I Dig Sports
**SPECIAL EDITION** – Thurs (July 11) 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET
Two-Hour SPEED SPORT on MAVTV
71st Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW-GM
Tune in Thursday night for a two-hour special edition of SPEED SPORT, as Must See Racing’s 71st Pay Less Little 500 presented by UAW graces the national television stage!
From the historic Anderson Speedway quarter-mile in Indiana, this is the event all pavement sprint car racers look forward to each season, and you won’t want to miss it.
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The Ralph Sheheen Show Presented by Lucas Oil
Episode 1 – Brad Doty
(National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee)
Tune in for the premier of The Ralph Sheheen Show presented by Lucas Oil where Ralph has an exclusive, candid, and in-depth conversation with National Sprint Car Hall of Famer, Brad Doty.
The long-time friends and former colleagues spend time discussing a variety of topics ranging from his time as a racer to his transition to the broadcast booth to his role as event promoter.
Don’t miss this entertaining and casual conversation with one of the nicest and most competitive guys to ever step foot in the sprint car pits.
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The Vancouver Canucks continued their offseason makeover by signing free-agent forward Micheal Ferland on Wednesday.
Ferland gets a four-year deal with an average annual value of $3.5 million.
"Micheal is an energetic player that drives the play and can contribute in all three zones," Canucks general manager Jim Benning said in a statement. "He'll make our team harder to play against on a nightly basis and we're excited that he'll call Vancouver home."
Vancouver also signed free-agent defenseman Tyler Myers and traded for forward J.T. Miller this offseason.
The hard-hitting Ferland was acquired by the Hurricanes a year ago, along with Dougie Hamilton and Adam Fox, from the Flames for Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm.
Ferland provided a grittiness the Canes needed, finishing third on the team with 182 hits. He also added some offense to go with his physical play with 17 goals and 23 assists.
The 26-year-old had only one assist in seven playoff games, but he missed considerable time after sustaining an injury on a hit of Capitals big man Tom Wilson in the first round.
Ferland is coming off a two-year, $3.5 million deal that he signed with Calgary.
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The Los Angeles Kings re-signed restricted free agent Alex Iafallo after his career year -- avoiding arbitration.
The forward set career highs with 15 goals and 18 assists. He receives a two-year contract with an average annual value of $2.425 million.
The 25-year-old was a bright spot for a down Kings team that finished last in the Pacific Division.
He was coming off a two-year entry-level contract with a cap hit of $925,000.
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3M Open winner Wolff, Morikawa accept PGA Tour membership
Published in
Golf
Wednesday, 10 July 2019 07:18
Sooner or later, Matthew Wolff and Collin Morikawa were going to be constants on the PGA Tour. It turns out that's happening sooner rather than later.
Following his win at last week's inaugural 3M Open, former Oklahoma State star Matthew Wolff has joined the Tour through the 2020-21 season. Morikawa has also accepted special temporary membership for the remainder of the 2019 season.
Wolff joined elite company following his maiden PGA Tour victory in just his third start as a professional. He became just the third player to win the NCAA individual title and a PGA Tour event in the same season, joining Ben Crenshaw (1973) and Tiger Woods (1996).
Morikawa finished runner-up to Wolff in Minnesota last week, and collected 245 non-member FedExCup points to add to his 89 non-member points he held prior to the 3M Open. The former Cal standout is now eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions for the remainder of the season as he aims to earn his PGA Tour card for next season.
Morikawa is now the fourth player to earn special temporary membership for the Tour this season, joining Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lucas Bjerregaard and Doc Redman, who did so after his runner-up finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic two weeks ago.
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Wolff highlights John Deere Classic field as he eyes second straight win
Published in
Golf
Wednesday, 10 July 2019 10:12
Matthew Wolff made a name for himself by winning the 3M Open in his fourth PGA Tour start after turning pro.
The 20-year-old who starred at Oklahoma State will try to make it two in a row this weekend at the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois.
Wolff was the Tour's youngest winner since Jordan Spieth won at TPC Deere Run at age 19 in 2013. And like Spieth, he's being hyped as a future star as he arrives in the Quad Cities.
Many of the world's best players are either taking the week off or playing the Scottish Open in preparation for next week's British Open. That makes Wolff as good a bet as any to make a run at the title at a venue known for low scores.
"My caddie kind of told me that this course is a little bit like last week, just the driving aspect and kind of the way it sets up," Wolff said. "I played it for the Monday pro-am, and I kind of realized that it was more of a course that suited my eye pretty well and I like the look of it."
Wolff's victory last week at TPC Twin Cities took care of a lot: It earned him instant membership and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and invitations to next year's Masters and PGA Championship. But it didn't get him a spot in the field at the British Open. That, too, is a possibility this week: The top finisher not already exempt who finishes in the top 5 at TPC Deere Run will qualify to play next week at Royal Portrush - and get a seat on the charter flight that the John Deere Classic provides to players making the trip to Northern Ireland.
If he doesn't get there this year, there appear to be plenty of major championship starts in the future for Wolff, who has always shown huge potential.
Wolff, who grew up in Southern California, earned freshman All-America honors for the Cowboys in 2017-18 before winning the NCAA individual title in May. After missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Wolff shot 62-65 over the weekend at the 3M Open, securing the win with a 25-foot putt for eagle from the collar of the 18th green.
That made him the seventh player in the past 80 years to win a PGA Tour event before turning 21, and the other six - Spieth, Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, Phil Mickelson, Raymond Floyd and Rory McIlroy - went on to win multiple majors.
Wolff and his assistant Cole Spradlin rented a van and drove straight from Minnesota to the Quad Cities, arriving around 2:30 a.m. Monday.
"It's a dream come true. I'll say that over and over again. My life changed as soon as that putt went in," Wolff said. "But it only lasts so long, and my goal is to become the No. 1 player in the world."
He's now 135th, but that figures to change soon, too.
The John Deere Classic has long made up for its lack of star power by using sponsor exemptions to lure some of the game's brightest prospects to its event.
This year's newcomers will include Cal's Collin Morikawa, who finished one shot behind Wolff in Minnesota. Morikawa's performance earned him special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, meaning he can use unlimited sponsor exemptions in a bid to earn his Tour card for next season.
Morikawa, who'll be making his fifth career start, will be joined by fellow rookies Viktor Hovland and Justin Suh.
"Obviously the goal coming into this summer was to earn a full card for next year," Morikawa said. "We're almost there."
One player who doesn't come in with much momentum is defending champion Michael Kim. After winning at TPC Deere Run by eight shots, matching the largest margin of victory on tour in 2018, Kim began working on swing changes with coach John Tillery and has missed 17 cuts in a row.
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Koepka, Henderson each take home ESPY award for best golfer
Published in
Golf
Wednesday, 10 July 2019 12:45
Brooks Koepka and Brooke Henderson know a thing or two about taking home trophies. Well now, they'll each need to make room for another one in the trophy case.
After a dominating year, Koepka won the ESPY award for Best Male Golfer, beating out Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Francesco Molinari. Brooke Henderson took home the award for Best Female Golfer, edging out Ariya Jutanugarn, Jin-Young Ko and Sung Hyun Park.
In the past year, Koepka has successfully defended his title at the PGA Championship after winning at Bellerive in 2018, finished runner-up at the Masters in April, and also at last month's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, coming up just short of the first three-peat since Willie Anderson in 1905.
At just 21 years old, Henderson became the all-time winningest Canadian with her ninth victory after taking home the title in last month's Meijer LPGA Classic. The 8th-ranked player in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings also has wins at the Lotte Championship and the CP Women's Open in the last year.
In addition, Koepka is nominated for Best Male Athlete along with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts.
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Frank Lampard was denied victory in his first match as Chelsea head coach with a late goal from trialist Eric Molloy snatching a 1-1 draw for Bohemians in Dublin.
Michy Batshuayi put Chelsea in front after just eight minutes when he pounced on Kenedy's deflected shot in the box, but Molloy found the top corner after racing onto Keith Ward's pass as the League of Ireland side finished stronger.
Following the match, Lampard didn't seemed worried about the result despite the lesser competition.
"It was a tough game for us," he said. "We haven't been back for long and this was our first game after just a few days so there was a bit of pressure on the lads to work today.
"We've been working them very hard and we did the same this morning as well. I want to stretch them because that's what preseason is all about."
Lampard had promised a "clean slate" for every Chelsea player at his unveiling last week, and backed up his words by handing Batshuayi, Danny Drinkwater and Kenedy opportunities to impress from the start.
Chelsea academy player of the year Conor Gallagher was the No.10 in a 4-2-3-1 formation, supplied by Ethan Ampadu alongside Drinkwater at the base of midfield and fellow Cobham talents Marc Guehi and Dujon Sterling in defence.
Bohemians found themselves pinned back early by confident Chelsea passing and intense pressing, and Batshuayi capitalised on a fortunate bounce of the ball to lash the visitors in front inside eight minutes.
Batshuayi and Ampadu were Chelsea's two most impressive performers in a first half short on clear chances, though Gallagher spurned a decent opportunity to double the lead when he blazed over from the Belgian striker's cutback.
Lampard made 11 changes at half-time, switching to a 4-3-3 system and introducing Tiemoue Bakayoko and Kurt Zouma as well as several academy prospects and Izzy Brown, fit again after a serious knee injury.
Chelsea began the second half as brightly as they had the first, with the lively Billy Gilmour twice threatening the Bohemians goal after late runs into the penalty area and Bakayoko stinging the palms of James Talbot with a low strike.
Both teams allowed their intensity to drop off for much of the final half-hour, but Bohemians took encouragement from some unconvincing Chelsea defending to push for an equaliser in the last 10 minutes.
Lampard said: "We wanted to win obviously because you always do but it's not about that at this point - it's about individuals getting fit and pushing themselves to the limit.
"We were pleased with the outcome and I thought some of the performances, particularly from some of the young lads, were really good."
They got their reward with a minute of the 90 remaining. Ward drove from midfield after sloppy Chelsea passing and played in Molloy, who showed impressive composure to fire beyond Jamie Cumming and into the top corner.
Ike Ugbo came within inches of converting Brown's low cross barely a minute later to provide a final twist, but Bohemians were left to celebrate the draw.
Chelsea are next in action against St Patrick's Athletic, another League of Ireland side, at Richmond Park in Dublin on Saturday.
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The United States and Mexico are almost certain to go straight to the six-team Hexagonal round of qualifying for Qatar 2022, with CONCACAF announcing new rules for the next World Cup.
The top six-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings after the June 2020 international window will automatically be included in the home-and-away Hexagonal. The top three will qualify for Qatar 2022.
Gold Cup winner Mexico is currently a long way ahead of those outside the top six, meaning it's virtually inconceivable that El Tri won't be in the Hex, while the United States and Costa Rica are both comfortably positioned.
Jamaica, Honduras and El Salvador currently make up the top six, while Panama, Canada, Curacao, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti are all pushing forward.
The teams that aren't in the Hexagonal will be involved in a separate tournament involving the teams ranked between seventh and 35th. Those 29 teams will be drawn into eight groups, with the winners of those groups advancing to a knockout phase. The country that wins the knockout phase will play against the fourth-placed finisher in the Hexagonal in October 2021 for a spot in the FIFA intercontinental playoff.
"This new FIFA World Cup Qualifying format, based on the FIFA rankings, makes every competitive match count," said CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani in a statement. "Alongside the CONCACAF Nations League, and our expanded Gold Cup, it will raise standards of play to unprecedented levels and develop the sport across the region."
World Cup qualifying for the Hex will begin in September 2020 and be concluded after the September 2021 international dates.
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Alex Morgan, Lionel Messi, Sam Kerr and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all won individual honours at Wednesday's ESPY awards, while the U.S. women's national side was crowned Best Team.
Just days after lifting the Women's World Cup in France, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and the rest of the USWNT were on hand to accept the award at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Along with the Best Team award, Morgan earned the ESPY for Best Female Athlete, joking that it was the second best trophy she has earned this week.
- ESPYs: Full list of award winners
The 30-year-old played a vital role in the U.S. retaining the World Cup, walking away as joint top-scorer of the tournament with teammate Rapinoe.
Messi was named Best International Men's Soccer Player after leading his club to yet another Spanish crown this season, scoring 36 goals in 34 Liga appearances. The 32-year-old added a further 12 goals in 10 Champions League matches before seeing Barcelona losing out to eventual winners Liverpool in the semifinals.
The award caps off what has been a difficult month for the Argentina international, who saw his nation controversially beaten 2-0 by Brazil in the Copa America semifinal before being sent off in La Albiceleste's 2-1 third-place playoff win over Chile.
Australia's Kerr was named Best International Women's Soccer Player. The Matildas star was top-scorer in both the NWSL and W-League last season, but was unable to inspire the Matildas past a round-of-16 spot at the World Cup.
Ibrahimovic received the ESPY for Best MLS Player after lighting up the league with LA Galaxy.
The outspoken striker has let his football do the talking for Guillermo Barros Schelotto's side, scoring 13 goals in 15 MLS games this season.
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