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TRENDING: Las Vegas sets Bears' win total at third fewest in the NFL. (See the football section for Bears news and NFL updates).
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
TRENDING: Stan Bowman shouldn't get a pass for needless poke at Joel Quenneville. (See the hockey section for Blackhawks updates and NHL news).
TRENDING: Sam Smith hands out his grades of the 2016-17 Chicago Bulls. (See the basketball section for Bulls news and NBA updates).
TRENDING: Jose Quintana throws eight shutout innings as White Sox blank Royals. (See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).
Cubs will stick with leadoff guy. (See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! By the numbers, Bears 'won' the Mitch Trubisky trade.
By John Mullin
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Of all the variables surrounding the Bears' trade to get into position for the drafting Mitch Trubisky, here is arguably the most meaningless (or is it "least meaningful?" grammarians, weigh in):
Based on just the numbers, the Bears’ giving the San Francisco 49ers third- and fourth-round picks this draft and a third in 2018, for the right to move up from No. 3 to No. 2 in round one may have been about the right price to pay for what they believe will be their franchise quarterback. A good price, actually.
Here's the “deal:”
ProFootballTalk.com tracked down the new draft-trade chart put together by Rich Hill at PatsPulpit.com, which is an excellent effort at collating information from NFL executives and examples of deals into a revised chart reflecting various market factors that have changed since Jimmy Johnson his in use with the Dallas Cowboys, including the tweaks based on the 2011 CBA implementation.
Rich’s conclusion to me: “The Bears get edge, but…” and here’s his math:
Bears get: No. 2 (717.17)
49ers get: No. 3 (514.33), No. 67 (74.59), No. 111 (28.22) and 2018 third round (38.02) = 655.16
That gives the Bears a delta of +62.01, which is the value equivalent to the 75th overall pick (third round).
The huge obvious qualifier (both in the trade and in the future) lies in the value of the quarterback; Trubisky was not as highly regarded as either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz, who went 1-2 in the 2016 draft to teams (Los Angeles, Philadelphia), that traded massive hauls to move up for them. Washington mortgaged its future in 2012 to move up to No. 2 for Robert Griffin III, another prospect rated considerably higher than Trubisky.
A specific parallel, sans “table numbers?” San Diego trading with Arizona to swap places from No. 3 to No. 2 in the 1998 draft. The Chargers gave the Cardinals two No. 1’s and a No. 2 plus two players. As far as a No. 2, Leaf wasn’t Donovan McNabb (no trade) or Wentz. If Trubisky is closer to the latters, the deal (and Bears scouting under Pace) was probably a good thing.
Considerable debate has swirled over whether the Bears were the only team bidding, whether the 49ers actually had other offers or if the Bears were just the only team willing to meet San Francisco’s price. The last issue isn’t really an issue; of course the Bears were the only one to meet the price, which is why they got the No. 2 pick.
Las Vegas sets Bears' win total at third fewest in the NFL. Really???!!!
By CSN Staff
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Ryan Pace's decision to draft North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky may yield dividends in the future, but Las Vegas doesn't believe it affects the team's 2017 outlook.
The Bears' over-under win total at South Point casino opened at 5, the third lowest number behind only the Browns (4) and 49ers (4.5), owners of the two worst records in 2016.
Unsurprisingly the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots led the way at 11 wins, followed by Pittsburgh (10.5) and Seattle (10.5).
The Green Bay Packers led the way in the NFC North at 10 wins, followed by the Vikings (8.5) and Lions (8).
The Bears are only opening-line favorites in two games this season....against the 49ers and Browns.
Week 1: +6 vs. Falcons
Week 2: + 7 at Buccaneers
Week 3: +5.5 vs. Steelers
Week 4: +9.5 at Packers
Week 5: +2 vs. Vikings
Week 6: +7 at Ravens
Week 7: N/A vs. Panthers
Week 8: +6 at Saints
Week 9: BYE
Week 10: +6.5
Week 11: +1 vs. Bears
Week 12: +6 at Eagles
Week 13: -4 vs. 49ers
Week 14: +6 at Bengals
Week 15: +6 at Lions
Week 16: -4.5 vs. Browns
Check out each team's win total right here.
Chicago Sports & Travel Inc./AllsportsAmerica Opinion: We know that Vegas is generally right, however, anything is possible. With that being said, look for the Bears to be 8-8 at the least and maybe a little better. Just our opinion. Save this article because someone's going to be right and someone's going to be wrong. We just think we're going to be right!!!
The Chicago Sports & Travel Inc./AllsportsAmerica Editorial Staff.
NFL needs to change its rules regarding undrafted free agents.
By Mike Florio
(Photo/AP)
As the draft wraps up each year, one of the most underreported stories arises from the rampant negotiations conducted and wink-nod agreements reached between players who may not be drafted and teams that want to sign them as free agents. It’s a blatant violation of the rules that goes unenforced and essentially ignored by the league, with every team rushing to strike deals with undrafted free agents while they still may be drafted by another team.
One league source estimated that 90 percent of all UDFA deals were unofficially finalized before the 2017 draft ended. The frenzy puts extra pressure on players and agents to accept the terms or risk having teams move on to other candidates.
It’s similar to the process that unfolds during the early hours of the free-agency negotiation period, when teams insist on knowing whether a given player will agree to terms with a threat/promise that they’ll move on to the next guy on the list. It prevents players from making the best decisions possible, forcing them to either accept a job that may not be ideal at the risk of losing the chance completely.
The problem could easily be fixed, if the league office cares enough to make the process more orderly. By simply preventing any undrafted players from being signed for 48 or 72 hours after the draft, agents and players would have a chance to weigh options. Likewise, teams would have less incentive to launch an unseemly land rush while picks are still being made.
It remains to be seen whether the NFL will ever change the rule. Based on past circumstances involving different rules that were widely broken without consequence, maybe the league will wait to catch one team doing that while every team is doing, make an example out of that team with suspensions and forfeited draft picks, and then finally change the rule.
One league source estimated that 90 percent of all UDFA deals were unofficially finalized before the 2017 draft ended. The frenzy puts extra pressure on players and agents to accept the terms or risk having teams move on to other candidates.
It’s similar to the process that unfolds during the early hours of the free-agency negotiation period, when teams insist on knowing whether a given player will agree to terms with a threat/promise that they’ll move on to the next guy on the list. It prevents players from making the best decisions possible, forcing them to either accept a job that may not be ideal at the risk of losing the chance completely.
The problem could easily be fixed, if the league office cares enough to make the process more orderly. By simply preventing any undrafted players from being signed for 48 or 72 hours after the draft, agents and players would have a chance to weigh options. Likewise, teams would have less incentive to launch an unseemly land rush while picks are still being made.
It remains to be seen whether the NFL will ever change the rule. Based on past circumstances involving different rules that were widely broken without consequence, maybe the league will wait to catch one team doing that while every team is doing, make an example out of that team with suspensions and forfeited draft picks, and then finally change the rule.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Stan Bowman shouldn't get pass for needless poke at Joel Quenneville.
By David Haugh
Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman on the team's need for change this offseason. (Photo/Chris Hine/Chicago Tribune)
That's when the Hawks announced the trade of backup goalie Scott Darling to the Hurricanes, a time of the week typically reserved for the dissemination of information businesses and government agencies hope nobody notices.
With the Cubs at Fenway Park, the White Sox in first place, the Bulls in an elimination game and the Bears in free fall at the NFL draft, the Hawks issued a news release making official a move that came as little surprise.
Just as predictably, the Darling trade announcement received scant attention. Too much else was happening to give the kid from Lemont his due on the way out the door or project how the deal affected the Hawks' offseason. Who has time to examine the Hawks' goalie situation with the Bulls exposing their roster flaws and the Bears drafting small-college YouTube sensations? Who in the media corps has time for anything else when a Cub speaks?
With the Cubs at Fenway Park, the White Sox in first place, the Bulls in an elimination game and the Bears in free fall at the NFL draft, the Hawks issued a news release making official a move that came as little surprise.
Just as predictably, the Darling trade announcement received scant attention. Too much else was happening to give the kid from Lemont his due on the way out the door or project how the deal affected the Hawks' offseason. Who has time to examine the Hawks' goalie situation with the Bulls exposing their roster flaws and the Bears drafting small-college YouTube sensations? Who in the media corps has time for anything else when a Cub speaks?
Don't misunderstand. The Hawks manage perception better than any team in town and didn't intentionally try to bury the Darling news. It happened naturally. Everybody knew that trading Darling was inevitable because the Hawks couldn't fit both him and Corey Crawford under the salary cap. Keeping Crawford made perfect sense after he was the Hawks' best player in the Predators series — that and the two Stanley Cup rings Crawford owns.
But what the timing of Friday's trade reinforced was the difference in scrutiny Chicago fans and media give the Hawks compared to the Cubs, Sox, Bulls and Bears — specifically the front offices. The Hawks and general manager Stan Bowman remain easier to overlook than they should be for all of us.
Bowman has earned the benefit of the doubt by virtue of drafting talented prospects and navigating the maze that is the NHL salary cap. But, in comparison, Bowman too often gets a pass partly because of a local sports media culture conditioned to question Chicago's other teams more critically than the one with three titles since 2010. Many of the reasons for that reality trace back before the Rocky Wirtz era, rooted in the years the Hawks were so irrelevant sports-radio producers instructed hosts not to talk hockey. Other media outlets treated the Hawks similarly.
In some ways, hockey analysis in our sports city still is recovering from seasons of neglect. As a result, we are a hockey market more forgiving than fierce, more willing to praise Bowman's trade-deadline aggressiveness the past two seasons than criticize the dud players he acquired. We focus on the NHL's best core enough to overshadow all the bad contracts Bowman signed. We possess much more institutional knowledge regarding how to run baseball, basketball or football teams than a hockey team. Or at least we think we do.
Put another way: If Bowman were the general manager of the Cubs or Bears, his seat would feel much hotter after two straight first-round playoff exits after a championship.
Rip the Bulls, mock the Bears and worry about the Cubs but realize that none of Chicago's teams endured a worse April than the Hawks, who still should be playing. And it's not former assistant coach Mike Kitchen's fault the Hawks aren't still playing, by the way.
That was the impression the Hawks left when they impulsively fired Kitchen, coach Joel Quenneville's best friend in charge of the defense, after the aging defensemen Bowman added looked old and slow against the Predators. Bowman couldn't fire Father Time, who was too obvious on the penalty kill, so Kitchen apparently had to go.
Rip the Bulls, mock the Bears and worry about the Cubs but realize that none of Chicago's teams endured a worse April than the Hawks, who still should be playing. And it's not former assistant coach Mike Kitchen's fault the Hawks aren't still playing, by the way.
That was the impression the Hawks left when they impulsively fired Kitchen, coach Joel Quenneville's best friend in charge of the defense, after the aging defensemen Bowman added looked old and slow against the Predators. Bowman couldn't fire Father Time, who was too obvious on the penalty kill, so Kitchen apparently had to go.
Bowman's power play caused much less consternation around Chicago than when, in July 2013, Bulls general manager Gar Forman fired assistant Ron Adams, coach Tom Thibodeau's biggest ally. And Thibodeau didn't have Quenneville's resume — at times we in the media only treated him like he did.
You don't have to go far in hockey circles to find a source aware that Kitchen's dismissal angered Quenneville, the most qualified hockey mind at 1901 W. Madison. As level-headed as Bowman is, this was an odd fight to pick. In the end, nobody wins and Bowman only risks hurting himself. Bowman has co-existed with Coach Q long enough to know that the pros outweigh the cons.
Tread carefully, Stan. You don't want to be perceived as being the guy who drove a Hall of Fame coach out of town, a legacy that would be difficult to outgrow. Late Bulls general manager Jerry Krause never did, and he won six titles. It's not hard to imagine Quenneville, 58, leaving the Hawks after next season and winning a Cup elsewhere. With due respect, it's not as easy to say the same thing about Bowman.
In an interview with the Tribune's Chris Hine, Blackhawks President John McDonough praised the direct way his executives, scouts and coaches communicate.
"I sometimes get concerned that people on the outside think this is the Camelot Blackhawks, that things look so smooth,'' McDonough said. "They really should attend our meetings here. We really let it go.''
You don't have to go far in hockey circles to find a source aware that Kitchen's dismissal angered Quenneville, the most qualified hockey mind at 1901 W. Madison. As level-headed as Bowman is, this was an odd fight to pick. In the end, nobody wins and Bowman only risks hurting himself. Bowman has co-existed with Coach Q long enough to know that the pros outweigh the cons.
Tread carefully, Stan. You don't want to be perceived as being the guy who drove a Hall of Fame coach out of town, a legacy that would be difficult to outgrow. Late Bulls general manager Jerry Krause never did, and he won six titles. It's not hard to imagine Quenneville, 58, leaving the Hawks after next season and winning a Cup elsewhere. With due respect, it's not as easy to say the same thing about Bowman.
In an interview with the Tribune's Chris Hine, Blackhawks President John McDonough praised the direct way his executives, scouts and coaches communicate.
"I sometimes get concerned that people on the outside think this is the Camelot Blackhawks, that things look so smooth,'' McDonough said. "They really should attend our meetings here. We really let it go.''
The next meeting they let it go, perhaps somebody can candidly remind Bowman the Hawks need Quenneville more than Quenneville needs the Hawks.
Blackhawks sign Czech forward David Kampf to entry-level deal.
By Charlie Roumeliotis
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Chicago GM Stan Bowman is big on reaching into the overseas market, and he snagged another one Monday.
The Blackhawks have inked free agent forward David Kampf to an entry-level contract, the team confirmed Tuesday. According to Cap Friendly, it's a two-year deal worth $925,000 per year.
Kampf, 22, set career highs with 15 goals and 16 assists in 52 games this past season for Piráti Chomutov of Czech Extraliga, and also compiled 10 points (three goals and seven assists) in 15 playoff games. It's a significant leap from his rookie campaign, when he potted nine goals and four assists in 42 regular season contests, and one point in eight playoff tilts.
Kampf is a 6-foot-2, 192-pound versatile winger who will certainly get a look at training camp this fall as the Blackhawks try to inject more youth and fresh blood into their roster.
At the very worst, he will provide some depth up front in Rockford, where he will hone his game and get accustomed to the North American style of play.
Blackhawks acquire draft pick from Carolina.
By Chicago Blackhawks Media Relations
(Photo/www.chicagoblackhawks.com)
"We could count on Scott in any situation as he was always reliable," said Executive Vice President/General Manager Stan Bowman. "We appreciate his contributions to the Blackhawks organization -- including a Stanley Cup Championship team -- and we wish him well as he continues his career in Carolina."
Darling, 28, compiled a 39-17-9 record with a career goals-against average of 2.37, a .923 save percentage and four shutouts in three seasons with the Blackhawks. He set a career high with 18 wins this past season, and his .924 save percentage in 2016-17 was tied for fifth-best in the NHL. A member of the 2015 Stanley Cup championship team, he was originally signed by the Blackhawks as a free agent on July 1, 2014. Darling was selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the sixth round (153rd overall) in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session..... Sam Smith hands out his grades of the 2016-17 Chicago Bulls.
By Sam Smith
(Photo/www.chicagobulls.com)
Sam Smith gives each player an individual grade based on their performance this season.
Eighteen different players and a half dozen spending time with the Windy City Bulls. A four-game winning streak the high point, a five-game losing streak the low point. Twelve different players starting games. Twenty –one wins against winning teams; 20 wins against losing teams. Winning the second game of back to backs more times than winning the first. Setting a record for wins in games televised on TNT. Winning eight of 10 on Thursdays and three of 14 on Fridays.
Team turmoil and dysfunction, fines, benchings and a playoff spot on the last day of the regular season.
A shocking and surprising season that is difficult to figure out? Hardly.
That’s what happens when you are average, when you finish 41-41, which actually was overachieving of sorts.
Almost every preseason prediction about the Bulls had the team finishing around .500 and just making or missing the playoffs. The odds makers in Las Vegas had the over/under on the Bulls at 38 wins. Hey, you could have provided for retirement forecasting 41 wins.
Excellence, greatness in sports, is consistency, the ability to perform at a high level and succeed regularly despite the vagaries of life, the injuries, the disappointments, the good and bad days. Average produces the unexpected and erratic.
The Bulls were an average team because, essentially, it was Year 1.
It was a wonderful, if ultimately unfulfilling, six-year run in which the Bulls were considered a title contender, or final four, contender, every season. The Bulls averaged 50 wins for those six seasons. And then it was done just last June, Derrick Rose traded, Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah gone as free agents, Kirk Hinrich traded just months before. A team torn apart, E’Twaun Moore and Aaron Brooks let go, Mike Dunleavy traded and then soon Tony Snell.
So it was a new start, though hardly a beginning. Older veterans Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade were brought in for short term stability. And they did that even if it seemed as unstable in January as it’s been since Dick Motta was threatening to fight his players. But they got it together and they did make the playoffs, which most doubted, and certainly as recently as March. And they shocked the NBA world. At least for a few days in Boston.
It was a season less to ultimately succeed, not that it can ever be a goal, but to begin an undertaking, examining your inventory and determining which among them is worth building with and where additions and changes are necessary.
In that respect, this couldn’t have been a better season. There were enough auditions and enough success to make the spring compelling, at least for a bit. There were opportunities for leadership and for retreat, and chances to watch how that was handled by individuals. There wasn’t any money spent on strangling contracts that will hinder the team going forward over the next five years. Though that path is hardly clear or certain yet.
Because after all, it’s just the beginning.
So how did they do?
Grading, as all of us know from our school years, is a very subjective process. There are your tough graders and easy graders, course work that might be ruled an A by some and a C by others. It’s never scientific. It’s only a broad opinion about behavior and production. Most of us get annual reviews at work. Few of us have them publicized. For which we are grateful.
It’s not that way in professional sports. But, after all, these are people whose every action on the job receives instant analysis and critique. Like I tell my colleagues sometimes, finish that sentence with 20,000 people booing you and yelling, ‘Verb, you moron, verb.”
Anyway, this is my grading standard:
Dwyane Wade is a better player than Paul Zipser, but Paul Zipser came much closer to his potential and expectations this season than did Dwyane Wade. It isn’t a level playing field test in sports. You cannot completely be measured by output since roles and duties are different. Some get more chances to score while others are asked to help facilitate their scoring. Some roles are defined, like starting a game and knowing when you will play. Others face serendipity, chance and happenstance, never knowing when and if they will play.
So the standards have to be different because there is no one standard. I’m grading according to how well players performed based on what we expected them to do or not do.
Jimmy Butler
All-Star starter. Gold medal Rio Olympics. Averaged career highs of 23.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists. Averaged 22.7 in playoffs. Eastern Conference Player of the Week three times. Scored 52 points against Charlotte Jan. 2
He did pretty much all you asked. He raised his game, took over in fourth quarters, made big shots, and kept up his top defense. Basically everything but win. Not that it was totally, or even in great part, his fault. But for the last two seasons, Butler was the acknowledged go to guy on the team and its been .500 since, its poorest two-year stretch since 2010. It’s like with Chris Paul. You’re among the game’s best, but you have to lift your team. Certainly, it wasn’t a strong roster. But Butler did in each season have a future Hall of Fame teammate, albeit past his prime. It wasn’t an expansion team. It’s one reason why the Bulls future and direction remains uncertain.
Grade: A
Dwyane Wade
Missed 22 games, including 11 late in season with elbow fracture. Averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Scored season high 35 points vs Knicks in November. Averaged 21.1 in February and then had two lowest scoring months in March and April and 15 in playoffs for lowest ever in playoffs. Sat out fives games for rest.
Everyone expected more; perhaps it was unfair given his age and injury history. Maybe it’s just not there anymore. It’s OK; it happens to everyone. But the leadership was an issue, also. After an encouraging start bringing guys together, Wade almost blew up the team with a questionable condemnation of the young players, especially work habits, when, in fact, Wade worked the least given his many days to rest, rarely practicing and not accompanying the team on trips when he was off. It almost destroyed the season. But Wade is smart and started to get it just before he got hurt in March, lobbying for Rajon Rondo to have more impact after being a Rondo critic early. Upon Wade’s return, he settled into a tertiary role and the team was at its best. He probably should see the game like Vince Carter and accept his limitations after an elite career and be a piece instead of a centerpiece. But he still seems to feel the pressure to live up to his name, which is what makes having past superstars problematic.
Grade: C
Rajon Rondo
Averaged 7.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 6.7 assists. Started 42 of 69 games in fewest starts of career since rookie season. Had five coach did not play games. First Bulls player with 15 assists in six years with 15 against Cavs in March. His 37.6 percent three-point shooting was a career best and led the team this season. Averaged 11.5 points, 10 assists and 8.5 rebounds in two playoff games before being injured. Bulls won both.
Oh, what a strange trip it was, starting, benched, out of the rotation, inactive, a reserve and then a starter again and then the most important player at the end. He belied his reputation as a divisive force as the glue that helped keep the team together amidst midseason debate. He vastly improved his shooting and actually became the regular who had the best three-point shooting percentage. Though playful with media in offering mixed signals, he was a rock for the unsteady young players, a great example with his work habits and not one to make an issue of his inconsistent use given his accomplishments as an All Star and champion.
Grade: B
Robin Lopez
Started 81 games, missing one for fighting suspension. Averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 10th in league in offensive rebounds. Had career long streak of 11 straight games scoring in double figures. Averaged career high 12.7 points in playoffs.
There’s only so much he can do, but he did it. He was reliable, missing just one game when he got into a fist fight with Serge Ibaka. Where was he when they played the Bad Boys? He’s slow, so he doesn’t get to rebounds in space well and can be taken advantage of in pick and roll with the limited mobility. But he goes to the offensive boards as well as any, has a reliable face up shot and curious hook that goes more than you’d expect. Never complains about time; always supportive. Sure, big men in this era are shooting threes, and he isn’t. But you couldn’t have asked for more.
Grade: A
Nikola Mirotic
Averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds and shot 34.2 percent on threes. Had 15 starts in 70 games. Averaged 14 points after the All-Star break and 14 points as a starter after nine points pre-All Star. Had eight games scoring at least 20 points with eight double/double games. Four times sat on coach decision. Averaged 8.7 points and shot 28.6 percent on threes in playoffs.
He made progress, though it took much of the season. Losing his potential starting job to Taj Gibson in training camp seemed to set him back. He became more stable in not so much faking and flailing. But it really wasn’t until after the Gibson trade and support from Wade and Butler about starting that seemed to give him confidence and led to results. He had a few benching in which he didn’t play at all, but remained positive, at least externally. He seemed a bit uncertain with free agency pending. He retained that elusive potential, but maddening inconsistency.
Grade: C
Bobby Portis
Averaged 6.8 points and 4.6 rebounds. Averaged 6.7 in playoffs. Played one game in D-league. Started 13 games, but had coach did not play 18 times. Shot 33 percent on threes. Had career high 22 points against Jazz in March.
He was set back as the team tried to shoe horn him into minutes with no position. So he began the season as a backup at center and didn’t respond well. He became hesitant about the duties: Roll, pop, shoot, drive? He broke out verbally first as the voice of the young players in the team meeting in January, standing up for his teammates and gaining widespread respect. His hustle and headlong play finally earned him a regular role after Gibson was traded. He lacks some athleticism, but has the potential to grow with his shooting ability after finally getting some regular playing time.
Grade: B
Paul Zipser
Averaged 5.5 point and 2.8 rebounds. Averaged 7.3 in playoffs. Started 18 games; missed 13 games with injury and illness. Played three games in D-league. Scored career high 21 points in last game of season.
One of the biggest surprised of the draft. Milwaukee’s Malcolm Brogdon could be rookie of the year as a second rounder, but Zipser at No. 48 looked like a stash-in-Europe guy or, at best, D-league all star. But he showed impressive poise in spot time and even some starts and a big game in the playoffs. He also has some limitations athletically, but moves well and plays smart, so he can make up for that. He shoots well and plays confidently for someone no one expected.
Grade: B
Jerian Grant
Averaged 5.9 points and shot 36.6 percent on threes. Averaged 3.2 points in playoffs. Started 28 games with 15 games did not play coach decision. Had 17 points and 11 assists against Orlando in April. Played two games in D-league.
He’ll have to find a position. The Bulls wanted him to be a point guard, but his shooting was his strength. He got a month of starts with Rondo demoted, but the team staggered in that period. Has a tendency to dribble too much and hold the ball, which didn’t work well with Butler and Wade having similar inclinations. Didn’t extend himself on defense enough to earn his way back into the playoffs.
Grade: C
Michael Carter-Williams
Averaged 6.6 points and 3.4 rebounds and shot 23.4 percent on threes. Averaged 2.8 points in playoffs. Had to back 20-plus points scoring games in February. Missed 17 games with October bone bruise and knee injury. Six times didn’t play by coach decision. Started 19 games. Acquired in trade for Tony Snell in October.
What happened to him? That was a question often asked around the NBA. He was rookie of the year and versatile enough to be compared statistically his first two seasons with players like Grant Hill and Magic Johnson. The trade for Tony Snell looked like a steal. But he got hurt early. His shot remained broken and he had difficulty finishing at the basket. His defense was sometimes excellent, but then he’d have problems with small guards. He was among many with yoyo playing time, but seemed not to respond well.
Grade: D
Denzel Valentine
Averaged 5.1 points and then 1.3 points in playoffs. Shot 35 percent on threes and made at least one in 15 straight games. Career high 19 points against Washington in January. Played in 57 games; 19 games did not play coach decision. Had ankle sprain injuries in November and January.
He got hurt early and lost his place, came back finally and had a few big games, especially almost stealing a win in Washington with half the regulars out. Then he hurt his ankle again and never got back in much. In trying to find his way back on the court, he settled into being a three-point spot up shooter instead of using the ball handling and passing instincts that propelled him in college. There were so many guys holding the ball, especially when Rondo was out, but he settled a bit too much.
Grade: C
Cristiano Felicio
Averaged 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds. Averaged 3.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in playoffs. Played off bench all 66 games. Did not play coach decision 11 times. Had three double/double games. Played one game in D-league.
He did give the team a different look with his ability and willingness to hedge and trap the pick and roll more than Lopez could. And he did finish strong on rolls at times. But he remained invisible on offense, rarely even looking to attempt a shot and thus giving teams the chance to overload on defense when he played.
Grade: C
Isaiah Canaan
Averaged 4.6 points and then 11.7 points in playoffs with two playoff starts after none all season. Did not play coach decision 29 times; nine times inactive. Season high 17 points in November.
Had a most unusual season with a surprise start in making threes in wins early and then after getting—and missing--a game winner in Denver in November, he went into a three-point slump and basically was dropped from the active rotation for the rest of the season. But he always seemed to remain upbeat and positive, engaged with teammates in practices and on the bench. And then with the playoff loss of Rondo, he became the most aggressive defensive guard and a fearless scorer, which was plenty to ask from a strictly emergency player.
Grade: B
Joffrey Lauvergne
Had some moments in important late season games that made you wonder. Shot threes with confidence and showed activity, but often out of control. Could be worth a longer look.
Grade: C
Cameron Payne
Was the last of the point guard auditions as he was worth a chance, a onetime lottery pick playing behind Russell Westbrook. He played more shoot first and was sloppy with the ball. Clearly has the ability to get his shot off, but seemed too anxious to do so and had more success in the D-league.
Grade: D
Anthony Morrow
He was a throw-in to equalize the Gibson deal and he understood. He never played early, but constantly worked and then got in for emergency minutes in the playoffs and shot well. Showed the respect for the game of a pro.
Grade: B
Taj Gibson
He represented the end of an era, the last of those baby Bulls under Vinny Del Negro who grew into contenders. He was having his best season and had developed a reliable mid range shot. He became the voice of the locker room and the ultimate team player. The Bulls decided they had to get something for him given his pending free agency.
Grade: A
Doug McDermott
Played in 44 games with four starts for the Bulls before the trade with Gibson. Averaged 10.2 points for the Bulls and then 6.6 for Oklahoma City with one start in 22 games. Averaged five points in the playoffs.
The Bulls decided he had his chance and had to move on. He tried, but still was troubled defensively. He seemed to feel under pressure and began to force shots, especially at home as he had a far better shooting percentage on the road. There seemed too much expectations for him as a lottery pick. He needed a change of scenery.
Grade: C
R.J. Hunter
Played in three games for the Bulls with one shot and zero points.
Forgot about him, didn’t you?
Grade: Incomplete
Fred Hoiberg
Team was one game poorer in his second season at 41-41. But made playoffs for first time and had 2-0 lead over No. 1 seed Boston. Lost in six games after starting point guard Rajon Rondo missed last four games. Had 12 new players from last season during season with a major mid-season trade. Only four players remaining from his first season.
Came in for an exceptional amount of criticism despite his team exceeding virtually all expectations for wins and making the playoffs. He had an unusually difficult task in trying to please Hall of Fame level veterans and develop and play non lottery pick rookies and young players while being judged against the best in the conference. He handled that with more professionalism than perhaps anyone ever has. Probably allowed too much rope for some veterans, but as a second year coach it’s certainly understandable. Had trouble settling on a rotation, though his players had trouble playing consistently, except perhaps for Butler, Rondo and Gibson, and then Gibson got traded. Clearly a season in which he improved.
Grade: B
Bulls Talk Podcast: What does the future hold for Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade?
By #BullsTalk
(Photo/USA TODAY)
On the May 1st, 2017 edition of the Bulls Talk podcast, Mark Schanowski, Kendall Gill, and Kevin Anderson talk about the Bulls playoff exit, the team’s big question marks this offseason, and what changes we can expect.
The trio will discuss Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade’s future and you’ll hear from Wade after he met with the media leaving the Advocate Center. Kendall Gill also opens up about the Big 3 combine and why the draft didn’t go the way he thought it would.
Listen to the latest Bulls Talk Podcast right here.
CUBS: With home-run swing in win over Phillies, Kyle Schwarber shows why Cubs will stick with leadoff guy.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Cubs expect the impossible from Kyle Schwarber, envisioning him as their Babe Ruth when he played at Indiana University, watching his towering home runs as a rookie during the 2015 playoffs and witnessing a medical miracle, raking in the World Series some six months after major surgery on his left knee.
Never bet against Schwarber is part of The Cubs Way. Manager Joe Maddon wouldn’t overreact to a downturn this early in the season and pull the plug on a leadoff experiment with Schwarber hitting .196 on May 2.
“He’s scary, man,” Maddon said, calling the shot during Tuesday’s pregame media session at Wrigley Field. “Listen, every time he comes up, I think something good’s going to happen. Every time. Every time.”
That faith paid off during an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Schwarber hammering an 82-mph Jeremy Hellickson pitch into the right-field bleachers for the go-ahead, three-run homer in the fourth inning and giving a jolt to a team that views him as an emotional leader.
Schwarber hadn’t homered in two weeks, watching his OPS tumble 190 points to .652, leading to what-have-you-done-for-me-lately questions about the lineup.
“I feel like I’m right there,” Schwarber promised before the game. “I just got to stick with my process. I’m not going to be outcome-based where you just focus on a number. That’s why it’s called average. It’s an accumulation of something over the course of time.
“It’s a game of millimeters. I feel like I’m putting some good swings on some balls and I’m just fouling them right back.
“I’m just not getting the results I want. Once I make that adjustment – get that millimeter where I’m missing the ball – it’s going to be a good feeling.”
The Cubs are now 14-12 and still in first place without clicking on all cylinders. The crowd chanted “JAV-Y! JAV-Y” on a night where Javier Baez went 4-for-4 and fell a double short of hitting for the cycle. Kris Bryant tripled and homered after a pregame ceremony where he posed with Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg and the 2016 National League MVP award. Carl Edwards Jr., Hector Rondon and Wade Davis covered the final four innings and combined have now allowed one earned run through 35 appearances.
Two months removed from his 24th birthday, Schwarber is a legend who hadn’t played in a big-league game in May until Monday night, and hasn’t come close to completing a full season in The Show yet.
“We all kind of forget that,” winning pitcher Jon Lester said. “It’s been such a small sample size from him obviously being hurt last year and not playing a lot. I think that has a lot to do with where he’s at right now. You take a full year off of baseball. Obviously, we saw what he did in the World Series, and I think that’s just more kind of adrenaline.
“Now with the grind of every day, he’s seeing how he’s getting pitched to. He has to make adjustments, and that’s the name of this game. You have the BATS (video) system, and every team has that, so they have a scouting report going in, what they’re going to try to do.
“He’ll be fine. We know the talent. We all know what he can do. It’s just a matter of getting going. We got a lot of guys like that right now. I feel like we’re kind of on the cusp of getting guys going, both on the pitching side and on the offensive side.”
Add this STATS Inc. bullet point to the resume: Schwarber (97 games) is now the fastest Cub to reach 20 career home runs since 1913.
“That’s cool,” Schwarber said. “But I still want to focus on this year. I still want to focus on having good at-bats. I want to focus on winning. And I want to focus on getting back to where we want to be – which is being the last team standing at the end of the year.”
Never bet against Schwarber is part of The Cubs Way. Manager Joe Maddon wouldn’t overreact to a downturn this early in the season and pull the plug on a leadoff experiment with Schwarber hitting .196 on May 2.
“He’s scary, man,” Maddon said, calling the shot during Tuesday’s pregame media session at Wrigley Field. “Listen, every time he comes up, I think something good’s going to happen. Every time. Every time.”
That faith paid off during an 8-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Schwarber hammering an 82-mph Jeremy Hellickson pitch into the right-field bleachers for the go-ahead, three-run homer in the fourth inning and giving a jolt to a team that views him as an emotional leader.
Schwarber hadn’t homered in two weeks, watching his OPS tumble 190 points to .652, leading to what-have-you-done-for-me-lately questions about the lineup.
“I feel like I’m right there,” Schwarber promised before the game. “I just got to stick with my process. I’m not going to be outcome-based where you just focus on a number. That’s why it’s called average. It’s an accumulation of something over the course of time.
“It’s a game of millimeters. I feel like I’m putting some good swings on some balls and I’m just fouling them right back.
“I’m just not getting the results I want. Once I make that adjustment – get that millimeter where I’m missing the ball – it’s going to be a good feeling.”
The Cubs are now 14-12 and still in first place without clicking on all cylinders. The crowd chanted “JAV-Y! JAV-Y” on a night where Javier Baez went 4-for-4 and fell a double short of hitting for the cycle. Kris Bryant tripled and homered after a pregame ceremony where he posed with Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg and the 2016 National League MVP award. Carl Edwards Jr., Hector Rondon and Wade Davis covered the final four innings and combined have now allowed one earned run through 35 appearances.
Two months removed from his 24th birthday, Schwarber is a legend who hadn’t played in a big-league game in May until Monday night, and hasn’t come close to completing a full season in The Show yet.
“We all kind of forget that,” winning pitcher Jon Lester said. “It’s been such a small sample size from him obviously being hurt last year and not playing a lot. I think that has a lot to do with where he’s at right now. You take a full year off of baseball. Obviously, we saw what he did in the World Series, and I think that’s just more kind of adrenaline.
“Now with the grind of every day, he’s seeing how he’s getting pitched to. He has to make adjustments, and that’s the name of this game. You have the BATS (video) system, and every team has that, so they have a scouting report going in, what they’re going to try to do.
“He’ll be fine. We know the talent. We all know what he can do. It’s just a matter of getting going. We got a lot of guys like that right now. I feel like we’re kind of on the cusp of getting guys going, both on the pitching side and on the offensive side.”
Add this STATS Inc. bullet point to the resume: Schwarber (97 games) is now the fastest Cub to reach 20 career home runs since 1913.
“That’s cool,” Schwarber said. “But I still want to focus on this year. I still want to focus on having good at-bats. I want to focus on winning. And I want to focus on getting back to where we want to be – which is being the last team standing at the end of the year.”
Why Cubs have so much respect for Jason Heyward and believe his strong April will carry over.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
“No,” a National League scout said without hesitation when asked if Jason Heyward’s swing looked any different in spring training.
“Uncomfortable,” an American League scout said without trying to reference Cubs manager Joe Maddon and his T-shirt collection.
But neither scout shared that with any sense of glee, emphasizing how Heyward is a great dude with a strong reputation throughout the industry. One scout even said he hopes Heyward figures it out – just not against his team.
All along, Heyward never viewed his swing overhaul as an “aha moment” or a one-time fix. He understands how hard this game is, enjoys working at his craft and tries to mentally hit the reset button before every pitch. However he performed in April, he wouldn’t get too high or too low or pretend like he had all the answers. Either way, it would still be a never-ending process of adjustments.
That’s why Heyward commands so much respect inside the clubhouse, how the Cubs justified a $184 million investment and expected a bounce back in Year 2. Just ask the reigning NL MVP.
“He’s such an idol to me,” Kris Bryant said. “I just look up to him. He carries himself in such a professional way, good or bad, and that’s something that we all can learn from.
“He shows up. He shows up ready to play, good or bad. Everybody saw what he went through last year. Yeah, you can look at the scoreboard and see it. But in here, you would have never known that he was struggling. It’s unbelievable.”
At the May 1 checkpoint, Heyward is batting .279 – or 49 points higher than last season’s finish – and has hit safely in 20 of 23 games. He already has three home runs after hitting his third homer on June 6 last year. His 16 RBI are more than every other Cub except for Anthony Rizzo.
“Yeah, he did all the work in the offseason and he put in so much time,” Bryant said. “But I think when we struggle as hitters, it’s more of a mental thing and what we’re thinking up there and what we’re swinging at.
“You see early on he’s attacking early in the count. I feel like last year he was probably put in some tough situations, too, with guys swinging early in the count and him feeling like he had to take more pitches. But this year, if he’s getting that pitch right there, first pitch he’s going to hit it hard.”
Heyward never wanted to live off his rain-delay speech during Game 7 of the World Series or be remembered as a very expensive motivational speaker. After all the focus on how quickly he moved to Arizona and ramped up his offseason program – and the Cactus League updates – the Cubs might have a different piece to a lineup that’s supposed to score 800-plus runs again.
“Now it’s just go compete,” Heyward said. “I’m not thinking too much about (my swing). Just take it one day at a time. Just be aware of what I got going on.
“Strive for perfection. You know it’s not going to be perfect. You got to give pitchers credit. They throw good pitches. The game’s going to be the game.
“Just keep it really simple and go up there relaxed and take the thinking out of it.”
Even as one of the least productive hitters in the majors last season (.631 OPS), Heyward still changed the team’s identity with his Gold Glove defense, patient approach and heads-up, aggressive nature on the bases.
“I see Jason as a big brother,” Albert Almora Jr. said. “He’s one of our leaders. He’s someone you look (up to), because it doesn’t matter if you have a good game or a bad game, he’s still going to be the same professional, same guy in the dugout cheering on his teammates, and that’s something you really want to pattern yourself after.
“You could put him in the Derek Jeter conversation in (terms of) that’s the type of guy you want on your team, on and off the field.”
For the Cubs, this is almost like having a point guard or a defensive coordinator in the outfield, a four-time Gold Glove winner who can also shift over to center, in a part of the game that should never go into a slump.
“I’m always looking at him,” Almora said. “One thing I really key on is that you’re always moving out there, depending on how the swings are going, how the pitcher’s throwing, how the situation and the count is progressing. You always can do something to position yourself better.
“I’m kind of guessing where I’m going to go and then he’s always giving me the thumbs-up when I’m moving the right way.”
Not quite 100 plate appearances would be too early to make a sweeping conclusion about Heyward in 2017. But whatever dragged him down offensively last season – some combination of bad luck, bad timing, bad habits, a high-maintenance swing, the weight of the biggest contract in franchise history – the Cubs are so far optimistic about the early returns.
“It’s physical,” Maddon said, “because he’s always been that guy. He’s great in the clubhouse. He’s always there in the present tense. He plays hard, all that stuff. But if you just took a snapshot standing in the box last year and this year – just where he’s starting from – it’s incredibly different. It’s where he’s starting the bat. That’s it.”
Cubs: Joe Maddon sees Carl Edwards Jr. as a future closer.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
The Cubs have shown a willingness to trade from their surplus of hitters to fix the ninth inning, shipping out their best prospect (Gleyber Torres) last summer to have Aroldis Chapman in the playoffs and flipping Jorge Soler to the Kansas City Royals at the winter meetings for one season of Wade Davis.
But generally speaking, Theo Epstein’s front office is philosophically against the idea of handing out a big-money, long-term contract to a guy who works one inning at a time, the way the New York Yankees did a record-setting, five-year, $86 million megadeal to bring back Chapman. Ideally, the Cubs would like to find more organic solutions, growing pitchers from within and not buying at the top of the market.
Davis could cash in after a winter that also saw the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers spend $142 million on Mark Melancon and Kenley Jansen in their arms race. While the Cubs acquired Davis with the idea of him getting the last out of the World Series again, they could also be grooming his replacement while watching Carl Edwards Jr. develop into a lights-out reliever.
“He’ll be a closer someday, there’s no doubt,” manager Joe Maddon said before Monday night’s ugly, rain-soaked 10-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Wrigley Field. “The biggest thing with him is to not abuse him as he’s getting bigger and stronger. His stuff plays against righties and lefties and he knows how to pitch. Having been a starter a little bit (in the minors), it’s not unlike Wade.
“Wade knows how to pitch. Rafael Soriano – he knows how to pitch. C.J. knows how to pitch. So it’s nice to get those guys at the end of the game that aren’t just throwing that one weapon.”
At the moment, the Cubs are a 13-12 team with inconsistent starting pitching, an offense not quite clicking on all cylinders yet and a defense playing below last year’s historic level. But this bullpen looks far more ready for October than the one put together on Opening Day last year.
Davis hasn’t allowed a run during his first 11 appearances in a Cubs uniform, winning two games and going 6-for-6 in save chances. Edwards finished April with 10 scoreless innings, stranding all five inherited runners while limiting opponents to two hits through 30 at-bats.
“I don’t want to rush anything,” Maddon said. “This guy can do several different things. But more than anything, I’m just liking his ability to breathe and be right here. It’s really outstanding to watch."
With a 95-mph fastball and that feel for pitching, Edwards lived by a simple code as a rookie: Go right at them. After striking out Mike Trout and forcing Albert Pujols to ground out in a one-run game last August – the same inning where Pedro Strop tore the meniscus in his left knee – Edwards put it this way: “I just pull my hat down more, so I don’t see their faces.”
By November, Maddon trusted Edwards to get two outs in the 10th inning of a World Series Game 7. If Edwards can handle that pressure, the ninth inning at Wrigley Field shouldn’t be a problem.
Cubs, Brett Anderson start May on wrong foot with blowout loss to Phillies: 'A colossal failure'. (Monday night's game, 05/01/2017).
By Tony Andracki
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Joe Maddon thought Brett Anderson spent the first month of the 2017 season a little uneasy about his position with the defending world champion Cubs.
Most of that, Maddon thought, was due to Anderson pressing in an effort to make sure he didn't let down his new team.
As the calendar rolled over to May Monday night (though it didn't feel like it with the temperature at a soggy 49 degrees at first pitch), Anderson is still in search of peace of mind.
The veteran left-hander survived for just four outs, getting lit up for seven runs on seven hits and a walk as the Philadelphia Phillies (12-12) cruised to a 10-2 victory over the Cubs (13-12).
The Cubs were already behind two hitters into the game as Cesar Hernandez singled and Aaron Altherr doubled him home. Anderson was one pitch away from getting out of the inning, but Phillies first baseman Tommy Joseph lifted a ball into the 14mph winds blowing straight out for a two-out, three-run homer.
"It was kinda a colossal failure from the get-go," Anderson said. "Make a decent pitch to the first batter, bloop single and it's all downhill from there. You see Jon [Lester] or Jake [Arrieta] or whoever at least give your team a chance to win without their A+ stuff. You try to do your part, but today was just a battle from the first pitch and obviously wasn't very successful."
Anderson also had to endure a rain delay that pushed opening pitch back an hour and 25 minutes.
"The delay wasn't so much a factor," Anderson said. "But the first inning when the pseudo-Forrest Gump torrential downpour and then it kinda clears off and the bottom of the first is weird. Ideally, we could've waited 10, 15 more minutes. I still have to go out there and get people out and I wasn't able to do that tonight.
The Cubs have now allowed 32 runs in the first inning this season, by far their worst total by frame.
Beyond the albatross weather, the Cubs didn't get into Chicago until almost 5 a.m. Monday morning after playing the primetime game in Boston Sunday night.
"Andy had a tough night," Maddon said. "There's no other way to slice it. We've been having to come from behind often over the last week to two weeks. It's not easy to continually do, especially when you're getting to bed at five in the morning. No excuses, 'cause Andy came in a night in advance. When you have a tough pitching night like that, it makes it difficult for the team."
On the season, Anderson has given up 15 earned runs on 28 hits and 12 walks in 21.2 innings, good for a 6.23 ERA and 1.85 WHIP. But 13 of those 15 runs have come in two bad starts (Monday and April 18 when he gave up six earned to the Milwaukee Brewers). In the other three outings, Anderson has worked around jams to surrender two earned runs in 16.2 innings despite 11 walks and 13 hits in that span.
"There are no positives to gain from this outing," Anderson said. "With the game starting late yesterday and then the team getting in late, you wanna go out there and give your team a chance to win. I have five starts [this season] now and I'm averaging [a little more than four innings] a start, which is embarrassing from my perspective. Hopefully going forward, I can pitch better and give us a chance."
Mike Montgomery did his part as the long man out of the bullpen, spinning 3.2 scoreless innings of relief. Justin Grimm followed and retired the first five batters he faced before giving up a pair of homers — and three runs total — as the Phillies poured it on.
"Our bullpen did a great job," Anderson said. "I have to pitch better. I haven't gotten in a groove for the most part. It's kinda been hit-or-miss. Hopefully going forward, you can pitch in five-to-six-day rotation, hit that stride and hopefully get some consistent weather, consistent circumstances and pitch better, do better going forward."
Javy Baez scored the only two runs for the Cubs — first on a solo homer on an 0-2 count in the fifth and then on Matt Szczur's sacrifice fly in the seventh — and also had two of the team's four hits.
Ben Zobrist and Willson Contreras collected the only two other Cubs hits — both singles.
As the game turned into a blowout, the Cubs got Kyle Schwarber some time behind the plate, letting the slugger catch the last two innings. It was his first action as a backstop in a regular-season game since September 2015.
WHITE SOX: Jose Quintana throws eight shutout innings as White Sox blank Royals.
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Ho hum, Jose Quintana put on yet another pitching clinic on Tuesday night.
The newsworthy part of the contest involved the lavish run support Quintana received from his teammates as the White Sox pounded the Kansas City Royals 6-0 in front of 18,604 at Kauffman Stadium.
The White Sox started scoring early against Danny Duffy early and didn’t relent until they knocked him out with six runs allowed. The outpouring made an easier winner of Quintana, who combined with Anthony Swarzak on a four-hit shutout.
Much has been made over the years of Quintana’s struggle for run support. In spite of a career 3.46 ERA, Quintana only boasts a record of 48-50. He’s also received the most no decisions in baseball since 2012 (59).
Some have suggested the sacrifice of a live chicken to wake White Sox bats. Others believe the team should create a Kickstarter account that accepts runs for Quintana instead of cash.
The newsworthy part of the contest involved the lavish run support Quintana received from his teammates as the White Sox pounded the Kansas City Royals 6-0 in front of 18,604 at Kauffman Stadium.
The White Sox started scoring early against Danny Duffy early and didn’t relent until they knocked him out with six runs allowed. The outpouring made an easier winner of Quintana, who combined with Anthony Swarzak on a four-hit shutout.
Much has been made over the years of Quintana’s struggle for run support. In spite of a career 3.46 ERA, Quintana only boasts a record of 48-50. He’s also received the most no decisions in baseball since 2012 (59).
Some have suggested the sacrifice of a live chicken to wake White Sox bats. Others believe the team should create a Kickstarter account that accepts runs for Quintana instead of cash.
Last season, each player created an individual pregame dance with Quintana designed to inspire offense for a pitcher who has received three or fewer runs in 110 of his 157 starts.
Despite facing Duffy, the White Sox found the offense early on Tuesday.
Tim Anderson and Carlos Sanchez each singled in the first inning only for Duffy to deny the White Sox. But they broke through in the second inning on three consecutive singles, the last by Geovany Soto to drive in Todd Frazier. Willy Garcia’s RBI fielder’s choice made it 2-0.
Then in third, Avisail Garcia singled in a run, and Soto’s sac fly gave Quintana a four-run lead.
Duffy retired six of seven in the middle innings but the White Sox added more cushion in the sixth. Avisail Garcia, who reached base four times in four trips, drew a leadoff walk and Soto singled him to third. The fifth run scored on Leury Garcia’s RBI fielder’s choice before Yolmer Sanchez’s two-out RBI single off Chris Young made it 6-0. Sanchez finished 3-for-4 with a walk.
It’s only the 26th time in Quintana’s career he has received five or more runs in a start.
Duffy allowed 10 hits and walked two in five innings.
Quintana countered with his sharpest outing of the season.
Yes, it was against a lowly Royals offense that has produced 43 fewer runs than the MLB average of 112. But after a couple of bad innings sabotaged two of his first three starts, Quintana was outstanding. Not only did he keep pitches out of the middle of the hitting zone, Quintana hit the corners and induced a number of awkward looking swings from Kansas City hitters.
The left-hander retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced and was only one over the minimum through five innings. Quintana didn’t walk a batter until he issued a two-out free pass to Jorge Bonifacio in the seventh inning, and the Royals didn’t have two runners reach base in the same frame until the eighth. Even then, Quintana stayed sharp as he induced an inning-ending grounder off Lorenzo Cain’s bat.
Quintana allowed four hits, walked two and struck out seven in eight scoreless innings. In doing so, Quintana lowered his ERA from 5.22 to 4.10.
Swarzak increased his scoreless streak to 13 1/3 innings with a strikeout in a perfect ninth.
Kansas City's offense wakes up against White Sox. (Monday night's game, 05/01/2017).
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Dylan Covey made two costly mistakes on Monday night and it was more than the White Sox could make up.
The Rule 5 pitcher allowed two home runs and his offense couldn’t break through as the Kansas City Royals snapped a nine-game losing streak by downing the White Sox 6-1 in front of 20,148 at Kauffman Stadium. Jacob May — who was optioned to Triple-A Charlotte after the game — singled in a run for the White Sox, who fell to 2-2 on the trip with a second straight loss. Covey allowed six earned runs in 6 2/3 innings.
“I feel like I’m getting better every day,” Covey said. “Obviously it’s frustrating that the results aren’t there. But I feel like I got better from my last start today. Threw some quality pitches to get out of some jams. Just obviously a couple of home runs. Felt good with my stuff overall, the results just weren’t there.”
The majority of Kansas City’s offense had been out of commission for the team’s first 23 games. The Royals entered with 63 runs scored, 24 fewer than the second-worst team in baseball (San Francisco) and with 107 less than the MLB-leading Washington Nationals. The White Sox had 98 runs entering Monday.
But Jorge Bonifacio awakened KC’s offense with a two-run bolt in the fourth inning that put his team ahead for good. Covey hung a 78-mph curveball and Bonifacio deposited it 432 feet away to give the Royals a 2-1 edge.
An inning later, Covey ran into bad luck after he loaded the bases on singles by Alcides Escobar and Mike Moustakas and a walk to Lorenzo Cain. Covey struck out Eric Hosmer and looked as if he might escape the jam when Salvador Perez’s hard grounder bounced off third base and over the head of Matt Davidson for a two-run double.
“Threw a good pitch to Sal Perez and it kicked off the bag and that’s, I don’t know what you want to call that, but I got the result I wanted,” Covey said.
Off to his worst start in years, Hosmer ended another rough night with a two-run homer off Covey in the seventh inning. Not only did Hosmer, who entered hitting .225 with one homer, strike out, he also grounded into a double play in the first inning after a nice diving stop by Davidson.
Covey allowed nine hits and six earned runs in a career-high 6 2/3 innings.
“I thought he was keeping us in the ballgame,” manager Rick Renteria said. “The one ball with two outs it ended up hitting the bag. It gave them a couple of more runs in that particular inning. Hosmer got him but he kept pitching. He kept working. I thought he was a little better tonight. Obviously he was attacking the strike zone, kept himself in a much better position to continue in the game.”
The Avisail Garcia-less White Sox used a patient approach against Jason Vargas that ran up his pitch count and resulted in his exit after six innings. But the White Sox didn’t manage to do enough damage to the left-hander. They stranded a pair of runners in the second, third and fourth innings against Vargas, who allowed five hits and walked three.
Had it not been for May’s two-out RBI single in the fourth, the White Sox would have gone scoreless for the first time since they were shutout in consecutive games on April 21-22. The team had scored 49 runs in its previous seven games, including 46 during a six-game winning streak that ended on Sunday.
Golf: I got a club for that..... D. Johnson grouped with Love, Haas at Wells Fargo.
By Will Gray
(Photo/Golf Channel Digital)
The venue has shifted east for this week's Wells Fargo Championship, where the world No. 1 looks to get back on a hot streak. Here are a few marquee, early-round groupings to keep an eye on as Eagle Point Golf Club hosts a PGA Tour event for the first time (all times ET):
7:45 a.m. Thursday/12:55 p.m. Friday: Patrick Reed, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott
Reed is still looking to turn around his recent slide, having missed the cut in each of his last three individual starts. He notched a T-14 finish last week at Zurich, and he'll play the first two rounds alongside 2018 Ryder Cup captain Furyk and Scott, who at No. 11 in the world is the second highest-ranked player in this week's field and making his first start since a T-9 finish at the Masters.
7:45 a.m. Thursday/12:55 p.m. Friday: Patrick Reed, Jim Furyk, Adam Scott
Reed is still looking to turn around his recent slide, having missed the cut in each of his last three individual starts. He notched a T-14 finish last week at Zurich, and he'll play the first two rounds alongside 2018 Ryder Cup captain Furyk and Scott, who at No. 11 in the world is the second highest-ranked player in this week's field and making his first start since a T-9 finish at the Masters.
7:56 a.m. Thursday/1:06 p.m. Friday: Dustin Johnson, Davis Love III, Bill Haas
The world No. 1 gets back to work for the first time since a back injury caused him to miss the Masters. Johnson won each of his last three starts before the injury, and joining him will be a pair of North Carolinians. Love is making just his third start since returning from a broken collarbone, while Haas was a semifinalist along with Johnson at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
12:55 p.m. Thursday/7:45 a.m. Friday: Jon Rahm, Paul Casey, Wesley Bryan
Rahm will look to continue his red-hot play after resting each of the last three weeks following the Masters. He'll play alongside Casey, who has four top-20 finishes in his last five starts, while Bryan will round out the trio in his first individual start since claiming his first title at the RBC Heritage last month.
1:06 p.m. Thursday/7:56 a.m. Friday: James Hahn, Phil Mickelson, J.B. Holmes
Hahn earned his second career win at this event last year, outlasting Roberto Castro in a playoff. As the defending champ he drew a popular tee time alongside Mickelson, who is making his 14th start at this event and his first competitive appearance since a T-22 finish at Augusta National. Holmes won at Quail Hollow in 2014 and finished T-5 at Zurich last week with Bubba Watson.
Davis Love III a popular figure at the Wells Fargo Championship.
The Star News
Fans were impressed with how much time the former Ryder Cup Captain spent with fans Monday at the Wells Fargo Championship. (Photo/John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)
From retirees to 6-year-olds -- and everyone in between -- Monday's debut of the Wells Fargo Championship turned out to be a near-perfect day.
Despite a steady breeze that claimed a few hats and a couple of threatening clouds, the PGA Tour's first day in New Hanover County since 1971 live up to, and beyond, some expectations.
"It was all about fun today," said David Mann, whose family of six walked out with plenty of autographs. "A good day for them to be out there."
Sandy Rutledge was part of a healthy crowd, estimated between 10,000 and 15,000 by course officials. She followed Davis Love III -- one of her favorite golfers -- for nearly half his round at the day's Pro-Am. Like many, it was her first time around the course.
Love was the main attraction from a player standpoint, and his group had a solid following on the front nine before the crowd started dissipating as evening began to fall.
But Rutledge, who lives in Olde Point Country Club in Hampstead, stuck around through the back nine. She even got Love to sign her grounds pass.
"He is such a gentleman," she said. "I told him I thought he was wonderful. He spends a lot of time with his family and plays the game the right way. He is a lot like Fred Couples."
Rutledge was impressed with how much time Love spent interacting with fans. He signed countless autographs and posed for photos.
"I know it's that day, but there are some of the younger guys that were trying to get a feel for the course," she said. "I'm sure he was doing that too, but he's just so polite."
For Mann, his wife Louise and their four sons -- William, 10; twins Cully and Carter, 8 and Henry, 6 -- it was worth a day off school before heading out of town this weekend.
"We figured this was a one-time opportunity and we had to take advantage," Mann said. "Plus we had some friends in the Pro-Am, so it all made sense."
Three of the boys play regularly, though William took in the golf intently, his dad said.
"He loves watching them tee off," David said. "And they're amazed how long the holes are."
Much of the field will be on the course on Tuesday, with more opportunities for autographs and interaction. The hopes of winning and losing start Thursday, but Mann said he's suddenly got a house divided.
"They'll say Phil Mickelson, maybe Dustin Johnson," David said before Cully gave his updated pick for a winner: "Davis Love."
USGA, R&A may take action amid concern over 'green-reading materials'.
Despite a steady breeze that claimed a few hats and a couple of threatening clouds, the PGA Tour's first day in New Hanover County since 1971 live up to, and beyond, some expectations.
"It was all about fun today," said David Mann, whose family of six walked out with plenty of autographs. "A good day for them to be out there."
Sandy Rutledge was part of a healthy crowd, estimated between 10,000 and 15,000 by course officials. She followed Davis Love III -- one of her favorite golfers -- for nearly half his round at the day's Pro-Am. Like many, it was her first time around the course.
Love was the main attraction from a player standpoint, and his group had a solid following on the front nine before the crowd started dissipating as evening began to fall.
But Rutledge, who lives in Olde Point Country Club in Hampstead, stuck around through the back nine. She even got Love to sign her grounds pass.
"He is such a gentleman," she said. "I told him I thought he was wonderful. He spends a lot of time with his family and plays the game the right way. He is a lot like Fred Couples."
Rutledge was impressed with how much time Love spent interacting with fans. He signed countless autographs and posed for photos.
"I know it's that day, but there are some of the younger guys that were trying to get a feel for the course," she said. "I'm sure he was doing that too, but he's just so polite."
For Mann, his wife Louise and their four sons -- William, 10; twins Cully and Carter, 8 and Henry, 6 -- it was worth a day off school before heading out of town this weekend.
"We figured this was a one-time opportunity and we had to take advantage," Mann said. "Plus we had some friends in the Pro-Am, so it all made sense."
Three of the boys play regularly, though William took in the golf intently, his dad said.
"He loves watching them tee off," David said. "And they're amazed how long the holes are."
Much of the field will be on the course on Tuesday, with more opportunities for autographs and interaction. The hopes of winning and losing start Thursday, but Mann said he's suddenly got a house divided.
"They'll say Phil Mickelson, maybe Dustin Johnson," David said before Cully gave his updated pick for a winner: "Davis Love."
USGA, R&A may take action amid concern over 'green-reading materials'.
By Dan Kilbridge
The maps and greens books have been associated with slow play lately, another issue which was highlighted due to Cristie Kerr’s sluggish pace during a 6-hole playoff Sunday at the LPGA’s Volunteers of America Texas Shootout.
The review also aims to protect the integrity of the game in regards to personal judgement on the putting greens.
Here’s the full statement:
Smith-Blixt team wins PGA Zurich Classic on 4th playoff hole.“The R&A and the USGA believe that a player’s ability to read greens is an essential part of the skill of putting. Rule 14-3 limits the use of equipment and devices that might assist a player in their play, based on the principle that golf is a challenging game in which success should depend on the judgement, skills and abilities of the player. We are concerned about the rapid development of increasingly detailed materials that players are using to help with reading greens during a round. We are reviewing the use of these materials to assess whether any actions need to be taken to protect this important part of the game. We expect to address this matter further in the coming months.”
By BRETT MARTEL
(Photo/pga.com)
The 23-year-old Australian, the youngest and least accomplished player left on the course, had been painstakingly close to his first PGA Tour victory - from the final hole of regulation at the Zurich Classic on Sunday night through the fourth playoff hole Monday.
He kept his emotions in check long enough to stick a 58-yard lob wedge within 3 1/2 feet of the pin on the fourth playoff hole - the par-5 18th - and sink his birdie putt.
The sequence lifted him and teammate Jonas Blixt of Sweden to the first championship under the Zurich Classic's new team format. And it finally vanquished the feisty team of South Carolina residents Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown.
Kisner and Brown had rallied with a final round of 12-under 60 on Sunday, capped by a nearly 95-foot chip-in for eagle by Kisner as darkness fell Sunday night at TPC Louisiana.
''It was pretty cool to knock the putt in for the win,'' said Smith, who along with Blixt had missed potential winning putts from 9 to 10 feet on earlier playoff holes. ''I guess it would have felt a little bit different if Jonas had done it for my first win.
''To have a putt to win on the PGA Tour when you've been working toward it your whole life is a completely different feeling,'' Smith added. ''It felt like the longest (3 1/2-foot) putt I've ever hit.''
The Zurich Classic was the first team event on the PGA Tour since the Walt Disney World National Team Championship in 1981.
The tournament began with 80 teams and players choosing teammates. Many said they chose friends on the Tour rather than research whose game best complemented their own. The new format attracted half of the top 30-ranked players.
For most of the week, players raved about the relaxing conditions. They and their caddies could talk strategy, and players took comfort in knowing their teammates could pick them up. That was especially the case on the best-ball second and final rounds as well as the playoff - players played their own balls and teams took the better score per hole. In the first and third rounds, teammates alternated shots.
''You support each other and it feels good to have someone to lean on,'' Blixt said, nodding at Smith. ''Having a great teammate like him, it's a walk in the park.''
But, in the end, lining up a winning putt - with $1.02 million and 400 FedExCup points on the line for each winning player - wasn't much easier.
''I thought after winning twice (on the PGA Tour), it would be a little less nerve-racking trying to finish it off, but it still got me a little bit,'' the 33-year-old Blixt said. ''Doing it for the third time, I mean, this is the most fun one, I must say.''
Victory in the new format also meant invitations to The Players Championship and SBS Tournament of Champions. It did not, however, provide a Masters invitation or count toward world rankings.
Blixt and Smith never bogeyed any of the 76 holes on the par-72 course carved from cypress swamp west of New Orleans. They led by a stroke after two rounds and by four after three. They had fallen behind by two strokes, with Kisner and Brown birdieing 10 of their first 11 holes Sunday. But they rallied with birdies on Nos. 12, 15 and 16 to regain a one-stroke lead heading into the final hole of regulation, which they wound up having to birdie to force the playoff after Kisner's clutch chip.
Both teams finished four rounds at 27 under par.
Kisner and Brown took home nearly $412,000 each. They also had the lowest one-round score in team play with their 60, two strokes better than the current course record in traditional stroke play.
Kisner missed a 9 1/2-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole - also 18 - that could have won it.
''We were close, had a chance there and I just didn't get it done,'' he said. ''But we'll be back next year.''
Nearly 9,500 golfers have entered the 2017 U. S. Open at Erin Hills.
By Kyle Porter
It's not a record, but it's not far off either
All it takes to enter the 2017 U.S. Open is a 1.4 handicap (or better) and $200. That resulted in a near-record of 9,485 participants entering this year's second major championship at Erin Hills. Of course after that, you have to get through local and sectional qualifying against pros like Steve Stricker, but hey, at least you can say you tried.
Even with the increased $200 fee, the 9,485 entrants is the fifth-most ever. The most came in 2014 when 10,127 people signed up to try and win at Pinehurst. Local qualifying will take place at 113 sites at the beginning of May and sectional qualifying will unfold at 10 U.S. locations and two internationally.
"The number of entries received underscores the worldwide interest in competing in the U.S. Open Championship and on golf's grandest stage," said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship committee chairman, in a release. "We look forward to conducting local and sectional qualifying and to hosting the U.S. Open at both Erin Hills and in Wisconsin for the first time on June 15-18."
Qualifiers will fill around 70 spots when the U.S. Open takes place at Erin Hills in June.
Even with the increased $200 fee, the 9,485 entrants is the fifth-most ever. The most came in 2014 when 10,127 people signed up to try and win at Pinehurst. Local qualifying will take place at 113 sites at the beginning of May and sectional qualifying will unfold at 10 U.S. locations and two internationally.
"The number of entries received underscores the worldwide interest in competing in the U.S. Open Championship and on golf's grandest stage," said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship committee chairman, in a release. "We look forward to conducting local and sectional qualifying and to hosting the U.S. Open at both Erin Hills and in Wisconsin for the first time on June 15-18."
Qualifiers will fill around 70 spots when the U.S. Open takes place at Erin Hills in June.
NASCAR: Power Rankings: Just like at Richmond, it's a Penske 1-2.
By Nick Bromberg
1. Brad Keselowski (LW: 1): Keselowski had the best car throughout the final 60 percent of Sunday’s race. He just didn’t have the right amount of luck. As his teammate was able to sprint away to the lead on the final restart, Keselowski got bottled up behind traffic.
Once Keselowski was clear of everyone else, he ran down Logano but ran out of time before getting to his bumper. It wasn’t the first time this season he wondered if a longer race could have meant a win.
NASCAR at Talladega: TV Schedule, dates, times, qualifying drivers for Geico 500. Once Keselowski was clear of everyone else, he ran down Logano but ran out of time before getting to his bumper. It wasn’t the first time this season he wondered if a longer race could have meant a win.
“By the time I cleared those guys, even though we were a little bit faster than Joey, he already had a straightaway on us, and I felt like if I had five or ten more laps, I could have gotten to him and passed him, but there was only a handful of laps left, so that was the way it went,” Keselowski said. “That’s part of how this racing deal works, and the fastest car doesn’t always win, and it takes some weeks where you’re the fastest and you have to try to make the most of it and try and do all you can. I feel as a team we did that today.”
2. Joey Logano (LW: 7): Had Ryan Blaney not hit the wall to cause the final caution of Sunday’s race there’s no telling where Logano and Keselowski would have ended up. They stayed out on what turned out to be the next-to-last caution while the rest of the field hit pit road. The older tires on their cars likely would have given the win to someone else.
Logano has now won 16 races since joining Team Penske before the 2013 season. That’s second only to Jimmie Johnson, who has 22 wins and two titles in that time frame.
3. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 1): Hey, there’s Jimmie Johnson. The seven-time champion drops two spots in our Power Rankings this week after his 11th-place finish. Given the damage he sustained in the collision with Dale Earnhardt Jr., 11th is a pretty good finish all things considered.
4. Kyle Larson (LW: 2): Larson was one of the cars that stayed out on the final caution flag of the race. And he was the driver Logano passed for the lead after the restart. But once Logano got past Larson, the No. 42 faded to the back. Larson ended up 14th.
5. Kevin Harvick (LW: 5): Harvick stays in fifth this week after finishing … wait for it … wait for it … fifth. To keep the fifth-place theme going, it was his third-straight fifth-place finish at Richmond and his fourth in six races. And it’s also his third-straight top-five of the season after missing out in the first five races of the year.
6. Clint Bowyer (LW: 4): Bowyer finished 15th after he was one of the drivers tagged for violating NASCAR’s commitment line rules. But another pit entry moment was a bit more curious than Bowyer’s penalty. What the heck happened here? Fox’s cameras just caught the aftermath, not what precipitated the incident.
7. Chase Elliott (LW: 6): Elliott had contact with Matt Kenseth that shoved Elliott’s car into the wall. That was the better of the two outcomes initially, as Kenseth ended up with a flat tire. But he came back and finished 23rd, one spot ahead of Elliott.
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (LW: 10): Stenhouse finished fourth despite staying out on that final caution flag. He was the rare driver who was able to be competitive with older tires over the race’s final laps. Stenhouse has four top-10 finishes in 2017. With three more he’ll set a career-high.
9. Jamie McMurray (LW: 9): McMurray finished sixth, the highest-finishing Chevrolet driver in the field. It was McMurray’s fifth top-10 of the season and he has more top 10s already this season than he had in either 2011 or 2012.
10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 8): Truex got a hard-luck penalty when he had to drive to the outside of a safety truck parked in turns 3 and 4 before trying to turn down onto pit road. He clipped the commitment box and was forced to restart at the rear of the field. And while the circumstances that led to Truex’s penalty were certainly avoidable, so was the penalty. The two drivers behind him who had to make the same maneuver made it to pit road safely inside the box.
Truex ended up 10th.
11. Denny Hamlin (LW: NR): Hamlin got his first top-five finish of the season by finishing third on Sunday. Crazily enough, it’s not the latest Hamlin has gotten his first top-five of the season. In 2011, it took him until the 11th race of the year. Sunday’s race was the ninth of the season.
But perhaps 2011 isn’t the greatest comp if you’re a Hamlin fan. He had just one win and finished ninth in the standings.
12. Trevor Bayne (LW: 11): Like his teammate, Bayne’s 2017 is much better than his previous Roush career so far. Bayne finished 13th on Sunday and is 14th in the standings. Or, if you prefer, 24 points ahead of Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch.
Lucky Dog: Aric Almirola finished ninth. It’s his first top 10 at a non-restrictor plate track since he finished 10th at Phoenix in the fall of 2015.
The DNF: Erik Jones was a trendy pick to do well. He crashed because of a flat tire less than five laps into the race.
Dropped Out: Kyle Busch
By Joe Rodgers
(Photo/Getty Images)
Talladega Superspeedway is Earnhardt country and you can expect the debauchery to be running at all-time highs as Dale Earnhardt Jr. makes his second-to-last appearance as a driver at the 2.66-mile Alabama track.
Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Junior (six) are responsible for 16 wins at NASCAR's longest track but the only thing to expect at Talladega on Sunday is the unexpected.
This has been true at restrictor-plate tracks where surprise winners sometimes emerge from the field in the crash-filled races. With the advent of the win-and-you're-in playoff format, a surprise Talladega winner would get more than just the thrill of winning, he/she would likely earn a spot in the playoffs.
This weekend the Xfinity Series joins the Cup Series at the second restrictor-plate track, a rules package dominated by Fords in recent years (13 wins in the last 25 races).
Here's the weekend schedule.
NASCAR at Talladega schedule, TV channel info
(All times ET)
Friday, May 5
11:30 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Xfinity Series practice, FS1
1:30-2:25 p.m.: Xfinity Series final practice, FS1
2:30-3:25 p.m.: Cup Series practice, FS1
4:30-5:25 p.m.: Cup Series final practice, FS1
Saturday, May 6
10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series qualifying, FS1
1 p.m.: Xfinity Series Sparks Energy 300 (113 laps, 300.58 miles), Fox
4 p.m.: Cup Series qualifying, Fox
What TV channel is the NASCAR race at Talladega on?
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Geico 500 begins Sunday at 2 p.m. ET and can be seen on Fox and the Fox Sports Go app.
What are the stage lengths for NASCAR at Talladega?
The Geico 500, which is 188 laps and 500.08 miles, will be broken into three stages. Stage 1 ends on Lap 55, Stage 2 ends on Lap 110 and the final stage ends on Lap 188.
The Xfinity Series race at Talladega will be broken into three stages: Lap 25, Lap 50 and Lap 113.
Which NASCAR drivers are racing at Talladega?
There are 42 Cup drivers entered in the Geico 500, meaning two drivers will fail to qualify on Friday for Sunday's race. Here is the list of participating Cup drivers in alphabetical order:
AJ Allmendinger
Aric Almirola
Austin Dillon
Brad Keselowski
Brendan Gaughan
Austin Dillon
Brad Keselowski
Brendan Gaughan
Chase Elliott
Chris Buescher
Clint Bowyer
Cole Whitt
Corey LaJoie
Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Danica Patrick
Daniel Suarez
David Ragan
Denny Hamlin
D.J. Kennington
Elliott Sadler
Erik Jones
Gray Gaulding
Jamie McMurray
Jeffrey Earnhardt
Jimmie Johnson
Joey Gase
Joey Logano
Kasey Kahne
Kevin Harvick
Kurt Busch
Kyle Busch
Kyle Larson
Landon Cassill
Martin Truex Jr.
Matt DiBenedetto
Matt Kenseth
Michael McDowell
Paul Menard
Reed Sorenson
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Ryan Blaney
Ryan Newman
Timmy Hill
By Humpy Wheeler
(Photo/LAT Photographic)
Howard "Humpy" Wheeler was rarely, if ever, at a loss for ideas when it came to promotion as former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. Now 78, Wheeler is still passionate when it comes to racing.
And, yes, Wheeler noticed last weekend's version of the incredible shrinking NASCAR attendance, this time from Richmond.
And, yes, Wheeler's take is worth sharing, as he did Monday night on his Facebook page:
The Richmond Dispatch just published a story on the decline of crowds in NASCAR stating as an example that at one time the track had 112,000 seats but bet only 30,000 were sold Sunday in the 400 lapper won by Joey Logano.
They further went on to say that just about every NASCAR track was going through a similar decline.
To those of us who watch NASCAR this is old news and it would be good to reflect on why.
First, what fuels sport is personalities and rivals. You must have both. What would Ali be with Joe Frazier; the Redskins without the Cowboys, etc.?
Name me one intense rivalry currently in NASCAR that could compare with Petty/Allison; Wallace/Waltrip; Allison/Yarbrough?
Oh sure there are outbursts like the recent Kyle Busch and Joey Logano but they swiftly cooled.
The old rivalries came from intense competition for the lead, not third or fourth place, and the reason we don't have (this) is that recurrent disease called the AERO PUSH when the lead car ...
Let me explain AERO PUSH. Something about these cars enable the lead car when he gets into open air to continue to take an insurmountable lead. Obviously if Kenseth is not quite as fast and through a daredevil attack passes car B will probably get passed back and then car B will soon have a 500-600 foot lead because he is riding in clear air. Now back where a bunch is fighting for 5th place there is disturbed air and this doesn't happen.
This has been going along so long that the late Bill France Jr. and I would talk about back in the early 2000s.
NASCAR has attacked this issue for at least 15 years and it is still with us and until it is solved we will continue to have little back and forth passing for the lead when those rivalries begin.
But, whatever mystery must be solved to eliminate AERO PUSH it must be done. Granted the racing is better this year because of the segments but due to aero push how many times have you seen drivers fighting for the lead at the end of the segments?
Few. Again the culprit is AERO PUSH.
Personally, I believe it is because these cars are go-karts in the corner because of the massive springs that go up to 15,000 lbs. compared to 600-800 not long ago; the highly sophisticated shocks that require a shock engineer and are about $5,000 apiece compared to the $60 we used just a few years ago and all of other sophisticated equipment that is entirely not needed.
By returning to less expensive equipment we could eliminate the AERO PUSH and enable more racers to try the Cup series.
I have found out that sometimes you can go backwards and make great progress in racing.
Now the question of personalities in racing with the loss of Stewart, Gordon, Edwards and soon Earnhardt Jr., we need a new personality that will galvanize fans the way Richard Petty, Jr. Johnson, Bobby Allison and others did but to do this the sponsors must back off and let the drivers be themselves and not automatons.
NASCAR can only do so much with the drivers. It is the sponsors who keep the lid on them.
What about that wild man driver in the sagebrush of Texas who doesn't talk right, dress properly with the stringy hair and crooked teeth but can drive the pure wheels off any car he gets in. No way he will make it even though he might become the greatest Cup driver ever.
Give that driver a chance. He might be the next Earnhardt Sr.
NASCAR is clearly in a period of transition, and it's not necessarily heading in the right direction (see empty grandstands), and Humpy gets it. Let's hope the right people are listening.
And, yes, Wheeler noticed last weekend's version of the incredible shrinking NASCAR attendance, this time from Richmond.
And, yes, Wheeler's take is worth sharing, as he did Monday night on his Facebook page:
The Richmond Dispatch just published a story on the decline of crowds in NASCAR stating as an example that at one time the track had 112,000 seats but bet only 30,000 were sold Sunday in the 400 lapper won by Joey Logano.
They further went on to say that just about every NASCAR track was going through a similar decline.
To those of us who watch NASCAR this is old news and it would be good to reflect on why.
First, what fuels sport is personalities and rivals. You must have both. What would Ali be with Joe Frazier; the Redskins without the Cowboys, etc.?
Name me one intense rivalry currently in NASCAR that could compare with Petty/Allison; Wallace/Waltrip; Allison/Yarbrough?
Oh sure there are outbursts like the recent Kyle Busch and Joey Logano but they swiftly cooled.
The old rivalries came from intense competition for the lead, not third or fourth place, and the reason we don't have (this) is that recurrent disease called the AERO PUSH when the lead car ...
Let me explain AERO PUSH. Something about these cars enable the lead car when he gets into open air to continue to take an insurmountable lead. Obviously if Kenseth is not quite as fast and through a daredevil attack passes car B will probably get passed back and then car B will soon have a 500-600 foot lead because he is riding in clear air. Now back where a bunch is fighting for 5th place there is disturbed air and this doesn't happen.
This has been going along so long that the late Bill France Jr. and I would talk about back in the early 2000s.
NASCAR has attacked this issue for at least 15 years and it is still with us and until it is solved we will continue to have little back and forth passing for the lead when those rivalries begin.
But, whatever mystery must be solved to eliminate AERO PUSH it must be done. Granted the racing is better this year because of the segments but due to aero push how many times have you seen drivers fighting for the lead at the end of the segments?
Few. Again the culprit is AERO PUSH.
Personally, I believe it is because these cars are go-karts in the corner because of the massive springs that go up to 15,000 lbs. compared to 600-800 not long ago; the highly sophisticated shocks that require a shock engineer and are about $5,000 apiece compared to the $60 we used just a few years ago and all of other sophisticated equipment that is entirely not needed.
By returning to less expensive equipment we could eliminate the AERO PUSH and enable more racers to try the Cup series.
I have found out that sometimes you can go backwards and make great progress in racing.
Now the question of personalities in racing with the loss of Stewart, Gordon, Edwards and soon Earnhardt Jr., we need a new personality that will galvanize fans the way Richard Petty, Jr. Johnson, Bobby Allison and others did but to do this the sponsors must back off and let the drivers be themselves and not automatons.
NASCAR can only do so much with the drivers. It is the sponsors who keep the lid on them.
What about that wild man driver in the sagebrush of Texas who doesn't talk right, dress properly with the stringy hair and crooked teeth but can drive the pure wheels off any car he gets in. No way he will make it even though he might become the greatest Cup driver ever.
Give that driver a chance. He might be the next Earnhardt Sr.
NASCAR is clearly in a period of transition, and it's not necessarily heading in the right direction (see empty grandstands), and Humpy gets it. Let's hope the right people are listening.
By Joe Prince-Wright
TOTTENHAM’S IMPRESSIVE BUSINESS
Victor Wanyama surged forward late in the second half of Tottenham’s 2-0 win against Arsenal in the final North London derby at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Roared on by the crowd the Kenyan clipped the ball into Harry Kane who forced Petr Cech to save as Tottenham closed the gap on Premier League leaders Chelsea to four points with four games to go. Their ninth-straight PL win also, as you may have heard by now, guaranteed that Spurs would finish above Arsenal in the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.
Wanyama, 25, is yet another example of the fine business Spurs have done to turn their squad around. That has led to them being the top performing team in the Premier League over the past two seasons by quite some distance.
After the derby win against Arsenal, ProSoccerTalk asked Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino about Wanyama’s dominant display as the man who joined from Southampton for around $15 million last summer is quickly becoming yet another bargain buy.
“I think this season, what he is doing is fantastic,” Pochettino said. “Today was good and in the second half he was fantastic and he was key in some actions. I am very pleased, but I am very pleased for all of my squad because we are fighting a lot during the whole season.”Pochettino has every right to be pleased. So does the transfer committee, board of directors and owner of Tottenham.
Looking at the table below from Sky Sports in the UK, you can see Spurs have accumulated more points, scored more goals and let in the lowest number of goals in the Premier League over the past two seasons.
Despite those incredible stats the most amazing one, for me at least, is how low their net spend is.
In an era where the likes of Manchester City and Manchester United splash the cash like it’s going out of fashion, the shrewd business done by Daniel Levy and Spurs’ board has to be applauded.
Of course, Pochettino and his staff are the ones who put the players in a system and have drastically improved the likes of Dele Alli, Wanyama, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose to name but a few. In truth you could go through the entire starting XI for Spurs and make the argument that they’ve all gone to a new level under Pochettino over the past two years.
When the Argentine arrived in the summer of 2014 he took over a bloated squad which was full of castoffs as a vast chunk of the then world-record transfer fee for Gareth Bale was squandered. Only Christian Eriksen (just $14.8 million from Ajax, by the way) and Erik Lamela remain from that spree.
With Spurs’ new 61,000 capacity, $1 billion home rising behind the current White Hart Lane it is easy to forget that amid all the euphoria around the likes of Dele, Harry Kane, Eriksen and Co. there has to be cost-cutting somewhere. Tying their key players down to long-term deals and spending wisely has been a shrewd move for Spurs. With the potentially tumultuous temporary move to Wembley coming up for next season, having the squad “all-in” with Pochettino will help.
And if Pochettino and the club can keep upgrading sensibly each summer, then move on squad players to leave room for youngsters to break through, it is a formula which may bring success for the next decade given the average age of this Spurs team and so many of its key contributors still in their early 20’s.
Even if Tottenham don’t quite catch Chelsea this season, there are so many reasons for Spurs to be hopeful for the future.
TOP FOUR BATTLES
The battle is well and truly for the final two places in the top four as Manchester City and Manchester United both slipped up at the weekend.
Liverpool took full advantage of that slip-up as Emre Can scored a Goal of the Season contender with an astonishing bicycle kick to put them four points clear of fifth-place Manchester United (who have a game in hand) with three games to go. That means Jurgen Klopp‘s men now control their own destiny as wins against Southampton, West Ham and Middlesbrough will guarantee they’re in the UEFA Champions League next season.
As for City and United, they’re both scrambling to catch Liverpool and although City have the easier schedule, Pep Guardiola‘s men have drawn their last two and have lost the momentum they had gained early in 2017.
For Arsenal, well, a dejected Arsene Wenger admitted after their North London derby defeat to Tottenham that finishing in the top four would prove very difficult but if they win their game in hand against struggling Southampton then they’ll be right back in the race and just three points off fourth place.
Everything is still to play for and two of City, United and Arsenal won’t make the UCL next season. United could, if they win the UEFA Europa League, but given their injury crisis it will be a big ask for Jose Mourinho’s men.
All of a sudden it is Liverpool who have grasped their chance to put themselves in the driving seat to snap up one of the final two places in the top four. City look like the other favorites given their remaining games (Crystal Palace, Leicester and West Brom at home, plus a trip to Watford) but in this season when it seems like nobody wants to finish in the top four, we can expect a few more twists and turns.
FUEL UNDER PRESSURE
ProSoccerTalk understands that the pressure is mounting on Southampton manager Claude Puel at the end of his first season in charge of St Mary’s.
Puel saw his side booed off the pitch at half time and full time of the 0-0 draw against Hull City on Saturday as Dusan Tadic had a last-gasp penalty kick saved by Eldin Jakupovic which would’ve provided Saints with an undeserved victory.
With Saints still on course for a top 10 finish and coming incredibly close to winning their first major trophy in 41 years, why is Puel under pressure?
For outsiders everything may seem rosy but if you dig a little deeper it’s not easy to find discontent at Southampton. It is believed that throughout the season several senior members of Puel’s squad have aired their concerns over the style of play being ordered by the 55-year-old Frenchman and when that starts to happen, well, we all saw what happened to Claudio Ranieri…
Puel is a great coach and has shown in his time in France with Monaco, Lille, Lyon and Nice that he can develop attractive teams and bring through talented youngsters.
That said, there are several reasons why Southampton’s fans, and perhaps players, are turning on him already.
Number one: Southampton’s fans have had success after success. They’ve finished in a higher league position for seven-straight seasons but that run will now end. With Mauricio Pochettino followed by Ronald Koeman, the transition was seamless (almost freakishly so) and they’ve finished in the top eight of the PL in each of the past three seasons. They can’t go on forever — they may indeed finish eighth, once again — but the issue is that many of Southampton’s fans feel like it should. With the current uncertainty surrounding a potential $271 million investment for 80 percent of the club from a Chinese businessman, Saints want to push for the top four and many are unsure if Puel is the right man to lead them to that challenge.
Number two: the Europa League exit was a big blow for Puel. I was in his press conference following the exit to Hapoel Be’er Sheva at St Mary’s back in December and he was distraught. The main reason he was brought to Saints was due to his pedigree in European competitions and his side crashed out at the group stage due to the amount of away goals they’d scored. His rotation policy came back to bite him. Hard. When Saints beat Liverpool in the EFL Cup semifinal to reach the final against Man United at Wembley, I asked Puel if righting the wrongs of this European campaign was key to him. He was unequivocal as to how important Saints being back in Europe, via winning the EFL Cup would be, but Saints came up short, losing 3-2 to United in a final they dominated. Now, he’s left with a bloated squad of players and a lot less games. That will be a headache.
Number three: Puel having a distinct “lack of personality” has been one of the main reasons the fanbase hasn’t quite taken to him. His English isn’t great and he isn’t bothered about delivering box office performances in his press conferences. That has led to many Southampton fans who want him to succeed now having a “meh” attitude if he does leave. Southampton’s fans aren’t too bothered either way about Puel and that’s led to discontent growing steadily despite promising displays littered throughout the season.
However deep you try to dig into this situation, there does appear to be something not quite right about one of the steadiest clubs in the PL in recent years. With key injuries to Charlie Austin, Sofiane Boufal and Virgil Van Dijk this season, plus the Jose Fonte saga leaving him without his two first-choice center backs for over half the campaign, Puel has had plenty of obstacles to overcome, especially with Saints playing 48 games in all competitions to date and that will rise to 53 matches by the end of the PL campaign.
This has not been a normal season and with no European action next season, Puel could thrive with extra time on the training ground and a smaller squad to rotate. Whether or not he’ll be given the chance to kick Saints on is another matter. Rumors state the likes of Garry Monk and Marco Silva are being lined up and ProSoccerTalk understands Fulham’s Slavisa Jokanovic is a leading contender to take charge if Puel is shown the door.
Puel should probably be given another season to push Southampton towards the top six again but the reality is they may not finish above seventh place for the foreseeable future as the perennial powers who struggled over the past two seasons have now regrouped. Whoever came in after Koeman left summer had a big job on their hands to meet rising expectations and Puel has, so far, failed to do that despite glimpses of hope. The current Southampton manager is the victim (unfairly so) of their rapid ascent and undoubted overachievement in recent years.
DIVING NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED
The great simulation debate reared its ugly head this weekend and, as always, it was not pretty.
Penalty decisions involving Marcus Rashford, Leroy Sane and Harry Kane stole the headlines, while we won’t waste much time on Lucas Leiva‘s pathetic dive for Liverpool against Watford on Monday because it was the easiest yellow for simulation in the history of the game. Perhaps the Brazilian had gained inspiration from Rashford and Sane given their actions earlier in the weekend…
Now, let us start by saying referees have an incredibly tough job and players make it even tougher.
Rashford went down right on half time against Swansea as goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski rushed out and referee Neil Swarbrick awarded a penalty kick despite not having a clear view. On second viewing Fabianski pulled away his hands and expecting the contact Rashford had fallen to the ground. It was a clear dive.
Sane then did something similar on Sunday as Man City won a penalty at Middlesbrough. The German winger left his leg trailing and went down under a challenge from Martin de Roon. Boro’s players were livid by referee Kevin Friend awarding a penalty and rightly so. It was another case of simulation.
Then, once again on Sunday, Harry Kane went down under a challenge from Gabriel and although the trailing leg of Arsenal’s defender caught him the Spurs striker let referee Michael Oliver know he’d been caught. Let’s clear up any debate on Kane’s penalty: it was a foul and not a dive. There was clear contact so Oliver got it spot on and hopefully Video Assistant Referees (VARs) will be on hand to help clear up these decisions in the PL in the near future.
In the meantime, how do we stop instances of simulation? The boys discuss in the video above and you have to agree that harsher retrospective bans for diving will help stamp it out of the game. Simple.
Hat trick hero Ronaldo: “We were outstanding” in 3-0 win.
By Nicholas Mendola
(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Cristiano Ronaldo is moving towards sandwiching his EURO 2016 title with two slices of UEFA Champions League glory.
The 32-year-old Real Madrid superstar scored his 400th goal for Real, one of his 101st, 102nd, and 103rd UCL goals scored in Tuesday’s 3-0 first leg of the Madrid Derby semifinal tie.
[ UCL RECAP: Real Madrid 3-0 Atletico Madrid ]
That’s pretty good, and Ronaldo is feeling a-okay.
From Real Madrid’s English site:
The 32-year-old Real Madrid superstar scored his 400th goal for Real, one of his 101st, 102nd, and 103rd UCL goals scored in Tuesday’s 3-0 first leg of the Madrid Derby semifinal tie.
[ UCL RECAP: Real Madrid 3-0 Atletico Madrid ]
That’s pretty good, and Ronaldo is feeling a-okay.
From Real Madrid’s English site:
“The team did a tremendous job, we were outstanding. It was a complete performance and we performed very well right from the first whistle to the last. I’m very happy to have struck a hat-trick and made it 400 goals for Real Madrid.
“We’ve now got a good lead, but there’s still the return leg to come and the tie isn’t over yet. Atlético are a very fine, strong side and it’s not by chance that they’re in the semi-finals. We’ll have to be focused for next Wednesday’s game.”It’s so rare to have a period of so many years where two of the world’s best players to ever play the game are flying for rivals inside of the same country, and at times perhaps Ronaldo and Lionel Messi take shine from each other.
There are few ways to overstate Ronaldo’s intelligence as a player, met only by his work ethic and powerful feet.
USMNT, Ghana friendly will hit East Hartford.
By Nicholas Mendola
(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
The USMNT and Ghana’s World Cup rivalry comes to Connecticut in July.
East Hartford is the place for a July 1 match, one that will come after June’s World Cup qualifiers but before the Gold Cup.
The Yanks beat Ghana in the 2014 World Cup but were eliminated by the Black Stars in the knockout rounds of the 2010 and 2006 tournament.
Obligatory quote from USMNT coach Bruce Arena:
“Ghana is certainly a team that brings different challenges, and it’s the type of competition we need as we continue to develop our program. Winning the Gold Cup is one of our priorities in 2017, so this is an important opportunity. We’ve always had great support in Hartford, and look forward to more of the same this summer.”Ghana plays Mexico three days earlier in Houston, and will be gearing up for CAF World Cup qualifiers in late August and early September.
The Black Stars made it to the AFCON semifinals before losing to Cameroon and then Burkina Faso in the third place game. The U.S. is 23 in the FIFA Rankings, while Ghana is 45. In ELO, the U.S. is 32 and Ghana stands 65.
Report: Last two home USMNT World Cup qualifier venues set.
By Nicholas Mendola
(Photo/Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP)
The Hex is passing through Orlando and Harrison, according to a report from Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl.
Wahl says the U.S. will host Costa Rica at Red Bull Arena in September, and Orlando will host the October qualifier against Panama, whom the U.S. drew in Panama City.
The U.S. last played a World Cup qualifier in Florida late last year when it defeated Trinidad and Tobago 4-0 in Jacksonville. That was the first USMNT match in Florida since 2014. Orlando City Stadium opened this year.
The Yanks have only played thrice at Red Bull Arena, all friendlies. The only win was over Turkey in the send-off series before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
NCAAFB: Power conference? American Athletic plans big push on idea.
By Pat Eaton-Robb
The American Athletic Conference wants to be considered a power conference and released a strategic plan on Monday designed to help it improve its stature.
The plan sets numerous goals for athletics, academics, health and safety, marketing and revenue. Among them are filling football stadiums and basketball arenas to between 70 and 80 percent capacity; achieving a graduation rate of at least 90 percent, strengthening the conference's TV and media rights deals and pushing ''a Power 6 narrative.''
The plan features a logo that reads ''American Power,'' with the ''e'' in the word Power replaced by the numeral 6.
''We are obviously completely focused and dedicated to being a Power Six conference,'' Commissioner Mike Aresco said. ''We think we already are. We are doing everything the other guys are doing. This is the first step in terms of writing it down.''
There are currently five power conferences - the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and Big 12. They generate the most revenue, are guaranteed top football bowl bids and have been granted some autonomy by the NCAA to establish rules.
The AAC is part of next lower tier, known as the Group of Five.
Aresco said the American already has the athletic achievements of a power conference, citing UConn's 2014 men's basketball title and the school's three women's basketball national championships since the league was formed in 2013, after the breakup of the old Big East.
He said the key now is to find a ''legislative path'' to be counted among the other big conferences when it comes to autonomy and post-season consideration, especially in football.
''We'll also need a better TV deal, we know that,'' he said. ''But the very first step is to be perceived by you, the media and the fans as a P6 conference. Perception in many cases becomes reality.''
Aresco acknowledged the conference will also need consistent success against power conference opponents to gain that respect. The AAC went just 2-5 during the football bowl season and just 1-2 during this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament.
There is no mention of expansion in the AAC's strategic plan and Aresco said that was by design. The conference recently added Wichita State, giving it 12 members for both football and basketball.
''If expansion happens down the road, it happens, but it's not something we're planning on. It's not something we're focused on,'' he said.
Nick Saban signs extension through 2024 season, will make over $11M in 2017.
By Nick Bromberg
Nick Saban was already making a lot of money. Now he's making even more. (Photo/Getty)
t sure looks like Alabama coach Nick Saban is going to retire in Tuscaloosa.
The school announced a contract extension through 2024 with Saban, 65, on Tuesday. The extension adds three years to the deal Saban had previously and also gives him a signing bonus of $4 million up front.
“[Wife] Terry and I are pleased and happy to agree to the contract extension the University of Alabama has offered us, ensuring our time here in Tuscaloosa will continue for many more years” Saban said in a statement. “This has become our home and we are looking forward to finishing our career at Alabama.”
Saban’s signing bonus means he’ll make over $11 million in 2017. His total compensation in 2016 was nearly $7 million.
The one-time payment to vault a single-year salary in a college football coach’s contract isn’t new. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh became the highest-paid coach in the country in 2016 over Saban because of a life insurance loan he took out earlier in the year.
It’s practically a guarantee that Saban will be the highest-paid NFL or college football coach in 2017 because of the bonus and he’s the first coach in college football to have an annual salary in the eight-figure range. Harbaugh’s total compensation in 2016 was just over $9 million.
Per Alabama, Saban will also receive an additional $4 million spread out over 2020, 2021 and 2022. 80 percent of that payment will come in 2022.
Saban came to Alabama after a two-year tenure with the Miami Dolphins. It’s a virtual certainty he won’t head back to the NFL and there’s really nowhere else in college football that he can go. He’s 119-19 in 10 years at Alabama and has won four national championships with the Tide.
If Saban finishes out his contract with Alabama, there’s a chance he could crack the 300-win mark. He currently has 205 wins (per the NCAA); only four coaches in FBS history have over 300 wins. And given Saban’s success and the revenue he’s brought in for Alabama, it’s nearly impossible to argue that he’s overpaid in the current college sports structure.
Saban’s contract extension was part of other raises and contract changes for Alabama’s football staff. Outside linebackers coach Tosh Lupoi, a key recruiter for the Tide, got a hefty raise. It’s reasonable to think that we’ll see position coaches start to make seven figures in the next few years.
Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran will now make $535,000 and his contract was extended through 2020. At least 18 FBS head coaches made less than Cochran’s new salary in 2016 according to USA Today’s database.
NCAABKB: After NCAA tournament appearance, Mount St. Mary’s loses fifth player to transfer.
By Rob Dauster
(Photo/Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)
After winning an NEC regular season title and advancing to the NCAA tournament, Mount St. Mary’s has become the latest exit point for players looking to transfer their way up to a bigger school.
On Monday night, it was Miles Wilson, a promising freshman guard from Baltimore who averaged 11.8 points this past season. He announced that he would be transferring out of Mount St. Mary’s, standing at 6-foot-5, is likely to garner attention from some high-major programs. Wilson followed Elijah Long, a 6-foot sophomore point guard that averaged 15.0 points and 4.4 assists this past season, out the door. Long has already taken a visit to Texas.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Redshirt sophomore Mawdo Sallah left the program and transferred to UNC Wilmington while redshirt junior Charles Glover left as well, both as grad transfers. Seldom-used Randy Miller transferred as well.
This puts Mount St. Mary’s head coach Jamion Christian in such a difficult spot. He should have been returning his top six scorers and every player that averaged more than 12 minutes this past season, half of whom were underclassmen from a team that won an NCAA tournament play-in game. Instead, he’s losing his back court of the future and only returns one player that averaged more than 7.7 points, and he stands just 5-foot-5.
This is how it works at the mid-major level these days. When you win, you can expect to lose some of your best players; per a source, the only transfer that was a surprise was Wilson. The Mount is hardly the only mid-major dealing with these same issues.
Nick McDevitt at UNC Asheville lost Keith Hornsby to LSU in 2013, Andrew Rowsey to Marquette is 2015 and, last offseason, he watched leading scorer Dylan Smith transfer to Arizona and second-leading scorer Dwayne Sutton leave for Louisville after leading that group to the NCAA tournament. Rowsey was the only one of those four transfers that was not a freshman at the time.
NEC rival Robert Morris has been hit hard as well. The last three off-seasons, Andy Toole has seen his leading scorer transfer out of the program. The Colonials’ success has taken a hit as a result.
It’s not going to change, either, not when every mid-major player believes they should probably be playing at a higher level, not when the chance to showcase your ability on national television every night can get you a six-figure D-League contract.
But this is a bad spot for mid-major coaches, who typically get bigger jobs when they have a run through the NCAA tournament.
At some point, maybe Athletic Directors at bigger schools will smarten-up and start targeting the coaches shuttle players up a level. Why wouldn’t you want a guy who can identify talent and mold them into better players? If they can do it at that level, shouldn’t that lead you to believe they can take borderline high-major prospects and turn them into potential NBA players?
Or is that simply asking too much of the decision-makers that prefer hiring a re-tread and pay search firms $75,000-$100,000 to do their job for them?
Four-star combo guard Mark Smith picks Illinois over MSU, Kentucky, Ohio State.
By Alec Brzezinski
The four-star 6-5 combo guard out of Edwardsville, Ill., will be a great addition to Brad Underwood's new Fighting Illini squad. After almost pursuing a career in professional baseball, Smith blew up as a basketball recruit and now looks poised for stardom.
Ranked No. 74 by 247Sports.com, Smith has skyrocketed up recruiting boards in recent months. His ability to play point guard and shooting guard garnered the interest of a number of elite programs throughout his senior season.
Michigan State and Kentucky appeared to be battling for Smith's services a couple weeks ago, but Smith unofficially visited Illinois on April 20 and predictions shifted in its favor immediately following the visit.
Smith joined four-star guard Trent Frazier and three-star guard DaMonte Williams in Illinois' 2017 class.
Illinois is still in the running for four-star forward Jeremiah Tilmon, who was at one time signed with the Fighting illini. Tilmon is also strongly considering Missouri, but Smith's decision could lure him back to Illinois.
The long two-block journey to the Kentucky Derby.
By Pat Forde
Norman Casse, left, and his father, Mark, chat during a workout at Churchill Downs. (Photo/Getty)
The rows of small, wooden-frame houses with tiny lawns and chain-link fences on Dresden Avenue are just a block from Churchill Downs. On that narrow street you can hear the crowds, see the lights during night racing – and if the wind is blowing south, you might even smell the horse manure from the barn area.
Yet they’re a million miles away from the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle.
Derby dreams that percolate in the hardscrabble South End neighborhood that borders America’s most famous racetrack are rarely realistic. The distance between those working-class people and the plutocracy that dominates the upper echelon of thoroughbred racing is almost impossible to navigate.
Close as it is, you can’t get there from here.
Until now, perhaps.
Classic Empire, a headstrong colt whose Derby bid appeared doomed by infirmity and intractability during the winter, could deliver a true son of the South End to the throne of racing.
When Norman Casse was born, his parents brought him home to their house on Dresden, which is across Longfield Avenue from Churchill. Norman’s father, Mark, trained a few racehorses there – not many at the time, and all of them cheap. Later, the family moved to a duplex on Queen Avenue, just outside the Gate 10 entrance to the track that has hosted the sport’s signature race since 1875.
Until last year, the Casse family still owned that duplex. The family patriarch and namesake of his grandson, Norman, charged $50 on Derby day to park in the lawn on Queen. That was the eternal neighborhood hustle – everyone looking for a way to make a buck off the out-of-towners who flock to the track.
Yet they’re a million miles away from the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle.
Derby dreams that percolate in the hardscrabble South End neighborhood that borders America’s most famous racetrack are rarely realistic. The distance between those working-class people and the plutocracy that dominates the upper echelon of thoroughbred racing is almost impossible to navigate.
Close as it is, you can’t get there from here.
Until now, perhaps.
Classic Empire, a headstrong colt whose Derby bid appeared doomed by infirmity and intractability during the winter, could deliver a true son of the South End to the throne of racing.
When Norman Casse was born, his parents brought him home to their house on Dresden, which is across Longfield Avenue from Churchill. Norman’s father, Mark, trained a few racehorses there – not many at the time, and all of them cheap. Later, the family moved to a duplex on Queen Avenue, just outside the Gate 10 entrance to the track that has hosted the sport’s signature race since 1875.
Until last year, the Casse family still owned that duplex. The family patriarch and namesake of his grandson, Norman, charged $50 on Derby day to park in the lawn on Queen. That was the eternal neighborhood hustle – everyone looking for a way to make a buck off the out-of-towners who flock to the track.
Young Norman Casse’s earliest Derby memories are selling T-shirts on the front porch, selling Cokes, selling water to men in suits and women in big hats as they walked toward the Twin Spires.
“We sold it all for grandpa,” he said between bites of meatballs and tater tots at a Louisville restaurant this week. “I don’t remember seeing any of that money.”
The elder Casse was such a hardball Derby profiteer that in later years he even charged his grandsons to park at the property on Queen on the first Saturday in May.
The full $50, no family discount. This was a guy who also supplemented his income for years by scalping Derby tickets – a thriving underground economy in Louisville.
“He just loved making money off the Kentucky Derby,” the younger Norman said.
The late Norman Casse, who died last year at the age of 79, found many ways to make money over the years. He ran a booming fireworks business that is now headed by his son, John, and still does shows all over Florida. But most significantly, Norman Casse became one of the foundational figures in the thoroughbred breeding industry in Ocala, Fla. – helping build up a place that now rivals Lexington, Ky., for the title of the worldwide breeding epicenter of the sport.
If there is a missing person that the members of Team Casse wish could join them Saturday to see Classic Empire go to post and chase immortality, it’s the man who got the family started in this business. Norman handed the horseracing bug to Mark who handed it to the younger Norman – who didn’t embrace it for many years.
Smarty Jones changed all that.
“Everyone has a horse, the one horse that hooks you on the sport,” Norman said. “That’s my horse.”
After graduating from North Bullitt High School in 2002, Norman attended Bellarmine University, a small Catholic school in Louisville. He studied business and had no real interest in following his trainer father into a racetrack life, despite having grown up around it.
But in 2004, he was enthralled watching an undefeated chestnut colt dominate the Derby. When Smarty Jones followed that performance by blowing away the field at the Preakness, Norman Casse was fully captivated. He was convinced Smarty would win the Belmont and become the first Triple Crown champion of his lifetime.
Completely emotionally invested, Norman watched the Belmont by himself in his room. When a tiring Smarty Jones was passed in deep stretch by Birdstone, it bummed out everyone who wasn’t holding a ticket on the winner.
Norman Casse was among the most crushed.
“I came out of my room crying,” he said. “My brother Joel said, ‘I don’t know why you’re so upset, unless you’re going to do this as a job.’ ”
The seed was sown, but it took a while to grow. A couple of years later, armed with a business degree from Bellarmine, Casse was miserable working a desk job in Florida. He called his dad, in tears yet with great trepidation, and said he finally was ready to try the training business.
“Why the hell haven’t you told me?” Mark Casse said, then invited his son to join his operation in Canada.
The next morning, Norman got in his car and drove from Ocala to Toronto. He reported to his dad’s barn and didn’t take a day off for the next three years, totally immersing himself in the craft of horsemanship.
“Since then, every single day, I have envisioned winning the Kentucky Derby,” Norman said. “At some point in time every day – at the gym, in the car, in the grocery – I think about it.”
Mark Casse had long since moved his operation north of the border, tiring of the Kentucky circuit he worked with increasing success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the leading trainer at Churchill for the ’88 spring meet, a career highlight, but his business didn’t truly take off until he went north of the border.
As the wins piled up, more clients kept coming Mark Casse’s way. And as Norman acquired training knowledge, he and his father hatched a plan to expand their operation: Norman would open a division back at their old Kentucky home, Churchill Downs, in addition to the already established winter base in Florida.
In 2012, the Casses picked up their most important client of all in Tulsa oilman John Oxley. He’d won the 2001 Kentucky Derby with Monarchos and had many other racing successes, but his private trainer, John Ward, got out of the business to join the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Picking up Oxley’s horses was a huge boost to the aspirations of Team Casse.
“Before Mr. Oxley, we probably had a better shot at winning the lottery than winning the Derby,” Mark Casse said.
Today, Casse Racing has divisions at Gulstream Park in South Florida, Belmont Park in New York, Churchill and Keeneland in Kentucky and Woodbine Race Course in Toronto. Norman oversees much of the American racing.
“[Mark] gives me free rein,” Norman said. “He said, ‘Here’s your horses, you decide the schedule, you decide the races, and if we disagree we’ll talk about it.’
“He doesn’t want to take credit for our success. But at the end of the day, he trained me.”
In late April 2016, a 2-year-old was vanned west on Interstate 64 from the Casse operation in Lexington to the Casse barn at Churchill. He was a well-bred colt named Classic Empire, identified by assistant trainer David Carroll as a promising young runner. A few days later, Classic Empire won his debut race in the slop under jockey Julien Leparoux.
The horse didn’t race again until the final day of Churchill’s spring meet, July 2, when he won the Bashford Manor Stakes – one of the major races identifying contenders for top 2-year-olds in the country. That victory, again with Leparoux aboard, secured Mark Casse’s first Churchill training title since the one in ’88, a milestone everyone in the barn badly wanted.
Classic Empire’s third race, the high-profile Hopeful Stakes in Saratoga in September, quickly quieted the building buzz – and hinted at the difficulties the colt would provide in the months to come. Sent to post as the favorite, Classic Empire reared coming out of the gate and dumped jockey Irad Ortiz.
“We’re absolutely dejected,” Norman recalled. “We’re sitting at the barn trying to figure out what to do.”
The Casses went back to Leparoux as their jockey on the horse and decided to send him out of the starting gate for his workouts leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Futurity at Keeneland – a plan that worked to perfection. Classic Empire rolled to victory, stamping himself as a factor in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race, the highlight event for 2-year-old horses.
When Empire held on in that race at Santa Anita by a neck, he stamped himself the champion 2-year-old and the early favorite for the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
“That was the most rewarding experience of our careers,” Norman said.
There were many exasperating experiences to come with that horse, however.
Norman Casse already had started calling Classic Empire “Racing’s Bad Boy” because of his occasional refusal to work in the morning. Like many of the rest of us, the animal simply didn’t seem enthused about getting up early and exercising. But when his existence is predicated on speed and conditioning, this was a major problem that only got worse over the winter.
Classic Empire had a sluggish workout before the February Holy Bull Stakes in Florida. He lived down to that precursor in the race, finishing a well-beaten third as the 1-2 favorite.
Afterward, Team Casse discovered a hoof abscess, which came as a relief – at least it was something they could treat, even if it meant missed training time. Yet once the hoof was healed, Classic Empire basically went on strike.
Multiple times, Classic Empire went to the track at Palm Meadows Training Complex in South Florida for scheduled major works and simply wouldn’t run hard despite the exercise rider’s urging. Eventually, and somewhat embarrassingly, it became news – champion 2-year-old won’t run.
“He’s a very intelligent horse,” Norman Casse said. “And he decided he didn’t want to train. We got him ready to work, and he didn’t want to.”
Missed workouts pushed back the horse’s racing schedule, imperiling the entire Derby plan. Horse racing annals are filled with horses who are thrown off the Derby trail by minor setbacks – because even a minor issue can become a major issue in the delicate yet taxing race to readiness for the first Saturday in May.
Basically, everything needs to go right in the weeks and months leading to Louisville. And with Classic Empire, nothing went right for a very long time.
“We decided to send him back to [the Casse farm] in Ocala,” Norman said. “It was a last-ditch effort. If he didn’t train there, we would have to give up and wait for summer.”
On the day of Classic Empire’s scheduled work at Ocala, Norman got up at 3 a.m. to drive there from Palm Meadows. He had no optimism that the horse would do anything more than he had in previous weeks, which was basically staging a work stoppage.
But on that morning, at last, Classic Empire relented.
“He worked lights out,” Norman said. “From then on out, he hasn’t had a bad day.”
Back on track, Classic Empire punched his Derby ticket by winning the Arkansas Derby April 15. Upon arrival at Churchill, he turned in a work last Friday that Mark Casse said produced “chills.”
Those two events were enough that Derby oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has said he will name Classic Empire the favorite after the post-position draw Wednesday.
And thus a Derby dream that appeared headed off the rails was put back on course. Rather against the odds.
“A lot of people have said what a great training job we’ve done,” Mark Casse said. “I appreciate that. But to do a great job you’ve got to have a great horse. A good horse can win when things go their way. A great horse can win when things don’t go their way.”
Mark and Norman Casse, third-generation horsemen who spent years on the wrong side of the track in Louisville’s beaten-down South End, will lead over a potentially great horse for the Kentucky Derby. It is a short distance from Dresden Avenue, but they’ve had to come so far from those modest days in pursuit of this dream.
It could all be two minutes away Saturday.
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Wednesday, May 03, 2017.“We sold it all for grandpa,” he said between bites of meatballs and tater tots at a Louisville restaurant this week. “I don’t remember seeing any of that money.”
The elder Casse was such a hardball Derby profiteer that in later years he even charged his grandsons to park at the property on Queen on the first Saturday in May.
The full $50, no family discount. This was a guy who also supplemented his income for years by scalping Derby tickets – a thriving underground economy in Louisville.
“He just loved making money off the Kentucky Derby,” the younger Norman said.
The late Norman Casse, who died last year at the age of 79, found many ways to make money over the years. He ran a booming fireworks business that is now headed by his son, John, and still does shows all over Florida. But most significantly, Norman Casse became one of the foundational figures in the thoroughbred breeding industry in Ocala, Fla. – helping build up a place that now rivals Lexington, Ky., for the title of the worldwide breeding epicenter of the sport.
If there is a missing person that the members of Team Casse wish could join them Saturday to see Classic Empire go to post and chase immortality, it’s the man who got the family started in this business. Norman handed the horseracing bug to Mark who handed it to the younger Norman – who didn’t embrace it for many years.
Smarty Jones changed all that.
“Everyone has a horse, the one horse that hooks you on the sport,” Norman said. “That’s my horse.”
After graduating from North Bullitt High School in 2002, Norman attended Bellarmine University, a small Catholic school in Louisville. He studied business and had no real interest in following his trainer father into a racetrack life, despite having grown up around it.
But in 2004, he was enthralled watching an undefeated chestnut colt dominate the Derby. When Smarty Jones followed that performance by blowing away the field at the Preakness, Norman Casse was fully captivated. He was convinced Smarty would win the Belmont and become the first Triple Crown champion of his lifetime.
Completely emotionally invested, Norman watched the Belmont by himself in his room. When a tiring Smarty Jones was passed in deep stretch by Birdstone, it bummed out everyone who wasn’t holding a ticket on the winner.
Norman Casse was among the most crushed.
“I came out of my room crying,” he said. “My brother Joel said, ‘I don’t know why you’re so upset, unless you’re going to do this as a job.’ ”
The seed was sown, but it took a while to grow. A couple of years later, armed with a business degree from Bellarmine, Casse was miserable working a desk job in Florida. He called his dad, in tears yet with great trepidation, and said he finally was ready to try the training business.
“Why the hell haven’t you told me?” Mark Casse said, then invited his son to join his operation in Canada.
The next morning, Norman got in his car and drove from Ocala to Toronto. He reported to his dad’s barn and didn’t take a day off for the next three years, totally immersing himself in the craft of horsemanship.
“Since then, every single day, I have envisioned winning the Kentucky Derby,” Norman said. “At some point in time every day – at the gym, in the car, in the grocery – I think about it.”
Mark Casse had long since moved his operation north of the border, tiring of the Kentucky circuit he worked with increasing success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was the leading trainer at Churchill for the ’88 spring meet, a career highlight, but his business didn’t truly take off until he went north of the border.
As the wins piled up, more clients kept coming Mark Casse’s way. And as Norman acquired training knowledge, he and his father hatched a plan to expand their operation: Norman would open a division back at their old Kentucky home, Churchill Downs, in addition to the already established winter base in Florida.
In 2012, the Casses picked up their most important client of all in Tulsa oilman John Oxley. He’d won the 2001 Kentucky Derby with Monarchos and had many other racing successes, but his private trainer, John Ward, got out of the business to join the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Picking up Oxley’s horses was a huge boost to the aspirations of Team Casse.
“Before Mr. Oxley, we probably had a better shot at winning the lottery than winning the Derby,” Mark Casse said.
Today, Casse Racing has divisions at Gulstream Park in South Florida, Belmont Park in New York, Churchill and Keeneland in Kentucky and Woodbine Race Course in Toronto. Norman oversees much of the American racing.
“[Mark] gives me free rein,” Norman said. “He said, ‘Here’s your horses, you decide the schedule, you decide the races, and if we disagree we’ll talk about it.’
“He doesn’t want to take credit for our success. But at the end of the day, he trained me.”
In late April 2016, a 2-year-old was vanned west on Interstate 64 from the Casse operation in Lexington to the Casse barn at Churchill. He was a well-bred colt named Classic Empire, identified by assistant trainer David Carroll as a promising young runner. A few days later, Classic Empire won his debut race in the slop under jockey Julien Leparoux.
The horse didn’t race again until the final day of Churchill’s spring meet, July 2, when he won the Bashford Manor Stakes – one of the major races identifying contenders for top 2-year-olds in the country. That victory, again with Leparoux aboard, secured Mark Casse’s first Churchill training title since the one in ’88, a milestone everyone in the barn badly wanted.
Classic Empire’s third race, the high-profile Hopeful Stakes in Saratoga in September, quickly quieted the building buzz – and hinted at the difficulties the colt would provide in the months to come. Sent to post as the favorite, Classic Empire reared coming out of the gate and dumped jockey Irad Ortiz.
“We’re absolutely dejected,” Norman recalled. “We’re sitting at the barn trying to figure out what to do.”
The Casses went back to Leparoux as their jockey on the horse and decided to send him out of the starting gate for his workouts leading up to the Breeders’ Cup Futurity at Keeneland – a plan that worked to perfection. Classic Empire rolled to victory, stamping himself as a factor in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile race, the highlight event for 2-year-old horses.
When Empire held on in that race at Santa Anita by a neck, he stamped himself the champion 2-year-old and the early favorite for the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
“That was the most rewarding experience of our careers,” Norman said.
There were many exasperating experiences to come with that horse, however.
Norman Casse already had started calling Classic Empire “Racing’s Bad Boy” because of his occasional refusal to work in the morning. Like many of the rest of us, the animal simply didn’t seem enthused about getting up early and exercising. But when his existence is predicated on speed and conditioning, this was a major problem that only got worse over the winter.
Classic Empire had a sluggish workout before the February Holy Bull Stakes in Florida. He lived down to that precursor in the race, finishing a well-beaten third as the 1-2 favorite.
Afterward, Team Casse discovered a hoof abscess, which came as a relief – at least it was something they could treat, even if it meant missed training time. Yet once the hoof was healed, Classic Empire basically went on strike.
Multiple times, Classic Empire went to the track at Palm Meadows Training Complex in South Florida for scheduled major works and simply wouldn’t run hard despite the exercise rider’s urging. Eventually, and somewhat embarrassingly, it became news – champion 2-year-old won’t run.
“He’s a very intelligent horse,” Norman Casse said. “And he decided he didn’t want to train. We got him ready to work, and he didn’t want to.”
Missed workouts pushed back the horse’s racing schedule, imperiling the entire Derby plan. Horse racing annals are filled with horses who are thrown off the Derby trail by minor setbacks – because even a minor issue can become a major issue in the delicate yet taxing race to readiness for the first Saturday in May.
Basically, everything needs to go right in the weeks and months leading to Louisville. And with Classic Empire, nothing went right for a very long time.
“We decided to send him back to [the Casse farm] in Ocala,” Norman said. “It was a last-ditch effort. If he didn’t train there, we would have to give up and wait for summer.”
On the day of Classic Empire’s scheduled work at Ocala, Norman got up at 3 a.m. to drive there from Palm Meadows. He had no optimism that the horse would do anything more than he had in previous weeks, which was basically staging a work stoppage.
But on that morning, at last, Classic Empire relented.
“He worked lights out,” Norman said. “From then on out, he hasn’t had a bad day.”
Back on track, Classic Empire punched his Derby ticket by winning the Arkansas Derby April 15. Upon arrival at Churchill, he turned in a work last Friday that Mark Casse said produced “chills.”
Those two events were enough that Derby oddsmaker Mike Battaglia has said he will name Classic Empire the favorite after the post-position draw Wednesday.
And thus a Derby dream that appeared headed off the rails was put back on course. Rather against the odds.
“A lot of people have said what a great training job we’ve done,” Mark Casse said. “I appreciate that. But to do a great job you’ve got to have a great horse. A good horse can win when things go their way. A great horse can win when things don’t go their way.”
Mark and Norman Casse, third-generation horsemen who spent years on the wrong side of the track in Louisville’s beaten-down South End, will lead over a potentially great horse for the Kentucky Derby. It is a short distance from Dresden Avenue, but they’ve had to come so far from those modest days in pursuit of this dream.
It could all be two minutes away Saturday.
Memoriesofhistory.com
1936 - Joe DiMaggio (New York Yankees) made his major league debut. He got three hits.
1938 - Lefty Grove got the first of a record 20 consecutive wins.
1951 - Gil McDougald (New York Yankees) became the fifth player to get 6 RBIs in an inning.
1969 - U.S. President Nixon attended the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. It was the first time a sitting U.S. president attended the race.
1980 - Willie McCovey (San Francisco Giants) hit his 521st and final home run.
1980 - Ferguson Jenkins (Texas Rangers) became the fourth player to win 100 games in the American League and the National League.
1981 - Sally Little won the LPGA CPC Women's Golf International.
1986 - Don Mattingly (New York Yankees) became the 6th player to hit 3 sacrifice flies in a game.
1992 - Gregg Olson (Baltimore Orioles) became the youngest player to record 100 saves. He was 25 years old.
1992 - Eddie Murray (New York Mets) became the 24th player to hit 400 home runs.
1995 - David Bell debuted for the Cleveland Indians.
2007 - The Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks in Game 6. It was the first time a No. 8 seed team had defeated a No. 1 seed team in a 7-game playoff series.
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