BARBERVILLE, Fla. – DIRTcar and World of Outlaws officials have announced the dates for the 2022 editions of the DIRTcar Nationals and the Sunshine Nationals.

The Sunshine Nationals, featuring the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series, will kick off the late model season on Jan. 20-22.

Then, after a couple weeks of more exciting dirt racing around Florida, the 51st DIRTcar Nationals will commence, Feb. 8-19, featuring the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, All Star Circuit of Champions, DIRTcar Late Models, World of Outlaws Late Models and the Super DIRTcar Series.

“Dirt racing in Florida is going to be bigger and better than ever at the start of 2022,” said Brian Carter, World of Outlaws and DIRTcar CEO. “Demonstrating our commitment to our fans and drivers, we’ve coordinated with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series so there is no overlap of events, allowing fans to enjoy the best Late Model drivers in the world battle throughout Florida on a weekly basis from January to February.

“Then, that will lead into the always action-packed DIRTcar Nationals at the beginning of February where the best sprint car, late model, modified and big-block drivers will compete for the must-have golden gator trophies.”

ZURICH -- Latvia was picked to stage the men's world championship alone by the International Ice Hockey Federation on Tuesday after Belarus was removed as co-host last month amid political turmoil there.

The tournament in May will be played at two venues in Riga, with all 16 teams staying in the same hotel.

"With teams housed in one location and the Arena Riga and Olympic Sports Centre competition venues located approximately 150 meters away from each other, the IIHF would be able to implement a bubble concept if needed," the governing body said.

If Latvia can manage the coronavirus pandemic, the IIHF said it could begin offering tickets "within three days' notice of government approval to host fans in the venues."

Belarus and Latvia were selected as co-hosts in 2017.

The IIHF pulled the tournament from Belarus in mid-January, citing security concerns related to protests against President Alexander Lukashenko's disputed reelection last year and the former Soviet nation's management of the pandemic.

Opposition leaders called for the tournament to be moved, saying it would amount to a propaganda coup for Lukashenko, who often takes part in exhibition games. Prominent IIHF sponsors said they would not back the tournament unless a new host was found.

Moving the tournament puts financial strain on the IIHF, which wasn't able to host men's or women's world championships last year because of the pandemic.

Besides what IIHF president Rene Fasel has described as contractual compensation payments to Belarus, there are likely to be extra costs for preparing a second arena in Riga.

Besides Latvia, Bratislava in Slovakia and Herning in Denmark offered their services to host part or all of the 16-team championship. It will be the biggest gauge of national teams' strength ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing opening next February.

Belarus previously hosted the worlds in 2014.

The NHL has postponed Tuesday night's game between the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders because of travel and weather-related concerns linked to coronavirus protocols.

The snowstorm that hit the East Coast postponed the Sabres' flight until game day, which altered COVID-19 testing and contact tracing and led to the postponement.

The Sabres played two games this past weekend against the New Jersey Devils, who were shut down through at least Saturday with 10 players on the league's COVID-19 protocols list.

Jack Hughes was the 57th player in NHL history to be selected first overall in his draft year. Many of them made an immediate impact on their teams. Some, like Jack Hughes, did not.

Hughes lugged the baggage of expectations into his rookie season and was crushed under the weight of them. He had seven goals, 14 assists and skated to a minus-26 in his 61 games played in the 2019-20 season. It was the lowest points-per-game average for a first overall pick in more than 20 years.

"He felt like everyone was just looking at him and waiting for him to do everything. He had a hard time getting going," Martin Brodeur, the Devils executive VP of hockey operations, told ESPN.

In fairness to Hughes, his rookie season was, to put it kindly, tumultuous. His first coach, John Hynes, was fired two months into the season. The general manager who drafted him, Ray Shero, was fired a month after that. In between, the team's star player Taylor Hall was traded to the Arizona Coyotes before he could walk away as a free agent. The Devils finished the truncated season with 68 points; despite the NHL expanding the postseason to 24 teams in its summer bubble restart, New Jersey's season was over on March 12.

It was a lot for any player to handle, let alone an 18-year-old rookie.

"And he was definitely a young 18," said Brodeur with a laugh.

Hughes didn't earn a single vote for the Calder Trophy. An additional thorn in his pride: Jack's brother, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, finished second in the rookie of the year race.

In a forgettable rookie season for a first-year player with such heavy hype, Hughes felt a lot of emotions. But embarrassment wasn't one of them.

"If someone five years ago told me that I could play in the NHL by the time I was 18, that's pretty damn good, you know? I was proud to be the youngest guy in the NHL. It was a huge honor," he told ESPN. "Last year didn't go the way I wanted it, but if you asked me if I could have done that or go to school or done something else, I would have picked that 100 times over.

"Look, you come into the league, you're expected to perform. It obviously was good motivation for me to work on my game and become a different player."

It's undeniable that at the start of his second season, Jack Hughes looks like a different player.

The USGA and R&A announced Tuesday how they plan to address curbing the distance boom at the highest level.

Nearly a year to the day after they released their Distance Insights Project and stated – officially – that the ever-increasing length is “detrimental” to the game, the governing bodies outlined three proposed changes to equipment rules and testing standards, as well as six other “areas of interest” that would result in shorter hitting distances.

The three proposed changes to manufacturers: A limit on the maximum driver shaft length (from 48 to 46 inches) and tweaks to how drivers (spring-like effect) and golf balls (revised conditions) are tested for distance. The shaft length proposal has a 30-day review period, ending March 4, while the feedback period for the ball and driver will extend for six months, until early August.

In the proposal, a specific committee could choose to limit the maximum driver length through a “model local rule.” That change, according to the release, is “recommended for use only in competitions limited to highly skilled players (that is, professional and elite amateur competitions).”

Also included were six specific “areas of interest” that cover every aspect from shorter golf balls to small, less forgiving and less-springy drivers. Though not a formal proposal, these are targeted research topics that are exploring: a reduction in the limit to the overall distance standard; modification in the limitation of ball efficiency; other ball specifications (size, mass); reduction in the performance of drivers, including club length and clubhead dimensions (i.e. volume); changes in the clubhead specifications on spring-like effect and moment of inertia, also considering the utilization of radius of gyration limitations; and production of spin from all clubs from all areas of the course.

“We will also evaluate the potential use of a local rule option to specify use of a defined subset of conforming clubs and/or balls intended to result in shorter hitting distances and/or an enhancement in the balance between distance and other skills,” the release read. “The concept is that a committee or golf facility would have the option of requiring the use of equipment meeting these specifications or a subset of them.”

The USGA and R&A said it would accept feedback on these areas of interest until Nov. 2.

There is no specific timeline for when any of these proposed changes, if adopted, would be implemented. Manufacturers were briefed on the three proposed changes on Monday.

Joohyung “Tom” Kim didn’t make it through this week’s Monday qualifier for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but he arguably helped provide the most lighthearted moment from Monday’s action.

Luckily for everyone, especially dog lovers, the moment was caught on video thanks to Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1).

During his round at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale, the 18-year-old Korean phenom hit his shot onto a bridge and was awaiting a ruling when a woman walking two dogs started coming toward Kim and his ball on the cart path.

“He’ll eat it, he’ll take it!” the woman warned Kim, who could be seen hovering over his ball to protect it from the dogs.

In perhaps the best moment from the exchange, once the woman and her dogs cleared the bridge, she said back to Kim, “He would’ve ran up and put it in the hole for ya!”

Kim could’ve used the help. Despite being among the highest-ranked players in the stacked field, at No. 164 in the world, Kim shot 2-under 70 to miss by five shots.

If an equipment rollback is coming to professional golf, Webb Simpson won’t be welcoming it with open arms.

Just hours after golf’s governing bodies announced their plan for curbing the distance boom at golf’s highest levels, one of the PGA Tour’s shorter hitters spoke out against proposals by the USGA and R&A to combat ever-increasing length, which included local rules to reduce the maximum length of driver shafts, as well as ideas for setting limits on golf clubs and balls.

“I've been kind of saying for the last few years, I don't think equipment is the problem. I just think the issue comes down to golf course architecture,” Simpson said Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he is the defending champion.

“I don't think an equipment rollback is what we need. … I think we need to tweak our golf courses.”

Simpson, who currently averages 292.8 yards off the tee and ranks T-141 on Tour in driving distance, went on to explain his reasoning, adding that lengthening golf courses is not the solution but rather changing the way they are designed and set up. Simpson called for more doglegs, more bunkers, tighter fairways, thicker rough, smaller greens and firmer greens, among other things.

Some specific examples by Simpson:

• Augusta National’s 13^th hole: “We don't need that tee 40 yards back. What they need is a mid-sized tree 20 yards in front of the tee box and 5 feet left of the tee box because the issue right now is guys can tee it up on the right and they can even cut it, some of these guys, over the tree. Well, if you put a tree there, guys can't do that.”

• Winged Foot’s fourth hole: “It's a dogleg-left par-4, but there's a tree there with branches so the bombers can't hit their cut over that bunker, so a lot of the bombers just hit 3-wood.”

• Quail Hollow’s 10^th hole: “The bunker is 300 yards to carry it. Well, if you can carry it 300 yards … fairway is roughly twice the size of a guy who can't carry it 300. My idea was, hey, flip the bunker, just flip it, and now the amateurs, they have a wider fairway. Shorter hitters have a wider fairway. The bombers can still hit driver, but now it's 330 to carry; nobody is carrying that bunker.”

“Now, the driver, the face is a lot thinner. They're bigger. I understand that,” Simpson added. “But I don't think an equipment rollback does anybody any good when we can change the way golf courses are designed and it's better for amateurs, it's better for pros, and there are plenty of golf courses on the PGA Tour that have stood the test of time because of the way they're designed.”

Last February, the USGA and R&A released their Distance Insights Report in which they determined, using more than 100 years of data, that “there is a 100-year trend of hitting distance increases in golf, as well as a corresponding increase in the length of golf courses, across the game globally” and they “believe this continuing cycle is detrimental to the game’s long-term future.”

In that same report, USGA CEO Mike Davis added: “These increases have had a profound impact on costs to build, modify and operate golf courses and they have impacted golfers at all levels.”

Simpson seemed to disagree that exorbitant length came at a negative cost, at least as far as the Tour's entertainment value is concerned.

“I love the fact that bombers sell tickets, and I think they do,” Simpson said. “Little kids don't want to come watch me hit a driver off the tee, they want to see Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, and I think that's good for the game as long as these courses can kind of go along with that, with the distance changes.”

Neymar has agreed a four-year contract extension with Paris Saint-Germain after negotiations started a few months ago, sources have told ESPN.

The Brazil international's contract was due to expire in June 2022, and his new deal will keep him in the French capital until 2026. PSG made Neymar's extension a priority and the player was very keen to remain longer at the Parc des Princes.

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"I want to stay" Neymar said on Sunday in an interview on French television. Leonardo, PSG's sporting director, whose relationship with Neymar Jr. and his father has improved in the last year, was instrumental in the negotiations and the agreement found.

Leonardo wants to achieve the same result with Kylian Mbappe who is also out of contract in 18 months. However, so far, the France international has not decided what he wanted to do, extend or leave.

Neymar, who turns 29 on Friday, is delighted to continue his career in Paris and could sign very soon his new contract. Ideally, the club would like it all done before the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Barcelona on February 15.

Since arriving at the Parc des Princes in August 201 on a world-record €222 million deal from Barcelona, Neymar has won three Ligue 1 titles, to go with two Coupes de France, two Coupes de la Ligue and two Trophees des Champions.

He also finished Champions League runner-up last season, losing to Bayern Munich in Lisbon (1-0).

He reached the 100 games milestone for the club last week, before the defeat at Lorient on Sunday where he scored two goals.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite believes improving from their 2018 Test series loss in Bangladesh is their biggest motivation going into the two-Test series starting Wednesday in Chattogram.

Back then, West Indies couldn't go past three days in either of the two Tests, losing the first by 64 runs and the second by an innings and 184 runs, the biggest win in Bangladesh's Test history.

Bangladesh's four-pronged spin attack took all forty West Indies wickets, with offspinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz snapping up 15 of those, at an average of 14.06. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam took ten wickets, Shakib nine and offspinner Nayeem Hasan took six wickets in his maiden Test series. Shakib especially has had the wood over the West Indies since 2009, with his 46 wickets and seven half-centuries.

Brathwaite, who is leading the team in Jason Holder's absence believes positivity is key against bowlers who've had the wood over them in the past.

"We lost the series here last time, which is the motivation for us," Brathwaite said. "I played against these (bowlers) before but some of the guys haven't (played them). We have seen footage and from a batsman's point of view, we have our plans in place. We have to be positive, by rotating the strike, looking to be aggressive.

"They are quality bowlers, but I think we have the skills to come out on top and get big runs. I am backing the batters. The guys have put in some work, and we all look forward to the challenge. Our bowlers have been doing a good job in the last year and a half, or two years. It is crucial for us to put runs on the board, I think that'll be key for this West Indies team."

Brathwaite, who is the most experienced cricketer in this squad, said that his opening stand with John Campbell has to lay the foundation for big scores. He said that he will continue to bat in his own way, and try to take away much of the pressure early on.

"I think it is key for openers to put on a good partnership, especially here in Bangladesh," he said. "Big opening partnerships can basically make it easier for guys to come. It would put us in a good position. John is batting well. I really enjoying batting with him. Nothing ever changes for me as an opening batsman. Every time I go to bat, I obviously look to do well. I won't say that it is added pressure. I try to soak up a lot of the pressure as an opener."

Brathwaite said that he is also relying on the likes of Jermaine Blackwood and Rakheem Cornwall to give him important contributions with bat and ball respectively. "I am 100 per cent confident of each and every guy who plays," he said. "We have the experience of Jermaine Blackwood who has the experience of 30-odd games. But I look forward to seeing all the top-order batsmen to do well.

"Rakheem (Cornwall) did a very good job in the practice game. He created a lot of pressure by bowling dot balls. I think he will do well in this series. He is a quality offspinner. We have to support him in the field, but that's for every bowler not only Rakheem."

Despite so much talk about spin being the most important factor on the pitches in Chattogram and Dhaka, West Indies could still play three fast bowlers. Brathwaite said that if the fast bowlers can bowl on the stumps, the low bounce could help them.

"I still think they will have the role as before. We have some guys with extra pace so I think with the low bounce and correct fields, the pacers have to apply pressure as well. The ball may spin looking at the surface, but I still think pacers can be the attacking option with the ball possibly keeping low."

It's official now. Crowds up to 50% capacity of the MA Chidambaram Stadium will be allowed for the second India-England Test in Chennai, as reported by ESPNcricnfo on Monday.

The BCCI had informally given a nod to TNCA on Monday, and the clearance was then subject to the approval of the Tamil Nadu government, which has been received. The first Test will be played behind closed doors, as originally planned. This was confirmed via a press note from RS Ramaswamy, the TNCA secretary.

The move to allow crowds signals a change in course from the BCCI and the TNCA, who had recently informed its members that the MA Chidambaram Stadium would not allow crowds for the two Tests. But the decision comes in the wake of the Indian government revising its guidelines pertaining to spectators at outdoor sports in the country last weekend.

"For outdoor sports events spectators will be allowed to full seating capacity," the Indian ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports said in a circular updated on January 29. The circular, titled 'Standard Operating Procedures for opening up of Stadia for sports events', revised the ministry's previous guidelines issued on December 26 which had stated spectators can be allowed at 50% capacity for outdoor sports.

In another development, the I, J and K stands, which have been locked to spectators for over nine years due to issues between TNCA and the local municipality, will also be thrown open to the public, with necessary clearances obtained by the TNCA.

It is understood that media personnel will be allowed at the stadium starting from the first Test, which is another change in flavour for Indian cricket, whose seven venues in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy had neither spectators, nor media personnel.

Tamil Nadu is currently seeing a decline in active Covid-19 cases, and life in Chennai has slowly crawled back towards normalcy in recent months, with movie theatres allowing up to a 50% capacity indoors.