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Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Eagles rout Bears 54-11.
By ROB MAADDI (AP Pro Football Writer)
Knowing they have everything to play for next week, the Philadelphia Eagles never let up against a team with plenty on the line.
Nick Foles threw two touchdown passes, LeSean McCoy ran for two scores and the Eagles routed the Chicago Bears 54-11 on Sunday night in a matchup of first-place teams with opposite stakes.
Instead of resting his starters for a winner-take-all game at Dallas next Sunday night, Chip Kelly didn't pull them until they finished whipping the Bears.
''We're from Philadelphia and we fight,'' Kelly said. ''If there's a game on, we're playing.''
Chicago's loss sets up two win-or-go-home games for NFC division crowns next week.
The Bears (8-7) came in needing a win to clinch the NFC North and secure the No. 3 seed while Philadelphia was just trying to stay healthy. But the Eagles (9-6) played like the team trying to lock up a playoff berth.
Now, the Bears must tie or beat the Packers (7-7-1) at home next week to win the North.
''We knew what was at stake and the opportunity we had and we didn't get it done,'' Bears coach Marc Trestman said.
The Eagles (9-6) have to tie or beat the Cowboys (8-7) at Dallas next Sunday night to win the NFC East and complete a worst-to-first season under their rookie coach. Once Dallas rallied to beat Washington earlier in the day, the Eagles knew they were only playing for a No. 3 seed, that is, if they win the division.
Still, Kelly played all his guys.
''This is our job. They pay us to play ball,'' McCoy said. ''The fans pay their hard-earned money to watch. As a player, we never think a game is meaningless.''
Foles was 21 of 25 for 230 yards, and set a franchise record with a completion percentage of 84.0. In only nine starts, Foles has 25 TD passes and two interceptions. He was replaced by Michael Vick midway through the fourth quarter.
By that time, fans were chanting: ''We want Dallas!''
''The playoffs start one week early,'' Kelly said. ''That's how we approach it.''
McCoy, trying to become the first Eagles player to lead the NFL in rushing since Hall of Famer Steve Van Buren in 1949, ran for 133 yards and leads Kansas City's Jamaal Charles by 189 going into the last game.
Bryce Brown had 115 yards rushing, including a 65-yard TD run.
The Eagles dominated from the start.
Trent Cole sacked Jay Cutler to force a three-and-out on Chicago's first possession, and the Eagles went right down the field and scored when Foles hit Riley Cooper going across the back of the end zone on a 5-yard pass.
Bradley Fletcher then forced Devin Hester to fumble after a 36-yard kickoff return and Cary Williams recovered at the Bears 39. Foles connected with Zach Ertz for 27 yards and McCoy ran in from the 1 to make it 14-0.
Foles tossed a 10-yard TD pass to Brent Celek to make it 21-0 in the first.
''It was fun to play,'' Foles said. ''That's what I cherish. I don't care about records.''
Cedric Thornton tackled Matt Forte in the end zone for a safety and a 26-3 lead in the third quarter. McCoy ran in from the 1 to make it 33-3.
Chris Polk had a 10-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and Brandon Boykin returned an interception 54 yards for a score to make it 47-11.
Chicago's only TD came when Cutler threw a 6-yard pass to Brandon Marshall on the final play of the third quarter.
''I thought we had a good game plan,'' Cutler said. ''We had good practices this week. Obviously we didn't play like it.''
Bears seven-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs returned to the lineup after missing seven games because of a fractured shoulder. He wasn't much help.
The Eagles racked up 514 yards.
The Bears had a chance to secure a division title because Green Bay lost to Pittsburgh and the New York Giants eliminated Detroit from playoff contention.
NOTES: The Eagles had their 12th game of at least 400 yards of total offense. ... Cole had three of Philadelphia's five sacks on Cutler, who hadn't gone down more than three times in a game previously this season. ... Eagles S Earl Wolff returned after missing four games with a knee injury, but left in the second quarter. ... Bears FS Chris Conte left in the first quarter after sustaining a concussion. ... The Cowboys beat the Eagles 17-3 in October.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Canucks edge Blackhawks in shootout.
By Jerry Bonkowski, The Sports Xchange
After two straight losses, Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella decided to shake up his team Friday, starting rookie goalie Eddie Lack in net for the first time ever against the Chicago Blackhawks over veteran Roberto Luongo.
Although Lack was shaky at the outset, allowing Chicago to score the game's first two goals, he also was the man of the hour when he needed to be the most, stopping seven of eight Blackhawks shots in the shootout as the Canucks earned a hard-fought 3-2 win at the United Center.
"I thought I let the first goal in a little bit cheap, so I wanted to get it back and keep my team in it," Lack said. "I thought we all did a huge job coming back from 2-0 and taking it to the shootout. It was a good game for sure."
Tortorella, who is in his first year at the helm of the Canucks after five years in charge of the New York Rangers, not only had confidence in his goalie but also that his team would rally.
It was the ninth time this season that the Canucks have rallied back to win after allowing the opposing team to score first, which leads the league. The Blackhawks still have a dominant 19-0-4 record when they score the first goal in a game this season.
"First period, I think we showed them a little bit too much respect," Tortorella said. "You should respect that team. It's a really good hockey club, but I think we just kind of tested the waters a little bit. I thought we started taking over the game in the second period. Didn't get frustrated with not producing on the power play. Had some chances on the power play, but didn't produce, and banged one in and found our way."
Center Ryan Kessler scored the deciding tally to help the Canucks break a two-game losing streak while also snapping Chicago's two-game winning streak.
Center Mike Santorelli scored the first goal of the shootout for the Canucks (21-11-6), followed by misses by left winger Daniel Sedin, center Henrik Sedin, right winger Zack Kassian, defenseman Yannick Weber, left winger David Booth and center Zac Dalpe before Kesler's game-winner.
Chicago (25-7-6) managed just one goal in the shootout, coming from forward Patrick Sharp. Missing for the Blackhawks were right winger Patrick Kane, center Jonathan Toews, right winger Marian Hossa, left winger Brandon Saad, right winger Ben Smith, right winger Kris Versteeg and center Michal Handzus.
The win tied the season series between the two teams at 1, with one more game remaining later this season.
"There's no time or space and I think we didn't shoot enough and tried to get a little bit more disruptive," said Chicago coach Joel Quenneville, whose team outshot the Canucks 26-24.
Luongo has a 15-10-3 all-time record against the Blackhawks, but after tough defeats in the previous two games, Tortorella thought he'd throw a curve ball at the defending Stanley Cup champions -- and it worked.
"Having a goalie we didn't see before didn't help us," Quenneville said.
Despite the shootout going eight deep on each side, Quenneville was surprisingly not as angry as some might have thought.
"It's a confidence thing, it's a feel thing," Quenneville said. "Eventually, I think things like that can go in your favor, and right now it's been just okay."
Chicago grabbed the lead first at 7:49 of the first period on Versteeg's tip-in goal (seventh of season).
The Blackhawks made it 2-0 at 4:57 of the second period on Kane's slap shot from inside the left circle for his team-leading 21st goal of the season.
"(It's) definitely disappointing when you're up 2-0 to give up a lead and then lose the game," Kane said.
After Chicago goalie Antti Raanta stopped the Canucks' first 12 shots, he wasn't as lucky on the 13th attempt as Kassian nailed his seventh goal of the season on a 25-foot slap shot.
Raanta got bottled up on one side of his net at 10:48 of the third period and Vancouver took advantage of his being out of position. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa flicked the puck through the crease to Daniel Sedin, who easily slid it past Raanta for his 12th goal of the season, tying the game at 2.
With the loss, Chicago lost its league lead in wins (Pittsburgh now has 26), but still leads the NHL in points (56).
NOTES: Despite the loss, Chicago still leads Vancouver in the all-time series 81-65-27-8. ... Attendance was 21,966, the second-largest home crowd for the Blackhawks this season. ... With Tuesday's win at Nashville, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville moved into fourth-place on the all-time coaching wins list with his 685th triumph as a head coach in the NHL. He moved past Pat Quinn, who had 684 wins. Quenneville also leads all active coaches in the NHL with 1,249 games coached, including Friday's contest. ... Chicago continues its homestand with games Monday vs. the New Jersey Devils and Dec. 27 vs. Colorado. After a Dec. 28 game at St. Louis, the Blackhawks return home for games against the Los Angeles Kings (Dec. 30) and New York Islanders (Jan. 2). ... Vancouver came into the game with the NHL's best penalty killing unit (89.8 percent). ... Friday marked the end of a three-game roadtrip for the Canucks, who return home to play Winnipeg on Sunday before enjoying a week off before hitting the road again at Calgary on Dec. 29.
Devils-Blackhawks Preview.
By ALAN FERGUSON (STATS Writer)
The Chicago Blackhawks' red-hot Patrick Kane is on the verge of matching the longest point streak of his career. Jaromir Jagr has also been highly productive lately for the New Jersey Devils.
While Kane seeks a point in a 12th straight contest, Jagr tries to extend his point streak to eight and lead the Devils to a fourth win in five games Monday night at the United Center.
Kane has six goals and 14 assists during an 11-game run, and at least one point in 23 of his last 24 - 37 total - to move to second in the league behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. Kane's 12-game point streak ran from Nov. 3-27.
Kane had a goal and an assist to help give Chicago a 2-0 lead Friday against Vancouver, but the Blackhawks couldn't hold that advantage and lost 3-2 after an eight-round shootout.
Chicago, 5-1-1 in its last seven, also had a streak of 10 consecutive games with at least one power-play goal snapped by going 0 for 4 against the league's best penalty kill unit.
The Blackhawks (25-7-6) now face a Devils penalty kill that's given up just five goals in the last 43 times it's been short-handed (11.6 percent).
New Jersey (15-15-7) is 3-0-1 since Dec. 14, and Jagr has two goals and nine assists in his last seven games. The 41-year-old winger had a goal and two assists in a 5-4 overtime win over Washington on Saturday.
"He amazes me every night I come to the rink," coach Pete DeBoer said. "I don't have a lot more adjectives to describe him, but he's a pleasure to work with."
After falling in overtime to Anaheim on Friday, the Devils rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period against the Capitals. Dainius Zubrus tallied the tying goal with 8:13 remaining and defenseman Andy Greene capped a three-point night with the game-winning score.
Blackhawks look to finish strong before Christmas break.By ALAN FERGUSON (STATS Writer)
The Chicago Blackhawks' red-hot Patrick Kane is on the verge of matching the longest point streak of his career. Jaromir Jagr has also been highly productive lately for the New Jersey Devils.
While Kane seeks a point in a 12th straight contest, Jagr tries to extend his point streak to eight and lead the Devils to a fourth win in five games Monday night at the United Center.
Kane has six goals and 14 assists during an 11-game run, and at least one point in 23 of his last 24 - 37 total - to move to second in the league behind Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. Kane's 12-game point streak ran from Nov. 3-27.
Kane had a goal and an assist to help give Chicago a 2-0 lead Friday against Vancouver, but the Blackhawks couldn't hold that advantage and lost 3-2 after an eight-round shootout.
Chicago, 5-1-1 in its last seven, also had a streak of 10 consecutive games with at least one power-play goal snapped by going 0 for 4 against the league's best penalty kill unit.
"I thought our power play might have let us down a little bit tonight," Kane said. "We didn't really create any momentum off of it and they probably got momentum off them killing them off, so it's something we'll try to improve on."
The Blackhawks (25-7-6) now face a Devils penalty kill that's given up just five goals in the last 43 times it's been short-handed (11.6 percent).
New Jersey (15-15-7) is 3-0-1 since Dec. 14, and Jagr has two goals and nine assists in his last seven games. The 41-year-old winger had a goal and two assists in a 5-4 overtime win over Washington on Saturday.
"He amazes me every night I come to the rink," coach Pete DeBoer said. "I don't have a lot more adjectives to describe him, but he's a pleasure to work with."
After falling in overtime to Anaheim on Friday, the Devils rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period against the Capitals. Dainius Zubrus tallied the tying goal with 8:13 remaining and defenseman Andy Greene capped a three-point night with the game-winning score.
"I thought we responded very well when we were down two goals, and it's a big win for us," Jagr said.
Jagr's next goal will push him past Mark Messier for seventh all-time, and he needs three points to pass Mario Lemieux for seventh on that list.
Jagr has 13 goals and 14 assists in 25 all-time regular-season games against the Blackhawks but hasn't scored against them since 2002.
New Jersey has won the last two matchups with Chicago and is making its first trip to the United Center since a 5-3 victory Nov. 3, 2010.
Kane has two assists in six career games versus New Jersey, and the Devils are one of two teams he's never scored a goal against, along with Pittsburgh.
By Tracey Myers
The Chicago Blackhawks are as excited about the Christmas break as any NHL team. It’s been a busy first half, and a three-day respite is certainly welcomed.
“We want to leave it all out there,” Patrick Sharp said. “We’ve got a number of days off before and after (tomorrow’s game), so there should be no excuse for our team not playing with intensity and high energy. With those days off, you want to make sure you have a thought about how you play the last game, so we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
For the Blackhawks, the need for rest isn’t as pressing as it was about a week ago. They were playing at a breakneck pace from mid-November until Tuesday’s game against the Nashville Predators. Still, this break is a break that the Blackhawks will take, and they don’t want to spend it with a bad taste in their mouths.
“We talked about it. We have a real light schedule here, probably six days off over a nine-day stretch,” coach Joel Quenneville said. “So let’s max out tomorrow night’s game and make sure the focus is in the right place.”
Andrew Shaw said that shouldn’t be a problem, given the rare rest the Blackhawks have entering tomorrow’s game.
“We had a couple days off here and a couple more coming up,” he said. “I think everyone’s excited to get this game going, play hard, play physical and them get a few days’ rest.”
Having the right focus hasn’t been a huge problem for the Blackhawks this season. Even in their loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, there weren’t any glaring issues. Sometimes, you just lose a game. But cleaning up a glitch here and there and getting one more victory before the break nevertheless remains on the Blackhawks wish list.
“I think the last game wasn’t the way we drew it up but we have a tough team coming in tomorrow and hopefully we can finish on a high note,” Bryan Bickell said. “We have some time with our game schedule, so we don’t want to leave anything on the ice.”
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Bulls snap four-game losing streak with rout of Cavs.
By Aggrey Sam
Not only did the Bulls (10-16) end their four-game losing streak Saturday night at the United Center, they did so in triumphant fashion, putting on an offensive show in their 100-84 victory over Cleveland (10-16), even without the services of the starting perimeter trio of shooting guard Jimmy Butler (right ankle), All-Star small forward Luol Deng (left Achilles’) and point guard Kirk Hinrich (back).
Carlos Boozer (19 points, nine rebounds) helped the Bulls get off to a quick start in the opening period, but he was far from the only player to be feeling it offensively. With point guard D.J. Augustin (18 points, 10 assists), who was also an outside threat, running the show, the Bulls were both unselfish and efficient, as rookie swingman Tony Snell (17 points, 5-for-8 3-point shooting), All-Star center Joakim Noah (11 points, 18 rebounds) and top reserve Taj Gibson (15 points) got it going, too.
The Cavaliers big-man tandem of power forward Tristan Thompson and center Andrew Bynum (19 points, seven rebounds) made an impact, but the suddenly high-scoring Bulls shot 64.7 percent from the field en route to a 33-26 lead after a quarter of play.
The second quarter was more of the same, as Noah dominated the glass and Augustin continued to be in command of the offense, outplaying Cleveland All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving (14 points, five assists).
While the Cavaliers got contributions off the bench from the likes of veteran Anderson Varejao and undrafted rookie guard Matthew Dellavedova, the Bulls also got assistance from their second unit, as backup center Nazr Mohammed made his presence felt, resulting in a 60-43 advantage at the intermission.
After the break, the Bulls finally started to cool off a bit and Cleveland capitalized, trimming the deficit to single digits behind the play of Bynum, who has excelled in the two teams’ meetings this season. But Noah, his center counterpart, responded with stellar all-around play, and courtesy of a late third-quarter spurt, the Bulls headed into the final stanza with a 68-57 edge.
Snell’s outside marksmanship, Noah’s work on the boards and Augustin’s playmaking continued to be the major themes of the Bulls’ success in the fourth period. They coasted throughout the frame, completing an affair in which they played well on both ends of the floor — Cleveland shot 40 percent from the field — heading into a rare stretch where their injured players will be able to recover from their various injuries, as they don’t play until a Christmas Day matinee in Brooklyn.
Can Bulls fight through injury-riddled campaign?
By Aggrey Sam
“Never in my life,” Nazr Mohammed, now in his 16th NBA season, told CSNChicago.com. “Never, ever have I seen so many guys who work hard to stay injury-free, go down at the same time.“This is crazy. I don’t even know what to say about it,” the 36-year-old went on to say. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Indeed, the Bulls might be uniquely prepared for this type of adversity after last season, but to follow up the stomach punch of Derrick Rose being lost for the entire campaign, with their subsequent slate of setbacks—Jimmy Butler missing nearly a month with turf toe, then injuring his right ankle in his fourth game back in the lineup Thursday night in Oklahoma City; Luol Deng’s lingering left Achilles’ injury; Kirk Hinrich’s ongoing back ailment—is almost unfathomable.
Sure, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau might repeat his seemingly endless supply of no-excuse clichés, but he even had to admit that his team’s frail state of health is mind-boggling.
“Not that I can recall,” the coach said, when asked if he could remember a similar situation in all of his years associated with the NBA. “But it’s part of it. I think that sometimes it goes against you. I don’t know what else to say.
“To me, they’re pros and as I told them today as I went back through our games on this trip—and we’re in a rough stretch right now, where there are a lot of games in a short amount of time—and when you start backing up the games, and you look at exactly what transpired and unfortunately, we couldn’t pull out some of those games, but we’re right there. So the challenge for us is not to accept what’s going on, but to keep fighting and to believe that, ‘Hey, we’re going to be getting these guys back at some point,’ and so, we’ve got to be grinding, finding ways, developing,” Thibodeau added. “We’ve got to find some other people and we’ve got to get them to step up. We’re short-handed. Our margin of error is small.”
Taj Gibson, playing through an injured right wrist himself, concurred: “It’s tough because these injuries that guys are having, they’re injuries that you’ve really got to rest them. But the thing about these guys, everybody on this team, guys just keep pushing through injury. Instead of just on any other team, guys probably would just sit out. But these guys are still pushing, pushing the limit. No matter how hard it hurts, they’re still going and it’s frustrating, but things like that are going to happen. So guys like Marquis [Teague] and our rooks are going to keep getting more reps, and get counted on more because we don’t know what else we can do, except keep playing hard.”
Deng, dealing with his second recovery period after rushing back from the same injury after a four-game rest, added: “It’s tough. It’s one of those seasons. So far, it’s tough. I think we’ve just got to hang in there. We’ve just got to keep playing hard, just hang in there. We know what we’re capable of when everybody’s healthy and right now, it seems like nothing is going our way. But it’s a long season. A lot of things right now aren’t the way we want it to be. We’ve got to turn it around and keep going.”
Joakim Noah, however, remained defiant. While his teammates are resolute about pushing through their current fate, the All-Star center, in typical fashion, almost seemed that the endless injury-related questions were something of a personal challenge to the team.
“I don’t think we can do that,” Noah responded, when asked if the Bulls would ever reach a breaking point and finally give in. “I think that we’re in a situation right now where we’re losing games, but we still represent the Chicago Bulls. We still represent Chicago and Chicago’s a city that deals with a lot of adversity, and I think that we’re dealing with a lot of adversity. We’ve just got to go out there and fight. That’s the nature of this city.
“There’s just no other way. The games are going to keep coming. I think Snell is going to improve by this, he’s going to get an opportunity to play and I think guys are going to come back, and our time’s going to come and I think it’s going to be a hell of a year,” he continued. “We’ll be all right.”
MLB's spending spree could eclipse $2 billion.
By Jeff Passan
No sport incites salary rage like Major League Baseball, so for those who bellyache the money is too big, consider this a fair warning to gulp a handful of Tums before reading the next sentence.
Teams are barreling toward $2 billion spent on free agents this offseason.
Now, they may fall short of that nice, round number and still absolutely obliterate the previous spending record: around $1.75 billion in the 2006 offseason, a number that includes major league free agents as well as the posting fees for Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa.
Now, they may fall short of that nice, round number and still absolutely obliterate the previous spending record: around $1.75 billion in the 2006 offseason, a number that includes major league free agents as well as the posting fees for Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kei Igawa.
Already teams have lavished approximately $1.543 billion on players, the latest a $130 million investment by the Texas Rangers for seven years of outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. He is the third nine-figure player of the offseason, joining Jacoby Ellsbury ($153 million) as an offset diamond around the center stone, Robinson Cano ($240 million).
There is plenty more to come. If Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka gets posted – his status remains in limbo – the $2 billion threshold is certain to be obliterated. Between his contract and the $20 million posting fee, teams expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $120 million for Tanaka. Beyond him are three pitchers who reason says will cash in for around $60 million each (Ervin Santana, Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Garza), an outfielder worth the same (Nelson Cruz), a shortstop a notch down from that (Stephen Drew), another starter sure to get multiple years (Bronson Arroyo), a bevy of relievers who will get papered (Fernando Rodney, Grant Balfour and Jesse Crain, among others) and the dregs of the class, who can fetch $5 million here, $3 million there and add up quickly.
For those surprised, don't be. Baseball's economic system, as presently constituted, guaranteed free-agent salaries ballooning to unfathomable levels. A number of factors conspired to turn it into even more of a money booth than in the past.
First are the revenues. Back in 2006, a year before the recession started, baseball's revenues were around $5.5 billion. Today, they are nearly $8.5 billion. And only now is free-agent spending catching up; over the previous three offseasons, it fell somewhere in the $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion range.
More than that are the mechanisms in place that more or less force teams to spend their money on free agents. Simply put: They can't spend it anywhere else. The league capped how much teams can spend on the draft and international free agents. Many of the best players in the game don't even make $1 million a season because the system artificially depresses salaries for the first three years of a career. Plenty of the best would-be free agents forgo the open market by signing long-term extensions, which can be for big money, sure, but almost every time represent a discount against what the player would receive with his services available to all 30 teams.
For those, then, with the patience to wait for free agency and the luck to do so coming off even a decent walk year, the rewards are massive – enough so to make you wonder if there will be some sort of a market correction in which pre-free-agency extensions start to inch closer to the open market or players who might've been locked up opt instead to chance free agency.
There is an expectation within the industry that at least a couple of the monster class of free-agent pitchers next offseason will sign extensions. The group includes Clayton Kershaw (who will command the first deal for a pitcher over $200 million), Max Scherzer, Jon Lester, James Shields, Homer Bailey and Justin Masterson. If each went to free agency, there's a good three-quarters of a billion dollars among the six, more than making up for a hitting class that includes Hanley Ramirez and a group that is best referred to as Et Cetera.
It's one of the biggest reasons the Rangers went so hard after Choo, giving him more years and money than they wanted: the outfield market next year is paltry, and they've got goo-gobs of TV money from local and national sources to cover it. Give the Rangers this much: They've long made a habit of being ahead of other teams in how they spend their money. They went bigger in Latin America than any other team before the spending cap, then blew by it when the penalties weren't as severe as they are now. This offseason, they've committed more than a quarter billion dollars to Choo and Prince Fielder and helped spearhead the spending that left the American League West as baseball's most munificent division and the AL spending nearly three times as much as its National League counterparts.
The five AL West teams have combined to heap $466.6 million on free agents – Cano and Choo account for 79.2 percent of that – while the AL East is at $399.25 million (with the Yankees at 79.1 percent of that). Next is the AL Central ($268.75 million), followed by the three NL divisions: East ($182.98 million), West ($148.25 million, not including the Hunter Pence or Tim Lincecum deals because they signed before free agency) and Central ($77.95 million – and, without Jhonny Peralta, less than $25 million combined).
Thirteen players by themselves have signed for $25 million, and another seven have exceeded the $20 million mark. It's almost exactly like 2006, with 15 at $25 million-plus and 20 at $20 million-plus. With the five starters, Cruz and Drew left to go, this year's numbers should dwarf '06 in all respects.
Welcome to baseball in 2014, which rewards free agency more than ever. Ask Robinson Cano. Ask Jacoby Ellsbury. Ask Shin-Soo Choo. Ask any of the middle relievers cashing in for $6 million a year, the back-end starters and utilitymen getting four-year guarantees, the fourth outfielders getting paid what used to be All-Star wages. The union sought free agency with such fervor 40 years ago because the brilliant men leading it saw this day, when owners would make money hand over fist and give players their fair share.
Even those brilliant men could not fathom just how big that number would be: $2 billion or bust.Cubs: Andy MacPhail knows what Theo Epstein’s going through.
By Patrick Mooney
Hey, you were Theo before Theo?
“I was,” Andy MacPhail said. “And I got traded for, too, which I think the Cubs got the bad end of that deal.”
The Epstein administration hasn’t exactly energized the base this winter, shopping in the discount aisles for free agents while waiting for the post-Christmas sales.
The Cubs have become an easy target for super-agent Scott Boras, the beat writers who need something to write about and pretty much anyone with a Twitter account. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is telling them to finally get started with the Wrigley Field construction, probably with a few F-bombs dropped in there.
MacPhail’s a conservative guy with fair hair and thin wire glasses, not exactly the image of a “rock star.” But he understands the Chicago market’s idiosyncrasies, the City Hall machine and all the corporate politics at Clark and Addison.
Before his 40th birthday, MacPhail had already built two World Series winners with the Minnesota Twins. He had a Cooperstown pedigree – his father, Lee, and grandfather, Larry, are in the Hall of Fame. He had previously worked in the Cubs front office, beginning his career at a minor-league affiliate after graduating from Dickinson College.
Tribune Co. made the home-run hire in 1994. The new Cubs president was supposed to be the savior.
MacPhail’s not looking for the Epstein comps or trying to defend his legacy. He walked and talked with three Chicago reporters at last week’s winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. He headed down a side staircase at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort and spoke for almost two minutes before being whisked into a shuttle bus with the rest of a Hall of Fame committee.
“I am a huge believer in no comments from the peanut gallery,” MacPhail said. “I was never a great fan of getting comments from the peanut gallery when I was in the fray.
“They got to do it the way they’re comfortable and the way that they think most guarantees their success. And I know that’s what that group’s doing.”
That group is waiting for the revenues from a renovated Wrigley Field and the new television deals. While the business/baseball plans make sense, you can’t just flip a switch.
As Epstein said: “We have to guard against this perception that we believe that once our most talented prospects come up to the big leagues, all of our problems are solved, because that’s not the way it works in baseball.”
There’s the feeling this is a franchise that keeps moving the goalposts. That’s been frustrating for both sides in the Jeff Samardzija negotiations. The breakthrough year’s supposed to be…2015? 2016? 2017?
That won’t be part of the marketing blitz at next month’s Cubs Convention, where everyone figures to be talking about Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Albert Almora and Jorge Soler.
“Once our players get to the big-league level, development starts anew in a lot of ways,” Epstein said. “There’s a period of ups and downs and struggle that can be hard for organizations to go through, hard for the players to go through, hard for the fans to go through.
“There’s no panacea with just three or four prospects coming up at the same time. That doesn’t solve your problems. It might make things more interesting and it’s the start of something significant. But it doesn’t mean you instantly become a contender.
“We invoke that all the time internally: ‘Let’s not think that we’ve reached the finish line just when we get a few prospects to the big leagues.’ In some ways, that’s the starting line.
“There’s a period of adjustment that we have to be prepared for – and hope our organization is prepared for – (so) we can support our players the best way possible. Maybe shorten that adjustment period, make them feel comfortable, (let them know) it’s OK to not succeed instantly at the big leagues, which is unrealistic if your name’s not Mike Trout.
“Also prepare our fan base somewhat. It’s going to be a heck of a lot more interesting, I think, when it happens. But it doesn’t necessarily mean right away all our players in their early 20s are going to be the cornerstones of a World Series club. It doesn’t necessarily happen like that.”
MacPhail and former general manager Jim Hendry thought they were laying The Foundation for Sustained Success. They were five outs away from winning the 2003 National League pennant and still had a rotation revolving around 20-somethings Kerry Wood, Mark Prior and Carlos Zambrano.
“It could have been,” MacPhail said. “We weren’t the luckiest birds in the world, health-wise, with our starting pitchers. But most people forget – I think we had a better won-loss record in ’04 (89-73) than we did ’03 (88-74). So we were kind of building towards it.”
MacPhail resigned in October 2006 and eight months later took another president’s job with the Baltimore Orioles. He oversaw four last-place finishes and stepped down in October 2011. But his fingerprints were all over the team that won an American League wild card in 2012.
MacPhail hired manager Buck Showalter, traded for core pieces Adam Jones, Chris Davis and J.J. Hardy while the organization drafted another future All-Star in Manny Machado.
The Orioles have won 178 games across the last two seasons, making Camden Yards relevant again.
The landscape is completely different now. New television money has flooded the game, closing the gap between bigger and smaller markets. Teams are locking up young core players with extensions, diluting the free-agent market. All 30 clubs use analytics and maybe 25 teams value players in roughly the same way. A restrictive collective bargaining agreement limits how much you can spend internationally and in the draft. Drug testing has changed how the game’s played.
Welcome to Chicago.
“You always have to kind of contour your plan to the real facts on the ground,” MacPhail said. “You can’t make a plan that doesn’t really fit with the dynamics that are going on around you. I’ve got a lot of confidence in that group that they’re going to do it the way they think is going to most assuredly get them the end goal. Because that’s the prize – winning the whole thing. We got close. But ultimately you aren’t successful until you at least get to the World Series.”
Thome excited about White Sox youth movement.
By Dan Hayes
He’s excited about where the White Sox are headed and Jim Thome wants to tell as many fans as possible.
The former slugger would love for some of his former teammates to help spread the word, too.
Thome, a special assistant to White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, spent Sunday morning at a hitting clinic at the Bulls/Sox Academy working with young hitters on their skills. But he also found time to work in a pitch for the 2014 White Sox as well.
Thome is genuinely eager about the team’s direction as Hahn has continued to reshape the roster with the addition of three young position players over the past two months.
The White Sox have already received quite a bit of positive press on a national level for some of their recent moves as both CBSSports.com and ESPN.com have singled Hahn out for his shrewd moves.
Hahn has spent the offseason addressing a long list of needs as the White Sox try to bounce back from last season’s 99-loss campaign. He has added Avisail Garcia, Jose Abreu, Adam Eaton and Matt Davidson in an effort to infuse youth into the team’s roster.
Thome likes the direction and has voiced his opinion in meetings with members of the front office. Even though he’s new to this side of the game, Thome has already grasped an important concept --- his opinion is valued and he’s not just there as a figurehead.
“It’s important to let people know, playing over 20-something years, your thoughts and what you value in the game,” Thome said. “With our young players, we’re in perfect line to get everything where we want it go.”
Thome advised a large group of young players on Sunday. He said he enjoyed instructing the group of 7-to-14 year olds on hitting and also used his platform to talk about the 2014 White Sox.
He hopes other former teammates will do the same.
“I have a youngster at home who wants to hit balls in our house every day so this is easy for me,” Thome said. “It’s great. It’s fun to give back. Having ex-(White Sox) players get back in the community and having people think about White Sox baseball, I think it’s an exciting time.”
NASCAR Top 10 drivers without a Cup championship.
By David Caraviello
The past few weeks have been all about champions, crowning a new one and celebrating current and former ones, all of them remembered in banners fluttering from the ceiling of a banquet hall. The apex of any sport is a championship, and to claim the title in the Sprint Cup Series is to earn the highest reward there is in NASCAR.
But championships alone do not necessarily equal greatness, as the ranks of those enshrined in and nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame will surely attest. In the sport's earlier days, there were drivers who never won a season-long title because such a thing didn't mean nearly as much in an era where the series competed 50 times per year, and some chased only the big events. In more recent times, there have been plenty of great drivers who never won a championship because of circumstances, or misfortunate, or because they had the bad timing of going up against the likes of Dale Earnhardt or Jimmie Johnson at their peak.
So yes, a title alone cannot be the sole barometer of greatness. The lack of one certainly didn't hurt Junior Johnson or Fireball Roberts from getting into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. So as Jimmie Johnson's 2013 celebration ends and everyone turns their eyes toward another title run to come in 2014, here are the top 10 drivers without a championship at NASCAR's highest level.
10. Geoffrey Bodine
The oldest of the racing Bodine brothers from Chemung, N.Y., Geoffrey was a star in the modified ranks -- he won 55 races in one season alone, 1978 -- long before he moved south and began his career in NASCAR's major league. Although many remember Bodine for the fiery Camping World Truck Series crash he survived in 2000, his record on the race track stands on its own. It was Bodine who delivered the first race victory to Rick Hendrick, then owner of a fledgling outfit called All-Star Racing, in 1984 at Martinsville. All told Bodine won 18 times, including the 1986 Daytona 500, and was among the best of his era on road courses. He never won the title -- the closest he came was third in 1990, well back of Earnhardt -- but he won just about everything else.
9. Tim Richmond
The 1986 season was when Tim Richmond emerged as the NASCAR superstar everyone knew he had the potential to be. A rambunctious playboy with a lion's mane of hair and an attitude to match, the former open-wheel star won seven times in 1986 and finished third in final points behind Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip. It was only the beginning, everyone surmised. But the following season, Richmond missed the Daytona 500 with what reporters were told was double pneumonia. He came back, won twice more, and was out again. When he died in 1989 at age 34, the rumor of AIDS was confirmed by his death certificate. On the track, his career had been short but spectacular, netting 13 wins in just 185 races. Who knows what he might have accomplished had he lived longer, given that the illness took hold just as he neared the top.
8. Denny Hamlin
If a few things break a little bit differently, Denny Hamlin could very well have a pair of championship rings by now. If his fuel strategy doesn't backfire in the penultimate race of the 2010 season at Phoenix, if his car's master switch doesn't go on the fritz in the fourth-to-last event of the 2012 campaign at Martinsville -- well, who knows. If he doesn't break a bone in his back in a crash early this past season, maybe he contends then, too. Regardless, time and time again Hamlin has shown all the signs of being a champion waiting to happen -- except that it hasn't happened yet, despite 23 race wins and three finishes inside the top five in final points to date. The good news is, his back seems to be responding to treatment, and the 33-year-old would appear to have plenty of time left ahead of him.
7. Fred Lorenzen
There's a reason they called him Fast Freddy. Fred Lorenzen was first a star on the short tracks in and around his native Chicago -- including Soldier Field, which was an auto racing venue long before it was home of the Bears -- and then a success at NASCAR's national level in Holman-Moody equipment that helped deliver all 26 of his career victories, the 1965 Daytona 500 among them. But like many top drivers of his day, Lorenzen didn't compete in the full NASCAR season, chasing big-money events and other races along the way. His best career points finish was third in 1963, when he competed in just 29 of 55 events. But he won six of those, and notched 21 top-fives, and still finished well ahead of fourth-place Ned Jarrett, who made 24 more starts. Had Lorenzen raced a little more that season, he may have a NASCAR championship to his name.
6. Ricky Rudd
The Ironman is best known for his record for consecutive starts, which still stands at 788. But he was also a fierce competitor who won 23 times, and notched at least one victory a year for 16 consecutive seasons. Although Rudd enjoyed stints with car owners Richard Childress, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick, he had an independent streak, and for six years carried the dual titles of driver and owner. But it was at the same time big-money sponsors and multi-car teams were becoming the standard, making it tougher for driver/owners to compete. Although Rudd continued to contend for race wins, those later years with his own team saw him take a tumble in the points. He rebounded with Robert Yates and enjoyed two of his best seasons, but his best shot at a title had been 1991, when he finished second in points behind Earnhardt.
If a few things break a little bit differently, Denny Hamlin could very well have a pair of championship rings by now. If his fuel strategy doesn't backfire in the penultimate race of the 2010 season at Phoenix, if his car's master switch doesn't go on the fritz in the fourth-to-last event of the 2012 campaign at Martinsville -- well, who knows. If he doesn't break a bone in his back in a crash early this past season, maybe he contends then, too. Regardless, time and time again Hamlin has shown all the signs of being a champion waiting to happen -- except that it hasn't happened yet, despite 23 race wins and three finishes inside the top five in final points to date. The good news is, his back seems to be responding to treatment, and the 33-year-old would appear to have plenty of time left ahead of him.
7. Fred Lorenzen
There's a reason they called him Fast Freddy. Fred Lorenzen was first a star on the short tracks in and around his native Chicago -- including Soldier Field, which was an auto racing venue long before it was home of the Bears -- and then a success at NASCAR's national level in Holman-Moody equipment that helped deliver all 26 of his career victories, the 1965 Daytona 500 among them. But like many top drivers of his day, Lorenzen didn't compete in the full NASCAR season, chasing big-money events and other races along the way. His best career points finish was third in 1963, when he competed in just 29 of 55 events. But he won six of those, and notched 21 top-fives, and still finished well ahead of fourth-place Ned Jarrett, who made 24 more starts. Had Lorenzen raced a little more that season, he may have a NASCAR championship to his name.
6. Ricky Rudd
The Ironman is best known for his record for consecutive starts, which still stands at 788. But he was also a fierce competitor who won 23 times, and notched at least one victory a year for 16 consecutive seasons. Although Rudd enjoyed stints with car owners Richard Childress, Bud Moore and Rick Hendrick, he had an independent streak, and for six years carried the dual titles of driver and owner. But it was at the same time big-money sponsors and multi-car teams were becoming the standard, making it tougher for driver/owners to compete. Although Rudd continued to contend for race wins, those later years with his own team saw him take a tumble in the points. He rebounded with Robert Yates and enjoyed two of his best seasons, but his best shot at a title had been 1991, when he finished second in points behind Earnhardt.
5. Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch is on the short list of drivers with the most natural talent in NASCAR, and he shows it almost every race weekend in his ability to flat-out dominate events. Contending for championships, though, is another matter altogether. It's somewhat shocking to realize that for all his ability, this past season's fourth-place finish was Rowdy's best ever at the premier level. More times than not, he's suffered early failures or accidents in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and wound up back in the pack -- which was certainly the case in 2008, his best season, when he won eight times but opened the playoff with three straight weeks of mechanical issues. Then there's the matter of Busch not having won a Chase race since 2005, when he wasn't even in the playoff. But he's only 28 and clearly one of the best in the business, so you're inclined to think the breakthrough will come with time.
4. Davey Allison
The son of a NASCAR champion, Davey Allison seemed unquestionably destined for greatness. He was just 32 years old when he notched his 19th career victory, in the spring of 1993 at Richmond. He had narrowly missed out on a title the previous season, finishing third behind Bill Elliott and champion Alan Kulwicki in the closest race ever to that point. But Allison's greatness was never to be fully realized -- on July 13, 1993, he crashed a helicopter he had bought just three weeks earlier, trying to land in the Talladega infield to see the son of driver Neil Bonnett test a car. Accounts from the time say the helicopter was a foot from landing when it shot up into the air and turned over, landing on the pilot's side. Allison died of a head injury in a Birmingham hospital. To this day, people still mourn not just the loss of a father, son, and husband, but also the promise of a career that was only beginning to blossom when it was tragically cut short.
3. Fireball Roberts
One of the biggest stars of early NASCAR, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts was an ace on the sport's biggest tracks. He won seven times at Daytona, the cornerstone of a career that produced 33 victories overall. But like many of his era, Roberts didn't pursue a points championship, instead picking off the races that paid the most. His best overall finish was second in 1950, a short 19-race campaign that marked the second season of NASCAR's premier division. But the schedule ballooned after that, and Roberts never finished higher than fifth. He was a star nonetheless, not to mention the sport's biggest career money winner, until he was involved in a fiery crash in 1964 at Charlotte. Burned over 75 percent of his body, Roberts seemed to make early progress before succumbing to pneumonia and blood poisoning. He death at 35 prompted a series of safety changes that transformed the sport.
Kyle Busch is on the short list of drivers with the most natural talent in NASCAR, and he shows it almost every race weekend in his ability to flat-out dominate events. Contending for championships, though, is another matter altogether. It's somewhat shocking to realize that for all his ability, this past season's fourth-place finish was Rowdy's best ever at the premier level. More times than not, he's suffered early failures or accidents in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and wound up back in the pack -- which was certainly the case in 2008, his best season, when he won eight times but opened the playoff with three straight weeks of mechanical issues. Then there's the matter of Busch not having won a Chase race since 2005, when he wasn't even in the playoff. But he's only 28 and clearly one of the best in the business, so you're inclined to think the breakthrough will come with time.
4. Davey Allison
The son of a NASCAR champion, Davey Allison seemed unquestionably destined for greatness. He was just 32 years old when he notched his 19th career victory, in the spring of 1993 at Richmond. He had narrowly missed out on a title the previous season, finishing third behind Bill Elliott and champion Alan Kulwicki in the closest race ever to that point. But Allison's greatness was never to be fully realized -- on July 13, 1993, he crashed a helicopter he had bought just three weeks earlier, trying to land in the Talladega infield to see the son of driver Neil Bonnett test a car. Accounts from the time say the helicopter was a foot from landing when it shot up into the air and turned over, landing on the pilot's side. Allison died of a head injury in a Birmingham hospital. To this day, people still mourn not just the loss of a father, son, and husband, but also the promise of a career that was only beginning to blossom when it was tragically cut short.
3. Fireball Roberts
One of the biggest stars of early NASCAR, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts was an ace on the sport's biggest tracks. He won seven times at Daytona, the cornerstone of a career that produced 33 victories overall. But like many of his era, Roberts didn't pursue a points championship, instead picking off the races that paid the most. His best overall finish was second in 1950, a short 19-race campaign that marked the second season of NASCAR's premier division. But the schedule ballooned after that, and Roberts never finished higher than fifth. He was a star nonetheless, not to mention the sport's biggest career money winner, until he was involved in a fiery crash in 1964 at Charlotte. Burned over 75 percent of his body, Roberts seemed to make early progress before succumbing to pneumonia and blood poisoning. He death at 35 prompted a series of safety changes that transformed the sport.
2. Mark Martin
Blessed with a mixture of longevity and talent, Mark Martin used a physical fitness regime to remain competitive at NASCAR's highest level well into his 50s. Particularly during his heyday driving for Jack Roush, the man was a force behind the wheel, a major player for wins and championships in an era where the competition at the top was steep. He won 40 races but never a title, enduring five runner-up finishes. The most painful of those was likely 1990, when Martin was penalized 46 points by NASCAR for an illegal carburetor space at Richmond, and lost the championship to Earnhardt by 26 points. Martin had mellowed by 2009, when he won five times and finished an unlikely second to Jimmie Johnson, and later added valuable leadership to Michael Waltrip Racing. When he stepped out of the car after this past season's finale, it was likely for the last time.
1. Junior Johnson
Goodness, did Junior Johnson do it all. The man has been a moonshiner, a winning driver, a crew chief, an engine builder, a jack man, a maker of excellent pork products, a championship car owner, and now a NASCAR Hall of Famer. But the one thing the "Last American Hero" never did was win a title as a driver at the sport's top level, even though he claimed 50 races over a 14-year career that ended in 1966. Once again, it was a matter of choosing limited races over a full season. In 1965, for instance, he won 13 times -- as many as that season's champion, Ned Jarrett -- but because he started just 36 out of 55 races, he finished 12th in final points. In fact, when it comes to best overall finish, Johnson was never better than sixth.
Of course, none of that dilutes the Junior Johnson legacy. He started as a master of short tracks, then became a master of super speedways, and in between mastered just about everything else. He won the Daytona 500 in 1960, won 132 races and six titles -- three each with Cale Yarborough and Waltrip -- as an owner, and was part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 2010. Yes, for someone who never won a championship as a driver, ol' Junior didn't do too badly after all.
Blessed with a mixture of longevity and talent, Mark Martin used a physical fitness regime to remain competitive at NASCAR's highest level well into his 50s. Particularly during his heyday driving for Jack Roush, the man was a force behind the wheel, a major player for wins and championships in an era where the competition at the top was steep. He won 40 races but never a title, enduring five runner-up finishes. The most painful of those was likely 1990, when Martin was penalized 46 points by NASCAR for an illegal carburetor space at Richmond, and lost the championship to Earnhardt by 26 points. Martin had mellowed by 2009, when he won five times and finished an unlikely second to Jimmie Johnson, and later added valuable leadership to Michael Waltrip Racing. When he stepped out of the car after this past season's finale, it was likely for the last time.
1. Junior Johnson
Goodness, did Junior Johnson do it all. The man has been a moonshiner, a winning driver, a crew chief, an engine builder, a jack man, a maker of excellent pork products, a championship car owner, and now a NASCAR Hall of Famer. But the one thing the "Last American Hero" never did was win a title as a driver at the sport's top level, even though he claimed 50 races over a 14-year career that ended in 1966. Once again, it was a matter of choosing limited races over a full season. In 1965, for instance, he won 13 times -- as many as that season's champion, Ned Jarrett -- but because he started just 36 out of 55 races, he finished 12th in final points. In fact, when it comes to best overall finish, Johnson was never better than sixth.
Of course, none of that dilutes the Junior Johnson legacy. He started as a master of short tracks, then became a master of super speedways, and in between mastered just about everything else. He won the Daytona 500 in 1960, won 132 races and six titles -- three each with Cale Yarborough and Waltrip -- as an owner, and was part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class in 2010. Yes, for someone who never won a championship as a driver, ol' Junior didn't do too badly after all.
Southampton 2-3 Tottenham: Adebayor double gives Sherwood first Premier League win.
By Kyle Bonn
Like a phoenix from the ashes, Emmanuel Adebayor rose from youth-team relegation to the first-team squad and he rewarded interim manager Tim Sherwood for the selection with a double.
The win gives Tottenham all three points in Sherwood’s Premier League debut at the helm of Spurs just days after stating his case for the permanent job to the press.
The match began with an equal sharing of possession, but some seriously poor passing by Southampton led to an early end to a few chances.
Sherwood’s lineup allowed the pair of Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado some freedom to roam out onto the wings. However, it was Southampton’s wing play that paid dividends early.
Danny Fox made a run through space on the left flank, and found Adam Lallana who opened the scoring with a low drive past Hugo Lloris in the 13th minute.
Lallana, having returned to the starting lineup after a week on the substitutes bench, used a brilliant first touch to spin around his defender, create space in the central defense, and drive down low.
The strike pair for Spurs would cash in 13 minutes later though, as Soldado received the ball on the left and sent in a deep, searching cross for Adebayor who connected with a high boot and stuck the ball past Paulo Gazzaniga from close range for an equalizer.
The goal was Adebayor’s first of the season, and a benchmark for the Togo international having been forced to train with the youth squad earlier in the year under Andre Villas-Boas.
The halftime break came without many other serious chances, but Spurs pressed hard at the start of the second half and held much of the possession. They were dealt a blow when Moussa Dembele was forced off injured just five minutes after the break, and Sherwood handed a debut to 19-year-old Naleb Bentaleb.
The goals then came crashing in. First, Jas Hooiveld tried to cut out a Danny Rose cross but tapped it into his own net past Gazzaniga to give Spurs a lead on 54 minutes. Rose and Christian Eriksen played a one-two, and the cross saw Gazzaniga and Hooiveld both look to stop it.
Southampton looked to counter, and that they did on a beautifully created fast break. Jack Cork found a streaking Adam Lallana down the middle, and with the Spurs defense caught off guard, Lloris was forced to come out of net. Ricky Lambert trailed the play and Lallana found him for the tap-in equalizer.
With the score at 2-2, Adebayor would soon put Spurs on top again. The ball came down the right flank this time for Spurs and after they worked it into the box, the ball squirted past a few defenders and fell to the Togo international who cut back towards the middle of the box and rifled home for his brace.
The game opened up, with chances on both sides, but Soldado thrice proved wasteful in front of goal, something that’s been a problem for him all season.
Southampton, though, proved frustrated as the game lagged on, and although five minutes of stoppage time gave them hope, nothing came of the frantic ending as Lambert came closest by heading over the bar.
The win will hugely boost a struggling Spurs side that was threatened with a drop to eighth in the table. Instead, they run level with Newcastle on 30 points.
Meanwhile, Southampton will lick their wounds after finding themselves winless in their last six, the longest such run under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
GOALS:
Southampton – Lallana 13′; Hooiveld (og) 54′; Lambert 59′
Tottenham – Adebayor 26′; 64′
LINEUPS:
Southampton – Gazzaniga; Chambers, Lovren, Hooiveld, Fox (Gallagher 78′); Cork (Ward-Prowse 63′), Schneiderlin, S Davis (Ramirez 69′), Lallana, Rodriguez; Lambert.
Tottenham – Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Chriches, Rose; Lamela (Chadli 61′), Dembele (Bentaleb 50′), Eriksen, Sigurdsson; Adebayor, Soldado (Defoe 85′).
Cutting sports a growing trend at major colleges.
By WILL GRAVES (AP Sports Writer)
The meeting was brief. A few minutes tops.
Temple athletic director Kevin Clark didn't mince words. Standing inside the football team's indoor practice facility earlier this month, Clark scanned the crowd of dozens of student-athletes - none of them football players - and told them the financially strapped athletic department was cutting their sport at the end of the 2013-14 academic year.
There weren't a lot of details. No lengthy question and answer session. Sitting alongside his 16 teammates on the men's gymnastics team, sophomore Evan Eigner sat in stunned silence.
''When I heard the news,'' Eigner said, ''I kind of went numb a little bit.''
Temple's announcement that it's going from 24 sports to 17 next fall, a move that will eventually save about $3-3.5 million a year, was just the latest in a growing line of colleges and universities that are reshaping overextended athletic programs by shuttering smaller sports to help make those that remain - particularly those designed to bring in revenue - more competitive.
To be honest, Eigner still isn't sure what happened. He understood the athletic department was in a tight spot money-wise. He knew there had been talk about changes and the threat of cuts. It was all just white noise until suddenly, it became only too real.
He heard the part where Clark said the school would honor all of the scholarships for the affected student athletes until they graduated. He heard the part where Clark said the school would do what it could to find new athletic homes for those wishing to transfer.
Eigner just didn't hear what he would consider a sensible argument for cutting a program that takes up a small fraction of the athletic department budget yet nets conference championships. He grew up wanting to compete at Temple, where his stepfather Fred Turoff has been coach since 1976. He grew up wanting to walk out of his graduation ceremony with a degree in hand and four years of college gymnastics under his belt.
Now he may get one or the other, but not both.
''I wouldn't want to go anywhere else but Temple,'' Eigner said. ''Gymnastics is a big part of my life. Competing collegiately is a big goal of mine. For our team, gymnastics is really a part of our identities. If you take away the opportunity, you're affecting who we are as individuals.''
A growing number of whom are finding themselves forced to choose between staying in school or competing elsewhere after their programs are dissolved to help other sports deal with geographically confounding - if more lucrative - conference alignments, increased travel budgets and coach salaries.
Rutgers did it in 2007. Maryland followed suit in 2012. It's not just the schools in power conferences either. Robert Morris, which plays in the Northeastern Conference, is trimming seven sports in 2014. Spelman College, a Division III historically black women's college in Atlanta, dropped intercollegiate athletics altogether this year in favor of a health and fitness program designed to benefit all 2,100 students. Though some schools are expanding - Duke announced recently it is adding softball in 2018 - the Blue Devils are a deep-pocketed exception.
While athletic departments at the Division I level aren't going anywhere, schools that opt to downsize are faced with thorny questions. The biggest is the notion that athletes in one sport are more valuable to the school - and vice versa - than athletes in another.
Ohio State stays unbeaten thanks to Notre Dame’s spectacular final-minute collapse.
By Jeff Eisenberg
When Notre Dame held the ball and an eight-point lead over third-ranked Ohio State with one minute remaining Saturday night, it appeared the Irish were about to atone for some bad early-season losses with a much-needed marquee win.
Only minutes later, however, it was the Buckeyes who were hugging and high-fiving in celebration of an unlikely victory and the Irish who were dejectedly walking off the floor trying to figure out how they'd let the game slip away.
Lenzelle Smith scored a go-ahead layup with 16 seconds left as Ohio State remained undefeated this season by out-scoring Notre Dame 14-3 in the final 51 seconds to emerge with a 64-61 victory. The Irish seemingly did everything in their power to hand the game to Ohio State in the final minute, from critical turnovers, to ill-advised fouls, to costly missed free throws.
It wasn't worrisome for Notre Dame when LaQuinton Ross sank a floater in the lane with 51 seconds to go to cut Ohio State's deficit to six. It was a bit more alarming for the Irish a few seconds later when Demetrius Jackson got trapped and stripped along the sideline by Ross and Shannon Scott, leading to a Smith layup. And by the time an ill-advised jump pass out of a trap by Jerian Grant turned into another turnover and two free throws for Scott, it was clear the Notre Dame lead was no longer safe.
The Irish still led by four with 32 seconds left when Pat Connaughton swiped at Smith and made contact with his wrist as he attempted a corner 3-pointer. Smith sank all three of his free throws, seldom-used reserve Notre Dame guard Steve Vasturia clanked the front end of his one-and-one and Ohio State point guard Aaron Craft found Smith for the go-ahead layup that gave the Buckeyes the lead for good.
If Ohio State's comeback provided the Buckeyes (12-0) with the signature win they had previously lacked, Notre Dame's collapse represents a blown opportunity the Irish (8-4) could not afford to squander.
Defensive woes and a lack of consistent interior game contributed to Notre Dame suffering a pair of disappointing home losses earlier this season against Indiana State and North Dakota State. The Irish began to make up for those setbacks with a victory against Indiana last Saturday, but the match-up with the Buckeyes represented a chance to get back on firm footing entering ACC play.
The most frustrating aspect of the loss for Notre Dame is the Irish played a brilliant second half until their final-minute meltdown.
On offense, Notre Dame erased a seven-point halftime deficit by spreading Ohio State's stingy defense out with a four-guard look and attacking forward LaQuinton Ross off the dribble with whomever he guarded. Grant and Connaughton were especially effective, tallying 18 and 13 points respectively.
On defense, normally Notre Dame's problem area, the Irish were fundamentally sound and took advantage of Ohio State's ice-cold perimeter shooting. The Buckeyes were 3 of 18 from behind the 3-point arc and got only six points from their bench.
None of that mattered though, not after the Irish crumbled in such spectacular fashion in the final minute.
Ohio State left New York elated by its comeback. Notre Dame left wondering what happened.
Vonn optimistic about Sochi despite new setback.
By JEROME PUGMIRE (AP Sports Writer)
Lindsey Vonn felt her injured right knee give way and for a moment it looked like her chances for another Olympic gold might be in jeopardy.
Vonn had another scary run during the World Cup downhill in Val d'Isere, clutching her knee in pain after losing her balance and missing a gate on Saturday. But shortly afterward, she said no new damage had been done to the surgically repaired knee and her plans for the Sochi Olympics were still intact.
''I didn't hurt myself more than I'm already hurt,'' said Vonn, the reigning Olympic downhill champion. ''It was a small compression, and it was fully loaded on the right ski and my knee just completely gave out. I tried to pressure the ski again and it gave out again. I had no chance of making that gate, unfortunately.''
With boyfriend Tiger Woods watching from the bottom of the slope, Vonn skied out after her left ski came up in the air, putting all her weight on the troublesome right leg. The American was clearly distressed after pulling up and looked close to tears as she clutched her knee.
Vonn needed surgery in February to reconstruct two knee ligaments after a crash at the world championships, and then partially re-tore one of them in November.
She said she will give herself plenty of rest and expects to race again ''probably sometime in January'' as she follows a lighter program before the Olympics.
''As much as time as I can give myself to really get as strong as I can, like I said, one maybe two races before the Olympics. That's it,'' Vonn said. ''I'm going to play it safe and race minimal races, so I can get the confidence and the timing and the feeling of racing again. I'm really going to be safe and smart as I can.''
Woods accompanied Vonn to a World Cup race for the first time, standing in the finish area and watching the racers finish their runs.
''He's very supportive and it's very fun to have him. This is his first World Cup and I think he enjoyed it,'' Vonn said. ''I think he was a little bit more nervous because of my knee. He's worried about me, but he's happy to be here and I'm happy to have him.''
Schedule permitting, she'd like Woods to attend the races in Sochi.
''Yeah. I love having him around and the more races he can come to the better,'' Vonn said. ''But I'm not racing that much this year, unfortunately, so you probably won't see both of us around very much.''
With his hands stuffed in his pockets, golf's 14-time major champion waited for Vonn's run as the 19th starter.
Shortly after Vonn went out, Woods walked away from the finish area as camera crews scrambled to keep up with him.
''Just having someone supporting you, always makes me feel better,'' Vonn said. ''I didn't feel any pressure, I had two really good training runs and I felt really confident today, and I'm just disappointed that my knee didn't hold up like I thought it would.''
Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden of Switzerland won the race for her first career victory, and was also delighted to see Woods there.
''It's good for our sport,'' she said. ''It's perfect when we have a lot of prominent people in the finish area.''
Defending overall champion Tina Maze, who finished second, was surprised when Woods showed up at Friday's pre-race draw.
''I noticed that everyone was taking pictures. Then I realized that Tiger was here,'' she said. ''It didn't bring Lindsey much luck today. I feel sorry for her that she didn't finish, but I hope she will be back soon. I managed to speak to her, a few words in the finish area. I think in the sport people really respect each other and I have respect for both of them.''
Vonn has five World Cup wins in Val d'Isere and also won two golds at the 2009 world championships - but those victories all came on two good knees.
Earlier this month, the 29-year-old American raced for the first time in 10 months. Still, she was buoyant after finishing only 0.04 seconds behind Dominique Gisin of Switzerland in Thursday's second training run.
''The thing is I have no ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). So unless I get surgery there's nothing really magical that I can do that's going to make it better,'' she said. ''I just can get my leg stronger, my muscle stronger and try and support it a little more. But that has a small impact. My knee is loose and it's not stable and that's the way it's going to be from here on out. I just have to get used to it.''
She did not regret her decision to race at Val d'Isere, one of the most technically demanding slopes on the circuit.
''I think Val d'Isere was a good place for me to come back to. I'm skiing well, so going forward I definitely have a lot more confidence,'' she said. ''My goal is the Olympics, so I'm not winning any World Cups this year, any titles. As long as I'm skiing well and have confidence, that's all I really need.''
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