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Sports Quote of the Day:
"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime." ~ Babe Ruth, Professional Baseball Player
MLB started last night, but Opening Day is today!!! Yeah Baby. Hopefully, we'll have a contender in the Cubs or the White Sox. The best of luck to you and your favorite team.
Last night's first game of the season score: Houston Astros 8, Texas Rangers 2. It's on!!!
The Final Four is set
after blowouts, surprises.
By
A new group of Fab Wolverines vs. the stingiest zone
defense in college basketball.
After a weekend of blowouts and another upset, the Final Four is set.
Top overall seed Louisville will face Wichita State at the
Georgia Dome next Saturday, while Michigan takes on Syracuse in the other
national semifinal. The winners advance to the April 8 championship.
On Sunday, the Cardinals drew inspiration from a
gruesome injury to guard Kevin Ware and cruised past Duke 85-63 in
the Midwest Regional. Michigan led from the opening tip, routing Florida 79-59 in the
South.
A day earlier, Syracuse shut down Marquette 55-39 to win the East. Wichita State punched its Final Four ticket with a 70-66 upset of Ohio State out West.
In the final year of the Big East before it splits into two new conferences, Louisville and Syracuse provided a fitting send-off to a league that quickly became a basketball powerhouse after it was founded in 1979.
Before it goes, this version of the Big East has a shot at one more national title.
With two teams, no less.
The Cardinals — who, like Syracuse, are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference — were the only No. 1 seed to make it to the Final Four. And, boy, it's been an impressive run.
Louisville (33-5) has won its four NCAA games by an average margin of nearly 22 points, capped by a second-half blowout of Duke after the Cardinals shook off the incredible shock of Ware's injury with about 6½ minutes to go before halftime.
"We won this for him," coach Rick Pitino said.
The sophomore snapped his lower right leg after coming down awkwardly while defending a 3-point shot. The injury occurred right in front of the Louisville bench, where the players gasped and turned away quickly at the sight of Ware's dangling leg, which was broken in two places.
Russ Smith collapsed onto the floor, along with several players, and was crying as doctors attended to Ware. While Ware was loaded onto a stretcher, the Cardinals gathered at midcourt until Pitino called them over, saying the injured player wanted to talk to them before he left.
The sophomore, who played his high school ball in suburban Atlanta, urged his teammates to complete the trip to the Georgia Dome. Pitino wiped his eyes as Ware was wheeled out, as did several Louisville players.
"All he kept saying — and remember, the bone is 6 inches out of his leg — all he's yelling is, 'Win the game! Win the game!" Pitino said. "I've never seen that in my life. We're all distraught and all he's saying is, 'Win the game. "Kevin is a special young man."
This is a special team. Smith scored 23 points. Gorgui Dieng had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
The Cardinals simply refused to lose, breaking open a game that was tied at 42. They dove on the floor for loose balls. They pounded the boards ferociously. They contested every shot and swarmed around the Blue Devils like they had an extra player on the court.
In a sense, they did. During every timeout, Pitino reminded the players of their hospitalized teammate.
"This is a gritty bunch," the coach said. "From the beginning of the year to now, they've not had a bad game. I'm really proud of these guys."
While the Cardinals are the clear favorite heading to their second straight Final Four, Wichita State was the most improbable team to advance.
The ninth-seeded Shockers lived up to their nickname in the West, knocking off top-seeded Gonzaga in the second round and No. 2 seed Ohio State in the regional final Saturday night.
Wichita State (30-8) built a 20-point lead on the Buckeyes, then managed to hang on through a nerve-racking final five minutes to pull off the latest upset in a tournament filled with them.
The Shockers will need an even bigger stunner to knock off Louisville, the one team in a wide-open tournament that has looked unbeatable.
Then again, that other team from Kansas has shown no fear so far.
"It feels very good," said Cleanthony Early, a junior forward who, like most guys on this team, was passed over by higher-profile programs, "but we understand the fact that we've got to stay hungry and humble, because we've got two more games left to really be excited about."
Old-timers might remember Louisville and Wichita State as former conference rivals. The Cardinals were a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in the 1960s and '70s, which meant annual games against the Shockers.
Louisville holds a 19-5 edge in the series, but the teams haven't played since 1976.
Michigan (30-7) is headed back to the Final Four for the first time since the Fab Five era of the early 1990s, when the Wolverines lost in back-to-back national title games.
This team has much the same feel, led by sophomore Trey Burke, the Big Ten player of the year, and three freshmen starters. They were downright fabulous against Florida on Sunday, never seriously threatened after scoring the first 13 points.
"A lot of guys said we were really young and that we couldn't get here," said Burke, who scored 15 points against Florida but really came through in an improbable comeback against top-seeded Kansas in the regional semifinals. "We're here now and we still have unfinished business."
One of the freshmen, Nik Stauskas, hit all six of his 3-pointers and scored 22 points to lead the fourth-seeded Wolverines past the third-seeded Gators. Another of the youngsters, 6-foot-10 Mitch McGary, chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Florida became the first team to make it to three straight regional finals without winning any of them, according to STATS.
The Wolverines will have their work cut out against Syracuse (30-9), a team that has totally stuffed its NCAA opponents with a stifling zone defense. The fourth-seeded Orange are headed to their first Final Four since winning it all in 2003 largely because they have allowed fewer than 46 points a game in the tournament.
Syracuse leads the series against Michigan 8-5. Their last meeting was Nov. 26, 2010, when the Orange prevailed 53-50 in the Legends Classic at Atlantic City, N.J.
A day earlier, Syracuse shut down Marquette 55-39 to win the East. Wichita State punched its Final Four ticket with a 70-66 upset of Ohio State out West.
In the final year of the Big East before it splits into two new conferences, Louisville and Syracuse provided a fitting send-off to a league that quickly became a basketball powerhouse after it was founded in 1979.
Before it goes, this version of the Big East has a shot at one more national title.
With two teams, no less.
The Cardinals — who, like Syracuse, are moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference — were the only No. 1 seed to make it to the Final Four. And, boy, it's been an impressive run.
Louisville (33-5) has won its four NCAA games by an average margin of nearly 22 points, capped by a second-half blowout of Duke after the Cardinals shook off the incredible shock of Ware's injury with about 6½ minutes to go before halftime.
"We won this for him," coach Rick Pitino said.
The sophomore snapped his lower right leg after coming down awkwardly while defending a 3-point shot. The injury occurred right in front of the Louisville bench, where the players gasped and turned away quickly at the sight of Ware's dangling leg, which was broken in two places.
Russ Smith collapsed onto the floor, along with several players, and was crying as doctors attended to Ware. While Ware was loaded onto a stretcher, the Cardinals gathered at midcourt until Pitino called them over, saying the injured player wanted to talk to them before he left.
The sophomore, who played his high school ball in suburban Atlanta, urged his teammates to complete the trip to the Georgia Dome. Pitino wiped his eyes as Ware was wheeled out, as did several Louisville players.
"All he kept saying — and remember, the bone is 6 inches out of his leg — all he's yelling is, 'Win the game! Win the game!" Pitino said. "I've never seen that in my life. We're all distraught and all he's saying is, 'Win the game. "Kevin is a special young man."
This is a special team. Smith scored 23 points. Gorgui Dieng had 14 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
The Cardinals simply refused to lose, breaking open a game that was tied at 42. They dove on the floor for loose balls. They pounded the boards ferociously. They contested every shot and swarmed around the Blue Devils like they had an extra player on the court.
In a sense, they did. During every timeout, Pitino reminded the players of their hospitalized teammate.
"This is a gritty bunch," the coach said. "From the beginning of the year to now, they've not had a bad game. I'm really proud of these guys."
While the Cardinals are the clear favorite heading to their second straight Final Four, Wichita State was the most improbable team to advance.
The ninth-seeded Shockers lived up to their nickname in the West, knocking off top-seeded Gonzaga in the second round and No. 2 seed Ohio State in the regional final Saturday night.
Wichita State (30-8) built a 20-point lead on the Buckeyes, then managed to hang on through a nerve-racking final five minutes to pull off the latest upset in a tournament filled with them.
The Shockers will need an even bigger stunner to knock off Louisville, the one team in a wide-open tournament that has looked unbeatable.
Then again, that other team from Kansas has shown no fear so far.
"It feels very good," said Cleanthony Early, a junior forward who, like most guys on this team, was passed over by higher-profile programs, "but we understand the fact that we've got to stay hungry and humble, because we've got two more games left to really be excited about."
Old-timers might remember Louisville and Wichita State as former conference rivals. The Cardinals were a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in the 1960s and '70s, which meant annual games against the Shockers.
Louisville holds a 19-5 edge in the series, but the teams haven't played since 1976.
Michigan (30-7) is headed back to the Final Four for the first time since the Fab Five era of the early 1990s, when the Wolverines lost in back-to-back national title games.
This team has much the same feel, led by sophomore Trey Burke, the Big Ten player of the year, and three freshmen starters. They were downright fabulous against Florida on Sunday, never seriously threatened after scoring the first 13 points.
"A lot of guys said we were really young and that we couldn't get here," said Burke, who scored 15 points against Florida but really came through in an improbable comeback against top-seeded Kansas in the regional semifinals. "We're here now and we still have unfinished business."
One of the freshmen, Nik Stauskas, hit all six of his 3-pointers and scored 22 points to lead the fourth-seeded Wolverines past the third-seeded Gators. Another of the youngsters, 6-foot-10 Mitch McGary, chipped in with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Florida became the first team to make it to three straight regional finals without winning any of them, according to STATS.
The Wolverines will have their work cut out against Syracuse (30-9), a team that has totally stuffed its NCAA opponents with a stifling zone defense. The fourth-seeded Orange are headed to their first Final Four since winning it all in 2003 largely because they have allowed fewer than 46 points a game in the tournament.
Syracuse leads the series against Michigan 8-5. Their last meeting was Nov. 26, 2010, when the Orange prevailed 53-50 in the Legends Classic at Atlantic City, N.J.
The schools have never met in the NCAA tournament.
Syracuse has been like an octopus when it settles in around the its own lane — shutting off passing routes, preventing anyone from penetrating, yet still managing to defend the 3-point line with quickness and long arms. Montana, California, top-seeded Indiana and Marquette combined to make just under 29 percent from the field (61 of 211) and a paltry 15.4 percent (14 of 91) outside the arc.
"We were as active these two games here in Washington as we've ever been," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said after Saturday's win over league rival Marquette, which is headed to a new version of the Big East next season. "I just really can't say enough about how good these guys played on the defensive end of the court."
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Smoking hot yesterday!!! The Blackhawks rout The Red Wings. Blackhawks 7, Red Wings 1.
By Paul Harris, The Sports Xchange
Brandon Saad had two goals and an assist, Dave Bolland scored twice and Chicago Blackhawks capitalized on goal-scoring spurts
early in the first and second periods in a 7-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday.
Jonathan Toews added a goal and two assists and Jeremy Morin and Nick Leddy also scored for Chicago (26-5-3).
The Blackhawks scored three goals in less than two minutes in the opening period and two in less than 10 in the second.
Cory Emmerton scored the only goal for Detroit (17-13-5). Jimmy Howard stopped 10 of 14 shots on Sunday before being pulled in favor of Jonas Gustavsson early in the second period. Gustavsson made nine saves.
Chicago got going early and scored three times in a 1:39 span in the game's first four-and-a-half minutes on its first three shots.
Morin, who was recalled from the Blackhawks American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford on Saturday, opened the scoring when he put one in from a goal-mouth scramble at 2:33.
Saad capitalized on a breakaway off left wing to beat Howard 48 seconds later and Bolland was credited with his first goal of the game, at 4:12, when Detroit defenseman Jakub Kindl accidentally backhanded the puck into his own net while trying to clear it from the crease.
The Red Wings didn't manage a shot until 7:15 into the game and Detroit defenseman Brian Lashoff hit the goal post with a little under two minutes left in the first period.
Toews and Saad scored eight seconds apart early in the second period to make it 5-0.
Toews, the Blackhawks's captain, got his 17th goal at 3:52. That chased Howard and Saad picked up his sixth goal, at 4:00, on the first shot on Gustavsson.
Bolland scored his second of the game and seventh of the season 7:55 into the third period and Leddy got his sixth goal, with 3:39 left.
Emmerton's third goal averted the shutout with 27 seconds left.
NOTES: Sunday marked the 85th birthday of Hall of Fame member and former Red Wing Gordie Howe. The Red Wings wore jerseys with Howe's retired No. 9 during warmups. He was on hand at Joe Louis Arena signing autographs, and fans also could sign a birthday card for Howe. ... Detroit center and captain Henrik Zetterberg didn't play because of a lower-body injury after skating in warmups. He is day to day. ... Chicago forwards Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa were both out because of lower-body injuries. ... Red Wings forward Mikael Samuelsson returned after missing 19 games with a broken finger. ... Forward Johan Franzen played after leaving the Red Wings' previous game (a 2-0 loss in San Jose on Thursday night) after the second period with a lower-body injury.
CSN Insiders predict 2013 MLB season.
Three Comcast SportsNet Insiders -- Andrew Baggarly, Casey Pratt and Paul Gutierrez -- are on record with their predictions for the 2013 MLB season. Take a look at their picks and let them know where you agree or disagree in the comments section...
Andrew Baggarly
AL MANAGER: Joe Maddon
AL ROOKIE: Brandon Hicks
AL CY Justin Verlander
AL MVP Mike Trout
NL MANAGER: Bruce Bochy
NL ROOKIE: Shelby Miller
NL CY Stephen Strasburg
NL MVP Bryce Harper
AL EAST: Rays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Angels
AL WILD CARDS: Blue Jays and Royals
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Giants
NL WILD CARDS: Braves and Cardinals
PENNANT WINNERS: Tigers and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Casey Pratt
AL MANAGER: Ron Washington
AL ROOKIE: Mike Olt
AL CY: Justin Verlander
AL MVP: Yoenis Cespedes
NL MANAGER: Mike Matheny
NL ROOKIE: Julio Teheran
NL CY: Clayton Kershaw
NL MVP: Joey Votto
AL EAST: Blue Jays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Athletics
AL WILD CARDS: Angels and Rangers
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Dodgers
NL WILD CARDS: Giants, Cardinals
PENNANT WINNERS: Tigers and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Paul Gutierrez
AL MANAGER: Jon Gibbons
AL ROOKIE: Aaron Hicks
AL CY: Justin Verlander
AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MANAGER: Dusty Baker
NL ROOKIE: Julio Teheran
NL CY: Stephen Strasburg
NL MVP: Matt Kemp
AL EAST: Blue Jays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Angels
AL WILD CARDS: Rays and Athletics
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Giants
NL WILD CARDS: Braves and Dodgers
PENNANT WINNERS: Angels and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Andrew Baggarly
AL MANAGER: Joe Maddon
AL ROOKIE: Brandon Hicks
AL CY Justin Verlander
AL MVP Mike Trout
NL MANAGER: Bruce Bochy
NL ROOKIE: Shelby Miller
NL CY Stephen Strasburg
NL MVP Bryce Harper
AL EAST: Rays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Angels
AL WILD CARDS: Blue Jays and Royals
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Giants
NL WILD CARDS: Braves and Cardinals
PENNANT WINNERS: Tigers and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Casey Pratt
AL MANAGER: Ron Washington
AL ROOKIE: Mike Olt
AL CY: Justin Verlander
AL MVP: Yoenis Cespedes
NL MANAGER: Mike Matheny
NL ROOKIE: Julio Teheran
NL CY: Clayton Kershaw
NL MVP: Joey Votto
AL EAST: Blue Jays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Athletics
AL WILD CARDS: Angels and Rangers
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Dodgers
NL WILD CARDS: Giants, Cardinals
PENNANT WINNERS: Tigers and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Paul Gutierrez
AL MANAGER: Jon Gibbons
AL ROOKIE: Aaron Hicks
AL CY: Justin Verlander
AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MANAGER: Dusty Baker
NL ROOKIE: Julio Teheran
NL CY: Stephen Strasburg
NL MVP: Matt Kemp
AL EAST: Blue Jays
AL CENTRAL: Tigers
AL WEST: Angels
AL WILD CARDS: Rays and Athletics
NL EAST: Nationals
NL CENTRAL: Reds
NL WEST: Giants
NL WILD CARDS: Braves and Dodgers
PENNANT WINNERS: Angels and Nationals
CHAMPIONS: Nationals
Pat Riley's shut-the-bleep-up message to Danny Ainge a show of support for
LeBron James.
By Adrian Wojnarowski
In honoring two historically indisputable professional habits – establishing
himself as the patriarch and protector of his star player; and wrapping himself
in downright disdain for the Boston Celtics – Riley sent a missive to one of his
messengers on Good Friday.
"Danny Ainge needs to shut the [expletive] up and manage his own team," Riley
proclaimed. "He was the biggest whiner going when he was playing and I know that
because I coached against him." This was a spectacularly jarring response to Ainge, who had chastised LeBron James and his declaration that the NBA and its officials don't do enough to protect him. "I think that it's almost embarrassing that LeBron James would complain about officiating," Ainge had told WEEI radio in Boston.
For Ainge, he has been his vintage self: agitating, inciting, inspiring an irrational over-the-top response. If Riley's response feels unprecedented, remember something: The re-recruitment of James to re-sign in 2014 is underway, and this was Riley's way to back his franchise star. Even so, Riley's never needed a noble reason to grandstand. When it serves his agenda, no one steps down off Olympus and delivers the arrows like him.
In a season when James had manufactured no storylines beyond the perpetual testimonials about the greatness of his game, his venting in Chicago on Wednesday night promises to be the beginning of the framing of how he'll be officiated in these playoffs.
This is a copycat league, and this episode will turn out to be one more way in which Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau has become the most mimicked of all.
When Golden State Warriors coach
Mark Jackson wanted to install a defense, he made young assistant Darren Erman –
a Thibodeau disciple in Boston – his defensive coordinator. The improvement's
been dramatic. And when teams want to defend James, they'll study Thibodeau's
blueprint.
Of course, everyone doesn't have the Bulls' personnel to be physical with
James, nor the ferocious defensive mindset within their players. Still,
Thibodeau is stubborn and he'll never let his players back down to James and the
Heat. So stubborn, in fact, Thibodeau still hasn't signed the four-year, $17.5
million-plus contract extension that Bulls commemorated with an Oct. 1 news
conference.
"The deal's done," Thibodeau told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday night.
Nevertheless, he wouldn't acknowledge that it had been signed because that still
hasn't happened, several sources with direct knowledge of the contract told Y!
Sports. This is how Thibodeau operates, part of his maddening genius. He wears everyone down until he gets everything he wants – front offices, players, and often opponents too.
Back in his assistant coaching days in Boston, his contracts lingered unsigned, too. Looking back, no one is sure that Thibodeau ever signed the waiver confirming that he'd never sell his personal engraved 2008 championship ring when those were handed out to staff.
In the end, remember something: Thibodeau is a disciple of Jeff Van Gundy, who is a disciple of Riley. Deep down, Riley understands something: the way with which those Bulls engaged James to end that 27-game winning streak had been the ultimate tribute to Riley himself. Thibodeau sent those Bulls hard for James, and it stirred something within the NBA's MVP that no one had heard out of him this season.
James is a product of a
different day in the NBA, a different generation and the evolution of the sport
spared him the beatings delivered in the 1980s and '90s. Nevertheless, how James
is officiated is an issue for the NBA this season and beyond. That's been true
forever with the league's best players, and always will be.
More and more, the league office has made life easier for offensive stars –
legislating easier paths to scoring, punishing hard fouls with free throws,
fines and suspensions. Once, David Stern changed the rules to make it harder for
the Chuck Dalys and Rileys to beat up on Michael Jordan. Now, it will be Adam Silver's turn with James. Make no mistake: James and his inner circle have a strong relationship with Silver, who'll replace Stern as the NBA's commissioner in 2014. Silver is so fond of James' business manager Maverick Carter, he granted an interview with Forbes to render some fluffy quotes for a profile on Carter.
Stu Jackson has long overseen basketball operations for the NBA, but he's begun the pursuit of returning to the front office of a team, sources told Yahoo! Sports. The restructuring of the league office could ultimately be dramatic, and those within the NBA are watching closely to understand how it'll eventually trickle down to the product on the floor.
In the end, Riles' statement was one for the history books, one of the best two-sentence releases pro sports has ever seen. Riley needs enemies, and the Celtics and Ainge will forever play the part for him. At the highest levels, the Celtics and Heat share a visceral hatred and that's increasingly rare in this buddy-buddy era.
After a Game 2 loss to Miami in the Eastern Conference finals in May, Ainge cornered the NBA's vice president of referee operations, Joe Borgia, in an American Airlines Arena corridor and tried to understand how James could go to the free throw line 24 times, the Heat 47.
Just trying to break free, Borgia finally blurted to Ainge, "I'm sure we missed five or six calls somewhere."
Boston believes Dwyane Wade went out of his way to hurt Rajon Rondo with a tackle that dislocated his elbow in the 2011 Eastern Conference playoffs. And, of course, there was the Heat's successful free-agent recruitment of Ray Allen last summer.
So, yes, James spoke out about all those non-basketball plays that have endangered him this season, borne out of a night when Thibodeau had his players honoring the lessons that Riley had taught Thibs' own mentor, Van Gundy, so long ago.
And upon stepping out of the shadows on Good Friday, as much as Pat Riley was taking shots at the Celtics GM and defending his own superstar player, he had done something else too: Riley took a bow.
They're all coming for James, coming harder and harder. Remember that it was the emperor of these Miami Heat who taught them all how to do it, who glamorized the hard foul and the cheap shot and the culture that comes for LeBron James now.
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Long odds stand between Hamlin and Chase.
By David Caraviello
When it comes to drivers playing with pain, the recent
standard unquestionably belongs to Denny Hamlin. It's still difficult to believe what he did three
years ago at Phoenix International Raceway, where 10 days after undergoing
reconstructive knee surgery Hamlin gritted his teeth through an entire event on
a bone-rattler of a 1-mile track. The car fell out of contention with electrical
problems and a relief driver was on standby, but Hamlin never got
out.
One week later at Texas, he won. He would go on to win eight times that season,
seven of them coming after surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament
in his left knee and nearly interrupt Jimmie Johnson's run of consecutive championships. Viewed in
its full context, it was a downright epic feat, even if he came up short of the
title. It's very easy to look back on that situation now as Hamlin begins the
road back from another injury, this one, a fractured vertebra suffered in a
crash last week.Unfortunately, though, the two episodes aren't exactly comparable. As he showed that night in Arizona, Hamlin is one tough hombre, and if this current issue were simply one of pain tolerance, he'd be back in the car next week at Martinsville.
Clearly, it's not.
The compression fracture in his L1 vertebra will require at least six weeks to heal -- which means Hamlin will miss five races -- and greatly compromises his chances of contending for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this season.
Of course, all that is secondary to Hamlin's heath. We won't know for several weeks if he'll actually be able to meet that hoped-for return date of May 11 at Darlington, and we won't know until he slides back behind the wheel how any lingering effects of the injury will impact his ability to compete. Everyone is hoping for the best -- that Hamlin comes back at Darlington and shows as fine a form as he exhibited at Auto Club Speedway before he hit the wall. But until he actually does it, we just won't know, and a full recovery is first and foremost on his mind.
All that said, this is a championship-level driver for whom the goal is the same every year, and when Hamlin recovers, he'll certainly have one eye on what it might take to continue his perfect record of never missing a Chase in seven full-time seasons. On Thursday, Joe Gibbs Racing team president J.D. Gibbs sounded optimistic. "Some of our guys have kind of looked at it," he said, "and I think they're encouraged that there's still a possibility." Thanks to the Wild Card system, there just may be.
By sitting out five races, Hamlin will forgo 215 points, a whopping amount that certainly precludes him from making the Chase based on the standings. To be eligible for one of two Wild Card entries, he'll have to make the top 20, a more digestible but still arduous undertaking given the time he'll miss in the car. Right now Hamlin stands 10th, 24 points ahead of 20th-place Ryan Newman. Assuming he can win races, that cutoff line is all that matters. All of his prospective gains and losses need to be viewed not relative to the top of the standings, but to the driver sittin in that 20th-place spot.
Over the past two years, we've seen drivers make charges from deep in the standings to secure a Wild Card berth -- Jeff Gordon made up 12 positions over the final 15 regular-season events to claim a Chase spot last year and Brad Keselowski gained 15 in 16 weeks to do the same in 2011. Hamlin's quest, though, shapes up as more difficult than that, and it's tough to set a clear target right now, given we don't know exactly how many spots he'll have to make up in the 16 starts he could have between his return and the fall Richmond race, where the championship field is finalized.
History, however, does offer a clue. In the two years under the current simplified points system, the 20th-place drivers after the fall Richmond race have been in similar positions. Jamie McMurray had 640 total points at that time last year, Marcos Ambrose 673 the season before. Average those out, and it rounds up to 657 -- as good a number as any for Hamlin to aim for if he hopes to keep his streak of consecutive Chase appearances alive.
At present, Hamlin has 145 points. That means, should he return at Darlington, he'll need to make up in the neighborhood of 512 points over his final 16 regular-season starts. Averaging that out provides an idea of how many points Hamlin would need to make up per race, and the number is a sobering one -- 32. In a system where one position gained on the track equals one point, he's essentially going to need an unblemished streak of top-10 finishes to turn this miracle scenario into a reality.
That's asking a lot, particularly of a driver who may still be banged up when he gets back in the car. But Hamlin has two advantages, the first being the teams he'll be competing against for that 20th position are outfits that in no way compare to his No. 11 program. He won't be racing Johnson and Keselowski, but perhaps Casey Mears, McMurray, Ambrose or Jeff Burton if those teams don't turn things around. Assuming Hamlin is back to his old self, he should zoom through the field like Keselowski did after starting in the back at Fontana.
His second advantage lies in the truth that Hamlin is the most overlooked great driver in NASCAR, a top-five talent who doesn't often get all the credit he deserves, perhaps because he's never won a championship. To this point, only two drivers have made every Chase over the course of their full-time careers -- one of them is a five-time champion -- and the other currently has a fractured bone in his back. At his best, Hamlin is as explosive as any competitor in the sport. To give himself a chance, he's going to need a stretch like the 10 straight finishes of 12th or better he amassed in 2010, and from a talent perspective, he's certainly capable of it.
But everything has to go right. That means no engine blowups, no master switch failures, no cut tires, no big wrecks at Daytona. The margin here isn't thin -- it's translucent. If it happens, it would be one of the greatest accomplishments in modern NASCAR history. It's also exceedingly unlikely given the odds and how much is outside of Hamlin's control.
Then again, this is a driver who competed a full race with a surgically-repaired knee, who clawed his way out of short-track obscurity, who nearly wound up welding trailer hitches for a living, whose big career break was a one-shot Nationwide race on the same Darlington track where he'll try to return next month. Long odds are nothing Denny Hamlin hasn't defied before.
Bobby Knight visits ‘Feherty,’ lectures on the fine art of chair-throwing.
By Jay Busbee
Bobby Knight knows the first line of his obituary will involve a
thrown chair. But rather than run from that ugly little episode in his past,
he's embraced it, and on a special college basketball-themed "Feherty" on the
Golf Channel he teaches David Feherty the finer elements of chair-slinging.
In the episode scheduled to air April 1 on the Golf Channel, Knight discusses his life, legacy and coaching philosophy. And he also reveals his favorite golfer, one Jack Nicklaus: “When Jack was playing, I always rooted for him. There was something about him that I felt that very, very few great athletes had, and that was a real humble approach to the sport and a great individual humility in what he accomplished.”
“These days the polarizing bear of a coach is a lot more cuddly than he was in his growling, grizzly days on the bench," Feherty says in introducing the show. "He’s actually now just one big, lovable teddy bear … usually. But he still scared the living crap out of me.”
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