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Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Open market: Varied futures await Bears this offseason.
By John Mullin
The news will be when a player states publicly that he does not want to be back with his current team. All that accomplishes is shrinking the player’s market by one. So, predictably, D.J. Williams, Roberto Garza, Tim Jennings, Charles Tillman, Josh McCown, Matt Slauson and every other Bear moving toward the Mar. 11 start of free agency expresses the interest in remaining with the Bears.
Not all of them will. And not all of them really want to, but that’s difficult to state unequivocally for them, so that will have to come from them.
Up to two dozen Bears are approaching free agency or will be. Looking at a number of those key pending Bears free agents and other contract situations:
Offense
Jay Cutler: One NFL source told CSNChicago.com that the prevailing rumor is that parameters of a multi-year deal are already in place. Nothing is done until it’s done but the expectation since the draft last April that Cutler is the Bears’ starting quarterback. The dollars, guaranteed and total, will be interesting, and those are what matter to Cutler, but the one number that matters ultimately to teammates and the fan base is “years.”
Josh McCown: The NFL’s “dream No. 2” turns 35 in July and played his way into a market. He likes the Bears, likes Chicago and likes playing football enough that he is a virtual lock to be playing in 2014 even as he grapples with not wanting to miss any more of his kids’ growing up than he has to. The market for Jason Campbell last year produced a two-year deal in Cleveland with incentives topping out at $4 million. With salary cap contingencies, the Bears can do a similar structure with McCown, who has bailed them out twice in the last three years. Best guess: They will.
Roberto Garza: The veteran center turns 35 in March. Cutler and he established a connection when Garza filled in at center during the Olin Kreutz contract impasse in 2011 and he was a linchpin in a developing offensive line with two rookies in 2013. One member of the offense told CSNChicago.com this week, “Garz is back.”
Matt Slauson: One of the unheralded signings of last season, Slauson and the Bears already have looked at an extension for the emerging left guard who graded out the highest of the Bears’ starting five in 2013.
Defense
Tim Jennings: The veteran cornerback voiced interest in returning but he is a longshot. If Lovie Smith lands a head-coaching job, Jennings’ fit and experience in Smith’s system project to take Jennings out of Chicago.
Charles Tillman: Attempts at a restructuring last offseason went badly. Coming off two injuries this season, Tillman at age 33 is a short-term fix at best and probably not in Chicago.
Julius Peppers: The cap number as it stands now ($18.1 million) is too high for the production (7.5 sacks). Peppers has restructured his contract twice, the second time last September, but finding mutually agreeable ground will be delicate for the team and its defensive lineman who played more snaps than any other.
D.J. Williams: A lot of unfinished business for the veteran middle linebacker who missed 10 games with a pectoral injury after playing just seven games for Denver in 2012. But the injury element and development of Jon Bostic make his fit problematic at age 31.
James Anderson: Anderson struggled right along with the rest of the defense but has the flexibility to play both outside-linebacker spots. Not a top-priority re-signing but he is a fit in the 4-3 program of the Bears.
Major Wright: Through most of the season Wright was playing poorly. He corrected a number of problems late but the Floridian is expected to explore free agency.
Chris Conte: A number of years ago, Bears personnel heads decided that quarterback Cade McNown had “taken on too much water in Chicago” and found a trade partner (Miami) to give him a fresh start. Conte’s year, particularly its finish, positions him for a similar conclusion by Halas Hall.
Take a peek at the Bears' 2014 schedule.
By John Mullin
The Bears, who have the 14th-overall pick of the 2014 draft (the same slot where they selected Tommie Harris and Chris Williams), also have the AFC East and NFC South on their schedule for 2014.
Home Opponents
Buffalo Bills (6-10)
Dallas Cowboys (8-8)
Detroit Lions (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (8-7-1)
Miami Dolphins (8-8)
Minnesota Vikings (5-10-1)
New Orleans Saints (11-5)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-12)
Away Opponents
Atlanta Falcons (4-12)
Carolina Panthers (12-4)
Detroit Lions (7-9)
Green Bay Packers (8-7-1)
Minnesota Vikings (5-10-1)
New England Patriots (12-4)
New York Jets (8-8)
San Francisco 49ers (12-4)
The schedule includes just six games against 2013 playoff teams (New England, San Francisco, Carolina, New Orleans, Green Bay twice). This season the Bears had five against eventual playoff teams (Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Green Bay twice).
They will also have a handful of games against teams with new coaches, with Detroit, Tampa Bay and Minnesota firing Jim Schwartz, Greg Schiano and Leslie Frazier, respectively, Monday.
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks? Blackhawks' Raanta blanks Kings.
By Jerry Bonkowski, The Sports Xchange
Antti Raanta, Blackhawks Goalie after 1-0 shutout against the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center in Chicago, IL, December 30, 2013.
Joel Quenneville has a big problem on his hands, yet it is the kind of issue every NHL coach would love to face.
With starting goalie Corey Crawford due to return to action later this week, the Chicago Blackhawks coach is prepared to sit Crawford's fill-in, Antti Raanta.
Complicating the decision is Raanta's 10-1-3 record since replacing Crawford. Raanta's latest outstanding effort led to a 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday at the United Center.
It was the Blackhawks' first shutout of the season, as well as the first shutout in the short NHL career of Raanta, a 24-year-old from Finland.
"I thought (Raanta has) done a great job, coming in as a young kid, unproven and getting 10 or 11 starts in a row, big games, important games," Quenneville said. "Consistency is what you look for in any player, particularly with the way goaltenders get scrutinized as far as their efficiency. He's done a great job.
"He just came in here and gave us something to think about going forward, and a real good opportunity knowing that he took advantage of where he's at, and I think he really enhanced his position in the organization, as well."
For now, Quenneville can rest easy knowing that he will have Raanta in reserve with Crawford returning.
"It's nice to see Corey come back," Quenneville said. "Let's get him in the groove, as well. It's a nice situation. (Raanta) really, really helped solidify something that looked concerning at the time."
However, what about when 41-year-old veteran Nikolai Khabibulin returns from the lower-body injury that has sidelined him since mid-November?
Khabibulin isn't due to come back until sometime during the Blackhawks' extended seven-game road trip. The trek begins in late January, and coupled with the NHL's break for the Winter Olympics, doesn't have the Blackhawks returning to Chicago until March 1.
"We'll see how that all plays out," Quenneville said. "Khabi's not close to coming back, so we'll see what we have with three goalies. We'll be looking at what goes on in that road trip and then make a decision."
Raanta was generally soft-spoken during his four-week tenure with the Blackhawks, but he showed significant emotion after Monday's game, pumping his fist in the air while skating off the ice and reveling in the cheers from appreciative Blackhawks fans.
"(It was a) good 60 minutes," Raanta said. "There were a couple times in the last two minutes, I was like, 'Oh my god, it's like the same kind of thing like last time we played against L.A. and they're going to score in the last two minutes.'
"But the guys were playing really, really nice in front of me, and they were blocking the shots all of the time. I think I got three or four saves in the last period, so they made my job pretty easy."
The game was a significant departure from the previous three games for the Blackhawks, a stretch in which they scored 17 goals.
"Who (scored) first was important," Quenneville said. "Some games are going to be low-scoring affairs, and we have to be willing to play that game. We've had a stretch of games where the pucks were going in for us on the other end real good, but you have to play that type of game that's in front of you."
Left wing Brandon Saad's goal at 7:05 of the first period stood up for the deciding tally as Chicago (28-7-7) won for the fifth time in seven games.
Los Angeles (25-11-4) dropped its third consecutive game.
"We have to be better, that's it," Kings defenseman Matt Greene said. "We have to beat these guys if we want to get out of our conference (in the playoffs), so we've got to start doing it right now."
Saad was on the receiving end of a perfect crossing pass through the goal crease from fellow left winger Bryan Bickell. A quick wrist shot resulted in Saad's 14th goal of the season, as he beat out-of-position Kings goalie Martin Jones.
It was a rare loss for Jones, a rookie sensation who came into the game with an 8-1-0 record, a 1.31 goals-against average and three shutouts in his first eight NHL games.
Jones stopped 29 of Chicago's 30 shots, while Raanta stopped all 26 of the Kings' shots.
Los Angeles had a chance to tie the game at 13:22 of the second period when Kings forward Dustin Brown was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked by Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook, but Raanta stopped the subsequent wrist shot.
The Blackhawks earned their second win over the Kings this season, as they captured a 3-1 victory on Dec. 15 at the United Center.
Chicago began its second half of the season while closing out its December schedule with an 8-3-3 mark. Blackhawks went 12-2-1 in November.
The Kings visit the Dallas Stars on Tuesday to close out 2013. They are 9-4-0 in December.
NOTES: After Chicago set a season-high attendance mark Friday vs. the Colorado Avalanche (22,201), Monday's crowd was 22,161, the second-largest crowd at the United Center this season. The Blackhawks are one game from reaching 250 consecutive sellouts, tops in the NHL. ... The Blackhawks entered Monday leading the NHL with 3.73 goals per game and 153 goals scored. ... Chicago's Joel Quenneville is closing in on third place in the NHL's all-time wins list for coaches. He has 688 wins, four short of tying Dick Irvin (692). ... Los Angeles' Darryl Sutter is three games away from 1,000 as an NHL head coach.
NHL Power Rankings: Some teams feel the pain.
By Joe Haggerty
Injuries are a largely unforeseen, completely inevitable reality for every NHL team, and they start to pile up three months into any season. Nearly each of the 30 teams has had some brush with the injury bug, some much worse than others.
The Penguins, for instance, have lost more man-games to injury this season than anybody in the league. The Ducks went through an early season East Coast road trip missing a quarter of their team . . . including both goaltenders. The Lightning lost Steve Stamkos for the majority of the regular season. The Bruins have had Loui Eriksson go in and out of the lineup because of concussions, and suffered a big loss this week when Dennis Seidenberg went down with a torn ACL/MCL in his right knee. The Sharks are missing rookie sensation Tomas Hertl for an undetermined amount of time because of an injury that will cost him his first chance at the Olympics.
It's not just forwards and defensemen, though; in fact, this season could really be called the Year of the Fallen Goaltender. The Blue Jackets and Hurricanes, in addition to Anaheim, lost both their goaltenders for extended periods of time, and the Canucks are moving along without Roberto Luongo. The Predators have been without Pekka Rinne for nearly the entire season. The Kings' Jonathan Quick, the Red Wings' Jimmy Howard and the Panthers' Tim Thomas have been in and out of the lineup for their respective teams all season, and the lingering groin issues might have short-circuited Thomas’ chances for a Team USA Olympic bid.
Some teams have battled on and found solutions in many of the injury cases, while others -- like the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Predators -- have fallen by the wayside a bit. And it's reflected in this week's power rankings:
30. Buffalo Sabres (11-24-4, last week: 29) -- At least Ryan Miller gets a three-week vacation from this zoo when he heads to Sochi with a team full of Olympians in front of him.
29. Edmonton Oilers (13-24-4, last week: 30) -- I would have thrown my jersey on the ice, too, if I’d paid big money for season tickets behind the glass.
28. New York Islanders (12-21-7, last week: 28) -- Only Edmonton has given up more goals than the Isles this season, and no amount of young, promising offensive talent is going to make up for it.
27. Calgary Flames (14-19-6, last week: 27) -- Two losses in a row and three wins in their last 10 games . . . it's more of the same for the Flames. They’re on the road to nowhere.
26. Carolina Hurricanes (14-16-9, last week: 25) -- The Hurricanes have dropped five in a row, and GM Jim Rutherford has begun making phone calls about trading some of the team's core players. But they’re still only three points out of a playoff spot. Amazing.
25. Florida Panthers (15-20-5, last week: 26) -- When Tomas Fleischmann is your team’s leading scorer, you've got to try and win by any means necessary.
24. Ottawa Senators (17-18-7, last week: 22) -- Ottawa looked like a team searching for reasons to quit in the third period against the Bruins on Friday, but managed to beat the undermanned B’s the next night.
23. Winnipeg Jets (18-18-5, last week: 24) -- The Jets have won a couple of games in a row, but they’ll need to do more than that before we believe Winnipeg is doing anything more than blowing smoke.
22. Columbus Blue Jackets (17-18-4, last week: 20) -- The Blue Jackets are just two points out of the playoffs, and Sergei Bobrovsky and Nathan Horton are poised to return from injuries. The rest of the Metro Division has left the door open for them to make a run.
21. Nashville Predators (18-18-4, last week: 23) -- Pekka Rinne isn’t back and the Preds are sinking deeper into the Western Conference sunset. It’s tough to overcome the loss of your goaltender when the team is built around defense and goaltending.
20. New York Rangers (19-19-2, last week: 18) -- The Rangers aren’t going anywhere unless Henrik Lundqvist finds himself. A win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday was a good start.
19. Minnesota Wild (20-16-5, last week: 15) -- The Wild have lost five games in a row and Zach Parise has landed on injured reserve because of a foot injury. Feeling Minnesota doesn’t mean feeling good right now.
18. New Jersey Devils (16-16-8, last week: 21) -- Is Jaromir Jagr really on pace for 27 goals and 70 points this season? That's fascinating, considering he couldn’t muster one goal in 22 playoff games last spring.
17. Philadelphia Flyers (19-16-4, last week: 17) -- The Flyers have won three in a row and are third in the Metro Division. Another team that basically has all season to get its stuff together.
16. Detroit Red Wings (18-14-9, last week: 15) -- The Wings have lost 7 out of 10 games, and limp into the Winter Classic. Worst of fall, they have to be the most boring team to ever be a part of the 24/7 series.
15. Phoenix Coyotes (19-10-9, last week: 14) -- Tough to rank a team in the top 10 when its goalie smuggles pucks in his pants beyond the goal line for the opposition. Mike Smith, take a bow.
14. Washington Capitals (20-15-5, last week: 12) -- Who is Philipp Grubauer, and what does he do?
13. Dallas Stars (19-12-7, last week: 19) -- The Stars are within five points of a playoff spot in the West. That’s about their lot in life at this point unless they can start beating the big boys more often.
12. Colorado Avalanche (23-11-4, last week 11) -- The Avs have lost four in a row and Patrick Roy is starting to blame the NHL schedule. Denver, we have a problem.
11. Toronto Maple Leafs (20-16-5, last week 11) -- The Leafs have two in a row, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say the HBO cameras have a major crush on Joffrey Lupul.
10. Montreal Canadiens (23-14-3, last week: 10) - Beat the Lightning, then lose 4-1 to the Panthers. The Habs are hard to get a handle on.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (23-12-4, last week: 8) --The Bolts are 11-7-4 without Steve Stamkos in their lineup, but they’ve also dropped a pair of games in a row. They could use him back sooner rather than later.
8. Los Angeles Kings (25-11-4, last week: 4) -- The Kings have lost three in a row to the Stars, Predators and Blackhawks, and pine for the return of Jonathan Quick.
7. Vancouver Canucks (23-11-7, last week: 9) -- Eight wins in their last 11 games means they have no Lack of goaltending depth. Get it . . . ”Lack” of goaltending depth. Boy, we are funny.
6. Boston Bruins (26-11-2, last week: 6) -- The Bruins have survived all their injuries thus far, but losing Dennis Seidenberg really, really hurts. It will be an even bigger loss in the postseason.
5. San Jose Sharks (25-8-6, last week: 3) -- The Sharks have won four in a row, and stopped the Ducks’ winning streak in its tracks. It’s been a very hot and cold season for San Jose.
4. St. Louis Blues (26-7-5, last week: 5) -- The Alex Steen injury is a big one for a Blues team that’s just moving right along right now. But the sum of the parts should be enough to survive the loss of one individual piece in St. Louis.
3. Pittsburgh Penguins (29-11-1, last week: 3) -- The Penguins lead the NHL in man-games lost to injury, but still remain among the top dogs in the East. They’re showing that they’re made of something special during this regular season.
2. Chicago Blackhawks (28-7-7, last week: 2) -- The Blackhawks are one hot streak away from the No. 1 spot, especially after the Ducks' winning streak ended last week.
1. Anaheim Ducks (28-8-5, last week: 1) --The Sharks ended Anaheim’s 10-game winning streak, but the Ducks still have Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry scoring up a storm on a well-balanced team.
Injuries are a largely unforeseen, completely inevitable reality for every NHL team, and they start to pile up three months into any season. Nearly each of the 30 teams has had some brush with the injury bug, some much worse than others.
The Penguins, for instance, have lost more man-games to injury this season than anybody in the league. The Ducks went through an early season East Coast road trip missing a quarter of their team . . . including both goaltenders. The Lightning lost Steve Stamkos for the majority of the regular season. The Bruins have had Loui Eriksson go in and out of the lineup because of concussions, and suffered a big loss this week when Dennis Seidenberg went down with a torn ACL/MCL in his right knee. The Sharks are missing rookie sensation Tomas Hertl for an undetermined amount of time because of an injury that will cost him his first chance at the Olympics.
It's not just forwards and defensemen, though; in fact, this season could really be called the Year of the Fallen Goaltender. The Blue Jackets and Hurricanes, in addition to Anaheim, lost both their goaltenders for extended periods of time, and the Canucks are moving along without Roberto Luongo. The Predators have been without Pekka Rinne for nearly the entire season. The Kings' Jonathan Quick, the Red Wings' Jimmy Howard and the Panthers' Tim Thomas have been in and out of the lineup for their respective teams all season, and the lingering groin issues might have short-circuited Thomas’ chances for a Team USA Olympic bid.
Some teams have battled on and found solutions in many of the injury cases, while others -- like the Blue Jackets, Hurricanes and Predators -- have fallen by the wayside a bit. And it's reflected in this week's power rankings:
30. Buffalo Sabres (11-24-4, last week: 29) -- At least Ryan Miller gets a three-week vacation from this zoo when he heads to Sochi with a team full of Olympians in front of him.
29. Edmonton Oilers (13-24-4, last week: 30) -- I would have thrown my jersey on the ice, too, if I’d paid big money for season tickets behind the glass.
28. New York Islanders (12-21-7, last week: 28) -- Only Edmonton has given up more goals than the Isles this season, and no amount of young, promising offensive talent is going to make up for it.
27. Calgary Flames (14-19-6, last week: 27) -- Two losses in a row and three wins in their last 10 games . . . it's more of the same for the Flames. They’re on the road to nowhere.
26. Carolina Hurricanes (14-16-9, last week: 25) -- The Hurricanes have dropped five in a row, and GM Jim Rutherford has begun making phone calls about trading some of the team's core players. But they’re still only three points out of a playoff spot. Amazing.
25. Florida Panthers (15-20-5, last week: 26) -- When Tomas Fleischmann is your team’s leading scorer, you've got to try and win by any means necessary.
24. Ottawa Senators (17-18-7, last week: 22) -- Ottawa looked like a team searching for reasons to quit in the third period against the Bruins on Friday, but managed to beat the undermanned B’s the next night.
23. Winnipeg Jets (18-18-5, last week: 24) -- The Jets have won a couple of games in a row, but they’ll need to do more than that before we believe Winnipeg is doing anything more than blowing smoke.
22. Columbus Blue Jackets (17-18-4, last week: 20) -- The Blue Jackets are just two points out of the playoffs, and Sergei Bobrovsky and Nathan Horton are poised to return from injuries. The rest of the Metro Division has left the door open for them to make a run.
21. Nashville Predators (18-18-4, last week: 23) -- Pekka Rinne isn’t back and the Preds are sinking deeper into the Western Conference sunset. It’s tough to overcome the loss of your goaltender when the team is built around defense and goaltending.
20. New York Rangers (19-19-2, last week: 18) -- The Rangers aren’t going anywhere unless Henrik Lundqvist finds himself. A win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday was a good start.
19. Minnesota Wild (20-16-5, last week: 15) -- The Wild have lost five games in a row and Zach Parise has landed on injured reserve because of a foot injury. Feeling Minnesota doesn’t mean feeling good right now.
18. New Jersey Devils (16-16-8, last week: 21) -- Is Jaromir Jagr really on pace for 27 goals and 70 points this season? That's fascinating, considering he couldn’t muster one goal in 22 playoff games last spring.
17. Philadelphia Flyers (19-16-4, last week: 17) -- The Flyers have won three in a row and are third in the Metro Division. Another team that basically has all season to get its stuff together.
16. Detroit Red Wings (18-14-9, last week: 15) -- The Wings have lost 7 out of 10 games, and limp into the Winter Classic. Worst of fall, they have to be the most boring team to ever be a part of the 24/7 series.
15. Phoenix Coyotes (19-10-9, last week: 14) -- Tough to rank a team in the top 10 when its goalie smuggles pucks in his pants beyond the goal line for the opposition. Mike Smith, take a bow.
14. Washington Capitals (20-15-5, last week: 12) -- Who is Philipp Grubauer, and what does he do?
13. Dallas Stars (19-12-7, last week: 19) -- The Stars are within five points of a playoff spot in the West. That’s about their lot in life at this point unless they can start beating the big boys more often.
12. Colorado Avalanche (23-11-4, last week 11) -- The Avs have lost four in a row and Patrick Roy is starting to blame the NHL schedule. Denver, we have a problem.
11. Toronto Maple Leafs (20-16-5, last week 11) -- The Leafs have two in a row, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say the HBO cameras have a major crush on Joffrey Lupul.
10. Montreal Canadiens (23-14-3, last week: 10) - Beat the Lightning, then lose 4-1 to the Panthers. The Habs are hard to get a handle on.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning (23-12-4, last week: 8) --The Bolts are 11-7-4 without Steve Stamkos in their lineup, but they’ve also dropped a pair of games in a row. They could use him back sooner rather than later.
8. Los Angeles Kings (25-11-4, last week: 4) -- The Kings have lost three in a row to the Stars, Predators and Blackhawks, and pine for the return of Jonathan Quick.
7. Vancouver Canucks (23-11-7, last week: 9) -- Eight wins in their last 11 games means they have no Lack of goaltending depth. Get it . . . ”Lack” of goaltending depth. Boy, we are funny.
6. Boston Bruins (26-11-2, last week: 6) -- The Bruins have survived all their injuries thus far, but losing Dennis Seidenberg really, really hurts. It will be an even bigger loss in the postseason.
5. San Jose Sharks (25-8-6, last week: 3) -- The Sharks have won four in a row, and stopped the Ducks’ winning streak in its tracks. It’s been a very hot and cold season for San Jose.
4. St. Louis Blues (26-7-5, last week: 5) -- The Alex Steen injury is a big one for a Blues team that’s just moving right along right now. But the sum of the parts should be enough to survive the loss of one individual piece in St. Louis.
3. Pittsburgh Penguins (29-11-1, last week: 3) -- The Penguins lead the NHL in man-games lost to injury, but still remain among the top dogs in the East. They’re showing that they’re made of something special during this regular season.
2. Chicago Blackhawks (28-7-7, last week: 2) -- The Blackhawks are one hot streak away from the No. 1 spot, especially after the Ducks' winning streak ended last week.
1. Anaheim Ducks (28-8-5, last week: 1) --The Sharks ended Anaheim’s 10-game winning streak, but the Ducks still have Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry scoring up a storm on a well-balanced team.
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Raptors 85, Bulls 79.
By The Sports Xchange
Center Jonas Valanciunas scored 15 points and led a strong defensive effort in the fourth quarter as the Toronto Raptors rallied to beat the Chicago Bulls 85-79 Tuesday at the United Center.
The Raptors opened the fourth quarter with a 21-4 run to take control. The Bulls shot just 16.7 percent (4-for-24) from the field in the final quarter.
Guard Kyle Lowry added 13 points and DeMar DeRozan scored 11 for Toronto, which earned its eighth win of 11 games.
With their second win at the United Center in 17 days, the Raptors (14-15) improved to 9-7 on the road this season. Toronto has never posted a winning road record during 19 seasons as a franchise.
Forward Luol Deng, back after a five-game absence caused by a sore left Achilles tendon, led Chicago with 16 points, while guard Jimmy Butler added 15.
Toronto trailed 62-57 heading into the fourth quarter. Forward Patrick Patterson followed in his own miss, which began a string of six straight made shots by the Raptors.
A 3-point pull-up by guard Greivis Vasquez put Toronto ahead 66-64. A few minutes later, Patterson hit a turnaround in the lane, boosting the advantage to 78-66 with 4:43 remaining.
Chicago closed within 80-75 when Butler poked the ball loose, then scored on a fast-break lay-in and finished a three-point play. After Deng's free throws made it 80-77 with 1:24 left, Toronto got three big defensive stops.
DeRozan and forward John Salmons combined to miss three of four free throws, keeping the Bulls alive. However, Valanciunas knocked down two at the line and DeRozan added one of two to push the Raptors' edge to 84-77.
The Bulls (12-18) matched their largest lead at 56-47 with 4:52 left in the third quarter on a short jumper by center Joakim Noah.
With Deng back in the starting lineup, Chicago got a better performance from the bench. Forwards Taj Gibson and Mike Dunleavy, guard D.J. Augustin and center Nazr Mohammed combined to score 25 of the team's 42 points in the first half. However, the quartet added just eight second-half points.
The Bulls were playing the second leg of back-to-back games after beating the Grizzlies in Memphis on Monday. Toronto was off since Saturday.
NOTES: Chicago F Luol Deng was back in the starting lineup after missing nine of the previous 12 games with a sore left Achilles tendon. The Bulls used a starting lineup of Deng, G Kirk Hinrich, G Jimmy Butler, F Carlos Boozer and C Joakim Noah -- the projected lineup, minus G Derrick Rose -- for just the second time this season. ... Toronto played at the United Center on Dec. 14 and beat the Bulls 99-77, so Raptors coach Dwane Casey was expecting a tougher task Tuesday. "We have to come out and be ready for them to throw haymakers," he said at the team's shootaround. ... Officials rescinded a flagrant foul against Chicago C Nazr Mohammed in the first half after viewing the replay. Mohammad bit on a pump fake and grabbed Toronto C Jonas Valanciunas by the shoulders, spinning him to the ground.
By Brett Pollakoff
Unless you’re a hardcore fan of one of a small group of five NBA teams, the injuries sustained this season to many of the league’s star players have made this a dismal campaign thus far.
The Thunder are one of the five, but we’ve seen them have to deal with missed time from Russell Westbrook, who is out again until sometime after the All-Star break. The Lakers are without Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, the Bulls once again have lost Derrick Rose for the season, the Nets are without Brook Lopez, the Grizzlies have lost Marc Gasol, and the Hawks will be without Al Horford.
And these are just the injuries that are season-ending, or that have gone on for extended periods. The list gets even lengthier if you want to start including guys who are back, like Tyson Chandler in New York or Deron Williams in Brooklyn.
Despite the dearth of healthy superstars that has wrecked this season for fans of the game overall, if the league is to be believed, there are no more serious injuries than are normally suffered in a typical NBA season.
From Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report:
But even if it feels like a historic season of players going down for long stretches—not including role players such as Raymond Felton (strained hamstring) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (broken hand)—the number of these injuries has not been out of the ordinary, according to the NBA.
A league spokesperson told Bleacher Report on Saturday that a preliminary analysis of “significant” injuries, defined as those forcing a player to miss 10 or more games, shows that they are trending at a similar rate compared to the last five seasons through roughly the first two months of play.
When several superstars go down, such as Rose, Bryant and Westbrook, it can give the impression that things are worse than they really are.The amount of more minor injuries that have occurred in just the season’s first two months is too great to itemize here, but the data says we’re seeing essentially what we’ve always seen over the past five years.
That might be true, but with so many big names sidelined, the season has been a bit of a disappointment for those of us not entirely consumed by the fates of the Heat, Pacers, Spurs, Thunder, or Blazers.
Time For a Hall of Fame Stand.
By Joe Posnanski
In June 1966, Ted Williams did something amazing. Nobody saw it coming, perhaps not even Williams himself. He was in Cooperstown, giving his Hall of Fame speech, and he was visibly moved by the day. Williams had never been able to let go of the anger he felt toward sportswriters — even before his last game he couldn’t help but spit out “I’d like to forget them, but I can’t,” — and I imagine some people were cringing in anticipation.
But somehow Ted that day had mostly moved past bitterness.* “I didn’t know I had 280-odd close friends among the writers,” he said of the people who had voted for him, and he thanked them, he thanked the playground director who worked with him and his high school coach and others who affected his life.
*Mostly. As written in The Kid, Ben Bradlee Jr.’s excellent new biography of Williams, he could not resist a private shot at sportswriter Dave Egan, who was his personal Lex Luthor.
And then, he riffed a little bit about baseball. It’s worth putting the whole wonderful paragraph in there.
“The other day Willie Mays hit his 522nd home run. He has gone past me, and he’s pushing, and I say to him, “Go get ‘em, Willie.” Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel. Not just to be as good as someone else, but to be better. This is the nature of man and the name of the game. I hope that one day Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson will be voted into the Hall of Fame as symbols of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren’t given the chance.”Williams was speaking without notes that day and, as far as I know, had not told anyone he was planning to say anything about Negro Leaguers. It honestly may have been a spur of the moment statement — Williams was pretty famous for those. Whatever, it was a a bold statement. This was 1966, right in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, and his statement was political and counterculture and took some guts.
Then again, guts was never a problem for Ted Williams. What strikes me about the statement — what makes it amazing to me — is that it was SO magnanimous. Hall of Fame speeches (all award speeches, really), by their nature, are meant to celebrate self. You applaud your own career, thank those who made it possible. Williams raced through that part. What he really wanted to do was celebrate BASEBALL. And to him, celebrating baseball meant celebrating those great players who had gone without enough notice. He wanted to remind people about Negro Leagues players he felt sure belonged in the Hall with him.
That was another wonderful part of the Williams speech. Too often people who get into the Hall of Fame want to lock the door behind them.
Williams speech did not instantly grant Negro Leaguers entry into the Hall of Fame. Not even close. But it brought the subject to the surface. By the end of the decade, the topic was hot, and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn held a meeting to discuss the topic. By all accounts the meeting was exceedingly nasty. Former commissioner Ford Frick and Hall of Fame President Paul Kerr were particularly opposed to adding Negro League players. Their reasons ranged from somewhat reasonable (there were no statistics to tell how good the Negro Leaguers were) to somewhat unreasonable (Negro Leaguers would water down the quality of the Hall of Fame — this tinged of racism) to ludicrous (no Negro Leaguers fulfilled the Hall of Fame requirement of 10 years in the Major Leagues — an absurdity since they were not ALLOWED to play in the Major Leagues).
The meeting basically went nowhere. Sportswriter Dick Young was there screaming at everybody, Kuhn was his typically ineffective self, and the one guy who knew more about any of this than anybody — Monte Irvin, who had played in the Negro Leagues and Major Leagues — quietly let others hold court. Kuhn, typically, tried a split-the-baby solution of having a special Negro Leagues display in the Hall of Fame which made exactly zero people happy. Satchel Paige announced he wasn’t going through the back door of the Hall of Fame.
The criticism was so harsh — Jim Murray in Los Angeles was particularly fierce as was the rampaging Dick Young — that the Hall decided on the fly to get rid of the display idea and let Satchel Paige into the actual Hall of Fame. Kuhn would say it was all part of his plan to let public criticism force the Hall into doing the right thing. I don’t buy this for one minute but hey I guess it worked out.
Over time, the Hall of Fame became a leader in celebrating Negro Leagues baseball. There are 29 Negro Leagues players in the Hall of Fame and a few more executives and pioneers. There were missteps, of course, and things worth disagreeing about, but all in all the Hall of Fame has done as much as anybody to keep alive the memory of the Negro Leagues, exactly what Ted Williams had asked for in 1966 (and exactly what my friend Buck O’Neil — who has a statue in the Hall of Fame — had fought for most of his life).
I bring all this up because (1) It’s a pretty great story, but more because (2) it was a case where the Hall of Fame, though it was not easy, took the lead.
It’s time for that to happen again. It’s time for the Hall of Fame to take a stand on the Steroid Era.
Right now, the Hall of Fame is passing the buck. They are letting an unwieldy group of more than 500 baseball writers who never meet as a group sort out the Steroid Era by secret ballot. That’s no way to do things. If it had been up to the BBWAA, Satchel Paige would never have been elected to the Hall of Fame. There’s almost no chance he could have gotten 75% of the vote. Josh Gibson would have had even less chance because he never played in the Majors. Oscar Charleston? Turkey Stearnes? Smokey Joe Williams? There’s no chance 75% of the BBWAA in the 1970s would even have HEARD of them.
If the Hall had not inducted them, they would not have been inducted. The Hall would have remained as racist as baseball in the 1930s and 1940s. And it would not have been enough for them to say, “Well, we turned it over to the BBWAA and this is what they decided.” The Baseball Writers are good at some things — like electing the truly great players — but this is not an organization designed to deal with complex issues like race or PEDs. The BBWAA craves leadership. The Hall of Fame is supposed to provide it.
So far, they have not. They Hall of Fame won’t say or do ANYTHING to clarify things. And because of that, we are no closer to a a logical narrative about the Steroid Era than we were five years ago. There’s no consensus about how much steroid and PED use ACTUALLY affected power numbers (not just talk but actual study of the subject), no consensus over why steroid use should be viewed differently than amphetamines or other drugs, no consensus about the role the people who run baseball played in the era, no consensus about anything really.
No consensus and no consistency. Tony La Russa is unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame as a manager, one of his greatest players Mark McGwire is not. Why? People openly (or subtly) accuse players of steroid use though they never failed a test, were never involved in a public scandal and never showed up in any of the wild accusations that were thrown around. How can the Hall of Fame just sit back and let this happen to the game it represents?
It’s actually kind of disgraceful. The Hall of Fame is meant to celebrate the game, but their silence on this issue leaves baseball and the Hall open to this annual flogging of the game and some of its greatest players.
It’s time for the Hall of Fame to create a committee of experts (former players, executives, scholars, ethicists) to look into the Steroid Era, to make recommendations how the museum should proceed. They should be open to all possibilities and apply science and philosophy and logic to this issue. They should be leaders in moving the game forward. It’s time to stop sitting back while baseball writers (including yours truly) scattershoot their own particular ethical standards and argue about Barry Bonds. This is THEIR museum. It’s time for them to tell everybody what it stands for.
Tiger's 38th birthday a milestone in chasing Nicklaus.
By Jason Sobel
As far as significant birthdays go, the Big 3-8 isn't exactly near the top of that list.
Well, here's a newsflash: Tiger Woods isn't like everyone else. And so his 38th birthday holds plenty of significance when applied to his long-term goals.
No discussion about Woods is complete without a debate over whether he'll someday claim the all-time major championship record, and no discussion about this milestone is complete without examining how it affects his chase of this mark.
Woods, of course, owns 14 career major titles, placing him four behind Jack Nicklaus' record total of 18. Only two players in the game's history have won as many as that differential after their 38th birthdays. Ben Hogan claimed five majors at 38 and beyond; Nicklaus won four.
Both Nicklaus and Woods have stated that the latter has at least another decade of high-level golf, meaning 40 more majors. He'll need a career of Phil Mickelson to break the record or that of Ernie Els to tie.
It's something only Hogan and Nicklaus have accomplished after turning 38. A historian who knows the game's past, Woods undoubtedly understands these numbers.
It comes down to this: In order to break the most talked-about record in sports, he'll have to at least tie one for most majors after this milestone of a birthday.
Former STP CEO, Indy 500-winning owner Andy Granatelli dead at 90.
By Chris Estrada
UPDATE (7:58 p.m. ET): J. Douglas Boles, the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has issued the following statement regarding the death of Andy Granatelli this afternoon:
“Andy Granatelli – known appropriately as ‘Mister 500′ – understood better than anyone the spirit and challenge of the Indianapolis 500 and had a remarkable ability to combine innovative technologies with talented race car drivers to make his cars a threat to win at Indianapolis every year.
“Andy leaves a legacy of historic moments that will live forever in Indianapolis 500 lore including his famous turbine that dominated the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the Lotus 56 of 1968, and giving the great Mario Andretti a kiss on the cheek in victory lane after his 1969 win. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andy’s family, friends and legion of fans.”
“Andy Granatelli – known appropriately as ‘Mister 500′ – understood better than anyone the spirit and challenge of the Indianapolis 500 and had a remarkable ability to combine innovative technologies with talented race car drivers to make his cars a threat to win at Indianapolis every year.
“Andy leaves a legacy of historic moments that will live forever in Indianapolis 500 lore including his famous turbine that dominated the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the Lotus 56 of 1968, and giving the great Mario Andretti a kiss on the cheek in victory lane after his 1969 win. Our thoughts and prayers are with Andy’s family, friends and legion of fans.”
****************
Andy Granatelli (pictured, from 2010), former CEO of the STP motor oil company and one of the more notable innovators in the history of the Indianapolis 500, has passed away at the age of 90.
According to the Associated Press, his son, Vince, confirmed that he died of congestive heart failure earlier today in a hospital in Santa Barbara, California.
A member of multiple racing Halls of Fame, Granatelli was a significant figure for the “500,” especially in the late 1960s and 1970s. In the 1967 and 1968 races, he fielded radical, turbine-powered cars that did well but ultimately lost out in both races.
In ’67, Parnelli Jones lost a potential win with only a few laps to go when a transmission bearing failed and forced him to retire. Then in ’68, Joe Leonard suffered a fuel pump shaft failure while leading and also had to retire in the final moments.
But in 1969, Granatelli finally had his day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as Mario Andretti, driving with a more conventional engine, took his STP-backed No. 2 machine to victory over Dan Gurney.
Granatelli expressed his appreciation by kissing Andretti on the cheek in Victory Lane, creating one of the most beloved images in “500″ history. Andretti has tweeted the following on Granatelli’s death this evening:
MarioAndretti✔ Follow
@MarioAndretti
So saddened at the passing of Andy Granatelli. A true icon of IndyCar racing and a very dear friend to the Andretti family... #RIPMister500
Four years later, in 1973, Granatelli would earn a second and final “500″ win as a car owner thanks to driver Gordon Johncock.
“The thing that gave him the most gratification in his life was what he did at the Indianapolis 500,” Vince Granatelli told the AP.
But while Granatelli made an impact on the track, he did the same off of it as well by making STP one of the most well-known automotive brands in the world. In addition to serving as the product’s spokesman, Granatelli was instrumental in bringing STP on as a sponsor for NASCAR’s “King,” Richard Petty.
After a brief disagreement over what color Petty’s car would be (Granatelli wanting his STP day-glo red, Petty wanting his traditional ‘Petty blue’), a compromise was struck with both colors set to be used on the car.
The final result was one of the most iconic paint jobs in all of American motorsports, and to this day, Petty’s partnership with STP continues even though he ended his driving career in 1992. It is considered one of the most important sponsorship deals in NASCAR history.
Granatelli also served as a promoter of racing events during World War II, and is remembered especially for his work as president of the Hurricane Racing Association, a group that fielded both hot rod and stock car events at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Granatelli’s family and friends at this time.
Premier League Positives: Fifth is the new first.
By Brooks Peck
The Premier League's fixture congestion over the holiday season adds to an already stressful time. It's important to keep some perspective going into the new year, so lets try and say something nice about all 20 clubs.
Arsenal: First!
Aston Villa: Haven't scored more than one goal in any of their last five matches BUT they haven't scored less than zero in those games either.
Cardiff City: Vincent Tan is the Premier League's new Mario Balotelli. It's impossible to know which tales about him are true and which are media daydreams, but there's a good chance he will pull off his Cardiff shirt to reveal "Why always me?" written on his button-down dress shirt underneath after the club's next win.
Chelsea: 1) No one has figured out how to ignore Jose Mourinho's trolling. 2) Nicolas Anelka is someone else's problem.Everton: In the midst of consecutive matches against all four Premier League clubs whose names start with "S" (Swansea, Sunderland, Southampton, Stoke) The Toffees are still top four, though. And you thought the league was conspiring against your club.
Fulham: Getting Clint Dempsey (for two months), Alan Curbishley and Ray Wilkins all in one week has the same effect on the brain as spinning around really fast in a desk chair. It's fun...for now, at least.
Hull City: Now that Tom Huddlestone has finally scored, his teammates won't lose their phones and sandwiches in his hair anymore.
Liverpool: There is far too much pressure at the top of the table. It's much more sensible to make a late season run at the title from fifth place.
Man City: All you have to do to get a clean sheet out of Joe Hart is make his face bleed!
Man United: Despite all the talk of having the worst season ever, they're now just two points behind Liverpool, who have the best player in the league right now and were in first place about five minutes ago. And that's with an injured Robin van Persie.
Newcastle: Compared to Vincent Tan, Mike Ashley is downright lovable.
Norwich: Giving Danny Welbeck and Ashley Young a confidence boost is perhaps the most generous holiday gift of all.
Southampton: Artur Boruc's recovery from a broken hand is still progressing. On Christmas Day, he headbutted a nail through his palm and didn't feel a thing.
Sunderland: Scored more goals in the final 10 minutes of their comeback against Cardiff than they did in their previous three matches combined.
Swansea: It's been 1,417 days since Michael Laudrup had a bad hair day!
Tottenham: Currently enjoying the famous post-AVB bump.
West Brom: At least Anelka only signed a one-year deal.
West Ham: Every week a club goes without a racism controversy is a good week.
Woody Hayes' punch still resounds 35 years later.
By RUSTY MILLER (AP Sports Writer)
It has been 35 years and still the almost unthinkable image of an iconic 65-year-old coach cold-cocking an opposing player doesn't fade away.
As Clemson and Ohio State prepare to meet in the Orange Bowl on Friday, a clip of that no-turning-back moment will undoubtedly be shown. The game marks the first meeting between the teams since Dec. 29, 1978 - when the 28-year, 205-win tenure of the hot-tempered yet beloved Buckeyes coach ended with one roundhouse right to the throat.
The end for one coach also marked the beginning for another.
Seventh-ranked Clemson (10-1), champion of the Atlantic Coast Conference, was coached by Danny Ford, who had been elevated from offensive line assistant to the top job 19 days earlier when Charlie Pell took the job at Florida.
The young assistant coach and the volatile Hayes - coaching his 276th Ohio State game - had crossed paths before.
''That particular year in the summer the South Carolina State (high school) Coaches Association had a meeting in downtown Columbia and they got (Hayes) to be the guest speaker,'' Ford said recently.
''He had standing room only, the biggest crowd they'd ever had of coaches. That was just about the first time the coaches came out with beards and mustaches - and he chewed out every one of them that had a beard or mustache.''
Ford chuckles at the memory.
It had already been a season of fits and starts for Ohio State, which opened with a 19-0 home loss to Penn State in which acclaimed freshman recruit Art Schlichter took over at quarterback for veteran Rod Gerald.
After the first five games, Ohio State was just 2-2-1 and there were whispers that Hayes - famous for his emotional outbursts even in the best of times - had lost his edge.
Then the Buckeyes rebounded with five wins in a row and went into the annual grudge match with archrival Michigan - the last battle of what is known in the two states as ''The Ten-Year War'' between Hayes and his former lieutenant, Bo Schembechler - with the Big Ten title on the line.
Behind senior quarterback Rick Leach the Wolverines won 14-3 to earn the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes, who finished fourth in the conference, headed for Jacksonville, Fla., and the Gator Bowl.
At a banquet the day before the bowl, former Clemson coach Frank Howard sent good friend Hayes a pair of boxing gloves as a good-natured jibe about Hayes' combative personality.
Thirty-six hours later, no one was laughing.
Ohio State pulled to 17-15 when Schlichter scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth quarter, but he was stopped on a tying conversion run.
With 4:22 left, Clemson fumbled at the Ohio State 24 and Buckeyes middle guard Tim Sawicki recovered. Schlichter guided the Buckeyes down the field to a third and 5 at the Tigers 24 with just over 2 minutes left.
Just a few yards more - or maybe none at all - and Ohio State's Bob Atha could come on to kick a go-ahead field goal.
But Schlichter was flushed from the pocket and his pass over the middle for tailback Ron Springs was picked off by Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman, who rumbled to the left sideline before being run out of bounds.
What happened next was almost incomprehensible. As Bauman got to his feet in front of the Ohio State bench, Hayes grabbed him by the collar and slugged him.
It happened so quickly, at the end of a game-deciding turnover, that ABC almost missed it as Keith Jackson cut to a commercial.
The world saw it - if not then, certainly in hundreds of replays over the ensuing days and the decades since. Bauman gets up. The old man in a scarlet jacket and the black cap with a scarlet O on it almost pulls him up so he can throw a straight right to his throat.
Ohio State's players pulled Hayes away from a stunned Bauman while the teams traded shoves and empty punches for several more seconds.
Steve Snapp, Ohio State's longtime sports information director, was sitting with athletic director Hugh Hindman and several other university officials in a private suite.
When Hayes slugged Bauman there was only one word to describe the next few seconds, Snapp said: ''Disbelief.''
As Hayes threw the punch, Hindman muttered, ''No, Woody!''
It would be the only interception of Bauman's college career.
Some say Hayes spoke briefly to the team in the locker room. Others say Hindman came in, asked the assistant coaches to leave, and then went into a private room to talk with Hayes behind closed doors for more than an hour.
The locker room was somber, with the players and coaches all but certain how this would end.
''Surreal,'' Snapp said. Some staffers fought back tears. Players stumbled around as if in a trance.
Those closest to Hayes say he had stopped taking his diabetes medication, which left him irritable and unbalanced - and susceptible to a blow-up.
Hindman later met with Ohio State President Harold Enarson and they decided Hayes had to be fired.
Hindman apprised Hayes in his hotel room the next morning and then made it public at a hastily called news conference.
As one of the team planes approached the Columbus airport a couple of hours later, Hayes got on the plane's intercom and said simply, ''I will not be your coach next year.''
Archie Griffin, the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner, had already graduated and didn't find out about the punch until the following morning.
''I went over to (Hayes') house (with former Buckeye) Daryl Sanders when they got back from the game,'' said Griffin, now in charge of Ohio State's alumni association.
''I remember him letting us in and sitting in his living room. It was kind of quiet at first, but then he just was talking about a lot of other things. You knew it bothered him quite a bit.''
It bothered him so much he reached out to Bauman.
''Some things people don't realize,'' Ford said. ''After that, (Hayes) called and got Charlie Bauman's telephone number, it was on a Sunday. He called and asked me if he could speak with him. I said, 'Certainly.' He did visit with him.''
Hayes seldom spoke about the punch again. Neither did Bauman. He declined to discuss the punch and has spent most of his life trying to avoid talking about the crowning athletic achievement of his life.
Three years later, Clemson won its first and only national championship with Ford prowling the sidelines.
Hayes was followed by Earle Bruce, one of his former assistants, who the next year led a top-ranked squad - mostly recruited by Hayes - to within a one-point loss in the Rose Bowl of a national championship.
Hayes, whose record was 205-61-10 with the Buckeyes, remained a visible figurehead of the program he lifted to greatness. He was an associate professor at Ohio State for a while while remaining in touch with his many loyal former players and coaches. He died at the age of 74 on March 12, 1987.
Ford regrets that Clemson is linked to Hayes' fall from the pinnacle.
''I hated that it happened against Clemson,'' Ford said.
Griffin has an uneasy feeling that many only remember Hayes for the final intemperate, unconscionable act.
''I like to believe that the good things he did overshadow that,'' Griffin said. ''But, unfortunately, outside of Ohio people do remember that incident. One of the reasons that I always mention coach Hayes is because I always want people to know the good things that he did. The man was so much more than what happened.''
Champion Baptist coach believes Southern could have done more to spare his team embarrassment.
By Jeff Eisenberg
Southern defeated Champion Baptist 116-12 on Monday night (USATSI)
A few minutes into the second half of his team's record-setting 116-12 loss at Southern on Monday night, Champion Baptist College coach Eric Capaci glanced over at the opposing bench with a bemused expression on his face.
Southern already led by nearly 70 points, yet the Jaguars were still trapping and pressing full-court almost every possession.
"I looked over a couple times at their coach, like, 'Are you serious?'" Capaci said. "I was in shock. There's a part of me that felt like I needed to approach him and defend the guys, but then again what do you prove if you blow up and get a technical? I just told the guys during timeouts to keep their heads up and keep playing hard. Let's not fight with elbows and fists and words. Let's fight with heart."
Heart, alas, was no match for a Division I foe with superior size, speed and athleticism and no qualms about running up the score.
Southern led 44-0 by the time Kris Connor sank a pair of free throws to get Champion Baptist on the scoreboard and 52-2 by the time Zach Hendricks hit a jump shot to give the Tigers their first field goal. No player from Champion Baptist scored more than four points as the tiny 250-student school from Hot Springs, Ark., sank only 3 of 44 shots, committed 27 turnovers and got out-rebounded 71-21.
The 44-0 blitz broke the record for the longest scoring run to start a game in Division I basketball history, surpassing the 34 straight points Seton Hall scored to open a game against Kean in 1998. Southern's 104-point margin of victory was the most in any Division I game this season, but it fell 13 short of the record set by Long Island when it defeated Medgar Evers 179-62 in 1992.
It didn't dawn on Champion Baptist players that they had been on the wrong end of history until they began checking their phones in the locker room after the game. They soon learned via calls and texts that SportsCenter had devoted time to the game and that it had been written about on Yahoo Sports, CBSSports.com and other national sites.
"Someone told me before I got to the locker room that a record had been broken, so it gave me the opportunity to walk in with a little knowledge and be able to encourage the guys," Capaci said. "Part of life is facing adversity and getting humbled. I just reminded the guys, 'We're not going to face anybody like them at our level. Wouldn't it be a great story if we come back from this and go on to have success the rest of the season?'"
Could Southern have done more to spare Champion Baptist some embarrassment on Monday night? Why did the Jaguars trap and press well into the second half? A Southern spokesman did not return a text message Monday night or a voicemail on Tuesday morning seeking comment from coach Roman Banks, but Banks did tell the Baton Rouge Advocate he was attempting to prepare his team for league play and wasn't trying to embarrass Champion Baptist.
"The gameplan was to play hard every possession so we can get better going into conference play," Banks said. "We’re going up against two [conference] teams later this week, and we wanted to work on us."
It might seem strange for a Division I program to schedule an opponent that has no scholarship players and competes in the little-known Association of Christian College Athletics, but the game served a purpose for both programs.
Southern receives five-figure paychecks in return for playing a handful of challenging road games against elite Division I teams each season, so Monday's game represented a rare chance to build confidence against an overmatched opponent before league play. Champion Baptist College accepts a few thousand dollars to play a handful of road games against lower-level Division I and II teams each season in order to pay for jerseys, charter buses and other necessities for its basketball program.
In its three previous games against Division I competition this season, Champion Baptist College lost by 54 to Southeastern Louisiana, by 60 to Mississippi Valley State and by 63 to New Orleans. Those scores were certainly ugly, but they were nothing compared to the onslaught against a Southern team that entered Monday's game with a 3-9 record.
"We lost to Southern last year by 54 points," Capaci said. "That's normal. They didn't press us the whole game and we scored quite a few points. I don't know why that happened this year. I don't know of any bad blood between us. In fact, I told [Banks] before the game that when they played Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament last year, we were all in front of the TV cheering Southern on. I'm not upset with him personally. I shook his hand after the game. It was just abnormal for us to face a full-court press like that."
Since Monday night's game ended, Capaci has received numerous phone calls.
Some have been from reporters curious about how his program is handling such a demoralizing loss. Others have been from friends in the coaching industry offering words of encouragement.
"I had Division I coaches call me last night and apologize," Capaci said. "The coach of the University of New Orleans actually texted me and said, 'Call if you need to talk.' He said, 'We got beat by Michigan State by 54 points the other night and we're a Division I school.'"
Capaci would like everyone to know his players will be just fine.
They wish they had scored a few more points to stay off SportsCenter, but they're already moving on from the loss. In fact, with some of the money the school received from Monday's game, Capaci plans to drive his team to Houston this afternoon and have them attend the game between the Rockets and Sacramento Kings.
"It's a little treat for the guys," Capaci said, and if anyone deserves the morale boost, it's Champion Baptist.
Predicting who will win 2014 majors.
By Kyle Porter | Golf Writer
Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott, Hunter Mahan, and Tiger Woods will win big in 2014. (USATSI)
I think I correctly predicted two tournaments (of 40+) in 2013 and, strangely, neither was a Tiger Woods win.
Neither was a major, either. But I did sort of get two of the winners correct.
This time last year I predicted the 2013 major winners and got two of the four correct (Justin Rose and Adam Scott), albeit at the wrong tournaments.
But I decided since it was one of the few successful prediction pieces I did that we should bring it back for 2014.
Without further ado here are your four 2014 major championship winners.
Masters
Brandt Snedeker -- If Snedeker and Jason Day never win at least one Masters, I will be stunned.
Those two have seemingly combined for the last five runners-up at Augusta (I know that's not true, but it feels like it).
I believed Snedeker last year when he said the moment was no longer too big for him, I just think he just had a bad day at a time when you really, really don't want to have a bad day (Masters Sunday).
Put him in that position again and I think he can take home green.
US Open
Hunter Mahan -- It's going to be another good year for Sean Foley pupils. Mahan had two of his five best finishes in majors in 2013 and put together only the second season of his career in which he finished in the top 10 in multiple majors.
The only thing left for him now is an elite closing round. His last six final rounds at majors are not pretty: 71-75-75-70-74-74.
Phil Mickelson will be Americas' darling this week at Pinehurst but another American Ryder Cup candidate will steal the show.
British Open
Adam Scott -- I'm going to keep picking Scott to win the Open until he does it. Could pretty easily have held the last two Claret Jugs and last time this tournament was at Royal Liverpool (site of the 2014 edition) Scott finished T8 to Woods.
Additionally, he's finished in the top 10 in seven of the last nine majors excluding US Opens. That's absurd and it includes a second place finish and a T3 at the last two British Opens. He'll add a jug to that this year.
PGA Championship
Tiger Woods -- By the time this tournament rolls around the whispers will be borderline screams.
"He'll never win another one!!"
And then he will.
Valhalla is a special place (how many times am I going to post this GIF in the next nine months?) and Woods has some great memories there.
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