CS&T/AllsportsAmerica: Please read the article on Pete Rose and let us know, what's your take? Also, Friday Sports News Update, 02/22/2013.

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 NFL regional scouting combine gets its first female participant.

 

Staff reportSporting News

 

For the first time since the NFL started its regional scouting combines in 2011, there will be a female participant.

 

Meet Lauren Silberman, auditioning to become a kicker on Sundays. NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal spoke with the Wisconsin club soccer player.

"I was not aware that I was the first female registrant," Silberman said. "I was actually hoping that the 2012 historical milestone rule, to allow women to play, would prompt more women to attend tryouts this year. But for me, what's important is to finally have a chance to fulfill my dreams by trying out to play in the world's most competitive football league."

 

Lauren Silberman becomes the first woman to participate in the NFL's regional scouting combine.

 

Silberman, who will kick on March 2 and 3 in New Jersey, wrote her Master's thesis at MIT on a topic related to sports. "Double Play: Athletes' Use of Sport Video Games to Enhance Athletic Performance."

Silberman's chances are probably slim, but don't sleep on participants in the regional combines. NFL.com notes St. Louis Rams rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein was a participant in one of the regional combines last season.

The regional combines started on Jan. 25 around the country with super regionals taking place in Dallas on April 7.

The traditional NFL Scouting Combine takes place Saturday, Feb. 23 to Tuesday, Feb. 26, but players begin arriving on Thursday, Feb. 21. The NFL Scouting Combine is televised on NFL Network.

Follow up to article in Monday's blog 02/18/2013: Baseball card maker, in apparent statement, omits Pete Rose's name from set; Topps removes Pete Rose from card backs, 02/20/2013.

Written by Joe Lucia

This is one of the dumber stories I've come across this offseason. Topps, who holds the exclusive rights to produce MLB-licensed trading cards, has removed all references to Pete Rose on their cards starting with the release of 2013 Topps Series One.

The cards feature a "career chase" blurb on the back, indicating how far away players are from certain career milestones. For example, on Paul Konerko's card, the career chase blurb says that Konerko is 340 home runs shy of Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762. Cool. But when hits are mentioned in the career chase, Rose isn't mentioned. Take a look at this scan of AJ Pierzynski's card, captured by ChicagoSide.

 

See? No Rose. It's not just an error on Pierzynski's card either, as every other card where hits are mentioned in the Career Chase features no mention of Rose. Topps said the omission was a "simple decision", but didn't elaborate.

We get the point. Pete Rose gambled on baseball, is banned for life, and is a bad person (or whatever). But considering that Topps has exclusive rights to licensed cards, there was probably a lot of MLB influence involved in this. I'm not shocked by this at all, and you shouldn't be either. MLB has been trying for the last 20 plus years to wipe Rose's name from the annals of baseball history, and this is just another step towards achieving that goal.

This was our position Monday, 02/18/2013: Marion P. Jelks, CS&T/AA blog editor's take: Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose was a terrific on field talent. He gave the game his all and played it with reckless abandon. He has been barred from the "Baseball Hall of Fame" for life. Current players statistics are still compared to his in the record books. Now Topps Baseball Cards have omitted him from this year's card set. Granted, he did break the rules by betting, a big no-no and he's paying dearly for that. However, should they make him disappear as if he never existed? I don't think so!!! Give him the credit he deserves for his on field performance and explain why he's paying a such a severe price for what he did wrong. He'll always be a very intricate part of the game's history. What's your take, I'd love to know!!!

Update: Marion P. Jelks, CS&T/AA blog editor's take: Our position today, 02/22/2013, is still the same. This is BS. You cannot erase and rewrite history. Put an asterisk or whatever you would like by his statistics but remember, he earned them with his on the field performance. Like it or not, it's a fact and the truth!!! Opinions are like as*holes, everybody has one so if you're reading this article, don't be bashful, I want to know, what's your take? Should he be allowed to have his statistics listed even though he's been banned from baseball for life?

Patrick hangs on to Daytona pole after safe run.

By DAN GELSTON (AP Sports Writer)

All Danica Patrick needed to do was keep her car intact.
 
She didn't exactly follow her team owner's advice - start and then park after two laps, he joked - but she certainly saved an all-out push for Sunday's Daytona 500.

Patrick started on the pole for the first 150-mile Budweiser Duel before she coasted and finished 17th out of 23 cars. She'll keep the top spot for Sunday's Daytona 500.

She led the field to green, then quietly faded to the back, never giving herself a chance to race for the win.

''I suppose there's a sense of relief'' she kept the pole, Patrick said. ''But at the same point in time, I'm a race car driver, and it's not fun to have to protect and be careful and be cautious and drop back at times.''

Patrick was nowhere near the four-lap sprint to the finish that saw Kevin Harvick hold off Greg Biffle for the win.

Patrick became the first woman in history to win a pole in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series. Team owner Gene Haas even suggested - perhaps, jokingly - that Patrick call it a day after a couple of laps.

Not a chance.

''We really just wanted to run probably 10 or 15 laps and be in the pack, be in front,'' crew chief Tony Gibson said. ''Once we got into a stalemate, we fell back, the inside line wasn't moving and it was just time to get out.''

No driver has won the Daytona 500 from the pole since Dale Jarrett in 2000.

She can't rest easy yet, not with Cup practices Friday and Saturday, where any wreck could send her to the back of the field. But she passed the first major of Speedweeks since she thrust herself and NASCAR into the national spotlight with a history-making run at the pole for ''The Great American Race.''

''My nerves will be calmed down a little bit Saturday afternoon when practice is over and our car's in one piece,'' Gibson said.

Her debrief was, well, brief. Her No. 10 Chevrolet had a tachometer issue and she enjoyed taking the outside lane.

Other than those tidbits, Patrick had little analysis for her mundane performance.

''I hate coming to the end like that and just lagging back,'' she said. ''That's not fun, but it's also really ignorant to go drive up into the pack and be part of an accident for absolutely no reason. You're really not going to learn much there.''

Patrick knows all about how miserable it can be driving in the back of the field, with no serious chance for the checkered flag. Her average start was 36th and her average finish was 28th in her 10 Cup races last season. She got caught in a crash on just the second lap of her Daytona 500 debut last season and finished 38th.

Patrick has struggled in three NASCAR seasons and has never finished better than 17th. She made the fulltime jump to the top series this season.

Her chance to show what she could do racing up front from the start never got going.

''It's not fun racing like that, I know it's not a lot of fun for her,'' Gibson said. ''Our car's in one piece for now.''

Patrick is the fresh face of NASCAR heading into the series' season-opener. She signed autographs without slowing a step as she whisked through the fan zone on her way to the hauler. Patrick fans camped out on seats atop the garage and yelled, ''Danica, we love you!'' as she went to the hauler.

She's handled the pressure of the pole with the same ease she handled the No. 10. Patrick said Thursday's run was comparable to a test session.

If she keeps the top spot until Sunday, all she'll need to do is pick where she'll race, not when to drop back

''Do I have to start on the inside on Sunday? I'm not really sure,'' she said. ''Where does the pole start? The outside looked pretty nice.''
 
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? "Sharks-Blackhawks Preview."

By TOM CASTRO (STATS Senior Editor)
 

Still without a regulation loss, the Chicago Blackhawks are on the verge of the best start in NHL history.

 

They can achieve it Friday night at home against the San Jose Sharks, the first team to get a third crack at dealing Chicago that elusive 60-minute defeat.

The Blackhawks (13-0-3) beat Vancouver 4-3 in a shootout Tuesday to match the league mark of 16 games with at least one point to start a season, joining the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks - who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

"It's a remarkable start," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We're very happy and pleased. Guys should be proud of the achievement and where they're at, especially in a 48-game season. It's put us in a real good spot."

Chicago has won three in a row, a streak that started with a 4-1 victory over San Jose last Friday. Despite the Sharks' recent struggles, however, making history Friday might not prove easy for the Blackhawks.

Both of the teams' meetings this season have been testy affairs, with Chicago's Jonathan Toews engaging in a rare fight with San Jose's Joe Thornton in the most recent matchup. More importantly, Chicago may be without forward Marian Hossa after he was helped off the ice against the Canucks following a forearm to the back of the head from Jannik Hansen.

Hossa had scored twice in the game and has eight goals, second on the team.

"(Hossa) was having a great game," Quenneville told the Blackhawks' official website. " ... I'd say it's a situation where hopefully he's going to be OK."

Chicago leads the Western Conference with 55 goals and its 34 goals allowed are tied with San Jose for fewest in the West.

Despite their strong defensive play, the Sharks haven't translated it into many wins of late. The club ended an 0-4-3 skid with a 2-1 victory at St. Louis on Tuesday.

"It was nice to get out of a streak like that," said Thornton, who snapped a nine-game goal drought. "It's huge to get back on the winning side of things."

Tim Kennedy also scored for San Jose (8-4-3), which was outscored 21-8 during the losing streak. The Sharks, who have two games left on a six-game trip, had lost four in a row on the road.

"The relief is there, it's (finally) over," coach Todd McLellan said. "Now, we can't let our game slip."

Keeping the intensity level up for their next opponent would seem to be a given, but the Sharks weren't able to match the Blackhawks' level of play in the last meeting. Chicago outshot San Jose 37-28 and 17-8 in the second period.

Ray Emery made 27 saves in that game, his first of three consecutive starts in place of Corey Crawford, who's been out with an upper-body injury. Chicago also played Tuesday without defenseman Brent Seabrook, sidelined by a lower-body injury.

The Sharks also lost to the Blackhawks by a 5-3 score Feb. 5 and have dropped four of five in the series and four straight at the United Center.

Chicago has managed to keep rolling despite a season high-tying four-game goal drought from leading scorer Patrick Kane. The forward had two goals Feb. 5 and an assist last Friday.

The Sharks' Antti Niemi has lost both games against the Blackhawks this season, allowing four goals each time versus his former team. Emery has won three consecutive matchups with San Jose with a 1.55 goals-against average.

NFL looking to focus on replay issues, safety.

By Michael Marot (AP Sports Writer)

The next time Jim Schwartz or any other NFL coach throws a challenge flag on a scoring play, he might get a penalty.
 
Starting next season, he should get a replay review, too.

NFL executive vice president of football operations Ray Anderson emerged from Wednesday's competition committee meeting in Indianapolis and told The Associated Press the most important thing is getting the call right.

''The bottom line is that we will get resolution on that play where we will get it right, where the play on the field is correctly administered,'' Anderson said.

The loophole was exposed on the Lions' Thanksgiving Day game when Schwartz threw the challenge flag on an 81-yard touchdown run by Houston's Justin Forsett.

Replays clearly showed Forsett's knee and elbow touched the turf when he was hit by Lions defenders. But because all scoring plays are automatically reviewed, Schwartz was assessed a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and it negated the review.

In the aftermath of that game, Anderson issued a statement that said negating the review might be ''too harsh.''

Though no formal proposal is yet on the table, Anderson and others expect the rule to be modified before next season.

''I think we need to clean up the situations about what is reviewed, with Detroit and I think it was the Green Bay-Minnesota game,'' Giants owner John Mara said, referring to the play that coach Mike McCarthy threw the flag and a player picked it up. ''I think we'll address that. I'm not sure what the language will look like yet.''

That's not the only topic on the committee's discussion list this week.

Player safety is yet again at the forefront.

The biggest potential change may be the way helmets are used in the future.

Currently, players can be penalized for hitting defenseless receivers and hitting players above the neck with the crown of the helmet.

One possibility is expanding the rule to make it illegal to target any player on the field and any body part with the top of the helmet.

If the yet-to-be drawn up proposal were adopted, the new rule would be expanded to cover running backs or receivers dipping their heads and using the top of the helmet to drive the pile backward.

Anderson said the potential change would benefit the health of both players and there is initial support on the committee to do that.

''When we started playing football we were taught to keep our head up and see where we hit. It's kind of, for some reason, evolved in a different way now and so we're really looking hard at that,'' Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said.

''We've got big, fast, strong guys on great fields now and they just move, run faster and do things at a better pace. We have to continue to look at that. So those are the important things moving forward.''

The challenge, as Mara pointed out, is finding the right language to institute that kind of rule.

Anderson and Mara both said the injury numbers from last season showed the league is making progress in reducing concussions, an issue they will continue to monitor and amend in the future. Neither cited the official statistics.

Another concern is the defensive alignments on extra points and field goals.

Mara said in recent years that most teams have been putting two or three defensive players on the line of scrimmage and then putting two or three more behind them so they can push the linemen into the backfield in hopes of blocking a low kick. The committee may consider making that illegal.

The league also plans to take a look at changing the rules on illegal blocks, which could help avoid the low, rolling block that knocked Texans linebacker Brian Cushing out for the season with a torn ligament in his left knee.

Match Play Only Works for Ryder Cup.

By Mark McLaughlin

Professional golf's version of March Madness gets under way Feb. 20 in the desert outside Tucson, Ariz. I, for one, won't be filling out a bracket.

The World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship is the only tournament in the 30-plus event PGA Tour season that follows a match-play format. While the match-play drama of the Ryder Cup is unrivaled in the game of golf, the individual version just fails to measure up.

Maybe match play is misunderstood because it's seen so rarely. "Dormie" is a term used to describe a situation where one player is ahead by enough holes that the worst he can do is tie. But few beyond on-course commentators Mark Rolfing and Roger Maltbie can say "the match is dormie" without generating looks of confusion among casual golf fans.

Maybe the World Match Play fails to generate much interest because there are too many participants. Rather than playing against the golf course to post the lowest score, the world's top 64 players will be dueling one another in a six-round, single-elimination contest.

Last year produced a marquee final match when U.S. Ryder Cup veteran Hunter Mahan upset soon-to-be No. 1 Rory McIlroy. The list of past winners is also high on the Q-rating scale: Luke Donald, Ian Poulter, Geoff Ogilvy and Tiger Woods.

The problem is the other 50-odd players who fill out the brackets. Give us appealing matchups in every round by trimming the field to 16 players and televising one full round of matches every day.

Maybe the World Match Play is boring to watch because it's played over such a pedestrian course. I love playing target golf in the Sonoran Desert as much as the next guy -- the narrow strips of green surrounded by cacti, sagebrush and cholla makes for a visually appealing experience if you are in the arena. But viewing the action from your couch, all the holes at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain can blend into one.

A memorable course can make a difference. Last year's final round at Doral (WGC-Cadillac Championship) drew a 2.8 TV rating while the McIlroy-Mahan Match Play final only drew a 2.3. Final rounds at Pebble Beach, Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance Open), PGA National (Honda Classic), and Muirfield Village (The Memorial) also drew more viewers.

The Match Play was moved from LaCosta Resort & Spa north of San Diego to Tucson in 2007. I suspect this was done in part to replace the old Northern Telecom PGA Tour stop that left town. Having a signature, Jack Nicklaus-designed 7,833-yard desert golf course with the swanky Ritz Carlton to provide player accommodations didn't hurt, either.

But what this tournament needs, what match play needs, is to be contested over a famous golf course. And that will probably require a change on the calendar.

Move the tournament to July 4 weekend and have it played on a stunner like Cypress Point on California's Monterey Peninsula or one of the links-style courses such as Pacific Dunes around Bandon, Oregon. You could alternate sites between the East Coast and the West with gems like Shinnecock Hills or National Golf Links on Long Island hosting every other year.

Getting a tournament like the Match Play onto a private course like Cypress (which used to be in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am rotation) could be a tall order, but a smaller field would make it more manageable.

In the meantime, I'll be tuning in to the matches this week to see McIlroy make his 2013 U.S. debut and hope that he advances a few rounds to potentially face Rickie Fowler and then Dustin Johnson or fellow Ulsterman Graeme McDowell.

Condense the field and these type of intriguing matches are guaranteed.

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