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A lot to catch up on . . .
1. Great article on one-back (six man) pass protection.
2. BCS mania: The good Senator has consistently been one of the best voices on this BCS debate, so read up here and here. (And Dr Saturday has an informative response.) I generally agree that the whole thing is much ado about nothing, and a secret part of me wants the "PLAYOFFSSSS!" contingent to win so that they realize the imperfection of what they merely assumed would fix all the sports' ills. Specifically, absent from the debate -- along with an elementary understanding of the economics of college football, or just economics at all (with claims of socialism being thrown around) -- is an understanding of what National Champion is supposed to mean. The BCS does a pretty good job of finding the best overall team in terms of who would probably be favored to win against any other opponent. That excludes teams like Utah, but is a playoff unequivocally the best option? Were the New York Giants better than the New England Patriots two years ago? No, of course not. Maybe there are other benefits, but I don't think "fairness" is one of them. Or, as the Senator notes, if you want to talk about "fairness" in a meaningful way, then you're in the territory of "revenue sharing," which the NFL has to keep parity but is a strange thought when it comes to college sports.
3. Most important stats? Trojan Football Analysis ran some basic regressions on offensive and defensive stats to see which have the highest correlation with winning. Unsurprisingly -- for readers of this blog at least -- passing yards per attempt came out with an R-squared (a measure of correlation, basically) of 0.40, the second highest offensive stat, behind only scoring offense itself. Passing yards per attempt came out higher than yards, rushing per attempt, turnovers, red zone, and others. (But also see this post from the Sabermetric Research blog on the limits of R-squared.)
4. It's good to see that Kansas State fans can have a good laugh at their own expense. (H/t Sporting Blog).
5. The Mike Leach contrarian: T. Kyle King of Dawg Sports opens up two barrels of eloquent assault on Mike Leach. King says he doesn't know anything about the guy personally, but finds Leach's public persona -- particularly his recent comments about NFL coaches and the past two Texas A&M staffs -- "rude," "childish," and "churlish." (Nice.) I can't do the whole post justice (go read it) but a lot of it is based on the question: What in Leach's resume gives him the right to "demean his coaching coevals?" I've already said my bit, though I agree with Kyle that one reason Leach gets so much love from coaches (well, at least ones who aren't the subject of his criticism) and commentators is that he good for such quotes. The only thing I'll add is this: most of Leach's comments have come in the context of him trying to defend his players, though in his case it is special because much of the criticism of the players reflects on him. Most perspicuously, think Graham Harrell not getting drafted -- a "spread" quarterback. Harrell, unlike past Leach quarterbacks like Sonny Cumbie or Cody Hodges, turned down several other fairly big name schools to play for the Dread Pirate, and much of the criticism of Harrell came in the form of questioning what Harrell had been doing under Leach's tutelage. By contrast, guys like Stephen McGee -- who I actually assume that Leach had always respected as a player but probably marveled at how lamely he was used -- were drafted in spite of all coaching.
In other words, I think Leach took the Harrell situation personally in that, to him, the only apparent difference in the minds of NFL scouts between Harrell and McGee was that Harrell had the unfortunate distinction of being coached by Mike Leach to throw for a jillion yards while McGee got no coaching whatsoever, other than how to run some mediocre option. This might not be accurate, but it explains Leach's defensiveness. I also firmly believe that Leach is honest when he said his comments about McGee and A&M was directed at the coaches, not the player. To criticize other coaches for misusing a talented player is fairly brutal, especially considering Leach's consistent success against A&M. Now, I also sympathize with Mike Sherman's confusion about how to deal with barbs from a guy like Leach, but that's the world he's in. (The Mangini Crabtree situation was similar: he rushed to the defense of a player. And again, maybe not in the best of judgment, but not the best judgment for Mike Leach is different than it is for most.)
6. Four-verticals: Cheesehead TV identifies an example of the Green Bay Packers running the four-verticals concept from a five-wide set. (For another example of four-verts, check out this post.) See the clip on the NFL website here.
7. Try this at home: Speaking of video, I loved this old video of Bobby Bowden explaining the "Puntrooskie." People forget that Bowden, with the help of some good Florida talent, completely resuscitated that program and was himself a mastermind of the one-back three-wide pass attack Florida State rode to preeminence. In his way, Bowden was one of the first to go "spread," though it was a Sid Gillman, pro-style attack. (H/t EDSBS.)
8. Malzahnitude: The Joe Cribbs Car Wash combines two things I generally enjoy but am not universally enamored with: Gus Malzahn (new OC at Auburn) and Malcolm Gladwell. It's worth the read. One brief thought on Malzahn, however. Gus's big thing is that he believes in tempo. Of course, he hasn't really had a chance to go breakneck speed yet at Auburn (at least by the reports of those who have seen both Tulsa, his former stop, and Auburn practice), though the offense is apparently looking much better already. Ironically, he's improved -- over both Tuberville's prior offense and the Tuberville Franklin mash-up -- by just bringing some sound, simple schemes. Sure he has a lot of window dressing, but that offense had just gotten bad. Yet, at least in year one I'll be surprised if he works miracles.
What they did at Tulsa was wonderful, but Herb Hand -- who brought the zone blocking aspect of the running game to go with Malzahn's pace and power game schemes -- was an integral part of the Tulsa attack: they were co-offensive coordinators for a reason. And though Malzahn seems reasonably committed to the running the ball, he was always a pass first guy, so we'll just have to see how that flies without a true quarterback. And the X factor is Chizik, the head coach. Even if Malzahn's offense is good, there are few defensive minded guys who appreciate a three-and-out (which can happen to any offense) that takes about eight seconds to occur. How long is his leash? Time will tell. | http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/2009/05/assorted-links-and-notes.html?showComment=1242044640000 | 1,535 |
Your daily feed of football news. Aggregating the best soccer blogs.
Liverpool are committing a grave injustice denying Rafa Benitez an interview
1 view • posted
Will he be back? Many LFC fans are hoping so.
Frank De Boer is the latest to turn down the Liverpool job. So did Brendan Rogers who is going
slow with his coaching ambitions. Juergen Klopp on the short list has indicated his future is with
Borussia Dortmund. Similarly, Didier Deschamps finds no reason to leave Marseilles. | http://soccerblogs.net/blog/post/644905/liverpool-are-committing-a-grave-injustice-denying-rafa-benitez-an-interview | 113 |
What is Socqer?
Socqer is an exciting, new way to share your passion for the world's greatest game by asking and answering football questions. It's also a community, a place for football fans to get answers, follow questions, topics and contributors and build a profile. Becoming a user is free and takes seconds. Simply select a user name, fill in your email address or join via your facebook or twitter account. Sign up today and enjoy the web's most passionate football community.
Click on Ask Question to open the submissions page. Complete your question using 160 characters or less then add a more detailed description if you like. You can tag the question so that it is recorded in the right topic categories. You can even create a poll in which other socqer users and visitors can participate.
Answering a question is easy. Just start writing in the box provided. To enhance your answer even further add an image or embed a YouTube video. When you are done simply hit the 'post' button. If you spot an error, don't worry, you can edit and update your answer at any time.
Interacting with other users couldn't be easier. You can vote their answers a 'score' or a 'miss'. You can also add comments to answers. To create your own, personalised 'feed' of socqer activity, you can follow individual users, topics and questions. You can also send direct messages. The more you interact, the more you'll enjoy the unique experience of being part of the socqer community.
You earn two socqer points each time you ask or answer a question. You also get two points if someone votes your answer a 'score' but lose one point if it is voted a 'miss'. See how you fare against other socqer users by looking at the socqer top scorer league tables. | http://socqer.com/questions/topic_view/14/world-cup/ | 384 |
Girls Basketball Player of the Week: Revi McMahon, of Stagg
February 11, 2013 7:26PM
Revi McMahon, of Stagg
Updated: March 13, 2013 6:20AM
Revi McMahon, of Stagg, is this week’s Beggars Pizza/SouthtownStar Girls Basketball Player of the Week.
McMahon, a senior guard, had 14 points, five assists and two steals as the Chargers beat Bradley, then had a game-high 25 points in leading Stagg a win over Lincoln-Way North and the SouthWest Suburban Conference Red Division title.
Coaches wishing to nominate Player of the Week candidates can do so by contacting Tony Baranek at [email protected] or (708) 633-5947 by 11 a.m. Monday. | http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/sports/18160977-419/girls-basketball-player-of-the-week-revi-mcmahon-of-stagg.html | 174 |
Vikings’ Peterson sees opportunity vs. Bears
By Andrew Seligman The Associated Press October 14, 2011 8:36PM
Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson is eyeing another big game against Charles Tillman and the Bears. | Tom Cruze~Sun-Times Media
Updated: November 17, 2011 8:58AM
For one brief moment, it was 2007 all over again in Adrian Peterson’s mind.
The Minnesota Vikings’ star couldn’t help but think about his own spectacular performance against the Bears when he saw Detroit’s Jahvid Best go 88 yards untouched to the end zone on Monday night.
The big run brought a big flashback. Now, Peterson is wondering if a replay is in order.
Peterson will try to create more havoc against a defense that is giving up big plays at an alarming rate when the Vikings (1-4) visit the Bears (2-3) on Sunday night. If he does, it won’t be the first time he ran wild at Soldier Field.
Four years ago, Peterson blew through Chicago like a winter wind gust and was a one-man highlight reel in just his fifth game as a pro, running for a club-record 224 yards while leading Minnesota to a three-point win. Three weeks later, he set the NFL mark with 296 yards against San Diego, but his total against the Bears still stands as an all-time high for an opponent.
When he saw Best break off that big run during the Lions’ 24-13 victory over the Bears, he had a flashback.
“It was a feeling of, ‘Hey, if the guys are willing, we’re going to be able to take advantage and get something like that out of ’em also this Sunday night,’ ” he said. “We’ll see how things pan out.”
So far, things aren’t panning out well — for either team.
Detroit and Green Bay, the last two unbeaten teams at 5-0, are threatening to make it a two-way race in the NFC North after the Bears won the division last season.
If the Bears or Vikings are going to make a move, they’d better start now.
“They just don’t hand out championships this early in the season,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said. “It’s as simple as that. Five wins won’t get you anywhere.”
He was quick to point out the Bears turned their season around a year ago just when it looked like they were basically finished. The Bears went on a run that catapulted them all the way to the NFC championship game.
What’s happening so far is in many ways eerily familiar.
The Bears’ play-calling at times has been heavily skewed toward the pass. The offensive line is a mess. And Jay Cutler continues to be harassed every time he drops back.
He was dodging the onslaught against the Lions all night, sidestepping the rush and still throwing for 249 yards. He was sacked only three times, but it easily could have been more.
As it is, Cutler is tied with Sam Bradford and Tarvaris Jackson for the league lead with 18 sacks after being taken down 52 times a year ago. He acknowledges the pounding is taking a mental toll on him, and he put out a call for adjustments this week — specifically, getting the ball out of his hands sooner.
“Physically, it’s not that big of a deal,” he said. “Mentally, it just speeds up my clock. It just makes me uneasy in the pocket. You take your eyes from downfield and you kind of check to see what’s going on in front of you, so psychologically and mentally, it’s more than anything. I just don’t want to take the sack. I’m just trying to get rid of the ball as fast as possible.”
Running plays designed to allow him to release the ball earlier might cut down on the number of hits he’s absorbing behind a line that ranks 30th — and facing another big challenge this week. All the Bears have to do is hold off NFL sacks leader Jared Allen and Brian Robison.
On the other side, the Bears defense needs to find a way to contain the NFL’s second-leading rusher.
Peterson (498 yards) trails only Oakland’s Darren McFadden (519). Peterson was particularly good in the early going of last week’s 34-10 win over Arizona, becoming the fifth player since 1970 to rush for three touchdowns in the first quarter.
Not only do the Bears rank 29th overall on defense, they’re 28th against the run. They’ve allowed a combined six rushing and passing plays of at least 40 yards, matching their total from last year.
To add to their pain, Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers is doubtful for Sunday’s game. Peppers, the team’s top pass rusher, has a sprained left knee and did not practice at all this week after getting hurt in Monday night’s loss at Detroit.
Even before the injury, Peppers wasn’t causing his usual havoc. | http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/sports/8219950-419/vikings-peterson-sees-opportunity-vs-bears.html | 1,108 |
The Sheffield Arena will Play Host to a Punishing Contest Between Brook and Hatton!
Fight fans are in for an incredible contest: Matthew Hatton versus Kell Brook. This fight fest will feature these promising young pugilists in a battle royale for welterweight dominance. The 147 pound division is peppered with quality boxers and these two Englishmen are no exception. Betting fans will relish the prospect of placing wagers on this upcoming contest. It is slated to take place at the Motorpoint Arena in the heart of Sheffield, England on the 17th March 2012. The UKs leading sportsbook – 888sport – has the top bet selections ahead of this knockout encounter. As the leading Internet sportsbook, 888sport has listed the following betting odds for this titanic welterweight bout:
Standings: Matthew Hatton versus Kell Brook at the Motorpoint Arena on the 17th March
• Betting Odds for Matthew Hatton to win 9:2
• Betting Odds for Kell Brook to win 1:8
• The Odds of a Draw or a Technical Draw 33:1
History, Statistics, Highlights and Predictions Ahead of the March 17th 2012 Super Bout
Kell Brook sports an impressive record of 26 victories and 0 defeats, with 18 by way of knockout. This topnotch pugilist fought in the USA for the 1st time on the undercard of the Andre Ward versus Carl Froch contest on the 17th December 2011. He will be competing for glory in Sheffield on the 17th March – much to the delight of local boxing fans. Brook is just 25 years old, but already he has racked up an impressive fight record. The fight is expected to sell out and Brook is looking to make a serious impression with fight fans on the night. By his own admission, Brook alluded to the following: “…I’m going to put in a devastating performance on March 17th.” The final results of the fight and highlights thereof will automatically be available on sports channels and top UK betting sites.
Free Bets, Fixtures, Highlights and Standings Ahead of the March 17th Contest
Brook’s opponent – the 30-year-old Matthew Hatton sports an equally impressive record. His stats read as follows: 42 fights, 5 losses, 2 draws and 16 victories by way of knockout. And his fighting pedigree stems from a family of world-class boxers. His brother is none other than former junior welterweight champion and European welterweight champion, Ricky Hatton. In March of 2011 Matthew Hatton lost an encounter against Saul Alvarez. But he soon fought his way back into contention for this welterweight fight against Kell Brook. Hatton is hoping for a 50th fight victory in Sheffield and predictions allude to a strong likelihood that he can pull it off.
History and stats aside, Hatton is ready to prove himself worthy of being the number 1 ranked welterweight in the UK. With the European championship already in his pocket, the UK fixture and with it the title is squarely in his sights. The final outcome will prove telling for Hatton or Brook – but either way betting pundits are in for great sporting action and guaranteed results. Sports fans will benefit from great odds, topnotch predictions, free bet options and great bonuses at 888sport – the top online bookmaker. | http://sport.888.com/boxing/kell-brook-vs-matthew-hatton-betting-2012/ | 696 |
Crystal meth, hair weaves and majors
Andre Agassi knows how low he once sunk because of the grand view he has now
If image really is everything, why would Andre Agassi admit in his new book that he used crystal meth? Not once but dozens of times? And why would he admit he lied about it to the Association of Tennis Professionals?
Why would a son admit how much he feared his Iranian father -- feared him and hated him since the age of 7? And why -- why! -- would a man admit he wore perhaps the world's only Mohawk toupee?
Why? Because this isn't just any book.
This is Agassi's mea culpa -- "Open" (from Knopf, written with Pulitzer Prize winner J.R. Moehringer) -- and from the beginning, he and Moehringer set out to write the most revealing, literate and toes-stompingly honest sports autobiography in history. From the parts I've been allowed to read, they might have done it.
"I just tell people, this book is honest," says Agassi, who worked with Moehringer for a full year, meeting nearly daily at the Las Vegas house Agassi once lived in with Brooke Shields. "It lives up to the title. It's my life, for better or worse. Get ready, buckle up, and keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times."
More on Agassi
Check out a photo gallery of Agassi's life and career. Zoom
"Open" is the story of a flawed man who sees everybody's imperfections, but none more than his own. It's the tale of a man who knows how low he sunk if only because of the grand view he has now.
Agassi's early life was not his, never his, not from the beginning, not from the time his Olympic boxer father built a backyard prison especially for him, a tennis court he was figuratively chained to day after day, while his father's homemade ball machine -- the dragon, Agassi called it -- ceaselessly spit out balls faster, harder, forever.
Agassi bucked against tennis like a horse with a two-sizes-too-small bit. But he could not escape it. And so his life became a kind of lie, from his shoelace groundstrokes to his Mohawk, a hairpiece that once came apart in the shower before the French Open. The day was saved by bobby pins.
Your own life is hard enough. Living somebody else's life for them weighs on a man like a stone backpack. By 1997 -- even after winning an Olympic gold medal in 1996 -- Agassi was down, depressed and stuck playing a game he didn't love. He was physically wrecked (wrist) and emotionally spent. He was with the wrong woman -- Shields -- and knew it.
He'd sunk to No. 141 in the world. He recalls that he was sitting at home when his assistant, Slim, introduced him to one of the most addictive substances known to man:
- Slim says, You want to get high with me?
What the hell's gack?
Why do they call it gack?
Because that's the sound you make when you're high. Make you feel like Superman, dude.
As if they're coming out of someone else's mouth, I hear these words: You know what? F*** it. Yeah. Let's get high.
Agassi pulled himself out of the French Open that year and hardly practiced for Wimbledon. That fall, it got worse. The ATP informed him at the end of 1997 that he'd flunked a drug test. He would likely be looking at a three-month suspension. He would probably lose all his endorsements and most of his fans.
What to do? Keep lying.
Agassi admits he wrote a letter to the ATP saying Slim accidentally "spiked" his drink, that it was not his fault. The ATP dropped the flunked test, with no discipline for Agassi. He admits in the book he felt "ashamed."
It was the lowest point in a life that would suddenly begin to soar. You can condemn Agassi all you want for the crystal meth -- and he'd deserve it -- but remember, Agassi dropped the habit soon after. Then, in 1998, he made the biggest one-year jump into the Top 10 in the history of the ATP Rankings, going from his year-end 122 to No. 6. He'd win five of his eight major titles after finding the bottom.
They call Agassi the greatest returner in history. They aren't kidding.
We all know what became of the showy, glitzy kid with all that fake hair and real talent. He shaved his hair off. He started being real. He learned to love tennis, and tennis learned to love him. The kid who never got past the ninth grade in school wound up funding and running the prestigious Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas. The man who couldn't find the right woman finally married the one everybody wanted -- tennis goddess Steffi Graf. And the son who hated his father learned to love him and his own two kids.
Why is Agassi so scorchingly honest in these excerpts? Maybe because he once lived enough lies for five men. Or maybe because, as an educator, he's heard the truth can set him free.
But hopefully, by the time you close "Open," you'll know that this book is about more than the wrong turns he took. It's about how that broken road led him straight to the good man he is now.
Love the column, hate the column, got a better idea? Go here.
Want more Life of Reilly? Then check out the archive.
Be sure to check out Rick's latest project, "Go Fish."
ESPN TOP HEADLINES
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MOST SENT STORIES ON ESPN.COM
RICK REILLY, 52, has been voted National Sportswriter of the Year 11 times. His new book -- out May 4, 2010 -- is called "Sports From Hell: My Two-year Search for the World's Dumbest Competition." It's the account of his search for the dumbest sport in the world.
Not to give anything away, but a good bet would be either Ferret Legging or the World Sauna Championships. It also includes embarrassing attempts by Reilly to try Nude Bicycle Racing, Zorbing, Chess Boxing, Extreme Ironing, the World Rock Paper Scissors Championships and an unfortunate week on a women's pro football team. | http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4601145 | 1,420 |
BALTIMORE -- Three batters into the game, Jose Bautista hit his 47th home run to provide Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Kyle Drabek a lead to work with in his major league debut.
Drabek threw well enough to win. Unfortunately for the newcomer, the guy who surrendered Bautista's milestone homer was even better.Brad Bergesen pitched a seven-hitter, and the Baltimore Orioles completed a three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night.Bergesen (7-10) struck out three and walked none in his third career complete game, second this season. The right-hander came in with a 6.99 ERA in five lifetime starts against the Blue Jays, but dominated this one after yielding Bautista's solo shot in the first inning."It feels like a lot of other outings," Bergesen said. "You face a team like Toronto [with] such a deadly lineup, they get up there swinging. So if you are able to make your pitches, you can get some quick outs."Which is precisely what happened. Bergesen needed only 95 pitches to get it done, and the game was played in a brisk 1 hour, 55 minutes -- the first time the Orioles have completed a game in under 2 hours since May 25, 2005, against Seattle.Bergesen was aided by two double plays, and the Orioles threw out a runner at the plate. Shortstop Cesar Izturis contributed four assists and three putouts, including a diving grab of a low liner by Lyle Overbay in the seventh inning."Bergy was the story tonight," manager Buck Showalter said, "but I've got to tell you Izzy is a close second."That's exactly how first baseman Luke Scott saw it."Cesar made some great plays, but Brad set the tempo for us on the mound," Scott said. "He was around the zone, and their guys were in swing mode. He put the ball where he wanted to. He kept the ball down, it had late movement, and when that happens you keep your defense involved."Baltimore has won nine of 11 and captured four straight series. The Orioles are 26-15 under Showalter, including 9-6 against the AL East.One reason for the resurgence is Bergesen, who was 3-9 on July 26 and has since surrendered three runs or fewer in eight of his nine starts."To be able to persevere and come back and try to contribute to this team, it's a satisfying feeling," he said.Bautista's drive tied the Toronto club record set in 1987 by George Bell. It was his seventh of the season versus the Orioles, the most against any team, and second off Bergesen."It was nice to do it for the fans, but ultimately the reason you play the game is to win and we didn't do that," Bautista said. "It's been a very fun year on a personal level."One more homer will enable Bautista to stand alone among Toronto's season leaders. For now, he's happy to share the record with Bell."He's a guy I got to know over the years. He was a great baseball player and had a great career for the Toronto Blue Jays," Bautista said. "Hopefully, I'll have as good a career."Toronto has hit at least one home run in 17 consecutive games, the longest run in the AL this year and one short of the streak of 18 straight by Cincinnati from May 11-29.Drabek, the son of former Cy Young winner Doug Drabek, gave up three runs and nine hits in six innings. The Eastern League player of the year struck out five and walked three."He did a good job. He kept us in the ball game," Toronto manager Cito Gaston said. "We just didn't score runs for him."Drabek's father was in attendance. Doug Drabek made his debut in Baltimore for the New York Yankees in June 1986."The best advice he gave me was to stay calm, be aggressive and throw strikes," Kyle said of his father. "Early on, I didn't throw as many strikes as I wanted to. [But] I came in here knowing it could only get better."He said his father "was probably more nervous than I was."After Bautista's homer, Vernon Wells reached on an error and was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a double by Overbay.In the bottom half, Drabek yielded singles to the first two batters he faced. The Orioles then pulled off a double steal before Scott hit an RBI groundout.Baltimore missed a scoring opportunity in the third when Izturis was tagged out trying to score on a double by Brian Roberts.But the Orioles took the lead with a two-run fourth. After Corey Patterson hit an RBI single, another run scored when Roberts bounced into a double play.
Toronto has lost seven of eight overall and 10 of 13 on the road. ... Roberts has reached base safely in 25 straight games. ... Baltimore was 0-12 against Toronto before this series. | http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=300915101 | 1,046 |
Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo offered an intriguing answer to the most pressing question the team will face this summer, telling reporters he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause if the team asked him: “It’s about this group.”
And with that declaration on Tuesday, another player is set to join Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash as market commodities this summer. In a year where the free agent pool seems shallow at most key positions, Luongo and Nash could become stars of the off-season. Here are five potential landing spots for the Canucks goaltender:
Toronto Maple Leafs
Finish: 13th in Eastern Conference
Incumbent: James Reimer, 24, signed through 2013-14
2011-12: .900 (save-percentage), 3.10 (goals-against average)
The Skinny: Toronto general manager Brian Burke signed Reimer to a three-year contract worth US$5.4-million last summer after the goaltender went on a 20-10-5 run to finish an unexpectedly successful rookie season. Reimer did not duplicate that success this season, and Burke has gone on record saying the team will seek a veteran hand. Luongo, 33, has a contract through the 2021-22 season — another 10 years — but would be an immediate upgrade with an organization that does not consider itself to be in a full rebuild mode.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Finish: 10th in Eastern Conference
Incumbent: Dwayne Roloson, 42, unrestricted free agent on July 1
2011-12: .886, 3.66
The Skinny: A season after advancing to the Eastern Conference final — where it lost in a Game 7 to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins — Tampa dissolved into a non-playoff team in part because of goaltending. No team allowed more goals than the Lightning (3.39 a game). Acquiring Luongo and his long-term, high-rent cap hit would present a problem, though. As Damian Cristodero pointed out in the Tampa Bay Times, Luongo, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Ryan Malone would “eat up more than $30 million in cap space.” Someone would have to move.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Finish: 15th in Western Conference
Incumbent: Steve Mason, 23, signed through 2012-13
2011-12: .894, 3.39
The Skinny: They thought they had a goaltender for the future when Mason was a rookie who won 33 games with a .916 save-percentage, but that was three years ago. Mason had the worst statistical season of his career, with a save-percentage (.894) ranked 43rd in the NHL. In his defence, though, the Blue Jackets were also terrible around him. Columbus is not a contending team, and will be shopping Nash this summer for more pieces to build a new foundation. Luongo, on top of his price, is probably too old for those purposes.
Finish: 14th in Western Conference
Incumbent: Nikolai Khabibulin, 39, signed through 2012-13
2011-12: .910, 2.65
The Skinny: Edmonton has a young, rebuilding team, but wingers Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are heading into the final seasons of their entry-level contracts next season, which suggests the team’s competitive window might have to start nudging open soon. The need in goal (Khabibulin will turn 40 before the all-star game) is competing with a need to add to the blue line. Also, the Oilers share the Northwest Division with the Canucks, which is another potential impediment.
Finish: Sixth in Western Conference (eliminated in WC quarter-final)
Incumbent: Corey Crawford, 27, signed through 2013-14
2011-12: .903, 2.72
The Skinny: In his second year as a full-time starter, Crawford posted the NHL’s 36th-best save-percentage (.903), and was a step lower in the playoffs (.893), finishing second in a goaltending duel with Phoenix Coyotes starter Mike Smith. Chicago, removed from the cap crunch that forced a disbanding of its Stanley Cup roster two years ago, has space to make a deal, if one presented itself. A deal between the Blackhawks and Canucks would, however, seem like the Hatfields borrowing a cup of sugar from the McCoys. | http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/04/24/five-places-canucks-goaltender-roberto-luongo-could-end-up/ | 937 |
Getty ImagesWhile we’ve all been burned before while oozing optimism about the NHL’s collective bargaining negotiations, there are plenty of signs that we’re in the finale stages of a resolution to the lockout.
NHL off-ice officials are on standby, ready for the season to abruptly begin.
Training camps for NHL teams are ready to open by the end of next week according to Chris Botta, in preparation for a Jan. 19 start to a 48-game season.
Oh, and what a start it’ll be, according to Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It would be a Saturday filled with nearly every NHL team in action and many against their arch rivals, including the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. From Rossi:
Though multiple sources said plans are subject to change, the Penguins likely would face the Flyers in Philadelphia for a nationally televised matinee on Jan. 19 if the NHL and its Players‘ Association agree on a new labor contract.
The sources said a 48-game season would begin Jan. 19, with most of the NHL‘s 30 clubs playing that day. Games would be played throughout the day as part of a celebration of hockey across North America. Rivalry games would dominate Day 1 of the shortened season to placate the NHL‘s national television partners in the United States and Canada, the source said.
Keep in mind that the first NBC telecast of the National Hockey League (besides the post-Thanksgiving games and the Winter Classic) was scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 20, between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Chicago Blackhawks.
How would a new schedule work logistically?
A 48-game schedule will preserve most of the previously booked arena dates, but matchups will change because clubs will play only in-conference opponents.
Clubs would play seven games against division opponents and a home and road game against each of 10 remaining conference teams, the sources said.
No interconference games. All the more reason Teemu needs to play the 2013-14 season.
(And, alas, that means no Rick Nash vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets or Zach Parise vs. the New Jersey Devils until next season as well. Unless, of course, the Jackets are temporarily realigned/flip-flopped with the Winnipeg Jets in the 48-game season …)
The clock is ticking as the NHLPA and the NHL continue talks in New York City this evening. | http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/nhl-jan-19-opening-day-feature-huge-slate-015203737--nhl.html | 506 |
Injury pulls Griffin off UFC 114
Forrest Griffin has had to withdraw from his scheduled light heavyweight bout with Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The two were set to co-main event UFC 114 on May 29 in Las Vegas. A grudge match between former light heavyweight champions and “Ultimate Fighter” coaches Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson heads the fight card.
MMAWeekly.com confirmed with sources close to the fighter’s camp that Griffin injured his shoulder and had to withdraw from the fight. TMZ.com was the first to report his exit.
Griffin was hoping to build on a split decision victory over Tito Ortiz last November, which followed the first back-to-back losses of his career.
Nogueira is hoping to make his return at UFC 114 after having to withdraw from a fight against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 due to an ankle injury. He is on a six-fight winning streak, including his debut at UFC 106, where he TKO’d Luiz Cane.
Sources told MMAWeekly.com that no replacement had been found as of the time of publication.
UFC 114 is scheduled for Memorial weekend, when the UFC will also hold its second annual UFC Fan Expo. The fights will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 29, the expo at Mandalay Bay Convention Center on May 28 and 29. | http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ys-mmaweek050410 | 292 |
Andre Gurode talked about the good and the bad that happened Sunday night in the 33-31 loss to the NY Giants, but he wasn't about to let QB Tony Romo heap all the blame on himself as he attempted to do after throwing three picks that resulted in 21 Giants points.
"That’s totally wrong and I actually was going to address that issue," Gurode said. "It’s not Tony’s fault at all. He cannot take complete blame for a game that a team plays. We have his back, he has our back. We’re not going to allow him to take the full blame for this game and we’re going to stand up for him, we’re going to go out there next week and play well and try to get a victory."
Clearly Romo was trying to display leadership qualities that critics have said he lacks.
"It says a lot about the guy," Gurode said. "He takes a lot of things personally. I know you guys don’t see it from our perspective, but he takes a lot of things that he does wrong very, very hard. I can just imagine how he felt last night when he went home. You see the guy today, pat him on the back and say, 'Hey, we're going to correct our mistakes and get better.'" | http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/cowboys/2009/09/gurode-has-his-qbs-back.html | 280 |
Marseille players recovering from spate of targeted home-jackings
Eight Marseille players have been robbed at home in past 18 months
Sporting director Jose Anigo believes crime has made it harder to sign players
By retaining coach Didier Deschamps, Marseille could reclaim the league title
France's Ligue 1 kicks off earlier than any other big league in Europe, and its top teams have been boosting their squads in the summer transfer window. Champions Lille has bought smartly to replace the Adil Rami-Yohan Cabaye-Gervinho spine that moved on while Paris Saint-Germain, flush with funds from new Qatari owners, has bought Nicolas Douchez, Kevin Gameiro, France internationals Blaise Matuidi and Jeremy Menez and Argentina's Javier Pastore.
Last season's runners-up Marseille have also been busy, not that sporting director Jose Anigo would have you believe it. Only PSG, Lille and Toulouse have spent more money this summer, as OM have plundered clubs below them for some of their best players: Alou Diarra (€4.5M/$6.4M) from Bordeaux, Nicolas N'Koulou (€3.5M/$4.9M) from Monaco, Jeremy Morel (€2.5M/$3.5M) and Morgan Amalfitano (free) from Lorient.
Recently, Anigo gave a news conference at which he claimed that a series of home-jackings at his players' houses had made it almost impossible to convince players to join Marseille. "Every time I speak to a player, he wants guarantees about his security and in such conditions, you have to be a miracle-man to bring players to this club," he said. "It's a very complicated situation."
Anigo was speaking just after center back Vitorino Hilton had become the eighth OM victim of a home-jacking in the last 18 months. Six men entered his house just before midnight, struck him on the head with a rifle-butt, and stole jewelry, watches, money and a Renault car, which was found burned an hour away. Hilton had 10 family members with him, including his children, and was understandably shaken. "My head was bleeding and the children were terrified," he told RMC Radio. "They want to leave here and go home to Brazil."
In March, a four-man gang broke into the house of Lucho Gonzalez at four in the morning, making off with credit cards, phones and the keys to player's Bentley. The player, Marseille's record signing, was too traumatized to play in the next game, against PSG, and so was left out. "It was a huge psychological trauma for me," Lucho told Canal Plus. His replacement, Mathieu Valbuena, did so well as the No. 10 that he kept his place, and now Lucho is up for sale -- not that OM can expect a full return on their €24 million ($34M) investment. In the same interview, Lucho upset his teammates when trying to defend his performances. "I make a decisive pass, but if the striker doesn't finish it off, then it doesn't become decisive. I feel every game we lose is my fault."
Other players to have suffered include Stephane M'Bia (January 2010), Fabrice Abriel (March 2010), Andre-Pierre Gignac (2010), the Ayew brothers (in November 2010 and May 2011) and even former president, Jean-Claude Dassier, when OM was playing at Manchester United in the Champions League last March. "The government now needs to intervene," added Anigo. "This has gone beyond a joke." After talks with the city's security chief, OM has upped its security around all players.
Meanwhile, police investigating are wondering if there is more to this than meets the eye: has a gang has been put up to it to help a local security firm get business? Are the players picked intentionally to force their departures from the club, or maybe influence the prices of a possible transfer? It looks certain now that Hilton will leave.
But one thing does not quite ring true, and that's Anigo's claim that the home-jackings are turning players off the idea of joining Marseille. It is France's best-supported club, has the legendary Didier Deschamps as coach, and in 2010 ended a 17-year trophy-less wait with the French title.
"The sporting challenge is first-class at Marseille and these [incidents] do not make it less attractive to players," Karim Aklil, agent to Souleymane Diawara and (ex-OM) Mamadou Niang, told RMC. Aklil said it was an agent's responsibility to provide security for his players, and has done just that for Niang and has family since they moved to Fenerbahce 12 months ago. Etienne Mendy, agent to the Ayew brothers, said they considered moving house after their burglary, but it has not affected their motivation.
The tension between Anigo and Deschamps has been well-documented, and it usually gets worse during a transfer window (the most recent disagreement was over Toulouse left back Cheikh M'Bengue, whom Anigo wanted but Deschamps, knowing he'd be at the African Nations Cup in January, didn't).
Anigo was probably just trying to overstate his influence in this summer's recruitment. Away from off-the-pitch concerns, OM has a strong squad in place to reclaim its 2010 crown.
Ben Lyttleton has written about French football for various publications. He edited an oral history of the European Cup, Match of My Life: European Cup Finals, which was published in 2006. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ben_lyttleton/08/05/marseille.robberies/index.html | 1,217 |
Kentucky and Kansas already met this season
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Monday night's national championship game will be the second time this season Kentucky and Kansas meet with all of college basketball watching.
The first matchup was in mid-November at Madison Square Garden as part of a doubleheader. Second-ranked Kentucky beat No. 12 Kansas 75-65, but it wasn't the featured game.
That happened to be the night Duke beat Michigan State 74-69 to give Mike Krzyzewski his 903rd career victory, the one that moved him past Bob Knight to the top of Division I's all-time list for men's basketball.
This time around the Wildcats and Jayhawks are the main attraction.
Five months ago, sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones led the Wildcats to the victory with Anthony Davis, one of three freshmen starters, having seven of the team's 13 blocked shots.
Tyshawn Taylor scored 22 points to lead the Jayhawks. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/basketball/ncaa/wires/04/01/2060.ap.bkc.ncaa.championship.first.meeting.0184/ | 204 |
Germany: Dortmund zips Freiberg in snow
BERLIN (AP) -- Borussia Dortmund won 2-0 at Freiburg to get its Bundesliga title defense back on track in difficult conditions on Saturday.
Heavy snowfall hampered both teams in a hard-fought game.
"In the old days we'd want to go out in weather like this to play football but we weren't allowed because the mothers didn't want to wash the gear. Nowadays we have to go out but we don't want to,'' Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.
Neven Subotic scored in the 54th minute and Mario Goetze made the game safe for Dortmund with seven minutes remaining.
"To win 2-0 here in such conditions is extraordinarily good,'' said Klopp, whose side beat Real Madrid in the Champions League three days earlier.
Jefferson Farfan's 77th-minute strike was enough for Schalke to complete a perfect week with a 1-0 win at home over Nuremberg. Schalke won the Ruhr derby against Dortmund last weekend and then 2-0 at Arsenal in the Champions League midweek.
"Today falls under the category of dirty hard-work win,'' said Schalke captain Benedikt Hoewedes. "It wasn't a great game.''
Wolfsburg beat Fortuna Duesseldorf 4-1 away to end its seven-game run without a win in interim coach Lorenz-Guenther Koestner's first game in charge.
"The players were obligated (to win) because the coach was gone,'' said Koestner, referring to Felix Magath's departure on Thursday. "We scored at the right times and the team never stopped fighting.''
Elsewhere, Mainz beat Hoffenheim 3-0 thanks to an Adam Szalai hat trick, and Greuther Fuerth drew 1-1 at home with Werder Bremen.
Dortmund's first away win of the season leaves it nine points behind Bayern Munich, which plays its game in hand against Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
Freiburg came closest to scoring in a scrappy first half, when Subotic made a crucial clearance to concede a corner that caused panic in the Dortmund defense in the 15th.
Daniel Caligiuri was twice blocked, and then Marcel Schmelzer got the slightest touch to the ball with his studs to push Erik Jendrisek's effort onto the post.
Subotic made the breakthrough with a header from a dangerous Marco Reus free kick, and the game was settled when Robert Lewandowski set up Goetze for a low shot past Oliver Baumann.
"It's nice that we can angry about losing after such a game,'' said Freiburg coach Christian Streich. "We're happy that we can compete at this level.''
Dutch striker Bas Dost ended Wolfsburg's longest streak in the Bundesliga without a goal (457 minutes), when he opened the scoring five minutes into the second half at Duesseldorf with a tap-in from Ivica Olic's cross.
Diego crossed for Olic to make it 2-0 three minutes later, and Dost claimed his second goal in the 64th.
Jens Langeneke gave the home fans some hope in the 71st with a penalty Olic conceded by fouling Oliver Fink, but it didn't last long.
Fink was sent off six minutes later for bringing down Diego in the penalty area, and the Brazilian duly converted the spot kick.
"It's a new start for all of us,'' said Diego. "I'm very proud of the team.''
Hoffenheim goalkeeper Tim Wiese endured another afternoon to forget in Mainz.
Hungary striker Szalai opening the scoring in the 21st, adding another seconds after the restart, and claiming his seventh of the season in the 64th.
"It's a special day for me. I never scored three goals (in one game) before,'' Szalai said.
Hoffenheim has yet to win with Wiese in the side. The former Germany goalkeeper has conceded 21 goals in six competitive games since moving from Werder Bremen.
"I have no idea why it's not working,'' Wiese said.
Hoffenheim has the worst defense in the league and defender Marvin Compper didn't pull any punches: "It makes me sick how we're conceding goals.''
Brazilian striker Edu scored Fuerth's first goal at home in the Bundesliga in the eighth minute, but Bremen deservedly equalized one minute before the break through Nils Peterson.
"We're very, very happy that we won't have to hear next week that we can't earn points at home and that none of the strikers can score,'' said Fuerth coach Mike Bueskens, whose side is now bottom.
On Sunday, Eintracht Frankfurt visits Stuttgart and Hannover hosts Borussia Moenchengladbach.
Hamburger SV got the ninth round underway on Friday with a 2-0 win at Augsburg.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/soccer/10/27/germany-roundup-saturday.ap/index.html?eref=si_soccer&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fsi_soccer+%28SI.com+-+Soccer%29 | 1,086 |
Winter Classic becomes stage for Rangers, Flyers unlikely heroes
The Winter Classic between the Rangers and Flyers shed light on unlikely heroes
New York's Mike Rupp scored only his second and third goals of the season
The Flyers' Brayden Schenn also scored his first-career goal on a big stage
|Box Score Recap Complete Scoreboard|
PHILADELPHIA -- The NHL's Winter Classic has become an unlikely showplace for fourth-liners and support players. Maybe there are just better body-heaters on the end of the bench.
Sure, the New York Rangers needed a game-winning goal from Brad Richards and superb goaltending from star keeper Henrik Lundqvist, who made 34 saves, including a penalty shot from sniper Danny Briere with 19.6 seconds to play. But the two goals from New York enforcer Mike Rupp, his second and third of the year, to one for Philadelphia's oft-injured center Brayden Schenn, the first of his 18-game career, were enough to propel the Rangers to a third-period comeback in its 3-2 win against the Flyers on Monday.
"The ice, I thought, was really good," said Rupp, who tallied late in the second period and early in the third to rally New York from a 2-0 deficit, "but late in the game it wears, so it kind of gives guys like me a chance to do something ugly."
If fact, the goals from unlikely sources began midway through the second period, when Flyers defenseman Matt Carle shot from the left point. New York defenseman Ryan McDonagh abandoned his left defense position to try to play the rebound and when he missed, he left an easy path for Schenn to knock in the rebound.
The Flyers increased their lead to 2-0 on a goal by leading scorer Claude Giroux at 14:21 of the middle period, but it took New York just 30 seconds more to get one back. Defenseman Michael Del Zotto pinched in deep and when he didn't come up with the puck, it left Giroux and Scott Hartnell with a two-on-one against inexperienced Ranger defenseman Anton Stralman. Giroux converted Hartnell's pass, apparently sending the Flyers on their way.
With his frontline players unable to break through, Ranger coach John Tortorella sent out ruffian forwards Rupp and Brandon Prust on the next shift and the pair combined for New York's first goal, as Rupp beat Sergei Bobrovsky over the glove for just his second goal of the season. Less than three minutes into the third period, the line combined for the tying goal, as Rupp scored from a nasty angle -- below the left faceoff dot -- on a weak shot Bobrovsky should have stopped.
In their locker room after the game, the Rangers passed a celebratory fedora to Rupp, as the team's reward for a job well done. It's the Rangers' equivalent of a game ball or game puck, and it was Rupp's first chance to wear it this season. "I couldn't be happier for him," Tortorella said of Rupp. "I tell you what he brings. There's a respect he brings to that room with a really young corps that's needed. He's a really great teammate. Him and Pruster, they're two important guys as far as the glue to our hockey club."
Brad Richards gave New York what would be the winning goal three minutes later, but Rupp had the fedora. "Pretty nice fit," he said later. Just a year ago, Rupp was with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they lost on home outdoor ice to the Washington Capitals, 3-1. "It's a catch-22, this game," he said. "In losing last year, you say it's just two points, but it felt like the seventh game of the playoffs because of the atmosphere ... You hear the hollowness behind you. You feel like you have more time than you think. It takes a whole lot to get used to."
Rupp's heroics -- and the near heroics of Schenn -- followed those of the role players before them. Two years ago, when the Bruins beat the Flyers, 2-1 in overtime at Fenway Park, the Flyers got their only goal from Danny Syvret, a defenseman who amassed a combined seven points in stints with the Oilers, Flyers, Ducks and Flyers again. He's now with the Blues' organization. Last season, when Sidney Crosby went head-to-head with Washington's Alex Ovechkin, the Capitals won 3-1 thanks to two goals from Eric Fehr, whose name (pronounced like Fair) sums up his play on a good day.
Lost amid the frozen pageantry of a game played in 41 degrees before almost 47,000 fans was the significance of a contest between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The revived Rangers are tied for the NHL lead with 52 points. The Flyers, two years removed from a trip to the finals, sit third in the East with 48.
But perhaps the lure of playing the outdoor game convinced Ranger defenseman Marc Staal to return to the lineup. Staal had been out since February with a concussion after being hit by his brother, Eric. In all, Staal skated a modest 12:41. Look for Tortorella to up his ice time as his recovery permits. "On the first shift I started skating forward on a one-on-one," he said, "so I was a bit of a wreck out there. But really it was alright."
Ironically, the absence of Staal, the team's top defenseman, enabled a system that relied heavily on disciplined structure and forced other backliners such as Del Zotto, Dan Girardi and McDonagh to grow into roles with greater responsibility. In the closing minute, the officials whistled McDonagh for closing his hand on the puck in the crease behind a scrambling Lundqvist. That gave the Flyers a penalty shot for any of the players they had on the ice at the time of the infraction. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette chose Briere instead of Giroux for the honor.
After one fake, Briere tried to shoot past Lundqvist's left side, but the goalie knocked the shot away with his left pad. "I tried to be patient and do my thing," said Lundqvist, who won his 17th game and had already made breakaway saves in the first period on Giroux and Jaromir Jagr. "He's tricky guy. If I make the first move, he's gonna score."
The ending was better than anyone could have expected in a game that shined a light on players nobody would have guessed would turn out to be the heroes. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/brian_cazeneuve/01/02/winter.classic.rangers.flyers/index.html | 1,407 |
First-year big men Bennett, Austin make impact in season openers
Despite a shaky start, Anthony Bennett bounced back in UNLV's season opener
Once Isaiah Austin's ankle heels, he is likely to be a co-star of Baylor's offense
Two-star recruit Michael Carrera could be huge for Frank Martin's South Carolina
LAS VEGAS -- My in-flight film study on Monday was the ultimate freshman-post playlist: season-opener edits of four- and five-star giants such as Baylor's Isaiah Austin (vs. Lehigh), Kentucky's Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley-Stein (vs. Maryland) and Arizona's Brandon Ashley, Grant Jerrett and Kaleb Tarczewski (vs. Charleston Southern); and intriguing imports such as South Carolina's Michael Carrera (vs. Milwaukee) and Gonzaga's Przemek Karnowski (vs. Southern Utah). I also tacked on exhibition footage (from an overtime win over Dixie State) of the five-star, Brampton, Ontario, import I was planning to see in person, UNLV's Anthony Bennett.
The goal was just to record first impressions, not render final judgments. November is when baby bigs start figuring out who they are -- and Bennett's trial run was a tad worrisome. He is a 6-foot-8 power forward with power and athleticism, yet two-thirds of his shot attempts against Dixie State were from beyond the arc, where he went 0-of-6. His form looked fine -- and Rebels coach Dave Rice calls Bennett a "terrific shooter" -- but when you're 6-8 and 240 pounds, with a 7-1 wingspan and first-round-pick explosiveness, it seems unwise to be doing two-thirds of your work on the perimeter. Bennett knew as much: "That game," he said, "did not go like I planned."
Fast forward to Monday night, the season-opener against Northern Arizona, where, as Rice said, there was a lot of pressure on Bennett to make an impact. He is the first McDonald's All-American to go to UNLV straight out of high school in 29 years, and he was debuting in front of the biggest home-opener crowd (18,187) in school history, including legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian (who said of Bennett, "He's got a lot of talent") and a student section that had a pre-planned "Can-A-Da" chant in his honor.
But Bennett's first shot, same as in the exhibition, was a missed three, just 10 seconds into the game. Would the perimeter pattern repeat itself? Or could he correct on the fly?
The answer, luckily, was the latter: Two minutes later, Inside Anthony Bennett took over for Outside Anthony Bennett and threw down a monster dunk on a dish from Mike Moser. Bennett flexed his biceps first for the crowd, then again for the Rebels' bench as he ran to join them after a timeout.
The dunk was the start of a personal 9-0 run for Bennett, who would lead UNLV in scoring in a 92-54 win. He finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in just 20 minutes of action. His was one of my favorite elite-frosh debuts, in part because he scored in so many different ways:
1. Dunking on a pass from Moser (twice, one of them featured as the Denny's Dunk of the Game -- part of a "redeem your ticket stub for a free stack of pancakes" promotion)
2. Running hard in transition, catching a pass on the run and spinning for a layup
3. Making a three-pointer (finally!) in the left corner
4. Posting up for a lefty baby-hook
5. Drawing a foul on a near-dunk in transition
6. Posting up for a righty baby-hook (twice, one with a foul and free throw)
7. Offensive rebound and dunk-back over two guys
8. Offensive rebound and gentle putback
I do not have a conclusive count on how many times Bennett celebration-flexed, although he estimated it at five or six. "I have to relax and do it only once or twice [from now on]," he said, "because I'm not trying to get a technical."
All he was trying to do was respond to the locals, some of whom had been cheering him on since his senior year at nearby Findlay Prep, and were overjoyed that he became Findlay's first five-star product to stay in Las Vegas for college. "At Findlay, we never used to celebrate like that, because our coach would get mad," Bennett said. "Here, I have a little more freedom."
Freedom of expression and freedom to operate in Rice's high-speed UNLV offense, where Bennett has the green light to fire from inside and outside -- but hopefully, more inside than outside. He has that Carmelo Anthony/Michael Beasley ability to confound college defenses with his versatility, but his success is contingent on striking the right balance.
Like Bennett, Austin put up 22 points in his opener against Lehigh ... but he did it in just 17 minutes, on 10-of-12 shooting, before being felled by an ankle injury that would force him to miss the Bears' second game. Those 17 minutes were promising enough, though, and they provided a decent glimpse of how Scott Drew plans to use the spindly 7-footer in Baylor's offense.
The first action they ran to get Austin involved was a pick-and-pop with A.J. Walton; Austin received the pass and, with no hesitation, knocked down a three. This pop-a-three sequence later repeated itself (with Brady Heslip as the passer) at the top of the key. Austin is a surprisingly smooth shooter for his size, and even though he has a slow release, it's unlikely to bother him; opposing centers are slow to step out to the perimeter, and his release point is so high, above his head, that a blocked shot is almost out of the realm of possibility.
Three of Austin's other buckets came on lobs from point guard Pierre Jackson, including a couple of set plays where Austin feigned setting a screen and beelined to the rim. His actual screening can use a lot of work; he tends to pop before contact is made, and he was called for two moving screens away from the ball against Lehigh. But he already brings serious value as a face-up shooter, lob collector and anchor of the Bears' 2-3 zone, and once his ankle heals, he figures to be the co-star of their offense along with Jackson.
Congrats, Frank Martin. Carrera, a two-star recruit on ESPN.com, a three-star on Scout.com and unrated on Rivals.com, looks like he could be one of the steals of the Class of 2012. I don't think what he did against Milwaukee in the Gamecocks' opener was a fluke: 17 points, 15 boards, three blocks in 29 minutes. The tape shows a guy who makes up for his lack of height by attacking the boards with a relentlessness that could put him in the Pierce Hornung/Arsalan Kazemi tier of ultra-productive, undersized rebounders. The fact that Carrera has a 7-2 wingspan doesn't hurt, either.
Carrera is a Montrose Christian product who came there from Venezuela, and he's almost as demonstrative on the court as countryman Greivis Vasquez was at Maryland. (Which means: very, very demonstrative. Arm pumps, screams, blown kisses, etc., etc.) But as long as he keeps channeling that energy into chasing down misses -- he grabbed 31 percent of available offensive boards in his debut! -- he'll make a big impact on a team that was desperate for frontcourt help.
Carrera doesn't have refined post moves -- he just spins and bulls his way to the rim, which against slower defenders will result in a ton of drawn fouls. (This is another Kazemi-like attribute.) Against Milwaukee he was 5-of-5 from the stripe, and showed shooting form that suggests he could knock down mid-range jumpers, but I didn't see him attempt one. Carrera may struggle to get shots off against the SEC's giants later in the season, but he won't get outhustled. He may have been a two-star prospect, but he has a five-star motor. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/luke_winn/11/13/freshman-big-men/index.html | 1,792 |
69F Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, OK
(AP) -- - The Texas Longhorns last won the Big 12 in 2009. Since then, they have done a whole lot of losing.
Texas had losing records in Big 12 play the last two seasons, a trend the No. 12 Longhorns (3-0) hope to reverse starting Saturday night in their conference opener at defending champion Oklahoma State (2-1).
A win in rowdy Stillwater would be a big step toward showing they are indeed on the road back to the top of the league.
"The goal is to win the conference," Texas defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat said. "You want to win the conference? This is the first step."
Texas was a league heavyweight for a decade, winning titles in 2005 and 2009, playing in the championship game in 1999 and 2001 and ranking among the nation's best teams most years.
But Texas is just 6-11 in the Big 12 over the last two seasons, a record offensive lineman Mason Walters said is "not the kind of football I want to be associated with."
A trip to Oklahoma State is a tough place to turn things around. The Cowboys beat Texas in Austin the last two years and the Cowboys' 20-5 mark in league play since 2009 is the best in the Big 12.
But Texas begins its Big 12 schedule brimming with confidence. The 3-0 start includes a home shutout of New Mexico and a 66-31 win at Mississippi, the most points Texas has scored since beating Colorado 70-3 in the 2005 Big 12 title game.
"It's been a long time around here since people were pleased with what they saw offensively," coach Mack Brown said.
Especially at quarterback, where sophomore David Ash is starting to blossom. Ash had to fight off Case McCoy in training camp to win the starting job and now ranks third nationally in passing efficiency with a 76 percent completion rate, seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
Ash's four touchdowns and 326 yards passing against Ole Miss were career highs and quieted - for now - fans who questioned his ability to lead the offense.
"Before last week, I don't think there was anybody that liked me," Ash said. "Now everybody likes me."
The next three games will determine whether Texas is ready to compete for a title again. After playing Oklahoma State, the top-scoring team in the nation, the Longhorns host No. 9 West Virginia before playing No. 16 Oklahoma in Dallas.
"I want to see our toughness," Brown said. "I want to see how good we are nationally. We're going to see that here soon."
Brown is telling his team to take a one-and-done playoff approach to the Big 12 schedule. With no conference title game, the Big 12 crown with be determined by the weekly head-to-head matchups from now until December.
Brown also warned his team against getting too excited about being 3-0. The Longhorns started 3-0 in 2009 and ended up playing for the national championship. They also started 3-0 in 2010 and finished 5-7.
"We can show everybody we're better," Brown said. "Or we can show we've still got a lot of work to do."
Defensively, Brown and the Longhorns must prepare for two quarterbacks because Oklahoma State has yet to say whether starter Wes Lunt will be able to play after injuring his leg earlier this month.
"Everybody wants to know something but there's just not really much to say," Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. "They cut him out of his cast (Sunday) and he looked good. ... They like the way he looked, all the stuff that they think is important."
Lunt was injured on the sixth play of Oklahoma State's 65-24 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Sept. 15. J.W. Walsh replaced him and led the Cowboys to a school-record 742 yards of total offense.
"No matter where you are on the depth chart, you've got to prepare like every day you're one play away," said Walsh, who threw for 347 yards and ran for 73 against Louisiana-Lafayette. "If you prepare that way and you prepare like you're the starter, when you do get a chance you're prepared and ready to go for the team."
While Walsh is more of a running threat than Lunt, Gundy claims Oklahoma State won't make wholesale changes to its offense because it would adversely affect the rest of the players. With Walsh in the game against Louisiana-Lafayette, the Cowboys frequently used two tight ends instead of four-receiver sets.
"I don't think Texas is concerned one bit. This is my opinion: They're going to run whatever they want to run and they'll make a decision out here what they do," Gundy said. "They play a lot of man (to man defense) ... so it's not like you're playing a team that plays a lot of zone and varies that based on the offense you're going to face. They play different than most people." | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/ncaa/gameflash/2012/09/29/50611/index.html | 1,049 |
- 19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVERSeptember 28, 1970
- 3 San Diego ChargersJeffri Chadiha | September 04, 2006
- Next weekFebruary 12, 1968
The case of Wilberto Hernandez didn't exactly fit the pattern of the earlier complaints against Dykstra. Unlike the others, Hernandez barely knew the ex-player. They had met once, in September 2010, introduced by Robert Hymers, a mutual friend and a mild-mannered, churchgoing, then 27-year-old accountant at Ernst & Young. On Valentine's Day 2011, when Hernandez followed up on his call to the police by coming in to speak with Contreras, he brought Hymers with him.
Hymers told police that he had introduced Hernandez to Dykstra so that Hernandez could help Dykstra improve his credit. At the time, however, Hernandez did not realize that Hymers, who had been doing financial work for Dykstra outside of his employment with Ernst & Young, had been seduced by Dykstra's lifestyle—riding in fancy cars, meeting retired ballplayers and hanging out with celebrities, including Charlie Sheen. Hymers told Contreras that he loaned Dykstra money and credit cards and would later tell police that spending time with Dykstra was "like being in a movie." In a well-publicized stunt last May, Dykstra, with Hymers in tow, made a spontaneous nighttime visit to Dwight Gooden, one of Dykstra's old Mets teammates, while Gooden was participating in the VH1 show Celebrity Rehab. Dykstra tried to spring Gooden from the house where the program was being shot but instead reportedly left only with Gooden's bags.
In late 2010, Hymers, according to a taped interview that police conducted with him on Feb. 14, 2011, began helping Dykstra package assets—specifically his MLB pension and a stake in the online celebrity poker site Hollywood Poker—to be sold or used as collateral to obtain loans. Dykstra promised Hymers equity in his new business Home Free Systems, ostensibly set up to help people refinance predatory home mortgages. Dykstra had also introduced Hymers to Sheen, with whom Hymers hoped to partner on an energy drink with the slogan, "Sheen power, Sheen blood, Sheen energy." Hymers also wanted to market an electronic cigarette called the Nico-Sheen through a company called Vapor Rush. Vapor Rush, which lists Hymers as the CFO on its website, filed for a Nico-Sheen trademark on April 4, 2011, according to records from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Later that month, TMZ reported that Nico-Sheen would be billed as the "winning E-cigarette" and Dykstra would be a partner in the venture.
Hymers was dazzled by the possibility of earning money with Sheen; in a second police interview, on March 22, 2011, he referred to Dykstra as "Sheen rich and cash poor." Hymers also portrayed himself to Contreras as a friend who tried to help Dykstra, of whom Hymers told police, "Some nights he'll be in Beverly Hills staying in a hotel, and other nights he'll be in his car." He recounted trying to take Dykstra to his church: Hymers said Dykstra immediately claimed to smell mold in the church and had an insurance adjuster come to the building after hours to inspect it, claiming that the adjuster was a friend who would give him a kickback if there was money to be made from a claim. "I've never been good with profiling people," Hymers told Contreras. "Lenny took advantage of that."
Hymers had done some tax work for Hernandez and had Hernandez's personal information stored on his laptop. In the fall of 2010, Hymers had filed a police report saying that his Dell laptop had been stolen. In his Valentine's Day 2011 interview with Contreras, Hymers said that it was taken when he fell asleep during a late night working with Dykstra in a room at the Intercontinental hotel in L.A. When he woke up, Dykstra told him a prostitute had come in, threatened him with a taser and taken the laptop. "You believe that?" Contreras asked incredulously.
In 2010 a former Dykstra personal assistant that Contreras tracked down had passed along a tip: Dykstra never erases any of his Yahoo! e-mail. Contreras submitted a search warrant to Yahoo! and, on Feb. 16, 2011, two days after Hernandez and Hymers visited the station, reams of Dykstra's e-mails arrived. LAPD computer crimes officer Maurice Kwon found among them copies of pay stubs from Home Free Systems made out to Jessica Costa, a then 35-year-old model and single mother of five who had met Dykstra at a party in the fall of 2010. In an e-mail to SI last month, she said that "modeling is not my dream job, I studied electrical engineering, however it pays the bills."
According to LAPD records, when Contreras first visited Costa, on Feb. 22, 2011, she told him that she knew Dykstra but had never done any work for Home Free Systems and did not receive any of the money indicated in the pay stubs. In the Home Free Systems documents, Costa was portrayed as the company's sales director—at a supposed salary of $120,000 per year—and a credit application in her name was used in November 2010 to lease a Porsche 911 for Dykstra from a dealership in Newport Beach.
According to prosecutors, Home Free Systems was a company in name only. Account statements for the company proved, after Contreras contacted the banks represented, to be fakes allegedly made on a personal computer. (Dykstra contends Home Free Systems is a legitimate business.) Before the Home Free Systems website went down last year, SI contacted Moshe Mortner, a New York lawyer who worked with Dykstra on his bankruptcy case and was the sole partner listed on the Home Free Systems site. Mortner was surprised to hear that he was listed as a partner. "Maybe in the loose sense of the word," he said, "[but] not a business partner."
E-mails between Costa and Dykstra show that Costa had misgivings about procuring the Porsche, but that Dykstra encouraged her by suggesting that he would help her purchase a house. In an e-mail Dykstra sent to Costa on Nov. 6, 2010, in response to her concerns about who would make the car payments, Dykstra writes, "come on Jessica, they call it the Top 1% for a f------ reason!" He concluded the message saying, in all capital letters, that "EVERYTHING WILL BE OK ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS FOLLOW THESE STEPS AND YOU WILL BE FINE, JUST FINISH OFF WHAT WE NEED WITH THE CARS AND YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WILL BE FINE."
The Porsche was leased using Costa's personal information and a credit application that appears to bear her signature stating her employment with Home Free Systems. Costa, who according to Orange County Court Records pleaded guilty in December 2011 to fraud, maintained to SI that she never went to the dealership with Dykstra and that Dykstra stole her personal information and forged her signature. According to police, the whereabouts of the Porsche are unknown. | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1195702/2/index.htm | 1,568 |
- 19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVERSeptember 28, 1970
- 3 San Diego ChargersJeffri Chadiha | September 04, 2006
- Next weekFebruary 12, 1968
August 12, 1985 | William Oscar Johnson
For two decades, towns and teams have been tearing up grass playing fields and replacing them with artificial turf, on the theory that ersatz sod is better than the real stuff. This 21-page report starts with a story...
May 09, 1977 | J. D. Reed
After producing such losers as cyclamates, the Edsel and brown cigarette paper, technology, that fickle handmaiden of science, has struck a vein of pure gold—or aluminum in this case. Someday, say its admirers, and...
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January 08, 1968
SWINGING AN AX
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The world's first synthetic racetrack has won quick approval from most trotting horsemen, who feel that it will eliminate the problems caused by mud and frost | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/topic/article/3M_Company/1900-01-01/2100-12-31/mdd/1/index.htm | 223 |
- 19TH HOLE: THE READERS TAKE OVERSeptember 28, 1970
- 3 San Diego ChargersJeffri Chadiha | September 04, 2006
- Next weekFebruary 12, 1968
August 25, 2003 | Michael Farber
Rutgers is the biggest school in New Jersey, a state swarming with good young players. Yet over the last decade the Scarlet Knights are 32-83-1. The coach says things are turning around. Many others on campus say...
August 18, 2003
Kenneth Ferguson, DETROITTrack and FieldFerguson, a sophomore sprinter and hurdler at South Carolina, ran a meet-record 13.60 to win the 110-meter hurdles at the Junior Pan American Games in Bridgetown, Barbados. He...
August 11, 2003 | Compiled by Gene Menez
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Two conferences are wooing Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee, whose decision—stay in the Big East or bolt for the ACC—could shake up the college sports landscape | http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/topic/article/Miami_Hurricanes/1900-01-01/2100-12-31/mdd/11/284/index.htm | 221 |
(14) North Carolina (5-1) at (1) Indiana (6-0)
Tuesday, November 27, 9:30 p.m. (et)
The Sports Network
By Lucas Gulotta, Associate College Basketball Editor
FACTS & STATS: Assembly Hall (17,472) -- Bloomington, Indiana. Television: ESPN. Home Record: UNC 2-0, Indiana 4-0. Away Record: UNC 1-0, Indiana 0-0. Neutral Record: UNC 2-1, Indiana 2-0. Conference Record: UNC 0-0, Indiana 0-0. Series Record: Indiana leads, 7-5.
GAME NOTES: With more wins over No. 1 ranked opponents than any other program in the NCAA, the 14th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels will try to spoil the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers' perfect record when the two collide at Assembly Hall for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night.
UNC has knocked off the first-ranked team in the nation 12 times in its history. The Tar Heels improved to 5-1 in their last Maui Invitational appearance with a 112-70 win over the hosting Chaminade Silverswords. Roy Williams and his squad were upset by Butler in the second round of the tourney, but all of its wins have been by widespread margins. The results so far have given UNC a +22.2 ppg scoring margin and an 85.3 ppg scoring average, the latter ranking in the top 10 in the nation.
The Hoosiers are finally thriving once again as Tom Crean has officially resurrected the troubled program. Indiana has ran out to a 6-0 start with wins over Georgia and Georgetown highlighting its journey so far. The Hoosiers have engineered their perfect beginning to the year by leading the nation in free throws attempts per game (32.0), while ranking second in free throws made per game (23.7) and fourth nationally in scoring (88.7 ppg).
Indiana leads the all-time series with UNC, 7-5. Seven of the previous 12 meetings were held on neutral floors, including the 1981 National Championship game when the Hoosiers took down the Tar Heels in Philadelphia to earn the right to cut down the nets.
While ACC player of the year Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes led the Tar Heels last season, the go-to-guy for their 2012-2013 campaign is James Michael McAdoo. The sophomore forward showed promise last season, but was relegated to the bench behind John Henson and Zeller. Now McAdoo is pacing the team with 16.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest. UNC also found a new point guard to make up for Kendall Marshall's departure to the NBA. Freshman guard Marcus Paige is off to a decent start as the team's new floor general. Paige scored 13 points and dished out five assists versus Butler before suffering a minor injury to his back. He was limited versus Chaminade, but he will be healthy for this one. UNC will be without P.J. Hairston, which means Reggie Bullock (12.7 ppg) and Leslie McDonald (8.8 ppg) will need to produce a little extra from the wing positions.
Crean's team is coming off a 101-53 win over in-state rival Ball State. The margin of victory was the largest in the 21-game history of the rivalry which began in 1934. Indiana had a balanced attack as Will Sheehey scored 19 points while Jordan Hulls, Cody Zeller, and Christian Watford all reached double digits as well. Zeller and Watford make up one of the best front lines in college basketball. The duo is combining to produce 28.4 points and 15.7 rebounds per game. Hulls is third on the squad with 13 ppg and his lights out shooting from long distance (54.3 percent 3PT) makes it impossible to pressure the Hoosiers' big guys from the perimeter. Victory Oladipo (11 ppg) and Sheehey (10.7 ppg) are also chipping in more than 10 ppg each.
This will be the toughest game of the season to this point for both sides. Although UNC is one of the top teams in the nation once again, it will still be a big underdog going into Assembly Hall. Indiana has very few weaknesses and Crean's bold coaching reduces the chances of a flat performance from his Hoosiers.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Indiana 81, North Carolina 73
11/27 10:35:03 ET | http://sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=startribune&page=cbask/scores/live/preview.aspx?id=62144 | 954 |
|Bruins Take Commanding 3-0 Lead Against The Rangers||Doubront Suffers Tough Loss as Quintana Quiets Red Sox Offense||Jon Lester Served First Loss in 6-4 Defeat to Adam Dunn, Chicago White Sox||Avery Bradley’s Role With the Celtics: Present and Future|
The Boston Celtics held on and evened the Eastern Conference Finals at two games apiece with an overtime win over the Miami Heat, 93-91, Sunday night. The Celtics nearly let the win slip away, blowing an 18-point first-half lead.
The Celtics got off to a fast start, opening the game on a 21-6 run, much to the delight of the raucous TD Garden crowd that included Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots. But the Heat answered with a 9-0 run to put themselves back in the game. Six is as close as they would get in the first, however, as Boston took a 34-23 lead into the second quarter.
Paul Pierce led the charge early, scoring 12 points in the opening quarter while knocking down two from downtown. The Celtics shot well from beyond the arc in the first 12 minutes, cashing in on 3-of-5 threes.
The Celtics’ opened the second quarter with more three-point success, hitting three of them early. Boston stretched their lead to as many as 17 in the quarter before they began to cool off. The Heat defense held the Celtics to 9-for-23 in the quarter, but turnovers prevented Miami from significantly cutting into the deficit. Boston caused six miscues in the quarter, and the Heat shot 8-for-18.
James led all scorers with 19 at the half, though Miami still trailed, 61-47. Boston’s 61 first-half points were the most given up by Miami this postseason.
Pierce led a balanced Celtics attack with 18. Each Boston starter had at least eight points at the break, and Rondo nearly recorded a double-double in one half, finishing with eight points and 10 assists.
The third quarter belonged to Miami, as the Heat defense stifled the Celtics. Boston scored just 12 points in the quarter on 5-for-16 shooting from the field. The Celtics also lost the rebounding battle 12-6 in the third. Miami shot 8-for-17, shrinking the Boston lead to just five heading into the final quarter.
The Heat used a 6-1 run to open the fourth quarter and tie the game at 74. Miami went up 76-74 on a Norris Cole jumper with 8:22 left in the game, giving the Heat their first lead of the night.
The game’s ending was a nail-biter – no team led by more than three points after Cole’s bucket. There were four lead changes and four ties in the fourth quarter after Miami’s first lead. James hit a big three to tie the game with just under 37 seconds to play in regulation, then drew an offensive foul on Kevin Garnett as the two jockeyed for position.
This gave Miami a chance to go for the win with the shot-clock turned off, but Boston played tight defense and forced a Udonis Haslem miss as time expired to send the game into overtime.
Pierce fouled out early in the extra period, his third time in the last five games. The Heat then lost a star of their own, with James getting called for his sixth foul in overtime.
Haslem opened up the scoring in overtime on a dunk to give Miami the lead, but that would be the Heat’s last points. Marquis Daniels hit 1-of-2 free throws to cut the lead to one before Rondo put Boston ahead for good on its next possession. He finished the game with 15 points and as many assists.
Miami once again had a chance to win the game with the shot-clock off in overtime. Down two, Dwyane Wade missed the potential game-winner from three-point land as the buzzer sounded. He finished with 20 points on a poor shooting night, going 7-for-22 from the field.
James led the Heat with 29 in defeat, one of four players in double-figures for Miami. Pierce led the Celtics 23 points, and all five starters and Keyon Dooling hit the double-figure mark.
The series will shift back to Miami for a pivotal Game 5 on Tuesday. | http://sportsofboston.com/2012/06/04/celtics-even-series-in-overtime-thriller/ | 920 |
Since coming into the NFL in 2007, Leon Hall has been a pillar of consistency in the Bengals secondary. Despite his individual success, the former All-Pro has had a taste of the playoffs just one time in his career and that was all about to change a season ago as it looked like the Bengals were on their way to the postseason again. Of course Cincinnati made it, but Leon Hall was forced to watch from the sidelines after tearing his Achilles in November against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Such a significant injury creates a lot of uncertainty and it’s normally an injury that takes a long time to recover from. The Bengals used their first pick in the draft on Dre Kirkpatrick. Depending on how quickly Hall can regain his form, Kirkpatrick will either be nice insurance policy or Cincy could have the makings of secondary that can anchor the defense for years to come.
Leon Hall joined 1530 Homer in Cincinnati with Mo Egger to talk about how close to a return he is, what is the hardest thing about trying to come back from such a significant injury, what he thinks of rookie cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, what the defense has to do to take the next step and what the goal of the defense is at the beginning of the season.
How close to a return he is:
“I feel pretty close. I don’t have a percentage for you but as far as the work that I’m doing and how well I’m doing it, I feel pretty close. Obviously it’s a little different from doing my drills on the side and being on the actual football field with 10 other players. I feel confident that I will be able to do it. I’m going to be smart about it but at the same time, training camp is my goal and I’m going to stick to it.”
On the hardest thing about trying to come back from such a significant injury:
“I think it’s just the mental aspect of it. Part of it, like you said, is just being on the sidelines or watching the game on TV at the end of last year but as far as rehabbing and stuff, you just have to mentally stay strong. There’s a certain point where my Achilles’ are strong enough to do certain things but if I didn’t have any confidence in doing it it would be very hard to do. It’s just kind of getting over the mental aspect of it, which I don’t have to deal with now because I’m pretty confident, but earlier in the stage you kind of always have those doubts and just stuff you have to try to get over really.”
His thoughts on Dre Kirkpatrick:
“I think he should be very good for us. He had a little injury earlier on but he was able to bounce back from it and play pretty well throughout the mini-camp so everybody here, especially in the DB circles, are counting on him to come in and play well and he showed he can. We’re excited about him and he’s getting the playbook which not everyone can do so it’s great.”
What the Bengals defense has to do to take the next step and be one of the top defenses in the NFL:
“Part of it is being consistent. There’s always those games, even before I got hurt, there were games that we had where we weren’t as solid as we needed to be. The same thing I noticed at the end of the year. Sometimes for whatever reason we’re not as consistent as we need to be. It sounds cliché but it’s the truth. You just have to be real consistent to be one of the best defenses in the NFL.”
On the goal of the defense at the beginning of the season:
“We want to be the best defense in the league. We don’t have a number for how many yards or whatever it is but for that given year, we want to be the best defense out there. Total defense we want to be number one and scoring defense also.” | http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2012/06/21/leon-hall-return-from-achilles-injury-nfl-cincinnati-bengals/ | 857 |
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees have decided on their starters for the first two games of the Grapefruit League schedule, sending right-handers David Phelps and Adam Warren to the mound.
Phelps will be on the hill for the Yanks' first game on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET against the Braves in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., while Warren will pitch New York's home opener on Sunday against the Blue Jays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
As preparation, both pitchers threw two-inning simulated games on Tuesday morning, shedding the protective L-screen as they pitched to Minor League hitters Cito Culver, Addison Maruszak, Corban Joseph and Ronnier Mustelier.
Phelps narrowly escaped a scary moment when Mustelier laced a hot liner back up the middle, forcing Phelps to twist out of the way as the ball slammed into a net placed behind the mound.
"I heard it. I didn't see it," Phelps said. "Robbie [Cano] probably would have had it."
Phelps added a positive scouting report on Mustelier, who hit a combined .314 with 15 homers and 69 RBIs in 114 games for Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last year.
"He's a good hitter," Phelps said. "He can swing it."
Hughes sidelined with upper back discomfort
TAMPA, Fla. -- Right-hander Phil Hughes will be sidelined at Yankees camp after experiencing upper back discomfort during a defensive drill.
Manager Joe Girardi said that Hughes complained of stiffness behind his right shoulder after covering first base while the club's pitchers were taking fielding practice on Monday.
Hughes was sent to be examined by a doctor on Tuesday, and Girardi said that he expects Hughes to miss "a few days."
"There's always a little bit of concern," Girardi said. "It's [his] upper back, so we'll see how he is in a couple of days. The good thing is, he was ahead of where he'd probably normally be at this time, so it helps."
Hughes, 26, was 16-13 with a 4.23 ERA in 32 starts last season. This promises to be an important year for the hurler, who can be eligible for free agency after the 2013 campaign.
Girardi mulling over Grandy, Gardner swap
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees still have not talked to Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson about switching positions in the outfield this season, but a move is still on the table for manager Joe Girardi.
"I wouldn't read too much into what we've done yet, because we haven't played any games," Girardi said. "We still have time to discuss what we want to do, and I want to make sure our outfielders are versatile."
Girardi said that the Yankees are fortunate to have the flexible Ichiro Suzuki, who can play left, center and right. That could free them to use the exhibition schedule to try Granderson in left field and have Gardner patrol center field.
"It's something that, if we do start toying with it, we would do it very quickly," Girardi said.
Girardi said that the Yankees have still not reached a final decision on moving Granderson to left field. Granderson has said that he would be on board with a position switch if the club decides that is the course it wants to take.
"I think Curtis has done a good job for us," Girardi said. "The question for us to sit here and stew over is, 'If you flip-flop them, does it make you better defensively?' That's what we have to figure out."
• Right-hander Mark Montgomery resumed playing catch on Tuesday. The touted prospect had been sidelined by back spasms.
• Eduardo Nunez figures to see a substantial amount of playing time at shortstop while Derek Jeter gets into baseball shape coming off left ankle surgery, but Girardi said that Nunez is still fighting for a roster spot.
"He has to earn it. That's the bottom line," Girardi said. "He has to earn it. We've got to toy with some different options, but we liked what he did at the end of last year. We know he provides a lot of excitement."
• Ichiro wowed the crowd at George M. Steinbrenner Field with a flashy behind-the-back catch during batting practice on Tuesday.
"I've seen him do it before," said Girardi, who'd prefer not to see it executed in a game. "Don't try that at home." | http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130219&content_id=41789740¬ebook_id=41792060&vkey=notebook_nyy&c_id=nyy | 979 |
In the family tree of Major League Baseball, there are plenty of fathers and sons who have played the game at its highest level. There are just three families, however, that have played it through three generations -- the Bells, the Boones and now the Hairstons.
04/14/2011 11:48 AM ET
Scott Hairston continues tradition
Utility man learned game from grandfather, father
By Hal Bock / MLBPLAYERS.com
"And one day," outfielder Scott Hairston of the New York Mets said, "we might have a fourth one."
Landon Hairston, 5, and his brother, Dallas, 3, are a bit removed from the prospect stage, but both boys know their father is a Major League player. And they also know about their uncle Jerry, an outfielder with the Washington Nationals, and their cousin Jackson, who is also 5 years old.
Before too very long, the kids will learn their baseball lineage from their fathers. They'll hear all about how it began with their great grandfather, Sam Hairston. Scott remembers learning about the game that way.
"We had many conversations before he died," Scott said. "Times were tough when he played in the '40s and '50s."
Sam Hairston was a catcher, restricted by baseball to play in the Negro Leagues with teams like the Birmingham Black Barons and Indianapolis Clowns. They traveled by bus, stayed in rundown rooming houses and ate where they could at a time when players of color were not embraced by baseball.
In 1951, four years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, Sam Hairston broke the color barrier for the Chicago White Sox. He appeared in just a handful of games, his only taste of big league ball as a player. But it was the beginning of a 40-year career as a scout and coach in the White Sox organization, and it was in that role that he signed his son, Jerry Hairston Sr., as a fourth-round selection in the 1970 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
"My grandfather always expressed a love for the game," Scott said. "All who knew him said he was a great man. He always said you have to treat the game with respect."
Sam Hairston passed that approach on to his sons. Jerry reached the Majors in 1973 with the White Sox and after a year with Pittsburgh, he was sold to Durango of the Mexican League. After four seasons on the fringes of professional ball, well-removed from the Majors, he returned to the White Sox in 1981 as a valuable utility player. He led the American League in pinch hits for three straight seasons and taught some important lessons to his own sons, future Major Leaguers Scott and Jerry Jr.
"My father is very much like my grandfather," Scott said. "He always said, `Remember who you are. Be yourself. Don't be somebody else.' I keep that in mind every day."
The brothers Hairston grew up, understandably competitive, wondering what it would be like to play together. "We have a third brother, Justin, who played college ball," Scott said. "I was the peacemaker."
Jerry Jr., four years older than Scott, reached the Majors with Baltimore in 1999. There were stops with the Chicago Cubs, Texas, Cincinnati and the New York Yankees before he signed with San Diego in 2010. At last, there was a reunion with Scott, who had logged time with Arizona and Oakland as well as the Padres.
"It was very cool to be together for that season," Scott said. "It was something we always thought about as kids."
After one year together with the Padres, the brothers Hairston went their separate ways again, Jerry signing with the Nationals and Scott with the Mets. Both occupy similar roles as valuable bats off the bench, continuing the Major League legacy for the third generation of ball-playing Hairstons.
And for the future, perhaps a fourth.
"Maybe one day," Scott said, smiling broadly. "We'll see."
Hal Bock is a freelance writer based in New York. | http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/pa/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110414&content_id=17767380&vkey=mlbpa_news&fext=.jsp | 856 |
LHS volleyball reflects on journey
For the Mayer Lutheran volleyball team, the season ended a week too early. Falling 3-0 to Southwest Christian in the Section 4A title game, the Crusaders went home with second place medals and without a state tournament entry.
“It is the way life is sometimes and we have to learn to treasure the moments we had,” head coach Joelle Grimsley said.
Included in those moments were a 24-8 season record, and a 7-0 undefeated Minnesota River Conference record that awarded Mayer Lutheran the MRC title.
In the first rounds of section play, the Crusaders defeated PACT Charter, St. Agnes, and New Life Academy to land in a rematch title game against Southwest Christian. In 2011, the two teams had also faced off for the section title. But this season, it would be the Stars that would send the Crusaders home brokenhearted. The Stars finished second in the state tournament.
Grimsley said the Crusaders talked at length about keeping their eyes on the prize, which for volleyball was state.
“Coming up just short of a year-long goal can be a very tough thing,” she said.
The team will lose seniors Kristen Mielke, Tina Bruggman, Emma Christopherson, and Anna Ernst along with senior captains Ashlyn Hucky and Nico Schmidt, all of who will be missed, Grimsley said.
“Coaching [the seniors] for several years and watching them excel in volleyball and in life decisions is why I coach,” she said. “I looked forward to coming into practice every day because I knew they would work hard and we would have a good time doing it.”
Returning for the Crusaders next season will be juniors Sam Bartz, Jessi Grimsley, Rachel Schmidt, Lauren Schroeder, Shelby Sicheneder, and sophomore Maria Kuntz.
“I feel very blessed and am already counting down the days.” Grimsley said. | http://sunpatriot.com/2012/11/29/lhs-volleyball-reflects-on-journey/ | 423 |
ST. LOUIS -- Prior to Sunday's game, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny talked at length about why his club has struggled to win close games this season. Matheny explained that there were a lot of reasons for the trend, but he didn't have a definitive answer.
Rafael Furcal did, however, have the answer on Sunday, hitting a two-run single with two outs in the ninth to give the Cardinals a 5-4 walk-off win over the Marlins at Busch Stadium in the final game before the All-Star break.
"We took our best shot," Matheny said. "The guys went out there and fought and played hard like they did all season. They're just relentless in how they keep fighting and coming back. It's very rewarding to be able to head out with that kind of win."
The Cardinals were down, 4-2, going into the ninth after their bullpen squandered a one-run lead in the seventh. But St. Louis' offense found life in desperation time, as Miami closer Heath Bell loaded the bases with one out.
Tony Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to cut Miami's lead to one, bringing Daniel Descalso to the plate with two outs. Descalso had entered the game as a defensive sub in the ninth, and he quickly fell behind 0-2. After a lengthy 10-pitch at-bat, Descalso drew a walk to load the bases.
"I fell behind, but the at-bat's not over -- you still have to put in work," Descalso said. "You've got to get [Bell] in the zone. He's been a little erratic lately, and as you saw today, when you lay off the balls, take your walks, he'll come over the middle of the plate."
Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen has noticed the same thing about Bell.
"I stand behind him," Guillen said of his closer, who suffered his sixth blown save of the season. "But on the other hand, he's got to be better than that. If he's not getting better, I'll find a solution. It gets tiring to watch this."
Bell again got to one strike away from a victory, but Furcal drove a 1-2 curveball into left field. Matt Carpenter scored easily from third, and David Freese -- who had been scratched from the lineup less than a half-hour before the start of Sunday's game, and who drew a walk in a pinch-hit at-bat earlier in the inning -- slid in just ahead of left fielder Logan Morrison's throw.
"I just wanted to make him make pitches and put the ball in play," Furcal said. "I didn't want to strike out or try to pull the ball. I'll swing at whatever they give to me, drive it the other way and that's what happened."
The Marlins had taken a two-run lead in the seventh on a three-run pinch-hit homer by Austin Kearns off Victor Marte. Maikel Cleto gave up a one-out double to Omar Infante and walked John Buck before getting pulled from the game to set the stage for Kearns' homer.
After Fernando Salas set down the Marlins in order in the eighth, Mark Rzepczynski gave up a pair of singles and walked two as well. Matheny called on Mitchell Boggs to clean up the situation, and Boggs struck out Donovan Solano to end the inning and leave the bases loaded.
Having used six relievers, Matheny said he had to consider warming up some of his starters, who were all volunteering to help out in any way.
"It would have been pretty creative," Matheny said.
Just as the bullpen struggled with its command, St. Louis starter Joe Kelly was off the plate from the get-go. After issuing back-to-back one-out walks in the first inning, Hanley Ramirez stole third and catcher Tony Cruz's throw to third sailed into into left field. Ramirez scored easily to give Miami a one-run lead.
Kelly pitched his way out of a jam in the third, stranding a runner at third. He walked pitcher Anibal Sanchez to start the inning, and Sanchez moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Kelly then got Ramirez to ground out and Carlos Lee to fly out to end the inning.
While Kelly allowed a season-low two hits and one unearned run over six innings, the 24-year-old right-hander struggled with his command throughout the day. He set a career high with five walks, and said he had trouble adjusting to the strike zone. Kelly had walked two in 15 1/3 innings over his first three starts, but has walked a total of nine batters in his last two outings.
"It wasn't as good as I wanted to be," Kelly said of his command. "And a small strike zone, that's where you have to deal with, that adversity right there. You can't make excuses, and you have to pitch to what the guy back there wants."
The Cardinals improved to 5-2 against Miami this season, and are now 14-21 in games decided by two runs or fewer. While their record in tight games is not ideal, Sunday was a step in the right direction for the Cardinals as they head into the break.
"Just the positive vibe you got, it's probably as good as any one we've had," Matheny said. "It's a great way to send these guys off. They played hard this first half, plus a couple games, and it'll be nice for them to stew on that for a while and think about the positive things we have ahead of us."
Mike Still is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | http://tampabay.rays.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2012_07_08_miamlb_slnmlb_1&mode=recap&c_id=stl | 1,217 |
ARLINGTON -- Rangers veteran Michael Young, who hasn't had one of his patented hot streaks yet this season, may be breaking out in August.
Young, who was 3-for-3 in Friday's 6-2 loss to the Tigers, has hit in all nine games in August, giving him a 10-game hitting streak. He is batting .357 during the stretch and his season average is at .275, the highest it's been since June 29.
Young is squaring up on more balls, manager Ron Washington said. When Young is at his best, the right-handed batter is smoking line drives into right-center field.
"We're about to find out if he's locked in," Washington said. "If he can stay locked in, he can get on a good run. He's getting around on the ball and starting to smoke it."
Harrison over stomach bug, ready for next start
ARLINGTON -- Rangers left-hander Matt Harrison has fully recovered from a stomach virus and said Saturday he'll be ready to make his next start Tuesday against the Yankees in New York.
Harrison said he had a rough couple of days with vomiting and other symptoms, including last Wednesday, when he started against the Red Sox at Fenway Park and allowed four earned runs and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings.
He acknowledged that the stomach ailment, which he picked up by way of his wife Meghan by way of their 1-year-old daughter Addie, did impact him against Boston.
"Some of the pitches I made weren't very good," Harrison said. "Definitely my energy level wasn't there. I feel good and I'm ready to go in New York."
Soto getting familiar with Rangers' pitching staff
ARLINGTON -- Geovany Soto has had the chance to catch most of the Rangers' pitchers at least in the bullpen since being traded to Texas from the Cubs at the July 31 Trade Deadline.
Soto said before Saturday's game against the Tigers that he is trying to get as comfortable as he can with what is currently a 13-man staff. Things are even more rushed now with Mike Napoli on the disabled list and Soto expected to get the majority of the starts.
"Obviously it's been a little bit different," Soto said. "They have a good idea of how they want to pitch. They are solid pitchers. I've been going down to the bullpen and catching the guys."
Soto has caught a bullpen for Yu Darvish, who might be the most difficult pitcher to learn with his vast array of breaking balls. Darvish, who has struggled with his command of late, will start Sunday against the Tigers.
On the whole, Soto, known for his receiving ability, has fit in well, manager Ron Washington said.
"We haven't missed a beat when he's been back there," Washington said. "We wanted him to catch a bullpen before catching Darvish. He has to go through that. We're comfortable knowing he can handle it."
Right fielder Nelson Cruz came out of Friday's game with back stiffness after diving for a fly ball in the seventh inning, but he was back in the starting lineup Saturday. "I feel good," he said.
Manager Ron Washington said he likes the throwback powder-blue uniforms the Rangers wore Saturday night in honor of the 40th anniversary All-Time Team. But he said he's happy to stick with the home white uniforms.
Reliever Koji Ueraha (right lat strain) will throw another bullpen session Sunday after throwing 28 pitches on a mound and 30 more on flat ground Friday.
Todd Wills is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120811&content_id=36519500¬ebook_id=36526336&vkey=notebook_tex&c_id=tex | 780 |
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- While the competition for the No. 5 spot in the Rays' rotation continues, at least one of the competitors isn't wrapped up in the idea of battling others for the spot.
"I'm constantly battling for a spot," said right-hander Chris Archer, who allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings Friday against the Blue Jays. "That's battling for a spot against me. Each day I can get better than I was yesterday. Really, it's cliche, but that's what I try to do."
Several years ago it's likely all four of the competitors for the fifth spot would have been in the Rays' rotation. Now just one from the group of Archer, Jeff Niemann, Roberto Hernandez and Jake Odorizzi will be in the rotation.
"It is a little frustrating," Archer said. "But from the way the Rays have done things, it proves that they know what they're doing. They know everybody is completely ready to get there and stay. So I'd rather be able to get there and stay instead of going up and down, up and down. I mean, if they need me to do that, obviously I wouldn't mind going up and down, up and down.
"But one day I'm going to have a solidified spot in the rotation and the young guys in A ball and Double-A, they're going to be in my position. I'm going to have my spot because I've waited for my turn, basically. So I'm going to be patient and it can be frustrating if you let it be. But it doesn't frustrate me because I know eventually I'll be that guy with a spot and somebody else will have to be patient."
Baserunning focus on decision-making, not steals
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Rays manager Joe Maddon was asked how he thought the overall baserunning of his team would look this season and he offered to "go around the horn" in the following response:
"James Loney, good baserunner, not exceptionally fast. Kelly Johnson, can be a plus. He's a very good baserunner and can steal bases. [Yunel] Escobar, also, given the right moment. He's your classic situational guy, if you give him more opportunities, I think he's going to take advantage of that. [Evan Longoria], with his legs, let's see how that works out. Outfield-wise, Desmond [Jennings] is [above average], [Ben] Zobrist, I think he'll have a better year than he had last year. [Sam Fuld is] good."
Maddon noted that the Rays aren't necessarily looking for stolen bases out of this year's team.
"Just the ability to make good decisions, the ability to go first to third and second to home," Maddon said. "We've been working on that already. I think sometimes people equate good baserunning with the number of stolen bases and we like that, but for us it's making sure we run the bases well."
As for the overall speed of this year's team, Maddon noted that the team has "lost some fast guys" including B.J. Upton, who stole 31 bases last season.
"Speed-wise [we] may have taken a little bit of a hit," Maddon said. "It's going to be hard for us to accumulate the same number of stolen bases I think. But we can still steal some bases. And the big thing is that we run the bases properly."
Maddon and company like to preach aggressiveness on the basepaths, particularly to the new players.
"Yes, they've heard it a lot already," Maddon said.
Maddon sees AL East as 'wide open' this year
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Rays manager Joe Maddon didn't hesitate to offer his comments when asked to handicap the American League East for the coming season.
The Rays manager began by noting: "It's wide open."
"Everybody's denigrating the Yankees for their age over experience," Maddon said. "Then you talk about the Red Sox and what happened last year. I expect them both to be very good this year."
Maddon then looked over at the opposing dugout in Dunedin and spoke about Toronto after its massive offseason overhaul.
"What the Blue Jays have done is very exciting for Toronto," Maddon said. "Part of it for them is how quickly they can get it together as a group. And if they do, they could be very dangerous. Baltimore showed what they could do last year. Baltimore started playing on another mental level last year. That's why they got so tough. And I think we're as good as we've ever been. So I think things can be very interesting."
When a reporter commented that the Orioles showed everyone that anything is possible with what they accomplished in 2012, Maddon smiled and responded: "I think we showed that in 2008."
"That's been rather contagious the last several years," Maddon said. "Baltimore, I really appreciate what they do and how they do it. They come to play. [Buck Showalter has] done a great job there. It's a different mindset among their players. They don't quit. ... They just don't quit and I expect the same thing."
Maddon agreed that picking a winner in the division would be difficult.
"Injuries will play a role in it at some point," Maddon said. "But I think it's going to be, who knows, but I think we'll all be good."
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130301&content_id=42144596¬ebook_id=42146244&vkey=notebook_tb&c_id=tb | 1,207 |
In wrestling terms, Section Four more or less forfeited in advance.
With a snowstorm expected to hit the area hard today, Section Four canceled the opening day of its Division I and Division II wrestling championships at the Broome County Arena in Binghamton.
As a result, the Arena will host the entire tournament Saturday, with preliminary matches scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
Section Four chairman Rick Armstrong said via email Thursday that preliminary losers will be eliminated from the tournament, which will wrestle back to six places in each weight class.
The sectional quarterfinals will begin around 1 p.m. Saturday, with semifinals to follow around 3:30 p.m.
Armstrong said the consolation finals and championship matches should start around 7 p.m. Saturday. Finals will take place on the center mats, with third- and fifth-place matches set for the end mats for each division.
Section Four also announced the boys bowling championships at Mid-Way Lanes in Vestal have been moved from today to 2 p.m. Monday. Mid-Way Lanes will host the girls bowling championships at 9 a.m. Saturday, as originally scheduled.
Several other high school events slated for today have been rescheduled because of the impending storm.
Margaretville boys basketball coach Jeremey Marks said tonight’s Delaware League game against visiting Stamford has tentatively been moved to 4 p.m. Saturday. Both teams are 10-2 atop the Delaware League’s Upper Delaware Division, meaning the winner of Saturday’s game will clinch the division title and advance to the crossover championship against Delaware Mountain Division winner South Kortright on Feb. 15 at SUNY Delhi.
Gilbertsville-Mount Upton athletic director Jim Johnson announced two basketball postponements for today. The Raiders boys will host Franklin at 7 p.m. Wednesday. His girls will visit Franklin at the same time.
The storm affected game times for college events as well.
Hartwick College’s basketball games tonight against visiting Ithaca will begin two hours earlier than originally scheduled as the women will play at 4 p.m. followed by the men at 6 p.m.
The Hawks will be on a two-hour delay Saturday as well, with the women hosting Elmira at 4 p.m., followed by the men at 6 p.m.
Oneonta State announced its indoor track teams will not compete at Boston University this weekend. Additionally, the Red Dragons’ wrestling quad-meet at Williams has been moved from Saturday to Sunday. | http://thedailystar.com/localsports/x1746086856/Wrestling-championships-moved-to-Saturday | 527 |
Tonight is Game 3 of the Fairytale series aka the Disneyland vs Disney World NBA Finals. Here are the Disney themed t-shirt designs that are available for purchase at STAPLES Center and Amway Arena, Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World and online at nbastore.com, orlandomagicshop.com and lakersstore.com.
Still looking for the first shots of these in the wild. They didn’t have any of them at Downtown Disney on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Lakers get the fab four on their shirts.
But the Orlando Magic get the classic pie-eye Mickey. Which I think is pretty cool.
Two more designs below the cut: | http://thedisneyblog.com/2009/06/09/disneyland-vs-disney-world-nba-finals-t-shirts/ | 142 |
Stadium debt, in some cases, hangs around a lot longer than the teams that once played in them. From the Houston Chronicle comes this story that the vacant Astrodome “carries as much as $32 million in debt — nearly as much as the original cost of construction.” $32 million may seem like rounding error in an era of $500 million ballparks. Nevertheless, there’s a whiff here of the old political trick of shifting benefits towards the present and costs to the future. And not just in Houston:
Olympic Stadium in Montreal was not paid off until two years after the Expos left for Washington, D.C. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh still was carrying $45 million in debt at the time of its demolition in 2001.
Seattle’s Kingdome was razed in 2000, and King County is scheduled to finish paying off its debt in five years.
22 years of payments
Public money will be required to cover Astrodome debt payments for 22 more years, according to county financial projections.
The story goes on to note that the current debt stems from renovations made to address relocation threats made by the Oilers and Astros in the 1980s.
The Astrodome’s debt stems from the $60 million cost in the late 1980s of adding 10,000 seats, removing the scoreboard and installing 72 luxury boxes. County commissioners approved the project in an effort to persuade Oilers’ owner Bud Adams to keep the team in Houston. The team left town after the 1996 season.
When asked if the expansion looked like a bad investment in retrospect, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole replied, “Hell, yeah!” But Eversole, who was not yet on the Court when the spending was approved, also said it has to be looked at in the context of the times, when two teams were threatening to leave town.
“We couldn’t not try to keep the Oilers and we couldn’t not try to keep the Astros,” Eversole said. | http://thesportseconomist.com/2010/04/13/stadium-debt/ | 421 |
Both Ruggiero and Wickenheiser are four-time Olympic medalists in a sport that isn’t widely known but has grown across the world since it was first included at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. The inclusion of women in this game should help bring even more attention to the sport, as Wickenheiser said in a release from EA:
“The EA SPORTS NHL franchise took a big step last year by including female characters to create a more inclusive experience for female hockey fans,” said Hayley Wickenheiser. “I’m excited to be a part of NHL 13 and hope that the addition of women’s hockey legends will encourage greater participation in hockey from young women everywhere.”
EA, for years, has included female golfers in its Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf games, and it is facing a petition drive to add women’s teams to its series of FIFA soccer games after the success of the U.S. Women’s National Team, and the sport in general, at the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics. EA now says it is “inevitable” that women will appear in the soccer game, even if it is too late to include them in the 2013 version.
A cynic could take the view that this is all a marketing ploy — other companies have found success by increasing their marketing efforts to young girls — but I’ll take the opposite view: in a world where women’s sports are becoming more visible, in a world where more young women are playing the games, in a world where we more often talk about the gender issues that permeate the sports world and the successes female athletes have despite numerous obstacles, EA is acknowledging not just the fact that women and girls play sports, but that they play sports video games and should have the same opportunity to participate in the gameplay experience men have every time they sit down in front of their XBox or Playstation. | http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/08/31/785091/ea-sports-to-include-female-hockey-players-in-emnhl-13em-video-game/?mobile=nc | 404 |
Yanks to formally rename field Thursday
'George M. Steinbrenner Field' to debut before Bucs game
TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees will depart town on Thursday by saying goodbye to Legends Field, as the club's Spring Training facility is set to be officially renamed in honor of principal owner George M. Steinbrenner.
To be re-named "George M. Steinbrenner Field," the stadium will receive scoreboard signage in left field displaying its new moniker in a special ceremony prior to Thursday's 1:15 p.m. ET exhibition game against the Pirates.
The stadium renaming was approved in February by two unanimous resolutions from the Hillsborough County Commission and the Tampa City Council, endorsing the honoring of Steinbrenner for his many charitable donations on behalf of youth activities, hospitals and the arts.
Among Steinbrenner's most striking contributions was the founding of The Gold Shield Foundation, which ensures that the families of police officers and firemen killed in the line of duty receive early financial assistance and are guaranteed a tuition-free college education. The resolutions recognized that Steinbrenner has stepped forward at critical times to help influence and improve the local community.
"I am humbled and flattered to have this outstanding and totally unexpected honor conferred on me," Steinbrenner said in a statement on Feb. 14. "I extend my thanks to the Tampa City Council and to the Hillsborough County Commissioners for passing resolutions suggesting and recommending the change.
"I also thank my family for supporting the renaming of the stadium and for everything they have done for so many years that helped bring about this great day."
Tampa City Council member Charlie Miranda and Hillsborough County Commissioner Rose Ferlita will be on hand as guest speakers for the ceremony, which will feature a video presentation congratulating Mr. Steinbrenner, as well as a flyover by Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and Tampa Police Department helicopters.
Mrs. Joan Steinbrenner is scheduled to throw out the game's ceremonial first pitch, representing the Steinbrenner family.
Legends Field has been the Spring Training home of the Yankees since 1996, when the team relocated from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and has the same field dimensions as Yankee Stadium in New York.
It has been recently subject to improvements and modifications, including the addition of the right-field Tampa Tribune deck that has permitted the Yankees to increase total stadium seating capacity to 11,076 for the 2008 Grapefruit League season.
Once the Yankees go north for the championship season, the facility continues to serve as a home for the Class A Tampa Yankees of the Florida State League.
Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080324&content_id=2455192&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb | 573 |
Homers hurt Porcello in debut
Hanging curve one of few mistakes by poised rookie
TORONTO -- Not many 20-year-olds could've pitched the kind of game Rick Porcello did Thursday against Major League hitters. On the other hand, plenty of pitchers far older could've thrown the mistake that proved to be his downfall.
For someone who hadn't pitched an inning in the regular season above Class A ball until Thursday, Porcello didn't need experience to know his hanging curveball was in trouble as soon as it left his hand and floated towards Adam Lind. And as Lind sent it soaring out to center field, giving the Blue Jays the lead for good en route to a 6-2 Tigers loss, the frustration was finally evident on Porcello's normally composed face.
"It was just one of those pitches," Porcello said, "where, as soon as you let it go, you want it back. I just knew it was hanging up there and pretty much praying for him not to swing."
If that was the worst mistake from Porcello's Major League debut, then all in all, it wasn't a bad afternoon.
"Our guy's going to be pretty good," shortstop Adam Everett said. "Barring an injury, he's going to be the real deal. He could be very special. Man, the way he went out there and pitched ... "
Porcello had his share of other miscues, but none of them major, and none of them showing the signs of a rattled kid with any hint of being overmatched. And even with four runs allowed over five-plus innings, he gave the Tigers and their usually potent offense a chance, leaving with a 3-2 deficit and a runner on base before Toronto scored three more times on Detroit's bullpen.
"I thought he kept his composure really good," manager Jim Leyland said, "and I thought he pitched. I thought he pitched well. He made a bad pitch and he paid a price for it. But at the same time, I've seen those pitches get popped up, too. That's just the way it is. I thought, for his first outing and everything, he handled himself very well."
Not only did the first-ever matchup of first-round Draft picks making their Major League debuts as opposing starting pitchers dominate the attention leading into this series finale, they pretty much commanded the game itself until the later innings. While Jays left-hander Ricky Romero (1-0) recovered from a pair of Detroit third-inning runs, one of them on Curtis Granderson's second home run of the series, to salvage a quality start, Porcello worked out of several hitters' counts to keep Toronto from big hits early.
Porcello misread an assignment on who would cover second base on a potential double play in the first inning, but his double-clutch allowed him to fire off an accurate throw to Ramon Santiago to start the twin-killing that ended the first inning. His nasty curveball dropped over the plate for a called third strike on Michael Barrett to stranded runners at the corners in the second.
"I thought I was going to be a little bit more nervous," Porcello said. "But after the first pitch, I thought I was able to settle in a little bit, felt pretty good."
His two-seamer sent down Travis Snider swinging to strand two more in the fourth once the Jays got on the scoreboard. After Aaron Hill turned on an inside fastball for the solo homer that tied the game at 2 in the fifth, Porcello regrouped for back-to-back strikeouts of Alex Rios and Vernon Wells.
For someone who didn't have a 1-2-3 inning and had more first-pitch balls than strikes, Porcello didn't come off as a pitcher who was about to give up the big inning. Neither Rios nor Wells got the ball out of the infield against Porcello, let alone had a base hit. And Barrett managed Toronto's only hit against him with runners in scoring position.
"He had good sink and great run on his fastball," Snider said. "He did a great job the first five innings. We got to him a little bit later on. But for a debut for, what, a 20 year old kid -- I say that being a 21-year-old kid -- he had great composure out there."
The strikeouts of Rios and Wells in the fifth were impressive enough to earn him another inning. But he couldn't get the pitch that would earn him the first out of the sixth.
Porcello used a curveball to send Lind missing, putting him in a 1-2 count leading off the sixth. He went back to the curveball looking for the same result. But instead of burying it, he watched it sail high and just off the plate. Then he had to watch it sail out.
Fatigue, Porcello said, was not a factor there.
"It was a mistake, and he capitalized on it," Porcello said of Lind, who drove in seven runs in the series. "You have to tip your hat to him for putting that ball out. He's got some pretty good pop."
Jose Bautista's ensuing infield single brought out Leyland to make the pitching change, but it didn't contain the damage. Nate Robertson recorded back-to-back outs and nearly sent down Snider before the Jays rookie belted Robertson's full-count delivery off the right-field fence for an RBI double. Marco Scutaro followed with a two-run homer off Juan Rincon to put Toronto comfortably ahead.
"The add-on runs were what killed us," Leyland said.
As much as Porcello might've been disappointed, he did the job he went into the game wanting to do. And much like Ryan Perry the previous night, he has gotten his first outing out of the way.
"It was just one of those games where I'd like to have a couple pitches back and make a couple better pitches," Porcello said, "and it might've turned out different for us."
Jason Beck is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. | http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090409&content_id=4176602&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=det | 1,303 |
This Week in the Pac-12, Week 12: Division titles up for grabs as bowl picture takes shapeby Scott Terrell on Nov. 15, 2012, under Sports
The Pac-12 Championship Game is in two weeks but this week is the semifinals. Both divisions could be wrapped up on Saturday as the four remaining contenders pair up on the field.
In the middle of the Pac, three teams are jockeying for bowl position, another team is trying to get bowl eligible and one team needs to beat the Arizona Wildcats to keep its postseason hopes alive.
TWit-Pac has mini-previews, a bowl draft, stats and more, but the TV schedule comes first (all times Arizona/Mountain):
|Sat Nov 17||Washington||Colorado||11:30 a.m.||FX|
What did FX do to get stuck with Colorado for the third straight week?
There is minimal suspense with the bowl bubble so we are introducing the bowl mock draft. Here are the Pac-12’s tie-ins:
|Pac Pick||Bowl||Date||Time (Local)|
|-||BCS Championship||Mon. Jan. 7||8 p.m. EST|
|1||Rose||Tue. Jan. 1||2 p.m. PST|
|2||Alamo||Sat. Dec. 29||5:45 p.m. CST|
|3||Holiday||Thu. Dec. 27||6:45 p.m. PST|
|4||Sun||Mon. Dec. 31||12 p.m. MST|
|5||Las Vegas||Sat. Dec. 22||12:30 p.m. PST|
|6||Fight Hunger||Sat. Dec. 29||1 p.m. PST|
|7||New Mexico||Sat. Dec. 15||11 a.m. MST|
Here’s how I see the Pac’s bowl partners selecting teams if the season ended today:
BCS Championship Game – Oregon (10-0)
With Alabama losing, the computers finally like the Ducks enough to get them into the top two.
Rose Bowl – Stanford (8-2)
There’s a lot of talk about Notre Dame getting invited to Pasadena but I believe the Rose Bowl will take the second-place Pac-12 team if one is eligible and Stanford is currently in the top 14 of the BCS standings.
Alamo Bowl – UCLA (8-2)
The San Antonians would be tempted to take USC but UCLA’s record and first-place standing win out today. The Bruins already have two more wins than last year’s Pac-12 South champs.
Holiday Bowl – USC (7-3)
USC’s prestige factor trumps its record. The positive is everyone gets to snicker about the Sports Illustrated cover jinx.
Sun Bowl – Oregon State (7-2)
The folks in El Paso would be very happy to land a two-loss team.
Las Vegas Bowl – ARIZONA (6-4)
The Cheap Seats don’t bother with corporate sponsorships. The UA’s location and head-to-head thrashing make the Wildcats more attractive than Washington.
Fight Hunger – Washington (6-4)
The only eligible Pac-12 team left.
New Mexico – none
Albuquerque will be rooting for ASU this week.
Five teams are clearly above Arizona in the bowl pecking order, four due to record and head-to-head results and one due to name recognition. Even if a second team gets into the BCS it looks like the Cats are going to Vegas, San Fran or Querque (that’s its nickname, right?). The UA has never played in two of those bowls so there could be foreign territory to conquer.
Which squads will improve their bowl standings with wins this week? Onward!
Washington (6-4 / 4-3) at Colorado (1-9 / 1-6)
Wait, the Huskies are in the BCS top 25? The same U-Drubbed team that has been beaten by 30 three times? Score one for strength of schedule (and the computers ignoring margin of defeat).
USC (7-3 / 5-3) at UCLA (8-2 / 5-2)
When the season started USC was No. 1 and UCLA’s coach didn’t even have one college win. Now the winner clinches the Pac-12 South, and if Lane Kiffin isn’t that winner he might not be allowed to try and earn more college wins.
WSU (2-8 / 0-7) at ASU (5-5 / 3-4)
If Mike Leach is going down in flames, is it too much to ask that this be his version of John Mackovic getting carried off the field at Cal?
Stanford (8-2 / 6-1) at Oregon (10-0 / 7-0)
If Stanford wins it will have to also beat UCLA next week to clinch the North but if the Ducks prevail all the P12CG tickets can be sold before Thanksgiving.
ARIZONA (6-4 / 3-4) at Utah (4-6 / 2-5)
Did anyone else find it fitting that the Wildcats beat Colorado by exactly 25?
Cal (3-8 / 2-6) at OSU (7-2 / 5-2)
Oregon State beats Cal and loses to Oregon, Stanford loses to Oregon and UCLA, Oregon goes to the national championship game, OSU cancels its computer-killer game with Nicholls State, the Beavers sneak into the BCS top-14 and go to the Rose Bowl. No problem, right?
* * *
If you listen closely you can probably hear Ka’Deem Carey putting yet another award on his shelf but Arizona’s record-breaking back isn’t the only Cat hitting milestones. Austin Hill caught three passes for 29 yards last week to become the seventh Wildcat to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
Most Receiving Yards, Season
This is only the second time in history the UA has produced a 1,000-yard rusher and a 1,000-yard receiver in the same season. Trung Canidate (1,602) and Dennis Northcutt (1,422) accomplished the feat in 1999.
All that’s left is to get Matt Scott another 152 passing yards to give the Wildcats their first season with a 3,000-1,000-1,000 trio.
* * *
You can’t read anything into Utah losing by 19 at Washington last week just like the Huskies’ blowout loss in Tucson did nothing to prevent UW from beating Oregon State a week later. Arizona, Washington and Utah seem like one of those college football stalemates where A beats B, B beats C, and then C beats A.
To prevent the third portion of that equation from happening the Cats are going to have to throw the ball around. Keeping it on the ground 73% of the time may work against Colorado but Utah is third in the conference in rush defense and total defense. The UA will have to stretch the field from sideline to sideline and test the Ute secondary deep and underneath.
This is Arizona’s last chance at a road win. Utah needs a win to have a shot at a 10th-straight bowl game.
The Utes scored 49 points in each of their last two wins. It might just take Arizona’s fifth 50-point game to pull this off.
- – - – - | http://tucsoncitizen.com/uasportsnet/2012/11/15/this-week-in-the-pac-12-week-12-division-titles-up-for-grabs-as-bowl-picture-takes-shape/ | 1,614 |
Barca were the better side in the first half, but Messi was guilty of two bad misses.
Instead it was Cristiano Ronaldo who opened the scoring, sending a thumping header beyond Victor Valdes soon after the break.
But Barca were behind for barely a minute as Pedro raced clear to equalise, before Messi scored his first Clasico goal in 432 minutes from the spot after Sergio Ramos fouled Andres Iniesta.
Xavi made it 3-1 after superb work by Iniesta, but Angel Di Maria pulled a goal back after a Valdes howler.
Both Jose Mourinho and new Barca coach Tito Vilanova dismissed the Super Cup as meaningless before kick-off, but the memo failed to reach the 95,000 fans that packed the Camp Nou for a Clasico that stands out as one of the best in recent years.
The stadium was rocking as Barca, who left new signing Alex Song out of the squad, took the initiative early on, forcing Madrid to defend uncomfortably deep and restricting them to the occasional counter-attack.
Of course this is often Mourinho’s strategy against Barca – but it worked in the first half as the home side were unable to convert the chances they created.
Given the exceptionally high standards set by Messi in recent seasons, the fact that he went into this Clasico without a goal against Los Blancos in four games, seemed like something of an anomaly.
But he was unable to break that record when he spurned the best chance of the half in the 20th minute. Dani Alves found space on the right and crossed for Messi on the edge of the box, where the forward niftily shifted the ball onto his left foot, but could not keep his shot from rising just over the bar.
Another chance fell to Messi nine minutes later, but again he was off target – dragging his effort wide.
Real Madrid could have gone ahead late in the first half when Karim Benzema was denied by Valdes, but Ronaldo elevated an indifferent personal display with the opener 10 minutes into the second half.
Stealing a yard from Sergio Busquets, Ronaldo’s bullet header beat Valdes at his near post to give Los Blancos an unlikely lead. But it was a lead they could not hold on to.
Virtually straight from kick-off Javier Mascherano’s lofted pass found Pedro, who raced clear of Fabio Coentrao, picked ahead of Marcelo again, and arrowed a low shot into the far corner.
With Real Madrid seemingly abandoning the strict defensive policy adopted in the first half, Barca found holes in their back line – and it was only a matter of time before the Catalan side took the lead.
That chance came when Ramos was caught out by Iniesta’s quick feet and fouled him in the box – and Messi calmly sent Iker Casillas the wrong way from 12 yards.
But Barca were not done. Despite having Pedro off the field and receiving treatment for a hand injury, Iniesta led another Barca counter-attack and spotted the superb run of Xavi. Iniesta’s delightful through ball found his team-mate, who slotted in to make it 3-1.
Barca were denied the chance to make it 4-1 when Casillas pulled off a magnificent save to thwart Messi, whose effort from point-blank range was smothered instinctively by the Spain goalkeeper.
Instead, Madrid broke away and made it 3-2. Failing to clear Adriano’s routine back pass, Valdes opted to take a touch and dribble around Di Maria, who stole possession and turned the ball into the empty net.
It was a farcical end to an enthralling second half in Barcelona that Real Madrid with more than a glimmer of hope of winning their sixth Super Cup when the second leg is played at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday. | http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/matchpack-barcelona-v-real-madrid-21-30-154115018.html | 816 |
YAKIMA - The DeSales Irish fell to Kittitas, 3-2, in the third round of the Washington state Class 2B volleyball playoffs Saturday at the Yakima SunDome, ending their tournament hopes.
Prior to Saturday's match, DeSales lost its first match, 3-0, to Pateros Friday. That loss put the Irish in the losers' bracket, meaning the highest they could place was seventh, but DeSales promptly rebounded and swept Orcas Island, 3-0.
Although the Irish failed to place, making State was a victory in and of itself, DeSales coach Lori Blanc said.
DeSales was the third seed in the District 9 tournament and lost its first match to Asotin, but then fought through a tough losers' bracket to garner the District's second spot at the State tournament, even knocking off the regular-season district champion Dayton in the process.
"As a player and as a coach, it's always a goal to end your season at state," Blanc said. "I think they (DeSales) represented themselves and the district well - they can be proud of how they finished."
Seniors Abby Larreau, Stephanie Ferrel, Annie Higgins, Chantelle Blanc and Bethany Konen played their final ball of their high-school careers.
"It (losing against Kittitas) was kind of emotional because they (seniors) knew it was the last game they were going to play, but they felt really good about how they played that last match," Blanc said. "They leave it all out on the court, no regrets."
Larreau, Ferrel, Higgins and Blanc played consistently on the varsity team since they were sophomores and were called up for district tournaments their freshman year.
"They are the core of the team, they have been probably for the last two years," Blanc said. "They're captains and they kinda keep the team going.
"All of the juniors (will need to step up)," Blanc said. "There's going to be some sophomores from this year as well who will need to step up and fill some big holes."
Ferrel, Blanc and Larreau all made the all-Southeast 2B first team; Higgins received an honorable mention.
Konen saw action primarily as a service specialist, it was her first season playing on the varsity squad.
DeSales struggled in serve-receive and adjusting to the six-court SunDome in the first match against Pateros Friday, falling 25-21, 25-19 and 25-20.
"... (There were) six courts and six games going on - it's loud," Blanc said, "once they got themselves adjusted and acclimated they were able to get more comfortable and gain control.
"We usually don't have problems with serve-receive," she continued," but they had some excellent servers that kind of caught us off guard. We hadn't seen anything like that in districts."
The Irish responded in the second match against Orcas Island with their tournament trip on the line.
"We had kind of just went into the game thinking that we wanted to be in control of the game instead of just playing catch up," Blanc said. "Start to finish, they (the Irish) really were.
"To start the match, there were only two unforced errors on our side and we really kept it together and won in three," she added.
DeSales took care of business in three: 25-12, 25-17 and 27-25.
Kittitas jumped out a took a quick two-set lead, posting 25-21 and 25-12 victories, and looked to put a quick end to DeSales, up 23-17 in the third set.
Once again, the Irish responded.
"The third game, the girls (the Irish) decided they didn't want to be done," Blanc said. "At one point we were down 23-17, but then we came back to win it 25-23. It was complete momentum change. The goal was to carry that into the fourth game and force a game five.
"Momentum is a huge part of the game, once you get three or four or five serves in a row you're able to get some momentum," she continued. "You have to give a little credit to the heart and the stamina of the girls to not pack it in after three games, they weren't ready to be done."
DeSales did force a fifth-set after defeating Kittitas 25-19 in the fourth, but they were unable to complete the comeback and fell 15-6 in the final set.
"It (taking the match to five sets) was (fitting), it was a good way to finish because they (the Irish) proved that they could compete," Blanc said. "Had they lost in three they would have really been upset."
Larreau led the Irish with 37 kills and 15 blocks through three matches. Higgins tallied 24 kills; Ferrel had 14 kills; sophomore Claire Conley had six kills and two blocks; and Chantel Blanc racked up 75 assists.
None of the seniors have plans to play college-level volleyball thus far, Blanc said. | http://union-bulletin.com/news/2011/nov/13/irish-out-in-three-at-state-tournament/ | 1,086 |
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Click Here To Register | http://usagym.org/fw/login.html?url=/pages/pressbox/history/olympics_rosters_women.html | 61 |
MLS: First Teams to 100 Goals
|In the last post, I looked at the breakdown of goals by competition and by team. I couldn't help but notice that Seattle is already over 100 goals in only two seasons, helped by their US Open Cup success. Not only that, they're 2/3rds of the way to Toronto's total despite playing two seasons vs four for TFC. It got me thinking, how long did each team take to get to the 100 goal milestone?|
It's not exactly a fair comparison for all teams, since the goals per game average was higher for the original MLS franchises. It was over 3.00 for six of the first seven years (and none since). As for Chicago and Miami, 1998 was the single highest scoring year (3.57 per game). However, 1999 was a down year (2.86), so the totals for 1996-97 are actually higher than 1998-99.
The past decade's expansion teams mostly took a bit longer to get there. However, I think that it's fair to compare them and the original teams amongst their own groups.
This includes all competitions:
Number of Games to 100 Goals
DC leads the list, scoring at a rate of two per game. NE is the last original team, just one game behind NY, while Miami was even worse.
Toronto comes up last, taking 91 games to score 100 goals. That would be the 2-0 home win over DC on August 15, 2009. Funny that the next season, they hire a defensive coach. I'm not surprised that the club which famously set records for scoring futility in their expansion season ends up with this record as well.
RSL barely bests TFC, not reaching the mark until August 29, 2007. That 3-1 home win over Kansas City also marked Javier Morales' debut.
Currently, after one season Philadelphia has scored 36 times in 31 matches. Such a rate suggests that it will take 86 matches, though it's likely that they'll improve a bit. But given the struggles most recent expansion teams have seen, and more importantly the downward trend in scoring, it wouldn't be a shock to see them or one of the other new teams (Portland, Vancouver, Montreal) break the mark. | http://usasoccer.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html | 465 |
Athletics director salary database for 2011
USA TODAY attempted to gather athletics director salary data for all Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
To determine the total pay packages of FBS (formerly known as Division I-A) athletics directors for their current contract years, USA TODAY—in partnership with Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP—requested all forms of compensation for the AD at all 120 schools.
Schools that provided contract information were given the opportunity to review their figures.
Explanations of compensation categories
University compensation: Base salary; income from contract provisions other than base salary that are paid, or guaranteed, by the university or affiliated organizations, such as a foundation. For example, payments in consideration for: shoe and apparel use; television, radio or other media appearances; personal appearances.
Also includes deferred payments earned annually; conditional deferred payments earned annually; certain payments based on attendance, ticket revenue or sales; contractual expense account or housing allowance. It does not include other amounts that may have been earned as annual incentive bonuses in other years, the value of standard university benefits such as health care or the value of potentially taxable items such as cars; country club memberships; game tickets for the regular season, postseason and other sports; the value of stadium suites, travel upgrades or spouse/family travel and game tickets.
Salaries reported do not take into account deductions that have, or may, occur because of state government furlough, or other pay-reduction, actions.
Non-university compensation: Income from sources listed on the coach's most recently available, self-reported athletically related outside income report. It also includes pay from separate booster organizations.
Total: Combination of university and non-university compensation.
Maximum bonus: The greatest amount that can be received if the department or teams meet prescribed onfield performance goals (e.g., win totals, bowl-game appearances, conference and/or national championships, coach of the year awards, etc.), academic and/or player conduct goals. Does not include possible payments based on percentages of ticket revenue or sales, departmental fundraising amounts.
Boise State: Apsey serving on interim basis. Previous AD, Gene Bleymeier (fired as of Sept. 8) had $268,616 in total compensation and a $128,622 bonus maximum.
Cincinnati: Arkeilpane serving on interim basis. Previous AD, Mike Thomas (resigned Aug. 10 to become Illinois' AD) had $421,000 in total compensation and a $497,500 bonus maximum.
Connecticut: Pendergast serving on interim basis. Previous AD, Jeff Hathaway (resigned as of Sept. 15) had $511,599 in total compensation and a $55,833 bonus maximum.
Florida: University compensation includes annual retention bonus that, if Foley remains employed as Florida's AD on Jan. 31, 2012, will pay him $550,000. This is the greatest in series of eight such bonuses under contract provision that paid him $200,000 in 2011, and would pay him $150,000 in 2013, $250,000 in 2014; $100,000 in each of next four years.
Louisiana-Lafayette: Farmer has been serving on interim basis since David Walker retired Dec. 31, 2010.
Louisville: University compensation includes $300,000 in bonus money that is guaranteed under Jurich's contract with the University of Louisville Foundation. The foundation agrees to pay Jurich a bonus of $300,000, less the amount paid to Jurich in performance incentives under his contract with the University of Louisville Athletic Association. He can earn up to $644,000 in bonuses from the association.
North Carolina: Baddour announced July 28 he will retire, but remains AD pending university's search for successor.
Texas Christian: Amount reported on tax return represents partial calendar-year compensation because Del Conte began working for university in October 2009.
Vanderbilt: Williams is vice chancellor for university affairs and athletics; general counsel and university secretary for school and its medical center; tenured law professor | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/2011-athletics-director-salaries-database.htm?loc=interstitialskip | 842 |
By Larry Weisman, USA TODAY
Every Tuesday, USA TODAY's Four Downs examines a key moment, trend, performance or stat from the NFL and considers how it will play out the following Sunday.
FIRST DOWN: Cassel rocks
Matt Cassel accomplished what few quarterbacks have, including his illustrious predecessor, Tom Brady. Cassel passed for 415 yards Sunday to lead the New England Patriots to a 48-28 victory against the Miami Dolphins, making him only the fifth quarterback in NFL history to surpass 400 yards in consecutive games.
PHOTOS: NFL Week 12
Cassel joins Billy Volek, Dan Fouts, Dan Marino and Phil Simms in that august group. Brady, lost in the opener with a knee injury, has only achieved that number once, as had three other Patriots passers. Cassel's 415 yards is the fifth highest total in Patriots history.
"That's a pretty cool stat," Cassel said.
Here's another one: The Patriots, who lost earlier this season to the Dolphins, have not been swept by an AFC East opponent since 2000. And one more: Their 530 yards of offense was second best in club history, behind the 597 piled up against the New York Jets in 1979. At 7-4, they trail the Jets by one game in the division.
Cassel said he had no idea which other quarterbacks had blown past 400 yards even once but, informed of the company he now keeps, noted, "That's a pretty cool crew."
Rest assured that the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3), who host the Patriots on Sunday, will be even cooler. The Steelers rank first in the NFL in total defense, rushing defense and passing defense.
SECOND DOWN: Hester pesters
The Chicago Bears gambled they could maximize Devin Hester's value by making their dangerous kick returner a starting receiver. Not such a good bet. Hester has averaged 6.3 yards a punt return and contributed 31 catches (two for touchdowns).
The Bears (6-5) found more creative ways to use the flashy Hester in their 27-3 victory against the St. Louis Rams (2-9) after replacing him on the kickoff unit with Danieal Manning.
He ran 20 yards on a reverse on the Bears' first play from scrimmage. In a three-play sequence that set up Chicago's second touchdown, he ran 12 yards from Chicago's version of the Wildcat formation, which got him the ball on a direct snap, and he caught two passes for 35 yards.
"We wanted to open up the playbook and not be afraid to call anything," quarterback Kyle Orton said as the Bears remained tied for first in the NFC North. "We started off with the reverse and it got us going and he had some big catches for us as well."
Cautionary note: It came against the Rams, who rank 30th in the NFL in total defense. The Bears play the Minnesota Vikings, with whom they are tied, Sunday in Minneapolis.
THIRD DOWN: A Christmas Carol
Think of it as the 12 Plays of Christmas. Only they were lumps of coal in the Jacksonville Jaguars' stocking. Sing along now — 12 miserable possessions, eight penalties accepted (four for holding on tackle Tony Pashos), five sloppy fumbles, four painful sacks, three fumbles lost, two interceptions, two field goals missed. Like most of the fans, the partridge left the pear tree early on Sunday.
The Jaguars, a playoff team last season, slipped to 4-7 with their 30-12 home loss to the Vikings. They trailed 14-0 before two minutes had elapsed thanks to lost fumbles and surrendered any chance of a comeback with interceptions on their last two series. They've lost their last two games.
"You would have thought we drew things up with no practice," coach Jack Del Rio said.
The Jaguars built a reputation as a team with an attention to detail, but that's gone.
"Jack said he's never been part of a game that went down like that and I haven't either," said quarterback David Garrard, who passed for 300 yards for the first time in his career but couldn't enjoy it.
Next for the ragged Jags: At Houston (4-7) on Monday night.
FOURTH DOWN: The futile crescent
The Oakland Raiders let their pent-up frustrations loose in a 31-10 victory vs. the Denver Broncos.
Unable to score in recent weeks, they produced three offensive touchdowns and one on a return. The highlight had to be rookie Darren McFadden's 1-yard run for a touchdown in the third quarter to snap a 10-10 tie. Sure, Johnnie Lee Higgins' 89-yard punt return earlier exhibited more flair, but McFadden's score ended a terrible drought for the Raiders.
They had gone 15 quarters, 45 drives and 206 plays between offensive touchdowns.
"It felt great to get out there and score some points," McFadden said. "To get on the board really gave us a boost."
McFadden scored on another 1-yard run after Ashley Lelie got a touchdown on a 4-yard pass from JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders (3-8) snapped a four-game losing streak. They see a serious chance of adding a second consecutive victory when they play at home Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs (1-10), who have lost six in a row and 19 of their last 20.
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more. | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-11-24-four-downs_N.htm | 1,172 |
Flyers' Laviolette, Penguins' Granato fined
Fallout from Sunday's nationally televised Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins third-period scuffle hit Monday when the NHL fined two coaches and the Flyers announced Danny Briere is out indefinitely with an upper back contusion.
Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette was fined $10,000 and Penguins assistant coach Tony Granato was fined $2,500 for their actions on the bench while players were engaged in a physical confrontation on the ice. Granato and Laviolette were ejected from Sunday's game after they were seen screaming at each other through the Plexiglass partition between the benches.
It was Pittsburgh forward Joe Vitale's legal, open-ice hit on Briere that helped spark the melee that included one fight, plus pushing and shoving and the exchange of words. It delayed the game for almost 10 minutes. The Flyers won 6-4.
"I don't think there was anything wrong with what happened (with Vitale's hit)," Penguins general manager Ray Shero said. "There was a good, legal bodycheck delivered from our guy to their guy. And what tends to happen in this day and age, whether there is a minute to go in the game, or 10 minutes left in the second period, the other players take exception to it. They took exception to it and we would have done the same thing."
The teams will also play each other Saturday in the their regular-season finales and will also likely play each other in the first round of the playoffs.
"This is a fierce rivalry and things like (Sunday's tussle) are going to happen," Shero said.
The game was a ratings win for NBC, reporting Monday the 1.2 overnight rating was the best for a regular-season game, excluding the Winter Classic and Hockey Day in America, in more than two years. The game did a 4.7 rating in Philadelphia, which is the best in that market for a regular-season game, excluding the Winter Classic, in 10 years.
Shero had no problems with his team's fourth line being on the ice in the closing moments of the game. "No one got cheap-shotted," Shero said. "No one did something stupid. It was a hockey play. It was a hard hit."
Shero said league general managers have discussed the issue of players in today's game getting challenged, even if they make a clean, legal hit. "If a guy has to fight every time he delivers a clean, hockey check, then it is something we should be looking at," Shero said.
Philadelphia's Wayne Simmonds fought Pittsburgh's Deryk Engelland after the Vitale hit.
"Danny took a solid hit there and obviously I'm going to go to my player's defense," Simmonds said in a conference call with the media. "That's the type of player I am. It doesn't matter if I have stitches in my eyes, I have to go in there and stand up for my teammate."
Asked whether he expects more of the same in a Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia playoff series, Simmonds said: "Definitely. It's fun hockey, it's like old school hockey. You come to the rink, you battle everyday, you know there's going to be fights, you know you're going to get hit and you know you're going to have to hit back. That's the type of hockey that we like to play. So I think that suits our team well." | http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2012-04-02/flyers-penguins-fallout-coaches-fined/53957198/1 | 725 |
U.S. Ski Team athletes Keith Moffat and Bryce Bennett visit with fans at the Helly Hansen trailer at the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup. (Photo USSA-Mark Epstein)
PARK CITY, UT (Nov 30) – The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) today named Helly Hansen as the official baselayer of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team. The team’s 48 athletes will wear Helly Hansen’s baselayers during competitions beginning this week at the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup event at Beaver Creek, CO, through the end of the 2016 season.
The USSA chose Oslo-based Helly Hansen due to the company’s shared commitment to performance, innovation and style. U.S. Ski Team athletes will wear HH Dry, HH Dry Revolution and HH Warm baselayers during more than 75 World Cup races in 12 countries over the course of each season.
Helly Hansen introduced the world’s first technical base layers in the early 1970s featuring its exclusive LIFA® technology. LIFA is a hydrophobic fiber that inherently stays dry on the inside by pulling excess moisture away from the skin unlike wicking wool and polyester alternatives. Today Helly Hansen is the world’s top selling baselayer brand.
“Dry, warm skin is a key enabler for athletes maintaining peak performance levels over longer periods,” said Erik Burbank, Helly Hansen’s Vice President Global Marketing. “Helly Hansen’s baselayers will give the U.S. Ski Team a distinct advantage by helping them to stay comfortable in frigid to spring-like conditions.”
USSA is a performance-based organization with a vision of being the best in the world. Its athletes achieved this at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver with 21 medals. The product the athletes wear directly contributes to their results.
“Performance focused companies like Helly Hansen are important partners for our Team,” said USSA Chief Marketing Officer, Michael Jaquet. "We always look for good fits with our sponsors and suppliers and we have that with Helly Hansen."
ABOUT HELLY HANSEN Founded in Moss, Norway, in 1877, Helly Hansen continues to protect and enable professionals making their living on oceans and mountains around the world. Their apparel, developed through a blend of Scandinavian design and insights drawn from living in some of the harshest environments on earth, helps provide the confidence professionals need to step out into the elements and complete their jobs. The company invented the first supple, waterproof fabrics more than 130 years ago, created the first fleece fabrics in the 1960s and introduced the first technical baselayers made with LIFA® Stay Dry Technology in the 1970s. Today, Helly Hansen is the official uniform partner for more than 60 ski resorts and mountain guiding operations and has outfitted more than 33,000 mountain professionals. The brand's outerwear, baselayers, sportswear and footwear for winter, outdoor and water sports are sold in more than 40 countries. To learn more about Helly Hansen's latest collections, visit www.hellyhansen.com.
ABOUT THE USSA The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) is the national governing body of Olympic skiing and snowboarding. Developed to facilitate participation in national and international competition, the Olympic sports organization provides structure for competitive skiing and snowboarding. From grassroots programs to governance of sport, management of rules, competitions and athletic rankings, the USSA oversees athletic pipelines for development in the sports. With a vision to make the USA the best in the world in Olympic skiing and snowboarding, the USSA provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders who share an Olympic dream while maintaining a strong adherence to core values. The USSA, established in 1905, operates out of the national training and education facility, the Center of Excellence, in Park City, UT. For more information, visit www.ussa.org. | http://usskiteam.com/news/ussa-names-helly-hansen-official-baselayer | 842 |
Ute fans are in for a treat with the 2004 home Utah football schedule.
March 4, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
The University of Utah football team has one of the most exciting home schedules in school history on tap in 2004, starting with a Thursday game against Texas A&M. The Utes and the Aggies will play on Sept. 2 in Rice-Eccles Stadium before a live ESPN national television audience. The kickoff time for it-and all of Utah's 11 games-is still to be determined and will be announced when made available.
Texas A&M is one of three BCS schools on Utah's non-conference schedule. The Utes will play at Arizona on Sept. 11 and will host North Carolina on Oct. 16. Utah's other non-conference date is at Utah State on Sept. 18.
Utah's conference schedule, which was released by the MWC office today, includes home games against perennial MWC powers Air Force (Sept. 25), Colorado State (Nov. 6) and Brigham Young (Nov. 20). Utah's other home game is against UNLV on Oct. 23. The Utes will visit MWC foes New Mexico (Oct. 2), San Diego State (Oct. 30) and Wyoming (Nov. 13).
"Our fans in Salt Lake City deserve a great home schedule and that's exactly what this is," says Utah's second-year head coach Urban Meyer. "We have the three traditional MWC powerhouses at home, as well as national names like Texas A&M and North Carolina. This has probably been the best back-to-back home schedule in school history when you consider last year's home games with Cal and Oregon. It shows the respect people have for our program and our facilities that we have gotten two Pac-10, a Big 12 and an ACC school to visit Rice-Eccles Stadium in the last two years.
"We are very excited for the opportunity to once again showcase our football program on national television. Last year, we had to beg ESPN to pick up our Cal and Oregon games. This year, ESPN called us and asked if we would move our game with Texas A&M to a Thursday because people around the country want to watch us play. Our team was exciting and we were 4-0 on national television last year, but a big reason ESPN came calling was because of the atmosphere in Rice-Eccles Stadium created by our fans and especially our student body. That kind of environment is what makes us a desirable venue."
Utah is ranked No. 14 in the ESPN.com preseason poll after finishing the 2003 season with a 10-2 mark and a No. 21 national ranking in both major polls. Under first-year head coach Urban Meyer, the Utes won the conference championship outright for the first time since 1957 and beat Southern Mississippi in the Liberty Bowl. Meyer was named National Coach of the Year by The Sporting News and was also the MWC Coach of the Year.
Utah's opening game against Texas A&M comes against a team that handed the Utes one of their two losses in 2003-28-26 in College Station on Sept. 6. The Utes' first conference opponent is Air Force, a team they beat in triple overtime last year in Colorado Springs.
2004 Utah Football Schedule Thurs., Sept. 2+ Texas A&M Salt Lake City ESPN Sat., Sept. 11 at Arizona Tucson, Ariz. Sat., Sept. 18 at Utah State Logan, Utah Sat., Sept. 25 Air Force* Salt Lake City Sat., Oct. 2 at New Mexico* Albuquerque, N.M. Sat., Oct. 9 open Sat., Oct. 16 North Carolina Salt Lake City Sat., Oct. 23 UNLV* Salt Lake City Sat., Oct. 30 at San Diego State* San Diego, Calif. Sat., Nov. 6 Colorado State* Salt Lake City Sat., Nov. 13 at Wyoming* Laramie, Wyo. Sat., Nov. 20 Brigham Young* Salt Lake City
*Mountain West Conference game +ESPN televised game | http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/030404aaa.html | 833 |
|Women's Soccer » Schedule » Roster » News » Coaches » 2012 Season Statistics||VALPOATHLETICS.COM|
Valpo One of 11 Schools Honored by NSCAA for Men's and Women's Academic Award
Thursday, December 14, 2006Valparaiso University was one of just 11 schools in all of NCAA Division I to be the recipient of the Team Academic Award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
The award, given annually to schools with a composite grade point average of 3.00 for the academic year, included both fall and spring semesters of a given year. Thus the award this year is for the 2005-2006 academic year.
This marks the fourth straight year the Crusaders have earned the honor in both men's and women's soccer.
Valpo's men's team had a 3.18 grade point average in 2005-2006, and was one of just two Mid-Continent Conference schools to earn the honor, joining Oakland University.
The Crusaders' women's team posted a 3.37 team GPA, joining Western Illinois University for the only Mid-Con women's schools to receive the accolade.
Besides Valpo, the only other Division I programs to have both their men's and women's programs honored by the NSCAA were Army, Binghamton, Dartmouth, Drake, Fairleigh Dickinson, Loyola (Chicago), Northwestern, Notre Dame, Western Kentucky, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Women's Soccer Archives
2006-07 Women's Soccer | http://valpoathletics.com/wsoccer/news/2006-07/6906/valpo-one-of-11-schools-honored-by-nscaa-for-mens-and-womens-academic-award/ | 317 |
When I saw that tonight’s pitching matchup at Citizen’s Bank Park featured the Phils Cliff Lee and the Mets Dillon Gee, the first thing that piqued my interest was the rhyming last names. But then, being a math geek, I noticed the paucity of letters in their combined last names. I wondered if any starting pitching matchup in history gave us fewer letters than the six of Mr. Lee and Mr. Gee.
With the Retrosheet database fired up, I parsed out the last names of both starting pitchers in every game where this information was available (approximately 198,700 games). I then computed the lengths of each hurler’s last name, added them together, and voila! It seems that Gee/Lee’s total of six ties the all-time record low, achieved 19 times prior (all since 1949).
|DATE||VIS||HOME||VISIT P||HOME P|
|5/22/2006||COL||LAN||Byung Hyun||Kim||Jae Weong||Seo|
As you can see, Preacher Roe and Howie Fox faced off three times in 1949 (Fox took the loss in all three, part of a dismal 6-19 campaign), and once in 1951 (once again, Roe beat
Wade Fox). Joey Jay and Vern Law battled four times between 1959 and 1966. More recently, Jimmy Key and Charlie Lea dueled twice in 1988.
But it had been over four years since our last battle of three-letter named pitchers, and given that John Ely is the only other such pitcher to start a game this season, its unlikely we’ll get another six-letter combo matchup save for these Lee/Gee tussles. (Therefore, I’m hoping the Tigers call up Fu-Te Ni to their playoff roster, and give him a World Series start against Mr. Lee and the Phils, just so we can lower this record to five.)
Oh, and since I know you are wondering what the longest matchup is in terms of last names, its 25, done twice:
9/29/44: Fritz Ostermuller vs. Ken Raffensberger
5/29/96: Jason Isringhausen vs. William VanLandingham | http://valueoverreplacementgrit.com/2011/08/22/lee-gee-in-battle-of-three-letter-sps/ | 478 |
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Truth be told, Reds pitching prospect Kyle Lotzkar wasn't entirely comfortable about facing his opponent in a relief appearance Wednesday.
The foes were Canada's World Baseball Classic team. Lotzkar, 23, hails from outside of Vancouver, British Columbia.
"I'd rather not," Lotzkar responded when asked about facing his countrymen. "I played with a lot of the guys and went to high school with some of the guys. I won a gold medal with a lot of those guys. It's the team I have a lot of history with. Playing for Team Canada is a different experience than what I've had in pro ball. Pro ball, even though you're on a team, you're also looking out for yourself as much as anything. On Team Canada, it's such a group mentality and team mentality."
The Reds didn't set up the pitching schedule so Lotzkar could face Canada -- it just worked out that way.
"It's not [planned to be special] but I hope he makes it like that," manager Dusty Baker said before the Reds defeated Canada by a 12-2 score. "Added motivation -- you want to be good against your homeboys."
Lotzkar didn't have to pitch in a high-leverage situation when he entered in the top of the eighth inning. The Reds already had a commanding eight-run lead and benefitted from a six-run second inning that featured Ryan Ludwick's three-run home run. In the third inning, Miguel Olivo also slugged a three-run homer for the 10-2 lead. The offense was compiled without Joey Votto, who, unlike Lotzkar, opted not to play because he is a member of both team's rosters.
Canada's first two batters were retired quickly by Lotzkar, who got a foul popout behind first base and a groundout to the shortstop. He issued a walk to Jonathan Malo before Tim Smith reached on an error by right fielder Denis Phipps. Lotzkar escaped on Jimmy Van Ostrand's groundout to third base.
In his first spring appearance Sunday vs. the Royals, Lotzkar was charged with four runs, two hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.
Lotzkar hopes to one day be pitching for Canada in the Classic and has already represented his country internationally. In 2011, he was part of a gold medal-winning national team in the Pan American Games and claimed a bronze in the Baseball World Cup. He was on the provisional roster for the 2009 World Baseball Classic but did not make the team, and he wound up missing that season with a stress fracture in his right elbow.
Ranked as the Reds' No. 6 prospect for 2013 by MLB.com, Lotzkar was a combined 7-6 with a 4.55 ERA in 22 starts and one relief appearance with Class A Bakersfield and Double-A Pensacola. In 112 2/3 innings, he walked a lot of batters -- 63 -- while striking out 123.
An injury in 2012 also prevented Lotzkar from being considered for this year's edition of the World Baseball Classic. He spent the last month of the season with right shoulder irritation, and an offseason MRI exam revealed a SLAP tear of the labrum in his shoulder, also known as a tear to the top part of the labrum, from the front to the back. It did not require surgery, however.
"Going into a playoff-like atmosphere after a pretty significant injury is probably not the best idea," Lotzkar said.
A former left wing in his youth hockey days, Lotzkar chose baseball to be his profession during his time at South Delta High School. The Reds made him a supplemental first-round pick (53rd overall) in the 2007 Draft.
A Blue Jays and Mariners fan as a kid, Lotzkar grew up liking Roy Halladay and Roger Clemens, but also followed fellow British Columbian Jeff Francis of the Rockies.
Lotzkar hopes to be part of the continuing wave of Canadian talent that has crossed south of its border -- including Votto, the Twins' Justin Morneau and former high school teammate Brett Lawrie of the Blue Jays.
There are fewer pitchers that are currently in the Majors, but the list includes Brewers closer John Axford and the Tigers' Shawn Hill.
"We're getting a lot more recognition now because of names like Votto, especially recently," Lotzkar said. "It's one of those things, especially on the west coast of Canada, the weather is not too bad and the playing season is longer. Pitchers have a little disadvantage, especially coming out of Canada, compared to warmer states -- we throw two days a week and our season is half of theirs. But you're seeing a lot of really good hitters starting to come from there."
Still catching up after his shoulder issues, Lotzkar was late working off a mound. But he has been developing his changeup since last season. Because it still bothers his shoulder when hitting, he will be transitioned from a starter to a reliever this season.
"Whatever gets me there," Lotzkar said. "I attribute the walks a lot to health but cutting those will be a byproduct of being completely healthy." | http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130307&content_id=42385204&vkey=news_cin&c_id=cin | 1,093 |
Baseball playoff recaps - May 4, 2013
Weatherford takes early bow from postseason play
Down 1-0 in the Class 5A Region I bi-district best-of-three series and in the Game 2 score at Curtis Field on Saturday, the varsity baseball Roos took advantage of two Richland errors and a passed ball, to take a 3-1 lead.
Baseball-Softball Postseason recaps
Roos fall behind early, drop Game 1 to Richland
Errors and costly free passes dug an early hole for Weatherford on Friday, as the Kangaroos traveled to meet the Richland Rebels in the first game of a Class 5A, Region bi-district best-of-three match. A 5-run deficit after three complete innings proved too much for the Roos to erase as they eventually took the loss, 7-2.
Local athletes ink next level
Kelsie Coplen — Cameron University — Volleyball
PEASTER — Senior Kelsie Coplen had her offer in-hand, so to speak, last fall. And the invite came from the school she eventually chose to further her education and extend her athletic career. But she had to perform a bit more due diligence before deciding to sign a national letter-of-intent for Cameron University.
Parker County athletes warming up for Austin competition
The University Interscholastic League’s 2013 State Track & Field Meet for all classifications is set for Friday and Saturday, May 10-11. The competition will be held at Mike A. Myers Stadium, on the University of Texas campus, in Austin.
WC softball moves to North Region Championship with 11th-inning win over Temple
Luci Ponce's single in the bottom of the 11th inning pushed Sydney Kramer across home plate, providing a dramatic 5-4 win over Temple, in Denton on Saturday at the NJCAA Region 5 North Regional Tournament.
WC roper qualifies for nationals
For the ninth consecutive year, the Weatherford College rodeo team is sending a representative to the College National Finals Rodeo. After a strong finish at the final regular season rodeo in Stephenville this weekend, Landon Williams has qualified for nationals, heading to Casper, Wyoming for the CNFR, June 9-15.
Nasty turn in weather prompts change in playoff dates
A wintry day in mid-spring has crunched some baseball and softball playoff dates into the weekend. Making the call on Thursday morning, with a strong and chilly north wind, and some sideways sprinkling to complete the threat, the Weatherford Kangaroos will hold off on the start of a Class 5A bi-district series against Richland until Friday.
Roos bi-district series rescheduled
To avoid inclimate weather, the Class 5A, Region I bi-district baseball playoff between Weatherford and Richland has been rescheduled. Game 1 of the best-of-three series will be in Richland on Friday at 7 p.m., with the second game set for 3 p.m., Saturday at Raymond E. Curtis Field.
Ladycats blank Guyer in series opener
Hedging their bets against potential wet weather, the Aledo Ladycats hosted Denton Guyer on Wednesday in the first game of a best-of-three set in a Class 4A area match. Aledo scored late in the game, a sixth-inning 2-RBI single off the bat of Ally Gabbert. The lead held, with the Ladycats beating Guyer, 2-0.
Area nines enter postseason fray
In hopes the area weather forecasts are completely off the mark, two of Parker County’s three playoff-bound baseball teams will take the field on Thursday. Weatherford, Aledo and Brock baseball teams are set to begin their respective playoff runs, with the Roos and Bearcats beginning on Thursday and the Eagles drawing a bi-district bye.
- More Sports Headlines
- Baseball playoff recaps - May 4, 2013 | http://weatherforddemocrat.com/sports?start=35 | 840 |
Mission Hills 58, Chino Hills 57
Lineup of Saturday’s championship games for the Under Armour Torrey Pines Holiday Classic:
National Division: Sacramento Sheldon vs. St. Augustine at Torrey Pines, 8:15 p.m.
American Division: Mission Hills vs. Mesa (Ariz.) at Torrey Pines, 5:05 p.m.
Governors Division: Brea Olinda vs. St. Mary’s at Rancho Bernardo, 6:40 p.m.
Senators Division: Bingham (Utah) vs. Eastvale Roosevelt at Santa Fe Christian, 8:15 p.m.
Mayors Division: Torrey Pines vs. Chatsworth Sierra Canyon at Torrey Pines, 3:30 p.m.
Trailing by seven with 3:20 to play, the Mission Hills boys basketball team scored eight unanswered points and rallied for a 58-57 win over Chino Hills on Friday night.
The victory in the American Division semifinals of the 23rd Under Armour Torrey Pines Holiday Classic at La Jolla Country Day propelled the Grizzlies into today’s 5:05 p.m. championship game at Torrey Pines High.
“Down by seven that late in the game isn’t where you want to be,” said Mission Hills coach Curtis Hofmeister. “But the kids dug deep, played great defense, and we got it done.”
The Grizzlies (11-1), ranked No. 6 in the San Diego Section, survived a furious rally by Chino Hills (9-4) on the game’s final possession.
After Kibret Woldemichel hit a clutch 3-pointer with 27 seconds to play, Chino Hills coach Steve Baik called a timeout.
With fouls to give, Mission Hills fouled immediately on the inbounds and called timeout.
A Huskies shot with five seconds to play didn’t draw iron. But Mission Hills, still with a foul to give, fouled again, this time with 3.2 seconds to play.
The Huskies had time for one last shot and got a good look, but Marc Williams’ long baseline jumper rolled across the rim.
“Chino Hills is a good team, and played well,” Hofmeister said. “Deep inside, when we got down late, I’m thinking we have to string some stops together and get back in this.
“I can’t let my group see any outward panic.
“And we did exactly what any coach would hope for in that situation, good, tough defense and clutch shots.”
The lead changed hands or the score was tied on seven straight scores in the fourth quarter before Chino Hills went on an 8-0 run to take a 57-50 lead.
Cody Hicks got the Grizzlies back in the game with a 3-pointer with 2:44 to play.
After rebounding a missed Chino Hills shot, Woldemichel drove to the basket, was fouled and made both free throws to cut the deficit to 57-55 with 1:44 remaining.
Both teams missed shots before Woldemichel’s game-winner with 27 seconds left.
“No question I was shooting it,” Woldemichel said. “Kameron (7-foot senior Kameron Rooks) does such a great job getting the ball to the open man.
“They doubled him down deep, I came off a ball screen, he got me the ball, I was open, and I made the shot.
“This win is huge for us. Playing for a championship is exciting.
“Kameron played great. Cody Hicks, had been in a shooting slump, and he played great.”
Nate Delaney, one of the Mission Hills starters, is out of town attending his grandmother’s funeral, “and the guys filling in for Nate were outstanding,” Woldemichel said.
Rooks led Mission Hills with 21 points, 12 rebounds and a blocked shot.
Woldemichel finished with 19 points, seven in the fourth quarter.
Hicks had 11 points, hitting three fourth-quarter 3-pointers.
Freshman Lorenzo Ball paced Chino Hills with 17 points, 10 of those coming in the fourth quarter. Senior Cameron Curry also had 17 points for the Grizzlies, who hit seven 3-pointers in the second half. | http://web.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/28/comeback-becomes-grizzlies-scene/ | 943 |
CBSSports.com Senior NFL writer talks playoffs and coaching carousel
Kenny Ducey and I got the opportunity to speak with longtime WFUV member Clark Judge on all things football as the first round of playoff begins tonight.
We discuss the developing stories of coaches, including Andy Reid’s decision to sign with Kansas City and Bill O'Brien’s commitment to Penn State. We also break down the wildcard weekend matchups and hear what his predictions are for a lot of close games.
Click on the plug-in links below to listen. | http://wfuv.org/sports/professional-sports/130105/one-one-talks-nfl-playoffs-clark-judge | 115 |
Arizona DiamondbacksDec. 9: The D-Backs completed the following three-team trade:
|Yankees||Ian Kennedy,Phil Coke, Austin Jackson||Curtis Granderson|
|D-Backs||Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth||Edwin Jackson, Kennedy|
|Tigers||Granderson, Jackson||Scherzer, Schlereth, Coke, Jackson|
This deal makes good sense for the Yankees; they needed an everyday center fielder, and they’re not giving up any impact players.
The deal also makes good sense for Detroit; Granderson was overrated and besides, the team really needed to save money. They get back well-needed pitching depth.
For the Diamondbacks . . . well, the deal makes no sense.
It’s not just me. For days after the trade, the baseball blogosphere was trying to figure out just what GM Josh Byrnes was thinking. The ‘Backs gave up two talented (and cheap!) young pitchers with potential in order to land two less-talented pitchers with less potential. That does not compute.
Byrnes’s response called into question the future of Max Scherzer, and he also pointed out the great degree of control they have over Kennedy. That’s a bizarre point to make, since they actually lost years of control by acquiring Jackson.
The center of dispute is, it seems, just how good you expect Edwin Jackson to be. Byrnes is optimistic, as evidenced by the trade and the subsequent signing of Jackson to a contract extension. The rest of the baseball world has been nearly unanimous in their opinion of Jackson as a pitcher who’s more lucky than good.
After years of promise fueled by good stuff (but not good results), Jackson broke through with the Rays in 2008, posting a 4.42 ERA. That may not sound like much of a “breakthrough,” and it really isn’t. In fact, that ERA was actually better than Jackson’s underlying performance. In 183.1 IP, he walked 77 batters and struck out just 108. Both numbers are well below the level necessary to sustain success at the big-league level.
The Rays were wise to this and traded Jackson to the Tigers for fringe outfielder Matt Joyce. In Detroit, Jackson got off to a great start to the season before crashing in the second half. Viz:
So while Jackson put up strong numbers in the first half (still not as good as his ERA), he went back to his old self in the second half, albeit with a slightly better strikeout rate. If you put the two halves together, Jackson becomes a good pitcher to have. But if you consider his track record, which is 7 major league seasons and only one good half-season, he’s not likely to be worth losing Scherzer and Schlereth.
Dec. 28: D-backs sign Bobby Howry to a one-year contract worth $2.25 MM, with a club option for 2011.
I could quibble with a low-end team like Arizona signing a free agent middle reliever, but Howry has actually been consistently good, coming off a good 2009 in San Francisco that saw him post a 3.39 ERA in 63.2 IP with a decent enough 23:46 BB:K rate. Home runs may be an issue, though; the black mark on Howry’s record is an ugly 2008 with the Cubs where his ERA shot up to 5.35 thanks to a career-high 13 home runs allowed. And Arizona is a good hitter’s park …
Dec. 30: D-Backs sign Kelly Johnson to a one-year contract worth $2.35 MM.
I really like this move for Arizona. I was surprised to see the Braves cut Johnson loose this winter. He was coming off a dreadful 2009 (224/303/389), and the Braves do have better options available. He should be a good fit in Arizona, where there are no better options available, unless you expect Ryan Roberts to repeat an improbable season at the plate.
Feb. 14: D-Backs sign Edwin Jackson to a two-year contract worth $13.35 MM.
Refer to the Granderson deal above.
Colorado RockiesNov. 19: Rockies sign manager Jim Tracy to a three-year contract extension.
I wonder how long it will take the Rockies to realize first-hand why Tracy was fired in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh? Maybe we shouldn’t give the manager all the credit for a team’s “turn-around.”
Jan. 4: Rockies sign Miguel Olivo to a one-year contract worth $2.5 MM, with a club option for 2011.
Again, I congratulate a team for signing a backup catcher to a one-year contract. And to be fair to Olivo, he’s just as good – if not better – than a lot of the catchers signed to multi-year deals this off-season.
Olivo is living proof that you can be a relatively valuable player with a terrible OBP. His career OBP is .278, and that’s including the “good year” (.292) he had with the Royals in 2009. But Olivo does hit homers – he hit a career-high 23 last year and should at least match that pace in cozy Coors Field.
The more salient fact is that Olivo is a catcher. And he’s quite good at nabbing baserunners, posting a caught-stealing rate of 34% for his career. He doesn’t look particularly graceful back there, but he’s surprisingly qualified. His talents are stretched as an everyday player – except in Kansas City – but he’s a great fit as a backup, with a strong arm and good power. Colorado’s catching duo of Olivo and Chris Iannetta should be one of the most quietly productive in the league.
Jan. 22: Rockies sign Rafael Betancourt to a two-year contract worth $7.55 MM.
Betancourt’s track record is about as solid as it gets for a middle reliever (despite a woeful 2008 with Cleveland). Plus, he threw very well in 25.1 innings after coming over from the Indians. He has a high strikeout rate and a relatively low walk rate. It’s true that I’m never a fan of multi-year deals for middle relievers. But the dollar value here is pretty low, and I’ll admit that pitching in Coors Field comes at a premium.
Jan. 27: Rockies sign Huston Street to a three-year contract worth $22.5 MM with a mutual option for 2013.
I’m less enthused about this deal. My dislike for multi-year deals extends to closers, unless they’re elite. While Street has been very good, I don’t think he’s been good enough to gamble this much on. Yes, Coors Field does change things, and yes, Street had an awesome year in 2009, but he wouldn’t be the first reliever with a B-level performance record to disappoint.
Jan. 28: Rockies sign Jason Giambi to a one-year contract worth $1.75 MM.
Seeing Giambi in the N.L. again will be ugly. But he proved last year that he’s still got some life left in his bat, and Colorado’s the perfect place for an aging slugger to go. He’ll get more work in the N.L. as a pinch-hitter and can DH for interleague games. He won’t play a lot, but that’s good on many levels and totally in keeping with his salary.
Feb. 5: Rockies sign Melvin Mora to a one-year contract worth $1.3 MM.
It’s a sign of how far Mora’s fallen that he went straight from a near-ten figure salary to a utility player. Mora’s power finally went to live with Jesus last year (8 HR in 125 G), and now he’s just a .270 hitter who draws some walks. His one saving grace is defensive versatility, which is the only reason he got a major league contract at all.
Los Angeles DodgersOct. 21: Dodgers sign general manager Ned Colletti to a contract extension.
“Caretaker” might be a more accurate job title.
Nov. 6: Dodgers decline their mutual option ($10 MM) on Jon Garland.
This isn’t such a bad way to save money, but wait and see what the team decides to do with that money instead of signing Garland.
Jan. 11: Dodgers sign Jason Repko to a one-year contract worth $500,000.
Twenty-five spots on the roster, and you want to save one for Jason Repko? The minor leagues exist so that you don’t have to do that.
Jan. 21: Dodgers sign Vicente Padilla to a one-year contract worth $5.025 MM.
One of Joe Torre’s biggest faults is his tendency to get attached to a certain player far beyond their merits as a player, and then to hold on to them far longer than is useful. I don’t know for sure that that’s the case here, but I don’t know why else you’d target Padilla.
(By the way, do you know how much money Jon Garland ended up signing for? $5.3 million. So for less than the price of Padilla/Repko, you could have had Jon Garland, and that’s not counting the money you’d save on Maalox.)
Jan. 26: Dodgers sign Ronnie Belliard to a one-year contract worth $850,000.
This isn’t a bad sum to pay for a fellow of Belliard’s talents. He’s a sight for sore eyes at second base, but he can still hit … somewhat.
Jan. 26: Dodgers sign Brad Ausmus to a one-year contract worth $1 MM.
Did you ever have so much money sitting around that you decided to take a million dollars and flush it down the toilet? Me neither.
Just a note: Not only have the Dodgers wasted some money here (and let’s not even consider what’s happened in previous off-seasons), they’ve also signed a lot of people to minor league contracts. These are not, naturally, as expensive as big-league deals … unless you sign a lot of them.
Here is a list (as best I can determine) of the players signed to minor-league contracts by the Dodgers this off-season:
Doug Mientkiewicz, Angel Berroa, Luis Ayala, Francisco Felix, Eric Gagne, Justin Miller, Juan Perez, John Lindsey, Prentice Redman, Jeff Weaver, Ramon Ortiz, Alfredo Amezaga and Brian Giles.
Think of the money that could have been saved on some of these … marginal … players. They could have brought back Garland. They could have actually offered arbitration to their top free agents (Wolf, Hudson, etc.). And maybe they wouldn’t have given away the best catcher in the minor leagues in exchange for a mid-level third baseman.
The Dodgers have, for a number of years, combined great ignorance with exorbitant spending. Now I guess we get to see great ignorance and incredible penury.
San Diego PadresDec. 12: Padres sign Kevin Correia to a one-year contract worth $3.6 MM.
Correia is no sure thing, but he earned this based on his performance last year.
Jan. 26: Padres sign Jon Garland to a one-year contract worth $5.3 MM, with a mutual option for 2011.
I constantly wonder why “rich” teams like the Mets and Dodgers don’t make rational, reasonable deals such as this. The Mets could, for as much as they’re paying Luis Castillo, fill out the back of their rotation with competent, if not brilliant, pitching. Their failure to do so has cost them at least two division titles thus far. Although to be fair, their utter failure to find a decent corner outfielder played a part.
Feb. 9: Padres sign Yorvit Torrealba to a one-year contract worth $1.25 MM, with a mutual option for 2011.
The Padres know what the Rockies finally realized (and the Mets still haven’t); Torrealba is a back-up catcher.
San Francisco GiantsOct. 30: Giants sign Freddy Sanchez to a two-year contract extension worth $12 MM.
Once again the Giants settle for the mediocre. Although at 2/12, this is perhaps their best free agent deal of the off-season. Read on if you dare …
Dec. 12: Giants decline to offer a contract to (i.e., non-tender) Ryan Garko.
The Giants traded away a useful minor league starter (Scott Barnes) to get two months of Garko, who hit 235/307/330 as the team’s first baseman. Garko might have some uses as a bench player, but since he’s (nominally) a first baseman, his options are limited. Besides, the Giants needed to free up roster space to add these guys … :
Dec. 29: Giants sign Mark DeRosa to a two-year contract worth $12 MM.
DeRosa’s primary value is as a super-utility infielder whose bat is good enough to get by as an emergency corner outfielder. Note the careful use of the adjective emergency. The offensive standards for the outfield corners are much higher than those for a second or third baseman, naturally. The Giants, though, don’t seem to grasp this.
The Giants have Freddy Sanchez (see above) installed at second base, and Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval installed at third. They could move Sandoval to first (the best position for panda-like defensive skills), but that’s blocked by free agent pickup Aubrey Huff (see below). So while DeRosa can offer some use as a backup to these two, that’s hardly worth $12 million. His offense is sub-par for the outfield corners (he’s not as good as he looked in Chicago), which makes you wonder just what the Giants were expecting when they signed him.
DeRosa is the kind of player who could help an offense that’s right on the edge of contending and needs a solid role player. The Giants’ offense is neither of these: it’s bloody awful, and they need solid everyday contributors. The only upside here is that on the list of boneheaded contracts doled out by GM Brian Sabean, DeRosa’s isn’t the worst.
Jan. 13: Giants signed Aubrey Huff to a one-year contract worth $3 million.
This contract would be near the top of the aforementioned list, if not for the fact that it’s merely a waste of $3 million. The cost is, however, much bigger than that. The true cost will be all the at bats given to Aubrey Huff that could have gone to a much better player.
It’s not incredibly difficult to find a first baseman who can hit better than Aubrey Huff. So why do you sign him? Huff is old, and his defensive abilities are stretched even at first base. He’s had a couple seasons of quality production with the bat, but that comes at the price of consistency (career 282/340/472). Besides, Huff’s is 33 years old and coming off a season of hitting 241/310/384. Who sees that and exclaims, “By golly, that’s my everyday first baseman!”?
Yet again, Sabean’s goal seems to be maintaining utter mediocrity rather than taking advantage of cheap, readily available options for improvement. And with his pitching staff, even a relatively minor boost in offense could catapult the team into contention.
Jan. 5: Giants re-sign Juan Uribe to a one-year contract worth $3.25 MM.
Uribe’s skills are a close match to those of Mark DeRosa, and if you’ve ever seen Uribe play, your first thought is not likely to be, “Get me another one of those!” DeRosa has the advantage of playing the outfield corners, but Uribe trumps him with the ability to handle shortstop, which is more important on a team that currently employs Edgar Renteria. Uribe can slot into second and third base just like DeRosa, and while his offense may not be quite as good, his solid glove (and cheap contract) recommend him over DeRosa.
And that’s if you had to choose just one of them. Choosing both of them is mind-boggling.
Jan. 22: Giants re-sign Bengie Molina to a one-year contract worth $4.5 MM.
Really, what can I say about Molina that I haven’t already said about DeRosa and Huff? What makes this even worse is that the Giants have one of baseball’s best catching prospects (Buster Posey) ready to make it to the majors. The team has stated publicly that they don’t think Posey is ready to catch 100-120 games per year. What, and Bengie Molina is? Whatever shortcomings Posey has, they pale in comparison to Molina, who has to be one of the worst hitters EVER to serve as a team’s clean-up hitter for two years running. Not since the days of Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling have I seen an organization so bedeviled by self-inflicted wounds.
Feb. 17: Giants sign Tim Lincecum to a two-year, $23 million contract, thus avoiding arbitration.
This is the only real bright spot of the off-season for San Francisco. Granted, it’s not due to any real brilliance on the part of the organization, but rather Lincecum’s willingness to leave a substantial amount of money on the table to avoid arbitration. | http://whizball.blogspot.com/2010/02/nl-west-off-season-team-by-team.html | 3,877 |
On Tuesday New Orleans Saints cornerback Jabari Greer injured his groin during warm-ups before morning practice.
The injury, though not to be serious at the beginning, turned out to be a hernia — so Greer sought out treatment from Dr. James Andrews.
Yesterday he flew to Philadelphia meet with the renown sports surgeon, opting for a sports hernia procedure to repair the damage.
Greer will likely be out the next month while he recovers.
Interim head coach Joe Vitt says Greer has a chance at returning to the practice filed in time for the Saints week four preseason game against the Houston Texans.
But the team maintains that he will definitely be ready for the season opener against the Washington Redskins.
Greer has been with the Saints since coming over from the Buffalo Bills in free agency prior to the 2009 season, and he has developed into one of the teams best defensive players.
He has started 37 of a possible 48 games over the last three years, totaling 43 pass deflections, five interceptions, and 155 tackles.
With Greer now out most of the preseason, the Saints will likely rotate Johnny Patrick, Marquis Johnson, and rookie Corey White with the first team defense. | http://whodatdish.com/2012/08/02/new-orleans-saints-lose-top-cornerback-to-sports-hernia/ | 246 |
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN (WTAQ) - Montee Ball rediscovered the magic which made him a Heisman Trophy finalist last season, rushing for a career-best 247 yards and three touchdowns Saturday.
That effort powered the Wisconsin Badgers to an easy 38-14 Big Ten Conference victory at Purdue.
With James White piling up another 124 yards, the Badgers owned the line of scrimmage and gouged the Boilermakers for 467 yards on the ground. Ball now has 72 career touchdowns, third on the all-time list.
The win puts Wisconsin in a good position to win the Leaders Division, since Ohio State and Penn State are out of the running.
Purdue started well, scoring just 38 seconds after the opening kickoff. Jacob Pedersen tied the score on a 21-yard pass reception for UW and the Badgers had taken a 17-7 lead by half, then Ball broke things wide open with a 67-yard scoring run at the start of the second half.
The lead reached 38-7 before Purdue scored a late-game TD. | http://wixx.com/news/articles/2012/oct/14/balls-247-yards-rushing-3-tds-powers-badgers-to-38-14-win-over-purdue/ | 223 |
The St. Cloud State women's basketball team got a couple of free throws with .2 seconds left from Jordi Gerking and the Huskies beat MSU-Mankato 71-70 in Mankato Friday night. SCSU was led by Talisha Barlow with 19 points. SCSU improves to 11-11 overall. The St. Cloud State men's basketball team didn't fare as well as they lost 80-69 at #9 MSU-Mankato Friday Night. | http://wjon.com/tags/st-cloud-state-basketball/page/4/ | 100 |
Halle Berry's Bauble Sparks New Round of Engagement RumorsRelated: Hot Gossip, Romance Report, Halle Berry, Nahla Aubry
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One year ago this month, Halle Berry was spotted wearing a jewel on her ring finger, setting off a flurry of speculation that she was engaged to her actor beau, Olivier Martinez. She denied the reports, but they've surfaced once again after she stepped out sporting an eye-catching accessory on her all-important digit.
The twice-divorced star, 45, was snapped this week wearing an emerald-like ring on her left hand (below), which may or may not be the same decorative piece of jewelry she had on when the initial reports circulated in January of 2011. At the time, her rep insisted the ring was one of her own, not a bended-knee offering from her squinty-eyed French amour.
Halle's spokesperson did not respond to our request for comment on this latest round of engagement whispers.
Still, the Oscar winner, who went through bitter divorces with Eric Benet and David Justice and continues to wrangle with ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry over custody of 3-year-old daughter Nahla, has repeatedly declared that she's off marriage for good.
"I will never marry again. I mean it with every bone in my body," she promised Oprah in 2004 (given O's mighty power, that pledge could be legally binding). "I no longer feel the need to be someone's wife, and I don't need the validation of a marriage certificate."
Berry reiterated her stance in 2007, telling In Style, "I will never, never get married again. Actually it's just that now I've come to a place where I think two people can share their lives without the ring, without the piece of paper."
Halle fell for Olivier, 45, while shooting the still-on-the-shelf thriller "Dark Tide" in 2010, and she's made sure he gets plenty of quality time with Nahla.
Paparazzi were conveniently on hand to capture a picture-perfect Malibu beach outing on New Year's Day with Martinez and the tot, who at one point was seen running toward him with open arms.
"I'm not done with love, but I refuse to settle," the actress told the September 2010 issue of Vogue. "I am a hopeless romantic. And I won't stop till I get it right."
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From Crowd Ignite | http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/gossip-halle-berrys-bauble-sparks-new-round-of-engagement-rumors-1660247.story?photoId=53032 | 1,085 |
(Reuters) - The struggling Toronto Raptors have acquired Memphis Grizzlies leading scorer Rudy Gay as part of a three-team deal involving the Detroit Pistons, the teams said on Wednesday.
As part of the deal, the Grizzlies also received veteran guard Jose Calderon, forward Ed Davis, a 2013 second round draft pick and cash considerations from the Raptors.
Calderon will not stay in Memphis, however, as he is being sent on to the Pistons.
Along with Gay, Toronto landed backup center Hamed Haddadi from Memphis, while the Pistons agreed to send Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye to the Grizzlies in exchange for Calderon.
Gay, who averages 17.2 points per game and 5.9 rebounds, represents the type of standout individual the Raptors (16-30) have been seeking.
"This is the type of deal we have been looking for to take our team another step forward," Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said in a statement.
"Rudy Gay is a dynamic wing that elevates our talent level significantly."
Memphis (29-15) sit fourth in the Western Conference and are taking a competitive risk but the trade has freed up some financial space as Gay had signed a five-year, $82 million contract with the team back in July.
Like the Raptors, the Pistons are currently well outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with a 17-29 record.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien) | http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2013/jan/31/rudy-gay-joins-raptors-in-big-three-team-trade/ | 308 |
RAISOR TO SIGN BOOKS AT MONARCHS GAME DEC. 13
Phil Raisor, an associate professor of English at Old Dominion University was on the losing side of two of the most storied basketball games ever played. He started at guard for the heavily-favored Muncie Central Bearcats, who fell in the 1954 Indiana state championship to tiny Milan, the David-over-Goliath event that inspired the 1986 film "Hoosiers."
His new book, "Outside Shooter," (2003, University of Missouri Press) chronicles that historic game. Raisor will be on hand on Saturday, Dec. 13, when ODU takes on Morgan State at the Constant Center for book signings before the game and at halftime. A portion of the proceeds from book sales that night will support the ODU Intercollegiate Foundation for athletic scholarships. Game time is 7 p.m.
After high school, Raisor went on to receive a basketball scholarship at the University of Kansas, where he watched his Wilt Chamberlain-led Jayhawks lose the 1957 NCAA championship in triple overtime to North Carolina.
But "Outside Shooter" transcends sports. In it, Raisor recounts the hard knocks and hard-won triumphs of a basketball odyssey across 1950s America during an era in which a racially divided society was taking halting steps toward integration and few places held more tension than the sports arena.
Raisor saw firsthand the toll of racism on Muncie's star player, John Casterlow, whose life followed a trajectory from playing the legendary Oscar Robertson to a virtual draw in the Indiana high school playoffs to death in the streets of Detroit at age 23. Later, at Louisiana State University, after transferring from Kansas, Raisor, spurred by the memory of Casterlow, joined in early attempts to integrate the LSU campus. From Indiana to Louisiana, he saw the ordeal of racism reveal character - including his own - at depths beyond the illumination even of competitive sport.
Devoted though Raisor was to basketball, "Outside Shooter" captures the period of his life in which he gradually stopped defining himself in terms of the game. His basketball fortunes eventually became overshadowed by the rest of his life: the competing measures of acceptance and expectation from his family and companions; the courage and challenge offered by a young woman equally bent on accomplishment; his struggles with failure and doubt juxtaposed with his awakening intellect and conscience. He discovers the sense of purpose that will carry him beyond his playing days and into adulthood.
A member of the ODU faculty since 1969, Raisor teaches courses in 20th-Century American, British and world poetry, fiction, and drama, as well as the craft of poetry and the works of Joyce, Faulkner, O'Casey, Yeats and Snodgrass.
Raisor previously edited "Tuned and Under Tension: The Recent Poetry of W. D. Snodgrass."
To obtain a media copy of the book or arrange an interview, contact Jay Lidington at (757) 683-4683 or [email protected].
This article was posted on: December 2, 2003
Old Dominion University
Office of University Relations
Room 100 Koch Hall Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0018
Old Dominion University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. | http://ww2.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&todo=details&id=1937 | 689 |
Mugshot of George Zimmerman taken Wed., Apr. 11.
(USA Today) -- A Florida judge on Thursday ordered George Zimmerman, who is charged with fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, free on $1 million bond, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Zimmerman would be required to put up 10% to be freed. It was not immediately clear how long it would take for him to leave jail.
Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. had canceled an earlier $150,000 bond for Zimmerman and ordered him back to jail after the defendant, and his wife, were accused of deceiving the court over the size of their financial assets.
Zimmerman's wife, Sherrie, is charged with perjury over the issue.
Zimmerman, 28, claims self-defense in the killing of the 17-year-old in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26. | http://www.11alive.com/news/article/247386/40/Judge-orders-Zimmerman-free-on-1M-bond | 181 |
Caleb King (Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department)
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- Former UGA running back and Parkview High School standout Caleb King was arrested and booked on Tuesday morning.
The incident happened in Gwinnett County.
According the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department, King was booked on charges of DUI, Faliure to Dim Headlights and Improper/Erratic Lane Change.
King was most recently a member of the Minnesota Vikings Football Club. He was released from the team in early May. | http://www.11alive.com/news/article/263597/1/Former-UGA-standout-Caleb-King-arrested-for-DUI- | 114 |
East Lansing, MI (Sports Network) - A Big Ten Conference showdown is on tap
for Thursday night, as the 22nd-ranked Wisconsin Badgers take on the 10th-
ranked Michigan State Spartans in a marquee matchup at the Breslin Center.
The two teams are tied at 11-5 in conference play, a game and a half behind
first-place Indiana with just two games to play in the regular season.
Wisconsin (20-9) had been winners of three straight games before enduring a
disappointing home setback to Purdue last Sunday to slip in the standings. The
Badgers finish the season with two straight road games, and they haven't been
very strong away from home this season (4-5).
Michigan State has been even worse off than Wisconsin of late. Once in the
driver's seat for the regular-season title, the Spartans have dropped three
straight games, most recently falling at rival Michigan last Sunday, 58-57.
The good news is that they now return to East Lansing where they've gone 15-1
Michigan State edged out Wisconsin in a defensive struggle in Madison on Jan.
22, 49-47, to extend its lead in the all-time series to 73-60.
The Badgers came out flat on their Senior Day versus Purdue the last time out,
shooting less than 41 percent from the field and getting outrebounded by a
39-27 margin en route to the 13-point setback. Jared Berggren's final stat
line was solid (13 points, eight rebounds, four blocks), but he shot just 4-
of-12 from the field in the process. Ryan Evans and Sam Dekker each netted 10
points in the defeat. While Wisconsin's offense isn't one of the more potent
units in the league, it is usually much better than it showed on Sunday,
pouring in 67.0 ppg. The biggest reason for its outstanding season has been
the play of its defense, which yields a league-low 55.8 ppg. The Badgers are
without an elite scorer, instead relying on four players who average between
9.6 and 11.6 ppg. Berggren (11.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Evans (10.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg)
bring toughness to the frontcourt, while Ben Brust (10.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and
Dekker (9.6 ppg) are potent out on the perimeter, combining for 111 3-pointers
at a 41.4 percent clip.
The Spartans trailed their fiercest rival by 10 points with under five minutes
to play before going on a 14-4 run to tie the game in the final minute. After
Michigan took a two-point lead, Derrick Nix had a chance to tie the game at
the foul line with eight seconds left, but he made 1-of-2 as MSU fell just
short. Despite playing solid defense, the Spartans couldn't keep pace on
offense, shooting less than 36 percent from the field with 18 turnovers.
Adreian Payne tallied a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, while
Gary Harris added 16 points to the losing effort. Similarly to Wisconsin,
Michigan State boasts a modest scoring attack by Big Ten standards (69.2 ppg),
but has enjoyed success behind an outstanding defensive showing (59.8 ppg).
The team's top scorers reside in the backcourt, with Harris (13.3 ppg) and
Keith Appling (13.2 ppg) enjoying solid seasons, but its biggest advantage
comes down low, with Payne (10.1 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.2 bpg), Branden Dawson (10.1
ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 bpg, 1.7 spg) and Nix (9.4 ppg, 6.4 rpg) all shooting
greater than 50 percent from the field.
The Sports Network | http://www.13wmaz.com/sports/ncaabasketball/article/221258/226/Top-25-foes-clash-in-Big-Ten-brawl | 854 |
Rally Finland over for Hayden Paddon
Sat, 04 Aug 2012 9:38a.m.
New Zealand driver Hayden Paddon's Rally Finland is over, brought to a halt by mechanical problems early on the second day.
Paddon had started strongly, belting out a win on the opening stage in the Super 2000 class on Friday (NZT) but he faded to finish second at the end of the day, 1.5sec behind local driver and new SWRC entrant Esapekka Lappi.
Paddon says a small malfunction of an engine component has forced him out after just two stages of the event's second day on Saturday (NZT).
"Unfortunately our Rally Finland has not gone to plan, terminal engine failure putting us out of the event and a zero point score for the weekend," he said.
"It's bitterly disappointing, especially after how good the car was feeling and how easily the times were coming."
Paddon said the day had started well, but only 2km from the end of the 22.29km second stage, the car dropped onto two cylinders.
"We limped over the finish line, having lost around eight seconds in the stage, and regrettably we were unable to get the car back to service."
Rally rules say engines can not be replaced or internally repaired during an event as they are a sealed unit, and Paddon says that meant repairs couldn't be made to the new Baumschlager Rallye and Racing (BRR)-prepared car.
Irishman Craig Breen leads the rally after two days, 3.7sec ahead of second-placed Swedish driver Per-Gunnar Andersson.
Paddon returns to New Zealand next week, before heading back to the United Kingdom later in August to establish a new base for the reminder of the year.
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Copyright © 2013 MediaWorks TV. All Rights Reserved. | http://www.3news.co.nz/Rally-Finland-over-for-Hayden-Paddon/tabid/415/articleID/264056/Default.aspx | 490 |
Driver not concerned with playing time
Green Bay Packers#80 Donald Driver grimaces after dropping a pass in the first quarter against the Cleveland Browns during the pre-season NFL football game at Lambeau Field, Thursday, August 16, 2012 in Green Bay Wisconsin. Journal Sentinel photo by Rick Wood/[email protected] Image by Rick Wood
At 37 years of age, Donald Driver is one of the elder Packers on the roster. He saw only three plays in the Packers loss to the 49ers. | http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/169452756.html | 109 |
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Singer Stevie Wonder performs during the Public Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC. U.S. President Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term earlier in the day. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame singer is headlining an outdoor concert near the Wyndham Riverfront Hotel on Feb. 2, the evening before the big game.
A spokeswoman for the event said Friday that Bud Light is sponsoring the concert. It will include performances by Texas blues guitarist Gary Clark Jr. and others.
Also that night, Justin Timberlake is appearing in his first concert in more than four years during "DIRECTV Super Saturday Night," an invitation-only concert being held after DIRECTV's "Celebrity Beach Bowl" that will include a performance by Miami rapper Pitbull.
"Celebrity Beach Bowl" is a star-studded flag football match that will include rapper Snoop Dogg and actor Neil Patrick Harris.
(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) | http://www.9news.com/entertainment/312915/151/Stevie-Wonder-to-perform-Super-Bowl-weekend | 239 |
Big East, SU reach agreement to part ways next summer
Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – Syracuse University announced on Monday that its athletics programs will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in July 2013.
The school announced that it has reached the agreement with the Big East Conference to have its contract terminated on July 1.
In addition to other considerations, the school will pay the conference $7.5 million.
Syracuse is moving to the new conference along with the University of Pittsburgh.
Copyright 2012 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | http://www.9wsyr.com/sports/content/su_sports/story/Big-East-SU-reach-agreement-to-part-ways-next/QmGaX0Qh7UixpfVPoK56Qw.cspx | 128 |
Roar edge Mariners in grand final repeat
Brisbane extended its unbeaten run to 29 games with a hard-fought 1-0 win against Central Coast in a repeat of the A-League grand final at Lang Park on Saturday night.
Mitch Nichols firmly stuck his hand up as the man to replace new Rangers signing Matt McKay as the go-to man in central midfield, hitting a sumptuous winner on 72 minutes to get the Roar's campaign off to a winning start.
Mariners keeper Matt Ryan had looked to deny Brisbane with a string of solid saves, but could not stop Nichols whose superb touch took the midfielder past his man into the box before hitting an even better shot into the bottom corner.
Thomas Broich also delighted the 13,000-strong Brisbane crowd by showing some of the poise and eye for a pass that propelled the Roar to their long unbeaten run, while new signings Issey Nakajima, Besart Berisha and Kofi Danning also showed plenty of promise for the season ahead.
Brisbane was forced to hold off a late rally from the visitors as Daniel McBreen came off the bench to cause some mischief in the box, before Ivan Franjic hacked clear.
The Roar started the game slowly as Mariners midfielder Oliver Bozanic hit a deflected shot at goal early on before Michael Baird had a header cleared off the line by Roar skipper Matt Smith.
But the home side asserted its authority eventually, with Nichols springing a one-on-one with Ryan, rounding the keeper before smacking his shot against the post.
Ryan was keeping Central Coast in the game, matching Berisha's close-range volley from a corner 10 minutes later.
Under the cosh, the Mariners broke down the left flank with pace as Bozanic burst into the box, hitting a fizzing shot past Michael Theoklitos into the sidenetting.
Theoklitos had to scramble just minutes later to palm over Matthew Simon's effort.
The forward scuttled across the front of the box to smack a deflected shot off Franjic, which looped up and nearly beat the Brisbane stopper.
But the hosts put those scares behind them as Broich put a tantalising pass into the box minutes after the restart, only for Berisha to fluff his finish.
Broich's influence in the game was growing steadily and with it, the amount of fouls against the German wing wizard increased.
But Ryan still refused to concede well into the second half when Issey advanced down the left after winning the ball high up the pitch, before sliding it across the box to James Meyer, whose shot was denied by the man between the sticks.
It was always going to take a moment of genuine quality to beat the keeper and it came deep into the second stanza when Nichols showed fantastic touch to bamboozle his marker on the edge of the area, before firing a shot of quality past Ryan.
Under pressure from the visitors hunting the equaliser, Brisbane new boy Kofi Danning - having spent most of his time on the Sydney FC bench last season - showed some real potential on the counter, bursting clear on the break several times to worry the Mariners full-backs.
Brisbane now travels to Sydney to take on Brett Emerton's Sky Blues, while Central Coast will look for its first win of the season next week at home to Gold Coast United.
Brisbane Roar: 1 (M Nichols 72')
Central Coast Mariners: 0 | http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-08/roar-edge-mariners-in-grand-final-repeat/3385190 | 727 |
BALTIMORE (WMAR) - Art Modell is known for the impact he had on professional football. He's admired by many in the Baltimore area for his bringing the Ravens to town, along with several years of successful NFL football seasons. But, what may be less known is the impact he had on Baltimore away from the pigskin.
Being a philanthropist is more than just writing a check. Ask local charities, and they'll tell you. Modell did much more than write checks.
Kennedy, The Foundation to Fight Blindness, Big Brothers and Sisters -- that's just a glance at a few of the charities Art Modell and his wife helped in the Baltimore community and in Cleveland.
"I think he should be remembered for creating a great learning center," said the head of The SEED School, Charles Adams. "The academic center was named for him. So, when that ground was broke and when it finishes the construction in August of 2013. I think we can look at that when the library is in there and that there will be this legacy and love of learning that's renewed here at the school now."
The SEED School in southwest Baltimore plays host to 400 at risk children each day. The children get a private boarding school education. The first class will graduate in two years, and they have a new class starting out this year. The school is changing lives, and next year the education center will open new classroom space that will let the seed grow.
From involvement with Saint Vincent's to Johns Hopkins, the Modells left a footprint in the community much bigger than the game of football.
Art Modell will be missed in many, many different regards.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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More Baltimore City News | http://www.abc2news.com/dpp/news/region/baltimore_city/modell-brought-more-to-baltimore-than-football | 493 |
Sunday, October 30, 2011
On Saturday, MSU had two runs on third down, both successful. One was a designed run on 3rd and 2, the other a broken play Cousins scramble for a first down. The remaining 12 third down attempts were pass attempts. I don't have time to pull together all of the 3rd and shorts from this season, but how many times have we gone 5 wide on 3rd and short this season? More than two or three? Then it's too many. How many times have we lined up to run right on a critical third down to toss misdirection and run to the weakside?
I don't mean to get after Roushar about this, this was happening in a more controlled fashion under Treadwell too. Roushar had a bad day at the office on Saturday, I've had them, you've had them, that's fine. He hasn't been an OC since 2004, I bet there's a learning curve on that. This offensive identity crisis is something I've noticed for a while now and just had enough of this weekend.
So why mess with what's mostly working? Well, we're off to Iowa in 2 weeks. A place we haven't won a game since back when Jebediah Springfield settled Iowa City back in 1407. Our coaches need to put our players into a position to run for five yards on First Down and say "Hi, I'm Edwin Baker, I'll be running the ball down your damn throat for the next three hours." If we win at Iowa, I think we go to the B1G Title Game. SO WE HAVE TO WIN AT IOWA.
Fix the run game, rather, make the run game something to be feared and respected. It will make our offense something to be feared and respected. If you don't know who you are, how are you going to tell them who just whupped them up?
PS Congrats to Will Gholston on his 15 tackles and 2 sacks and whatever. He's dreamy.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Well folks, we lost and it sucked. Big breakdown coming on Monday. Watch the first offensive drive for keys on why playcalling did nothing to help us win. See following offensive drives for why our defense cracked in the second half.
As least we're not Iowa right now.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ok, so here's the thing about Nebraska, for a team that is in it's first season in the Big Ten, they sure do like to kick our asses a lot. Nebraska is 5-0 against MSU historically, with the most recent loss coming in the 2003 Alamo Bowl(aka "Richie Incognito destroyed Stanton's knee and laughed while he plotted his next murder" bowl). We've made several attempts to their heroic coach of yore, Tom Osborne, but we lost out on that too. In short, they've owned us hard throughout the years.
While this is the same old Nebraska team(option rushing, strong defense) this Michigan State team is better than any version that has played Nebraska in years past. That's what will make this matchup interesting. That and Darrell and his other brother Darrell.
Every Thanksgiving the following conversation takes place:
Bo: I'm cutting the turkey.
Carl: No, I'm cutting the turkey. This requires a specialist and you look like Lord Voldemort.
Bo: Ok, you can cut the turkey, it'll give you a good moment to think about while you're in the unemployment line for mouthing off.
Carl: You're an asshole, where would you be without the revival of the blackshirts?
Bo: You mean without Ndamkoung Suh? What has your defense done since he left? Precisely dick. That's what. Whatever happened to that 4-1-6 you installed the year after Suh left? Oh it disappeared when you didn't have the best Defensive Tackle in 10 years to screw everything up for the other teams. Sit down you sad little man.
It happens at every single holiday gathering. I even heard that they played a 12 hour game of slapbelly fueled by egg nog, rum and sibling rivalry.
Nebraska Passing Attack vs MSU Pass Defense
Taylor Martinez can't throw a football. Like he may be physically capable, but his offense does not require or even really expect it. With a 55 percent completion percentage and 7 TD to 6 picks. He's a Nihilist dude, nothing to be afraid of.
Nebraska Rushing Attack vs MSU Rush Defense
MSU has held it's big ten opponents an average of 126 yards under their average rushing totals for the season so far. If that holds true tomorrow it would still mean allowing 135 yards rushing to the Huskers. They're really good at running the football, as they should be for an option team. In short, I think we'll give up 200ish yards to them on the ground. Despite that being good considering the quality of their rushing attack, it'll definitely be a bit like making out with the wrong person for a while before you realize the mistake you almost made.
Nebraska Rushing Defense vs MSU Rushing Attack
Nebraska is 70th in rushing defense. Which like, what the hell? Where's your blackshirt death Bo Pelini? Part of being an option team means having a good rush defense. So, uh? If only we had a common yardstick... and we do! Against Wisconsin, they allowed Wisconsin 50 carries for 231 yards. So Nebraska rushing defense is like 1990 Soviet Union, scary in name only. That said, our ability to run the ball this year has been like 1990 Yugoslavia, not even scary in name only. At dead last in the Big Ten it's kind of sad, whenever you finish behind in Indiana football in anything it's sad.However, our rushing attack will do better than usual because we've played some teams with good run defense, but won't be dominant.
Nebraska Passing Defense vs MSU Passing Attack
Nebraska has the 27th ranked pass defense but has allowed a lot of passing TD's(11) and few picks(5). Cousins is coming off the game of his career, so unless Nebraska plans to abandon defending the run and let Cousins pass freely, a small let down seems inevitable. I kind of like this match-up, our running game is enough that the Nebraska can't give up on it.
I dare not pick
This like the last few games seems like a game that could go either way. Nebraska is a bit of a paper tiger to me and the chief characteristic of Mark Dantonio teams is exposing pretenders. Still, until we have a year that does not feature an amazingly shitty away loss, I won't believe we can do without it. That loss doesn't come this week though. MSU makes the series 5-1 with it's first win against the Cornhuskers.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
A bloodless revolution has taken place at the Quarterback position in the Big Ten over the past several years. In 2006, zero quarterbacks rushed for over 450 yards. In 2011, two (Denard Robinson and Taylor Martinez) have already eclipsed that total. MarQueis Gray, Kain Colter(if he plays even one more game), Nathan Scheelhaase and Braxton Miller are on pace to meet that 450 yard mark. Russell Wilson is on pace to come up just short Gray and Scheelhaase could pass it this weekend. Miller and Colter should just squeak over it.
There in dead-assed last sits our hero. Mr. Kirk Cousins. With 16 rushes for -70 yards he's not a runner. That's almost exclusively sack yardage. It's not that he can't run, it's that he chooses not to. I might add the dude who took the terrible angle plays for the Chargers now.
So Why Am I So Happy That Our Throwback QB Is Coming Back To The Future?
A couple reasons. First, the Big Ten is the most boring conference in college football. The national opinion of Big Ten Football is that it is slow, anachronistic and boring. This is the same reason Michigan hired RichRod, they wanted to be the first to the block with the new brand of football. That and Rodriguez was the first dude to say yes. I am 100 percent ok with the rest of the country thinking we're a conference full of Robot Henne Quarterbacks who can't run at all.
Second, this over the years will provide a distinct recruiting and development advantage. Brian Hoyer who did not get drafted at all in pro football has been Tom Brady's backup for the past three seasons. Kirk Cousins is anywhere between third and seventh on most analysts Draft Board despite the fact passing wise he's the fourth best QB in the Big Ten. If you want to play in the NFL at QB how fast you are doesn't really matter at all, it's how well you throw the ball. Being a pro-style quarterback prepares you for playing in the pros.
Kirk Cousins is the last of a dying breed for a few reasons. The bulk of which have nothing to do with and are far more important than this article. He is a human being that is what's good in people. The one that interested me today though is that he is the last of a dying breed of dropback passer in the Big Ten. In spite of that all, I'm not sure I'd want anyone else.
Monday, October 24, 2011
I'm pretty sure Herbie could talk about anything for 20 minutes and make it sound like he knows his stuff. Easily the most polished of the bunch.
Good story about Izzo.
Here's the thing, actually there are two. Thing 1. If you think the fans sometimes carry the Little Brother thing too far, the media don't really help sometimes. Thing 2. You could see the writing on the wall for the gameday comments on Saturday that roiled the MSU fanbase so well.
See for as damned uncomfortable as I was physically on Saturday night this isn't about me or really the other 75,000 fans in Spartan Stadium. This night was about the Michigan State Football team. A team picked to win this game by no one except a handful of local media. A team who was minus one of their best players in Will Gholston and whose Defensive Coordinator was given one of the most wristslappy rebukes I have ever seen on Friday afternoon. An offense whose problems have been maligned even on this very blog laying out the mighty Badgers for 37 points. A
Keith Nichol's day in the sun. Holy crap if this kid hasn't earned it. He could have chosen not to come back after spurning MSU for the Sooners. But he did. He could have left after losing out the starting job to Kirk Cousins in 2009, but he didn't. He could have tried to beat out Cousins for the gig in 2010, but he didn't, he chose instead to be a Wide Receiver because he thought it's where he could best help the team. With that touchdown grab, Keith Nichol has 202 yards and 1 Touchdown on the season, hardly stultifying numbers, but way to make your one count. Congratulations sir.
As a result, I think our team would have kicked Badger ass with or without us on Saturday night, but I'm happy I was invited to spectate.
- Keshawn Martin the Wide Receiver appears to be back to form. I thought his receiving struggles were related to the lack of a legitimate 2 receiver and him being asked to play outside of his typical slot role, but some switch flipped for him in the past couple games. Keshawn Martin the Punt Returner still looks a skosh iffy to me.
- Congratulations to Kyler Elsworth. A HUGE 3rd down stop in the second quarter to force the Badgers to kick a field goal that was subsequently blocked. Speaking of blocking, did you know he blocked that punt that was then returned for a touchdown. Congrats Mr. Elsworth.
- The Wisconsin playaction is breathtaking and their run game is always enough of a threat that you cannot write off the run on playaction. There were several times in this game that the run was sold so well I had no idea that it was a pass until the ball was in the air. Our defense was outstanding on Saturday despite giving up 31 points.
- 1. The number of interceptions Russell Wilson had this season coming into the MSU game. 2. The number of interceptions he had during the game. Our defense managed to do twice what one other team had done once all season. Pick off another September Heisman candidate.
- Missing Will Gholston in my opinion almost cost us this game. Not really in quarters 1,2 or 3. Specifically in Quarter four when Wisconsin was completing passes because they had ALL DAY to throw. That's where Will would have made the difference helping get to Wilson just a half second sooner would have made that game less interesting in my opinion. Glad we'll have him back for the remainder of the season.
- Did Bielema Choke this game away? Mostly no. The timeout he called on 2nd and 20 was a good decision. The one he called on 3rd and 8 was not. State would have had to call a timeout in that situation anyway which means we have one less for the Rocket play. Hindsight's 20-20 of course, but there was just too much field to defend for him to think he was really going to pull that off on 3rd and 8.
Anyway, great win, program win maybe even? Great game to watch and might be the set up for a huge rivalry going forward.
Side note, I actually wrote this during Michigan week while I was killing time, so some of the things are future tense. What is not however is that Bielema is a choker.
Here's a BieLOLema while you think it over.
Thank you Black Heart Gold Pants love your blog, hate your coach.
You're still here? Good. Let's begin.
After Ty's remarkable missive on Juggalos and Walverines last week, it seems only fitting that we play Wisconsin this week. At Wisconsin, even the marching band are a bunch of meatheads. Who has a marching band get suspended for a game? Wisconsin, that's who. Who has a fan base that harasses Tom Osborne and his merry band of nonagenarians? Wisconsin, that's who. Who has a tradition of taking some of America's Whitest Kids and having them dance to one of the top hip-hop songs of the 90s?
Wisconsin, That's Who.
So it should come as no surprise to you that in 2005 when it came time to look for his replacement, Barry Alvarez was no fool. He wanted a known quantity, a populist hero, a meathead he could rely on and Bret Bielema was the perfect man for the job.
First off, look at the guy. He looks like a fat gym teacher who hangs out at an old folks home looking for a date. He looks stupid. He's also a reggae guy, I remember an interview with a recruit that talked about him groovin' on Marley to impress a recruit and thinking "What a doosh.", but in fact:
MADISON, Wis. — Sitting in his cavernous office that overlooks Camp Randall Stadium, island reggae music growling on a stereo system, Wisconsin head football coach Bret Bielema laughs and recalls an assistant's first trip to a local supermarket.
The Truth Hurts Sometimes
Second, the windbreaker. He wears that stupid damned windbreaker around like it's going to get him enshrined at the College Football Hall of Fame. "Here is the bronzed windbreaker of Bret Cornelius Bielema, he wore this windbreaker whilst dispatching UNLV in 112 degree weather 73-20, flew home and won a Deep Fried Cheese Curd eating contest while doing a keg stand." I understand the need to brand yourself as a coach these days. Spurrier with his fabulous visor, Sweatervest, Pete Carroll with sunglasses and cheating. I guess in fairness Windbreaker might have been the only cold weather item left, but you could brand yourself by winning.
Oh wait, he has branded himself by winning. Like an asshole. Bret Bielema hung 70 on Austin Peay and 83 on Indiana in 2010. Wisconsin basketball only scored 83 three times last year. Sure you can say, it's not Bret Bielema's job to keep Wisconsin out of the opponent's endzone. You are entitled to that opinion, just like I am entitled to the opinion Bielema is a dickbag. I have to imagine last year when he lost to TCU in the Rose Bowl, people were like "Bret, you failed to run enough when you had success with Montee Ball early on? What happened?" He was like: "Hurr, I am a banana. Scoring 70 on Austin Peay helped us get here but NOT scoring 91 is probably what kept us from knowing how to finish. I need some beer."
Finally, if you're going to go to the Rose Bowl instead of us, despite us beating you head-to-head. Run the damned ball when you're having success on a defensive line 60 lbs smaller than yours. When your backs are averaging 5.8 per carry, run the damn ball. This is the most important piece of all as to why I hate Bret Bielema, he can't close. In 2008, the clock was winding down in East Lansing, we had to hurricane kick with :02 seconds left to go, and he called a timeout to "ice the kicker". Swenson made the field goal and Spartans win. The guy can't close, because he's slow. A point further proved in 2011 East Lansing.
So there you have it, meathead of the people, branding himself for what purpose no one is really sure, no cupcake left behind and not a good coach in crunch time. I loathe Bret Bielema for all of these reasons and probably some more, but most of all despite all of these things he has the most successful team in the Big Ten the past 5 years. The luckiest doosh in the big ten. See you in Indy for the Big Ten Title Game.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Erin Andrews was raised under Florida’s constant sun. America’s Sideline Princess isn’t used to the crisp October weather for which this blog is named.
Her first order of business in East Lansing was to hop on Twitter and jokingly beg for temperate mercy. She wore a scarf throughout our indoor media session. Still, when asked about her impression of Michigan State, the first words out of Andrews’s mouth were “It’s like home,” then “it’s like family.”
That made me smile. To me, Michigan State fandom is all about family, and how more appropriate could that statement be on Homecoming?
Andrews, of course, has been here many times covering basketball. “I felt like a distant relative of Tom Izzo,” she said, for all the times she’s been to the Breslin Center. “I’d really appreciate if we could play the game tomorrow in the Breslin Center,” she said, “these temps are not exactly my favorite. But I’m excited to be here; it’ll be a great game.”
Today’s GameDay will feature Lee Corso’s 200th headgear-donning game prediction. Asked about the significance of that, Andrews pointed out that she’s the only member of the GameDay cast to have actually camped out for GameDay as a student. “I like to remind the guys of that,” she said with a smile, “to date them a little bit.”
Of course, since Andrews was a student, ESPN College GameDay Built by Home Depot has grown into an even bigger deal, a bigger production, more of a circus. She gestured to the enormous stage on Munn Field, being put through it’s paces by production staff, and said “I mean, look at that! That looks like Barnum and Bailey. We’re the lions and tigers. It’s nuts.”
Andrews talked about the impact the show has had on the popularity of the game itself. “I think the biggest reason why college football is so popular, and why guys who play this sport become super stars, is because of this show. We’re out every week doing features on them.” She explained that GameDay is as exciting and motivating for the players as it is for the fans. “It’s such a big deal if Chris or Kirk talks about you,” she said, “or if Coach Corso says your name. I think this show is one of the biggest reasons why this sport is where it is.”
Of course, the game itself must be worthy of the spectacle, and MSU – Wisconsin is. “I’m excited,” she said. “It’s going to be a game you definitely want to tune in for, especially with all the comments by Michigan State’s defense about ‘Get ready, Russell Wilson, we’re coming after you, Russell Wilson’.” Like Heck at The Only Colors, I love love love a swaggering, trash-talking defense that backs it up. When she said that, I swallowed hard. Let’s hope they back it up.
I cheered up again when she said Wisconsin was “heartbroken” last year after their loss to Michigan State. “They wanted to come back, to do it under the bright lights, Russell Wilson’s got this Heisman campaign, I mean, this is it. This where you find out if you’re good enough to go to New York.”
For the Michigan State Spartans, of course, this game is a test of something else: whether they’re good enough to go to Indianapolis.
See when you get to speak with the GameDay staff and 60 percent of the questions revolve around the game and aftermath of last week's game, you're missing a great moment to talk about the present and very immediate future. Although, in fairness Howard might have brought it on himself a bit.
People did not really care for his Lions hat.
What conversation did focus on today's matchup with the Badgers centered on this one key element. The defense is the marquee unit of the Michigan State Football team. Yet, they're the ones with the most to overcome in terms of moving on from the past to the present. Will Gholston was suspended on Thursday and then Friday Pat Narduzzi was admonished for his 60 minutes of necessary roughness comments. Both Herbie and Howard supported the suspension of William Gholston and were willing to spend a few minutes talking the fallout of MSU's dirty play.
Yet it's clear that the Spartans have earned the respect of both Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard. Herbstreit said: "Their mentality and the way they play, if you're a defensive guy, you've gotta love that." Howard said: "The Michigan State defense is one of the statistically best defenses in the nation." Gritted teeth were involved for Howard, but definitely some respect.
Still, what remains clear after our meet and greet with Howard, Herbstreit and Erin Andrews (more on that later), is that this game is about one thing. The Defense in East Lansing defending East Lansing. Defending East Lansing from media jib-jabbing, defending their suspended players from more criticism and defending the goal from a ferocious Badger offense. (Obligatory Badger Reference) With so much attention placed on the style of the Defense this week, how could the game come down to anything but their play? Tonight, tune in and view the Defense of East Lansing.
Friday, October 21, 2011
You can get involved by getting up early tomorrow and heading down to campus. Parking will open in the Comm Arts ramp at 6:30 a.m. If you intend on being in the first few rows, you'll want to be there a couple hours before GameDay airs from 9 to noon. Parking for students can be done, but it will involve a trip using the old Airwalks.
As fans, we don't often get to directly influence the course of anything for team we bleed green and white for. In home games, we might draw a false start or cause the opposing team to take a timeout. In away games depending on the place, we might get pelted by batteries or into a fight in the stands or even in the case of Northwestern set up a home like atmosphere. Largely, the game happens outside of us, we just get to show up and watch.
However, this is different. Desmond Howard unintentionally threw down the gauntlet. When asked "What do you expect tomorrow?" he answered, "We've had some fantastic crowds, Ann Arbor, Tallahassee, Morgantown and since we're back on campus we'd like to keep that trend of fantastic crowds." This is something we can show up and represent MSU with lots of Spartan Pride and give them a crowd to remember.
You are going to be on ESPN.
You’re reading this; you know where you’re going. Early Saturday morning, you’ll swathe yourself in Green and White and drive to campus. You’ll wait until 6:00 am, when they’ll let you park in the Trowbridge ramp for $15. You’ll proceed to Munn Field, which will be opened for you (and thousands of your closest friends) at 7:00. Two hours later, the football-watching world will see you piped into their home—and the strength of our numbers.
Last time ESPN College Gameday came to Michigan State, it was 2005. The Spartans were a miserable 5-5. GameDay was not there to witness a clash of titans; they were there to crown Penn State.
This season, ESPN is putting Michigan State on the biggest possible stage. We’re playing for extraordinarily high stakes. We’ll host the Wisconsin Badgers, the usurpers of our rightful 2010 Rose Bowl berth. As you know, MSU is 5-1 and the Badgers are 6-0; both teams are undefeated in-conference. A win would put either school in the driver’s seat to win their B1G division.
Last week, Jim wrote eloquently about the Little Brother mentality. It’s clear that the team has overcome this complex, but have the fans? Saturday will be the true test.
Everyone even casually associated with Michigan State understands the importance of the Michigan rivalry; campus was saturated with fans last week. But do we really play a one-game season, in fans’ minds? Has the team already accomplished everything fans hungered for?
Us Michigan State fans have always held the great teams of Biggie Munn and Duffy Daugherty dear. We’ve been raised to believe our rightful place in the NCAA hierarchy is at or near the top; we should perennially compete for Rose Bowl berths and occasionally be amongst the best in the land.
The reality’s been different.
The other day, my family went to our dentist. In his hallway, he’s hung a matted and framed aerial photo of the 1988 Rose Bowl. My son eagerly asked questions about it; while answering I heard myself say I was his big sister’s age—seven years old—the last time MSU played in Pasadena.
Last season was very nearly Michigan State’s triumphant return to the top of the Big Ten food chain; this game and the next could right 2010’s wrong. It’s no secret the Marks Dantonio and Hollis aim to elevate Michigan State football back to its lofty historical perch. Part of that means not being satisfied with a winning record, a bowl berth, and beating Michigan. Part of being a perennial conference contender and occasional national contender is understanding the stakes for which our Spartans play.
This game, against this opponent, with each team’s respective records, and a national prime time audience, should be importance enough. Spending all day and all night tailgating before showing up in droves would normally be fine. But Spartan fans have an incredible opportunity to show that not only our team is ready for the national stage, but our school, program, and fans are too.
Really, this is all wasted effort on my part. I don’t know why I’m writing to you. I don’t know why I’m preaching to the choir. You’ll be there. You’ll be wearing your colors and screaming in and out of commercial breaks and you’ll cheer your brains out when the 200th piece of mascot headgear Lee Corso ever dons is a Sparty head.
Don’t worry, I didn’t mean to harangue you, proud and loyal Spartan.
I’m talking to everyone else.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
However, as I started out saying, I'm happy to watch basketball passively instead of critically and it's for that reason I'm starting out with the disclaimer right now. If you want cogent or frequent basketball analysis this isn't going to be the place for it. If that's what you want and you're not already reading The Only Colors you should be. They do work. That said, on with the show.
Here comes the rain, the cold, the yuck. Where football season and tailgating starts to get a bit raw, where you come home from every game and changing back into just a shirt after wearing seven clothes makes you feel like you lost 20 lbs in seconds. As I sit and write, it's pouring cats and dogs outside and there's 25 mph winds. This is normally the time of year I pick up a Sports Illustrated and see MSU B-ball is ranked in the top 5.
This year though, Izzo enters the season ranked 28th in the Coaches Poll which isn't even really ranked. He suffered the loss of Delvon Roe several weeks ago, Korie Lucious & Garrick Sherman last season, Chris Allen the offseason before that. We graduated Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers and Mike Kebler. We've lost six players since last year that contributed significant minutes to our 2010 MSU basketball team.
This might be the best thing to revitalize MSU basketball in a long time. What's Izzo ranked today? He isn't. He opens against #1 UNC and follows that up that by playing #6 Duke. So even if he opens 0-2 then he's still not ranked, he mulligans and he starts over. Can't lose there, you're playing with house money. He's going to be rotating in freshmen this year and lots of them. He has young players in Payne, Appling and Nix who have experience playing, but are far from savvy veterans.
He basically gets to blow up the team and start over with young, inexperienced and most importantly talented players that are malleable. A coaches dream for winning championships in the future. Who's gonna help old Tom whip this whippersnappers into shape? Draymond Green.
I've called Draymond Green in the past the Drew Stanton of Michigan State Basketball. He can do it all and sometimes does things a person would never think to do usually good, occasionally bad. He is tough, he works hard, he's a good kid and he can flat out ball. He manages to be a shining star of the team while still putting the team first. He's exactly what you want to teach all of the young pups to be and this is his team.
This is the first year in quite sometime Izzo has been freed of top 10 expectations by writers who forget that Izzo is brilliant in March and is still learning his guys in November. Izzo is free to experiment, to build, to have more teaching moments than usual. This is a year where if MSU basketball finishes in the top 3 of the Big 10 it's a joy, not an expectation. With reasonable expectations, this could be a great year for MSU basketball.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Here's another one
Michigan State marches down the field but they're out of timeouts. They march all the way down to the 23 and get a first down with 11 seconds to go. THe hurricane kick unit comes out and it's gonna be close and HOLY CRAP AND A!!!!!!!!
Timeout? To ice the kicker? It's totally icing the kicker to call timeout instead of making him rush through a field goal. Except that it's not, it's giving him a chance to relax and go through his normal routine.
Noticing a trend yet, if not, allow me to convince you
Bielema is 14-10 on the road and 10-10 in the Big Ten in road games. His record against top 25 road teams is 2-3(to be fair, I'd bet most coaches aren't better on the road). The Big Ten road teams he beats Iowa, Purdue, Minny and one at Michigan. The ones he loses to OSU, PSU, MSU, Michigan, Illinois and Northwestern. So loses to quality opponents, beats easy ones. Check.
Wisconsin's Passing Attack vs MSU Pass Defense
Well, Wisconsin's passing attack is led by Russell Wilson. In case you've been living under a Big Ten rock for the past three or four months, he transferred from NC State after deciding he wanted to play for an actual football team. This season he's been 95 of 128 for 14 TD's and a pick. On top of being the Playstation champion of the Big Ten so far, his pocket presence is amazing. During the Nebraska game, I watched him look in the pass rush, both Defensive Ends got good penetration, he simply stepped about eight inches to the right to avoid the defenders looking downfield and fired a pass 20 yards downfield for a first down. So 74 percent completion rating, 14 to 1 TD-INT ratio and amazing pocket presence. We're probably screwed, I'd guess.
You know, our pass rush isn't too damn bad. You might even say after turning in 16 sacks the last two games, they're pretty damn good. You might even go on to say that there were probably another 5-10 times only the speed of Denard Robinson or Braxton Miller got them away from said sack. Further, Michigan State has eight interceptions on the season, three of which have been returned for touchdowns.
Of course, there is the matter of Will Gholston. He's been beastly in the past two games, maybe even a little too beastly. Simply put, you can't punch a dude, no matter what. I don't expect him to play in this game, nor do I think he should and that sucks.
Advantage: Push(slight lean Wisconsin)
Wisconsin Rushing Attack vs. MSU Run Defense
Wisconsin brings in the seventh ranked rushing offense in the country. The running backs James White and Montee Ball have combined for 25 TDs this season. That's a lot of damn TDs. The rushing game is averaging 29.2 points per game. MSU's total offense is averaging 28 points per game. Their rushing attack is fierce and real.
By contrast MSU's Rushing Defense is averaging giving up 67 yards a carry and has surrendered three touchdowns on the year so far. They have yet to play a rushing offense as strong as Wisconsin's and won't play one again this year. Again, this is a match-up of strength on strength.
Last year MSU held Wisconsin 80 yards below their average on the year for rushing. This year they held Michigan 150 yards below season average, OSU 140 yards below average and even in their loss held ND 80 yards below season average.
MSU Passing Attack vs Wisconsin Pass Defense
Wisconsin brings in the fourth ranked pass defense allowing only 146 yards per game with seven interceptions on the year. They have 14 sacks on the year and are absolutely for real. That's stingy.
Cousins has his work cut out for him this week. Last year he played one of the best games of the season going 20 of 29 for 269, 3 TD's and 2 picks. He will need to play that sort of game this week and probably even better for MSU to have a chance at winning. Keshawn Martin will need to build on the success he had during the Michigan game(maybe even avoid fumbling in the open field). It might even be nice to start working our TE's back into the passing game. Cousins will need lots of receiving options on easy routes to take advantage of this Wisconsin pass defense.
MSU Rushing Attack vs Wisconsin Rush Defense
Wisconsin brings in the 42nd ranked rushing defense which is decent, but not impressive. If you consider their best rushing opponent Nebraska tossed up 159 yards on them that looks impressive, until you realize that's 95 yards below their season average.
On the other hand MSU's rushing attack was pretty anemic until last week. They'll need to play another pitch perfect game to take advantage of the Wisconsin defense. Like Michigan, Wisconsin has looked softer on the edges than in the middle which means expect heavy doses of Baker with a bit of Bell sprinkled in for good measure.
You didn't think I walked through all the Bielema road-fail so that I could pick him in this section did you?
Overall: Wisconsin is heavily favored in this game and they should be on paper. Statistically, they have the upper hand in almost every category. Still Wisconsin has not yet played an away game and the only quality opponent they've played is a Nebraska team that in my opinion is overrated. They look like Tarzan, but they've only played Jane so far. The Evidence says: 38-21 Wisconsin. THe What-If-Bielema-Choke-You-Always-Play-Cupcakes-And-Have-A-Crappy-Career-Road-Record says: 20-17 MSU.
Let's go with the What-If-Bielema-Choke-You-Always-Play-Cupcakes-And-Have-A-Crappy-Career-Road-Record on this one.
Bonus: Ty and I have been invited to attend a meet and greet with the GameDay crew on Friday afternoon. If you have any questions you want us to ask, leave them in the comments and we will demand answers or #OccupyHerbstreit.
Monday, October 17, 2011
As I was driving home from Saturday's game, I got Chris Vannini's tweet saying that the D-Line two games into the conference season has sacked the opponent's QB a total of 16 times. That's more than most of the NCAA has for the whole season in case you're keeping track at home. They held another strong offense 200 yards below their season average and had a pick six. Simply put, they are good. Like the first time you saw Jurassic Park good.
What was absolutely kicks me in the junk about this defense is how young they are. As Jamie Mac of the Just Cover Blog pointed out, seven of our defensive starters this year are from the class of 2010. (I would argue that Pickelman is more of a starter than Rashad White, but that doesn't really detract from the point.) The point is our defense is stupid young.
After a seasonal defensive performance the likes of which I haven't ever seen, at the end of 2011 we will definitely lose Trenton Robinson, Kevin Pickelman and more than likely lose Jerel Worthy. At the end of 2012 we'll get dinged some more when we lose Johnny Adams, Rashad White and Chris Norman. Here's the amazing thing folks, in 2013, the following players will still be at the positions they're playing today: Marcus Rush, Will Gholston, Denicos Allen, Max Bullough, Darqueze Dennard and Isaiah Lewis. Gholston may go pro, but eh, he's has to settle down some first.
In the class of 2010 we have a few other players who are seeing significant minutes. Kurtis Drummond has been seeing lots of time as our nickel back in our third down package. Tony Lippett has been tabbed as the next two-way player at MSU. Jeremy Langford seems to have found a home at corner grabbing a pick-six against FAU and looks to try and move up the depth chart from there.
We have managed to redshirt the entire class of 2011 save one, Taiwan Jones. Taiwan Jones is a manchild at 6'3" and 234 and has spent his freshman year so far destroying people on kick returns. So in 2011, we're redshirting three LB's, two CB's, 3-4 DT's depending on what position Brandon Clemons ends up at and 2 DE's. It's difficult to expound on how GOOD they'll all be because we haven't seen any of them play. However, ratings, we got 'em. All three and four star kids. I really thought coming into this season that redshirting all but one member of the 2011 class meant that our class needed seasoning, but what's obvious only now is that why bother burning eligibility when you can sit everyone and have them gain more experience?
It's beyond difficult to look at this current defense and not start thinking about if Dantonio has finally got his pieces into place to build the Championship Defense Dantonio has wanted since he came to town in 2006. We are young, we are kicking ass and with redshirting almost our entire defensive class we are going to be as good or better next year. If in 2012 we find ourselves in a position to ask ourselves if our defense is any good or not, it should be a pretty simple question to answer. We can just ask any of the nine returning starters from 2011.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
- Our defense is outstanding. They have made sixteen sacks in the first two games of the Big Ten season. MSU still has to face a real solid passing quarterback yet, but this defense has IT. Whatever the hell IT is.
- No sacks surrendered by our Offensive Line. This seems like it's one part adjusting the playbook for quick passes, one part that our Offensive Line is improving. The Offensive Line deserves a shout-out for this. Yes, they need work, but jeez they've stepped up to the challenge so far.
- Sadler may not have the booming leg or the Hagerup coffin corner thing down, but damn if he isn't efficient and he is already playing heady football. The Craig Jarrett Supertoe will come.
- Edwin Baker was found in East Lansing today. Apparently, he had been suiting up for MSU all along? His rushing total of 167 was more than his last four games put together. He did a great job busting the outside runs.
- Keshawn Martin got 3 catches for 31 yards and had some killer blocks in this game. I don't remember him ever being a run blocker of any import, but apparently, he can get the job done when it's time.
- Congrats to Keshawn Martin and Trenton Robinson. These two players will never know the sting of a loss to Michigan. Congrats to the rest of the redshirt senior class.
- I thought that Brady Hoke and his players comments were classy. In a game where we had a lot of thug-ish type penalties, Hoke and his players were complimentary of MSU, each other and gracious in defeat.
- Seriously, WTF with the penalties? I understand they're might be a tiny element of intimidation with all of the roughness and I want to see big hits too, but if we were playing a team that was successful in captalizing on those sorts of errors, we'd have lost big. We're VERY lucky those penalties didn't come back to haunt us.
- It was very windy today, so obviously that's the reason we had two open-field fumbles and no interceptions. Baker had one and I think Martin had the other, I had a bad line of sight on that one. To assume Martin had an end around though is generally considered acceptable practice. I have no idea what that was about though.
- Kirk Cousins, 13/24 for 120 and 2 TDs with no picks. That's ugly.
Our defense is talented, young and kind of stupid. I really hope we can hang onto Narduzzi after this year although, I'm mildly skeptical at this point. This defense is stupid good and Duzzer is gonna get some phone calls. Young and talented will help us vs. Wisky. Stupid will kill us. As obvious as the sun will come up tomorrow something has to be done about those penalties.
Michigan's defense was improved and will continue to improve. I think they will be a bit in flux for the next couple of seasons their D will continue to improve, their O will probably tail off a bit and then build back up. The D will improve because they will continue to get better players each year in the positions. The O will struggle as they make the transition from spread and shred over to MANBALL. I think in 2-4 years they'll be consistently back to playing pro-style offense and power defense.
While I'm enjoying this run of victory and will certainly have these words thrown back in my face the first time we lose, I look forward to making sure Hoke has his pieces in place and that we have ours. When our rivalry game can be about who played the best game and not who limited mistakes most effectively, those should be games that will fuel the rivalry for years to come.
Finally, HOLY SHIT THAT WAS AN AWESOME WIN!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Between my office and a major freeway interchange, there is a Wal-Mart. I think it’s the “Super” kind, too. Normally I shop at Meijer, but every once in a blue moon I need to get from my office to the freeway and buy something they don’t sell at gas stations; Super Wal-Mart is there for me.
On one of these excursions, I was waiting in line for the U-Scan when I heard noises behind me that sounded like talking but not like words. I turned and found myself face to face with a person staring at me with wide, unblinking eyes.
He was holding a 30-pack of Busch, the kind that comes in the collector camouflage box with blaze orange letters. He had on light-wash blue jeans with epic holes in the knees. On his head was a plain black baseball cap bearing the word “JESUS” in white capital letters. Under his nose was something that might have been alive but was probably a moustache. On his torso was a University of Michigan T-shirt.
I stared at him.
He stared at me.
I stared at him.
He stared at me.
I turned around, paid for my merchandise, and left.
This was the legendary “Wal-Mart Wolverine,” encountered in his natural habitat. I was too close to the beast to pull out a camera and take a picture, but like James Audubon I returned with this detailed accounting of the animal for academic enlightenment.
I am a sports fan at the crest of the Web 2.0 wave. My personal passions and professional skills pitch me right into the wheelhouse of the sports blogging demographic. I am thirty years old, white, male, college-educated, and see all things with a critical eye and a burning desire to know. I have a balanced life with wife, children, and white-collar career—but make time for all of my various hobbies and interests, because I’m just a geek like that and all this crazy has to go somewhere. I will sleep when I am dead.
I am incredibly privileged.
I count amongst my privileges that I was able to attend Michigan State University, as did my mother, and her father before her—not to mention my wife, both her sisters, both her parents, my stepmother . . . we are privileged. We don The Only Colors as symbols of our pride in and loyalty to the school that helped us become the people we are, and to which we paid a hell of a lot of money for the privilege.
We love and cheer for our school and its sports teams. When I was in school, I knew many athletes (I was in Case Hall), and it was incredible to see the people I hung out with all week don the armor and the livery and take the field to battle our “enemies.” It’s what’s incredible about college athletics: it’s our students against your students, and may the best team win.
We take that rivalry from the stands to the streets, and take turns jawing with family, friends, coworkers and strangers over whose lyceum reigns supreme. Sometimes it’s all in good fun. Sometimes it gets heated. Sometimes it turns ugly.
Sometimes you’re sitting in your Wolvie boss’s living room with all of his friends watching Michigan State lose 49-3 on his six-foot projection TV and you’re the only MSU fan there and they’re all giving you the business and even though what you really want to say is “Look, dude, you went to U of M Flint” you can’t so you mutter something about basketball season and know that someday the shoe will be on the other foot.
Sometimes that Wal-Mart Wolverine sees your team colors and starts jawing at you and telling you you “suck” and you want to know where in the hell he gets off telling you you suck when he’s never even been to Ann Arbor and his only connection to the football team that beat your football team is the T-shirt he bought here at Wal-Mart two years ago.
This is where we take a step back and talk about class.
The Wal-Mart Wolverine does not have Michigan’s two-deeps memorized. The Wal-Mart Wolverine does not know which crucial recruits M is vying for. The Wal-Mart Wolverine may only be dimly aware that Rich Rodriguez is no longer the coach. The Wal-Mart Wolverine brands himself a Michigan fan because it’s a cheap and easy way to feel like a winner. He feels like a winner when Michigan wins on Saturday, and he feels like a winner during the week when he talks shit to some ponytailed fag wearing an Spartan polo and Tweeting on an iPhone.
Look, I didn’t graduate from State. I worked in the trades on a per-hour, sometimes-cash-only basis until I figured out who I wanted to be when I grew up. I spent a lot of time working side-by-side with guys who had precious little going for them besides a strong back, a permanent tab at their favorite bar, and a Michigan T-shirt.
So it is with the Juggalo Spartan. I cringed at Brian’s description of the State fans in Ann Arbor last year:
That was Saturday: financial mathematicians screaming at Juggalos, and the Juggalos winning. The State meathead directly behind me literally said "bitch! fuck you!" whenever MSU tackled Denard Robinson for less than five yards. On Friday, Tim came back to his apartment to find a trail of blood leading to a passed-out State meathead who'd broken in. The same guys who clumsily spray-painted a bedsheet in 2008 to declare their glorious victory over the worst Michigan team in 50 years reprised their genius. As I walked home every glassy-eyed Stiffler that passed me upped the amplitude of my anger/depression cocktail. Jesus, they were everywhere. They came to Ann Arbor cocky and stupid and left cocky and stupid. Enduring it was brutal. In their eyes, that was probably the point.
I brand myself with that the same Michigan State fandom that those a-holes do, and it kills me—kills me—to hear that people who call themselves Spartan fans would say and do those terrible things. But Brian hit something else on the head: those probable-Juggalos “almost certainly didn't even go to the game because they couldn't afford it.” They’re poor. They’re definitely ignorant, and probably stupid. They didn’t go to State, or likely any college. They didn’t earn their fandom with tuition and classes like he did his and I did mine.
So first, let’s call a spade a spade: the phenomenon of Wal-Mart Wolverines and Juggalo Spartans is a whole lot more about the struggle of class against class than between Michigan and Michigan State. They didn’t go to the big fancy school in the town where they grew up—but by cheering for the rival they get to lord it over those who did. They don’t represent their fan bases any more than the twisted Alabama fan who poisoned the oaks at Toomer’s Corner knows Violent J from Jay-Z.
Let’s let the common person who just wants a weekend escape have their escape without demanding to see their qualifications, and let’s hate the thugs and vandals on either side for their thuggery and vandalism, not their alignment. I’m not going to spray paint somebody’s car with “STATE” misspelled any more than Brian’s going to kill a 30-pack of Busch during the next UFR.
Second, let’s remember how awesome this rivalry is. My grandfather sat in the Spartan Stadium stands and hated Michigan—just as my mother did and as I do. We have the Internet now; we have computers that fit in our pockets and talk to the Internet everywhere, and we can interact with each other at any time of day or night all year ‘round. We can steep ourselves in the tradition and the vitriol and the misery and the triumph and all day every day for as much as we can stand. That’s a privilege; let’s treat it as such.
I stand with my Wolverine-loving iFriends as fans of Big Ten college football, and I want our annual battle to be played for the highest possible stakes every single year. I want our rivalry to be a marquee contest that draws national attention, and has national implications. I want to hate and taunt and mock and deride and seethe at each other with the respect, dignity, and yes—class—that befits ladies and gentlemen of privilege and higher education.
Also, I hope we kick their ass.
This marks the third year in a row we're going to be playing Michigan's September Heisman Winner. This is the third year in a row we're playing an undefeated Michigan team that's going to beat us until we can't stand. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 Michigan's combined record coming into this game has been 15-0. We have been the Lloyd Carr to the JLS Wolverines the past couple of years and I'm good if we can pull this off a third year in a row.
Michigan's Passing Attack vs MSU's Pass Defense
Last year UM moved the ball on MSU until it got into the redzone and then D-Rob was more likely to complete a pass to us than he was to his own guys. This will be true again. D-Rob was such a good QB last year because Magee got D-Rob's receivers FILTHY open.
Denard is the best running back playing QB since Michael Vick. I seem to recall reading that MSU's defense has given up nine plays over 20 yards this season. Further, Denard has a real propensity for throwing moonballs, not manballs. So you have a strength of MSU's juxtaposed with a strong weakness of UM's. Denard is going to throw some picks, provided he throws at all.
Michigan's Rushing Attack vs MSU's Rush Defense
Denard is the rushing attack too. Frankly, Denard's the whole damned offense. MSU has shown itself prepared to stop a rushing QB in Braxton Miller, but honestly, he's like Diet Caffeine Free Denard. The YPC is up across the board for their running backs, but at the end of the day stop Denard, stop the Wolverines.
MSU has been stingy against the run this year allowing an average of 64 yards per game and 74.5 against OSU and ND. I do not realistically expect us to surrender only 64 rushing yards against Michigan, but I do think we could keep them under 150. We only gave up 35 rushing yards to OSU and I think we're adequately prepared to stop a rushing QB.
MSU's Passing Attack vs Michigan's Pass Defense
Michigan has the 39th ranked pass defense and has been real solid in the red zone. We've been moving the ball effectively, but kinda crappy in the redzone, 100th in the nation or worse. Mattison seems to run a high risk, high reward type defense with lots and lots of blitzing. So that makes this call a bit difficult. If Michigan can get the blitz home, MSU is in some trouble. If MSU can stop the blitz, Cousins could have a field day. Further complicating matters is that Cousins still has a brain fart when he's pressing. So, the key for MSU will be short, safe throws for 5-7 yards.
Advantage: Push. I think there are too many unknowns for me to call this with any confidence. Either side could massively outperform the other.
MSU's Rushing Attack vs Michigan's Rush Defense
The BBC backfield has struggled this year behind our woeful Offensive Line of Sorrow. I think the Woeful Offensive Line of Sorrow is turning into a Woeful Offensive Line of Patchworked Occasional Success. However, I don't see the OLine coming together enough over the bye week to turn the rushing attack into a scary juggernaut for this week's game.
Michigan's rush defense is ranked 58th, giving up 141.6 yards per game. Our Rushing Offense is ranked 79th. They're good in defending the red zone and we're not good at scoring in it so it'll be important if we're going to be good at rushing that it happens in their redzone. Bell will be a critical piece of this.
Advantage: UM. I think we have too many holes in our rushing game to be improved with a bye week.
So we had a bye week before this, which means we had time to drop some wrinkles in the playbook. With a bye week the week before we might come out a bit rusty. MSU has been outscored 49-20 in the first half of the two post bye week games under Dantonio. Still, we have saved some of our best for Michigan the past few years and with an extra week to cook things up, I expect some very interesting stunts and blitzes. Maybe a Keshawn package?
Michigan on the other hand, is playing with house money at this point. I don't think anyone expected Michigan to be 6-0 and in such resounding fashion at this point. So winning this game would be icing on the cake for them I think. State needs to jump out to a quick lead and keep it because UM is a second half team.
Advantage: UM, but slightly.
Overall: Earlier this week, I was a bit bearish on our chances this weekend, but it goes without saying that UM has not played a defense like ours yet. Further, they struggled in the early goings against every team they've played except Minnesota and SDSU. If MSU is going to win, it needs to come out early, get up big, and not get soft in the third and fourth quarters. If this were an away game, I'd worry about that a bit, but I think we'll be properly prepared and the rust will come off quick.I think the rushing game will surprise this week despite UM's perceived advantage in this arena. MSU's weaknesses seem slightly more likely to be overcome to me with the extra practice than UM's weaknesses.
Predicition: MSU 31 UM 28.
See, it's not the team I worry about with the little brother thing.
The team is coming off of three straight victories against a terrible, bad and so-so Michigan team respective to 2008, 2009 and 2010. Despite Jerel Worthy's choices in arm decoration, the focus of this team is to win the Big Ten again. Not beat Michigan above all other things. Michigan is an important stop en route, but this isn't 2007 with the most over-hyped countdown clock in the history of time, nor is it 2009 where we kept 2/3rds of our defensive playbook scuttled away while going 2-2 including a loss to Central so Tater could show up in EL and be completely lost. This game will be approached by our coaching staff with a little extra verve, but this is not Michigan State Football's Super Bowl anymore.
So I posted a twitter poll and a poll on spartanmag with the question, would you as an MSU fan rather Beat Michigan or Go to a Bowl Game? Results can be found on MLive here through twitter responder Patrick Walters or on the Underground Bunker here. So, I woke up in the morning and decided I asked the wrong question. The value of a bowl is variable, i.e. the Pizza Pizza Bowl != Rose Bowl. So I decided to re-ask the question as "Would you rather Beat Michigan or Play in the B1G Title Game?". This fixes the value of the game and provides a choice for the top agenda item of the team. As of the time of this writing it's currently 45 percent for Beating Michigan, 43 percent for playing for the Big Ten title and 8 percent voting for Perot. On MLive, it's 65% for Beat Michigan and 35 for win a bowl game. On SpartanMag it's 83 percent for Beat Michigan and 11 percent for Win a Bowl Game, with the remainder doing the Tenacious D "Can't Decide, Brain Aneurysm".
Even this question and sampling are a bit flawed. For starter's the two outcomes of the question are not mutually exclusive, rather a victory over Michigan likely will put the Winner in the catbird's seat to play in the B1G Title Game in 2011. Second, frankly this blog draws a lot less water than either MLive or Spartanmag.com. So our sample size is pretty small. However, I don't think that either of these points is enough to rob the question of it's validity. The question is: Is beating Michigan the number one priority of Michigan State football fans?
Rivalries are not about what happens on the field, they're about what happens with the fanbases, media and season outcomes off the field. Go back and look at the infamous MGoBlog Juggalo Post. The real complaining is about fans, not our team. Think about every Ohio State fan you've ever met. Every single one. They're all dickheads and probably wife beaters. My wife spent a few years in the marching band and they stopped going to Columbus because they kept getting hit with batteries. Michigan-OSU rose to prominence because the coaches hated each other and the winner won the Big 10 every year. None of that has to do with the actual game outside of the fact it provides the fodder on which the rivalry is based.
Beating Michigan is a critical piece of the puzzle particularly if Brady Hoke brings Michigan back. We'll be competing with them for the right to go to the Big Ten title game, but if we ever want to empirically prove we're no longer "Little Brother" as fans, the idea of putting ourselves in a position to win the Big Ten has to be the foremost goal of the program and the measuring stick of success for the fans each year.
If we lose Saturday, we're not again relegated to the role of little brother as fans or as a team for that matter. The team has a chance to still accomplish it's goal of winning the Big Ten. Bielema is a meathead and I think he'll lose in EL next weekend (I'm not backing down on this one for reasons I'll go into next week). The Huskers just lost Jared Crick for the season and are looking beatable. While MSU's schedule isn't favorable, it isn't impossible either. The fans get relegated to the role of little brother if we go to the Citrus Bowl, win and come home all Sad Panda about how we suck because we didn't beat Michigan.
This weekend, I hope we stomp all over Michigan, but it's mostly because I want us to be playing for the right to go to the Rose Bowl in December. That's my Super Bowl now. The MSU football team is no longer Little Brother. They've won three years in a row and have set their sights on the Rose Bowl and Michigan is a slightly larger than normal piece of that. After the results of several polls have come in to measure this question, can it be said that MSU fans have moved past little Brother status? I think not, but I didn't say it, you guys did.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
A Couple Qualifications
1.) Playing in the B1G title game doesn't mean winning the B1G title game.
2.) I know that beating Michigan is probably requisite to getting to the B1G title game, but that's not the purpose of this exercise.
3.) Results will be used in a future post.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
It's rivalry week and time to address our friends down the road. Much will be made of what this game means. Was Jesus just a prophet for Denard? Is Brady Hoke the long-awaited successor to Bo? Does Michigan State even have a chance against U of M? If MSU loses are we destined to become a second-rate doormat all over again? If we win is U of M on it's way to Richrodding it's way through the season again? I think this is all a bunch of knee-jerk crap honestly, so let's stick to some facts and maybe some mild opinion and go from there.
Fact: Michigan has outscored it's opponents in the second half 114-21.
If you are not winning at halftime, it's unlikely you will beat these Wolverines. A key to success for the good guys will be being up early and making Denard play from behind. Frankly, this statistic is just stunning. Outscoring your opponent 5-1 in the second half over six games is no fluke.
Fact: Michigan State has outscored it's opponents in the first half 89-27.
While this involves us being up 58-0 on FAU and Central respectively, I do think it points to us being more of a first half team. Interesting to note, at halftime we've blanked three of our opponents at the half. So again, better be up at the half or else.
Fact: Michigan and Michigan State have scoring defenses in the top 10 nationally.
Normally this would be extremely impressive, but the Big Ten has half the top 10 scoring defenses nationally, so it's only kind of impressive. The turnaround is more impressive in the case of Michigan who finished somewhere around 2,000,000th in total scoring defense last year.
Fact: Michigan has the leading rusher in the Big Ten at QB.
We haven't yet played a QB in this mold in 2011. We of course played Robinson last year and shut him down very nicely, but until he is stopped we cannot write him off as a threat. A key to the game will be limiting him to taking only a few yards here or there and making him throw the ball.
Fact: Michigan State Football has improved under Mark Dantonio.
I bring this one up in case we lose and fans start jumping off ledges. MSU is better than they've been since Biggie Munn and aren't you lucky because they've been pretty so-so for a long time? Mark Dantonio's current record is 37-20 and 21-12 in the Big Ten. In order for Mark Dantonio to have a winning percentage equivalent to Duffy Daughtery he'd need to lose his next three games. He'd have to lose five to be as good as St. Nick Saban. On Saturday, win or lose Michigan State football is improving under Dantonio.
Opinion(But Strongly Supported): The Winner of This Game will have the inside track on winning the Legends Division
Neither program rises or falls based off of this game, but I think the winner has the inside track on playing in the inaugural B1G title game. Nebraska is already down a game in the Big Ten season and is unlikely to beat both MSU and Michigan. Iowa looks to be Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. So it is my opinion that the loser does not become a second-tier program, but instead this might become a rivalry of who plays in the division title game.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
There a few things I've wanted to address while I've been gone, consistent themes in the general MSU fan pulse. The first is William Gholston while I bet Saturday will be the day Gholston stopped being little Willie Gholston and became William Gholston, Slayer of Slow, Inattentive or Sometimes Fast Quarterbacks, we still have a way to go. Gholston's bread and butter is to bull rush everyone to death so if you have a tackle who is good at dealing with the bull rush, he will also be successful at slowing down Gholston. So buy stock now, he'll be better later, but he took advantage of some folks who were not ready for his raw speed.
Second, I will agree to a few things. 1.) Kirk Cousins struggles at key times in road games. 2.) Cousins throws some pretty boneheaded interceptions at times. 3.) He crawls inside his own head resulting in a manic crapfest. However, Cousins has still got us in second place in total Big Ten passing statistics. Since we're currently ranked tenth in the Big Ten in total rushing, we NEED Kirk Cousins to take us places this season. For us to close on our dream of playing in December in the Big 10 title game, Cousins has got to shore it up a bit, but make no mistake if we get there, he'll be a large piece of the reason why.
Third, is Baker a better running back than Bell? I guess I'd start with this, I'm not sure it's important. We have and need both. Next, I think it depends on who you ask. A pro scout would say Baker. A college coach might say Baker or Bell. Baker has the complete physical package but in a year where the O-Line is down(btw GOOD JOB O-LINE on Saturday!) I think it's natural that he struggles. What Le'Veon's gift is that he has the best vision of any back in recent MSU memory. He's patient about using his blockers. If the hole for him is supposed to be between the LG and C and it's not there, he'll look other places. He reminds me a lot of what you loved about Caulcrick, great vision and difficult to tackle. On a side note, I thought Caulcrick ran just fine at 235 his freshman year, getting him up to 255 was a mistake IMO. Baker just doesn't seem to have this vision, he runs to where his hole is supposed to be and if it isn't there doesn't tend to look for another hole. So is Baker better than Bell? Baker is more physically gifted, but I think Bell will have more success in a year like this. Bonus: I think Baker will be back next year. Bonus 2: I'd rather have this debate than why do all of our Running Back's suck like going to the dentist.
Finally, The Incredible Disappearing Act of Keshawn Martin. This one seems pretty simple to me. Keshawn Martin is a slot receiver being asked to basically play as our second most reliable receiver. Martin's natural position is the slot and more importantly he needs to be our third most reliable receiver. He is as talented as any member of our offense, but he needs to be the guy they bring in for end arounds, QB passes, you know, Keshawn Martin circus stuff. Nichol caught a couple or three passes on Saturday, but I don't think he's gonna be the guy. We need Bennie Fowler back and then on top of that, we need him to be a reliable second receiver. Part two of that is that if they could work something out with Nichol and Sims where they share the role of Y receiver, somehow. Anyway, the environment that would help Martin thrive is the one where he's the icing on the cake instead of part of the cake. Hopefully we can get someone else to be the cake in the next week or two.
Anyway, that's it for now. Be back next week for the gnashing of teeth over the Skunkbears. | http://www.abeautifuldayforfootball.com/2011_10_01_archive.html | 15,384 |
LA JOLLA — Sun-dripped Torrey Pines disappeared Friday as umbrellas outsold sunscreen, sand traps turned to koi ponds and temporary rivers replaced par-five fairways.
Locals in shorts and sandals ran around asking, "Dude, what is this wet stuff?"
San Diego officials immediately sanctioned the precipitation for violating several city sunny-day ordinances and warned the fines would be doubled on the weekend.
The second day of the Farmers "Flood" Insurance Open left everyone soaked except Tiger Woods, who didn't even bother wearing weather gear as he shifted golf-game gears from third to overdrive.
Woods dodged most of the droplets as he dominated the North Course with a seven-under-par 65 on his way to the top of the leaderboard.
Woods, who started the day three shots off the lead, hit 12 of 14 fairways and 13 greens. He avenged his only Friday bogey at his second-to-last hole with a birdie on the last to get to 11-under 133.
Woods owns a two-shot lead over upstart Billy Horschel, who shot three-under 69 on the South Course to leave him at nine-under 135.
Horschel, a 2009 University of Florida graduate, earned his first pairing with Woods, which knocks one item off his bucket list.
"It's going to be a good day no matter what," Horschel said.
Horschel thinks he'll be ready for the hoopla, having played 2007 Walker Cup matches in Northern Ireland against Rory Mcllroy.
"So I've dealt with crowds," Horschel said.
Horschel regained his card in 2013 after tying for fourth at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament. He missed the cut in his two previous trips to Torrey Pines.
Horschel is such a people person he says has to consciously pull himself away from conversations.
"I can talk your ear off for days and days," he said.
Someone, between now and Saturday's 9:40 a.m. tee time, will need to tell Horschel how little Woods likes to chitchat when he's in contention.
As Horschel conducted his post-round news conference, texts from family and friends were ringing a hole in his pocket.
Joining the final group is Casey Wittenberg, one of six players at eight-under 136 who sit three shots behind Woods.
First-day co-leader K.J. Choi stumbled to one-over 73 and is five shots behind Woods, while defending champion Brandt Snedeker followed his 65 with a three-over 75 on the South Course. Snedeker stands at 140, seven shots off the lead.
The weekend star, come rain or shine, will be Woods.
As caddies covered players with oversized umbrellas and handed out rain gloves like sticks of gum, Woods pretended it was 75 without a cloud in the sky.
"I don't like rain gear very much, and I'd much rather play in sweaters, if I can." Woods said. "Hey, you can only get wet once, right? Once you're wet, you're wet. Deal with it."
The soggy field now has to deal with Woods, who enters the weekend within striking distance of his eighth professional win at Torrey Pines. Woods has won this PGA event six times and also captured the 2008 U.S. Open held on these seaside grounds.
Woods owns the course record on the South Course, 62, and his 68.62 scoring average here is the lowest on tour since 1980.
He seems to have a decided home-field advantage at Torrey Pines, almost like the football Broncos in mile-high Denver.
There are certain places that fit Woods like an old pair of Nike sneakers.
"There are a few courses over the course of my career that I've really played well," Woods said. "This happens to be one of them."
He clicked off some of the others: Firestone, Augusta, Doral and Bay Hill.
Not all courses appeal to the eye of Woods, who has never won professionally at Riviera Country Club, one of the most respected courses on the tour.
Woods hasn't even played the Northern Trust Open since 2006 and hasn't committed for this year's event.
Woods seemed born, though, to play Torrey Pines. He plays better here than hometown product Phil Mickelson, who has won three professional times here but not since 2001.
Mickelson, with a later tee time, got the worst of Friday's weather. He trudged off the course looking as if he'd just walked through a carwash.
Mickelson followed his first-day 72 on the North Course with a one-under 70 on the South that left him dangling on a cut line that he ended up making on the number.
Mickelson wore gloves on both hands at one point to combat the rain but never seemed to have a grip.
His day ended bogey-bogey after he couldn't get up and down from the back bunker on No. 18.
"It's just a fraction off," Mickelson said of his game. "I just don't quite feel great."
Kyle Stanley, who blew a three-shot lead in the final round last year before losing a playoff to Snedeker, missed the cut after finishing at seven-over 151.
Mike Weir's weekend drought, though, is mercifully over. The veteran Canadian shot three-over 75 on Friday but made his first cut since the 2011 AT&T National. Weir is at three-under 141, eight shots behind Woods. | http://www.aberdeennews.com/sports/la-sp-pga-torrey-pines-20130126,0,6973429,full.column | 1,189 |
A collection of news and information related to Missouri Valley Conference published by this site and its partners.
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|TV SPORTS| Major League Baseball--Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves, Noon (ESPN) NHL Hockey--Philadelphia Flyers at Tampa Bay Lightning, 6:30 p.m. (NBCSN) NBA Basketball--Miami Heat at Boston Celtics, 7 p.m. (ESPN); Minnesota Timberwolves at...
|TV SPORTS| |SUNDAY| College Softball--East Carolina at Alabama-Birmingham, 11 a.m. (FXSP) NHL Hockey--Boston Bruins at Pittsburgh Penguins, 11:30 a.m. (NBC); Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals, 6:30 p.m. (NBCSN) Auto Racing--NASCAR Sprint Cup,...
|TODAY| |HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS’ BASKETBALL| North Dakota| |Region 3 Tournament at Hazelton| Napoleon vs. Edgeley-Kulm-Montpelier, 3 p.m. LaMoure-Litchville-Marion vs. Kidder County, 20 minutes after Ellendale vs. Central Prairie, 20...
|TV SPORTS| |SUNDAY| College Softball--Alabama-Birmingham at Central Florida, 10:30 a.m. (FXSP) Men’s College Basketball--Virginia Commonwealth at Temple, 11 a.m. (CBS); Big South Conference Tournament Championship, 11 a.m. (ESPN2);...
TV SPORTS SATURDAY Soccer—Premier League, Manchester United at West Ham, 6:30 a.m. (ESPN2); MLS, New England at Chicago, 6:30 p.m. (NBCSN) Men’s College Basketball—Florida at Kentucky, 11 a.m. (CBS); Syracuse at Georgetown, 11 a.m....
Staff reportsWinona State 73 Augustana College 35 SIOUX FALLS -- Winona State set an NSIC record with 782 yards of offense while setting several other school records in a 73-35 win over Augustana on Saturday. The Warriors scored 28 unanswered points in the...
Editors note: The headline on this story has been changed to show the correct final score. Northern Iowa powered past Northern State on Sunday. The Wolves lost the exhibition game against the Division I Panthers 69-48 at the McLeod Center. The Panthers...
Staff reportsSioux Falls 32 Augustana College 31 2OT SIOUX FALLS — Augustana scored on its possession of double overtime but had its extra point blocked and No. 23 University of Sioux Falls scored on its final possession of the second overtime and nailed...
Staff reportsMinnesota State, Mankato 34 Southwest Minnesota State 31 2OT MANKATO, Minn. -- Minnesota State, Mankato kicker Sam Brockhsus booted a 20-yard field goal in the second overtime to propel the 10th-ranked Mavericks to a 34-31 double-overtime victory...
It was one of the worst beatings in Northern State football history. It was so bad that the score of the Oct. 22, 1949, football game in the 1949-50 Northern State annual listed the score as: Northern 0, Wichita State (Plenty). But it was, after all,...
Staff reportsSt. Cloud State 51 Minnesota-Duluth 49 ST. CLOUD, Minn. — St. Cloud State stunned No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth 51-49 on Saturday in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference football game. It was the Bulldogs first defeat of the season. St. Cloud...
Staff reportsMinnesota-Crookston 33 Southwest Minnesota State 28 CROOKSTON, Minn. — The Minnesota-Crookston football team had endured a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference losing streak that spanned 39 games and were depleted by injuries going into...
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Original site for Missouri Valley Conference topic gallery. | http://www.aberdeennews.com/topic/sports/college-sports/missouri-valley-conference-ORSPT00000410.topic | 960 |
Soccer ace Cristiano Ronaldo has been awarded "substantial" damages from bosses at a U.K. newspaper over an article alleging the star put his injured ankle at risk with his excessive partying. The Real Madrid striker underwent surgery on his ankle in July 2008 and was ruled out of playing the sport for his then-team Manchester United for more than two months.
During that time, Britain's Daily Telegraph published a report alleging Ronaldo had risked further injury by dancing at a Hollywood club. The sports star launched legal action against the Telegraph Media Group Ltd, claiming the report caused him embarrassment, offense and distress and could damage his professional reputation.
On Monday, November 8, a judge at London's High Court ruled in Ronaldo's favor and the star, who was not present at the hearing, was awarded substantial libel damages from the newspaper group over the article, according to the AFP. | http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0007918.html | 177 |
Future of the Jaguars with David Caldwell
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jaguars have officially announced David Caldwell as the new general manager for the team.
He has a big task in front of him and is set to be officially introduced Thursday.
We spoke with Attorney John Phillips about the decision and the future of the team under Caldwell. Watch the video for more.
Copyright 2013 Cox Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/david-caldwell-jags/VnhQeZAfOUKLG4pyjjg8lA.cspx?rss=2003 | 103 |
New York, NY (Sports Network) - The Miami Heat's LeBron James and Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook were named the NBA Players of the Week in the Eastern and Western Conference, respectively, for the games played Feb. 4 through Feb. 10.
James was nearly flawless in averaging 31.3 points per game on a superb 73.8 percent shooting to guide the Heat to a perfect 4-0 record for the week. He scored at least 30 points in each contest and his streak of five straight 30- plus point games while shooting 60 percent or better is tied with Moses Malone and Adrian Dantley for the NBA record.
Westbrook helped motor the Thunder to blowout victories in each of their four wins during the week, averaging 21.8 points, 6.0 assists, 3.3 steals and 3.0 rebounds per game. Oklahoma City won each contest by at least 20 points and trails the San Antonio Spurs by just a one-half game for the top record in the league.
Others considered for the weekly award were Boston's Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, Houston's James Harden, Indiana's David West, New Orleans' Greivis Vasquez, Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, San Antonio's Tony Parker, Toronto's Rudy Gay and Washington's Martell Webster. | http://www.actionnewsjax.com/sports/nba/Oklahoma%20City%20Thunder/story/James-Westbrook-earn-NBAs-weekly-honors/K_z86wg57UC547fugJMWuQ.cspx | 262 |
Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - Toronto FC announced Friday that it has signed defender Jeremy Hall and striker Andrew Wiedeman to new contracts. Per club and league policy, terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Hall, 24, made 23 league appearances and produced one goal for Toronto FC last season, scoring against the Houston Dynamo on June 20. He originally was acquired in a trade with FC Dallas in November of 2011.
Wiedeman, 23, was acquired on July 13 in a trade with FC Dallas. He has gone on to make 15 league appearances with Toronto, scoring two goals, while featuring in all four group stage matches in the CONCACAF Champions League. | http://www.actionnewsjax.com/sports/soccer/story/TFC-re-signs-Hall-and-Wiedeman/0IsBQ5TtwUGK7IbGBTOzCw.cspx | 137 |
Rated 5 out of 5Â by Doctor_MC Rugby Player
I play wing for my rugby club. These boots fit great and they're very light. They've increased my speed dramatically and I can feel the ball really well when I kick.
October 5, 2012
Rated 4 out of 5Â by maxm great cleats!
they fit very well around your foot and are very easy to adjust to.
June 19, 2012
Rated 5 out of 5Â by SpeedBeast A Big Impact!
These Cleats Have Made A Big Impact On My Speed And Soccer Skills. Thanks Adidas!
August 20, 2012
Rated 5 out of 5Â by ADO AWESOME CLEATS....
This shoes is awesome.. I would buy F50 cleats but this shoes is on sale I want to try it. Strongly I recommended.
October 20, 2012
Rated 5 out of 5Â by Mike S Excellent Value
I normally play in Leather Predators. Love them, but was looking for a synthetic shoe as a backup and also just for days when it's muddy/rainy. Figured these would clean up easier as synthetic. So far they are great. have only used them 2 times on indoor turf, but handle as well as my predators. not quite the soft leather feel, but definitely recommend these. picked up for $50 from adidas.com. fair price for me. I would not have been happy paying $100.
January 4, 2013
Rated 1 out of 5Â by DocCA Really cheap plastic
Maybe I'm too old, but for those of us who've been lucky enough to use the original predators, these cheap plastic versions are terrible! The sole looks like it'll work, but there's no fitted/padded insole, no padding or reinforcements around the instep or sides, and the tongue is the thinnest piece of plastic I've ever seen on a shoe! I admit I was drawn by the cheaper price, but I've now returned these for the top of the line $200 version.
January 10, 2013
Rated 3 out of 5Â by Bolillo to lose not so light
The overall look is amazing and the comfort. The only thing is its not really light and they feel like they will slip off any second. The traction is still amazing looks great you just have to really tighten up the laces so the shoe wont feel like it will slip off.
January 5, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5Â by Christian H. Great Cleats
Really good cleats for rec. soccer. They are fairly light and very sturdy with great traction. They are great with ball handling and grip the ball well. One other thing that makes these cleats great is that they are good quality. Overall fantastic cleats!
February 24, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5Â by Thunder Best cleats ever
These are the best cleats ive ever bought in my life!
they really help with my grip on the grass cause well its Washington and its sorta hard to have traction in vans.... But, they fit well, and are waterproof.
November 15, 2012
Rated 5 out of 5Â by firehawk great shoe at a great price
We bought these for my son who plays U13 select soccer. Still can't believe we got such a quality shoe at such a great price. By buying through Adidas.com, we saved $40 over buying at the local sporting goods store. He loves these cleats. He says they feel great. And we all think they look great. Very happy with our purchase and speed of delivery.
January 14, 2013 | http://www.adidas.com/us/product/mens-soccer-f30-trx-fg-cleats/DA669?cid=V21348&breadcrumb=1z13csaZ1z13y8w | 743 |
Bone Garners Additional
Player of the Week Awards
STATION, Texas -Texas A&M Junior forward Kelsey Bone added two more
player of the week honors for her stellar play last week in the World Vision
Classic held in Las Vegas, Nev. Bone set a new career high in points against
Old Dominion with 33 and was the leading scorer in each game in the tournament.
Bone was honored by espnw.com as the National Player of the
Week, the award is voted on by multiple writers and awarded weekly throughout
the season. Additionally Bone was named the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player
of the Week by the US Basketball Writers Association. As the
Southeastern Conference Player of the Week, Bone was nominated for the weekly
award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors
from a list of Division I conference players of the week.
On the week Bone missed only seven shots as she was 39-of-46
(.848) from the floor and averaged 27.7 points per game and 10.3 rebounds in
the three contests. The Houston native scored 20-plus points in each of the
three contests and had two double-doubles (against Kansas State and Old
The Aggies will return to Reed Arena on Dec. 28 to face
Prairie View A&M at 7 p.m. Friday night will continue the Holiday Hoops
promotion and will be Christmas night at Reed. | http://www.aggieathletics.com/acctshare/MyAccount.dbml?ATCLID=205855399&SPID=94496&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=27300&db_oem_id=27300 | 306 |
COLUMN: All this and a football game too?
Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday, and much of America will be tuned in to see if San Francisco or Baltimore becomes the next NFL champion.
But that is not all that we are tuning in to see. Football is just one of the many things that will be on display as the ultimate sporting event in the U.S. takes over our evening viewing and Monday morning discussion.
This particular game, like the sport itself, has changed. What was often referred to as the Snoozer Bowl has been replaced by some truly exciting play. In the early years of the Super Bowl, teams were often more intent on keeping from losing than they were of playing to win. As a result, less-than-stellar play was the norm.
In recent years the play has been excellent with last-minute scores deciding the outcome.
But the play of the 49ers and the Ravens will not be the only thing under the microscope tomorrow. Here are some other things that will be discussed around the water cooler (are there really water coolers in offices anymore?) Monday morning.
• The national anthem. Not only who does it (Alicia Keys) but how she sings it will be critiqued. Will lines be missed? Will words be mispronounced? Will she sing it straight or embellish it with her own style? (The best rendition of the national anthem I have heard was not at a Super Bowl, but at an Atlanta Braves game I attended. A 10-year-old girl with a great voice sang the anthem without any additional flair.)
There are actually people who are wagering on the national anthem performance. Bets are being placed on how long it will take her to sing the song, whether she will omit or add words to it as she sings (like Christina Aguilera did in 2011) and if she will be booed following the performance.
• The commercials. TV ads are always a highlight for the Super Bowl. At $3.8 million for a 30-second spot, the creative genius of ad agencies had better show up on this night. And many of us are more interested in the ads than in the play on the field. That football stuff just gives some of us time to go to the restroom, get the nachos ready, pop the top on a cold one or call a friend to discuss the last series of ads that just concluded.
My favorite Super Bowl commercial ever is the Mean Joe Greene ad for Coke in which the star player tosses his sweaty game jersey to the kid who gave him a soft drink. I admit a bit of a bias here, as I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.
• The coaches. Keep count of the number of times the announcers mention that these are two brothers facing each other from opposite sidelines. Indeed the coaches come up with the plans for the games, but chances are that neither one will run the ball, tackle anyone or kick a game-winning field goal. In spite of what is said about the coaches, it is the players who decide the outcome.
• The parents. And while there are sure to be a number of mentions of the coaches (the brothers Harbaugh), make note of the times that the parents of the two coaches are shown or mentioned.
• Halftime. Beyonce has the opportunity to headline the halftime extravaganza. I’m not sure why marching bands are no longer in vogue at halftime, but they went the way of the 8-track tape player. My guess is that there are some who will love her performance, others who will pan it and others who will go into the kitchen to check on the nachos.
• The commish. Will the cameras show NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and what kind of reaction will he get from a crowd in New Orleans? Remember it was Goodell who banished the New Orleans coach this season after Bounty Gate. No friend of the Saints is Mr. Goodell.
• Disney World? Who will look into the camera at the end of the game and say, “I just won the Super Bowl, and I’m going to Disney World?”
Inquiring minds want to know. Pass the nachos.Jeff Wallace is the retired editor of the Aiken Standard. | http://www.aikenstandard.com/article/20130202/AIK0403/130209932/1065/AIK0102/all-of-this-and-a-football-game-too | 881 |
|Three-time Tour de France winner Contador faces the media after being banned last year [EPA]
Tour de France champion Alberto Contador can race again after having his one-year doping ban overturned.
The Spaniard's national cycling federation dropped his suspension on Tuesday after he failed a drug test during last year's race.
The 28-year-old, who faced being stripped of his 2010 Tour title, was suspended in August after testing positive for a small amount of the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol.
Contador said he was "relieved and obviously happy" at the decision, though the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) could yet appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
"It has been some very stressful months for me," Contador said in a statement on his Saxo Bank team's website.
"We take note of this decision and fully respect it, but we are also sensitive to the fact that the parties of this case still have the right to appeal this decision"
Bjarne Riis, Saxo Bank team owner
"To both the team and the authorities I have explained that I never cheated or deliberately took a banned substance."
Contador has been banned since August after testing positive for a small amount of the banned anabolic agent clenbuterol on his way to victory in last year's Tour, his third win in the sport's most important race.
The UCI said it reserved the right to study the reasons behind the RFEC decision before expressing an opinion.
"Once this documentation (from the RFEC) has been received, the UCI will issue its decision within 30 days," the body said in a statement.
WADA noted in a later statement it would have another 21 days to determine whether or not to use its independent right of appeal to the CAS.
Tuesday's ruling means Contador will be able to join up with Saxo Bank, conceivably in time to defend his title at the Tour of Algarve starting on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old Contador has always denied deliberate wrongdoing, saying the failed test was due to contaminated meat.
His team's owner Bjarne Riis said the Spaniard had been vindicated by Tuesday's ruling.
"This decision is indeed proof that the relevant authorities do not find grounds for believing that Alberto has committed any intentional doping offence," Riis said.
"We take note of this decision and fully respect it, but we are also sensitive to the fact that the parties of this case still have the right to appeal this decision."
Spanish media reported that the RFEC's disciplinary committee reversed their decision because it could not prove intent or negligence on Contador's part.
Announcing his appeal against the RFEC's original one-year ban, Contador had criticised "obsolete" doping controls in cycling.
He was backed by the local media, the general public and by the RFEC's president, who was not a part of the disciplinary proceedings.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero entered the fray last week.
"There is no legal reason to sanction Contador," he said on the government's Twitter feed. | http://www.aljazeera.com/sport/2011/02/2011215162857876883.html | 665 |
Whoa, did AJ McCarron learn that a year ago. His facial expression when asked about it said that much. Still, he made it out the other side with a national championship ring after things slowed down.
Now entering his first spring as the solid No. 1, the rising junior from Mobile can look back at the growing process of Year 1.
“I thought they were cheating,” he said. “I didn’t think they were playing with 11. I thought there were 22 out there.”
Things came together in late October and played his best game (24 of 34 passing for 234 yards) in the Crimson Tide’s 21-0 pounding of LSU in the national championship game.
Before coming back for spring practice, which restarted with its second of 15 dates Monday, the quarterback took care of his arm. McCarron confirmed having off-season shoulder surgery after the afternoon workout in Tuscaloosa.
“I mean it was just a minor thing,” he said. “It wasn’t anything big.”
Cosmetically, things appeared different entering this spring for the Alabama offense. Former coordinator and quarterbacks coach Jim McElwain is now leading the Colorado State program and new offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier took his place.
McCarron said very little has changed in the offense so far.
He’s even picked up a new buddy in the deal after having a close relationship with McElwain in their three years together.
“We talk to each other on the weekends,” McCarron said. “If he gets bored, he likes to call me. I found that out, and we’ll just talk. He’s definitely a good guy and I’m excited to be playing for him.”
Saban also said the Alabama offense will remain the Alabama offense.
“Are we wholesale changing our offense and going to a whole new system, a whole new terminology?” Saban said. “Everybody in the building’s got to learn a whole new system because one guy’s changed? We’re not doing that. … On offense you have to continue to try to make sure you’re doing the things that your players can do and that you have the right kind of players to do those things. That determines it to some degree.”
The player Saban has at quarterback said he hasn’t allowed the success of a national championship get to his head.
His family won’t allow that. Daily chores are still part of the routine when he’s back in Mobile.
“Nothing is too bad,” he said. “Most of the time it’s just, which I volunteer for, I watch out for my three little brothers — or two since the other one is here now.”
That would be Corey McCarron, big brother speaks of. The younger McCarron, a tight end, transferred to Alabama after playing last season at South Alabama.
AJ McCarron said it’s still strange seeing his younger brother on the same practice field, but “definitely special,” having him in Tuscaloosa now.
Besides having a family tie involved, McCarron said he’s enjoys being an “old head” in the Alabama offense entering his fourth season with the program. He didn’t shy away from the vocal side of the leadership role that comes with being the starting quarterback.
The approach can’t change, he said, even after beating Phillip Sims for the top job last year.
“I didn’t worry about what other people were doing last year,” he said. “I’m not worried about what other people are doing this year. Like coach always says, if you play to the best of your ability, then you don’t have to worry about anything.”
McCarron also wasn’t stressing too much over the plan of attack when he entered the Superdome on Jan. 9. His career-night and offensive MVP performance was the product of the season-long growth spurt and an air-tight game plan.
“Honestly, I knew it was going to work a week before,” he said. “I felt really confident going into the game. I felt like I played that way the last time we played them, other than that one mistake. … I knew I wasn’t going to be able to miss any reads this game. So I just took it upon myself and coach gave me the opportunity and my receivers went up and made some plays for me.” | http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/17937965/article-McCarron-back-from-surgery--ready-for-Year-2-as-Tide-QB?instance=news_special_coverage_right_column | 990 |
If Roberto Luongo's new contract was for 24 years and $128 million, he would still be worth every penny. The Vancouver Canucks did wonderfully for themselves and their fan base by getting him at half. Priceless is the professional athlete who just shuts up and plays his position as well as anyone on the planet.
The 30-year-old Luongo had three wishes: to get paid, to not bankrupt the Canucks from fielding a contender and to go very long-term. So what if the contract doesn't end until the Jamie Moyer stage of his career?
Wednesday, everyone had a lot to say about what Luongo will be at 43 and what he is now at age 30. But a little history reveals why the All-Star goalie may have been so resolute in his demands.
Despite being the most-hyped goaltender of the last 15 years, he has delivered on his immense potential. Of course, there is the rather large matter of carrying a team to a Stanley Cup, but even his critics are forgiving. They acknowledge Luongo has been an NHL goalie for nine seasons, a member of a functional NHL franchise for only the last three.
While universally hailed as the game's top prospect a decade ago, Luongo was demoted to the minors by the New York Islanders so the owners at the time could avoid paying him bonus dollars. The goalie, all of 20 years old, proved he was the better man. He just shut up and played hockey.
Luongo was traded by Mike Milbury on Draft Day 2000 with Olli Jokinen to Florida for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish. (The Islanders also passed on the opportunity to draft a few future 40-goal scorers, but we're trying to keep this column a reasonable length). While the rest of the league either laughed or gasped, Luongo -- steely determination a cliché invented for athletes like him -- just shut up, went to South Florida and played hockey.
So when Florida joined the Islanders as the second asinine team to trade Roberto Luongo, the goalie decided to take a personal interest in his future with the Canucks. No, this isn't franchise player as management nudge -- simply a goaltender wanting to stop pucks and the insanity.
Good for him. Good for the Canucks. Good for their fans. Entering the prime of a Hall of Fame career, Luongo negotiated 12 years for $64 million -- an annual salary cap hit of $5.33 million. Rick DiPietro, his apparent heir at the Islanders, got $67.5 million for 15 years ($4.5 mill) without proving much. Neither deal prevents the Canucks or Islanders from building Cup-contending rosters. Only Luongo, always in the conversation as the No. 1 goalie for Team Canada, is currently healthy enough to do something about it. Canucks management, so emotionally invested in the man from Quebec they named him captain, now begins losing sleep over the nightmare of a long-term injury to The Franchise.
Make no mistake, the league office abhors these long-term deals. Gary Bettman was not shy about his distaste for the DiPietro deal, but opted for silence when established superstar Alex Ovechkin was inked for 13 years. Recent contracts by Philadelphia (Chris Pronger) and Chicago (Marian Hossa) were downright knee-slappers in their circumvention of the salary cap.
You don't need Brian Burke to underline the $1 million Luongo will receive in each of the last two years to see the salary cap scam (imagine that, a sports team looking for an edge). Try as they might, league lawyers will not find the Luongo deal in violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Their next chance to change the rules arrives in 2011.
Celebrate, Canucks Country. You have the best player on your team -- the goalie most real GMs would take in their fantasy draft -- for at least the next decade.
Roberto Luongo was born to be a goaltender. Look at him: long arms, long legs, Gumby-like flexibility, Andy Pettitte-like focus. Now, just as he wanted, he's a Canuck for the rest of his playing days. | http://www.aolnews.com/2009/09/03/roberto-luongo-has-earned-every-cent/ | 872 |
11/13/2010 – The men's team soccer was defeated by Davenport 1-0 in the finals of the WHAC Tournament. The victory improves the Panthers record to 15-6 on the season and advances them to the NAIA Championships, while the Saints season comes to a close with a record of 15-5.
Aquinas, Davenport and an automatic bid to Nationals on the line was the backdrop on Aquinas' soccer field this afternoon. In typical fashion, both squads came at each other with everything they had. The first half saw seven shots by the Panthers and five shots by the shots, but no goals.
Davenport broke the scoreless tie in the 54th minute as Jesse Asanin-Miroux delivered a crossing pass right into the back of the Saints goal. Damian Goncalves and Alex Boehm were credited with assists on Davenport's goal. The Saints continued to execute resulting in nine second half shots, but could never find the equalizer. Jesse Guevara-Lehker recorded four saves as did his counterpart from Davenport, Kevin O'Brien.
A special congratulation to the four seniors who concluded their Aquinas careers with an overall record of 56-21-3. Jeo, Ruben, Chad and Mike -- thank you for everything you've done for the AQ Men's Soccer Program. | http://www.aquinas.edu/athletics/news.html?recordID=122 | 282 |
Arizona pounded out 23 hits and secured a spot in the Tucson Regional championship game with a 16-4 victory over Louisville on Saturday night before a crowd of 4,007 at Hi Corbett Field.
June 3, 2012
Box Score |
Arizona 16, Louisville 4 (Box Score) | Photo Gallery
TUCSON, Ariz. - For the second night in a row, an early deficit did not faze the Arizona baseball team, which pounded out 23 base hits en route to a 16-4 victory over Louisville before a crowd of 4,007 on Saturday night at Hi Corbett Field. The win secures the Wildcats a spot in the Tucson Regional championship game scheduled for 8 p.m. on Sunday night.
The Wildcats, the designated visiting team, collected at least 20 hits in consecutive games for the first time since 2007, led by Pac-12 Player of the Year Alex Mejia's five-hit, four-run and three-RBI night at the plate. In all, nine players scored a run and eight added at least one run batted in.
Arizona (40-17) faced an early 1-0 deficit, before surging ahead with a five-run third inning and adding two runs in the fifth and one more in the sixth for an 8-1 advantage.
Louisville (40-21) chipped away with two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, before the Wildcats all but put the game away with a seven-run explosion in the seventh inning, capped by Brandon Dixon's first career home run - a three run shot to left field.
Starter Konner Wade gave up a run in the bottom of the first to the Cardinals, but the damage could have been much worse. Stewart Ijames delivered an RBI single and Alex Chittenden was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. Ty Young was then tagged out trying to score on a potential wild pitch that didn't roll far enough away from catcher Riley Moore.
Wade's second walk of the inning re-loaded the bases, but the right-hander was able to get a foul-out to end the inning to keep the score 1-0 in favor of the Cardinals.
The Wildcats erased the deficit and claimed a comfortable lead in the third inning. Starter Jared Ruxner hit Moore with a pitch to open the third, then after a sacrifice bunt, the Wildcats registered six consecutive base hits to chase the right-hander.
Ruxner (8-3) was charged for the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings, though the Cardinals' bullpen struggled to quiet the Wildcats' bats.
Arizona scored two runs on five hits in 2.2 innings against Dace Kime. Nick Burgi surrendered six runs - five earned - on seven hits in 1.2 innings, and lefty Cody Ege was charged with three earned runs on four hits over the final 2.1 innings.
Wade, meanwhile, settled down. The right-hander shut out the Cardinals from the second through the fifth innings, then yielded a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth. The right-hander worked into the ninth inning, before giving up consecutive singles to begin the final frame.
Wade, who improved to 8-3 on the season, tallied five strikeouts and walked two, while giving up four runs - two earned - on 10 hits. Tyler Crawford gave up a hit and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch in the ninth, but otherwise struck out two and was not charged for a run allowed in one inning of work.
Mejia's 5-for-5 night at the plate highlighted five Wildcats that finished with three or more hits. Seth Mejias-Brean knocked out four hits and drove in two runs, while Joey Rickard, Johnny Field and Bobby Brown had three hits apiece.
Arizona will play the winner of the Louisville-Missouri elimination game scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday. The first championship game will begin at 8 p.m. with the Wildcats sending right-hander James Farris to the mound. | http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/060312aaa.html | 850 |
By Richard Clarke
It was a night of frustration.
- Sagna Red Card
- Wilshere 81
- Walcott 69
- van Persie
- Arshavin 69
- Bendtner 81
- Zabaleta Red Card
- De Jong Yellow Card
- Barry Yellow Card
- Tevez 90
- Jo 64
- Boateng 90
- Johnson 64
Arsenal dominated second-place Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday but just could not score.
Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas both bashed shots against the same post in a breakneck first half. An offisideTheo Walcott hit the other. The early pace ebbed away somewhat in the second period and the key moment came on the hour when the Dutchman was denied by a spectacular save from Joe Hart.
Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta were dismissed in the dying seconds for a clash on the sidelines. The sendings-off sapped the final drops of spirit from a difficult game.
However, Arsène Wenger will be buoyed by the domination his side enjoyed against a direct title rival.
On the evidence of this evening it is Arsenal who will challenge Manchester United more strongly for the Premier League crown over the course of the coming months.
Tonight was Twelfth Night. The evening when tradition demands that the Christmas decorations must come down.
It was the end of the Festive Football and, not surprisingly, Wenger chose the side that had brought his success during that period.
This was the side that had beaten Chelsea and Birmingham so comprehensively. Lukasz Fabianski caused a slight concern when he appeared to hurt his shoulder in the warm-up but it did not prevent him starting the game.
Of course this was second versus third – a massive encounter for both sides.
About 95 per cent of the time, matches of this magnitude start slowly.
This one fell into the other five per cent.
It took desperate defending and a dash of luck to keep out a rampant Arsenal in the opening 15 minutes or so.
Samir Nasri burst in to the area and tapped a pass to the unmarked Jack Wilshere on the right of the area. The Englishman elected not to shoot and tried to find Van Persie at the far post. His cross trickled past the foot of the stretching Dutchman.
Manchester City flew up the other end and James Milner drove wide.
Then Wilshere stung the hands of Hart from the edge of the area.
All this happened with barely 200 seconds on the clock. It was a thunderous start and the pace was just settling down when the game received another jolt.
There seemed little on when Van Persie pirouetted himself some space on the edge of the area in the ninth minute. But then he thumped a rasping left-foot shot against the base of the post.
The visitors arrived at Emirates Stadium with the best defensive record in the top flight but they seemed to be struggling with Arsenal this evening.
In the 11th minute, Nasri and Theo Walcott created a melee in the penalty area. Eventually the ball found its way to Wilshere 12 yards out. His sidefoot shot was clutched on the line by the grateful Hart.
The game could not maintain that pace - and it didn’t. But, despite the lull, Arsenal were on still top.
In the 23rd minute, Wilshere and Van Persie combined over a right-wing free-kick to give Walcott an ounce of space in the area. The winger drove his cross-shot just wide.
Manchester City were offering little of substance but they rallied as the half-hour approached. Gareth Barry’s free-kick sailed over Sagna and Alex Song had to bundle behind from a Carlos Tevez cutback. Seconds later, Van Persie won a crucial back-post header when surrounded by three visiting players.
In the 30th minute, Nasri darted inside and found Fabregas. His drive hit the same piece of post that Van Persie had rattled earlier. The rebound flew across goal and fell to Walcott who fired against the other post. The latter effort would not have counted. The Englishman had been flagged offside.
Walcott was having another eye-catching game. Six minutes before the half-time whistle he raced through in the right-channel and reached the byline. His cross certainly hit the hand of Vincent Kompany. Referee Mike Jones presumably thought the Manchester City defender was so close he could not have got it out of the way.
In injury time, Walcott weaved inside and a Fabregas shot was deflected over by the diving Nigel de Jong.
It was another chance for Arsenal in a half they had dominated. Their performance had been fine. The only problem was that they had not secured the lead they so richly deserved.
The tide was generally in the same direction after the restart but the current was weaker.
Van Persie drove into the sidenetting in the 52nd minute but by now the visitors were offering much more of a blockade. And when they did get through, Hart blocked their path.
On the hour, Van Persie tried his luck from 25 yards and the England keeper threw himself to his right to turn the ball aside. A fantastic save.
But the story continued.
In the final minute of full time, Sagna and Zabaleta squared up. Both received their marching orders.
Van Persie’s free-kick forced another block from Hart in injury time but this was one of those nights for Wenger’s men.Copyright 2013 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source 5 Jan 2011 | http://www.arsenal.com/match/report/1011/post/first-team/premier-league-arsenal-0-0-man-city-report | 1,208 |
- The Art of Manliness - http://www.artofmanliness.com -
Going Over the Top: How To Dominate In Arm Wrestling
Posted By Brett & Kate McKay On March 20, 2009 @ 2:00 am In Gamesmanship,Manly Skills | 21 Comments
The arm wrestling match. It’s one of the manly feats of strength that every man will face at least once in his life. You never know when you’ll be challenged to display your manly strength, so you need to be ready to place your elbow on the table at any time. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to have cannon balls for biceps or forearms like Popeye to win at arm wrestling, though they do help immensely. But with a bit of technique, a dash of speed, and little strategery, you can beat an opponent at arm wrestling who’s stronger than you are. In this article, we’re going to show you techniques and training tips passed down by arm wrestling champs of yore, so the next time some dude challenges you to a match, you can smash his hand to the table.
There are two techniques that when coupled with a strong finish will make you virtually unstoppable in the arm wrestling ring: the top-roll and the hook. Now ideally, your implementation of these techniques should be fast and seamless, you know, like an arm wrestling ninja.
The top-roll is the most effective arm wrestling technique. Top-rolling turns arm wrestling from a showdown of bicep and forearm strength to a contest of hand, finger, and wrist prowess. The key to top-rolling is to work your hand up your opponent’s palm. Your goal is to have your hand wrapped around the top part of his hand with him holding the bottom part of yours. In order to get in this position, you need to start as soon as you hear the word go. Pull your hand towards you in order to force your opponent’s hand away from his body. This will mess up his leverage and increase yours. Hopefully, you’ll notice your opponent’s grip beginning to slip. As soon as you notice this, start moving your grip higher up on his hand. Keep doing this until you’re as high up on his hand as you can get. As soon as you reach this point, you’re ready for the finish.
The hook is simple and can be used by itself or with the top-roll. The goal of the hook is to force your opponent’s hand back, thus increasing your power and leverage. As soon as you hear “Go!” force your opponent’s hand back, and expose his wrist by twisting your wrist towards you. When you get him into this position, you’re ready for the finish.
In the future, wars will be determined by arm wrestling.
Sometimes the hardest part of arm wrestling is finishing off your opponent. A man will try to ring every last bit of juice from his meathooks before letting you slam his hand to the table. Oftentimes, arm wrestling matches devolve into an interminable stalemate with one man’s hand hovering above the table while the other man is mustering all the forearm strength he can to finish the deal. Here’s how to avoid this situation-
When you’re ready to finish your opponent, rotate your body so that your shoulder is in line with the direction you want your arm to go. This will allow you to call on your much stronger shoulder muscles and utilize some of your body weight. Unless your opponent has super human strength, he’s going to have a hard time staving off defeat.
Again, I want to reiterate how important it is to do implement these techniques quickly and seamlessly. The less time your opponent has to respond, the better. This will take a lot of practice and perhaps a whole lot of losing. If your ego can’t take the beatings, arm wrestle your 11 year old nephew to get the technique down. Of course, we’ll make fun of you for having to arm wrestle a prepubescent boy with sticks for arms just because you’re not man enough to lose gracefully. Which brings us to….
You get challenged, you accept the challenge, and you lose. Don’t worry. It happens to the best of us. Realize that your arm wrestling prowess isn’t an indicator of your manliness. When your hand touches the table, give an “aw shucks,” shake your opponent’s steely hand, slap him on the back, and with a charming smile, tell him good job and that you’ll want a rematch after you’ve done the Charles Atlas program. Don’t be that guy who pins his entire masculinity on an arm wrestling match, and after losing seeks to redeem himself by demonstrating cartoonish masculinity. You know, swearing, guzzling beer, demanding rematches, name calling, etc. That guy is a real jagweed.
Also, if you’re in a position where you’re about to lose, don’t be the guy who cocks his hand so it’s almost impossible for the other guy to end the match, leaving you both just sitting there for the next five minutes in that same position. The jig is up, and you’re just delaying the inevitable. If your goose is cooked, look at your opponent, give a nod, and give in gracefully to defeat. You’ll get him next time.
The best way to train your muscles to kick ass at arm wrestling is to, well, do lots of arm wrestling. However, your friends will probably get tired of you asking them to arm wrestle all the time. Here are some novel ways to train your arm when you’re by your lonesome.
Arm Wrestling Arcade Machines
Remember these things? They had one at the Chuck E. Cheese I went to as a kid. You’re basically arm wrestling a robot. Becuase these things have hydraulics on their side, you’ll get quite a workout trying to pin the robot arm to the table. I haven’t seen too many of these sorts of machines lately. It might be because a Japanese version of the machine broke the arms of three people . Ouch!
The Neil Lewis Arm Wrestling Machine
I found this nifty contraption on Old Time Strongman (a site everyone should definitely check out). It’s a really simple apparatus. Just add weight to one end of the lever and start hammering out reps that mimic the arm wrestling motion. Pretty dang cool. It’s a shame they don’t make the Neil Lewis Arm Wrestling Machine anymore. Fortunately, there is a modern incaranton of this old strongman device, aptly named The Terminator.
I found this video of an enginuitive man who created his own Neil Lewis Arm Wrestling Machine at home. Looks easy to put together on your own.
The Lincoln Hawk Big Rig Weight Machine
If you’re looking for some inspiration to get pumped up for your next arm wrestling match, look no further than the 1987 Sylvester Stallone classic Over the Top . Yeah, it’s an entire movie dedicated to arm wrestling. How cool is that? Stallone plays a struggling trucker named Lincoln Hawk who arm wrestles on the side to make extra money. After the death of his wife, he tries to make amends with his son who he left behind years earlier. Upon their first meeting, his son doesn’t think too highly of Hawk. But over the course of the film, he warms up to his dad, and they form a great father-son relationship. Arm wrestling and a touching father-son story. What more can you ask for in a movie?
One of the coolest things I remember from this film is the weight lifting machine Hawk has set up in his big rig so he can train his arm wrestling arm while driving. That’s a man who is dedicated to his sport. If someone else has replicated this in real life, my kuddos to him. I’d love to see a pic.
Exercises for Arm Wrestling
If you can’t get a hold of one of these cool contraptions, there are plenty of exercises you can do at home and in the gym to get stronger for arm wrestling. An arm wrestler needs to build strength in his forearms, biceps, and triceps. Hand grippers can help build strength in your fingers and hands. Wrist curls work your forearms. Dumbbell curls work your biceps. Tricep press downs will give you strength in your triceps. For a more complete list of exercise for arm wrestling, check out Ultimate Arm Wrestling .
So you’ve got the technique down, you know how to lose gracefully, and you’ve learned how to train for your next arm wrestling match. To pump you up for your next match, we’ll leave you with the final scene from the best and only film about arm wrestling, Over the Top . Notice how Hawk uses the top roll to finally defeat his opponent. See, it works in the movie, so it will work for you. Enjoy and get out there and show somebody’s foreman who’s boss.
Article printed from The Art of Manliness: http://www.artofmanliness.com
URL to article: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/03/20/the-art-of-manliness-guide-to-arm-wrestling/
URLs in this post:
manly feats of strength: http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/08/21/manly-feats-of-strength/
broke the arms of three people: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/22/world/main3193101.shtml
Old Time Strongman: http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/
The Terminator.: http://www.armwrestlingmachine.com/
Over the Top: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007TKNKG?ie=UTF8&tag=stucosuccess-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0007TKNKG
Ultimate Arm Wrestling: http://www.eiyc.com/exercises.htm
Copyright 2010 The Art of Manliness. All rights reserved. | http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/03/20/the-art-of-manliness-guide-to-arm-wrestling/print/ | 2,234 |
|Track & Field Profile - Embed| Suggest a Correction AllMiddle School
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Pagenaud and Bourdais win at Silverstone After a thrilling race in front of around 40,000 spectators Bourdais/Pagenaud won the Autosport 6 Hours of Silverstone for Peugeot. Ferrari scored another victory in LM GTE (Fisischella-Bruni) class, the third by the Prancing Horse this year. Thanks to these wins, Peugeot and Ferrari have consolidated their lead in the ILMC Manufacturers’ Championships.
The merciless duel raging between Peugeot and Audi since the beginning of the season continued at Silverstone. Right from the start of the fifth round of the ILMC, Allan McNish set the tone with his incessant attacks on the pole-sitting Peugeot of Bourdais/Pagenaud. It was a scintillating start to the race and the Scot found the opening after a 50-minute scrap, shortly before Franck Montagny in the second 908 went off after tagging a backmarker during an overtaking maneuver.
This left the no. 1 Audi and the no. 7 Peugeot to battle it out at the head of the field, and no matter which of the drivers was in the car the hand-to-hand fight never let up. Behind, the same type of scrap was going on between the OAK Racing and Rebellion Racing drivers for third place. The fact that the no. 1 Audi was forced to stop for repairs with 1h 45m to go to the flag (bonnet change among others) decided the outcome of the race. The Bourdais/Pagenaud Peugeot crossed the finishing line giving Sochaux its fourth win of the season (the third for the works team) enabling the French firm to tighten its stranglehold on the ILMC Manufacturers’ Championship. “I’m very happy,” said a delighted Bourdais who scored his second win on the trot. “We really had to fight for this victory. We didn’t make any mistakes and our rivals did.“ Bruno Famin, the French team’s technical director did his sums: “Our aim is achieved as we wanted to hold on to our place in the championship and score two more points than Audi. It’s a great team result and a reward for all the Peugeot Sport personnel.”
Audi whose two cars finished in second and seventh places is not beaten yet, but the German team must turn the tables in the Petit Le Mans on 1st October to still have a chance of winning the title. OAK Racing scored a stunning result with the quickest of its OAK Pescarolo-Judds, which finished on the podium in third place after overcoming the first of the two Rebellion Racing Lola–Toyotas.
In LM GTE Pro, Ferrari also made a big step towards winning the 2011 ILMC Manufacturers’ title thanks to Fisichella/Bruni’s second victory of the year in their F458 Italia in front of another Ferrari Italia entered by Luxury Racing and driven by Ortelli/Mackowiecki. This is the third success of the season for the works Ferraris entered by AF Corse. The BMWs were very quick in practice, but they failed to make a big impact in the race and like Audi must fight back in the next round. 20 points separate the two manufacturers at the top of the GTE Pro classification.
In LM P2, victory went to the Ojjeh-Lombard-Kimber-Smith Zytek-Nissan, their third on the trot this year after the Le Mans 24 Hours and Imola. The winner in the ILMC category was the Yvon/Da Rocha/Lafargue OAK Pescarolo which rounded off the French team’s fantastic weekend. This puts off the consecration of the Signatech-Nissan until at least the Petit Le Mans.
It will be the same thing for Larbre Competition. The Bornhauser/Gardel/Canal Corvette saw the flag in third place in LM GTE Am. The ILMC win went to the Roda/Long Porsche while in the Le Mans Series classification the unbeatable pairing of Narac/Armindo scored another success in their Porsche 911 RSR 997.
P. No.Team Drivers Car Cl. Tires Laps 1 7 Peugeot Sport Total Pagenaud/Bourdais Peugeot 908 LM P1 M 190 2 1 Audi Sport Team Joest Fässler/Bernhard Audi R18 TDI LM P1 M 190 3 24 Oak Racing Nicolet/Premat/Pla Oak Pescarolo - Judd LM P1 D 185 4 13 Rebellion Racing Belicchi/Boullion Lola B10/60 - Toyota LM P1 M 185 5 15 Oak Racing Lahaye/Moreau/Ragues Oak Pescarolo - Judd LM P1 D 185 6 16 Pescarolo Team Collard/Tinseau/Jousse Pescarolo - Judd LM P1 M 185 7 2 Audi Sport Team Joest McNish/Kristensen Audi R18 TDI LM P1 M 184 8 8 Peugeot Sport Total Sarrazin/Montagny Peugeot 908 LM P1 M 181 9 007 Aston Martin Fernandez/Primat/Klien Lola Aston Martin LM P1 M 179 10 41 Greaves Motorsp. Ojjeh/Lombard/Kimber-Smith Zytek Nissan LM P2 D 178 11 40 Race Performance Frey/Meichtry/Rostan Oreca 03 - Judd LM P2 D 177 12 45 Boutsen Energy Racing Kraihamer/Ebbesvik Oreca - Nissan LM P2 D 176 13 36 RML Erdos/Newton/Collins HPD ARX - 01d LM P2 M 176 14 43 RLR Msport Gates/Garofall/Hughes MG Lola EX265 - Judd LM P2 D 171 15 35 Oak Racing Yvon/Da Rocha/Lafargue Oak Pescarolo - Judd LM P2 D 171 16 26 Signatech Nissan Mailleux/Ordoñez/Vernay Oreca - Nissan LM P2 D 170 17 95 Pegasus Racing Schultis/Simon/Schell - Oreca - 09 FLM M 169 18 93 Genoa Racing Kronfli/Mitchell/Grogor - Oreca - 09 FLM M 169 19 99 JMB Racing Marcelli/Ducote/Moro - Oreca - 09 FLM M 168 20 51 AF Corse Fisichella/Bruni Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 168 21 59 Luxury Racing Ortelli/Makowiecki Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 167 22 77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Lieb/Lietz Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167 23 56 BMW Motorsport Priaulx/Alzen BMW M3 LM GTE Pro D 167 24 75 Prospeed Competition Goossens/Holzer Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167 25 42 Strakka Racing Leventis/Watts/Kane HPD ARX - 01d LM P2 M 167 26 55 BMW Motorsport Farfus/Müller BMW M3 LM GTE Pro D 167 27 76 IMSA Performance Matmut Pilet/Henzler Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Pro M 167 28 89 Hankook Team Farnbacher Farnbacher/Simonsen Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro H 167 29 66 JMW Motorsport Bell/Walker Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro D 166 30 58 Luxury Racing Beltoise/Jakubowski/Marroc Ferrari F458 Italia LM GTE Pro M 164 31 67 IMSA Performance Matmut Armindo/Narac Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 164 32 79 Jota Dolan/Hancock/Buncombe Aston Martin Vantage LM GTE Pro D 164 33 63 Proton Competition Long/Roda Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 163 34 92 Neil Garner Motorsport Hartshorne/Keating/Keen Formula Le Mans - Oreca - 09 FLM M 162 35 62 CRS Racing Ehret/Mullen/Wills Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 162 36 50 Larbre Competition Bornhauser/Canal/Gardel Corvette C6-ZR1 LM GTE Am M 162 37 61 AF Corse Perazzini/Cioci/Lemeret Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 162 38 88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Ried/Felbermayr Jr. Porsche 911 RSR (997) LM GTE Am M 162 39 57 Krohn Racing Krohn/Jönson/Rugolo Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am D 161 40 65 Lotus Jetalliance Rossiter/Mowlem/Wendlinger Lotus Evora LM GTE Pro M 161 41 60 Gulf AMR Middle East Giroix/Goethe/Wainwright Aston Martin Vantage LM GTE Am D 153 42 82 CRS Racing Quaife/Christodoulou Ferrari F430 LM GTE Am M 133
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FIA to restrict DRS use during F1 practice and qualifying next year
|By Edd Straw
||Thursday, November 15th 2012, 22:40 GMT
The FIA is to restrict the use of DRS anywhere on the circuit except in the allocated zones during practice and qualifying on grand prix weekends next year.
You have viewed over 30 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading. | http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/104254 | 91 |
Jim Lampley went all JIM LAMPLEY in an interview today about tomorrow night's Pacquiao vs Marquez IV fight, as only JIM LAMPLEY can.
Austin Schindel, XFINITY Sports: "Jim, first of all, you were right there, you were the closest person to the Pacquiao-Bradley decision. What was your immediate reaction to that decision?"
Jim Lampley, HBO Sports: "Well, I had a tiny hint. Just a little foreshadowing, because Michael Buffer looked down at me and gave me one of those looks that said, 'You're not going to believe what you're about to hear.' So I sort of knew it was coming, but it was still shocking. It's one of those decisions that rocks you back and makes you think, 'Wait a minute, what in the world were they watching that I didn't see?' I was pleased and gratified later to learn that of 61 ringside, credentialed reporters, 58 had Pacquiao winning the fight. It was pretty strong sentiment in favor of what we all felt was the right decision, but that wasn't the official decision."
Schindel: "So if this this fourth matchup holds up to as good as the first three were, where do you rank this matchup and rivalry in the history of boxing?"
Lampley: "It's a very important rivalry. These have been 36 great rounds. I wouldn't put it at the level of violent intensity of, say, Gatti-Ward or Barrera-Morales. Even Bowe-Holyfield was a more violent trilogy than this has been. But it's been a tremendous showcase for two really great and valiant fighters who are so similar and so equal in their records, that they really could have been twin brothers. If you look at the numbers, it's just astonishing to see who these people are. One has 60 fights, the other has 61 fights, they've both won 54. One has 38 knockouts, the other has 39 knockouts. One has a longest knockout streak of 15, the other has a longest knockout streak of 16. They are practically the same fighter in terms of their numbers. To have seen them face-to-face, to see their competing and complementary styles, to see judges try to deal with that -- I'll always say the first fight is the greatest scoring clinic of all-time. Three dramatically different scorecards, each with a logical rationale. It's been an important trilogy, and as a four-fight series, it'll go on the list of the eight or ten most important four-fight series ever. And I've been very privileged to be able to call all those rounds."
Schindel: "You've covered the Super Bowl, you've covered the Olympics, what is it about a prizefight that separates it from anything else in sports?"
Lampley: "Personal confrontational psychology, The Olympics is about national teams and individuals, but they don't face each other face-to-face. There are only two sports where you face each other face-to-face, and all of your physical and psychological attributes are visible and available for the audience to recognize. One is tennis, and in tennis, you don't hit each other. The other is boxing. That's what sets boxing apart, that's what makes boxing so compelling for audiences all around the world. You don't need to know all the sophisticated nuances of the difference between Marquez the counter puncher and Pacquiao the puncher to understand what it means that these two guys are going to stand a couple feet from each other, they're gonna smell each other's breath, they're gonna taste each other's sweat and blood, they're gonna share with each other in a way that nobody else can share with them. They're gonna leave there knowing more about each other than anybody knows about them, even their wives. Only boxing produces that kind of drama." | http://www.badlefthook.com/2012/12/7/3742452/pacquiao-vs-marquez-iv-video-interview-jim-lampley-xfinity-sports-hbo-boxing-news/in/3487005 | 818 |
RALLY? RALLY! YES, WI ARE WORLD T20 CHAMPIONS!
Building on a sensational 78 from Marlon Samuels with purposeful bowling and fielding, the Windies outlasted hosts Sri Lanka in a pulsating finish to the tournament on Sunday, claiming a 36-run victory in the Final.
Samuels played the innings of a lifetime: a typically stylish 78 that included three fours and six sixes, destroying the confidence of Sri Lanka strike bowler Lasith Malinga to lead West Indies to a respectable 137 for six from their stipulated 20 overs on a Premadasa Stadium pitch not perfectly tailored for enterprising stroke-play.
The bowling, which was identified as vulnerable, responded to the challenge and supported by agile fielding, outgunned the Sri Lankans, dismissing them for 101, silencing a vocal, capacity crowd.
Fittingly, birthday-boy Dwayne Bravo played a part in the final act, when he completed a catch on the deep mid-wicket boundary off compatriot Sunil Narine to dismiss Malinga for five with eight balls remaining, sparking Gangnam Style celebrations on the field, among the small band of supporters in the stands, and sparking celebrations across the Caribbean archipelago from Jamaica in the north to Guyana in the south.
The result ended West Indies’ eight-year wait for a global tournament title, following their capture of the ICC Champions Trophy, and justified their tag as the tournament favourites.
Title hopes had looked on shaky ground, when Johnson Charles was caught at mid-off from the bowling of Angelo Mathews in the first over, and talismanic, fellow opener Chris Gayle, the linchpin of the batting, was lbw to mercurial off-spinner Ajantha Mendis in the sixth over, leaving West Indies 14 for two.
But Samuels transformed the complexion of the game with the kind of explosive batting that has been the hallmark of his compatriot and close friend Gayle in this form of the game.
He was fortunate on 22, when Nuwan Kulasekara dropped him on the long-off boundary off Jeevan Mendis in the 11th over. The miss proved costly.
Samuels’ response was to increase the tempo, and it reached its crescendo in the 13th over, when he smashed the lethally accurate Malinga for three sixes.
The first he moved his front leg and flicked high over square leg, the second he drove inside-out over extra cover, and finished the over with a scoop over long-on that carried him to his 50 from 46 balls.
Bravo joined him for a stand of 59 for the third wicket before he was dubiously lbw to Ajantha Mendis for 19 in the 14th over. TV replays showed retiring Australian umpire Simon Taufel missed a palpable inside-edge, when they West Indies all-rounder played defensively forward.
Pressure mounted, when Kieron Pollard was caught at backward point off Ajantha Mendis for two from a miscued cut in the 16th over, and next delivery, Andre Russell was also dubiously lbw to Ajantha Mendis sweeping across a delivery of no real merit.
Samuels continued merrily and also launched Malinga for the biggest six of the tournament, a 108-metre monster over long-on in the 17th over to keep things on the move before he was caught at deep mid-wicket from a mistimed pull from 19-year-old Akila Dananjaya’s off-spin.
West Indies were 108 for six with 17 balls remaining, and their captain Darren Sammy made the most of them, striking three boundaries in 26 not out from 15 balls to add some meat to the total, as Ajantha Mendis finished with the flattering figures of 4-12 from his allotted four overs.
Rampaul then set the right tone for the West Indies’ defence, when he bowled Tillakaratne Dilshan for a first-ball duck with his first delivery in the second over, a perfectly-pitched delivery bowled from wide of the stumps that moved away and extracted the off-stump in spectacular fashion.
But West Indies knew that Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene and easy-going left-hander Kumar Sangakkara stood between them and title glory.
Sammy wrung the bowling changes and employed sensible field placements, and the pressure built on Sri Lanka’s two most decorated batsmen, as the scoring rate reached over 10 runs an over.
Badree made sure they finally cracked under the tension, when Sangakkara mistimed a pull at a short, skiddy delivery and was caught at deep mid-wicket for 22 in the 10th over.
Sammy tightened the screws, when he bowled Mathews with a slower delivery in the following over, but Jayawardene still held the key for the Sri Lankans.
Bravo had muffed a chance to remove him on five, when Jayawardene top-edged a sweep to backward square leg in the third over off Samuels, and Russell failed to cling onto a low, difficult chance, when the batsman was on 29 and skied a delivery from Badree to deep mid-on.
But it required arguably West Indies’ best bowler to oust Sri Lanka’s best batsman, when Jayawardene, conscious of a light drizzle in the air and with an eye on the Duckworth-Lewis calculations, tried to be too clever and was caught at backward point by Sammy for the top score of 33, essaying a reverse sweep at Narine.
West Indies held their nerve and panic creeped into the Sri Lankans, as Jayawardene’s dismissal sparked a collapse that saw four wickets fall for nine runs in the space of 15 deliveries.
The Caribbean side withstood the late charge that came from Kulasekara. He crashed a six and three fours from successive deliveries in Rampaul’s third over – the 16th of the innings –before Narine cleaned him up in the next over, caught at deep mid-wicket for 26. | http://www.bajanreporter.com/2012/10/rally-rally-yes-wi-are-world-t20-champions/ | 1,306 |
Look for the new rankings in Tuesday’s paper.
Ranking/Team/Record/Lastest result/Next opponent/
1.Gilman/2-2/Def. Charlotte Christian, N.C. 37-14/At No. 11 Mount St. Joseph, Sept. 29
2. Calvert Hall/3-1/Def. St. John’s, D.C., 21-17/Vs. Niagara, N.Y., Sat.
3. River Hill/3-0/Def. Centennial 56-0/Vs. Hammond, Fri.
4. Arundel/3-0/Def. Meade 40-8/At No. 12 South River, Fri
5. Old Mill/3-0/Def. Northeast 54-0/At Northeast, Fri.
6. Westminster/3-0/Def. Linganore 49-14/Vs. Martinsburg, W.V., Fri.
7. Catonsville/3-0/Def. Woodlawn 35-6/At No. 10 Franklin, Fri.
8. McDonogh/0-3/Lost to Penn Charter, Pa. 13-0/Vs. Georgetown Prep, Sat.
9. Dunbar/2-1/Def. City 27-0/Vs. Mervo at Poly, Sat.
10. Franklin/2-1/Def. Hereford 41-34/Vs. No. 7 Catonsville, Fri.
11. Mount St. Joseph/2-1/Def. Landon 24-14/At Valley Forge, Pa., Sat.
12. South River/2-1/Lost to Broadneck 28-24/Vs. No. 4 Arundel, Fri
13. Atholton/3-0/Def. Howard 35-34/Vs. Long Reach, Fri.
14. Archbishop Curley/3-0/Def. Owings Mills 42-6/At St. Mary’s, Fri.
15. St. Paul’s/3-0/Def. North Harford 44-14/Vs. No. 14 Archbishop Curley, Sept. 28 | http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/high-school/varsity-letters/bal-football-how-the-top-15-fared-20120915,0,2064228.story | 463 |
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The Baltimore SunOut of work since not being retained as a free agent by the Ravens, former Pro Bowl center Andre Gurode worked out for the Detroit Lions this week, according to a league source. Gurode played a reserve role with the Ravens last season after signing a...
— In a performance befitting their dismal, error- and injury-filled campaign, the Washington Redskins stumbled their way through a 34-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in their final game of the season Sunday. Rex Grossman kept team and individual...
Fellow owners of Hakeem Nicks, I feel your pain. I can also relate to what you’re going through if you own Greg Jennings, Reggie Wayne or even Anquan Boldin. Those fantasy maestros have been outscored by second fiddles this season with Victor...
The other three NFC East teams might have celebrity quarterbacks and they may have started the season with high playoff expectations, but in the season's opening act, it's the Redskins who've quickly stolen the division spotlight. With a 2-0 record and...
On five occasions in the Washington Redskins game Sept. 18, Rex Grossman dropped back and spotted his receiver. The ball's trek was interrupted midflight, though, batted down by defensive linemen and never coming close to the intended target. "Nothing...
Tags: Joe Flacco, Michael Vick, Drew Brees, Cam Newton, Philip Rivers
Every season, a few surprise studs come out of fantasy Siberia to reward savvy owners who had the foresight to select them in the later rounds of the draft. A season ago, Adrian Foster, Peyton Hillis and Brandon Lloyd come to mind. Ray Rice, Miles...
As the fourth quarter started Sunday at FedEx Field, with the Washington Redskins' offense and the third quarterback of the Mike Shanahan era struggling mightily, the burgundy-and-gold-clad crowd started to boo, and one fan in earshot of the press box...
The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t been the team we expected (I’m no longer using the ‘D’ word when talking about the Eagles, and you’re welcome). They are 3-5 at the midway point of the season, and their margin for error to...
ReutersThe Sports Xchange NFL Team Report - Washington Redskins - INSIDE SLANT Although the Redskins began this week's OTAs Monday, the media isn't scheduled to get access for interviews until Thursday, when quarterback Robert Griffin III is expected to be the...
ReutersThe Sports Xchange Redskins sign draft pick Jamison The Washington Redskins signed seventh-round draft pick Jawan Jamison. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Jamison was the 228th player taken overall. The running back played at Rutgers...
Tags: Alfred Morris, Evan Royster, Football
ReutersThe Sports Xchange NFL Team Report - Washington Redskins - INSIDE SLANT Five players at Redskins rookie minicamp last weekend were selected earlier in the draft than Baccari Rambo. Although second-round cornerback David Amerson, third-round tight end...
ReutersNFL Team Report - Washington Redskins - INSIDE SLANT Five players on hand at Redskins rookie minicamp had been selected earlier in the draft than Baccari Rambo, but although second-round cornerback David Amerson, third-round tight end Jordan Reed and...
Sep 26, 2012 |Story| Baltimoresun.com
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Original site for Roy Helu topic gallery. | http://www.baltimoresun.com/topic/sports/football/roy-helu-PESPT0013699.topic | 864 |
Michael Clarke posted a successive double century and David Warner and Michael Hussey unleashed whirlwind hundreds as Australia pummelled a demoralised South Africa in the second Test Thursday.
Australia's Michael Clarke, left, celebrates his 100 with teammate Mike Hussey against South Africa on the first day of the second Test at the Adelaide Oval. David Warner also bludgeoned a quickfire century as Australia went after the South African bowlers.
Clarke backed up his unbeaten double century from last week's drawn Brisbane series-opener with another overpowering innings, becoming the first person in the history of Test cricket to post four 200s in a calendar year.
This article is older than 60 days, which we reserve for our premium members only.You can subscribe to our premium member subscription, here. | http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/sports/322545/warner-hits-out-but-aussies-struggle | 160 |
Did you know that Bill Bonham pitched 23 games at home, had an ERA of 2.62, pitched 82.1 innings, allowed 60 hits, had 24 earned runs, 25 runs, and 7 home runs, walked 31 batters (6 intentionally), threw 2 wild pitches, hit batters 3 times, and balked 0 times?
On the road, Bill Bonham pitched 21 games, had an ERA of 3.51, pitched 69.2 innings, allowed 66 hits, had 27 earned runs, 30 runs, and 3 home runs, walked 33 batters (1 intentionally), threw 5 wild pitches, hit batters 1 times, and balked 1 times.
Are you a Bill Bonham fan? Visit his page for comprehensive
biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, detailed fielding
stats, pitching stats (where applicable), cumulative career totals
for all stats, uniform numbers worn, salary data and other factual | http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/pitchinglogs.php?p=bonhabi01&y=1973 | 188 |
OMAHA–For the third straight year, I’m spending Father’s Day at Rosenblatt Stadium and not with my old man or my step-father Jim. I’d like to wish both of them a very happy Father’s Day, and the same to every other dad out there.
Here in the press box, reporters are scrambling to find players with interesting fathers to write about–the two with big league dads (Matt Wallach and Andrew Romine) played yesterday. I haven’t run into any players’ dads yet this weekend, but I did run into the older brother of North Carolina freshman righthander Alex White, who will start today’s second game against Rice. His older brother Travis and their boyhood friend (also named Travis) said they had mixed feelings about the Tar Heels, since both were really more North Carolina State fans. They related stories about how they used to beat up Alex when he was younger–before his growth spurt, of course. At 6-foot-3, Alex now towers over his older brother. He’s got a power arm, too, and his matchup with Joe Savery this afternoon should be a good one. Smooth segue to today’s picks . . .
Game Five: Louisville vs. Mississippi State
For the third straight afternoon, the wind is gusting out today, toward left field. Both of these teams can hit, and I think this will be a high-scoring affair, but I like Louisville’s offense a bit more. I also like the Cardinals’ history in big elimination games this postseason–they have proven that they can rebound from a tough loss by jumping out to an early lead the next game, taking the pressure off their pitchers. That’s what they did after Trystan Magnuson blew a save in Game Two of their super-regional against Oklahoma State, and I think that’s what they’ll do today after Magnuson blew a save in Game One of the College World Series. If this game is close late, you probably have to give the advantage to Mississippi State, which has rested, quality relievers in Aaron Weatherford and Mitch Moreland. Magnuson worked one inning on Friday, but it was a long inning, as he was lit up for six runs.
John: Mississippi State
Game Six: Rice vs. North Carolina
It looks like Wayne Graham was smart to save lefthander Joe Savery for the Sunday game–he usually pitches on Sundays anyway, but I thought there was some merit to the notion of throwing Savery in the Friday game because there would be time for him to rest up between games. But today’s the payoff, because four of North Carolina’s top five hitters in the lineup are lefthanded. The Tar Heels hold their own against southpaws, but we saw lefty Justin Pigott keep them in check for a while Friday, just as South Carolina’s Arik Hempy did last weekend. The key to this game for UNC will be getting a better outing from its starting pitching so it doesn’t have to come from behind for a sixth straight postseason victory, because that will be really hard to do against Rice’s quality pitching. In North Carolina’s last six games (since their NCAA tournament-opening shutout against Jacksonville), its starters have allowed 32 runs in 24 1/3 innings; its bullpen has allowed just six runs in 28 2/3 innings. That’s a mind-boggling stat, and if White struggles again today, the Tar Heels will be in trouble.
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Baseball America's Daily Dish
Complete Daily Dish Archive
Compiled by Kevin Goldstein, Chris Kline and Matt Meyers
July 13, 2005
Today is traditionally one of the quietest days in sports, but there is still a place to see prospects.
The International League will square off against the Pacific Coast League in the 18th Triple-A all-star game at Raley Field in Sacramento, Calif., tonight. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2 beginning at 10 p.m. eastern.
While the game doesn't normally boast a bevy of prospects, tonight's matchup features some potential impact players that will be coming to a big league ballpark near you in the near future--including five prospects (and one manager) who participated in Sunday's Futures Game in Detroit.
Here are the players to keep an eye on tonight:
International League All-Star Prospects
ABE ALVAREZ LHP, Pawtucket (Red Sox)
Age: 22. Drafted: Second round, 2003, Long Beach State
The Red Sox believed Alvarez' exceptional feel for pitching would allow him to move quickly, and he made his big league debut in an emergency start against the Orioles just 13 months after they drafted him. A childhood infection left him legally blind in his left eye, and he wears his cap askew to shield his right eye from too much light. Alvarez' command and his changeup--his main weapons--are the best in the organization. Though his fastball won't wow you at 85-88 mph, he gets outs with precision. His curveball is also a solid-average pitch. Righthanders have a history of doing well against Alvarez, and he's done more to pitch them inside this season and keep them honest. He projects as a No. 3-5 starter in the big leagues. This season, Alvarez is 7-4, 4.67 in 94 innings for the Paw Sox.
TRAVIS BOWYER RHP, Rochester (Twins)
Age: 23. Drafted: 20th round, 1999, Liberty HS; Bedford Va.
Three years into his career, Bowyer wasn't considered much of a prospect. But a rigorous offseason conditioning program implemented after the 2001 season at Rookie-level Elizabethton created a 225-pound frame and his velocity spiked upwards of 98 mph as a result. His heavy fastball has great late life and he uses his changeup to keep hitters off-balance. A starter for much of his career, Bowyer was moved to the bullpen in 2002 and has flourished, posting his best numbers yet this season at Triple-A Rochester. His secondary numbers have also improved with the jump to Rochester--he's getting more than a strikeout per inning. Bowyer is 3-1, 1.09 in 50 innings and has recorded 18 saves for the Red Wings.
EDWIN ENCARNACION 3B, Louisville (Reds)
Age: 22. Drafted: Ninth round (Rangers), 2000, Manuela Toro High, Caguas, P.R.
If it weren't for righthander Homer Bailey, Encarnacion would rank as the Reds' No. 1 prospect. He has excellent hitting tools, including improved patience (career-high 53 walks last year and 31 through 243 at-bats this year) and power--he was well on his way to topping his career mark in homers this season at Louisville. He's also improved in using the whole field, and his above-average bat speed has scouts projecting him to be a .280-.300 hitter with 25-30 homers annually. But they also continue to question his defense. While 2004 marked the first campaign in which he recorded less than 30 errors, most of the miscues came on poor throws related to his footwork. Encarnacion is just coming off third straight Futures Game appearance and is hitting .293-13-47 in 256 at-bats this season.
RYAN GARKO C, Buffalo (Indians)
Age: 24. Drafted: Third round, 2003, Stanford.
Garko jumped three levels last season, helping Buffalo bring home a championship in the International League. There is little doubt that his bat will play at any level, but scouts question his ability to be an everyday catcher in the big leagues. The Indians weren't sold on his defense either, but have opted to get him significant playing time behind the plate with the Bisons this season. At the right side of the plate, Garko simply rakes, hitting to all fields and showing above-average power. He's short to the ball with an efficient swing that allows him to adjust to any type of pitch or location. His makeup and leadership skills are among the best in the organization. Garko is hitting .285-13-53 in 288 at-bats this season.
PETE LAFOREST C, Durham (Devil Rays)
Age: 27. Drafted: 16th round (Expos) 1995, Gatineau (Quebec) HS
Signed as a third baseman, LaForest has made significant strides during his conversion to catcher, but is far from a finished product behind the plate. Still, he does a decent job at calling a game and hustles behind the plate with a warrior mentality. His arm strength rates as at least average, and he has good quickness with his footwork in making throws to second base. His greatest improvement developmentally has been with the bat, however. He makes solid contact with the ability to drive the ball. He is in his third straight season in Triple-A, and is hitting .271-19-46 in 247 at-bats.
JAKE GAUTREAU 3B, Buffalo (Indians)
Age: 25. Drafted: First round (14th overall, Padres), 2001, Tulane
The Padres finally gave up on Gautreau in the offseason, trading him
to the Indians for their stalled first-rounder in 2001, third baseman
Corey Smith. All Gautreau has done in his first year with the Tribe
is make them look like they got the better end of the deal, hitting
for both average and power and also playing a solid third base--something
he hadn't done in his career. He always had tremendous raw power, but
hadn't tapped into it until this season. He battled ulcerative colitis
in 2002, and it took him a while to get his strength back. He moved
from second base to the hot corner this season with Triple-A Buffalo,
and has made the position change appear seamless. Gautreau is hitting
.279-16-45 in 297 at-bats this season.
B.J. UPTON SS, Durham (Devil Rays)
Age: 20. Drafted: First round (second overall), 2002, Greenbrier Christian Academy; Chesapeake, Va.
Upton finished last season with Tampa Bay, hitting .258-4-12 in 159 at-bats. Some have criticized the Devil Rays for their handling of Upton, who lost development time while the club toyed with moving him off shortstop after his callup. Now back in Triple-A again, Upton is playing short every day--and the results have been sketchy at best so far. In 88 games this season, he committed 30 errors. A career .305 hitter in the minors, Upton's bat will play anywhere. It just comes down to how committed and patient the Rays are at keeping him in the middle of the diamond. Upton is hitting .292-9-43 in 342 at-bats.
JOHN-FORD GRIFFIN OF, Syracuse (Blue Jays)
Age: 25. Drafted: First round (23rd overall, Yankees), 2001, Florida State
Griffin battled significant injuries that drained his raw power in 2002 and 2003. And last year, he played in a horrible makeshift ballpark at Double-A New Hampshire that sapped the offensive numbers of everyone on that club. Florida State head coach Mike Martin calls Griffin the best hitter his program has ever produced and this year, Griffin is living up to those accolades. He has a smooth lefthanded swing that grew shorter, enabling him to take advantage of his bat speed and hit for better power than he previously had shown. The only thing solid about Griffin is his bat, however. He's not a good runner, basestealer or fielder, ill-suited even for left field because of his lack of speed and poor arm. If the power projections don't pan out, Griffin could be a Jeremy Giambi clone--a solid hitter without a position. He is hitting .250-17-61 in 332 at-bats.
NATE McLOUTH OF, Indianapolis (Pirates)
Age: 23. Drafted: 25th round, 2000, Whitehall (Mich.) HS
The Pirates have promoted McLouth aggressively since they signed him away from the University of Michigan for $500,000, starting him out at low Class A Hickory. After struggling though his first campaign at high Class A Lynchburg in 2002, McLouth has done nothing but rake since then. This year is his first taste of Triple-A, and he has held his own. McLouth is a contact hitter with the strength to reach the gaps. He has above-average speed and is a good basestealer with an 83 percent success rate as a pro. He could be a legitimate candidate for a big league job at one of the corners next season if the power numbers increase. McLouth is hitting .300-5-34 in 290 at-bats for the Indians this season.
MANAGER: MARTY BROWN, Buffalo (Indians)
Brown was Baseball Americas minor league manager of the year last year, leading Buffalo to its first Governor's Cup title in the International League since 1997. A former infielder in the Reds' system, Brown was also on this year's Futures Game coaching staff in Detroit on Sunday. He is one of the most respected managers in the minor leagues, and even sometimes warms up his pitchers between innings.
Pacific Coast League All-Star Prospects
DIONER NAVARRO C, Las Vegas (Dodgers)
Age: 21. Signed: Venezuela (Yankees), 2001.
Navarro had a breakout year in 2003, and entered last year as the Yankees' top prospect. But he showed up in Double-A overconfident and his play suffered. New York sent him to the Diamondbacks in January, then Arizona sent him and three minor league pitchers to the Dodgers for Shawn Green the next day. Navarro's compact swing allows him to make consistent hard contact from both sides of the plate. He's a gap-to-gap, line-drive hitter and isn't afraid to go deep in counts, understanding the value of a walk. A converted infielder, Navarro has a plus arm and average receiving skills. He has never hit for much power, and some scouts question his dedication to conditioning. Navarro is hitting .278-6-26 in 212 at-bats.
CONOR JACKSON 1B, Tucson (Diamondbacks)
Age: 23. Drafted: First round (19th overall), 2003, California.
Two words describe Jackson best: power and patience. He followed the path of teammate Carlos Quentin, jumping from high Class A Lancaster to Double-A last season; and the two are back together again this year at Tucson. Jackson is easily one of the best pure hitters in the minors. He has above-average bat speed and makes consistent sharp contact to all fields. One of his best tools is his plate discipline--he rarely swings at bad pitches and rarely misses good ones. He has ranked in the top three in the minors in on-base percentage all season. Primarily a third baseman in college, he moved from the outfield to first base this season. Jackson is hitting .373-7-64 with a 22-54 strikeout-walk ratio this season.
IAN KINSLER SS, Oklahoma (Rangers)
Age: 23. Drafted: 17th round, 2003, Missouri.
Kinsler played at three colleges in three years before settling at Missouri,
where in 2003 he helped the Tigers to their first NCAA playoff berth
in seven years. An offseason strength program coupled with Kinsler's
already short swing and instruction from Rangers coaches allowed his
bat to blossom last season, as he jumped to Double-A and tied for the
minor league lead in doubles with 51. Kinsler's hands, arm, speed and
instincts are all average, which might not be enough for him to stay
at shortstop, and second base is a likely destination, where he has
played the majority of this season. No one predicted Kinsler's 2004
outburst, but no scout who saw him called it a fluke either. He has
been challenged in his first season in Triple-A but has more than held
his own. In 330 at-bats, Kinsler is hitting .270-16-63.
RYAN SHEALY 1B, Colorado Springs (Rockies)
Age: 25. Signed: 11th round, 2002, Florida.
The Rockies drafted Shealy in the fifth round out of a Fort Lauderdale high school in 1998--ahead of Matt Holliday (seventh round) and Juan Pierre (13th). They made an aggressive attempt to sign him, but Shealy chose college and failed to improve his stock in four years with the Gators. Shealy has won two minor league home run titles in three pro seasons, including last year in the Double-A Texas League. His strength gives him 30-plus home run potential in any ballpark, and it's scary to think about what he might do at Coors Field. But with Todd Helton anchored at first base for the rest of the decade, Shealy is both an insurance policy and possible trade bait. In 268 at-bats, Shealy is hitting .332-15-54 with 20 doubles.
TYRELL GODWIN OF, New Orleans (Nationals)
Age: 26. Signed: Third round (Blue Jays), 2001, North Carolina
A two-time first-round pick, Godwin chose an academic scholarship at North Carolina, where he starred in both football and baseball. He finally signed with the Blue Jays in 2001 after he graduated early with a U.S. History degree, becoming the first person in his family to earn a college degree. The Blue Jays soured on him after he had his worst season in Double-A last year, even though he decided to pay his own way to go to instructional league with the Jays last fall. Nationals interim GM Jim Bowden liked what he saw in Godwin, taking him in the Rule 5 draft last December, then trading lefthander Aaron Wideman to keep him. Godwin's game revolves around speed with occasional pop. With the Nats in the playoff hunt, Godwin could be a valuable role player down the stretch. Godwin is hitting .325-5-27 in 305 at-bats.
COREY HART OF, Nashville (Brewers)
Age: 23. Drafted: 11th round, 2000, Greenwood HS, Bowling Green, Ky.
After signing as a first baseman and winning the 2003 Southern League MVP award as a third baseman, Hart spent last year learning to play the outfield. A slight shoulder injury limited him to one at-bat in his first big league callup last September. With a long wingspan that generates good leverage, Hart is capable of generating tremendous raw power and has drawn comparisons to Richie Sexson since high school. He still has a tendency to get a little long in his swing and is prone to striking out in bunches. Because of his size, Hart gets challenged inside regularly and is also prone to breaking balls. Hart is hitting .307-8-39 in 322 at-bats.
Jimmy Barthmaier enjoyed one of the best nights of his pro career, as the righthander struck out 12 in six innings for low Class A Lexington. Unfortunately, the 21-year-old allowed three runs and took the loss. On the season, the former high school football star is 6-4, 2.63 with 103 punchouts and 41 walks in 99 innings.
It took 25 pro appearances, but Mark Rogers finally earned his first win. The Brewers flamethrower, whose fastball was recently clocked in triple digits, allowed two runs over five innings while fanning six to earn the win for low Class A West Virginia. The fifth overall pick in the 2004 draft is 1-6, 4.63.
Not surprisingly, Ryan Mullins is having little difficulty with the Appalachian League. The Vanderbilt product, taken in the third round by the Twins this year, fanned 10 over six innings last night to earn his first pro win at Rookie-level Elizabethton. He has allowed only 14 baserunners in 17 innings and has 23 strikeouts.
After a year and a half of struggles in the Texas League, the Rockies may have found something by moving second baseman Jayson Nix to the leadoff slot. Nix was 3-for-4 with a double and four runs scored in Double-A Tulsa's 11-9 win against Frisco last night, and is 8-for-14 with seven runs scored in three games since moving to the top of the order. On the season, Nix is batting .239/.288/.365 in 310 at-bats.
Also finding his groove in the Texas League is Angels lefthander Joe Saunders. Saunders, a 2002 first-round pick out of Virginia Tech, struck out a career-high 10 batters last night, allowing one run on six hits over seven innings in Double-A Arkansas' 2-1 loss to San Antonio. In his last three starts, Saunders has allowed just two runs and nine hits over 23 innings, and is 7-4, 3.49 on the season in 18 starts.
So far, so good for Padres first-round pick Cesar Carillo, who was given a challenging opening assignment of pitching for Lake Elsinore in the high Class A California League. Carillo struck out six over 4 1/3 innings in his second pro start last night, allowing four hits and two runs in the Storm's 7-4 win against Bakersfield.
When the naming system for hurricanes and tropical storms gets to
'J', they might want to use 'Javon', as Reds outfielder Javon Moran
has been just that in the Florida State League of late. A 2003 fifth-round
pick acquired from the Phillies last year in the Corey Lidle
trade, Moran was 3-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs last night as high
Class A Sarasota topped Jupiter 3-2. In the month of July, Moran is
batting .514 (19-for-37) in 10 games, with season totals of .349/.400/.430
in 172 at-bats.
Arizona righthander Jason Neighborgall made his professional debut last night, and the results were eerily similar to his days at Georgia Tech. Neighborgall fired a hitless inning in Rookie-level Missoula's 11-9 loss to Orem, but still allowed an earned run thanks to three walks and a wild pitch. A third-round pick recently signed to a $500,000 bonus, Neighborgall is known to consistently hit triple-digits with his fastball to go along with a plus-plus breaking pitch, but has been constantly set back by miserable control problems.
Somebody needs to tell Royals second-round pick Jeff Bianchi that this isn't high school anymore. The Lancaster, Pa., native went 2-for-2 last night in the Rookie-level Arizona League, and is now hitting an even .500 (30-for-60) in 17 games with 12 extra-base hits, 21 runs scored and 22 RBIs. | http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/050713dish.html | 4,137 |
Dolan was dropped to the minors after failing as a Braves pitcher in 1895-96, but
resurfaced as an outfielder in 1900. He was sold back to Boston in 1905, and died
of typhoid on a spring training trip in 1907, prompting the cancellation of the remainder
of the Braves' camp. | http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Cozy_Dolan_1872 | 65 |
Jamie Squire - Getty Images
Jaime Garcia underwent an MRI after being removed in the second inning of Monday's game.
St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Jaime Garcia left Monday's game against the Washington Nationals in the second inning after being removed for a pinch hitter. Danny Knobler later revealed on Twitter that Garcia underwent an MRI on his left shoulder.
Garcia gave up a run in the top of the second to Washington starting pitcher Jordan Zimmerman, who used a butcher-boy play to drive home the first run of the game. With runners on first and third and one out in the bottom of the second, manager Mike Matheny called for Skip Schumaker to pinch hit for Garcia. Schumaker brought in a run on a groundout and Jon Jay capped off the scoring with an RBI single to make it 4-1 Cardinals.
Garcia's day was finished after throwing 51 pitches, walking three and allowing the one run. The Cardinals went on to win the game 12-4.
The results of the MRI won't be available until Tuesday. | http://www.baseballnation.com/2012/10/9/3476638/jamie-garcia-injury-pitching-shoulder/in/3239001 | 218 |
Juan Carlos Oviedo was once the closer for the Florida Marlins. Not the current Miami Marlins, but last year’s edition, when he was known as Leo Nunez. He posted 36 saves for the team and had 92 in all for them from 2009-11.
Then Nunez/Oviedo was caught, having stolen an identity in the Dominican Republic. He was suspended by MLB for eight weeks, and in July reported to Marlins camp to work his way back to the major leagues. He had an elbow strain while rehabbing, and it got worse. Enrique Rojas:
Miami Marlins relief pitcher Juan Carlos Oviedo, also known as Leo Nunez, underwent Tommy John surgery on Thursday and is expected to miss most of the 2013 season, his agent told ESPNdeportesLosAngeles.com.
“We hope everything comes out well and Juan Carlos can return toward the end of next year or in 2014”, said Oviedo’s agent, Andy Mota, Thursday from Pensacola, Fla, where Oviedo underwent the operation with Dr. James Andrews. “Relatively, Tommy John surgery has become a common procedure from which most pitchers come back.”
Oviedo will be a free agent after the 2012 season; he’ll be 32 shortly before the 2014 season begins, so where or whether he’ll ever pitch again is an open question.
For more on the Marlins, please visit FishStripes. | http://www.baseballnation.com/2012/9/6/3298003/juan-carlos-oviedo-tommy-john-surgery-marlins-news/in/2208627 | 313 |
November 30, 2009
The Week In Quotes
SOME PLAYERS TELL US THEY WANT TO LOSE AND MAKE A FORTUNE - THAT'S NOT ALBERT
"He has always made it clear that his drive is to win. That's why he's the great player he is. But you can't do it alone. He knows that. We know that. He wants to be sure that we're going to have a competitive team, and that is our objective every year. We do have an excellent core of players in place. But we need to add to it. And not only this year, but down the road, too. It's a matter of demonstrating to Albert that we are going to do that on an ongoing basis."
"There's so many great players out there, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Chase Utley. When I get to spring training, I don't think about the MVP. I just pray to God and try to stay healthy. I'm sure that every year there's going to be great competition and it's going to be a great race."
"His focus is on winning. He knows some team somewhere is going to be there with the money. That's not a concern. He tells me, 'I want to win.' That's what he has the luxury of doing. He's worked hard to be in a position where all he has to worry about is playing and, because the money is going to be there, he wants to be sure he's playing somewhere that's competitive."
"I had a talk with Matt during the season. He was asking me for advice. I said, 'Listen, you need to worry about you and your family, what's best for you and your family.' The whole city of St. Louis wants Matt back, and myself [as well]. He was a key part of our success, a great player. He came in right when we needed it and helped us make the playoffs. At the same time, I don't like to get involved in players' contracts. I wish him the best, if he decides to go somewhere else."
NEAL'S KIDS ARE GETTING AKINORI IWAMURA UNIS AND NOTHING ELSE THIS CHRISTMAS
"We're not going to spend money just to say we did it. Sure, we could do that. But we're trying to make decisions that make the most sense for us, now and in the future."
"We'll be looking for value, but we definitely don't feel like we're desperate to fill any hole. We made the trade for Akinori Iwamura because second base was the position we identified as the one we most wanted to improve, but we feel good about the options that we have, now and for the future, and we're not going to abandon our plan. We absolutely will not do that."
NO ONE'S RUSHING OUT TO SIGN THE GUY WITH THE .188 EqA?!?
"I don't think this trend just started last year. I think this has been coming on much more subtly than what we saw last year, maybe for five years in small increments, baby steps. In my case, for a guy with as many years as Richie has in baseball and the accomplishments he has in baseball, it's almost like it used to be-that guys of that caliber and quality pretty much played as long as they wanted to."
"Now, it's not the case. Certainly economics have played a part in it. I think baseball teams are more budget-conscious and more structured in their budgets than they used to be. I think they would sometimes be impulsive in the past. Now, they stick to the plan more."
"The sense I'm getting this year is that it's similar to last year in general. But personally, I feel really different this year than last year, because last year I was coming off an injury. I feel like last year, when I finally got the chance, I showed people I'm back. In that way, I can't imagine having to take a minor-league deal this year. I think I've answered the questions that need to b answered on the field. If I had half a season in the NL with a 3.50-4.00 ERA, if the numbers weren't there-especially the strikeout numbers-then I might be singing a different tune."
WOULD DEREK LOWE PLEASE PICK UP THE RED AND WHITE COURTESY PHONE?
"I know they have holes they want to fill, and I know, from my perspective, when you pitch as poorly as I pitched, and given the caliber of the starting pitchers we have, I wouldn't be surprised by something like that. But in terms of whether someone called me to tell me, 'Would you be interested in being traded somewhere?' No, I haven't received that call."
"It's a first-class organization from top to bottom. If it's reached this point, it's no one's fault but my own. To Roger McDowell's credit, he watched all sorts of video with me, and we finally pinpointed some of the things I was doing wrong, but I was never able to go out there and correct it. I can't explain it over the phone, but it was one of the worst mechanical funks I've ever been in in my career. And the frustration was, I knew what I was doing but couldn't do anything to change it."
"I know that everyone looks at how you finish a season and not your whole body of work. When I was in LA the last year, I finished strong and it enabled me to go out in free agency and sign this type of deal. And it's only fair that people judge what I did the last two months and, like I said, I was horrible. I was doing things out there that were mind-boggling to me."
"I thought once I got to the big leagues and made my first million dollars, that's where true happiness was. It's not the case. You're going to have the same emotions whether you have a million dollars or five dollars in the bank. Sure, it makes it easier to pay your rent. But when you're divorced and separated from your son, having money doesn't make it feel any better."
"If you know Ross, everything about his life is always about making himself better and making himself more educated. He's not someone who wants to sit and not do anything. This is a perfect fit for him."
"In my opinion, Roberto Alomar and Joe Morgan are two of the best second basemen I've ever seen. I hope the voters and the public support his upcoming Hall of Fame election. One unfortunate incident doesn't change the fact that Robbie is a class act and a good person. I was friends with him before the incident and remain friends with him to this day."
"I haven't at all conceded 2010. I expect to be competitive in 2010. I've already been with a franchise that went from worst to first, so I know it's doable."
"We have a few different scenarios we're working with. There are ways to get to where we want to be, and we're going to go through all of them. It's a challenge, but this is a fun time of year. It's exciting."
Alex Carnevale is a contributor to Baseball Prospectus. | http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=9808 | 1,535 |
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