July 29, 2026 4:30 am
Miami is the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship. The Hurricanes have never won the ACC title since joining the league ahead of the 2004 season. Miami is coming off a run to the College Football Playoff title game. The Hurricanes were the runaway choice in voting by media members at the league’s football media days earlier this month. SMU was picked second, followed by Louisville and Clemson among the top teams. Duke is picked 10th after last year’s unexpected run to the program’s first outright ACC title since 1962. Georgia Tech was picked fifth, followed by Virginia, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and reigning champion Duke.
July 29, 2026 4:34 am
GENEVA (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino plans to create a $20 billion company running the World Cup with private investors including the Kushner family. The plan was immediately attacked by European soccer body UEFA which says “None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.” Infantino plans to form FIFA Forward Enterprise running competitions like the World Cup and Club World Cup. FIFA is working with J.P. Morgan while investors would include Thrive Eternal created by Joshua Kushner whose brother Jared is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump. FIFA is currently a Swiss-based not-for-profit association of its 211 national member federations worldwide. Those members must approve any plan.
July 28, 2026 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Brandon Lowe singled home Billy Cook in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Lowe finished off a three-hit night with a line drive that bounced off Arizona first baseman Ildemaro Vargas, allowing Cook to score from third. Mason Montgomery worked around an error and escaped a bases-loaded jam to earn the victory. Pittsburgh pulled into a tie with Arizona for the third National League wild-card spot with the win. The victory came at a cost for the Pirates. Pittsburgh lost promising rookie outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez to a left-hand injury in the fourth inning.
July 28, 2026 4:29 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Pirates rookie outfielder Esmeryln Valdez has been removed from a game against Arizona after being hit in the left hand by a pitch. Valdez, who has 14 homers in limited playing time this season, took a 92 mph fastball from Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly to the area around his left hand and wrist. The 22-year-old Valdez winced in pain while being tended to by medical staff. He walked slowly toward the Pittsburgh dugout and was replaced by Jared Triolo. Valdez’s emergence has helped the Pirates stay in playoff contention despite injuries to other key players.
July 28, 2026 2:20 am
Tuesday is the first day of Steelers Training Camp at Saint Vincent College. Players will report then and the first practice on Wednesday morning will be open to the public. On Monday, August 3rd, players will hold their first padded practice which is open to the public. Saturday, August 8th will be their annual night practice at Latrobe Memorial Stadium and on Thursday, August 13th, they’ll play a pre-season game with the Green Bay Packers at Acrisure Stadium. Monday, August 17th will be their final practice at Saint Vincent College and that will be open to the public. On Tuesday, August 18th, the players will break camp.
July 28, 2026 4:32 am
North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi has been placed on paid administrative leave. The school announced the move with a statement Monday morning. It didn’t provide details as to the reason, noting that employees and athletes aren’t permitted to address the topic “as is standard procedure with personnel matters.” Lombardi joined Bill Belichick in making the NFL-to-college move when the school hired the former New England Patriots coach in December 2024. Lombardi’s career as an NFL executive had included being the GM of the Cleveland Browns in 2013.
July 27, 2026 4:30 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan O’Hearn hit a grand slam on his 33rd birthday, and the Pittsburgh Pirates held off the Chicago Cubs 8-7 to avoid being swept in the three-game series. The Cubs nearly erased a six-run deficit. Seiya Suzuki hit a two-run home run with one out in the ninth to make it a one-run game, but Mason Montgomery held on for his second save. O’Hearn’s blast to center field in the third inning extended the Pirates’ lead to 7-1. That came an inning after a pair of rookies hit home runs as Esmerlyn Valdez hit a leadoff shot and Shawn Ross had a two-run blast for his first career homer. It was the fourth career grand slam for O’Hearn and second this season.
July 27, 2026 4:28 am
CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago White Sox have acquired right-hander José Urquidy from Pittsburgh in a trade that sent minor league pitcher Félix Doroteo to the Pirates. The 31-year-old Urquidy, who was designated for assignment by the Pirates on Friday, was 0-1 with an 8.53 ERA and one save in six relief appearances for Pittsburgh this season. He had six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Urquidy is 27-17 in seven big league seasons with Houston, Detroit and Pittsburgh. He has a 4.07 ERA and 335 strikeouts in 413 2/3 innings. The 21-year-old Doroteo was 3-2 with a 4.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts in one start and 15 relief outings during his first professional season with the Arizona Complex League White Sox.
July 27, 2026 4:32 am
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Puerto Rico and Curaçao may be small islands, but the support they showed was massive as elite center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. Both joined slugging second baseman Jeff Kent as the newest members before an estimated crowd of 12,000 fans at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, with 57 other Hall of Famers on stage, creating the largest gathering of current Hall of Famers. Jones’ speech was almost like a love letter to his home country of Curaçao. Chants of “Puerto Rico” broke out before Beltrán even uttered a word. And whenever he mentioned his home island, the crowd cheered for him and waved flags.
July 27, 2026 4:31 am
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) — Jackson Koivun won the 3M Open by three strokes in only his third start as a professional by holding off Scottie Scheffler with a closing 5-under 66 for a tournament-record 25-under 259 total. Koivun went bogey-free for the second straight day after a 61 on Saturday gave him a three-shot cushion. The 21-year-old player led Auburn to the NCAA championship last month. Scheffler surged into contention with a 63 while playing five groups ahead of Koivun. The world’s top-ranked player had his fifth runner-up finish this season. His lone win this year came at The American Express in California.
