Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appreciates what today’s NBA players are doing in their attempts to make the world better, how they’re using their voices and platforms as conduits for change.

TOKYO (AP) — A full-page newspaper ad says Japanese will be "killed by politics" because the government is forcing them to endure the pandemic without vaccines. More than 300,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled. And a swimming star has faced pressu…

BALTIMORE (AP) — Medina Spirit is set to run in the Preakness on Saturday to go for the second leg of the Triple Crown, as long as the Kentucky Derby winner passes a series of additional drug tests.

The man who transformed the Vermont-based Orvis company from a niche fly-fishing supply company into a global retailer of outdoor supplies, apparel and protector of the environment has died. Leigh H. Perkins was 93.

ATLANTA (AP) — Oscar Robertson's NBA record of 181 triple-doubles had stood since 1974 and was once thought to be untouchable — until Russell Westbrook surpassing it became inevitable.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — When the final buzzer sounded Saturday night, Russell Westbrook grabbed the ball, jogged to the baseline and waved to the crowd. A few moments after joining Oscar Robertson as the NBA's career triple-doubles leader with 181, he celebrated the milestone with his teammates …

WASHINGTON (AP) — Controlling Congress and the White House for the first time in a decade, Democrats were hopeful that this would be the year they finally secured civil rights protections for LGBTQ Americans.

Only nine of the 12 European clubs who launched an ill-fated bid to form a Super League have agreed to a peace deal with UEFA and accepted being fined millions of dollars.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Albert Pujols was cut by the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday, abruptly ending the 41-year-old superstar slugger's decade with his second major league team.

The NCAA has reached a delicate moment: It must decide whether to punish states that have passed laws limiting the participation of transgender athletes by barring them from hosting its softball and baseball tournaments.

TOKYO (AP) — An online petition calling for the Tokyo Olympics to be canceled has gained tens of thousands of signatures since being launched in Japan only days ago.

Willie Mays is turning 90, and no mistaking that number. It strikes with the clarity of a line drive. Mays played in a sport measured by milestones — 3,000 hits, 500 homers, signposts he passed and then some — and now here’s one more.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Yankees and Mets can increase capacity from 20% to 100% at their ballparks for home games starting May 19 — as along as fans are vaccinated against COVID-19.

ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — Any visitor to Rock Hill, South Carolina, soon learns that “Football City, USA” basks in the glory of the dozens of youth leaguers who have gone on to win college championships and land coveted NFL contracts.

NEW YORK (AP) — The star power is back. When the Met Gala returns in September, it will feature a heavy-hitting contingent of celebrity co-chairs: Actor Timothée Chalamet, musician Billie Eilish, poet Amanda Gorman and tennis star Naomi Osaka.

TOKYO (AP) — Some nurses in Japan are incensed at a request from Tokyo Olympic organizers to have 500 of them dispatched to help out with the games. They say they’re already near the breaking point dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Anti-ownership protests by Manchester United fans forced the postponement of a Premier League game on Sunday against Liverpool after the stadium was stormed and thousands more supporters blocked access into Old Trafford as they demanded the Glazer family sell the club.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — John Velazquez was in a familiar place, in the lead aboard Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby and holding off the stretch bid of three challengers. This time, Bob Baffert couldn't believe what he was seeing.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Latest on the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby (all times local):

NEW YORK (AP) — Don Mattingly starred in the action-packed 1980s.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The bourbon is flowing again, flowery hats and humans are on the scene and 19 horses are ready to run the most chaotic race of their lives. After being disrupted by a pandemic, the Kentucky Derby is back with many of its traditions intact.

The themes for the 2021 NFL draft were many, starting with the quarterbacks.

Is it safe to go to big sporting events during the pandemic?

Long before Kendrick Carmouche started riding horses growing up in Louisiana, Black jockeys were synonymous with the sport.

The NHL and Turner Sports on Tuesday formally announced a seven-year agreement that begins next season and will put three Stanley Cup Finals on the TNT cable network.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry's pregame warmup had a little added flair with so many more people watching again. He loved seeing all the familiar ushers as he drove up to the arena three hours early. He thanked the fans before tipoff for being patient and persistent through a pandemic.

NEW YORK (AP) — After Kyrie Irving piled up the points in two previous games against Boston, his shot wasn't there Friday night.

LONDON (AP) — Several hundred Arsenal fans protested outside Emirates Stadium at the English Premier League match against Everton on Friday to call for owner Stan Kroenke to leave the club for joining the Super League.

The death of former Kentucky guard Terrence Clarke following a car accident in Los Angeles sparked an outpouring of grief and support from around basketball, including reaction by Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.

TOKYO (AP) — Only three months before the postponed Olympics are set to open, Tokyo and Japan's second largest metropolitan area of Osaka have been placed under emergency orders aimed at stemming surging cases of the coronavirus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Scripps National Spelling Bee is undergoing a major overhaul to ensure it can identify a single champion, adding vocabulary questions and a lightning-round tiebreaker to this year's pandemic-altered competition.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky freshman guard Terrence Clarke died Thursday following a car accident in Los Angeles. He was 19.

DOUGLAS, Wyo. (AP) — The stakes were clear to the two dozen police officers who gathered for a workshop with an ambitious and increasingly urgent mission — recalibrating the way police interact with the public in America.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The ill-fated Super League has enraged fans and troubled authorities while making allies of a pair of soccer's fiercest nemeses.

LONDON (AP) — Having rapidly mobilized to thwart rebel clubs from joining a breakaway European competition, the Premier League is taking steps to prevent the so-called “Big Six” from attempting something similar in the future.

MADRID (AP) — The Super League is far from dead and its clubs have not given up on the idea of the breakaway competition despite having to shelve the project just a few days after it was announced, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez said on Thursday.

LONDON (AP) — The Super League collapsed before a ball was kicked in the European breakaway competition after being abandoned by the six English clubs, leaving the Spanish and Italian participants stranded.

MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — Seeking a weak link in the unity of 12 rebel clubs in the Super League, UEFA on Tuesday targeted owners in England who signed up to the project that threatens to tear apart soccer's traditional structure including the Champions League.

Kristie Keleshian was a shy middle schooler when she signed up for Write on Sports because her brother had joined.

MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — The deceptions, distrust and divisions in European soccer erupted in public on Monday between teams and even within the clubs breaking away to form a Super League that could leave them and their players outcasts in the global game.

BOSTON (AP) — Teddy Ballgame is about to become Teddy Blockchain.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Whew! And still 18 more to go.

NEW YORK (AP) — LaMarcus Aldridge retired from the NBA on Thursday after saying he experienced an irregular heartbeat during his final game with the Brooklyn Nets.