Sports

8:16 AM ET SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Max Homa was sitting on a plane, flying back to Arizona from the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Georgia, on Nov. 19, when he started to think about how to get better. It was his 31st birthday, and earlier in the day, he missed the cut by 3 strokes.

4:20 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The Belmont Stakes is moving to Fox Sports as part of an eight-year deal beginning in 2023. The deal announced Wednesday between Fox and the New York Racing Association includes NYRA Bets as the title sponsor of the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown series. NYRA

7:53 AM ET Mike CoppingerESPN We kick off 2022 waiting and wishing for the marquee fights — the ones that can make boxing the focal point of the sports world, if only for a day, and the kind of fights that were in short supply in 2021. The anticipated undisputed heavyweight championship bout between Tyson

8:04 AM ET If 2022 has the same drama, excitement and confused chaos as 2021, I’m going to need to book an AirBnB in the mountains of Tibet to decompress. OOOOOOHHHHMMMMMM. The 12 months that was 2021 was the wildest of golf cart rides. But before I save my Tibetan trip SuperHost search preferences and

5:45 AM ET World No. 1 Novak Djokovic said on Tuesday he would defend his Australian Open title at Melbourne Park this month after receiving a medical exemption from getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic, who had declined to reveal his COVID-19 vaccination status, said previously that he was unsure whether he would compete at the

7:46 AM ET The next 12 months could be some of the most interesting in MMA history. Conor McGregor is set to return from a broken leg. Jon Jones, who hasn’t fought since February 2020, could finally get a heavyweight title shot. Kamaru Usman is closing in on Anderson Silva‘s record of 16 straight UFC

4:40 PM ET Congratulations to all! We have reached the time of year when we watch the game in front of us with one eye and the scoreboard with the other. Sunday began with six of the NFL’s 14 playoff spots filled. Nine others had a chance to clinch one of the eight remaining spots.

8:00 AM ET DeMar DeRozan and the Chicago Bulls ended 2021 with fireworks. They started 2022 with some too. The NBA’s leader in fourth-quarter scoring was at it again this past week, knocking down wild, buzzer-beating 3-pointers in back-to-back fashion to stun the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards. Thanks to DeRozan’s late-game heroics, the Bulls

4:00 PM ET SALT LAKE CITY — Donna Lowe-Stern didn’t know exactly what she would say. The day before, Sept. 26, her son Aaron Lowe had been killed. Now she was looking out at a room full of his mourning Utah football teammates. Coach Kyle Whittingham had asked her whether she would like to speak

8:25 PM ET The St. Louis Blues face the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in the Winter Classic, the NHL’s annual New Year’s Day game played outdoors. Target Field, usually the home of the Minnesota Twins, is where the two teams will play. 1 Related Per the Weather Channel website, Saturday’s high in Minneapolis is

9:47 PM ET Associated Press REDDICK, Fla. — Billy Turner, who trained Seattle Slew to a Triple Crown sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont stakes in 1977, has died. He was 81. Turner died Friday at his home here where he had been in hospice care after battling prostate cancer for two years,

4:00 AM ET Real Madrid want to pair Kylian Mbappe with Erling Haaland in a forward line that would be the envy of world football — ESPN’s Insider Notebook has the latest. PLUS: Arsenal have plans to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Jump to: Arsenal’s list of Auba replacements | City goodwill towards Barca in Torres deal

2:55 PM GMT England trio Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Manu Tuilagi are expected to be fit for selection for the Six Nations which starts on Feb. 5. Both Farrell and George were injured in England’s 32-15 win over Australia on Nov. 13, with the fly-half requiring surgery on his ankle. Tuilagi was forced off

7:15 AM ET It was, in the final quarter of the horrible 2020, when it seemed as though society had finally succumbed to its own appetites and irresponsibility, that baseball was somehow being made an example of. So much loss could not be happenstance. Six Hall of Famers — signatures to their time and instrumental

7:14 AM ET TAMPA, Fla. — Amanda Serrano steps off the elevator at the JW Marriott hotel in Tampa. In five hours, she’ll be next door in Amalie Arena riding another elevator up to a platform, and then she’ll begin her ring walk in front of a sold-out crowd for her 44th professional fight. But

3:34 PM GMT Premiership Rugby leaders Leicester Tigers have confirmed an investigation by the league into allegations of historical breaches of salary cap rules. The Times reported on Tuesday that the league’s salary cap director Andrew Rodgers is investigating a third-party company called Worldwide Image Management over payments made to Leicester players from the company.

8:00 AM ET Every year in every sport brings ups and downs, memorable performances, the emergence of new stars. In mixed martial arts, the leading fight promotion, the UFC, has eight weight classes for men and four for women and ran 43 fight cards in 2021, making plenty of room available onstage for athletes to

5:49 AM ET Dominic Thiem has pulled out of next month’s Australian Open to work towards regaining full fitness after a long-standing wrist injury, the former world No. 3 said on Tuesday. The 28-year-old Austrian, who has not played since suffering the injury at the Mallorca Open in June, was unable to defend his U.S.

8:00 AM ET Health and safety protocols continue to be a concern around the league. Several stars sat out their teams’ Christmas Day matchups, including Trae Young, Luka Doncic and Kevin Durant, though James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo returned to action for Saturday’s slate of games. Antetokounmpo led the Milwaukee Bucks past the Boston Celtics,

7:00 AM ET Marcel Louis-JacquesESPN MIAMI — Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa stepped to the podium on Nov. 17, a few days after the Miami Dolphins‘ win against the Baltimore Ravens — his first time leading them to victory since the season opener. It was about two weeks after the Nov. 2 trade deadline; gone were the