Ian MacNicol / Getty Images

The first day of the Co. Limerick Coursing Club J.P. McManus Irish Cup, an annual meeting where greyhounds course hares with a €80 first prize at stake on Limerick Racecourse at Greenmount, Patrickswell, on Feb. 22, in Limerick, Ireland.

While I am certainly happy that these athletic greyhounds are muzzled up, it does strike me as somewhat vicious to make a poor hare run for its life while its pursuers are taunted with a feast that they will never get. The hare ends up terrified and the greyhounds hungry.  That said, the animals don’t get hurt and it looks like they are having a good time getting the exercise.

Ian MacNicol / Getty Images

Ian MacNicol / Getty Images

Ian MacNicol / Getty Images

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

A man jumps during the 'Nostalgic Ski Race' in the town of Neuastenberg, Germany.

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

Vintage skis and sticks.

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

Reuters photographer Ina Fassbender describes the scene at the 'Nostalgic Ski Race' in the German town of Neuastenberg:

I saw the first competitor arriving, a man dressed in an old-fashioned manner, with wooden skis and bamboo sticks in his hands. He wore some kind of fur on his back, looking like a poacher. He was joined by women with long black skirts, a boy with an old leather satchel, teenage girls in Bavarian leather trousers, young and old, men and women, about 40 competitors altogether.

The short and not too steep racing track was like a small island, surrounded by the modern ski community. Everybody was wondering where all these strange people came from. It was a jubilee race, marking 300 years since the foundation of the small city of Neuastenberg. Most of the competitors knew each other. The youngest participant was a 7-year-old girl and the eldest was about 65 years old.

Read more at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

Editor's note: Pictures taken on Feb. 17, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

A man checks his son's skis before the race.

Ina Fassbender / Reuters

The 'Nostalgic Ski Race' is held every two years with about 40 participants and is organized by the ski club of Neuastenberg, a town which was founded in 1713.

Related content: 
PhotoBlog: We're gonna golf like it's 1935! The World Hickory Open tees off in Scotland

Ross D. Franklin / AP

Tournament volunteers walk along the golf course after a snow storm suspended play for the day during the Match Play Championship golf tournament, on Feb. 20, in Marana, Ariz. Play was suspended for the day.

Ted S. Warren / AP

Snow covers a cholla cactus during a snow storm at the Match Play Championship golf tournament, on Feb. 20, in Marana, Ariz. Play was suspended for the day.

By Mark Lamport-Stokes, Reuters

 Dove Mountain looked more like a winter wonderland than a golfing venue after driving snow forced play to be abandoned in the opening round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship on Wednesday.

Just over three-and-a-half hours of golf was possible on a bitterly cold and breezy morning before rain, sleet and then snow led to matches being suspended at the elite World Golf Championships (WGC) event.

Ice formed on the greens and, with further snow showers forecast for the rest of the day in Arizona's high desert, officials called off play for the day after waiting a couple of hours to re-evaluate conditions.

Almost two inches of snow covered the entire course, driving range and practice putting green at Dove Mountain's Ritz-Carlton Golf Club after all but 10 matches had started with none finishing.

"Once we got two inches of snow, even if it melted in the next hour or so, it would still take another hour-and-a-half ... to let the golf course drain where we could play," Mark Russell, the PGA Tour's vice president of rules and competition, said.

Continue reading.

Ross D. Franklin / AP

A spectator walks past a snowman made on a fairway after the first round of the Match Play Championship golf tournament was suspended due to snow Wednesday, Feb. 20, in Marana, Ariz.

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Michael Dalder / Reuters

Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I dives during a match at the Underwater ice hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 17.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Thomas Jurkschat and Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I concentrate on the surface before a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 16.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Team Germany I plays Austria II during a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 17.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I breathes on the surface during a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Equipment is prepared before a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria.

Underwater ice hockey is played upside-down underneath the ice of frozen lakes with a floating puck by teams of two divers in wet suits and flippers. Reuters photographer Michael Dalder made these unique pictures on assignment covering the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in Austria.

Dalder, also a diver, wrote about his adventures in Reuters' Photographers Blog:

I’ve been diving for almost 15 years, but due to family matters it has fallen off my list lately. So a new picture assignment at Lake Weissensee in mid-February 2013 just came right to my diver’s heart: The Underwater Ice hockey Championships.

Ice diving is, together with cave diving, considered to be the most dangerous diving discipline. For that reason I listened to the security briefing attentively. Continue reading.

Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, gets out of her car after qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 17 in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Patrick went out eighth in the qualifying session Sunday and covered the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway in 45.817 seconds, averaging 196.434 mph.
 

She waited about two hours as 37 fellow drivers tried to take her spot. Only four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon even came close to knocking her off.

-- By Mark Long, Associated Press

Read the full story.

Jonathan Ferrey / Getty Images

Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 16.

David J. Phillip / AP

Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward catches a ball during a spring training workout on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, in Kissimmee, Fla.

Steve Nesius / Reuters

New York Yankees pitchers run during a workout at the team's spring training complex at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, Feb. 15.

A blue, undefinable sadness settles into me every February. I can almost feel it like an ache deep in my bones. It has a lot to do with the weather. The warm days of last summer are a distant memory, and even the good spirits of the holidays are starting to fade.

However, then the pictures from the first week of spring training come along, I’m reminded that soon a day will come when I’ll be able to sit in the sunshine, with a bag of sunflower seeds clutched in one hand and a cold drink in the other, as I cheer for our team when the players run onto the field.

That thought is all I need to get me to spring.

From SpringTrainingOnline.com:

Spring training is almost as old as baseball itself. The best evidence points to spring training first taking place in 1870, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings and the Chicago White Stockings held organized baseball camps in New Orleans. Other baseball historians argue that the Washington Capitals of the National League pioneered spring training in 1888, holding a four-day camp in Jacksonville, Fl.

By 1900, spring-training was firmly established as a baseball ritual, with most American and National League teams heading out of town so players could train and managers could evaluate. Small Florida and Arizona communities were suddenly known across the nation because of the allure provided by major-league baseball.

Fred Thornhill / Reuters

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey does push-ups as catcher Josh Thole offers encouragement at the team's spring training facility in Dunedin, Fla., on Thursday, Feb. 14.

Chris O'Meara / AP

Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell hits a ball to the infield during a workout on Friday, Feb. 15 in Fort Myers, Fla.

David J. Phillip / AP

Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward signs autographs for fans before a workout on Friday, Feb. 15, in Kissimmee, Fla.

Chris O'Meara / AP

Minnesota Twins pitching coach Ron Anderson watches as Glen Perkins throws during a spring training workout on Friday, Feb. 15 in Fort Myers, Fla.

See more MLB coverage at NBCSports.com

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Stefan Postles / Getty Images

Karrie Webb of Australia waits for a mob of kangaroos to clear the fairway during day one of the Women's Australian Open at Royal Canberra Golf Club on Thursday, Feb. 14 in Canberra, Australia. 

Kangaroos are not the only creatures troubling golfers in Canberra this week. According to The Associated Press, Swedish golfer Daniela Holmqvist used a tee to extract potentially fatal venom from her ankle after she was bitten by a spider during her qualifying round for the LPGA Tour's season-opening tournament.

Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images

A skier sets off from the peak of Mount Aigba in the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, around 31 miles from Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, on Feb. 13.

Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

A brand new gondola system extends above the clouds on the plateau of Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics near Sochi on Feb. 13.

Leon Neal / AFP - Getty Images

A skier sets off from the peak of Mount Aigba in the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, around 31 miles from Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi, on Feb. 13.

With a year to go until the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, construction work continues as tests events and World Championship competitions are underway in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

There is nothing to suggest any concern over readiness. Construction will be completed by August 2013 according to organizers. The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opens on February 7, 2014.

-- Agence France-Presse, Reuters

Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters

Two free skiers plan their route down from top of the mountain at the plateau of Rosa Khutor, a venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics near Sochi on Feb. 13.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Homes razed to make way for Russia's Olympics showcase
• World class wipeout at World Cup downhill event sends skier tumbling
• Men fish near Black Sea resort of Sochi

Slideshow: Sochi 2014

Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images

The Winter Olympics arrive in Sochi on Feb. 7, 2014. A look at how the Russian city is shaping up for its moment in the spotlight.

Launch slideshow

Nir Elias / Reuters

Fans of Beitar Jerusalem shout slogans during a soccer match against Bnei Sakhnin on Sunday amid controversy over Beitar's signing of two Muslim players.

The Beitar Jerusalem club has long been known for its fans' racist chants, but the situation escalated dramatically last month after the team signed Zaur Sadayev and Gabriel Kadiev, two Muslim players from Chechnya.

The most outspoken wave of hate comes from a hardcore section of supporters – known as La Familia -- who see themselves as Beitar’s real owners.

“Death to the Arabs,” they yell during matches. “Beitar, pure forever,” they declare.

Rocks have been thrown at players and, during a recent practice, a fan ran onto the soccer field and tried to attack one of the new Muslim players.

Nir Elias / Reuters

Beitar Jerusalem's new player Gabriel Kadiev, a Muslim player from Chechnya, (right) is seen in action during the game.

The most shocking incident happened on Feb. 8 when the 76-year-old Beitar clubhouse -- home to the club’s trophies -- was burned to the ground. Extremist fans are suspected.

After this, team management and the government decided to take a hard line.

“The police are taking this very seriously,” Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said.  “People who would burn an office are not fans, they are dangerous criminals.”

Abir Sutan / EPA

Meir Harush, one of the board members of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team, looks over the damage after a fire destroyed the club's history room on Feb. 8. Right-wing extremist fans opposed to a decision by the club owner to sign two Muslim Chechen players are thought to have been responsible.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Burned soccer club trophies won by Beitar Jerusalem are seen after the fire.

Beitar chairman Itzik Kornfein pledged to hold firm too, according to Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot.

“We took an important step and we’re moving forward. In the end, all the fans will understand that this is a done deal and there’s no turning back,” he said, referring to the signing of the Muslim players.

“No turning back” took the form of 400 police officers and 200 private security guards sent to secure a Feb. 10 game between Beitar and the Arab-Israeli club Bnei Sakhnin.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Players Zaur Sadayev, center, and Gabriel Kadiev, background, seen after a press conference, have been subjected to abuse from their own fans.

Despite the security, some Beitar fans hurled abuse about Sadayev and Kadiev as well as the Arab team.

When Kadiev entered the game in the 79th minute, fans from La Familia cursed and booed him, but thousands of other supporters cheered him.

Abir Sultan / EPA

An Israeli fan of Beitar Jerusalem soccer team wearing an Israel flag during the game Sunday.

On the other side, fans from Bnei Sakhnin whistled during the Israeli national anthem.

Two Israeli and three Arab fans were arrested and are awaiting indictment for violent actions during the game.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Muslim supporters of the Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin football team cheer after their team scores in Sunday's game.

Bernat Armangue / AP

Israeli security forces detain Bnei Sakhnin supporters during a game against Beitar Jerusalem on Sunday.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Israeli border police stand guard during the game Sunday.

Mike Segar / Reuters

Handler Ernesto Lara holds up Banana Joe, an Affenpinscher, who won the Best in Show at the 137th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York, February 12, 2013.  Read the full story.

Ints Kalnins / Reuters

Participants run between saunas during the European Sauna Marathon in Otepaa, Estonia, on Feb. 10, 2013.

Raigo Pajula / AFP - Getty Images

People take part in the European Sauna Marathon on Feb. 10, 2013.

Published at 11:54 a.m. ET: Around 600 participants in 150 teams took part in the European Sauna Marathon in Estonia on Monday. The aim of the competition is to visit 22 saunas and to jump into nine ice holes in the shortest possible time.

-- Agence France-Presse, Reuters

Ints Kalnins / Reuters

A man leaves a sauna during the European Sauna Marathon on Feb. 10, 2013.

Ints Kalnins / Reuters

People run to a sauna during the European Sauna Marathon on Feb. 10, 2013.

Ints Kalnins / Reuters

Participants relax after a sauna bath during the European Sauna Marathon on Feb. 10, 2013.

Bryn Lennon / Getty Images

Cyclists make their way through the Qatar desert on stage four of the Tour of Qatar from Camel Race Track to Al Khor Corniche on Feb. 6, 2013.