U.S./World Sports category, Page 12
Pope Leo XIV brings hope to Chicago sports fans, and the Knicks for their Villanova ties
The sports loyalties of Pope Leo XIV became a topic of conversation almost as soon as the white smoke emerged from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel. Elected on Thursday, Robert Prevost is the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church. The Chicago-born missionary, who took...
Warriors sideline Stephen Curry for at least a week
MINNEAPOLIS — The Golden State Warriors are planning to play without Stephen Curry for at least the next three games of their second-round series against Minnesota, after an MRI exam Wednesday confirmed a mild strain of the star guard’s left hamstring. The Warriors said Curry would be sidelined at least...
‘Hands tied’: Athletes left in dark as NCAA settlement leaves murky future for non-revenue sports
The $2.8 billion NCAA settlement awaiting final approval from a federal judge is touted as a solution for thousands of athletes to finally get the money they deserve and provide some clarity to recruiting. For some, it’s too late. Sophomore distance runner Jake Rimmel says he was one of five...
NASCAR championship weekend goes to Homestead in 2026, starting a rotating formula
MIAMI — NASCAR asked its fans where they would prefer seeing championship weekend held, and the majority of those who responded picked Homestead-Miami Speedway. And NASCAR listened. The 2026 NASCAR season will end in South Florida, with stock car racing’s championship weekend returning to Homestead-Miami next year. It’ll be the...
Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty won’t run in Preakness, dashing Triple Crown possibility
Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not run in the Preakness Stakes, officials announced Tuesday, meaning there won’t be a Triple Crown champion for a seventh consecutive year. “We received a call today from trainer Bill Mott that Sovereignty will not be competing in the Preakness,” said Mike Rogers, executive VP...
NBA Round 2 matchups have plenty of intrigue
Defending champion Boston vs. title-starved New York. High-scoring Cleveland vs. high-scoring Indiana. The 2023 champion Denver vs. this year’s favorite in Oklahoma City. And Golden State vs. Minnesota, pitting a current face of the NBA in Stephen Curry against an heir apparent in Anthony Edwards. Welcome to Round 2 of...
Caitlin Clark returns to Iowa in Fever’s preseason game against Brazil despite leg injury
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark made the shot everyone came to see. Clark stopped late in the third quarter of Sunday’s WNBA preseason game between the Indiana Fever and the Brazilian national team and launched a 3-pointer near the “22” logo on Iowa’s Carver-Hawkeye Arena court. It was the...
Reigning Cup champion Joey Logano gets 1st win this season in overtime at Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas — Reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Joey Logano stayed in front on a restart in overtime at Texas on Sunday to get his first victory this season. Logano led only seven of the 271 laps, four more than scheduled at the 1 1/2-mile track. He had started...
Oscar Piastri wins at Miami for 3rd straight F1 victory, 4th win of season for championship leader
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Oscar Piastri maintained his advantage in the Formula 1 championship fight by winning the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday for his fourth win through six races this season. Piastri has now won three consecutive F1 races for McLaren Racing, where he and teammate Lando Norris are...
Plans are unclear for Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty and others with the Preakness 2 weeks away
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sovereignty’s Kentucky Derby victory in the muck at Churchill Downs sparked curiosity over whether the colt can build on his signature win over a possibly drier, faster surface on the Triple Crown trail. The question now is whether that test will come sooner or later. Hall of...
John Clay: Sovereignty goes beyond trainer’s wildest dreams by winning Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Back in 1967, Bill Mott was a 14-year-old boy sitting on the front seat of a GMC pickup truck in South Dakota listening to Proud Clarion with Bobby Ussery aboard win the Kentucky Derby. “At that time I would never dreamed that I would come to Kentucky....
Sovereignty beats 3-1 favorite Journalism down stretch to win 151st Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sovereignty gave trainer Bill Mott a second Kentucky Derby victory. This time there was no doubt about it and no asterisk. The 3-year-old colt outdueled 3-1 favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Derby in the slop Saturday, snapping an 0-for-13 skid by owner Godolphin....
Austin Cindric all good week celebrating NASCAR Cup win
FORT WORTH, Texas — Austin Cindric will start on the second row for the NASCAR Cup race at Texas after a week of celebrating a win at Talladega and a lot of attention paid to an expletive-laden radio rant directed toward him by his own teammate during Team Penske’s first...
Burro racing wins over runners in backcountry ode to mining history
CERRILLOS, N.M. — Backcountry runners are embracing the physical and emotional challenge of racing with pack burros that don’t always move at their pace. Burro races honor Old West history and hinge on a delicate partnership between runner and beast of burden. Burros, a Spanish-derived word for donkeys and their...
Appreciation: Gregg Popovich’s vision changed Spurs and NBA
Gregg Popovich understood the world. That goes back long before the basketball world knew who he was. It probably can be traced to at least Popovich’s time at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he majored in Soviet studies and was on his way to becoming a spy. He became...
Cavaliers ready for fast-paced NBA playoffs series against Pacers
CLEVELAND — Kenny Atkinson has one simple message for his Cleveland Cavaliers going into their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Indiana Pacers. Put your track shoes on. The top-seeded Cavaliers had the NBA’s top offense in the regular season, averaging 121.9 points. The fourth-seeded Pacers averaged 117.4 points (seventh-best)...
NBC’s coverage of Kentucky Derby has grown and evolved over 25 years
When NBC carried the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 2001, the broadcast lasted only 90 minutes. On Saturday, when it carries the Run for the Roses for the 25th time, 90 minutes wouldn’t be enough for all the feature stories that will run leading up to post time....
Bucks’ Damian Lillard has surgery to repair torn Achilles tendon
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard had surgery Friday to repair the left Achilles tendon he tore Sunday in a playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. The Bucks said Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery in Los Angeles, with consultation from team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Carole Vetter. Lillard was...
Donovan Mitchell uses Jazz’s playoff disappointment from 2021 to fuel Cavaliers’ run
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — Donovan Mitchell hasn’t allowed himself to enjoy leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to the top seed in the Eastern Conference. As the Cavaliers continued to surpass expectations and wrapped up the regular season with the NBA’s second-best record, the painful memories of what happened the last time he...
The 151st Kentucky Derby could be a mudder’s delight with rain in the forecast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Derby is tough to win, with a huge field of stampeding horses and 150,000 screaming fans in the stands. Toss in a rainy forecast that could turn the Churchill Downs dirt strip into something resembling peanut butter, and it gets trickier. A field of 19...
Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s all-time wins leader, retires after 29 seasons as coach in San Antonio
Gregg Popovich stepped down as coach of the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, ending a three-decade run that saw him lead the team to five NBA championships, become the league’s all-time wins leader and earn induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. “While my love and passion for the game...
Brunson scores 40, Knicks top Pistons 116-113 in Game 6, advance to 2nd-round series with Celtics
DETROIT — Jalen Brunson scored 40 points, Mikal Bridges had 25 points and OG Anunoby added 22 to lead the New York Knicks to a 116-113 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday night and into the second round of the NBA playoffs. The third-seeded Knicks will face second-seeded Boston,...
LeBron: ‘I don’t have the answer’ to questions about his future after Lakers’ exit from NBA playoffs
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James wasn’t ready to make any decisions about his future in the painful moments immediately after his 22nd NBA season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round playoff exit. “I don’t have the answer to that,” James said Wednesday night when asked how long he will...
Ian Wilkes has helped train 2 Kentucky Derby winners, seeks first on his own with Burnham Square
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ian Wilkes viewed the reporters outside his barn as a sign he must be doing something right. The veteran trainer is thoroughly embracing the attention that Burnham Square has brought him as a Kentucky Derby starter. Even better, he is the points leader heading into Saturday’s 151st...
‘Happy to be back’: Bob Baffert’s Kentucky Derby return includes 2 horses in the race
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The backstretch at Churchill Downs is a magical place during Kentucky Derby week. Big-name trainers talking to well-heeled owners, media haplessly standing around hoping to grab a quote or a quick stand-up interview. Yet the most important part of this annual carnival of horsedom is that one...
