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Sports Quote of the Day:
"Let me tell you what winning means.... you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else." ~ Vince Lombardi, Legendary NFL Coach
Medal Count.
CS&T/AA Graphics
Updated: 2/20 10:00 PM
| # | Country | G | S | B | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 8 | 6 | 11 | 25 |
| 2 | Russia | 7 | 9 | 7 | 23 |
| 3 | Netherlands | 6 | 7 | 9 | 22 |
| 4 | Norway | 10 | 4 | 7 | 21 |
| 5 | Canada | 7 | 9 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Germany | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| 7 | France | 4 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 8 | Sweden | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 9 | Switzerland | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| 10 | Austria | 2 | 6 | 2 | 10 |
| 11 | Czech Republic | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| 12 | Japan | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 13 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 14 | Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 15 | Belarus | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| 16 | China | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 17 | South Korea | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 18 | Poland | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 19 | Finland | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 20 | Britain | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 21 | Australia | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 22 | Latvia | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 23 | Slovakia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 24 | Croatia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 | Kazakhstan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 26 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Men's Olympic Hockey Schedule: U.S.-Canada, Sweden-Finland, Semifinals, 02/21/2014.
By NESN Staff
USA Olympic Hockey Team celebrates victory after defeating the Czech Republic in the Quarterfinals.
The top four seeds all advanced Wednesday to the semifinals, setting up two exciting matchups between traditional rivals.
Canada survived a valiant upset attempt by Latvia to set up a rematch of the 2010 gold medal game in one semifinal, with the United States advancing by routing the Czech Republic. Top-seeded Sweden and No. 4 seed Finland easily took care of Slovenia and Russia, respectively, and will meet in the other semifinal.
Both games are scheduled for Friday, with Sweden and Finland playing first at 7 a.m. ET and U.S.-Canada following at noon.
The winners will advance to the gold medal game, which will take place Sunday at 7 a.m. The losers will play for bronze Saturday at 10 a.m.
Semifinals schedule — Friday, Feb. 21
No. 1 Sweden vs. No. 4 Finland (7:00 a.m.) (ET) 6:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time; Chicago
No. 2 United States vs. No. 3 Canada (12:00 p.m.) (noon) (ET) 11:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time; Chicago
How 'bout them Chicago Blackhawks Pressure's on for non-Olympic Blackhawks once season resumes.
CSN Staff
Once the Olympics are over, it's back to the day job for the 10 Blackhawks who made the trip to Sochi.
But once they get back, they're going to need some help.
While many of the 10 Hawks continue to compete in Russia, the rest of the team has been on break, resting up for the final few months of the NHL regular season and another run at the Stanley Cup. And according to CSNChicago.com Blackhawks Insider Tracey Myers, the pressure will be on those Hawks who stayed home to take on a bigger role while the returning Olympians recuperate from the tournament in Sochi.
"Before we headed to the break, coach Joel Quenneville talked not only about the Blackhawks heading over to the Olympics but more specifically about the Blackhawks players who were not. And he said that those guys, those guys that did not play in the Olympics, they might have to take the onus of this team on when they come back out of the break," she said. "But they're going to have the fresher legs out of all the Blackhawks that have been going overseas. So coach Joel Quenneville said, listen, we need these guys to come out of the gate, take a little bit more of the minutes, possibly, a little bit more of the responsibility until the guys who have been over in Sochi have to pick up a little bit of the pace.
"So look for those guys, those role players to play a big key coming out of this break while the guys from Sochi get their legs back under them."
With all the Blackhawks who have played in the Olympic tournament, it's sometimes hard to remember which Blackhawks haven't been playing in Russia. Of the 10 Hawks who made the trip, seven are still playing in the semifinals: Patrick Kane (U.S.A.); Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, Patrick Sharp (Canada); Johnny Oduya, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Marcus Kruger (Sweden). Marian Hossa and Michal Handzus (Slovakia) and Michal Rozsival (Czech Republic) were eliminated earlier this week.
Canada women beat US 3-2 in OT for Olympic gold.
By JIMMY GOLEN (AP Sports Writer)
The puck skittered the length of the ice on its way toward the empty Canadian net before clanging off the post and stopping in front of the crease.
It was - for a few more seconds, at least - still a one-goal game.
Then Marie-Philip Poulin scored with 54.6 seconds left in regulation, completing Canada's comeback from a two-goal deficit and sending the game into overtime. Once there, she added the gold medal-winning goal to beat the United States 3-2 - the fourth consecutive Olympic women's hockey title for the sport's birthplace.
''I think it always gets better, for sure,'' Poulin, who also scored twice in the Vancouver final four years ago, said Thursday night with her second gold medal draped around her neck. ''It's so hard to get here and to bring it back (home) is amazing.''
Shannon Szabados made 27 saves for Canada, which has won 20 straight Olympic games since the Nagano final in 1998. That was the only gold medal for the United States, which lost in the Olympic final to Canada in all three tries since then and earned a bronze in 2006.
Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter scored for the Americans. Jesse Vetter made 28 saves, shutting the powerful Canadians down for 56 minutes, 34 seconds before Brianne Jenner knocked a seemingly harmless shot off a defender's knee and into the net.
Shannon Szabados made 27 saves for Canada, which has won 20 straight Olympic games since the Nagano final in 1998. That was the only gold medal for the United States, which lost in the Olympic final to Canada in all three tries since then and earned a bronze in 2006.
Meghan Duggan and Alex Carpenter scored for the Americans. Jesse Vetter made 28 saves, shutting the powerful Canadians down for 56 minutes, 34 seconds before Brianne Jenner knocked a seemingly harmless shot off a defender's knee and into the net.
With Szabados pulled for an extra skater, U.S. forward Kelli Stack sent a clearing shot down the ice, missing a potential game-clinching empty-net goal by inches.
Even after insisting her confidence never wavered, Canada defenseman Jocelyne Larocque's eyes grew wide when asked about the near clincher.
''I was freaked out at that point,'' she said. ''It hit the post and I went, 'You know, it happened for a reason. We're going to get that goal.'''
Stack said she could see the puck had the wrong angle, but she didn't worry because the U.S. still had a 2-1 lead with just over a minute to play.
About 30 seconds later, with the goalie still off, Poulin tied it and sent the game into overtime.
''It would have given us a bigger cushion,'' said Stack, who played at Boston College. ''I've done that once before in college, and it's the worst feeling in the world.''
After six tense minutes of the extra period, the U.S. picked up a power play when Catherine Ward was sent off for cross-checking. But five seconds later, Jocelyne Lamoureux was called for slashing for swiping at the Szabados' pads after a save.
And during a sloppy player change by the Americans, five-time Olympian Hayley Wickenheiser got free on a breakaway before Hilary Knight caught her from behind and she went sprawling.
It could have been called a penalty shot.
It could have been no call. (Knight denied making any contact at all. And, when asked about the officiating, U.S. coach Katey Stone issued only a terse, ''No comment.'')
But Knight was sent to the penalty box for cross-checking. With the 4-on-3 advantage, the Canadians worked the puck around and over to Poulin, who knocked it into the open net and set off the celebration on the bench and among the Maple Leaf-waving fans.
''Unfortunately, when you let other factors come in, it can bounce either way. That's what happened today,'' Knight said. ''It's heartbreaking, and you go four years, and you think you've got the game in the bag, and something happens. It's unfortunate, but this group has represented our country at an outstanding level. So can't really be too heartbroken about it.''
Switzerland beat Sweden earlier Thursday for the bronze medal at the Bolshoy Ice Dome, where the women moved after playing the preliminaries at the smaller Shayba Arena next door. Switzerland goalie Florence Schelling, who led the tournament with 253 saves in six games, was named Most Valuable Player.
The 10,639 fans at the final included the Canadian men's team that completed a sweep the hockey gold medals in Vancouver four years ago. The Canadian women also beat their southern neighbors three times in a pre-Olympic tour this fall before coach Dan Church quit unexpectedly in December and the Americans won four straight times heading into the Olympics.
Then, in a rare round-robin matchup between the sports' two top powers, the Canadians won 3-2. They extended their Olympic winning streak over the U.S. to four consecutive games.
''For us, it's just a great feeling,'' said coach Kevin Dineen, who replaced Church. ''And for me, it's even more special because it's the first one.''
Less than 24 hours before the Canadians and Americans were to meet in the same rink in the men's semifinals, fans wearing Maple Leaf sweaters and Stars and Stripe scarves tried to outshout each other - with a healthy number of locals chanting ''Ro-ssi-ya!'' for their long-departed hockey teams.
The pro-Canada crowd grew louder after the first goal, but the second one quieted them until the flurry at the end of regulation.
The hard-hitting first period featured five penalties and no goals. It was still scoreless when Duggan took a drop pass from Lamoureux at the left circle and wristed the puck into the top corner of the net past a screened Szabados.
The U.S. scored on a power play early in the third when Tara Watchorn was sent off for the third time in the game and, with just seconds left in the tripping penalty, Hilary Knight threaded a pass through Canadian defenseman Laura Fortino's legs to Carpenter at the far side of the crease.
She deflected it past Szabados and off the post to make it 2-0.
Bear Down Chicago Bears!!! Changing Bears going young on defense.
By Jeff Reynolds, The Sports Xchange
With 25 players entering some form of free agency next month, second-year head coach Marc Trestman is prepared for another offseason of change.
Trestman said defensive end Julius Peppers, who if released would leave the Bears with $8 million in so-called dead money, "like a lot of us had 8-8 seasons." His return might require a restructured contract. Salary cap money could be tight with veteran cornerback Charles Tillman and defensive tackle Henry Melton on the road to unrestricted free agency while rehabbing from season-ending injuries.
"He had very, very good moments and moments where he didn't play as well as he would have liked," Trestman said of Peppers.
The Bears will be primarily a 4-3 defense and retained coordinator Mel Tucker after briefly considering a 3-4 scheme.
"What we're doing is looking at the existing scheme and in the process of putting together a scheme that suits the players we will have," Trestman said. "We're not going to know who those players are going to be for quite some time."
Trestman said the Bears will be younger on defense, and general manager Phil Emery has bluntly pointed to investing draft picks to rebuild on that side of the ball.
One area of need is the secondary. Safety Major Wright is a free agent and arguably the most high-profile free agent, Tillman, said Tuesday he wants to return and the Bears want him back, but finances must be worked out.
"We know we're going to get younger," Trestman said. "For the most part, it's going to be a defensive-oriented draft in terms of where we're going."
Trestman said he talks to Melton on a daily basis. Emery raised questions about his dedication to football but the staff has largely praised the unique skill set. Along with Melton and Tillman, versatile defensive lineman Corey Wootton is a free agent. He could be coveted because, in Emery's words, he "transcends scheme" but is coming off of hip surgery.
Tucker was retained despite a dismal statistical season. The Bears were 32nd against the run and yards per play and 30th in total defense. Trestman pointed to injuries to weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs and Tillman not only for their on-field ability but also the toll losing locker-room leaders had a green defense.
In lockstep with Emery, Trestman reviewed the season game-by-game to quantify the root of the areas of concern, A through Z, and the decision was made to retain Tucker. Trestman said most of the same qualities that stood out in their initial interview rose to the forefront.
"His ability to communicate, his understanding of the defense at all three levels and his understanding of adapting and assimilating the defense, and his ability to lead men," Trestman said. "At the end of the season that did not change."
Change will now be embraced.
From the time Trestman spoke at the Scouting Combine in 2013, the Bears added 10 players to their offense and worked them into a scheme that evolved throughout the season.
NFL Draft: Steelers GM Kevin Colbert says this is deepest class in 30 years.
By Eric Edholm
Good news, draftniks. One of the NFL's most experienced and skilled talent evaluators believes the 2014 draft is one of the deepest of all time. Pittsburgh Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, who has been in NFL scouting since 1984 and with the team since 2000, couldn't help but gush about this year's crop of talent.
"I've been doing this 30 years," Colbert said, "this is the deepest draft I've ever seen."
A record 102 underclassmen entered this year's pool, which fattened up the talent level.
"We felt that way even before the underclassmen came in," Colbert said. "Our scouts were talking about the senior class being a pretty good class. You don't know what the junior class will be, so you try to predict what that will be."
Still, even with the bevy of underclassmen, there always is the worry about maturity.
"The juniors added into it make it a very talented group. With the juniors and redshirt sophomores, we are very cautiously optimistic about their emotional and physical readiness for this huge jump. Even though it's the most talented group I've seen, it's probably the most immature group.
"We have to be prepared for more player development-type programs to get the development out of these players."
Even with the potential for a few medium rare players in need of seasoning, Colbert can't help but appreciate just how much depth there is in this class — across the board.
"I can't see a position where there isn't more depth than there ever has been," he said. "You talk about interior offensive linemen, it's a solid group. Not as solid as maybe the tackles or receivers, but it's more solid than it has been in the past.
"It's exciting when you're picking players out of this group."
Just another Chicago Bulls Session… Nuggets-Bulls Preview.
By JORDAN GARRETSON (STATS Writer)
With an already stout defense playing even better and their offense operating more efficiently, the Chicago Bulls have reeled off four straight victories.
In order to extend that streak, though, they'll have to snap a five-game series skid against the visiting Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
Chicago (28-25) pulled to within a half-game of Toronto for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 94-92 road victory over the Raptors on Wednesday. Jimmy Butler scored 16 points and blocked DeMar DeRozan's potential go-ahead basket with two seconds left to preserve the win.
"Jimmy had a great play basically to save the game for us," said Carlos Boozer, who scored a team-high 20. "We needed one stop and Jimmy got it for us."
The Bulls are shooting 48.2 percent during their winning streak after previously hitting 42.2 percent of their shots. They were already limiting teams to 93.0 points per game, but that number has dropped to 84.8 over the last four.
D.J. Augustin, who was waived by the Raptors in December before being picked up by Chicago, was 4 of 5 from 3-point range and is 14 for 25 over his last six games. He's shooting 43.4 percent from beyond the arc and averaging 13.8 points over 33 contests for the Bulls after averaging 2.1 points in 10 games for Toronto.
All-Star center Joakim Noah had a career-high 13 assists, marking his third game of at least 11 over the last five.
A sixth straight win by Denver (25-28) over Chicago would mark the longest streak by either team in series history. The Nuggets claimed a 97-87 home victory on Nov. 21, holding the Bulls to 38.8 percent shooting.
Denver ended its own five-game skid Thursday with a 101-90 win at league-worst Milwaukee. The Nuggets, led by Kenneth Faried's 26 points, shot 51.3 percent after shooting 39.4 during the slide.
Faried had 21 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 112-107 overtime loss to Phoenix and scored 28 points earlier in the month against the Clippers. He had just two 20-point performances over his first 43 games.
"It's good to feel what it's like to get a 'W' again," coach Brian Shaw said. "It's been a while for us."
Shaw and company perhaps benefited from no longer having to deal with disgruntled point guard Andre Miller, who was sent to Washington on Thursday in exchange for forward Jan Vesely. Miller hadn't played since being involved in a heated verbal altercation with Shaw in the final moments of a loss to Philadelphia on New Year's Day, even despite injuries to Ty Lawson - who missed his fourth straight game Thursday - and Nate Robinson.
"You know, nobody wanted to have the situation come down to what it came to, so we wish Andre the best in Washington. It gives him a chance to do what he loves to do and get out there and play basketball, so it's a better situation for him," Shaw said.
Denver also acquired point guard Aaron Brooks from Houston in exchange for swingman Jordan Hamilton. Brooks, who could be in line to start if Lawson remains sidelined, was averaging 7.0 points over 16.7 minutes per game, but he's proven effective previously in a bigger role. He averaged 19.6 points over 35.6 minutes in starting all 82 games for the Rockets in 2009-10.
Financial issues dominate the talk around Cubs.
By Patrick Mooney
Following the money has become the road map for trying to understand what the Cubs are doing now.
This is Year 5 for the Ricketts family, which has presided over four straight fifth-place finishes while promising to strengthen the farm system and renovate Wrigley Field. Financial issues again dominated the conversation when chairman Tom Ricketts stood in front of the microphones and held his state-of-the-team press conference at Cubs Park.
“Profit-taking?” Ricketts said Wednesday, repeating back part of a reporter’s question. “I’m not even sure what that means. Of course not. Absolutely not. That’s ridiculous.”
One year ago at the old Fitch Park, Ricketts called the payrolls in the final years of Tribune Co. ownership “unsustainable.” The Ricketts clan inherited a win-one-for-the-Tower payroll that climbed to $146.9 million on Opening Day 2010 — and dropped to $100.9 million by the end of the 2013 season, according to figures obtained by the Associated Press.
Ricketts still thinks the Cubs could be holding the lottery ticket that wins the Powerball jackpot.
“I think we have a team right now that can make the playoffs,” Ricketts said. “We have a good young nucleus. We have to have guys step up. But we got depth in our system. Like I’ve always said, you have to build a championship team and we’re doing that.”
President of business operations Crane Kenney has said the Cubs generated the fifth-highest revenues in baseball last year. They’ve been charging the third-highest ticket prices in the majors.
This has become an $8 billion industry awash in national television money and digital revenues generated by Major League Baseball Advanced Media. The Forbes valuations and industry officials have estimated the Cubs are the most profitable team in the game.
The Cubs are projected to begin this season in the neighborhood of $85 million, including the money they’re paying the New York Yankees for Alfonso Soriano, as well as a few other payroll items that won’t contribute to the big-league product now (like Jorge Soler).
This is Year 3 for Theo Epstein’s baseball operations department, which has lost 197 games across the last two seasons and didn’t make any high-profile additions to a last-place team this winter.
The Cubs went through their first full-squad workout without Masahiro Tanaka, Hyun-Jin Ryu or Yoenis Cespedes, the kind of impact players who would have helped right now and still fit into the organization’s long-term plans.
“When we look at baseball investments, we don’t just look at payroll,” Ricketts said. “We’ve looked at spots where a free agent would fit. But ultimately that’s the budget on the baseball side and those guys decide where those dollars go. I leave it up to them.”
Ricketts talked about building out Epstein’s front office, upgrading the minor-league infrastructure and signing amateur talent (at a time when the collective bargaining agreement restricts how much you can spend in the draft and on the international market).
The Cubs spent $6 million to build a new academy in the Dominican Republic and convinced Mesa taxpayers to fund their new Arizona complex.
Ricketts acknowledged debt service is a factor after buying the team — and a piece of Comcast SportsNet Chicago — from Sam Zell’s Tribune Co. in a highly leveraged $845 million transaction in October 2009.
“We do have some issues that are created by the structure of the deal that was offered to everybody — not just to us,” Ricketts said. “Those have some expenses related to it. But what you’re seeing is dollars that are being taken in the organization and spent in ways that just aren’t obvious to everybody on the payroll side.”
Super-agent Scott Boras has ripped the Cubs for acting like a small-market team, making allusions to the Ricketts family trust with one-liners like “Meet the Parents.” Ricketts was asked if the family — his father founded TD Ameritrade — could infuse the team with personal wealth.
“The dollars that are going to go in — once we get the renovation started — (that’s) all privately funded,” Ricketts said. “There are a lot of other constraints. Not only are they boring and tedious, but they’re also under (a non-disclosure agreement). For us, it’s about investing in the park with all the revenue, getting good media contracts and moving forward.”
In hindsight, Ricketts said he didn’t regret accepting Zell’s restrictive terms, which are believed to be in play for at least five more seasons.
“We’ll get through it,” Ricketts said. “It was just the way it was presented. We’ll get through it all. It’ll be fine. We’re doing the smart things that are building the future of the organization as well as putting a good team on the field.”
Ricketts still sees the silver linings instead of the dark clouds hanging over this franchise.
“Every few years it happens somewhere,” Ricketts said. “There are teams that flip it around in one season. (We) have a good young nucleus of guys that if they get back on their career trajectories (can succeed). We have a great new manager (Rick Renteria) and a lot of positive energy coming through. Anything can happen.”
Match Play at a glance.
AP Sports
A brief look at the second round of the Match Play Championship on Wednesday at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club at Dove Mountain:
Match of the day: Rickie Fowler beat Jimmy Walker 1 up with an 8-foot par putt on No. 18. Neither player led by more than one hole.
Shot of the day: Ernie Els set up a match-winning birdie on the 20th hole against Justin Rose with a 75-foot shot from the collar of a bunker that hit into the bank and rolled to 4 feet.
Quote of the day: ''It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime shots, really. I caught it a smidgen thin, and it just came out perfectly. It hit the bank and just trickled over to about 4 feet. It was an impossible shot, but it was obviously the right one at the time.'' - Ernie Els.
Stat of the day: Nine U.S. players advanced to the third round, the most Americans to survive the first two rounds since nine also made it in 2004.
Sent packing: Top-seeded Henrik Stenson, No. 2 Justin Rose and No. 4 Rory McIlroy were eliminated in the second round. No. 3 Zach Johnson dropped out Wednesday.
Friday's matches: Graeme McDowell vs. Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar vs. Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia vs. Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk vs. Harris English, Bubba Watson vs. Victor Dubuisson, Jason Dufner vs. Ernie Els, Webb Simpson vs. Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day vs. George Coetzee.
Forecast: Friday, mostly sunny, high of 77 with wind gusting to 12 mph.
Television: Friday (EST), Golf Channel, 2-6 p.m., replay 6:30-10:30 p.m., 11 p.m.-3 a.m.
Matt Kenseth wins first Budweiser Duel race at Daytona.
By Nick Bromberg
Matt Kenseth held off Kevin Harvick and Kasey Kahne for the win in a three-wide finish in the first Budweiser Duel qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway Thursday evening.
Harvick pulled to the inside of Kenseth off of turn four and had a run. However, Kenseth had momentum on the top side of the tri-oval as Kahne moved to the inside of Harvick and tried to sneak by and the No. 20 car held on for a win by a half-car length.
The victory means Kenseth starts third in Sunday's Daytona 500. Harvick will start fifth and Kahne will start seventh.
Tony Stewart drove from the back of the field through the race's final laps and finished 11th. Because the top 15 drivers from each Budweiser Duel race are guaranteed a starting position into the 500, Stewart won't need the Past Champion's Provisional starting position.
Instead, it's now guaranteed for his new teammate, Kurt Busch, if Busch fails to finish in the top 14 of the second Budweiser Duel.
Josh Wise finished sixth, while Cole Whitt was 12th and Alex Bowman was 15th. All three of those drivers were in dangerous territory if they missed out on the top-15 because of slow qualifying speeds and a low standing in the 2013 owner's points. They're in the 500.
Ricky Stenhouse finished outside the top 15, but he's guaranteed in the race because he's one of the four fastest qualifiers remaining. Kyle Busch missed the top 15 as well, but he's guaranteed a provisional starting position.
Here's the full finishing order of the first Duel:
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Kasey Kahne
4. Marcos Ambrose
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
6. Josh Wise
7. Aric Almirola
8. A.J. Allmendinger
9. David Gilliland
10. Ryan Newman
11. Tony Stewart
12. Cole Whitt
13. Greg Biffle
14. Danica Patrick
15. Alex Bowman
16. Brian Vickers (Likely in Daytona 500)
17. Joey Logano (Likely in Daytona 500)
18. Parker Kligerman (On the bubble)
19. Austin Dillon (Starting first in Daytona 500)
20. Kyle Busch (Guaranteed provisional)
21. Michael McDowell (On the bubble)
22. Joe Nemechek (On the bubble)
23. Reed Sorenson (On the bubble)
Breaking News: NASCAR disqualifies Kevin Harvick's runner-up finish in Duel 150.
By Jerry Bonkowski
Kevin Harvick went from extremely elated to depressingly dejected in less than 30 minutes.
After finishing a close second to Matt Kenseth in Thursday night’s first of two Budweiser Twin Duel 150s, Harvick’s result was tossed out by NASCAR officials.
Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet was found to have to “exceeded the maximum split on the track bar,” according to NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp.
As a result, Harvick’s qualifying time and his runner-up finish in the first Duel has been disqualified, a big blow to the 2007 Daytona 500 winner.
“Well, that’s no good,” Harvick deadpanned to FOX Sports’ TV coverage when told on air of the news.
Harvick will now have to wait until after the end of the second Duel 150 to see if either the speed (194.422 mph) or time (46.291) he had in Sunday’s pole qualifying (23rd overall) determine where he starts, or whether he’ll need to rely on owner points garnered from the No. 39 in 2013 to start Sunday’s Great American Race.
Instant reactions to news that Major League Soccer has purchased Chivas USA.
By Steve Davis
A truly turbulent chapter in Major League Soccer is nearing a merciful conclusion as Major League Soccer has announced the purchase of Chivas USA from Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes.
It’s About Time.
There will be much, much more to say about this in the coming days and weeks. And, who knows, maybe even the coming months or years – unless Stan Kroenke acts quickly! For now, here are the quick hits of what we know, with a few reactions:
MLS will assume clubs operations, which is nothing new for the league. It has run a team in some time, but going way back the league ran several clubs. Nothing changes for the 2014 season, competition-wise.
- Today’s MLS release says recently named coach Wilmer Cabrera will retain his position, soon to report to an unnamed club president.
- Rejoicing is high among MLS devotees (and writers like myself), who have long lamented how Chivas dragged down league attendance, league quality and had been – if we’re being honest – reduced to something of a league punch line.
- Don’t forget, MLS commissioner Don Garber recently told SI.com’s Brian Straus the Chivas mess was the biggest setback of his time in charge.
- Garber held a media teleconference call at 5 p.m. on Thursday, discussing the announcement and the Chivas USA situation.
- In the end, this might be the bigger shoe to fall. From today’s press release: “In the coming months, the league will resell the club to a new ownership group that will be committed to building a new stadium and keeping the team in Los Angeles. The league has had initial discussions with a number of very qualified potential owners and intends to finalize an agreement with a new group sometime this year.”
- Feel free to connect the dots on that statement to recent news of Kroenke’s recent purchase of land in Los Angeles and reports from abroad of a new club in the works that would be named the L.A. Gunners. Kroenke, of course, is a shareholder with the big Gunners, the ones who play in North London, in addition to owner of the Colorado Rapids. But in his conference call, Garber later quashed any hopes of an L.A. Gunners franchise starting up.
- Maybe more light bulbs should have gone up with inklings from a few days ago that a Chivas USA rebrand was in the works. Apparently, trademarks had been filed on Los Angeles SC and Los Angeles F.C.
- Finally! Writers like myself can stop going on and on about the sorry state of this thing, truly an outright league embarrassment. We’ve been banging the drum on this one for years.
The touching motivation behind Boston College's win over undefeated No. 1 Syracuse.
By Pat Forde
The patches on the Boston College uniforms are small and simple, bearing the man’s initials: “DK.” But the meaning behind the patch is immense, deep and powerful.
Powerful enough to inspire a group of young men to do something Wednesday night that seemed inconceivable.
Dick Kelley is gone, passing away last week and being buried Tuesday after a long and courageous fight with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Yet the longtime men’s basketball media relations director was the spirit that moved the 7-19 Eagles to absolutely shock the college basketball world, upsetting undefeated No. 1 Syracuse 62-59 in overtime in the Carrier Dome.
There is no doubt. This win – the Eagles’ biggest in years and most improbable in decades – was for Dick.
“There is absolutely no question in my mind,” associate athletic director Chris Cameron told Yahoo Sports. “That’s who they were playing for.”
Two days earlier, that’s who the Eagles were crying for. They attended Kelley’s wake Monday as a team, their final tribute in Kelley’s wrenching final year of life. Wheelchair-bound, Kelley was forced last season to give up the job he loved at the school he attended and grew up cheering for. He passed away last Thursday in Massachusetts General Hospital in the company of his parents, Ann and Ed, at the age of 48.
The Kelleys knew how much BC meant to their son, especially BC basketball. So they moved the wake from its planned date of Tuesday to Monday so the team could say goodbye to a friend, a mentor and a tireless advocate before heading to Syracuse.
“Boston College was his life,” Cameron said. “He found his mission in life working with young people here.”
The love for Kelley was evidenced by the throngs at the wake. A crowd of 600-700 attended. The gathering was from 4 to 8 p.m., and the line stretched out the door of the funeral home by 3:30.
Football coach Steve Addazio waited outside in the cold for an hour to pay his respects.
Kelley’s death became an inevitability long ago, but that didn’t lessen the grief at his time of passing. Cameron described the BC athletic building as “a powderkeg of emotion” this week.
When the players arrived at the wake, some were inconsolable, Cameron said. Especially juniors Patrick Heckmann and Ryan Anderson.
“Ryan wrote something that said Dick had had the biggest effect on him of anyone at Boston College,” Cameron said.
Playing in Kelley’s honor two days later, Anderson was ferocious inside, pulling down a season-high 14 rebounds and doggedly guarding the paint against the long and athletic Syracuse front line.
That was the kind of effort it took for the Eagles to triumph in a game nobody but themselves believed they could come close to winning.
This is a team that has had every reason to give up – on the season, and on this game in particular. The Eagles had beaten just five Division I opponents, and their only two Atlantic Coast Conference victories were over last-place Virginia Tech. Besides the Hokies, BC hadn’t beaten a D-I team since Nov. 26.
And now they were supposed to walk into the Carrier Dome and beat the No. 1 Orange?
But what BC has lacked in talent and success, it has made up for in character. The Eagles hadn’t quit on the season, not even close. They had lost six games by four points or fewer, and were just 12 points short of four more ACC victories. In fact, they had Syracuse on the ropes in the second half in Chestnut Hill last month before faltering late and losing by 10.
Even as the howls for fourth-year coach Steve Donahue to be fired have intensified, his team has kept playing hard. And even as Syracuse pushed out to a 13-point lead in the second half, seemingly ending the game, BC refused to relent.
The Eagles kept pouring in 3-pointers over the vaunted Orange zone – 11 of them on the night, in 22 attempts. They contested everything Syracuse tried offensively, hounding leading scorer C.J. Fair into a 7-for-23 nightmare and holding sharpshooting guard Trevor Cooney to just a single made 3-pointer.
And at the end, at a time when Syracuse has simply made one play after another to win a succession of nailbiter games, it was BC that rose to the occasion. Nobody was bigger in the final seconds than guard Lonnie Jackson, a 56 percent foul shooter who peered into a sea of orange-clad fans and the deep shooting background of the Dome and swished four straight free throws to win the game.
Donahue needed the victory as much as any coach in the country needs one. But his first comments to ESPN after the game were about the emotions of the week, not this moment of triumph.
“The first thing he said was about Dick,” Cameron said. “Knowing him, that was his first thought.”
It was one of the biggest wins in Boston College basketball history, and almost inarguably its most emotional. Whether it alters the trajectory of this difficult season remains to be seen, but for one night that was immaterial.
What mattered more than anything was winning one for Dick.
Has college football peaked? Ripples on surface bear watching. What's your take?
By Dennis Dodd
There is a theory floating out there relating to college football that is as scary as it is real.
In the 1950s, geoscientist M. King Hubbert coined the term "peak oil," the time when oil production is at its maximum, half of the planet's supply has been used. From that point earth's most valuable natural resource is in decline.
Scary and real because it's going to happen, if it hasn't already. Apply that to our favorite sport. Is it blasphemous in these heady times to ask whether college football has reached its peak? Was the dramatic rise of the game in the past 16 (BCS) years as good as it gets?
As fun and bright and promising as the playoff era seems, it's still an athletic IPO. Conference realignment is all but over. All the conference rights fees -- except for the Big Ten -- are negotiated far into the future. Legal concerns loom regarding the head trauma issue.
It's time for the game to reprove itself. Historically, there's something about college football that does not endure. There's a reason there hasn't been a back-to-back Heisman winner since the mid-1970s, or that no team has ever won three consecutive national titles in the wire service era.
We've enjoyed transformative players such as Tim Tebow, Cam Newton and Johnny Manziel in recent years. Can we continue to count on such compelling figures?
Or is it the game itself?
Six months until that first playoff season, we're going to at least raise some of those peak oil issues ...
• Already cracks -- small ones -- are appearing in attendance. While another national attendance record was set this season (38 million total), average per-game attendance was flat -- up an average of only 230 persons per game. (Even with a record 7.5 million fans watching the SEC last season, the overall average attendance increased only 136 folks per game.)
• There is a freak-out factor regarding student attendance. Overall, it seems to be down. The Big Ten is No. 2 in overall attendance to the SEC. But as ESPN.com's Darren Rovell pointed out, mighty Michigan has seen a concerning decline in student attendance.
The lack of WiFi in decades-old stadiums is giving students a reason to stay away. Win, lose or flask, students love to text, Instagram, Snapchat -- stay in touch.
The larger concern is that current students choosing to stay home in front of HDs won't be infected with that college spirit that causes them to become donors years from now.
• As promising as the coming playoff is, there are still uncertainties. Take the venerable Rose Bowl. In the playoff era, it may be changed forever. College Football Playoff executive Bill Hancock expressed concern on Jan. 1 that the Granddaddy of Them All may not sell out next year.
• Is the SEC's stranglehold good for the game, or not?
Basically how much is too much? Industry experts agree that television is oversaturated with college basketball. Hoop heads may delight in Syracuse-Duke or an undefeated Wichita State, but those are spikes in an otherwise flat-line of a regular season. All that really matters is March.
College football ratings are through the roof, but does any of this portend a peak oil stage? In the BCS era, college football became the nation's No. 2 sport behind the NFL.
"The question is not how big can it get, but at what cost?" Michigan State AD Mark Hollis said.
Hollis is considered perhaps the No. 1 idea man in college sports. It was his idea to match Michigan State and North Carolina basketball on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Michigan State-Kentucky in 2003 set a (then) world record for hoops attendance at Detroit's Ford Field.
He had the brilliant concept of playing four basketball games at once on the floor of AT&T Stadium, site of this year's Final Four. For a variety of reasons, his idea didn't take hold.
Hollis has built flourishing championship programs in men's basketball and football, some would say, in the shadow of rival Michigan. One thing can be said: MSU is little brother no more.
"I don't see a decline in football or college basketball," Hollis said. "Where I see the decline is the ability of the athletic department to fulfill the mission of a broad-based program.
"You put more and more emphasis on those two sports, it has a dilution factor that starts to take you away from an academic setting to one of commercialism."
Balancing the academic mission vs. a for-profit business model is behind every major issue in college athletics these days: the O'Bannon lawsuit, concussions, coaching salaries, rules violations.
The amateur enterprise exists in a market-driven environment. Hollis eloquently addressed the "peak oil" question last year.
"The popularity of the sport is at an all-time high," said Dean Jordan, a well-known media consultant who has worked with the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12, among others.
"Our competition is people's time," Jordan added. "We have to have a product where the value to the buyer and the experience is worth that person's time. As long as we have that, then we'll be OK.
"I don't think that we're at a tipping point. I think we're at an exciting stage of the game."
Judge for yourself:
The playoff: It's here because of the sport's popularity. ESPN and the commissioners wouldn't have assembled a 12-year, $7 billion entity if there wasn't upside.
The question is what unintended consequences lay ahead. The national discussion over which teams are (perceived to be) screwed will be at least as loud as the BCS.
With coach's contracts now increasingly including bonuses for making that playoff, careers will be impacted because of the opinion of that 13-person selection committee.
A four-team playoff doesn't cure all ills, but an eight-team bracket, critics say, that would ruin everything.
Are we stuck in playoff purgatory?
O'Bannon: The NCAA is going to have to address the landmark lawsuit in some sort of way. If a settlement includes some sort of professionalization of players, does that turn off the public?
We're virtually assured in the future of a cost-of-attendance stipend that will pay athletes ... because they're athletes. If the Johnny Manziels of the future are able to profit off their likeness (jersey sales, autographs), does that pollute the amateur purity of the sport?
Imagine Johnny Football becoming Johnny Inc. -- while he's still in school.
The SEC issue: Like it or not, that SEC Network is launching in August.
It is the result of micro economics. Within wildly popular college football, the SEC is the most intensely followed conference. ESPN is betting there is no such thing as SEC fatigue, to the point the cable network is reportedly asking for $1.30 per cable subscriber within its 11-state footprint. That's more than the Big Ten and Pac-12 networks.
You may have been sick of seven straight SEC national championships (streak broken in January). But the success of the network may be based on the belief that the SEC is going to compete for a national championship every season.
The Big Ten Network has thrived. The SEC Network looks promising, but there are cautionary reminders -- the defunct The Mtn. and struggling Longhorn Network.
Virtually every FBS game is now televised whether its streaming on the Sun Belt sight or multiple games on BTN. That wasn't the case at the beginning of the BCS.
The regular season: The playoff stakeholders are determined to protect it. They believe that a four-team playoff doesn't impact, say, Ohio State-Michigan to the point that Urban Meyer (for example) is resting his starting quarterback because the Buckeyes are already in.
Consider that last season, the Iron Bowl would most likely have been for seeding in a four-team playoff. In that scenario, Bama could have been chasing four nationals titles in five years while winning the SEC only twice during that span.
Isn't that impacting the regular season?
Studio football: The concept being, that the TV experience has become so compelling that attendance matters less and less. The upshot being that the living room and HD become the experience instead of game day.
Thus, studio football. Hey, even the mighty NFL has become vulnerable.
"I don't think it [studio football] is OK," Hollis said. "The value of TV is to see the experience and the enthusiasm, the full stadium, the student body."
"Every game is on HDTV," Jordan said. "When you get a situation where the in-home experience is a 60-inch flat screen with an easy chair with a cooler full of beer, that becomes tough to pass up."
It's hard to make the studio football case when the SEC, Big Ten, ACC and Pac-12 set overall attendance records in 2013. But some of that has to do with conference realignment. The SEC and ACC should have set records. Those conferences grew in membership.
"There's always a saturation point," said former Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe. "Maybe there has to be a retreating from the (ticket ) cost, along with enhancing that in-stadium experience that you can't get at home."
Everyone spoken to for this column agreed with Football Bowl Association executive director Wright Waters. That in-stadium experience trumps all. The color, history, tradition and tailgate of the game should override the concern of wiring 80-year old stadiums with WiFi. Waters called it a "wrestling match" matched against the possible overexposure of television.
"Attendance is a component," he said. "It's not <i>the</i> component.
"If we don't have people in the stands we lose some of the feel for game. Does that mean smaller stadiums being built? The atmosphere is what drives people to spend money to go to the games.
"Does TV take away from that or is TV an infomercial for people to go in the future."
The answer is obvious for some. Infomercials for mops may be annoying but they grow college football. Next year there will be a record 38 bowls. With three more FCS teams jumping up to FBS (129 total), there will be more bowl eligible teams to fill those 76 spots. Appalachian State (average 25,000) and Georgia Southern (15,000) may drag down the national attendance average, but they also will be warm bodies for lower-level bowls.
And if you think those lower-level bowls are unwatchable, someone is flipping on the set. TV ratings were up in 56 percent of all bowls (70 total games) the last two seasons.
Screens: Increasingly we consume our games, entertainment and news on tablets, phones and computers. The so-called TV Everywhere concept is great for the consumer, but how does it impact a possible college football tipping point?
Those apps may end up being nothing more than value added for consumers.
"TV Everywhere is a mechanism to keep people from dropping their cable systems," one cable industry expert said.
But college stadiums have to be wired to keep the modern consumer. NFL stadiums tend to turn over faster, and thus are more likely equipped with latest technology.
One answer might a combination of elements in a modern, wired, smaller package.
"I wonder if 20 or 30 years from now the experience on TV is so great that the next phase of stadia is going to be 50,000 seats," Beebe said. "It becomes a demand to get those seats. Instead of 85,000 seats, it starts to change down ...
You pack it in and it's a raucous atmosphere. That is good for the experience and for TV."
Doesn't sound like peak oil, more like a sport that is still peaking.
CS&T/AA: What do you think? Is college football peaking? We'd love to know what your thoughts are, what's your take?
Predicted final Sochi Winter Olympics medal count: Can Team USA finish on top?
By Martin Rogers
The United States could need its two most disappointing teams to step up if it is to top the medal table at the end of the Winter Olympics.
With four days of competition remaining here in Sochi, the U.S. is locked in a furious battle with Norway, the Netherlands and host nation Russia to finish with the most trips to the podium.
Yahoo Sports predicts that at the conclusion of the Games the American team will end up with 28 total medals, level with Norway and host nation Russia.
J.R. Celski is world record holder in the 500m short track and although he is not tipped for a medal in our predictions, the 23-year-old from near Federal Way, Wash., certainly has a chance of forcing his way into the mix if his luck changes.
Celski finished fourth in the 1500m before stumbling out of the 1000 at the quarterfinal stage. He is expected to get the U.S.’s first medal of the Games in short track as part of the men’s 5000m relay, taking place, like the 500, on Friday.
A short walk away at Adler Arena, the long track competition has been a scene of carnage for Team USA. Speedskating legend Dan Jansen confidently predicted eight to 10 medals before the Winter Olympics got underway; a more realistic figure might have been five given the performances of the team during the regular season.
To date there have been none whatsoever as every skater on the squad has suffered from dreadful form and the apparent fallout from the infamous skinsuits controversy.
“We have no medals, man,” two-time Olympic champion Shani Davis said earlier this week. “The way we are looking we might not get any.”
The best chance of ending the drought is in the team pursuit, especially with Davis expected to race in the event for the first time at an Olympics. Like everyone else, the U.S. is most likely shooting for silver or bronze given the extraordinary dominance of the Netherlands in long track at Sochi – with the Dutch set to take their pick from a murderer’s row of all-conquering stars for the pursuit.
In terms of the overall medal count, Norway and Russia would appear to be the biggest threats, as the Dutch are unlikely to add more than the remaining two medals up for grabs in long track, where all but one of their total national tally has come from.
Norway will look to its men’s and women’s biathlon relay teams along with Martin Sundby and Therese Johaug in cross country, while Russia expects big things from short track speedskater Victor An, who has already won the 1000 and now targets the 500 and the relay. Figure skater Adelina Sotnikova is also well positioned to medal, sitting second after the short program.
For the U.S., Mikaela Shiffrin is strongly favored in the slalom event at Alpine skiing, with bobsledder Steven Holcomb expected to bring home the gold. Men’s hockey will likely medal, but their result against Canada will decide whether it’s gold, silver or bronze.
The overall medal race has been one of Sochi’s more interesting subplots, especially with Russia entering the fray early with a surprisingly high number and a chance to finish on top.
The Winter Olympics is heading towards the end, and the battle between the most successful countries is going down to the wire.
PREDICTED MEDALS FOR TEAM USA
GOLD
Alpine skiing - Mikaela Shiffrin, women’s slalom
Bobsled – Steven Holcomb, 4-man
SILVER
Hockey – Women’s team
BRONZE
Hockey - Men’s team
Short track speedskating – Men’s 5000m relay
PREDICTED FINAL MEDAL TABLE
Norway: 13 gold, 6 silver, 9 bronze - 28
USA: 9 gold, 6 silver, 13 bronze - 28
Russia: 8 gold, 12 silver, 8 bronze - 28
Netherlands: 8 gold 7 silver 9 bronze - 24
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