2014 Page 44 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights


Lindsey Vonn Will Not Compete In The Winter Olympics
U.S. Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn announced this morning that she will not be competing in the upcoming Winter Olympics because of a sprained MCL in her right knee. Vonn hurt her knee while skiing off course at a World Cup event in December. In November, Vonn partially tore her surgically repaired ACL...

How The Sochi Olympics Became A $51 Billion Quagmire
The Sochi Olympic games will be the most expensive ever held, by an egregious amount. $51 billion in total, and since Winter Olympics are smaller than Summer games, the Russian government is spending an average of $520 million per event—four times as much as the previous record-holder, China. Where ...

Who Will Be The Most Fascinating Person In Sports in 2014?
Over at Sports Illustrated, media writer Richard Deitsch has a collection of the responses 44 respectable sports media types gave when he asked who the most fascinating person in sports will be next year. Their picks were mostly about as exciting as you'd expect, with Johnny Football coming in as th...

Report: Operator Of Crane That Killed 3 In Brazil Worked 18 Straight Days
A month ago, it was reported that a crane collapsed at a Sao Paulo stadium where workers were doing construction ahead of next year's Brazil World Cup. The collapse left three people dead, and little answers as to the cause of the tragic accident. According to a new report, however, the tragedy may ...

America's Olympic Delegation Is A Calculated Insult To Russia
For the last five Olympics, the U.S. delegation to the opening ceremonies has included either the President, Vice-President, or First Lady. Not this time, Russia. You get the President's assistant, and a few openly gay former athletes....

The USMNT Probably Won't Win The World Cup
Going into today's World Cup draw, we already knew just how stacked the 32-team field that make up next year's tournament in Brazil was. Seemingly every perennial superpower—hosts Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, and the Netherlands, Italy—as well as the ridiculous "underclass" of teams like Belgi...

How The World Cup Draw Affected Each Country's Odds To Win
Hot off the presses from online sportsbook Bovada, each country's odds to win the 2014 World Cup, both before and after today's draw....

Here Are The Pots For The World Cup Draw
At a press conference in Brazil this morning, FIFA officials announced the pot allocations for next summer's World Cup. The draw will be held on Friday, but it's time to start imagining your groups of death, and how the U.S. is absolutely going to end up in one....

Olympic Torchbearer Briefly Lights Self On Fire
As former Olympic bobsledder Pyotr Makarchuk carried the torch through the Siberian city of Abakan on Wednesday, he spilled some flaming liquid fuel onto his jacket. It was promptly put out by his escorts, avoiding the worst Gazprom commercial ever. ...

Crane Collapse At Brazil World Cup Stadium Kills 3
A construction accident at a Sao Paolo stadium scheduled to host the opening ceremony of next summer's World Cup killed three workers, according to an official statement, and that number could rise....

Brazil's World Cup Kick-Off Times Are <em>Perfect</em>
The last four World Cups have been nightmares for American television viewers, with games kicking off at sunrise or (in 2002) in the middle of the night, and finishing in the middle of the afternoon. But Brazil's got our backs, and the match times are absolutely ideal for making sure no one gets a d...

France Make History To Qualify For The World Cup
After France lost to Ukraine on Friday in the first leg of their World Cup playoff 2-0, it seemed their hopes of traveling to Brazil were all but over. After all, no team had ever overcome a 2-0 deficit in the first leg of the playoffs to qualify for the sport's biggest tournament. To advance, Franc...

Ronaldo Scores Three, Feigns Human Emotion; Portugal On To World Cup
The Portugal-Sweden playoff matchup was seen by most as little more than a matchup of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimović, two of the best players in the world. Portugal won on Friday in Lisbon, 1-0, after a late diving header from Ronaldo. For Sweden to advance, they'd have to win today. That ...

France Need A Miracle To Make The World Cup
France most likely will not qualify for the 2014 Brazil World Cup....

The Portugal-Sweden World Cup Playoff Will Be A Beautiful Tragedy
Two-legged playoffs to decide the final spots for the 2014 World Cup are being played this week and next. We've already seen Uruguay and Mexico more or less punch their tickets with mollywhoppings of, respectively, Jordan and New Zealand. Friday's European playoff matchups will undoubtedly be much m...

Mexico Just Destroyed New Zealand. New Zealand Sucked So Much.
Mexico passed through them. They used long through balls, practically jamming it down the All Whites' throats. They dominated on set pieces. They defended with almost profound ease. They tripled their opponents' possession. And barring one the most unbelievable comebacks in the history of sports, Me...

Mexico Are Definitely Going To The World Cup. Right?
For a few minutes, anyway, Mexico looked to be out of the World Cup. Last month, they lost away to Costa Rica on the final day of World Cup Qualifying, and Panama scored a late goal to take a 2-1 lead over the United States. If scores held, Panama would have moved on to a World Cup playoff. It didn'...

We Need To Steal This Idea From Slovakia's Olympic Hockey Jerseys
Nike continues to roll out the Olympic hockey sweaters. (The Americans'? They're OK. Could do without the shoulder stars. And the phantom ties, though those are universal. At least they're not Nazi-inspired.) The Slovak jerseys were unveiled today, and they're pretty crisp. But there's one subtle, w...