After a pair of men’s downhill races and one slalom scheduled for Wengen, Switzerland, were called off due to concerns that too many cases of the British strain of COVID-10 had come to the area, neighbor Austria stepped in and picked up two of the three disciplines in Kitzbühel. Then, […]
World’s Tennis Elite Arrive in Melbourne for Australian Open, Go Straight into Quarantine
While the Australian Open isn’t set to start until Feb. 8, several of the world’s best tennis players trickled into Melbourne late this week for the tournament set on a continent that has virtually eliminated COVID-19. With 11 cases reported in the entire country on Jan. 15, the Australian curve […]
Post-Doping Scandal, Russia Plays to Draw in First Round of World Handball Championship
The newly minted Russian Handball Federation team played to a draw in the opener of their first match of the International Handball Federation World Men’s Handball Championship on Thursday, despite being heavy underdogs (+250) to Belarus. Seven group games continued the action on Day 2 of the two-week, 32-team tournament […]
Mikaela Shiffrin is Back, Ready for Stacked Giant Slalom Field at Kranjska Gora
The women’s alpine World Cup moves on to Slovenia with a pair of giant slaloms in Kranjska Gora this weekend. And, the major story going into two days of skiing is the reemergence of American Mikaela Shiffrin, suddenly back on top coming off a career-defining slalom win Tuesday under the […]
Pac 12 Double-Headers Now a Thing as Oregon on Pause Again with COVID-19
The Oregon vs. UCLA men’s basketball game scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19 in Eugene will instead take place on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles. The schools, both atop the Pac 12 at 9-2, will play two in five days at Pauley Pavillon after they were forced to move a December […]
Online Sports Betting in Virginia Will be Up in Time for Super Bowl Sunday, Lottery Officials Say
Virginians looking for their first taste of online sports gambling will get it before the biggest betting event of the year, according to officials. State lottery executives said this week that they’re on track to launch just before Super Bowl 55 on Feb. 7. Earlier this week, Virginia Lottery Executive […]
US Men’s Handball Out of World Championships Due to COVID-19 Outbreak
The two-decade wait for the United States men’s handball team to surface in international competition was extended indefinitely Wednesday. Due to a COVID-19 outbreak, the team had to withdraw from the 2021 World Men’s Handball Championship the night before the competition got underway. It has been since 2001 that the […]
NFL Wild-Card Weekend Ratings Sag Despite Expanded Format
The NFL’s expanded slate on wild-card weekend, with several networks opting to expand their footprint by simultaneously broadcast on alternate networks or streaming, did not yield a ratings bonanza. Instead, overall viewer numbers were down year over year and in some cases were the lowest in five years or more. […]
2021 Oscar Odds: Best Picture Favorites and Where You Can Watch Them
The 92nd Academy Awards took place in Hollywood on Feb. 9, 2020. It was a celebration of fiscal excess as nine films passed the billion-dollar mark in the total box office that year. Artistically, the slate of nominees, which included eventual winner Parasite from South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, the […]
Shiffrin Makes Comeback and World Cup History Under the Lights with Win in Flachau
Those who praised Mikaela Shiffrin’s New Year’s Day decision to focus on a handful of key races instead of pursuing the World Cup’s crystal globe must have felt vindicated — as did she — under the lights in Flachau, Austria Tuesday night. The Colorado native stood atop the slalom podium […]
Online Sports Gambling in Michigan Set to Go Live This Week
The wait is over for Michiganders as Richard Kalm, executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB), said he expects the state to flip the switch for online sports betting within the next few days, and as soon as Tuesday night. Kalm noted Tuesday that final preparations in anticipation […]
COVID Protocols Cancel Men’s Alpine World Cup Stop at Wengen, Kitzbühel to Replace Circuit’s Oldest Venue
Even as economic impacts on tiny European villages, dependent on yearly World Cup stops, are incalculable, the alpine World Cup has soldiered on, creating a safe and COVID-free environment for its athletes and staff thus far this season. So, it came as a bit of a surprise Monday evening to […]
Entain CEO Segev Bounces for DAZN in Wake of Attempted MGM Takeover
Entain CEO Shay Segev announced he is leaving his post less than a week after the company turned down an $11 billion takeover offer from online betting partner MGM. Segev said he’s headed to digital sports broadcaster DAZN and will join James Rushton there as a co-CEO. Speculation has run […]
PGA Severs Ties with Trump Properties, Sportsbooks Have Second Thoughts on Trump Props
Donald Trump continues to face public and private sector backlash as impeachment and/or removal proceedings loom this week after he instigated his followers to riot and storm the Capitol building in Washington DC in a deadly insurrection last Wednesday. The PGA of America is the latest entity to 86 its […]
Surprise! Shiffrin Returns to the Snow for Tuesday’s Flachau Slalom
A year ago this week, American skiing superstar Mikaela Shiffrin dropped her second slalom in a row to Slovakian Petra Vlhová in what would be one of her last races of the season. After a 10-month break from the snow, Shiffrin returned in mid-December to top the podium in Courchevel, […]
Coach K Out of Quarantine, Shares Thoughts on Violent Coup Attempt at Capitol and COVID-19 Surge
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski was on the sideline once more on Saturday as No. 21 (5-2) Duke beat Wake Forest, 79-68. Krzyzewski, 73, missed Duke’s win Wednesday against Boston College while he and his wife quarantined after family members tested positive for COVID-19. Krzyzewski said he tested negative […]
Can Brick-and-Mortar-Heavy Las Vegas Sands Pivot Online Fast Enough?
In an industry-defining about-face, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation is likely to open online gambling operations this year, despite previous resistance from the company’s chairman Sheldon Adelson. But does the Sands have enough in reserve to reverse its decades-long, anti-online stance and spin up a viable online product? Adelson Created […]
Gut-Behrami and Suter Mark the Return of Swiss Speed in St. Anton
Bettors who took Lara Gut-Behrami (+1200) to win her first super-G in nearly three years were rewarded for their prescience on Sunday as the Swiss speed specialist edged out Italian rival Marta Bassino by 0.16 seconds at Austria’s St. Anton am Arlberg. The victory gives Gut-Behrami her lucky 13th World […]
Cleveland Gets Safety and Linebackers Back, Loses Starting Corners Before Sunday’s Kickoff vs. Pittsburgh
Cleveland’s COVID-19 rollercoaster continues to confound and surprise all the way up to the team’s wild-card game kickoff at 8:15 pm ET Sunday at Heinz Field. Over the past 24 hours, the Browns—which will be without head coach Kevin Stefanski who tested positive Tuesday, along with a host of his […]
Britain’s Dave Ryding Shimmies His Way onto Podium as Long Shots Sweep Adelboden’s Sunday Slalom
Maybe the favorites for Sunday’s men’s World Cup Slalom in Adelboden did knock a few too many back Saturday night as an unlikely trio from the field took over the podium under sunny Swiss skies. Seventy-two hours of surprises and fast, technical, and sometimes treacherous skiing came to a thrilling […]