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"Sports Quote of the Day"
“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.” ~ Hans Selye, Endocrinologist
TRENDING: #BearsTalk Pick Six: What are the important storylines for veteran minicamp? (See the football section for Bears news and NFL updates).
TRENDING: Could Niklas Hjalmarsson become a Calgary Flame? (See the hockey section for Blackhawks updates and NHL news).
TRENDING: Destined or not, Kevin Durant needed to earn hard-fought Game 5 Warriors win, NBA Title. Kevin Durant named NBA Finals MVP. The Bulls have the same 2018 NBA title odds as the Knicks, Lakers and Sixers. (See the basketball section for Bulls news and NBA updates).
TRENDING: Cubs take on the pitching risk with first-round picks Brendon Little and Alex Lange. Anthony Rizzo's leadoff message to Cubs: 'We've hit since we came out of the womb'. (See the baseball section for Cubs and White Sox updates).
TRENDING: U.S. Open: Round 1, Round 2 tee times. U.S. Open: Preview and Ranks.
U.S. Open host Erin Hills looks Spectacular, but it can be 'nasty'. Latest USGA
quandary: Fuming over fescue. UPDATE: USGA cuts fescue; Rory disapproves; See the golf section for U.S. Open tournament updates, expanded coverage and PGA news).
TRENDING: NASCAR Power Rankings. Playoff pressure ratcheting up with each new NASCAR winner. (See the NASCAR section for NASCAR news and racing updates).
TRENDING: Why the U.S. Open Cup is awesome. USMNT’s road map to the World Cup. (See the soccer section for Fire news and worldwide soccer updates).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! #BearsTalk Pick Six: What are the important storylines for veteran minicamp?
TRENDING: NASCAR Power Rankings. Playoff pressure ratcheting up with each new NASCAR winner. (See the NASCAR section for NASCAR news and racing updates).
TRENDING: Why the U.S. Open Cup is awesome. USMNT’s road map to the World Cup. (See the soccer section for Fire news and worldwide soccer updates).
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!!!! #BearsTalk Pick Six: What are the important storylines for veteran minicamp?
By #BearsTalk
(Photo/USA TODAY)
This week’s mandatory three-day minicamp at Halas Hall closes out the Bears’ official off-season program. Once practice concludes Thursday afternoon, the players are on their own for six weeks before reporting to training camp in Bourbonnais Wednesday, July 26, with the first practice expected a day later.
Here’s are a six-pack of storylines CSN's Chris Boden and JJ Stankevitz will be especially keeping their eyes on:
1. Roll Call
Only three of the Bears’ 10 Organized Team Activities over the past three weeks were open to the media. A good portion of the roster was out on the field each day we were allowed to witness the workouts at Halas Hall.
But there were other times a handful of key players were either nowhere to be seen, or off to the side working with the training staff. How much from a group that includes the likes of Josh Sitton, Hroniss Grasu, Markus Wheaton, Zach Miller, Eddie Goldman, Jaye Howard, Leonard Floyd, Pernell McPhee, Willie Young and Eddie Jackson will be taking part, from individual drills to 11-on-11? If not every day, any days? And is it because of the coaching staff is playing things cautiously, due to the bad injury track record the past two years, or from setbacks, or something new?
We won’t get definitive answers on that from John Fox, who’s said the primary objective is to get everyone ready to go by training camp, or the regular season. Mark Sanchez, Cam Meredith, Danny Trevathan and Kyle Long are not expected to be taking part when the offense and defense line up opposite each other. And based on the forecasted temperatures in the 90’s, it wouldn’t be a surprise to reduce risk by working out inside the Payton Center. — Chris Boden
2. Mike Gennon’s command of the offense
By all accounts, Mike Glennon hasn’t wavered in taking command of the Bears offense since Mitch Trubisky was drafted in April. His “this is my year” line was a public declaration of the approach he’s taken with his teammates, which has been roundly praised before and after April’s draft. This week will be Glennon’s last opportunity to build on-field trust with his teammates before July, but he’ll likely use the six-week summer break to keep building relationships off the field, too. — JJ Stankevitz
3. ”Tru” at No. 2
It’s hard to think Ryan Pace and the coaching staff will stray from their plan to begin the season with the second overall draft pick sitting third on the quarterback depth chart. But with Sanchez sidelined, Mitch Trubisky at least has an opportunity to make them think otherwise. No, he won’t be going up against an angry opponent’s number-one defense that’s scheming to rattle the rookie. But you’d have to think Dowell Loggains (and Vic Fangio) will try to push and challenge the quarterback of the future, who’ll get consistent work with teammates projected to be higher up the depth chart. Should he impress, it won’t change minds of the position pecking order heading to Bourbonnais, but Trubisky showing he’s a quicker study than expected could at least open the door slightly more to that possibility. — Chris Boden
4. Where does Kevin White fit?
Among the “ifs” on the Bears’ roster — and there are many — Kevin White may be the biggest. The 2015 No. 7 pick has only played four games in the last two years, but if he can be the guy the Bears (and plenty of draft analysts) thought he was coming out of West Virginia, he’ll go a long way toward replacing Alshon Jeffery. The importance of veteran minicamp for White is mostly just getting him reps, even if pads and contact aren’t involved, as he continues to build his way back from those two leg injuries. — JJ Stankevitz
5. The first thing for the secondary
For a secondary with four offseason additions — cornerbacks Marcus Cooper and Prince Amukamara, and safeties Quintin Demps and Eddie Jackson — OTAs have mostly been important for developing trust and chemistry within the unit. This is a group that will be tasked with creating more turnovers than last year’s total of 11 (tied for the lowest in a single season in NFL history), and the process of developing that takeaway-focused mentality began during the offseason program. For the new players and the holdovers from last year, learning everyone’s strengths and weaknesses now will help get this group on solid footing heading into training camp in July. — JJ Stankevitz
6. The “baby” Bear
So Cam Meredith and Zach Miller have injuries they’re working their way back from, Kevin White still has to prove himself going into Year 3, and the last thing you want to do is put Jordan Howard through any more work than needed before Sept.10. Now’s a good time to start seeing how 5-foot-6 waterbug Tarik Cohen can be utilized, whether it’s coming out of the backfield, split out wide or in the slot. This offense needs weapons and diversity even when everyone is healthy. Cohen has the potential to supply that, provided he can evade and outrun defenses at the NFL level like he did at North Carolina A&T. (And by the way, he wouldn’t like being called baby Bear. It’s used for these title purposes only. He’s used his size as a chip on his shoulder to become a fourth-round draft pick.) — Chris Boden
A special Mitch Trubisky package? It’s not a yes or no question for Bears.
By JJ Stankevitz
(Photo/USA TODAY)
Instead, Fox pointed to his time with the Denver Broncos working with Kyle Orton and a certain minor league outfielder in the New York Mets’ farm system.
“I’ve been around situations like that before, back in my time in Denver with (Tim) Tebow,” Fox said. “We’re going to do whatever we can as coaches and put guys in positions where they can utilize their skillset and it won’t be any different this year.”
That’s a vague non-answer, but it would’ve done Fox no good to say, in mid-June, that the Bears are or are not thinking about a special Trubisky package. If Bears are thinking about ways to get Trubisky on the field without encroaching on Mike Glennon’s starting job, publicly announcing that three months before the season starts wouldn’t be the best strategy.
It’s likely that when Trubisky plays won’t be determined by some sort of specially-designed package, given he and Glennon are far more similar quarterbacks than Orton and Tebow. Instead, how quickly Trubisky develops — and how successful Glennon is — will determine when the No. 2 pick plays meaningful snaps for the first time, be it in 2017 or later.
“He's been great,” Glennon said. “He works really hard at it. He asks questions. He's done a really good job of learning the offense, understanding what we're trying to accomplish, and I think he does a great job picking that up for being a rookie.”
Sitton may move to right guard.
By Eli Kaberon
(Photo/chicagobears.com)
When Josh Sitton joined the Bears last year, he had more than just a new playbook to learn. Released by Green Bay on September 3, Sitton was not on the open market long. He signed with the Bears two days later, less than a week before the 2016 regular season kicked off in Houston. In a matter of days, Sitton had to familiarize himself not only with what Bears coaches wanted him to do on the field, but also learn teammates' names and how the team operated. He found himself following his fellow offensive linemen into meetings and practice those first few days to get acclimated to the Bears and Halas Hall.
Along with a new organization and city, there was also a new position for the offensive lineman to learn. After playing the majority of his career at right guard, Sitton moved to the left side in Chicago. He started 12 games at left guard last season and earned a Pro Bowl invite for his stellar play at that position.
Along with a new organization and city, there was also a new position for the offensive lineman to learn. After playing the majority of his career at right guard, Sitton moved to the left side in Chicago. He started 12 games at left guard last season and earned a Pro Bowl invite for his stellar play at that position.
Heading into the 2017 season, Sitton's comfort level with the Bears is much higher. He joined his fellow linemen and quarterback Mike Glennon at a Jason Aldean concert earlier this year, building the chemistry that the unit needs. But once again, the question lingers over what position he'll play. Despite his strong play a year ago at left guard, Bears coaches have Sitton working on the right side during minicamp.
"You want flexibility," head coach John Fox said Tuesday when asked about Sitton. "We're messing around with he and Kyle (Long) both playing opposite sides, whether one's on the left, one's on the right. We'll get those looks in camp, we got plenty of time."
Sitton is nearly equally familiar with both positions. Over his nine-year career, he's made 64 starts at right guard, compared to 59 at left guard. There are differences to the two positions beyond which side of the center he stands next to along the line. However because he's done both of them extensively, Sitton doesn't expect too much of an adjustment regardless of where coaches end up putting him.
"A lot of it is muscle memory, so it takes time to get your body back to that stance with hand placement and things like that," Sitton said. "But being that I've done it before, it's not as big of a transition.
Sitton is nearly equally familiar with both positions. Over his nine-year career, he's made 64 starts at right guard, compared to 59 at left guard. There are differences to the two positions beyond which side of the center he stands next to along the line. However because he's done both of them extensively, Sitton doesn't expect too much of an adjustment regardless of where coaches end up putting him.
"A lot of it is muscle memory, so it takes time to get your body back to that stance with hand placement and things like that," Sitton said. "But being that I've done it before, it's not as big of a transition.
"Some guys are natural right side or left side, or just better on a certain side. It can have to do with anything from what hand you are, your feet might be better, or you may just have more experience on a certain side."
Sitton is still only practicing on a limited basis as he rehabs an injury, as is Long. Fox said both players are on target to be ready for work once camp opens in Bourbonnais. Until then, Sitton is preparing himself to be ready for whichever guard spot he may be placed at. In walk-throughs and meetings, the veteran is paying attention to what the left and right guards are asked to do during a specific play.
Film study is also especially valuable, as it allows Sitton to re-familiarize himself with what a right guard is asked to do depending on the defense in front of him. While there are similarities to the two spots on the field, the right and left guards do have some different responsibilities. Sitton didn't have time to digest all of that last year, when he was thrown into the lineup just days before the season began. So this offseason has been valuable for allowing him to learn.
"You see the field from a different side," Sitton said. "You see a certain play and you know you're going to a certain spot."
Fox agreed, explaining the difference between left and right guard. "It's a feel," the coach said. "It's a different stance. Kinesthetically it's different as far as how you fit, how you squeeze, the directions, you get some kind of the right call on the left side, it's a different direction."
With Sitton and Long both able to play multiple positions, Bears coaches believe the offensive line will have greater flexibility in 2017 than it did a year ago. Sitton said regardless of where he lines up, he thinks the unit can be one of the best offensive lines in the league.
"Playing on the O-line, it's the only position where you have five guys working together," Sitton said. "You're communicating together and you have to be in the right place next to your guy. So building that chemistry is something that takes time. Last year we didn't really get to building that chemistry until Week 1, so it took some time."
The good news for Sitton is that there's less for him to take in this offseason. He's familiar with the Bears. And by the time the 2017 regular season kicks off, his position will be known. In the end, Sitton said he's comfortable playing on either side. "There's things I do better on the left side, things I do better on the right side," he said. "So I think it kind of evens out."
The good news for Sitton is that there's less for him to take in this offseason. He's familiar with the Bears. And by the time the 2017 regular season kicks off, his position will be known. In the end, Sitton said he's comfortable playing on either side. "There's things I do better on the left side, things I do better on the right side," he said. "So I think it kind of evens out."
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Could Niklas Hjalmarsson become a Calgary Flame? (Another opinion taken from sbnation.com/chicagoblackhawks)
By FlamesMM
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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
The Blackhawks currently have a cap hit of 77.5 million dollars for next season, meaning with a cap of 73 million dollars, they’re already significantly over.
Meanwhile the Calgary Flames have only committed 51.2 million dollars to next year’s roster, so there is a lot of room to maneuver.
There have been rumors out of Chicago that a core player will very likely be traded from the Blackhawks this offseason. After taking away the names that are unlikely to be traded such as Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane, the next name that makes the most sense is Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Hjalmarsson is 30 years old and will be for all of next season. He has two years left on his current contract that carries an annual cap hit of 4.1 million dollars. That would be a steal for any team looking for a top four defender.
He also carries a 10 team no trade list which gives the Blackhawks more flexibility with him then with other members of their core. Hjalmarsson has three Stanley Cups on his resume and would bring 128 games of playoff experience to a Flames team that is still lacking it.
Hjalmarsson is a left handed shot which would push T.J. Brodie to the right side where he has thrived in the past. Hjalmarsson also leans more on the defensive side of the game, so he could complement Brodie’s offensive capabilities well by providing a safety net when he jumps into the rush. Hjalmarsson set a career high in goals this season with five, and his career best points total is only 26.
There have been rumors out of Chicago that a core player will very likely be traded from the Blackhawks this offseason. After taking away the names that are unlikely to be traded such as Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane, the next name that makes the most sense is Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Hjalmarsson is 30 years old and will be for all of next season. He has two years left on his current contract that carries an annual cap hit of 4.1 million dollars. That would be a steal for any team looking for a top four defender.
He also carries a 10 team no trade list which gives the Blackhawks more flexibility with him then with other members of their core. Hjalmarsson has three Stanley Cups on his resume and would bring 128 games of playoff experience to a Flames team that is still lacking it.
Hjalmarsson is a left handed shot which would push T.J. Brodie to the right side where he has thrived in the past. Hjalmarsson also leans more on the defensive side of the game, so he could complement Brodie’s offensive capabilities well by providing a safety net when he jumps into the rush. Hjalmarsson set a career high in goals this season with five, and his career best points total is only 26.
What would a trade look like?
Any deal that would be done would have to involve the Flames taking in a lot of salary and the Blackhawks taking in very little. This sets the Flames up well as they have a bit of a backlog of prospects ready to push towards the NHL level that could be good trade chips.
There’s also speculation that the Blackhawks could be looking to move up in the draft this year which means a pick swap between the teams would make sense.
The logistics of this trade surrounding the expansion draft make things tougher. Ideally for the Flames this deal would get done after the expansion draft so the Flames could stick with their 7-3-1 protection scheme. Chicago would probably prefer it to be done before the draft so they could protect Trevor van Riemsdyk in Hjalmarsson’s place.
The Flames would likely have to send back a defenseman that is close to NHL ready in the deal, and ideally for me that would be Brett Kulak. However I think there is a good chance that he’s getting taken in the expansion draft so it may be Rasmus Andersson or Oliver Kylington.
It also makes sense that the Flames would send at least one other prospect the other way as well. Perhaps a forward such as Hunter Shinkaruk or Andrew Mangiapane would make sense. Coupled with a pick swap, it may enticing enough for Chicago to take the deal.
Chicago is starting to plan for their future because their present is stuck in cap hell. Their current struggles came at the cost of three Stanley Cups so I’m sure they aren’t complaining.
Hjalmarsson would be a great fit as a fourth defender, and the Blackhawks are in a tough cap predicament which means the Flames may be able to get him without significantly hurting their current roster.
The opportunity could be there, but should the Flames do it?
The opportunity could be there, but should the Flames do it?
Just Another Chicago Bulls Session..... Destined or not, Kevin Durant needed to earn hard-fought Game 5 Warriors win, NBA title.
By Kurt Helin
(Photo/AP)
It may have felt destined, like Golden State’s birthright since last July, but it was never going to be easy. Not from getting blown out the opening night of the season through battling a brilliant LeBron James performance in the Finals. The Warriors had to earn this ring with some grit.
In the end, Game 5 followed was the script the Warriors wanted before this series started. A couple big runs, monster nights from their two top-five players Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, strong defense, a small-ball lineup nobody could stop, and some big threes when they needed it.
Game 5 also followed the script the Cavaliers feared. LeBron James would be brilliant, but the defense that was questionable all season would make key mistakes giving up easy buckets, and even a hot night from J.R. Smith would not be enough save them.
Golden State grabbed the Game 5 lead with a 28-7 second quarter run, and despite pressure from the Cavaliers never gave it up, going on to win 129-120.
Golden State is your NBA champion, beating Cleveland 4-1. This is the Warriors second title in three years.
Kevin Durant had 39 points on 20 shots, plus had seven rebounds. His five-straight 30+ point games earned him the MVP award. He came West and the Warriors may well not have won this ring without him.
“Yeah, I hear all the narratives throughout the season that I was joining, I was hopping on bandwagons, I was letting everybody else do the work,” Durant said. “But then that was far from the truth. I came in and tried to help my team. Like I said, tried to be myself, be aggressive and sacrifice as well.”
LeBron had a game-high 41 points, plus 13 rebounds and eight assists He averaged a triple-double for the series and carried the Cavaliers for long stretches. Kyrie Irving added 26 points on 9-of-22 shooting, and J.R. Smith had 25 points and shot 7-of-8 from three.
Golden State came out with more energy winning the hustle battles early — Zaza Pachulia grabbed one offensive rebound (which became a Klay Thompson three), but the key factors in the first went Cleveland’s way. The Warriors went more than six minutes in the first with Draymond Green at center — their best lineups — and were just +2. LeBron James went to the bench for the final 1:20 of the quarter, and the Cavs were +3 — the Warriors need to dominate those stretches. It was 37-33 Cavs after one, LeBron and Irving each scored a dozen. Curry had 12 for the Warriors, but they were 2-of-7 from three.
Midway through the second quarter, those dynamics changed — the Warriors went on what ultimately was a 28-7 run that had them up double digits and in control of the game. The run started with defense (the Cavaliers didn’t score on eight straight possessions) which in turn led to transition buckets — but it helped the Warriors hit 14-of-15 shots. Plus, the Warriors went 4-of-4 from three in the second.
“Turnovers. Turnovers. Bad shot selection,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said of that run. “Something we talked about all series. You can’t turn the basketball over, you can’t take bad shots because you don’t have floor balance. And they’re so fast, they get out in transition. It’s tough to get back and get matched, especially with their speed.”
“We tried to contain it and keep it a half-court game, but they continued to push the pace,” Kevin Love said. “They play really well when they do that. There were times where we were fanning out trying to get to that three-point line [on defense], and then they would back-cut us and get a layup. So we were just trying to protect everyone’s back and got caught up in a few situations that weren’t good for us.”
The Warriors were able to stay small in part due to quality minutes from David West, and he showed a little of the fight the Warriors had in this game, getting into it with Tristan Thompson (J.R. Smith jumped in for fun, and all three got technical.
It was 71-60 Warriors at the half, and they had led by as many as 17 late in the second.
However, the Cavs did not roll over, they had great shotmaking to come out in the third, attacked the mismatches they wanted and were more disciplined, cutting the lead to four at one point. It wasn’t Cleveland’s defense that was the answer, it was all about buckets — they scored on 13 of 16 possessions at one point in the third. Getting stops was the hard part.
“They started to go with the 1-3 pick and roll with Steph Curry and Durant, which might be one of the most unstoppable pick-and-rolls in our league,” Lue said. And they waited until late to do it. But that’s a tough play to stop.”
Cleveland could never fully close the gap, the lead fluctuated between four and nine, with it being at five heading into the fourth. The Warriors got big three from Iguodala, they got some cuts for Durant dunks because defenders can’t help off Klay Thompson, and when they needed stops they got enough.
And they will get a ring for it.
Kevin Durant named NBA Finals MVP.
By Taylor Bartle
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55225375/usa_today_10105973.1497327502.jpg)
(Photo/Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports)
Former Seattle Supersonic #2 pick and Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant has won his first championship and it wasn’t with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Durant scored over 30 points in every game of this Finals, including 39 in the decisive game five, and averaged 35.2 over the series. He is only the sixth player to accomplish such a feat, joining some elite company: Elgin Baylor, Los Angeles Lakers (vs. Boston Celtics) in 1962 (7 games), Rick Barry, San Francisco Warriors (vs. Philadelphia 76ers) in 1967 (6 games), Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls (vs. Phoenix Suns) in 1993 (6 games), Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets (vs. Orlando Magic) in 1995 (4 games), and Shaquille O'Neal, Los Angeles Lakers (vs. Indiana Pacers) in 2000 (6 games).
Durant had one of the most impressive offensive performances in NBA history, shooting 55.6% from the field, 47.4% from behind the three-point line, and 92.7% from the free throw line. Those kind of numbers put him not just in, but ABOVE, elite company;
- Michael Jordan in 1992: 35.8 points, 53% from the field, 42.9% from three, and 89.1% from the line
- Chauncey Billups in 2004: 21 points, 51% from the field, 47.1% from three, 92.9% from the line
- Ray Allen in 2008: 20.3 points, 51% from the field, 52% from three, 87% from the line
- Penny Hardaway in 1995: 25.5 points, 50% from the field, 45.8% from three, 91.3% from the line
Durant had the most efficient scoring performance of all time, and also had 8.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game. It was truly amazing to watch.
From the city of Seattle, congratulations Kevin!
From the city of Seattle, congratulations Kevin!
The Bulls have the same 2018 NBA title odds as the Knicks, Lakers and Sixers.
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
Las Vegas isn't expecting the Bulls to hang a seventh banner inside the United Center anytime soon.
The sports gambling website Bovada released its 2018 title odds and the Bulls are tied for the 12th best odds. The only problem, given the dominance at the top of the league right now, is that those odds are 100 to 1. Teams such as the Knicks, Sixers, Timberwolves, Pelicans and Nuggets also tout those same 100 to 1 odds. In fact, only seven teams have worse odds than the 12 teams at 100:1.
The obvious asterisk here is that the draft and free agency will entirely change the dynamics of every team in the league. Still, if you're a gambling man or woman your best bet is likely to stick with the Warriors (2:3) or the Cavaliers (3:1). Barring wild changes to either team, they appear to be on a collision course for a fourth straight NBA Finals matchup a year from now.
Golden State Warriors - 2:3
Cleveland Cavaliers - 3:1
Boston Celtics - 12:1
San Antonio Spurs - 12:1
Houston Rockets - 20:1
LA Clippers - 33:1
Toronto Raptors - 50:1
Washington Wizards - 50:1
Oklahoma City Thunder - 66:1
Memphis Grizzlies - 75:1
Milwaukee Bucks - 75:1
Chicago Bulls - 100:1
Dallas Mavericks - 100:1
Denver Nuggets - 100:1
Indiana Pacers - 100:1
Los Angeles Lakers - 100:1
Miami Heat - 100:1
Minnesota Timberwolves - 100:1
New Orleans Pelicans - 100:1
New York Knicks - 100:1
Philadelphia 76ers - 100:1
Portland Trail Blazers - 100:1
Utah Jazz - 100:1
Atlanta Hawks - 200:1
Charlotte Hornets - 300:1
Detroit Pistons - 300:1
Brooklyn Nets - 500:1
Orlando Magic - 500:1
Phoenix Suns - 500:1
Sacramento Kings - 500:1
CUBS: Anthony Rizzo's leadoff message to Cubs: 'We've hit since we came out of the womb'.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/USA TODAY)
Joe Maddon didn’t experience divine inspiration during his visit to St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Tuesday as much as Ben Zobrist’s nagging left wrist injury made the World Series MVP unavailable that night against the New York Mets.
To be honest, the Cubs are running out of ideas to jumpstart their lineup and Maddon isn’t the type of manager who pretends the outside world doesn’t exist and loses sleep at the team’s Midtown Manhattan hotel.
How about Anthony Rizzo hitting leadoff?
Rizzo lobbied Maddon for it, talked trash with Dexter Fowler and texted the old you-go, we-go leadoff guy. You will definitely see that look again on Wednesday night against Matt Harvey after Rizzo ignited the offense in a 14-3 win at Citi Field, the kind of low-stress, playing-from-ahead game the Cubs have rarely put together this year.
“It’s the mental grind of the season,” Rizzo said. “I just keep telling everyone: ‘We’re good.’ We’re good baseball players. We’ve hit our entire lives. We’ve hit since we came out of the womb, basically. In Little League, high school, travel ball, in college, in the minors. We’ve all hit up here, too.
“It’s just a matter of getting that confidence back and trying not to get two knocks in one at-bat. Just pass it onto the next guy. That’s what we keep telling each other. It’ll turn. And if it doesn’t, we’ll keep working until it does.”
Standing at his locker before the game and listening to state-of-the-team questions, Rizzo promised: “I’m going to be ready to go first pitch.” Rizzo waited until Zack Wheeler’s second pitch before launching a 95-mph fastball over the center-field wall and beyond the Big Apple for a home run in his first career at-bat in the leadoff spot.
Rizzo then came back from an 0-2 count with the bases loaded in the second inning, working a seven-pitch, two-out walk that gave the Cubs a 2-1 lead. Ian Happ destroyed Wheeler’s next pitch, blasting a 94-mph fastball out to left field for his first career grand slam (in a game where he also struck out four times). Three batters later, Addison Russell ended Wheeler’s night with a two-run double down the left-field line.
Rizzo also chipped in with an RBI double in the third inning, and this is a lineup that can go cold or get hot depending on its All-Star/Gold Glove/Silver Slugger first baseman.
“My reaction was: Why not?” Jon Lester said after pitching with some margin for error and notching his 150th career win. “Anything to get us going, and he did.”
For one night, the defending World Series champs could exhale and deflect attention away from a 32-32 start where the Cubs have broken down in every phase of the game.
“Do we need a shakeup?” Rizzo said. “We need to start winning. We need to start winning baseball games and getting a really good feeling in here again.
“Winning cures a lot, so whatever it takes. If I need to hit ninth, if I need to pitch, if I need to play shortstop, it doesn’t matter. I think anyone will say the same thing — whatever it takes.”
Yeah, whatever it takes, right, Joe?
“I’ll be at St. Paddy’s again tomorrow, too,” Maddon joked. “I really avoid praying for success as a group hitting or pitching. I don’t focus on those things. That’s not what candles are for.”
Cubs take on the pitching risk with first-round picks Brendon Little and Alex Lange.
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/AP)
Armed with two first-round picks and facing a potential pitching shortage, the Cubs got out of their comfort zone on Monday night and drafted junior-college lefty Brendon Little and Louisiana State University right-hander Alex Lange, hoping they can someday become part of another homegrown World Series core.
After betting on hitters like Albert Almora Jr., Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Ian Happ, the Cubs gambled on Little’s upside at No. 27 — the compensation pick for Dexter Fowler signing with the St. Louis Cardinals — and grabbed a College World Series-level performer in Lange at No. 30, going against their usual top-of-the-draft investment strategy.
“We know what the history and the track record is, but that’s also just the byproduct
of the talent pool that’s out there this year,” said Jason McLeod, the senior vice president who oversees scouting and player development. “We know what our organizational needs are.
“We know what we want and that we need to develop pitching. But we weren’t going to force it. These two certainly aren’t forced. They’re first-round-caliber pitchers. The board lined up that way. We’re really excited to get them.”
The Cubs did a home visit with Little in the Philadelphia suburbs before the 2015 draft and tracked him at the University of North Carolina, where he threw only four innings as a freshman. Little then excelled in the Cape Cod League — where the Cubs have a good network of contacts — and decided to capitalize on his rising stock by transferring to the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
Where McLeod believes Little is just now tapping into his potential with a low-to-mid 90s fastball and “what we feel is one of the better curveballs in the entire draft,” Lange has gone 29-9 with a 2.88 ERA in three seasons with the Tigers.
“He’s a proven winner,” McLeod said. “This is a guy that has taken the ball every Friday night since he showed up at LSU as a freshman. He’s been one of the better performers, one of the better competitors pitching in the best conference in the country for three years.
“You look at his pedigree, I think three or four months ago ... I would have never thought he would show up in that area of the draft, unless there was an injury of some sort.
“That’s the other thing with both of these guys. You’re looking at a lot of pitching in this draft that has either been coming back from injury or got injured during the season and both of these guys — knock on wood — have been healthy.”
Little, who was drafted in the 36th round in 2015 and spent his freshman year at North Carolina before transferring, posted a 2.53 ERA in 15 starts for the Manatees this season, striking out 133 batters in 85.1 innings. He struck out double-digit hitters in seven of his 15 starts.
Monday's pick was the franchise's first selection of a pitcher the first round proper since 2010, when the Cubs took Hayden Simpson at No. 16. It snapped a string of first-round position players: Ian Happ (2015), Schwarber (2014), Bryant (2013), Almora (2012) and Baez (2011).
Alex Lange's Info: After spending the past half decade using first-round picks on position players, the Cubs followed up one first-round pitcher with another on Monday night.
With the No. 30 pick — the franchise's second in the first round — the Cubs selected Alex Lange, a right-handed pitcher out of LSU.
Lange joins Brendon Little, a former North Carolina hurler, as the second member of the Cubs' 2017 draft class.
Lange, ranked as the No. 23 prospect in this year's draft by MLB.com, went 12-0 with a 1.97 ERA as a freshman two seasons ago, and this season he's 9-5 with a 2.92 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 111 innings. He's been a part of two Tigers teams to make the College World Series (2015 and 2017).
After using five straight first-round picks on position players dating back to 2011, the Cubs used a pair of first-rounders' on arms Monday night.
Cory Abbott"s Info: You might say that the Cubs' second-round pick in Monday night's MLB Draft was a perfect one. Cory Abbott, a right-handed pitcher out of Loyola Marymount, tossed a perfect game this season, the first in his college program's history.
Back on March 25, Abbott was perfect against Brigham Young, striking out 13, throwing 106 pitches and only going to four three-ball counts.
It was part of a special season for Abbott, who went 11-2 with a pencil-thin 1.74 ERA in 15 starts for the WCC champions. The WCC Pitcher of the Year,
Abbott only allowed 61 hits in 98.1 innings of work, striking out 130 batters, and going an insane 43-inning stretch without allowing an earned run from March 12 to April 22.
The Cubs loaded up on arms on the first night of the draft, selecting Brendon Little and Alex Lange with the Nos. 27 and 30 picks, respectively, in the first round before making Abbot the No. 67 pick.
Cubs already running out of buttons to push with this team: 'These are our guys'. (Monday night's game, 06/12/2017).
By Patrick Mooney
(Photo/csnchicago.com)
John Lackey became the snapshot of frustration on the Citi Field video board, a TV camera capturing his “God damn it!” reaction after Asdrubal Cabrera hammered an 88-mph fastball over the center-field wall for a four-run lead in the fourth inning.
Simon the Magician isn’t walking through that door, because the Cubs have largely outgrown Joe Maddon’s stunts. Theo Epstein hasn’t gone Full Metal Sveum, threatening to send struggling hitters down to Triple-A Iowa, mostly because the Cubs don’t have better internal options.
Another classic Lackey response after Monday’s night 6-1 loss, when a reporter mentioned that Maddon suggested pregame the veteran pitcher might change his approach this time in Queens: “Joe doesn’t have much to do with the pitching. I don’t know what he’s talking about there.”
The St. Louis Cardinals just rearranged Mike Matheny’s staff and put their manager on notice, but the Cubs obviously can’t fire a three-time Manager of the Year two months after Maddon and his coaches got their World Series rings for ending the 108-year drought.
The Cubs already promoted Ian Happ in the middle of May — and it’s hard to envision another top prospect giving this team a shot of adrenaline and becoming this summer’s version of Kyle Schwarber or Willson Contreras.
Between Brett Anderson’s ineffectiveness/inevitable injury and Kyle Hendricks’ tendinitis, the Cubs have already dipped into their reserve depth for the rotation, and the drop-off from Eddie Butler and Mike Montgomery would be extremely steep if any of these 30-something pitchers (besides Lackey) feel their age.
The July 31 trade deadline is seven weeks away, and what will the sense of urgency or desperation feel like in the front office if the Cubs keep playing like this? Of course, the Cubs are interested in controllable starting pitchers, which is like saying little kids like ice cream, because 29 other teams have the same general idea.
The big team meeting near the end of an 0-for-6 West Coast trip in late May didn’t lead to a breakthrough, the Cubs now 31-32 with 16 of their next 19 games on the road. These players will either figure it out or they won’t.
“Of course, I’d like to be 10 games over .500. But we’re not. We’ve earned it. We’ve earned the right to not be 10 games over .500 right now. But we’re capable of doing that.”
Not when Lackey (4-7, 5.26 ERA) gives up three homers and needs Jason Heyward to make two catches at the warning track in right-center field. After Cabrera’s second home run, Contreras had to walk out toward the mound in the fourth inning and stand in between Lackey and home plate umpire Mike Winters.
“You guys like to compare,” Lackey said. “We don’t have to be last year’s team. We just got to be better than the teams in (our division).”
Good point. The Cubs are only 1.5 games behind the first-place Milwaukee Brewers, and this looks and feels nothing like the NL Central of two years ago, when the Cardinals won 100 games and the Pittsburgh Pirates won 98.
That 2015 Cubs team also watched Jake Arrieta turn into the most dominant pitcher on the planet, Dexter Fowler get hot as the you-go, we-go leadoff guy, the pitching infrastructure rebuild the bullpen on the fly, Addison Russell transform the middle-infield defense and Starlin Castro accept his new role and go on one of those crazy streaks after the initial bruise to his ego.
“What it would take?” Maddon said. “Just that we get back to our offensive DNA — that guys who have not really performed to their level would. I think that’s the next thing that needs to happen and will happen, because once that happens, then the energy throughout the entire everything will accelerate.”
Jacob deGrom made this feel like the 2015 NLCS all over again, throwing a complete game, getting double plays in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and limiting the damage to Russell’s solo home run.
“We can’t keep using that as an excuse — that the other team’s pitcher is good,” Maddon said. “We got to start beating some better pitchers. Period. You don’t get to the promised land without winning games like that.”
At what point would you become concerned?
“Whenever how many games back you are is more than how many games you got left,” Lackey said. “I don’t think we’re that close yet.”
WHITE SOX: Matt Davidson's grand slam powers White Sox past Orioles.
By Dan Hayes
(Photo/USA TODAY)
Matt Davidson has never been able to pimp one of his home runs. The White Sox slugger said that not once in a lengthy pro career has he believed he got enough of a ball to enjoy the view as it exits a stadium.
But that practice concluded in the sixth inning on Tuesday night and it ended with a little hop.
“It was natural,” Davidson said.
The third baseman’s late grand slam helped the White Sox pull away and down the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 in front of 15,038 at Guaranteed Rate Field. Davidson’s homer was his team-leading 12th and Avisail Garcia also had a two-run double in support of Derek Holland, who pitched six solid innings for his first win since May 21.
“I knew it when I hit it,” Davidson said. “You don’t really feel anything when you hit balls like that.”
Davidson — who also homered in Monday night’s victory over the Orioles — stepped to the plate with the White Sox ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Baltimore starter Alec Asher had loaded the bases ahead of Davidson by hitting Avisail Garcia and walking Todd Frazier after Jose Abreu led off with a single. Davidson barely missed on a 2-2 fastball, hitting a deep drive foul into the left-field corner. But he wouldn’t miss the 3-2 offering, blasting it 15 rows beyond the bullpen in left field to put the White Sox up by five runs. The ball exited Davidson’s bat at 112 mph and traveled 435 feet.
“He put a great at-bat together,” said manager Rick Renteria, who Tuesday was treated to a belated beer shower for his 100th victory, which occurred on Monday. “Obviously, that was a tremendous battle. I know he fouled off -- hit the one foul, into the dugout or something. He left one up and put a really good swing on it. Obviously was able to drive it out of the ballpark. He hit it pretty well. Obviously those four runs were pretty big.
“He's done a nice job taking whatever opportunities we've given him and that's just a total credit to him.”
The White Sox pulled ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning on Garcia’s two-run steamroller to left-center field. Melky Cabrera and Abreu, who had three hits, each singled ahead of Garcia.
That was all the support Holland needed as he worked out of a number of stressful situations. Holland allowed eight hits and walked two in six innings. The Orioles had two men reach base in four of those six innings but Holland only allowed a first-inning run on Manny Machado’s one-out RBI single.
Holland struck out five and walked two.
“You’ve got to make the situations as small as possible and make the pitches when you need to,” Holland said. “Made a key pitch to Machado (in the fifth) and kind of continue to go from there.”
Stuck in the minors the previous three seasons, Davidson has made the most of his first crack at the majors since 2013. While he’s striking out in nearly 38 percent of his at-bats, the rookie has a .503 slugging percentage as he’s homered once every 14.6 plate appearances this season.
Still, despite a number of round-trippers, Davidson hadn’t felt comfortable enough to enjoy one until Tuesday. As he exited the box, Davidson hopped a little, a move he said was totally unscripted.
“That one felt pretty good,” he said.
Why the White Sox focused on power with top picks in MLB draft.
By Dan Hayes
The White Sox loaded up on the long ball on Monday night.
After they selected power hitter Jake Burger earlier in the first round, the White Sox targeted and acquired Wake Forest first baseman Gavin Sheets in the second round. The son of former Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder Larry Sheets, Gavin Sheets produced a .322/.429/.634 with 20 home runs and 81 RBIs in 280 plate appearances for the Deamon Deacons. He also walked 44 times and struck out only 33. Burger hit 22 taters and walked 43 times while only striking out 38 at Missouri State this season. Power and plate discipline were two aspects the White Sox felt they needed to add in a vastly improved farm system.
“A lot of power, a lot of walks, little strikeouts,” amateur scouting director Nick Hostetler said. “That’s kind of the whole goal to it.
“We needed power, especially left-handed power. When you look at the pieces (general manager Rick Hahn) brought in through trade and what we did last year in the draft, the middle of the order bats were important for us. We got a third baseman and first baseman and right- and left-handed power with our first two picks. It went exactly as planned.”
The White Sox had added several position players through the first seven months of the draft, but no pure power hitters. Both Yoan Moncada and Luis Robert project to have 55 power on the 20-80 scouting scale, according to MLBPipeline.com. Last year’s first-rounder Zack Collins also grades at 55 and has hit nine homers this season at Winston-Salem.
But beyond the trio, the White Sox don’t have an overwhelming amount of power in the system.
The additions of Burger and Sheets, both of whom also grade out at 55, gives the White Sox a number of options. Burger was the No. 16-ranked prospect in the draft and Sheets is No. 60. While the White Sox selected both ahead of their projected rankings, they were pleased to nab two of the better power bats in a college class short on them. Hostetler said the White Sox called Sheets immediately after they went on their Burger run to let them know of their interest.
“We got two we were really excited about,” Hostetler said. “Both of them more walks than strikeouts. Both of them home runs in the 20s. Both of them with advanced hitting approaches. We were very excited. We were sweating a few picks. We weren’t sure (Sheets) would get to us.”
Golf: I got a club for that..... U.S. Open: Round 1, Round 2 tee times.
Golf Channel Digital
(Photo/Golf Channel Digital)
A look at complete first- and second-round tee times for the 117th U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis., June 15-18.
(All times ET; a=amateur)
(All times ET; a=amateur)
First Round
First tee/10th tee
7:45AM/1:30PM: Jordan Niebrugge, Talor Gooch, Kevin Dougherty
7:56AM/1:41PM: Andres Romero, Brice Garnett, TBD
8:07AM/1:52PM: Yasaku Miyazato, J.T. Poston, Aaron Rai
8:18AM/2:03PM: David Lingmerth, Paul Dunne, Haotong Li
8:29AM/2:14PM: Stewart Hagestad (a), Chez Reavie, Gene Sauders
8:40AM/2:25PM: Brandt Snedeker, Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton
8:51AM/2:36PM: Rafa Cabrera Bello, Thomas Pieters, Brooks Koepka
9:02AM/2:47PM: Gary Woodland, J.B. Holmes, Jason Kokrak
9:13AM/2:58PM: Russell Knox, Scott Gregory (a), Martin Laird
9:24AM/3:09PM: Kevin Kisner, Billy Horschel, Branden Grace
9:35AM/3:20PM: Webb Simpson, Ernie Els, Lucas Glover
9:46AM/3:31PM: Tyson Alexander, Christopher Crawford (a), Max Greyserman
9:57AM/3:42PM: Matthew Campbell, Garrett Osborn, Walker Lee (a)
1:30PM/7:45AM: Jack Maguire Corey Conners, Ben Kohles
1:41PM/7:56AM: Eddie Pepperell, Chan Kim, TBD
1:52PM/8:07AM: Jhonattan Vegas, Yuta Ikeda, Sean O’Hair
2:03PM/8:18AM: Andrew Johnston, Brian Stuard, George Coetzee
2:14PM/8:29AM: Marc Leishman, Pat Perez, Si Woo Kim
2:25PM/8:40AM: Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler (a), Harris English
2:36PM/8:51AM: Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia
2:47PM/9:02AM: Henrik Stenson, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen
2:58PM/9:13AM: Jimmy Walker, Justin Thomas, Paul Casey
3:09PM/9:24AM: Jason Day, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy
3:20PM/9:35AM: Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink, Phil Mickelson
3:31PM/9:46AM: Ryan Brehm, John Oda (a), Jonathan Randolph
3:42PM/9:57AM: Mason Andersen (a), Derek Barron, Roman Robledo
Second Round
10th tee/First tee
7:45AM/1:30PM: Ted Potter Jr., Daniel Chopra, TBD
7:56AM/1:41PM: Shingo Imahira, Matthew Wallace, TBD
8:07AM/1:52PM: Charley Hoffman, Jason Dufner, Hideto Tanihara
8:18AM/2:03PM: Jeunghun Wang, Thomas Aiken, Bradley Dredge
8:29AM/2:14PM: Scott Harvey (a), Jamie Lovemark, Michael Putnam
8:40AM/2:25PM: Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood, Bud Cauley
8:51AM/2:36PM: Hideki Matsuyama, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm
9:02AM/2:47PM: Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher, Graeme McDowell
9:13AM/2:58PM: Danny Willett, Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera
9:24AM/3:09PM: Matt Kuchar, Francesco Molinari, Patrick Reed
9:35AM/3:20PM: Martin Kaymer, Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson
9:46AM/3:31PM: Joaquin Niemann (a), Stephan Jaeger, Joel Statler
9:57AM/3:42PM: Daniel Miernicki, Sahith Theegala (a), TBD
1:30PM/7:45AM: Wade Ormsby, Oliver Bekker, Kyle Thompson
1:41PM/7:56AM: Brandon Stone, Troy Merritt, TBD
1:52PM/8:07AM: Satoshi Kodaira, Daniel Summerhays, Alexander Levy
2:03PM/8:18AM: William McGirt, Keegan Bradley, Kevin Na
2:14PM/8:29AM: Brad Dalke (a), Wesley Bryan, Brendan Steele
2:25PM/8:40AM: Nick Flanagan, Richie Ramsay, Bryson DeChambeau
2:36PM/8:51AM: Daniel Berger, Roberto Castro, Bill Haas
2:47PM/9:02AM: Adam Hadwin, Emiliano Grillo, Cheng-Tsung Pan
2:58PM/9:13AM: Scott Piercy, Shane Lowry, Jim Furyk
3:09PM/9:24AM: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Peter Uihlein, Byeong Hun An
3:20PM/9:35AM: Kevin Chappell, Maverick McNealy (a), Bernd Weisberger
3:31PM/9:46AM: Xander Schauffele, Trey Mullinax, Cameron Champ (a)
3:42PM/9:57AM: Sam Ryder, Alex Smalley (a), Andy Pope
U.S. Open: Preview and Ranks.
By Ryan O'Sullivan
The U.S. Open rides into Wisconsin to Erin Hills Golf Course. Dustin Johnson is set to defend his first major championship a year after winning at Oakmont. It’s time to consider who, if anyone, will dethrone DJ in 2017.
Erin Hills is hosting the U.S. Open for the first time. While we have been able to learn bits and pieces about this par-72 layout tipping at 7,741 yards based on player comments and other reports, it is still without the course history we find comfortable in the research of most tournaments.
What we have seen is that the rough is ridiculously high if the generous fairways are missed. Uncommon for U.S. Open venues is that this will play as a par 72 with four par 5s. Because of these two known entities, I’ve placed a high value on Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee and Par 5 scoring average. The thought process being that if a player can avoid major trouble off the tee and take advantage of par 5 scoring opportunities, they have the most direct path to the top of a leaderboard.
I’ve also received a little nugget directly from 2017 Web.com Tour winner Kyle Thompson, competing this week after qualifying in Maryland, that lag putting will be a factor due to the size of the greens. That would suggest that 3-putt avoidance will be in play.
Traditionally, the U.S. Open has favored ball-striking over putting. I see that being the case again this week. Faking one’s way around this course just isn’t likely. More times than not, the best putter among the best ball-strikers will be right in the mix down the stretch. There’s no reason not to expect that this week.
Going 25 deep for the season’s second major. Here we go!
1. Dustin Johnson – It’s easy to write a guy off that’s defending because it’s hard to go back-to-back. That said, we watched Daniel Berger do just that last week. It would also be easy to put too much emphasis on DJ’s poor outing at Jack’s place two weeks ago. Don’t fall into either of those traps. Dustin is a perfect fit for this course and should be treated as such.
2. Sergio Garcia – He is an excellent fit on paper, ranking second in SG: Off-the-tee and ninth in Par 5 Scoring Average. What we are all waiting to see is how he will respond to the lid finally being lifted in major championships with his Masters win. Could be similar to Phil Mickelson, who went off to the races.
3. Jon Rahm – Much like his fellow Spaniard, Rahm is third in SG: Off-the-Tee and 11th in Par 5 Scoring Average. He’s got big game. The key may be keeping his emotions in check and being able to deal with some of the bad breaks that await in the season’s second major.
4. Rickie Fowler – It’s not uncommon for there to be a trend regarding major championships in certain seasons. With Sergio winning the Masters, perhaps this is a year where another guy in the conversation for “best player never to win a major” checks a box. If that’s the case, Fowler is a prime candidate. He will need to do his best to avoid a big number, as that is often his downfall.
5. Justin Rose – Former U.S. Open winner would seem to be a good fit for this particular layout, as he’s an extremely good driver and is in the midst of a very solid season.
6. Hideki Matsuyama – If the U.S. Open would have been held three or four months ago, he would have been the favorite. His current form has regressed a bit, but he will be worth a hard look.
7. Jordan Spieth – Sneaky-good season for Spieth, with his win at Pebble Beach eventually being followed with a recent T2 at Colonial.
8. Rory McIlroy – We all know what Rory can do with his A-game. The concern is that he’s played a fairly light schedule to date. It’s fair to be concerned that he’s not quite ready to peak just yet.
9. Jason Day – Off a bit in 2017, but a runner-up in the Byron Nelson and a T15 at the Memorial have him headed in the right direction.
10. Kevin Kisner – Plenty of moxie on display, Kisner picked up a win at Colonial and a T6 at Memorial. If he finds himself in the mix on Sunday, the moment will not be too big for him to navigate.
11. Jason Dufner – Great ball-striker in excellent form coming off a win at Memorial. Would certainly benefit by Erin Hills not playing to the full length, which is rumored to be the case most days.
11. Jason Dufner – Great ball-striker in excellent form coming off a win at Memorial. Would certainly benefit by Erin Hills not playing to the full length, which is rumored to be the case most days.
12. Henrik Stenson – Relatively quiet in the U.S. in 2017, but we all know that he’s a gamer in the majors.
13. Martin Kaymer – Two-time major winner owns a major championship title in Wisconsin (PGA Championship at Whistling Straits), and also a U.S. Open win at Pinehurst. Not a bad combo. Worth mentioning, he was not high on the radar ahead of those wins.
14. Thomas Pieters – Big-time game for the Euro star. It’s a matter of when, not if, he catches the eye of the golfing world late on a Sunday afternoon.
15. Charley Hoffman – When I read that this was a long par-72 course with hilly lies and some wind, I immediately thought of the opening round of this year’s Masters. Hoffman dominated that round. If that proves to be how it plays, I like his chances to make some noise.
16. Marc Leishman – There were two players that stood out as dark horses due to statistical fit. Leishman was one of them, ranking inside the top 25 in both SG: Off-the-Tee and Par 5 Scoring Average. He’s also been very steady of late.
17. Louis Oosthuizen – Majors that that require long drivers fit King Louis. He’s not been lighting the world on fire, but don’t overlook him. He offers great value in deeper games.
18. Charl Schwartzel – Back-to-back South African’s, Schwartzel played last week to try and get his game a little sharper for Erin Hills and nearly won.
19. Justin Thomas – Probably not quite ready to nab his first major championship just yet, but a course with four par 5s would certainly give him the best chance. He’s traditionally been very strong in par 5 scoring.
20. Matt Kuchar – Tied for fourth at the Masters and went T9-T12-T4 in a three-week span from the Byron Nelson through the Memorial. It’s been a bit of a mixed bag in 2017, but the recent returns are very strong.
21. Daniel Berger – Successfully defended his title at TPC Southwind last week. With Erin Hills being a big ballpark, he has a shot to be successful this week.
22. Adam Scott – Wouldn’t be surprised if others have him higher, but I have trust issues with Scottie due to his inconsistent putter.
23. Kevin Chappell – Nabbed a top five last week and already has a win on the season. Plenty to like.
24. Lucas Glover – The 2009 U.S. Open winner is my other statistical dark horse, ranking inside the top 10 in SG: Off-the-tee and inside the top 50 in Par 5 Scoring Average. Really having a strong and consistent season.
25. Steve Stricker – There’s no way that Wisconsin’s native son, who won the Sectional Qualifier in Memphis to gain entry, doesn’t crack the top 25 in what very well could be his final U.S. Open.
U.S. Open host Erin Hills looks Spectacular, but it can be 'nasty'.
By Steve DiMeglio
The gentle, rolling prairies of Erin Hills, emerging from the collision of glaciers more than 10,000 years ago and home this week to the 117th edition of the U.S. Open, offer a peaceful aura.
Covering 652 acres of the Heartland northwest of Milwaukee, the former cattle farm remains home to multiple barns and stone homes that look like they came straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The design team of Michael Hurdzan, Dana Fry and Ron Whitten added the final strokes with a stretch of spacious fairways, eye-catching bunkers and welcoming putting surfaces.
From a distance even the tallest fescue rimming the fairways is a pleasing sight, much like a field of wheat softly blowing in the breeze.
Upon closer inspection, however, Erin Hills suggests a different picture.
“I was skeptical about it when I got here, but I found it to be spectacular. I love the natural nature of it,” said Fox Sports lead analyst Paul Azinger, the winner of 12 PGA Tour titles, including the 1993 PGA Championship. “But oh, Erin Hills, she can be nasty.”
Azinger played and walked the course for the first time a couple weeks back, charting along the way. His top takeaway? While not a single tree and less than a handful of water hazards come into play, there’s little comfort to be found. Most of the holes involve blind or semi-blind tee shots, an unnerving feeling even for the best players in the world.
There will be many uphill approach shots where the golf ball won’t spin as much heading into rock-hard greens, making it much harder to stop the ball.
And Erin Hills is at the whim of wind, its 18 holes built with little to no protection from air streams. That creates plenty of holes at the mercy of crosswinds, which will create plenty of havoc. With few of the greens protected from the wind, putting could be an adventure. And the course’s calling card, the fescue, already has players steaming.
You are going to need it! pic.twitter.com/0GznwPB41lmdash; Kevin Kisner (@K_Kisn
“If the wind doesn’t blow, the scores will be reasonably good, but the odds of the wind not blowing are very low. It’s a torture chamber when it’s blowing above 20 mph,” Azinger said.
Azinger, who got shin splints walking up and down the numerous hills two weeks ago, said there are two “killer” stretches on the course that’s set to play in the vicinity of 7,700 yards, the second longest in history. The first involves holes 6-12, where every hole goes in an opposite direction, meaning players will face different winds on each one. The second involves the closing five holes, which includes the drivable par-4 15th and the monstrous par-5 18th, which could play 675 yards.
“You could see a train wreck on 18 and it’s a par-5,” Azinger said.
The layout, which opened just 11 years ago and played host to the 2011 U.S. Amateur to mixed results, is being seen for the first time this week by the vast majority of the 156 players in the field. Their initial take? It will be unforgiving. It will provide a stern mental challenge. And an unyielding physical test — a few caddies said they got tired just walking the course, and that was without the golf bag.
It will be the first U.S. Open course to play to a par of 72 since 1992. And for the first time in 89 years, the first and last holes are par-5s. Three holes could play longer than 600 yards.
“It’s a very, very big golf course,” said Justin Thomas, a three-time winner this season, who arrived Saturday and started his reconnaissance immediately. “It’s a tough, tough walk. The fairways are big, but the hard part about it is if it does get windy, there are a lot of crosswinds. So that will make the tee shots much tougher even with the big fairways because you pretty much know the ball will be coming in sideways, and if it gets firm, the fairways will become smaller. And there are a lot of humps and bumps in the fairways so good drives might take a bad bounce into trouble.
“And if the wind blows, it’s going to affect putting a lot. I think that is something that is so underrated and so overlooked by so many, is how much wind can affect putting. And here, there is so little protection on almost all of the greens. In strong winds, it is going to be very severe. ...
“And the fescue will come into play. And it is brutal.”
Just ask Kevin Na.
The fescue is usually wispy and unpredictable but this week, a stretch 3-5 yards wide bordering the fairways is brutishly thick. Na posted a video to Facebook on Sunday that went viral. In it, he threw a golf ball into the fescue from three feet. He barely found it. Then he whiffed when trying to hit it. Then he advanced the ball just a few feet on his second try.
Na said he wasn’t ripping the U.S. Golf Association with the video or criticizing the overseers of the tournament by suggesting that past U.S. Open champions such as Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Curtis Strange and Hale Irwin should form a committee to set up future U.S. Opens.
“I like the golf course. It’s a good design. I think the fairways are generous. But the fescue, I think, is a little overdone,” Na said. “All I was trying to show the fans was an inside-the-ropes view of what we’re dealing with. Do I think the fescue is overdone?
Yes. Do I think this is a good golf course? Yes. Do I like it? Yes.”
And in a way, Na said, the fescue could be the equalizer for shorter hitters.
“If the bombers start hitting it into the fescue, well, you’re lucky to find your ball,” he said. “The worst fescue is about 5 yards wide. If you go beyond that it’s actually better. But let me thank the volunteers in advance for looking for our golf balls and finding them because we’re going to need your help.
“Because everyone is going to hit it in there.”
The course is in perfect shape, one and all will tell you. None, however, can predict a winning score, for they don’t know what the USGA will do with its setup and what the weather will deal.
“We go into every U.S. Open saying that Mother Nature is going to play actually a bigger role than we will play in terms of how stern a test it is,” said Mike Davis, executive director and CEO of the USGA. “What we really are after is to see if we can set the golf course up in such a way that tests every aspect of the game.
"As one of our fellow staffers said, we want to see all 14 clubs in a player's bag get dirty. And if it's windy, the test is just going to be a little sterner, and if it's not, we're still going to give away the trophy and the Jack Nicklaus gold medal for the low 72-hole score.”
Latest USGA quandary: Fuming over fescue.
By Rex Hoggard
(Photo/Golf Channel Digital)
A warning sign was posted at Erin Hills for this week’s U.S. Open: Please keep track of small children, dogs and errant golf shots when entering the rough.
Actually, that would have been a welcome bit of levity given the seriousness of recent U.S. Opens, but then we all know the USGA really doesn’t do funny and when players arrived for this week’s championship not many were laughing.
Although no one has been lost to the wilds of the shin-high fescue rough, the deep stuff has led to a few lost tempers.
Kevin Na was first up, posting a video on social media that included two mighty hacks into the fescue that were only able to advance his golf ball about a foot.
“Now, why can’t we have a lot of past U.S. Open winners get together and set up a major. I’d like to see that happen,” Na said.
Na wasn’t alone in his consternation.
“That rough is un-findable in some places, un-hittable in many places. If you do try to hit out of there it’s going to create some massive, massive numbers,” Brandt Snedeker figured.
At least part of that reaction wasn’t so much a byproduct of the long rough, and ridiculously long golf course, as much as it was a short fuse when it comes to the players’ attitudes toward the USGA. After less-than-stellar greens at Chambers Bay and a less-than-timely ruling at Oakmont marred the last two U.S. Opens, any semblance of a benefit of the doubt is in short supply.
Given the association’s recent history, maybe it should have been no surprise that as the rains relented on Tuesday maintenance crews descended on Erin Hills and began cutting portions of the fescue.
A USGA spokesman said Tuesday’s maintenance had “nothing to do with reaction from players.”
During a maintenance meeting on Monday afternoon officials addressed how certain types of fescue have a tendency to lay flat when it rains or when the wind blows. As a result, crews “trimmed” portions of the fescue rough on Nos. 4, 12, 14 and 18.
Either way, players didn’t really care why officials had taken such drastic steps as much as they were curious how much of the fescue had been turned to hay.
“It’s extreme, even if it is 50 yards apart,” Adam Scott said. “It will be interesting to see, but I don’t know how big a difference it will make on the next shot. I don’t know if they cut it short enough that guys can advance it 150 yards or 30 or 200 [yards], but it’s probably nice not to see us trudging through and losing balls as often as you would in the longer grass.”
Not everyone cheered the move, particularly considering that Erin Hills’ fairways are the widest many players have ever seen at a U.S. Open.
“We have 60 yards from rough line to rough line. You've got 156 of the best players in the world here, if we can't hit it within that avenue, you might as well pack your bags and go home,” Rory McIlroy said. “These are the widest fairways we've ever played in a U.S. Open. Even the first and second cut is another 10 yards on top of that. So if you've got 50 or 60 yards to hit into and you're complaining about the fescue that's wider than that, I don't think that's an issue.”
Either way, it’s easy to imagine Phil Mickelson sitting at home in sunny Southern California thinking he could do without any type of delays on Thursday at Erin Hills, otherwise he’ll be inclined to jet out for his afternoon tee time on a layout that’s already being picked apart despite never having hosted a single major championship round.
Fescue may be the issue de jour – and as Scott pointed out it seems unlikely the USGA’s 11th hour changes will have much impact on play unless the ground crews can manufacture a few more acres of manicured fairway before Round 1 – but what’s important to point out is that this is a symptom, not the ailment.
The USGA has become the game’s most polarizing organization. Some questioned Tuesday’s nip/tuck as more than simply a “prescribed plan based on weather,” as the association’s spokesman explained. They contend the “trimming” was an attempt to quiet the crowd at an event that desperately needs to avoid another major miscue.
Whether that’s the case really didn’t matter. Not on Tuesday as news of the cutting was met with a mixture of eye rolls and raised eyebrows. It’s not that players didn’t believe the official statement, but they’ve become conditioned to think the worse when it comes to the USGA.
Whether it’s been poor putting surfaces at Chambers Bay or the decision to ban anchored putting, the USGA has become a lightning rod for all the wrong reasons and this week’s early headlines only feed that persona.
Maybe the 117th edition will be the championship officials envisioned when they ventured into Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine to an untested layout. Maybe on Sunday the trimming will seem like a distant memory. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with Erin Hills that four rounds of major championship golf and a world-class field can’t fix.
Maybe the USGA will be rewarded with a stress-free championship they so desperately need, but there’s no denying that this week’s event is not off to a good start.
UPDATE: USGA cuts fescue; Rory disapproves.
By Rex Hoggard
The USGA surprised players on Tuesday at the U.S. Open by sending crews out to mow some of the deep fescue rough that lines Erin Hills.
Although some players have criticized the rough, most notably Kevin Na who posted a video to social media on Monday attempting to hit out of the fescue, a USGA spokesman said that Tuesday’s maintenance had “nothing to do with reaction from players.”
During a maintenance meeting on Monday afternoon officials addressed how certain types of fescue have a tendency to lay flat when it rains or when the wind blows. As a result, crews “trimmed” portions of the fescue rough on Nos. 4, 12, 14 and 18.
“It’s extreme, even if [the fairway] is 50 yards apart,” Adam Scott said. “It will be interesting to see, but I don’t know how big a difference it will make on the next shot. I don’t know if they cut it short enough that guys can advance it 150 yards or 30 or 200 [yards], but it’s probably nice not to see us trudging through and losing balls as often as you would in the longer grass.”
Not everyone, however, was in favor of the trimming, including Rory McIlroy, who is playing his first event since The Players after being sidelined with an injury.
“We have 60 yards from rough line to rough line. You've got 156 of the best players in the world here. If we can't hit it within that avenue, you might as well pack your bags and go home,” McIlroy said. “These are the widest fairways we've ever played in a U.S. Open. Even the first and second cut is another 10 yards on top of that. So if you've got 50 or 60 yards to hit into and you're complaining about the fescue that's wider than that, I don't think that's an issue.”
There is an initial cut of rough at Erin Hills, which at 7,741 yards is the longest course to ever host the U.S. Open, just off the fairways that is about four paces wide before players reach the deep fescue.
NASCAR Power Rankings: Where would you put Ryan Blaney after his win?
By Nick Bromberg
Ryan Blaney got the 99th win for the Wood Brothers. ((Photo/Getty)
1. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 1): When you finish sixth and no one right behind you in Power Rankings finishes ahead of you, the top spot goes unchallenged. Truex led five laps and was at the front for most of the day.
It was a departure from his two trips to Pocono in 2016. He finished 19th in the spring race and then 38th after hitting the wall because of a tire issue in August.
38th was about where he started on Sunday too. But he had a fast car and quickly worked his way through the field.
“But when the race restarted for the final time we weren’t in the preferred outside lane,” Truex said. “We wanted to be fourth instead of fifth and have the inside lane. But [race winner Ryan Blaney] got that spot by just beating us off pit road.”
2. Kevin Harvick (LW: 4): Harvick finished second to Blaney and got within a couple car lengths over the final two laps. He scored 51 points Sunday, the only driver in the field to score over 50 points. He did so by finishing second in the first stage and fourth in the second stage.
He gave himself a scare near the end of the second stage, accidentally shifting from third gear into second gear between turns 2 and 3 on the final lap of the stage. The miscue allowed Truex to slip by for third in the stage, and, unlike Dale Earnhardt Jr., didn’t prove costly to Harvick’s day.
“I just have to thank the Roush Yates engine shop for building a pretty sturdy engine because it should have blown up and it never blew up,” Harvick said.”
3. Kyle Larson (LW: 3): Larson finished a spot behind Truex in seventh. He won the second stage after a one-lap shootout following a 23-minute red flag for crashes involving Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray.
The sequence at the end of the second stage showed a huge flaw in NASCAR’s decision-making process in race officiating in its new stage-racing reality. After fans sat through the red flag, NASCAR had its regular 10-minute break between the second and third stages. Counting caution laps between the red flag and the one-lap sprint, fans saw one lap of racing in 40 minutes.
If stage racing is NASCAR’s solution for fans’ attention spans then the sanctioning body also has a responsibility to keep those fans tuned in. Outside of ardent NASCAR fans, who is going to watch 40 minutes of a race broadcast for one lap?
4. Kyle Busch (LW: 5): Busch drove Blaney like hell to try to prevent a pass Let’s revisit that.
As the laps clicked off after Blaney passed Busch it was evident why Busch fought so damn hard to keep Blaney behind him as Busch faded to ninth.
The drop back in the field was a bit predictable. Busch had the strongest car throughout Sunday’s race and was out front when the race’s final caution flag flew. As the rest of the field dove to pit road, Busch stayed out.
It’s easy to blame Busch’s pit strategy for a giant miscalculation, especially as it was interim crew chief Ben Beshore’s first race atop Busch’s pit box. But if Busch had hit pit road, a bunch of cars could have stayed out on the track.
5. Brad Keselowski (LW: 7): Keselowski almost won the strategy lottery, as the race’s final caution (for Kasey Kahne’s incident in turn 1) came as he pitted from the lead. Keselowski and his team had stayed out on the track in the hopes of getting a caution and they got it.
Keselowski restarted second, but didn’t get a great restart. He ended up finishing fifth.
“I don’t know, I feel like I probably could have won it if I had just gotten that launch,” Keselowski said. “Kyle got a great launch. He went a tiny bit before the line, but not enough to where NASCAR was gonna call it, and I didn’t get the launch I needed.”
6. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 2): Johnson gave a great example of the quick thinking drivers have to employ. As his brakes failed entering turn 1 in the second stage, Johnson had to decide whether to crank his car towards the infield or simply drive straight into the wall.
“I told myself if this even happened again I would turn immediately into the outside wall and try to slow myself down, but my instincts, you are looking at the corner, you look at all that real estate to the inside and I pointed it down to the infield,” Johnson said. “Once I was in the grass, I was like, man, I’ve been here before, I should have just turned dead right into the wall and got to the wall right away. You have a split-second decision to make there.”
7. Ryan Blaney (LW: NR): It was not a perfect race for Blaney, at least until he took the checkered flag. In addition to having a loose wheel early in the race that necessitated a second pit stop, Blaney couldn’t communicate with his team via his in-car radio. He could hear them, they couldn’t hear him.
“I could say it put you in your own head a little bit more if you’re not talking as much,” Blaney said. “No, I would still key the radio and I actually forgot the radio was broken after the last pit stop. I was trying to talk, and they’re like, yeah, we still can’t hear you. I completely forgot it was still broken. It’s definitely something I’ve never had happen before, but luckily I could hear them and we were able to work something out.”
He finished eighth and is ahead of Blaney by six spots in the points standings.
9. Jamie McMurray (LW: 6): McMurray’s brakes were fading and the problem was compounded when he apparently hit some debris from Jimmie Johnson’s car. The faulty brakes and debris compounded to send McMurray into the wall and cause a fire underneath his car.
10. Denny Hamlin (LW: 9): Hamlin’s being consistent, even if he’s not leading a bunch of laps. His 12th at Pocono is the sixth time in the last seven races he’s finished inside the top 12.
11. Austin Dillon (LW: 8): Dillon is now in the top 20 in points after finishing 13th for the second-straight week.
12. Matt Kenseth (LW: 12): Kenseth finished 10th and is now 10 points outside of Clint Bowyer for a spot in the top 10.
Ten different drivers have won races — Kenseth isn’t one of them — but only four of those drivers are in the top 10. The points standings are going to be very important later this summer.
Lucky Dog: Erik Jones finished third, his best finish of the year. He also led 20 laps as pit stops cycled through.
The DNF: Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s missed shift meant he finished only ahead of Cody Ware, who retired after 35 laps because of a vibration.
Dropped out: Darrell Wallace passed out after the race. Thankfully he was OK and checked and released from the infield care center after.
Playoff pressure ratcheting up with each new NASCAR winner.
By Tom Jensen
(Photo/Fox Sports)
It’s about that time of the year — time for any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver who doesn’t already have a victory to start getting concerned about making the playoffs.
Fourteen of 26 races in the Cup regular season are complete, and some big stars are still winless, including Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth.
Think about it.
Those five drivers alone have won 166 Cup races, the equivalent of more than 4.5 years of races, yet none of them has found Victory Lane so far in 2017. Chances are good that some or even most of them will win a race and make into NASCAR’s playoffs, but there are no guarantees.
The same holds true for drivers like Chase Elliott, Jamie McMurray, and Clint Bowyer, to name just a few.
Then there’s Joey Logano, who won at Richmond only to see his car fail post-race inspection, resulting in an “encumbered” win. That means the victory stands in terms of his record, but it doesn’t count toward playoff eligibility.
Right now, Logano is on the bubble in terms of points, the 16th seed at the moment. The next first-time winner of 2017 would knock Logano out of the top 16. Of course, he, too, could win one of the next 12 races and lock himself into the playoffs.
With nine race winners already in the playoffs, only seven slots remain, and you have to figure there will be at least three or four new winners in the next 12 races. And it’s not impossible that for the first time since NASCAR went to this format in 2014, all 16 playoff slots could be filled by drivers who win races.
So who else wins?
That’s the fun part — none of us knows.
Harvick and Kyle Busch have run well and had opportunities to win and frankly, I’d be shocked if both of them don’t win during the next 12 races. They’re too good not to win.
Despite struggling through a difficult stretch recently, I think Logano will win another regular-season race, too.
The others? Well, that remains to be seen. There could even be someone else who steps up, maybe Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez or Trevor Bayne. We’ll just have to let these next 12 races play out and see what happens.
One thing for sure, though: It’s going to be an interesting summer.
By Dan Santaromita
(Photo/USA TODAY)
The U.S. Open Cup struggles to get love and attention from American soccer fans so it's no surprise that it's completely off the radar for average sports fans.
However, what the single-elimination knockout competition provides is rare among American sports. Amateur teams can qualify for the tournament and face off against pro teams. Minor league teams can take on their big brothers from Major League Soccer. Upsets happen and fun match ups like D.C. United taking on amateur team Christos FC can create stories that typically only occur in movies.
This is similar, in a way, to how amateur golfers can qualify for the U.S. Open via sectional tournaments. However, these are teams, not individuals. Collecting and organizing a good team is difficult enough for a regular adult league, but think of what a team like Christos FC has to do to prepare for a professional team like D.C. United, as they did Tuesday in the fourth round of the tournament.
The team is based in Baltimore and is comprised of regular people working regular jobs, but also playing amateur soccer at a high level. Christos FC beat a minor league team, the Richmond Kickers, in the second round of the tournament and beat another amateur team, FC United, in the third round.
FC United is based in Chicago and some its staff has ties to the Chicago Fire (former player Gonzalo Segares, for one). FC United plays in the PDL, a summer league for college players. So FC United's players are still training regularly and some of the players are pro prospects despite the amateur status.
Meanwhile, Christos FC set up a GoFundMe page just to make the trip to Chicago to play that match, which Christos won 1-0. From Nick Eilerson's story in the Washington Post, there are more challenges than just travel expenses.
"Christos FC does not conduct practice, doesn’t scout opponents or study film. Game-planning typically occurs a few minutes before matches, when coaches pick a lineup based on who could get off work to show up."
The U.S. Open Cup is more than just fairytale stories though. It's also a chance for regional rivalry games that wouldn't have a chance to take place otherwise.
The Fire begin Open Cup play Wednesday at Saint Louis FC. With St. Louis not having an MLS team, and the city recently voting against a stadium plan that would likely have led to an expansion team, the only way these two cities, which have a rich history of rivalries in sports, can play is in the Open Cup.
Last year the Fire beat Indy Eleven, another regional city which the Fire couldn't go up against in MLS. The regional design of the tournament creates a number of these matchups in the early rounds.
The downside to the Open Cup is the lack of fan support. The Fire failed to draw big crowds to the three home games in the competition last year. The Fire made it to a fourth straight semifinal, where they went on the road and lost to New England.
Partially as a result of the small crowds at Toyota Park last year, the Fire will be playing a potential game in the next round in Peoria. If the Fire win Wednesday and win the hosting coin flip for the next round, the June 28 game will be hosted by Bradley. The Fire have played Open Cup games in Peoria before, most recently in 2011.
Part of the lack of fan interest is the fact that the games are played on weekdays as opposed to weekends, which also draw much better for regular MLS games. Part of it is the lack of knowledge in the tournament. Another factor going against it is that many teams use it as a chance to play younger or reserve players while resting key players for MLS games. Not all fans are excited to pay money to watch minor league or amateur soccer teams.
The U.S. Open Cup may never be as big as the FA Cup in England or many of the cup competitions in the rest of the world, but it is still a unique competition in American sports. Besides, what's not to like about the Christos FC story?
The rest of the way: USMNT’s road map to the World Cup.
By Nicholas Mendola
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The United States is 60 percent through the final round of World Cup qualifying, 10 percent further than two-thirds of the field.
All six sides will be on even footing in terms of matches played by the stroke of Midnight on Tuesday.
The magic number for an automatic World Cup spot and the fourth-place spot and an inter-confederation match versus the fifth-best Asian side can be figured out within a reasonable margin.
Since the start of the Hex, the third-place sides have won the following amount of points: 15, 16, 16, 17, 14.
The fourth-place sides have claimed 11, 16, 13, and 14 (The fourth place team in 1998, Costa Rica, won 12 points but that tournament only permitted three CONCACAF teams to advance to France).
Here’s how the Americans finish the Hex (Standings here):
Sept. 1 — HOME vs. Costa Rica (TBA)
Sept. 5 — AWAY to Honduras
Oct. 6 — HOME vs. Panama (Orlando, Fla.)
Oct. 10 — AWAY to Trinidad and Tobago
The story here, as always, is simple but not easy. The Yanks have won their last three home World Cup qualifiers against Panama by scores of 2-0, 2-0, and 6-0. In the same stretch, the Americans are 2W-2D versus Costa Rica at home.
As for trips to Honduras, the U.S. lost its last Hex match there but won the previous two. The Americans are 3W-2D-1L in its last six World Cup qualifiers at Trinidad and Tobago.
Given how the Yanks have traditionally fared at home, it would be stunning if they failed to claim four of six points from the final two matches. And it’s reasonable to expect they beat either Honduras or T&T for another three points.
Overall, another three wins would make it fairly improbable that the Americans would fail to qualify for Russia. Two wins and a draw could also do the trick. Anything less is extremely dicey in the race for third.
U.S. fans should root for Honduras to get a draw out of Panama on Tuesday. It would be terrific for T&T to do the same in Costa Rica, but that would be asking a lot of the Soca Warriors (granted they’ll be desperate).
2017 Confederations Cup: Group A preview.
By Joe Prince-Wright
(Photo/Getty Images)
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournament kicking off.
Group A
Russia
How they qualified: As hosts of the 2018 World Cup next summer. Simple.
FIFA ranking: 64
Star player: Igor Akinfeev – Captain and goalkeeper is a fine shot-stopper and the main man for the hosts.
One to watch: Aleksandr Golovin – CSKA Moscow midfielder is being tracked by Arsenal and has the attributes to make the step up.
Manager: Stanislav Cherchesov – Vastly experienced coach has been in charge for less than a year and has been set a target of reaching the 2018 World Cup semifinals. A very, very tough task.
Chance of winning: 20% – The hosts may do better than most expect, but getting out of this group as one of the top two is still a struggle.
New Zealand
How they qualified: They beat Papa New Guinea on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup Final.
FIFA ranking: 95
Star player: Chris Wood – Top scorer in England’s second-tier at Leeds United, the powerful forward could be set for a move to the PL. A proper handful. 19 goals in 49 games for the All Whites.
One to watch: Ryan Thomas – He plays for PEC Zwolle in Holland and is a creative, fast attacking player who should supply Wood with plenty of chances.
Manager: Anthony Hudson – Young English coach has long been lauded as one of the brightest in the game. Just 36 years old, this could be his big moment but New Zealand are the heavy underdogs.
Chance of winning: 5% – Tough to see them getting out of this group, especially without the injury Winston Reid.
Portugal
How they qualified: Through their shock win at EURO 2016 last summer, their first-ever major trophy.
FIFA ranking: 8
Star player: Cristiano Ronaldo – Yeah, not a surprise. After leading Real Madrid to back-to-back Champions League titles, a La Liga crown and a EURO 2016 title with Portugal in the past 12 months, Ronaldo is hungry for more goals and glory.
One to watch: Andre Silva – After completing his big money move to AC Milan, Silva is ready to shine. He has seven goals in eight games for Portugal.
Manager: Fernando Santos – Experienced Portuguese boss who led the team to a superb defensive display at EURO 2016.
Chance of winning: 40% – Will progress from the group easily.
Mexico
How they qualified: By winning the 2015 Gold Cup they had a one-off CONCACAF Cup game against the USA (2013 Gold Cup winners) in November 2015 which they won 3-2 after extra time, thus making them champs of CONCACAF and sealing a Confederations Cup spot.
FIFA ranking: 14
Star player: Hector Herrera – Seems to get better each and every year and he will drive El Tri on from midfield.
One to watch: Hirving Lozano – Man City are rumored to be interested in signing the youngster and if the winger has a fine tournament, plenty more top clubs in Europe will take a chance on his mercurial talents.
Manager: Juan Carlos Osorio – Meticulous and disciplined, Osorio will make Mexico tough to beat and they have the attacking talent to counter quickly.
Chance of winning: 30% – Should progress from the group, then anything else is a bonus.
Game schedule
June 17: Russia vs. New Zealand – 11 a.m. ET – Saint Petersburg
June 18: Portugal vs Mexico – 11 a.m. ET – Kazan
June 21: Russia vs. Portugal – 11 a.m. ET – Moscow
June 21: Mexico vs. New Zealand – 2 p.m. ET – Sochi
June 24: New Zealand vs. Portugal – 11 a.m. ET – Saint Petersburg
June 24: Mexico vs. Russia – 11 a.m. ET – Kazan
2017 Confederations Cup: Group B preview.
By Joe Prince-Wright
(Photo/Getty Images)
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the tournament kicking off.
Group B
Cameroon
How they qualified: By winning the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, beating Egypt 2-1 in the final.
FIFA ranking: 32
Star player: Vincent Aboubakar – Besiktas striker scored the winner in the AFCON final and has 16 goals in 56 games. Bags of pace and experience.
One to watch: Fabrice Ondoa – Goalkeeper is just 21 years old but already has 31 caps to his name. A real star for the future.
Manager: Hugo Broos – Experienced Belgian manager who led the Indomitable Lions to success at AFCON 2017.
Chance of winning: 30% – They will do well to get out of this group but if they do they can keep things tight and cause a few upsets. Darkhorse.
Chile
How they qualified: Winning 2015 Copa American on home soil by beating Argentina on penalty kicks in Santiago. Adding the Copa America Centenario for good measure in 2016 too.
FIFA ranking: 4
Star player: Alexis Sanchez – One of the top forwards in the world right now, scored 24 goals and added 10 assists in the PL for Arsenal. A wanted man who will put on a show to drive up his wages and transfer fee. Just watch.
One to watch: Not exactly an up and coming star, but Marcelo Diaz is so often overlooked while Sanchez, Vidal, Bravo and Medel steal the limelight. Diaz holds everything together.
Manager: Juan Antonio Pizzi – Former Spanish international has had ups and downs but his team are dynamic and experienced. If they qualify for the World Cup next summer (slight qualifying struggles continue) they may be among the favorites.
Chance of winning: 60% – Clear favorites for this tournament after Germany sent a young, inexperienced squad.
Australia
How they qualified: Winning the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, beating South Korea 2-1 in extra time in 2015.
FIFA ranking: 48
Star player: Tim Cahill – Okay, he’s 37 years old but Cahill still comes up with the goods when the Socceroos need him. 48 goals in 96 games.
One to watch: Aaron Mooy – An absolute beast in Huddersfield’s promotion push. Man City man will likely have plenty of loan offers in the PL this summer. Energetic and creative midfielder.
Manager: Angelos Postecoglou – In charge of Australia for almost four years, Postecoglou has built a solid core which has taken the AFC by storm.
Chance of winning: 10% – Will struggle to progress from the group.
Germany
How they qualified: By winning the 2014 World Cup.
FIFA ranking: 3
Star player: Julian Draxler – Named captain of this young German squad, the PSG attacker will be the go-to guy for Die Mannschaft.
One to watch: Sandro Wagner – Three goals in two games for Germany say it all. Wagner is looking to continue his fine season after helping Hoffenheim finish fourth in the Bundesliga.
Manager: Joachim Low – A really intriguing squad selection from Low who has left Ozil, Kroos, Muller, Neuer, Hummels, Boateng and many more experienced players at home. Time to see if his next crop of youngster have what it takes.
Chance of winning: 50% – Will progress from the group and this young German team will gain valuable experience from a big clash with Portugal or Mexico in the semifinals.
Game schedule
June 17: Russia vs. New Zealand – 11 a.m. ET – Saint Petersburg
June 18: Portugal vs Mexico – 11 a.m. ET – Kazan
June 21: Russia vs. Portugal – 11 a.m. ET – Moscow
June 21: Mexico vs. New Zealand – 2 p.m. ET – Sochi
June 24: New Zealand vs. Portugal – 11 a.m. ET – Saint Petersburg
June 24: Mexico vs. Russia – 11 a.m. ET – Kazan
NCAAFB: Jim Harbaugh says Friday night is for high school football.
By Kevin McGuire
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Beginning this season, the Big Ten will begin playing some college football game son Friday nights. The decision has widely been criticized across the footprint of the Big Ten, and now one of the most visible faces of the Big Ten is making his case against Friday night football. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh took a hard stance against the new scheduling effort during a radio interview on Monday.
“I am not for it at all,” Harbaugh said today on the Rich Eisen radio show. “Friday night is for high school football.”
Michigan was not scheduled to play a Friday night game this season, but Harbaugh still was free to weigh in on the conference model because it would impact the Wolverines at some point in the future. Harbaugh said Friday night football could gain momentum in the future, but he will not back down from voicing his opposition to the idea.
“Sometimes the pendulum swings one way and they do something that’s not productive for the game of football and then has the ability to swing back the other way,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t know that that is set in stone, nor should it be… The opposition to playing college football games on Friday nights should be voiced.”
When the Big Ten announced the implementation of Friday night games to the conference schedule, Michigan was among the schools stating it would not host any Friday night games. Penn State was another. The logistical nightmares alone of having to host a Friday night game in a stadium that seats over 100,000 people was more than enough reason to say no to Friday night games, but not every stadium in the Big Ten has those same concerns. But even Northwestern wiggled its way out of two Friday night matchups this season.
It all seems as though the Big Ten made a decision fueled by money without any regard for what the schools had to say about it. Shocking, right?
Missouri AD not on board with swapping SEC divisions with Auburn.
By Bryan Fischer
(Photoi/Getty Images)
One of the few storylines to emerge from the SEC’s annual spring meetings this year was about realignment. No, not adding teams to the conference but changing up the divisional alignment.
The discussion popped up mostly because those at Auburn really seemed to be banging the drum on a move to the SEC East. The flip side of any potential move by the Tigers to the other division has typically come with the idea that Missouri should be the one school who will then head to the SEC West and take their place.
As to be expected though, thanks but no thanks seems to be the response from those in Columbia to the idea.
“I think we’re fine and like where we are at,” Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk told AL.com this week. “There’s been no discussion within the conference and with the commissioner about anything different. Until that point, I’m not going to speculate. But I can say we like where we are at. We’ve got schedules out until 2020 in football, so it’s something that would take a lot.”
There really hasn’t been any formal discussion of the idea of changing up divisions in the SEC but it’s pretty understandable for Missouri to do what they can to stay in the East, where they won two division titles not long after joining the league. Given Sterk’s comments, it seems likely this remains just an idea those at Auburn continue to talk about while everybody else in the conference sticks with the status quo.
NCAABKB: The Big Ten may follow the ACC to 20 league games, which comes at a cost for college basketball.The discussion popped up mostly because those at Auburn really seemed to be banging the drum on a move to the SEC East. The flip side of any potential move by the Tigers to the other division has typically come with the idea that Missouri should be the one school who will then head to the SEC West and take their place.
As to be expected though, thanks but no thanks seems to be the response from those in Columbia to the idea.
“I think we’re fine and like where we are at,” Mizzou athletic director Jim Sterk told AL.com this week. “There’s been no discussion within the conference and with the commissioner about anything different. Until that point, I’m not going to speculate. But I can say we like where we are at. We’ve got schedules out until 2020 in football, so it’s something that would take a lot.”
There really hasn’t been any formal discussion of the idea of changing up divisions in the SEC but it’s pretty understandable for Missouri to do what they can to stay in the East, where they won two division titles not long after joining the league. Given Sterk’s comments, it seems likely this remains just an idea those at Auburn continue to talk about while everybody else in the conference sticks with the status quo.
By Rob Dauster
(Photo/Ben Gabbe/Getty Images)
The Big Ten seems as if it is destined to follow the ACC down the path of 20 conference games in the near future.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany told ESPN earlier this week that the conference is having discussions about whether or not to expand the league schedule, and Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo is quoted in the story as saying that “I don’t think there’s any question it’s going to happen.”
This comes of the heels of the ACC announcing that they will be expanding to a 20 game conference schedule starting in the 2019-20 season.
On the surface, this does have some appeal. This will push the start of conference play up closer to Christmas and almost certainly before the turn of the calendar, meaning that the meat of college basketball’s regular season will begin a week earlier for what is arguably the two most relevant and best conferences in the country. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for college basketball to try and carve out a larger slice of college football’s bowl season.
The problem is that a 20 game league schedule only makes it more difficult for high major programs to challenge themselves in non-conference play.
There are two factors at play here. For starters, more conference games means more potential losses, which makes it that much for difficult to convince coaches that may need to get to 20 wins to save their job (or hit an incentive in their contract) to schedule any quality out of conference opponents. But what will be more difficult to navigate is the requirements put on programs by athletic directors that mandate a certain number of home games during a season. A lot of revenue is generated for the athletic department by playing games at home, and most ADs require a specific number of home games on the schedule to bring in that revenue; and AD’s job isn’t just to get make their school’s sports teams competitive, it is to make sure the athletic department operates in the black or as close to it as possible.
The number that is required differs from school to school, but the industry standard tends to be 16 homes games for the entire season. With an 18 game league schedule, nine are played at home, meaning that seven of the 13 non-conference games would have to be played at home to reach that quota. If there are 20 league games, 10 are played at home and six of the 11 non-conference games would have to be home games.
Now take Michigan State, for example. The Spartans are almost always going to be playing in an exempt event in November in addition to playing in the Champions Classic and the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. In a year where their exempt event has eight teams — like the Maui Invitational or the PK80 tournament in Portland this year — and the Spartans are given a road game in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, their spot in the Champions Classic means that they suddenly are put into a position where their other six non-conference games must be played in the Breslin Center to hit 16 home games.
They aren’t the only power conference school that will feel that schedule crunch, but other high profile programs (Kentucky, UNC, Duke, UCLA, etc.) will feel it as well, meaning home-and-home series between those programs will be less and less likely.
It also makes it that much more unlikely that teams from leagues like the ACC or the Big Ten would ever challenge themselves with a road game against anyone outside of their league, let alone a road game against a mid-major program.
So while it is a good thing to create more conference rivalry games and to reduce, as much as possible, the unbalanced schedules of the bloated power conferences in a post-realignment world, the toll that it will take on the non-conference schedule — further removing high-profile non-conference games from on-campus venues, where college basketball is meant to be played — may make this decision a net-negative in the long run.
Why the Louisville and Ole Miss NCAA cases are challenging head-coach accountability.
By Pat Forde
Rick Pitino and Louisville await an NCAA ruling on the violations from the basketball program’s escort scandal. (Photo/AP)
The relatively recent NCAA position of holding head coaches more accountable for violations within their programs is facing a challenge in 2017, with much at stake in the Mississippi football and Louisville basketball infractions cases.
Rick Pitino could find out his NCAA fate as early as this week, as the Cardinals await a Committee on Infractions ruling on the violations that arose from an escort queen’s tell-all book in 2015. Pitino is charged with a lack of head coach control – a Level I violation, most serious in the NCAA’s hierarchy of crimes and misdemeanors – and the school has disputed the charge.
Mississippi has mounted a vigorous defense of coach Hugh Freeze, who is facing the same primary Level I allegation as Pitino. He was charged as one of 21 allegations against the football program in an NCAA Notice of Allegations that the school released publicly for the first time last week, along with its response to that NOA.
Four years ago, the NCAA revised a rule and upped the ante on coach responsibility for what happens on their watch. In 2015-16, the impact of that revision was felt: nine-game suspensions were applied to basketball coaches Jim Boeheim of Syracuse and Larry Brown of Southern Methodist for violations within their programs. Despite that precedent, both Louisville and Ole Miss have gone to bat for their head coaches.
“Ole Miss has laid out a position similar to what Louisville laid out with Coach Pitino,” said Stu Brown, an Atlanta-based attorney who has represented both coaches and schools in NCAA cases. “Both are able to do that because, in essence, the head coach was not individually charged with substantial misconduct. Pitino was not charged with anything, and Freeze is charged with two Level IIIs [an impermissible recruiting contact and knowledge of an impermissible recruiting video] one of which they are disputing.
“That gives them grounds to be more supportive of their coach. They have to decide: for win-loss, financial and political reasons, is the coach someone the school wants to save? If a school was looking for a reason to get rid of a coach, having him charged with lack of coach control would at least give the school the opportunity to say, ‘We can’t defend you.’ If coach is winning, if coach is popular, if coach is raising revenue, coach gets supported.”
There has been some speculation that a school could open itself up to more significant penalties by choosing not to discipline the head coach and then disputing the lack of program control charge. That’s widely viewed as an incorrect assumption.
“I don’t think you take any risk opposing those [charges],” said another veteran lawyer who requested anonymity because of his involvement in an ongoing NCAA case. “Most schools are going to take those on if they like the guy and want to keep him.
“This is still a developing story with the Committee on Infractions. We don’t have enough case precedent to know how they’re going to respond. Until we get 10 or 15 more cases to establish precedent, it’s still something of an unknown.”
For that reason, a lot of interested parties will be watching how the COI rules on Pitino and Freeze in the coming days and months. Will the precedent established with Boeheim and Larry Brown be strengthened or weakened?
It seems likely that Ole Miss based at least some of its defense for Freeze upon Louisville’s defense of Pitino. Three people with extensive history working such cases described Mississippi’s strategy as good lawyering but ultimately perhaps a lost cause.
“It was a pretty good response, they did a good job making their case,” said one former Committee on Infractions member who read the Ole Miss NOA response. “But they may have gone overboard [in defending Freeze]. It’s a little trickier for schools to defend head coaches the way they used to.”
A significant part of Ole Miss’ defense of Freeze is to pin much of the blame on Barney Farrar, the former assistant athletic director for junior college and high school relations. It is a tactic the former COI member saw many times.
“It doesn’t surprise me in the least that they’re trying to shift blame to a staffer,” he said. “One thing that bothered us on the committee was how quick schools were to pin it on rogue assistants, as they always call it. They’re quite willing to send that guy up the river.
“Head-coach legislation makes it hard to do that now. They aren’t doing anything unusual in defending the head coach, but they may come under pretty serious questioning.”
Part of the Ole Miss defense of Freeze appears to be little more than compliance window dressing, in the view of Stu Brown.
“A lot of the things they listed as being part of an atmosphere of compliance were things done by the school’s compliance office,” Brown said. “Traditionally that has not been used in a coach’s defense. Making his staff go to compliance education that is put on by the institution – the volleyball coach, the softball coach, everyone’s doing that.
“Staff witness testimony to the coach’s atmosphere of compliance traditionally has not been sufficient, either, if you look at cases involving [former Connecticut basketball coach] Jim Calhoun, [former Central Florida basketball coach] Donnie Jones and Boeheim.”
Mississippi also is disputing the charge against Freeze because lack of coach control was not part of an earlier Notice of Allegations that was given to the school in January 2016. It was in the amended and enhanced NOA that was delivered some 13 months later.
Ole Miss has argued that the facts of the case have not substantially changed between NOAs as they relate to Freeze. Stu Brown suspects that will be a difficult argument to win before the COI after the NCAA added seven new allegations to the charges against the football program.
“I think that is likely to be pretty easily refuted by the enforcement staff,” he said. "The cumulative weight of the violations was not as much then, and now it is. The old plus the new gets them to a point of saying the coach did not sufficiently monitor.”
And if the head coach did not sufficiently monitor, sanctions will follow. A 30 percent season suspension, which is what Boeheim and Larry Brown faced, would likely put Pitino out of commission for nine games (plus practices) in 2017 and Freeze for three.
“In the school’s calculus, that may be a better price to pay than changing coaches,” Stu Brown said. “Whatever the committee does, it sets the standard going forward.”
A new, softer standard or a reinforced hard line – everyone will be watching to see which direction the NCAA committee on infractions will take.
By Phil Thompson
(Photo/Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune)
Apparently, even Jerry Reinsdorf wonders how loyal is too loyal.The Bulls and White Sox chairman has a reputation for sticking with coaches or general managers when it appears to fans and critics that his franchises' fortunes have stalled. He most recently generated buzz when he reportedly declared that the jobs of Bulls personnel men Gar Forman and John Paxson were safe regardless of this season's outcome.
Former Sox manager Robin Ventura walked out on his own terms in October, or at most was gently nudged out by management.
Reinsdorf explained the reasoning behind his allegiance to Bulls and Sox staff to Sports Business Daily Executive Editor Abraham D. Markour.
"I try to be loyal only to people who deserve the loyalty," he said while addressing Markour during the trade publication's Intersport Brand Engagement Summit at the Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago. "I hope I'm not loyal to people who don't deserve it. We try to run this place like a family business. In our employee manual, people are directed to call everybody by their first names, no Mr. or Mrs. We want everybody to feel free to talk to everybody and go into any office to talk, any time they want. When you do that, you get good people, you get people who like their jobs.
"So the fact that somebody might be here 25 years is not because I'm loyal, it's because that person is doing a good job and enjoys the work environment."
On This Date in Sports History: Today is Wednesday, June 14, 2017.
Memoriesofhistory.com
Memoriesofhistory.com
1963 - Duke Snider (New York Mets) hit his 400th career home run.
1964 - The St. Louis Cardinals traded Ernest Broglio for Chicago Cub Lou Brock.
1969 - Reggie Jackson hit two home runs and drove in 10 runs in a 21-17 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
1987 - The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title by defeating the defending Boston Celtics.
1992 - The Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship beating the Portland Trailblazers.
1994 - The New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup by defeating the Vancouver Canucks. It was the first time the Rangers had won the cup in 54 years.
1996 - Cal Ripken Jr. broke Sachio Kinugas's record of 2,216 consecutive games played.
1996 - Jeff Bagwell (Houston Astros) tied a major league baseball record when he hit four doubles. The Astros defeated the San Francisco Giants 9-1.
1996 - John Smoltz (Atlanta Braves) tied a franchise record with his 13th consecutive win.
1996 - Ellis Burks hit the first inside-the-park home run in Coors Field.
1995 - The Chicago Bulls won their third straight NBA Championship and the sixth of the decade.
2002 - The U.S. beat Mexico 2-0 and advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals. It was the best showing in the World Cup for the U.S. since 1930.
2002 - Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cubs) hit his 25th home run of the season. The home run tied him with Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 19th on the all-time list at 475 homers.
2003 - The Frankfurt Galaxy became the first team in the NFL Europe League to win three World Bowls.
2004 - Jim Thome (Philadelphia Phillies) became the 37th player in major league history to reach 400 career home runs.
2005 - The Detroit Pistons defeated the San Antonio Spurs 96-79 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. It was the first time in history that the first three games had been decided by 15 points or more.
2009 - Phil Jackson (Los Angeles Lakers) recorded his 10th NBA title as coach.
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