Chicago
Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica
Sports Quote of the Day:
"Nothing will work unless you do." ~ John Wooden, UCLA Basketball Coach
How 'bout
them Chicago Blackhawks? Rest is over, now to start another streak. 18 games to go until the playoffs!!! Kings-Blackhawks
Preview.
By
After their latest successful road trip, the Chicago
Blackhawks will get to play the majority of their final 18 games at home -
but they likely won't have Marian Hossa for the first of those contests.
The star forward is doubtful for the Blackhawks' attempt to sweep the season
series with the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.
The Blackhawks (24-3-3) will have 11 games at the United Center over the
final five weeks of the season and will play five of their next six there
beginning against the Kings (17-12-2).
Chicago, though, is expected to be short-handed Monday with Hossa still
ailing from an upper-body injury. He did not practice Sunday and forward Andrew
Shaw also sat out with the flu.
With Hossa and Patrick Sharp (upper body) missing, the Blackhawks gave up
three goals in the final 5:27 on Wednesday in a 4-2 loss to Anaheim, which sits
just three points behind Chicago in the Western Conference.
"It's frustrating, considering we thought we were looking at a 3-1 lead at
one point," Toews said. "We have to keep working and doing the right things. We
played good enough to win, but made a few mistakes in the last five minutes, and
they made us pay for it."
After four days off, Chicago will try to improve enough to earn its third win
in as many tries over Los Angeles.
The Blackhawks held on for a 3-2 victory Feb. 17 in Chicago after scoring the
game's first three goals. Mike Richards scored twice in the third period for Los
Angeles.
The Blackhawks also spoiled the Kings' Stanley Cup celebration with a 5-2
season-opening victory at Staples Center on Jan. 19. Hossa had two goals and an
assist in that game.
This time, Chicago will face a team that's been shut out in its past two
contests and has lost a season-high three straight on the road. Los Angeles
outshot Dallas 40-21 in a 2-0 loss Thursday and held a 20-13 advantage in a 1-0
defeat to Vancouver two days later.
The Kings have been blanked in three straight games only once in franchise
history - in January 1969.
"We're not making it hard enough on the opposing team's goaltenders," captain
Dustin Brown said. "We've gone through spurts this year where we've scored a lot
of goals, and it was just a result of getting the puck to the net with bodies at
the same time."
While the Kings will seek to regain their scoring touch in the opener to a
five-game trip, Jonathan Toews will try to continue his strong play
in this series after posting five goals and four assists in his last six against
Los Angeles. Toews had four goals and three assists in the final three games of
the road trip.
Patrick Kane, meanwhile, has four goals and seven assists during a five-game
point streak.
Corey Crawford is expected in net Monday for Chicago. He's 5-2-0 with a 2.34
goals-against average in seven career games against Los Angeles, including the
win in January.
Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick has started both meetings with the
Blackhawks this season and surrendered all eight goals.
With his next win, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville will pass former Toronto
Maple Leafs teammate Ron Wilson for sixth on the all-time coaching wins list
with 649.
2013 NCAA Basketball Tournament, David vs. Goliath...And the beat goes on!!! No. 15 seed Florida Gulf Coast beats SDSU 81-71.
By
Little-known FGCU beat San Diego State 81-71 on Sunday night, its second NCAA
tournament upset of the weekend. Just like in their opening win over
second-seeded Georgetown - the Eagles' calling card to the nation - there were
plenty of laughs, dunks and dances.
''We don't take ourselves too seriously,'' said Florida Gulf Coast coach Andy Enfield, whose players tossed him in the air and doused him with water in a raucous celebration before his postgame interviews. ''We try to have fun, get serious when we have to.
''Our goal was to make history and we did it.''
With its campus in Fort Myers, Florida Gulf Coast opened its doors to students in 1997. The university only became eligible for postseason play last year. Now the next opponent for the upstart state school will be the system's flagship university, third-seeded Florida, on Friday night in the South Regional semifinal in Dallas.
''We tried to scrimmage them early in the season in the preseason,'' Enfield said. ''Now we get our shot.''
Bernard Thompson had 23 points and Sherwood Brown added 17 for FGCU, the Atlantic Sun champion.
In their first-ever NCAA tournament game on Friday, the 15th-seeded Eagles busted brackets everywhere with a win over Georgetown, a game in which they took control with a 21-2 run in the second half.
It went much the same way against seventh-seeded San Diego State.
This time the run was 17-0 and Brown, who was saddled early in the second half with foul trouble, had eight of the first 10 points of it. When it was over the Eagles led 71-52 with 4:19 to play and the only decisions left were how the players and fans were going to celebrate.
Brown stuck out his tongue after every big basket, often in the direction of the hundreds of Eagles fans jammed into one section.
Even when the game was tight, he and his teammates looked they were glad to be on the court. The Eagles waved their arms and played along with a lively crowd that came to see an upset. There were big smiles and high-fives.
In short, they showed a kind of joy that's often missing from high stakes, high drama games in March.
''We're all about having fun and also playing really hard and that's something we like to do, we like to get the crowd involved,'' said Brown, the A-Sun's player of the year. ''The whole crowd got behind us even if they are not from Fort Myers, or as I like to say, 'Dunk City.'''
It turns out a rap video called ''Dunk City'' sprang up overnight in praise of the Eagles.
The notoriously tough Philly fans jumped on the bandwagon, too. One seated behind the FGCU bench held a sign - ''Fly, Eagles, Fly!'' - the motto of the NFL team that plays across the street from the Wells Fargo Center.
And after it was all over, the whole team joined in a bird dance that the players on the bench had been doing during the game.
''I know I can say for all the players, this was the biggest game for us. None of us have played on this stage,'' point guard Brett Comer said. ''We are blessed to be here.''
FGCU played like it had nothing to lose. And really, the Eagles didn't. Given their school's short history, nobody expected them to win a game at the NCAA tournament, let alone two.
''They play with a swagger, and they have a right to do that,'' said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who knows about players with attitude, having led the Fab Five to consecutive national championship games at Michigan. ''You can have that look and feel, but you have to compete and play to earn your spurs, and they've done that.''
Comer, who didn't have as many lob passes for dunks as he did against the Hoyas, finished with 10 points and 14 assists, some of which resulted in dunks that had the crowd cheering and wanting more.
''We want to get out and run,'' Comer said. ''We're just having so much fun.''
FGCU even unleashed another offensive weapon. Christophe Varidel, a native of Switzerland, hit two big 3s early for the Eagles and finished with 11 points after going scoreless against Georgetown.
''If we can get him open shots, he's as good a shooter as I've seen,'' Enfield said. ''He stepped up tonight and helped us and we needed that because Sherwood Brown was in early foul trouble.''
Jamal Franklin had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Aztecs (23-11), who were trying to reach the regional semifinals for the second time in three years.
Franklin spoke with Brown after the game.
''I just told him just keep being the leader that he is, make sure the ball is in his hands, make sure he does what he has to do to keep his team rolling,'' Franklin said.
Xavier Thames' layup brought the Aztecs within 54-52 with 11:33 to play but the Eagles were off on their spurt about 90 seconds later. FGCU held San Diego State without a field goal for more than 7 minutes as it again pulled away again from a team with much bigger national profile.
''We just tried to keep a steady pace and tried to wear them down. We think we can play with anybody in the country,'' center Chase Fieler said. ''When we got the running game going it felt like a home game.''
The Eagles shot 55.9 percent for the game (33 of 59), including going 7 of 18 from 3-point range.
The Aztecs finished at 44.3 percent (27 of 61) and were 8 of 23 from beyond the arc.
''They ran. They ran hard, they ran consistent, and they ran effectively,'' Fisher said. ''They're playing with a kind of momentum that they have earned.''
FGCU had one of its highlight plays in the first half when Comer flipped the ball up toward the rim and a flying Eric McKnight grabbed it for a one-hand jam with 8:50 to play that woke up the crowd.
Suddenly it sounded a lot like Friday night, when the Eagles had several jams on lob passes that were a big part of the Georgetown upset.
McKnight was asked if that was his best dunk.
''I don't rate them,'' he said, ''but it was one of my best ones.''
MLB...6 days until the first game of the 2013 season and 7 days until Opening Day, are you ready for some baseball?
Good luck to your favorite team, it's going to be a terrific year!!! More news, scores and stats to come as the year progresses. As always, let's go Cubs and White Sox. Make Chicago Proud.
Heat win 26th straight, top Bobcats, 1971-72 Lakers wonder if record 33-game win streak will weather Heat's challenge.
''We don't take ourselves too seriously,'' said Florida Gulf Coast coach Andy Enfield, whose players tossed him in the air and doused him with water in a raucous celebration before his postgame interviews. ''We try to have fun, get serious when we have to.
''Our goal was to make history and we did it.''
With its campus in Fort Myers, Florida Gulf Coast opened its doors to students in 1997. The university only became eligible for postseason play last year. Now the next opponent for the upstart state school will be the system's flagship university, third-seeded Florida, on Friday night in the South Regional semifinal in Dallas.
''We tried to scrimmage them early in the season in the preseason,'' Enfield said. ''Now we get our shot.''
Bernard Thompson had 23 points and Sherwood Brown added 17 for FGCU, the Atlantic Sun champion.
In their first-ever NCAA tournament game on Friday, the 15th-seeded Eagles busted brackets everywhere with a win over Georgetown, a game in which they took control with a 21-2 run in the second half.
It went much the same way against seventh-seeded San Diego State.
This time the run was 17-0 and Brown, who was saddled early in the second half with foul trouble, had eight of the first 10 points of it. When it was over the Eagles led 71-52 with 4:19 to play and the only decisions left were how the players and fans were going to celebrate.
Brown stuck out his tongue after every big basket, often in the direction of the hundreds of Eagles fans jammed into one section.
Even when the game was tight, he and his teammates looked they were glad to be on the court. The Eagles waved their arms and played along with a lively crowd that came to see an upset. There were big smiles and high-fives.
In short, they showed a kind of joy that's often missing from high stakes, high drama games in March.
''We're all about having fun and also playing really hard and that's something we like to do, we like to get the crowd involved,'' said Brown, the A-Sun's player of the year. ''The whole crowd got behind us even if they are not from Fort Myers, or as I like to say, 'Dunk City.'''
It turns out a rap video called ''Dunk City'' sprang up overnight in praise of the Eagles.
The notoriously tough Philly fans jumped on the bandwagon, too. One seated behind the FGCU bench held a sign - ''Fly, Eagles, Fly!'' - the motto of the NFL team that plays across the street from the Wells Fargo Center.
And after it was all over, the whole team joined in a bird dance that the players on the bench had been doing during the game.
''I know I can say for all the players, this was the biggest game for us. None of us have played on this stage,'' point guard Brett Comer said. ''We are blessed to be here.''
FGCU played like it had nothing to lose. And really, the Eagles didn't. Given their school's short history, nobody expected them to win a game at the NCAA tournament, let alone two.
''They play with a swagger, and they have a right to do that,'' said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who knows about players with attitude, having led the Fab Five to consecutive national championship games at Michigan. ''You can have that look and feel, but you have to compete and play to earn your spurs, and they've done that.''
Comer, who didn't have as many lob passes for dunks as he did against the Hoyas, finished with 10 points and 14 assists, some of which resulted in dunks that had the crowd cheering and wanting more.
''We want to get out and run,'' Comer said. ''We're just having so much fun.''
FGCU even unleashed another offensive weapon. Christophe Varidel, a native of Switzerland, hit two big 3s early for the Eagles and finished with 11 points after going scoreless against Georgetown.
''If we can get him open shots, he's as good a shooter as I've seen,'' Enfield said. ''He stepped up tonight and helped us and we needed that because Sherwood Brown was in early foul trouble.''
Jamal Franklin had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the seventh-seeded Aztecs (23-11), who were trying to reach the regional semifinals for the second time in three years.
Franklin spoke with Brown after the game.
''I just told him just keep being the leader that he is, make sure the ball is in his hands, make sure he does what he has to do to keep his team rolling,'' Franklin said.
Xavier Thames' layup brought the Aztecs within 54-52 with 11:33 to play but the Eagles were off on their spurt about 90 seconds later. FGCU held San Diego State without a field goal for more than 7 minutes as it again pulled away again from a team with much bigger national profile.
''We just tried to keep a steady pace and tried to wear them down. We think we can play with anybody in the country,'' center Chase Fieler said. ''When we got the running game going it felt like a home game.''
The Eagles shot 55.9 percent for the game (33 of 59), including going 7 of 18 from 3-point range.
The Aztecs finished at 44.3 percent (27 of 61) and were 8 of 23 from beyond the arc.
''They ran. They ran hard, they ran consistent, and they ran effectively,'' Fisher said. ''They're playing with a kind of momentum that they have earned.''
FGCU had one of its highlight plays in the first half when Comer flipped the ball up toward the rim and a flying Eric McKnight grabbed it for a one-hand jam with 8:50 to play that woke up the crowd.
Suddenly it sounded a lot like Friday night, when the Eagles had several jams on lob passes that were a big part of the Georgetown upset.
McKnight was asked if that was his best dunk.
''I don't rate them,'' he said, ''but it was one of my best ones.''
MLB...6 days until the first game of the 2013 season and 7 days until Opening Day, are you ready for some baseball?
Good luck to your favorite team, it's going to be a terrific year!!! More news, scores and stats to come as the year progresses. As always, let's go Cubs and White Sox. Make Chicago Proud.
Heat win 26th straight, top Bobcats, 1971-72 Lakers wonder if record 33-game win streak will weather Heat's challenge.
Wilt Chamberlain #13 posts up against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972. (Getty)
By Mark J. Spears
Wilt Chamberlain, whose larger-than-life personality even exceeded his
prodigious physical stature, once warned boxing legend Sonny Liston he could
take over as heavyweight champion. He also boasted about sleeping with more than
20,000 women, so modesty was never one of Wilt's best traits.
Chamberlain liked to do everything big, including win. As the
starting center for the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers, he won an NBA-record 33
consecutive games – a streak now being challenged by the Miami Heat.
And what would Chamberlain think of the Heat – who will enter Monday's game
in Orlando having won 26 in a row – making a run at the Lakers' historic mark?
"He would have cared," said Jim McMillian, a teammate of Chamberlain's and a
starting forward on that '71-72 Lakers team. "He would have said they didn't
deserve to win; things like the league is very watered down, they are not as
good as we were and if we were to play them we would crush them.
"Wilt would have liked to play Miami because he knew they wouldn't have
anyone to stop him."
Heat president Pat Riley was a member of that record-setting Lakers team. And
while Chamberlain might not have wanted Miami to make history, McMillian and
Hall of Famer Jerry West – another star on the '71-72 Lakers – said they won't
be upset if the record falls.
"If you say to me, 'Does it bother you?' Absolutely not," West said in a
recent media conference call. "I think it's great for the league. I'm delighted
for my friend, Pat Riley. If they break it, my gosh, it's a wonderful story. I
would have no problem with that."
Said McMillian: "It might not get broken, but I didn't think anyone would get
this close to it with today's athlete. Today's athlete is not as focused as when
we played. They get so much money and notoriety."
With each victory, the Heat have attracted more attention and pressure.
McMillian said the media spotlight became brighter and the road crowds grew
bigger once the Lakers neared the then-reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks' record
of 18 games set the previous season. Those Lakers broke the record with their
19th straight win during a 124-111 road victory against the Golden State
Warriors on Dec. 9, 1971.
"I don't remember who we played that night," McMillian said. "I was just
enjoying the ride. Some of those games are blurred."
"Every game after that was just another notch on our belt," said Jim Cleamons, a guard on the '71-72 Lakers.
"Every game after that was just another notch on our belt," said Jim Cleamons, a guard on the '71-72 Lakers.
The Lakers' win streak record stretched to 33 games with a 134-90 road win
over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 7, 1972. It ended the following game against
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and the Bucks. Abdul-Jabbar scored 39
points during a 120-104 victory for the Bucks.
The Lakers' streak lasted from Nov. 5, 1971, to Jan. 7, 1972, with just 10
games decided by single digits.
"All of us went in the locker room and felt like we had lost our best
friend," West said.
Said Cleamons, who rarely played that season: "It was like walking through
hell with gasoline drawers on. They were certainly up for the task. They kicked
our ass like we stole something. I even almost got in the game."
McMillian believes it was good the Lakers' streak ended in January, early in
the season. He also thinks Miami's late-season streak could take its toll on
reigning champions.
"We had a chance to regroup emotionally, mentally, physically," McMillian
said. "We said, 'OK, we had a good run on the streak and let's get ready for the
championship run.' [The Heat] are pushing themselves to break this record and
not lose. They are not going to have a chance to regroup because next thing you
know the playoffs are here."
Some people think Miami's streak is already more impressive than the Lakers'
record. The NBA only had 17 teams during the 1971-72 season. The rival American
Basketball Association was also in existence with 11 teams, drawing away some
top talent like Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Artis Gilmore and Dan Issel.
"I'm not going to knock somebody's opinion. There might be some validity to
that, but you can only play the games that are in front of you," Cleamons said.
West, however, thinks there are "some very poor teams" in today's
30-franchise NBA. Miami also is in the weaker Eastern Conference and teams don't
have to fly commercial as the old Lakers did.
"Expansion has diluted the talent," West said. "It hasn't made talent better.
So it's harder to get a lot of good players on one team today."
Not long after the 33-game win steak ended, then-Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke
rewarded the team with a gift. McMillian said then-Lakers general manager Fred
Schaus came into the locker room with a box of pens for each player. Each set
had an inscription commemorating the record win streak.
Once Schaus left, Chamberlain took each pen set from his teammates' lockers
and disposed of them.
"You know how people used get those pen sets and put them on their desk,"
McMillian said. "Wilt got very upset, collected all of them and threw them away.
He was like, 'What are we going to do with these pen sets?"
The 1971-72 Lakers, however, were given rings commemorating the 40-year
anniversary of their streak. With the Heat drawing closer and closer to those
old Lakers, the gift might have arrived at just the right time.
"It's good we got the rings now," McMillian said.
Terrible weather postpones final round of Arnold Palmer
Invitational.
By Jay Busbee
There's rain, there are storms, and then there are
take-cover-hellstorm's-a'-coming squalls. Behold the weather at Sunday's Arnold
Palmer Invitational which forced the cancellation of the day's play. The
tournament's final round will resume on Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern. Tiger Woods is in the lead by two
strokes, and if he wins Monday, he'll retake the No. 1 spot in the world.
Leaders collide, allowing Kyle Busch to win Auto Club
400.
By Amanda Vincent, The Sports Xchange
As Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin made significant contact
while racing for the checkered flag on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway, Kyle Busch drove past them both to win the
Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Sunday.
"They forgot about me," Busch said after taking the No. 18 Joe Gibbs
Racing Toyota to victory lane. "I knew they would've."
Busch and Logano swapped the lead several times in the closing laps
before Logano and Hamlin both got past Busch with six laps to go. Logano and
Hamlin then raced side by side in the closing laps before Logano's car slid up
the race track on the final lap, making contact with Hamlin, allowing Busch to
make the final pass for the win.
Hamlin, in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, made hard, head-on contact
with the inside retaining wall. He was transported by ambulance to a local
hospital, though he was awake and alert. Hamlin wound up in 25th place.
Logano, driving the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford, was able to continue after
scraping the outside wall. He finished seventh after leading 41 laps of the
200-lap race.
Logano and Hamlin feuded a week prior at Bristol (Ten.) Motor Speedway,
and the feud spilled over to Twitter.
"We worked it last week," Logano said. "He probably shouldn't have done
what he did last week, so that's what he gets. And besides that, I think our
Auto Club Ford was very strong all day. I was very happy with the car we had. We
were super fast, led a lot of laps. Nothing to hang our head down about, that's
for sure. We were very proud of that."
Logano also made an enemy of Tony Stewart (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing
Chevrolet) late in Sunday's race, blocking Stewart on the final restart. The
move allowed Logano to maintain position following a caution that came out in
the final 15 laps.
"I had to throw a block there," Logano said. "That was a race for the
lead."
When the dust cleared, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet) came in second place, enabling him to take the championship points
lead and build up a 12-point cushion over reigning series champ Brad Keselowski
(No. 2 Penske Racing Ford). Kurt Busch (No. 78 Furniture Row Racing
Chevrolet) finished third after overcoming an early-race pit road speeding
penalty.
Hamlin started on the pole but lost the lead on the first lap to teammate
Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota). Kyle Busch then moved into the
lead on lap 11 and went on to lead over half of the race.
Kyle Busch got shuffled back several positions when drivers including
Stewart, Cling Bowyer (No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota), Keselowski and
Kenseth got off pit road ahead of him by taking only two tires during a caution
with 70 laps to go.
Kyle Busch quickly made his way back to the front, though, reclaiming the
lead with 53 laps to go. Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet) ran second to Busch for a while, until Logano rejoined Kyle Busch up
front on a restart following a caution that came out with about 30 laps to go.
Logano and Hamlin were in front late until their last-lap collision.
"Lo and behold, I put my foot to it and drove away," Kyle Busch said.
Carl Edwards (No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) finished fourth, and Greg
Biffle (No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) was fifth after starting the race in
the back because of an engine change.
Keselowski came in 23rd.
NOTES: Kyle Busch's win was the first at Auto Club Speedway for Toyota.
... Busch previously won at ACS in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in 2005. ...
The win snaps a 31-race winless streak for Busch. He had failed to win the last
nine races in which he led the most laps. ... Busch also won the NASCAR
Nationwide Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday, the ninth straight
victory for Joe Gibbs Racing in Fontana. ... With his second-place finish,
Earnhardt continues to have top-10 finishes in all five races so far this
season.
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