College football:
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is planning to invite former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to be honorary captains at a Wolverines home game this fall. Harbaugh had a number of famous honorary captains last year, including Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Hank Aaron.
Host nation Russia (ranked No. 63) beat 95th-ranked New Zealand 2-0 to open the Confederations Cup with a win that was all but demanded by Vladimir Putin. Russia’s president was in the $750 million new stadium in his native St. Petersburg to see forward Fyodor Smolov’s 69th-minute goal add to an own goal by New Zealand defender Michael Boxall in the 31st. Putin this week demanded better results from the Russia team and for the players to perform like warriors. They hardly needed to be in dispatching New Zealand.
Soccer:
In HAMILTON, BERMUDA — light, shifty winds on the Great Sound, Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand made fewer mistakes than Jimmy Spithill and Oracle Team USA and won the first two races of the 35th America’s Cup.
It wasn’t the cleanest start to sailing’s biggest regatta, leaving more questions than answers as the teams returned to their bases to plan their strategies.
Although they won twice, by 30 seconds and 1 minute, 28 seconds, the Kiwis lead just 1-0. Oracle earned a bonus point for winning the qualifiers, but it was actually a negative point for the Kiwis, so the first-race win merely erased that. That means they need to win eight races total to spirit the Auld Mug back to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, where it resided from 1995 until 2003. Oracle needs to win seven to keep the silver trophy in the hands of American software billionaire Larry Ellison.
“We’re under no illusions,” said Burling, 26. “All the people in the shed back at the base are already going over the boat and trying to get little bits of speed to start throwing at these guys.”
The 2013 America’s Cup