World Top News

By JENNA FRYER, AP Auto Racing Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASCAR was the big winner at its glossy Los Angeles gala held inside Memorial Coliseum. In need of an energy boost ahead of its upcoming season, NASCAR broke its dated mold and staged an experimental exhibition race inside one of the most iconic Hoka Shoes UK  venues in sports. The race itself on a temporary quarter-mile asphalt oval was a sideshow in Sunday's made-for-Fox Sports spectacular. Just how successful was the Busch Light Clash? Two losing drivers high-fived a pair of NASCAR senior executives as they passed in the USC locker room. One was Ben Kennedy, the 30-year-old great-grandson of NASCAR's founder and forward-thinker who pushed The Clash from its birthplace in Daytona across the count...

By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans are in talks with assistant coach Lovie Smith for their head coaching vacancy, a person familiar with the meetings told The Associated Press. The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the team had not announced that Smith had interviewed for the job. The 63-year-old Smith is currently the Texans' associate head coach and defensive coordinator. He joined the team last offseason after spending 2016-2020 as the coach at Illinois. The Texans fired David Culley, who is Black, after just one Skechers Shoes UK   season as their coach. Smith, who is also Black, coached the Chicago Bears for nine seasons and coached Tampa Bay for two seasons ending in 2015. Houston h...

By JAY COHEN, AP Sports Writer CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks fired a longtime minor-league trainer in November after he was accused of sexual harassment. The alleged harassment by Rockford IceHogs trainer D.J. Jones occurred in 2014, the Blackhawks said Sunday night in a statement. The allegations were reported to the team on Oct. 27, a day after it released a report by an outside law firm that found the organization mishandled allegations that an assistant coach sexually assaulted a player in 2010. ESPN was the first to report on the accusations against Jones. “Under our new leadership, we have made it crystal clear that nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our players and employees, and there is a Running Shoes zero-toler...

By JOE REEDY, AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — While most teams are looking ahead to next week's All-Star break, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are trying to correct some bad habits they hope won't trip them up in the playoffs. If the first two games of their Western Conference road trip are any indication, the defending NBA champions are on the right track. The Bucks had another dominating third quarter as they pulled away to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 137-113 Sunday night. “I enjoy playing in January and February. This is where you have to get some wins, come out, set a tone and play good games,” said Antetokounmpo, who had 28 points and Oofos Shoes 10 rebounds. “The last couple games have been fun. Guys are playing and shooting we...

By SALLY HO, Associated Press BEIJING (AP) — Madison Chock and ice dance partner Evan Bates knew what they were up against as figure skating's team competition drew to a close at the Beijing Olympics and the American chances of a silver medal started to slip away. “I had heard the Russians’ (score) right before we skated and I was like ‘Oh, that’s such a hefty score,’” Chock said in a dark hallway inside Capital Indoor Stadium on the third day of the medley event. “And then it was like: ‘All right. Focus.'” Did they ever. With poise and precision, Chock and Bates proceeded to win the discipline with a score of 129.17, less than a point ahead of the world champion Russians, who had been penalized a Hey Dudes Shoes  point for an overly long lift. That gave...

By JOSH DUBOW, AP Pro Football Writer The Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals got to the Super Bowl with help from a couple of coaching decisions by their conference title game opponents that backfired. If the Super Bowl comes down to a crucial fourth-down choice by Rams coach Sean McVay or Bengals counterpart Zac Taylor, history shows the may opt for the conservative path. After a regular season when teams set records for how often they went on fourth downs as more and more younger coaches embrace analytics, the two coaches Hey Dudes who made it to the Super Bowl were more outliers. Both the Rams and the Bengals finished in the bottom quarter of the league in fourth-down tries in the regular season. “McVay has been sort of painted as the young ...