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In the world of baseball, debate of the universal designated hitter rages on. For stretches at a time that argument lies dormant, but then something happens—like Adam Wainwright tearing his left Achilles tendon during an at-bat. Suddenly that question is brought to the forefront again, and generally the views are mixed. Some managers, like Brad Ausmus, prefer the strategic side of the NL, while others, like Terry Francona, don’t think we should overreact to the rules because of one injury. Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is adamant about the NL adopting the DH rule while Wainwright—the pitcher whose injury has...

One California city is trying to make it happenOn the day “Mr. Padre” Tony Gwynn should be celebrating his 55th birthday, I was thinking of the best way to pay tribute to the greatest sports figure our city has called our own. While it won’t happen today, I think the best thing we can do in his memory is make sure his death teaches us a lesson and ban tobacco in Major League Baseball. Gwynn passed away June 16, 2014 from salivary gland cancer he believes was the result of being a longtime tobacco chewer. Gwynn began his cancer battle...

UFC Fight Night 65: Miocic VS Hunt Here's what's left for tonight: Main Card (UFC Fight Pass) (8pm PT/ 11pm ET/ 4am UK) 265lbs- Mark Hunt (10-9-1) vs. Stipe Miocic (12-1) 185lbs- Brad Tavares (13-3) vs. Robert Whittaker (13-4) 205lbs- Sean O’Connell (16-6) vs. Anthony Perosh (15-8) 155lbs- Jake Matthews (8-0) vs. James Vick (7-0) Preliminary Bouts (UFC Fight Pass) 4:45pm PT/ 7:45pm ET/ 12:45am UK 145lbs- Hatsu Hioki (27-8-2) vs. Daniel Hooker (11-5) 170lbs- Kyle Noke (20-7-1) vs. Andreas Stahl (9-1)

With less than 500 days until Rio de Janeiro hosts the Olympic Games, construction of several venues has not started and some major contracts have not even been tendered, setting the stage for a last-minute rush that will likely drive up costs. It may seem like a familiar script for major sporting events. As the start date nears, the headlines invariably focus on delays and the scramble to get ready on time, and yet the games end up going ahead without major hitches. Rio 2016 may, though, end up being one of global sport's closest calls yet, resulting in a...

He was the first African-American man to play integrated baseball, taking the field at slouching old Delormier Downs on Ontario Street for the Montreal Royals’ first homestand. If the American sporting world regarded — and, in some ways, still regards — Canada as an ice hockey backwater, that week it became a beacon for black athletes dreaming of making the major leagues. Suddenly, Jackie Robinson was playing among white men for the blue-crested Royals; in Canada; in a place called Quebec. The city was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor league, AAA team. It was also a wildly open...

Tom Brady will be the highest profile player ever suspended in the 96-year history of the NFL. Roger Goodell's decision is expected to be announced next week and it is no longer a matter of if the NFL commissioner will suspend Brady, but for how long he will suspend him. In conversations I've had with several key sources who always have a good sense of what goes on at 345 Park Avenue, there is little doubt Goodell considers Brady's role in DeflateGate a serious violation. The NFL is convinced, according to sources, that connecting all the dots of the evidence...

Former LSU offensive lineman La'el Collins paused to keep control of his emotions at a news conference to announce his signing with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent. Dallas owner and general manager Jerry Jones had an even harder time holding back tears while sitting next to a projected first-round pick who didn't get selected because his name surfaced in the investigation of the shooting death of a pregnant woman he knew in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“Did I text [the reporter] and say I will fight him again? Yeah, but I changed my mind,” Mayweather said. “At this particular time, no, because he’s a sore loser and he’s a coward…

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya First Grand Prix 1991 Number of Laps 66 Circuit Length 4.655KM Race Distance 307.104KM Lap Record 1:21.670 by Kimi Räikkönen (2008)

A man who smirked as he was sentenced in the savage beating of a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium wants a federal judge to spare him from another lengthy prison sentence for an unrelated gun crime. Louie Sanchez’s handwritten letter prays for mercy in the crime discovered as police investigated the 2011 attack on baseball’s opening day that left Bryan Stow with permanent brain damage. “The outcome of the situation I don’t wish upon nobody,” Sanchez wrote in his letter to Judge Fernando Olguin. “Unfortunately, Mr. Stow got hurt and I send my deepest sympathy to Mr. Stow...

Joe Carter’s home run to seal Toronto’s second World Series title remains an indelible memory for Blue Jays fans, almost 22 years later. And it seems at least a couple of players on the losing end are still fixated on it, too. Mitch Williams, the former Phillies closer, gave up the series-clinching blast to Carter in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. His thoughts on that moment sparked an ugly spat with former teammate Lenny Dykstra at the Philly Sports Roast in April. Yes, April of 2015. The video includes plenty of...

Two fans filed a class action lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao and his team for failing to disclose a serious shoulder injury prior to the fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. last weekend. After losing to Mayweather by unanimous decision, Pacquiao’s camp said the fighter was trying to compete despite a severe shoulder injury. They blamed the Nevada Athletic Commission for denying him a painkilling injection prior to the fight. The severity of Pacquiao’s injury seemed to be confirmed when it was reported Monday he would undergo surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder. But what doesn’t add up is that...

An N.F.L. investigation has found that “it is more probable than not” that New England Patriots personnel intentionally deflated footballs to gain an advantage in the A.F.C. championship game last season, and that Tom Brady, the Super Bowl most valuable player, was probably aware of it. No penalties have been announced. The long-awaited report into so-called deflategate, released on Wednesday, concluded that it was probable that Patriots personnel were “involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules.” The report said that Jim McNally, a locker room attendant, and John Jastremski, an equipment assistant, released air from the footballs. It...

The University of North Dakota has unveiled the complete list of suggestions it received for a new team nickname to replace the "Fighting Sioux," which was retired in 2012. And boy, were some of the names ridiculous. You can check here for the list of 1,172 names still in contention, but let's pay tribute to some of the more amusing monikers suggested -- with shoutouts to Kobe Bryant, "Game of Thrones" and "South Park" -- and promptly missed the cut. And as you can see below, many people who submitted names (UND had to whittle down the 628-page list of...

Tucked away among the tilled plots and scrubby pastures of this rural town, the Seattle Mariners’ baseball academy is mostly abandoned. The weight room has been cleared of machines. The numbered locker-room stalls are bare. One afternoon last week, a grounds crew pulled out bases from the main field while workers packed away a few stray trophies, bats and uniforms. But the teenage prospects who shared bunks here just three weeks ago are gone, shipped off to a newer school in the Dominican Republic.

Tusks or no tusks, wild pigs can be dangerous animals. Hunting them can be riskier than many sportsmen bargain for, and trying to wrestle one can be downright foolhardy. This trapper in East Texas found himself a bit out of his element as he tried to wrangle a large sow into a cage. Notice how the pig repeatedly went after his legs. Both male and female hogs use tusks for defense, and if this one had a set, no doubt it would have tried to gore the man. Thankfully, though, the trapper survived the event with little more than possibly...

The more we learn about Manny Pacquiao's shoulder injury, the uglier it looks for all sides involved. The shoulder injury Pacquiao suffered prior to his fight with Floyd Mayweather was much more serious than it initially sounded, and now it turns out that Pacquiao will need surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. While the immediate effect of the surgery is that it will sideline Pacquiao for up to a year and eliminate the already dim hopes for a rematch, the injury has caused a further mess as people try to figure out who knew about it, why it wasn't...

A Seattle man has been detained by police after a lengthy stand-off during which he climbed up onto a basketball hoop and refused to get down. As you can see in this video taken by local news station KOMO, a hammer wielding man climbed shirtlessly onto a basketball hoop in Cal Anderson Park Friday, rendering the court unplayable. The cops were able to disarm him within the first minute, although it’s not known how long he was up there before the cameras started rolling. But while he gave up the hammer relatively easily, he was not so quick to give...

A competitor belly flops into a muddy watering hole during the dive competition at the 2015 National RedNeck Games on Saturday in Augusta, US.