Hot USA News

#Breaking The Big Debate: Soccer Or Football?/ Every four years during the World Cup, it becomes a much bigger debate: Why do Americans call it soccer instead of football? You might be surprised to learn where "soccer" gets its roots. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: LeBron James, Serena Williams NPR's Scott Simon talks to Howard Bryant of ESPN about this week's sports news. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Remaining Teams Move On To Knockout Stage Of World Cup NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks to Roger Bennet, who is host of the podcast and TV show Men In Blazers, about the latest from the World Cup. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Kangaroo Brings Soccer Match To A Standstill Bounding onto a field in Australia's capital, the marsupial caused players to scatter and then wait around for a grand exit. Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup Round Of 16 Preview Some jubilant wins and stunning upsets closed out the group stage of the 2018 World Cup. NPR's David Greene talks with Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl about the upcoming Round of 16 matches. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Army Veteran, Who Had Lost His Arms, Drowns While Paddleboarding At Age 25 Cody Iorns lost his arms in a 2015 motorcycle accident, but with the help of prosthetic limbs and hard work, he became a fixture in the local paddleboarding community. Read more on NPR

#Breaking South Korea's Win Helps Mexico Advance To World Cup's Round 16 Mexico lost to Sweden in World Cup action on Wednesday. But because South Korea beat defending champions Germany, Mexico gets to advance to the round of 16. Mexican fans are ecstatic. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Baseball Umpires Don't Get Overtime. Does That Affect Extra Innings? Researchers find that during extra innings, baseball umpires make calls in a way that tends to end games sooner. This seems to be because umpires aren't given additional money to work extra innings. Read more on NPR

#Breaking South Korea Beats Germany 2-0, Sending World Cup Champs Packing In a shocking upset, South Korea added a late goal to put the match out of reach for Germany. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Baseball Remembers Yosh Kawano A Chicago sports legend has died. Former Cubs clubhouse attendant Yosh Kawano died Monday at a nursing home in Los Angeles. He was 97 years old. Read more on NPR

#Breaking At The World Cup, A Double Shutout Where Both Teams Won — And Lost Until Tuesday, this World Cup had seen zero matches in which both teams failed to score. That set a record, but didn't make it any easier to watch France and Denmark play pat-a-cake for 90 minutes. Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup: A Third Female Journalist Sexually Harassed On Camera Because...??? "Don't do this! Never do this again," Julia Guimarães told to the man who found it appropriate to try to kiss her on the cheek as she was about to broadcast live. Read more on NPR

#Breaking France's World Cup Team Brings Positive Attention To Suburban Fans Eight of France's World Cup team come from the suburbs of big cities — non-white areas known for poverty. France won in 1998 with a multi-ethnic team, bringing hope, but not much has changed since. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Not My Job: Freestyle Skier David Wise Gets Quizzed On Normcore Wise is known for skiing freestyle — but what does he know about being free of style? Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: The World Cup We have the latest on the ongoing World Cup in Russia. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Phillie Phanatic Injures Fan With Hot Dog In Philadelphia, a fan went to the ER after being struck in the face by a hot dog. The hot dog, wrapped in duct tape, was fired into the stands by Philadelphia's mascot the Phillie Phanatic. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Oh, The Horror: World Cup Fans Face Beer Shortage According to Reuters, some bars and restaurants in Moscow have gone through all their beer supplies. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Taking His Pants Off Gets Cubs Pitcher On The Disabled List Chicago Cubs key relief pitcher Brandon Morrow got injured this week taking his pants off. He was pulling his left leg out when he felt a back spasm. He tells reporters the whole thing is frustrating. Read more on NPR

#Breaking NBA Moves Into E-Sports E-sports has doubled in size in the last three years and professional athletic associations are now getting more closely involved. Read more on NPR

#Breaking The Science Behind The World Cup Ball For every World Cup, there's a custom official ball. But how does the Telstar 18 actually stack up? To find out, scientists stuck it in a wind tunnel with a bunch of sensors. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Swiss Soccer Fans Have Difficulty Getting To The World Cup The AFP news service reports one car load was following a GPS and had no idea they were passing through a war zone in eastern Ukraine. Other Swiss fans booked a hotel in the wrong city. Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup 2018: What's Happened So Far If this weekend's big matches had one lesson, it was that even great teams don't win every game. The Davids were stronger than expected, and the Goliaths were weighed down by sky-high expectations. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Half-Marathon Entrant Runs Full Marathon Sean Elmquist of Minnesota planned to run a half marathon but he boarded the wrong bus and realized he would miss his race. The bus he was on was headed for the full marathon — so he went for it. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Reaction To Mexico's Soccer Goal Moved The Earth, Literally During the World Cup match between Mexico and reigning champions Germany, Hirving Lozano scored, and fans' collective leap of joy was so huge it was picked up by 2 seismic monitoring systems. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Peru's World Cup Team Peru's underdog World Cup squad lost Saturday to Denmark but has a chance of victory Thursday against France. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Domestic Violence Expert Resigns From NFL Players Association Commission The Commission on Violence Prevention was created in response to several cases of alleged domestic violence by NFL players. Law professor Deborah Epstein says the effort was essentially a "fig leaf." Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Trump's Comments, Kawhi Leonard, LeBron NPR's Scott Simon talks to Howard Bryant of ESPN about this week's sports news. Read more on NPR

#Breaking The Basketball Game That Promises Very Little: Ted Cruz Vs. Jimmy Kimmel The NBA season might be over. But basketball isn't quite done. Texas Senator Ted Cruz and late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel have a score to settle. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Janine Shepherd: How Can We Redefine Ourselves After A Tragedy? Janine "the machine" Shepherd was a cross-country skier bound for Olympic greatness, when an accident left her paralyzed. She describes her struggle to redefine her identity beyond being an athlete. Read more on NPR

#Breaking A Moscow Prison Got A Makeover For The World Cup, Opposition Leader Says Alexei Navalny, who was released from jail Thursday, said on Instagram that the prison was getting upgrades for soccer fans: big TVs, three-course meals and female interpreters in special uniforms. Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup Begins Without The U.S. Men's Team For the first time since 1986, the U.S. men didn't qualify. Officials say they are focused on getting the team back on the World Cup stage in four years. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Anne Donovan, A Basketball Legend As A Player And Coach, Dies At 56 At 6'8", Donovan won Olympic gold medals as a player and coach, and a WNBA title coaching the Seattle Storm. She's being mourned by basketball greats from Tamika Catchings to Dawn Staley. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Achilles The Psychic Cat Predicts Russia Win In World Cup Opening Match Achilles is a designated rat hunter Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The museum veterinarian said the cat "loves his motherland and couldn't vote otherwise." Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup Preview The World Cup begins on Friday. We have a preview of the month-long tournament, which the United States failed to qualify for. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Achilles The Cat Predicts Russian Victory The supposedly psychic cat Achilles predicted a victory for Russia in its opening match of the World Cup. Read more on NPR

#Breaking World Cup 2018 Preview: What You Need To Know The soccer tournament kicks off in Moscow on Thursday. From new stars to controversial stadiums, here's our guide on what to follow. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Red Card: FIFA's Dirty Secrets International intrigue, plus sports. Read more on NPR

#Breaking How Taking A Stand For Justice Can Threaten The Careers Of Black Athletes Journalist Howard Bryant discusses the history of social protest among African-American athletes. His new book, The Heritage, traces the tradition back to Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and others. Read more on NPR

#Breaking U.S., Mexico And Canada Win Bid To Host 2026 World Cup The united bid was selected over a competing bid from Morocco, in a vote among some 203 FIFA members that was held in Moscow. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Host Country Russia Is Excited For World Cup Action To Begin After the Sochi Olympics, President Putin basks in another world sporting event: Soccer's World Cup starts on Thursday. Moscow is sparkling after a multi-billion dollar makeover. Read more on NPR

#Breaking After A High School Baseball Game, A Hug Goes Viral They were competing to enter the state championship in Minnesota. But when one student pitcher struck out his childhood friend, he embraced him instead of celebrating his victory. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Disinvitation Nation: President Trump And The Eagles Invitation It's a literal political football. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Alex Ovechkin Takes NHL Stanley Cup Trophy On A Celebration Tour When a team wins the Stanley Cup, they get to celebrate with it. The Washington Capitals star has taken the cup to a Vegas nightclub, a National's baseball game and he filled it with beer. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Activists Push To Ban Coyote Hunting Competitions Coyote hunting competitions have come under pressure from environmental and animal rights groups in the U.S. Now some competition hunters wonder whether the events will be allowed to continue. Read more on NPR

#Breaking A Horse Named Justify Justify is the horse to watch at Saturday's Belmont Stakes. If Justify wins, it would cap a remarkable run and rare Triple Crown victory following wins at the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: Champs Crowned In Basketball, Hockey We have the latest on the Golden State Warriors and Washington Capitals' wins. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Not My Job: We Quiz Baseball Star Keith Hernandez On 'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Back in the day, Hernandez did ads for the men's hair brand Just for Men — the tag line was "No play for Mr. Gray." We'll ask him three questions about another Mr. Grey. Read more on NPR

#Breaking WATCH: Capitals' T.J. Oshie Pays Tearful Tribute To Father With Alzheimer's "He doesn't remember a lot of stuff these days. He remembers enough," the Washington Capitals winger said after winning the NHL title. "But I tell you what ... this one will stick with him forever." Read more on NPR

#Breaking Washington Capitals Win Their First Stanley Cup Championship Thursday night in Las Vegas, the Washington Capitals beat the Golden Knights 4-3, to win the Stanley Cup trophy. It's the first major championship for a Washington, D.C., sports team in a long time. Read more on NPR

#Breaking From 'Squirt' To 'Squib,' Announcer Mike 'Doc' Emrick's Verbs Make Hockey More Vibrant The renowned NBC announcer is famous for painting a visual picture of hockey using a dense and vivid vocabulary. For one game, a fan logged 153 different ways he used to describe how the puck moved. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Which City Deserves The Stanley Cup? Commentator Mike Pesca ponders which fan base deserves to win hockey's championship more: the Vegas Golden Knights in their first season, or the Washington Capitals, who've never won in 43 years. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Congress Grills Sports Officials Over Nassar Scandal Fallout from the USA Gymnastics sexual abuse scandal continued with another grilling in Congress. Former top leaders of the sport and from Michigan State University answered tough questions. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Tunisian Soccer Player Appears To Fake Injuries To Break Fast In a couple recent games Mouez Hassen appears to get injured right around sundown. It gives the players, who have been fasting for Ramadan, the chance to have water and food. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Trump Picks Fight With The Eagles; Philadelphia Takes It From There The White House says "only a tiny handful" of Eagles players agreed to come to D.C., causing Trump to cancel their visit. The fallout includes many accusations — and an apology from Fox News. Read more on NPR

#Breaking FIFA Fires Criminal Complaint At Viagogo Over World Cup, Threatening To Void Tickets FIFA says its website is "the only official and legitimate" way to get the tickets. But the World Cup final is a hot ticket on Viagogo's site, costing up to nearly $14,100. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Mike 'Doc' Emrick Is NBC's Wizard Of Hockey Play-By-Play Emrick isn't just a great play-by-play announcer for this week's Stanley Cup hockey final - he's a linguistic maestro who peppers great descriptive language into every broadcast. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Keith Hernandez On Baseball, 'Seinfeld' And Being His Own 'Worst Enemy' The former first baseman played on World Series-winning teams with the Cardinals and Mets, and made a memorable appearance on Seinfeld. His new memoir is I'm Keith Hernandez. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Golden State Warriors Take A 2-0 Lead Over Cleveland Cavaliers The Golden State Warriors are two wins away from their second straight NBA championship. They beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-103 Sunday night. The Cavs host Game 3 on Wednesday. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Swimming From Japan To San Francisco Ben Lecomte is the first person to try to swim across the Pacific Ocean. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to him from Choshi, Japan before he departs to attempt the journey. Read more on NPR

#Breaking 2 Climbers Fall To Their Deaths From El Capitan In Yosemite The two men were reportedly experienced climbers. El Capitan in California's Yosemite National Park is considered one of the world's most challenging climbs. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Saturday Sports: NBA Finals, French Open, Stanley Cup From the NBA Finals to the French Open, Scott Simon discusses highlights from the week in sports with ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine senior writer Howard Bryant. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Friday News Roundup - Domestic Pardon us. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Elgin Baylor's 'Hang Time' Addresses Racism And His Basketball Career David Greene talks to legendary basketball player Elgin Baylor. Throughout his life Baylor suffered through many racial indignities which are detailed, along with his career, in his book: Hang Time. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Elgin Baylor's 'Hang Time' Addresses Racism And His Basketball Career David Greene talks to legendary basketball player Elgin Baylor. Throughout his life Baylor suffered through many racial indignities which are detailed, along with his career, in his book: Hang Time. Read more on NPR

#Breaking Eglin Bayor's 'Hang Time' Addresses Racism And His Basketball Career David Greene talks to legendary basketball player Elgin Baylor. Throughout his life Baylor suffered through many racial indignities which are detailed, along with his career, in his book: Hang Time. Read more on NPR