Sports

7:56 PM ET The nearly three-decade drought of wide receivers failing to win the Heisman Trophy ended when Alabama senior DeVonta Smith was presented the award during a virtual ceremony on Tuesday night. Smith is the third player from Alabama to claim college football’s most prestigious award and the first receiver to win it since

7:00 AM ET MLB InsidersESPN Now that 2020 is (finally) behind us, baseball is entering a new year with uncertainty the only certainty across the sport, so we asked our team of MLB experts to each identify and lay out one storyline that will most define 2021 along with something they can’t wait to see

Jan 1, 2021 When Chelsea signed Timo Werner (£47.7m) and Kai Havertz (£71m) for a combined £118.7m last summer, it was clear the club were making a long-term investment in the future. At 24 and 21, respectively, the two German forwards arrived at Stamford Bridge with only bright things ahead of them, and Chelsea overcame

4:28 PM GMT The British and Irish Lions will discuss this month whether to visit South Africa as planned later in the year because of concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lions are scheduled to play eight matches in South Africa, including a three-Test series against world champions the Springboks, starting on July 3 in

9:04 AM ET Conor McGregor‘s 2020 fell well short of his expectations. He had planned to fight at least three times, with one of those being a rematch against Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight championship. Instead, McGregor fought for a total of 40 seconds, which was how long he needed to beat the fading

5:55 PM ET Timothy Bradley Jr. From the moment the fight was announced, Ryan Garcia vs. Luke Campbell was going to boil down to one major talking point: whether or not Garcia is ready to step up and prove he’s the real deal as an elite boxer and not just a social media star. But

11:23 PM ET Becky Hammon made history on Wednesday, becoming the first woman to act as head coach during an NBA regular season game. The San Antonio assistant coach filled in for head coach Gregg Popovich after he was ejected in the first half of the Spurs’ 121-107 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Popovich

7:25 PM ET Associated Press SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law has been suddenly retired on the advice of a veterinarian after an X-ray revealed bone bruising in the colt’s front leg. Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable tweeted Wednesday: “We are beyond grateful for the time we had with him.” The

11:45 AM ET EAGAN, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings star running back Dalvin Cook will miss Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions because of the death of his father, according to a league source. Cook returned to his home in Miami on Tuesday to be with his siblings and will miss the Vikings’ daily COVID-19 tests,

6:12 PM ET The Masters Tournament has delayed its ticketing process for the 2021 championship as it seeks a way to allow some spectators to return for the first major of the year. Dustin Johnson won the 2020 Masters, which was postponed from April to November because of the coronavirus pandemic, before just a smattering

12:17 PM ET Associated Press DeVonta Smith of Alabama is The Associated Press college football player of the year and the first wide receiver to win the award since it was established in 1998. In what could be a preview of the Heisman Trophy voting, Smith received 26 first-place votes and 114 points to finish

7:00 AM ET The 2020-21 NHL season will be something we’ve never seen before. The league never has had a 56-game season. It’s had 48 and 50 and 60 games, but never 56. The NHL’s four divisions have been temporarily realigned because of travel. There’s a geographic reduction because of cost and COVID-19 concerns, and

9:45 PM ET MLB InsidersESPN After a slow start to the offseason, the San Diego Padres have ignited the hot stove with a pair of blockbuster deals for starting pitchers. First, San Diego acquired 2018 AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell for prospects from the Tampa Bay Rays. Then the Padres turned around and added

8:25 PM ET Associated Press ARCADIA, Calif. — A 2-year-old colt racing in the $80,150 Eddie Logan Stakes at Santa Anita was fatally injured Sunday, becoming the Southern California track’s first fatality since June. Trained by Peter Miller, Ebeko was lagging the field when he injured his left front leg at the top of the

5:55 PM ET Associated Press Roger Federer is withdrawing from the Australian Open while he continues preparing to return to action after two operations on his right knee, his agent told The Associated Press on Sunday. Tony Godsick — Federer’s long-time representative and CEO of their management company, TEAM8 — said he is working on

5:24 PM ET Jose Mourinho doesn’t like statistics being used to assess a football match. Just last week, the Tottenham manager complained that, too often, they are like “badly cooked meat or fish” when used out of context, but here is one stat that the Portuguese cannot argue against — Spurs have now collected just