Sports

Aug 14, 2022 ESPN News Services RICHMOND, Va. — Kevin Harvick may be stamping himself as the man to beat in NASCAR. The 2014 series champion took the lead from Joey Logano with 66 laps to go and held off Christopher Bell at Richmond Raceway on Sunday for his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory.

12:00 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN When Teofimo Lopez walked through the ropes back in November he was the ruler of the lightweights and one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world following an upset victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko. Nine months later, Lopez entered the ring with uncertainty swirling around him. After the shocking defeat

8:40 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Two-time champion Simona Halep of Romania advanced to the National Bank Open’s final, beating Jessica Pegula of the United States 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday. Halep will face Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, 6-4, 7-6 (7) winner over 14th-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the night semifinal.

6:00 AM ET FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — New York Jets receiver Elijah Moore‘s life changed on a recruiting visit to Ole Miss in 2017. His player-host was supposed to be DK Metcalf, but they had to call an audible when Metcalf was summoned to the football office on another matter. Moore was passed along to

3:14 PM ET Andrew LopezESPN The NBA will honor the legacy of Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell by retiring his No. 6 jersey for all 30 teams, the league and the National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday. Russell becomes the first player in NBA history to have his jersey retired leaguewide. Along with the number

7:00 AM ET Texas A&M fans, I’m ready for you. I recognize it’s never fun for fans to see their team headlining college football’s underachiever tiers. Texas A&M has one of the largest and most prideful fan bases in the sport, so much so that it is synonymous with a number, 12. And although the

8:45 AM ET After some drama about who would and who would not be in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, the field is set. Now, the three-week sprint to the finish begins, starting with the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The top 125 players in the standings are in the field. After this week, the

7:00 AM ET CHICAGO — Last Tuesday, at the brink of MLB’s trade deadline, Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had a decision to make: Trade catcher Willson Contreras for what he believed was below market value, or keep him and potentially get an extra draft pick if Contreras leaves as a free

2:00 PM ET What do we really know about a player when trying to predict their fantasy hockey production in a season five years from now? I mean, really know about them? Well, we know their age. We also know what kind of production they have put up in the past. But beyond those two

5:20 PM ET Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kurt Busch said Wednesday he pushed himself too hard trying to return to NASCAR competition and will miss his fourth consecutive Cup Series race because of concussion-like symptoms. Busch has been out since crashing in qualifying on July 23 at Pocono Raceway. He had hoped to be

9:22 AM ET Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara will be out of action for up to six weeks because of injury, sources have told ESPN. The Spain international limped off the pitch early in the second half with a suspected hamstring strain during Saturday’s 2-2 Premier League draw at Fulham. – Premier League team-by-team guide and

12:02 PM BST South Africa have recalled No. 8 Duane Vermeulen as one of five changes to their starting line-up for the second Rugby Championship test against New Zealand at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday. Vermeulen had sat out the international season to date after knee surgery, but has been deemed fit to play

9:35 AM ET Two of the more unheralded UFC weight classes had a chance to show out last month. In the main event of UFC 277 on July 30, Julianna Peña and Amanda Nunes had their rematch for the UFC women’s bantamweight title, following Peña’s huge upset over Nunes at UFC 269 last December. Former

4:29 PM ET Associated Press MUIRFIELD, Scotland — After seeing a 5-shot lead slip away in the final round, Ashleigh Buhai still managed to secure a first major title at the Women’s Open. Buhai kept her composure to beat In Gee Chun — and the setting sun — in a playoff at Muirfield on Sunday

7:35 PM ET Associated Press EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Cool Papa Bell scored the biggest upset in the history of the Hambletonian, charging late to edge filly Joviality S by three-quarters of a length in a wild finish to the most prestigious race for 3-year-old in trotting. The stunning victory by the 52-1 shot gave

7:07 PM ET Nick Parkinson Close •Reports on boxing for ESPN.co.uk, as well as several national newspapers•Has been reporting on British boxing for over 15 years•Appears on BoxNation’s Boxing Matters show Michael Conlan responded to his first professional boxing defeat by scoring three knockdowns on his way to a dominant points win over Miguel Marriaga

6:53 AM ET ESPN Fantasy Our ESPN Fantasy staff got together for the fourth mock draft of the year, this time using a 12-team, non PPR format. Pay close attention to some of the top storylines to come out of this practice draft. How long could fantasy managers wait to get a top-tier QB? And

11:00 AM ET While he was at the beach this summer, Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz spent a couple of days thinking about the future of college football. “Somebody has to run it,” he said, “because right now, we are running amok.” “Who’s the boss in college football?” asked West Virginia coach Neal Brown. “That’s a

6:37 PM ET LOS ANGELES — LeBron James and the Lakers had a “productive” discussion about their future together on Thursday, Rich Paul, CEO of Klutch Sports Group, told ESPN. No new deal has been agreed upon yet, however, sources said. James and Paul met with Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager

7:00 AM ET Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille had just seen the future. It was a Stanley Cup Playoff game in May, and the Kings were putting some dizzying imagery on their arena video screens, with 3D images of players. “It was really cool, actually,” the Hockey Hall of Famer said. “The guys were