CS&T/AllsportsAmerica Monday Sports News Update, 10/27/2014.

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“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.” ~ Brian Tracy, Author                   

Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Bears face deepening nightmare after humiliation by Patriots.  This synopsis is direct and to the point.  Where do we go from here after the bye week?

By John Mullin

(Photo/wgntv.com)

After the embarrassment of last Sunday’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, the Bears appeared to not close the locker room doors sufficiently to keep the ire from leaking out. The doors were closed this week, all right, but apparently before the game and before the team leaked out.

And the Bears, after a 51-23 humiliation at the hands of the New England Patriots, find themselves at precisely the same point at which they stood after that Miami game, just with a week off to think about themselves, and more:

“We’re going to take some time off, obviously, with the bye week, come in tomorrow and watch some film,” said quarterback Jay Cutler. “And collectively, as a whole, we have to decide how we want to end this year and how we want to do in this second half. Do we want to just pack it in and hover around .500, maybe a little bit below? Or do we want to use the talent in that locker room to try and make a run for this?”

Right now, however, the immediate task may be more basic than trying to turn around a season marked by losing four of the last five after opening 2-1.

“We’ve got to keep it together, keep it together, keep it together,” said defensive end Willie Young. “Don’t make it more complicated than it is.”

The Bears as they are presently constituted, in every respect, making a run at anything would border on historic. The Bears appeared to lose whatever vestige of a compass they still had in a game that they were never a part of, despite being admittedly desperate for a win.

The offense had seven possessions in the first half, none lasting even as long as three minutes. The defense was bludgeoned for 487 yards, 354 of those on passes by Tom Brady, five of those throws going for touchdowns. Special teams had 11 kicks to return and managed to give the offense the ball no farther from the Chicago goal line than the 27, six of the seven in the first half starting at the Chicago 23 or worse.

“We’re going to have some time to look at ourselves,” said coach Marc Trestman.

Defensive end Lamarr Houston will be undergoing an MRI exam on Monday after injuring a knee while celebrating a sack, not of Tom Brady, but of Jimmy Garoppolo, late in the fourth quarter with the Bears trailing by 25 points.

“Probably shouldn’t have celebrated in that situation,” Houston said. “But it happens.”

Wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who appeared to start quitting on his route-running as the game spiraled down, inexplicably took himself out on a fourth-and-one situation in the second half. And going into the locker room after the game, Marshall yelled the waiting media, “Come put your ears close to the door,” a reference to Marshall going off on the team after the Miami game and a small hint that Marshall’s mind may not have been entirely locked in on football.

The Bears allowed three New England touchdowns in the span of 57 seconds of the second quarter. The magnitude of those moments shouldn’t be understated and may have encapsulated the entire game, or perhaps even the season through its first half, because every phase of the Bears was involved.

The defense allowed a score on a 10-play drive covering 80 yards;

After a three-and-out that included a sack of Cutler, special teams allowed a 42-yard punt return, inexplicably extended to 52 because of a holding penalty on the kicking team.

The offense then needed just one play to allow points of its own, with Cutler sacked at the Chicago 14, fumbling, and the ball being picked up by New England defensive end Rob Ninkovich and returned 15 yards for a touchdown.

Not that Brady needed the Bears’ help, but the defense managed to turn him into Ryan Tannehill, the Miami quarterback who completed 14 of his 15 passes in last Sunday’s first half. Brady was 18 for 21 by halftime but had four TD passes and 203 yards. Two of the touchdowns went to tight end Rob Gronkowski, who caught all eight of his “targets,” then added a 45-yard score by running through safety Ryan Mundy in the third quarter.

New England receiver Brandon LaFell came into the game with 19 catches for the season. He had 10 before the end of the third quarter.

“It just comes down to execution,” Ryan Mundy said. “Because we believe in our systems.” 

Any hope? Maybe. Then again…

The embarrassment left the Bears 3-5 with the obvious eight to play, which may or not be a good thing at this point.

Bears teams have in fact rallied from 3-5 marks to make playoffs in the past (1977, 1979). And a Bears team came from two games below .500 to make the playoffs was in 2005, when Mike Brown offered “We suck” as a team critique following an embarrassing loss to the Browns in Cleveland. That left the Bears 1-3, after which they reeled off eight straight wins under Kyle Orton — the quarterback traded away for Cutler.

But that team was staffed with one of great defenses in franchise history, best in the NFL with 12.9 points allowed per game. The 2014 Bears have held no opponent to fewer than 13 (Atlanta), New England had nearly three times that many (38) in Sunday’s first half, so a defensive bailout of the season is, well, unlikely.

Chicago Sports & Travel, Inc./AllsportsAmerica Thoughts: The Bears need to take the bye week to rest and reorganize. In their history, the Bears have come back twice from three and five to make the playoffs. They have the talent and it's possible, however, I have two questions. #1, Are they mentally tough enough to do it? and #2, Do they have the desire to do it? That's what happen when guys get huge contracts, sub-consciously it doesn't make a difference really whether they win or not, they're going to get their money regardless because it's guaranteed. We'll get to see what happens when the Bears come back after the break and there's no better team to start with than the hated Packers at Soldier Field. Will Cutler finally beat the Packers? Only time will tell.  

Matt Forte leads Bears by example with productivity.

By Henry McKenna

Chicago Bears Running Back, Matt Forte, (#22) 

 

No one yelled in the Bears’ locker room after a 51-23 loss to the Patriots on Sunday. Instead, a quiet negativity filled the room. Eyes glazed over, running back Matt Forte looked exhausted and disappointed. You’d never know he had his sixth game of the season where he exceeded 100 yards from scrimmage.

 

His outstanding performances have gone relatively unnoticed. He may be lighting up the stat book, but in the six weeks of Forte’s brilliance, the Bears are 1-5. Against the Patriots, Forte rushed for 114 yards and caught another 54 yards for a touchdown. But without a win, he was unhappy with the result.

 

“It’s always frustrating to lose,” Forte said. “I don’t care if I have a thousand yards or if I have two yards. A win is a win. We’re here to win, so that’s the frustrating.”

 

Considering the lopsided score, Forte's performance could be ascribed to defensive complacency. But it wasn’t just garbage time that Forte racked up yardage. In the Bears’ only relevant scoring drive – as the rest of their points were scored with the game out of hand – Forte had three touches for 18 yards or more. Forte finished with a 25-yard touchdown reception after beating Jamie Collins, the Patriots’ best coverage linebacker. The running back has been the only Bears player to provide consistency.

 

Forte’s teammates respect his resolve and work ethic. The 28-year-old is leading by example.

 

“That just shows the type of character he has,” left tackle Jermon Bushrod said. “He’s always going to work hard. You see it day in and day out at practice. I see it every Sunday, and it motivates us to go out there and fight for those guys. It’s tough though. Guy’s can be productive, but you don’t get it in the win column the way you want to.”

 

That seems to be the resounding sentiment from the locker room. It’s great that Forte is having a good year, but they would rather the team have a good year. So, the running back is looking forward to a hopefully rejuvenating bye week.

 

“The bye week is] a good time to reassess,” Forte said. “Take a little break and let the body heal up most of all, but not get too down on ourselves. I’m the type to just put my head down and keep working. I ain’t never gonna’ give up or slack in my play. So, I’m going to give the same amount of effort, no matter whether we’re 12-0, 0-12.”

How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks top Sens 2-1 behind rookie G Darling. (Sunday's Game 10/26/2014).

By MATT CARLSON (Associated Press)

Scott Darling didn't have to go far from home to fulfill his NHL dream.

Darling made 32 saves in his NHL debut, Jonathan Toews and Brent Seabrook scored, and the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a two-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.

Darling, a 25-year-old native of the Chicago suburb of Lemont, Illinois, was steady as he faced a handful of tough chances early. He was rock solid in the third when he stopped 16 shots to protect a one-goal lead.
 

''I was excited and terrified,'' Darling said. ''It's 20 years of work coming to this one game. I've been a Blackhawks fan since I knew what hockey was.''
 

The 6-foot-6 Darling was called up from Rockford of the AHL last Tuesday after Blackhawks No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford sustained an upper-body injury.
 

Seasoned backup Antti Raanta started the first three games after Crawford went down, but Darling found out he would get the start on Sunday after Chicago lost 3-2 at St. Louis on Saturday night.

                                                                                                                                                          

After turning aside a few early chances, Darling seemed in charge.

''I try to give off that illusion,'' he said. ''I was pretty nervous to start with, but once you get a few pucks, it's just another hockey game. The guys played really great after that.''

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville agreed about his team's effort and was impressed by Darling, who signed with Chicago as a free agent on July 1 after bouncing around the minors with nine teams in four leagues.

''I thought it was our best four-line rotation of the year,'' Quenneville said. ''We needed (Darling) early in the game, and he was settled down, patient. He controlled his rebounds, handled the puck well.''

Patrick Kane assisted on Toews' goal for his 500th NHL point.

Milan Michalek scored a short-handed goal for the Senators, who have lost two straight.

 

The game featured a matchup of goalies from the Chicago area.

 

Ottawa's Craig Anderson, from Park Ridge, Illinois, stopped 43 shots, including a second-period penalty shot by Andrew Shaw.

The Senators hurt their momentum by taking penalties and being short-handed six times. They also didn't bear down around the net, coach Paul MacLean said.

''We created opportunities, but I don't know if we made (Darling) as busy as we could have or would have liked to have,'' MacLean said. ''We did have some chances, but I don't think the (difference) ends up being their goalie.''

Chicago Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling makes a save during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators in Chicago, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Darling was chosen by Arizona in the sixth round of the 2007 draft, then turned pro in 2010 after two seasons with the University of Maine. He was 2-0 with a 1.44 goals-against average with Rockford before being called up.

Chicago outshot Ottawa 17-12 in the scoreless first period.

Toews opened the scoring 21 seconds into the second with a wrap-around goal.

Anderson slid out and overcommitted to Toews as he skated down the left side of the slot. The Chicago captain circled the net and tucked in a shot from the right side before Anderson could get back into position.

Anderson turned aside Shaw's penalty shot with his shoulder just over a minute later.

Michalek tied it with a short-handed goal at 7:08 when he completed a nifty 2-on-1 rush with Alex Chiasson from the doorstep. Michalek and Chiasson raced down the ice against Brent Seabrook after Brad Richards failed to hold the puck in the Ottawa zone.

Seabrook's screened power-play goal with 6:22 left in the second put Chicago back ahead. Seabrook fired a shot from the blue line with Bryan Bickell parked in front.

Darling was sharp in the third. Chris Phillips fired a rebound wide of a half-open net with 3:45 left.

NOTES: Crawford has resumed skating. ... Quenneville said LW Daniel Carcillo is expected to miss four weeks because of a right knee injury sustained Saturday at St. Louis. ... Only one referee, Steve Kozari, worked the game because fellow official Eric Furlatt was ill. ... Goalies from the Chicago area have faced each other in an NHL game at least once before. On Feb. 20, 2012, Chicago native Al Montoya entered in relief for the host New York Islanders against Ottawa's Anderson. ... A moment of silence was observed before the national anthems to honor those killed in last week's attacks on Canadian armed forces members.

Blackhawks lose Daniel Carcillo, game to Blues. (Saturday's Game 10/25/2014). 

By Tracey Myers

Marian Hossa #81 of the Chicago Blackhawks and Kevin Shattenkirk #22 of the St. Louis Blues battle for the puck on October 25, 2014 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jeff Curry/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Blackhawks weren’t happy with a few things on Saturday night.

They weren’t happy that a ruling didn’t go in their favor. They weren’t happy to lose a teammate, potentially for a few weeks. And they really weren’t happy with how some of their sloppy play was coming back to bite them.

Daniel Carcillo could be out “a bit,” according to coach Joel Quenneville, after suffering an apparent right-knee injury early in the third period. Quenneville figured Carcillo, who injured each knee in his first stint with the Blackhawks a few seasons ago, would be out more than a week or two.

Patrick Sharp and Kris Versteeg scored but some of the Blackhawks’ second-period mistakes proved costly as the St. Louis Blues beat them 3-2 at Scottrade Center on Saturday. It was the second consecutive loss for the Blackhawks, who took an early lead in this game but couldn’t hold it. They came close to tying it late after Versteeg got them to within 3-2 early in the third period. But for the second consecutive contest, and despite late line changes that generated more chances, the Blackhawks couldn’t tie it.

“We tried to get more lines, trying to get everyone going, get more balance and a threat. That’s what we were doing,” Quenneville said. “We scored a goal, got momentum back, it was kind of comparable to the Nashville game. But again, we didn’t get the equalizer.”

The Blackhawks were frustrated in the second period when Ryan Reaves gave the Blues a 2-1 advantage. Replays showed the puck cleared the goal line. The Blackhawks didn’t disagree with that part of it; they just didn’t like how it cleared.

“I think that was goalie interference or something,” Antti Raanta said. “I don’t know how the rules are but I made a save, and the guy pushed me and then the puck came over the line. I don’t know how the rules are.”

The Blackhawks looked agitated at the ruling and it showed. About two minutes later, Dmitrij Jaskin’s rebound goal gave the Blues a 3-1 advantage with just five seconds remaining in the second period.

“That was a really bad rebound, straight to the guy’s stick and he just put the puck back to the net and I was so deep and down he got a whole net open. Of course, that was a bad goal and the game-winning goal,” Raanta said. “Some things you still have to learn and practice. You can’t stay on some things because the game is fast and there are a lot of things still happening. That was a bad goal.”

On both those goals the Blackhawks made costly turnovers.

“We’re giving up some late goals in periods there,” Quenneville said. “We didn’t generate a lot, it was tight. A couple turnovers there in the middle of the ice didn’t need to happen, and it resulted in their play and their winning goals. It was hard to watch.”

Even tougher for the Blackhawks is their lack of finish. Once again, they weren’t getting enough traffic around the opposing goaltender. Once again, they were trying to be too stylish. Once again, they couldn’t come up with one more goal.

“We’re just going to have to find a way to get that greasy goal, get to the net and get rebounds,” Duncan Keith said. “Not every goal’s going to be a pretty play. Just throw it at the net and get a rebound. It seems we’re always looking for that extra pass… . There’s a lot we can work on.”

The Blackhawks are a little frustrated but their confidence isn’t shaken. They can tighten up in some areas and get more aggressive in others.

“I can’t really say why we’re playing like this but we can tighten up our defensive play. Too many scoring chances against us, especially when there are so many good teams in this league and there are no easy games at all. We just have to find that consistency of playing good defensively and not too many scoring chances against us,” Niklas Hjalmarsson said. “I think we can play better. I don’t think we’ve played well in the first part of the season and I think there’s so much more potential.”

How 'bout them Chicago Bulls? Bulls drop ugly preseason finale to Timberwolves.

By Christian Clark

“I think my confidence is still growing,” said Rose, who generally bordered between fabulous and spectacular in his preseason progression as the Bulls finished 4-4 with the “home game” loss in St. Louis. (David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images)   

The Bulls weren't able to overcome a sloppy first quarter, first-half defensive woes and a late scoring flurry from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 113-112 loss at the Scottrade Center on Friday night. 

Derrick Rose poured in a game-high 27 points, but it wasn't enough as Chicago dropped their preseason finale.

Chicago somehow played Minnesota to a 64-all tie at halftime despite its carelessness with the ball and sub-par defensive play. Eleven turnovers in the half — including nine in the first quarter — led to 15 Minnesota points. Those extra possessions, coupled with hot shooting, paved the way for a rare high-scoring half against a Tom Thibodeau defense.

“You’re heading down a slippery slope,” Thibodeau said. “It’s coming easy. You score 64, you give up 64. When you get into the mind set that you’re going to trade baskets with someone, the results aren’t going to be good. You’re leaving it to chance.”

The Timberwolves connected on 23 of 40 field goals through the first 30 minutes, but the Bulls combatted that by making seven 3-pointers and crushing Minnesota on the boards. Chicago enjoyed a 26-15 rebounding advantage at the break.

Chicago got out to a 91-83 after three quarters of action, but the lead didn't last.

Timberwolves guard JJ Barea shrunk what was once a 13-point Chicago advantage to one point when he connected on a 3 with three minutes remaining in the final stanza. Anthony Bennett gave Minnesota a one-point lead a little more than a minute later a mid-range jumper, accounting for two of his 18 points. 

Chicago had plenty of chances to answer — Mike Dunleavy and Kirk Hinrich both missed good looks from 3, and Rose misfired on a floater — but came up empty. Rose made a 3-pointer to whittle the Minnesota lead down to two with just over 30 seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough.

Rookie Zach Lavine iced the game for Minnesota by draining two free throws to give Minnesota a four-point lead with 4.2 seconds left. That made Mike Dunleavy's 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left inconsequential, as the Timberwolves escaped St. Louis with the win.

“It’s a make or miss league. You have to look at shots and analyze where we got our shots,” Thibodeau said. “They were wide open shots and you live with it. Some will go in and some will go out. That’s why you have to count on your defense. Defense, rebounding and keeping your turnovers down — those are three things you’ve got to do.”

Minnesota made 41 of 79 field goals, while Chicago shot 42.4 percent from the field. Part of Chicago’s defensive problems stemmed from its inability to contain Minnesota forward Thaddeus Young, who scored a team-high 17 points and hit four of five from beyond the arc. Pau Gasol struggled to check Young, a stretch-four, throughout the game.

“It’s coming,” Rose said about the Bulls’ defense. “It’s just talking, communicating. On a couple of plays we let Young hit three or four 3s and we easily could have communicated and switched on that, so when we play against stretch fours I think that’s going to be different.”

The loss dropped Chicago to 4-4 in preseason play. They travel to New York to take on the Knicks in their first regular season game Wednesday.

Madison Bumgarner tosses 5-0 shutout in Game 5 to send Giants up 3-2 in the World Series over the Royals. 

By Bill Baer

Madison Bumgarner

Madison Bumgarner has had some kind of post-season. The 25-year-old left-hander left the Royals scratching their heads, limiting them to only four hits while walking none and striking out eight on 117 pitches in a shutout in Game 5 of the World Series.
It’s Bumgarner’s second shutout of this post-season; he blanked the Pirates in the National League Wild Card game. Bumgarner is also the first Giant to toss a shutout in the World Series since Jack Sanford in Game 2 of the 1962 World Series against the Yankees.

Bumgarner is the first to throw a shutout in the World Series since Josh Beckett in the 2003 World Series for the Marlins against the Yankees. He now has a 1.13 ERA in six starts this post-season and a 0.56 ERA in his two World Series starts. Over his career, he now has a 2.27 ERA in 12 playoff starts and one relief appearance. In four career World Series starts spanning 31 innings, Bumgarner owns a sterling 0.29 ERA.

The Giants gave Bumgarner some early run support, scratching out a run in the bottom of the second inning on a Brandon Crawford ground out. In the fourth, Crawford provided some insurance with an RBI single up the middle. Juan Perez created plenty of breathing room in the bottom of the eighth against Royals set-up man Wade Davis, blasting a double off of the very top of the wall — three inches from a three-run home run — in left-center, scoring Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence following their singles to make it 4-0. Perez had himself a double, then advanced to third on the throw to the plate, and scored on the next-at bat when Crawford dunked a single into left field. With the way Bumgarner was dealing, though, one run was enough.

Pablo Sandoval, Hunter Pence, and Travis Ishikawa each had two hits for the Giants, setting the table for Crawford — batting eighth — to knock them in. Sandoval and Pence each scored two runs.

Royals starter James Shields is not to be forgotten. He wasn’t nearly as dominant as Bumgarner, but pitched well enough for a win on most nights, holding the Giants to two runs on eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings. It was a marked improvement over his Game 1 start.

With the Giants now up 3-2 in the World Series over the Royals, the two clubs will use the off-day on Monday to travel to Kansas City for Game 6 on Tuesday night, which will feature Jake Peavy against Yordano Ventura. If necessary, Game 7 on Wednesday night would see Tim Hudson against Jeremy Guthrie.

Cubs: Free-agent manager Joe Maddon considering all options.

By Patrick Mooney

As the Cubs zeroed in on the Boston Red Sox general manager, and the Theo Epstein negotiations began to unfold, an insider put it this way: Once you go down this road, there’s no turning back.

That grudge match between two iconic franchises almost overshadowed the 2011 World Series. It ultimately took months to settle that October compensation drama.

With rumors flying at the winter meetings that December, another official observed the way Epstein’s deliberate, methodical front office operates: They’ll look at any deal from every angle, trying to see if it could work.

Remember those takeaways during Joe Maddon Watch.

The Cubs can’t undo the silence on Clark Street after Maddon opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays. This isn’t expected to have a lightning-quick resolution. Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer can be cold-blooded and don’t automatically rule things out.

An upgrade in the dugout is worth considering, even if Rick Renteria is a good baseball guy who has two guaranteed years left on his contract.

Alan Nero, Maddon’s Chicago-based representative, said his client wants to see what he’s worth on the open market as a free agent.

“We are considering all options,” Nero said Saturday in a telephone interview. “The last thing we want to do is disrespect any managers. Joe is completely comfortable taking a year off.”

Nero also represents Lou Piniella, who left the Rays and spent the 2006 season working as a Fox Sports TV analyst before taking over as Cubs manager and leading the team to back-to-back division titles.

Maddon, who made less than $2 million annually with the Rays, has the Cubs on his radar but will also be sorting through lucrative media opportunities. His free-spirited, outspoken style would make him a natural for TV, but one industry projection had him commanding around $5 million a year in his next managerial job.

Now compare Epstein’s media blackout to Andrew Friedman’s statement. The new president of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers – who worked with Maddon in Tampa Bay – came out on Friday and said Don Mattingly will be his manager in 2015 and hopefully beyond.

Fair or not, Renteria is on a hot seat, because he was hired to do a specific job at a particular point in the rebuilding process: Coaching up young players and trying to smooth out the development process.

Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro went to the All-Star Game together while potential core players like Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Arismendy Alcantara, Kyle Hendricks and Neil Ramirez made their big-league debuts.

But the training wheels will be off for the 2015 Cubs. They don’t want to be a farm team for contenders, selling off assets at the trade deadline. The wins and losses will matter.

This is more about Maddon’s resume and availability than anything Renteria did wrong. But for the record, here was Epstein’s evaluation when asked about Renteria during his end-of-season news conference:

“I think he was extraordinarily consistent,” Epstein said. “He really did a nice job of fulfilling the most important criteria that we laid out for him. He was unfailingly positive. He set a great tone for the players, the mood of the clubhouse, how hard we would play on the field, how hard we would prepare.

“He established an environment where our young players could continue to grow, where they would feel supported and where they could learn how to be big-leaguers and start to learn how to win. He did all those things right from Day 1.”

Renteria wouldn’t be judged on a 73-89 record and a last-place finish. But the way he ran games and the clubhouse – and handled some of the public-messaging aspects of the job – drew some second-guesses inside and outside the organization.

“Anytime you’re a first-year manager, there are going to be some things that you’ve never done before that you’re going to grow into over the course of the year,” Epstein said. “The in-game decisions, he started to be more and more comfortable with the process for making those decisions through the course of the year. That showed up late.

“But let’s be honest: We didn’t give him a roster that was blessed with tremendous speed. We gave him a really young roster with players who haven’t been in certain situations before, who are prone to make mistakes. We gave him a bullpen full of certain relievers who had some restrictions on them, guys who had been coming off injury or were new to the bullpen and couldn’t be used without restrictions.

“I think it was hard for Ricky to go out there with that roster and sort of be a brilliant tactician. I do think he got more comfortable over the course of the year. But that’s certainly an area of growth for him in 2015 as he continues to grow into the job, the way we all do.”

Maddon is essentially a finished product, the established brand name after leading the small-market Rays to the 2008 American League pennant and four more seasons with at least 90 wins. Stay tuned.

White Sox: Paul Konerko named co-winner of Roberto Clemente Award.

CSN Staff

Major League Baseball announced Friday that White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko and Phillies infielder Jimmy Rollins have been named co-winners of the 2014 Roberto Clemente Award, presented by Chevrolet.

Konerko and Rollins are the first ever co-winners of the award, handed out annually to a player(s) who best "represents the game of baseball through positive contributions on and off the field, including sportsmanship and community involvement."

Konerko is a supporter of many White Sox Charities efforts and is the founder — along with his wife Andrea, and former teammate Jim Thome — of the Bring Me Home Campaign, which has helped "raise awareness, generate support, recruit foster parents and advocate for the needs of foster children and their families."

Konerko is the first White Sox player to receive this award since it was established in 1971.

Golf: I got a club for that; Bishop ousted as PGA of America president.

By DOUG FERGUSON

PGA of America President Ted Bishop speaks next to the Presidents Cup trophy at a news conference at City Hall in San Francisco, in this July 2, 2014 file photo. The PGA of America president referred to Ian Poulter as a little girl on two social media accounts Thursday evening Oct. 23, 2014 for his comments on Nick Faldo and Tom Watson as Ryder Cup captains.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Ted Bishop was never afraid to take a risk or share his strong opinions on any subject during his 23 months as president of the PGA of America. Ultimately, that wound up costing him his job.

Bishop became the first PGA president to be removed from office, and he went down swinging.

He said the PGA officers asked him to resign Friday morning over his sexist comments on social media directed at Ian Poulter. Bishop refused, wanting to apologize in person to the PGA board of directors and let the process run its course. It turned out to be a short trip.

"The board heard me out and then voted to impeach me," Bishop said. "That is the due process and I respect that, as painful as it might be."

Bishop was irritated by remarks Poulter made in his book on the Ryder Cup captaincy of Nick Faldo in 2008 and Tom Watson this year. He referred to Poulter as "Lil Girl" on Twitter when stacking up Poulter's feats next to Faldo. In a Facebook post, he noted that Watson (with eight majors) and Faldo (with six majors and the Ryder Cup record for most points) were getting "bashed" by Poulter.

"Really? Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess. C'MON MAN!" he wrote.

The board voted to remove him, and the punishment was severe.

Along with losing his job, Bishop lost privileges afforded all past presidents, such as honorary roles at future PGA Championships and Ryder Cups. Bishop had only 29 days left on his two-year term before the next election at the PGA annual meeting in Indianapolis, not far from the Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Indiana, where he works.

"Today, all I have left is my PGA membership and that will always mean the world to me," Bishop said.

In decided to oust Bishop, the board said the remarks were inconsistent with the association's policies.

"The PGA of America understands the enormous responsibility it has to lead this great game and to enrich lives in our society through golf," PGA chief executive Pete Bevacqua said in a statement. "We must demand of ourselves that we make golf both welcoming and inclusive to all who want to experience it, and everyone at the PGA of America must lead by example."

The PGA of America has 27,000 members, about 1,100 of them women. Bevacqua said in a telephone interview that he received "a lot of negative feedback from all types of sources, internal and external." He declined to specify whether PGA female members were part of that.

Bishop apologized to Poulter and "anyone else I might have offended."

"This is a classic example of poor use of social media on my part and if I had the chance to hit the delete button on the things that I sent out yesterday, I would without hesitation," Bishop said. "The PGA of America asked me to avoid any interaction with the media in the past 24 hours and that is why I did not issue a formal and public apology, which I have wanted to do since early this morning."

Derek Sprague, expected to be voted in as the next president at the Nov. 22 annual meeting, was appointed the interim president. Paul Levy will handle the roles as vice president and secretary until the election.

Suzy Whaley, a teaching pro from Connecticut who qualified to play a PGA Tour event in the Hartford area in 2003, is among three PGA members running for secretary at the Nov. 22 election. If she wins, Whaley would be in line to be PGA president in 2018.

Whaley said she found Bishop's remarks to be "insulting."

"I was extremely disappointed and they were definitely sexist," Whaley said in a telephone interview. "I'm of 100 percent belief that we need to empower young girls." Asked if she complained to the PGA officers, Whaley said, "I didn't have to do that.

"The PGA of America took incredibly swift action and are taking this extremely serious. Obviously, it's critical that we are inclusive."

Poulter was on a plane to China when Bishop posted his remarks Thursday and wasn't aware of them until he landed and found his phone filled with messages.

"Is being called a 'lil girl' meant to be derogatory or a put down?" Poulter said. "That's pretty shocking and disappointing, especially coming from the leader of the PGA of America."

Bishop's boldest move was to pick Watson as the U.S. captain, saying he was tired of the Americans losing. But the move backfired when Watson's heavy-handed style didn't mesh with a younger generation. Watson, 65, was the oldest captain in Ryder Cup history.

Poulter in his book said that Watson's decision-making "completely baffles me." He was referring to Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley being benched for both sessions Saturday. He also was critical of Faldo for his commentary on Golf Channel during the Ryder Cup that Sergio Garcia was "useless" in 2008. Faldo was captain of the only European team to lose in the last 15 years, and Poulter wrote, "So who's useless? I think Faldo might need to have a little look in the mirror."

Davis Love III described Bishop as a friend and a "great supporter of golf" and said he would not remember his presidency for this incident. Among other things, the PGA joined up with the LPGA Tour to help pay for its oldest major. The Women's PGA Championship will be sponsored by KPMG, which will use the week to host a major conference for women executives.

"I have said things in my passion for the Ryder Cup that I wish came out differently," Love said. "We all make mistakes on social media."

Streb seals maiden PGA Tour win in playoff.

Reuters; Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry

Robert Streb tees off on the 17th hole during the third round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Mandatory Credit: Greg Bartram-USA TODAY Sports)

Robert Streb held his nerve to win his first PGA Tour title in a playoff with fellow American Will MacKenzie and Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge for the $5.6 million McGladrey Classic at Sea Island in Georgia on Sunday.

As the afternoon shadows lengthened to end a day of unbroken sunshine on the Seaside Course, Streb sealed victory by sinking a four-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole, the par-three 17th, where de Jonge narrowly missed his attempt from 18 feet.

After retrieving his ball from the cup, the 27-year-old Streb removed his cap to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd before being congratulated by the burly de Jonge, who had also been bidding for his maiden victory on the PGA Tour.

MacKenzie, seeking to end a six-year title drought on the U.S. circuit, was eliminated from the playoff at the first extra hole, the par-four 18th, where he bogeyed after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

The trio had finished the 72 regulation holes on 14-under-par 266, de Jonge closing with a five-under 65, MacKenzie carding a 68 and early starter Streb firing a best-of-the-day 63.

"The wait was a little nerve-wracking because they (the final groups in regulation) had the par-five (15th to come)," Streb, who finished his round an hour-and-a-half before MacKenzie, told Golf Channel.

"And then obviously those last two short putts I was pretty shaky," he added, referring to his four-footer for par on the first extra hole and his birdie putt for victory.

Asked if he could put his emotions into words, Streb replied: "Not yet but I am very thrilled."

BIRDIE FLURRY

De Jonge made the first significant move in a hotly contested final round, a flurry of three birdies in the opening three holes lifting him into a tie for the lead with overnight pacesetters Andrew Svoboda and MacKenzie.

While Svoboda slipped back with bogeys on 11, 12 and 14, Streb, who began the final round five strokes off the pace, drained a 33-footer at the 17th for his fourth consecutive birdie to move into a share of the lead.

Streb had to settle for a par at the last after his birdie attempt from 21 feet pulled up a few inches short of the cup.

"It was a lot of fun," Streb said after signing his card. "I made quite a few putts and stuffed a couple of wedges (close). Before you know it, you've got a whole pile of birdies."

MacKenzie faltered with a three-putt bogey at the 16th but rebounded with a birdie at the 17th, where he very nearly holed his tee shot.

He salvaged a par at the 18th after his tee shot ended up in the right rough and failed to reach the green in two, two-putting from around 25 yards to join the playoff.

NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr. gets his fourth win of the season at Martinsville.

By Nick Bromberg

Sprint Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) celebrates winning the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports)

Dale Earnhardt Jr. now has something he's wanted since he was a kid. A Martinsville grandfather clock.

NASCAR's most popular driver stormed through the field on a restart with five laps to go and passed Tony Stewart for the race lead and the win on Sunday.

Junior had a healthy lead late in the race but a caution flag flew when Kyle Larson and Marcos Ambrose spun around. The caution with 12 laps to go gave crew chiefs an incredibly tough decision: stay out and keep the track position or pit for tires and hope the fresh rubber would be enough to make up the positions lost on pit road.

Junior and crew chief Steve Letarte chose the latter. The No. 88 car came for four tires and restarted fifth after Stewart, Ricky Stenhouse and David Ragan stayed out and Clint Bowyer, who was running third before the caution, took two tires.

Junior was second after the first set of corners thanks to a three-wide jam up ahead of him. When he got to Stewart's bumper, it was absolutely no contest. Junior was finally going to have the clock the speedway gives out as the winner's trophy for every race.

"We've been trying to win here so many years," Junior said. "And this place is so special to me. I've wanted to win here so bad. And we came – we brought some good cars – I'm out of breath more from celebrating than driving."

"Real emotional win. This team on pit road was great and Steve and the guys just did a great job all day. They gave me a great shot at the there with the call at the end to get tires and I can't believe we won here. This means so much to all of us."

The win also comes 10 years and two days after a plane carrying Hendrick Motorsports employees crashed en route to Martinsville. Throughout Sunday, it seemed a pretty good bet that a Hendrick car would win. Junior was good at the end of the race and Jeff Gordon, who finished second, led the most laps.

Junior was with his old team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. when the plane crashed.

"I lost my daddy a long time ago and I know how hard that is," Junior said. "I can't imagine losing the magnitude of people Rick lost. My heart goes out to him during this weekend. And I love that his cars are good here and give him a victory. And this honors them. Just real proud to be able to win at Martinsville in a Hendrick car. They always win here."

His win is Hendrick Motorsports' 22nd win at Martinsville.

It was an incredibly real celebration for Junior in victory lane. Sure, he's out of the Chase thanks to a porous three-race stint in the second round that included crashes at Kansas and Talladega. But the man was so damn happy after he got out of his car. He jumped up on the makeshift victory lane stage and hugged team members before he had to be told to do the customary post-race interview.

After all, it was his fourth win of the season. He has four wins this season, his most in any season since 2004. Heck, entering the season he had only had four wins since 2004.

Junior was jubilant – he called winning races "the best thing" – and enjoying the moment of what could be his last victory with crew chief Steve Letarte, who is leaving to be an analyst with NBC Sports in 2015. What's the celebration going to entail?

"We're going to drink a lot of beer tonight," Junior said. "That's what's going to happen."

Jeff Gordon Inches Closer to 5th Title After Strong Martinsville Showing.

By Jerry Bonkowski

Three checkered flags are all that separate Jeff Gordon from his fifth Sprint Cup championship. That statement doesn’t necessarily mean Gordon has to win all three of those final races of the season.

Rather, all Gordon has to do from this point on is survive and do what he does best: continue to be consistent in each of those three remaining events.

If Gordon can get through Texas, Phoenix and Homestead and manage to hold onto the lead in the points standings that he now has, his Drive For Five bid for a fifth Cup crown will be complete.

Of course, Gordon go a long way toward that by finishing as high as possible in each of those last three races, much like the way he finished runner-up at Martinsville on Sunday to teammate and race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“I’ve never felt like you couldn’t think about being consistent in this format, but points can still get you through,” Gordon said in his post-race media conference Sunday. “Winning gets you through, but points still can.

“It’s good I was second to someone not in the Chase. Had it been someone in the Chase, it would have been hard to swallow.”

Sure, a win Sunday would have given Gordon an automatic berth into the fourth and final round of this year’s reformatted Chase, the four driver, winner-take-all season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

But he got the next best thing at Martinsville. Now if he can only repeat with strong performances at Texas and Phoenix, tracks at which when Gordon is on, he’s really on:

In 27 career starts at Texas, Gordon has one win, nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes. He's coming off a runner-up finish there in this season's spring race on the 1.5-mile banked and super-fast track back in April.

In 31 career starts at Phoenix, Gordon is slightly better with two wins, 11 top-five and 21 top-10 finishes. 

Unfortunately, those same two tracks can be bad for Gordon, as well. When he’s off at either place, he’s really off.

Since his last win at Texas in spring 2009, Gordon has made 10 starts, with five finishes of 23rd or worse, including showings of 36th and 38th in last year's two races there.

Since his last win at Phoenix in spring 2011, Gordon has made six starts, including finishes of 30th and 32nd.

And that’s not even including the nth variable—being caught up in someone else’s wreck and getting knocked out of a race not of his own doing.

Even though Gordon has between a three- and seven-point edge over the next four drivers in the Chase standings, he has a much more comfortable edge over the last three in the rankings: Carl Edwards (-20), Brad Keselowski (-31) and Kevin Harvick (-33).

Keselowski rallied last week at Talladega in a win-or-go-home scenario to punch his ticket into the Eliminator Round. But given how far Bad Brad already is in the standings, one really has to question if lightning can strike twice for him with a win at Texas or Phoenix.

Harvick, on the other hand, does very well at Texas and particularly well at Phoenix. But trying to make up 33 points—particularly if Gordon maintains the kind of consistency that has been his hallmark this season—is going to be very difficult for Harvick.

So, if the standings remain the same over the next two races, we’ll have a lineup in the final championship-deciding race of:

• A four-time champ (Gordon)
• Two former champs who haven’t won a title in a really long time (Gordon since 2001; Matt Kenseth since 2003)
• Two drivers who have never won a Cup crown (Joey Logano and Ryan Newman)
• And two drivers who have yet to win a race in 2014 (Newman and Kenseth).

Leaving Martinsville, Newman is three points behind Gordon, Logano is four back, Kenseth is five back and Denny Hamlin seven points back.

But honestly, put Gordon’s racing resume against any of them, and it’s hard not to pick him to win the championship. I should know; I’ve been picking him to win his fifth crown since probably midseason.

And I haven’t wavered once.

As far as I’m concerned, Gordon is going all the way.

This isn’t Gordon’s championship to win. It’s his to lose—and I don’t see that happening.

Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Van Persie’s late, late equalizer thwarts Blues.

By NBC Sports

Chelsea took the lead through Didier Drogba‘s powerful header just after half time, which looked to be sending Mourinho’s side six-points clear at the top of the Premier League standings. However, after Branislav Ivanovic conceded a free kick in the left corner, and was shown a second yellow card for his troubles, Angel Di Maria whipped in a great ball which RVP smashed home in stoppage time to send the home fans wild.

After this draw Chelsea still remain top of the table and are unbeaten in nine, while United are in eighth place on 13 points.

Early on United got the home crowd going as Di Maria launched a lightning-quick counter attack which resulted in Marouane Fellaini having his shot blocked in the six-yard box and then Di Maria volleying over from 12-yards out. Chelsea showed plenty of poise on the ball in the opening exchanges, with Cesc Fabregas, Oscar and Eden Hazard getting into their stride as Drogba caused United’s central defensive duo of Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling plenty of problems with his hold up play. Rafael and Drogba were booked, as the game started at a frantic pace.
 

The first clear cut chance of the game arrived in the 22nd minute as Adnan Januzaj raced clear and slotted a perfect ball through to van Persie but the Dutchman’s shot was blocked by Thibaut Courtois and moments later Chelsea’s ‘keeper denied RVP’s header as United pushed for the opener. But then United start to cause problems for themselves as first Rojo, then Blind, gave the ball away in bad spots as Chelsea pressed high up the pitch. That led to Cesc Fabregas whipping in a great free kick to the back post which saw Smalling and Branislav Ivanovic colliding at the and the latter fell to the ground claiming a PK. Referee Phil Dowd wasn’t having any of it.

Just before the break both teams came close to the opener as first Drogba was denied by a great low stop from David De Gea, then Januzaj smashed a superb effort into the side-netting as the score was 0-0 at the break.

In the second half United started brightly as RVP teed up Fellaini but the big Belgian hammered his effort wide of the post under pressure. Moments later De Gea made an incredible save from Hazard as the Chelsea player went clean through but United’s ‘keeper somehow blocked his shot. From that resulting corner Chelsea took the lead, with Drogba losing Rafael at the near post and powering a header home to make it 1-0 to Mourinhos’s men.

U.S. claims seventh CONCACAF Women's Championship with 6-0 win over Costa Rica.

By Brooks Peck

The U.S. had a point to prove after failing to win the CONCACAF Women's Championship four years ago and this time around they did it in all caps and with several rows of exclamation points. A 6-0 win over Costa Rica in the final returned the title to the U.S. for the seventh time. They did not allow a single goal over the entire tournament and won their five matches by a combined score of 21-0.

By scoring four goals in the final, Abby Wambach claimed the Golden Boot with a total of seven, beating out teammate Carli Lloyd, who ended up with five and took the Golden Ball as a driving force for the team throughout the tournament. Though most of the matches weren't terribly competitive, they still held value for the U.S. The likes of Tobin Heath, Meghan Klingenberg, Christen Press, Sydney Leroux and the youngest player on the team, University of Virginia senior Morgan Brian, who started the final, showed that they can take on bigger roles at the World Cup in Canada next year.

Of course, the competition in Canada — including the host nation, which didn't take part in the CONCACAF Championship since they automatically qualify for the World Cup — will be much stronger than most of what the U.S. saw over the last 11 days. It's been 15 years since the U.S. last won the Women's World Cup. But if they can convert their enviable depth into the best possible 11 on the pitch at all times, they'll have as good a chance as anyone to win it for a record third time.

The Women's World Cup has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams for the 2015 edition and as of this writing, 21 teams have now qualified. Here's the list:

Canada
China
South Korea
Japan
Australia
Thailand (first appearance)
Switzerland (first appearance)
England
Norway
Germany
Spain (first appearance)
France
Sweden
Brazil
Colombia
Nigeria
Cameroon (first appearance)
Costa Rica (first appearance)
United States
Mexico
Ivory Coast (first appearance)

The World Cup draw will be held on December 6.

College Football Top 25 Rankings, (Week #10 AP and Coaches Polls), 10/26/2014.  

ESPN

AP Top 25
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Mississippi State (46)	7-0	1486
2	Florida State (14)	7-0	1453
3	Alabama	7-1	1290
4	Auburn	6-1	1267
5	Oregon	7-1	1199
6	Notre Dame	6-1	1161
7	Ole Miss	7-1	1095
8	Michigan State	7-1	1086
9	Georgia	6-1	1074
10	TCU	6-1	1030
11	Kansas State	6-1	930
12	Baylor	6-1	839
13	Ohio State	6-1	676
14	Arizona	6-1	669
15	Arizona State	6-1	667
16	LSU	7-2	574
17	Nebraska	7-1	535
18	Utah	6-1	524
19	Oklahoma	5-2	430
20	West Virginia	6-2	379
21	East Carolina	6-1	366
22	Clemson	6-2	265
23	Marshall	8-0	184
24	Duke	6-1	121
25	UCLA	6-2	106

• Dropped from rankings: USC 20

• Others receiving votes: Colorado State 29, USC 22, Wisconsin 14, Stanford 9, Louisville 8, Missouri 7, North Dakota State 3, Oklahoma State 2

USA Today Poll
RK	TEAM	RECORD	PTS
1	Mississippi State (41)	7-0	1528
2	Florida State (21)	7-0	1508
3	Alabama	7-1	1351
4	Auburn	6-1	1276
5	Michigan State	7-1	1269
6	Oregon	7-1	1217
7	Notre Dame	6-1	1170
8	Georgia	6-1	1069
9	Ole Miss	7-1	1067
10	TCU	6-1	1057
11	Kansas State	6-1	979
12	Baylor	6-1	848
13	Ohio State	6-1	817
14	Arizona State	6-1	712
15	Arizona	6-1	652
16	Nebraska	7-1	623
17	LSU	7-2	455
18	Utah	6-1	454
19	East Carolina	6-1	448
20	Oklahoma	5-2	444
21	Clemson	6-2	304
22	West Virginia	6-2	290
23	Marshall	8-0	217
24	Duke	6-1	134
25	UCLA	6-2	107

• Dropped from rankings: USC 21, Minnesota 24

• Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 44, Colorado State 35, Missouri 22, Minnesota 14, Georgia Tech 13, Stanford 10, USC 8, Boise State 4, Louisville 3, Texas A&M 1

Michigan mess: Wolverines mauled again by Spartans.

By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Football Writer)

Brady Hoke was the last person to enter Michigan's locker room, a couple of state troopers trailing behind him waited outside.

Moments later, Hoke's voice boomed loud enough to be heard through the concrete walls and into the hallway.

The coach challenged his team to get back to work and laid the blame for the Wolverines' latest loss to rival Michigan State on himself.

''I didn't prepare you well enough,'' he yelled.

It was brief.

There's not much left to say.
  
Nothing seems to be changing for Michigan. Certainly not against No. 8 Michigan State.

The latest mauling of the Wolverines by the Spartans ended 35-11 on Saturday.

Michigan (3-5, 1-3 Big Ten) finally scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter, its first against their rivals since 2011. Whether or not the Wolverines could get into the end zone was the only interesting thing about the fourth quarter.

''We're all very disappointed and should be,'' Hoke said. ''No. 1 a rivalry game and it's a Big Ten game. The message also is we're going back to work. We have each other.''

It used to be news when Michigan State (7-1, 4-0) beat Michigan, when little brother rose up and knocked the mighty Wolverines down a peg. Now it's routine and the Paul Bunyan Trophy has taken up almost permanent residence in East Lansing. The Spartans have won six of seven, and the last two have been noncompetitive.

Michigan State has stepped on Michigan on its way to the top of the Big Ten, and the Wolverines inability to keep that from happening, to swing the rivalry back toward Michigan, is one of the reasons Hoke's future as coach in Ann Arbor is in serious doubt.

Win totals have been on the decline at Michigan since Hoke's first season, when he took a team left behind by Rich Rodriguez to the Sugar Bowl. Then it was eight wins in 2012 and seven last year. He came into this season needing to reverse that trend. Instead, the slide continues.

You know it's looking bad for a coach when the rival fans start begging for him to stay. Before Saturday's game a plane flew a banner over Spartan Stadium that read: U OF M - KEEP BRADY HOKE - PLZZZ. Michigan State fans chanted ''Keep Brady.''

''No,'' senior linebacker Jake Ryan said when asked if he heard the sarcastic chants. ''We're going into work tomorrow.''

Michigan needs to win three of its last four just to be bowl eligible, and finishes the season at rival Ohio State.

''At the end of the day we've got to go back to work,'' defensive end Frank Clark said, repeating the only solution his coach seems to have. ''It's not the last game of the season. We have more season left to play.''

It's already been a long one.

The Wolverines have been shut out by Notre Dame, routed at home by Minnesota, pounded by Utah - in a game delayed by severe weather that turned the Big House into the Big Empty - and now toyed with by Michigan State, again.

Even when the Wolverines try to make a bold statement, it backfires.

Before the game Michigan linebacker Joe Bolden drove a stake into the field at Spartan Stadium with his teammates gathered around, getting fired up. Hoke said he heard about it, but wasn't exactly sure what went down.

Whatever it was, Michigan State used it as motivation and answered the perceived slight by scoring a touchdown with 28 second left in the game.

''I just felt like we needed to put a stake in them at that point,'' Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said.

As if the Spartans hadn't already. Michigan State outgained Michigan 446-186.

Hoke said he had no problem with the Spartans' exclamation point.

''We have 11 guys out there. They have 11 guys out there. We're trying to compete. They're trying to compete,'' he said.

He did take issue with a question suggesting his team didn't show up. He defended their effort.

''You're wrong. They did show up,'' he said. ''Am I angry? I'm angry when they don't get the rewards they worked so hard for.''

UNC's Williams: 'Very sad time' after fraud report.

By AARON BEARD (AP Basketball Writer)

North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams reacts to questions regarding the release of a report on academic fraud at the university, following the team's NCAA college basketball exhibition game against Fayetteville State on Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, Chapel Hill, N.C. (AP Photo/The News & Observer, Robert Willett)

 

North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams said Friday night it's a ''very sad time'' at the school after an investigation found widespread academic fraud and adds that his program ''thought we were doing the right thing.''

After his team's exhibition victory, Williams spoke for the first time in response to a report released Wednesday that outlined how fraud ran unchecked in the formerly named African and Afro-American Studies (AFAM) department for nearly two decades. It involved more than 3,100 students - about half were athletes - taking sham classes and earning artificially high grades, while poor oversight allowed the problem to worsen.
 

Williams said he was ''dumbfounded'' by the details in the report and said UNC ''made some mistakes for a long time'' that damaged the school's reputation and led the NCAA to reopen its probe into academic misconduct here.
 

''We've made a lot of moves,'' he said. ''A lot of procedures have been put in place, a lot of people have lost their jobs. And I'll always be sad about the image we have right now around the country. We've had one of the greatest images that you can possibly have. We're going to work as hard as we can possibly work to have that image be back to where it was.''
 

The report by former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein called the system a ''shadow curriculum'' running from 1993 to 2011 within the department. Much of that centered on an office secretary assigning a research paper and then giving A's and B's after a quick scan regardless of the quality with no faculty oversight and no class attendance.
 

That administrator, Deborah Crowder, wasn't a faculty member and offered the classes - sometimes listing them as lectures but treating them like an independent study - until her retirement in 2009 in an effort to help struggling students. The former department chairman, Julius Nyang'oro, offered more of the courses until questions were raised two years later.
 

The report stated Williams and other coaches said they were aware there were independent study courses offering easy grades, but they didn't know the classes were bogus.
 

Wainstein said he found no reason not to believe them.
 

''We thought we were doing the right thing, felt very comfortable about it,'' Williams said of his program. ''Our kids that were in the AFAM, I think our kids tried to do the right thing. The kids tried to do the work that they were assigned.''
 

The report also outlined how counselors for athletes often steered students to the classes and that several - including former men's basketball counselor Wayne Walden - had at least some knowledge of irregularities.
 

Williams defended Walden as ''one of the most ethical guys I've ever known in my life'' and said there were parts of Wainstein's report he disagreed with. But he also said Walden and everyone involved in the program can look back and say they wish they'd have done some things differently.

Williams also addressed the high number of AFAM department majors on his 2005 NCAA championship squad, his second season since returning to his alma mater after 15 years at Kansas. He said he spoke to then-assistant coach Joe Holladay after the '05 season about concerns that players were clustering in one major and to ensure players were choosing something of interest instead of being steered there.

The numbers soon dropped. He also said he wanted his players to take more courses with ''a regular classroom setting'' than the independent study courses that didn't require class attendance.
 

Williams wouldn't speculate on whether the program would face sanctions once the NCAA has completed its probe.
 

''I believe in this university,'' he said. ''Nobody knows what's going to happen with the NCAA but I feel strongly - strongly - that we did things the right way.''

Judge halts New Jersey's sports betting plan.

By DAVID PORTER (Associated Press)

A federal judge on Friday granted a request from the four major U.S. professional sports leagues and the NCAA to temporarily stop New Jersey from allowing legalized sports betting.

U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp issued a temporary restraining order after a request by the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, Major League Baseball and the NCAA. He said the leagues have shown that they would be irreparably harmed if the state's casinos and racetracks were permitted to allow sports betting.

The leagues' lawsuit against the state to permanently prevent it from allowing sports betting will proceed.

Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed a law on Oct. 17 that effectively repeals the state's ban on sports wagering and allows it at racetracks and casinos.

''This is a temporary order while the core issues surrounding sports wagering in New Jersey are fully considered by the court,'' Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said in a statement. ''We continue to have full confidence in the strength and appropriateness of our position as we move forward in the litigation.''

Monmouth Park racetrack said that its plan to start accepting bets on Sunday has been put on hold following the decision.

''While we are disappointed not to be able to start this Sunday, we are confident that sports betting will be coming to New Jersey in the very near future,'' Dennis Drazin, a legal consultant for the racetrack, said in a statement.

Racetrack officials pointed out that the restraining order applies only to the four pro leagues and the NCAA, and does not outlaw betting on other sports, including boxing, MMA fighting, NASCAR and soccer. They did not unveil plans to offer betting on those sports.

No other racetracks or casinos have revealed plans yet to offer sports betting.

New Jersey would have become only the second state in the country, after Nevada, to offer wagering on individual games at betting locations known as sports books. Delaware offers multi-game parlay pools where bettors must pick several games correctly to win money.

In an opinion read in court Friday, Shipp said he based his granting of the temporary restraining order partly on the public interest in knowing whether state law is in conflict with federal law. He also said the leagues demonstrated they would be ''irreparably harmed'' if sports betting were allowed in New Jersey.

''More legal gambling leads to more total gambling, which in turns leads to an increased incentive to fix plaintiffs' matches,'' Shipp said. New Jersey's permission of sports gambling ''would engender the same ills'' that the 1992 federal law at the heart of the current legal fight sought to combat, he added.

New Jersey already lost a constitutional challenge to that law, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which bans state-sponsored sports gambling. Instead, Christie relied on a 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last year that said PASPA didn't prohibit New Jersey ''from repealing its ban on sports wagering.'' The leagues have claimed the state is nevertheless violating the law because racetracks and casinos are heavily regulated by the state.

Shipp indicated the temporary restraining order was necessary to ensure the issue is argued in court. The leagues and the state traded briefs this week up until Thursday.

''At this stage of the proceedings, the court can't read the 3rd Circuit's order so as to render PASPA null,'' Shipp said.

New Jersey lawmakers see sports betting as a lifeline for the state's flagging casino and horse racing industries. In Nevada, nearly $3.5 billion was wagered on sports in 2012, according to the American Gaming Association, a Washington-based trade group. More than 95 percent of that was returned to patrons in winnings, the group estimated.

Estimates of illegal sports betting nationwide run into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

On This Date in Sports History: Today is Monday, October 27, 2014.

MemoriesofHistory.com

1961 - The American Basketball League began play.

1973 - The New York Islanders beat the New York Rangers for the first time.

1985 - Anthony Carter began a National Football League (NFL) streak of 100+ consecutive game receptions.

1995 - The contract that finalized the Cleveland Browns' move to Baltimore was signed in secret.

1996 - Bud Adams, owner of the Houston Oilers, announced that he would allow his team to play one final season in Houston before moving the team to Nashville, TN.

1996 - Irving Fryer (Philadelphia Eagles) became the 15th player in NFL history to catch 600 passes in a career.

2002 - The Anaheim Angels won their first World Series. They beat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the series.

2002 - Emmitt Smith (Dallas Cowboys) became the all-time leading rusher in the NFL when he extended his career yardage to 16,743. He achieved the record in his 193rd game. He also scored his 150th career touchdown.

2003 - The Monday Night Football game between the San Diego Chargers and the Miami Dolphins was played in Tempe, Arizona. The game had been moved from San Diego due to wild fires.

2004 - Barry Bonds' 700th home run ball was sold at auction for $804,129.

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