All posts tagged: sports

Welcome to the Waymo World Cup

Welcome to the Waymo World Cup

Published by skeptic

Waymo, the Alphabet subsidiary offering robotaxi rides in 11 US metros right now, says it’s ready for the FIFA World Cup. Match attendees can catch driverless rides to six of the 16 North American venues: stadiums in Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The sprawling football event, expected to attract some 6.5 million visitors to the continent over more than a month, could prove an exciting close-up for Waymo. The company says it’s serving half-a-million paid rides a week—paltry stuff compared to the likes of ride-hail giants Uber and Lyft, but more impressive once you remember that the things don’t have drivers. Waymo has plans to offer service in 20 more markets this year alone, with international expansions in London and Tokyo on the horizon. Meanwhile, the Waymo app is available in app stores in 13 countries, including Germany, Great Britain, India, and Japan, and in 15 different languages. For travelers who haven’t yet ridden robotaxis in China, this event likely marks their first opportunity to ride driverlessly. The World …

Trump’s Border Crackdown Is Wreaking Havoc on the World Cup

Trump’s Border Crackdown Is Wreaking Havoc on the World Cup

Published by skeptic

Even before the first whistle blows, the 2026 World Cup—taking place from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico—already has winners and losers away from the field. Specifically, at the border, at passport control, in consular offices, and at US airports. Here, amidst denied visas, prolonged checks, and contested entries, a parallel competition is emerging where human rights are at stake. This World Cup was meant to be a global celebration of soccer in North America. For the first time in history, the tournament is being held in three different countries, a move meant to unite the entire continent and turn the World Cup into an even more inclusive event. But restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration are impeding those goals. Players, managers, and referees are coming up against some harsh realities even before they take the field. Currently, 39 countries face full or partial US travel bans, and four of them—Haiti, Iran, Senegal, and Côte d’Ivoire are set to play in the World Cup. So far, incidents involving …

How Mexican World Cup Stadiums Achieved FIFA’s Environmental Certifications

How Mexican World Cup Stadiums Achieved FIFA’s Environmental Certifications

Published by skeptic

BBVA Stadium also transformed daily practices such as waste management. The challenge was not only to separate waste, but also to ensure that all suppliers for everything from food to cleaning products operate under sustainable criteria. Club de Futbol Monterrey began incorporating environmental conditions into its vendor contracts, from recyclable packaging to reusable or compostable products. “We even ask them for documents indicating the final destination of waste,” says Molina. The stadium has eliminated around 90 percent of its PET plastic during matches, through soft drink dispensing machines and the use of reusable cups. As for water, it increased the number of meters from 6 to 20, and fine-tuned irrigation with predictive analysis to define when and how much to irrigate. That efficiency is helpful, but large volumes of water are still required. The official regulations of this year’s World Cup require that the matches be played on natural grass, as it is considered to offer better conditions for player performance. And the watering is done with potable water rather than treated water. Ever since …

NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for June 11: Tips to solve Connections #626

NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for June 11: Tips to solve Connections #626

Published by skeptic

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require soccer knowledge. As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans. Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections: Sports Edition? The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web …

Irish Doc Film on Mixed Ability Rugby at Sheffield DocFest

Irish Doc Film on Mixed Ability Rugby at Sheffield DocFest

Published by Daniella Wilson

Winning isn’t everything! Giving it your all and basking in the sense of community is! That’s one of the lessons you may walk away with after watching a new documentary about four Irish rugby teams that defy stereotypes to tackle their way to the Mixed Ability Rugby World Cup. Step onto the pitch for Try!, a mix of full-contact action, joy and belonging. The new doc from Irish director Oisín Mistéil about the sport, which is full-contact rugby played by people with and without physical and learning disabilities, world premieres in the People & Community strand of the Sheffield DocFest on Saturday, June 13. Try! follows four Irish teams, from frozen winter training nights to the heat of World Cup competition in Spain, where 32 teams from 16 countries go head to head. “The competition is real, the tackles are hard and the celebrations are harder,” highlights a synopsis. “What emerges is a portrait of a world where inclusion isn’t an aspiration but the starting point, where belonging is built through shared mud, bruises and …

Taylor Swift Attends Knicks’ Record-Breaking Rally Over Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals

Taylor Swift Attends Knicks’ Record-Breaking Rally Over Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift attended Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden, the arena that has gotten a lot of attention recently as the possible location for her upcoming wedding to Travis Kelce. Swift wore a blue T-shirt with “Stevie Knicks” printed in orange lettering and was seated courtside on Wednesday night next to Ben Stiller. She attended along with singers Este and Alana Haim, who also had Knicks-related references on their shirts: “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickleback.” They were joined midway through by third Haim sister Daniella, and the quartet witnessed the biggest comeback in finals history as the Knicks rallied from a 29-point deficit to win 107-106 on OG Anunoby’s tip-in with 1.2 seconds left. Swift jumped around in celebration, waving a rally towel after leaving the court for the bowels of the Garden. She may be back soon. Less than a year after their August engagement announcement, reports of Swift and Kelce’s impending nuptials have reached a crescendo. TMZ …

Basketball can make you better at math

Basketball can make you better at math

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time. Fractions are a difficult math concept for many children to learn, but pairing lessons with basketball may offer some help. After participating in an experimental workshop that combined education with shooting hoops, students in Denmark performed an average of 15 percent better in fraction tests than a control group that did not play basketball.. “I am convinced that sport and physical activity can open up mathematics for pupils who are not otherwise engaged by the subject,” explained University of Copenhagen sports exercise researcher Jacob Wienecke.Wienecke is also the co-author of an accompanying study on the fraction experiment published in the journal Educational Psychology Review. The project involved over 300 students between ages 11 and 13, who attended a one hour, once-a-week meetup that …

Should baseball hitters with two strikes change their swing?

Should baseball hitters with two strikes change their swing?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Baseball’s newest tracking tools have given one old dugout argument a faster swing. When a hitter comes up with two strikes, fans, coaches and former players often call for the same adjustment: cut down the swing, make contact, keep the at-bat alive. It sounds like common sense. The harder question is whether it actually helps a batter produce better results, or simply trades one kind of failure for another. A new study in The American Statistician finds that the old advice contains some truth, but not the whole truth. Hitters who shorten and slow their swings with more strikes do make contact more often. They also give up power, and in the data that tradeoff mostly cancels itself out. “What we found is that there’s really a tradeoff,” said Scott Powers, assistant professor of sport analytics and statistics at Rice University and a co-author of the paper with Ron Yurko of Carnegie Mellon University. “When players slow down their swings, they do make more contact, but they also sacrifice power.” Distribution of bat speed relative …

The World Cup’s Trionda Ball Challenges Traditional Aerodynamics

The World Cup’s Trionda Ball Challenges Traditional Aerodynamics

Published by skeptic

The design of the official ball of the 2026 World Cup could become a determining factor in the scores of the 104 matches that will be played during the tournament. According to new research, the ball known as the “Trionda” is the first in the history of the men’s World Cup to be made with only four panels, a feature that changes the way it cuts through the air and consequently alters the ball’s acceleration, trajectory, and range. As has been the case every four years since 1970, Adidas unveiled the official ball of the 2026 World Cup in October last year. The Trionda attracted attention for its appearance with a tricolor scheme representing the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the host countries for this year’s cup, but it also raised doubts due to its unprecedented structure of four panels thermally bonded together with heat and adhesives, a configuration that made some question the stability of the ball on the field. John Eric Goff, visiting professor of physics at the University of Puget Sound and …