BASEBALL
McCutchen dances as MVP
Pittsburgh Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen and Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera both coasted to Most Valuable Player awards in New York on Thursday. McCutchen won the National League honor by a wide margin after leading a baseball revival in Pittsburgh. He drew 28 of the 30 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Seated in a sweater and tie, a smiling McCutchen juked a sort of stationary shimmy when his name was announced on MLB Network. “If I could get up and dance right now I would, but I don’t have much room to do that,” he said. “When I get off camera, I probably will.” Cabrera took the American League prize for the second straight year, once again winning by a comfortable gap over Angels outfielder Mike Trout.
SOCCER
Spain will not explain trip
Spain will travel to Equatorial Guinea for a friendly, and the country’s soccer federation will not say why. The decision to play in the former Spanish colony today has drawn the ire of Equatorial Guinea’s opposition in exile group in Madrid, and raised questions about what benefit the World Cup champions expect to get from playing a team ranked 119th in the world. The federation said it will not be paid any extra fees to play. When directly asked why the game is being played, federation president Angel Maria Villar refused to answer. “I won’t answer this question,” Villar said on Thursday. Spain will become the first team from outside Africa to play in Malabo since Obiang took power in 1979.
SWIMMING
Phelps signals return
Michael Phelps has rejoined the US Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) drug testing program in a signal the most decorated Olympian could be considering a return to the swimming pool in time for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016. Phelps retired after winning four gold and two silver medals at the London Olympics last year to take his career tally to 22, 18 of which were gold. The 28-year-old was tested twice in the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to data released by USADA. World swimming governing body FINA requires athletes to be tested for a minimum of nine months before competing in sanctioned events. Phelps had said before the London Games he would not contemplate a comeback after he retired and his coach Bob Bowman downplayed any suggestions he was considering a return to what would be his fifth Olympics. “It’s premature to say that,” Bowman said on Thursday. “What we’re doing is kind of letting him have his options.”
BASEBALL
MLB to extend replays
Another Major League Baseball (MLB) tradition is about to largely disappear: A manager, with a crazed look in his eyes, charging the field and getting into a face-to-face shouting match with an umpire. Instead, most calls next season will be subject to video review by umpires in New York. MLB took the first vote in a two-step process on Thursday, unanimously approving funding for expanded instant replay next year. They plan to approve the new rules when they meet again on Jan. 16 after agreements with the unions for umpires and players. “We made a gigantic move today,” MLB commissioner Bud Selig said. “This is quite historic.” Selig long opposed replay and watched from afar as it was first used by the NFL in 1986, the NHL in 1991, the NBA in 2002 and Wimbledon in 2006. MLB allowed it starting in August 2008, but in a limited manner. Now, virtually every decision likely will be subject to review.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later