25 h. ago How 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' seeded a music nonprofit supporting the songwriters of tomorrow

“Take Me out to the Ball Game” is more than just a song sung every summer in baseball stadiums around the United States

Culture

4 d. ago Audacious Banton turns tables on West Indies to seal series for England

Second T20I: WI 196-6, Eng 199-6; England won by 4 wktsRight-hander dominant in the middle with Jacob BethellThe drought continues for the West Indies men. A total of 196 looked serious enough to end a sequence of nine consecutive away defeats against England, a run going back to the bio-bubble Test series of 2020. With the hosts requiring 71 off 39 balls, Jos Buttler and Harry Brook gone, the game looked up. Then came Tom Banton, a first-ball six and a change of tune, the final summary a four-wicket victory to secure an unassailable 2-0 lead in the Twenty20 international series.The Somerset right-hander is usually a top-order man but was dominant in the middle alongside Jacob Bethell as the pair put on 43 off just 15. Banton pummelled Gudakesh Motie’s left-arm spin while Bethell struck Alzarri Joseph for three monstrous sixes. The left-hander’s failed ramp on 26 mattered little as Banton remained, his own audacity including a reverse-flick for four off Jason Holder. He finished on ...

Events

7 d. ago Lambda Legal, a nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ rights, exceeded fundraising goal by $105M

The legal aid group Lambda Legal has raised $285 million at a time when attacks on the rights of gay, intersex and transgender people have again intensified

Economics

2 w. ago Aston Villa’s Champions League miss wasn’t just about one bad call | Jonathan Wilson

Unai Emery’s team will have to make do with the Europa League next season but they were culpable for many of the steps that led them thereSign up for Soccer with Jonathan Wilson hereA season reduced to a single moment – in Aston Villa’s case, perhaps even more than a season. The Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir slid out to gather the ball. He fumbled, slightly, allowing Morgan Rogers to poke the ball away from him. The referee Thomas Bramall thought Bayindir had had the ball under control and blew for a free-kick just before Rogers knocked the ball into the empty net. Replays showed decisively that Bayindir never had the ball under control. But because Bramall had stopped the game before Rogers put the ball over the line, the goal could not be given by the video assistant referee.Three minutes later, Amad Diallo put United ahead, his team went on to win, and Villa finished sixth in the Premier League, meaning they are out of next season’s Champions League. Given how close...

Sport

2 w. ago Sean Williams seizes rare Test chance as Zimbabwe show love and pride in defeat | Andy Bull

Veteran’s 88 was full of crisp cuts, punishing pulls and swingeing sweeps – delighting the visitors’ dancing, singing and chanting fansOn 11 June 1890 a column of three hundred colonialists crossed the Shashe River to begin the annexation of Mashonaland on behalf of Cecil Rhodes’ British South Africa Company. They brought cattle, horses and wagons, rifles, revolvers and field guns, a searchlight, a steam engine, tents, food and water. Each man carried a slouch hat, a spare shirt and pair of socks, a water bottle, a sewing kit, a belt, a bandolier, a hundred rounds of ammunition and a hand axe. And, of course, this being a very English endeavour, in among it all someone packed a bat and ball.So the first game of cricket in what would become Zimbabwe was played just over a month later, on 16 August, between the Pioneer Column’s A Troop and B and C Troops, on a patch of land at Providential Pass at what would become Fort Victoria. Nobody knows who won. “Probably A Troop,” wrote one of ...

Politics

3 w. ago Colorado Rockies fan sues team after foul ball struck his eye

Timothy Roeckel says he suffered "catastrophic and permanent injuries" to his face and eye after getting hit by a foul ball at a Colorado Rockies game in 2023.

Politics

3 w. ago Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow joins Mumbai Indians for IPL play

The 35-year-old replaces Will Jacks, who will leave after the final league game to join up with England for the white-ball series against West Indies.

Politics