Syracuse: The Unsympathetic Underdog

Daily Fix

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  Robert Griffin III Lands in Cleveland

  Quarterback Robert Griffin III will join the Cleveland Browns next season.

• Messi, Suarez Return for Latest Rounds of World Cup Qualifiers

• The Chicago White Sox’s Teenage Wasteland

• Barcelona to Play Atletico Madrid in Champions League Quarterfinals

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  Tennis Player Rod Laver Recalls Growing Up on Homemade Courts

  The champion looks back on a 1950s childhood where neighbors cleared backyard space for the sport

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  U.S. Soccer’s Day of Reckoning—Against Guatemala?

  The U.S. men’s national soccer team is facing the prospect of World Cup elimination—more than two years before the 2018 tournament kicks off.

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  The Most Dangerous Place in College Basketball

  As the full-court press has dropped out of regular use, breaking late game traps has become a lost art in the NCAA tournament.

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  Road to Final Four: How the Favorites Fell

  Unlike recent NCAA tournament champions, Oklahoma and Villanova punched their tickets to the Final Four by sticking with what worked.

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  Cost of Sports TV Raises Stakes in Yankees-Comcast Fight

  The Comcast-Yankees standoff is the highest profile example of how pay-TV providers are digging in their heels over rising sports-TV costs, threatening a money stream that has powered industry profits and financed huge salaries for star players.

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  Syracuse Presses Way Into Final Four

  The No. 10 seed Syracuse Orange rallied to beat the No. 1 seed Virginia Cavaliers to advance to the Final Four.

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  Villanova Upsets Top-Seeded Kansas 64-59 in South Final

  Kris Jenkins made two free throws with 13.3 seconds remaining, and Jalen Brunson added two more with 3.5 seconds left, to help Villanova upset top-seeded Kansas 64-59 on Saturday night to reach the Final Four.

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  Oklahoma Beats Oregon to Reach Final Four

  Senior Buddy Hield scored 37 points, leading the Sooners to an 80-68 victory over the Ducks.

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  The Downside of the Modern Golf Swing

  The modern golf swing can work but might come with a significant disadvantage: grinding wear and tear on the body, especially the lower back.

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  Fighting Irish Beat Badgers in Slop-Fest

  Wisconsin led 23-19 at halftime, closer to what should be a halftime football score for these two schools, but Notre Dame pulled out a win in the last seconds of the Sweet Sixteen matchup.

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  The Elusive ‘Runner’s High’ Has Prehistoric Roots

  A jog won’t do it; the powerful painkillers released during long-distance running let our ancestors chase prey for hours on end.

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  Thousands of Injuries, Mishaps at Chinese Marathon Prompt Alarm

  As China’s economy develops, authorities are racing ahead with their efforts to promote long-distance running – but a calamitous marathon in south China has raised questions over whether Beijing is pushing forward at too quick a pace.

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  The School That Rocks Basketball Logic

  North Carolina resists the game’s modern trends by avoiding three-pointers—and yet the Tar Heels are still a threat to win the NCAA tournament.

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  Dutch Soccer Legend Johan Cruyff Dies of Cancer

  Dutch soccer legend Johan Cruyff, who rose to fame during his time at Ajax and Barcelona in the 1970s, died after suffering from lung cancer. He was 68.

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  What You’ll Pay for a Basketball Court at Home

  As March Madness kicks into high gear, a look at the premium for sports courts in homes listed for $1 million and up.

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  Analysis of the Louisiana Derby: Predicteform

  Predicteform provides analysis of the Louisiana Derby.

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  Olympic Hopefuls Shrug Off Zika Fears

  Worries over mosquito-borne virus haven’t kept athletes from competing in Rio warm-up events ahead of Summer Games.

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  Breaking a Kansas Curse

  As Kansas enters the Sweet 16 as the No. 1-ranked team in the AP poll, memories of the last Jayhawk team to do so may seem faint.

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  Baseball Legend Joe Garagiola Dies at 90

  Joe Garagiola, who turned a modest major-league catching career into a 57-year run as a popular broadcaster in the sports world and beyond, died Wednesday. He was 90.

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  Changes You’ll See at the Ballpark This Season

  Some of the ballpark changes for 2016 and what they mean.

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  The NCAA Tournament That Busted Brackets—And Phones

  Underdogs at the NCAA Tournament find that March Madness fame can play havoc with your smartphone.

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  In Havana, Nine Carefully Staged Innings

  The passion that Tuesday’s game in Havana stirred in the hours, days and weeks leading up to it was a vivid reminder why Cuba matters to MLB.

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  FIFA Opens Probe on Beckenbauer, 2006 World Cup Bid

  Soccer legend Franz Beckenbauer is among six current or former German federation officials being investigated by FIFA’s Ethics Committee for alleged corruption in securing 2006 World Cup hosting rights.

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  Indian Wells CEO Raymond Moore Resigns

  Raymond Moore, the CEO and director of the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., has resigned after making disparaging comments about women’s tennis.

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  In Twin Cities, How Many Stadiums Are Enough?

  The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have been an epicenter of the U.S. stadium-and-arena boom, rolling out five major sports facilities since 1990 that together cost more than $2 billion. Now the neighboring cities are readying for a sixth: a soccer stadium to be built by 2018 in St. Paul.

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  New York City Council Votes to Ban Chewing Tobacco From Stadiums

  Council pass legislation, by 44-3 vote, prohibiting the use of all tobacco products—including smokeless chewing tobacco—at any ticketed sporting event in the city. But is it enforceable?

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  New York Moves to Allow Martial Arts

  Assembly passes legalization bill, as promoters plan events.

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  What Cuba Wants From MLB: Cash

  Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Monday that he expects the league to boast a new system for the influx of Cuban players by year end, freeing them from the scourge of human trafficking.

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  NFL Considers Staging Game in China by 2018

  The National Football League, trying to increase its presence outside of the U.S., is fiddling with the idea of playing a game in China as early as 2018.