Bailey, Syracuse defensive end Dwight Freeney and Kansas State running back Darren Sproles will appear on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot for the first...

Basketball

From Iceland’s capital, 11-year-old plays in Warriors camp

OAKLAND, Calif. — Sporting his No. 30 Stephen Curry jersey, 11-year-old Bjarki Robertsson kept up the pace. He hopped on his right foot, then his left, joining in a drill as part of the...

Marcus Rashford

Rashford 1, Johnson 0: Soccer star wins U-turn on free meals

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an abrupt about-face Tuesday and agreed to keep funding meals for poor students over the summer holidays after young soccer star Marcus...

Sports - Europe

Talking points ahead of the Premier League restart

Some talking points ahead of the resumption of the Premier League following a three-month suspension caused by the coronavirus pandemic:

MLB

Commissioner Rob Manfred says baseball season in jeopardy

NEW YORK — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says there might be no major league games this year after a breakdown in talks between teams and the players' union on how to split up money in a...

NFL

49ers give Kyle Shanahan new deal through 2025

The San Francisco 49ers rewarded coach Kyle Shanahan with a new six-year contract Monday after he took the team to the Super Bowl in his third season at the helm.

PGA Championships

PGA Championship staying at Harding Park, but without fans

FORT WORTH, Texas — The silence that greeted the return of the PGA Tour at Colonial will be a familiar sound for the first major of the year.

Sports

Racial reckoning in boardrooms and dugouts as EPL resumes

When the time came to vote on restarting the Premier League, no black chief executives or chairmen from the English clubs were involved. There aren’t any across the 20 teams, nor in the leadership...

NFL

Ravens LB Judon blasts Goodell’s ‘black lives matter’ speech

BALTIMORE — Ravens linebacker Matthew Judon criticized the timing of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's assertion that the league believes “black lives matter," saying Monday that the message...

Women's basketball

Oregon, Arizona St athletes challenge NCAA in federal court

Attorneys filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in federal court Monday that seeks to prevent the association from limiting the amount of money athletes can make off their names, images and likenesses....

Football

Doyle out as Iowa strength coach; Barta standing by Ferentz

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa athletic director Gary Barta gave a vote of confidence to longtime football coach Kirk Ferentz on Monday after deciding to cut ties with a strength coach accused of...

Virus Outbreak

Plan to hold 2020 US Open without fans awaits government OK

Moving closer to holding the first Grand Slam tournament of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Tennis Association is awaiting the go-ahead from the New York state government to play the U.S. Open...